The Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Demon Divine Art (4)
After asking Baek Hwaryeong for advice, Seol-ah left the world of Hwaryong Muin and immediately went looking for videos of Dang So-il. It wasn’t hard to find them. He streamed on Turret every single day, so his entire trail of content remained perfectly preserved on the site. Watching him was more than enough.
The first thing she searched for was footage from Dang So-il’s point of view as he received Hwaryeong’s teachings. Until now she had only ever observed from Hwaryeong’s perspective, but this time she hoped to spot something unusual about him. At best, his decision-making and reaction speed were decent, yet he didn’t seem to possess any real martial talent. Still, she thought that viewing it the same way might not reveal anything new, so she dug through his VODs until she found every clip that featured Hwaryeong. From that moment on, she replayed the footage again and again, countless times.
What she saw at first glance was no different from before. Dang So-il was clearly skilled at the game. The way he desperately answered Hwaryeong’s relentless assaults proved that much. But being good at the game didn’t mean he was skilled in martial arts. Instead of desperately pursuing the principles of martial arts, he constantly calculated how to fight more efficiently. Even when he followed the proper path, the moment he deemed it necessary he would fall back on old habits. Every time Hwaryeong scolded him and pressed harder, yet that stubborn habit never changed. Beyond that, there was nothing remarkable. Dang So-il had simply been ground down beneath Hwaryeong until he was sick of it.
What did that man do better than me?
Seol-ah couldn’t understand it no matter how hard she tried. If it had been me, I would have followed the martial principles exactly as the Heavenly Demon taught. No matter how difficult or exhausting it became, I never would have complained once. If I had been in his place, I could have produced far better results.
Even while thinking this, Seol-ah kept searching for more of Dang So-il’s videos. Yet every time she watched him move, her conclusion remained the same. To her, the man named Dang So-il was simply a dullard with nothing worth learning.
What’s so different? Why does someone like him get to do it while I can’t?
After turning the question over endlessly, Seol-ah finally closed the videos and collapsed onto the floor.
Dang Yun-ok and Baek Hwaryeong had both said the Heavenly Demon refused to teach her the Heavenly Demon Divine Art out of worry. That much was clear. But what could possibly be dangerous about learning it inside a VR game? Was it because Dang So-il hadn’t been sincere while she was? Then how did that explain Han Seo-woo? The man had trained the Heavenly Demon Divine Art with everything he had for years beneath the Heavenly Demon and remained perfectly fine. What about him?
I don’t know. I don’t understand any of it, Heavenly Demon.
“Apis.”
Seol-ah, who had been staring blankly into space, suddenly recalled the thought. Both of them played the Heavenly Demon in Apis. So perhaps the answer lay there. If she played as the Heavenly Demon in Apis like they did, could she find a clue?
Unable to grasp what the Heavenly Demon truly meant, Seol-ah was willing to clutch at any straw. She installed Apis without hesitation and logged in.
She had played it before. The idea of becoming the Heavenly Demon herself and using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had once seemed incredibly attractive. Yet she had deleted the game shortly after. Playing the Heavenly Demon in Apis had been nothing like her imagination.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art performed by the character in-game was ultimately the product of the Heavenly Demon’s own accumulated enlightenment, not hers. No matter what techniques she unleashed with that character, none of it belonged to Seol-ah. She was merely stealing the Heavenly Demon’s achievements. At first she had been delighted simply to use the art, but once she realized the truth the emptiness drove her to delete the game entirely.
Years later, the Apis she returned to looked unchanged. Relying on old memories, she entered practice mode, selected the Heavenly Demon, and immediately felt the inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art roiling inside the body.
The Seol-ah of the past had simply found that energy fascinating. Now it was different. Having studied the principles of martial arts and built her fundamentals to an entirely new level, she understood just how absurd this power truly was.
Is this the body of someone who nearly destroyed the entire righteous faction alone?
She had suffered for years in Hwaryong Muin just to raise her specs, yet compared to this body she might as well have been a newborn. The overwhelming gap made Seol-ah laugh before she even realized it.
This wasn’t a matter of catching up. The dimension itself was different. No wonder the righteous faction had been powerless to resist such a monster.
After that, she threw a punch with the correction system enabled. The technique she had in mind wasn’t the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist. It was the user-modified Palgeuk Fist she was familiar with—the strongest performing martial art in Hwaryong Muin before Hwaryeong’s appearance.
Yet the instant she executed it, the correction system seized control of her body and forcibly transformed the technique into the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist.
One principle overwrote another as the fist flew. Watching it shatter the air before her eyes, Seol-ah could only tilt her head in confusion.
Why is it so weak?
She hadn’t expected Hwaryeong’s level of power. That was something only Hwaryeong could produce, beyond the reach of someone without proper training. Still, she had hoped for at least Han Seo-woo’s level. If that was too much, surely half of his power should have appeared?
How can this be the punch of the Heavenly Demon who conquered the entire Murim alone?
Was it because of the correction? Yes, that had to be it. Even in Hwaryong Muin, using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art with correction had been disastrous.
Seol-ah disabled the correction and took her stance once more.
She knew almost nothing about the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist. She had used it before with the correction system, but the result had been too crude to even call a proper technique. Throwing a punch like that would never produce the power she wanted.
So she decided to imitate Hwaryeong. Among all the fist techniques she had witnessed, that one had been the most outstanding.
She needed no videos or diagrams to copy the movement. The fist Hwaryeong had thrown remained vivid in her memory, as clear as the footage she had just watched. How far to step, how much to twist the waist, how to move the arm, how tightly to clench the fist—she remembered everything perfectly, from the largest motions to the tiniest details. Why would she need anything else?
The moment she tried to draw Pacheon and throw the punch, Seol-ah felt it. The inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art surged wildly. It had slipped beyond control. Muscles tore. Bones twisted. Internal organs shifted from their proper places. The energy moving on its own was devouring her from the inside.
Even with pain sensitivity minimized…
When the black screen faded and she opened her eyes again, Seol-ah slumped to the floor.
So there really was a reason they called the Heavenly Demon Divine Art a demonic art. It was real. Was this what the Heavenly Demon had been worried about?
Seol-ah, who had added Han Seo-woo as a friend after they met previously, told him what had just happened. Among the people she could ask right now, he was the one most likely to give her an accurate answer.
Ah. So that’s why searching online had turned up almost nothing.
Han Seo-woo sounded doubtful, but Seol-ah had no better way to explain it. She had tried to follow the Heavenly Demon and the energy had gone berserk. How could she describe it any more precisely than that?
If this was what the Heavenly Demon had been worried about, then learning to control the phenomenon should solve everything. If she could show that to the Heavenly Demon, surely the refusal would end and she would finally be taught the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Yes. It would definitely work.
Han Seo-woo explained that while he had seen the inner energy of someone who practiced the Heavenly Demon Divine Art go berserk from the outside, he had never experienced it himself. Even when his master explained the phenomenon, she had told him it was something he didn’t need to worry about. Therefore, he still knew nothing about how to control a rampaging inner energy.
After ending the conversation with Han Seo-woo, Seol-ah stood up and took her stance again.
If it didn’t work, she would simply keep going until it did. In a game, death was never permanent anyway. If she repeated the trial and error enough times, the day would surely come when she could control the inner energy.
She would show the Heavenly Demon. She would prove that she was different from Dang So-il. That no matter what pain arrived, she would not break.
So Seol-ah threw her fist without hesitation and once again stared at the black screen. Again and again. She continued until the pain no longer affected her.
The message from Hwaryeong finally made her stop.
That’s not it! But…
Learning martial arts was one thing, but the idea of receiving money for creating videos of the person she admired with her own hands felt wrong.
When Seol-ah explained this, Hwaryeong seemed utterly dumbfounded.
Creating videos of the Heavenly Demon was something she had done before. If it gave her an excuse to keep in contact with Hwaryeong, that alone was reward enough. After listening to Seol-ah’s passionate argument, Hwaryeong remained silent for a long time as if at a loss for words before finally sending another message.
Ah. That’s right.
Seol-ah stared blankly at the message before suddenly remembering what her house currently looked like. She shot out of VR in a panic.
I can’t let the Heavenly Demon see this disaster of an apartment!
She began cleaning frantically, first shoving the clothes scattered across the floor into the washing machine. Even as she rushed to tidy up, her mind kept replaying the earlier scene—searching for any clue about how to control the inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.