The Path Is Completely Different (3)
“I wonder why this young man is being so impertinent.”
“Ah, it’s because I’ve been giving the matter some deep thought. What brings you here to see me, sir?”
I rose to my feet and bowed my head. Sword Demon watched me with quiet delight and walked over at his own unhurried pace.
“Fate is connection. Connection is necessity. Necessity is destiny.”
“….”
“You and I meeting on this lonely road was clearly fated.”
A faint smile touched Sword Demon’s lips. Before long he stood quietly at my side.
“I would like to pass on a simple martial art to you.”
“…To me?”
“I like to leave my mark on this world. Don’t let it worry you.”
I feigned surprise at the offer.
‘Geumbujeo…’
I knew the generosity of this man who showered kindness on his juniors without measure.
That was why I had exerted every effort to earn his favor. Luckily, he seemed to regard me quite highly.
‘Jackpot. A massive jackpot. Is it a sword technique? Or a mana cultivation method? If I could choose, the Path of the Gods would be perfect.’
I wondered what martial art he intended to teach me.
It was no secret that Sword Demon himself was a formidable warrior. But what made him even more special was his ability to invent martial arts that could rival the divine.
“Originally all things must merge into one flow in the end. Do not let any burden rest on your shoulders.”
“Martial arts are not so closed. If what you teach me later becomes a shackle for you, I will refuse without hesitation.”
“Hah! This fellow is no ordinary fellow.”
His calm, steel-plated voice carried no amusement at all.
In Sword Demon’s eyes sparkled genuine affection as he laughed. Then he shook his head and continued.
“What I wish to teach you is the Passage of the Heavens and the Path of the Gods. No one will be able to find fault with you or me.”
The Passage of the Heavens and the Path of the Gods?
‘Oh… ohhh!’
The words I had longed for spilled from Sword Demon’s lips. In plain terms, these were “movement techniques”—abilities that could be used at any time, in battle or peace… the so-called national staple of martial arts.
I watched in rapt silence.
Sword Demon stepped slowly, yet with perfect grace.
“The name of this art is the Heavenly Void Passage. It is brilliant and possesses power to match its splendor. It is neither the Passage nor the Path… yet it is something far greater.”
The Heavenly Void Passage? I had no memory of it. It was truly Sword Demon’s private handiwork.
A soft sound rose.
The steps moved across the earth, yet they felt impossibly light. One might even imagine he was treading on clouds instead of the ground.
“This is the masterpiece that unites both techniques.”
Following his words, I gazed at his movements with absolute seriousness. My hand tightened on its own, and a faint tension ran through me.
‘I cannot afford to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’
I followed his steps with all my attention.
And truly, the art was mysterious beyond words. Soft yet swift. Neither flashy nor rough.
‘Junior… no, it’s a little different from that.’
Sword Demon had come from the Demonic Cult. That was why his movements carried the unmistakable softness of someone who had mastered the Demonic Sect’s style. Yet the steps he now demonstrated contained far more than that single trait.
‘…Ah.’
Only then did the word I needed surface.
‘Lonely.’
The loneliness was everywhere in the Passage of the Heavens he performed.
If someone unskilled in martial arts had watched, they might have sneered that the technique was “too sensitive and useless.” But what I saw was pure, emotionless loneliness.
“Like the tiger climbing a mountain. The falcon soaring through the sky. The dragon gliding among the clouds.”
Tadadak!
“True qi flows through the legs, the eyes sweep every direction ahead, and the mind encompasses the entire space of battle.”
The vast clearing began to fill with Sword Demon’s phantom.
“…!”
It was the afterimage of someone who had reached the extreme.
‘…Will I ever be able to imitate the movements of an 8th-rank expert?’
Apart from the overwhelming situation, a low sigh escaped me at his abstract explanation.
‘It’s harder than I expected.’
In Silvering, anyone who mastered the Passage of the Heavens or the Path of the Gods would have received a simple system message: “You have awakened the Void-Transit Step!” at the end of a single book or a lesson from an old master.
But reality was cruel. The difficulty of even normal study had suddenly turned into an impossible advanced problem.
“Seeing it with the eyes and mastering it with the body are two completely different things. Do not be so tense. Simply move with me.”
“…Understood.”
“Flow true qi through your body. Like the water flowing in a deep mountain valley, let it naturally reach your legs.”
“….”
From the very first step, trouble began.
…Flow true qi through the legs?
I was no ordinary mana awakener. Unlike those who stored mana only in their dantian, my entire body flowed with mana.
“Understanding with the head is one thing, but learning with the body is difficult. The answer is time alone. That is why… before I leave, I will help you fully understand it through the head.”
“Understood. I will first follow your movements as best I can.”
Sword Demon nodded shortly.
“So it is. Realization is exactly like that.”
“Yes.”
Swooosh, swish!
A fortunate stroke of bad luck: my mind remembered his movements perfectly.
“The tiger climbing the mountain. The falcon wandering the sky. The dragon gliding among the clouds.”
The profound focus made my back sweat. Yet I never stopped moving.
“True qi flows through the legs. The eyes sweep every direction ahead. The mind encompasses the space of battle.”
Uwoong.
As I understood, the flow of mana throughout my entire body naturally reversed. Just as I reached for the direction I wanted, the lower body’s qi guided my legs forward.
There was no path. I would become the pioneer. My two legs would carve the way.
Tadadak!
“Light yet heavy. Fast yet slow. Glorious yet unpretentious. Smooth yet rough.”
And.
“Lonely… yet not lonely. Like a sturdy tree growing alone on a cliff.”
It was at that exact moment that the impossible happened.
Whoosh!
“The path… opens. No, appears.”
I felt as if a radiant “path” had suddenly risen from the ground. The flow of mana, my stepping feet, and the direction ahead all aligned like markers on the ground.
‘This is it.’
The “realization” Sword Demon spoke of was nothing special. When the head and body naturally guided the legs along the path, that was realization and fusion.
Whoosh!
I felt the space itself compress.
It was an experience so unique it felt like teleporting through the air, exactly like the spatial step in movies or dramas.
‘This… is actually fun?’
The corners of my mouth curved upward. I could not imagine a happier experience in my entire life.
* * *
“What… what?!”
Sword Demon’s jaw dropped open in shock.
He had completely forgotten the dignity of the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
He rubbed his bleary eyes and stared at me. The scene he had just witnessed still replayed vividly in his mind as if it had been no illusion.
“How is this….”
It was more than admiration. It was awe.
With only a single demonstration and a single explanation, he had perfectly manifested the Passage of the Heavens?
I could not believe it. If his own disciples had heard such a story, they would have been scolded to correct the nonsense.
But.
What was happening right before my eyes was no illusion. Just like a divine incarnation sent from heaven, the cute junior I had met today had perfectly understood and demonstrated the martial art in which his entire heart was melted.
“It… it really is completely different from the Passage of the Heavens.”
Frey still looked a little lost in thought.
He had not yet reached the depth of realization, but his movements contained no flaw. How could one not be astonished?
“Tsk, if I could bring him into the Demonic Cult, no amount of wealth would compare.”
With the situation unfolding this way, my regret became even deeper! If I searched the entire Eastern Continent—indeed the entire world—I would never find another talent as radiant as his.
‘How unfortunate.’
…It was not merely unfortunate.
For the first time in my life, the knowledge that I could not obtain a genius made my stomach ache with frustration.
“Who will take in such a person….”
From his perspective, this junior had no master. That meant he had awakened martial arts by himself and reached 5th Tier—peak level—on his own.
“Hah.”
Then a rather plausible thought crossed Sword Demon’s mind.
There was a way! If I could not accept this great successor as a disciple, perhaps I could lead him in a different direction?
“Hahahaha.”
That was it. That was exactly it. Sword Demon smiled with satisfaction at his own cleverness. Since he could not take him as a disciple, what was wrong with forming an even closer bond?
‘I must contact the Cult Leader at once.’
Sword Demon’s gaze, now calm, turned toward the front. There, stepping lightly on the ground like a butterfly, was Frey.
* * *
“It is time for our parting.”
The next day, Sword Demon bid farewell to me from inside the early-morning carriage.
“You are already leaving so soon.”
I could not help but feel a pang of regret.
Apart from the expectation of martial arts received through his tolerance, Sword Demon was a wonderful adult who had become everyone’s role model. Leaving him behind felt genuinely painful.
‘…Geumbujeo.’
His warm smile had made my mood strangely warm. Even now, the comforting words he had once offered me on the road of the Heavenly Demon Cult still echoed in my ears.
“Fate’s bonds are not so easily broken. Do you know? We may meet again soon.”
Clunk!
Sword Demon stepped down from the carriage while murmuring softly.
“And be careful. The reason I am here in this place is because I have good reason.”
“…Yes?”
“There is a group of the Blood Cult hiding nearby. They avoid exposure so they will not appear easily, but if you encounter them, do not look back and run. They are not yet your match.”
“I will remember.”
I bowed with all my heart. After a short greeting, Sword Demon disappeared without a trace.
And then.
The day we confronted the remnants of the Blood Cult arrived that very afternoon.