Lightning Finds Its Master
Someone was holding a sword…… “No, how! How did you do it!?” Go Dang-sang, the Black Killing Demonic Palm, cried out in shock. The black hands of the Black Killing Demonic Palm were both a symbol of terror and an indelible mark of a demonic practitioner. That was precisely why Go Dang-sang always wore gloves over his long sleeves. Those hands, which he had long since given up on ever fixing, were suddenly presented with a solution. Go Dang-sang shouted with deep longing in his voice. “How on earth did you do it!?”
“I just… did it? Why, can’t you do this too? Oh. This is delicious. Grandfather, what’s this?”
“You don’t even know what cooking is. You stupid girl. Cooking is something you eat.”
“Aish, what’s the name of the dish?”
“You should have asked like that from the start. Can’t even ask a proper question, you half-wit. It’s called Dirumrama.”
Choe-ri-ong gave her an answer. Even though he was cursing, he was actually closer to a foul-mouthed grandmother. In that sense, this grandfather was strangely kind for a Demonic Cult leader. But why? What did he find so endearing about her? She really couldn’t figure out his intentions. Not that she cared about the Demonic Cult leader’s circumstances anyway.
Cheong scooped up a large portion of the Dirumrama and shoveled it into her mouth. It was a sweet dish made by throwing vegetables and meat together and simmering them until tender. There was no way it could taste bad. That familiar flavor—it was braised short ribs. And fried rice on the side! The local cuisine here was really to her liking. Where exactly “here” was? She had no idea.
Cheong nodded vigorously. Then she dragged the entire serving dish right in front of her. Choe-ri-ong frowned.
“You’re desperate to show off how uncultured you are. That’s not hunger, that’s the appetite of a beast. You’re worse than a damn dog.”
“Aish. If you want to eat, just say you want to eat. Why the foul language?”
Cheong used her palm-sized spoon to scoop a huge portion onto Choe-ri-ong’s plate.
“Hah. Who said I wanted to eat?”
“You’re the one who’s so old your teeth probably don’t work anymore. This is the only thing you can eat anyway since it’s soft and doesn’t need chewing. Just shut up and eat.”
“This wench has a rotten rag stuffed in her mouth. Tsk tsk.”
“Did I ask you to stuff anything in my mouth? Mind your own business.”
Go Dang-sang, who had been standing stupidly by the neighboring table, shouted and glared at Cheong. Surprisingly, his gaze matched the looks the demonic cultists sharing the table—now covered in shredded meat—were giving him.
“Are you ignoring this old man’s words right now!?”
Cheong dug at her ear and replied, “I’m talking to the elder here. Butt in where you’re wanted. Seriously.”
“What kind of conversation is that…… Senior. My apologies.”
Go Dang-sang, who had been about to argue, immediately bowed upon seeing Choe-ri-ong. More precisely, upon seeing the purple threads of energy—Jajeon-gi—quietly rising from Choe-ri-ong’s entire body.
Jajeon-gi was an extremely yang-aligned martial art, a heart method that dealt with the energy of extreme yin. The hottest and most wicked purple lightning in the world. The Jajeon Magong faithfully reproduced that destructive power which humans were never meant to wield, making its violent true energy impossible to control. Thus, the owner of Jajeon Magong would involuntarily generate Jajeon-gi depending on their emotional state. If they felt displeased, purple lightning would spark and attack on its own—truly worthy of being one of the Ten Great Demonic Arts. Choe-ri-ong was even a master of the Harmonious Realm. If he truly got angry, it wouldn’t be mere Jajeon-gi but Jajeon Gang-gi that would leap across space. Such was the nature of lightning that could stretch a thousand li in an instant.
And only then did Go Dang-sang realize it.
“How can a righteous female hero speak like a thug without any manners?”
“Aish. I learned manners just fine, you know? I just don’t bother when there’s no one worth showing them to.”
“No one worth showing them to? Is this old man not a person but a scarecrow?”
“Grandfather isn’t a person, he’s a demonic head, remember?”
“Haha. With that foul mouth, you’ll eventually burn alive. When that time comes, I’ll gladly add a few logs to the fire myself.”
Despite his harsh words, Choe-ri-ong’s Jajeon-gi had calmed down. It meant he wasn’t actually offended. And the reason was immediately obvious. The daughter of the Jajeon Magun had died in his arms at around Cheong’s age. ‘He’s having another senile episode!’ Ever since then, he would occasionally lose his mind like this. The Jajeon Magun’s daughter had been ill-mannered. That was how the Jajeon Magun had treated his ill-mannered daughter. In the end, whenever he saw a girl of similar age who had also lost all sense of decorum, he saw his own daughter in her.
He was dying to know how she had gotten rid of the black hands, but not enough to upset his senior who was having another episode. He could always ask later.
Go Dang-sang quietly sat back down at the table. Even then, Cheong casually continued her banter.
“At this rate, I’ll be clearing the old man’s table before my own.”
“That’s because a young girl should outlive an old man. Looking at you, with that lack of manners, you’ll probably have your own memorial day soon. Is it just your manners? You’re ignorant and uneducated too, girl.”
“Aish. You’re looking down on people. I learned properly too, you know? Grandfather, watch this.”
Cheong displayed the table manners she had been drilled into under Seomun Su-rin’s nuclear bombardment. With graceful, elegant movements, she carefully picked out only the meat from Choe-ri-ong’s plate and chewed it. For a while, the Seomun Su-rin-style Central Plains beauty dining etiquette was on full display.
A moment later, Cheong finally frowned.
“Aish, this doesn’t even feel like eating. Rice should be chewed with some force. Anyway, you saw, right? What? Why?”
Cheong looked around and frowned. The demonic cultists were staring at her blankly with expressions that said ‘What did I just see?’ Some even had bloodshot eyes and were still rubbing them. Even Ji Seungju had his mouth hanging open.
It was indeed a shocking sight. Wasn’t this the same girl who smashed people’s heads and sprawled on the ground? Seeing her suddenly act like a heavenly maiden was enough to give anyone chills.
Choe-ri-ong clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“A bitch who doesn’t do it is far worse than an idiot who can’t. What are you showing off for? Tsk.”
Cheong slammed her chopsticks down. “Aish. It’s so noisy I can’t even eat.” Then she quickly picked them back up. “Ah. But that doesn’t mean I’m not eating.”
Go Dang-sang was curious about how she had removed the black hands. He was really curious. Extremely curious! But there was no chance to ask. Because after that meal, Choe-ri-ong had begun teaching Cheong the Jajeon Magong.
What had been the reason for making her learn the Black Killing Demonic Palm? It had been a scheme to trap her in the Demonic Cult by making it impossible for her to return to the Central Plains due to the distinctive black hands. But now that she could hide them, a different art was needed. Cheong’s personality was perfectly suited for it. And the Jajeon Magun was right there beside her.
That’s right! If it was Jajeon Magong, whose energy ran wild according to its master’s mood, it could replace the Black Killing Demonic Palm. There was no way a witch who shot lightning dozens of times a day could return to the Central Plains. Ji Seungju thought this. Though he wasn’t entirely confident that giving someone with her temper Jajeon-gi as well was the right thing for the world.
Fortunately, Choe-ri-ong was having one of his senile episodes. Ji Seungju didn’t even need to persuade him.
‘Jajeon Magun, would you perhaps teach Seomun Cheong the great art—’
‘Understood.’
The approval came before he even finished speaking.
Thus, Cheong came to possess two (three) of the Ten Great Demonic Arts by simply adding one plus one (plus a secret). It was an unprecedented achievement in the history of the martial world.
However, there was something even Ji Seungju’s brilliant mind hadn’t anticipated.
“They said it was one of the Ten Great Demonic Arts, but it’s gold again?”
Cheong was disappointed. Still, she liked that it was an internal energy heart method. You could never have too much internal energy. It wasn’t Seomun Su-rin’s teaching for nothing!
Cheong invested one point into cultivating Jajeon Magong. The violent Jajeon-gi of the art settled into its new master’s body. Jajeon-gi was the embodiment of lightning that knew neither superior nor inferior—pure insolence. It would run wild and break Cheong’s self-control, turning her temper violent…… or so it should have.
But the two divine arts of the Dao that had already taken residence there were no ordinary methods. The Juyang Sesimgyeong contained the image of the sacred flames that burned evil, created by the Flame Emperor Shennong for his daughter. Even among flames, there was hierarchy. The Jajeon-gi that tried to run wild was severely beaten, burned, and faced annihilation. At that moment, the balanced energy of the Wolnyeo Mind Method, which embraced all nine worlds, intervened. It comforted the Jajeon-gi, gently channeled energy into it, and revived it. Then it gave it a place in the most remote, shabby, dirty, and drafty corner of her dantian.
The Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden embraced the nine worlds, but she was a divine being strict about hierarchy. Even worlds had their order—what place did a mere demonic art have? In the end, without ever getting a chance to run wild even once, the Jajeon-gi knelt in the corner of Cheong’s dantian, facing the wall.
If one were to describe the collision of energies that occurred in her dantian in a way even a child could understand, it would go something like this. It happened while Cheong was drooling with the feeling of her brain being eaten.
‘How is it? Doesn’t your body feel all tingly? Hehe, that’s the Jajeon-gi running wild, so just accept it. You’ll suffer for a few days, though.’
“Suffer? What kind of suffering?”
‘Isn’t your body shaking and twitching on its own? The Jajeon-gi originally makes the body jump by surging violently, so you’ll just have to endure it as fate. Though it’ll be quite painful fate.’
It was Choe-ri-ong’s voice from outside the carriage. Cheong only blinked. Her body was shaking? Where did it hurt?
Cheong extracted only the newly settled purple true energy and circulated it once through her meridians. The shy energy, like a new bride, obediently traveled through her meridians, made one full cycle, and seeped back into her dantian. Somehow, it seemed reluctant to leave the meridians and return to the dantian?
“Huh. Is it normal for it not to hurt?”
‘If the pain becomes too severe to bear, then speak up. I’ll listen. Hehe.’
What pain? Cheong couldn’t understand. But since the old man seemed to have such expectations, she decided to play along.
“Ah. It huuurts. It hurts sooo much.”
‘……?’
“It hurts. Give me some medicine. The medicine is good.”