Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin

Chapter 43: Former Generation’s Demonic Practitioner

As ominous screams and thunderous crashes rang out, we immediately hurled ourselves toward the source of the sound.

When we arrived on the scene, gasping for breath, what unfolded before our eyes was utter chaos in the escort procession.

Torn flags fluttered in the wind, shattered cargo carts littered the road, and escorts and wanderers who tried to protect them had been swept away.

Scarlet blood soaked the ground, and at the center of this carnage stood a diminutive old man covered in liver spots, his expression imperious as he stood ramrod straight.

That unsightly old man appeared to be the culprit behind all this.

It was a moment that recalled one of Murim’s oldest proverbs about being cautious of certain types.

“Seriously, it’s always the geezers and brats that are the problem.”

At my muttered complaint, the woman from the Tang Clan raised an eyebrow.

“Huh? You wanna die?”

“I wasn’t talking about you.”

“Oh, really? I felt a little called out for a sec.”

Truth be told, I did mean her too.

Turns out the old man in rags was the Dragon Head Sect Leader, and the cheeky brat was actually a prodigy of the Tang Clan.

Damn Murim. It’s a minefield no matter where you step.

“What on earth… Who are you? Why would you commit such wickedness?”

Chief Escort Na Maengdal asked the question everyone else wanted to ask.

His voice carried both smoldering rage and a forced calm.

Honestly, a string of curses wouldn’t have sufficed, but the situation was strange enough to give pause.

Just as our main force disappeared after the Nangabong Monster, another expert suddenly emerged—almost as if it were all part of a diversion tactic.

If Hwang Geolgae’s return was delayed, we might suffer catastrophic losses.

Thus, Na Maengdal’s question could very well have been his desperate attempt to buy time.

“How amusing. What good will it do for the soon-to-die to know this seat’s name?”

The old man with liver spots sneered as he released the suppressed pressure.

The air around us suddenly grew heavy, and the overwhelming killing intent tightened around everyone’s hearts. Like prey before a predator, everyone stood frozen.

“Damn it, not again.”

Meanwhile, I was frantically trying to suppress the Heaven-Slaying Star, which was writhing like a fish in water.

My internal energy, packed with anti-demonic energy and the power of suppression, barely held back the blazing aura. The haze of the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method bloomed ghostlike around my body.

“Ugh!”

Tang Yeo-hye and Ilhong were visibly struggling against the pressure unlike me.

“Don’t even think about running. Your skull will burst the moment you try.”

The old man’s voice was chilling. Though he was skinny and frail-looking, the force he emanated was like a raging winter wind.

“Eek!”

Right then, a wanderer from afar who tried to abandon the escort and run had his head explode with a ‘pop!’

The cause: a small stone flicked by the old man’s bent finger.

“This seat warned you not to act rashly.”

Everyone froze at that sight.

To burst someone’s head with a flicked stone—this wasn’t a feat even Peak Master Level martial artists could replicate easily.

“…Is it the cargo you want? Then take it all. Just let us go.”

Na Maengdal, seemingly convinced there was no chance of winning, tried negotiating again.

If he was in league with the Nangabong Monster, then this old man likely aimed to steal the cargo too.

This incident would ruin the escort agency’s reputation, but if they survived, there’d still be a chance to recover.

Hence, suppressing his bitter shame, Na Maengdal made a proposal he loathed to utter as the Chief Escort.

But to the old man, such a proposal was meaningless from the beginning.

“I cannot let you go. This seat plans to take your valuables and absorb your internal energy and blood essence to nourish my body.”

As he activated his heart cultivation method, a black and ominous energy began to pour from his entire body.

When the ink-like fog touched the ground, the surrounding grass instantly withered, as though all vitality had been sucked away.

Faced with the alarming sight, Tang Yeo-hye widened her green eyes and screamed the old man’s identity.

“To cultivate demonic qi and extract internal energy and blood essence… Could you be the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord?!”

That demonic qi said to naturally emanate from those who practiced sinister demonic arts.

An evil path walker defying the natural order of gathering the world’s qi had appeared here.

The crowd was visibly shaken.

“…What? Soul-Stealing Demon Lord?”

“The monster that feeds off human vitality using the Star-Sucking Great Technique?”

“A demonic practitioner—it's the demonic practitioner of the previous generation!”

“Damn it, how are we supposed to fight that old freak?!”

And not just any demonic practitioner—but one from a former generation.

In this harsh Murim where few lived past forty, surviving that long could only mean he was immensely powerful.

In short, negotiations had failed, and the situation could be summarized in one sentence:

“We’re fucked.”

Yeah, as Tang Yeo-hye said, this was an utterly screwed situation.

If that were the case, it would've been better to fight the Nangabong Monster who only destroyed the cargo and fled.

But now, we had to risk our lives against a real demonic practitioner who devoured people’s energy and internal arts.

It was questionable how many here would even survive.

“Soul-Stealing Demon Lord, sir! Would you reconsider the earlier proposal?”

Tang Yeo-hye asked as she layered defensive energy on her fingers and took a stance resembling a bird of prey.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord squinted his wrinkled eyes with interest at her unique form.

“Judging by that venomous aura and short stature, you must be from the Tang Clan of Sichuan, one of the Poison-Blooded Offshoots?”

Her physical traits gave away her identity almost immediately.

“As you know, the Tang Clan repays favors and grudges meticulously. If you would be content with the cargo today, the Tang Clan will reciprocate accordingly in the future.”

In short, she was asking him to consider the political repercussions and let this one go.

“…Hmph, I’ll drain your energy last. Inner energy trained with poison is coarse and unpleasant to taste.”

But dialogue and negotiation only work among rational beings.

With a madman addicted to slaughter and qi absorption, such things were impossible.

“Damn it.”

Tang Yeo-hye cursed under her breath and bit her lip. The other escorts and wanderers also couldn’t hide their looks of despair.

It was clear now that escape was impossible.

We had no choice but to hold out with everything we had until Hwang Geolgae returned.

“All of you are so old and withered. This seat prefers the vitality of young and beautiful ones… but maybe I’ll find one or two worth sucking dry after the killing starts.”

The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord declared his intention to scan the crowd and drain them on the spot.

The moment I heard that, I smeared my face with the Human-skin Mask hidden in my robe.

My handsome features vanished, replaced by an utterly average face.

From the corner of my eye, I felt Ilhong staring at me blankly.

“What. Why.”

Well, I’ve been cursed with bad luck all my life. I have to lower the odds wherever I can.

But that guy, even after covering up, still looked a bit too pretty. Guess that’s just his fate.

“…Prepare for battle! We’re dead if we retreat anyway! Steel yourselves!”

Na Maengdal, borrowing a sword from a nearby martial artist, pointed it fiercely and ordered a fight.

The escorts of Eunseong moved in perfect sync at their Chief Escort’s command.

Since ancient times, the Murim had been a place teeming with martial artists as numerous as grains of sand.

And the escorts here were those who had constantly trained on the training grounds, sweating together to stand against such martial artists in unison.

“Form the Eight Slashing Formation—!”

Chachachang—!

With the sound of swords being drawn, the escorts gathered together, securing the eight directions and forming a forest of blades.

“Shit! Let’s join in too! With everyone together, we’ve got at least two hundred people!”

A Second Rate Martial Artist among the wanderers shouted on behalf of the rest.

The surrounding wanderers, having all seen the guy who got his head popped trying to run earlier, quietly drew their swords and joined the formation.

And so, united as one, they decided to face the demonic practitioner of the former generation.

Within the formation, I swallowed hard and kept my eyes locked on the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord.

He sneered as if our resolve to resist was laughable.

“How amusing. Then come, try and stop this seat if you can!”

The demonic bastard cloaked both his hands in dense demonic qi. Just looking at it made your skin tingle from its destructive aura.

Touch it, and you’d be blown to pieces just like that cargo cart from earlier.

“Goddamn.”

When we set out, I’d believed Hwang Geolgae would handle everything, but before I knew it, I was the one fighting a high-level martial artist.

A lowly wanderer like me, earning just a silver coin, being made to face a demonic practitioner of the former generation.

I’d have to struggle as hard as I could to stay alive.

“He’s coming—!”

The explosive surge of demonic qi. A cry that sounded like someone’s final scream.

On this remote road deep in the mountains, a life-or-death battle was about to unfold.

What did it mean to be a high-level martial artist in the Murim?

Honestly, I’d never given it much thought, since I’d only ever fought those around my level.

But today, facing this so-called demonic practitioner of the former generation, I came to understand it with every fiber of my being.

Boom!

A strike that shook the ground. As the demonic qi burst forth, another section of the Eight Slashing Formation collapsed.

That forest of blades meant nothing. The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord simply waved his hand, snapping swords like twigs and sending escorts flying as they coughed up blood.

He ruthlessly slaughtered anyone deemed unworthy of absorbing, viewing them as insignificant.

This was no different from a multi-ton tank descending on a crowd of infantry.

“Argh!”

“What kind of monster is this…?!”

The fight, once full of momentum, had become utterly one-sided.

We had anticipated a certain amount of casualties. After all, our goal was simply to buy time until Hwang Geolgae returned.

But this collapse was happening far faster than expected.

“Gah!”

As the tide turned grim, a wanderer tried to flee, only to be grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted into the air. It was the same Second Rate Martial Artist who had shouted earlier to fight bravely.

Crunch.

His true qi and vitality were completely drained, his body shriveling up like a mummy before he died.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord grinned as he slightly recovered his strength. That was the terrifying nature of the Star-Sucking Great Technique.

“Hoo.”

As he turned his gaze in search of another prey, the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord’s eyes gleamed at the sight of a youthful and vibrant wanderer.

A boy so pretty at a glance, he could be mistaken for a girl.

“Ilhong, run!”

Ilhong, who had trained in martial arts but never faced a true expert, froze in terror as the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord approached.

If he had taken a few beatings like me, he would’ve already run far away.

“Eek!”

I tackled Ilhong out of the way and instinctively flicked away the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord’s hand that lunged forward.

The moment I exchanged that touch, I realized it. This guy—his level was below Hwang Geolgae’s.

Not that it made the situation any less dangerous.

“…Hmm? Who are you? How did you deflect that just now?”

A line I had heard once before.

Because his gestures and movements were saturated with killing intent, it was easier to read his attacks compared to others.

The problem was that my body couldn’t keep up with his speed.

Papapak!

The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord’s hands sliced the air repeatedly.

I twisted my body to avoid the cascading red trails, but the killing intent in his attacks slashed my skin as they passed.

A razor-sharp hand slicing past my neck. Capillaries burst. One inch deeper and blood would have gushed out.

“How fascinating. Your eyes read the attacks, but your body can’t keep up.”

Because I was fighting desperately while covered in blood, the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord began to take an interest in me, forgetting all about Ilhong.

Thanks to that, I was utterly screwed. He kept reaching out with a vibe of, ‘Let’s see if you can dodge this one too.’

Like a frog killed by a stone tossed in jest, every grazing strike from him was a lethal technique to me.

“Guh!”

Eventually, his palm struck my shoulder. Something cracked and splintered down my spine.

Red energy immediately seeped in to start recovery, but I knew it’d take time to reboot.

So I was just about to curse my luck when—

"Hey, brat! Duck!"

A whisper drilled into my ear. I immediately hurled myself to the side.

Shwik—!

A volley of Bi Chim laced with lethal poison sliced the air, sweeping past where my waist had been.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Lord sprang off the ground, soaring into the air. The Bi Chim only grazed beneath his feet, missing entirely.

As if she had expected that, Tang Yeo-hye pulled out a poison pellet from her sleeve and flung it at his landing spot.

Puff!

Thick toxic mist enveloped the area. Inhaling even a breath would melt your lungs. Within the lethal cloud, Tang Yeo-hye, who had achieved Myriad Poison Immunity, lunged in with her sharp technique.

“Die, you son of a bitch!”