Chapter 3

Reincarnation of the Demon King (3)

How much of a waste is this body.

It took me two days to finally wake up.

There were so many things I wanted to say to Murong He, but when I saw his face upon waking, I couldn't muster any anger.

Perhaps because I had pushed myself too hard, my body was almost immobile, and it was difficult to speak.

Still, I wasn't particularly bored.

After realizing I couldn't move after I woke up, Murong He told me stories about the Murong family.

The problem was that he started with a lengthy history from the Xianbei clan, the origin of the Murong family.

The Murong family was a noble household from the bone, and they were very powerful.

I wonder how many hours he talked for...

By the time the gentle chirping of crickets signaled the arrival of night, the information I wanted to hear finally came out of Murong He's mouth.

"Our Murong family suddenly fell when I was about your age, about thirty years ago. At that time, our Murong family was still growing and was even surpassing the strongest family, the Nangong family, in every aspect. We were too complacent, like a puppy that doesn't know the fear of a tiger. The then Supreme Martial Hero was incredibly strong. The people of Central Plains revered his strength but also feared it."

Indeed, it's my story.

The story of Tian Jilin.

I was pretty strong, after all.

"And that fear grew so strong that the Nine Sects and Five Great Families gathered to hold a grand assembly at our family. At this assembly, the martial alliance, excluding the Supreme Martial Hero, planned to eliminate him, and our family joined them. Though it's embarrassing, he was just too strong. We believed it was the best course of action. But as a result, our family fell. We were utterly destroyed by the Supreme Martial Hero."

Ah... Ah?!

As I listened, I remembered.

The 'Murong family.'

I clearly flipped them over back then.

There wasn't really a big reason for flipping the Murong family.

It was because they lured me to the Murong family.

So, the conclusion is that I caused their downfall? I was born as the son of the family I destroyed?

"The problem was what happened afterward. The day after our main hall was destroyed, he came again. This time, he brought over a dozen subordinates and started to systematically destroy the Murong family. It was truly terrifying. He showed no mercy. He took all our wealth and massacred not only our troops but also the servants of the family."

What?

"We call that day the 'Murong Bloodbath.' We named it so we would never forget. The only survivors of the Murong Bloodbath were my uncle Murong Jiang, the head of the family Murong Tian, and the young me and my younger brother. We fled to the Pang family in Hebei, fighting for our lives. But not long after, he caught up with us, and in the end, the head of the family and my uncle were torn to pieces by that cruel and ruthless man to save us."

Wait... Me? Is he really talking about me?

I searched my memories from my previous life, but I clearly didn't have such memories.

No, really.

I didn't erase my memories, and I swear by the name of Tian Jilin that I never did.

I only lightly split the main hall in two; I never massacred anyone with subordinates.

"Fortunately, my brother and I survived and found refuge with the Pang family, borrowing their surname for a while. Then, when I turned twenty, the Great Martial War broke out, and our archenemy, the Supreme Martial Hero, died during the war."

When Murong He was a young man... it must have been about seventeen years ago, so it's been seventeen years since Tian Jilin died?

It's really awkward. Seventeen years, not twenty or thirty...

It feels like it happened yesterday, but it's been seventeen years since I died. I can't believe it.

"Jin, though he is dead, you must remember. The name of our archenemy is the Demon King Tian Jilin. You must hate him until you die and seek revenge even after death. Never forget this name."

It's definitely me.

Me.

The Demon King Tian Jilin.

No, damn it... but it's really unfair...

"Ugh..."

I wanted to shout that it wasn't me, but my body was too weak, and no sound came out.

Who the hell is impersonating me and destroying the Murong family?

I'll find out, even if it's just to clear my name.

Thus, my new life's top priority became clear.

'Catch the Demon King Imposter.'

* * *

The story Murong He told afterward was predictable.

Murong He took refuge with the Pang family, regained the Murong surname after Tian Jilin's death, and learned Dao techniques under the Pang family.

He opened a martial arts academy called 'Murong Academy' in Hebei, where he taught martial arts to children, and he got married.

Unfortunately, during this time, I, Murong Jin, was born, and the enormous medical expenses for me drained the support funds provided by the alliance, leaving us to live in this shabby place.

Fortunately, the academy is still operating, but it seems like a lie.

I can tell from his expression when he tells the story.

I have a keen eye for such things.

After that, I lay in bed for another ten days.

Once my body recovered somewhat, I secretly practiced the Outer Circle Technique again.

I recited the incantation of the Evil Name while lying in bed, in pain.

I might have really died if I hadn't known this.

"I never thought I'd be grateful to a demon king."

Recalling the face of the previous Demon King, Murong Jin smiled and continued reciting the incantation of the Evil Name.

Practicing the Outer Circle Technique, lying down again, and reciting the incantation of the Evil Name.

Days turned into weeks, and a month passed. The cicadas sang, and summer arrived. The leaves rustled, and autumn came. The sharp, biting wind brought winter.

And then, the fresh spring returned.

A year had passed, and Murong Jin was finally reaching his first goal.

"This should be enough now."

The goal was internal energy.

Although his body was still extremely weak and didn't move as he wished, his frail body was now full of internal energy.

Of course, it was full relative to his physical condition.

Due to the extreme Gu Yang Meridian, he couldn't even form a Dantian.

His internal organs and flesh could only barely hold the maximum amount of internal energy.

"It took a year to gather this tiny bit of internal energy... But from today, many things will change."

Murong Jin confirmed that his father wasn't around, sat in a lotus position, and gently placed his left hand on his heart and his right hand on his lower abdomen, where the Dantian should be.

"Breath..."

Taking a deep breath, Murong Jin closed his eyes and focused.

His consciousness penetrated his skin, entered his flesh, and stirred his internal organs, heading toward the internal energy hidden within.

What he was trying to do was to regenerate the 'Dantian.'

Ordinary people are born with three Dantians.

The Upper Dantian, the Middle Dantian, and the Lower Dantian.

Murong Jin, too, must have had all three Dantians when he was born.

However, due to the Gu Yang Meridian, the Lower Dantian was compressed by the immense energy emitted from the Middle Dantian, making it very small.

In this case, the Lower Dantian was essentially useless.

After exploring his body for a long time, Murong Jin finally found it.

The Dantian, compressed to the point of near extinction, deep within his body.

'I found it.'

Finding this compressed Dantian was already an impossible task, and even if he found it, there was usually nothing he could do.

Because the Dantian, unused for a long time and completely devoid of internal energy, was completely shriveled.

Moreover, Murong Jin's body had the Gu Yang Meridian, and the meridians connected to the Lower Dantian were all severed.

But who is Murong Jin now?

The former Supreme Martial Hero and the notorious Demon King.

There was nothing impossible for him.

He only moved forward.

Murong Jin started to practice the Outer Circle Technique with his left hand, which was placed on his heart.

The Outer Circle Technique, activated by placing his hand on his chest, stimulated the Middle Dantian, and an immense energy surged from the Middle Dantian, being drawn into his fingertips.

This energy then moved through his wrist, arm, and shoulder to his right arm.

The movement of the energy, which pressed all the acupoints in his arm, caused immense pain, but Murong Jin only bit his lip slightly and showed no significant reaction.

The energy gathered in his right hand and was then forcefully shot toward the Lower Dantian he had previously located.

What he was doing was, in a word, insane.

No, even a madman wouldn't do this.

What Murong Jin was thinking was "Yi Yi Zhi Yi" (以夷制夷), which means "using the barbarians to control the barbarians." He intended to push away the immense energy compressing his Dantian with more energy.

It sounds easy, but it was truly a mad act.

If the two energies combined, the resulting energy would become even more powerful, further compressing the Dantian, and Murong Jin would die.

Even if he succeeded in pushing it away, the two energies would repel each other, causing a massive shock, and Murong Jin would suffer terrible pain.

The success rate was less than ten percent, and failure meant death.

The energy moved from his right hand and gathered in front of the Lower Dantian at an incredible speed. Soon, it met the immense energy.

The energy began to clash, causing excruciating pain as if his internal organs were burning.

Surprisingly, the two energies did not mix.

The centrifugal force of the Outer Circle Technique and the internal energy scattered in his internal organs surrounded the energy, and the roughly rotating energy began to push away the energy compressing the Dantian.

"Ugh..."

Murong Jin was drenched in cold sweat from the terrible pain, but he didn't stop.

He endured the pain of burning internal organs and continued to practice the Outer Circle Technique. While the energy pushed away the immense energy, he quickly moved the internal energy that was spread throughout his body.

The internal energy, which was hanging on the skin and flesh, began to fall off one by one and gradually gathered in the Lower Dantian.

However, because the meridians were severed, the internal energy could not use the acupoints, so it had to move from flesh to flesh, which was extremely slow.

After one, two, and three hours...

When Murong Jin was almost in a state of unconsciousness.

Finally, light spread before his eyes.

The Dantian, which began to expand by accepting the gathered internal energy.

And just as the small Dantian was about to return to its original form.

Murong Jin realized.

"Ah!"

A stream of exclamation and a burst of white light from his eyes.

After a moment, when the light faded.

Murong Jin was slowly getting up from his seat.

Murong Jin, who would normally groan for a long time before getting up, now got up as if nothing had happened and even stretched.

"Ahhh! Yeah... I'm the one. This is what I'm supposed to be."

Murong Jin's face, which was beaming with a smile, was full of vitality that had never been seen before.

"Mad Demon Tian Jilin! Resurrection."