-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon vs. North Sword Sect (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Hea... Heavenly Demon!!"
Sogang leaped to his feet right there, shuddering at the sound of that title from the First Heavenly Demon.
To him, the moniker Heavenly Demon referred to one singular person—the great name that had dominated the world and the object of his deepest admiration.
"But why do you look so... young?"
Sogang still wore an expression of clear shock.
"That's only natural. I underwent bone transformation and marrow cleansing before turning thirty, and returned to youth before forty, so I appear to be in my late teens to early twenties."
His words were no lie.
Sogang recalled that the surviving records and books about the First Heavenly Demon and the White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi stated they were among the only two in the martial world at the time to have achieved both feats, transcending to superhuman realms.
"Are you really... the First Heavenly Demon?"
Only a superhuman who had reached the War God realm could burst a first-rate master's skull with a single Lion's Roar.
Moreover, someone suddenly appearing in these parts dressed in ancient martial robes could only be the Heavenly Demon.
Even seeing it with his own eyes, Sogang couldn't easily believe it and asked once more.
"First Heavenly Demon? Is there someone else besides me claiming to be the Heavenly Demon?"
He snorted in disbelief.
Even back then, pretenders had strutted around calling themselves the Heavenly Demon.
Of course, all such fools met their end at the Heavenly Demon's hands.
"Of course. After the First Heavenly Demon unexpectedly entered eternal slumber, there were the Second Heavenly Demon who stabilized the chaotic Demonic Cult, and then the Third and Fourth who led it down the path of decline... There have been a few Heavenly Demons."
"What? Second, and then Third and Fourth? Just how long was I sealed away?"
The Heavenly Demon jumped in shock upon hearing there had been up to a fourth successor.
Sealed in Eternal Ice by the Demon Sealing Sword Array, he had no idea how much time had passed.
He figured at most a decade or so.
But Sogang's revelation was staggering.
"200 years. To be precise, 205 years as of this year."
"What?!!"
His eyes widened in horror at the news far exceeding his expectations.
No way. Does that mean everyone I had恩怨 with back then... is all dead?
When the Heavenly Demon had marched to conquer the Central Plains, there were foes like the White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi, people he owed debts to, and others who owed him.
There was also the woman he secretly admired and subordinates who pledged absolute loyalty.
"Then they're all...!!"
200 years was an eternity for mortals with finite lifespans.
Loved ones and hated enemies alike had returned to dust, making the Heavenly Demon feel that time was more fearsome than any martial art or technique.
"Don't worry too much. No matter how much time passes, traces of people remain. The village where the First Heavenly Demon grew up is reviled, yet still called Heavenly Demon Village. And your right-hand man, the Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, left descendants with a family precept: if the First Heavenly Demon ever revives, serve him without fail."
As a storyteller who roamed the eastern Central Plains, and a fervent follower of the First Heavenly Demon, Sogang knew these details inside out.
"Heavenly Demon Village... Yang U-ryang."
The village of his youth had taken its name from his title. His right-hand man, who made righteous sect warriors tremble, had passed on his loyalty through generations. A swell of emotion rose in the Heavenly Demon's chest.
How much time passed like that?
"Oh right! What faction are you with? Heavenly Demon Guard? Ghost Sword Annihilation Squad? No, with your pitiful skills, you're just an aspiring cult initiate, right?"
Sunk in deep sentiment for so long, the Heavenly Demon suddenly asked as if it had just occurred to him.
His simple-mindedness was both strength and flaw, but here it shone as a virtue.
"Y-Yes?!"
Sogang, who had fluently answered every Heavenly Demon-related question, was stumped for the first time.
"I'm just an ordinary commoner. From... Heavenly Demon Village, though."
"Oh?"
At the words "ordinary person," the Heavenly Demon shrugged in surprise, then beamed brightly.
Meeting a fellow villager in the vast Central Plains was rare.
When smiling, the Heavenly Demon looked utterly innocent, matching his youthful appearance.
"What was your name again?"
"Sogang."
"Good, Sogang. I like it. I permit your initiation into the cult!"
The Heavenly Demon declared it magnanimously, puffing out his chest.
Back then, joining the Demonic Cult was notoriously difficult, but initiates gained access to peak martial arts and spirit elixirs—immense privileges.
The problem was...
"Um..."
Sogang hesitated before speaking to the swaggering Heavenly Demon.
"If I may... the Demonic Cult no longer exists."
The Heavenly Demon was utterly dumbfounded.
"What?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The North Wind Swordsman Jin Sa-gong, famed swordmaster of North Sea Star City and leader of the North Sword Sect.
"Ung, how could you..."
After a full day with no word, ominous feelings drove him to track his nephew, the Great Power Sword Suppressor Jin Ung, and his disciples. The result was horrific.
Incredibly, Jin Ung—who had no rivals among North Sea Star City's young experts—and his disciples lay dead in gruesome states.
Staring at his nephew, frozen stiff in the snowstorm without even closed eyes, Jin Sa-gong trembled with rage.
"Jin Ung and all the first-generation disciples are dead. Every last one, no survivors."
He had searched for any survivors, but as expected, none.
The overlooked bodies were found deeply buried and frozen from last night's heavy snow.
"..."
Hearing his subordinate's report, Jin Sa-gong was dazed.
His nephew's death hurt deeply, but losing twenty first-generation disciples shook the North Sword Sect to its core.
This was beyond grief—a crisis threatening the sect's foundation.
Pushing aside his heavy-hearted sorrow, Jin Sa-gong sought what the sect leader must do.
"What in the world happened?"
"Well..."
To the sect leader's question, laced with unprecedented grief and killing intent, the subordinate haltingly reported his investigation.
From Jin Ung's promotion celebration where he and his disciples got roaring drunk at a nearby inn, to heading to Fallen Demon Valley in Eternal Ice to punish a storyteller for a drunken slip-up—everything.
"Damn it!"
Hearing the full story, Jin Sa-gong felt anger as both sect leader and uncle toward Jin Ung and the disciples.
I warned them countless times: no drinking with your foul habits, rein in that youthful hot blood.
The North Sword Sect's first-generation disciples, especially nephew Jin Ung, were born with strong bones and martial talent, but equally旺盛 blood.
Especially when drunk—they turned beastly.
They had caused big and small incidents, with Jin Sa-gong cleaning up each time.
But now was not the time to curse the dead; it was time for vengeance.
"Then... we just need to find that storyteller first."
Flash!
The eyes of the North Wind Swordsman Jin Sa-gong, who had reached super first-rate and cultivated profound discipline, sharpened fiercely.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"One more bowl!"
Was it because of the long seal in Eternal Ice?
Out in the mundane world after ages, the Heavenly Demon was devouring food at the inn like a madman.
Despite his small frame, emptying three or four bowls of thin noodles was bewildering.
To think such a gluttonous, immature guy is really the First Heavenly Demon.
Sogang, eating alongside at the inn, stared blankly at the Heavenly Demon practically inhaling his food.
The Heavenly Demon indeed showed childish, simple traits unfit for one above all others.
His youthful looks, late teens to early twenties, reinforced it.
Face-wise, he looks less like the First Heavenly Demon and more like a spoiled rich kid.
Sensing Sogang's piercing gaze, the Heavenly Demon finally lifted his face from the bowl.
"Hm? Why stare? Order more."
"No, I'm fine."
Sogang snapped back to reality, waving it off.
Then a sudden curiosity struck.
"May I ask one more thing?"
"Sure. Shoot."
"How did you revive from Eternal Ice under the Demon Sealing Sword Array?"
As a fervent follower of the First Heavenly Demon, that was his burning question.
Slurp!
The Heavenly Demon, gorging wildly, halted even mid-slurp and turned serious.
Come to think of it...
At first, joy at breaking the seal and rage at White Dragon Sword God Baek Un-hwi who imprisoned him were all.
But reflecting, he had no clue how the notoriously unbreakable seal shattered.
"I'm wondering too. Any spell hinges on the caster's念—how desperately they wish it, and the conditions and limits imposed."
For the Demon Sealing Sword Array, Baek Un-hwi's念 to seal the world-flipping Heavenly Demon was unmatched, sacrificing even his life.
With life and innate true qi as conditions, he sealed the greatest of all time.
"Especially since the caster was the White Dragon Sword God, the youngest supreme under heaven, offering his life..."
"Right. Not 200 years—even a thousand wouldn't be odd. So why did it break?"
The Heavenly Demon forgot his food, recalling Baek Un-hwi smiling as he sealed him.
But only briefly.
"Just thinking of that bastard's face annoys me. Wait, youngest supreme? You his follower?"
"N-No! I admire only the First Heavenly Demon. Even enduring scorn and abuse as a Heavenly Demon Village native, my resolve never wavered."
Sogang spoke truth.
Heavenly Demon Village faced discrimination solely for birthing the Heavenly Demon.
To Sogang, the true hero was solely the First Heavenly Demon.
"Sure? Not a spy?"
As the Heavenly Demon bantered idly with a full belly, someone leading a group burst through the inn's main gate.
"The storyteller staying at North Sea Star City inn yesterday! Where's the storyteller?!"
The voice, infused with inner power, silenced the bustling inn like a marketplace.
He was naturally Jin Sa-gong, the prestigious North Sword Sect leader and North Wind Swordsman.
Jin Sa-gong had brought the sect's core forces to the inn.
"Storyteller? Sogang, looks like they're after you."
Realizing they sought Sogang, the Heavenly Demon called him.
"Heavenly Demon. Shh! Please be quiet. Those are... yesterday's North Sword Sect leader and elders. Nothing like Great Power Sword Suppressor Jin Ung."
Sogang shuddered, yesterday's memory flashing back.
Excited from meeting his idol, he'd forgotten the brutal beating's aftermath.
Seeing the sect's emblem and robes triggered cold sweat from the horrific violence.
"Tsk tsk."
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue at Sogang, patting his shoulder.
"Sogang. You're now the first disciple of the revived cult. Let me teach you the proper bearing of a cult member."
Sneer!
Beneath his innocent facade, the Heavenly Demon flashed a deep, terrifying smile.
"All impure scum oppressing our cult—kill them all."