Chapter 36: Chapter 36
Chwi Hong-ran, watching Jang I-seo’s silence, opened her mouth tactfully.
“…Tell me when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting at Chiseonru.”
She would listen when he was ready to speak. How thoughtful. Jang I-seo gave a short, apologetic nod and replied.
“Thanks. Go on ahead. I’ll come by later.”
“Yes. Then.”
Waving goodbye, Mao and Jang I-seo waited until she disappeared before hardening their expressions and exchanging blunt words.
“Hey, Jang I-seo. I’ve been wondering for a while. What’s with your face?”
“What about it?”
“Got a boil on your ass or something?”
“At least make sense.”
“You look exactly like a Demonic Cult villain.”
“Well, we are Demonic Cultists, not righteous sect members, aren’t we?”
“Different. I’m an upstanding cult member, and you look like a lunatic possessed by demonic arts. Look at your eyes right now. Looks like you’re an assassin from the Slaughterhouse.”
“Enough.”
“So what is it. At first I thought it was because of me, but it got weird after you woke up. You look angry, I guess you could say.”
It’s because of your father. Jang I-seo let out a deep sigh.
Proximity darkens, as they say. Over a decade in the Demonic Cult. He’d done all manner of things. Some had certainly betrayed his principles as a man of the righteous path.
But deep in his heart, he’d never forgotten the spirit of a righteous warrior.
Yet here he was, being driven mad by the pressure of demonic aura.
He exhaled as if brushing it off and spoke.
“Enough nonsense. From now on, training is the only way to survive. Steel yourself.”
“Hmph. Think I can’t? All I have to do is survive this house for a month and I’ll be able to dodge finger wind. That’s what you said.”
Not even close to enough. But it was a start.
Jang I-seo nodded. Mao grinned and patted the back of his neck with the Azure Dragon Blade.
“Alright. Let’s do this. I didn’t come this far to stop now. Just go in, right?”
Mao planted himself before the entrance once more, emboldened.
Before, he would have cursed and gone drinking. But now was different.
‘I opened the doors of the Heavenly Demon Palace myself. This is nothing.’
The reborn Seventh Small Palace. And its first gate, the Gate of Fortune and Misfortune. Mao exhaled deeply.
“URYAAAAAH!”
With a battle cry, he charged forward like a bull.
And,
“Kgh, kghek! Kak!”
Battered by alternating iron clubs from both sides, he collapsed into a ragged heap before making it two steps. Tears burst forth.
“Jang I-seo, it hurts so much…”
Jang I-seo scratched his forehead. Then he walked over slowly and grabbed the Azure Dragon Blade Mao held out, dragging it toward him.
“I… think I need to sleep somewhere else from today.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, you crazy bastard! At least let me get inside! How am I supposed to take all these hits!”
“Why would you take hits? The path is this wide.”
“Then dodge them? Seriously. You try it.”
When Mao gestured irritably, Jang I-seo gave him a withering look and stepped inside.
FWISH! Sure enough, an iron bar shot out fast as an arrow. But Jang I-seo simply tilted his head back and let it pass.
“Huh?”
Then one step forward. This time, a bar erupted from the lower right. Jang I-seo hopped lightly in place and dodged it with equal ease.
“What. It’s this easy?”
Moreover, he stepped forward casually, tap, tap, as if everything until now had been child’s play.
Then, SH-SH-SH-SH-SHWK!
Five, six bars fired simultaneously in alternating sequence. Jang I-seo ducked under them, rolled forward, and evaded them all.
Movements like acrobatics.
At the end, he deliberately caught a bar with his palm, used the recoil to launch himself to the opposite wall, and tapped across its surface before landing inside the gate.
“Wow…”
Mao forgot he’d been about to mock and instead applauded in genuine admiration. Perfect score.
Jang I-seo looked back impassively and asked.
“Did you watch carefully?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Good. That’s all, then.”
That’s all? What’s all? Mao stared with wide eyes. Jang I-seo turned his back and disappeared into the Seventh Small Palace.
“H-hey! Wait!”
“What.”
“You’re just going? What about me?”
“Come in on your own.”
“Just today. Can’t you cut me some slack just for today? My stomach really hurts. I’ve been so tense for two weeks I couldn’t even take a shit. You know that. I grew up privileged. I can’t go anywhere but my own house.”
A former floor-sweeper saying that? Jang I-seo snorted and replied.
“Fine. I’ll tell you the method. Don’t be startled by anything. Calmly accept it as it comes. Then eventually, there will come a moment when all of this feels slow.”
“Calmly…?”
Yes. Jang I-seo nodded with deadly serious expression.
This was the first sense he wanted to teach through the Gate of Fortune and Misfortune.
Perception.
*
What separated a martial artist from an ordinary person?
Reflexive offensive techniques? Extraordinary movement honed through training?
Of course, those counted.
But the most fundamental difference was perception.
The awareness that anything could pose a threat, that anything could be an opponent to overcome.
The mental readiness to prepare for situations in advance.
A martial artist’s awakening began there.
And the easiest way to cultivate this was to befriend danger.
Naturally…
Jang I-seo smirked and showed no mercy as he stepped inside.
“Hurry up. If you’re late, no dinner.”
“AAAAAH! You heartless bastard! Think I can’t? Just watch. I’m Mao-!”
FWISH, THWACK!
“Urgh.”
A rather long period of suffering would be necessary.
*
“Oh…”
Upon entering, Jang I-seo let out a modest exclamation at the transformed Seventh Small Palace.
He’d expected Jegal Gwi-ryong to handle the mechanism formations competently, but he hadn’t anticipated such attention to the exterior.
The main building, formerly dilapidated, now sported red-stained wood, black walls, and dark gray roof tiles that blended together beautifully.
A small garden beside it featured a stone-walled pond and a modest table and chairs for tea.
He’d known the man would do well, but this level of refinement was unexpected.
Most notably, a small two-story annex had been built where none existed before. This was now Jang I-seo’s quarters.
‘He pulled this off in just two weeks? Monster.’
Even if it were shoddy work, this would be understandable. But given Jegal Gwi-ryong’s exacting nature, that was impossible.
Naturally, enormous labor and capital had been invested to meet the deadline. It didn’t matter.
What mattered was the amount? Or whose pocket it came from? It was all Mao’s bill anyway.
Creeeak.
Jang I-seo opened the annex door without hesitation. His lips curved upward.
“Serviceable.”
Meaning he liked it quite a bit.
The first floor featured a red-lacquered floor with sturdy pillars and a staircase. Nothing else.
The perfect space for training.
Ascending to the second floor, he found two empty rooms on each side. Beyond the corridor, at the far end, a large room overlooked the main building through a window.
This was where he would stay from now on.
“Huu.”
After touring the entire annex, Jang I-seo descended to the first floor, settled in the center, and sat cross-legged.
He’d transformed the Seventh Small Palace to awaken Mao’s instincts, but he himself was in no better shape.
VWOOM!
Jang I-seo placed his hand on his dantian and circulated a gentle Lesser Heavenly Circuit. His blood vessels turned black. Virulent demonic aura surged from his body.
The Heavenly Demon’s internal energy.
The demonic aura he’d fired into Jang I-seo’s body had caused this.
But how absurd this was, anyone who’d spent time in the Gangho would know.
This was the legendary Solip Transmission, the supreme art a master typically used only when near death to pass internal energy to a disciple.
To succeed, the process required fasting the disciple on water for days to cleanse the body, then opening blocked meridians through a grueling marrow-washing technique. Then the disciple had to learn the relevant cultivation method to accommodate the incoming energy. Only then, with the master pressing both hands against the disciple’s back, was there roughly a three-in-ten chance of success.
An enormously dangerous and monumental undertaking.
“But the Heavenly Demon tossed it at me like feeding a stray dog a scrap. Without even touching my body.”
Experiencing it firsthand, he still couldn’t believe it.
But more absurd than any of that.
“To think I’d end up with the Heavenly Demon’s internal energy for free.”
A spy obtaining the Cult Leader’s internal energy.
“Huu.”
Anyway, the absurd was absurd. What was done was done. Time to verify.
Jang I-seo exhaled and converted the demonic aura within him into lightning qi.
『Thunder Circulation Method』
BZZZT!
Every trace of internal energy in his body transformed into lightning. The Great Heavenly Circuit completed in a single breath. And he startled.
It had been fast before, but this was beyond comparison. No. Had the Great Heavenly Circuit always felt this exhilarating?
“Is this the power of the Heavenly Demon’s internal energy…”
He felt like he could unleash anything right now.
In a word, supreme euphoria.
This time, Jang I-seo didn’t stop. He pushed the Thunder Circulation Method to its absolute limit.
Then.
BZZZT!
Lightning qi leaked from his body, shimmering in the air. His hair stood on end in all directions like a demon’s. Jang I-seo raised his hand, examined the crackling energy, and stared wide-eyed.
“The lightning qi’s color… turned black?!”
The Thunder Circulation Method was a technique that used internal energy as raw material. With the turbid internal energy replaced by the Heavenly Demon’s demonic aura, even the color had changed.
“To be influenced this much…”
Truly wondrous. It even felt sharper than before. More destructive, somehow.
Fzzzz.
Jang I-seo exhaled deeply and released the Thunder Circulation Method. His hair settled. Pure demonic aura settled back into his body.
“Mmm…”
And Jang I-seo was certain.
He had definitely grown stronger. The quantity hadn’t increased. Only the raw material, the internal energy, had changed. Yet the Thunder Circulation Method’s effect had demonstrably risen.
For Jang I-seo, this was an absolute breakthrough he might never have experienced in his entire lifetime.
The problem was.
VWOOM! Black veins suddenly bulged across his entire body. His eyes became poisoned with virulent demonic aura and killing intent.
“Kgh…”
A chilling urge to tear everything apart and kill clawed into his mind.
By forcing his qi circulation, the demonic aura’s invasion of his body had accelerated.
Simply put, his body couldn’t withstand the demonic aura leaking through the holes in his dantian.
This was the aftermath of the Heavenly Demon’s gift.
More precisely, the absence of a cultivation method to govern this virulent demonic aura.
The absence of the resplendent Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And this meant one thing.
The end of this road held only despair.
Go mad, or die.
An absolutely shitty ending.