Chapter 13 (Abandoned Disciple of Heavenly Demon)
Episode 13: Vice-Sect Leader (2)
Even in a situation where four swords were being shot at him at the same time, Shin Ho-ryang was still overflowing with confidence.
Phew!
As the Shin Ho-ryang swung strongly, a huge storm soon arose.
“Huh!”
Jin Myeong felt his body shake in the storm. And it wasn’t just Jin Myeong’s body that shook. The swords of Jin Myeong also could not get through the storm and fell to the ground.
“Is this the end?”
The Shin Ho-ryang’s expression was mysterious. It was an expression that seemed satisfied, but not completely convinced.
“Then it’s disappointing.”
“Would you like to receive a full-out attack?”
Of the fallen swords, only one rose.
Hurrruk!
The pure white flames surrounding the sword began to burn more intensely.
“Good. Come!”
Jin Myeong’s sword was shot straight towards the Shin Ho-ryang. There wasn’t any special technique. It was just shot straight at Shin Ho-ryang.
Phew!
And the Shin Ho-ryang also swung his sword towards Jin Myeong’s sword.
Boom!
A huge storm once again blocked the Jin Myeong’s sword.
“Ugh!”
The Shin Ho-ryang glared and swung his sword again.
Bang!
Jin Myeong’s sword that cut through the storm and the Sword of Shin Ho-ryang collided. Shin Ho-ryang who had struck the sword looked surprised at his own sword being pushed back.
Phew!
But there was no time to be surprised by that. Because he could hear the sound of the wind cutting through from the side.
“It’s pretty good!”
Shin Ho-ryang who was already pushed behind by flying sword. But once again, he swung his sword to block the sword flying from the side.
visor!
Shin Ho-ryang looked quietly at his hands. The sword that should have been there was not visible in the hand.
“Hoo hoo hoo.”
‘How long has it been since I lost this way?’
Shin Ho-ryang looked at his empty hands and tilted his head up. His sword was stuck in the ceiling after being deflected by Jin Myeong’s sword.
“It’s quite something. It’s too powerful to be called a modest skill.”
The sword that had been stuck in the ceiling quickly fell out and returned to the Shin Ho-ryang’s hand.
He put the sword back in and looked around.
“It was a mess.”
Since he was sparring inside, it was bound to be a mess. But for Shin Ho-ryang didn’t matter. Rather, he kept smiling as if he found Jin Myeong’s martial arts skills amusing.
“Was that internal energy in the last attack?”
“I tried to attack strongly, but it kept happening.”
“I see.”
Shin Ho-ryang looked like Jin Myeong with surprise.
“The last one was so strong that it was hard to believe.”
The first attack had a similar power to the last attack, but the energy felt a little different.
“At first it was just a flame, but later I felt a strange heat. As if it were a real fire.”
“Usually, internal energy is said to be an intangible energy, and sword energy is said to be a tangible energy.”
“Yes. I heard that it hardens sword, make them stronger.”
“That’s not entirely wrong.”
Jin Myeong also tried to create sword energy, but was unable to do so.
However, even though Shin Ho-ryang did not have solid sword energy, he felt that the pure white flame of Jin Myeong was like sword energy.
‘Is it because of the characteristics of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?’
Since it is a martial art, whose symbol is the fire of purification, even if you create a martial or sword energy, it all takes the form of a burning flame.
‘The power isn’t bad, huh?’
It was a different shape from the usual swords or swordsmanship, so Jin Myeong couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
In fact, he thought that it didn’t have much power, but rather just consumed a lot of internal energy.
‘If what the Vice-Sect leader says is true, then even a simple swordsmanship can stand up to strong energy.’
Jin Myeong realized once again that his visit to First Heavenly Demon’s Cave was not without reason.
This means that its power increases in proportion to the consumption of internal energy. That is why the first Heavenly Demon thought of compressing his internal energy into the Spirit Dantian.
“So, did I pass?”
“It’s possible, with such power. Is this the winning sword?”
“Yes.”
“It’s still not enough to call it swordsmanship. I get the idea, right?”
Despite its name, it is not enough to call it swordsmanship at the moment. Rather, he thought it would be more appropriate to call it a Flying Sword.
Because none of the swords of Jin Myeong were capable of swordsmanship.
“What is the name of the martial arts?”
“It’s called the Heavenly Demon Sword Control Technique. It’s a sword technique that covers the sky. I guess that would give the gist of what it is.”
The five swords were certainly powerful, but not unstoppable. But Jin Myeong thought that in future, maybe he could use real swordsmanship, it would definitely be scary.
“Do you want me to be honest with you?”
“Yes.”
Jin Myeong quietly looked at the Shin Ho-ryang. He couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.
Of course, he had learned martial arts by chance, but he didn’t know if it would be enough to stop the original protagonist.
“If it’s at this level now…….”
Shin Ho-ryang eyes was assessing Jin Myeong’s inaction even as he spoke.
“If you look at the power contained within, there will be few who can stop your attacks.”
“Although it was still too early to be called a sword technique, the power contained in the sword was so great that even I was surprised.”
He didn’t give it his all, but it was enough to make him lose his way.
“But it’s still too monotonous.”
“Yes?”
“The speed is fast and the power contained is strong. But since it was just shot, I couldn’t help but feel monotonous. It will probably be very important to move the five swords well to confuse the opponent.”
“Or else you will have to use your strong force to penetrate the opponent’s defences.”
But that’s only if the opponent’s level is below Jin Myeong’s.
Even if the sword’s power becomes stronger in its current state, it will not be able to do anything to the leader of the cult, Heavenly Demon, or a master like himself.
“Compared to other disciples…….”
Shin Ho-ryang brought this to give Jin Myeong understanding of other Heavenly Demon’s disciples.
“There aren’t many who can stop your attacks.”
That was an honest assessment of Shin Ho-ryang strength.
“But just because they can’t stop it doesn’t mean you’ll definitely win.”
It’s not that you can’t stop it, it’s that you can’t avoid it. But what is certain is that Jin Myeong is not far behind them.
“How strong are the other senior disciples?”
“Hmm. Not bad.”
The disciples of Heavenly Demon are special. Unlike Jin Myeong, the other disciples could all be said to be great masters.
“Everyone is in the top fifteen in our sect.”
In particular, the first disciple of Heavenly Demon could be counted among the top five. Of course, Heavenly Demon and Shin Ho-ryang were not included in those five fingers.
‘Was it that strong?’
Jin Myeong couldn’t help but be surprised by those words.
In the novel, the first disciple who became Heavenly Demon was unable to properly withstand the protagonist’s attacks.
‘Of course, I took the opportunity the protagonist gained here….’
But even before that, the protagonist was stronger than Heavenly Demon. The protagonist was put in danger because Heavenly Demon used dirty tricks, but if it weren’t for that, the protagonist would have won in the end.
“Anyway, what I’m saying is that you need to get stronger.”
Ultimately, what he’s saying is that Jin Myeong shouldn’t be satisfied with this level.
“Then I will help you as I promised.”
“Really?”
Jin Myeong was delighted at the offer of help.
“Instead, I will receive the reward later when you succeed.”
“All right.”
Jin Myeong could only nod his head without even knowing what it was.
“Then first of all. How high do you want to go?”
Jin Myeong couldn’t easily answer those words.
‘How high will it go?’
He never thought about it.
‘How can he stop protagonist?’
‘Should I avoid war with the protagonist? Or, should I stop the protagonist from going to war?’
‘How did the war start?’
‘This is because the Heavenly Demon sect tried to advance into the Central Plains first.’
Their attempts to advance into the Central Plains were blocked by the Kunlun sect, one of the nine sects, which eventually got destroyed by the Heavenly Demon Sect.
Because of that, a war broke out, and the Orthodox Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance joined forces to attack the Heavenly Demon.
‘In the end, Heavenly Demon was killed by the protagonist. Of course, that Heavenly Demon wasn’t the Heavenly Demon of today.’
‘After all, what I have to do is to prevent the Heavenly Demon from changing.’
No matter how much he thought about it, no other method came to mind. If the Heavenly Demon does not change, war will not occur.
Even if a war breaks out, it will not be lost in vain.
“Are you listening?”
“…sorry.”
As Jin Myeong sat there silently lost in thought, Shin Ho-ryang looked at him with eyes of bewilderment.
Jin Myeong never thought he’d get lost in thoughts while having a conversation with himself.
“If you don’t want to talk, can we just end it?”
“No. I was really wondering how high I could go.”
“Hmm. Where do you want to go?”
‘How far should he try?’
Actually, Jin Myeong didn’t want to go all the way.
He may not have the ability to do so, but even if he could, he did not have the confidence to lead that many people.
But he couldn’t say that.
‘Saying that I want to rise moderately and then retire will definitely go against the Vice-Sect Leader’s wishes.’
“I want to climb as high as I can.”
“What a greedy guy?” contrary to what he said, the smile never left Shin Ho-ryang’s lips. He liked Jin Myeong’s greed and ambition.
“That’s right. Can it be done?”
“Wouldn’t that depend on your talent and martial arts skills?”
All of Heavenly Demon’s disciples had outstanding talents. And Jin Myeong also learnt excellent martial arts from First Heavenly Demon.
‘This guy’s martial arts are not the leader’s martial arts, but…’
Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
In Heavenly Demon Sect, all you have to do is be strong. No matter what martial arts you practice.
Even if you learned the martial arts of the sect, you could become a vice-sect leader or a cult leader as long as you were strong.
Heavenly Demon Sect was exactly that kind of place.
“Then I guess I should start by telling you by your first assignment?”
“What do I have to do?”
“It’s not anything special. Just show your worth. There are many ways to do that.”
Shin Ho-ryang could have held a competition or something, if he ever wanted to participate in this ‘war of throne’ to choose his pawn.
It didn’t matter which method was used.
Any method will do.
All Jin Myeong had to do is make himself famous by any means possible.
“After all, it’s up to you.”
Jin Myeong can either fight against the disciples of Heavenly Demon and win, or gather forces for help like the other guys.
After all, the most important thing here is strength.
“As I said before, once you reach a certain level, you will have to obey every single order from me.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Don’t worry, I’m wouldn’t ask you to give up your life or anything.”
Shin Ho-ryang haven’t decided yet what orders to give. If he wanted to kill Jin Myeong, they wouldn’t be having conversation like this.
For now, Shin Ho-ryang plan to leave it, as it is, enjoy the fun from back.
“But even with my help, you may not be able to get to that position.”
He’s not talking about the position of the Vice-Sect leader. It refers to a position where Shin Ho-ryang can be executed.
“Yes.”
Even as he answered, Jin Myeong felt an inexplicable chill.
“Then you will have to pay for this with your life.”
“…Of course.”
Although it didn’t seem like he was putting any particular pressure, Jin Myeong felt breathless. It felt like his body tremble involuntarily from an unknown fear.
“Go back and see. I’ll contact you later.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Jin Myeong’s steps, which had been retreating at Shin Ho-ryang of Shin Ho-ryang, stopped.
“By the way, can I ask you one thing?”
“What is it?”
“Why did you decided to help me?”
It doesn’t make sense to say that it’s simply because Jin Myeong’s martial arts are interesting.
No, even if there was a positive outlook before that, it was strange that he had met Jin Myeong like this.
“Ask the guy who brought you here.”
“…All right.”
Shin Ho-Ryang quietly stared at the door through which Jin Myeong had left.
‘That’s all I can do. The rest is up to that your ability.’
Shin Ho-ryang let out a small sigh as he recalled someone.