Eyes of the Radiant Dawn

Seongshinan — the Eyes of the Radiant Dawn.

Eyes that behold the bright morning sky.

My own eyes gleamed at the Heukcheon Demonic Sword's words. One of the reasons I'd ranked the Black God Martial Arts as the supreme martial lineage had just come to light.

The Heukcheon Demonic Sword spoke.

"The Body of Defying Heaven is a power unwelcome in this world. My previous master was mercilessly persecuted until he finally rose to his position. And so he thought: I will not leave this burden to the Heavenly Demons born after me. The previous Heavenly Demon wanted to say this to his successor—"

The sword turned its gaze on me.

"May your night, which has lasted until now, come to an end through your meeting with the Heukcheon Demonic Sword."

"……"

It was an embarrassingly sentimental thing to say.

"Well, since your Body of Defying Heaven was acquired ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through foresight rather than birthright, its light is somewhat faded, mind you."

The Heukcheon Demonic Sword studied me.

"Blossom the Seongshinan, and you will see a world unlike anything you have seen until now."

"So how exactly do I learn it?"

"Breathe the Heaven-Defying qi into your body. Look upon the world through the Black Well settled within you."

I gave a wry smile at the explanation. That's absurdly abstract.

"Hm. You cannot understand it from that alone?"

"Could anyone?"

"My previous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠master did."

"……"

"That was a joke. Take your time. The Black Well and the Black God Martial Arts are disciplines my previous master spent decades honing—forged to be easy and comfortable for his juniors to grasp, and built so that the higher one's realm climbs, the higher one's gaze can reach."

Having said this, the sword looked at me again.

"And I am the one who grants the strength to overcome trials, to whoever will one day take up the Heukcheon Demonic Sword."

With that, Heukcheon stroked the blade of her own sword.

"It is time. Master, first take hold of my body."

I took the Heukcheon Demonic Sword in hand, puzzled.

"And now pour every drop of Heaven-Defying qi you possess into it."

At the sword's instruction, I channeled my Heaven-Defying energy into the blade. The crimson line running down the center of the black steel spat out a fierce radiance.

It felt as though a seal had come undone.

An appraisal.

……A new skill had been unsealed.

"I have temporarily unsealed Soul Reading."

"Soul Reading?"

"Soul Reading. Literally, the art of reading souls—though it works only through the Heukcheon Demonic Sword. It was created to pass knowledge down to later generations, and to protect the body of my successor. However, since I have only lifted the seal for a moment, you may use it once and once alone."

"……"

The Heukcheon Demonic Sword's touch gave my forehead a sharp little poke. At once, something like knowledge flowed into my mind and etched itself there.

The Seongshinan. The method of forging the Celestial Body. How to handle the Heaven-Defying qi. Even the process by which the Heukcheon Demonic Sword itself had been made.

Every manner of knowledge carved itself into my skull. I felt I had finally begun to grasp what the sword had meant by the Seongshinan.

Seongshinan.

This power, called a divine eye, was fascinating. It narrowed one's field of vision, yet in return it read the world much like the information inscribed in a martial lineage.

The Black God Martial Arts are the strongest of all martial lineages.

It is a discipline wielded through the power of Heaven-Defiance.

Heaven-Defiance is the force that denies all things.

And yet, even without the Body of Defying Heaven, people capable of mastering a so-called half-finished version of the Black God Martial Arts are scattered across the earth—despite lacking the Black Realm, the Black Scale, and the Black Wing.

The reason was one.

Even without those three, the Black God Martial Arts remain an overwhelmingly powerful discipline.

The reason lies in the eyes and the body.

It is not that it possesses the fastest footwork, nor the fiercest swordsmanship.

It is the complete body, capable of commanding every drop of one's blood and every beat of one's heart, and eyes that can see through anything and everything.

That is what crowns the Black God Martial Arts as the greatest lineage of all.

The body of the Black God Martial Arts shatters every limit of growth.

The eyes of the Black God Martial Arts pierce through all things.

Whatever the opponent does, the practitioner perceives it, breaks past their own limits, and grows. That is why the Black God Martial Arts are the strongest.

And that held true even without the Body of Defying Heaven.

More precisely, what could actually be learned from it had only ever been the eyes and the body.

"Then let me explain how to attain the Seongshinan. First, gather the Heaven-Defying qi you deliberately left lingering inside your body. Do not use the Black Well to gather it."

I followed the sword's instruction.

"Martial artists divide the dantian into three. The region below the navel is called the lower dantian, the region of the heart the middle dantian, and the region housing the brain the upper dantian. To awaken the Seongshinan, you must first open the upper dantian."

"Isn't that something only people at the Upper Grade can manage?"

The Upper Grade.

The realm where one kneads the laws of the world to one's own will. When ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a martial artist enters the Upper Grade, the upper dantian cracks slightly open, and upon reaching the rank of Peak Grade, they begin to perceive the world through it.

In terms of realms, I had only just entered the Lower Grade and was making my way toward the Middle—nowhere near a stage I should be touching.

"Ordinarily, no. But it seems you know little of the Heaven-Defying qi, Master. Heaven-Defiance is a force that favors the upper dantian. And the fact that you wield it as naturally as my previous master did makes your odds all the better."

"I-is that so?"

My Conceptual Stat and Dexterity.

I knew the two powers synergized to monstrous effect, but was I really comparable to the previous Heavenly Demon?

Well, if it gets dangerous, I can always stop.

I sank down onto the floor and set the Heaven-Defying energy in motion, guiding it up toward my brain.

"Normally you would have to grind through the tedious labor of cycling the Conception and Governing meridians but… for some reason I can't fathom, your body is built so that no such labor is needed."

The reason for that was simple.

It was the effect of the elixirs and miraculous pills I'd earned for posting record-shattering results in the Tower of Ordeals. They had maximized my body's latent potential, and every impurity had been flushed from me in that moment.

The Heaven-Defying qi drifted toward my upper dantian, moving precisely as the knowledge the sword had given me dictated. And along with it, a black humanoid figure rose in my mental image.

……This was—

Someone's lively voice carved itself into my mind. Most likely a message left behind by the one called the previous Heavenly Demon.

I slowly opened my eyes.

……Had it worked?

I opened my eyes.

The view looked different somehow. How should I put it—the empty air seemed to ripple.

"Judging by the look of you, I'd say it was a success."

"Doesn't look like much has changed."

"The Seongshinan exerts its true power when observing life, you see. In any case—congratulations, Master."

I knew.

And the Seongshinan would shine all the brighter once I forged the Celestial Body to pair with it.

I pulled something out of my subspace.

The elixir Seo Yebin had given me after I captured that demon—telling me to at least raise my stamina.

"Quite a fine elixir, that. It came from that monstrous woman, if I recall?"

Nodding at the sword's words, I swallowed the Clarity Pill. A azure energy seeped through my body, and vitality came surging up.

……Status window.

All sorts of new entries had appeared on my status window. Stamina stood out prominently among the stats.

……Nothing to be done about that.

Stamina was essential for raising every other stat. Whatever I did, any attempt to grow my abilities demanded stamina first. It was a kind of hidden keystone.

I looked at the Seongshinan listed under my Arts.

The System had graded it S-rank. Excluding the Black God Martial Arts and Perusal, whose grades couldn't be determined, it held the highest rating of anything I possessed.

It should have scored A-rank, normally…

Apparently the power of the Body of Defying Heaven had pushed it to S. Lucky me.

The midterms had begun.

In the end, I'd gained very little. The demons had stayed quiet, and there'd been nothing strange inside the dungeon either.

Which is exactly why I'm uneasy.

Those demon bastards had no reason to be this docile. Still, time marched on, and the first written exam of the midterms was upon us.

It was self-study period before the exam.

I was walking Seo Gayeon through a practice problem.

"Oh, so that's why the result came out weird."

"Yeah. So watch out for that next time."

"But Seoha, you're really, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really good at alchemy. Thanks to you I made it up to Silver this time."

Seo Gayeon said it with a beaming smile.

She does have talent.

Seo Gayeon was the Star Witch. Studying alchemy and magic in tandem was the path where she could grow the most.

And yet her current results were a little odd. Silver, after all, meant she ranked among fewer than ten thousand alchemists in the entire guild.

It would be one thing if she'd studied alchemy from the start—but Seo Gayeon had only been at it for a month.

……Well, good is good.

After sending Seo Gayeon off, I lounged back with a lazy yawn and pricked up my ears. The room should have been full of people cramming, but today there was a strange buzz in the air.

"Did you hear? The alchemy professor got attacked walking home at night."

"What? By who?"

"No idea. Apparently school security got massively tightened because of it. They're saying weekend leave is canceled too."

"Whoa."

……No way. Surely not?

Seol Hwaryeon flashed through my mind—the girl who had called me Elder. She'd told me to be careful, but that hadn't meant go cut down a demon's throat.

"Alright, everyone, focus. Starting now, at exactly nine o'clock, we begin the written portion of the midterm assessment. Cheat if you like—but get caught, and it's immediate expulsion. So only try it if you're ready to accept that, or confident you won't get caught."

For an instant, the professor's eyes flicked toward me.

My stomach tightened. Solving exams with my Perusal talent was, for all intents and purposes, cheating.

"Then, we begin the assessment."