novelraw Chapter 1 : To Regress
Chapter 1 : To Regress
If life were divided solely into success and failure, my life would be a failure.
To be a bit more specific, the early and middle parts of my life could be considered quite successful. But the latter half was a complete wreck.
Though I now walk the streets in this beggar's state, drinking my life away, there was a time when I sat in a position above all others, a time when everyone looked up at me with eyes full of awe, respect, and envy.
Who was I, you ask? You might not believe me if I introduce myself now, but I was once the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the very cult that ushered in the current Great Demonic Era... or so I was.
The Heavenly Demon Cult, through the victory in the Great War of Righteousness and Demons initiated by the previous-previous Lord, the World-Dominating Heavenly Demon, achieved the feat of seizing the lands north of the Yangtze River, which had been the territory of the Orthodox Faction.
It was a victory that marked the dawn of the Great Demonic Era, the first time the Heavenly Demon Cult's flag was planted in the heart of the Central Plains, breaking free from the foreign lands of Xinjiang.
And the next Lord, the Soul-Stealing Heavenly Demon, further expanded upon the achievements of the World-Dominating Heavenly Demon.
It had even reached a point where moving from Jiangnan to Jiangbei became a trend of sorts.
I was the next successor in the Demonic Era led by that Soul-Stealing Heavenly Demon.
I stood in a position higher than anyone else, a position from which I looked down on everyone.
Back then, I was arrogant and haughty, and I had more than enough ability to justify it.
After all, it was I who, at the tender age of twenty, became the youngest-ever Transcendent Master in the history of the martial world.
I, too, had no doubt that I would be the protagonist of the next era.
But no one at the time could have known that this, the most brilliant moment of my life, was also when the most miserable time was approaching.
The Demonic Zenith.
A realm often described as the dream for those who practice demonic arts.
The Demonic Zenith, a state equivalent to the Enlightenment Realm for orthodox arts, is also called the pinnacle of demonic arts.
The Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult, who reached the Transcendent Realm at the age of twenty.
Everyone predicted that I would reach the Demonic Zenith. I, too, believed it without a doubt.
But no matter how hard I tried, I could not surpass the Transcendent Realm.
At that time, to reach the Demonic Zenith, I used every means available to me as the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult, which occupied one-third of the Central Plains.
I consumed every kind of spiritual elixir there was and studied every divine art I could find.
But nothing could lead me to the Demonic Zenith.
As time passed, the way people looked at me gradually changed.
Gazes of awe turned to disbelief.
Gazes of envy turned to ridicule.
However, since the Transcendent Realm was not, in fact, a low level, no one dared to mock me openly to my face.
The problem was that my position was that of the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the hegemon north of the Yangtze River.
And then, the foreseen tragedy arrived.
The 28th Lord.
A single girl brought by the Soul-Stealing Heavenly Demon, who had led the Great Demonic Era to a time of great peace.
That child followed the same path of glory that I had walked. No! To be honest, she was superior to me in every way.
She reached the Transcendent Realm before the age of twenty and then, in just five years, performed the astonishing feat of reaching the Demonic Zenith.
She was nothing short of a monster.
After that child reached the Transcendent Realm, I did every petty thing I could to protect my position.
Before that, my relationship with her could be said to have been quite good. She followed me quite well, too.
But my sudden change in behavior must have felt like a severe betrayal to her, as the way she looked at me changed from that point on.
And finally, that day came.
There cannot be two masters of the Heavenly Demon Cult under the heavens.
The Young Lord succession contest.
That day, I fed her a deadly poison. She, knowing full well that what she was consuming was poisoned, drank every drop of the poison I gave her.
Watching that, I sneered inwardly, certain of my victory.
But that day, I was miserably defeated.
It was on that day I realized that in this world, there exists a heaven above the heavens that can never be surpassed.
As her sword pierced my dantian, I realized that all this time, I, a mere mortal, had been envying, jealous of, and competing with a being of the Heaven Beyond Heavens, a being beyond all comparison.
Thus, I was stripped of everything I possessed and cast out of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Five years have already passed since I started living as a commoner with a shattered dantian.
What was once a brilliant past now seems like nothing but vanity to my present self.
The position of Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult was simply never mine to begin with.
The price for coveting a position I could never have reached was something I could only realize after falling from the tree and having my whole body broken.
"What the hell was that all about, that I was so attached to it. Hiccup!"
Today, too, after squandering all the money I earned for the day on alcohol, I walked down the street and looked up at the sky, which was, as it was yesterday, so damn brilliantly radiant.
Why couldn't I see things like this back then?
"This is good! This is life! Ahhh!"
As I tilted the cheap bamboo leaf liquor and took a swig, a burning sensation ran down my throat, and a dizzying feeling pulsed through my entire body.
"Cough!"
When I coughed, a faint trace of blood came up. It was a disease-like condition that had developed when my dantian was shattered.
"Heh heh. Still, at least I'm alive! Shit! Suddenly feel like taking a piss."
While walking along the street, I lowered my trousers without any hesitation.
A shameful act I would never have imagined in the past.
"What a piss stream!"
Drip, drip.
Contrary to the words I uttered, perhaps because of my damn broken dantian, half of the piss ended up on my pants.
"Heh heh! Dammit."
With a self-mocking laugh, I pulled up my trousers and once again staggered through the empty night streets, drinking the bamboo leaf liquor.
And so, I thought another wretched day was coming to an end.
"The full moon is damn bright!"
The full moon in the sky was faintly illuminating the night streets.
At that moment, shadows began to form everywhere.
Though my dantian was broken and I was in a worse state than a commoner, I was once the body of the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
I knew what this sticky and viscous feeling emanating from all directions was.
At the very least.
An extremely potent killing intent that could only be exuded by those who had killed at least a hundred people.
And the target of that killing intent was me.
Stab- squelch!
"There again! It's already broken. Heh heh. By the way, you bastards! I was wondering when you'd show up."
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
Starting with the first sword that pierced my abdomen, a second sword pierced my right leg.
Then a third sword pierced my left leg, a fourth my right arm, a fifth my left arm, and a sixth sword-
Stabbed my heart.
"Cough!"
I collapsed right there on the spot.
"Heh heh. You fucking bastards. If you were going to kill me anyway, you should have done it the day I was kicked out of the cult. Then I wouldn't have had to endure this miserable life for five years before going. Cough!"
Breathing became difficult.
All the strength drained from my body.
Rustle.
Just then, my hearing, which was the last sense to go, caught the sound of footsteps lighter than those of an adult man.
I felt someone embrace my body.
I wanted to open my eyes, but I didn't even have the strength to lift my eyelids. But there was no way I wouldn't know whose embrace this was.
"Heh heh. To think you would grace me with your presence just to confirm. I am overwhelmed by your grace."
I squeezed out all my remaining strength to voice my twisted heart.
Something wet, like water, fell onto my face.
It must be raining.
I mustered my last remaining strength and raised my hand to confirm the identity of the being who had personally come to witness my death.
A face small enough to fit in one hand was caressed.
My arm slowly fell.
The tip of my index finger brushed past an eye as large as a marble.
The tip of my middle finger, a sharp nose.
My ring finger, lips of a moderate thickness.
My little finger, a slender neckline.
As expected, the person was my one and only junior sister, the very being who had dragged me down to the depths of hell.
I spoke to her.
"Young Lord. You have done well."
Because if I were in the opposite position, I would have done the same.
No matter how much of a cripple I had become, if a being who could one day threaten my position was still alive. Of course, I wouldn't have waited for five years.
And so, I was finally able to end my life, a life that was, in its own way, brilliant and had shone brightly, if only for a very brief moment.
* * *
"Waaah!"
"Waaaaah! Mommyyyy!"
"Bwaaah!"
This goddamn crying was the kind of sound I could never forget in my life.
Because this was the very place where I had my first, nonsensical dream.
Is this that thing? The revolving lantern of memories they say you see when you die?
...But I'm already dead, aren't I?
How would I know, having never actually died before.
I looked down at my own hands.
I saw cute and chubby palms.
Looking a little further down, I also saw short, stumpy legs and a protruding belly.
When I took a step and walked, pitter-pat!
When I moved the other foot, pitter-pat!
The situation was exactly the same as when I, an orphan after the war, first entered the cult.
The nursery.
A place where the cult selected children with good bone structure and prepared them for three years to become disciples of the cult.
It wasn't my first time experiencing a revolving lantern, but the one you experience when you actually die was on a different level.
The realism is insane.
This really feels like I'm going to piss myself.
Drip.
...I really did piss myself.
To think even this is implemented, this revolving lantern is amazing.
As expected, there was a real smell of piss. In the past, I would have cried immediately, but the smell of piss is no longer a great threat to me. After my dantian was broken, my piss stream and my pants were practically one and the same.
By the way, shouldn't a revolving lantern usually pass by quickly?
This is so slow, I'd believe it if you told me it was reality.
I recalled my past memories and turned my head to one corner.
There, a little girl was crying her eyes out, saying she missed her mom.
This is another new experience I hadn't had before.
Who would believe that the cold woman was over there crying for her mommy?
It's hard to believe, but that crybaby girl later becomes known as the Sword Demoness and rises to become the youngest elder.
If the Sword Demoness is here, the Mad Demon should be around here somewhere too, right?
I was able to find him without much difficulty.
"Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!"
"Hey guys! Look over here! This kid! Still can't control his bladder, he peed his pants!"
"Heeheeheehee! Gross!"
This too is a rare sight. That Mad Demon, known as the madman of the cult, is over there squatting and crying while being teased by other kids.
"Waaaaah! Gwang-hyeon didn't pee!"
Our Gwang-hyeon, you were normal back in the day.
Normally, he wouldn't just have peed, but would have done the other thing too. Because that guy is a madman.
I offered a short prayer for the poor souls who would one day leave this world with their heads smashed in by the Mad Demon.
For reference, unlike his title, the Mad Demon took his revenge like a gentleman. Even if it took him over ten years.
If the Sword Demoness and the Mad Demon are here, that means the Demonic Brain must be here too...
The Demonic Brain was really there.
The genius of the era who had already established himself as the brains of the cult when I was the Young Lord.
...For a genius, he's just lying there sprawled out and sleeping. Was that guy always so carefree?
I clearly remember him throwing a fit when we had to camp outdoors, saying he couldn't sleep just anywhere.
The bastard, he's sleeping so well.
By the way, when does this revolving lantern end?
I'm starting to get bored too.
No matter how unforgettable the memory of being suddenly dragged to the cult's headquarters at the tender age of five is, I wanted to see other memories, not this piss-smelling one.
The days of my prime, however brief they were.
It was then.
A dozen or so adults dressed in black martial arts uniforms stormed into this place.
Of course, I knew who they were.
The instructors who would look after us and train us for the next three years.
Among them, the instructor wearing a red hat spoke in a booming voice.
"Silence!"
With just that one word, he dominated the space.
That voice must have sounded louder than a thunderclap to the five-year-old kids.
Judging by how all the crying stopped at once.
Satisfied with the scene he had created, the red-hatted instructor continued.
"You have been chosen."
Right, I remember. This was the beginning.
The beginning of my shitty life.
In the past, I was moved by those words with an overwhelming emotion that could not be compared to anything else.
"From now on, depending on your efforts, you may be able to place the entire world beneath your feet. I guarantee it!"
Once, I sincerely believed those words and poured my entire life into it. And I actually almost made it happen.
Of course, now I know.
That it's a dream that can never be achieved.
"Chosen children. Welcome to the cult's nursery."
I spoke to the red-hatted instructor with a still-imperfect pronunciation.
"Fwuck you! You son of a bwitch!"
Where do you think you're spouting lies!
By the way, when does this revolving lantern end?
(End of Chapter)