Chapter 1

Four middle-aged men, faces tight with tension, were showering a young man with every kind of flattery.

“Senior Brother, this is the Thousand-Days Drunk we managed to acquire this time. They say once you drink it, you feel intoxicated for a thousand days—hence the name.”

“It’s truly a difficult liquor to obtain. We pounded the roads to find it for you, Senior Brother.”

“Senior Brother, please take this as well. It’s the Elixir of Heaven’s Reversal, an immortal draught said to defy Heaven’s decree and grant eternal youth.”

“This is our devoted sincerity.”

They addressed a young man who looked clearly younger than they were with meticulous respect, calling him Senior Brother and bowing over and over.

Seated at the head of the table, the young man smirked and flicked his fingers.

“Is that so? In honor of my juniors’ devotion, I suppose I should at least taste it.”

“It is our honor, Senior Brother.”

Pour—.

The young man drained a full cup of Thousand-Days Drunk in a single pull.

“Ahh! Excellent!”

“Does it please your palate?”

“Mm. Very much. Pour more.”

“Yes! We brought plenty!”

Cup after cup, he drank the Thousand-Days Drunk without pause.

“Senior Brother, please try this as well.”

A middle-aged man offered the Elixir of Heaven’s Reversal.

The young man took it at once and tossed it into his mouth.

Chew, chew—

Gulp—.

Watching it slide down his throat, the middle-aged men wore faint, telling smiles.

“Oh! This tastes good as well. I already feel as if my body is growing younger.”

“Doesn’t it? We’re delighted it pleases you, Senior Brother.”

At their flattery, the young man gave a thin laugh.

“What’s this? Why are you behaving like this all of a sudden? Suspicious.”

“What do you mean, suspicious? That wounds us, Senior Brother. How could you not know our sincerity?”

“Indeed. This is all but our small devotion to you.”

Time passed.

The young man collapsed, dead drunk.

“Senior Brother? Senior Brother?”

Feigning alarm, the four shook him.

Snore—.

When the snoring started, the four finally wiped the sweat from their brows in relief.

“Damn bastard! He finally fell asleep.”

“Hey, watch your mouth. What if he hears you?”

“We spiked the Thousand-Days Drunk—which sends a man to sleep for a thousand days—with a whole handful of Dream-Severing Soul-Powder, the stuff where even a fingernail’s worth leaves you in sleep for life. Not even an immortal would wake from this.”

“And we fed him the Elixir of Heaven’s Reversal on top of it—the pill said to overturn fate and return you to infancy.”

“You don’t think the effects won’t take, do you?”

“We already verified that anything works on him the first time—barring poison. It’s the second dose that doesn’t.”

“When I think of all we suffered while caught by that monster...”

“Still... when is he supposed to shrink? Are you sure you really turn into a baby after swallowing it?”

“The Western Esoteric lot swore it. Said it would return you to a newborn. Damn it—I was saving that to try living a new life later.”

“But it’s not working.”

“Did those bald monks scam you?”

“It wasn’t a scam. I told them I’d erase their headquarters from the world if they lied. Their eyes weren’t lying. Hell... it must just not work on that monster. I should’ve taken it myself.”

“So what do we do?”

Just then—

“Mm....”

At the faintest shift of his body, the four middle-aged men recoiled in terror, retreating dozens of steps.

They were so keyed up that sweat stood on their faces in beaded drops.

Seeing he was still asleep, the four wiped their brows and let out breaths of relief.

“Haa... feels like my lifespan just shortened by ten years.”

“Mine too.”

“If we stay here, we’ll die before our time. L-let’s get out. Now.”

“R-right. Let’s go somewhere out of his sight.”

The four hurriedly fled the place.

After running a long while—far enough that the pavilion could no longer be seen—they stopped.

“Huff, huff! This is only the second time in my life I’ve used my Lightfoot Arts at full force.”

“Same. The first time was when we fled from Senior Brother.”

“And even at full tilt, he caught us in an instant. That thing isn’t human.”

“He has no Qi, so where does that strength come from?”

“Don’t say such horrific things. If you imagine that monster with Qi as well...”

“He’s a man who blows mountains apart with nothing but the force of his punches.”

“Don’t even call him a man. How is that human? He’s a monster.”

“‘Monster’ isn’t enough. His temper is a nightmare besides. A vicious breed. A fiend.”

“Enough talk. What are we going to do now?”

“What else? We run, change our identities, and live hidden.”

“Right. If we change our identities decently, there’s no way he’ll find us.”

“Decently isn’t enough! We need to change completely. That’s why I learned the Thousand-Faces Bone-Shrinking Art.”

“You learned that? You bastard—planning to save your own skin?”

“I’ll pass it on.”

“Hey, teach me too.”

“Me as well!”

“Fine. I’ll copy the manual and share it. Hole up and practice it to the letter.”

“Understood.”

“That settles it. We’ve pills to erase our scent for a thousand miles, and we can change our faces—there’s no way that monster finds us.”

The four clenched their teeth as they looked back toward the pavilion.

“Damn monster. Let’s never see each other again.”

“Don’t you dare show up in my dreams.”

“Fuck. The fools of the Central Plains wouldn’t even imagine it, would they? That the Four Heavenly Demon Lords who once plunged the land into terror were shivering in fear of a man with no Qi?”

“They’ll just think we vanished. No one will know we were caught by that monster.”

“While we were captive, he drained every last one of our arts.”

“Damn monster—clever, too. He absorbed everything we explained.”

“Heaven is unfair, that’s for sure. Thinking of how we lived, trembling because of that monster...”

“Still... ‘trembling’ is a bit much, isn’t it?”

“As if. You were the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) fastest of us to drop and kowtow whenever he stirred.”

“Say it like that and people will think it’s true.”

“What’s there to think? Look at the callus on your forehead from bowing.”

At those words, the man, abashed, quietly covered his brow.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. We faced a calamity, that’s all. No human body can withstand a calamity. You either submit... or run, like we are now. One or the other.”

“Once, we were the calamity people feared...”

“Stop. It’s mortifying. We met that monster because we lost to that old Heavenly Martial Emperor and ran, didn’t we?”

“To think there’s someone that strong in the Central Plains.”

“We still have to take revenge on the One Emperor and Eight Kings...”

“Enough. The One Emperor and Eight Kings aren’t our problem right now. We have to live. When that monster wakes, he’ll come looking for us. Before that, we hide so perfectly he’ll never find us. The time given to us is a thousand days.”

“It might not be a thousand. That monster could wake in ten.”

“Damn it! Then we hurry faster.”

“L-let’s head to the Great Desert first. We learn the Thousand-Faces Bone-Shrinking Art there.”

“What about returning to Demon Heaven?”

“Ugh... It’s not like I didn’t think of it... but... could Demon Heaven handle that monster?”

“Mm...”

The four fell into troubled thought.

Then, all at once, shook their heads.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Right. If that bastard storms into Demon Heaven because of us... they won’t spare us.”

“So we live quietly, in hiding. That’s the surest way.”

“Hah... We came out to gauge the strength of the Central Plains, and look at us now.”

“At least we passed along our intelligence on the One Emperor and Eight Kings to Demon Heaven. We did our part.”

“And the intel on the monster?”

“That... we bury. If anyone starts prodding to verify it... are you going to handle the fallout?”

“N-no. We’ll just bury it.”

Once, the Central Plains endured a grim dark age because of these four men.

Even weeping children fell silent at the sound of their epithets.

The red-haired man was Sky-Conquering Demon Lord Kang Mujin, who could wield every weapon under Heaven.

The scholar-robed man was Poison-Life Demon Lord Ye Yahyeon, said to command every herb and poison that exists.

The man whose face was half-covered in beard was Formation-Annihilating Demon Lord Baek Ryeongso, master of every formation in the world.

The narrow-eyed man masked in black was Ghost-Killing Demon Lord Jin Muryang, a god among assassins.

Had they been born apart, each alone would have ruled the world beneath his feet.

Together, with each man’s specialty, they swept the martial world, and before them every sect fell like autumn leaves.

That period was called a catastrophe where the sky itself collapsed—the Falling-Heavens Calamity.

Then, one day, they vanished.

Rumor said the place that defeated them was Heavenly Martial Castle.

Its lord: the Heavenly Martial Emperor, Jeok Mugun.

He was the only martial man to defeat the Four Heavenly Demon Lords.

The martial world, freed from their terror, gathered around Heavenly Martial Castle and began to rebuild.

That was already ten years ago.

Since then, the Central Plains’ martial world, united, has restored almost all its former might—and has striven to grow stronger still.

Paradoxically, the Four Heavenly Demon Lords made the martial world stronger than before.

“Hey—save the reminiscing for later and move. I don’t want to stay here another moment.”

“To the Great Desert.”

Poison-Life Demon Lord said.

“Right. We’ll go to the Great Desert, transform ourselves completely, and then open a simple inn in the Central Plains.”

Sky-Conquering Demon Lord said.

“I’ll open a small martial hall. Call it thieving if you like—martial arts are all I know.”

“What if you get caught?”

“I won’t. I’ll keep it small—just enough to live.”

Ghost-Killing Demon Lord laughed.

“I’ll become an assassin. It’s the only thing I know, too.”

“Just don’t become famous.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. The more famous you are, the less suspicion you draw.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

“If anyone looks, they’ll think, ‘It can’t be him.’ Who would imagine someone active in broad daylight is a killer? They’ll assume I’m hiding.”

“Is that so? Do as you please—just don’t get caught.”

“Obviously.”

The most rugged-looking of them, Formation-Annihilating Demon Lord, grinned.

“Then I’ll open a clothing shop.”

At once, they all stared, eyes wide, at the Formation-Annihilating Demon Lord.

“You’ll open what?”

“What? I can’t make clothes?”

“It just doesn’t suit you at all.”

“My childhood dream was to make clothes. This is my chance to realize it. And seeing your faces, I’m certain—no one will ever imagine I’m making clothes.”

“T-true. If you hadn’t said it, we’d have searched everywhere else to hear of you.”

“No one will ever find you.”

They all nodded at the Formation-Annihilating Demon Lord.

“All right, first—to the Great Desert.”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

In an instant, the four vanished from the spot.