Does the Heavenly Demon Use Taoist Magic? (10)
When was the last time I had poured every ounce of my power into a single bet?
It must have been after I obliterated an entire mountain while hunting down that Blood Cult Leader bastard. Since then, I had never been angry enough to risk my life. So yes, that was probably the last time. Which meant it happened several decades ago. Comparing the realm I had reached back then to the one I stood in now was nearly impossible, so that past experience was essentially meaningless.
Well, this is awkward.
“I might accidentally lose control of my energy.”
“What?!”
Khh. How adorable, the way he flinches and pulls back. For something the size of a decent ship, he’s surprisingly timid. Yet despite that fear, the fact that he hasn’t fled and remains here is, in its own way, quite impressive.
“It’s a joke. As if that would happen.”
No matter how long it had been since I last used my full strength, there was no chance I would fail to control my energy. If I were that sloppy, the inner force of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would have devoured me long ago.
I exhaled, then inhaled, gathering every bit of inner force I had scattered around me back into my body. The principle was no different from my own secret techniques. Condensation. Just as I had once focused my energy at the tip of my fist when throwing a punch, this time I concentrated it at my fingertips. Of course, there was a vast difference in both quantity and quality between the energy I used in Apis or Hwaryong Muin and the power I wielded now, but the root was the same.
Once every strand of energy had gathered at my fingertips, I raised my hand.
Now then. Let us paint a picture.
I would create a droplet of water. A droplet infused with all my inner force, one that would imprint my will upon the world above.
The moment I extended my finger and touched the canvas of the world with my energy, the ambient forces that had been drifting lazily nearby swarmed toward it like a pack of wolves scenting meat, tearing at my power.
Are you afraid? Do you believe my painting must not be completed? I understand how desperately you fight, yet I have no need to concern myself with your circumstances.
I slightly loosened my control over the inner force. Normally, releasing the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s energy from restraint would be tantamount to suicide. But in my case, it didn’t matter. They recognized me as their master and would not bare their fangs at me.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s inner force only turned its teeth against external energies. One by one, the entities that had come to erase my power began to be devoured by it. I watched the spectacle with leisure and continued painting.
If what I had done last time was carving a mark upon the world, this time I was tearing the paper itself to inscribe my letters. If they could not stop me, a dark crimson inscription would remain upon the world forever.
What will you do? How will you respond? Surely you can block something of this level? Was the wall I thought I faced nothing more than a mirage? Answer me. Was the expectation I held merely my own delusion?!
I shouted inwardly as the painting neared completion, but suddenly my energy began to scatter. It wasn’t that I had lost control. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s inner force still submitted beneath me. The density had simply decreased. Like two magnets of the same pole repelling each other, the energies I was weaving were forcibly pushed apart.
I stared blankly at the gap between the forces. There was nothing there. No energy. No inner force. No Dao. It was a perfect, absolute void containing truly nothing.
The empty space had been a place where nothing could exist from the beginning, so even the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s inner force could not penetrate it. How strange. Baru had once told me that the Dao dwelled in every part of the world. Yet why was there nothing in that place?
Was it the unknown? Something even Baru did not know? How interesting. So that was the wall I needed to break. I quite liked it.
The corners of my mouth rose as I focused even more intently on moving my energy.
O ferocious and savage forces that seek to devour all things in the world. Will you retreat like this? Will you submit to the will of the world and vanish? Can you still call yourselves the energy of a divine art that stands above ten thousand demons?!
Do not retreat. Devour. Pierce through. Create a crack. No matter how solid the sky may appear, it too must have its limits!
I forcibly held onto the scattering energy and maintained its shape. The more I did so, the larger the empty spaces grew, and the more numerous they became, making it increasingly difficult to gather the force. But it was not enough. Do not think this is enough to push me to my limit. How could the obsession of a traveler who had reached the pinnacle of the world and wandered in search of a new sky be so light?
This was not enough. More. More. More!
As I watched the empty spaces gradually expand, drooling with anticipation, the first to reach its limit was my own inner force. It should have scattered long ago, but I had held it together with sheer will. Now even that was becoming difficult. Within the picture I had drawn, there were now more empty voids than the dark crimson energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. It could no longer even be called my painting.
This. How amusing.
I smiled, but the situation was not so kind. The aftermath of forcibly holding together what should have scattered was rushing in. To use a metaphor, I had been pulling a bowstring with all my might. I had yanked and yanked and yanked, trying to snap it by force. But the string had not broken, and the arm that pulled it had exhausted its strength. All that remained was the arrow that would now fly forward. My power was returning to this world exactly as it was.
The one small mercy was that this power belonged to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
I closed my eyes and observed the surrounding energies. I glared at those deranged things that, freed from restraint, now dreamed of devouring the world. How dare you think of rampaging wildly when your master stands before you? Return.
Some bowed their heads easily, some threw tantrums, and some resisted. But in the end, they all submitted beneath me. The wave of power condensed above my hand, then scattered and flowed back into my body.
This much should not cause too great an aftermath.
Just as I was thinking that, raindrops began to fall one by one onto my head. There had been no dark clouds in the sky today. Curious, I opened my eyes and looked up. Rain was pouring from a clear, dry sky.
Was this the aftermath of the Taoist magic I had tried to use? I had thought it impressive when Baru made it rain. So I could make it rain too. Though not by any normal means.
I smiled faintly and lowered my head, only to see the dragon with his face buried in the water, trembling violently. Was this pathetic creature truly the guardian of these waters? I could sense not even the slightest trace of dignity.
“Snakehead.”
“...”
“Lift your head before I grab your horn and yank it up by force.”
Only after I spoke in a tone close to a threat did the dragon raise his head. Before looking at me, he glanced around nervously and let out a stupid-sounding voice.
“You’re… unharmed?”
“Of course I’m unharmed. Did you think the surrounding area would be turned to ash?”
“Well, with that kind of energy raging, wouldn’t a disaster occur?”
Well. He wasn’t wrong. If the energies scattered around here had been anything other than the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s inner force, I would have had to suppress them rather than subjugate them. Even if that had happened, I would have been fine, but I suspected this island would have vanished from the map.
“That’s a relief.”
Had he been prepared to die? The dragon limply laid his head down on the rocky wall. I watched him, then took out my long pipe from within my robes and put it in my mouth.
That thing which had scattered the picture I was painting had contained nothing within it. That void had been eerie, and the solidity it possessed had been wondrous. It was undoubtedly the unknown.
Hmm. I wonder if Baru or Baekju know anything about this. Would Jongsen be able to answer my questions as he had before? How curious. It had been a very long time since such pure curiosity had welled up inside me. After wandering the world and letting boredom carry me along, I had found a goal once more. A hum rose naturally to my lips.
There were more than a few things I wanted to learn about that void. It had clearly been blocking my path. I did not know why it sought to obstruct me, nor what might happen if I broke through it and advanced. But then again, did one need a reason to shatter the heavens?
One shatters the heavens precisely because the heavens are there, standing in the way of the path one wishes to walk. Until I broke it and stood above it, I would not give up. I would need to test it in various ways. It was a shame there was no one with whom I could share this joy.
Ah. There was one, though. Not a person, but still.
“Snakehead.”
“Y-yes?!”
“Did you see the things that tried to scatter my energy just now?”
This fellow was, after all, something resembling a divine spirit. He should possess at least some understanding of Taoist magic, even if not on the level of Baru or Baekju.
“Yes. I saw them.”
“Do you know anything about them?”
I hadn’t held much expectation. Hadn’t I already confirmed last time that this dragon was an ignoramus? I had simply asked thinking I would hear a reaction like “how incredible” or “how mysterious.”
But the answer did not come immediately. I had expected him to shout that it was the first time he had seen such a thing with a blank look in his eyes. Yet instead—
“Do you have some guess?”
It seemed he knew something. When I asked again, the dragon added that it was merely speculation before saying this.
“I’m not sure if you know, but everything in the world possesses the Dao.”
“I know. I have heard it from another.”
“It is an absolute, indestructible truth. It is the law that constitutes the world itself.”
“So you’re saying that even in that place that looked like it contained nothing, there must be something?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
Hmm. Indeed. It was persuasive. Perhaps it was simply that my own realm in Taoist magic was not yet high enough to perceive it. Though it was only a feeling, I suspected that whether I asked Baru, Jongsen, or anyone else, I would receive a similar answer.
“Thank you for the answer.”
“It was nothing.”
“Then I shall take my leave now.”
“Yes! Please go safely!”
“I will come again later.”
“…Pardon? Again?”
“Yes. Again.”
The dragon looked horrified, but his reaction did not change my mind. Dragon. If you wish to resent someone, resent your own appearance. If you had been born as cute as Baru, I might have hesitated at least once. Why were you born with such a grotesque and repulsive dragon head that chills my heart so?