Three Flowers Gather at the Summit
[Just sitting here listening is quite the spectacle.]
"Now you speak up?"
[I never planned to speak again. Not unless you stirred up more trouble.]
Pa Cheon reached out to me.
[Demon. Just one question.]
"Sure. What is it?"
[How can you remain you?]
"What do you mean?"
[This isn't your body, nor is this your world. Yet how do you hold so firmly to yourself?]
Pa Cheon, who had hit a delayed puberty thanks to Sado Gwang, was still grappling with his identity crisis.
After all, Pa Cheon had been manipulated by Sado Gwang from the very moment of his forging—every trajectory of his existence controlled.
It was akin to Sa Wol's state, a kind of devilish obsession. How could I blame him for it?
"Well..."
[My very roots deny me. So what am I, exactly? What's the reason I must live?]
"I was an orphan."
[......]
"From the moment I can remember, I lived in an orphanage. Not everyone has roots. And as for a reason to live..."
I grabbed Pa Cheon and said,
"It's not something others decide for you. You decide it yourself."
I had a dream once.
My earliest memory was of the orphanage's old, tiny TV. Watching it, I dreamed of one day piloting a combining dinosaur robot to smash villains.
Time passed, reality set in, and I conformed. Too busy scraping by, I just followed what everyone else did. That's how it goes for most people.
I could pat myself on the back for working hard. Sales gigs kept me from going home, so I'd crash at a sauna or catch a nap on a foldable bed in the break room pantry.
My pitiful salary went into savings, and for self-improvement, I'd listen to English podcasts every morning.
But it was eating away at me.
"If you don't know what you want and live by reasons others hand you, you're just devouring yourself in the end."
[......]
That's why I quit everything and chased my dream by starting acting again.
[So, how do you find what you want?]
"Start by figuring out what you like."
[What I like...]
"Doesn't have to be grand."
A cool breeze on a breezy day with a beer forgotten in front of a convenience store, or a song playing from a phone shop you pass by that happens to be your favorite. Those little things.
They pile up, and before you know it, they become your reason to keep going.
[Things I like... I had them too. I was just fooling myself into thinking otherwise after this body formed.]
"Right? You do."
[Yeah. What I like is... martial arts. That's right. Ever since this body, I'd been pretending otherwise, deceiving myself.]
It happened in that instant.
Auspicious energy began to envelop Pa Cheon's blade.
[Yes, I loved martial arts. Born in the Divine Cult, I cherished them more than anyone.]
The auspicious energy wrapped around the entire blade, forming three circular shapes. A sight I'd seen before.
"...Insane."
Three Flowers Gather at the Summit.
The phenomenon that occurs upon reaching Super Peak. This was my third time witnessing it.
If this were a web novel right now, the title might be something like 'Everyone But Me Hits Super Peak' or 'The Ordinary Salaryman Who Became a Fortuitous Encounter Machine in Wuxia?'
A sword achieving Super Peak? An unheard-of freak phenomenon. Even in Murim Returner, packed with all sorts of miracles, you'd never see this.
[Mm...]
Then Pa Cheon let out something like a groan.
One of the brilliantly shining flower buds withered before it could even bloom.
"?!"
The reason martial artists set up guardians during energy circulation or awakenings like this was simple: failure or interruption mid-process could cause severe backlash.
The so-called Deviation into Devil.
I urgently called out to Pa Cheon.
"Pa Cheon, you okay?"
[I'm fine. Not having a human body helps in times like this.]
"What happened?"
[The elements for Three Flowers Gather at the Summit are mind, energy, and body. That realization awakened the mind, and the body goes without saying. The Pa Cheon Sword never breaks. No real damage from this.]
"Then it's the energy. You need to absorb it to use it."
[Even so, it seems I can now halt energy absorption midway. Feels like my resonance with this sword has heightened. Maybe I can even wield Gang Qi to a limited degree.]
"That's good, but..."
Normally, once Pa Cheon absorbs energy, the target dies without fail. That's why Do Il Gwang called it the Star Absorption Great Law.
Now, it meant he could siphon it bit by bit with just wounds—huge boost to sustainability.
[Thanks to you, demon. Doesn't Super Peak prove I'm human now?]
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
Not entirely true.
Among spirit beings, some awaken spiritual intelligence to communicate with humans, and they reach Super Peak too. They probably went through something similar.
But telling him "yeah, no" right after he'd just evolved from flatfish wouldn't help.
I couldn't even touch the family head talk. Learning Sado Gwang was likely still alive would just shake him up again.
[Anyway. You weren't serious about going to Dok Ma, right?]
"Of course not. I'd have to return the Black Ox Whisker otherwise."
The Black Ox Whisker was mangled by me now, but it was still a Divine Cult treasure. In a way, I was stalling repayment using the family prestige.
If Dok Ma pressed formally, I'd have no choice but to hand it over.
Couldn't lose a useful treasure artifact like that when even one was precious.
[It's all about mental composure, then.]
"Exactly."
I'm just an ordinary guy. A fist flying at my face makes me squeeze my eyes shut; a scare draws a scream.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art mostly suppresses it, but the opponent is the Heavenly Demon. If she senses that energy, I'm screwed.
[Why not learn a mental cultivation art?]
"A mental art?"
[Yeah. Something to calm the mind. Wouldn't that help?]
"Know any?"
[I only know Asura Demon Emperor—no, Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Check the library; there should be a few manuals.]
"Let's go."
I headed straight to the library.
The library was smaller than expected. About the size of a high school one?
[Most are in the family head's secret vault, after all.]
"Greedy bastard."
[Yeah. He wasn't even my father to begin with.]
I looked at Pa Cheon differently. What's gotten into him? Sensing it, he added,
[At the funeral. I saw it. The family head wasn't grieving his son's death. He was just sad he couldn't secure his position. No reason for me to revere a man like that.]
Anyway, in the library, I browsed the manuals. My state-of-the-art wuxia AI Pa Cheon picked out a few.
Titles like Lake Heart True Scripture, Sky-Containing Divine Art, and others.
I couldn't grasp the meanings even reading them, so Pa Cheon explained the formulas one by one.
Even vague, nebulous content made sense with the wuxia AI's dedicated commentary.
That wasn't the problem.
"No dice."
[Did you really do it right?]
"Yeah. Did it properly. Nothing."
Same with other mental arts.
"Got it. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art energy won't budge."
[Ah...! Could be.]
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is the ultimate martial art. The inner energy it produces acts almost sentient, repelling other energies. Same here.
"So supplementing with martial arts is out. Might be a treasure artifact for it, but that's in the family head's vault too."
[One more way.]
"What?"
[You faltered against the Heavenly Demon because of her Simsang. Right?]
"Right."
Simsang.
The mental world of a Super Peak expert's life manifesting externally.
Different from intent: intent is willpower forged into martial forms, while Simsang is the raw mental world itself—unique to each person.
[You've never faced Simsang before. Cult members are exposed directly or indirectly from birth, so they're adapted. Not you.]
The Divine Cult is where the strong flaunt their power unchecked. Even Gu Jin-gyeong just now used it to pressure people. Cultists get frequent exposure and adapt.
Like altitude sickness. Highland natives are fine; lowlanders get hit hard.
The only nearby Super Peak was Un Yeop Ja, but he hadn't shown Simsang. Fresh to the realm, he used Gang Qi but not full Simsang or intent.
Sa Wol manifesting Simsang right after awakening and crumbling hundreds was the anomaly.
Still shocking: people endlessly confessing sins, tears streaming, suffocating under guilt.
Then another figure crossed my mind.
"Hold on, Pa Cheon. Then Do Il Gwang in the Punishment Cave never showed Simsang? You said it was killing intent, right?"
[Right. That was just killing intent, not Simsang. The shadow turning demonic at the end was partial at best. Seals limited his inner energy; couldn't fully manifest.]
"Crazy..."
That immense pressure wasn't even Simsang—just raw killing intent. Makes sense; former Heavenly Demon, closest to the current one.
Suddenly realized how ignorant my plan was. Taunting with booze and negotiating? Ignorance breeds bravery, alright.
If Do Il Gwang had pushed to manifest Simsang, I'd have been done. I was the one mistaken.
'Dunning-Kruger effect, huh.'
Don't get cocky with half-knowledge—even in Murim Returner's world. I knew this lore inside out as a veteran reader, but text vs. living it? Worlds apart.
Had to keep reminding myself.
'Caution. And more caution.'
I asked Pa Cheon,
"So your method is training via Sa Wol? Constant exposure builds adaptation."
[Exactly. Sharp thinking for you.]
"Can't keep that good stuff to myself."
[What?]
After hearing my plan, Pa Cheon couldn't hold back.
[A bastard like Sado Gwang.]
"...Looks like you overcame that devil obsession properly. Take it as praise."
With that, I summoned the Black Shadow Corps.
Acting as the Heavenly Demon