Descent of the Demon Master

‘That doesn’t look so good…’

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly observed the human bodies getting into a messy tangle at the exit of the main hall. He reflexively frowned at this sight.

‘People will get hurt at this rate.’

The level of agitation these people displayed even surprised him a little. Gripped in the fear of death, these people had clearly lost their rational minds, judging from how they madly rushed toward the exit while falling ungainly, getting tangled with each other, and getting trampled on.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much anyone could do about this situation.

Shouldn’t they leave in an orderly fashion? So that the evacuation could be done safely and timely?

A suggestion like that could only be made when no catastrophe was unfolding right next to you. Who would think about being all orderly and the like when they could die within the next second or two?

Thinking about other people’s well-being could only be done when you had some leeway yourself. Nobody was generous enough to worry about other people’s safety when a deadly blade was thrust right under their chin!

The scene unfolding in the aquarium’s main hall was the perfect example. It was pure pandemonium in here.

The water level was up to a person’s knees. And the exit was only wide enough to fit maybe four adults running side-by-side. Yet, all the visitors filling the main hall were madly rushing toward that narrow passageway!

No wonder they were pulling, shoving, trampling, and even kicking each other to get ahead! Some were even trying to climb over the crowd to escape that way!

People fell after losing balance. But no one even bothered with something as simple as pulling those people up or going around them. No, the maddened crowd simply trampled past the obstructions, obviously not caring about whether someone had fallen or not in their escape path!

At this rate, someone might die from the stampede!

‘This is definitely not looking good!’

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow.

There was no denying that the current situation was as urgent as it could get. But the way things were unfolding strongly suggested that more people would get crushed to death from the stampede rather than drowning!

However, Kang Jin-Ho was unable to control them as he currently couldn't abandon his position. If he stopped plugging up this hole, not a single person in this hall would survive the deluge!

The erupting water would instantly fill that narrow exit and sweep everything inside without mercy. When that happened, corpses would flood out of the aquarium like fallen leaves carried away by a sudden downpour.

‘I need to focus!’

Kang Jin-Ho turned his head away from that sight. He shouldn’t concern himself with that situation, anyway. His job was to plug up this hole for as long as possible, even if that was only for one extra second. And this job was no cakewalk, either!

The force behind the water pelting Kang Jin-Ho’s body was almost equal to a fairly strong expert’s fierce strike. The problem here was that Kang Jin-Ho had to continuously withstand that strike… literally nonstop! The water’s destructive power was on another scale compared to a single attack from an expert.

To make matters worse…!

Crack! Craaack! Crack!

‘My footing is…’

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced. He must not retreat, but the floor continued to crumble underneath him. At this rate, the floor would give in first before his body. No matter how strong Kang Jin-Ho was, he couldn’t fully wield his strength without a firm footing.

If things continued like this, Kang Jin-Ho would be forced to press his whole body against the acrylic wall to plug up the hole. It should be doable in his current realm, but the task would also require several times more energy compared to standing on a solid footing.

‘How long can I last?’

Kang Jin-Ho calmly and coldly calculated his odds. Considering his strength, he should be able to last for a while, but reality wasn’t that kind. The reason? He had no choice but to continuously circulate his qi.

A battle between top rival experts could last for an entire day. However, that didn't mean these experts would constantly be using their qi reserve throughout the day. It'd be more like the case of spending some qi with each strike.

As an example, an exchange of moves lasting for around ten seconds should only see less than one second total of actually utilized bursts of qi.

The more an expert circulated and utilized their qi, the shorter that duration would be.

Once the experts testing each other out decided to get serious and entered a full-on qi battle, the lengthy battle could end in the blink of an eye… And this was the reason behind that sudden end.

But Kang Jin-Ho’s situation wasn’t like that. He was continuously using his qi without a moment’s respite. Without it, even his strengthened physique would not last a second against the intense water pressure.

It felt like a massive hammer was endlessly pounding against Kang Jin-Ho’s chest and gut. His jaw was clattering. His shirt was already turned into an unrecognizable rag by now. His toughened torso was turning bright red with every passing second.

‘This is no joke!’

The truth be told, Kang Jin-Ho… had underestimated this threat. He thought he could stop this disaster if he got serious about it. However, the force behind the gushing water exceeded Kang Jin-Ho’s expectations by a wide margin. So much so that a powerful sense of crisis even washed over him.

What if this water was allowed to spread out to the rest of the aquarium? Everything inside would get swept up in the blink of an eye. If enough water pressure was concentrated on one spot, even the thickest pillars would get blown apart in no time at all!

That could trigger a systematic collapse of the building’s supports until… The whole structure came crashing down!

Considering how tsunami waves could demolish buildings in their path, that scenario seemed well within the realms of possibility.

In that case, what would happen to the Seongsim kids?

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow even more.

‘Should I have told them to distance themselves further from this place?’

He couldn’t help but think that merely escaping from the building was no longer sufficient to ensure their safety. The shockwave from the collapsing building could easily injure anyone still nearby. Although unfortunate… Kang Jin-Ho decided not to think about the children for the time being.

They were no longer in Kang Jin-Ho’s hands, after all. He should trust Jo Gyu-Min to do a good job. So, he better focus on buying more time for those kids, and of course, the visitors inside the aquarium, to escape.

Even if this task was asking a lot out of him!

‘I gotta do everything I can.’

Kang Jin-Ho strengthened his grip on the acrylic. The already damaged parts structurally couldn’t deal with the water pressure. Only by injecting qi into the acrylic to reinforce it did Kang Jin-Ho finally manage to stop the hole from widening even more.

While sensing his dantian rapidly emptying out, Kang Jin-Ho sucked in a deep breath.

‘I need to buy more time!’

The ones fleeing now were starting off from the deepest part of the aquarium. Even if they ran at their top speed, reaching the aquarium's exit in such a short time was impossible. Unfortunately, buying them enough time was just as impossible, too. The rate of Kang Jin-Ho's qi reserve draining was faster than those people's running speed.

‘I never thought I’d feel the acute shortage of my qi reserve in a place like this.’

Even during his battle against the Crimson King, Kang Jin-Ho never felt his qi reserve was lacking. Sure, this amount was like a drop in the ocean compared to his heyday back in ancient Zhongyuan, but his competency in circulating and utilizing his qi was already at its peak. This meant he never really encountered situations where his qi reserve wasn't quite enough for the task at hand during this life.

As such, he never felt constrained by his lack of qi until now. However, who would've imagined he'd have to deal with a situation like this?

‘That’s enough complaining.’

If there is a problem, solve it. That was Kang Jin-Ho’s way. The gears in Kang Jin-Ho’s brain rapidly kicked in, and he began searching for the best solution.

He considered a few but quickly realized he realistically had only two options here. One was doing all he could before leaving the aquarium himself at the right time. Rather than a solution, though, that sounded more like an inevitable outcome. Not even Kang Jin-Ho could change the impossible fate, after all.

So, what would be the other option, then? It'd be… to fill up his reserve!

If something was lacking, simply fill it back right up!

If water was trickling out of a crack at the bottom of a pot, and this crack couldn't be fixed, the pot's owner should dump more water into the pot. Doing so might not prevent the water from leaking out, but the owner would at least buy more time until the pot became totally empty.

‘Will it be possible, though?’

The talking was cheap in this case. Doing it for real would be an incredible challenge!

In martial arts, ‘accepting’ something and ‘expelling’ it was categorized as two separate activities. Usually, an expert would cultivate and absorb qi, then convert it into their own energy source before utilizing it when needed. No matter how high one’s attainment in martial arts was, this categorization remained strict and unbreachable.

Even if an expert had reached a realm that allowed them to absorb some amount of external qi during battles, it was still impossible to do that and emit qi simultaneously.

In a way, it was similar to trying to inhale and exhale at the same time. Those two actions were different but vital processes for a person to live, but no one could physically do them simultaneously. It was simply impossible.

Even Kang Jin-Ho dared not try that as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor. In that case… Would it be possible for the current Kang Jin-Ho?

‘It’ll be difficult, but…’

But, not entirely impossible, either!

That was what Kang Jin-Ho’s gut feeling told him. Setting off on a new martial path didn’t dramatically enhance Kang Jin-Ho’s strength. However, the process of finding this path gifted Kang Jin-Ho with an attractive prospect. And that was…

The prospect of finding new, unlimited possibilities!

Even if something had been impossible until now, should it remain that way forever? No! If it had been impossible… Kang Jin-Ho should just make it possible!

Kang Jin-Ho slowly closed his eyes. His hearing was deafened by the dizzying mixture of loud noises. Meanwhile, terrible pain had almost taken over his whole body. He could vividly sense the water mercilessly pelting his body, plus the water level rising up to his thighs.

People screaming and yelling and struggling desperately registered clearly in his senses. Not only that, but he could also perceive the suspicious tremors of the aquarium building that warned of the imminent collapse.

However, when he focused his consciousness to a singular point… All these senses suddenly grew indistinct. Muffled. As if they were happening in another continent altogether!

Kang Jin-Ho was entering a state of stillness, where he was sinking deeply inside his own subconsciousness. To break an egg, he must first enter the egg itself.

So, he sank deeper into the egg, but…

‘Uh?’

Kang Jin-Ho opened his eyes wider. He was about to sink deeply into his subconsciousness, but something felt off, and… It was followed by the sensation of weightlessness akin to his body floating up into the air.

For a second there, he thought the floor had finally crumbled, causing his body to fly back from the water pressure. However, that wasn’t it.

‘What is going on here?’

Kang Jin-Ho could now see it. "It" being… His own body busy blocking the pouring water!

‘Isn’t that… me?’

Here was a sight that Kang Jin-Ho, who had climbed to the peak of True Demon in his previous life, had never witnessed until now. Actually, no living human should be able to experience it with their own two eyes! And that was staring at his own back without the aid of a mirror!

It felt like the world had come to a standstill. No, that wasn’t right. The time was still ticking forward, albeit at a crawl. In this slowed-down world, Kang Jin-Ho could clearly see himself plugging up the hole in the acrylic wall. And he could also see all the qi streaming out of his body.

But, qi should not be visible to one’s naked eye!

Something he could only sense until now had revealed its existence to Kang Jin-Ho's stunned eyes.

Various qi streams in this space boasted their own, distinctive colors. The chaotic main hall was now a riot of colors filling the air like steam or clouds.

This was… a truly spectacular sight! So much so that even Kang Jin-Ho felt light-headed from excitement.

Amidst this explosion of colors, Kang Jin-Ho could clearly see the dense, dark energy pouring out from both of his hands. He could even see the process of this energy traveling from his dantian to his arms and legs before being released outside.

‘Is this the so-called out-of-body experience?'

Whatever it was, there was no denying that something extraordinary had happened to Kang Jin-Ho. Perhaps this was the process of enlightenment often talked about in religions and cultivation?

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t really care what it was called, though. Whatever it was, he still realized how indescribably crucial this moment was for him.

This bizarre state surely wouldn't last forever. At its longest, it'd be only a blink of an eye in real-time.

Even if the length of time he had was shorter than what was possible to describe, Kang Jin-Ho still had to confirm everything he could.

‘Qi exists in all things.’

No matter how much qi Kang Jin-Ho had stored in his dantian, it was still a drop in the massive ocean compared to what the world possessed. However, what if he could accept all these energies freely flowing around? No, wait. What if… What if he could assimilate into these energies?

‘Things… will most certainly change.’

The world would change. And Kang Jin-Ho would surely change, too.

He'd acquire the power to finally free him from the choking, seemingly indestructible shackles called Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor for good! The shackles he tried so hard and racked his brain to escape from!

To make that a reality, he…!

Kang Jin-Ho approached his own body. When he willed it, the something that had left his body began drifting back to where it belonged. It eerily felt like he was swimming in the air just then.

‘I… I must connect it.’

His baihui point was closed right now.

The accepted process was to absorb qi through one’s baihui point, bring it down to one’s dantian, then expel that qi throughout the body when needed.

Kang Jin-Ho must take this stage-by-stage process and eliminate the stages altogether!

Just as Kang Jin-Ho made his mind up, qi in his body began circulating. Even if he was observing his body from the outside, they were still one entity. His body still obeyed his will.

Kang Jin-Ho’s firmly-shut baihui point… slowly was pried open. At the same time…!

An incredible impact force Kang Jin-Ho had never experienced before slammed into him.

With that, the world exploded.