After parting from his father, Geom Mugeuk wanted to summon the Heavenly Demon Soul and see what had changed after mastering the Eighth Form of the Ninefold Demonic Art.
But before that, his first priority was to greet the person who, judged by appearance alone, most resembled the Heavenly Demon Soul.
“Master! Have you been well?”
The Fist Demon noticed the change in Geom Mugeuk at once.
“Take off your clothes.”
“To strip your disciple the moment you see him!”
“Stop fooling around!”
Geom Mugeuk took off his upper garment completely.
The Fist Demon stared at him in silence, then his eyes widened.
“Don’t tell me. Did you undergo rebirth?”
The Fist Demon recognized the changes in Geom Mugeuk’s body at a glance. Because they had often trained together bare-chested, he was even more certain.
“Yes. During this trip outside the cult, I was blessed by heavenly fortune and underwent rebirth.”
For an instant, astonishment crossed the Fist Demon’s face. To anyone, rebirth was a miraculous fortune one might not even hear of once in a lifetime.
Just as his father had done, the Fist Demon examined Geom Mugeuk’s body carefully. If his father had looked him over with a parent’s concern, fearing that something might have gone wrong during the rebirth, the Fist Demon was examining his body for a different reason.
“For someone who practices fist arts, rebirth is special beyond comparison to those who practice other martial arts.”
Thinking about it, he was right. Fist arts, which used the entire body to fight, made the body itself the weapon. That weapon had been changed.
To the Fist Demon, rebirth held such great meaning that he could put it this way.
“You, who had been unfolding the martial arts of man, will now unfold the martial arts of Heaven. You have become capable of reaching the realm of the unity of Heaven and man.”
Thinking about it, perhaps the one who had desired rebirth more than anyone was his master. Knowing that feeling, Geom Mugeuk listened to his master’s words seriously.
“With that body, failing to bring the Thunderbolt Asura Fist to full mastery would be far too shameful to both the martial art and that body, wouldn’t it?”
Geom Mugeuk had already gone to the Fist Demon once before and asked him to teach the Thunderbolt Asura Fist from the beginning again. Through that training, Geom Mugeuk had been able to rise to the next stage.
His level of insight into martial learning had risen so much that even full mastery of the Thunderbolt Asura Fist no longer seemed so distant.
“I will make certain to achieve full mastery this time.”
No sooner had he learned the Eighth Form of the Ninefold Demonic Art than the Fist Demon told him to achieve full mastery of the Thunderbolt Asura Fist.
Geom Mugeuk considered this chain of events to be another fortuitous encounter brought about by rebirth.
In this way, rebirth was organically connected to unforeseen events and influenced them. It was not merely a fortune of mind and body.
“Have you fought since undergoing rebirth?”
“No, I have not.”
He wondered why his master was suddenly asking that.
The Fist Demon pondered something intently for a moment. Though his appearance suggested he would have no worries in life, the Fist Demon was more prudent than he looked.
“Are you busy right now?”
His master, who had just shown himself deep in thought, was asking if he was busy. No matter how busy he was, there was only one answer. Even if his father called him, this was a situation where he would have to say, I cannot go right now.
“No. Time is the one thing I have plenty of!”
“Wait here a moment.”
The Fist Demon went into his residence and came back out shortly after.
He was carrying a box. Geom Mugeuk could not tell what was inside, but from the traces of age upon it, he could tell it had not been used for a very long time.
“Follow me.”
The Fist Demon took Geom Mugeuk and left the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
The place they arrived at after racing with lightness arts was Mount Daecheon. The Fist Demon brought Geom Mugeuk to a small clearing near the largest waterfall on Mount Daecheon.
He set the box down on a rock there, then stood facing Geom Mugeuk.
“Do you trust me?”
“Why are you suddenly saying that?”
“Answer me.”
“I do. I trust you more than I trust myself.”
It was not empty flattery. There was a particular trust that a man like the Fist Demon inspired. He seemed like the sort of person who, if told to wait a hundred years, would silently stand in that place for a hundred years.
“How much do you respect me?”
Geom Mugeuk flinched and took a step back.
“Why are you being so frightening?”
“Answer me.”
“I respect you far more than you think, Master.”
“Then at the very least, you won’t get angry if I beat you for no reason, will you?”
“What?”
The moment the words fell, the Fist Demon’s fist split the air.
Whoosh!
Thud!
At the sudden surprise attack, Geom Mugeuk clutched his stomach and was sent flying. Was it because there had been no killing intent? Or because the attack had not been infused with internal energy? The Heavenly Demon Protective Art did not activate.
“From now on, no matter how I attack, do not use internal energy and do not use any protective art.”
Geom Mugeuk rose to his feet.
“It isn’t anyone else’s fist, but yours, Master. If you say that, you’re basically telling me to die…”
Thud!
Geom Mugeuk was sent flying by the Fist Demon’s fist again.
If internal energy had been infused into his fist, Geom Mugeuk would naturally have died or suffered a fatal wound.
But the Fist Demon’s fist contained only the power of the thunderbolt. He could infuse his fist with the power of thunderbolt without using internal energy.
Of course, did that mean it would not hurt? He was being beaten by the Fist Demon’s fist.
Thud! Thwack!
The Fist Demon’s fists struck him in succession. From the places he was hit, a tingling power of lightning flowed through him.
“No, are you beating me because your disciple underwent rebirth before you did? If you keep this up, I’m going to spread rumors that you hit me out of jealousy…”
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The fists began flying in earnest. The Fist Demon did not strike only certain parts. He struck his whole body evenly. Not only his torso, but his arms, legs, and even his face.
Gradually, the force of the fists grew stronger, and the flowing power of lightning also intensified.
Even while being beaten senseless, Geom Mugeuk naturally understood. The Fist Demon was tempering his body.
Otherwise, there was no way he would beat his disciple like this.
That was why Geom Mugeuk struggled as hard as he could not to activate his protective art.
But no matter how true it was that no internal energy was infused into the blows, with his body continuously feeling pain, would the Heavenly Demon Protective Art simply remain still? Geom Mugeuk used all his strength to keep it from activating.
‘It hurts this much, and I have to work to keep you from activating!’
Thud! Thwack! Thud!
“No, is it fair to hit me from behind?”
The incoming fists grew even stronger.
“It hurts! Master! Your disciple is going to die!”
It was not an exaggeration. It truly hurt. On top of that, whenever the power of lightning flowed through the place he had been struck, screams burst out of him on their own.
Even while being hit, he could feel it.
The Fist Demon was striking him while concentrating every nerve in his body.
‘Right now, Master is having a harder time than I am.’
He could feel that the Fist Demon was expending a tremendous amount of mental strength. That made sense, because if he struck even slightly wrong, Geom Mugeuk could truly be badly injured. No, if luck was poor, he might even die.
Thud! Thwack! Thud, thud, thud!
When Geom Mugeuk could no longer endure the fists and was about to faint, the Fist Demon shouted loudly.
“Endure it!”
Geom Mugeuk’s eyes, which had been about to close, snapped open.
“This process is like hammering iron to make it stronger. Right now, the material is ten-thousand-year cold iron. I am hammering this material before impurities can mix into it.”
The ten-thousand-year cold iron was his own body, and the hammer striking it was the Fist Demon’s fist.
It was the fist of the person in the martial world who used fists better than anyone else, a fist into which he poured every nerve, and even lightning dwelled within it. It was, quite literally, the most precious hammer in the world.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
If he had never become the Fist Demon’s disciple, there would never have been such a fortuitous encounter. He would not have done such harsh fist-work on the young cult leader.
But now, the Fist Demon was throwing his fists while regarding him as his disciple.
After being beaten with all his might, the Fist Demon’s fists finally stopped.
Geom Mugeuk collapsed just like that, but it was not over.
“Go under the waterfall right now.”
“With this body?”
As if to say there must be no delay, the Fist Demon threw Geom Mugeuk under the waterfall.
“Absolutely do not use internal energy!”
“Then I’ll die! Aaargh!”
Contrary to his words, however, Geom Mugeuk did not use internal energy and took the waterfall with his bare body. It hurt so much he thought he might die, but he tried to let the waterfall strike every part of his body evenly.
That had to be why his master had thrown him in here. From the fact that they had started here in the first place, this process was likely just as important as being beaten.
Rooooooar.
When the falling waterfall hammered his injured body, it truly felt as if his entire body were melting away. It hurt more now than the pain of rebirth.
But Geom Mugeuk gritted his teeth and endured.
How much did he trust the Fist Demon?
He trusted him enough to think it would be all right even if something went wrong and he died.
He endured and endured, until in the end, Geom Mugeuk fainted in the waterfall.
How much time had passed?
When Geom Mugeuk opened his eyes, the Fist Demon was looking down at him.
The terrifying Fist Demon looked haggard, as though he had exhausted an immense amount of mental strength.
“…Master.”
“You’re awake?”
He was lying on a rock beside the waterfall, and an unfamiliar medicinal scent was coming from his body.
Geom Mugeuk could tell. The medicine now smeared over his body had been inside the box the Fist Demon had brought earlier.
“You endured well. I believed that you would be able to withstand it.”
Seeing the smile on that blunt face, Geom Mugeuk felt that things had gone well.
“A body that has undergone rebirth is truly excellent in and of itself. Usually, one would call it perfect. But if that excellent body is properly broken in, it becomes even more perfect.”
The Fist Demon revealed that what had happened earlier had not been mere punching.
“The method I used on you was the Thunderstrike Tendon-Forging Method. It destroys the skin and muscles with the power of lightning, then lets them recover anew. It is a secret art unique to our line, passed down together with the Thunderbolt Asura Fist. It is a secret art that can be used only once, and only on a body that has undergone rebirth. I never thought the day would come when I would use it in my generation.”
Geom Mugeuk raised himself up. He had thought he would be in so much pain he could not even get up, but as if it were a lie, his body felt light.
“Go wash yourself clean in the waterfall.”
Geom Mugeuk went under the waterfall and washed his body.
After coming out, he examined himself. He had been beaten so terribly, yet there was not a single bruise left on his body.
His skin had become clearer and cleaner, and the quality of his muscles had also changed. He could feel with his entire body that he had become stronger. The ten-thousand-year cold iron had now become a treasured sword forged of ten-thousand-year cold iron.
“It would have been better if someone superior to me had performed the Thunderstrike Tendon-Forging Method, but this was the best I could do.”
“Where in this world could there be a fist better than yours, Master?”
Geom Mugeuk sprang to his feet and gave the Fist Demon a deep bow.
“Master, thank you. Thank you truly for connecting my fortuitous encounter to an even greater one.”
The Fist Demon smiled with satisfaction, pleased that his effort had not been in vain.
“Make certain you achieve full mastery of the Thunderbolt Asura Fist as well.”
The fortune of rebirth did not end there.
“Master, please teach me again.”
Geom Mugeuk did not postpone training in the Thunderbolt Asura Fist. When the Fist Demon had devoted himself to him to such an extent, he could not delay full mastery.
Rather, this was an opportunity for him.
And Geom Mugeuk knew. The door of opportunity never remained open for long.
“I will come to see you every day until the sound of thunder disappears from my fist.”
Geom Mugeuk did not set full mastery alone as his goal. He aimed for a deeper realm: achieving full mastery while also making the thunder vanish from his fist. In martial learning, there existed a momentum that could not be explained by common sense. He intended not to let that momentum slip away.
‘I’ll break through everything in one go!’
Geom Mugeuk thrust his fist forward, and the Fist Demon thrust his own fist before it. The size of their fists was still that of an adult and an infant.
“Good. Now let’s make that fist into an adult’s fist!”
From that day on, Geom Mugeuk began to cultivate the Thunderbolt Asura Fist.
After finishing the training that had begun that very day and returning home, he opened the Space-Time Transference Art, employed the Heavenly Time Secret Art, and swung his fists.
The next day, when he went to see the Fist Demon and trained together with him, the Fist Demon was inwardly surprised.
‘He changed this much in just one day?’
He thought it was because rebirth and the secret art he had performed had influenced him, but that was not the only reason. Geom Mugeuk’s training time had not been merely one day.
Training with Geom Mugeuk after his rebirth gave the Fist Demon a profound sense of inspiration as well.
How could it not?
The one who had undergone rebirth was none other than Geom Mugeuk, and he had even received the Thunderstrike Tendon-Forging Method. This was training done together with such a person.
Whenever they paused to rest, the questions Geom Mugeuk asked touched upon the core of fist arts, and for the Fist Demon, who was advancing toward the ultimate principles of fist arts, they became opportunities to reflect on fist arts and on his own training. The two shared the deep martial principles of martial learning without holding anything back.
The Fist Demon completely abandoned the notion that he was teaching.
They were training together.
With that feeling, he immersed himself in training with Geom Mugeuk. The fortune of rebirth continued, reaching even into the Fist Demon’s heart.
When it came to martial training, training with the Fist Demon suited Geom Mugeuk best.
The Fist Demon was a man who did not know how to give up. Once he began throwing fists, he was a man who would keep throwing them until his arms fell off.
The same was true for Geom Mugeuk.
No sound came from the Fist Demon’s fist, while thunder resounded from Geom Mugeuk’s fist.
When he had trained with Geom Mugeuk before, the Fist Demon had said this.
—I do not know whether sound will ever come from my fist again.
The thunder had no longer sounded from his fist, but it meant that if he broke through that stage again, sound would be heard.
One man threw his fists to make the sound of thunder ring out once more, while the other threw his fists to stop the sound of thunder from coming from his own.
Every day, the sound of thunder made by Geom Mugeuk echoed from the training ground of the Eastern Fist School, the Fist Demon’s sect. The Iron Fists of the Eastern Fist School trained while listening to that thunder.
Cheon Sohui, the next Fist Demon, gazed toward the place where the thunder sounded with deepened eyes.
‘Senior Brother is truly training as if his life depends on it.’
For thunder to continue sounding like this meant that he was endlessly throwing his fists. At that endless sound of thunder, all of them grew solemn.
When their master and eldest senior brother were training that hard, how could they be negligent in their own training?
The Iron Fists all trained together as if their lives depended on it. Even after they all collapsed from exhaustion, Cheon Sohui continued throwing her fists alone.
Even after Cheon Sohui collapsed, the sound of thunder continued.
And so, as his bloody training with the Fist Demon went on, one day…
Geom Mugeuk’s fist cut through the air. In that instant, Geom Mugeuk’s form froze.
From the fist that flew out and struck as it always did, no thunder sounded.
‘I did it!’
Just as Geom Mugeuk looked at the Fist Demon with a face filled with joy, the fruits of their efforts, which had begun together, fell together as if by fate.
Ruuuuumble!
From the Fist Demon’s fist burst forth a heaven-and-earth-shaking thunderclap unlike anything they had ever heard until now.
The sound, which shook even the axis of the earth, was an enormous roar that could be heard anywhere in the vast Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
It was the moment the master of the thunder’s sound changed.