Harmony is Also Chaos
“Say that again.”
Silina’s chilling voice froze the air in the study. The lady of the house, who currently held the entire family’s power in her grasp. Her brow furrowed viciously.
Her gaze lingered on the man kneeling on the study floor, his head bowed flat to the ground. He was the messenger in the dark gray cloak who had visited the remote annex in the northern forest a few days ago. A member of the assassination squad she personally commanded.
“I couldn’t have misheard that, could I?”
Cold sweat trickled down the assassin’s back as he prostrated himself even flatter on the floor.
“Why would I lie about something so critical? I saw it with my own two eyes. Young Master Cael in the annex is not only alive... but he’s recovered enough vitality to leap up the rugged back mountain. He even locked eyes with me, his gaze sharp and full of fighting spirit.”
Bam—!Crack—!
Silina’s palm shattered the luxurious desk in the study.
“Urk.”
A splinter from the desk grazed the assassin’s cheek. Blood trickled down alongside the sweat.
‘If I’d moved, I’d be dead.’
The Restis family was one of the empire’s premier swordsmanship houses. It didn’t make sense for its lady to lack this level of skill.
“Speak sense!”
Her rage-filled shout tore through the air like a shockwave.
“That boy has been slowly dying for months! You expect me to believe this!?”
Killing intent leaked from Silina’s eyes. To make her son Esler the successor, she’d been quietly arranging for the previous wife’s bothersome son to die disguised as an illness. Killing the duke’s eldest son, heir to the family line, meant staking her own life—even if the previous wife was out of the picture.
She’d spent years plotting this. Just recently, reports said he was unconscious and unresponsive. Then the last report claimed he’d regained consciousness but lost his memories? Now he was perfectly healthy?
“I couldn’t believe it either... but it’s true. His movements were fluid, and the pallor of a sick man had largely faded.”
“And the memory loss?”
“I... couldn’t tell if it was an act or real. But he didn’t seem to recognize me.”
“He didn’t recognize you?”
“Yes...”
Silina irritably swept back a handful of her gleaming golden hair. Cael being alive was already a blemish on her plans. And if he returned healthy and started digging into her schemes? If the duke came back to the family and learned the truth, she wouldn’t just lose the succession—she’d lose her head.
“I’ll have to handle it myself.”
Silina’s voice turned serene, as if nothing had happened. When she resolved to kill, her tone became eerily calm like this. To the assassin, it was more terrifying than her rage.
“Tonight. You handle it personally. You’ll be enough.”
A guy bedridden for years. Against someone on the cusp of Expert rank, it would suffice.
“Understood, Acting Matriarch.”
“Slit the throats of that maid and guard in the annex too. Make it look like bandits or a beast attack, then burn it down.”
“As you command.”
The assassin melted into the shadows like smoke and vanished.
Silina ground her teeth, staring at the wrecked study and shattered desk.
“I was going to let you go painlessly... but you’ve chosen the hard way.”
Woooong—
A low resonance hummed around Cael’s body. The air in the room rippled faintly, distorting around him like heat haze on a summer day. His form blurred and shimmered at the edges.
Cael sat in deep meditation, eyes tightly shut.
Heavenly Demon Illusory Art. The pinnacle heart method of the Heavenly Demon Cult that had once led Cheon Woo-jin to the ultimate realm of Transcendence.
For days, Cael had purified his dantian with the Tai Chi Profound Heaven Heart Method. Now, he carefully planted the seed of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art atop that pristine vessel.
By all logic, the pure vital energy and turbid demonic qi should clash, shattering the dantian and reversing his meridians.
But Cael’s prediction proved spot-on.
The true essence of Jang Sambong’s Tai Chi Profound Heaven Heart Method. The principle of Taiji—harmony of yin and yang—began to stir within him.
Drip—
It felt like an inky droplet falling into a clear glass. The wild, domineering demonic qi of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art got caught in Taiji’s gentle rotation.
‘This is... incredible.’
Observing his inner world, Cael couldn’t hide his awe.
A wholly new energy formed as pure vital qi and demonic qi intertwined in Taiji’s form. Colorless transparency blended with pitch-black darkness, piling layer upon layer in his dantian as subtle gray inner power.
This new force retained the demonic art’s destructive power and dominance, yet also held the tranquility and vitality unique to Taoist martial arts.
His mind was a still lake; his dantian, a bubbling volcano. Contradictory natures coexisted in one body.
What to call it? Demonic-vital qi?
‘No, this is harmony and chaos.’
Too harmonious, too chaotic to pin down. Cael named it Chaos Qi.
‘The flaws are gone. I thought differences in martial arts were meaningless...’
Could this be the path to the Life-Death Realm? Beyond Profound Realm and Transcendence Realm, into legend surpassing myth—the Life-Death Realm.
People called the Heavenly Demon the greatest of past and present, but Cael knew better. Jang Sambong alone had left this insane heart method and ascended as an immortal. To Cael, it wasn’t mere myth.
Cael shivered at the gray qi coursing through him. Limited by his mortal body, the absolute quantity was a speck compared to his past life. But its qualitative purity was unmatched.
Shhh—
With each long breath, dust in the room swirled away in circular ripples.
And Cael reached first-rate.
In a single day of cultivation. The fusion of Taiji and Heavenly Demon had rocketed his body from third-rate to the ranks of first-rate masters.
Finishing his circulation exercise, Cael slowly opened his eyes. Thick darkness blanketed the window outside.
He rose, stretching lightly. The creaks from his joints were gone. His steps were feather-light; his vision pierced the pitch black clearly.
That’s when it happened.
His sharpened senses caught a foul, alien killing intent scaling the annex wall.
‘He’s here.’
Faster than expected. It had to be that messenger from the main house. Having seen Cael’s recovery firsthand, the woman behind him wouldn’t sit idle.
A feral smile curled Cael’s lips. A perfect practice dummy had walked right into his grasp to test his new inner power.
To avoid involving Ella and Weger, Cael opened his door and stepped into the dark front yard. He stood tall in the center, qi suppressed.
Calmly, he addressed the shadow atop the wall.
“If you’re here, stop hiding and come down.”
His voice cut the quiet night. The shadow atop the wall quivered slightly.
With a soft swish, the gray-cloaked assassin landed lightly in the yard. Moonlight glinted off the razor-sharp dagger in his hand.
“......How did you sense me?”
Disbelief laced the assassin’s voice. He was the squad’s best at stealth. He knew better than anyone that assassination prized concealment over raw power. Even knights missed him right beside them.
Yet this discarded, sickly young master spotted him first?
Something was wrong.
Arms folded behind his back, Cael casually nodded his chin.
“Your breathing’s ragged, your killing intent louder than a stray mutt’s, and you think you’re hidden? Pathetic.”
“Bullshit. Magic, huh.”
The dagger flashed in the moonlight. Cael’s eyes flicked to it briefly, then back to the assassin’s face.
“Hahaha, same here or there—dodge reality when you can’t comprehend. Why bother? Just accept it.”
“All talk. Regained a bit of strength and think you’re invincible? You die tonight.”
Cael smirked.
“You’re that punk from the main house a few days back, right? And you think that skill’s enough?”
Rage split the assassin’s eyes.
“Let’s see if that three-inch tongue wags after I sever your head.”
Whoosh—!
The assassin blurred forward like stretching shadow. A silent, vicious ambush slicing the air.
His dagger drew a perfect straight line toward Cael’s throat.
“Ho, not bad speed.”
Cael didn’t dodge. Instead, he lightly raised his right hand and flicked a finger at the dagger’s path.
Ting—!!
A sharp metallic clang echoed through the yard.
“......!!!”
The assassin’s eyes bulged.
His full-power thrust, aura-coated to pierce rock. Yet blocked by a finger flick?
“Wh-what...!”
More shocking: the sickly young master hadn’t budged an inch.
He just grinned.
“Why so surprised? Nice swordplay—show me more.”