WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈

Chapter 14: Nascent Soul Void Seal (元嬰神虛印)

──────

As I watched the Divine Maiden smile softly, only one thought came to mind.

‘Why is someone like this even a Return Seeker?’

Of course, the fact that they kept calling me big bro meant the soul inside was male.

Still, other than being physically female, wasn't their life pretty enviable?

They were like the mother of the Demonic Cult, receiving the worship and adoration of every cultist. They had no real political power, supposedly, but they were still the Demonic Cult's biggest celebrity.

The whole Hundred Thousand Mountains was probably their fan club. They had to receive extraordinary luxuries and treatment.

"Ah, I know that look well. You're wondering why a Divine Maiden like me would want to go back, right?"

"Hm?"

Could they really read my thoughts just from my expression? Maybe they did have the spiritual insight worthy of a Divine Maiden.

"You're someone who envied me for being the Mad Demon. Isn't it strange that someone as successful as the Divine Maiden wants to leave?"

The Divine Maiden's smile abruptly vanished.

"Want me to tell you about my daily routine?"

They twisted the Heavenly Demon's beard and smiled bitterly again.

"A Divine Maiden must, above all else, be flawless. So every morning begins with soaking in pure agarwood water."

Their eyelids twitched as though the thought alone sickened them.

"After soaking for two hours, it feels like the smell of agarwood is going to make my head explode. And that's only the start of grooming. Then all those Demonic Cult maid bitches swarm over me and comb even the hair down there... Ha... Fuck."

They trembled.

"Anyway. After that humiliating doll play is over, every kind of rite is waiting for me. You know how exhausting and boring rituals are, big bro. I have to keep bowing for two or three hours straight! And because I'm the Divine Maiden, I can't even eat properly!"

Bloodshot veins stood out in their beautiful eyes.

"And does it end at night? Absolutely not! The Divine Maiden's most important duty is still left! At night, I have to sit inside a black box and listen to the worries of Demonic Cult bastards. Every single day!"

Hm?

The Demonic Cult had a system like a church confessional?

"I had no choice but to kill someone! I sold my wife! I betrayed my friend! Even good things get tiresome after hearing them ten times! Listening to those confessions hundreds of times a day makes it feel like my brain is melting! I feel like I'm getting cancer in my heart!"

The Divine Maiden fumed resentfully, then gradually calmed down.

"I lived like that for three years without missing a single day..."

Seeing them barely regain their composure made me feel solemn.

A bleak martial arts world with no phone and no friends.

They had endured three years of the Demonic Cult's terrifying bastards mentally vomiting all over them.

They were called the holy mother, but in truth, they were little more than the Demonic Cult's emotional dumping ground.

"Sorry, man."

"Forget it."

They were obviously calling me big bro, but the overwhelming visual burned into my retinas kept numbing my reason.

Seeing them pout with their lips pushed out nearly made my heart flutter.

A chill ran down my spine, and I quickly looked away.

"Hehe. Pretty enough to be terrifying, right?"

"...What does it feel like to live as such a beautiful woman?"

"Like a flower that reeks of shit. That's how it always feels. To put it more directly..."

Their expression went blank.

"Like living as a younger sister you want to beat to death."

Ah.

I immediately understood.

Every time they looked in the mirror, they must have thought, Ah, fuck, I want to punch that bitch in the solar plexus.

The bitch who was only insanely pretty and ruined my life.

And yet, someone they couldn't simply hate either. Like shit-flavored curry.

"I think that's enough catching up. Big bro, let's talk business. We don't have much time."

"Even after confirming who I am?"

We belonged to the same Return Seekers’ group. Were they still weighing their options?

"If I were only thinking of you, I'd cooperate right away. It wouldn't be hard to put my seal on the Demon Muster Edict."

"But?"

"The Heavenly Demon."

The Divine Maiden tugged at the Heavenly Demon's beard again.

"No matter how I look at it, I don't think this happened because of you. If the Mad Demon had done it, there would be the chill of Demon Calamity Snow Domain somewhere."

I fell silent for a moment, and they glanced at the Heavenly Demon's face again.

"Are you sure the Heavenly Demon is dead?"

"Dead."

"How can you be certain?"

"The Absolute Demon Sword wouldn't fail to detect a fissure it could dismantle. Not in a living being."

I briefly explained what the world looked like when I held Silent Aeon Demon Soul.

"It's such a vividly living body. Is that really enough? If the Heavenly Demon wakes up, we're finished."

Smack!

"Then what? I can slap its face like this and it doesn't react. Is it dead or alive?"

"Come on. This is a martial arts world where they make jiangshi out of corpses. How can you relax over something like that?"

Then, without warning, they untied their ceremonial robe.

In an instant, they stood there in nothing but white underwear.

"Why are you taking off your clothes all of a sudden?"

"Divine power. If I keep my clothes on when I do this, they'll get soaked through."

"Divine power?"

"Let's make sure the Heavenly Demon is really dead. Afterward, I'll be bedridden for two weeks, but what choice do we have?"

"What?"

Clad only in underwear, they stepped behind the grand tutor's chair and placed both hands over the Heavenly Demon's forehead.

"Ah, fuck. It's been a while, so I'm nervous."

At that moment, their eyes began to emit a strange blue-white glow.

They no longer felt like the whining Galler from moments ago. They radiated a serious, imposing presence.

Fwoooosh!

Dazzling white light burst from their entire body.

At the same time, the temperature inside the hall rose sharply, and the dizzying scent of agarwood filled the air.

Just as they had said, the thin underwear was quickly drenched in sweat.

The mysterious, sensual sight made me swallow.

"Ngghhh...!"

A scream-like groan slipped between the Divine Maiden's lips.

Large beads of sweat streamed down their flushed face.

A considerable amount of time passed.

"Haa...!"

The dazzling white light around their body scattered like shards of glass.

As though shoved away by an invisible force, they tumbled backward in an ungainly heap.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

I rushed over, then froze.

Their face was pale as a corpse that had been dead for days.

Their teeth chattered as their whole body shook.

Their eyes were wide as they stared into empty space.

"What's wrong?"

I grabbed their shoulders and shook them.

For a while, they could only gasp. Then they barely managed to pull themselves together.

Their body was colder than ice beneath my fingertips.

"F-fuck! It's in there!"

"What...?"

"The Heavenly Demon is in there! Its soul is still perfectly intact!"

My mind went blank.

I couldn't believe it.

"It's just a little lifelike. It isn't even breathing. How is it alive? Explain it properly!"

"I definitely saw those huge, pitch-black eyes inside! Fuck, that was terrifying! What is that thing? The soul is definitely still there!"

I immediately forced myself to calm down.

Then I carefully considered the Divine Maiden's description.

‘This has to be...’

A separated state in which the soul existed but could not control its own body.

As a hardcore martial arts fanatic, there was no way I wouldn't know such a state.

A human's essence, qi, and spirit were naturally bound together with great force.

But once one attained supreme enlightenment and opened the upper dantian, the soul could leave the body and be reborn as an independent, greater existence.

That was the Nascent Soul Void Seal.

For short, it was called the Nascent Soul, a supreme realm.

"Could this Heavenly Demon have tried to attain the realm of Demon Transcendence, only to go beyond it?"

"Huh?"

"The realm of casting off the human shell, Shell Shedding. In other words, the Nascent Soul. You know it, right?"

"Ah, I know that! But then...?"

I nodded.

"That's right. Once you reach that realm, your existence is no longer bound to your body. You can no longer remain human."

The Divine Maiden's eyes suddenly went round.

"Oh! Then it makes sense! To somehow stop the Heavenly Demon from suddenly ascending to immortality..."

"It rolled its eyes back and held on, only to become trapped in a body it could no longer control."

"F-fucking jackpot!"

The Heavenly Demon's mind might be fully awake, yet it couldn't move even a finger.

Perhaps it had watched us pull its beard and slap its face in real time.

In any case, by our terms, the Heavenly Demon was now in a vegetative state.

Goosebumps raced over my arms as inexplicable dopamine surged through me.

Then the Divine Maiden's expression abruptly changed.

"So it's watching and listening to all of this, is it? You son of a bitch!"

Still wearing sweat-soaked underwear, they rushed at the grand tutor's chair.

Bam! Smack!

Crisp sounds rang repeatedly through the great hall.

The Heavenly Demon's face turned this way and that with every slap and shove.

It was one of the strongest beings in this world, yet seeing it get beaten like that left me with strange feelings.

I quickly looked around and grabbed the Divine Maiden's arm.

"Why are you suddenly doing this? What if someone sees?"

"Let go! You fucking bastard! You worthless little worm!"

I wanted to ask what had happened between them, but their eyes made them hard to stop.

Smack!

The Heavenly Demon took a blow to the back of the head and buried its face in the Divine Maiden's chest.

It looked strangely pitiful.

Was this really okay?

It was still the Heavenly Demon.

"You disgusting bastard! I swear! Even now, whenever I think about it! My whole body trembles! Do you know that?"

Only after the Heavenly Demon's expressionless face had been rocked back and forth rhythmically for a long while did their hands finally stop.

They smoothed their disheveled hair, then began to cry bitterly.

"Sniff... Hngh..."

They looked even more pitiful sitting there in sweat-soaked underwear.

Life was hard, and everyone had their own story, but what could have happened for them to treat the Heavenly Demon so cruelly despite that beautiful face?

"...Big bro."

They wiped their tears with a sleeve and looked up.

That beautiful face, smeared with tears, looked unbearably lonely.

"I really want to go back. I want to eat spicy pork rice bowls and spicy rice cakes, then stay up all night playing League of Legends at an internet café. Here... This place really is..."

The Divine Maiden began putting on the neatly folded ceremonial robe again.

Their movements were practiced and graceful.

A tiresome gesture they must have repeated thousands of times over those three years.

The sight of them putting the shell of the holy Divine Maiden back on felt more heartbreaking than the madness from beating the Heavenly Demon moments ago.

"I was... forced."

"Huh?"

Now, with a cold face empty of all emotion, they stared at the Heavenly Demon.

"By force."

Ah.

I could only stand there, stunned as though I had been struck in the head with a hammer.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried