Chapter 1064
Thick blood foam flowed out of Dan Jagang’s mouth. His body was constantly convulsing as if experiencing unimaginable pain.
The sight was undeniably shocking for everyone. It was incomprehensible and unacceptable.
No matter how much Dan Jagang was in an abnormal state after being attacked by Chung Myung, Dan Jagang is still Dan Jagang. How could anyone understand and accept the existence who, with one blow, overpowers the terrible bishop that brought both Chung Myung and Jang Ilso to the brink of death?
“H…. How….”
Every time Dan Jagang’s mouth twitched, a bubbling sound of blood came out. Without listening closely, it was hard to even notice that something was being said.
However, the man in the white robes, Heavenly Murderer Demon Emperor (????(天殺魔帝)), smiled as if understood what Dan Jagang was trying to say. The sight of him smiling nonchalantly while his hand was plunged into a human body was chillingly etched into the minds of the onlookers.
“Are you asking how I am here?”
“Kkeu, keurugh….”
Heavenly Murderer lightly shook his head and sighed as if in pity.
“My child.”
“….”
“How come you don’t understand? You who doubted doctrines and Heavenly Demon Himself, why didn’t you doubt those obvious words?”
“….”
“Heavenly Demon has never told us that we should not head to Jungwon. He’s not the one who says such things in the first place. A man may provide food to the ants, but he never gives orders to the ants. Isn’t that so?”
Dan Jagang’s body began to tremble even more violently. His eyes, which had already lost their glow, unconsciously turned to Chung Myung.
Dan Jagang stared at Chung Myung for a long time, and then a trembling voice came out again.
“T- Then…. Then why….”
“Tsk, tsk. This is why an unqualified young man should not be ordained (?(位)) as a bishop. I wonder why Archbishop is in such a hurry.”
“….”
Heavenly Murderer smiled wanly.
“In serving Him, logic is unnecessary. What we want is obedience itself to Him, not the reward He might bestow upon us. Do you understand?”
“That….”
Dan Jagang, covered in blood, grabbed Heavenly Murderer’s hand that had pierced his chest.
“Keu…. Keueueuk!”
Then, instead of just holding Heavenly Murderer’s hand, he tore at his own body to pull out Heavenly Murderer’s hand. Dan Jagang barely escaped Heavenly Murderer’s hands in a terrible and shocking manner and soon fell mercilessly to the ground.
“Hoo?”
Heavenly Murderer burst into loud laughter at the sight.
“Indeed. So, you are worthy of the title of bishop after all?”
Dan Jagang, who had been groaning on the ground, forced his head up. His eyes, filled with resentment, glared at Heavenly Murderer as if he wished to kill him.
“Then….”
Dan Jagang screamed desperately with bloodshot eyes.
“Then for what! For what on earth did we endure all that time! Answer me, Second Bishop! We…. If it was not the command of Heavenly Demon, why should we waste our lives tied to doctrines that we do not need to follow! Answer me!”
“Hmm.”
“Answer meeee!”
Even after hearing that cry of sorrow, Heavenly Murderer’s eyes did not even flinch. It just sank even colder.
“Why should I explain that to you?”
“….”
“For a filthy apostate like you.”
For a moment, Dan Jagang had a dazed expression, as if he had been hit in the back of the head.
“Apostate?”
He spoke in rapture, like someone who had heard something he should never have heard.
“…I’m an apostate? I…?”
“You didn’t know?”
Heavenly Murderer smiled brightly.
“If you are not an apostate because you doubted the teachings of Heavenly Demon, doubted His divinity, and led the believers to Jungwon in violation of the doctrine, then who else in the world can you call an apostate?”
“Those, those teachings are false!”
“Who told you that?”
Dan Jagang was momentarily speechless and could not reply.
“Who told you all that was false? Have you even met Heavenly Demon in person?”
“You… you…”
Dan Jagang’s whole body trembled as he listened to sophistry that was not even worth answering. Heavenly Murderer took a leisurely step towards him.
“My child. You will never understand.”
Another step.
“Because you lost that opportunity forever. There is no way that someone who has seen God with their own eyes and someone who has not could converse. You will forever lose the opportunity to see God with your own eyes.”
“I am….”
Dan Jagang’s body collapsed helplessly. It seemed that the pain caused by the one word “apostate” was greater than the pain penetrating his body.
“I! I’m not an apostate! I have not forsaken my faith. You are not the representative of Heavenly Demon! My faith is only…”
“Shut up.”
Heavenly Murderer cut off his words as if he was tired of hearing it. At the same time, tiny black flames bloomed from his fingertips and flew like fluttering embers. It landed on Dan Jagang’s forehead.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!
At that moment, a very thick black flame soared, engulfing Dan Jagang’s entire body.
“Kkeuaaaaak!”
A desperate scream that could not be heard calmly echoed across the devastated land where almost nothing was left alive.
“There is only one death for an apostate.”
An emotionless voice flowed from the mouth of Heavenly Murderer.
“Die experiencing the utmost pain. Your soul will never be saved even after death. Forever, forever, hover in the purgatory and regret again and again the sins you have committed.”
The curse of hellfire (??(業火)), a punishment that can only be imposed by those who have mastered demonic arts.
“Kkeuaaaaaaaaak!”
The demonic arts backfired, burning everything about him to ashes.
Even Dan Jagang, who was once so formidable, rolled on the ground, writhed and screamed in the face of the pain. He screamed, hit the ground, cried like a child, and twisted his whole body.
No one dared to speak. Even Mount Hua’s disciples, whose only feelings toward Dan Jagang were hatred, could not bear to see the scene and turned their heads.
However, in reality, the only emotion in the eyes of Heavenly Murderer was cold malice. In the cult, unbelievers must be killed and eliminated, but apostates are treated as even filthier than non-believers.
“Guuuuaaaah! I, I am… I am nooooot!”
A voice filled with pain flowed like a wail from Dan Jagang’s mouth, who was covered in black flames.
Such terrible pain does not lead to a quick death. It is severe because one cannot die, and it is this severity that makes it hellfire. This is why it is used as a punishment that Magyo gives to apostates.
“I am….”
Dan Jagang’s body slowly collapsed.
“I… I… am not apostate… I….”
His raspy voice came out like a groan.
“Heavenly Demon…. Heavenly Demon…. Just why…. Just….”
“Tsk.”
“Why… my cries…”
Kwadeudeuk!
Heavenly Murderer mercilessly trampled on Dan Jagang’s nearly burned head and crushed it. Then he frowned and took his foot away, as if he had stepped on something filthy.
“Listening any further is repulsive.”
Dan Jagang.
It was an incredibly miserable death for the bishop of Magyo, who turned Hangzhou into hell and brought the world’s Chung Myung and Jang Ilso to the brink of death.
Heavenly Murderer, who gave that gruesome death, took his gaze away from Dan Jagang as if he had nothing more to see. Then he looked somewhere else.
Flinch.
The cultists in front of his cold gaze immediately bowed down with their heads on the ground. Everyone was trembling like an aspen tree. They trembled like aspens as if they had encountered a king of the underworld.
At that moment when Heavenly Murderer frowned as if displeased, Jong Nil, who had been prostrating on his belly, crawled towards him with his face down.
“E- Enforcer, Jong Nil, dares to greet Second Bishop.”
His voice was filled with desperation. The pain of losing Dan Jagang and the fear of facing Heavenly Murderer were palpable, but his desperation felt even greater.
“All of this is my fault for not serving the bishop properly. Please, Second Bishop, take my life as punishment for this sin, and forgive these people with a heart as vast as the sea! This lowly ones dares, dares, to make this request.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Jong Nil repeatedly pounded his head on the ground. But Heavenly Murderer just watched the scene with indifferent eyes.
“…Responsibility.”
Heavenly Murderer chuckled softly. Even at that faint, low chuckle, Jong Nil trembled as if struck by lightning.
“Is it because I entrusted the diocese to someone unworthy? The state of the diocese is a mess. How dare an enforcer even discuss responsibility.”
Jong Nil, who had no idea what to say, just suffocated like a corpse.
“No one punishes a hand for making a mistake by punishing the hand itself. There is no point in punishing an enforcer who is not even worth the weight of his hand.”
“….”
“There will be no asking you or the cultists to pay for the sins committed by the bishop. It would have been impossible for a mere enforcer to go against the bishop’s will.”
“Tha- Thank you….”
“But.”
Heavenly Murderer speaks in a voice devoid of emotion.
“Shouldn’t someone like an enforcer pay the price for not knowing the subject and discussing responsibility?”
Jong Nil’s pupils trembled. The moment Jong Nil barely raised his head and saw Heavenly Murderer’s slightly smiling face, he realized what he had to do.
“Heavenly… Heavenly Demon…”
He bit his lip and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Second Coming of Heavenly Demon! Myriad Demon’s Advances!”
Posok!
Then, Jong Nil crushed his own head with his hands in one swift motion.
Thud.
Instantly becoming a headless corpse, Jong Nil fell to the ground.
Heavenly Murderer, who was watching this with disapproving eyes, turned his attention to the prostrate believers.
“Return to the cult.”
“Se- Second Coming of Heavenly Demon….”
“Shut up.”
Everyone held their breath.
“Though you are not responsible doctrinally, the sin of following an apostate cannot be judged merely by doctrine. For thirty-three sunrises and sunsets, remain silent and reflect on your wrongdoing.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The cultists crushed their heads to the ground without an answer, as if they had not dared to go against his word. Then they all stood up from their position and started moving in one direction as if possessed.
With a cold gaze, Heavenly Murderer watched this scene and glanced down at his feet.
“Hmm.”
Dan Jagang had now become nothing but black ashes, a mere trace of his existence. A strange expression passed over Heavenly Murderer’s face. He cast his gaze towards Mount Hua’s disciples, who were very tense.
“Certainly…”
A voice tinged with admiration leaked out.
“Jungwon is an interesting place. No matter how much of young the foolish bishop is… I never thought a bishop would end up like this.”
He laughed as if amused, looking at Chung Myung and Jang Ilso.
It was at that moment that his eyes, which did not show anything particularly hostility, completely changed. The moment Heavenly Murderer’s gaze, which would not have been an exaggeration to describe it as gentle, locked on Chung Myung, it took on a completely different color.
“You…?”
Clear hostility and murderous intent filled Heavenly Murderer’s eyes as he looked at Chung Myung and the group standing guard. His face even began to show a ferocity he had never shown before.
Eudeuk.
The grinding sound of his teeth was chillingly eerie.
“Mount Hua (??(華山))… Is it that cursed sect?”
Heavenly Murderer’s voice growled like a beast, making even the heavens hold their breath.