Chapter 111 : Borrowing the Great Atmosphere

Chapter 111: Borrowing the Great Atmosphere

On the night Demon Flower had come and gone, Yul Han lay lost in thought and could not fall asleep.

Ghost Demon, who knew that Yul Han held little affection for Demon Flower, came to see him immediately after she left.

And Ghost Demon spoke cautiously.

<“Demon Flower was not sincere about marrying the Cult Leader. In truth, what she needed was the Heaven-and-Earth Great Shift Divine Art. It was a foolish desire, but since the Cult Leader understood the reason, he did not say a word about it. So, Vice Cult Leader… could you please not hate her so much?”>

That voice and expression were not those of an older comrade worrying over a younger one.

And so Yul Han promised that he would not hate her.

It was for the sake of a foolish man who loved a woman who had to bring a different man into her bedchamber every night.

If it had ended there, it would have concluded with him merely seeing Demon Flower and Ghost Demon from a slightly different angle.

But someone else intervened.

After Demon Flower left, and even Ghost Demon had come and gone, another visitor sought Yul Han out.

The Strategist.

It was an unexpected visit, and it did not last long.

He merely left a few words and departed, saying, “I dared to speak words beyond my station to the Vice Cult Leader.”

Yet the aftertaste of his words was heavy. While Yul Han was turning them over in his mind, he received yet another visitor.

“I am the Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon. Vice Cult Leader.”

The moment he heard the man’s sobriquet, the question “Why?” surfaced first.

Among those called the Red Army, he was known as the most violent of all, and within the Hundred Paths he was even more famous under the nickname Widow-Maker.

“Come in.”

At Yul Han’s permission, the Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon entered cautiously and sat across from him. Yul Han asked,

“What brings you here?”

“Please… spare us.”

“What do you mean?”

“If our martial arts are cut off, how could we face our masters and founding ancestors even in death? Please, show us a path.”

In short, he was asking for help so that their martial arts would not be severed and could continue.

Honestly, it was unexpected.

Given the temperament of Bright Cult martial artists, Yul Han had thought there would be only a single outburst of resistance, nothing more.

Yet shattering that expectation, they had come personally and prostrated themselves.

They did not even hesitate to use the blunt words “please spare us.”

Such words were difficult to imagine coming from the pride of Bright Cult martial artists or from the savage, cruel poison-hearted nature attributed to the Red Army.

That their representative had come forth like this meant they, too, were making every effort they could.

And to that effort was added the Strategist’s words from just before.

That was what made Yul Han unable to cast him aside outright and forced him into deep deliberation.

He first promised, “I will look for a path,” and sent the Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon away—but that was precisely why Yul Han could not sleep.

When dawn broke, having not slept a wink, Yul Han headed for the Cult Leader’s residence.

“Ah, you’re here… what’s wrong? Something troubling you?”

“Yes?”

“Your eyes look hollow. Why—are you worried about something?”

At the Cult Leader’s immediate question upon seeing him, Yul Han could only smile bitterly.

Yul Han was an inner master who had reached the Manifestation Realm. Missing a single night of sleep should not have shown at all.

Hollow eyes?

Even in the Bronze Mirror he had glanced at on his way here, there had been no sign of it.

So then…

At his sidelong glance, he saw the Blood Sword Unit Commander smile awkwardly and avert his gaze.

A report that the lights in Yul Han’s residence had not gone out all night had gone up to the Cult Leader through the Blood Sword Unit Commander.

Having grasped the rough outline, Yul Han smiled faintly and said to the Cult Leader,

“Yes. I am worried.”

“What did that Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon bastard say? Damn bastard. Should I haul him in and cut his head off?”

He even knew who had come. That was likely why the Cult Leader was even more concerned.

After all, the man who had visited was practically the head of the faction with the most grievances against Yul Han within the Bright Cult these days.

“He came asking to be spared.”

“Huh? Asking to be spared? That brutal Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon?”

“Yes. He begged me to show him a path.”

“And then?”

“I promised to look for a method.”

“Damn it! Why should you be the one to look? Those bastards should be the ones doing it themselves!”

The Cult Leader hurled every curse imaginable, railing about how they were dumping work they did not want to do onto someone else.

Strangely enough, Yul Han liked that bluntness.

Because it was all said out of concern for him.

And so he could ask without reserve.

“Senior Brother.”

“What?”

“What do you think is the biggest problem with the Red Army’s martial arts?”

“What kind of question is that? Internal energy. Whether it’s the vital essence of young men and women, the yin energy of virgins, or even the corpse energy emitted by dead bodies, they’re all things directly tied to internal energy.”

“If it’s internal energy, can’t it be replenished through energy circulation practice?”

“Their Heart Methods are skewed to an extreme on one side. As you know, prolonged exposure to such extreme yin or yang causes the body to collapse first. Humans live through the harmony of yin and yang.”

“But their martial arts are extreme, aren’t they?”

“That’s exactly why they can’t replenish it through traditional circulation. By normal methods, it would take decades—and if they spent that long accumulating internal energy skewed to one side, they wouldn’t live out their natural lifespan. They’d be far more likely to die young.”

Still wearing a look that showed he did not fully understand, I watched as the Cult Leader quickly continued.

“At the ultimate peak, even deficiency becomes fulfillment.”

“Ah! That’s a line from the Half-Demon Heart Art.”

“That’s right. It all connects. It’s similar. Even internal energy that has been driven to an extreme by yin or yang can, once it surpasses a certain realm, be maintained without collapsing. It goes beyond human limits.”

“Then drawing the vital essence of young men and women, the yin energy of virgins, or even the corpse energy of those newly dead…?”

“Exactly. With those, they instantly fill the extreme internal energy each of them requires. Then even if they’re skewed to one side, the body can endure it.”

“Is there an alternative method?”

At my question, the Cult Leader answered,

“Spiritual medicines. Those are the only things that can grant such a vast amount of internal energy in a single stroke.”

It was something I already knew. Spiritual medicines were not called spiritual medicines for nothing.

The overwhelming majority of martial artists would go their entire lives without even catching a glimpse of a supreme elixir.

So that option was not even worth considering.

“Other than that?”

“There isn’t one. If there were, I wouldn’t have left those bastards as they are. It’s not like I found them particularly endearing.”

At his answer, the troubled look in my eyes shifted.

As he said, it was ultimately a matter of internal energy.

If there were a way to obtain a massive quantity of one-sided internal energy all at once, the problem would be solved.

And as far as I knew, the method most optimized for that was within arm’s reach.

Of course, it required the Cult Leader’s permission.

“Senior Brother.”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?”

Sensing something strange, he asked uneasily. I smiled sheepishly and said,

“The Heaven-and-Earth Great Shift Divine Art. It’s important to you, isn’t it?”

I had only spoken those words, yet he immediately grasped my intent.

“You’re thinking of the third form, Borrowing the Great Atmosphere.”

“Yes. It allows one to draw out the desired energy from the power of nature itself.”

“It might be possible, but I can’t guarantee success. No one has ever continuously extracted only a single type of energy before.”

“Then we should try. If you would grant permission—”

My voice trailed off. The Cult Leader had already reached into his robes and pulled out the secret manual of the Heaven-and-Earth Great Shift Divine Art, tossing it to me.

I caught it reflexively. He said,

“If it’s possible, learn it yourself first. There’s nothing more irresponsible than recommending something you don’t understand.”

“If you guide me, Senior Brother, I will learn diligently.”

“You brat. Come here.”

A faint smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

Recently, as my senior brother, he had only been the one learning from me. At last, he had found an opportunity to preserve his dignity.

From then on, his residence was filled with his voice as he broke down the Heaven-and-Earth Great Shift Divine Art into the smallest pieces, dividing and explaining it in meticulous detail—while I brought each explanation to fruition after hearing it just once.

The Blood Sword Unit Commander watched the astonishing sight with his tongue clicking in disbelief.

Though he had listened alongside us, he had not understood a single word.

Imitate it?

How could he imitate something he did not understand at all?

It even made him think that perhaps there had been a reason the Cult Leader had not dismissed him before beginning the explanation.

Fifteen days after the Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon came to see me—

A message arrived from the Military Farm Village.

Despite my warning, they wished to take the Entrance Training Examination.

The children desperately wanted it.

The parents, too, had resolved themselves.

Upon hearing the Instructor’s report, I sought the Cult Leader’s permission and decided to conduct an additional Entrance Training Examination.

The number of applicants was close to one thousand.

According to the Instructor responsible for the Military Farm Village, eight out of every ten children living there had applied.

The gender ratio was eight to two. Two girls out of every ten.

Considering how rare female martial artists of the Bright Cult had once been, it was an astonishingly high figure.

In any case, upon hearing that nearly a thousand had applied, the Lord of the Training Hall and the Elders were overjoyed.

They judged that the crisis of a future shortage of Bright Cult martial artists had been averted.

Even without my explicit order to ensure none of them died, they would have had no choice but to manage them carefully.

By the Bright Cult’s long-standing custom of producing a thousand martial artists every ten years, they would have to keep every single one alive and turn them into full-fledged regular martial artists.

Perhaps because some of his worries had eased, the Lord of the Training Hall came to me with a beaming expression and handed over a document.

“What is this?”

At my question, he replied,

“A rolling recruitment authorization.”

“Rolling recruitment?”

“Aside from the martial artists trained and discharged in groups once every ten years, each year martial artists of at least squad leader rank are assigned trainees. They go out and kidnap—ah! My apologies.”

My gaze turned cold instantly. He hurriedly bowed his head and continued in a careful tone.

“By their own methods, they each bring back five individuals to become trainee martial artists. They are not disciples, so there is no need to pass down their martial arts completely—only to ensure they fully understand the foundational techniques. All lower-tier martial artists of the Bright Cult are created this way.”

And the martial artists raised in that manner showed absolute loyalty to the one who had raised them.

It was like another faction within the Bright Cult.

Yet it did not cause problems.

That was because the law of Might Makes Right, which ran through the entire Bright Cult, exerted overwhelming influence.

Even so, such a system had been maintained because, amid the savage internal power struggles of the Bright Cult, there had to be someone to band together with and find a sense of stability.

Otherwise, the thick atmosphere of anxiety would spill over into frequent clashes, and Bright Cult martial artists would slaughter one another, blood flowing in torrents.

It was said that in the early days of the Heavenly Demon, the Bright Cult had been exactly like that.

They had shed more blood and suffered more deaths within the cult than in battles against external enemies.

The one who had put that in order was the Second Cult Leader, the Blood Demon.

If the Heavenly Demon had pursued absolute survival through individual strength alone, then the Blood Demon had chosen the method of forming groups to find stability.

When one formed a group, unless overwhelmingly dominant, others were less likely to provoke them.

If a faction suffered excessive damage in a conflict, it could easily become prey for another faction.

As the Blood Demon’s method took root, internal conflicts sharply decreased.

In addition, he introduced an official sparring system.

Once a year, a promotion sparring tournament would be held with killing strictly forbidden.

The Heavenly Demon Festival was precisely the celebration for that tournament.

Perhaps only the Bright Cult could call an event hosting hundreds or even thousands of sparring matches a festival.

Within those matches, one confirmed one’s ability and skill, established rank, and found a suitable position.

All other petty fights were forbidden.

Though there was no explicitly codified severe punishment, if one incurred the Cult Leader’s wrath, survival would be unlikely.

That was the reason the Bright Cult, ruled by the law of Might Makes Right, had endured.

After listening to the lengthy explanation of the Lord of the Training Hall, I asked—