Chapter 10

What do martial artists ultimately seek to achieve?

That would differ from person to person.

Some seek revenge, some seek wealth and fame, some seek an ordinary life.

However, for martial artists who pursue martial arts not as a means but as an end in itself, there is only one goal.

To achieve enlightenment, complete their martial arts, and ascend.

Whether righteous, evil, or demonic, all martial artists have tried countless methods to ascend.

Some created elixirs through alchemy to become immortals, some extracted life force from the blood of many people, and some made contracts with evil otherworldly beings to gain power.

“Can you sacrifice the Heavenly Demon Sect for the Sun-Moon Ritual?”

That’s why Hae Cheongyeong answered Yuseong’s question without hesitation.

-Of course.

“Ah, you seem to have misunderstood – I didn’t mean it as a metaphor, but literally asking if you could abandon the entire Heavenly Demon Sect.”

-I haven’t misunderstood. I can abandon it.

“…Still, as the sect leader, shouldn’t you at least think about it a bit?”

-This one’s goal is to ascend and break free from mortal limitations, and the Heavenly Demon Sect’s goal is to produce a demon immortal who reaches the realm no one has achieved since the First Heavenly Demon, and open the era of demonic rule. When both this one and the entire sect desire it, what is there to think about?

Even if they succeeded in repelling the Murim Alliance and Unorthodox Alliance and protecting the sect, if Hae Cheongyeong failed to ascend, it would be no different from defeat.

However, if he could ascend even while losing everything else, that would be victory.

-If the sect falls, we can simply rebuild it and achieve demonic rule then.

“Good. Then please give the order right now for everyone to leave the sect without a single person remaining.”

After a moment of silence, Hae Cheongyeong spoke in a disappointed tone.

-You seem to think we can trick them by pretending I’m fleeing, but the Murim Alliance and Unorthodox Alliance aren’t fools. Even if they fall for it, how do you plan to stop the vultures seeking our secret manuals, elixirs, and treasures?

“We just need to remove any reason for them to come here. Secret manuals, elixirs, treasures – whatever they are, order the sect members to take everything without leaving a single item behind, and burn all the buildings and the mountain itself completely.”

-What?

“I said burn everything. No one will bother searching through ruins reduced to ashes, and no one would think Hae Cheongyeong remained alone in such a place – it’ll achieve two purposes at once.”

Though he said he could abandon the Heavenly Demon Sect, this was different.

Completely burning down the holy ground where the First Heavenly Demon established his base and which had never allowed any invasion for hundreds of years – how could anyone in their right mind do such a thing?

But this was just the beginning.

“If we split the escapees too finely they’re likely to be picked off one by one, so dividing into about two groups would be appropriate. And since morale would drop if we just tell them to flee, we should make up a story about rebuilding the fallen sect and divide them into older and younger members.”

-……

“To buy as much time as possible, even if one group is caught, we need to make them think you’re with the other group so they’ll chase both. If we tell the leaders of both groups that you’ll follow the other group to rebuild the sect and ask them to act as bait…”

-Enough! I cannot accept such an absurd strategy!

“Didn’t you just say you could abandon the Heavenly Demon Sect?”

-This isn’t abandoning it – this is completely destroying it!

“You also said we could just rebuild the sect later.”

Yuseong continued speaking with an impassive expression.

“My assigned goal isn’t to defeat the enemies or preserve the Heavenly Demon Sect, but to hold out until the Sun-Moon Ritual is complete. Anything beyond that is not my concern.”

No one gets emotionally attached to individual units while playing a strategy game.

For a user, only one thing matters above all else.

Achieving the goal of victory by any means necessary, regardless of what methods are used or what sacrifices are made.

This was a method that could only come from a user who felt not even a speck of belonging or responsibility to this world, unlike those who belonged to it.

Just as he had turned a young girl’s arms to rags to defeat a monster, Yuseong judged that completing the Sun-Moon Ritual required sacrificing everything of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

-…Is there no other way?

“I know nothing of strategy or tactics, and I have no mysterious abilities or items from other worlds that could overcome this situation. I can’t think of any other way to buy time besides such extreme methods.”

-What are the chances of success?

“How would I know that?”

Though it was an absurd answer, Hae Cheongyeong fell into thought instead of getting angry.

Even strategists who make their living using their minds, and users with mysterious abilities and items, have failed repeatedly.

While the chances of success were unknown, until just moments ago the situation was so hopeless that possibility couldn’t even be discussed, and there wasn’t enough time left to pin hopes on another user.

-We shall follow your strategy.

“Then about my questions…”

-We cannot do that when we don’t know if the strategy will succeed or fail. Once the ritual’s success is certain, then I shall answer your questions.

“Hmm, understood.”

And so Hae Cheongyeong entrusted his fate to this gamble.

* * *

On the first day, he thought such a strategy could never succeed.

By the third day, he suspected Yuseong might be deceiving him and carrying out a scheme to completely destroy the demon sect without leaving a trace.

When the seventh day came, his heart was in his throat thinking the Heavenly Sword Emperor and Crimson Blood Demonic Sovereign might have noticed the deception and attack at any moment.

Around the tenth day, he thought it might actually be possible.

And as the sun rose marking the fifteenth day and the Sun-Moon Ritual neared completion, Hae Cheongyeong muttered in a dumbfounded voice.

-To think it would actually succeed. I can’t believe it.

“I know, right? Never thought it would actually work.”

-……

Though his response was so light it was hard to believe this was someone who had completely destroyed the Heavenly Demon Sect that had continued for hundreds of years without leaving a single pillar standing, criticizing would be like spitting on his own face at this point.

“So can I ask my questions now?”

-Yes. However, the amount of information this one can provide is limited, so you must choose your questions carefully.

“Wait, there was no mention of this before. What do you mean suddenly?”

Though Yuseong raised his voice at the unexpected condition, Hae Cheongyeong calmly began explaining.

-Because those are the rules.

“Rules?”

-For a user to take something from another world to their own world, they must pay a price according to its value. You should know what that price is without needing explanation?

“…Karma.”

‘I thought even if physical items were impossible, I might be able to get around it by memorizing martial arts techniques or magic spells to learn directly on Earth… But I suppose it would be stranger if such an obvious loophole worked.’

While Yuseong was filtering through his prepared questions due to this unexpected limitation, he raised his head upon sensing two massive energies gradually drawing closer.

-You’ve noticed, I see. Though the ritual’s completion will come first, you should ask your questions as quickly as possible.

“Haah. I originally had many things I wanted to ask, but I guess I have no choice.”

Though he had planned to ask as many questions as possible regardless of type to extract maximum information, in this situation he had no choice but to compress things down to the essentials.

“What is the strongest martial art among those you’ve learned?”

-If you speak of the strongest, it would be the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. If one can master it, though reaching divinity might be impossible, one could rise to the realm of semi-divinity and reign as the strongest under heaven.

“If one can master it?”

-The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is divine learning of a completely different dimension from the third-rate arts learned by back alley thugs. Even a genius with considerable talent would need to dedicate at least a hundred years to training to see results.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Though it was the strongest martial art that had become a cliché of martial arts novels, he couldn’t choose an art that would take at least a hundred years no matter how strong it was.

What Yuseong needed now wasn’t divine learning that would bloom late but an expedient method to overcome the immediate danger before him.

“The Heavenly Demon Divine Art takes too long – isn’t there anything strong that can be learned quickly?”

-In that case, the Transcendent Twelve Swords would be suitable. Though it cannot compare in depth to other divine learning as it focuses extremely on attack, in terms of offensive power alone it easily ranks among the top three sword techniques in the world. This is a sword technique completed through actual combat rather than training, so with effort one might aim for small achievements in ten years.

“Is there nothing faster and stronger than the Transcendent Twelve Swords?”

-How about the Spirit-Burning Energy Technique? It’s an art that burns innate energy to gain acquired energy – though your lifespan shortens, you can gain pure and abundant internal energy in a short time. The reduced innate energy can be recovered later by consuming beneficial elixirs… roughly a year and you won’t have to worry about getting beaten up anywhere.

“Is there nothing faster and stronger than the Spirit-Burning Energy Technique?”

-The Blood Explosion Demonic Art. Though it comes with various side effects like shortened lifespan, loss of reason, and mental disorders, you could gain ability reaching first-class masters in one month.

“Is there anything faster than th-“

-Are you mocking this one right now?

Sensing the subtle anger, Yuseong quickly explained the situation.

“I’m not trying to mock you, but I’m in a life-or-death situation right now and don’t have the luxury of time to learn martial arts. I need something that will make me stronger immediately upon learning it.”

-Explain in detail.

“With an ordinary person’s body and no weapons, I need to face four or five, maybe more, muscular giants armed with weapons.”

-Do you have no special items or abilities?

“Well, I have no items, and for abilities…”

As he wondered whether abilities brought from Alice’s world could be used in other worlds, a faint light gathered in his palm and thorny vine began sprouting.

“…I have the ability to create vines like this, and though I’m not sure if it’s the same as internal energy, I can handle something similar. The vine length is about this much?”

-The chances of victory are extremely low for an unarmed person to charge at multiple enemies with just a single vine. Since winning a fight isn’t the only answer, first try to escape and wait for another day.

“I’m already surrounded…”

-Then surrender. Nothing in the world is more precious than one’s own life. Endure momentary humiliation and preserve your life.

“They’re not the type to accept my surrender. They’ll definitely try to kill me no matter what.”

Though it was such a hopeless situation that he couldn’t help but sigh while explaining, Hae Cheongyeong continued speaking calmly.

-There is a martial art that could let you win.

“As expected of the Heavenly Demon! I believed in you, damn it!”

-Did you just curse at this one?

“Ah, that was just encouragement. Encouragement. So what is this martial art?”

-The Asura Perception Way.