Chapter 3-7

Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps. It was the light-body movement art that Bai Shixuan had recently been focusing on practicing. When Jin Yuha had learned the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps, it possessed three forms of application. The first was using the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps themselves to attack, while the second was using them to evade. The third and final application was as a Lightness Skill. Of the three, Jin Yuha did not teach Bai Shixuan the first—the offensive application of the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps themselves. From Jin Yuha’s experience after spending many years active in the Murim, swordsmanship and the Heavenly Demon Finger already provided more than enough offensive capability. Although the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps themselves could serve as an excellent means of attack, Jin Yuha considered them less efficient than the Heavenly Demon Finger or his saber, so he chose not to teach that aspect to Bai Shixuan.

“Once you master the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps to their utmost limit, they will leave behind afterimages. You can think of it as following the same principle as what is commonly called Shifting Form and Changing Position. As you already know, Lightness Skill is a technique that lightens the body and is used to travel long distances.”

As soon as Jin Yuha finished speaking, his body faintly blurred.

“Look over here.”

Jin Yuha had unquestionably been standing in front of him, yet his voice came from behind Bai Shixuan. Startled, Bai Shixuan turned around and found Jin Yuha standing behind him. When he turned his head forward again, the Jin Yuha who had been standing there gradually became blurry before beginning to disappear.

“This is the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps. Normally, Shifting Form and Changing Position is something only masters who have experienced a profound enlightenment and made a great advancement in their martial arts can accomplish. The Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps allow you to perform it without undergoing such an enlightenment. Of course, I do not believe the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps are the only footwork technique capable of such a thing. Even so, they are an exceptionally fine footwork art. Their weakness, however, is that the footwork lacks variation. It is not soft, but hard, and that is its flaw. You can only move in straight lines. If you force yourself to change direction, your speed will inevitably decrease. Since the greatest strength of the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps is their speed, I do not believe there is any need to introduce variation at the cost of that speed, but in situations where it is appropriate, you must make that judgment yourself.”

After saying that, Jin Yuha immediately began teaching him how to circulate Internal Energy for the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps. The most important aspect of the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps was that, when circulating Internal Energy, it had to be divided into two streams and simultaneously pass through Yanglingquan and Yinlingquan. From there, it passed through Jiexi and Taichong, circled through Yongquan, then flowed through the sole of the foot, Chengshan, Weizhong, Yinmen, and Sengmen. The most important points were Yinlingquan and Yanglingquan.

“Ah.”

When Bai Shixuan circulated his Internal Energy as Jin Yuha had taught him, he felt his body become lighter and looked at Jin Yuha with astonished eyes. Jin Yuha nodded at him.

“There is nothing more I can teach you now. Train on your own for seven days and nights. If there is anything you do not understand, ask me. Practice the Four Divine Beasts Martial Art whenever you have time as well. Beginning seven days and nights from now, you will alternate sparring with me and Yeryeong. The best training for cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is sparring. Of course, a battlefield where your life is at stake is good as well, but life-and-death sparring serves the same purpose. No matter how dearly Yeryeong cherishes you, when you spar, she will fight with the resolve to kill you. If you make a mistake, you truly may die. So train accordingly.”

“Understood.”

After finishing his explanation, Jin Yuha went straight back into the house. He intended to enjoy some affection with Yeryeong that he had been unable to indulge in because of Bai Shixuan. Life-and-death sparring was necessary because of the characteristics of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a Demonic Art. More than that, it was the Demonic Art that accumulated more Internal Energy than any other under heaven. Once a Spirit Pill began forming within the body while circulating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, even the first absorption of qi would completely fill that Spirit Pill. Afterward, while circulating the art, the pure energy of nature stored within the Spirit Pill would be transformed into demonic qi.

Once all of the energy had been transformed into demonic qi, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art advanced to the next stage. That continued until the fifth stage. From the fifth stage onward, however, merely transforming all the energy into demonic qi was no longer enough to advance. Through battle or sparring, one had to expend every last trace of demonic qi stored within the Spirit Pill. Then, upon absorbing the energy of nature again, the Spirit Pill would have doubled in size. By repeating this process, once the eighth stage was reached, the entire body would transform into a Spirit Pill. Of course, it was possible to enlarge the Spirit Pill even before reaching the fifth stage.

Jin Yuha had first entered the battlefield upon reaching the fifth stage, while Dan Yeryeong, who had cultivated the same Heavenly Demon Divine Art, had enlarged her Spirit Pill through sparring starting from the very first stage. Because of that, when Jin Yuha was at the seventh stage and Dan Yeryeong at the sixth, Dan Yeryeong still possessed more Cultivated Internal Power than he did. However, because of this, when Dan Yeryeong later sought to raise the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to the eighth stage, she had once been forced to spar with Jin Yuha continuously for days without rest. It was a side effect of enlarging her Spirit Pill too early. And the reason Jin Yuha had told Bai Shixuan that they would begin sparring was because Bai Shixuan had finally completed the fifth stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

From this point onward, Bai Shixuan could no longer advance the Heavenly Demon Divine Art unless he sparred. Furthermore, rather than practicing martial arts alone, he needed to gradually become accustomed to fighting through real combat or sparring intense enough to resemble it.

‘It’s already been two years since I came here.’

By now, Bai Shixuan could read the entire booklet of the Four Divine Beasts Martial Art. No, Bai Shixuan had already memorized the Four Divine Beasts Martial Art so thoroughly that he could recite it from memory. He could circulate Internal Energy to use the Four Divine Beasts Martial Art, and he had also become proficient with the Heavenly Demon Finger. He had become quite accustomed to swinging the heavy Black Saber Jin Yuha had given him as well, even if one thousand swings along each individual sword path was still beyond him. And as of today, Bai Shixuan had finally learned Jin Yuha’s last martial art, the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps.

After practicing the Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Steps for quite some time, Bai Shixuan sat down on a large nearby rock to take a short rest. He then pulled a small piece of paper from inside his robe.

[Shixuan. I’m truly sorry that I have to leave like this. And I’m also truly sorry for hiding the fact that I had learned martial arts. But I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid you would worry if I destroyed my dantian and ruined my health. I wanted to marry you as an ordinary woman. But in the end, things turned out this way, and I have no choice but to leave. I’m sorry. I kept pestering you to marry me, only to leave like this. Meet a good woman and live happily.]

Bai Shixuan sighed as he read the letter. If Bai Shixuan had been a strong man, instead of telling him to meet a good woman and live happily, the letter would surely have asked him to come rescue her. Imagining Xuelan unable to stop crying as she wrote this letter made his chest tighten.

“Oh my? Were you reading that letter again?”

“Mother!”

Startled by the voice behind him, Bai Shixuan sprang to his feet. Before he knew it, Dan Yeryeong was standing there, smiling at him. There were two people whose presence Bai Shixuan could not sense: Jin Yuha and Dan Yeryeong. Unlike Jin Yuha, however, Dan Yeryeong had a habit of suddenly appearing behind Bai Shixuan like this and startling him.

“I heard from him. You’re going to begin sparring seven days and nights from now.”

“Yes.”

“I suppose we’ll have to reduce the time you spend studying letters for a while. No matter how dearly I cherish you, you must not think I will behave that way during a spar.”

Dan Yeryeong spoke as she looked at Bai Shixuan with gentle eyes. Bai Shixuan nodded at her words.

“Don’t worry.”

Seeing Bai Shixuan speak with such a confident expression, Dan Yeryeong nodded. It was not the arrogance of someone who believed he could defeat her. It was the expression of someone determined not to disappoint her. Seeing that expression, Dan Yeryeong nodded and stroked Bai Shixuan’s head, which had now grown higher than her own. Then, leaving him with the words, “Do your best,” she turned and walked back toward the house.

She had come looking for him because she had wondered whether he might be afraid of the upcoming sparring, but after seeing his expression, she realized that her concern had been unnecessary. And so, without saying anything more, Dan Yeryeong began making her way back home.