Chapter 127

When I opened my eyes in the Hidden Cloud Pavilion, it was the dead of night.
The medicinal scent that I had grown all too used to after my regression tickled the tip of my nose.

‘I fainted again.’

I let out a sigh.
I had no idea how many times this made.

‘Still, at least there are no needles stuck in me today.’

That was a relief, at least.
Before, every time I opened my eyes, needles were stuck all over my body, so I couldn’t even move until Ju Ok-hwa came.
That must mean my condition wasn’t that serious.

“Ugh.”

I tried to raise my upper body, and my face twisted on its own.
It was because of the pain I felt throughout my entire body.
How could this be possible?
I had never actually been hit. Yet just enduring the Heavenly Demon’s killing intent had left me in this state.

‘To think such a footwork technique existed in this world.’

Death-Line Step.
A footwork technique that literally walked along the line of death.
A skill where one watched a rushing blade until the final moment, let it slip past by a single sheet of paper’s difference, and burrowed into the enemy’s embrace.
It was an idea that no one but the Heavenly Demon could possibly have conceived.
But if I could only master this, I would gain far more room to maneuver.
With a single step, I would be able to evade and attack at the same time, so I should be able to end battles quickly.

‘It has aspects similar to Sword Eye.’

The fact that it used eyesight as its main sense, that it was based on the ability to read the trajectory of an enemy’s attack, and that whether it activated or not could directly decide whether I survived.
But there was a decisive difference.
Sword Eye was seeing in order to avoid a trajectory, while Death-Line Step was sensing in order to break through that trajectory.
Even when facing the same attack, Sword Eye gave me the option of evasion, but Death-Line Step found a path of breakthrough.
This difference would completely change how I operated in battle.

‘Is this good enough?’

I had achieved the first stage on the first day.
It was only the level of just crossing the threshold, but they said the beginning was half the battle.
For results achieved on the first day, it seemed pretty decent.

-This is why I have no choice but to make excessive demands of you.

Suddenly, the Heavenly Demon’s voice rang in my ears.
Those were the words I had heard right before I fainted.
What had he meant?
Could it be that the Heavenly Demon had acknowledged me?
That he gave me difficult tasks because I somehow managed to accomplish them?
Nah, no way.
There was no way someone as stingy with praise as the Heavenly Demon had meant it in a good way.

‘Should I ask him casually?’

I can say this with certainty. There was no one in this world who could accurately read the Heavenly Demon’s thoughts.
In other words, there was no point in thinking about it alone.
What truly mattered in this situation was the fact that I had taken the first step into Death-Line Step.

“Uuuh.”

I slowly raised myself up.
Every corner of my body ached, but I felt refreshed.
After virtually experiencing my arms and legs flying off, I felt newly grateful for the fact that I was alive and well.

Like that, the night passed, and it was the next morning.
I got down from the bed and loosened up my body briefly.
I rotated my shoulders, twisted my waist, and bent and straightened my knees.
Every joint cracked, but it was much better than yesterday.

While riding the carriage to Demon Awakening Peak, I sank into thought.

‘I wonder what we’ll do in the next lesson.’

The condition the Heavenly Demon had mentioned for breaking through the No-Return Cave was the third stage of Death-Line Step and Lightning Step.
Training Death-Line Step continuously until the third stage, or also entering the basics of Lightning Step before moving on.
Between the two, I guessed it would be the latter.
I had experienced similar things a few times in my past life.

‘Lightning Step, huh.’

I recalled the Heavenly Demon disappearing with a tremendous explosive sound.
He had been in front of me before I could even close and open my eyes.
I had never heard of a footwork technique that compressed space at such an incredible speed.
If I mastered Lightning Step too, would I be able to reproduce that speed?

‘Even if I can’t, I have to make it happen.’

After my regression, my mindset had always been the same.
Assume the worst-case scenario and become stronger than the Heavenly Demon.
To do that, I would complete any training with the resolve to die.

“Wow.”

As soon as I arrived at Demon Awakening Peak, my mouth fell open.
The training ground that had been ruined because of the Heavenly Demon’s demonstration had been restored cleanly.
The ground that had been gouged and split had returned to normal, and the smashed rocks and trees had been removed as if they had never been there in the first place.
It truly looked as if nothing had happened.
I couldn’t help but click my tongue in amazement.
To think they had done this in a single night.
It seemed the Demon Cult had some incredible craftsmen.
Or maybe some special spell art was cast on this place.

The Heavenly Demon had already arrived.
As usual, he was looking down at the lake.
I approached him and opened my mouth.

“Master, the training ground is spotless. What happened?”
“I do not know.”

At the immediate answer, I nodded.
There was no way the Heavenly Demon would know even these little details.
He was still looking down at the lake, so I casually brought up yesterday’s matter.

“About what you said yesterday, Master.”
“What did I say?”
“This is why I have no choice but to make excessive demands of you. That.”

The Heavenly Demon did not answer.
I continued.

“By any chance, was that you acknowledging my martial talent?”

Only then did the Heavenly Demon turn his body toward me.
I expected a positive answer.
How rare was it for the Heavenly Demon to say words of acknowledgment!

“The opposite.”
“……What?”
“It meant that you show rapid progress only when I treat you harshly.”
“…….”

I lost my words.
So, he meant that unless he worked me to the bone, it wouldn’t do? Not that he was praising me?

As expected of the Heavenly Demon.
I was the idiot for expecting anything.

“Master, have you heard the phrase white lie?”
“I have.”
“This is exactly when it would be nice to use one. To raise your disciple’s spirit too.”
“There is no need to raise it. There is no one in this cult with more spirit than you.”

The corners of the Heavenly Demon’s eyes moved faintly.
It was clearly a sneer.

“Let us begin.”

The Heavenly Demon strode to the center of the training ground and stood there.
I stood in front of him as well.

“Today, you will train Lightning Step.”

As expected, my guess was right.
It wasn’t a method of digging continuously into Death-Line Step until the third stage, but a method of teaching various things to draw out comprehensive realization.
It was the Heavenly Demon’s teaching method that I had always experienced in my past life.

“The purpose of Death-Line Step and Lightning Step is the same. Killing the enemy. However, there is a slight difference in their implementation. Do you know what it is?”

I recalled what the Heavenly Demon had shown me yesterday.
Death-Line Step was a footwork technique that brushed past an enemy’s attack while burrowing in at the same time.
Then what about Lightning Step?

“Hmm, speed? Death-Line Step moves after seeing the opponent’s attack, so it has no choice but to be a little slower, but Lightning Step has to reach the enemy as swiftly as possible, right?”
“Close.”

That meant it wasn’t the correct answer.

“Death-Line Step is relaxation. When your muscles are fully tense, you cannot sensitively sense the enemy’s attack. Dodging by a single sheet of paper’s difference becomes even more impossible.”

The Heavenly Demon stared at me for a moment, then continued.

“Lightning Step is contraction.”
“Yes. And?”
“That is all.”
“There’s no further explanation?”
“I have said enough.”

It seemed he was trying to guide me into realizing it myself.
As he wished, I tried to infer it in my head.
I felt like I could almost grasp something, but the decisive answer didn’t come.

“I understand that Death-Line Step is relaxation, but I can’t quite get a feel for Lightning Step being contraction. Should I say it’s vague?”
“Do you know what a spring is?”
“Roughly. I heard they’re used in places famous for hidden weapons, like the Dark-Shadow Gu Clan or the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“A spring does not spring unless it is pressed.”

With that, the Heavenly Demon explained nothing more.
Instead, he said something else.

“Reach me at the highest speed you can produce. You may strike me hard, or even just brush me with the tip of your finger.”

Even if it was just a fingertip, he was telling me to touch the greatest man under heaven?
Was that possible at my current level?
I didn’t think so.
But that didn’t mean I could give up before even starting.
I roughly measured the distance between the Heavenly Demon and me.
About nine meters. It was much closer than yesterday.

“Are you going to shoot killing intent again?”
“I will do nothing.”
“Really?”
“That is right.”

That was the best news I had heard.
I had expected to be smashed at least as badly as yesterday.
It was pain I could endure in order to learn Lightning Step, but wouldn’t it still be better if it were less hard?

‘Let’s try.’

I planted my feet firmly on the ground and lowered my stance.
When I even drew up the internal energy in my dantian, it felt as if strength filled my entire body.
Tak!
I stamped my foot and executed Soul-Extinguishing Flash Step.
The sound of cutting through the wind brushed past my ears, and the nine-meter distance narrowed in the blink of an eye.
I burrowed straight into the Heavenly Demon’s embrace and swung my arm.

‘Did I touch him?’

I did not.
The Heavenly Demon had moved one step to the side with his hands clasped behind his back. It was extremely natural, as if he had been standing there from the beginning.

“Slow. Again.”

I tilted my head and rushed at the Heavenly Demon again.
Hwoong, hwoong!
I tried several times, but I couldn’t even touch the Heavenly Demon’s collar once.
The Heavenly Demon did not seem to be using any particular footwork technique, but at this rate, I was going to end up playing an endless game of tag.

‘I’ll touch him no matter what.’

Ten times, twenty times.
I used Soul-Extinguishing Flash Step again and again until my dantian was empty. I was so absorbed that I even forgot my opponent was the Heavenly Demon.
But I failed until the very end.
The Heavenly Demon let all of my approaches flow past with only the bare minimum of movement.

“Huff. Huff.”

I lay spread-eagle on the ground.
As expected, what couldn’t be done couldn’t be done.
The Heavenly Demon, who had approached nearby at some point, looked down at me and spoke.

“Do you know what your problem is?”
“That my opponent was the greatest man under heaven?”
“Do you also know that the greatest man under heaven matched his level to yours?”

I knew that, but I didn’t want to admit it.
I had my pride too.
The Heavenly Demon continued.

“Your preparatory movements are slow. You bend your knees, shift your center of gravity, and put strength into your toes. Because every process before you move is visible, I can already predict where you will aim.”

It felt as if a crack had formed in the experience I had built up until now.
To me, it was such a brief moment that it was barely noticeable.
But my preparatory movements were slow?
And that was why he could predict everything?

“Your body is always loosened. That is why you cannot explosively burst out speed.”
“My body is loosened?”
“That is right. If you do not realize this, you will never enter the basics of Lightning Step.”

The Heavenly Demon left only those words behind and turned his back.
He was leaving.

‘No, he’s leaving just like this?’

I was a little flustered, but while lying there, I carefully repeated the Heavenly Demon’s words to myself.

-Lightning Step is contraction.
-A spring does not spring unless it is pressed.

‘Pressing means…….’

The act of applying force from the outside inward.
Through this, a spring contracts, no, more than that, it becomes compressed.
If you let go in that state, the spring springs up powerfully.
Then wouldn’t muscles be the same?

Right now, my body was loosened.
Only after I decided to move did I finally activate it, so inevitably, I had no choice but to be late.
But what if, like a pressed-down spring, my power was condensed from the very beginning?
What if my muscles were already compressed to their limit?

‘Yes, this is it.’

I sat cross-legged.
Through circulation, I filled my empty dantian and relieved even a little of the fatigue built up in my body.

I steadied my breathing, stood straight, and focused my intent throughout my entire body.
Shoulders, waist, thighs, calves.
I tightened every muscle taut.
This was contraction.
But it was not that different from simply tensing up and enduring.
To move on to the next stage, I had to crumple this sensation inward into myself, as if pressing down a spring.

“Keuk.”

As I tightened my muscles little by little, pain rushed in.
It was as if my muscles were being torn apart.
A spasm hit, and my entire body trembled violently. I rolled across the floor regardless of my will.
Only after a long while did it become all right.

‘……Let’s keep going.’

I had already experienced more than enough pain.
I had even died before, so this much was nothing.

I repeated it dozens of times like this.
Every time, a spasm struck, and I rolled across the floor.
It felt as if my entire body was becoming ragged.

By the time the sun slowly began to sink in the west, the urge to give up surged up.
Im Yeon and the guards were probably waiting for me to come.
How comfortable would it be to lay my body down in the carriage?

‘Stop thinking useless thoughts.’

I shook my head.
My pride wouldn’t allow me to give up just because I couldn’t get through the entry stage.
I had realized the method earlier.
To go beyond contraction and compress to the limit.
And then maintain that state before bursting it out all at once together with internal energy.
If that became possible, I would be able to use Lightning Step.

Time passed like that, and it was around the time when only dim moonlight descended.

‘……Huh?’

A sensation clearly different from before came over me.
It felt as if my contracted muscles were deeply curling inward.
At the same time, the pain subsided.
I realized it instinctively.
This was it.
I had to amplify this sensation further.

I poured everything into this moment.
Not extending outward, but gathering inward.
Contraction, and the compression that followed.
I gathered the power I had been suppressing all day into both legs.
Like a spring ready to explode at any moment, taut, even more taut.
Then.

Paang!

Compared to the Heavenly Demon’s, it was a pathetic sound.
But it was a sound that had never once come from me.
Hwoong!
My body shot forward.
The distance was only a little over six meters, but I couldn’t even handle that much, and my legs tangled as I rolled miserably.

“Haa, haa, haa.”

Lying on my back, rough breaths burst out of me.
It was exhausting, but I felt light enough to fly.
It was a shame I couldn’t smile because even the muscles in my face were spasming.

‘This was something I couldn’t even imagine in my past life.’

Back then, I had thought Soul-Extinguishing Flash Step and Whirlwind Floating Leaf Step were enough.
Because the footwork techniques I had learned under the Heavenly Demon for seven years were inferior to those two.
But to think he had hidden the Six Extremes Demon King Step.
The Heavenly Demon might have judged that the me of my past life did not have the qualifications to learn this footwork technique.
And this time, I had clearly realized that his judgment had changed from my past life.

Feeling proud, I lay there and stared at the sky for a long while.
How long had I been like that?
Step, step.
I heard footsteps that sounded as if they were being made on purpose.
Only the Heavenly Demon and his disciples could enter the training ground of Demon Awakening Peak.
And among them, recently, only I and one other person came here.

A giant shadow stood before me.
I looked up at the Heavenly Demon and said.

“Are you thinking that this is why you have no choice but to make excessive demands of me?”

One corner of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth curled upward.