Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation-Chapter 541: Demon Lord (6)

The world before his eyes flickered.

A silence as if taking a breath, as if lost in thought.

Within it, that strange form kept appearing and disappearing repeatedly.

‘This time it needs time?’

A moment ago it had reacted quickly like interlocking gears, but now it was calculating and judging like a person.

After a little time passed.

<Found!>

A sudden flash.

Startled by the sudden response, the Demon Lord leaned forward.

<Current location: northwest 320 li. Special entity detected.>

<Realm: Peak God or higher>

“What?”

The Demon Lord’s face contorted.

At the same time his gaze sharpened.

“Didn’t it just say ‘god’? Isn’t it a Demon God like me?”

He asked once more.

<Reconfirming... ▽>

It paused again.

This time it was longer.

<Warning: The abilities of this entity are immeasurable.>

A crackling sound.

The display distorted.

<At minimum Peak God. Upper limit unpredictable. Also, an entity not recorded in the system.>

‘Doesn’t exist?’

It was chilling. An entity unknown to the system. One not recorded.

Then the Cult Leader’s words came to mind.

The one he said a god would appear.

A warning he had brushed off upon becoming a Demon God. But now it was different.

<Shall I show you a model of where he is now?>

That simulation thing.

It had even started speaking first now.

The Demon Lord nodded.

“Do it.”

A swish.

A projection appeared before his eyes. No, a transparent rectangle that looked like a shadow.

Blue lines drew paths in the air.

It pointed northwest.

Pak!

The Demon Lord pushed off the ground and leapt.

The pinnacle of the Heavenly Demon King’s Step.

With one leap he covered more than ten feet.

However.

“Here?”

Thud.

Not far after, the Demon Lord stopped the instant he landed.

Only a hundred feet away.

Before a crumbling old earthen wall.

He discovered something there.

‘How long has it been here? It said 320 li just a moment ago.’

Cold sweat ran down his spine at the fact that even he, who had reached Ma-shin perception, had not detected it at all.

“Truly a strange matter.”

A deep rumble.

The earthen wall crumbled from within.

Black currents poured out like a storm.

“A Peak Demon, Demon Lord becoming a Demon God overnight…”

A rustle.

The shadow rose.

No, what had seemed a shadow was a person.

Earth Demon.

A gray robe fluttered in the windless space.

His pupils seemed hollow yet as if piercing everything.

“It was suspicious from the start, with heaven and earth screaming at you.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Each step he took sent spiderweb cracks across the ground.

It wasn’t mere weight.

It was the pressure of his very existence.

“A change that defies nature’s principles.

You meant intervention from beyond heaven’s way.”

The moment the two entities faced each other, lifeforms within a 6km radius instinctively began to flee.

Birds screeched up into the sky, and even underground insects crawled to the surface.

“How did you obtain that realm?”

The Earth Demon’s question.

His voice carried centuries of time.

“You answer first.”

The Demon Lord shot back.

Black demonic qi rose from his body like smoke.

“How did you ascend to the god-nerves?”

Crackle.

Their gazes collided in midair.

Sparks actually flew.

The smell of air burning permeated.

“As expected, you’re not the type to answer peacefully.”

The Earth Demon tilted his head.

“Then I’ll ask this: how much did that simulation tell you?”

“……!”

The Demon Lord’s pupils trembled violently.

‘It knows this ability?’

A secret entity gained through the grand method.

How could it know that?

“You… what are you truly?”

“Ah, identity.”

The Earth Demon snorted a laugh.

“What did that fellow say? Just ask.”

Swoosh.

The Demon Lord summoned the system with his will.

<How may I assist you?>

“What is that man’s identity?”

<Analysis complete.>

And shocking information poured out.

<Seol Hwi. A player formerly summoned by the system.

The 3rd Administrator of the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation...>

Silence.

<He is the one who killed you in a previous regression.>

‘What? He killed me?’

The Demon Lord froze.

He killed Demon Lord? A previous regression?

What on earth did that mean?

<Detailed information has been erased or lost.>

The Demon Lord was bewildered.

He hadn’t expected such an unexpected claim.

He raised his hand.

Confused as he was, it wasn’t important right now.

“…We’ll uncover it slowly.”

Whoosh—

With a single gesture, six shadows quickly manifested behind him.

Two young martial arts men resembling twins, both at the peak of Peak Demon.

A hulking man in black and a pale-skinned woman.

They had reached Supreme Demon.

And an old man with white hair and long beard, and a woman wearing a red mask.

Surprisingly, those two had transcended the Ma stage.

“Kill them.”

Pak!

The four figures exploded into action simultaneously.

The first was the hulking man in black, covered in red tattoos.

Having reached the Supreme Demon realm, his arms swelled and he used a blood-tinted, extreme technique.

“Blood-Demon Sky Burst Strike!”

Boom!

The pinnacle of the Blood Demon Martial Art.

As his fist cleaved the air, a red current spewed like lava.

The very air seemed stained with blood-red.

Shreeeek.

The second was the pale-skinned woman.

Mid Supreme Demon level.

Frost rose from her fingertips.

“Frozen Hell!”

Fssss—

One of the techniques of the Ice Cold Demonic Martial Art.

When she exhaled, everything within a hundred feet froze.

Blades of grass shattered like glass, the earth split.

A -100 degree chill surged toward the Earth Demon.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

The remaining two were Peak Demon level twin assassins.

They dispersed left and right like shadows—

“Heavenly Kill Ten Thousand Poison Needles!”

Shush-shush-shush!

Black needles rained down like a storm.

Each shot could pierce steel.

A thousand needles blocked all escape routes.

“Pathetic.”

The Earth Demon looked on coldly.

Then—

Slik.

He lightly waved his right hand.

In that instant the Demon Lord’s eyes widened.

“…!”

Thud! Crack! Plop! Thunk!

All four fell at once.

Among them, the hulking man died instantly, his heart pierced.

The hole was so clean that not even blood flowed.

The woman turned to ice and shattered — countered by her own freezing qi.

The twins had giant translucent obstructions hanging at their throats.

But they soon vanished.

Not objects, but constructs made of qi.

“…Are you playing around?”

The Earth Demon yawned and shook his head.

That discomfort transmitted to the two remaining fighters.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

The two left began to move.

They were certainly different.

They had thoroughly completed their preparations in that short time.

Wooooooom.

Something awakened in the old white-haired man’s dantian.

A Profound Demon.

A five-colored light that manifests at the Realm of the Spirit Machine.

“Absolute Supreme Demonic Arts, Five-Element Return!”

Kraaaang!

It was no ordinary force.

Lightning surged, flames swirled, freezing cold crystallized, darkness devoured.

An absolute qi where four elements fused into one.

Crackle! Rumble!

The sound of space tearing.

The atmosphere screamed.

But something even faster existed.

Peeeeet.

The woman with the red mask.

An Absolute who had reached highest of Profound Demon in Profound level.

‘That is…’

A speed even the Demon Lord found hard to follow with his eyes.

Not even an afterimage — only streaks of light were visible.

And he knew exactly what it was, because he had implanted that ability himself.

‘Nine Sound true Arts!’

A martial art that slows time.

No, precisely, an absolute divine technique that accelerates only oneself.

It causes absolute visual disorientation in the target.

And that movement was enough to threaten even the Demon Lord, who was outside the area.

Whoosh—

The woman brushed past the Earth Demon.

It was time split into dozens, hundreds of instants.

In that frozen moment, her nails grazed the Earth Demon’s neck.

The instant the temporal barrier broke.

Graaaargh!

The Absolute Supreme Demonic Arts detonated.

Lightning first surged, rending the sky, followed by bolts that spread like webs, scorching the earth.

There were scenes of flames erupting like lava.

Red pillars of fire shot up ten feet high, and within them a freezing cold could be seen.

The extreme cold collided with the flames, triggering an even more powerful explosion.

Kugugugugung!

The terrain itself was overturned.

Mountains collapsed, valleys filled in.

A radius of two hundred feet was razed.

Dust and smoke covered the skies.

“Is that enough…?”

The Demon Lord watched tensely.

The combined assault of two Profound Demon — and a perfect coordination at that.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

But the Earth Demon — he was still alive.

Not a collar out of place; no wounds, not even dust on him.

“Damn…”

A groan escaped the Demon Lord’s mouth.

When the great blaze subsided, the Earth Demon stood revealed, unruffled and with his collar pristine.

“You are truly pathetic.”

Earth Demon shook his head.

“What did you intend to do with such rookies?”

It was then.

Swoosh.

The Earth Demon moved.

There was no attack.

He simply walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back.

But a phenomenon inconsistent with his action occurred.

Shreeaaak!

The necks of the two Profound Demon warriors fell at the same moment.

They didn’t even know when they had been cut; he had only passed between them.

‘This time…’

It was invisible.

The Demon Lord’s face hardened.

“Not Peak God, then.

You are a Demon God too.”

It was intuition.

If he had pushed his perception to the max he might have detected it, but such a reaction proved the opponent was his equal.

“That damned simulation lied to me!”

The Earth Demon snorted a laugh.

“It couldn’t gauge the level of a Demon God, could it.”

“Ridiculous.”

The Demon Lord took a slow breath.

“Fine. Tell me.”

His voice soon calmed.

“I attained this realm through the grand method.

Strange Being Troops’s Current Manifestation Great Technique, a ritual that summons gods.

How did you obtain it?”

“I…”

Earth Demon’s gaze deepened, looking into the distance.

Then—

“I gained it through effort.”

“Don’t lie!”

The Demon Lord exploded.

Continued mockery from the opponent finally set him off.

“This is not a realm a mere human can reach through training!”

Kugugugung—

The Demon Lord’s demonic qi erupted.

Black currents swirled like a typhoon.

The Earth Demon felt the energy but approached slowly.

“I repeated regressions.”

“……”

“Died and was reborn.

Gained opportunities, then died again.

A hundred times, a thousand times…”

Thud. Thud.

With each footstep the ground caved in.

“Living like that, I succeeded.”

The distance between them closed.

Ten feet, five feet, three feet….

“So there will be a difference.”

The Earth Demon’s voice deepened.

“I mean the difference between a system-made fake and the real thing built with blood and bone.”

“Shut up!”

Kraaaang!

Multi-coloured light burst from the Demon Lord’s hands.

Absolute Supreme Demonic Arts.

He activated one more martial technique as well.

Peeeet.

Nine Sound Arts!

Two absolute arts activated at once.

Time and space twisted as he pushed qi into that fold.

“Prove it!”

The Demon Lord roared.

“That you are a true Demon God!”

At his words, falling leaves froze midair.

Drifted dust stood still.

The pinnacle of Nine Sound Arts.

He had completely frozen time.

And that was.

A moment of absolute time in which only he could move.