The Grandson of the Heavenly Demon

Chapter 2:

1. Heavenly Demon Divine Art (1)

"One!"

"Hey!"

"Two!"

"Hey!"

Cult members could be seen training in the front courtyard of the main hall building.

Muyeong—no, Hyeok Jeong-min—gazed down at them and fell briefly into thought.

'What a strange turn of events.'

Hard to believe, yet it had happened to him all the same.

Jeong-min organized the events that had unfolded before him one more time.

'I've returned twenty years into the past. And I've become the grandson of Hyeok Je-un, the Heavenly Demon.'

This was the Heavenly Demon Cult of Tianshan in Xinjiang.

The very place the Martial Alliance would reduce to rubble twenty years from now.

For the moment, it was intact. Thankfully.

"Is this a dream?"

Yet it was far too vivid to be dismissed as one.

The warm spring breeze brushed against Jeong-min's cheek. No—there was no way this was fake.

"Still, why is the Heavenly Demon Cult like this?"

The Heavenly Demon Cult was supposed to be a repugnant, utterly depraved band of demonic martial artists who followed a cult leader called the Heavenly Demon, wasn't it?

The scene Jeong-min was looking down upon was nothing like that.

"Cult Leader!"

"Cult Leader, good day to you!"

"Yes, yes. Ha ha, everyone's working hard, I see."

When Hyeok Je-un appeared, the cult members cupped their fists toward him in a show of respect.

There was reverence, but not worship.

Strange. When Jeong-min had been a blade of the Orthodox Faction, he had been told the Heavenly Demon Cult was a wicked lot.

Looking back—yes. He should have known.

'It was all fabricated.'

They were a threat, so they were torn down.

The Orthodox Faction was the center of the central plains. When you thought about it, what reason could there be to march all the way out to Tianshan and demolish a single group quietly training there?

A matter anyone could see through with just a little thought—and yet, in his past life, Jeong-min had been bound by the Madness Curse of the Seal and couldn't grasp even so simple a truth.

'What a fool.'

He had nothing to say even if he were called that.

But by some twist of fate, he had returned twenty years into the past—and on top of that, had been born as the grandson of the Heavenly Demon.

What did that signify?

'Is it telling me to prevent… the Martial Alliance's attack twenty years from now?'

Discarded after his usefulness had run out. The life of Muyeong could be summed up in that alone.

But things were different now. The Madness Curse had been lifted, and he had possessed the body of the very grandson of the Heavenly Demon he had killed with his own hands.

And that was perhaps—

'Heavenly Demon. Was it your doing?'

Had he said to call him by name when following after him?

He had called. And so now, Muyeong had become the Heavenly Demon's grandson.

Then he ought to repay the debt.

'The Martial Alliance's attack. Trifling matter—I'll stop every last bit of it myself.'

But for that, this body as it currently stood would not do.

Jeong-min examined himself. The scrawny arms and legs—as though they had never once known exercise in their entire life—were striking.

'I'll need to train.'

But even if he trained, could he single-handedly stop the Martial Alliance? Even if he had been the Nameless Sword Wraith in his past life.

Just then, a memory flashed through Jeong-min's mind without warning.

A conversation he had overheard in the memories of his past life.

—How is anyone supposed to defeat the Heavenly Demon? The man harbors the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the greatest internal energy art in all of history.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Perhaps the very reason the Heavenly Demon Cult had fallen.

The Martial Alliance might have found it incomprehensible that some peculiar group tucked away in a mountain valley possessed the greatest internal energy art in all of history.

In his past life, Jeong-min had possessed no internal energy. He had been called the Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven despite having none.

'If someone like me—with those peerless external martial arts—were to also obtain the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the greatest internal energy art in all of history?'

Defeating the Martial Alliance with his current body was out of the question.

Then he would learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and become even stronger than he had been in his past life.

'Well, it seems there's still a long road ahead.'

Having been the Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven in his past life didn't mean this body was the same.

He needed to temper himself to the limit once more. Just look at how feeble this body was.

'Even so, there's something strange about this body.'

What was it? Just as Jeong-min tried to make sense of his own body—

Urururu!

People could be seen pouring in and lining up before the entrance to the main hall.

What was this, an attack? Jeong-min thought so, and then the gates swung open with a thud and they all came flooding inside.

"Returned!"

"The eldest son of the Heavenly Demon Cult, Hyeok Jang-ho, and the second son, Hyeok Mun-ha, have finished their hunt and come back!"

At that, the cult members who had been training stopped their hands and feet and welcomed them warmly.

Jeong-min was no different. Fortunately, the memories of Hyeok Jeong-min remained intact within him, and the sight of Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha stirred something warm inside him.

'Wait. Now that I think about it—the fact that I've possessed this body of Hyeok Jeong-min means the original Hyeok Jeong-min is dead.'

A remark the Heavenly Demon had made before dying in his past life suddenly surfaced in his mind.

—I once had a grandson as fine as you. If only he hadn't died of illness before he came of age…

A grandson who died of illness before coming of age.

Hyeok Jeong-min was currently fourteen years old.

In other words—

'I see. I've entered the body of someone who was already dead.'

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Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha strode boldly through the gates.

To the cult members who greeted them warmly, Hyeok Jang-ho handed off the wild boar he'd been carrying on his shoulder.

"Good heavens! What is this?"

"What do you think it is—I hunted it, didn't I. Cook it up nice and slow for tonight's dinner."

"Ha ha, yes!"

Hyeok Jang-ho's height easily exceeded seven feet. His build matched accordingly—a man packed full of muscle.

The second son, Hyeok Mun-ha, was no different. He was a bit shorter than Hyeok Jang-ho, but his swordsmanship—he was skilled with a deep blade—was at a level even the Heavenly Demon found worthy of note.

"Is Jeong-min resting? He'll need something hearty to eat, so tonight send a generous bowl to that child's room as well—"

"Brother!"

The moment Hyeok Jang-ho spoke Jeong-min's name, a glad voice rang out.

In the distance, Jeong-min could be seen running toward the two of them.

Hyeok Jang-ho reached out in a flustered hurry.

"You fool! Why are you running when your body isn't even well."

"Huk. Huk."

Jeong-min came to a stop before Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha.

He was already panting heavily from that short sprint. Goodness—this body was really going to need a lot of training.

'These two are……

Jeong-min looked up at the tall eldest and second brother.

Jeong-min was fourteen, while Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha had already passed twenty. That was why Jeong-min had been raised as the pampered one.

And also—

'Men I……killed with my own hands in my past life.'

Both Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha had been cut down by the blade of the Nameless Sword Wraith.

Jeong-min remembered the sight of the two of them dying in agony, their heads severed.

"Huk, huk……."

"Wh—why do you look like that? Is your body really unwell after all?"

"Damn it. A physician! Hurry, go fetch the physician from the medical hall!"

When Jeong-min said nothing and only stared at the two of them, his brothers showed expressions of bewilderment.

Jeong-min pulled the two of them close and held them in an embrace without a word.

"Oh."

"Look at this one. What are you doing."

"I just……missed you. Seeing you both like this—I've truly missed you, brothers."

When Jeong-min had killed the two of them, he had shed tears then as well.

He hadn't wanted to kill them. He hadn't wanted to.

The reason his tears had run so especially deep—perhaps it had been a premonition of what was to come today.

His brothers were flustered, but they pulled Jeong-min close and held him back. Their grip was solid and warm.

"Why are you on the verge of tears? Were you worried we'd gone off hunting and gotten ourselves killed? Ha ha."

"And what's this, talking like a little old man all of a sudden? Isn't that right, brother? Ha ha."

A bond of brotherhood, warm and deep.

Jeong-min thought to himself. He hadn't wanted to kill them?

'Don't make excuses. In the end, it was my own hands that killed them.'

Then in this life, he would protect them without fail.

In this life, he would never let things go the way the Orthodox Faction intended.

'They are my family now. I'll save every last one of them. Every single one.'

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The first thing Jeong-min did upon returning to his room was seat himself in the very center of the space and cross his legs in meditation.

"Hyeok Jeong-min, was it?"

Hyeok Jeong-min, third grandson of the Heavenly Demon.

This body was absurdly frail, wretched, and unremarkable—save for one single thing.

There was something strange about the body.

'A peculiar energy I never felt in my past life.'

A unique yet clear energy that enveloped the whole of his body.

What was this? It was unlike anything the man once called Muyeong had ever sensed before.

'All I need to do is check.'

He latched the door shut, and Jeong-min turned his gaze inward to examine his own body.

Gooooo—

Though no wind blew, a chill began to stir.

The chill swirled and surged around the crown of Jeong-min's head.

Hwiooooo—!

"Huu……!"

Pussss— the wind settled.

And so, after a long while spent examining his own body, Jeong-min—it was not long before he came to grasp a single truth.

"My. What is this."

A truth that might seem absurd.

Unable to believe it, Jeong-min examined his body once more. Yet the truth converged on one answer.

"Is this body gifted with martial talent?"

This body of Hyeok Jeong-min was one that absorbed martial arts like a sponge.

It was almost as if this were that legendary body from the stories—the Heavenly Martial Physique.

'The Heavenly Martial Physique—so named because it is a body gifted by the heavens. A physique said to allow one to master in half a day what others would take a month to learn.'

And that was precisely what this Hyeok Jeong-min was.

With this alone, tempering the body would be no difficult feat.

But then that was strange. Why had he died? Having a body like this, and yet—

'Come to think of it, I do recall something. The name of the illness was… the Demon Vein Affliction, wasn't it.'

The Demon Vein Affliction.

An illness he had heard spoken of in passing during his past life.

The Demon Vein Affliction was a hereditary disease of the Hyeok family of the Heavenly Demon Cult—those who contracted it would invariably die before reaching fifteen.

It was said to be an illness that did not come easily. But once it took hold, it was fatal.

'The Demon Vein Affliction is cured by cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. However, before that can happen, those afflicted by it die because their bodies cannot endure the demonic energy.'

A contradiction.

Among all the ancestors of the Hyeok family across generations who had suffered from the Demon Vein Affliction, the only one to overcome it through the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was said to be the First Heavenly Demon, the very creator of that art.

Every afflicted person who came after—each and every one—died without overcoming the illness.

Not a single exception in hundreds of years.

"And yet, this very Hyeok Jeong-min turns out to have the Heavenly Martial Physique."

With the Heavenly Martial Physique alone, cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would become overwhelmingly easier.

Enduring the demonic energy would still be no easy feat—but it was only a matter of pushing through with willpower and tenacity.

He had thought he'd wound up in the body of some frail wretch, but it seemed that wasn't the case at all.

'If someone like me—with those peerless external martial arts—were to also obtain the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the greatest internal energy art in all of history?'

The thought from earlier that same afternoon came back to him once more.

To cure the Demon Vein Affliction, obtaining the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was the most pressing matter.

But the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was, at present, an art held solely by Hyeok Je-un, the Heavenly Demon. It was not a technique that could be passed down to a Jeong-min still so young. Even his two brothers had been told it was too soon.

'Because if the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is cultivated improperly, one becomes a fool.'

Had he perhaps given up?

Since there were no cases of anyone but the First Heavenly Demon overcoming the Demon Vein Affliction, perhaps he hadn't even entertained the thought of passing it on to Jeong-min.

Well—who could have imagined that a sickly grandson would, of all things, possess the legendary Heavenly Martial Physique?

"But I will not give up."

This was a life newly granted.

It had to be used well. And there was a score to settle.

For that, he had to learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. As soon as possible.

"How does one go about it?"

It was a night of deepening deliberation.

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Late at night, in the chamber of the Heavenly Demon.

The one who sat lost in thought by the light of the moon was none other than the Heavenly Demon himself, Hyeok Je-un.

'The youngest child turns fourteen this year.'

Less than a year remained until the coming of age of Hyeok Jeong-min, his third grandson.

The Demon Vein Affliction always led its sufferer to death. It killed before the age of fifteen.

Even Hyeok Je-un, the Heavenly Demon himself, could not stop that.

'Jeong-min…….'

It was only natural that Hyeok Je-un felt as though his insides were being eaten away. How could it not be so, when the youngest grandson he cherished so dearly was merely waiting for the day he would die?

But neither could he, out of some desperate measure, simply impart the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to the boy.

Would that not be the same as killing the child today out of pity for the one who would die a year from now?

'Not a single person has overcome the Demon Vein Affliction through the Heavenly Demon Divine Art aside from the First Cult Leader.'

And that was already well over several hundred years ago.

O First Heavenly Demon—if you know the answer, please, let it be known.

'If only the child had the Heavenly Martial Physique, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would be a simple thing to master. Hah—as if that could ever be.'

These days, he even found himself entertaining thoughts so absurd that anyone listening would burst out laughing.

Just as Hyeok Je-un stood blankly gazing up at the sky—

Tok tok—

—The sound of someone knocking at the door.

Hyeok Je-un wondered who had come at this hour of the night.

"Who is it?"

"Grandfather, it is your grandson Jeong-min."

He had been thinking of Jeong-min, and Jeong-min had come.

What brought the child here? When his body wasn't even well.

Creak—

Hyeok Je-un opened the door, and sure enough, Jeong-min was standing right there before him.

"What brings you here at this hour of the night? You should be resting rather than—"

At that, Jeong-min opened his mouth with quiet resolve.

"Grandfather."

He had to learn the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. As soon as possible.

How?

The direct approach, of course.

"Please teach me the Heavenly Demon Divine Art."