Chapter 97 : Chapter 97
Chapter 097: The Lesser Heavenly Demon (5)
At the sound of Dam Jeok-san’s voice, the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable leapt lightly down from the roof.
Landing as softly as though she had descended a flight of stairs, she cast a brief glance at Bukgung Wan, who was being carried like baggage.
He was completely unconscious. Not only was his internal energy exhausted, but even the intent within his upper dantian had been drained dry.
“In that state, it would be difficult for him to try anything foolish. Very well. But Monster-Suppressing Squad Leader—keep a close watch on him.”
Having confirmed that much, the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable waved her hand lightly and allowed Dam Jeok-san to enter.
Then—
“To notice our presence… you truly left yourself some margin in that fight, Martial Nephew.”
She spoke as she looked at Lee Myeong-gi, who finally climbed down from the roof with a grunt.
“…So it would seem.”
It had been the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable herself who erased their presence atop the roof, spreading a thin veil of qi.
She had not hidden them with full effort, but even so, it was a level that could never be detected without deliberately sharpening one’s senses toward them.
Which meant that Dam Jeok-san had kept his senses open even while fighting the Young Cult Leader to the finish.
She had believed Dam Jeok-san would win—but to this extent? Especially when, in terms of raw power alone, the Young Cult Leader had held the advantage, it was a truly astonishing outcome.
“I was thinking ten years… but perhaps five will suffice.”
The Northern Heaven Sword Venerable spoke in a grave tone, as though deep in thought.
“What do you mean?”
“The time it will take for my martial nephew to surpass me.”
“That is….”
Was that not an exaggeration? Even ten years from now, Dam Jeok-san would only be thirty-five at most. Reaching the Entering Transformation Realm might be one thing—but surpassing the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable, even if she stagnated at her current realm, would still be exceedingly difficult.
“It is entirely possible.”
She rejected his doubt without the slightest hesitation.
“You saw it yourself—how quickly he grows.”
“I cannot deny it.”
Lee Myeong-gi nodded in agreement. Dam Jeok-san’s rate of growth bordered on the incomprehensible.
“Honestly, if I were to face him now, I do not think I could endure even ten exchanges.”
And even that assumed Red–White Extreme Smoke Slash was not unleashed. If Dam Jeok-san opened with that ultimate strike, it felt entirely possible that his head would fall in a single blow.
“Indeed. There is a reason old men like you survive so long.”
Un Wol-hyang smiled faintly, affirming his words.
“In any case, I must stay alert—if I do not wish to be overtaken by my martial nephew.”
She murmured in a voice brighter than ever.
Some say that a disciple surpassing the master is the greatest blessing a teacher can receive. All the more so because it is no easy thing—especially while the master still lives.
Of course, Dam Jeok-san was not her disciple.
‘But it feels close enough.’
If only he truly were.
For perhaps the first time in her life, Un Wol-hyang felt a twinge of envy toward the Martial Sovereign Castle Lord.
***
Dark Heaven sat cross-legged with her eyes closed.
Around her, countless points of light flickered like a cluster of stars.
This was her power—more precisely, the power her true body had once possessed. As her true body returned to the cycle of decay, it was becoming increasingly difficult to contain that immense force.
Before long, she too would likely fade away, following after it.
The only reason Dark Heaven still existed was because her transcendent will was forcibly holding her power together.
“Well, there is no need to worry about disappearing just yet.”
She could endure for at least a few more months. If she conserved her strength to the extreme, even several years would be possible—but she was not so attached to this world as to go that far.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Kuhheeeek!”
What shattered her thoughts were the screams of Gyeong-won and the Black Panther Spear.
“Tsk. They spoke of resolve to die—and resolve to surpass death—yet they are still so frail.”
Dark Heaven clicked her tongue lightly. Yet in her expression there was no contempt, only admiration.
‘And they are still enduring this?’
They were trapped in their own hells.
Though nothing more than illusions, they were ones Dark Heaven herself had crafted—illusions capable of deceiving not only the five senses but even a martial artist’s perception.
Both of them were experiencing death again and again within those hells.
Gyeong-won was fine. His ordeal had an end. Once he gathered everything he had built so far and shattered the wall of the Peak realm, the illusion would naturally dissolve.
“It will not be long now.”
In Dark Heaven’s eyes, that future was close.
The sword Gyeong-won swung through empty air was already wrapped in sword-flames fierce enough to rival a fully matured Peak master.
The form and purity were still unstable—but it was clear he stood only a single step away.
“The real problem is the other one.”
Jang Woo-ryang, the Black Panther Spear.
That middle-aged warrior continued to swing his spear without cease—basic forms like sweeping, thrusting, and piercing, followed by his personal spear art and every dirty trick he had learned on the battlefield.
Every conceivable spear technique unfolded at his fingertips.
His eyes showed neither hope nor despair.
In reality, only about five double-hours had passed—but within his illusion, nearly five months must have elapsed.
‘For Gyeong-won, perhaps about a month.’
Dark Heaven thought as she glanced in his direction. Their purposes differed, and so did the degree of distortion.
Distorting one’s perception of time was an extremely dangerous form of sorcery.
Fail to maintain clarity within the illusion, and one could lose the self forever.
Naturally, the greater the distortion, the greater the danger.
From Dark Heaven’s experience, the distortion placed upon Gyeong-won was the absolute limit an ordinary Peak master could endure.
Anything beyond that was no longer training, but a mind-shattering illusion.
Indeed, most who had requested such a thing from her had met grim ends.
‘Ultra-Peak masters are a different matter entirely…’
They were superhumans capable of stepping by sheer will into a domain where time stretched like taffy and the world itself slowed.
Her sorcery could not distort their perception—and thus training effects were minimal.
In other words, Jang Woo-ryang was enduring a state that would have already collapsed the mind of an ordinary Peak master.
And yet—
“Huff… huff….”
He swung his spear, gasping for breath.
“Graaah!”
He screamed as he died.
He swung his spear again.
Died again.
Swung again.
Died again.
Again. And again. And again.
There was no path that led to the Ultra-Peak in a single leap. Even if such a path existed, it would be reserved only for true geniuses—like Dam Jeok-san.
Miracles did not occur for the mediocre.
They could only die and die again, advancing by stepping upon mountains of their own corpses.
Jang Woo-ryang swung his spear. The thrust missed. A blade flashed within the illusion. He died—
And he swung again.
Unable to advance in a single step, he simply died until he reached it.
Despite standing in a situation where his self should have collapsed long ago, Jang Woo-ryang never released his grip on the spear.
And then—slowly, but unmistakably—the path of combat he traced began to change.
He achieved in an instant what should have taken years of devotion to the spear.
The price, however, was steep.
Drip—
Dark blood flowed from Jang Woo-ryang’s eyes and nose. His body had reached its limit.
Yet he continued to swing his heavy iron spear.
Was this stubbornness?
No.
The sight of Jang Woo-ryang swinging a spear while bleeding freely looked less like perseverance—and more like madness.
And Gyeong-won, who had already reached the Peak realm, still had not escaped the illusion Dark Heaven had imposed.
“One more step. No—one more death.”
Murmuring so, he swung his sword again.
“Hah.”
A strange smile touched Dark Heaven’s lips.
“Dam Jeok-san… what were you to them, to inspire this?”
She understood their desire to become warriors worthy of standing beside him.
The wish to aid a lord who grew too strong too quickly.
She had seen many mortals like that.
‘Every age has its geniuses.’
But those who trained with such ferocity were rare indeed.
For those trapped in a spell that stretched an instant into eternity, the passage of outside time held little meaning.
And yet, after quite some time—
The Black Panther Spear wrapped himself in shockwaves dark as an abyss—
―――――!
And cleaved through the void.
It was not yet the Ultra-Peak.
But it was a spear flash born at the extreme edge of the Peak realm—one that could only be reached by surpassing the man Jang Woo-ryang once was.
“Ah….”
At last, human speech escaped his lips.
“Finally.”
Only a single day had passed in reality—yet within the illusion, he had lived through years.
“This is… the limit.”
And he knew.
What he had reached was the compression of ten years.
Beyond this, progress was impossible—at least within Dark Heaven’s illusion.
To advance further, he would need real experience.
“Your instincts are good.”
Dark Heaven smiled gently.
“Even this achievement is excessive. Had you pushed just a little more, your head would have burst and you would have died.”
“……”
Jang Woo-ryang understood instinctively that this was no metaphor. His crown—the hundred-meetings point of the upper dantian—would truly have ruptured.
“I know. Even so… with this much, I should be able to fight the former Monster-Suppressing Squad Leader on equal terms. It is a tremendous achievement.”
The former squad leader, Baek Ri-gwan, was a Peak master who had grasped the clue toward the Ultra-Peak and now stood before that wall.
Someone Jang Woo-ryang could not even look up to before.
But now, he felt he could exchange dozens of blows.
‘Victory is unlikely—but neither would I fall easily.’
And not long after—
“Hah… hah….”
Gyeong-won also awoke from the illusion, breathing heavily.
He had firmly stepped into the Peak realm.
Considering that he was even a year younger than Dam Jeok-san, it was an astonishing feat.
Among the disciples of the Nine Sects and Five Great Families, few reached the Peak at such an age.
Only Dam Jeok-san and the Lesser Heavenly Demon were exceptional.
Soon after—
They received word that Dam Jeok-san had departed the Northern Branch together with the Lesser Heavenly Demon.
“…If we had been strong enough to truly aid Young Master, we would surely have gone with him.”
No one could deny Gyeong-won’s words.
Not Jang Woo-ryang.
Not even Dark Heaven herself.
“We must grow stronger.”
Strong enough to be worthy of what Dam Jeok-san required.
Strong enough to become shields when his life was in danger.
“Yes.”
The Black Panther Spear nodded in agreement.
And then both of them—
“Why are you looking at me?”
—turned their gazes toward Dark Heaven.
“Are you not the Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander? Nominally, our superior.”
Gyeong-won spoke shamelessly.
“Assign us a mission. One that will make us stronger.”
“……”
Dark Heaven pressed long fingers to her temple, at a loss for words.
And yet—
“Very well. I will give you a mission that will certainly make you stronger—if you return alive.”
Having already wagered the remainder of her existence on Dam Jeok-san, she had little choice in the matter.
***
Meanwhile, Dam Jeok-san and Bukgung Wan had left the Northern Branch and were heading toward land corrupted by demonic qi.
Sshk—
Still wrapped in bandages, Bukgung Wan formed hand seals and chanted an incantation.
A spell to locate the tainted land.
A faint direction surfaced in his mind—northeast… no, southeast?
Finding such land from afar was never easy.
Then—
“That way will do.”
Dam Jeok-san suddenly pointed toward the southwest.