Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

There was a dull ringing in his ears. 

It was so loud that he couldn’t understand what those around him were talking about. 

But thanks to the ringing, Woon-seong was just barely conscious. 

He then tried to remember the current situation. 

What was I doing?

Thoughts did not immediately come to mind. 

As time passed and his consciousness became clearer, the situation became more clear. 

Oh, right. I was fighting. 

No, it wasn’t correct to say that they had been fighting. Woon-seong had been toyed with. 

He had nearly died in front of the Inverted Sky Lord, an almost insurmountable enemy. 

It seemed like death was near. 

There was no strength left in his body; he couldn’t even move. 

No, he only seemed to have lost his physical body. 

His soul, his consciousness floating about, continued to sense and think. 

Am I going to die like this?

In that sense, Woon-seong recognized death. 

He didn’t have the strength to lift even a finger. The poison, which he had been barely suppressing, coarsed about as his internal energy was eaten away. 

Maybe it was because he had been holding back for too long. Or perhaps it was because his body was abnormal. 

The poison, which was originally strong, felt even more toxic. 

At this rate…

Within half an hour, he would be dead. 

Just like his master, Spearmaster Nok Yu-on, was — poisoned. 

Just like his second master, the Moon Cleaving Heavenly Demon, was — poisoned. 

Master?

At that moment, a few things suddenly passed through his mind. 

After Nok Yu-on’s image, the image of Moon Cleaving Heavenly Demon Chun Hwi also appeared in his head. 

If I die like this, who will avenge them?

Oh, move, move, move body!

Please move so I can take revenge.

Woon-seong’s consciousness focused on that thought with all of its might. 

Every last bit of power he had left. 

However, the body did not listen to him, as if it had already died. 

Nevertheless, Woon-seong did not give up. 

He did everything he could think of. 

All the phrases he knew, including prayers, flashed through his mind. 

Woon-seong focused his efforts on finding a way to reanimate his body for a short while. 

Throughout the process, thousands of spirits — inheritances, skills, techniques — were caught in the tide. 

Woon-seong’s spirit was literally a sea of martial arts. 

He slowly stirred this sea. 

Whirlpools began to form. 

He also remembered the last move he had used against the Inverted Sky Lord. 

He had said that it was One Thousand Absolute Routes, but there had only been nine-hundred and ninety-nine. 

Despite the name, the number had not reached 1000. 

Was I short one?

Whoo-hoo!

The Divine Flame inside Woon-seong’s body began to crackle and burn. 

The martial arts inside of his head began to form a mountain, waves battering against itself. 

Only one more route was needed to complete One Thousand Absolute Routes. 

It seemed like his body could rise once again.

Woon-seong wasn’t sure of it. It was just a hunch, but there was nothing else he could do, so Woon-seong left everything up to uncertainty. 

By focusing on his consciousness, he reduced his physical body’s strength in hopes that it would help as a whole. 

Repetitively building and breaking mountains within his martial sea, he gathered different types of martial arts. 

Build up and break down. 

Use only the best. 

Take what is needed and exclude what is not. 

The moment was long and repetitive, yet it was fleeting. 

Woon-seong had no idea how much time had passed. 

This all happened within the timespace of Woon-seong’s consciousness in the first place. 

And in that moment, Woon-seong found something. 

I see. 

Got it. 

In order to achieve revenge, it was not a thousand techniques that were necessary to advance to new heights. 

It was just one. 

A single technique that contained his whole. 

Woon-seong extended his hands. 

Within his consciousness, energy began to spread. 

This energy caused waves in his martial sea. 

Woon-seong controlled the waves of internal energy that took place in this sea, as if he were a god of storms. 

Compress and compress internal energy. 

Reduce and reduce somewhere. 

Until only one remains. 

Su-su-su-su. 

As the process repeated, strange sounds began to emanate from Woon-seong’s body. 

The sound of water flowing. 

No, that was not quite right. 

It was not the sound of a babbling brook, but of a drying stream. 

The phrase consisted of only one technique — itself — and was at the same time a law of his heart. 

The dried martial sea gave vitality to his whole body. 

He felt his consciousness gradually returning to his physical body. 

This is it. 

A single technique that contained all of his consciousness. 

As his consciousness returned to his body, Woon-seong held on to the technique. 

I don’t need a thousand routes. 

To kill the enemy, he did not need a thousand ways. 

The idea of a thousand to capture perfection was wrong from the start. 

Having too many techniques was cumbersome. 

Just one.

The moment he realized that, Woon-seong woke up. 

***

Wham-!

Ooh-

Yok-

The Sword and Buddhist Stars were thrown to the ground like rags. 

The Inverted Sky Lord looked at the scene and muttered in disappointment, “Oh, that’s no fun.”

“Cough.”

“Ugh.”

The Twin Stars groaned from their places on the ground. Their arms and legs were almost completely broken and the Buddhist Star’s fists, which had been hit by the Inverted Sky Lord, were disintegrating into powder. 

The Sword Star’s sword was no different. 

The sword, which had accompanied the swordsman for a lifetime, had splintered into five pieces scattering the battlefield. 

Is this the end? 

The Sword Star could barely think or see. 

He could not stop it. 

That thing was not human. 

A man born and raised as a human, had risen fully to the status of a deity. 

He was a myth, a literally ‘divine’ being. 

The problem was, of course, that he was an evil deity that would bring disaster to this world. 

An aura that caused hopelessness flowed from the Inverted Sky Lord’s body. 

The Sword Star closed his eyes in despair. 

The Buddhist Star muttered, “Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya. May the Buddha look down upon me with mercy.”

At that, the Inverted Sky Lord cackled. 

This time, it seemed to belong to a woman. 

Dang-

The Inverted Sky Lord stomped on the Buddhist Star’s chest. 

The man’s body slammed into the ground. 

Wooduk-

“Huagh-”

The Buddhist Star had the wind knocked out of him, his rib cage cracking. 

The Inverted Sky Lord leaned down and chuckled, “There is no Buddha. If there was a Buddha, he wouldn’t have spared a guy like me. Isn’t that right?”

The Buddhist Star closed his eyes. He did not dare answer. If he did so, everything he had done so far would be for nothing. 

The Inverted Sky Lord also did not seem to expect an answer from the Buddhist Star. 

However, 

“Indeed, there is no Buddha.”

There was an answer. 

The Inverted Sky Lord turned his head in surprise. The Twin Stars did the same. 

The voice was somewhat familiar to their ears. 

As soon as he turned, the Sword Star’s eyes widened. 

The Buddhist Star also looked surprised. 

“Heavens, you’re alright?”

“Cult Leader?”

The Buddhist and Sword Stars made astonished gasps. 

Hyuk Woon-seong, who had been tossed to the side like a ragdoll, was rising to his feet. 

The bones and torn muscles in his body had still not been healed yet. 

But he was standing on trembling legs. 

The Inverted Sky Lord’s expression was stiff. 

It was because he could still see the large and small wounds on Woon-seong’s body. 

“You…”

Psh. 

Shh.

At the same time, a cloud of poison flowed from Woon-seong’s body, disappearing. 

It was the same poison that had been eating away at Woon-seong’s body. 

“You!”

The Inverted Sky Lord crossed the distance in an instant. 

Boom!

Woon-seong’s body shook and flew back, slumping down. 

With a crack of thunder, Woon-seong’s chest, which had taken the hit, caved in. 

As the walls of the palace collapsed, the ground shook and a building crumbled on top of Woon-seong. 

Kwaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Nevertheless, the Inverted Sky Lord did not relax his stance. 

“You should be dead.”

Between the debris of the building, Woon-seong was standing up again. 

His caved-in chest was being healed quickly by a bright light. 

The ‘Heavenward Soul Earthen Body’, innate essence qi, was keeping him alive. . 

His body was filled with so much vitality that he quickly recovered from all his injuries.

Woon-seong had experienced this feeling once before. 

Body modification?

The moment he thought he slammed into a wall, a second body modification had occurred. 

It was a miracle!

“Arrrgh!”

The Inverted Sky Lord flew into the air as if he could not stand to see this. 

Spreading gray despair, shining with white light!

Kuakuakuakua-

The man rushed over, charging down.

At that moment!

Boom-

Woon-seong extended a hand. 

The Inverted Sky Lord’s palm was blocked by Woon-seong and pushed back. 

“Knng!”

Under the enormous pressure slamming him back, the Inverted Sky Lord tumbled across the ground. 

Seeing that, Woon-seong coldly muttered, “That’s a good look on you.”

Woon-seong struggled to keep himself from sneering. 

Meanwhile, all of Woon-seong’s wounds were rapidly healing. 

Originally, all of his bones would have had to undergo reconstruction and modification one by one, but in this case, the Inverted Sky Lord had helpfully left Woon-seong’s body in tatters. 

Woon-seong’s body was so broken that he didn’t even need to go through the process of disassembly, he just needed to be pieced back together. 

And he would be stronger than ever, surpassing the limit of a human body!

“Uuuhhh!” the Inverted Sky Lord burst into frustrated tears. 

Woon-seong waved his hand. The White Night Spear flew through the air, arcing towards him. 

Shua-

Woon-seong grasped the White Night Spear. 

At that moment, Hyuk Woon-seong disappeared from his spot. 

Huak-

The Inverted Sky Lord’s body flew into the air faster than an arrow and was thrown backwards just as fast. 

Boom. Boom.

The building that had been along the trajectory collapsed. 

Woon-seong kicked off the ground once again. 

Huak-

Woon-seong moved faster than the Inverted Sky Lord could fly, appearing behind the man and punching him in the abdomen. 

Boom. Boom.

“Uagh!”

The man slammed through the rubble of a collapsed building. 

Boom-

The ground caved in, forming a huge pit. 

It was a pit that seemed to be nearly ten meters deep. 

“Ahhhh, you, you, you, how can you…”

The Inverted Sky Lord snarled as he crawled out of the pit. 

Woon-seong stretched a fist towards the man. “You can’t lose something you never had.”

The Inverted Sky Lord stiffened, like he had been struck by lightning. 

As Woon-seong noticed earlier, the Inverted Sky Lord had not used a proper martial skill once during his fight.

When a martial artist reached the boundary to divinity, he lost the mortal skills that he had learned up until that point, but his habits remained intact. 

However, the Inverted Sky Lord had no such muscle memory. 

He didn’t forget his martial arts because he never had them in the first place.

In other words, the Inverted Sky Lord was just wielding another person’s body in the Divine Realm by using the power of his great soul. 

He did not know how to manipulate the power, nor to control his energy. 

But what about Woon-seong?

Woon-seong had torn down the walls before him and climbed into the Divine Realm by hand. 

This was a power built entirely through Woon-seong’s own efforts. 

And thus, Woon-seong was able to handle this power properly. 

Woon-seong approached the man step by step. 

The Inverted Sky Lord swung his hand. 

“Ahhh!”

It was this threatening gesture that had almost driven Woon-seong to his death. 

But now, it was no threat. 

Jubbuck-

With a side step, the man’s hand passed by Woon-seong like a gust of wind. 

“Hey, you, don’t come any closer!”

Jubbuck-

One step closer, the man’s hands hit only air.

Jubbuck-

One more step narrowed the distance between Woon-seong and the Inverted Sky Lord. They were now separated by a distance that spears could breach. 

“Hey, this can’t be right. This can’t be happening! ”

The Inverted Sky Lord swatted with his hands like he was having a seizure. 

Woon-seong stretched out the White Night Spear. 

There was no strong force that emerged, no bright radiance. 

It was just a stab of ordinary spearmanship. 

I don’t need a thousand techniques. 

However, all of the martial arts in which Woon-seong had accumulated was contained therein. 

I only need one technique to kill my enemies.

Woon-seong spoke the name of the technique. 

“Heaven-Breaking Martial Ultimate” (天绝武极).

The last technique needed to reach one thousand and the most perfect martial art. 

It pierced through the Inverted Sky Lord’s heart. 

Puchi.