Chapter 275: Heavenly Demonic Divine Art (1)
The pieces in my mind began to fit together.
‘The three months when I lost consciousness…’
During those three months, Cheon Yujeong had become the Holy Maiden of a cult called the Heavenly Demon Manifestation Cult.
And the leader of that cult was Sixth Heavenly Lord.
I was certain that there had been some kind of deal between the two of them.
However, there had been too few clues, so I had not been able to figure out what that deal was.
“You seem to be in a hurry, disciple.”
“I’m sorry, but I think I’ll have to come back here later.”
Especially since time here flowed differently from the outside world, I had no choice but to feel more pressed for time.
Just then, Hwan Seong shook his head.
“Don’t worry too much. There’s still some time before anything happens.”
“……”
“More importantly, the more impatient you are, the less helpful it will be if you act rashly. You’ll have a better chance if you prepare thoroughly first.”
Hwan Seong’s words struck right at the core.
“As a veteran warrior, you should already know that well, shouldn’t you?”
“…I do. Exactly as you said.”
I came to my senses thanks to Hwan Seong’s words.
“Thank you for enlightening this foolish disciple, Senior Brother.”
Hwan Seong smiled faintly.
“It’s nothing. Now, let’s go see Master.”
“…Yes!”
Honestly, it would’ve been nice if those bastards from the Heavenly Reverence Illusion Clan had even a sliver of their ancestor’s qualities.
---
Last time I had come, I had only seen four people, led by the Head Disciple, Yoo Jeon.
But when I arrived again at the village of huts, all the disciples I hadn’t seen before were gathered.
“So you’re the youngest that the Senior Brothers mentioned?”
A sturdy young man with his entire body decked out in all sorts of luxurious ornaments.
Oddly enough, even his hair shone with a golden hue.
He didn’t fit at all with the serene atmosphere here, but I could tell at a glance who he was.
“Junior Disciple greets Senior Brother Sa Gumhui.”
“Hahaha! Good to meet you, Junior.”
The Golden Demon, Sa Gumhui, patted me on the back, and a faint static spark traveled down my shoulder.
Though it felt faint, the power was strong enough to pierce through my extreme-level body-protecting qi.
Ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to get near him.
‘Ugh!’
Seeing my reaction, Sa Gumhui awkwardly withdrew his hand.
“Ah, sorry about that. I still can’t control my thunder qi properly.”
The others gave wry smiles, as if they had expected this.
“That’s right. Senior Brother Sa Gumhui suffered a lot during his life because of that strange constitution.”
“Even after plastering himself with those control devices made by Senior Brother Hwan, he’s still like that…”
I blinked and looked at the accessories Sa Gumhui was wearing.
No matter how I looked at them, they seemed purely decorative. Were those actually control devices?
Sensing my gaze, Sa Gumhui burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha, well, I won’t deny that my personal taste is mixed in a bit. I like shiny things, you see.”
Golden hair and dark skin.
Flashy ornaments and a sturdy build.
Not now, but long ago, in my very first life, I had a memory of what such a combination was called…
‘Hmm, I can’t quite recall.’
I figured remembering it wouldn’t be of any use anyway.
The Senior Brothers I had already met brought over someone who had been standing awkwardly in the distance.
“This one is new to you as well, right? This is Junior Brother So Jeong.”
A figure wrapped head to toe in something that made it impossible to even guess their gender, save for their eyes.
The moment I heard that name, I tensed up slightly.
The Slayer Demon, So Jeong.
The one who, alongside the Blood Demon Ma Seoyeon, had spilled the most blood in the Central Plains.
While Ma Seoyeon had gained infamy through the brutal cruelty characteristic of the Heaven-Slaying Star, So Jeong had built a reputation purely through assassination.
In fact, calling someone a famous assassin was somewhat contradictory.
However, the number of experts who had died by his hand had piled up like mountains, making the name Slayer Demon unavoidable.
Ranked sixth among the disciples, So Jeong awkwardly extended a hand toward me.
“S-S-So Jeong… That’s me.”
“……”
His unexpectedly timid demeanor caught me off guard for a moment.
But only for a moment.
I smiled brightly and wrapped both my hands around his.
“Junior Disciple Jin Yeomyung greets you.”
“H-Hehe… Warm…”
Chill!
An eerie shiver ran down my spine as So Jeong gave a creepy smile.
However, seeing that there was no killing intent in that smile, it seemed he was purely happy to meet me.
Once the introductions were over, Head Disciple Yoo Jeon clapped his hands lightly.
“Now, it brings me great joy that everyone has met the new Junior Disciple.”
Everyone focused their attention on Yoo Jeon.
“Soon, Master will pass the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art to our youngest disciple. Let’s all return to our places and prepare to assist him.”
Prepare?
For some reason, the Senior Brothers and Sisters began to smile ominously at those words.
“Hehehe…”
“It’s been a while.”
“That slippery brat four hundred years ago had a nice beating. I wonder how our new youngest will hold up.”
“Uh, Senior Brothers? What are you talking about…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Because right then, a presence emerged nearby that instantly devoured the presence of all seven people.
“You’re here.”
Heavenly Demon Founder, Cheon Yuseong.
With an expression entirely different from when I had seen him at the Heaven of Sacred Spirits, he appeared before me.
The Heavenly Demon Founder looked down at me with indifferent eyes and spoke.
“You have yet to resolve the fate that has been assigned to you.”
“……That is…”
At that time, he had told me to complete the Second Heavenly Demon’s commission and come through the formal gate.
Observing me silently, he let out a slight snort.
“But I suppose it doesn’t really matter. No, in fact, it might not be bad to overturn the causality here and now. If you face your destiny in your current state, you might end up dying in vain.”
“……!”
“As I declared before, I will now pass the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art to you.”
The Heavenly Demon Founder spoke to the disciples.
“Disciples, prepare yourselves.”
“We obey.”
“We shall carry out Master’s command.”
The seven disciples cupped their fists toward the Heavenly Demon Founder and then began scattering in different directions.
The once lively hut village was now left with just me and the Heavenly Demon Founder.
He spoke to me.
“Originally, the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art could not be learned by anyone outside my bloodline. However, you have steadily cultivated Yoo Jeon’s Heavenly Manifestation Divine Art and altered your constitution. More than that, thanks to that insolent one using your body to wield the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art, you now meet the minimum qualifications.”
“Are you saying that… I have become a Demonic Divine Physique?”
At my words, the Heavenly Demon Founder gave a small nod.
“However, your aptitude is barely on the edge of being acceptable.”
A sinister grin spread across his lips.
“Although death of the body doesn’t exist here, the death of the mind is a different matter.”
For the first time, his usually expressionless face showed a faint, crooked smile.
“If you don’t want to become a living corpse, you will have to work very hard.”
I gulped.
Damn it, this was scary.
He didn’t even smile like that when he beat me like a dog back in the Heaven of Sacred Spirits!
“…I will keep that in mind.”
“The method of succession is simple.”
Swoosh!
A dark crimson, transparent sphere formed on the palm of the Heavenly Demon Founder.
It looked like the inner core of a spiritual beast.
Without hesitation, he thrust that sphere straight into my dantian!
“Guh! W-What?!”
Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of power surged from my dantian through my entire body!
Its magnitude was comparable to the vitality I had drawn in before—if not even greater!
“Go there.”
After shoving such massive power into me, the Heavenly Demon Founder pointed toward somewhere in the forest.
“The disciples will be waiting for you in turn. If you pass all their trials, the succession of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art will be complete.”
Flustered, I shouted.
“W-Wait a moment! Aren’t you going to teach me any formulas or chants?”
“There are no such things in the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art.”
No formulas? None at all?
“The essence of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art is power born from the fusion of a fragment split off from the Heavenly Calamity and the Earthly Sage. It is not something that can be built up through ordinary qi circulation.”
“W-Wait… then how did later generations of Heavenly Demons come to be…?”
“They merely awakened the potential dormant in their flesh as talent. If any formulas existed, they would not be for the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art but for awakening the potential of the blood.”
The Heavenly Demon Founder spoke with an odd look in his eyes.
“Rather, that ‘child’ created from my relic could be considered the true anomaly.”
“……!”
Come to think of it, the Heavenly Demon Founder hadn’t given Yura any formal instruction on the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art when I met him at the Heaven of Sacred Spirits.
He had only provided hints toward a higher realm.
“If you wish to learn how to control the power, I can teach you. But that will come after you pass the disciples’ trials.”
“…Understood.”
“Go.”
Without another word, I began walking in the direction he had pointed.
Truthfully, ever since he had injected that power into my dantian, I had been overwhelmed by the urge to let loose.
After I disappeared into the forest, the Heavenly Demon Founder muttered softly as he watched my back.
“He’s more promising than I thought. I figured he’d explode and die at least once…”
It was something that would have made anyone’s blood run cold had they heard it.
I walked along a path that had been endlessly cleared.
Even as I walked, I had to sweat profusely to suppress the wild, untamed power rampaging through my body.
Since the disciples were waiting in order, the first to appear had to be…
“You’re here, you little brat.”
“Senior Sister Ma.”
A massive clearing where the forest had been cut down.
At the center, leaning her head on the hilt of a sword planted in the ground, sat Ma Seoyeon.
She muttered with a hint of surprise as she saw me.
“What the hell? I thought you’d burst and die at least once, but you actually held out?”
She repeated exactly what the Heavenly Demon Founder had said earlier.
“Wait a second. Burst and die?”
“Usually, you can’t withstand the power that Master shoves into you, so you end up exploding at least once. That brat from four hundred years ago did too.”
“……”
I stood there dumbfounded, mouth agape.
Ma Seoyeon rose to her feet and drew her sword.
“Anyway, our little Junior. You’re itching to go wild right now, aren’t you?”
“…I can’t deny it.”
“There’s a simple reason I’m the first. You need someone to help burn off that excess power.”
Zzzzt!
Ma Seoyeon fully unleashed the power of the Heaven-Slaying Star.
A massive blood-colored vortex erupted from her.
‘Blood Demon Dragon Sword Technique!’
It was even more powerful and violent than what I had seen from Ma Jinyoon and Ma Cheolsu before!
Before I knew it, even Ma Seoyeon’s pupils had turned blood-red.
“First Stage of the Heaven-Slaying Star, Blood-Eyed Red Body.”
Swoosh!
She lightly swung her sword to the side.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
A massive wave erupted, sweeping away the nearby forest.
“This should be enough to handle our cute little Junior’s babbling.”
“……”
She was the very embodiment of a Blood Demon descended upon the mortal realm.
“Come at me. I’ll take whatever you throw.”
Clicking my tongue, I drew my True Star Sword.
“Tsk. I was hoping to hear words like that whispered by my lover, not my Senior Sister.”
At those words, a vein popped on Ma Seoyeon’s forehead.
“Y-You little bastard! How dare you say such filthy things to your noble Senior Sister…!”
“What are you talking about? Of course, I meant it in the sense of a partner in martial cultivation.”
“O-Oh? R-Really?”
In truth, I had meant it a little bit in the other sense.
Though my innocent Senior Sister seemed to have taken my words at face value…
“By the way, before we fight, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
“Your tongue’s long. What is it?”
I asked her the question that had been weighing on my mind all this time.
“Senior Sister Ma… do you harbor feelings for the Head Disciple?”
“…!?!?”
With that single sentence, the fierce and blazing aura that had been burning without hesitation suddenly wavered.
“Y-You little bastard, what the hell are you saying?!”
“I’d appreciate it if you could answer honestly.”
Back then, when I had witnessed Head Disciple Yoo Jeon’s betrayal at the ruins behind the Thousand-Day Pass…
Except for Jin Gwanchun, who had expressed regret, all the other disciples had hurled curses and insults at Yoo Jeon.
But among them, there had been exactly one who had said nothing and remained silent.
‘Looking back now, that was Ma Seoyeon.’
Not to mention the boundless favor and affection she showed Yoo Jeon.
It was obvious that she harbored special feelings for him.
“Y-You little bastard… Are you trying to launch a mental attack before the fight…?”
“……”
Ma Seoyeon took a deep breath, regaining her composure, and then glared sharply at me.
“Hoo! Sorry, but even if you are our precious youngest, I can’t reveal my feelings so easily.”
“…I see.”
Though, the moment she mentioned the word feelings, I had already confirmed everything I needed to know.
“Well, I do understand why you’re curious.”
Swoosh!
She pointed her sword at me as she spoke.
“First, prove yourself by passing my trial. I’ll tell you what you want to know afterward.”
“Fine by me.”
I hadn’t expected her to spill everything right away anyway.
“Here I come.”
Ma Seoyeon lightly swung her sword horizontally.
But the result was anything but light.
Blood Demon Dragon Sword Technique
Blood Sea Explosion
Once again, the wave of sword qi that had covered the sky reappeared before my eyes.