The Heavenly Demon’s Garden
Finding the path to the heart of the mausoleum was not difficult. One simply had to follow the direction where time flowed faster as one drew closer. Yet, the more Seong-jin thought about it, the more peculiar it seemed.
'Why is it the opposite?'
The formation on Mount Bongnae was designed to make time flow faster inside than outside. Because of this, when Seong-jin, who had spent years on the mountain, finally returned to the world, he was met with a homeland where far more time had passed. However, according to the testimony of the Arangdae, the formation in this mausoleum was the exact opposite. It was a formation where time flowed more slowly inside.
They said that while only a single day had passed outside, several days had elapsed within. If one were to spend a year here, only a few months would have passed in the outside world.
'For what purpose?'
When the immortals asked if he had come to Mount Bongnae to extend his life, Seong-jin had replied that he entered the mountain because he could not bear the unfilial act of a child dying before his parents. It was a self-deprecating joke.
"Surely it isn't because he didn't want to witness the unfilial act of a worthless son."
Was it not? Was that truly the reason?
Just as Seong-jin began to ponder this seriously, the atmosphere around him shifted entirely. A green hue permeated the limestone cave, which had been filled with smooth stalactites. It was not the glow of moss reflecting the light of night-luminescent pearls. These were healthy trees and plants, grown under the light of the sun.
The moment he realized this, a breeze blew through.
The effect of the formation on Mount Bongnae was not merely the distortion of time. There were peaks where the sun and moon hung simultaneously, lakes where lotus flowers the size of palaces bloomed, waterfalls that flowed upward from below, and wells reflecting the Moon Palace. There were herb gardens steeped in the passage of ages and rocks where immortals once played Go.
Just the same, an entirely new world unfolded in the depths of the mausoleum. A field of silver grass swaying under a sky without a single cloud. The vast, expansive landscape that stretched endlessly along the mountain ridges made one forget that this was inside a cave.
"This is..."
The Uinyeom (will and intent) carved into the land flowed into him. The journey of a father who entrusted his son to Mount Bongnae and headed toward the Heavenly Mountains. The labor of clearing land and sowing seeds in a barren, mountainous environment where crops refused to grow. The process of teaching the demonic practitioners and reforming them into human beings.
"..."
Seong-jin understood. All these actions were born from the desire to make the world even a little better for the son who would one day return to this land. The Heavenly Demon was the very being who had sincerely committed himself to the task everyone called impossible—teaching the demonic practitioners, who were despised and called irredeemable, to become men of virtue.
Seong-jin could feel the presence of the Heavenly Demon, who was projecting his mental image onto this area from a hill far in the distance. Every intent in this place originated from a single tree growing atop that hill.
"Could it be?"
If he were still alive. If, in the manner of the Heavenly Demon, he had used some mysterious method to remain in this land to this day, there were stories left to share that could not be exhausted even if they spent a hundred nights together.
Just as Seong-jin was about to step toward the hill, an uninvited voice broke his concentration, as if splashing him with cold water.
"A truly unpleasant space."
Maegu appeared in the third mausoleum as if it were no coincidence that she had claimed the second. "If he is the Heavenly Demon, he should be a being who keeps countless demonic practitioners under his feet, yet this is merely a peaceful mental image."
An invader set foot in a world of peace. The silver grass field, which had been shining with a silvery light, began to turn black from the places Maegu’s feet touched. Her Yogi (demonic energy) was polluting the intent contained within the formation. It was, in a sense, like smearing ink over a painting filled with someone else’s memories simply because she did not like it.
"Those who stand above have a duty to lead those below. If I were the Heavenly Demon, I would have led the Divine Cult to conquer the Central Plains and establish a new dynasty. Then the demonic practitioners would no longer be persecuted and could live in a prosperous world."
"And what of the ordinary people who would be persecuted in their stead?"
"It is a world where even fellow humans hate each other and wage war. Why should I care about those who aren't even of the same species?"
What the Heavenly Demon sought to create was not a world where the subject and object were merely reversed. If she could not understand this, conversation was futile.
"It seems you, too, are in need of reform."
"Trying to crush a woman with force? That, too, is fine."
Her tails, hidden by illusion, revealed themselves. "If you can, that is."
Only Seong-jin and Maegu were here now. Even if she drew upon her full power as a yokai, there was no risk of violating the Bongsin-gyuyak (Sealing Covenant).
Hu-jeop-man-hwa-gyeong (Butterfly Kaleidoscope)
The silver grass swaying in the wind turned into water bubbles. The bubbles that began to rise around where Seong-jin stood turned into fox-fire the moment they touched his body.
Puhwaak!
High-temperature blue flames instantly swallowed Seong-jin. It was a level of firepower that would have turned even a top-tier master into ashes, unless they were a master of ice arts who had reached the realm of Ban-bak-gwi-jin. No matter how noble the swordsmanship, it could not prevent one's lungs from being scorched.
Maegu, wielding both the power of a great yokai and the prowess of a peak master, was undoubtedly a terrifying powerhouse. Without constraints, she could have faced an army of thousands alone. However—
Paat!
Seong-jin, clad in a bright red robe, soared from within the flames. Having blocked the heat with the fur coat of the fire rat—a divine object of the volcano—Seong-jin lunged at Maegu in an instant.
Bi-ryong-jae-cheon (Flying Dragon in the Sky)
A technique where one leaps into the sky to claim the high ground and attacks while falling. A simple yet absolute law: the force of striking down from above is stronger than the force of striking up from below. As the Bi-ryong-jae-cheon, which maximized that force, exploded, the surrounding silver grass was flattened by the wind pressure amidst a deafening roar.
Kwaaaaaang!
Maegu, worthy of the name of a peak master, neutralized the shockwaves of the palm technique into the ground, blocking Seong-jin’s strike. Seong-jin did not stop; he continued to unleash the Hang-ryong-jang, maintaining his offensive. Both hands moved independently, with feints and real strikes, checks and direct hits shifting in a thousand ways. It was a battle of wits where dozens of choices were forced upon the opponent in a single breath. He poured out problems that, if answered incorrectly even once, would result in his opponent’s throat being seized.
Yet, all those strikes were merely a trap to divert Maegu’s attention; a sword flew in from behind.
"How sinister!"
It was a sword he had sent flying early on with Eo-geom-sul (Sword Control) while his vision was obscured by the fox-fire. As the sword, having circled wide to avoid her senses, struck from behind, Maegu gave up on responding and attempted to regroup by turning into water bubbles.
'There is no need to be played by the opponent's intentions.'
However, even that was merely part of Seong-jin’s plan.
"Heavenly Punishment."
The moment his finger, pointed at the sky, slashed down toward the earth, lightning exploded. The lightning possessed the speed and power to incinerate all the water bubbles scattering in every direction with just a single strike. Maegu, struck by this, materialized a short distance away, suffering internal injuries.
"Cough! How can you perform such a technique in an indoor space that isn't connected to the heavens...?"
No matter how much this space looked like an open field, its reality was merely an underground cave. Implementing the wind or vegetation here was entirely due to the power of the Yeong-maek (Spirit Veins) drawn in by the formation, and the form was granted by the intent left behind by the Heavenly Demon. Where was there room to implement lightning in such a peaceful mental space, and why on earth would the Heavenly Demon have left such a thing behind?
"How can you do this in such a complacent mental space!"
"It is only natural."
Seong-jin said, drawing the swords from his gourd.
Countless swords soared into the air as the Cheon-dun-geom-beop (Heavenly Evasion Sword Art) was unleashed at full power. "A parent's grace is like the heavens, so the sky here is high enough for me."
Hearing those words, Maegu’s eyes widened, then she burst into wild laughter. "Hehehe, hahaha, indeed, your martial talent is worthy of being discussed as the best of all time. Even the high-ranking immortals of the heavens would not have been like this. I feel like I want to receive your seed right now and bear your child."
"Speaking like a dog, as befits your nature..."
"However, I cannot retreat here either. If martial arts are insufficient, I shall simply add sorcery."
At the same time, Maegu’s eyes split like a beast’s and glowed red. She shed her human disguise and returned to the true form of a great yokai. A giant fox, so massive that even a ten-foot giant would look comical, stood above the silver grass field. Overwhelming demonic energy shook the mind. Powerful demonic energy invades the Gi-hyeol (energy points) just by breathing near it, even without being hit by a penetrating strike.
Even an ordinary person who has not learned martial arts possesses the Jin-won-jin-gi (true vital energy) necessary for life. If this energy is tainted by demonic energy and causes Ju-hwa-ip-ma (deviation of energy), that person becomes a madman who will thrash about until they die. If such a being were to appear in the middle of the capital, countless people would fall into madness and die. The damage caused by those thrashing about in madness before they die would be an added bonus.
If such monsters were not leashed by the Bongsin-gyuyak, would the world even function properly? Unless every household had an immortal stationed to maintain order, a living hell was the natural outcome.
That was why the immortals created the Bongsin-gyuyak to restrain them, and the Bokma-jeon (Demon-Subduing Hall) sought the Heavenly Demon’s arts to find ways to bypass it. Seong-jin had been pardoned for the crime of revealing heavenly secrets—a crime his masters committed while teaching him—in exchange for working to stop those like the Bokma-jeon. His masters' grace was as great as his parents'. Now was the time to repay what he had received.
"Come."
The ensuing battle with Maegu was of the kind that turns the world upside down. This was not a metaphor. When her seduction arts failed against Seong-jin, whose upper energy center was well-developed, Maegu began to pour out illusions in earnest. These illusions materialized through her Shin-geom-hap-il, the Hu-jeop-man-hwa-gyeong, and truly overturned the world. Gravity reversed, causing him to fall into a sky with nowhere to stand, and the earth split, spewing lava.
If not for his Eo-geom-sul, Seong-jin would have vanished as a star in that sky. If not for the divine object of the volcano, he would have collapsed in the heat where breathing was impossible. There is a wall between the first-rate and the peak that can never be crossed in normal circumstances. Seong-jin avoided Maegu’s attacks and struck her with his sword several times, but on her massive body, a few sword marks were nothing more than scratches.
Inevitably, the battle dragged on. Seong-jin, born with the Gu-eum-jeol-maek (Nine-Yin Severed Pulse) and a frail body, began to be pushed back little by little.
'My senses are dulling.'
No matter how much one stabilizes the flow of Gi, segments of instability are bound to occur during combat. It is different from meditating alone. As one continues to take the shock of collisions, fatigue accumulates in the energy points and tendons of the entire body, dulling the senses. Dulling senses hinder the operation of Gi, so the flow of Jin-gi inevitably becomes rougher. In other words, it was a lack of stamina. It was not merely physical strength or endurance; the very time he could endure extreme states was bound to be shorter than that of a healthy person.
"Heavenly Punishment."
Lightning that soared from the sky struck Maegu, who stood inverted on the earth. The sword embedded in her acted as a lightning rod, passing the power of the thunderbolt beneath her skin, but Seong-jin also suffered internal injuries beyond the damage he inflicted on his opponent with the penetrating strike.
"Cough!"
Regardless of Maegu’s conduct, the perfection of the martial arts she had built was truly magnificent. How could a creature born to walk on four legs reach such a realm by measuring distance with human limbs? Moreover, having built up her martial arts to that point and obtained the Hu-jeop-man-hwa-gyeong, she had also grown greatly as a sorceress; she was undoubtedly a grandmaster of sorcery and martial arts who had established her own school. Seong-jin acknowledged this and looked back at himself.
To face Shin-geom-hap-il, the best course of action is to bring out Shin-geom-hap-il as well. All other means were merely patchwork attempts to buy time, and for Seong-jin, whose constitution made him disadvantaged in a prolonged fight, the chances of victory were slim.
'To win, I have no choice but to obtain Shin-geom-hap-il right here, right now.'
However.
"So this was the true mausoleum of the Heavenly Demon! My judgment not to retreat was correct after all!"
Before he could focus inward, another uninvited guest set foot in the silver grass field. Unlike Seong-jin, who knew the effects of the formation and read the flow of time to find the path directly, Jegal Hyeok had moved while gauging the Saeng-mun (Gate of Life) and Sa-mun (Gate of Death) one by one. Thanks to this, he arrived at the silver grass field later than Seong-jin, and upon seeing the two fighting, his eyes widened.
"You were facing the monster guarding the Heavenly Demon’s mausoleum! While Young Master Ju deals with the beast, I shall recover the inheritance!"
Grasping the situation, he began to run toward the hill where the Heavenly Demon’s energy could be felt. For Seong-jin and Maegu, it was a situation where they were about to be robbed of their efforts by a third party. The start of an unexpected three-way battle.