Chapter 9 (Abandoned Disciple of Heavenly Demon)

---

Episode 9: Return (2)

“The sect-leader’s interest?” Yang Jeon’s happiness instantly turned into sadness.

“You weren’t interested in that kind of thing until now, so why are you suddenly like this?”

The old Jin Myeong said that if he were to attract the attention of the sect-leader for no reason, he would inevitably attract the attention of the other disciples.

“Didn’t you told me to be quiet, earlier?”

That was the method Jin Myeong chose.

Acting like a dead rat.

Showing to others that you have no interest in being the Sect Leader. That’s how he tried to save his life.

“If I’m going to do it, I might as well get the title.”

“That’s right. Do you remember now?”

“No. Not at all.”

He didn’t remember even such trivial things. But he just thought it might be like that.

“But you suddenly want to get the sect leader’s attention?”

“Yes.”

“That means you are thinking to be candidate for the position of a Vice Sect Leader.”

As a disciple of the Heavenly Demon, Jin Myeong naturally had the right to do so. However, since he did not have that level of skill, no one considered Jin Myeong a candidate for the leader of the sect.

“The other disciples had already brought other elders with them.”

“I see.”

“It’s so late, but you still want to start?”

It’s exactly as Yang Jeon said. Jin Myeong has no power at the moment.

There is not a single person in the sect to help him. However, Jin Myeong says he wants to become a candidate for the sect leader.

“Isn’t there a saying that when you think it’s late, that’s when it’s fastest?”

“Who said such a thing? If you thought it was too late, then it really is too late.”

Jin Myeong chuckled at Yang Jeon’s grumbling.

“Are you sure?”

“What?”

“Hadn’t it only been a year since I started learning martial arts?”

“I used to practice it before.”

There just weren’t any results. In fact, Jin Myeong’s body was too well trained to be considered untrained.

“Isn’t that so?”

“Hmm.”

“Are you really able to demonstrate your martial arts skills now?”

A body abandoned by heaven.

A body abandoned by heaven.

It’s Jin Myeong’s constitution.

All the members of the Heavenly Demon Sect shook their heads, saying that he was absolutely incapable of demonstrating martial arts.

Jin Myeong is brimming with confidence after returning after a year.

“I would be able to unfold it.”

“Whew. Honestly, I don’t believe it at all.”

Yang Jeon narrowed his eyes and looked at Jin Myeong.

“How strong have you become? Are you really strong enough to gain the sect leader’s attention?”

“How much is that?”

“Of course, you have to have skills similar to those of other disciples.”

At that level, it would be enough to attract the attention of the sect leader, even if it is not enough to gain his trust.

“Whew. It looks like you’ve acquired some incredible martial arts skills. To the point where you suddenly want to be the leader of the sect.”

Yang Jeon thought that Jin Myeong had received some kind of great coincidence.

‘I have no idea.’

Yang Jeon continued to examine Jin Myeong. But he didn’t feel anything special about him at all.

‘Huh? Why can’t I feel anything?’

Suddenly, that thought occurred to him.

‘I could tell that he had learned martial arts before.’

Should I call it an aura or a sound?

Anyway, he didn’t feel anything like that at all.

‘Even ordinary people who haven’t learned martial arts can feel it.’

It was to the point where he wondered if he would have been able to tell that Jin Myeong was right in front of me if he hadn’t been looking at him with his own eyes.

“Why?”

“No.”

However, Yang Jeon was still busy looking into Jin Myeong.

“If you really want to become a sect leader, let’s find out how.”

“Wow. My subordinate is more powerful than I thought. He can even figure out the method.”

“…I’ll let you know once it’s confirmed.”

After saying those words, Yang Jeon left the bedroom. And Jin Myeong was quietly watching his back.

‘He doesn’t appear in the novel, but…’

There is definitely something there. Jin Myeong became curious about what Yang Jeon was hiding.

‘Now, I have told you everything. What will you do?’

The reason Jin Myeong revealed everything to Yang Jeon was not because he completely trusted him.

Rather, he revealed everything because he could not believe him.

‘I’m alone here. I have no power, no one I can trust. I need at least one person I can trust.’

He was thinking of judging him based on how the positive results came out.

‘No matter what, it doesn’t make sense that he was guarding this place alone.’

Now that Jin Myeon can observe, he can see. Yang Jeon learned martial arts.

‘Why on earth was he here with Jin Myeong?’

‘He’d been together since childhood? I guess he’s not that stupid.’

If Yang Jeon had been stupid, he might have believed in words like friendship and loyalty.

But the Yang Jeon that Jin Myeong saw was not like that.

‘I need to know why.’

The reason he waited for Jin Myeong here. The reason Yang Jeon stayed here with Jin Myeong even though everyone else left.

‘I wish there was a proper way.’

More important than the happiness in Jin Myeong’s survival here. He also rose to a fairly high position within the Heavenly Demon Sect.

‘My authority must be strengthened.’

That way, even if the protagonist attacks this place, it can be blocked.

‘There’s no way out even if I run away…’

The reason Jin Myeong returned to Heavenly Demon Sect was not because he had nowhere else to go.

It wasn’t that he had any attachment to the Heavenly Demon Sect.

‘If the Heavenly Demon Sect is destroyed, the Central Plains will eventually be destroyed as well.’

When Heavenly Demon Sect is destroyed by the protagonist. This causes the balance in the Central Plains to collapse.

The Central Plains was a place where three great powers, the Orthodox Alliance, the Unorthodox Alliance, and the Heavenly Demon Sect, maintained a precarious balance.

With the disappearance of the Heavenly Demon Sect, which was in charge of one axis, the balance that had been precariously maintained suddenly collapsed.

‘War, war, war.’

Once the Demonic Sect disappears, the next thing that comes is a war between the Orthodox Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance.

As a result, the Central Plains became increasingly desolate, and the number of warriors continued to decrease.

‘Eventually, the imperial palace had to intervene.’

Because of the war, the people who did not know martial arts also suffered, so eventually the imperial palace had no choice but to make their move.

Path that Imperial Palace took, threatened to destroy the Central Plain’s martial arts world, and eventually, new forces also appeared.

‘In the end, the protagonist somehow solves it….’

That time was by no means short.

And as a result, the Central Plain’s murim world disappeared.

‘In order to prevent that from happening, I must ultimately protect the Heavenly Demon Sect.’

The beginning of the story is ultimately the destruction of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

‘And the leader at that time is not the leader now. He is the first disciple of Heavenly Demon.’

‘I couldn’t figure out why the current Heavenly Demon wasn’t there back then.’

‘The current Heavenly Demon is close to being the strongest in the world, but his disciple couldn’t compare to him.’

‘It seems unlikely that Heavenly Demon would have stepped down on his own. Since he didn’t even appear, something must have happened to him.’

‘I need to figure that out too and make sure that the current Heavenly Demon remains in the position of leader.’

Jin Myeong believed that this was the only way to protect the Heavenly Demon Sect.

‘Well, then let’s wait and see what method Yang Jeon can come up with.’

Jin Myeong began to unpack the things Yang Jeon had brought into the room, while waiting for what method he would come up with.

‘A moderate number of mosses and swords.’

These were all Jin Myeong brought from there. The elixir had already been consumed, and the martial arts manual, he had been put everything into his head and burned their copies.

In the end, all that was left were the night pearls that had been stuck on the ceiling and the eight swords that First Heavenly Demon had left behind.

‘Right now, I can only handle five.’

Jin Myeong hid three of the eight swords in secret room.

Since the number of swords he could handle was already beyond his capabilities, there was no need to carry them around.

‘I have to deal with all eight quickly.’

Besides, he can’t even use swordsmanship yet.

‘I need to achieve mastery more quickly.’

But it’s not easy.

‘I should be at least level 5 to be able to perform swordsmanship.’

Jin Myeong looked at the sword floating before his eyes. And then he slowly began to use his sword control skills.

‘It’s barely able to follow along.’

Perhaps because it was simply a hollow attack, it was an extremely slow attack. No one will be hit by such an attack.

‘Rather, it might be more convenient to just fly around with a sword or swordsmanship wrapped around them.’

Although Jin Myeong is unable to perform swordsmanship, it was for him possible to move the sword at a fast speed.

It would be more effective to use that for surprise attack, the opponent would be in confusion.

‘I have to do it while I can.’

All he could do now was to perfectly master the Heavenly Demon Sword Control Art and the Heavenly Demon Divine Finger.

‘Is it starting now?’

He had to live here from now on. Unless he can find a way to return to his original world.

‘I have to recall the contents of the novel.’

The chance the protagonist gains, and the future that will unfold. He has to filter out the ones he will can get among those things.

‘To the extent that it doesn’t cause any damage to the protagonist, but can still block the protagonist’s attacks…’

It’s really ambiguous.

In the end, the protagonist had to become stronger, so Jin Myeong couldn’t take away all the opportunities.

However, in order to withstand the protagonist’s attacks, he eventually had no choice but to take away the protagonist’s chance.

‘In the end, he’ll have to solve everything.’

Isn’t that the protagonist’s fate?

‘Anyway, let’s just pick out the ones that the protagonist doesn’t use very often.’

The martial arts skills that the protagonist gained were actually unnecessary to Jin Myeong.

Rather, elixirs that can increase internal energy would be more helpful.

‘In reality, there are cases where the protagonist doesn’t need the elixir later on and he doesn’t take it.’

Jin Myeong began to write down the stories of the encounters the protagonist had in the novel as he remembered them.

* * *

“We will move in a few days.”

A few days later, Yang Jeon, who had been absent for a while, reappeared.

“Oh, the one and only butler in my estate has finally appeared.”

“What kind of joke is that?”

“No, I just think that the manor feels empty without the butler.”

In fact, Yang Jeon was in charge of most of the estates.

“What are you talking about when you don’t have much work to do as the manor lord?”

However, all Jin Myeong did was order his servants around and pay them their salaries.

“I guess it feels empty because there aren’t many people.”

“You need to stop kidding and prepare yourself mentally.”

“Where are we going?”

Yang Jeon did not answer Jin Myeong’s questions and just said what he wanted to say.

“You should also bring your weapons, so make sure they are well taken care of.”

“Hmm. Are you just going to keep talking?”

Jin Myeong asked, fiddling with the wooden box containing the sword.

“I wish you would answer me soon. It’s not a secret, is it? Are you saying to prepare yourself mentally?”

“Whew. You’re going to go see the vice-sect leader.”

Jin Myeong looked puzzled at Yang Jeon’s answer.

“Vice-Sect leader?”

“Yes, Vice-Sect leader. So please thank me. It was really hard to make this promise.”

Despite Yang Jeon’s words, Jin Myeong’s expression did not soften.

‘There was a vice-sect leader?’

This was because the vice-sect leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect was not mentioned even once in the novel.

---