Chapter 127 False Rumors
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was buzzing with the most vibrant energy it had shown since being driven into the Ten Thousand Great Mountains a hundred years ago during the Heavenly Demon Blood Purge.
The reason was simple.
It was because of Sado Hwan. In other words, me.
My popularity was already skyrocketing, and now I'd defeated yet another Super Peak expert—one who wielded gang qi freely, no less—without even drawing my sword.
My fame had no choice but to soar even higher.
The Sado Family manor was swamped every day with lines of people bearing gifts, desperate for just a word with me. Cult members flocked to pledge themselves to the family.
Some even whispered cautiously that my support might surpass that of the current Heavenly Demon, Yi Se-ryeong herself.
A few fools even predicted I'd challenge for the Heavenly Demon's throne soon.
Whatever the case, it felt like my era had truly arrived.
[So what? You can't even use proper footwork.]
"This is pissing me off."
At Pa Cheon's snide remark, I hauled my sprawled body back up.
[One day of getting drunk on beating Song Yang Geon is enough. You didn't win with skill—you bluffed your way through.]
"I know that. That's why I've been training nonstop for a whole month."
[True warriors train every day.]
"Even after handling that mountain of paperwork and drilling for three full hours daily? Without a single day off?"
[Hmm, fair point. I'll give you credit for grit. Not that it changes anything.]
Pa Cheon never let up, not for a second.
But he wasn't wrong. To prepare for what was coming, I had to get stronger.
He knew that, which was why he kept whipping me into shape. And though I grumbled on the surface, I threw myself into every session with full seriousness.
I clenched my scarred, battered hands. I would survive.
[Recover your stamina now. Time's almost up.]
"Yeah, and I need a wash."
I cleaned up at the washbasin in one corner of the family head's private training hall, then straightened my robes.
Once I'd reassumed my perfect noble guise, I left the family head's hall and headed to another training ground.
Piiik!
The training ground echoing with Mu Geuk-i's cries belonged to the Black Shadow Guard Corps, now evolved one step further into the Black Shadow Elite Guard.
"Uwaaaah! Mercy, Mu Geuk-i! Have mercy! I'm the family head's loyal servant!"
"Ain't this fun?!"
Two boisterous voices carried over the walls first.
I didn't need to look to know who they were. The one making a huge racket was Tak Horak, and the voice that sounded suspiciously airheaded—
"I sense the Sado family head! Everyone, push harder! Don't die! Haha!"
—belonged to Song Yang Geon, the newest recruit.
As I pushed open the training ground doors, a sweltering heat blasted out.
Piiik!
Mu Geuk-i, who had been spewing flames nonstop, spotted me, folded its wings, and hopped over, rubbing its beak against me affectionately.
"Good work."
Unlike usual, I petted its beak while maintaining my dignified persona.
I had no choice.
A hundred pairs of eyes from the Black Shadow Elite Guard were watching me. Calling it "Good job, Mu Geuk-i!" like old times would have shattered the image.
The Elite Guard looked everywhere soot-streaked and bedraggled.
All victims of Mu Geuk-i's flames.
Song Yang Geon was especially pitiful—his left eyelid swollen like a panda's. He had a standard-issue wooden bow slung over his back.
Yet he was grinning ear to ear, for some reason.
"Report."
"Yes, sir."
Sa Wol, who had been training with them, stepped forward.
"Forty-eight KIA, thirty-seven severe casualties. Total out of commission: eighty-five. Survivors: fifteen."
"KIA get an extra hour of basic stamina drills. Severe casualties get an extra hour of reaction training."
"Understood!"
The Elite Guard's training was simple yet brutal: survive a full incense stick's time without getting hit by Mu Geuk-i's flames even once.
Of course, I wasn't some lunatic who'd cull my own forces, so "KIA" and "severe" were simulated.
Mu Geuk-i's flames were tuned not to cause real injury—just ignite clothes on contact, though the pain was real enough.
The reason for this training was straightforward: Could they survive Meng Wi-hak's flames?
If my guess was right—that Sado Gwang had body-swapped via the Soul Swap Great Law and become Meng Wi-hak's disciple—then war was inevitable.
So.
Strengthening my personal power was crucial, but so was fortifying my forces.
Above all, the Black Shadow Elite Guard—Sa Wol, Tak Horak, Song Yang Geon, and the rest—were the core of my true power base.
That's why I'd devised this: indirect exposure to Meng Wi-hak's flames via Mu Geuk-i.
Meng Wi-hak's fire wouldn't stop burning a target until it was completely incinerated, unless you amputated the affected limb.
Even a graze would spread instantly, leading to total annihilation.
Thus, limb hits counted as "severe," while head or heart strikes were "KIA."
The goal: over fifty percent survival against Meng Wi-hak.
Capturing him? Forget it. Only Yi Se-ryeong could handle that monster.
At first, everyone except Super Peak Sa Wol and Song Yang Geon got wiped out.
But persistent drilling had prospects like Tak Horak and Jin Su starting to hold out longer.
Progress, but no room for complacency.
The real Meng Wi-hak's flames dwarfed Mu Geuk-i's, sorry as I was to say it.
And besides.
If Sado Gwang masters Meng Wi-hak's arts...
I could say it with certainty: a monster rivaling—or surpassing—Meng Wi-hak would be born.
That's why, starting today, I'd add to the training regimen.
"Sa Wol, Song Yang Geon, Tak Horak—stay. The rest, rest up fully, then autonomous training."
"Yes, sir!"
I eyed the three left behind.
Sa Wol, face set with resolve.
Song Yang Geon, eyeing Mu Geuk-i hungrily.
Tak Horak, blank expression.
...Can I really trust these guys?
For now.
For now, they were trustworthy.
Song Yang Geon was a recent addition, but his fanaticism for the Heavenly Demon Secret Chronicles guaranteed his loyalty to me.
Though that black eye made him look anything but reliable.
"The reason I kept you three is—"
"To impart the mysteries of martial arts, right?! Family head!"
"Drop the 'Sado.' And shut your mouth when I'm speaking."
Song Yang Geon's clamped lips nearly made my jaw clench, but I held it in and continued.
"As Song Yang Geon said, to explain one mystery of martial arts."
Their eyes sparkled.
[Just parroting what I told you.]
Hey, I came up with the concept. Copyright's mine.
[More nonsense.]
Anyway.
I pressed on.
"The mystery I'll teach you is called 'Spiral Flow.'"
I still had plenty of advanced knowledge this world hadn't widely spread.
Spiral Flow was one.
It'd become common knowledge by mid-story anyway, so revealing it early was fine.
Especially if it strengthened my forces.
I'd already surpassed it with Domination and Ultra Vibration Resonance anyway.
"Spiral Flow's principle is simple."
It wasn't, really.
Looking back, Pa Cheon was the freak who'd grasped and implemented a half-baked cave idea in minutes.
But Tak Horak aside, these two were geniuses on par—or better.
I unpacked Pa Cheon's refined theory and demonstrated.
"Ooooh!"
Song Yang Geon reacted most dramatically.
"Family head! Do you know why I chose the bow out of all weapons?"
"Just call me family head."
"Family head!"
"With the honorific."
"Family head-nim!"
Beaming, he continued.
"The book says the First Heavenly Demon called the world's strongest weapon a 'gun'! One finger-pull, thunderous roar, hole through the enemy's brow! The bow's closest to that, right?"
The "book" was a novel weaving First Heavenly Demon tales—hence the gun mention.
From a modern view, guns were king, obviously.
Song Yang Geon opened his palm. A small light arrow formed.
"It said spin makes it fly farther, but I couldn't grasp it. Until now... using the shaft to spin the arrow itself!"
Kiiing—
No sooner said than the light arrow spun rapidly around its tip.
Flutter flutter!
The force made my robes billow from several paces away.
"I could take you again now! What say you, family head-nim? One more round?!"
"Don't get cocky."
Before I could step in, Sa Wol did.
She spun gang qi on her dagger. Less flashy than Song Yang Geon's due to her style, but eerily deadlier.
All geniuses, huh.
Explanation and one demo, and they nailed it? Insane.
Sa Wol warned Song Yang Geon with her usual blank face.
"Want to fight the family head? Beat me first."
"Ahem! Cough!"
Song Yang Geon cleared his throat awkwardly. That black eye? From underestimating Sa Wol.
Had they gone all-out, it wouldn't have ended at a shiner. But it established hierarchy cleanly—good.
"L-Like this?"
Meanwhile, Tak Horak was doing physical comedy. Instead of spinning qi on his spear, he spun himself like a top.
...Do Il Gwang saw potential in him, so talent's there.
At this rate, my grand training would devolve into one-on-one with Tak Horak.
As I pondered how to handle him—
"Sado family head! Are you here?!"
Dok Ma showed up—Dok Ma, who rarely left his palace-like home.
Defying the unspoken rule against visits during training meant something big.
"What is it?"
He used to honorific me, but my current status made that unnecessary.
Dok Ma said,
"Heard the news? Yakseon's relic site's surfaced."
Now it clicked.
To a poison master, Yakseon was like a god.
"Of course."
I nodded.
Of course. I'd gotten the report days ago.
More precisely, a letter from Paeng So So.
A new ruin unearthed in Gansu Province—supposedly Yakseon's.
And I'd affirmed it.
As false.
Yakseon never appeared, nor any descendants.
So when Dang Si Hyeok mistook me, I'd played along as one.
The "ruin" was baseless rumor. The original story mentioned such fakes often.
So Dok Ma's next words floored me.
"Someone claiming Yakseon's descent showed up, allied with the Sichuan Tang Clan, and took it."
"...Tang Clan?"
"And in the process, a direct Paeng Family heir got gravely wounded, hovering between life and death."