Chapter 555

What was the demonic way?

Even if one put “demon” and “way” together, it did not mean the meaning could be understood. It was the same even when I recalled the principle of martial arts, that they followed natural order.

I did not know the demonic way.

How could I dare know something only Demonic Cultists could understand?

Even so, the Heavenly Demon had described it as the demonic way.

And, absurdly enough, I understood those words.

My martial arts reacted.

The principles and convictions in the martial arts I possessed.

They were shaken by that single sword strike.

What was different?

It was only one sword strike.

A single swing of the Heavenly Demon’s sword. From that simple, uncomplicated movement, I felt something.

Where, exactly, had I felt it?

Had I felt it from the black energy wrapped around that body?

If not that—

Then simply...

Had I felt it from the sword the Heavenly Demon had drawn?

If even that was not it—

Did I feel it from the thing itself?

Had I felt it from the very existence called the Heavenly Demon? I could not know.

I said I had felt something, but I could not explain where or how I had felt it.

It was alien and contradictory, but this was the truth. And there was one thing I could know for certain here.

The reason I cannot understand this...

Was painfully simple.

Is because my realm is lacking.

The realm I had reached was nowhere near enough. My level was too meager to grasp enough information to explain that movement.

It was a wall.

A wall too enormous and vast.

A wall that made me wonder whether I could ever dare reach that place.

That was the kind of wall it was.

Am I still that far away?

I thought I had climbed quite high. Transcendent peak. The transcendent peak, no less.

It was the first step into the level of an absolute master, a place others could never reach even if they spent their entire lives striving for it without talent.

And yet even that was not enough to look at that place.

Beings beyond heaven.

A being who had once been a candidate for the greatest man under heaven.

The strike such a being showed me was far too shocking.

“You seem to like it.”

WHOOOSH.

The black energy wrapped around my body disappeared. The demonic qi was withdrawn. Then the Heavenly Demon, borrowing my body, smiled as he spoke.

“I hope you memorized all of it. This is what you must reach from now on.”

[.......]

Reach?

That place?

This is a little too much.

What Yoo Cheongil had shown me and what the Heavenly Demon had shown me were different. Entirely different.

At least, that was how it looked to me.

“Did you memorize it?”

[I don’t know. I’ll have to try it first.]

“That is better than knowing nothing at all.”

Was that supposed to mean it was not a bad answer? After saying that, the Heavenly Demon closed his eyes.

That was when it happened. My soul, floating in the air, was sucked toward that place.

It was the switch.

When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to my own body.

“......Sssss.......”

I regulated my breathing. Was there anything wrong with my body? My joints and such did not seem to have any particular issues.

This is different from the other possession.

Last time, after the Heavenly Demon possessed me and used my body, I thought my whole body was going to shatter.

There had been a record of my entire body being wrecked for days because he used every muscle I never used.

After that, I had trained in my own way.

I had used the muscles I normally did not use and strengthened them a little. I had also worked ceaselessly to master the body-and-sword unity I had experienced back then.

Had that helped a bit?

Not bad.

There was no strain on my body. Granted, all he had done was a single sword strike.

“.......”

I raised the sword.

It was not the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword. It was just an ordinary sword I had been issued.

I drew it.

[Oh? You are going to try it?]

Just practice.

Only a quick attempt. Still, since I had gained something, I intended to try using it.

Would it work? I did not know.

WHOOOSH.

I drew energy up from my dantian. I applied demonic qi. As always, no matter how often I felt it, it was not exactly a pleasant energy.

Should I call it a fundamental sense of rejection?

Still.

I recalled the method the Heavenly Demon had used and attempted it.

Stimulate the spiritual energy and mix it.

I used the spiritual energy inside my heart. I tried to blend it with the demonic qi.

CRACKLE.

Hm?

The feeling was different. Friction arose. What was this? It did not seem like this earlier.

I matched the speed and the amount.

What was different? I tried a little more.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE—!!

The friction grew stronger. The energies collided with each other, and pain slowly rose. It tingled. The meridians inside me and the area around my heart gradually began to ache.

[Stop there.]

The Heavenly Demon spoke. Hearing him, I stopped.

[If you go any further from there, it will be qi deviation.]

“.......”

That was a frightening warning. Qi deviation. Even hearing the words was terrifying.

No wonder.

My meridians and everything else had been hurting, and if I tried to keep going, it would be qi deviation?

Clack.

I sheathed the sword at my waist and clenched and unclenched my hand.

“Whew.”

It hurt.

My palm had gone pale, as if all the blood had drained somewhere else.

“.......”

Looking at it, I clicked my tongue inwardly. Apparently, I could not do any more.

What was the problem?

I matched the speed and the amount, but they would not combine.

What was the issue? At that question, the Heavenly Demon said—

[I told you from the start. It is a matter of mindset.]

“.......”

[Even after experiencing the demonic way, you still reject it. That must be the problem.]

“It isn’t easy.”

Mindset, huh. Then what kind of mindset did I need to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts?

While I was thinking that over, the Heavenly Demon suddenly laughed.

“......Why are you laughing?”

[You rejected it so fiercely, yet now you are thinking about how to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts. I find that quite amusing.]

“.......”

Ah, right. I did not intend to become the Heavenly Demon, did I? Without realizing it, I had been thinking about it. What was I, an idiot?

“Whew.”

I scratched my head. It was night. I needed to return soon.

“......I’ll try this later.”

[Do as you wish.]

After hearing that, I moved to return to the residence.

My head was a little scattered. Was that why?

[It seems that “later” will come sooner than you think.]

I did not hear the Heavenly Demon’s words.

*****

WHOOOOOSH.

A field in the forest. Right after the person who had been standing there disappeared.

The figure who had been standing far away on top of a tree, looking down at this place, could not smooth his hardened expression.

“......How.”

Just how?

How in the world had this happened?

“How can he use the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts......?”

The white-haired old man recalled the young man who had just swung the sword, his eyes filled with shock.

An orthodox martial artist.

The monster called their irreconcilable enemy. Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil’s inheritor.

The inheritor of the being who killed the Heavenly Demon, who had been called the Sky and god of the Holy Cult—how?

“How can he use the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts......?”

An energy that held night.

It was called demonic, yet it was purer and more refined than any other energy.

The demonic qi used by Demonic Cultists was far removed from that purity. The limit of impure energy was clear.

That demonic qi ultimately could not reach the divine stature called the Divine-Demonic Body.

The only one who could reach that place was the Heavenly Demon.

Only the absolute figure of the Holy Cult.

Because the energy he used was the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts.

People in the world often claimed that was because of the Heaven-Slaying Star, but—

That is not it.

The old man knew. He knew that one could not reach the Heavenly Demon with the Heaven-Slaying Star alone.

Whether one could wield night or not.

That was the condition of the Heavenly Demon.

“How in the world......!”

How had that young man been wielding that night?

As the old man spoke, he rolled up his sleeve and checked his arm.

“.......”

Goosebumps had risen all over it. The single sword strike the young man had shown him. The moment he saw that strike, every hair on his body had stood on end.

“.......”

What had happened? That sword strike was identical to the one the former Heavenly Demon had shown.

How could a young man who had barely passed twenty do that?

He had been astonishing when the old man saw him. He was at a realm impossible to reach at that age.

The Young Cult Leader’s talent was astonishing as well, but that was of a different order.

......Just what did you raise, Yoo Cheongil?

What had that man left behind before dying and vanishing?

......Or if not that.

Could it be?

The Cult Leader.

Had the late Cult Leader left it behind? That possibility existed. No, if not that, this made no sense.

How does he have the divine arts?

The Heavenly Demon Divine Arts. The very thing whose loss had become a problem in the Holy Cult.

And an orthodox successor possessed it?

How?

Why?

His shattered common sense refused to recover.

His complicated mind and heated chest collided.

His mind had grown complicated for the reason just stated.

And his chest had heated because he had seen a future and hope.

......Perhaps.

Perhaps.

Perhaps the thing they had lost could be recovered.

Crunch.

He came down from the tree and landed on the ground.

The old man’s eyes pierced through the darkness.

“Bang Seongyeon.”

He called the name of the incomprehensible existence.

It seemed—

“I must meet him myself.”

Originally, that was an existence he should have killed today.

But this time, he would have to face him with a different intention.

*****

“Achoo!”

I rubbed my nose. Who was it? Was someone cursing me?

I wiped my suddenly itchy nose and looked around.

There was no one here, so what was that? At most, there was Yu Yeon. She could not speak, so I could let that pass.

As I was looking around like that, Poison Dragon came down from far away.

“Hey. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“......Excuse me?”

“It was you.”

“What was?”

I joked.

“You were the one who just cursed me.”

“......!”

But that guy’s expression turned strange. What?

“H-how did you know......?”

“......You really did?”

“.......”

This bastard really had? I was dumbfounded. I had just guessed, but I was right?

Was he crazy?

After staring at him in disbelief, I sighed. This was not the time to get into it with him.

“If you’re here, let’s go.......”

“Yes.”

I had to take the group and head back to the Holy Cult. It was the move for the next training session.

A day had passed, so the rest was over. It was time to move, but—

“Cloud Dragon says he isn’t going.”

“That’s what I heard. It seems his wound treatment still isn’t finished.”

“Hm.......”

Cloud Dragon was sitting out this training. Not completely, but he was injured and had to rest.

I understood that part.

In that case—

“What about Peng Dojun?”

“He went ahead.”

“......Huh?”

I had been wondering why Peng Dojun was not coming out when he did not seem injured. He went ahead? Look at that impatient bastard.

“......Then we can just go by ourselves.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

I took the group and moved. When we arrived at the Holy Cult, the people were already gathered.

But—

What is this?

For some reason, they looked extremely disciplined. They had not been like this before.

Finding it strange, I went in and searched for someone.

I found him. Woo Young Jin was over there.

I went up and spoke to him.

“What is this situation?”

“......Be quiet.”

Woo Young Jin warned me in a whisper.

What was this?

“Why? What is it?”

“An elder is coming.......”

“An elder?”

An elder of the Holy Cult? At those words, I recalled two people. I had met a total of two elders so far. Was one of them coming?

Around the time that thought crossed my mind—

“Silence.”

The instructor spoke with energy in his voice. The force in it shook the air.

“The elder is arriving. Close your mouths and take your positions.”

The Holy Cult members stood in orderly lines, their expressions tense.

Reading the room, I roughly took my place as well.

Then—

Step.

Footsteps sounded from far away.

Step.

I shifted my gaze. I could see someone walking over.

That person...

Was that the elder?

A white-haired old man. Someone I had never seen before.

While I was looking at him—

Hm?

The old man’s gaze turned toward me.

I could see a blazing look in his eyes.

......What?

Why was he staring at me like that?

He seemed like a very strange old man.

Extremely strange.