Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

The newly formed Charred Dragon Unit celebrated amongst themselves until the early hours of the night, but the rest of the Cult operated as usual. 

At the dawn of the new day, a guide visited Woon-seong’s quarters to lead him to the Cult’s Demonic Armory, just as Chun Hwi had said. 

It was someone he recognized. 

“Are you guiding me, sir?”

“They asked me to do the job since we are already acquainted.”

“The Leader asked you?”

“No, the Senior Strategist did.”

At that point, the youth nodded. 

The one who had come was the ‘Demonic Sword of Layered Blood’, Sang In-hyo. 

“I ask that we start moving unless you have something else to do,” Sang In-hyo said, and Woon-seong could tell that the General Director’s attitude towards himself was subtly different.

That’s only natural.

Before yesterday, Woon-seong had barely been a Demonic General, unqualified for the Great Demon Sang In-hyo to show much respect towards. On top of that, as the General Director of the Cave of Latent Demons, Sang In-hyo controlled  Number 900’s life and death. 

After graduating with flying colors, Woon-seong could not be treated the same. 

“I understand.” Woon-seong nodded and they began to move. 

Leading the way, Sang In-hyo left the village surrounding the Charred Dragon House and started towards the inner mountains. 

Wherever they went, peaks and valleys spread out before them. It seemed like a normal walk, but each step covered great distances. 

Woon-seong chased after Sang In-hyo. How far had they gone?

After some silence, the first person to speak was Sang In-hyo. 

“You have improved a lot.”

“Isn’t the nature of demonic arts like that?”

Sang In-hyo laughed bitterly at that. It wasn’t Woon-seong’s intention, but his words had hit a sore spot. 

Demonic arts pursued great power by breaking down harmony and did, in fact, tend to be cultivated faster than Orthodox arts. But the growth rate was not consistent from beginning to end: achievements got slower as you became stronger. 

Not only that, due to the rapid growth rate, it was easy for people to experience qi deviation [1]. Because people were scared of this, they could only remain stagnant.

Sang In-hyo was one of those people. 

About a decade ago, at the start of the Cave of Latent Demons, he was already a Great Demon. Now, he was still a Great Demon. Of course, there were improvements, but the degree was small. 

His face showed a lonely smile. 

Soon though, he schooled his expression.

“Just because the demonic arts possess that nature does not mean that everyone can achieve the degree of growth that you have. With your skills, you will continue to grow and climb ranks without a problem. Let us continue to grow without rest.”

These words were spoken to Woon-seong, but also to himself. 

Sang In-hyo felt partially responsible for Woon-seong’s explosive growth. Was it because he had watched the boy from the beginning? 

That was a question that would remain unanswered. 

Woon-seong did not respond to these words and Sang In-hyo could only speed up. “Let’s move a little faster.”

Shh, shh, shh.

The speed of the two men travelling over the peaks and canyons of the Heavenly Mountains increased and their surroundings blurred around them. 

The location of the Cult’s Demonic Armory was unfamiliar to the people of Zhongyuan [2], but was well known to the people of the Cult. All Great Demons and higher were aware; there were even some Demonic Generals who knew. 

But that did not mean everyone could enter. 

The path to the armory was constantly guarded by mysterious high level martial artists, who denied entry to anyone who approached without permission. 

Their identities were shrouded in many secrets. 

Some said that they were a group of Great Demon level martial artists, others said a single Demonic King was guarding the place. 

Of course, like all rumors, they weren’t very accurate. 

Strictly speaking, the guards of the vault belonged to the ‘Unrecorded Demonic Group’, which meant they would not be found in the records of the Cult. 

The group itself was recorded as an existence, but everything else about the group remained a secret. Since no members were listed there was no way to know just how many belonged to the Unrecorded Demonic Group. Even if someone was found in the records of the Cult, there was no guarantee  that they weren’t a member of the Unrecorded Demonic Group. 

The only thing known for sure was that the Unrecorded Demonic Group had agreed to obey the Heavenly Demon for generations.

However, they did not restrain Woon-seong and Sang In-hyo. After all, these two were approaching with permission from the reigning Heavenly Demon. 

And finally, the armory could be seen. 

Sang In-hyo stopped once the building could be seen about fifty meters away. “I can’t go forward anymore. Only you are allowed to enter. Go on.”

Woon-seong nodded and headed onwards. The building was taller up close. What was unusual was that the door was made of heavy iron, compared to the building looking like it was made of wood. The iron on the hinges had rusted, as if the door had not been opened for a long time. 

That wasn’t a problem though, it still worked just fine.

With a shove, the iron door opened with a thud and the interior of the armory was revealed.

“Hmm.”

Looking inside, Woon-seong made a small sound of appreciation. 

The inside wasn’t as large as Woon-seong had thought based on the exterior. However, it was full of weapons with barely any room outside of the passage. There were a number of jians (double-edged swords), a large collection of daos (sabres), and a good number of spears. 

This is only the first level.

The Cult’s Demonic Armory consisted of five floors. Moreover, not everything from the ground floor was visible right now either. 

Amazing. 

Woon-seong swallowed his saliva and slowly walked inside. 

At that moment, someone’s voice flowed into the room. “You have only one hour.”

Woon-seong nodded instead of answering aloud. It did not matter if the member of the Unrecorded Demonic Group saw his signal or not, he was already looking through the weapons. 

No martial artist could see this scene and not be tempted into admiring the place. 

The moment he moved forward a little, his face changed. 

“Ugh.”

Since the weapons were everywhere, the temple suddenly exerted a pressure that made his bones tremble and his skin sizzle. It felt like many powerful people surrounded him.

Cold sweat dripped down his neck. What a strong illusion.

However, Woon-seong quickly calmed his mind using the Heavenward Soul Earthen Body. 

I finally feel a bit better.

The feeling of his body being stabbed had disappeared. 

In fact, Woon-seong did not completely understand, but what he had just faced was the qi of the armory itself. 

As you stepped into the armory, your anticipation would be maximized. Furthermore, fear clouded judgement. A blunted judgement was a hindrance that would cause a person to miss out on good opportunities. If you did not overcome this test, you would not choose the proper weapons. 

And Woon-seong had passed the test nicely. 

As his mind eased, the inside of the armory was more clear to him. 

There’s nothing that impressive…

Most of them were ordinary weapons. Maybe they were a bit sharper than what was available on the market, but they weren’t anything special. Anyone with a little bit of money could obtain them.

This is a trap.

Woon-seong realized the truth. The pressure was a test of unwavering composure, a test of worth.

I should be careful.

His eyes deepened. He picked up some of the spears and swung them. They performed well, but that was it. 

Soon, he moved on to the second floor. It was the same as the first. The floor seemed irrelevant to the quality of the weapons, as these were not so different from the others. 

There were some nice spears, which could be considered at the level of a namesake weapon. Not only that, many of them seemed to have hidden functions or abilities. 

They were all good weapons, but not perfectly satisfactory. 

Perhaps I was too excited.

Woon-seong was a bit disappointed as he stood on the stairs leading to the third floor. He decided that if he didn’t find something he really liked, he would choose the spear he had just put down. 

An anomaly occurred the moment his foot hit the third floor. 

Weng—!

The necklace on his chest, the one of the Spear Master Sect, showed a small response. At the same time, Woon-seong was trembling, naturally turning towards a corner of the armory. 

There, in the corner, was a spear Woon-seong had overlooked. 

In a daze, he moved to the area and picked up the spear. As he did so, the spear trembled and the rust covering the speartip fell off. 

Weng—!

It revealed its true appearance!

[1] 走火入魔 (zǒu huǒ rù mó), roughly translates to ‘walk the path of fire and become possessed by the devil’. During qi deviation, the flow of qi becomes impossible to control and the practitioner is severely hurt or dies in the process. Those who succumb to their inner demons, those who practice incorrectly, or those who use forbidden arts are the most at risk. The demonic and unorthodox are infamous for having explosive growth, but carry huge risk for qi deviation as a result. [2] Zhongyuan, or the Central Plains, is referring to the Orthodox martial society.