Chapter 205: Heavenly Thunder Demon-Extinguishing Art (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 205: Heavenly Thunder Demon-Extinguishing Art (1)
Upon reaching the Super Peak Realm, a martial artist could manifest Astral Qi.
With that power alone, they could effortlessly slaughter any number of warriors at the Peak Realm or below.
Moving a step beyond that into the Transcendent Realm allowed one to manifest a Domain. Furthermore, the awakening of the 'Spirit' enabled vastly accelerated cognitive processing.
A Transcendent martial artist—capable of traversing the air as if it were solid ground—was an insurmountable opponent for anyone merely at the Super Peak Realm.
Then what of an Extreme Demon? What was gained by binding one's Essence, Qi, and Spirit into the 'Demonic'?
The answer was simple: the Demon itself.
Upon reaching this absolute extreme, the overflowing Demonic Qi made the practitioner exponentially faster and stronger.
Their Essence, Qi, and Spirit—dyed by the Demonic and merged into a singular entity—exerted a powerful influence that stained the surroundings with that very same Demonic nature, all under the absolute control of the Extreme Demon.
In Seo-jun’s case, achieving the Fire Demon Realm had only deepened his control over that Demonic nature. Naturally, he still possessed every capability of an Extreme Demon.
This was precisely why he could now manipulate dozens of Qi Swords forged from Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi, whereas before, he could barely manifest it over a physical blade.
‘Even this alone is pretty ridiculous.’
It was difficult for ordinary Astral Qi to even clash against the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi. A single misstep, and an opponent's Astral Qi would be sliced cleanly in half.
And he commanded dozens of them?
If Seo-jun were to fully master Qi Sword Control, he could simultaneously face dozens of Super Peak martial artists with that skill alone.
And there was one more thing: Greed God's Final Devouring.
It was the signature martial art of the Greed Demon, a consumption-type demonic art.
How did it differ from the Beiming Divine Art? The difference was massive.
Greed God's Final Devouring wasn't specifically designed to absorb an opponent's internal energy. It was a technique that simply devoured everything.
Whatever it consumed could be converted into Seo-jun’s flesh and blood, or—though slightly less efficiently—refined into internal energy.
Since he also possessed the Beiming Divine Art, he would never lack internal energy. Thus, using Greed God's Final Devouring solely to fuel his regenerative powers was more than enough.
While Seo-jun was lost in thought, Namgung Su-ah showed interest in the strange petals floating nearby.
"Oh my, how cute."
As she stroked a petal, the tiny eyeballs and maws attached to it wriggled in delight.
"You think this is cute? Sister, you know your tastes are really weird, right?" Chun-bong asked.
"Hmm? Isn't it cute?"
"It’s gross."
Surprisingly, Chun-bong recoiled in disgust and backed far away. She liked things with six arms, yet she somehow found this creepy.
Seo-jun couldn't understand her criteria at all.
"What kind of martial art is this?"
At Namgung Su-ah’s question, Seo-jun flicked his finger. Immediately, the maws on the petals snapped their teeth shut with a sharp clack.
"It tears apart and eats anything. Astral Qi, people, buildings—whatever."
"Aha..."
Namgung Su-ah slowly withdrew the hand that had been stroking the petal. The petals shivered, as if disappointed.
‘Anyway, I’ll be practically invincible on a real battlefield now.’
A battlefield would be littered with corpses. If he chewed them up using Greed God's Final Devouring, most injuries would heal in an instant.
Even if a limb were completely vaporized, wouldn't it grow back in about a minute?
There might even be a chance of revival if his head were crushed.
Of course, he had no intention of testing that theory. If he failed to regenerate, he’d just be dead.
For the next few days, Seo-jun helped Chun-bong and Namgung Su-ah with their training while exploring the newfound depths of his own realm.
One thing was certain: he had become significantly stronger than before.
It only felt challenging because the very first opponents he faced after reaching the Fire Demon Realm were the Seven Demons. Had it been anyone else, Seo-jun would have utterly crushed them.
Occasionally, he also received instruction on Qi Sword Control from Namgung Jin-cheon.
There had been a slight awkwardness between them following Seo-jun’s bold declaration that he would get engaged to both Namgung Su-ah and Chun-bong. However, Namgung Jin-cheon treated him as if nothing had happened, and the tension quickly dissipated.
Seo-jun was truly grateful.
The man was a paragon of magnanimity—a living Buddha. Had he joined the Shaolin, he would have been the kind of legendary saint to high-five Siddhartha himself before ascending to heaven...
Seo-jun felt a strong urge to treat his father-in-law well.
While Namgung Jin-cheon handled Qi Sword Control using a single blade, Seo-jun had heard rumors of martial artists in the Murim who could control thousands of swords simultaneously.
"Thousands of swords? How do they even carry all those around?" Seo-jun asked.
"The weapon is unique..." Namgung Jin-cheon explained. "Usually, it takes the form of a greatsword, but through a certain trick, thin blades shed from the main body like falling petals..."
"Oh..."
That sounded incredibly cool. Visualizing the majestic scene in his mind, Seo-jun asked, "Is that person from the Righteous Faction?"
"They belong to the Black Lotus Union..."
"Ah."
That was a shame.
"They were the former Sect Leader of the Sword Sect..."
"Ah, the Sword Sect. Those people certainly knew how to use a blade."
Perhaps because their very name implied seeking the ultimate pinnacle of the sword, they handled the blade exquisitely, if nothing else.
"More importantly, son-in-law... about that 'Corpse-Blood Filling Heaven' you asked me to investigate..."
"Ah, yes."
Namgung Jin-cheon stroked his chin, his eyes darkening as he stared into the distance.
"I conducted my own investigation... but I couldn't find a single trace."
"Which means...?"
"The fact that there are absolutely no traces makes it certain that a highly secretive organization exists... However, it is not the Blood Cult. I am sure of that."
They weren't the Blood Cult, yet they used Blood Arts. What did that imply?
"If it's true that Corpse-Blood Filling Heaven belongs to the Tang Family... then perhaps that organization is linked to an incident from six hundred years ago."
"Pardon? Six hundred years ago?"
"Yes... I’ve only heard stories, but at the time, many Transcendent martial artists stepped forward to uproot the Blood Cult..."
Namgung Jin-cheon shook his head after a moment of contemplation.
"Anyway, I will let you know once things become clearer. For now, it’s nothing more than a baseless guess..."
*
The spirit herb being cultivated from Nok So-pyeong’s horn was nearing completion.
Seo-jun focused on training Chun-bong and Namgung Su-ah, advancing his own cultivation, and sparring with Namgung Jin-cheon, all while simultaneously working on creating a new martial art.
One could say his work-life balance had been tossed into the gutter, but for a Great Demon of the Fire Demon Realm, such a grueling schedule wasn't a problem.
In fact, by saving time on sleep and meals, he essentially multiplied his free hours. He wasn't even that busy.
Normally, once a martial artist reached the Transcendent Realm, they could live quite well without eating or sleeping to some extent. Depending on the specific martial arts they learned, some didn't require basic physiological functions at all.
Seo-jun was similar. He was perfectly fine without food or rest.
If eating and sleeping were merely matters of survival, Seo-jun would have just given them up. Why bother when skipping them literally created more time?
But of course, there was a reason he still did them. Shared mealtimes and the sleep sessions where he could enjoy a completely legal Chun-bong hug were not matters limited to mere survival.
Reducing them slightly was fine, but excluding those activities entirely would cause his joy in life to plummet, leaving him to reflect only on the bleak futility of existence.
For that reason, Seo-jun maintained a very peaceful state of mind. He kept a moderately reduced sleep-and-meal schedule while adopting the mindset of a modern engineer grinding away between millstones.
‘The ones I’ve made so far are the Azure Lightning Heart Method and the Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms, right?’
He excluded the Heaven-Man Divine Elixir Art and the Life and Death Breakthrough Art from the list. Those two were of a completely different nature than the martial art he wanted to create now.
The martial art he was crafting this time was essentially a bribe.
If a man had any conscience at all, he ought to feel a little guilty about taking his father-in-law's daughter alongside another woman at the same time.
For a Great Demon, Seo-jun possessed a surprisingly sharp-edged conscience. Therefore, even if it was just for his own peace of mind, he intended to use his abilities to give his father-in-law a modest gift.
‘I don't really need to make a basic art anymore.’
The Azure Lightning Heart Method and the Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms were more than enough for foundational training.
If someone couldn't master the basics after learning those two, they should just quit martial arts, buy a quiet piece of land, and start farming.
‘I want to create a Qi technique... but most of the Namgung Clan's martial arts are sword techniques.’
Aside from essential foundations like heart methods and lightness skills, other types of martial arts were incredibly rare within the clan.
Because the Namgung Clan had been a family devoted to the sword for generations, they simply hadn't felt the need to develop other types of techniques.
‘Naturally, there are almost no Qi techniques.’
The Firmament Boundless Sword Technique actively utilized Astral Qi, but the rest of their arsenal did not.
There was one Astral Qi technique called Heavenly Thunder Qi, but it wasn't particularly impressive compared to their peerless sword techniques. It was just better than having no Qi technique at all.
The Emperor Sword Form was also far removed from being a pure Astral Qi technique.
‘First, I obviously have to use a Qi technique as the base...’
Seo-jun wasn't particularly skilled in orthodox swordplay. Although he had mastered the Emperor Sword Form and the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword—both pinnacles of sword arts—if he were being honest, he was barely scratching the surface of their true depth.
The essence of those two arts lay in the blade, but he used them by roughly substituting the sword elements with Qi. His lack of pure sword mastery was only natural.
However, things were a bit different now. By creating the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, he had gained enlightenment regarding the fundamental elements of the sword: Heaven, Earth, and Man.
As a result, his proficiency in the sword techniques he had already learned was rising rapidly.
But even so, he was still no match for Namgung Jin-cheon in pure swordsmanship. Seo-jun’s true strength lay in Qi, not the blade.
"Can I read this for a bit?"
After some thought, Seo-jun stopped by the Heavenly Martial Pavilion and skimmed through the manual for Heavenly Thunder Qi.
Heavenly Thunder Qi was practically the only Astral Qi technique in the Namgung Clan. It was considered a high-level art, but since Seo-jun had already mastered the Emperor Sword Form, no one was going to complain about him taking a look.
Namgung Baek, the Chief of the Heavenly Martial Pavilion, showed some interest.
"Do you intend to learn the Heavenly Thunder Qi? I heard that you, Elder, are already profoundly proficient in Qi techniques. If so, the Heavenly Thunder Qi might not be of much help to you."
"Oh, I'm not planning to learn it. I'm just using it as a reference to create a new Qi technique."
"......!"
Namgung Baek’s face instantly lit up, and a loose, giddy laugh escaped his lips.
"Then why are you standing out here? You can just take it to your room and read it! No, wait. Is there any other manual you need?"
The creator of the Azure Lightning Heart Method and the Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms was the very man standing before him—Elder Lee Seo-jun.
What kind of incredible martial art was he trying to create this time?
Namgung Baek cleared his throat repeatedly, already imagining another divine art entering the Heavenly Martial Pavilion. He wanted to jump for joy, but he forced himself to maintain his dignity.
"No, I'm fine. I've already seen everything."
In less than five minutes, Seo-jun had completely grasped the essence of the Heavenly Thunder Qi and left the pavilion.
Namgung Baek saw him off with a look of lingering regret.
Three days passed.
"Whoo...!"
After skimming through the manual of the newly delivered martial art, Namgung Baek let out a wild roar—safely locked alone in his private room to maintain his dignity.
Once again, the Namgung Clan was turned completely upside down.