The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts
Eun Seollyeong blinked.
She looked at me.
Then she glanced around the room once more.
Confirming that it was empty.
She turned her gaze back to the physician with a calm yet icy voice.
“Physician Seo Young?”
“Oh, my apologies.”
A wave of bewilderment flashed across Physician Seo Young’s eyes like a bolt of lightning, then vanished.
“Ha, haha! Ah, so that’s it!”
Sweat poured down his forehead as he waved his hands frantically.
“Euaaa! So, because His Highness Eun Seollyeong is so beautiful! Whew, how am I supposed to explain it to my daughter—when it’s just the two of us, I’ll say something like, ‘Aigoo, our princess is so pretty!’ You get it, right, Your Highness the Imperial Daughter?!”
An awkward silence filled the room.
Physician Seo Young cried out, his face pale.
“Argh, you cheeky brat! I’ve already given up everything, but do you really have to keep throwing around jokes like this!?”
“...”
“...”
I kept silent too.
She did as well.
I spoke up.
“As you know, even on private grounds, mentioning the imperial family can lead to treason charges. A child like me wouldn’t dare...”
“Hey! I’m the one favored by the Emperor! His Majesty won’t mind a little of this, right? Stop beating around the bush and just grab my wrist!”
Physician Seo Young snatched my wrist and cut me off mid-sentence.
The physician Eun Seollyeong had called was all talk but true steel in action.
His hands moved like lightning across my body.
He hung various unseen tools around me, then examined every inch.
I stood there with hollow, lifeless eyes, moving exactly as he directed—like a puppet.
Eun Seollyeong watched silently from the side.
Internal Diagnostic
-Crack! Bam!
A door burst open suddenly, as if it would shatter.
“Oh my god!”
Physician Seo Young, who had been examining me, jumped in fright.
“Moyong Bi is awake?! You wild little mutt!”
Jegal Sea stormed in, her face flushed red.
“This is a complete mess...”
Eun Seollyeong placed a hand on her forehead and muttered.
Driven by her fierce momentum, Jegal Sea paused, stunned by the sight of so many people in the tiny room.
“What the hell? How many people are crammed into this narrow room?”
She scanned the scene: me lying on the bed under examination, Physician Seo Young checking my pulse beside me, and Eun Seollyeong holding a towel while staring at her.
Eun Seollyeong asked flatly.
“Jegal Sea. What is the situation behind us?”
“Worse than a dog. Can’t get any worse.”
Jegal Sea strode toward the bed, kicking it, and shouted at me.
“Hey, Moyong Bi! Do you really want to die?! Are you out of your mind?! I clearly told you not to face the Eight Demon Dragons head-on! With my plan alone, we could have killed that lunatic! But because you acted on your own and died—!”
Jegal Sea vented, jabbing her finger at me.
“Died...”
Her eyes fell on the torn palm of my hand.
Then they met my eye sockets.
“...Die...”
Jegal Sea closed her eyes.
She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples.
“The eye of a mad dog soaked in that kind of water... I can’t even speak. Damn it.”
Jegal Sea’s gaze lingered on the soot-covered doll beside me before turning to the physician.
“Physician, there’s no special issue with Moyong Bi’s body, right?”
Physician Seo Young answered in shock.
“A-ah, yes, Miss Jegal Sea. Surprisingly, this is the first time I’ve seen such a case in all my years as a physician. The fact that he’s recovered so quickly and perfectly... even from a medical research standpoint, I would need to study this and record it in books for future generations—.”
Eun Seollyeong spoke calmly.
“Just the main point, please, Physician Seo Young.”
Physician Seo Young fell silent.
He swallowed hard and glanced at Eun Seollyeong.
“I-I’m sorry. Imperial...”
“...”
Eun Seollyeong stared at him with her transparent eyes.
“—Would you be willing to pay your medical fees in gold, Miss Jegal Sea?”
Physician Seo Young quickly looked at Jegal Sea and spoke.
Jegal Sea blinked.
“...What golden coin is this out of nowhere? Doctor, are you joking?”
“Yes, I understand. Of course I do.... I did it for my own survival...”
Physician Seo Young trailed off with a gloomy expression.
“It seems there is no need for special physical precautions or additional measures for the patient. However.”
“However?”
Eun Seollyeong asked.
Physician Seo Young studied my complexion and continued.
“Leaving aside the physical treatment, the patient’s mental strength appears to be greatly depleted.”
“...”
Physician Seo Young gathered his tools and added briefly.
“In border regions where blood feuds are frequent, one often encounters soldiers in such a state. And.”
Physician Seo Young fixed a calm expression on Eun Seollyeong.
“Miss Eun Seollyeong is holding up well too.”
“...”
Eun Seollyeong said nothing.
“In any case, there are no physical aftereffects to worry about from what you’re concerned about.”
Jegal Sea swept her bangs aside and sighed.
“Phew, that’s a relief at least. Thank you for your hard work.”
Physician Seo Young bowed and opened the door to leave.
The three of us remaining in the room simply stared at one another in silence.
It was Jegal Sea who spoke first.
“Where should I start telling the story?”
I looked at her.
“...About the current situation. What I need to know. What I need to do.”
“Your eyes look completely broken. Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Even though it was obvious that I wasn’t, Jegal Sea muttered something about ‘of course’ and roughly messed up her bangs.
“Fine. If you’re sure, I’ll summarize it briefly. First, everything right after you fell, and the new information we’ve uncovered.”
Jegal Sea began recounting from the moment I had fallen ten zhang away from the Eight Demon Dragons.
Eun Seollyeong and Jegal Sea had barely survived, carrying my charred body, and escaped the insane rampage of the Mad Emperor while fleeing with all their strength toward Shaanxi.
“Then, using the martial artists from the Jegal Sect and the eighty bodyguards we hired for this crisis, we attacked the Eight Demon Dragons from every possible angle.”
“That Eight Demon Dragon?”
Jegal Sea said.
“According to my common sense, it shouldn’t have been possible to unleash such destructive power from such a great distance. I assumed its inner force and other energies were completely depleted.”
“Especially that last strike from Moyong Bi—it definitely wasn’t just an inner force technique.”
Eun Seollyeong took over.
“The Eight Demon Dragons, who would have been more than enough to become Guardians, were geniuses of unparalleled martial arts, but they had been sealed off their dantians and had their precious gems forcibly extracted due to blind pursuit of power without regard for means. As a result, their healthy bodies and especially the longing for the gem they once possessed but had been stolen from is beyond imagination. They must have sensed the aura of the precious gem during the long-range bombardment and, for some reason, immediately fired a portion of their body encased in a strong blade.”
I recalled the desperate voice that had scattered in my mind.
I remembered how Mumyeong had desperately blocked the thing trying to penetrate my body with a scream.
When the strong blade exploded at the end, Mumyeong activated even the last bit of demon energy that had accumulated but not been used to protect my major organs and dantian.
After that, Mumyeong had lain dormant as if dead until now.
Jegal Sea sighed deeply.
“And half of our expectations were correct. The Eight Demon Dragon had been standing there motionless for a full day.”
She added that the spot where the fourth among the Eight Demon Dragons, known as the Thunder Emperor, had stood and left had turned black, as if it had been scorched by the life-draining water, and even the smallest grass roots had withered.
“The martial artists who attacked?”
Jegal Sea bit her lip.
“Exactly in a half-circle at ten zhang. We tried multiple times. The moment even half a zhang of it entered, the strong blade would fly and slaughter every martial artist in the area. Right now, they’re all maintaining their position at ten zhang, holding their ground.”
Eun Seollyeong said to Jegal Sea.
“Speaking of which, what has the enemy’s movement been since then?”
“Southward toward Shaanxi. The target is most likely...”
Jegal Sea pointed to the scar on my abdomen.
“To confirm the aura of the precious gem one last time before charging straight ahead. That lunatic is mad for the gem.”
Jegal Sea continued.
“Want to hear something creepy? Even though he’s been causing such a ruckus, none of the surrounding areas—including even the nearest Shaanxi town—know anything about this. Excluding the top echelons, the common people are all living in peace and prosperity. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
Jegal Sea sighed.
“Because he left not a single ant alive. What else? It would have been a hellish scene if there were even one survivor. But now there isn’t even one left.”
“...”
That settled it.
There was no faint hope left.
If those words were true...
Whether the village I had desperately tried to protect along the path I had taken existed anymore was a question that didn’t even need to be asked.
Jegal Sea went on.
“Moyong Bi, there’s no time for childishness. In a day, that thing will invade Shaanxi. Even if it comes crashing down on Shaanxi, we won’t even get a glimpse of its face. Its stupidly long-range strong blade spans a full ten zhang. By the time we reach it with the fastest movement technique, we’ll die with our bodies turned into a beehive before we can even see its face—.”
“I’ll get some fresh air.”
I pushed Jegal Sea aside and left.
Behind me, Jegal Sea rose roughly.
“Wait! Hey, Moyong Bi! Just a second!”
-Click.
Eun Seollyeong grabbed Jegal Sea’s shoulder.
Shaking her head, she said calmly to me.
“In five shichen, I will start a strategy meeting to block the Thunder Emperor. Come back by then.”
“...”
I glanced at her and left the room once more.
“Moyong Bi.”
Eun Seollyeong called after me again.
I stopped.
Since I was facing away, I couldn’t see her expression.
“Even if you hadn’t come to that place, I would have stopped it alone.”
“...”
“Even if the goal is the same, the way we express it can differ. Up until now, under different environments and with different times lived, our values and personalities naturally differ as well.”
Those words were ones I had once said to her while angry.
“And for this matter, I will also stake my life. Even if I die. Because...”
Eun Seollyeong said.
“I know better than anyone that it is better to die than to commit the same mistake again.”
I glanced back.
Her eyes were the same as the day she had whispered, “Now he should just die already,” while staring at the fireworks of broken fragments spreading across the ruined land.
“...”
I opened the door without a word and stepped out.
I closed the door behind me.
From beyond the closed door, I could still hear Jegal Sea shouting something or other, but it faded.
-Clack-clack.
It was Jegal Sea, who had already been heard once before.
I followed the familiar path through the back door and out.
I walked along the street.
People were there.
They were laughing and chatting happily.
The inn was full of people, and the market square bustled with lively voices haggling over goods.
I didn’t know how many months had passed since the Unwol Jiju incident had shaken Shaanxi and sent everyone fleeing.
I had worn a mask here and fought a twenty-man battle as Biryu with the black faction of Unwol Jiju, and at the end, I had saved countless tenant farmers who had been exploited.
After that, I didn’t know what had happened to them.
I was just a stranger here.
My eyes wandered down the street in a daze.
“I’m coming to eat your brother’s food.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
I recalled the words I had spoken in my mind.
“...Stupid. Words I can’t take responsibility for. What am I? A fool like me—.”
I swallowed the vomit-like curses and walked the endless street with no destination.
In a street full of happiness, I was the only one walking like a ghost, my soul stripped away.
It was the first time.
The first time since I had begun walking the Jianghu.
I had desperately protected it, but it had been done without even reaching the limit of my power.
I had faced the worst possible outcome I could think of.
The feeling was that everything I had built so far was being denied.
“What am I even doing this for?”
I tried to erase it from my mind.
I wished I had forgotten it all.
But my mind, tempered through countless hardships across countless eons, held onto every memory until the very end.
From the tragic death of the child who had vowed to protect her siblings with that doll, to the sight of the single community I had been living in right up until now completely collapsing.
That was the first thought.
It was the thought of wanting to let everything go amid self-loathing and helplessness.
Logically, I knew I should push myself to approach the lunatic coming toward Shaanxi and stop him.
But my heart was dead.
Even though I told myself I couldn’t afford to do this, my feet refused to move.
“This is the feeling of losing direction.”
I had seen it before.
People running madly toward one goal, only to collapse like a string snapped after losing their momentum.
I had also seen cases where a person who had rushed madly to achieve one realm, upon reaching it, didn’t move on to the next but had all their strength wasted and simply faded away without focus.
My heart felt wrapped in a giant hand, unable to grasp anything.
I looked up at the blue autumn sky.
Unconsciously, my feet had already turned toward the familiar street, and I hadn’t even noticed.
-Tap.
Someone tapped my shoulder from behind.
“A great leader standing with such a worn face on such a fine day must carry the weight of Mount Tai.”
I turned around.
“...You are.”
Behind me stood a man in threadbare clothes stained with mold, his body fallen.
“Straighten your chest, man! What could possibly hinder a man’s noble aspirations?!”
His dry ribs were visible through his collar.
His thin limbs showed.
A unremarkable body was there.
Yet the man stood tall and proud beneath the blue autumn sky.
“A mere proud disciple of my sect’s top secret technique, Byeoksan-ryeon, would act like this? How dare he?!”
Behind me, Gang Ilbi stood with his arms crossed, laughing heartily.