The Moon and the Heavenly Demon

...Why did it feel like the difficulty of snagging lucky encounters just kept climbing?

The cliff where I'd obtained the Rebirth Manual and the Mystic Elixir Manual had been so sheer that without Zhuge Yang, I never could have climbed back up it. The boulder sealing the cave before us was the same story — a rock so massive that, still unable to learn martial arts, I couldn't have cleared it away alone.

Of course, I suppose I could have dug a side tunnel and forced my way in somehow.

There was no need for that now. The moment Yeon Hwa, a Peak-realm master, pushed, the boulder groaned and slid slowly aside, opening a gap wide enough for one person to pass through.

"Amazing...! There really is something in there. Looks like someone sealed it with a boulder on purpose!"

Zhuge Yang was already fussing over it. I couldn't wait to see how she would react in a little while, with no idea what actually lay inside.

"Wh-what is this!!"

That was my scream, torn out of me shortly after we entered the cave. I came all this way for the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword — so why was something this horrifying in here?!

The first thing we found deep inside the cave was a pair of skeletons. They lay entangled as if locked in mutual destruction, each one's hand piercing the other's throat and chest.

Though I already had a fair guess about one of the skeletons and hung back, Zhuge Yang and Yeon Hwa soon turned up a clue. Perhaps the clothing had rotted away, for several booklets lay scattered beneath the bones.

"These are secret manuals. This one is... the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword!! The sole-transmitted art of Sword Queen Baek Jina!"

"What? Sword Queen Baek Jina?"

"There are several more here."

Along with the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword, a manual called the Moon Spirit Sword had been discovered as well. Probably a lower-grade art, I figured. I feigned ignorance and asked, "Sword Queen Baek Jina... isn't she the master you told me about a few days ago, Yang? The one said to have ranked among the top three in the world some two hundred years ago..."

"That's her! To end up like this, in a place like this... Who on earth was her opponent...?"

Zhuge Yang studied the skeleton inch by inch. Before long, she spotted another manual lying beside it.

"Ah...!"

She visibly flinched at the sight of it.

"What is it?"

I was in high spirits, my objective already achieved, but I couldn't help wondering who could have fought Sword Queen Baek Jina to mutual destruction. The moment I read the title over the shoulder of Zhuge Yang, who seemed unable to force the words out, I too froze in shock.

"Wh-what is this!! Th-the Heavenly Demon Divine Art!!"

Unbelievable. Why was the Heavenly Demon Divine Art here of all places?

Of the three of us, Yeon Hwa kept her head best. She quickly collected herself and shared what she knew. "The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is the secret art of the Demonic Cult's Cult Leader. This one must have been the Cult Leader himself, or his heir."

"Even granting that Sword Queen Baek Jina was a supreme master, could she really have perished together with the Heavenly Demon?"

"The Young Cult Leader seems the likelier possibility."

My curiosity, though, was fixed less on the skeletons' identities than on the Heavenly Demon Divine Art itself. Ordinarily I'd have waited until we returned and I was alone, but I couldn't resist summoning the Treasure Locator, searching in the smallest voice I could manage.

"Treasure Locator. Search: Heavenly Demon Divine Art."

Fortunately, Yeon Hwa and Zhuge Yang were too deep in their own discussion to have heard me. The results were in: not the original text, but the genuine article.

Tianshan in Xinjiang — the Demonic Cult's headquarters.

And yet... a treasure value of 99. Was this thing out of its mind? In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, exactly one item had ever held a value of 100: the Heirloom Seal of the Realm — the peerless treasure that set its holder's Charm to 100 and let them claim the imperial throne. To fall just one point short of that... the Heavenly Demon Divine Art truly lived up to its monstrous reputation.

By then, Yeon Hwa and Zhuge Yang had concluded the skeleton was the Young Cult Leader and moved on to the manuals themselves.

"Do you think this one's real?"

"It might be a forgery...?"

"Even if it's real, it'd be incomplete, wouldn't it?"

Hm. It was genuine, though. This was going to make playing dumb rather awkward.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Art... how nice would it be if I could learn it too.

We gathered up the manuals and headed back, then sat in a circle to take stock of everything we'd gained.

"We still haven't confirmed whether the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is genuine. If it is, it's a tremendous art."

"Can't we just try learning it?"

"Legend has it that only someone born with a constitution called the Extreme Demonic Body can cultivate the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. It's said to manifest only in the men of the Wiji family — the line that produced the first Heavenly Demon."

"Oh..."

It was an art I could never learn, plain and simple. Perhaps sensing my disappointment, Zhuge Yang chimed in. "But if we study it instead, we might figure out the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's weaknesses!"

"Hmm... I don't see the point. When would we ever cross paths with the Heavenly Demon?"

"We might not — but we could always hand the manual over to the Murim Alliance, couldn't we?"

Her meaning: if the Demonic Cult ever rose to power, the manual would make an excellent card to play against the Cult Leader, one we could sell to the Murim Alliance on very favorable terms.

"Ooh... now that's a solid bargaining chip."

"Right?!"

And so the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was relegated to storage, and the discussion turned to the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword.

"Sword Queen Baek Jina had Nine Yin Severed Meridians too. The Moon Spirit Freezing Sword can't be learned without a constitution like the Nine Yin Body or the Pure Yin Body."

"Which means... it's an art optimized for yin energy?"

"Exactly! Pure yin, through and through."

In other words, the perfect match for Zhuge Yang. After laying eyes on the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's value of 99, the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword's 85 might have looked modest — but with the best possible synergy with Zhuge Yang, great attainment was to be expected. Surely she could reach at least the Transformative Realm?

"Although... there is one downside..."

"A downside?"

Please don't let it be anything fatal.

"They say once you take this art past the fifth stage, your hair turns silver and your eyes turn blue... Is that... a problem...?"

Clutching the manual to her chest like she was dying to learn it, Zhuge Yang searched my face — even though it wasn't as if she'd skip the art just because I said I hated the idea.

Zhuge Yang's hair was black now. She was beautiful as she was, but silver hair...? Honestly, how was that anything but wonderful? Frankly, I figured she'd be overflowing with charm. Her eyes turning blue on top of that? She'd be an absolute flower of a beauty.

"You'd look pretty... no, stunning."

"Reeeally? Then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can I learn it?"

"Of course. Master it, become one of the Ten Great Masters Under Heaven, and let's flatten the Zhuge Family's nose for good!"

"Yes!"

So Zhuge Yang would take up the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword. Yeon Hwa couldn't learn it — instead, she settled on the Moon Spirit Sword. It sat one tier below the Freezing Sword, but it was still a superior art, and she said it would be more than powerful enough compared to what she'd learned in the Seo Family.

While the two women worked through the basic forms, we decided to stay on a while longer, and every so often we climbed the mountain to dig up Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. Our stockpile of Mystic Elixirs only kept growing.

"Congratulations, Yang! The Peak Realm already! You might be the first person in history to reach it at sixteen!"

"Thanks, Won. I doubt I'm quite that special. But... at this rate, the Super-Peak Realm really will just be a matter of time!"

A few months of training in the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword had carried Zhuge Yang to the Peak Realm. The Moon Spirit Freezing Heart Method, cultivated beneath the moonlight, proved supremely efficient, and with her body already brimming with the energy of Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, she gathered her internal energy in no time and stepped across the very threshold of the Peak Realm.

Her comprehension was flawless as well; the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword had reportedly climbed to the third stage. With my internal-energy-less body, its subtle movements were nearly too quick for my eyes to follow, but watching her train under the moonlight, I all but lost myself in the beauty of those silver trajectories.

The stature of a Peak-realm master was nothing to sneeze at. If infusing one's internal energy into the blade to harden and sharpen it marked the ceiling of a First-Class master, then from the Peak Realm onward, one could wield Sword Energy. Sword Energy could cut through anything except Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron — and nothing short of Sword Energy itself could stand against it.

Allowing for minor variations, a Peak-realm master commanded skill at the level of a great sect's leader among the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families; a Super-Peak master ranked with elders and heads of sects. From the Transformative Realm upward, one was counted among the heavens beyond the heavens. A sect that produced even a single Transformative-realm master saw its standing soar — and that, precisely, was what the Zhuge Family coveted: to possess a master of the Transformative Realm.

With one, the calculation went, they could contend for supremacy with the Namgung Family and the Hebei Peng Family — the two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the Five Great Families that already boasted Transformative-realm masters in their ranks.

"Let's leave tomorrow, Won!"

"Sounds good!"

The sea we'd been waiting for. At last, the journey to mend this body of mine could begin.

With Zhuge Yang's breakthrough, our little party now boasted two Peak-realm masters — strength on par with a great sect's leader or a mid-tier sect's elders. More than enough for the road ahead.

Zhuge Yang asked, "So where to, Won?"

Having watched me unearth elixirs and track down both the Moon Spirit Freezing Sword and the Heavenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Demon Divine Art, their trust in my instincts had hit an all-time high, and choosing our destination had naturally become my job.

We already had the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. What remained were the Ten-Thousand-Year He Shou Wu, the Azurite Stone Milk, the inner core of the Venom-Horned Flower Python, and the inner core of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Civet.

I turned it over in my mind, but the one we needed to secure first was the Azurite Stone Milk. Deep within a cave, the essence of nature accumulated and condensed over countless ages until it formed a single drop of liquid — and this milky-white fluid was a legendary elixir to those of the murim. The reason it had to come first was simple: it existed in exactly one place in all the vast Central Plains. Which meant that if anyone else stumbled upon it, my Physical Rebirth would burst like a soap bubble.

Calling to mind the location I'd verified countless times, I announced our destination. "Anhui. Let's go to Anhui. My gut says that's the place."

"Anhui... isn't that where the Namgung Family is?"

The Namgung Family. One of the Five Great Families, a line that had produced Sword Kings for generations and currently held the top seat among the five.

"Is there anyone there who might recognize you, Yang?" I asked, on the off chance that old connections from her childhood might give us away.

"I never really went out and about, but I look a lot like my sister, so someone might get suspicious."

"Ah..."

Come to think of it, Zhuge Yang was a twin. Fraternal twins, by modern reckoning, so their faces weren't identical — but apparently they resembled each other quite a bit.

Still, Anhui was the only option. Better not to be found ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by the Zhuge Family yet — we would simply have to be careful this time.