Chapter 23 …
Hyun Jin-myeong
Hyun Jin-myeong narrowed his eyes.
It wasn’t just because his secret—one that should never have been revealed—had been exposed. It was also because he didn’t like the way the Sword Spirit (Geomryeong) was speaking to him, as if looking down on him.
“You should’ve either pretended not to know… or told everyone!”
Hyun Jin-myeong decided to kill the Sword Spirit to silence him.
“So, Cheonmyeong Manor is just a group of demons wearing the mask of orthodox sects.”
“No.”
Hyun Jin-myeong vehemently denied it.
“It has nothing to do with the manor.”
“Then? How did you learn demonic arts (Magong)?”
“I got it from an old bookstore.”
The Sword Spirit narrowed his eyes at this answer. It didn’t sound like a lie.
“They say training in demonic arts changes one’s character…”
At the Sword Spirit’s question, Hyun Jin-myeong decided to tell the truth. After all, he intended to kill him anyway, so there was no harm in clearing up any doubts before that.
“I think it’s time for you to die.”
As Hyun Jin-myeong circulated his inner energy, a dark and gloomy aura gathered thickly around him.
The Sword Spirit thought back to what Jeok Hwa-myeong had told him earlier that day about demonic arts.
“In this state, he could probably last at least fifty seconds against Senior Brother Jeok Hwa-myeong.”
Jeok Hwa-myeong might not have been among the top hundred martial masters in the Jianghu, but he was still a fairly renowned expert.
The fact that Hyun Jin-myeong could face him for fifty seconds meant that his power had increased greatly through demonic arts.
In other words, among the younger generation of martial artists, there weren’t many who could fight on par with Hyun Jin-myeong, who had mastered demonic arts.
Hyun Jin-myeong struck toward the Sword Spirit.
The Sword Spirit dodged Hyun Jin-myeong’s attacks, observing his techniques while also searching for a weak point.
‘His martial arts have been devoured by the demonic arts.’
That was what the Sword Spirit concluded after watching Hyun Jin-myeong’s movements.
He didn’t know the martial arts of Cheonmyeong Manor well, but it was clear that Hyun Jin-myeong was infusing his martial techniques with demonic energy.
“You’re good at dodging, like a rat.”
Hyun Jin-myeong had assumed he could deal with the Sword Spirit easily. But as time dragged on, he began to grow impatient.
Had he known it would take this long to subdue him, he would have fought outside.
Given the place they were currently fighting, the longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.
“You bastard!”
As Hyun Jin-myeong continued to strike at empty air, he shouted in rage. Unlike him, the Sword Spirit remained relaxed and composed.
“Die!”
Even though it was dark, the Sword Spirit could clearly see Hyun Jin-myeong’s hands turning red.
BOOM!
A blast of power burst from Hyun Jin-myeong’s hands, pushing away the air around the Sword Spirit.
Swoosh!
At the same moment, Hyun Jin-myeong swiftly closed the distance and attacked again—but it was in vain.
He had calculated that when the Sword Spirit lost his balance from the blast, he could rush in and finish him off in one blow. But the Sword Spirit was far more skilled than he’d anticipated.
Failing to land a hit, Hyun Jin-myeong began swinging his arms wildly, without any formal technique. At first glance, it looked like he was attacking at random, but the energy of the Sura Explosion Heaven Technique (Sura Pokcheon-gong) was infused into every move. Even a mere graze could be fatal to an ordinary person.
“I see.”
Hyun Jin-myeong flinched at the Sword Spirit’s words mid-attack.
“What do you mean?”
“I think I’ve figured out the demonic art you learned. And your weak point too! The old man and woman were right.”
Hyun Jin-myeong narrowed his eyes.
“I guess it’s because it’s an incomplete technique.”
“There’s a weak point in Sura Explosion Heaven Technique?”
Hyun Jin-myeong looked startled as the Sword Spirit mentioned a weak point he didn’t even know about.
“You didn’t know?”
Hyun Jin-myeong didn’t respond.
“Fighting people who’ve learned demonic arts will be easy then.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Sword Spirit moved.
He moved so fast that by the time Hyun Jin-myeong thought he had moved, the Sword Spirit had already passed by him.
Slash!
“How…?”
Hyun Jin-myeong stared in disbelief. He felt the energy he had gathered in his dantian shatter.
The shattered energy rampaged within his body.
“Guhhh!”
The pain was indescribable.
His eyes rolled back, his pupils turned white, and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing like someone with epilepsy before going completely limp.
The Sword Spirit had found Hyun Jin-myeong’s weak point and struck it, shattering his demonic energy. The demonic arts then devoured his body from within.
“That’s the price of practicing an incomplete technique.”
The Sword Spirit looked down at the limp Hyun Jin-myeong and then slung him over his shoulder.
“Where was this guy staying?”
Not wanting to cause unnecessary commotion, he carried Hyun Jin-myeong back to his room.
Whoosh—
The wind blew through the place where the two had fought.
In the Sword Spirit’s hand was a book—Sura Explosion Heaven Technique, the demonic art manual he had retrieved from Hyun Jin-myeong.
He flipped through it once and gave a faint smile.
“What’s the point of getting stronger by shortening your lifespan? People really are foolish. If you’re human, you should live long and steady, like Old Ghost Grandpa.”
The Ghost Demon Emperor, Gu Yeong-cheol, always used to say:
—“One should live long and steady, not short and intense.”
—“Why?”
—“Because you never know how the future will change. The world could become a better place than it is now.”
—“I see. But couldn’t it become worse too?”
—“That’s true. But the future always develops into something better than the past. So when you enter the martial world, don’t aim to live short and intense. Live long and steady. Got it?”
—“Yes! Geomryeong will live long, and steady, and steady!”
Thinking back on that conversation with a smile, the Sword Spirit looked again at the Sura Explosion Heaven Technique.
From what he could see, mastering it did indeed make one stronger—but it had clear limits.
“Still, it’s interesting.”
The Sword Spirit had already transcended human limits, so demonic energy didn’t affect him.
That didn’t mean he wanted to learn demonic arts himself.
Even if someone mastered the Sura Explosion Heaven Technique to perfection, he was confident he could defeat them.
“Even at mastery, the weak point doesn’t disappear. That’s the biggest flaw of demonic arts.”
No matter how much one trained, the weak point could not be strengthened.
Fwoosh!
The manual turned to ashes in his hand.
* * *
The Shinchang family was bustling from early morning.
“Sob, sob, sob!”
From the eastern annex of the Shinchang family came the sound of mournful crying.
Hyun Jin-myeong had been found dead.
His younger sister, Hyun Su-mi, who had come along to visit Shinchang family, was wailing in grief over his sudden death.
The night before, he had seemed perfectly fine. There were no external wounds on his body when he was found dead on his bed.
“Brother…”
Yi Do-gun, Hyun Jin-myeong’s friend and third son of the Shinchang family, stayed by Su-mi’s side, comforting her—but her sorrow was too great, and his words only made her cry harder.
The elders and those who actually ran the Shinchang family gathered in the main hall.
“How could this…”
Family head Yi Je-min and his retainers looked dismayed upon hearing the cause of death.
At the end of the hall stood Go Chang, the family doctor, who was reporting his findings.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, Family Head! His dantian was shattered, and his internal organs were completely melted.”
A shattered dantian and melted organs!
“Did he fall into deviation (juwahaeipma) while training?”
Falling into deviation often resulted in such injuries. But there was a problem.
Normally, when one falls into deviation, blood flows from the five orifices, as the energy runs rampant and erupts outward. But Hyun Jin-myeong’s body was unnaturally clean.
“What do you think?”
Yi Je-min asked his younger brother, Yi Je-ung, the First Elder.
“Falling into deviation means there must’ve been some kind of enlightenment, right?”
Deviation doesn’t happen out of nowhere.
Whether through correct or incorrect enlightenment, there must be some trigger.
“That’s right.”
“But looking at Hyun Jin-myeong’s corpse… it’s too peaceful. It’s like he died in his sleep, not during enlightenment.”
Indeed.
No one had ever heard of martial arts learned in dreams.
“Then you mean… Hyun Jin-myeong was likely murdered by someone?”
“I don’t want to think that way, but judging by the circumstances, anyone would come to that conclusion, Brother!”
Others nodded in agreement.
“Hmm…”
Yi Je-min thought the same but didn’t want to believe it.
If word got out that a murderer had entered their manor, killed Hyun Jin-myeong as he slept in the annex, and vanished, they would become a laughingstock.
“We must discuss this matter with Cheonmyeong Manor.”
It was truly a troublesome affair.
“Someone is clearly trying to drive a wedge between our Shinchang family and Cheonmyeong Manor.”
Yi Je-seong, the youngest brother, added:
“It could be the Myungsa Sect or the Black Curtain faction. They’ve always targeted Gwangju. And they often oppose us in expanding their influence in Guangdong Province. This may be their doing.”
It wasn’t baseless, but they couldn’t accuse anyone without proof.
Just then, a voice came from outside.
“Family Head! Yu Dong, the Sword Seizer of the Beggar’s Sect, has arrived!”
At the mention of the Beggar’s Sect, Yi Je-min narrowed his eyes.
“Sword Seizer Yu Dong?”
“Yes.”
“Show him in.”
Soon after, Yu Dong, head of the Guangdong branch of the Beggar’s Sect, entered.
He bowed to Yi Je-min and stood before him.
“I heard the unfortunate news.”
“It was so sudden that even we’re still in shock.”
Since the Beggar’s Sect already knew, there was no reason to hide anything.
“May I examine Hyun Jin-myeong’s body?”
“Of course. We’ve preserved it until people from Cheonmyeong Manor arrive. Go ahead.”
The Beggar’s Sect was known to possess vast information, so perhaps Yu Dong could identify the cause of death.
The body remained in the annex.
Yu Dong examined it carefully—checking the eyes, mouth, and removing his clothes to inspect for injuries.
“Hmm…”
He then took something from his robes and applied it evenly on Hyun Jin-myeong’s chest.
“What is that?”
“An oil-based medicine.”
He observed the reaction closely.
“Huh!”
A change occurred on Hyun Jin-myeong’s chest.
“What’s happening?”
From the chest, red lines began to spread toward the dantian, eventually forming red thread-like lines all over the body.
There was only one explanation for this phenomenon.
“I’ve found the cause of death.”
“You have? What was it?”
Everyone stared at Yu Dong with curiosity.
“Demonic arts.
