Seo-jun left the corpse of the demon behind and departed. He assumed that since the demon had been dealt with, the city's martial artists could handle the cleanup themselves.
Afterward, he wandered the area using the map he had acquired from the Hao Clan.
The map marked a total of six locations, and in four of those, he was able to find demons.
As expected of the Hao Clan—their hit rate was quite impressive.
All of this took less than a single day.
With his immediate tasks completed, Seo-jun found himself deep in thought.
‘What is this, really?’
The four demons he encountered this time were all minor figures below the Pinnacle realm. Yet, even for such small fry, Seo-jun didn’t possess the ability to control people with a single word.
However, they seemed unable to resist his commands, as if compelled by some force. Even when he ordered them to take their own lives, they followed through without hesitation.
Naturally, one might theorize that this phenomenon was unique to demons.
Of course, Seo-jun had done something similar in the past—capturing people, drenching their brains in demonic energy, and extracting confessions.
He had used that method a few times, but this was different. That approach relied on bleaching most of the subject’s consciousness with demonic energy, prompting answers that fit a specific question trigger.
This, however, was not something that could be wielded like an incantation or command.
‘I’ll need to look into this more,’ he concluded.
Although he had told Chun-bong he would return quickly, the tasks ended up being completed much faster than expected.
With some free time on his hands, he figured he could capture a few more demons for experimentation.
And while he was at it, he could also test out his new Mixed Origin Divine Art .
New Mixed Origin Divine Art
Despite the grand name, it wasn’t anything too extraordinary.
While dealing with the demons, Seo-jun found he could easily seize their martial techniques. All of their cultivation methods revolved around a reverse flow of inner energy.
Whether this was because their techniques were low-grade demonic arts or if most demonic arts worked this way was something he had yet to determine.
For Seo-jun, creating demonic energy wasn’t difficult even without using such a method.
Nonetheless, he had gained a set of demonic cultivation techniques.
Since the level he was aiming for in the future lay between the extremes of demonic and enlightened energy, his Mixed Origin Divine Art needed to evolve accordingly.
‘What was it again? Quantum superposition?’
Relying on vague memories, Seo-jun laid the groundwork for his New Mixed Origin Divine Art .
It was loosely based on the idea that multiple probable states could exist simultaneously until measured. Though the exact details escaped him, he borrowed the concept as inspiration.
Take Schrödinger’s cat, for example.
Is the cat in the box alive or dead? Until the box is opened and observed, there’s no way to know. The probabilities of both states coexist until observation confirms the outcome. The essence of the New Mixed Origin Divine Art lay in this idea.
In this case, Seo-jun himself was the observer.
Since energy ( qi ) exists both as a reality and as an abstraction, Seo-jun solidified only the circulation path of his cultivation technique without determining its flow direction.
At this point, saying that the flow of inner energy could be represented as a wave function would be nonsense.
Simply put, his inner energy could flow both positively ( forward ) and negatively ( reverse ) at the same time.
Whenever Seo-jun desired, he could solidify the direction of the flow.
In short, it was a cultivation technique that worked entirely according to his whims—a true My-Way-or-the-Highway Technique .
‘Simple enough.’
When Seo-jun opened his eyes, the soft light of dawn was breaking. Despite having stayed up all night, he felt better than ever.
He descended from the tree he had been perched on, where he had simultaneously meditated and created the New Mixed Origin Divine Art the previous night.
To be honest, the new technique didn’t hold much significance for Seo-jun.
He could produce demonic energy without being constrained by circulation paths. The only reason he had created the technique was to balance the extremes of demonic and enlightened energy in the future.
‘If I find a better demonic technique later, I’ll just tweak it again.’
It wasn’t a difficult task.
Feeling refreshed, Seo-jun stretched and organized his plans for the day.
Spread out his sensory qi while wandering around the area. If demonic energy was detected, pay the source a personal visit. Once the results were satisfactory, return to Hanan and pinch Chun-bong’s cheeks. A flawless plan.
“Let’s go.”
With that, Flying Seo-jun soared through the martial world.
Seo-jun had momentarily forgotten—this insane Central Plains was truly, without exaggeration, maddeningly vast.
For ordinary people to traverse the entire region, they would likely need their entire lifespan—and even that might not suffice. This wasn’t even considering the sheer audacity required to risk all the inherent dangers.
After three days of tireless searching across Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia without a wink of sleep, Seo-jun finally found traces of demonic energy.
It was in the western part of Gansu, near the territory of the Black Lotus Sect—a location suspiciously close to the Demonic Sect as well.
Of course, the Demonic Sect's main stronghold in Mount Tian Shan was absurdly far away, but this area was almost adjacent to Qinghai, home to the Kunlun Sect.
“Lucky.”
Perhaps this was a reward for all his wandering? Judging by the traces of demonic energy, it wasn’t just a single demon lingering here.
At least three.
If things went well, he could secure plenty of experimental subjects.
Seo-jun first used his Reverse Masking Technique to alter his appearance. Now, he wore the face of a dignified middle-aged man—Cheon Seo-jun.
Of course, since this was still orthodox martial arts territory, brazenly revealing his demonic energy would be outright insane.
He entered the town of Gulang County with deliberate composure, following the trail of demonic energy.
‘What is this?’
Something felt off. Demons below the Pinnacle realm weren’t usually adept at concealing their energy, yet the traces here were unusually widespread, crisscrossing all over the place.
It was strange that any decent martial artist hadn’t noticed this by now.
One of the traces led to the largest martial sect in the county.
Frowning, Seo-jun activated Moonlit Phantom Steps , blending into the shadows.
The sect’s grand entrance displayed the words Orthodox Mysterious Sect ( Jeonghyeonmun ) in powerful calligraphy on its signboard.
Discreetly, Seo-jun infiltrated the sect, observing its premises.
“Hey, once we finish training today, we should grab a drink.”
“That sounds great! But it’s your turn to treat, right?”
“Hmm... I’m broke right now…”
“Tsk. Fine, next time then. This time it’s on me.”
“Haha! Thanks!”
For a place carrying traces of demonic energy, it seemed like a perfectly ordinary sect. Just the right size for a small city, nothing too remarkable.
Puzzled, Seo-jun continued following the trail.
The demonic energy led deep into the sect, to a rather grand building that appeared to be the sect leader’s residence.
‘What’s this? Did the sect leader practice demonic arts?’
Seo-jun didn’t intend to kill someone just for practicing demonic arts. After all, wasn’t he himself a walking example of a martial artist who could easily make the Enemies of the Martial World List ?
He entered the sect leader’s residence.
The interior was empty. While there were traces of human activity, no one was visible.
However, Seo-jun’s senses detected a hidden space below.
‘A secret chamber, huh…? Well, that’s not unheard of.’
With an open mind, Seo-jun searched for the entrance to the hidden space.
Of course, he couldn’t find it. To be precise, he found the entrance but had no way to open it.
In the end, he had to use the ultimate skeleton key.
Shring—
Seo-jun unsheathed his sword and neatly cut through the floor leading to the hidden chamber.
‘Perfect.’
It was a flawless job. With some careful fitting, it wouldn’t be noticed immediately.
Sure, it might eventually be discovered, but by then, he wouldn’t be here.
Seo-jun entered the hidden chamber and carefully replaced the floor panel.
With a soft click , the chamber was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
He infused his eyes with inner energy, enhancing his vision until the darkness appeared as bright as daylight.
From deeper within, he sensed the presence of people. Maintaining Moonlit Phantom Steps , he silently approached. Soon, faint voices became audible.
“When exactly is it happening?”
“Soon. When the Heavenly Demon descends, the Central Plains will become a demonic paradise.”
“I don’t care about your demonic paradise. Where’s the item?”
“You insolent fool.”
Seo-jun observed carefully.
One man radiated the distinct purity of orthodox martial energy, while the other exuded the rough aura of demonic energy.
To his surprise, the demon was near the pinnacle of the Peak realm. That was no small fry.
“The item is here now. Have you prepared what you promised?”
“Yes.”
The orthodox martial artist knocked on a specific part of the wall. With a rumbling sound, the hidden space vibrated, and the wall opened.
Inside was a small room, where about ten people lay bound, writhing in restraint.
Having already sensed this with his qi , Seo-jun clicked his tongue.
“So, you’re a spy.”
The sudden voice startled both men. The orthodox martial artist froze in shock, but the demon reacted differently. With a swift wave of his sleeve, dozens of daggers flew out.
Shing-shing-shing—!
Seo-jun nonchalantly extended his right hand, pressing downward.
Boom—!
A massive dark palm, the Black Hand of the Great Demon , crushed the daggers to the floor.
“Demonic arts…!”
The demon glared at Seo-jun with wary eyes.
Seo-jun withdrew his demonic energy and instead activated Ice White Divine Art .
“Cut off your right arm.”
The demon hesitated, showing no intent to comply.
This time, Seo-jun stopped using the Ice White Divine Art and activated Mixed Origin Divine Art , emanating demonic energy once more.
“This is your last chance. Cut off your right arm.”
The demon’s body trembled violently. His left arm twitched, as if he might move it against his will.
‘So, it’s definitely related to demonic energy.’
It became clear that the higher the opponent’s level, the harder it was to control them. At the Pinnacle’s peak, the demon could resist quite a bit.
But that was all.
Exhausting all his strength on resisting the command…
Crash—!
With a casual swipe of Seo-jun’s hand, the demon’s limbs flew off.
It was a speed the demon could have dodged, but he was too preoccupied resisting Seo-jun’s command.
“Arghhhh…!”
The demon screamed in agony.