Capítulo 380: Demon Slayer Art
Grrrrr!
A deep voice trembled in the darkness, bringing life to a lifeless world.
This land was so dark, there was no sun, no moon, and not even the faintest stars. The air was filled with immeasurable weight that pressed down like mountains, crushing even the smallest existence into nothingness. Everywhere smelled like death; blood and guts, burnt flesh, rotting corpses.
This was a hellish place that only unnamed and unmentionable beings resided. It was far beyond anything where even the bravest human or hardiest beast would dare to tread. This… was a demonic land.
"Who… Who is it?" The voice bellowed.
Power radiated in all directions, dominating, unfathomable. The ground shook so heavily that it was hard to distinguish up from down and east from west. Any mortal souls within earshot would have died instantly, from fear and shock.
A being awoke from its deep slumber, a tyrannical existence that had no equal here. It shook its ponderous head and looked upward in a particular direction. It had sensed something, something that shouldn't have been possible. One of the messengers crafted with its spiritual energy had been destroyed, or more accurately… partially destroyed.
One messenger out of tens of thousands meeting an untimely end wasn't the issue, however. The issue was the fragment of the original message that managed to return home after being scattered to the four winds for an indeterminate amount of time. This fragment contained just two words but these two words were the ones that the being didn't want to hear, two words that should have been wiped clean from this world already.
Demon Slayer!
Demon Slayer!
Demon Slayer!
The being of darkness let out a roar of frustration.
Demon slayers didn't exist anymore. They were all gone. There were no mistakes, the archdemon pantheon made sure of it. All humans wielding demon slayer arts were annihilated during that war that shook the heavens. All demon slayer sects were razed to the ground and their members hunted to the edge of the world.
The cost had been astronomical but it had been worth it. There was now nothing that could stop the ascension of demons. It was only a matter of time before the world was theirs.
But there was always the possibility…
Humans were stubborn and resilient. They were like cockroaches, constantly breeding, constantly spreading in all directions. Perhaps the message was wrong but perhaps it was right. There was no way to know unless it was verified. This matter was too important not to.
"Qin Shui'er! Come here!" It commanded, letting its powerful voice seek out the intended target.
A few moments later, a surge of spiritual energy came from above as a much smaller figure landed in front of the giant being. This new arrival was tiny in comparison, the height and build of an average human.
"My master, you called?" It replied curtly with a bow.
"Go west, to the human frontier. Investigate. Seek out the root of this message and find out who this demon slayer is and where they are. Leave no stone unturned. Destroy them all if you have to. Don't come back without results, understand?"
Qin Shui'er bowed once more, "Rest assured, it will be done!"
"Good! Go now!"
---
Halfway across the world, Chen Wentian was completely unaware that he had stirred a sleeping giant.
He was simply glad that the message talisman had been successfully destroyed. It had let out a surprisingly large amount of spiritual energy in all directions but he mostly managed to clean up the aftermath. He was pretty confident that the message recipient wouldn't be able to make sense of anything even if they had some strange method to still receive the message.
Task now completed; all the souls involved in the effort returned to their respective homes.
The Purple Jade Hercules Beetle returned to Wu Qianyu's side. She was still peacefully sleeping, dreaming with a smile on her face. She was deep in the wilderness but she was taking care of herself. There wasn't much to worry about there and he would continue to watch over her silently.
The Golden Serpent returned to Lin Qingcheng. She was a little shaken from the ordeal but still happy that she managed to catch the first demon out of all the disciples. Chen Wentian reprimanded her lightly for being careless but still promised to deliver her reward in a few days. She was as happy as happy could be and promised that she would do better in the future. He accepted her promise and let her clean up the aftermath in Black Rock City.
And lastly, the Insightful Swallow returned to Zhou Ziyun's saber in Red Bamboo Province. She should have been asleep so Chen Wentian was surprised to see her greet his return.
"Master, what happened?" She asked.
He shrank the bird phantom until it was able to hop onto her shoulder. He tickled her ear and proceeded to narrate the events of this evening, leaving nothing out. She was quite entertained by Lin Qingcheng's antics but the thing that caught her attention was the finale.
"Master, what do you think it meant by demon slayer?" She asked.
"I'm not really sure." He replied honestly.
"What about the Nineteen Demon Subduing Palms? Is there anything special about it?"
He shrugged, "I found it in a weird tomb. Other than that, there was nothing else."
He had never heard of that name before, especially from the mouth of a demon. The texts of the palm arts he found made no mention of it. It was simply a casual set of martial arts well suited for all kinds of foes, not just demons.
Zhou Ziyun strolled along the balcony and peered at the night sky, thinking out loud, "Demon slayer could be a kind of boogieman, something that demons are afraid of, kind of like ghost stories told to human children across the provinces. But… from the way you described it, its reaction was way too unnatural for it to be some common phobia."
She paused and rubbed his feathers, "Master, tell me, what are demons afraid of?"
"Demons? They aren't afraid of anything except death and stronger demons."
"Are they afraid of humans at all?" She asked.
"Nope."
She turned to him and spoke the next few words slowly, clearly so that he didn't mishear, "What about demon slayers? What if… there are humans that specialize in slaying demons? What if this Nineteen Demon Subduing Palms is the secret art of a demon slayer clan?"
"Huh?"
"What if it's true, that there is one thing that demons fear above all, something that is ingrained into their psyche so deeply that even the lowest demon dreg knows about it? What if this is a demon slayer?"
"…"
"And what do you think demons would do if they found out the existence of their most hated enemy?" She asked.
"Yeah... that won't be a pretty sight." He said lamely, the confidence he had felt before evaporating into the sky.
---
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