I decided to actively take the Wicked Little Demon’s advice.
Take a step back from the Sicheon Secret Art.
Of course, it was not as easy as he made it sound. We were martial artists, people who had always run forward.
What I chose first was to reduce the time I spent training the Sicheon Secret Art and use that time to cultivate the Ninefold Demon Art.
Right. Now wasn’t the time for me to be worrying about some other martial art.
With that thought, I focused on the Ninefold Demon Art.
Honestly, if not for the Sicheon Secret Art, I would have wanted to spend the entire day practicing only the Ninefold Demon Art.
The Ninefold Demon Art was truly abstruse and high-level, and precisely because it was difficult, it possessed a charm that drew people in.
Even its inner cultivation method alone could not be compared to other martial arts. The internal energy gathered through its cultivation was far greater than that of existing methods.
If Father had been in front of me, I definitely would have made this joke.
—You mean to say you were practicing such an excellent martial art all by yourself!
I became completely immersed in training the Ninefold Demon Art.
For now, rather than practicing its forms, I tried to make my body completely accustomed to the breathing method of the Ninefold Demon Art, and even that alone was enjoyable.
Of course, that did not mean I had completely turned my attention away from the Sicheon Secret Art. The more I practiced the Ninefold Demon Art, the more I realized I needed the Sicheon Secret Art.
And I realized something else as well.
That reducing my training time was not the answer to taking one step back.
This method was wrong.
* * *
When I arrived at the residence of Nam Dojong, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, he was reading a book.
I stood some distance away and watched him.
Strangely, whenever I saw the Blood Heaven Blade Demon sitting by the window reading, my heart grew calm. I wanted to read books but could not read many, so was I perhaps getting vicarious satisfaction from it?
Just then, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s sound transmission flew into my ears.
—Stop peeping and come here.
—You send your transmissions quite far. Don’t tell me you can use Thousand-Li Sound Transmission too?
—Look who’s talking!
I walked over to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“Aren’t you busy? This is the first time I’ve seen such an idle Young Cult Leader.”
“I am busy.”
“And yet?”
“No matter how busy I am, isn’t this where I belong? Right beside our elder!”
I leaned against the window frame with my arm on it.
“To be honest, I’m rather free these days.”
“If you are the Young Cult Leader, you should find work to do.”
“I don’t want to. Soon enough, everything will come crashing down all at once. I’m just going to rest while I can.”
“Then rest. Why did you come here?”
“Because being with you puts my heart most at ease. I came to rest.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon shook his head, but he was clearly pleased.
As I entered the room, I made another pointless joke.
“Ah, how nice! How is it that even at your age, you still smell this good?”
“No need to feed a fish you’ve already caught.”
“I’m telling you, this isn’t flattery. I mean it.”
I looked over the books on the shelves. Among them, I committed the ones that looked interesting to memory. I planned to buy them later and place them on my own bookshelf. If I bought them, I would read them someday.
“Have you read all of these books?”
“I don’t buy them and use them as decorations like someone I know.”
“Someone once said that reading begins with buying the book.”
“You like looking at books lined up more than actually reading them, don’t you?”
“I will read them all someday! I’ll read even more than you, Elder.”
“Do you think that’s all I’ve read?”
Startled, I looked at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“No, but you are a Demon Venerable in name and deed. If you open a secret warehouse and find books piled up where weapons or miraculous elixirs should be, what are we supposed to do?”
“If a sword flies at me, I’ll try blocking it with a book.”
At first, it had seemed completely unfitting, but now he looked more natural holding a book than the Heaven-Destroying Great Saber.
“There’s tea over there that I just brewed. Drink it if you want.”
“I was just desperately craving a cup of tea.”
I sat at the tea table and drank.
“It’s the same tea, so why does tea brewed by you taste better, Elder?”
“That’s because you want to make an old man serve you.”
Pretending I had not heard him, I stroked the tea table.
“I should put one exactly like this in my room too.”
Then the Blood Heaven Blade Demon suddenly asked,
“Do you have something troubling you?”
As expected, he knew me better than anyone. I fiddled with my teacup and asked him,
“Have you ever taken a step back?”
At my question, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s gaze left his book and turned to me.
“From what?”
“From the thing you wanted most, Elder.”
He seemed to consider the intent behind my question for a moment, then soon answered firmly.
“No.”
His expression seemed to say that his life had only ever gone straight ahead.
Of course, to someone who did not know him, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon did look like that sort of person. That stiff old man certainly did not look like someone who would ever step back.
But he had already stepped back several times.
By accepting me.
If anything, I was the one who had charged straight ahead. To open the door to his heart, I had advanced straight toward the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, and by accepting me, he had stepped back for me.
If he too had only charged straight at me, our relationship would have been different.
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“I was wondering how one could take just one step back.”
Having gone through all manner of hardships, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon would be able to guess what I meant.
“Among the books you’ve read, is there perhaps one titled How to Take Only One Step Back?”
“As if such a thing would exist.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s gaze was about to return to the book he had been reading, but it came back to me. He was curious after all.
“Seeing a clever child like you worry about it, it seems the object of your concern is no ordinary thing.”
“It is a martial art.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon would think that martial art was the Ninefold Demon Art. After all, it was a concern that had arisen after I became the Young Cult Leader.
“But why are you trying to step back?”
“It’s so abstruse and difficult that I’ve hit a wall. I want to look at the martial art from a little distance. I also wonder if it isn’t working out precisely because I want it too desperately.”
“Is it not that you are less desperate?”
“That’s probably not it. If nothing else, I’m confident in my effort.”
After a short pause, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked,
“But trying to step back from that martial art in order to find a method like this… isn’t that actually bringing you even closer to that martial art?”
“!”
In that instant, a certain realization flashed through my mind.
Unable to restrain myself, I sprang to my feet.
“That’s right! I wasn’t stepping back. I was actually clinging to it even more fiercely.”
I ran toward the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“If I’m going to embrace something, it should be you, Elder! Elder!”
“Don’t come near me, it’s disgusting!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon used spatial grasping to push me back and seat me at the tea table again.
Then, deliberately lowering his voice, he said,
“Young Cult Leader, please maintain your dignity.”
I noisily gulped down the remaining tea and answered.
“No, I’m going to throw away even more of it. I’ve found the answer.”
* * *
“The prodigal son has returned! I have rejoined you!”
The three members of the late-night training gathering stared at me.
I had been too busy to attend at all, and then today I had suddenly shown up.
Ian said to me,
“You still intend to hold the late-night gathering even after becoming the Young Cult Leader?”
“Yeah. I’m going to keep doing it even when I become the Cult Leader.”
“We would hate that.”
Thanks to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, I had realized something.
To take one step back from the Sicheon Secret Art, I had reduced the time I spent practicing martial arts, and I had also tried to find other methods.
And now the conclusion I had reached was simply to do things as I had before.
Like before I learned the Ninefold Demon Art or the Sicheon Secret Art.
Back then too, I had trained diligently in martial arts. The difference from now was that there had been no burden in my training. I had vigorously clashed with the Demon Venerables and saved scraps of time to train. It was something I naturally did, and there was no burden of thinking I had to accomplish this by some set time.
Even in that process, I had continued to grow stronger and improve.
I had to step back. Not from martial arts, but from the burden. From impatience. If I simply lived frantically as I had before, then at some moment, it would come to fruition.
“Please bestow your teachings upon me after so long.”
As if to say we should do this properly, the Fist Demon took off his upper garment. A terrifying face and a perfectly muscled body. It had truly been a long time since I had seen him like this.
I took off my upper garment as well. Compared to him, mine were baby hands and a baby body.
I felt sorry to the Fist Demon that I had neglected fist arts training all this time. After all, I had pestered him so much to let me become his disciple.
Together with the Fist Demon, I performed the Thunderbolt Asura Fist. Normally, with my worries over the Sicheon Secret Art, I would not even have thought of practicing the Fist Demon’s martial art.
Ian and Cheon Sohui also devoted themselves to training beside us. Ian’s skill had improved yet again in the meantime. I could tell how much she was dedicating herself to training just by watching her for this brief moment.
When our eyes met for a moment while we were performing our forms, I smiled at Ian. She smiled faintly as well.
Cheon Sohui looked at the Fist Demon with an expression that said, “Did you just see them rubbing salt in a maiden’s wounds, Lord Fist Demon?” then startled herself. She was shocked that she had unconsciously conveyed such a sentiment to the formidable Fist Demon.
The Fist Demon pretended not to notice and continued training.
And as we trained like that—
Kwarrrung!
The sound of thunder came from the fist I had thrust out.
Not only I, but Ian and Cheon Sohui, who had been training beside me, were startled as well.
“Was that sound… from me?”
“Yes, it came from your fist.”
Everyone was surprised, but I was the most surprised of all.
“What happened? To be honest, I’ve been neglecting fist arts lately. Today is the first time in a while I’ve even performed the fist art. Why in the world did thunder sound?”
The Fist Demon wore an expression that said, How would I know? Then he silently continued training.
Had I become stronger in the meantime? Or was it because, without realizing it, I had taken a step away from fist arts?
One thing was certain.
After learning the Ninefold Demon Art, my martial arts had begun to surge.
Kwarrrrung!
This time, thunder sounded from the Fist Demon’s fist. It was a louder thunder than the sound from my fist.
“No, why are you making the sound now after not doing it all this time? You never did it when we trained before!”
At my protest, the Fist Demon pretended not to hear and continued training.
“No, why did you have to do it on the very day I made thunder for the first time? Could it be that you’re jealous—”
Kwarrrung!
My words were buried beneath the Fist Demon’s thunder.
“This is going too far—”
Kwarrrrrrrrung!
* * *
As I headed back to my residence with a tired body, someone suddenly came to mind, so I turned my steps.
Someone who seemed likely to still be awake even at this late hour. As expected, he was awake.
“What are the stars saying to you, Brother?”
Then the Drunken Demon, who had set a boat afloat on the lake and was looking up at the night sky, answered.
“The stars are saying this: You have the best lot in life in all the martial world!”
The Drunken Demon turned to look at me and smiled warmly.
“You came?”
Standing by the lakeside, I crossed the water in an instant using the Water-Treading Step and climbed onto the boat.
“Now you can show off your skills as much as you want.”
On the day I was chosen as successor, I had displayed my aura before all the demonic practitioners. Now that I had even become the Young Cult Leader, there was no reason to hide my abilities.
“I was never the sort to hide things in the first place. I’m the type who likes stepping forward and receiving attention.”
“To be honest, so am I.”
“Do you think we became sworn brothers for nothing? Next time, let’s go to the Central Plains and get some attention!”
“I know lots of good places. Let’s go!”
Could he possibly know as many as I did? I would have to share a drink with him somewhere with good wine and fine scenery.
We filled each other’s cups to the brim.
“Congratulations on becoming the Young Cult Leader.”
“Your help was great, Brother. Thank you.”
“About the fifth greatest, maybe?”
“You’re drunk, Brother. Seeing you belittle yourself again.”
After toasting together, we emptied our cups.
“Ah, that’s good!”
“As expected! Wine must be drunk with my elder brother.”
It felt so good to drink with him after so long.
We exchanged drinks and talked about this and that.
I also spoke comfortably to him about how hard it was, being stuck in martial arts.
The solution was just like the Drunken Demon.
“Drink! The answer is in wine. Once you’re drunk, everything will work itself out.”
“You really are the one with the best lot in the world, Brother.”
“Drink. There is life in wine, and there is the jianghu too. Everything is in it.”
We drank again. Drinking with the Drunken Demon after so long, the wine went down like water.
The Drunken Demon talked about all sorts of things. He gossiped about the Demon Venerables, talked about women he had met when he was young, and spoke of martial arts.
It seemed as if he was drunk and speaking recklessly, but he never crossed the line. That was why I always had this thought: the moment the Drunken Demon made a mistake was when he was sober.
Splash!
In the end, the Drunken Demon jumped into the water, and I jumped in with him.
After swimming here and there across the lake, we floated on our backs, looking up at the night sky.
“This place is still nice.”
“Playing at being immortals here makes it feel as though time has stopped. One shichen ago feels like now, and now feels like one shichen from now. Yesterday feels like today, and today feels like tomorrow.”
Brother. That time—I have to stop it.
Perhaps because he had spoken of time, I thought of the Sicheon Secret Art.
Over the night sky, the meridians within my body rose up, overlapping it. I had tried every method until now. Sending true qi from this meridian to that one, then from here to there. There were still far too many possibilities left to attempt.
‘Stop it. Why think about that at a moment this good?’
I was here playing around with the Drunken Demon precisely to take a step back from the Sicheon Secret Art.
Splash!
I dived back down into the water.
But the very next moment, I lifted my head above the surface again.
Once more, I imagined my meridians over the stars and overlaid them.
Not here, not there. Where was it earlier?
Then there was a place where the meridian I recalled and the star fit together exactly.
‘I found it!’
A shudder ran through my entire body.
Was it mere coincidence? Or?
What if I circulated my true qi in the order of those constellations? It felt as though something might happen.
Could it be that the Sicheon Secret Art had been created by observing the constellations in the heavens?
“Brother!”
“What is it?”
“I think I solved that problem I mentioned earlier.”
The Drunken Demon was startled. Then he burst into hearty laughter, delighted.
“I told you, didn’t I? Drink, and everything gets solved!”
“I’ll go ahead! Brother, thank you. Let’s talk again later.”
From within the water, I shot straight up into the air.
Changing direction in midair, I flung myself toward the lakeshore.
The Drunken Demon’s voice came from behind me.
“This brother of yours is always here.”
Starlight was pouring down over the Drunken Demon as he floated upon the water.
* * *
After returning to the training ground, I prepared two sticks of incense.
I lit both sticks at the same time, placed one in the incense burner, and then unleashed the Space-Time Displacement Art.
The space that was created was an empty one, containing nothing at all, in order to heighten concentration and minimize the internal energy consumed.
And there, I recited the formula of the Sicheon Secret Art. Unlike before, I moved my true qi in the order I had realized earlier from looking at the constellations.
Had it worked?
For now, I could not tell whether it had worked or not.
At my current level, I would only know once I left this place and compared the time. Even the slightest difference would be enough. As long as the Sicheon Secret Art had begun!
Please!
It was my desperate wish to achieve the twelfth-star grand completion of the Nine Flames Demonic Art, no matter what.
When the incense had burned down to a certain point, I released the Space-Time Displacement Art.
Sssssss.
The world of the Space-Time Displacement Art vanished, and after emerging from within it, I slowly walked toward the incense I had lit.
I crouched in front of the incense burner and inserted the incense stick to the same depth.
My heart trembled as much as the gaze with which I stared blankly at it.
The two sticks of incense had burned down to different lengths.