Chapter 35. The Heavenly Demon's Teaching (2)
First Technique of the Sickle of No Homeland, Serpent Bites, Phoenix Falls.
It was a technique that wrapped the chain around the enemy's leg, pulled them down, then struck from above.
I succeeded in wrapping the chain around the Cult Leader's leg.
Of course, he probably allowed it deliberately.
Still, I had successfully caught his leg.
That fact did not change.
“That is a technique Baekro used frequently.”
As expected.
He deliberately let himself get caught.
Then I would make him regret it.
“Hup!”
What the hell?
Did I wrap my chain around the root of some ancient tree instead of a man's leg?
He did not move even slightly.
Instead, I felt as though I was the one being dragged toward him.
“Your physical strength is weaker than I expected.”
The Cult Leader pulled his leg backward.
My entire body was suddenly dragged forward.
I almost fell flat on my face.
“Try dealing with this.”
The Cult Leader moved one hand.
Violent winds immediately surged from every direction.
I had never imagined human internal energy could create something like this.
“Can you still properly swing that chain-sickle inside a storm like this?”
For an ordinary person, it would obviously be impossible.
Any attempt to swing the chain-sickle would simply cause it to be blown away.
But Master had said something while he was alive.
My talent with the chain-sickle was even greater than his.
I was Bi Anso, a chain-sickle genius recognized by Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Ghost Baekro himself.
How could this be impossible?
No matter how violently the storm came from every direction, it was still something created by a human.
The winds looked irregular at first glance.
But inside them were unconscious traces of that person's breathing and habits.
The Heavenly Demon was still human.
All I needed to do was read the flow perfectly, then place my chain-sickle upon that flow.
“Oh?”
The thrown chain-sickle rode the storm and flew toward the Cult Leader's blind spot at incredible speed.
The wind created by the Cult Leader had actually increased the speed of my weapon.
However, the Cult Leader casually caught the chain-sickle coming from his blind spot.
At the same moment, the storm disappeared.
“Hidden Serpent Curved Shadow.”
“You know it?”
“This was the first technique your Master used against me.”
“Even this Cult Leader felt a chill down his spine that day.”
The Cult Leader flicked the chain-sickle with one finger and sent it flying back to me.
“You saw through the flow of the Wind Demon Formation and used it against me.”
“That was clever.”
“Your talent is greater than your Master's was at the same age.”
“Honestly, I never expected it to work.”
“But having it stopped that easily still hurts my confidence.”
“Did you truly expect to land even one attack on this Cult Leader?”
“You are unexpectedly insolent.”
I answered casually.
But inside, I was filled with excitement impossible to describe.
I was better than Master had been at the same age?
How many people under heaven could casually make a statement like that?
In the Central Plains, many people mocked the Cult Leader's martial arts.
They claimed even the Heavenly Demon was at best slightly weaker than one of the Ten Great Masters.
Of course, much of that was probably intended to damage the Heavenly Demon's reputation.
But plenty of people genuinely believed it.
Yet the Cult Leader standing before me had already surpassed Master in martial realm.
He was unquestionably the strongest person under heaven.
Did the martial artists of the Central Plains know?
A monster wearing the shape of a man was quietly hiding within the Heavenly Mountains.
“Enough.”
“Return to the pavilion.”
“Pardon?”
“It ends here?”
“Do you think this Cult Leader has nothing else to do?”
“I have already seen everything I need.”
I returned to the pavilion with the Cult Leader and sat across from him again.
It ended more quickly than expected.
But I could hardly complain.
The Heavenly Demon himself had personally exchanged moves with me.
“Can you tell what changed after your Body Reformation?”
“Hmm.”
“The power of my techniques increased greatly.”
“Almost too much.”
“Good.”
“You noticed.”
“And I do not need to tell you why that is a problem.”
The one word that described assassin martial arts was efficiency.
How could you use the exact necessary amount of strength and speed?
How could you kill the enemy without giving them a chance to counterattack?
How could you avoid wasting even the slightest amount of energy?
That was the essence of assassin martial arts.
It was also the essence of the Eight Thunder Arts of No Homeland.
But after Body Reformation changed my true energy into demonic energy, I could no longer perform my techniques with the same perfection.
Demonic energy was naturally rough and violent like a storm.
Every time I used a technique, the uncontrollable strength and speed slightly distorted its path.
I had to use additional effort simply to control the backlash.
That damaged my concentration.
The destructive force of my techniques had increased, but their accuracy had fallen greatly.
“It feels as though all this uncontrollable power is creating leaks throughout my body.”
“Against weaker opponents, it will not matter.”
“But against a true master...”
“You will be defeated without being able to respond.”
“The core of assassin martial arts is not strength.”
“It is accuracy.”
“The nature of my energy itself has changed too violently.”
“At this rate, the higher my realm becomes, the less complete my techniques will become.”
“That is a useless concern.”
“And a foolish one.”
“Pardon?”
The Cult Leader poured wine and took a sip.
“A martial artist's life is contained inside his martial arts.”
“You have lived as an assassin until now.”
“But do you intend to remain an assassin forever?”
“What do you...”
Ah.
It felt as though someone had struck the back of my head.
He was right.
I had lived as an assassin until now.
But I could not continue living that way forever.
I would become the Prince Consort of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
I would live as Wolyeong's husband.
As the father of a child.
The path before me was no longer the assassin's road I had walked until now.
It was the path of a man.
The path of the head of a family.
That was the road I had chosen.
“This Cult Leader has not accepted you as Prince Consort.”
“But regardless of that, you yourself decided that you would earn recognition as Prince Consort.”
“Then why are you regretting that you can no longer live as an assassin?”
“...”
“Does the position of Prince Consort look so easy that you believe you can reach it while still keeping a road open for retreat?”
Thud.
I immediately lowered my head to the ground before the Heavenly Demon.
“Thanks to the Cult Leader, I gained an important realization.”
The Eight Thunder Arts of No Homeland created by Master were undoubtedly worthy of being called divine martial arts.
But they were martial arts made for assassins.
Martial arts for people who became shadows and walked through darkness.
They no longer suited the path I had chosen as a man and head of a family.
“Tell me what you realized.”
“A person comes before martial arts.”
“Without people, martial arts would never exist.”
“Yet I was trying to force my changed self into the old shape of my martial arts.”
“I should have changed the martial arts to suit me instead.”
A faint smile appeared on the Heavenly Demon's lips.
Bi Anso did not see it because his head was lowered.
“At least you are not completely hopeless.”
“Remember this.”
“When an Overlord stands tall, all things bow.”
“I will remember that teaching.”
“Raise your head.”
The Cult Leader used Object Manipulation through Empty Space to lift a brush and ink.
He wrote something on a sheet of paper and handed it to me.
“Go to the Brocade Demon Library.”
“There are demonic arts inside that should match your martial arts well.”
Wait.
What?
He was allowing me into the Brocade Demon Library?
The place supposedly reserved for Demon Venerables, Demonic Clan Heads, and their successors?
“Your current status does not allow you to enter.”
“Find your own method.”
“I have to do that myself?”
“Do you expect this Cult Leader to clean up every problem behind you?”
“Since you already went this far and gave me guidance, could you not handle that one small part too...”
Oops.
Time to stop talking.
I could clearly see irritation appearing in the Cult Leader's eyes.
“I will handle it myself.”
“Our business is finished.”
“Get lost.”
“Your shameless face reminds me of your Master, and now I am irritated.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Of course.”
Bi Anso escaped from the Demon Fragrance Garden as though running for his life.
Left alone, Cheon Yugi sighed and rested one side of his face against his fist.
“That shamelessness is exactly like his Master.”
“How did Wolyeong end up with a bastard like that?”
“Haah.”
Cheon Yugi sighed and drank alone.
After several cups, he suddenly laughed.
How long has it been?
How long has it been since someone outside my own bloodline disturbed my emotions this much?
After fully mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, he gained the power to freely influence the world around him.
If he wished, he could split mountains and divide rivers.
However, that overwhelming strength and understanding did not bring him a sense of omnipotence.
It brought emptiness.
The movements of the world resembled small fish beneath the water, swimming desperately and becoming tangled together.
At first, watching them had been enjoyable.
Interesting.
But the interest lasted only for a moment.
Seeing through every change in the world meant eventually losing the ability to find any of those changes interesting.
A cold piece of steel shaped like a human, untouched even by the movements of heaven and earth.
That was the true nature of an absolute being.
Recently, however, someone had appeared who repeatedly threw stones into the heart that should never have rippled.
A shameless bastard appeared, tested him from every direction, threw stones into his heart, then ran away.
Strangely enough, the stone that bastard threw today created another ripple inside him.
But eventually, even this ripple will disappear.
The Heavenly Demon already knew the final destination waiting for him.
An absolute being looking down upon everything would eventually feel endless emptiness.
One by one, everything meaningless would disappear from his heart.
The cult members he swore to protect.
The sworn brothers who had spent their lives beside him.
Even the children so precious that he would not wish to see them hurt.
Eventually, every person and thing he valued and loved would disappear from his heart.
When nothing remained except an endless, perfectly still lake, he would step onto the path of Transcending Demon and ascend toward the heavens.
Yet somewhere inside his heart, the Heavenly Demon continued hoping.
Could someone destroy that emptiness?
Could someone prevent him from losing all interest in the world?
Could someone continue holding him inside the world of men?
“Originally, I thought that person would be you, Baekro.”
Baekro had been his only friend.
His only true rival.
He always acted outside the Heavenly Demon's expectations.
Every time they met, anger rose inside Cheon Yugi.
At the same time, he often found himself laughing without meaning to.
Whenever he met Baekro, the calm ocean inside his heart turned violent as though struck by a typhoon.
But Baekro had disappeared beneath the waves of the world.
Now someone almost exactly like him had appeared.
Just like his Master before him, Bi Anso was throwing stones into Cheon Yugi's heart.
Watching it was ridiculous.
Annoying.
And every time Cheon Yugi looked at Bi Anso, memories of his old friend returned.
What a foolish hope.
Even if Baekro returned from death, perhaps he would no longer mean anything to the person I am now.
Overwhelming emptiness surged over him once again like a tidal wave.
Yet the tiny lamp called expectation refused to disappear.
“Run as far as you can, Bi Anso.”
“Do it before I completely lose the heart of a human and ascend to the heavens.”
The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly and drank the remaining wine.
