Moonlight Connects the Azure Sky
The Heavenly Demon Palace within his mindscape.
The entire space lay submerged in a blood-red darkness.
Namgung Cheon stood face to face with his past self — the Heavenly Demon.
As though he had been waiting for Namgung Cheon all this time, the Heavenly Demon regarded him with one corner of his mouth curled upward.
His mere presence warped the very fabric of the space around him. Once again Namgung Cheon felt, against his skin, the gulf of power that his past self had once possessed — a gulf so vast that now he could not even dare to measure it.
The Heavenly Demon's indifferent eyes fixed upon him. It was the arrogance of a gaze that seemed to say, Is that all there is to you?
But Namgung Cheon only smiled faintly and spoke in a low voice.
"You're right. I'm still far from reaching you. And yet…"
His gaze settled wholly upon the Heavenly Demon.
"I will fight. Even if I have to die a hundred times."
Changcheon leveled itself at the Heavenly Demon.
"That, I believe, is the Demonic Path as both you and I know it — the way of struggle."
At those words, the contempt that had hung on the Heavenly Demon's lips vanished.
And in that moment—
Uooong—.
The Heavenly Demon stretched a hand into the empty air, and from the darkness a single sword revealed itself.
It was Mukhon.
Held again in its true master's hand, the black blade howled like a living beast and vomited forth demonic energy dark as ink.
At the sight, Namgung Cheon drew every thread of his internal power taut.
Hwadeuk—.
Blue sword force blazed like fire — yet against the immense darkness pouring from Mukhon, it looked desperately fragile.
A sneer ghosted across the Heavenly Demon's face as he took a single step forward.
Kwang!
From the point where his foot landed, the floor of the Heavenly Demon Palace split open without end.
At the same instant, a low incantation flowed from the Heavenly Demon's lips.
"The True Demon reigns over all the world."
With the incantation, demonic energy exploded outward in every direction. Namgung Cheon's eyes sank cold and hard.
Cheonma Gunrimbo — the Heavenly Demon Dominating Step.
A footstep that embodied the Demonic Path itself — a technique that drenched all four directions in demonic energy and turned the entire space into his absolute domain.
If that domain completes itself, I cannot win.
Kwang!
Namgung Cheon kicked off the ground and surged forward.
It was the Neung-unbo he had transformed while fighting the Blood Shadow Spear Demon — footwork laced with the capricious deceit of the Demonic Path, turning his whole body into a streak of lightning.
Heavy Mountain Cleaves the Sky — the first form of the Changgung Muae Sword Art.
Shatter the heart of the domain.
The distance between them closed in an instant. But the Heavenly Demon of the past did not evade. Instead, he waited for Namgung Cheon's sword within the spreading sea of demonic energy.
Boooom—!
Their blades collided. The blue sword force that clung to Changcheon and the ink-black sword force of Mukhon swept through the Heavenly Demon Palace together.
Kkkadeudeuk—!
Hundreds of phantom sword images absorbed the steadfast power of Heavy Mountain Cleaves the Sky.
Just as I thought…
A chill ran down Namgung Cheon's spine. Every technique, every movement of his past self was the very essence of the Demonic Path.
I can't use what I mastered in my previous life.
A bitter smile flickered across Namgung Cheon's lips.
Boogwang!
Blue sword force poured out again and again — but the Heavenly Demon of the past wove through every variety of change and parried each strike with ease.
And in that time, the domain of the Heavenly Demon Dominating Step reached completion.
Swaaaa—!
"Kkgh."
A pressure like sinking into a swamp crushed down upon Namgung Cheon's body. And in the instant his dulled movements faltered—
Ssoaek!
Having pushed Changcheon aside once, Mukhon's blade bored into Namgung Cheon's flesh.
Puuk.
The bone-deep chill of a heart being skewered.
I lost.
With that short thought, Namgung Cheon opened his eyes once more. The Heavenly Demon Palace stood silent. The Heavenly Demon sat again upon his throne, looking down at him.
The battle resumed at once.
Kwang! Kkkadeudeuk!
Five exchanges. Namgung Cheon poured his focus into reading the path of the enemy's blade, but the overwhelming speed took his head.
Twenty exchanges. He tried to open distance with his newly transformed Neung-unbo, but his feet snarled within the domain, and the blade ran him through.
Fifty exchanges.
He died, and died again. He could not land a single wound. He could not so much as graze a sleeve. The sensation of defeat was vivid to the point of agony.
His past self had been overwhelmingly strong. To the Namgung Cheon of the present, he felt like a wall that simply could not be surmounted.
He was strong. The me of that time.
Yet through hundreds upon hundreds of deaths, Namgung Cheon's sword began to change. The subtleties of the Namgung sword and the mysteries of the Demonic Path wove together naturally, and the footwork that had guarded his center with unyielding steadiness began to break into ever more varied angles.
And when they had crossed a hundred blades—
Hwarureureuk—!
The Heavenly Demon set the demonic energy of his entire body alight like flame.
Without meaning to, Namgung Cheon swallowed dryly.
Cheonma Singong — the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The opening chapter and the final chapter of all demonic martial arts. The Heavenly Demon's art, steeped in the arrogance of a man who would dye the heavens themselves with his Ma.
Can I break the Heavenly Demon Divine Art with the Namgung martial arts I know?
Namgung Cheon quickly shook his head. There was the Emperor's Sword Form, an art only the Clan Head could master. Short of something like that, nothing could hope to stand against it.
And yet I cannot stop this fight here.
If he could not stop, then he must advance. But his current sword could not cut that demonic will. If so, only one path remained.
Namgung Cheon's gaze turned to the sword at his own side — Changcheon.
I will forge my own Azure Sky that can shroud that demon.
Then what, in the end, was the Azure Sky?
What did the Azure Sky of the Changgung Muae Sword Art mean?
Steadfastness, and boundlessness.
It was an interpretation befitting the heavy sword of Namgung. But the Heavenly Demon Divine Art wielded power enough to drown that boundlessness and still have more to spare.
Then what if…
At that moment, the Heavenly Demon's sword moved first.
Hundreds of streams of demonic energy came flooding down upon Namgung Cheon.
Boagwagwang—!
Even so, Namgung Cheon was still looking down at his own sword. His consciousness was fixed wholly on the two characters engraved upon it — Changcheon.
Is the sky only ever steadfast?
No.
At times…
The blue sword force shimmering over Namgung Cheon's blade began to change. The sword force, once heavy enough to cleave a mountain, spread outward soft and wide.
"The Azure Sky, too, is veiled by a sea of clouds."
Unhaejangcheon — a Sea of Clouds Shrouds the Sky.
Namgung Cheon swept his sword lightly. The sword force pouring from Changcheon became a vast ocean of clouds and swallowed the onrushing demonic energy whole.
Kkkadeudeudeuk—!
"…"
Something unfamiliar flickered in the Heavenly Demon's eyes.
The next technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art followed immediately.
Geukbyeoncheon — the Ultimate Demon Collapses the Sky.
Boagakwa—!
Ink-black sword force split the ceiling of the Heavenly Demon Palace and descended toward the crown of Namgung Cheon's head. Through the broken ceiling, a stretch of sky showed through.
Toward that sky, Namgung Cheon raised the point of his sword.
Cheonroejincheon — Heaven's Thunder Shakes the Sky.
"And it trembles at the sound of thunder."
The instant the sword tip touched the heavens, the whole of the Heavenly Demon Palace was bathed in blue. Then blue lightning drove down into the pitch-black demonic energy.
Booooom—!
The arrogant will of the demon that had sought to shatter the heavens wavered — and with a sharp cry of exertion, it was flung back by the swinging Changcheon.
"…!"
The Heavenly Demon's eyes shook violently. But only for a moment. Soon they brimmed with ink-black demonic energy, and the aura that had blazed across his body vanished — gathering instead into a raging torrent that poured into his blade.
Cheonma Myeolse — the Heavenly Demon Annihilates the World.
The final technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the last resort that returned all things to nothingness.
Swaaaa—!
A wave of darkness that devoured everything came surging toward Namgung Cheon. The ferocity of heaven's thunder, the softness of the cloud sea — before that darkness, both were meaningless.
Namgung Cheon's consciousness turned toward Changcheon itself — toward its very root. A darkness where all light had perished, like that annihilating wave. Did the Azure Sky exist even within such darkness?
Then, through the shattered ceiling, a faint moonlight seeped in. That light settled quietly upon the tip of his sword.
…It exists.
Every ounce of energy that had clung to Namgung Cheon's sword fell still. And he spoke, low and quiet.
"Even through the black of night, the Azure Sky endures."
A light at once cold and blinding.
"The moonlight shall carry on the Azure Sky. Wolgwang Changcheon — Moonlight Azure Sky."
Namgung Cheon's body shot forward like a beam of light. A single point of blue blooming from his sword tip flew toward the wave of pitch-black darkness.
For the first time, a thread of interest crossed the Heavenly Demon's eyes. He gazed for a moment upon that tiny light daring to crack open his absolute martial art.
Boooom—!
The blue light of Moonlight Azure Sky blazed ferociously, pushing the ink-black demonic energy back, little by little. But it ended there. It had barely carved a single path through the wave of darkness — far too little to stem that colossal flow.
At last the darkness swallowed the light. And from within that darkness, a single black flash shot out. A single stroke with no artifice, no flourish of any kind.
Puuk.
With the chill of his heart being skewered, his consciousness drifted away. As the mindscape crumbled around him, he saw the Heavenly Demon looking down upon him.
Unchanged, towering — an immense sky that could never be crossed. The Heavenly Demon.
It was an overwhelming defeat.
And yet a smile glimmered on Namgung Cheon's lips.
That's right — this time, I couldn't reach you.
But at the end of hundreds of deaths, he had seen it: the sky he must surpass, and his own sword that could reach that sky.
The next time we face each other, I will touch you without fail.
An Azure Sky that belonged to him alone — Namgung Cheon's and no one else's.
Changcheon Mansangryu — the Azure Sky All Phenomena Style.
The sun sank westward, and long crimson shadows stretched across the Namgung Clan estate.
Before the quiet residence of Namgung Cheon, Mujin stood guard with his eyes closed. Long hours passed, yet he did not stir from his post; only the hem of his robes shifted faintly in the occasional gust of wind.
"…Mm."
With a low sound, Mujin opened his eyes. Into his line of sight came a figure hurrying toward him — Namgung Un, the Inner Chief Steward of the clan.
Stopping at last before Mujin, Namgung Un cast a quick glance at the firmly closed door and parted his dry lips.
"Surely he isn't still…"
In answer, Mujin only slowly nodded. At that smallest of gestures, a shadow of despair crossed Namgung Un's face.
"It's already been three days. How can he…"
Mujin gave no reply, only turning his gaze back to the sealed door. Beyond it reigned a silence without even an echo of sound. But Mujin knew. This stillness was the quiet before the storm that would swallow everything whole.
Three days ago, when he had first sensed it, he had known at once that Namgung Cheon had entered the State of No-Self. He simply had never expected that state to last so long.
Mujin turned and looked at Namgung Un, whose anxiety had dried his lips to the point of cracking.
"Just what in the world is going on?"
At the question, Namgung Un hesitated. Was it right to speak of the clan's internal affairs to an outsider? But the man before him was no ordinary outsider. He was the disciple of Nangwang, and a retainer of Namgung Cheon — a man who might well be called Namgung Cheon's own faction.
And my mother has her eye on the Third Young Master as well.
Having settled his thoughts, Namgung Un glanced around them and spoke in a low voice.
"The Hwangbo Clan has come. And the Yue Clan of Shandong."
Mujin's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. The Hwangbo Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans — and the Yue Clan of Shandong, which though not among the Five carried authority in the martial world equal to theirs. Both of them had come to Namgung?
Well, it's possible, I suppose.
After all, the clan head, Namgung Mugang, had returned to the estate for the first time in ages. But fundamentally, all three families were martial clans of the same standing. There was no reason for them to seek out the Third Young Master specifically, stuck as he was in the State of No-Self.
The Clan Head is here, and so is the Second Young Master.
Mujin stared at Namgung Un in silence. Catching the meaning of that look, Namgung Un parted his parched lips and added,
"The young clan head of the Hwangbo Clan… says he wishes to hold a duel with the Third Young Master. So every one of them has been waiting on the young master for three days now."
Mujin's mouth fell wide open.
The Heavenly Demon of Namgung
Author | Baek Rihaeng
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
Address | 7F, Gwangsung Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
ISBN | 979-11-7306-734-1
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