Chapter 60:The Beast That Guarded Heaven

The inheritance chamber collapsed.

Then the world went silent.

Not the silence of peace.

The silence that comes before a disaster.

Every cultivator froze.

Every beast in the secret realm stopped moving.

Even the wind disappeared.

Then—

BOOOOOM!

The mountain exploded.

Stone, trees, and entire cliffs were launched into the sky as a colossal shadow emerged from beneath the earth.

Two crimson eyes opened.

Ancient.

Cold.

Merciless.

The pressure alone made countless cultivators cough blood.

One elder fell to his knees.

Another couldn't even stand.

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes stared at the creature in horror.

"...Impossible."

"It can't be..."

The dust slowly cleared.

A gigantic serpent-like beast stood before them.

Black scales.

Golden horns.

Claws capable of tearing mountains apart.

An existence that should never have appeared in a realm designed for Transcendent cultivators.

An Imugi.

The guardian beast of the Sword Saint.

For hundreds of years it had protected its master's inheritance.

And today...

They had awakened it.

The First Dragon felt cold sweat running down his back.

"We..."

"...we screwed up."

The Imugi's gaze slowly moved toward them.

The pressure became heavier.

More suffocating.

Then it opened its mouth.

A sphere of spiritual energy gathered between its jaws.

The surrounding space twisted.

Mountains cracked.

The earth split apart.

The Phoenixes immediately realized what was happening.

"RUN!"

The beam descended.

A pillar of destruction swept across the battlefield.

Hundreds of cultivators vanished.

Not died.

Vanished.

There wasn't even a corpse left.

Only a trail of molten earth.

The survivors froze.

Their minds refused to process what they had witnessed.

One attack.

Just one.

And nearly half the cultivators inside the secret realm were gone.

Despair spread like wildfire.

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes immediately formed battle formations.

Talisman after talisman burned.

Protective barriers appeared.

Sword Qi filled the heavens.

But none of it mattered.

The Imugi charged.

Like a living natural disaster.

Every swing of its tail flattened forests.

Every roar shattered formations.

Every movement brought death.

For the first time in their lives—

The Rising Stars of the Murim Alliance felt powerless.

Elsewhere.

Far away from the chaos.

Lucifer sat atop a cliff.

One leg hanging in the air.

A bamboo stick between his teeth.

Watching.

Waiting.

The screams reached his ears.

The explosions followed.

Then came the spiritual fluctuations.

Chirin sighed.

"You aren't helping?"

Lucifer smirked.

"Why?"

"The beast will kill them."

"Exactly."

Chirin stared at him.

"You are impossible."

Lucifer laughed.

"No."

He stood up.

"I'm efficient."

The Devil looked toward the distant battlefield.

His crimson eyes gleamed.

"When predators fight over prey..."

"...the smartest hunter waits until both sides are bleeding."

Back on the battlefield.

The Dragons and Phoenixes launched everything they had.

Combined formations.

Sect techniques.

Forbidden arts.

Even treasured talismans.

For a brief moment—

The Imugi actually fell.

Silence spread.

Everyone stared.

Did they win?

Did they actually kill it?

The First Phoenix collapsed to one knee.

The Fifth Dragon laughed weakly.

"We did it..."

Then—

Crack.

The Imugi's eye opened.

Everyone's smile froze.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

Broken scales regenerated.

Wounds closed.

Flesh restored itself.

The beast slowly stood back up.

As if nothing had happened.

The remaining hope in everyone's hearts shattered.

The First Dragon laughed bitterly.

"We're dead."

Nobody argued.

Because it was true.

They had exhausted everything.

Their Qi was gone.

Their formations broken.

Their treasures depleted.

And the monster before them wasn't even seriously injured.

The Imugi raised its head.

Preparing the final attack.

An attack that would wipe out everyone present.

Then—

The beast froze.

Its pupils shrank.

For the first time since its awakening...

Fear appeared in its eyes.

Everyone noticed.

"What happened?"

"What is it looking at?"

The Imugi turned away from them.

Toward the distant mountains.

Toward something approaching.

Something that made even a mythical beast uneasy.

An ominous aura spread through the secret realm.

Red.

Black.

Violent.

Like the gates of hell opening.

Every cultivator instinctively stepped back.

Their instincts screamed.

Danger.

Danger.

DANGER.

Then someone appeared.

One hand inside his pocket.

A bamboo stick in his mouth.

Walking casually.

As if he were taking a stroll through a garden.

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes stared.

"...Him?"

The strange man from the restaurant.

The one who extorted a street gang.

The one covered in blood.

The one who called himself—

The Devil.

Lucifer stopped walking.

The Imugi roared.

The secret realm trembled.

Lucifer grinned.

Finally.

Something worth killing.

"System."

[Yes, Host?]

"Use all Karma Points."

[Confirmed.]

"Create Sin of Wrath."

For a moment—

Nothing happened.

Then reality distorted.

BOOOOOM!

Red and black energy erupted around Lucifer.

The ground beneath his feet exploded.

The sky darkened.

Even the spectators felt their hearts tremble.

A new Sin had been born.

Sin of Wrath.

The more intense Lucifer's emotions became—

The stronger he became.

Not just anger.

Excitement.

Hatred.

Joy.

Battlelust.

Every emotion transformed into power.

Lucifer slowly opened his eyes.

Crimson light shone within them.

He looked at the Imugi.

And smiled.

The Imugi charged.

Lucifer charged.

Then—

The world exploded.

Their collision created shockwaves that flattened mountains.

The Dragons and Phoenixes couldn't even follow their movements.

One moment Lucifer was there.

The next he was above the beast.

Then below it.

Then behind it.

Cleave.

Dismantle.

Severance.

Raging Tempest.

Every technique flowed together.

The Imugi answered with claws, fangs, tail strikes, and dragon breath.

The battlefield became a blur of destruction.

For the first time in its life—

The Imugi was bleeding.

The spectators watched in disbelief.

The creature they couldn't even scratch...

Was being carved apart.

Scale after scale.

Blood after blood.

The Devil was literally cutting through a mythical beast.

The First Phoenix whispered.

"Who is he?"

Nobody answered.

Because nobody knew.

The battle continued.

But Lucifer knew the truth.

Sin of Wrath couldn't last long.

His body was already cracking.

His meridians were screaming.

He had one chance.

One final strike.

The Imugi seemed to understand as well.

Both prepared everything for one decisive clash.

The beast gathered enough spiritual energy to destroy a mountain range.

Lucifer gathered every remaining drop of Qi.

Every Sin activated simultaneously.

Sloth.

Greed.

Envy.

Gluttony.

Wrath.

For one moment—

Time itself seemed to slow.

The Imugi fired.

A beam of annihilation.

Lucifer vanished.

Using Envy he predicted its trajectory.

Using Sloth he accelerated.

Using Greed he manipulated his perception.

Using Gluttony he absorbed the surrounding energy.

Then—

He appeared directly before the beast.

Chirin moved.

A simple stab.

Nothing flashy.

Nothing grand.

Just absolute precision.

The blade pierced the spot between the Imugi's eyes.

Silence.

The beam stopped.

The beast froze.

Lucifer smiled.

"Now recover from that."

Crack.

The skull shattered.

The brain collapsed.

The colossal body crashed to the ground.

The secret realm shook one final time.

Then everything became still.

The guardian of the Sword Saint...

Was dead.

System notifications flooded Lucifer's vision.

[Mythical Beast Slain.]

[Karma Points Awarded.]

[Massive Reward Granted.]

Lucifer ignored them all.

Instead he placed the gigantic corpse into his inventory.

The spectators nearly fainted.

The corpse alone was priceless.

Yet he looked completely uninterested.

Then Lucifer turned.

"I know you're hiding."

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes stepped out.

None of them dared touch their weapons.

After what they had witnessed—

That would be suicide.

Lucifer looked at them.

"You couldn't beat me even if you wanted to."

The Dragons immediately frowned.

But none of them refuted him.

Because deep down...

They knew he was right.

The First Phoenix stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

Lucifer smiled.

"Lucifer Morningstar."

"The Devil of the Demonic Cult."

Silence.

The atmosphere instantly changed.

Enemy.

The person before them was their enemy.

Yet...

He had also saved their lives.

No one knew what to do.

Then Lucifer casually tossed something.

The Sword Saint's inheritance.

Everyone froze.

The First Phoenix caught it.

Her eyes widened.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

No answer.

Lucifer simply turned around.

"Wait!"

Still no answer.

"Is it pity?"

Nothing.

Finally she shouted:

"This won't stop us from hunting you!"

"We're enemies!"

"The Murim Alliance won't stay silent!"

Lucifer stopped.

Without turning around he said:

"As long as you think someone else's inheritance can make you strong..."

"...you'll never catch me."

He glanced at the inheritance.

"For you, that's a treasure."

"For me?"

"Trash."

Then he walked away.

Disappearing into the shadows.

Leaving behind stunned Dragons.

Speechless Phoenixes.

And a legend that would soon spread throughout Murim.

The Devil had entered the stage.

And the world wasn't ready for him.

Meanwhile, outside the secret realm...

A terrifying pressure descended.

The crowd parted instantly.

Elders lowered their heads.

Sect leaders stepped aside.

Because the person who had arrived was not the Alliance Leader.

He was someone far older.

Far more dangerous.

The Great Elder of the Murim Alliance.

And judging by the look in his eyes...

He had come for the Devil.