Chapter 105 – Heavenly Demon’s Disciple (27)
[Chapter 5 – Section 11] Are You Going to Keep This Up?
Mao Zhai first became obsessed with wuxia novels when he was fifteen.
“What the hell happened to your face? Got beaten at school again?”
“…I have nothing to say.”
There cannot be two tigers on the same mountain.
No commoner at school dared touch Mao Zhai, but that protection didn’t extend to upperclassmen or peers from “proper” families.
“Pathetic.”
“Father, I want to transfer schools.”
“…”
“I’ve already looked into it. A school with only commoners—”
“You want to run away? My son wants to flee like some bankrupt pig? That’s a joke, right?”
“…Yes. It was a joke.”
“Then never make such cheap jokes again. They’re bad for your father’s heart.”
“I’m sorry for worrying you…”
Even his desperate wish to transfer was crushed, and Mao Zhai fell into depression.
With no one to rely on, he swapped his textbooks for an old, battered book someone had slipped into his bag: a wuxia novel.
‘…So cool.’
The life of a martial hero who killed rivals under the pretext of protecting the weak and reigned supreme was intoxicating.
<Martial World Chronicles>
<Supreme Under Heaven>
He devoured countless wuxia novels, but only one title he reread fifteen times:
<Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>
The Heavenly Demon, who resembled his own father in many ways, died in the end, and the protagonist took all the glory. A perfect conclusion with no flaws.
“Pathetic.”
“Father! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“What misunderstanding? You spent the money I gave you for piano lessons on weird books. Where’s the misunderstanding?”
“This isn’t a weird book! It’s a lost martial art from five hundred years ago—”
“Shut your mouth! Are you insane…!”
“I’m perfectly sane!”
Completely immersed in the novel’s martial arts, Mao Zhai began secretly training in traditional martial arts.
But:
“Your aptitude is pianist. Fighting is for commoners who couldn’t learn anything else. There are more commoners willing to fight for you than you can count if you just pay them.”
“I know.”
“Then why learn it?”
“Because true martial arts aren’t something just anyone can learn.”
“…”
“If I had learned martial arts when I was young, I wouldn’t have suffered such humiliation at school—”
“Just play the piano.”
“Father!”
“Mao Zhai. Play the piano. And never joke in front of me again. That is an order.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Mao Zhai waited until his tyrannical father died.
***
“By any chance… are you the Heavenly Demon?”
“…Strange. Very few people know my face.”
When Mao Zhai opened his eyes in the world of <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, he found himself surrounded by corpses slaughtered by bandits, but joy overwhelmed any fear.
‘Holy shit!’
In his eyes, there was only the strongest being from the novel he had reread fifteen times: the Heavenly Demon.
Simply being reborn into the world of martial arts was already a dream come true.
“Hm? Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang Body.”
“Yes, sir!”
He was the protagonist.
The Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang Body.
The author-certified greatest talent!
Now, all he had to do was learn the author-certified greatest art, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, from the Heavenly Demon himself, and everything would be perfect.
“Follow me.”
“Yes, Master!”
“…Which sect are you from?”
“None!”
“Young one, you only learned how to lie. Who taught you that ridiculous footwork?”
“I taught myself.”
Mao Zhai desperately tried to deny the laughable traditional martial arts he had practiced.
“The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is passed to only one disciple. If you already have a master…”
“Please believe me! I really taught myself from a book I found on the street!”
“…Very well. It would be a waste to let a Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang Body go.”
And thus began Mao Zhai’s dreamlike life as the Heavenly Demon’s final disciple.
“Thank you!”
In the original novel, the protagonist became the Heavenly Demon’s disciple with ease, but Mao Zhai hit a wall right from the start.
‘How could this happen…’
He never imagined the traditional martial arts he had secretly learned while being scolded by his father would come back to haunt him. The shock was all the greater for it.
To call them ridiculous?
He was speechless.
“Here.”
“Yes?”
Jingle!
The moment they arrived at a nearby village, the Heavenly Demon tossed him a pouch of coins.
“I see no merit in you except the Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang Body. With only that, you will never master the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”
“That can’t be…!”
‘I’m the protagonist!’
This was an impossible development.
“Kid, if you truly wish to learn martial arts, go to Shaolin.”
“Shaolin? Don’t joke with me! If it’s not the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I don’t want it!”
“…Do I look like I have the leisure to joke with children?”
“Urgh!”
BOOM.
Crushed by inner energy, Mao Zhai was forced flat to the ground.
“Go knock on some wooden fish.”
“Don’t make me laugh! Heavenly Demon, what do you even know about me…!”
The Heavenly Demon’s figure overlapped with his late, tyrannical father.
“I have no desire to know.”
“Just watch! You’ll regret abandoning me!”
“Ke ke ke!”
The Heavenly Demon left with a mocking laugh, and Mao Zhai fell off the protagonist’s path.
***
(Mao Zhai, who monopolized the protagonist’s fortunes, can freely wield the vast inner energy from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. He can also nibble away at an opponent’s inner energy with the Star-Absorbing Great Law. Oh ho? Looks like absorbing my power even unlocked potent sorcery for him.)
He’s… really monstrous.
That’s why he could stand so confidently before the emperor of the Central Plains.
(So, are you scared?)
You’re joking, right?
(Of course I’m joking. Kekeke!)
This was the imperial family’s exclusive training ground, used only by royals who practiced martial arts for health and prestige.
The victor of this duel would win the blue-eyed princess and officially become “royalty.”
Clang~
Facing Mao Zhai, I tossed the treasured sword bestowed by the emperor onto the ground.
“Mao Zhai, I’ll fight you bare-handed.”
“Ha! Are you serious?”
“You’re more than enough with bare hands.”
Mao Zhai’s face twisted as he floated dozens of swords in the air with Sword Control Technique, forming an encirclement.
“Then die bare-handed.”
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish…!
The swords he controlled rained down on me like a storm.
‘What a spectacle.’
I ignored them all and charged straight in.
Tok, tok, tok, tok…
The blades lost all power the instant before touching me and clattered harmlessly to the ground.
“What the—?!”
Completely unprepared for this, Mao Zhai stumbled backward in panic.
“Hmm…”
He’s fast.
(No, you’re the slow one. That’s the price for abandoning inner energy. In exchange, Sword Control and Star-Absorbing are useless against you. Stop whining and run until your ass wears out.)
“What the hell are you?!”
Freaked out by a phenomenon beyond his understanding, Mao Zhai sent the fallen swords flying at me again with Sword Control.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
“Give up on Sword Control.”
But once more, every blade plummeted like a kite with its string cut the moment it neared me.
Tok, tok, tok…
The tips and edges grazed my clothes and tore them, but not a single scratch appeared on my skin.
‘My body is an independent world.’
The settings and laws of <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?> cannot invade it.
“Grr…!”
Ruuuumble—
The colossal inner energy Mao Zhai had accumulated came crashing down, trying to crush me.
“Give up on that too.”
Shrrrr~
The crushing inner energy dispersed like a mirage the instant before it touched me.
“W-why is even the sorcery—?!”
“Sorcery?”
(You’re too dense to notice, but Mao Zhai has been frantically throwing all kinds of curses at you.)
Like what?
(He tried to steal your most precious memory: Song Sun-young’s legs and panties as she climbed over the school wall.)
“…”
I’m pretending I didn’t hear that.
“Damn it…!”
Clang!
Abandoning Sword Control, Mao Zhai drew his own blade.
His movements, reinforced by inner energy, were blindingly fast, and the raging sword wind disrupted my vision.
‘Here he comes!’
I abandoned rational judgment based on the five senses and moved purely on instinct.
Shhhk—
Blood sprayed.
(Be careful. Your body may be sturdy, but if a blade cuts you… huh?!)
Shloop—
The blood flowed right back in.
(Restoration by the world? You’re terrifyingly strong in live combat, brat!)
Thank you.
‘Now it’s my turn.’
Mao Zhai’s sword wind felt like a gentle breeze to me.
Only the blade he wielded directly—because it was physical, not governed by this novel’s rules—could not be ignored. And it was fast, dangerously fast!
That is, until a moment ago.
THUD!
“Guhk—?!”
Trusting the thick inner-energy armor around him, Mao Zhai didn’t bother dodging my strike and took it head-on—then screamed.
Shrrrr~
My spinning kick passed straight through his qi like air and buried itself in his side.
Of course it did.
‘How is an ordinary guy with a knife supposed to beat a national taekwondo athlete?’
Crack!
Mao Zhai’s body, clashing physically with my world that rejected the settings of <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, shuddered.
Even his Heaven-and-Earth Yin-Yang Body wavered.
“One more!”
This is for Sword Phoenix you killed!
“Gahk?!”
CRACK!
The dense inner energy he had stored inside scattered helplessly.
“You were far off.”
“S-spare—”
THUMP! SMACK! STAB! THWACK…!
I beat every last drop of inner energy out of his entire body, evenly.
(Hey! What about my revenge?)
“Mao Zhai. Are you going to keep this up?”
“Urrrgh…”
Bones broken, joints twisted, Mao Zhai groaned in excruciating pain.
“Choose.”
“I’ll kill you…!”
“Give up. Without inner energy, there’s nothing you can do.”
“W-what the—?!”
Only now, amid pain and rage, did he finally check his inner state.
He fell into utter confusion.
“Mao Zhai, your mistake was being weaker than me.”
“AAAAAARGH!”
“By the way… I wonder if the emperor will forgive you for touching the blue-eyed princess and ruining his banquet.”
“This is a nightmare~!”
Crack—
The dream world, rejected by its own patient, suffered an irreversible fracture.
(Well done, kid.)
“Phew…”
I learned a lot thanks to you.
(If you’re grateful, call me Senior from now on.)
Sure thing.
‘Though we’ll never meet again!’
Ruuuuumble—
Mao Zhai’s dream collapsed completely.
***
“…Perfect.”
I’d advanced about two whole stages as a Wudang practitioner and successfully awakened the Ranuvel patient.
Time check?
I had asked Section Chief Seo Hye-joo to make sure the real-world date was visible the moment I woke up.
“Ooh… you didn’t forget.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
An electronic clock with the date displayed hung on the wall directly in front of my perfectly supine position.
‘2 months and 23 days…?’
I did the math and froze.
84 days.
I hadn’t counted precisely, but I never saw winter in <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, so I was sure I’d spent less than a year there.
Yet…
‘84 days passed in reality?!’
I had been mentally prepared for some time loss when I entered the patient’s dream, but this was too much.
“I’m going insane…”
Click—
The door to my private hospital room opened and Section Chief Seo Hye-joo walked in.
“You slept a long time.”
“How’s the patient?”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask. What on earth did you do in there? The moment he opened his eyes, he started bawling like a baby.”
“…He was completely convinced the dream was reality. The shock must be huge.”
The fact that I beat him senseless for both Sword Phoenix and the Blood God stays a secret.
“Well, if that’s the case, good for him.”
Section Chief Seo, now fully used to this job, just smirked and let it slide.
“Huh?”
I pulled out the IV, sat on the bed, and moved my arms and legs.
“How is it?”
“…Feels light.”
“I injected the nutrient formula we developed just for you. Looks like it worked. I’m proud as the developer.”
“Thank you.”
The lost time hurt, but a quick return to daily life was welcome.
“Want to meet the patient later when he calms down?”
“Nah.”
Mao Zhai might have a panic attack the moment he sees me.
“Oh! Call the two ladies and tell them you’re awake.”
“Two ladies? Sun-young I get, but who else?”
“You already forgot? Jeon Ji-eun, the intel girl.”
“Please understand… when you meet so many ladies inside a dream…”
“So many ladies?”
“Guh!”
I slipped.
“I’ll have to hear that story in detail later. So many ladies.”
“…”
“Anyway, I’m glad you woke up before it was too late.”
“Why?”
“There’s some guy who keeps bothering Sun-young.”
“…Is that so?”
Repeat after me: I’m dead.
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