The Black Martial Emperor's Legacy
Long ago—hundreds of years past—a single martial artist walked the Jianghu.
With nothing but his own strength, he plunged the Central Plains into chaos. His peerless martial arts and cruel nature struck terror into the hearts of all. The greatest masters of the Central Plains knelt before him or were torn limb from limb while still alive. Even the emperor, who boasted of heavenly authority, feared him and dared not touch him.
Ten years after he swallowed the world whole.
Whether long or short, that span of time saw no one in the Jianghu dare to defy him. His absolute, tyrannical rule ended in the most hollow way possible when his most trusted aide poisoned his wine.
Yet the scars he left upon the Jianghu ran far too deep.
The surviving martial artists, desperate to erase the terror etched into their very bones, systematically destroyed every record of his name, origins, and deeds. Only a handful of his epithets remained; all other information vanished from the Jianghu.
The Black Martial Emperor.
The Blood Calamity, or the Heavenly Demon.
Some aficionados, half in awe, called him the Nameless Star, for even his name had been erased despite his overwhelming power.
Among all records concerning the Black Martial Emperor, the one the Jianghu most thoroughly concealed was the martial art he practiced.
Every manual he personally wrote was burned the moment it was found. His disciples were either captured and killed or had their dantians destroyed. Thus, no one knew exactly what art he had used.
Some claimed he wielded a domineering sword technique, swinging a greatsword larger than a man as lightly as a feather. Others said he commanded the blood of those he slew through sinister arts, leaving behind mountains of corpses and rivers of blood wherever he passed.
Yet the most credible—and most terrifying—rumor was this:
'The Black Martial Emperor possessed a forbidden art that allowed him to absorb the inner energy of any martial artist he touched and make it his own.'
After his death, the great orthodox sects and noble clans joined forces to establish the Martial Alliance. They strictly forbade the practice of wicked arts and demonic techniques, especially those that stole another's inner energy or innate true qi. Such arts were hunted down without mercy; anyone caught practicing them could be executed on the spot, and no one would protest. It became an unspoken taboo of the martial world.
Under the relentless purge of the Alliance's Demon-Slaying Guard, the name that once made the entire martial world tremble gradually faded with the passage of time.
Perhaps because the wounds he left were simply too vast, followers who worshipped the Black Martial Emperor's overwhelming strength continued to appear in every era.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, which revered him as a martial god, was the most prominent example. Even excluding them, countless others roamed the Jianghu, obsessed with finding the manuals of the arts he had left behind.
They drew their blades at the faintest whisper of an old legend and risked their lives for the smallest clue, all while harboring the ambition to one day stand in his shadow and succeed him.
Fortunately, the Martial Alliance had erased the Black Martial Emperor's traces with ruthless thoroughness. No one ever succeeded in recovering his arts.
Yet even the most perfect net has holes.
A tiny handful of his followers who escaped the purge divided his remaining manuals into several parts and hid them in remote, unknown locations.
One of those manuals—the very one I obtained beneath the ancient tree at the summit of Black Lotus Mountain—was among the few that had survived hidden in the shadows of the world, beyond the eyes of the orthodox factions.
Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong.
Shortened to Cheonseokhwan-gong, its name alone revealed nothing. In truth, it was a peerless demonic art and a technique of lust that could steal the inner energy and innate true qi of anyone with whom one shared the pleasures of the flesh, or conversely amplify both parties' energies through mutual exchange. It could even seize control of a partner's mind, turning them into a puppet. There was no other art like it in the Jianghu.
To martial artists who would pay a fortune for elixirs just to gain a single thread of inner energy, it was a dreamlike, supreme manual.
Yet at the same time, it was a cursed evil art. Anyone lacking a special constitution or compatible energy flow who dared to practice it would suffer qi deviation, twisted meridians, and ultimately die vomiting blood from every orifice without even a scream.
"Absorbing inner energy…!?"
Having grown up listening to every tale told in the pleasure houses of Manhong Pavilion, I recognized the manual's nature the moment I turned its first page.
Of course, I had always respected the lives of women and never once used it to drain them dry or dominate their minds. I had also kept the true nature of the art I practiced completely hidden; if word spread that I cultivated a demonic technique that stole inner energy, the Martial Alliance's Demon-Slaying Guard would have marked me immediately.
Because I only employed the harmonious, mutually beneficial aspect that amplified energy through shared pleasure, Cheonseokhwan-gong had never advanced beyond the seventh star. I never reached its ultimate peak.
Even so, that limited use had been more than enough to elevate an orphan who once survived by selling petty tricks on the streets into a proper martial artist of the Jianghu.
According to the manual, both partners had to experience intense sexual climax during the act for the energy to grow—an absolute requirement. But who was I? Wi Yeon-seol, the Enchanting Flower who had learned how to handle women from the very bottom of the greatest pleasure house in the Central Plains.
Simply sharing my body with women caused my inner energy to swell as though I had swallowed rare inner pills or elixirs. Before long, even the renowned masters of the Jianghu could not match me in sheer quantity of energy.
Thus I earned a place among the Seven Great Evils of the martial world and led the Heavenly Lotus Enchanting Pavilion, a force composed entirely of women, becoming a legend of my era.
"..."
In the mirror I held, crimson eyes like drops of blood stared straight back at me.
Lost for a moment in old memories, I slowly returned to reality as if cold water had been splashed across my face.
The ghost of the past scattered beyond the mirror, leaving only the face of a peerless beauty.
"The manual. I have to find the manual of Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong."
A desperate murmur slipped from my lips.
The manual I had obtained beneath the ancient tree at the summit of Black Lotus Mountain was no ordinary text whose contents were laid bare from the start. It was something far stranger—a living artifact whose hidden passages revealed themselves according to the depth of my mastery over Cheonseokhwan-gong, created through methods I could not even begin to fathom.
In my previous life, my cultivation had been too low to read the entire manual, but I clearly remembered the final paragraph I had managed to glimpse.
[…Thus, upon reaching ultimate enlightenment, one may freely cross between the two sexes, male and female.]
That meant if I recovered the manual and cultivated Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong to its peak, I could finally bid farewell to this cursed female body and return to being a man.
Back then, I had been perfectly content with my life as a man and had paid the strange ability no attention. Now, however, those words were like a lifeline thrown to someone dangling from a cliff.
"Yes. If I can just become a man again, I can embrace beautiful women to my heart's content."
A small but bright spark of hope flared within me.
Black Lotus Mountain in Luoyang lay more than a thousand li away—an immense distance. Yet distance was no obstacle.
If it meant returning to being a man, to the proud Wi Yeon-seol I once was, I would walk through the very flames of hell.
But…
Just as I clenched my fist and steeled my resolve, the heat rising in my chest cooled rapidly.
Two fatal problems, impossible to ignore, had seized my ankles.
"..."
I slowly lowered my head and looked down at my body.
The full curves of my breasts, clearly outlined beneath the thin white robes. The slender waist that could be encircled with one hand. The smooth, shapely legs.
From head to toe, it was a perfect female body crafted to arouse men's lust.
Yet that very perfection was now my greatest curse and obstacle.
First, I—or rather, the original owner of this body, Seol-hye—was a woman.
To cultivate Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong, physical union with another was essential.
And naturally, I had no desire to mix bodies with a man. The mere thought made my skin crawl.
But then… with another woman, in this body…?
"…Is it even possible?"
In my previous life I had only ever lain with beautiful women, so I had no idea whether the art would activate between members of the same sex.
The manual contained nothing on the subject. Every passage assumed intercourse between man and woman; there was not a single word about what might happen—or what side effects might occur—when two of the same sex joined.
Second, there was Seol-hye's constitution.
Even if the art could be used between women, the question remained whether Seol-hye's body could serve as a vessel for this demonic technique. Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong required a yin-yang dual body or a similarly rare constitution. Could the Little Sword Empress of Botamun possibly possess such a trait?
"Damn it. What am I supposed to do?"
I clutched my head.
Knowing the way back to manhood meant nothing if I could not actually use that method.
'I can't just rush off to Black Lotus Mountain without testing anything first. If I die of lust poisoning on the way, I'd become the laughingstock of the entire world.'
Should I simply give up and live as a woman for the rest of my life?
Just as that weak thought crossed my mind—
—Throb.
"Hyaaah…!?"
The more I tried to suppress it with reason, the more this wretched body shamelessly stoked a sticky heat deep in my lower abdomen.
As if pleading for relief from its burning thirst, it begged for deeper, stronger stimulation, urging me on.
"Agh, damn it! Stop whining already—ahh, this cursed body!"
I twisted my thighs in irritation, but even that friction sent sparks through my brain.
Saliva trickled from the corner of my mouth like some helpless child.
'I can't live like this!!!'
Even if I died while trying to operate Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong, I had to see it through to the end.
"Fine. I'll know once I try. Once I try…!"
Determination flashed in my eyes.
Whatever the outcome, I had no choice but to test it directly—whether the art worked between the same sex, and whether Seol-hye's body could withstand it.
It was a dangerous gamble. But I was still Wi Yeon-seol, the man who had dominated the Jianghu with Cheonseokyanghwanheojeonggong for half a lifetime. I was well-versed in controlling the flow of inner energy.
'If any side effects appear, I'll stop the moment I sense them.'
I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
Having reached that conclusion, the next question arose.
'Then… who should I test it with?'
Botamun was a world of women. Turn your head and you would find beautiful maidens everywhere.
But I could hardly grab the first junior sister who passed by and ask, "Want to sleep with me?"
She had to be someone I could trust,
someone whose cultivation was high enough to clearly feel the effects,
and above all, a peerless beauty who matched my tastes…
—Step. Step.
At that moment, just as I wrestled with my burning desire and made my dangerous decision, footsteps approached the door, followed by a cautious voice.
"Sister, are you there?"
The owner of that clear, elegant voice was—
"It's Yeon-jin."
"……!"
The moment I heard that voice, the crimson eyes reflected in the mirror flashed like a beast's.
'That's right. Since I'm only using it for mutual benefit, even if something goes wrong, she won't be harmed.'
I pressed my trembling lips together and nodded. If it succeeded, it would be a great opportunity not only for my own energy but for Yeon-jin as well.
Even if I failed, dying while embracing a beauty like Yeon-jin would not be such a bad end.
Besides, it was Yeon-jin who had been tormenting my patience for the past ten days with her defenseless appearance.
'This is practically your own fault, Jin-ah…!'
Feeling both surging desire and a strange sense of transgression, I answered in a deliberately calm voice.
"Yes, come in."
Like a hunter welcoming prey, a subtle smile curved my lips.