Chapter 101 : Worry

Chapter 101: Worry

That was a kind of benefit granted to martial artists who had trained Elder-level martial arts to about the level of Fivefold Mastery.

It had been officially announced that they would be given the opportunity to train in Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art among the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon.

At this unbelievable news, people began slapping their own cheeks or pinching their thighs one after another.

It was because the news was so astonishing that it felt like a dream.

The Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon were, in name and reality, martial arts of the very highest tier in the martial world. Among the Cult Leaders who had trained in the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon, there had not been a single one who failed to reach the Manifestation Realm. That was how profound those arts were said to be.

Of course, rare geniuses had been chosen to become disciples of the Cult Leader, and from among them the next Cult Leader had emerged, so it could not be generalized.

Even so, there was no dispute that these were martial arts proven to be capable of reaching the Manifestation Realm.

The fact that the Vice Cult Leader’s petition—something even they had thought would never be realized—had truly come to pass made the ordinary martial artists of the Bright Cult shout, “Long live the Vice Cult Leader!”

At the sound that shook the Bright Cult, Yul Han was flustered.

After all, despite the presence of the Cult Leader, the one who held full authority over the Bright Cult, only the Vice Cult Leader was receiving praise.

The Elders’ faces turned pale as well.

Knowing better than anyone how ruthless power could be, they judged that even a Cult Leader who adored the Vice Cult Leader would grow angry in such a situation.

If that were to spark a power struggle within the Bright Cult, the worst possible scenario could descend upon them.

Because of that, as the Elders watched anxiously, unexpected laughter leaked out from the Cult Leader’s Pavilion.

“Wahahaha. Do you hear that? They’re shouting ‘Long live our Han.’ Kuhahaha.”

Seeing the Cult Leader laugh loudly as if nothing could please him more, the Strategist let out a sigh and asked,

“Haah…… does it truly please you that much?”

“Of course. Do you know when a parent or a master is happiest? It’s when their child, their disciple, surpasses them. So how could I not be pleased?”

“As the one who permitted this matter, aren’t you angry that all the support of the cult’s martial artists is pouring toward someone else?”

“That’s something only fools would fret over.”

“Yes, yes, let’s say you are magnanimous, Cult Leader. Then let me ask you one thing.”

“What?”

“He’s your hidden son, isn’t he?”

At the Strategist’s question, the Cult Leader’s eyes twisted.

“You crazy bastard! What kind of friend blocks another man’s marriage prospects? How many times must I say it’s not true?”

“You just said it yourself earlier. The heart of a parent or a master. The Vice Cult Leader’s master, as far as I know, was the late Previous Cult Leader. So that leaves only….”

“Good grief. It was just a figure of speech. And you, who even served as Grand Scholar in the Imperial Court, can’t understand an analogy?”

“Not ‘served as first scholar’—it was Grand Scholar!”

“Ah! Was it? Anyway, Han seemed to see right through your intentions, yet he agreed. Did you give him prior notice?”

He was referring to placing conditions on Half-Moon Asura Slash and the other two martial arts.

“You knew that I was the one who stepped forward in this matter, Cult Leader?”

At the Strategist’s unexpected question, the Cult Leader smirked.

“The Elders, who think only in terms of all or nothing, would never have proposed splitting up the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon.”

“Ah!”

The Strategist belatedly showed a look of realization. The Cult Leader asked again,

“Wasn’t it you?”

“No. I did not inform the Vice Cult Leader beforehand.”

At the Strategist’s answer, the Cult Leader tilted his head.

“How strange. I understand placing conditions on Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art, but not on Half-Moon Asura Slash. Yet he let that pass without objection.”

Seeing the clear surprise on the Cult Leader’s face, the Strategist asked,

“You said you understood placing conditions on Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art…?”

“Why ask to confirm something so obvious?”

“Even so, I would like to confirm whether your thoughts match mine.”

At the Strategist’s reply, the Cult Leader explained his thinking.

“Though it may seem easy since most past Cult Leaders achieved Perfection, the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon are so difficult that even grasping their fundamental structure is no simple task. No matter how closely a master stays by your side and explains every detail, you still need to understand the basics yourself. Most martial artists probably wouldn’t even comprehend what they’re being told. If they grasped the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon from the start out of greed, most would waste their time without achieving anything. In that sense, I thought the conditions placed on those two arts were reasonably justified. Han would have realized that as well.”

“Then when you say you could not understand the matter of Half-Moon Asura Slash…?”

At the Strategist’s question, the Cult Leader smirked.

“I could see straight through your insides.”

“My insides?”

“You intend to prevent anyone from mastering more than two of them. Until the abilities of the Demon Wall Five Absolutes are truly proven, you want to ensure that no ordinary martial artist emerges who has mastered all the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon. You plan to reduce potential rivals that way. It’s the same reason the Elders, to prove their loyalty to me, made a fuss about symbolism and proposed excluding Heaven-and-Earth Great Shift Divine Art.”

“You knew and still agreed?”

“If it could ease the Elders’ anxiety, I judged it worthwhile. Elders who fear they might be stabbed in the back at any moment cannot perform their duties properly.”

At the Cult Leader’s words, which reached further than expected, the Strategist smiled faintly.

“Then the Vice Cult Leader must have understood it the same way…?”

“That’s the part I don’t quite understand either.”

At the Cult Leader’s words, the Strategist asked with a puzzled expression,

“How can you say you don’t understand? The Vice Cult Leader’s intellectual capacity is…?”

“I’m not saying he’s lacking in brains. That brat Han’s mind is sharper than mine.”

“Then why…?”

“Han knows something you all do not.”

“What is it that we do not know, but the Vice Cult Leader does?”

“ The Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon are not martial arts that can be won through numbers. If even one of them surpasses the others, it can overwhelm the remaining three. None of them are relatively easier to master, either. To be honest, focusing on just one is more efficient than trying to handle two. There’s a reason why past Cult Leaders only dug deeply into two and left the other two at Three-Star Mastery.”

“Th-then does that mean an ordinary martial artist who masters Asura Sword Form or Slaughtering Demon Art could surpass you, Cult Leader?”

“Yes. That’s why I’m so excited. If I’d known it would be this thrilling, I would have made them public much earlier.”

“C-Cult Leader!”

The Cult Leader glanced at the Strategist’s startled face as he shouted and said,

“That doesn’t mean I’ll shrink back. The Demon Wall Five Absolutes that Han brought—among them, Half-Demon Heart Art was quite decent. If I master that properly, it may take some time to suppress them, but I’ll absolutely have the advantage.”

“Then you believe someone of the same realm could appear…?”

The Cult Leader smiled at the Strategist, whose eyes looked as though they might pop out from shock.

“It’s fine. That level of tension is good. It’s stimulating.”

“But what if someone like the Vice Cult Leader—an ordinary martial artist—appears?”

The Cult Leader looked briefly startled, as if he hadn’t considered that, then soon smirked.

“Then a dragon will have risen from a ditch.”

“This isn’t something to laugh off so lightly.”

To the still-worried Strategist, the Cult Leader spoke with an uncharacteristically solemn expression.

“The law of Might Makes Right makes no exception, not even for the Cult Leader. That’s what I believe.”

The Strategist, taken aback by the unexpected response, spoke anxiously.

“You have made a truly dangerous decision.”

“A thrilling kind of danger, perhaps? Thanks to Han, I’m feeling it again for the first time in a while.”

In the end, it meant he had joined in because it was something the Vice Cult Leader had set in motion.

After all, the Cult Leader had experienced every hardship under the sun. He was not someone ignorant of the cold reality that if someone rose up by seizing the opportunity he had granted at such risk and surpassed him, that very person would be the first to cut off his head.

With that in mind, the Strategist looked at him as if to say, ‘What extraordinary affection between master and disciple.’ The Cult Leader asked,

“Don’t you think that’s an expression I should be making toward you?”

“Me? Why?”

“I said Han knows that mastering just one properly is enough. How do you think someone like that would see the actions of you and the Elders?”

After pondering for a moment at the Cult Leader’s question, the Strategist answered,

“Blocking fair opportunity?”

“Perhaps. It would look like you were trying to grab one more for yourselves, protecting your vested interests. Unlike the conditions placed on Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art, this was something he could neither understand nor wish to understand—yet it blocked his will…”

The Cult Leader trailed off and looked at the tense Strategist with a hint of pity.

Under that gaze, the Strategist asked in a wavering voice,

“Wh-why? Why make me uneasy like that?”

“You should feel uneasy. That way, you won’t attempt something so reckless again.”

“Reckless?”

“Yes. Honestly, I was worried your head might roll.”

“P-pardon? My head?”

“Yes. Remember when Elder Seomyeolgui’s head rolled because he opposed the petition to open the archives? I was genuinely worried you’d meet the same fate. Elders can be replaced, but you—you’re still my only friend.”

At the Cult Leader’s answer, the Strategist’s face turned pale. Seeing that, the Cult Leader asked,

“Don’t tell me you hadn’t thought of it?”

“I-I had forgotten.”

“You lunatic! Of all things to forget. You blocked what Han was doing and didn’t consider that? Tsk, tsk.”

As the Cult Leader clicked his tongue, the Strategist tried to steady himself and asked,

“Y-you would have stopped it, right?”

“I would have tried, of course—but do you think it would have worked?”

“Excuse me?”

“It didn’t work with Elder Seomyeolgui either. Did you forget that too? I did everything I could to stop it then as well.”

At those words, he remembered.

That day, the Cult Leader had moved so quickly he hadn’t even seen him shift positions, appearing in front of Elder Seomyeolgui—but the Elder’s head had already fallen.

That meant…

“I… I really almost died.”

“Only you? The Council of Elders nearly committed collective suicide. Come to think of it, Ghost Demon is quick-witted. He sensed it instantly and withdrew.”

At the Cult Leader’s words, the Strategist could not hide his dazed expression.

And misfortune was approaching that very Ghost Demon whom the Cult Leader had just praised for his sharp instincts.

After the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon were revealed, a storm of training swept through the Bright Cult.

Of course, even before that, the Bright Cult’s martial artists had been obsessed with training—but this was a frenzy of an entirely different magnitude.

Even the Cult Leader was reducing his sleep to train in the Demon Wall Five Absolutes alongside Yul Han, so how could the Elders and ordinary disciples be any different?

As for the Elders, who had already mastered what were commonly called Elder-level martial arts, chaos broke out as they trained in Asura Sword Form, Slaughtering Demon Art, and—permitted only to those of Elder rank—Half-Moon Asura Slash.

At this point, Iron Demon and Profound Demon pounded the ground in regret.

Because Half-Moon Asura Slash was strictly permitted only to those of “Elder rank,” its cultivation was not allowed to the two of them.

At that moment, Ghost Demon, who had been acting alongside Iron Demon and Profound Demon all this time, quietly withdrew.

Though he had failed the examination, he still retained his Elder position, and thus stepped forward, declaring he would cultivate Half-Moon Asura Slash.

As the Cult Leader had praised, he moved quickly with keen instincts.

Unfortunately for him, when Yul Han heard the news, he convened a Council of Elders.

It was to discuss the long-postponed stripping of Ghost Demon’s Elder position.

That day, Ghost Demon lost his Elder title.

That was why he now sat beside Iron Demon and Profound Demon—whose expressions practically screamed satisfaction—letting out a deep sigh.

Of course, he could not simply lament. As all martial artists of the Bright Cult were advancing at a terrifying pace, they alone could not afford to fall behind.

For that reason, Iron Demon, Profound Demon, and Ghost Demon were all frantically training in Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art.

The ordinary martial artists were in even greater chaos.

They bustled about to train in Elder-level martial arts.

Once they achieved Fivefold Mastery or higher in those arts, they would be able to personally witness two of the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon.

In that sense, those at the Unit Commander rank—whose martial attainments were relatively higher—were more intense than ordinary martial artists, and even more so than the Elders.

Once they reached about Fivefold Mastery in Elder-level martial arts, they would immediately be able to train in the peerless demonic arts of Asura Sword Form and Slaughtering Demon Art.

It felt, perhaps, like standing midway up a mountain where the summit was clearly visible ahead, rather than being at the foot where the peak was but a distant blur.

Because of that, the Unit Commanders scarcely slept. It was said they even skipped meals for lack of training time.

As a result, there was even talk that rice allocated to the Bright Cult’s martial artists was piling up unused.

As the Bright Cult immersed itself in training, Yul Han stood at the top of the Main Fortress, gazing down quietly.

The Cult Leader approached him.

“Are you worried?”

At the sudden question, Yul Han turned—and the Cult Leader’s eyes looked as though they were peering straight into his heart.