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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Foundation (3)
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This space I entered through the Sun and Moon Records was an all-white void, just like the one where I first met my master, the Heavenly Demon, after I died. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was undoubtedly a spiritual realm where a physical body could exist.
So, you could do something like this with an artifact...
"Huh?"
Looking closer, I saw a massive formation drawn on the floor. It was about the size of a large pavilion, composed of incredibly complex lines and countless characters.
In the very center of the formation were two empty circular spots. In one, a violet torch and a sword were placed; the other was vacant.
'It's obvious they want me to go and sit in that empty spot.'
I carefully examined the formation and read the characters.
"Heavenly Demonic Arts Fusion Formation...?"
This was the space I entered by creating demonic energy, just as the Heavenly Demon Master had taught me.
But that demonic energy was incomplete. The foundation of the Heavenly Demonic Arts is the union of mind, soul, and energy. Therefore, the demonic energy created using only the energy in my dantian could only be considered half-formed.
Moreover, compared to my master's dense demonic energy, born with the Heavenly Killing Star, mine was of a significantly lower level, feeling hastily made. Fortunately, however, it seemed my master had anticipated all of this, for he had placed that torch before me.
That violet flame was real. It was the demonic energy left behind by the truly living and breathing Heavenly Demon Master from the distant past. He had left that demonic energy in the form of a flame demon.
'Absorbing that energy is the path to continuing the legacy of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. This formation is for that purpose.'
With steady steps,
I walked into the center of the formation without hesitation. Then, I sat in the empty spot and assumed a meditative posture.
A ripple spread through the formation, centered on me.
The massive formation began to glow with a violet light and surge.
The vibrations from the trembling formation were transmitted to the torch.
The torch's flame flickered and then erupted, blazing intensely. It soared like a waterspout, creating hundreds of lines in the air that were then absorbed by the characters on the floor. The flame, now absorbed into the formation, flowed rapidly into me.
"Kugh."
The malevolent flame demon, seemingly alive and breathing, coursed through my entire body. It felt like I was on fire. For a moment, I nearly lost consciousness. But at last, I could obtain it—the ultimate demonic energy, created by blending mind, soul, and energy.
The burning pain gradually intensified.
I gritted my teeth, held onto my sanity, and focused with all my might. I mixed the incoming energy with my vitality and spirit. It was about to be complete. But...
Something unexpected happened. The energy turned truly ferocious, and pain followed. The vicious demonic energy moved violently, as if to tear apart my mind, soul, and even my body.
The pain grew even more severe.
Suddenly, it felt as if my body and mind were collapsing.
'Something is wrong.'
With my energy and spirit running rampant instead of fusing, my body could barely withstand it.
My body began to tremble.
Thanks to the fusion formation, I was barely holding on, but I didn't know for how long. Just then, a foreign energy stirred within my head and heart. It felt... familiar.
A small soul...
'Could it be that because I possessed this body right after its original owner, Baek Mu-heun, died, his remnant soul is still here?'
At this rate, both I and the remnant soul would be burned away. There was only one way. I had to confront the remnant soul. If this continued, my mind, body, and even my soul would all collapse.
Gritting my teeth, I clashed with the wavering energy.
The sound of something cracking and shattering echoed in my ears.
As I writhed in agony, a change began to occur.
My vision blurred and was soon consumed by darkness...
* * *
A world of pure white. The fusion formation drawn on the ground, the violet torch, the sword left by the Heavenly Demon Master—none of it was visible.
"Where..."
It was then.
A sorrowful cry from somewhere echoed in my ears. I turned to see a child sitting there. A child who looked to be around ten years old.
The child was crouched down, head bowed, crying endlessly. Like a child who had lost their parents.
'No way. Is that child the remnant soul of this body's original owner, Baek Mu-heun? But why does he look like a child?'
"Hey, kid."
The child only cried, not answering my call. I approached and placed a hand on his small, slender shoulder.
'Huh?'
At that moment, his emotions and memories flowed into me through my hand.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, my heart ached, a chill ran down my spine, and a suffocating feeling gripped my back. Tears streamed from my eyes. Yes, this was a memory I definitely knew.
Memories I had heard from Physician Jang who treated me, from the maids, from the Family Head, and from my brothers.
The original owner of this body.
It was Baek Mu-heun's memory.
-The first memory.
"What a genius."
The Fourth Young Master, Baek Mu-heun, was a prodigy. He learned to read at a young age and possessed exceptional insight into academics. He mastered medicine, spiritual arts, and even mechanical formations as soon as he learned them, showing a versatile talent for not only applying but also adapting them.
The members of the Heavenly Dance Family all praised Baek Mu-heun and looked forward to his brilliant future.
How on earth did a child who was only ever called a genius become such a scoundrel...?
-The second memory.
"A reanimated corpse?"
A record about reanimated corpses, found by chance while rummaging through the study.
The curious genius created a reanimated corpse after reading just a single book.
'So this was why his upper dantian was open and there were traces of him using spiritual arts.'
The problem was that Baek Mu-heun, though a genius, was still just a child. His mental strength was insufficient to perfectly control and command the corpse. Eventually, the corpse broke free of his control and tried to kill its creator, Baek Mu-heun.
At that moment, Baek Mu-heun's mother threw herself in front of him to protect him. Having mastered poisonous arts, she fought desperately against the corpse and succeeded in helping her son escape. But... the corpse Baek Mu-heun had created was special, and she eventually succumbed to the deep wounds it inflicted.
A woman from the Poison Demon Family, one of the prestigious families of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
And so, Baek Mu-heun's mother left his side.
'So this was the cause of his downfall.'
-The third memory.
'He tried to make up for it.'
The Family Head, who rushed over after hearing the commotion, dealt with the corpse, and Baek Mu-heun survived without a scratch. But his heart was torn to shreds, and he was seized by a venomous guilt.
In the end, the clever but foolish Baek Mu-heun began to research forbidden arts again. He studied the art of resurrection, intending to sacrifice his own soul to bring his mother back to life.
Mu-heun went to his mother's grave and tried to extract her soul to transplant it into himself. However, forbidden arts were not so simple, and the boy called a genius failed, unable to overcome the barrier of the forbidden art.
The problem was the aftereffect: his soul cracked and fractured.
-The fourth memory.
"So that's what happened."
With a fractured soul, Baek Mu-heun was ultimately unable to suppress the impulses stemming from his instability and began to stray further and further.
Everyone tried to reason with him, but a fractured soul could not be healed by willpower alone.
One year, two years, three years. The people who had tried to reason with him now reprimanded and scolded him, but to no avail. Four years, five years passed like that.
As the long years passed, the Baek Mu-heun of the past vanished. The gazes of those around him were now filled with contempt.
Six years, seven years... This misfortune, which began when he was thirteen, continued even after he came of age.
Eventually, his father, brothers, and the rest of his family turned their backs on him. Baek Mu-heun, too, despised himself every time he looked in the mirror.
Anger and contempt for his inability to control himself. But that only led to more wandering, creating a vicious cycle.
The pieces of the memory fit together.
After seeing all those memories, I came to my senses.
I approached the sobbing child and spoke.
"Mu-heun."
Hearing his name, the child finally looked up. He was much younger, but he was the boy from the memories.
The endlessly crying child should have grown into a mature adult over the years. But, trapped in his guilt, he could not.
His remnant soul was still in the same state as when he had lost his mother.
"It's okay."
I wiped away young Mu-heun's tears.
"I... I did so many bad things."
Young Mu-heun said, his eyes welling up.
"It's alright. It's okay. No one is perfect, so everyone is bound to make wrong choices."
I sat in front of Mu-heun and spoke.
"I also came here to right my wrongs. The wounds, the pain, the mistakes, and the faults of the past. From now on, I will take them all upon myself."
I offered my hand to young Mu-heun.
Young Mu-heun took my offered hand.
Through our clasped hands, I could feel young Mu-heun's emotions.
The will to believe, and the relief of finally being able to rest.
The world once again faded into a white darkness.
And so, young Mu-heun's remnant soul slowly scattered into the air.
* * *
My eyes opened again.
Before me were the violet flame and the glowing fusion formation.
'My consciousness has returned.'
I can feel it.
The memories of Baek Mu-heun, now fused with my soul.
I can no longer feel it.
The traces of the remnant soul that lingered in my head and heart.
I could tell for sure. My mind and soul had finally fused completely, and I had merged with the violet demonic energy.
A malevolent, demonic energy surged through every channel in my body.
'Now, the first stage of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon... I must go one step further.'
I closed my eyes and felt the internal energy flowing within me. An energy like a waterfall spread through my body.
I grasped the inflowing energy and gathered it in my dantian. Then, I refined the energy in my dantian and drew a line with it.
A melody of energy, swimming inside my dantian like a long-tailed comet. One line was formed, spinning and rotating, and soon a second line was created, and they rotated, crossing over each other.
Before long, the refined lines began to collide.
The colliding lines became a malevolent demonic energy and started to run wild. The ferocious energy amplified until it could no longer be contained within my dantian.
Soon, the demonic energy spreading from my dantian followed no particular order, instantly seething through all my energy channels.
I heard something explode inside my head.
It felt as if my energy channels were bursting.
Even when I trained with the Heavenly Demon Master, I never did things this hastily. But now, there was no time.
A pain that felt like my body would explode.
My consciousness grew distant and faded.
But I had already made two promises.
The responsibility on my shoulders.
For the sake of my master and Mu-heun.
And for the sake of my disciples.
'There is no retreat.'
Because of the vast amount of impurities accumulated in my body, my blood vessels felt like they were burning, and blood surged up my throat.
Every time the unrestrained energy broke through a blocked channel, it felt like blood vessels were bursting, and my muscles spasmed. As waste products were expelled from my body all at once, I even felt pain on my skin.
Each time, the violet flame of the sacred fire further activated the fusion formation.
I felt like screaming involuntarily.
I gritted my teeth and endured. It was a pain of tearing flesh and breaking bones, but I could bear this much.
The malevolent demonic energy circulated through all my blood and energy channels, repeating a process of bursting and mending. Each time, the fusion formation activated, and my body repeated a cycle of destruction and restoration.
The strange thing was that the more my energy channels and blood vessels burst and repaired themselves, the thicker and stronger they became.
As the blood vessels widened, blood flow naturally increased. The increased blood flow strengthened the muscles, and the strengthened muscles improved my physical abilities.
It was the same for the energy channels through which my internal energy flowed.
The fusion formation and the sacred flame became a single streak of light, were absorbed into my body, and then settled in my dantian.
The energy absorbed into the dantian was then absorbed by the two rotating lines, and finally, the two lines collided with great force.
The moment the two lines collided.
With a massive sonic boom, all the energy exploded.
Then, the malevolent demonic energy settled stably in my dantian. My body felt better, and I could wield my energy without obstruction.
"Hoo."
'The second stage of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. A success.'
I dusted myself off and stood up. The stench of rot emanated from my entire body. It was the aftermath of expelling all the accumulated impurities.
"How foul."
The repulsive smell made me frown instinctively.
Pinching my nose, I walked forward and picked up the sword lying on the floor.
I drew the sword from its sheath. The patterns engraved from the hilt to the blade's edge instantly sucked in the malevolent demonic energy. Soon, a sharp, violet aura rose from the blade.
'This sword is perfectly suited for wielding the Heavenly Demonic Arts...'
There were characters engraved at the very base of the blade.
'Sun and Moon Sword.'
Is this the provision my master prepared?
When I had fully obtained the sword.
The space vanished, and I returned to the Grand Archives. In my left hand, the Sun and Moon Records. In my right, the Sun and Moon Sword. I had now obtained everything I could from this place.
It wasn't just the Sun and Moon Sword and the Heavenly Demonic Arts. I had inherited all of this body's memories and emotions as well.
This body, the sins of the past Baek Mu-heun, and the future to come—it is all mine to carry on now.
Whatever path lies ahead, I will not run, and I will not retreat.
'First up... is the public duel with the First Young Master.'
"Just you wait, brother."