How to Tame the Future Heavenly Demon and Sword Empress
Thud!
Dan Se-ryeong approached me with an almost casual grace, as if her every step took less than the blink of an eye. She planted her heel firmly right in front of me, sending a shockwave through the ground.
Kung—!
Next, she channeled the force of her True Energy strike into her fist and hurled it straight at me.
Just as I thought. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is pure power. One direct hit and I’m gone.
Thinking that, I desperately put distance between us.
Blindly dodging wouldn’t work.
Those eyes weren’t painted that striking golden color just because they looked pretty.
That gaze was called the Bokmageumjeong—the Golden Eye That Subdues Demons. Its function resonated with the natural qi within the visible range of her vision, amplifying the power and reach of her qi strikes.
That was exactly why her Heavenly Demon Divine Art was so insanely destructive.
Clang—Clang—Crack!
The ground where I had just been standing was completely obliterated, the impact swallowing up enough space for an entire small house.
Standing a step beyond the shattered earth, Dan Se-ryeong stared at me with a mix of surprise and frustration. “Huh?” she muttered, then charged forward again.
Clang—Clang—Crack!
Her dazzling consecutive strikes continued.
Each of her fist, palm, and elbow techniques carried such overwhelming force and profound subtlety that any one of them could have been a secret art of a major sect.
The problem? These weren’t secret arts—they were the basic forms of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art itself. Truly, a fraudulent divine skill that one could only discover by watching it over and over.
If I hadn’t mastered every single form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I would have already had a few ribs cracked by now.
Once the training field had been entirely reduced to mud, Dan Se-ryeong shot a glare at me that was half irritation, half admiration.
“Impressive footwork. Every time I think I’ve almost got you, your distance from me suddenly disappears. What’s your name?”
“Amhunbo—the Shadowless Step.”
“Amhunbo…”
She tilted her head, tasting the name of my unique martial art.
“It deserves the Heavenly Demon’s praise. But aside from that, it’s nothing special. You’re just a rat scurrying away at the end.”
I answered with a cold sneer.
“That’s not going to happen. Of course I prepared a trump card to catch you. Still, the sight of you chasing me around with that huge, heavy ass was too funny to pass up.”
Dan Se-ryeong’s forehead vein bulged.
Swish—
Even the twenty-year-old Dan Se-ryeong, whose angry expression was somehow adorable, finally drew her sword.
“I had planned to leave you just barely alive… but your sharp mouth keeps pissing me off.”
The murderous qi radiating from her body grew far more intense than before.
I tensed every muscle in my body and gripped my sword with both hands.
Dan Se-ryeong extended her sword-holding hand toward the sky.
“Come and dodge this!”
Intense qi condensed at the tip of her blade into a spherical mass about five feet in diameter.
Then she swung her sword down at me.
Kuuaaak!
The qi sphere transformed into a gigantic dragon and flew straight toward me.
Bomb Dragon Thrust Strike—the ultimate move of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that summoned a dragon of destructive power to annihilate enemy forces.
As I’ve said many times, it was aimed at me—not some insignificant opponent. A hundred ordinary soldiers could be wiped out in one strike. From this distance, I had no chance of evading it.
That didn’t mean I was scared.
After all, this was all part of my plan—or rather, Dan Se-ryeong’s plan from before her regression.
The twenty-year-old her was arrogant and careless. The moment she got heated up, she would have thrown out the Bomb Dragon Thrust Strike without hesitation.
Recalling our conversation before I returned to the past, I ducked under the dragon’s head.
The Bomb Dragon Thrust Strike is powerful, but the Dan Se-ryeong of that time couldn’t perfectly control the qi flow to manifest it. I can use that to easily pin her down.
I drove my sword into the gap between the dragon’s jaws, where the qi currents tangled.
Then I stomped the ground, spun my entire body, and poured every last drop of True Energy into the blade.
At the same time, the dragon under my Heavenly Demon Divine Art adjusted its direction to match my movement.
This move’s name was Dragon Return to Heaven—the ultimate technique Dan Se-ryeong had given me before regression, a forbidden art meant to subdue the Heavenly Demon of the future.
“W-What?! How did you—?!”
Dan Se-ryeong stared at me in shock, but I shouted anyway.
“Stop standing there like an idiot and prepare a defensive form!”
I couldn’t hold the dragon any longer, so I let it slip away.
Fortunately, Dan Se-ryeong reacted quickly and deployed a sturdy protective barrier, blocking the returning Bomb Dragon Thrust Strike.
Clang—Clang—Crack!
The massive explosion’s shockwave completely collapsed several pavilions around us.
Thick dust clouds blanketed everything.
“Ha… ha…”
Dan Se-ryeong panted heavily.
Using both the Bomb Dragon Thrust Strike and the protective Heavenly Wall Barrier had drained her even after such enormous True Energy expenditure. No matter how strong she was, she would tire.
“Where… where is he…”
I slipped up behind her as she desperately searched for me.
Only when my sword reached her neck did she finally sense my presence.
“H-Here?! Even if my mind is clouded… how could you get this close without making a sound…?”
Her voice trembled as she muttered.
“Didn’t I tell you? My martial arts are similar to a killer’s. The moment you missed the killer’s qi right in front of you, your defeat was sealed.”
“Kuu…”
Dan Se-ryeong swallowed her rage, glared at me, then suddenly gave up and accepted her fate.
“…I lost. Kill me.”
Her disheveled appearance, which looked terribly adorable, made me almost reach out to stroke her hair. Not yet, damn it. Not yet.
“You’re misunderstanding something. What I want isn’t your life.”
“What…? You weren’t aiming at me to sever the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s lineage?”
“I targeted you to perfect my martial art. You’re twenty now, so you should know what yin-yang harmony and the joy of the flesh are, right?”
Dan Se-ryeong’s face flushed crimson as she yelled.
“How dare you treat someone like a pet?! Of course I know!”
She sounded so loud despite knowing nothing. Sheesh.
“The new martial art I’m about to learn is based on yin-yang harmony. Of course I’ll need a woman to assist my training—a beautiful woman with high True Energy.”
“Y-You… you mean…”
Smart Dan Se-ryeong understood my meaning instantly.
I grinned as nastily as possible and continued.
“That’s right. What I want is the supreme woman’s body—one that holds both the True Energy of divine arts and the heavenly beauty of this world. In other words… your body.”
Dan Se-ryeong’s face turned a shade darker and her shoulders trembled.
“Y-You perverted… color demon!”
She erupted in fury.
“This servant is of the Heavenly Demon! Even if the heavens collapse, I will never become the color demon’s plaything! Rather than that, I’ll end my own life right here!”
Before she could really do it, I quickly flicked my tongue.
“What a disappointment. Even a self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon only has this much dignity left?”
“What…?”
“If you die here, the Heavenly Demon’s lineage ends. You’ll lose miserably to some lowly stray dog. Is that humiliation worth being remembered in history and laughed at by future generations?”
“Th-That’s…”
“Can you truly accept that such a miserable ending is the price you paid for ten years of isolated training?”
“…”
Dan Se-ryeong clamped her mouth shut. Of course she couldn’t accept it.
I had heard she endured ten years of dark, desolate closed-door training, dreaming every day of traveling the world, feasting on delicious food, wearing pretty clothes, and using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to revive her sect.
That dream had been the only thing keeping her going.
I tossed her a sweet bait this time.
“One year. Swear it on the Heavenly Demon’s honor that you’ll be my slave for exactly one year. After a year, you’ll be free. You can do whatever you want—revenge or anything else.”
“…How can I believe something like that from you?”
“It’s not me you’re doubting. If you become my slave, I won’t impose any restrictions on your martial arts. You can still try to kill me anytime. But if you swear on the Heavenly Demon’s honor, you won’t do it for a whole year. Was I wrong?”
Dan Se-ryeong shot me a glare full of disbelief and shock.
“Who… who are you exactly? You know way too much about me… creepy.”
“If you want to know more, you’ll have to survive here first.”
“…”
Silence fell again. A moment later, Dan Se-ryeong sighed and said,
“I hate to admit it… but your words are right. A great person’s will is strong enough to endure even a small humiliation to avoid a great one.”
“Then swear it quickly. My arm is already getting sore holding the sword like this.”
She clenched her fist as if she wanted to punch me, then gave up and spoke.
“On the Heavenly Demon’s honor… I, Dan Se-ryeong, swear that I will become your… no, Jeok Mu-hwi’s… slave for one year.”
Her voice trembled. Her face burned red. She stood straight, chest out, trying desperately to look dignified, but a single tear welled up at the corner of her eye.
All of that gave me an electrifying thrill that felt like being struck by lightning.
If only I could make her say it ten more times… but she might actually cry if I did, so I held back.
I lowered the sword I had pressed against her neck and stepped closer.
Then I grinned and whispered right into her ear,
“Be happy, slave girl. From now on, every day, this master will make you cuter.”