Chapter 382: Holy Fire
Not long after the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions left the Heavenly Demon Hall to carry out Gu Yangpae’s orders.
Slide.
The doors of the Heavenly Demon Hall opened softly, and a woman whose belly was swelling entered.
“My lord.”
Dan Seoyun, who had once been the captain of the Red Tiger Unit, but was now the Heavenly Demon’s wife, looked at Gu Yangpae with an expression mixed with worry and affection.
“I worry that you may be pushing yourself too hard.”
It was an expression that might have made the members of the Red Tiger Unit, who had once been her subordinates, faint if they saw it.
After all, within the Red Tiger Unit, she had been a woman called cold-blooded or a witch.
And Gu Yangpae, who had once been her subordinate as well, also wore an expression just a little softer than when he dealt with the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions.
“There are believers who trust and follow me. How could I be idle?”
Dan Seoyun, who arrived beside Gu Yangpae, gently covered the back of Gu Yangpae’s hand with a touch full of affection and said,
“My lord, you have already accomplished something great.”
“The desire of our Divine Cult is to reclaim the Central Plains. This much can hardly be called something great. And more than anything.”
Gu Yangpae paused for a moment, then slightly lifted the hand Dan Seoyun had been cradling and gently placed it against Dan Seoyun’s lower belly.
“What in this world could be greater than a mother carrying and giving birth to a child?”
A tender display of affection that made it hard to believe he was the Heavenly Demon, regarded within the righteous faction as a symbol of evil.
Of course, even within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it was not an attitude he could easily show.
Within the Divine Cult, he always needed to display the dignity of an absolute ruler.
“As long as you and the child are by my side, I will not collapse.”
But precisely because of that, Gu Yangpae showed this human side only to her.
No matter how much he had been born with the qualities of a ruler, he too was human.
Having someone by his side before whom he could reveal even a little of his feelings could be called good fortune for him.
***
Immediately after Dan Seoyun returned to her quarters to rest and care for her body.
Gu Yangpae also rose and left the Heavenly Demon Hall.
However, he did not head for his quarters.
A training ground located on one side of the enormous manor newly built by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
That place was reserved solely for Gu Yangpae alone.
After arriving at the training ground, Gu Yangpae drew the Heavenly Demon Sword, which he always wore at his side.
“Hoo.”
Then Gu Yangpae closed his eyes and focused inward.
After the war against Shincheon.
Once Gu Yangpae formally rose to the position of Heavenly Demon, together with the Heavenly Demon Sword he now held, he obtained the martial arts passed down only to the Heavenly Demon. Naturally, among them were also the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step and the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And after two years of training, Gu Yangpae had even succeeded in mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
As befitted something called the symbol of the Heavenly Demon, it was a martial art that boasted an absurd level of difficulty, yet he had learned it in only two years.
However, for a man who had achieved such a great undertaking, Gu Yangpae’s expression was not particularly bright.
'I thought I had caught up enough.'
With his eyes closed, Gu Yangpae was currently reviewing, within his mental world, the fight that had taken place several days earlier.
The three-way battle in Yunnan Province with the Southern Heavenly Society Leader and the Leader of the Zhengmu League.
Among them, what Gu Yangpae was focusing on were the exchanges he had shared with the Leader of the Zhengmu League.
Since it had been an act performed to avoid the imperial family’s gaze anyway, they had not exchanged moves with all their strength.
However, Gu Yangpae, who possessed exceptional insight, had been able to roughly grasp the level of the Leader of the Zhengmu League through that probing battle alone.
The fact that he still could not kill the Leader of the Zhengmu League.
At the end of the war against Shincheon.
Perhaps because the Leader of the Zhengmu League had obtained some sort of enlightenment, he had suddenly become able to use natural energy.
An enormous gap had suddenly opened between them.
But Gu Yangpae had not been discouraged. Because he had believed that if he learned the divine art that had made the leader of the Demon Cult be called the Heavenly Demon, that gap would shrink.
Yet, absurdly enough, the Leader of the Zhengmu League had also grown even further over the past two years.
To be precise, he had become even more skilled at utilizing natural energy.
Of course, it was not as though he was freely manipulating harmony like an immortal.
Gu Yangpae had vaguely noticed that Mujin’s method was different from that of a complete natural realm.
That was why Gu Yangpae did not give up.
No, even if Mujin had entered the natural realm that appeared only in legends, he would not have given up.
He had told the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions that if the Zhengmu League collapsed under the imperial family, he would aim to profit as the fisherman, but his true feelings were somewhat different.
As befitted the man who had risen to the very peak of the Demon Cult, a place of strength supremacy that worshiped martial power, he wanted to defeat at least Mujin with his own hands.
And also.
'The Zhengmu League may collapse, but that bastard will not die.'
In any case, for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to eventually seize the Central Plains, he would have to overcome him.
The choice of dealing with him through a joint attack did not even exist.
Not only would his pride not allow it, it was impossible to begin with.
After the war against Shincheon, the gap that had opened was not only between himself and the Leader of the Zhengmu League.
The difference in the number of masters existing in the righteous faction and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was extreme.
If one had to pick the masters in the current Demon Cult excluding himself, there were the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions and the Sword Demon, more or less. And directly beneath them were the Blade Demon, the Illusion Demon, and the Fist Demon.
But in the righteous faction, far too many masters had emerged during the last war.
Just the skills of the three called the Three Shaolin Victors were no less than those of the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions. And even that was only in the case of a head-on confrontation. If that Dark Monk aimed for assassination, even the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions would likely find it difficult to respond.
In addition, that sword madman of Wudang, who had killed Shincheon’s pillar together with Gu Yangpae himself, was also no less than the Three Shaolin Victors. And although they were somewhat lacking compared to those four, the young head of the Zhuge family and the head of the Nangong family also existed.
Even this was only limited to the new stars around his own age. If one included those already called renowned elders of the martial world, like the retired head of Nangong who had handed the position of family head over to the young head, there was no comparison at all.
It was absurd.
The righteous faction had gone through a civil war in which as many as four of the Nine Sects and One Gang had sealed their gates, and Kunlun had also fallen to them, yet it felt as though they had instead become stronger.
As he recalled the righteous faction’s fighting strength, Gu Yangpae soon shook his head and let out a cold smile.
“I have grown quite weak too.”
The Demon Cult was a place that worshiped strength. And he was the man who had risen to the summit of that place.
Comparing and analyzing fighting strength while being frightened in advance was not the way of the Heavenly Demon.
In the end, there was only one conclusion.
It would be enough if he could defeat, alone, the man who had risen to the summit of the righteous faction that boasted overwhelming fighting strength. The Leader of the Zhengmu League.
And Gu Yangpae had found that path, however faint the possibility might be.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art, which he had succeeded in mastering through two years of training.
And the Chaotic Origin No-Intent Divine Art, which he had created himself.
If only he could combine those two divine arts into one and create something new, then he would be able to smash through the Leader of the Zhengmu League’s defensive wall, which could be called “absolute,” in a single stroke.
Having shaken off his idle thoughts, Gu Yangpae focused his mind.
He operated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and drew up demonic energy like a vast sea all at once, concentrating it into the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Then, making use of the principles of the Chaotic Origin No-Intent Divine Art, he operated the enormous demonic energy gathered in the Heavenly Demon Sword in different ways and made them rub against each other.
Because of that repulsive force, the Heavenly Demon Sword began to vibrate as though it would burst at any moment. The Heavenly Demon Sword, made of ten-thousand-year cold iron and no different from a divine weapon.
Naturally, since he was controlling such an enormous force, Gu Yangpae’s body, which held the Heavenly Demon Sword, also shook violently as though it too might burst at any moment.
How long had he been concentrating, without even realizing that cold sweat was running down his spine?
Immediately after he succeeded in gathering the energy that seemed ready to burst at any moment once more according to the principles of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Gu Yangpae opened his eyes wide with a deep breath.
“Hoo.”
About a month after the battle with the Leader of the Zhengmu League.
Gu Yangpae had finally succeeded in actually unfolding what he had worried over and tested countless times within his mental world.
However, Gu Yangpae’s expression, now that he had actually succeeded in the test, was not bright at all.
'It is still insufficient to use in real battle.'
A martial art that could only be unfolded after taking several dozen seconds, while focusing his mind completely.
It was utterly useless.
Gu Yangpae let out a sigh and looked at his right arm. To be precise, at the essence of demonic energy burning black along the Heavenly Demon Sword in his right hand.
A black flame, colored pitch-black as though it would suck in all the light in the world.
As though testing it, he slowly thrust his sword into a piece of steel placed on one side of the training ground.
Even though he had not put any particular strength into it, the black flame wrapped around the Heavenly Demon Sword easily melted, crushed, and burrowed into the steel. As though stabbing tofu with a sword heated in fire.
In Gu Yangpae’s eyes, after he pulled the Heavenly Demon Sword out of the steel, he could see the black flame left on the steel.
Even after he pulled the sword out, the bizarre sight of it continuing to melt and destroy the steel, expanding its territory around the surface that had touched the black flame.
As he watched the flame that would absolutely never go out until his internal power ran out, Gu Yangpae thought.
That the essence of that demonic art, which destroyed everything, seemed just like a symbol of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
***
Several months after the Second Prince ascended the throne, calling himself Emperor Taiping.
Just as Emperor Taiping had declared, the imperial family began the northern expedition.
The imperial army stationed in the border region dividing the northern great plains and the Central Plains began advancing north, and in the Central Plains, the imperial army began recruiting on a large scale.
However, perhaps because the war was still in its early stages, no forced conscription had yet occurred.
Among young men, those without money volunteered to enlist in order to earn a living, and there were also some who enlisted while caught up in the vain dream of earning merit on the battlefield and rising to government office.
Because the war had begun, tension was spreading in some quarters, but rather, most places had quite a lively atmosphere.
It was thanks to the economy naturally becoming active, as war required countless supplies.
Within that atmosphere of the continent where a strange tension and vitality were mixed together, there were also several places that gave off an atmosphere completely unrelated to the secular world. Among them was the number one sect under heaven. Shaolin Temple.
Although it had changed quite a bit due to Mujin’s influence, Shaolin Temple, being a Buddhist gate, was usually extremely quiet.
But today, for Shaolin Temple, it had quite a lively atmosphere.
At the Great Training Ground of Shaolin Temple, the source of that lively atmosphere, countless monks had gathered. And among them were Mugung and Muyul as well.
The expectant gazes of Shaolin’s warrior monks, gathered in one place, were directed toward the center of the training ground.
Before long, Beopgang, Vice Hall Master of the Arhat Hall, appeared at the center of the training ground.
“Then, from this moment, we will begin the entrance examination.”
The reason the warrior monks had gathered in one place was precisely because of the entrance examination.
This entrance examination was somewhat special.
It was the first entrance examination held after Hyepyeong rose to the position of Abbot. In other words, it was the occasion on which the first third-generation disciples of this generation’s Shaolin would be selected.
The Mu-generation disciples, who had now become second-generation disciples, were full of anticipation at the fact that they too would finally take in disciples.
Of course, it was unknown how many among them would actually gain disciples today.
And while watching the entrance examination begin, Mugung wore an expression sunk in nostalgia.
“It reminds me of the old days.”
He too had taken the entrance examination together with Mujin, Muyul, and Mukyeong.
They came out in turns and held sparring matches against second-generation disciples. In the process, there were children who got nervous and could not properly show their skills, and there were also children who freely displayed their talents.
Watching that sight, Mugung found himself thinking of the past for no reason.
And Muyul, who had been looking at Mugung’s pleased expression, tilted his head and said,
“Senior Brother, didn’t you get hit at the end back then and collapse?”
“.......”
The beautiful memory polished by nostalgia shattered with a crash, and Mugung shut his mouth.
Mugung belatedly remembered what had happened then. Trying to show off for no reason, he had used a movement with large motions, gotten hit, and rolled across the floor of the training ground.
After blushing for a moment, Mugung soon tilted his head and looked at Muyul with a suspicious expression.
'How does Junior Brother remember something from more than ten years ago?'
Anyone else, maybe, but Muyul remembering something that old?
'Could it be that he’s been pretending to be an idiot?'
That, and the fact that he had called him stupid last time too, made Mugung especially suspicious these days.
Perhaps noticing Mugung’s suspicion-filled gaze.
“Huh? Senior Brother! That kid came out!”
Muyul suddenly pointed toward the center of the training ground and shouted in a bright, innocent tone.
When he turned his head, sure enough, the child Mugung had been waiting for was stepping into the center of the training ground.
The reason Mugung, who often wandered outside Shaolin Temple, had deliberately returned for today’s entrance examination was because of that child.
The child who had already been regarded as likely to become Mugung’s disciple even before entering Shaolin.
The child born with the Solar Body, possessing innate talent when it came to learning blazing yang arts.
He was the child who had nearly been eaten by Shincheon’s Young Divine Lord in the Southern Barbarians.
Now, having become an entrance disciple of Shaolin and received the dharma name Gonghwan, that child was stepping into the center of the training ground for his examination.