“Hahahahaha!”
Father’s laughter rang thunderously through the main hall.
“Is saying I’ll kill someone really something to laugh about?”
Father cut off his laughter and spoke as if pronouncing a verdict.
“You might be able to kill a Demon Lord, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon is out of the question.”
Meaning I couldn’t kill him yet.
“Then why did you make me clash with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon? Take responsibility!”
“Very well. I will.”
As refreshing as his reply was, the responsibility he took was just as refreshing.
“I shall make you the Master of the Yellow Springs Pavilion.”
I was stunned. I truly hadn’t dreamed that he would appoint me as the Master of the Yellow Springs Pavilion.
“Is that even possible?”
Of course, what could be impossible before the will of the Heavenly Demon?
“Was it possible for a mere investigator to kill a Demon Lord?”
Now that things had come to this, I began to think that perhaps Father had intended from the very beginning to appoint me as the Master of the Yellow Springs Pavilion.
“You said you wanted to put discipline in order properly, didn’t you?”
To me, those words sounded like this:
I’ll put a blade in your hand, so go on and run wild.
To put it more harshly, they meant: become the shield and play the role of the one who takes the blows.
There were likely many things that made it difficult for Father to step forward himself. But what if it was the Heavenly Demon’s youngest son, running about recklessly?
‘Are you perhaps trying to use me to handle the matters you’ve been putting off, Father? Whether I die or not?’
I could not tell whether it was cold-blooded paternal affection, or a choice born from his decision to make me his successor. Yes, let’s not take this emotionally.
What Father told me before was right.
—What can never be known is the human heart.
Do not try to read the heart. Judge by what you see and hear. Not by reading the other person’s mind, but by the situation unfolding before you.
Father had always been this kind of man. He was someone who left words on a wall for his child, and also someone who, if there was value in using that child, would throw him into danger like this.
If anything, it was easier because he was that sort of father. I only had to give Father what he wanted, and obtain what I needed.
“If you send me out to butcher an ox, you should at least put a knife in my hand.”
“Is there something you want?”
The name of one of the places I absolutely had to visit after my regression flowed from my lips.
“Please allow me into the Heavenly Demon Library (天魔書閣).”
The Heavenly Demon Library was a place where all manner of precious martial arts manuals were gathered, and only a tiny number of authorized people, including the Heavenly Demon, could enter.
“Why the Heavenly Demon Library?”
Confusion naturally appeared on Father’s face.
“If you think you’ll be able to learn an unparalleled divine art just because you go in there, you are gravely mistaken. You’ll spend all your time just looking at the titles of the manuals.”
That was how many manuals there were. Even if I were lucky enough to find a supreme martial art, it would only be on a similar level to the Flying Heaven Sword Art I had learned.
In Father’s eyes was both suspicion and reproach, as if saying, ‘There is no way you don’t know that.’
“I want to test my luck.”
Father must have been curious. What on earth is this fellow intending?
After staring at me for a moment, Father made his decision.
“I don’t know what underhanded intention you have.”
Only after saying words he did not need to add did Father grant his permission.
“I permit you to enter the Heavenly Demon Library for seven days.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Seven days. For me, who was not yet the successor, that was an exceptionally generous amount of time. It also meant that entrusting me with the position of Yellow Springs Pavilion Master was that important.
“Please tell the discipline of our cult to wait exactly seven days!”
* * *
When Ian learned that I was going to enter the Heavenly Demon Library, she became extremely excited.
“Young Master, once you enter the Heavenly Demon Library, you must focus on memorizing one martial art and come out. If you get greedy, you won’t gain anything. Oh, and make sure you eat your meals. If you skip meals trying to save time, your memory will worsen, so it’ll be a loss instead. Ah, and it’s so large in there that you might get lost, so…”
Watching Ian chatter on without pause, I reflected on myself once more.
The Ian in my memories had truly been a taciturn person.
Even though she was such a chatterbox.
I suppose that was what I had been like back then. Filled only with the desire to become the successor, I must have done nothing but stare at the roof of the Heavenly Demon Hall. When the people who would help me achieve my dream were standing right in front of me like this.
That must be why Ian became taciturn. I was the one who turned this talkative, cheerful woman into someone quiet.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard. Focus on one thing, and eat properly.”
“And sleep well too. Then I truly hope you get good results. Don’t forget. Being able to enter the Heavenly Demon Library when you aren’t the successor is an opportunity bestowed by the heavens.”
“Ugh, my ears are going to bleed. Ngh, they might already be bleeding.”
“Oh! I’m sorry. I’ll talk less from now on.”
“No. A depressed personal guard would be even more terrifying.”
“Then make sure you keep what I said in mind. Ah, and another thing you must think about when searching for a manual is…”
“Please!”
In truth, Ian had no need to worry so much.
Because in that vast Heavenly Demon Library, I knew exactly where I had to go.
To explain why I wanted to enter the Heavenly Demon Library, I have to go back to the time when I searched for Bimahon, the final ingredient for the Great Regression Art.
To obtain Bimahon, I had returned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult after it had sealed its gates.
I cut a deep wound into my face so that no one would recognize me. I was already a dead man, decades had passed since I left the cult, and with my face disfigured as well, none of them recognized me.
By my own strength alone, I rose from an ordinary martial artist to a position where I could meet the new cult leader privately. It truly took a very long time.
In that final year when I obtained Bimahon, I was able to hear a story about a certain martial art.
Wind God’s Four Steps (風神四步).
The one who obtained Wind God’s Four Steps was the cult leader of the sealed Demon Cult at the time, Zhou Baidao. In the decades after the gate was sealed, the cult leader had changed six times, so one can imagine how chaotic the cult must have been.
I clearly remembered what he had said to me at a drinking party.
“…I was able to ascend to the position of cult leader because I found the lost Wind God’s Four Steps.”
Wind God’s Four Steps.
A supreme movement art in both name and reality, composed of only four techniques.
It was said that it had once supported the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts, but at some point in one generation, it was lost and no longer passed down. Yet Zhou Baidao had obtained that Wind God’s Four Steps.
“…Because the previous cult leader and his blood kin suddenly met with tragedy, the Heavenly Demon’s exclusive martial art, the Guhwa Demonic Art, was lost. The one fortunate thing was that only the Heavenly Demon Hall was swept away, so our cult was able to seal its gates while preserving its forces. After that, our cult fell into continuous chaos over the position of cult leader. If I had not obtained Wind God’s Four Steps, the cult would have remained in chaos until it collapsed from internal strife.”
Simply by adding that movement art to his own martial arts, he had been able to rise to the position of cult leader. That showed just how outstanding Wind God’s Four Steps was.
“Where did you obtain Wind God’s Four Steps?”
“In the Heavenly Demon Library. At the time, I was in charge of managing the Heavenly Demon Library.”
“If the manual was there, then why was it known to be lost?”
“Because it was not placed on a bookshelf.”
“…!”
If I had not drunk with him that day, if he had not been in a good mood that day, if he had not become drunk and boasted of his heroic tale, I would never have known where Wind God’s Four Steps was.
The Heavenly Demon Library was the largest repository of books I had ever seen in my life.
Ninety-nine enormous bookshelves filled the library completely, and all manner of martial arts manuals were placed upon them. Here and there were peerless martial arts that made the hearts of those who saw them race, manuals that our cult had collected over long years.
I walked slowly between the shelves, savoring the scent of old books. Endless shelves, martial arts manuals packed tightly into those shelves—truly, even just reading the titles seemed as if it would take more than seven days.
Of course, I had no need to search for a needle on a sandy beach.
“It’s here.”
The place where I stopped was before the nineteenth bookshelf.
This place held manuals related to sonic arts. Of course, I did not intend to spend my new life together with music.
I looked not at the manuals placed on the shelf, but beneath the bookshelf. To even out the height of a shelf that had sagged to one side under the weight of the books, a single book had been placed underneath as support.
Using my internal energy, I lifted the shelf slightly and pulled out the book that had been propping it up.
On the cover of the old manual that thus emerged into the world were four characters.
風神四步.
“It really was here!”
I was so delighted I could have leapt.
Once again, I recalled my conversation with Zhou Baidao in the past.
“Wind God’s Four Steps was not placed on a bookshelf.”
“Then where was it?”
“That precious manual was being used as a support under the nineteenth bookshelf.”
He had said that he discovered it because of his compulsive nature. He was the sort of man who had to place chopsticks perfectly straight, and when he folded clothes, he had to fold them neatly with not even an inch out of line. If a cup of water was placed on the corner of a table, he said he would be so bothered that it might fall that he could not even eat.
Even in the Heavenly Demon Library, he saw that the thing propping up the bookshelf was crooked, and in the process of trying to straighten it, he discovered it.
I do not know why this precious manual became a prop for a bookshelf. Zhou Baidao, who discovered the martial art, did not know either.
I suppose there must have been some hidden story in the past.
There must have been some incident that forced someone to hide the number one movement art under heaven here. It may have happened during a struggle over succession, or it may have been the result of a misguided love of some Heavenly Demon of a past generation. Or perhaps it was because of someone’s twisted ambition.
In any case, thanks to that, I formed a connection with Wind God’s Four Steps.
I carefully opened the first page of the manual.
Before the true mnemonic verses began, a single line written with lofty pride made my heart swell.
—Four steps are enough to walk the world.
Yes, this was it! If it was a martial art contending for the title of number one under heaven, it needed at least this much arrogance.
Wind God’s Four Steps was largely composed of four techniques.
Dark Shadow Step (暗影步)
Flicker Step (點滅步)
Nether King Step (冥王步)
Swift Step (快速步)
The first step, Dark Shadow Step, was a movement art for infiltrating somewhere.
At first, it was only enough to avoid the eyes of one person, but as one’s level rose, the number of people one could avoid increased. The manual explained that if Dark Shadow Step reached great completion, one could vanish in an instant even while dozens of people were watching.
The second step, Flicker Step, was a movement art for defense, an evasion method that would certainly find a path to survival when an unavoidable attack came flying in.
The third step, Nether King Step, was a movement art for boring into the opponent, and it was explained that it could nullify any defense or evasion.
It was as though Nether King Step was saying this:
I will open the road to hell, so you take the head.
Thus, Nether King Step and Flicker Step were truly contradictory. A movement art that must evade and a movement art that must penetrate—if the two techniques clashed, then depending on the qualities of the martial artist who unfolded them, either the spear would break or the shield would be pierced.
The final step, Swift Step, was a lightness skill that showed where the end of speed lay. The higher one’s realm in Swift Step rose, the narrower the Central Plains would become. I was certain that a Swift Step that had reached great completion would show movement beyond the limits of humanity.
In the end, Wind God’s Four Steps was saying this:
Seep in, evade, attack, and run.
When facing someone, were these four perfect footsteps not enough?
I sat in a corner of the Heavenly Demon Library and quietly memorized the mnemonic verses.
I faithfully accepted Ian’s advice. I ate properly at each meal with the jerky I had brought, and when it was time to sleep, I slept deeply. In exchange, with a clear mind, I focused all of my remaining time on Wind God’s Four Steps.
The depth of the mnemonic verses was as deep as the sea, and the meaning contained within them as vast as the sky.
It was a martial art made to take one excellent technique as its foundation and alter it according to the situation. That was why it was far harder to understand than a martial art tightly woven with dozens of techniques and no gaps. It was a depth I could never have understood without my life before regression.
Was that why? It was different when I read it once, different when I read it twice, and different when I read it for the tenth time.
Like that, I lost track of time and immersed myself in the mnemonic verses.
Seven days after entering the Heavenly Demon Library, I had perfectly memorized the mnemonic verses of Wind God’s Four Steps and had become able to unfold them. Of course, it was only barely at the first-star realm, and all that remained was to continue training and raise my level.
I tore out the most important parts of the manual, swallowed them, and placed the rest beneath the bookshelf as support. Wind God’s Four Steps had changed roles from the number one movement art under heaven to a prop for a bookshelf.
I do not want some other lucky person to appear and learn Wind God’s Four Steps. I intend to be honest with my desires.
After that, I took my first step outside the Heavenly Demon Library.