novelraw Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4:
1. Heavenly Demon Divine Art (3)
Jang-ho said he and his younger brother Mun-ha were scheduled to go on a hunting expedition into the mountains today.
Since he was bringing a large number of Cult Members along, Jeong-min was able to practice the Heavenly Demon Divine Art in peace.
Jeong-min finished his white porridge and sat back down at the very center of the room.
'My body feels much more fortified.'
Having eaten, he could definitely feel some life return to him.
Grateful for his mother's—and his brother's—consideration, Jeong-min crossed his legs into a meditative posture.
Then he focused his mind.
'Let's start learning the Secret Manual of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
In his past life, Muyeong had been unable to cultivate Internal Energy.
That had been his misfortune. Yet because he was born with Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven, he had no particular complaints.
If there was one thing he regretted, it was simply that Muyeong had never known what Internal Energy actually felt like.
'From what I've heard, it's as though a sixth sense is added on top of the five.'
Sitting cross-legged and staring at the manual, he mouthed the words of the Secret Manual aloud.
Just as Jeong-min's lips were murmuring the words, something suddenly bored its way into his body.
'Hm? This is…?'
Pat!
And Jeong-min was pulled into his inner mindscape.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Flash—
Jeong-min opened the eyes he had shut. Yet nothing was visible before him.
A space of complete darkness in all directions. This place was surely…
'Inside my own mindscape.'
Then, at one edge of his vision, a pale violet light began to swell.
Alone in the darkness, emitting its glow, the violet thing scattered like smoke before gathering itself back together and drifting toward Jeong-min.
Having finally taken on a defined shape, it seemed to be staring directly at Jeong-min's form.
"……I see."
Jeong-min uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet.
From the violet figure, Demonic Energy of immeasurable depth radiated outward.
Fortunately—perhaps owing to the Heavenly Demon's intervention the day before—he had grown somewhat accustomed to withstanding Demonic Energy. Though his skin still prickled with a stinging numbness.
"So you are the Demon Vein."
Goooo—
The Demon Vein neither confirmed nor denied it, and simply stared Hyeok Jeong-min down with unflinching intensity.
Hyeok Jeong-min's original soul had surely met its death at the hands of this Demon Vein.
Whether because of that or not, Muyeong now resided within Jeong-min's body.
It was sad, and it left a bitter taste. Hyeok Jeong-min—what agony did you die in?
"From now on, I am Hyeok Jeong-min."
‘I will have your revenge. I will console the pain you suffered at that wretch's hands.’
‘Because that is what I can do.’
Hwurreok!
The Demon Vein expanded its body and unleashed a torrent of Demonic Energy from every part of itself.
"-!"
Jeong-min's knees nearly buckled. Had it not been for Hyeok Je-un's support the day before, they surely would have.
But he held firm. Demonic Energy of this degree, compared to yesterday—compared to all the people he had cut down—
'Was nothing.'
Jeong-min straightened his back.
Within the mindscape, a single blade materialized in each of Jeong-min's hands. He gripped both hilts tightly.
"Demon Vein. You've had your fun. Haven't you?"
Jeong-min raised his sword high.
And poured into it every last bit of sword energy his mindscape could hold.
"Now disappear. You yeast-mold-looking wretch."
Chwaaak!
What Jeong-min severed with that single stroke was the Demon Vein—and the affliction itself.
Goooo—
The Demon Vein cried out in agony, then crumbled to dust, cleaved in two.
The dust began to gather into a bead. At last the bead clumped together into something the size of a rice bowl.
'The Demon Vein has condensed?'
Jeong-min's decision was swift and resolute.
Snap!
He shoved the Demon Vein's bead into his mouth.
The bead began to crumble apart.
Crack!
Crunch—! Crackle—!
Goooo—!
Gulp!
Jeong-min chewed the bead thoroughly and swallowed the Demon Vein down his throat at last.
And then.
Flash!
His eyes opened.
He was back in the real world.
"Huu."
Jeong-min's judgment had been quick, and in his estimation, accurate.
'I've made the Demon Vein my own.'
He had chewed it up and swallowed it. And so he had absorbed the Demon Vein as his own power.
He could feel it. The alien energy now settled just beneath the surface of his skin!
Jeong-min clenched and unclenched his fist. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art surged through his body of its own accord, and then at last—
Crack! Crackcrackcrack!
"Ugh. Aah."
Every joint in Jeong-min's body was reset anew.
His body had at last become one befitting the Heavenly Martial Physique.
'I've reached the 1st Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
Looking outside, he saw the sun had already set. Having achieved the 1st Stage over the course of the setting sun, it was a result achieved in half a day.
Ordinarily, it was said that reaching the 1st Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art required a full year. But Jeong-min had accomplished it in a mere half day.
'On top of that, I've made the Demon Vein my own power. My body has grown solid enough to match the Heavenly Martial Physique.'
Well, how about that.
He'd been dreading the thought of training himself to the extreme again just to reach Peerless External Martial Arts as in his past life.
'Perhaps it won't be so difficult after all?'
Jeong-min smiled.
He still didn't know how to wield the power of the Demon Vein.
But the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was different.
"I want to test out my newfound power."
He found himself smiling without even meaning to.
.
.
.
.
.
For the first time in a long while, the Heavenly Demon Cult had set out on a large-scale hunting expedition to Tianshan.
Hyeok Jang-ho rode at the very head of the procession, climbing up the mountain.
"Hyah."
Even as he steered his horse this way and that, one corner of his heart was heavy with worry.
'Jeong-min.'
When Jang-ho had learned that his youngest brother was suffering from the Demon Vein Affliction, he had wept for a long while.
When he heard that the young child would not live past Coming of Age, Jang-ho had wept as though the world was caving in—as though it were his own death being announced.
'The Demon Vein Affliction. The hereditary illness of the Hyeok Family. All those afflicted with it die without fail before the age of fifteen.'
He had heard it was not a disease that came often.
That it had fallen upon his brother of all people—Jang-ho had wanted to tear his own heart out, wishing that it had come for him instead.
'The Demon Vein Affliction is cured by mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. However, before the afflicted can master it, their body cannot withstand the Demonic Energy and they perish.'
A statement that contradicted itself.
Of all the ancestors of the Hyeok Family throughout history who had suffered from the Demon Vein Affliction, the only one to have overcome it through the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was said to be its founder—the First Heavenly Demon.
Every afflicted person who appeared afterward had died without overcoming the disease.
Without a single exception, across hundreds of years.
'Jeong-min. I had hoped you would overcome it. I didn't want to let you go.'
And yet, at some point—knowing he shouldn't—he had finished preparing to let go.
Consoling himself that it would be easier on his heart that way.
'And then, of all things—Jeong-min actually sought out Grandfather on his own initiative to ask for guidance.'
Had he not given up? Did he still want to live?
Then I must cheer him on. As his elder brother, I must root for my younger brother's survival.
'For that to happen.'
Jang-ho nodded to himself.
He wanted to feed Jeong-min—who was surely back home reciting the Secret Manual of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art over and over—a proper piece of meat, not grand but at least hearty.
'It'll probably take several months to reach the 1st Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. He needs to keep his strength up. There will be no failure.'
Failure meant death. So he decided not to even entertain the possibility of Jeong-min failing to achieve the 1st Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Jang-ho looked back at the procession following behind him.
"Come now, pick up the pace! Today we're going to bag ourselves a Tianshan Tiger!"
"Pardon? A Tianshan Tiger, did you say?"
"What. Do you think I can't?"
"N-no, not at all. Haha!"
Hyeok Mun-ha laughed awkwardly, but the words had hit the mark.
A Tianshan Tiger hunt—well, hunting a Tianshan Tiger infused with the venomous aura of Tianshan was a matter of an entirely different order from hunting an ordinary tiger.
Among tigers, it was the Tianshan Tiger that was called royalty among royalty. Referred to even as a Demonic Beast, it was an extraordinarily dangerous creature.
Still, marveling at his brother's daring, Mun-ha laughed along.
With this many people, it wouldn't be a completely impossible feat.
"Let's go, Brother. To hunt the Tianshan Tiger!"
.
.
.
.
.
Jeong-min had quietly untied one of the stud horses kept at the Heavenly Demon Cult's Main Hall, mounted it, and ridden down Tianshan.
Slipping out through a side path away from where the hunting procession would be traveling, Jeong-min dismounted and stood on the grass.
"Should be far enough here."
A short while ago, he had acquired the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. On top of that, his body was in better shape.
So wasn't it only natural to put it to use?
"Oh?"
Prruuu—
The stud horse refused to go any further.
Which meant there was a threatening creature up ahead.
Just as Jeong-min had taken a few more steps, crushing through the undergrowth, he suddenly sensed killing intent from the side.
"Come out."
At Jeong-min's firm words, something came pushing its way out from between the upright standing trees with heavy, deliberate steps.
It was a tiger. And an enormous one at that.
From its growling, it appeared to have gone without food for several days—seemingly because it had injured its front-left leg.
"You're hungry."
Grrr.
"So am I."
They say a hungry beast is the most dangerous kind.
A fine sparring partner.
'Come to think of it, I believe there was a distinct species of tiger here in Tianshan called the Tianshan Tiger.'
Jeong-min had not brought a sword with him today.
His only weapons now were his two hands.
Nothing but his two hands—capable of releasing Internal Energy through the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"I just want to see something for a moment—so why don't you come at me?"
Grrr.
"Right, if you win, you can chew me up or boil me alive—suit yourself."
Rrrroar!
The tiger leapt. Despite the injured leg and its weakened state, its movements were sharp.
But Jeong-min was faster.
'1st Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
As written in the Secret Manual—
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art, upon reaching the 1st Stage, allows one to accumulate Demonic Energy within the body, and also to release it outward through palm techniques.
'Demon Palm Piercer!'
Like this.
Thud!!
Jeong-min's palm connected just below the tiger's jaw.
The tiger seemed to hang suspended in mid-air for an instant—
Rrrroar!
Fwiiish—
Woong!
It suddenly spun and then shot away with a thunderous bang.
Bweoock! The airborne tiger slammed into a nearby tree and crumpled to the ground.
After a few more groans, the tiger stopped breathing.
"Ho."
This was actually quite usable.
'Or perhaps that tiger just wasn't particularly powerful?'
Well, it had been a starving tiger, after all.
If this Demonic Energy could not only be blasted outward from the palm, but could also be coated onto a blade—
'That would be the principle behind Sword Force Compression.'
Jeong-min's swordsmanship would become a swordsmanship imbued with Demonic Energy itself.
That's rather exciting, isn't it? So thinking, Jeong-min walked closer to the tiger.
It was clearly dead, but the force had been inferior to what the Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un had demonstrated previously.
"As expected—with only the 1st Stage, the same technique still falls short of the Heavenly Demon."
There was nothing to be done but train harder.
And close that gap. With this extraordinary Heavenly Martial Physique, combined with Peerless External Martial Arts and the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—it was possible.
Jeong-min found himself smiling without quite knowing why.
It was just then.
"Hm? What is this."
A strange energy coiled around the tips of Jeong-min's fingers.
Etched like a violet pattern, it remained only faintly visible at the very tip of his index finger—
From that thing resembling a tattoo, Jeong-min sensed a sinister energy of immeasurable depth.
'This is the Demon Vein, isn't it?'
What was this? This unmistakably alien power?
Could this even be called Internal Energy?
'I thought I had made it my own by chewing and swallowing it. Yet I still don't understand its true nature.'
The violet Demon Vein flickered several times, and then vanished without a trace.
The absurd sight drew a hollow laugh from Jeong-min.
"Right, so you're not the kind of disease that disappears so easily."
Well—it was the Demon Vein Affliction that had tormented the Hyeok Family for hundreds of years.
He hadn't expected it to simply vanish in his own lifetime.
"I'll find a way to use you. Your power."
It was a declaration directed at the Demon Vein.
"-!"
In that instant, Jeong-min sensed killing intent from the opposite direction and snapped his head around.
A pale blue energy was spreading across the whole of Tianshan.
What was this?
'My brothers are in danger.'