My Wife is the Demonic Cult Leader Chapter 179 : The Weight of Karma (5)

Chapter 179: The Weight of Karma (5)

Heavenly Reverence Hwan Clan.

In my past life, they were the group that betrayed and defected from the Cult at the final mont along with the Guardian Corps and the Black Gold Sa Clan.

Until now, I had never thought of myself as the target of that betrayal—but that was a grave misunderstanding.

"Perhaps… I might really have to erase the entire Hwan Clan."

The words I had once boasted in front of Cheon Jumyeong might now actually have to be put into practice.

‘Hm? This is…’

At that mont.

The Mirror of Karma erged in front of , humming with a deep resonance.

It seed that ownership had transferred to the mont I won the karmic duel against Jeok Rua.

As soon as I placed my hand on the Mirror of Karma, it shrank in an instant to the size of a hand mirror and settled into my palm.

‘This… might co in handy soday.’

Two of the three grooves carved into the mirror fra had lost their light.

Even so, there was still one remaining use left—surely, one day, it would beco my secret trump card that could save my life.

‘Just holding onto it fills with spiritual power… no wonder it’s called the treasured artifact of the Hwan Clan.’

Even if I rely kept it in my possession for a few years, I would amass enough sorcery power to call myself a spellcaster.

“Anyway, I should wrap up this situation and prepare to go against the Hwan Clan—”

“D-Do you really think… that is… p-possible?”

Suddenly, nurous cursed runes appeared, encircling .

“……!”

The cursed runes emitted a dreadful aura and clung to my entire body, starting to sap away my life force.

‘I let my guard down!’

I realized who the owner of these cursed runes was.

“Hwan Yul!”

Hwan Yul, whose brain had been overloaded and was unconscious until monts ago, had suddenly raised her head and was reaching toward .

“This is what I should’ve done to you from the start. I tried to be clever, and now look what happened.”

“You’ve realized it too late.”

Wrinkles and signs of aging began to rapidly appear on Hwan Yul’s skin.

She was clearly aiming for mutual destruction.

“Heh, hehehe! Even considering your abnormal resistance, ‘that body’ won’t be able to withstand all of my curses, will it?”

“……”

“Co now… let’s go to the underworld together!”

The cursed runes that had latched onto my body began to take control of my limbs and slowly crawled up toward my head.

I found myself in quite a bit of trouble.

These were curses imbued with the final wish of soone called the Grand Sorcerer.

If I couldn’t stop them now, then even if Hwan Yul died, her curses would continue to tornt my body and soul endlessly.

Just then—

“You can’t do that. Who gave you permission to take soone else’s disciple to the underworld?”

Along with that familiar drunken voice—

Swick!

“……?!”

Hwan Yul’s neck suddenly floated into the air, and for a brief mont, our gazes t midair.

“……Huh?”

Hwan Yul moved her mouth dumbly with a stupefied look in her eyes.

But a being with their head and neck separated couldn’t speak out loud.

As she retraced what had just happened to her, she finally panicked and shouted in her spiritual speech.

—Y-You… Lee Cheon-gun! Why are you here?!

Despite her outcry, the suddenly-appeared Master nonchalantly cleaned his ear and replied.

“Oh, you know ?”

—W-What wrong have I done?! Why are you doing this to ?!

‘Ah, I see.’

Right now, Hwan Yul wasn’t overco with rage but rather confusion.

Well, considering she didn’t know my Master’s true position, it would make more sense to her that she was being “purged” by her own organization rather than my Master having betrayed the Heaven-Defying Society.

Anyway, thanks to Master attacking Hwan Yul, the power of the cursed runes assaulting my body was rapidly weakening.

With curses like these, once the caster’s will falters, the power quickly dissipates.

Master walked up to with a triumphant smile.

“How does it feel, disciple? Being saved by your Master?”

—M-Master?!

I scratched my head lightly and bowed toward him.

“Uh… I’m grateful, but it might have been better if you had arrived a bit earlier.”

“I couldn’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be as thankful.”

—Master?! Lee Cheon-gun! What in the world are you talking about?!

“Ugh, so noisy.”

“……”

I sighed and said to Hwan Yul, whose eyes were bloodshot.

“Well, it turned out like this.”

“……■■■■!”

Hwan Yul’s face went through a series of emotions—shock, fury, disbelief, confusion.

So much so that she couldn’t even use spiritual speech, just flapping her mouth like a goldfish.

But her desperate struggle didn’t last long.

Only beings with non-human blood could survive a beheading.

Eventually, Hwan Yul’s vital functions ceased completely, and the old monster who had lived over a hundred years finally t her end.

Once all threats had vanished—

“How did you get here?”

Master pulled a gourd flask from his robe, having apparently found so good booze again, and answered,

“What do you an how? I ca because you can’t die yet.”

“What about the Heaven-Defying Society?”

“Like I said before, I only stayed there to find a worthy successor.”

“……”

I felt a tiny bit of pity for the Heaven-Defying Society for having soone like my Master as their number two.

“You might already feel it, but this is only the beginning, disciple.”

“That’s…”

“You’ll do well, I’m sure, but harsher trials are coming.”

Master spoke with a rare seriousness in his tone.

“The fourth one… is by no ans easy.”

“……!”

“There’s not much I can tell you. I’ll be away again for a while, so I won’t be able to help.”

“Where are you going?”

“To settle things with Grand Heavenly Lord. If I want to teach you properly, I need to free myself from these chains.”

To confront Grand Heavenly Lord, huh.

Surely, we’ll et again… right?

Sensing my unease, Master gave a sly smile and patted my shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much. He’s not that stubborn.”

“Who says I’m worried?”

“Hahaha, right.”

With a hearty laugh, Master gave a warm look before turning away.

“Well then, I’ll be off. Soone I shouldn’t run into is approaching. Doesn’t seem hostile, so you should be fine.”

Before I could even say goodbye, Master disappeared.

And less than a minute later, a man with a cold and stern impression appeared before .

“…Murder Demon.”

Murder Demon, who had supposedly left his post, returned only after everything had ended.

***

Murder Demon, So Munyak.

Despite being called a mad pleasure-killing maniac in my past life, the real man behind the na was far more complex.

Staring at the burning buildings of the Hwan Clan, Murder Demon spoke.

“You really made quite the ss.”

“It was self-defense.”

“Seems like all the dozen or so demon soldiers stationed nearby are dead too.”

“…?”

The demon soldiers are dead?

I had only faced a handful of demon soldiers who were with the Hwan Clan’s sorcerers.

‘Ah, Master must’ve handled them.’

There was only one suspect I could think of.

“Well, doesn’t matter. We were planning to dispose of them anyway.”

Murder Demon’s hollow eyes, which made it hard to read his emotions, stared straight at .

“Did you kill her?”

By “her,” Murder Demon was likely referring to Jeok Rua.

“Who knows.”

“Answer clearly.”

Pressed by Murder Demon, I shook my head.

“Death would be too generous for her.”

“……”

“See for yourself.”

I led Murder Demon to a certain place.

“Ah… Ugh…”

A woman drooling uncontrollably, reduced to a complete fool.

Her once dark hair, tinged with red, had turned entirely white.

“What… happened here?”

Murder Demon’s voice trembled slightly.

“She challenged to a duel of sorcery. And she lost.”

I hadn’t taken Jeok Rua’s life, even after the duel of karma ended in my victory.

Perhaps it would’ve been far kinder to simply kill her.

But after reading all her mories from the past, I couldn’t bring myself to sentence her to death so easily.

Even if I left her alone, she had already lost all sense of self and beco a husk.

It was the price of accepting the mories of my past life.

“I see…”

Murder Demon slowly approached and gently lifted her into his arms.

“I’ll have to start over… from the beginning.”

“……”

In Jeok Rua’s mories, I saw clearly how deeply Murder Demon had loved her.

Even if she had been brainwashed, she repeatedly trampled and ignored his feelings.

Yet now, even in this state, Murder Demon seed relieved that she had survived.

“With the Cult Leader’s consent, the main house will be closing its gates for the next few years.”

“…Is that so?”

I smacked my lips in frustration.

It wasn’t the worst outco, but it was barely breaking even.

Then, Murder Demon said sothing unexpected.

“I heard you’re looking for capable instructors to train assassins?”

“…?”

“I’ll send you instructors from the House of Slaughter. They’re technically not part of the main house, just guests, so their dispatch won’t contradict the closure.”

I was genuinely surprised by Murder Demon’s offer.

It wasn’t unexpected that he’d know I was recruiting instructors—after all, he was the head of the So Clan—but I hadn’t expected such goodwill from him.

“Thank you for your generosity, Clan Leader.”

At that mont—

Murder Demon looked up at the sky and let out a quiet sigh.

“…I already knew.”

It was a murmur that had never been expressed before—Murder Demon’s heartfelt lant.

“I knew that the woman who ca back to was no longer the woman I once knew.”

When Jeok Rua had been found near Shaanxi Province, it was already too late.

Whatever she had gone through, she seed deranged, recklessly attacking the pursuing unit.

Even after being subdued, she continued to spit venom at Cheon Taejong and our Cult.

“At first, I thought the trauma had twisted her mind. That with ti and care, she would return to how she once was.”

But that had been a huge delusion.

Twenty years had passed, and all Murder Demon could see was a broken clan and a ghost of the past consud by vengeance.

Murder Demon lowered his head briefly, then looked at again.

“Do you know who’s responsible?”

From the way he spoke of the “culprit,” it seed Murder Demon had also discovered the truth through so ans.

“Yes.”

“…I see.”

…Shiver.

Even if it was just for a mont, locking eyes with Murder Demon sent every nerve in my body on edge.

“I’ll step back for now—but my intentions remain unchanged.”

“…You an…”

“It’s unfortunate for you and the Jin Clan, but I intend to make Un the next head of the Hidden Shadow So Clan.”

Gu Chil… to beco the next Clan Leader?

This wasn’t just about using him as a disposable pawn.

Nor was it a typical successor competition with the direct bloodline.

“Prepare yourself for that reality.”

With those words, Murder Demon disappeared with Jeok Rua.

Just as matters with the Hidden Shadow So Clan were drawing to a close—

“Cult Leader, the Alliance Leader has sent a letter.”

Shortly after the Heavenly Cheon Clan’s Grand Assembly ended in an uproar, Left Guardian Il Ilcheon Salmujeong brought news from the Central Plains.

The Cult Leader casually skimd the letter and let out a dry chuckle.

“So he’s asking for the return of the Jade Green Heavenly Net Divine Sword…”

“It seems the Alliance Leader’s situation is far more urgent than we thought.”

“Where is that child now?”

In this context, there was only one person that “child” could refer to.

“He’s still diligently training at the Thousand-Day Pass.”

“Summon him here. And…”

After a brief pause to collect her thoughts, the Cult Leader made a decision.

“Prepare to send an envoy.”

“Whom shall we send?”

The person the Cult Leader had in mind was none other than—

“I’ll send the Young Cult Leader. And…”

One more addition—

“The youngest brother of the Jin Clan will accompany her.”