Jamma's Five Stars
"This is a little... unexpected."
Lee Hyeong-seop, Chief Instructor of Jamma Cave, had been watching the spar between Shin Gi-woon and Se-hwa until just moments ago.
The Heavenly Net Black Death Squad was a unit specialized in stealth. As its commander, concealing his presence was second nature to him.
And yet he had been discovered. Midway through the spar, Shin Gi-woon's pupils had locked onto him with perfect precision. It had not been a casual glance.
There was no doubt about it—Shin Gi-woon had sensed Lee Hyeong-seop's existence.
"I expected as much from Candidate 7... but Candidate 295 surpassed her?"
When he first took charge as Chief Instructor of Jamma Cave, he had dismissed every other trainee as worthless—everyone except Se-hwa.
That belief first cracked the moment Shin Gi-woon returned after swallowing a Dark Red Pill and accumulating four full years of internal energy.
He had been impressed. A martial artist of that caliber was the kind you could scour the entire world and still never find.
If the boy grew well, keeping him close would not have been a problem. So Lee Hyeong-seop had taken note of Shin Gi-woon—while deliberately killing any further interest in him.
"I should have changed my mind the moment he brought down the Imugi..."
The Imugi had been a test of sorts. How desperately would Shin Gi-woon struggle against it?
And if the boy lost, that defeat could serve as the perfect pretext to recruit him. Then the unexpected happened.
The Imugi had fallen and become a Gangcheori—and Shin Gi-woon had slain that Gangcheori.
"I was careless. At this rate, the grand design will collapse."
The Gangcheori's appearance had been as much a surprise to Lee Hyeong-seop as anyone. If he could obtain its inner core, he would not have cared whether Shin Gi-woon lived or died.
So he had left the Gangcheori to win. Instead, Shin Gi-woon had defeated it—and been seen consuming the core.
Nothing had been recovered from the Gangcheori's corpse, so there was no hiding the fact that Shin Gi-woon had swallowed the inner core.
Lee Hyeong-seop made his decision. Shin Gi-woon had grown too large to keep. It was already far too late to recruit a martial artist whose upper dantian had opened.
He had to be eliminated. For the sake of the grand design.
"So this is the only way left..."
A method that would guarantee Shin Gi-woon's removal. A clean disposal somewhere beyond the Cult's eyes.
There was only one. The third and final trial required to graduate from Jamma Cave.
In the third trial, held outside Heavenly Mountain, Shin Gi-woon would have to die.
The day after Shin Gi-woon and Se-hwa's spar ended.
All one hundred surviving trainees of Jamma Cave appeared on the vast training grounds. The two consecutive spars from the previous day had lit a fire in their hearts.
Each of them practiced a different martial art, yet they shared a single purpose.
To leap one more stage closer to Shin Gi-woon and Se-hwa. Not a single trainee who had witnessed those dazzling spars failed to throw themselves into their own training.
Ma Ra-jin, still nursing internal injuries, trained. Bi So-hyang, who had recognized her own shortcomings, trained as well.
Even Se-hwa, her face deathly pale, made an appearance—only for Shin Gi-woon to stop her with a hard expression, after which she willingly headed for the infirmary.
And Shin Gi-woon returned to his own room. The kind of training he needed was not something he could show others.
"Ryu-jin. Do you know what kind of energy demonic qi is?"
It's the energy that walks the path opposite to Heaven.
"Be more specific."
If internal energy governs creation and circulation, demonic qi governs annihilation and severance. The reason every ability temporarily amplifies when you use demonic qi is because it forcibly shatters the limits of the human body.
According to Ryu-jin, it worked like this.
Internal energy maximized the body's potential. Demonic qi, on the other hand, forcibly smashed through the limits the body itself had set.
Common sense said that raising maximum output made you stronger far more effectively than simply increasing the amount of power you could produce.
The reason Ryu-jin knew this so well was simple—when she herself had fallen and become a Gangcheori, every pure strand of her energy had been corrupted into something nearly identical to demonic qi.
In short, demonic qi was the energy of defying Heaven.
"Now I get why the rumors always said that the more you use it, the more your reason vanishes."
Raising maximum output was fine—until you raised it past what you could handle. Then there was no coming back.
The cup shattered, and it could no longer hold water. Compared to internal energy, the chance of falling into qi deviation with demonic qi was exponentially higher.
It was best measured by risk. If internal energy was safe, demonic qi was a gamble.
"Anything else you know?"
That you don't have to worry about it if you never use it. But you're going to use it anyway, aren't you?
"Yeah."
For now... I can intervene and suppress the demonic qi. But only up to the Peak level. Once you reach Transcendent, that becomes impossible.
"So I have to figure it out myself."
As always. Methods existed everywhere—and the one who found them was always himself.
What if demonic qi eroded his mind? Then he would simply stop it before it did. Besides, Shin Gi-woon was confident.
Once when he swallowed the black orb that came from Ryu-jin. Once during the spar with Se-hwa.
Demonic qi had slipped his control a total of two times. A third time would make him a genuine idiot.
Shin Gi-woon steeled his resolve. If he could not control it, he simply would not use it until he could.
He had risen to the greatest spear under heaven without demonic qi. Relying on it would make him no better than a third-rate.
"By the way... you felt it too, right? The Chief Instructor's gaze during yesterday's spar."
Yeah. He was staring a hole through you. Felt like he was about to do something.
"If he does something, it'll be during the third trial. The third trial is held outside."
Lee Hyeong-seop's eyes had been anything but ordinary. Circumstantially, the one who had locked Ryu-jin into the closed-door training ground was Lee Hyeong-seop himself.
That act had been a classic case of killing with a borrowed knife. From the perspective of Shin Gi-woon, who had nearly lost his life, the man was someone he would eventually want to kill no matter what.
But not now. Lee Hyeong-seop was the commander of the Heavenly Net Black Death Squad—one of the five great battalions of Guangming Palace.
A Transcendent master already gazing toward the Extreme Demon realm. Even if Shin Gi-woon charged him right this moment, his odds of victory would not even reach one in ten.
"Decision made. I need to get as strong as possible before the third trial."
Perhaps it was the privilege of being the first to pass the second trial. Shin Gi-woon already knew exactly what the third trial was designed to do.
If they were going to pull something, they would throw an absurd difficulty at him. But that did not mean he would simply sit still and take it.
He would overturn every expectation and pass it perfectly. And for that, there was one person he needed to recruit.
After settling on a suitable plan, the next day Shin Gi-woon knocked on a tightly shut door.
"Is anyone in?"
"...Who."
"Candidate 295. I have something to discuss. Would you open the door?"
"..."
There was no answer. Only the door opening. A faint killing intent drifted out, as if she were bracing for an attack.
Of course he had no such intention—but her caution was not bad. The way she erased her presence was solid as well.
"I have no intention of attacking you out of nowhere. Besides, murder is forbidden inside the rooms, isn't it?"
"...Come in."
The girl who had been clinging to the ceiling dropped lightly to the floor. A female peer with striking cold eyes—Candidate 3.
Shin Gi-woon intended to recruit Candidate 3 for the coming third trial. That meant making her an offer first.
Fortunately she had not turned him away at the door, and he was able to enter her room without incident.
"I showed up suddenly, so I didn't prepare anything."
"It's fine."
"...Why?"
Her wariness had not faded. Even if murder was forbidden, this was an isolated room. Her reaction was only natural.
Shin Gi-woon understood that, and so he tried to create as comfortable an atmosphere as possible.
"Mind if I speak casually?"
"...Whatever."
"Then I'll talk easy. My name is Shin Gi-woon. As you already know, Candidate 295."
Shin Gi-woon held out his hand toward Candidate 3. She flinched for a moment. Even a handshake request seemed to carry some hidden intent in her eyes.
But Shin Gi-woon tilted his head and made himself look as harmless as possible. Perhaps because of that, Candidate 3 hesitantly accepted the handshake.
"Candidate 3... Sama Yul."
"Sama Yul. Nice! Looking forward to working with you, Yul."
"Mm."
End of conversation.
There was nothing more. Shin Gi-woon decided not to rush it. Getting too friendly on a first meeting would have been strange anyway.
Today was the first time, so this much was enough. If he took the time to get familiar with her face, they could become close enough.
"Let's get along. I'll come again tomorrow."
"..? Sure."
Sama Yul could not understand Shin Gi-woon suddenly walking out of her room. The tilt of her head said it all—if that was all he wanted, why had he come?
Still, he had not left a bad impression. Tomorrow they would be able to talk more.
In truth, he had barely even attempted a real conversation. But today he had made her acquaintance, and that was enough.
And the next day.
"Hey! Mind if I come in?"
"...Come in."
Shin Gi-woon visited Candidate 3—Sama Yul's room—without fail. Unlike the day before, she simply opened the door for him.
She was still wary, but far less so than yesterday. As expected, acting friendly first was the best way to build a relationship.
"You thought it was weird that I barged in yesterday and then just left, right?"
"Not really."
"I figured I wanted to expand my circle of friends. How about it—want to train together starting tomorrow?"
"..."
Straight to the point.
Martial artists usually grew close by crossing techniques with each other, did they not? The Demonic Cult might be different—but looking at Ma Ra-jin, that was not necessarily true.
And if Ma Ra-jin was a special case, most of the trainees in Jamma Cave still carried a competitive fire.
If they did not, they never would have endured three years of closed-door training.
Even Sama Yul, who looked timid now, was no different. She seemed to hesitate—but of course.
"How about today instead of tomorrow?"
"Huh? Sure. Let's do it."
She accepted—and counter-proposed. They would train together right now.
And just like that, Shin Gi-woon gained another friend in Jamma Cave.