The Heavenly Demon's First Encounter in a Hundred Years
In the hundred years since my first meeting with the Heavenly Demon, Taeguk Geomseon knew that this encounter would be his last.
He maintained the appearance of a rejuvenated young man through the phenomenon of rejuvenation, just as he had when they first met, yet the snow-white hair that had turned completely white could not escape the traces of time.
"Time has truly flown so swiftly."
"Now I'm tired of living. The Heavenly Demon Cult will roll along on its own without me."
"Why are you so worried about it?"
"Even though I didn't come from there, it was still the territory where I grew up."
"The entire gang world is your territory."
"Taoist, it seems your days are numbered."
"I seem to have a bit more time than you."
"Kukuku, not wrong. A spotless young lad."
On Baekun Peak of Wudang Mountain, where they had first met, the Heavenly Demon and Taeguk Geomseon exchanged such words.
"Heavenly Demon, are you satisfied with the life you have lived?"
"I have done everything I wanted to do."
"You are not the conduct of the leader of a demonic sect."
"Have I not always said it? I built my strength to survive in the Heavenly Demon Cult of the Strongest, living as I please. The title of 'Heavenly Demon' that came with being the leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult and inheriting the advances of the founding Heavenly Demon is something I endured reluctantly."
"Still, you did not refuse the role of the supreme being."
"Even if it displeased me, as my own children, I could not simply abandon them."
The title 'leader' for the supreme being of the Demon Cult had existed for a long time, with only the individuals changing.
But the title 'Heavenly Demon' meant something different.
The number one under heaven.
The founding Heavenly Demon who established the Demon Cult and created the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—could he have been that strong?
The unique one who reached the pinnacle even among the Extreme peaks according to the rumors.
The one speculated to have reached the realm of the Natural Realm, beyond the Harmony Realm and Mysterious Realm—'Heavenly Demon'.
There was no record of how he managed to remain unaffected by the affairs of the world and not become a fiendish demon with a cruel hand.
Taeguk Geomseon, who had observed him up close, was a clear-eyed madman, not a fiendish demon like the previous leaders of the Demon Cult who had brought blood tribulation to the Murim world.
During the period when he was leader of the Demon Cult, it was truly a peaceful time, aside from one grand war that the Murim League's youngsters had tried to stir up.
And the absolute master of Murim, the Heavenly Demon, truly ended the grand war in his own way.
He had broken the horizontal plaques of the Wudang Sect and, in a single-handed charge, invaded Wudang Mountain to demand the sealing of the temples.
Taeguk Geomseon, who had briefly recalled that past, smiled faintly.
"Why did you come to find this long-nosed Taoist? The Demon Cult would have plenty of children to watch over your waning years."
"I do not wish to show the appearance of an old man declining. I only wish you to remember the image of the always-strong supreme being. And the Heavenly Demon Cult, you rascal."
"Would the mountain hermit among the gang world have such thoughts? Now that I look at it, it is not a beast, but a cat?"
"Would you like to go ahead of me?"
"Hehe! Quite the joke, quite the joke."
The Heavenly Demon's eyes, bright as when he was young, caused Taeguk Geomseon to break into a cold sweat and wave his hands.
"You have no interest in becoming a celestial? The founding ancestor of our sect, Jang Sam-bong, is said to have become a celestial in his later years."
"Such actions as abandoning the five desires and seven emotions to achieve what the so-called 'becoming a celestial' means, as the long-nosed Taoists around you talk about, are not what I desire. And as the demon among demons, am I to become a celestial?"
The Heavenly Demon chuckled.
"You are correct. Even though you called me a person who detains guests, why do you say it cannot be done?"
"Playing with celestials is something for Taoists to do. Whether you return through the cycle of reincarnation or fall into Yama's hell, it is none of your concern."
"I want to write a book about you."
"Do as you please. Anyway, I came because I wanted to see the face of the drinking Taoist one last time. Enjoy your remaining years drinking a bit of alcohol."
The Heavenly Demon spoke thus and turned his back, vanishing suddenly into the mist on the mountainside.
Taeguk Geomseon, oddly enough, felt that his rear figure resembled that of a cat that would hide its appearance completely before its lifespan ended.
Of course, his existence was that of a mountain king who had claimed the entire Central Plains as his territory, close to a beast.
Taeguk Geomseon gazed quietly at the sky and hummed a song softly.
"Friend, go well."
***
I, Wiji Yeon, thought I had lived a life without any regrets.
But instead of that, I regretted not having become a celestial as the Taoist said I should.
I had no sense of time.
My thoughts did not flow freely, and I was hazy about the life I had lived, yet I stubbornly maintained my existence.
I resisted the power that sought to wash away my very soul.
Was this the law of the underworld, said to be for cleansing the soul soaked in worldly affairs before reincarnation?
In the time that felt like eons, that sense gradually faded, and finally I recognized my body.
The sensation that had tried to invade my soul soon transformed into one that seemed to melt my skin and knead my brain.
It was truly the hell of scorching heat.
Had I been thrown into Yama's hell?
I had not done good in life, nor had I lived a life devoted to slaughter with demonic spirits, yet I had thought so.
I wanted to break out of the prison binding my body and grab the throat of Yama and shake him, but all I had was the physical sensation of barely recognizing my own body.
And it was not something I could endure.
Rather, the experience of being locked away in Guiwon Cave after being kidnapped by a fiendish demon of the Heavenly Demon Cult when I was young was more painful.
Before I became the leader, the Heavenly Demon Cult had kidnapped promising children to replenish its power in that way.
Of course, after gaining strength and becoming leader, I had changed that practice.
For a long time, I crouched in an unknown shell.
I endured the periodic pain of my body burning and my brain being kneaded.
If this place was hell and the karma I had to pay for the sins I committed in my past life was this, then I would wash away my sins.
But the shell that imprisoned me suddenly.
Without any warning.
It suddenly hatched.
Kugugugu.
A vibration suddenly spread through the underground cave.
"!"
"!"
The giant surrounding me quickly turned his body, and I felt another giant approaching from behind my back.
And then, suddenly, a large cloth covered my body.
As if a band of despicable villains had invaded a young woman's boudoir in the dead of night, wrapped her in a cloth, and carried her away.
I, the Heavenly Demon Wiji Yeon.
The first thing I experienced in this new world was...
...a baozi.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art Activated
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art surged through my veins like molten lava, my soul-level comprehension shattering the limits of this frail, childlike body. Memories of three hundred years as the legendary Heavenly Demon flooded back—every strike, every breath, every calculated kill. Yet the weak female frame trembled, a high-pitched voice escaping before I could stop it.
"!!"
"..."
The ringing in my ears slowly transformed into words.
I could sense someone speaking in front of me, but the full control of my limbs had not yet returned.
My senses returned gradually—arms, legs, torso. I would recover my composure soon enough.
Suddenly, my body was lifted.
Incomprehensible! How could this body be so light yet effortlessly hoisted?
I had thought this frame was tall among the warriors of the Murim, yet they treated me like a giant from hell?
Still, from the giant's shoulder, I finally glimpsed the place where I now stood.
A dark underground cave—or perhaps a cavern better called a joint. Artificial intervention was obvious; the walls gleamed as if measured by a carpenter's rule.
A faint light from embedded amber beads illuminated the space, like someone had placed stars in the ceiling.
I had seen a similar place before.
Taeguk Geomseon, the Taoist who sat in the wine cellar disguised as a training cave on Baekun Peak, the one whose heavy rear end I had once had to force upright while wandering the gang world together.
Was this the hidden base of the Blood Demon who had impersonated the Heavenly Demon Cult and lurked in Murim's shadows?
Or a similar underground joint where he performed sinister rituals with young boys and girls as offerings?
And I finally understood the true nature of the shell that had imprisoned me for so long.
A kind of window made of glass.
It was shattering right before my eyes, fragment by fragment.
How could such an expensive item be used to cage just this one body?
I was barely trying to understand my situation when—
Kugugugu.
A vibration suddenly erupted through the underground joint.
"!!"
"!"
The giant encircling me spun urgently, and the other giant approached from behind my back.
Then, without warning, a large cloth draped over my body.
Just like despicable villains in the dead of night, invading a young woman's chamber, wrapping her in cloth, and carrying her away.
I, the Heavenly Demon Wiji Yeon.
The very first thing I experienced in this new world was...
...a baozi.