Chapter 92 – Heavenly Demon’s Disciple (14)
“Last year’s champion— eliminated in vain!”
“Sichuan’s First Sword loses in the preliminaries!”
“His opponent: the grandson of the Heavenly Demon!”
The noise echoed loudly enough to be heard all the way up to the second floor of the restaurant.
‘Do these people not have anything better to do? Or are they just that interested?’
Still, despite the uproar, no one recognized me as the person at the center of the chaos.
No one, except—
“Lord Kang, try this one too.”
“…You should eat as well, Lady Beauty Phoenix.”
“I restarted my diet yesterday.”
“…I see.”
Beautiful looks don’t come from genetics alone—discipline is needed.
But looking at her…
‘What could she possibly “trim down” from that frame?’
If muscular, thick-limbed Sword Phoenix heard Beauty Phoenix talk about dieting, she’d probably spit blood.
“But you keep staring at me…”
“Just looking at you fills me up.”
“You’ll get sick to your stomach.”
“Do I make you uncomfortable, Lord Kang?”
“Yes. I think I’m going to develop indigestion soon.”
“Oh my! Then I’ll take responsibility and nurse you back to health.”
“…This girl…”
There was no reasoning with her.
Creak—
“Haha! Quite the commotion out there!”
The Fist King—who had followed us to the restaurant—walked right over and naturally claimed a seat.
“Didn’t you say you were going to meet your old friends, Elder?”
“The old geezers kept pestering me with questions, so I fled! Haha!”
“So that’s why you had such a long tail behind you.”
“Oh! What a coincidence!”
The Fist King pretended he had no idea his friends were following him.
“Gasp! The Sword Empress?!”
“The Axe King is here too!”
“G-Good heavens…”
When the customers recognized the suddenly arriving group of middle-aged martial artists, they quietly put down their chopsticks and spoons and cautiously slipped away.
Honestly, I felt exactly the same.
Why?
‘There are way too many important figures showing up!’
Because <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?> Has 215 volumes, the number of influential characters is absurdly high.
I thought things might calm down, but the “martial arts tournament”—the wuxia equivalent of the Olympics—was basically a magnet sucking them all toward this city.
“This fellow, going alone would’ve been dull.”
“Mind if we join you?”
“We’ll pay, of course.”
My wallet had thinned drastically after placing bets on the tournament, so refusing wasn’t an option.
“Please, have a seat!”
“We expected the Heavenly Demon’s grandson to be brooding and gloomy…”
“But you’re a polite, lively young man. How refreshing.”
“Shopkeeper! Bring the finest wine you have!”
Clink!
The table quickly filled with dishes and drinks ordered by the Fist King’s friends.
Beauty Phoenix quietly scooted over and sat right next to me.
Wearing matching white embroidered outfits and sitting side by side—
Great. Now we look like a couple. People are definitely misunderstanding.
“Young love… how sweet.”
“Ah, youth…”
“How nostalgic.”
Clink!
The famous martial artists exchanged cups of wine and watched us with warm, teasing smiles.
Then they casually asked me the most common small-talk question—
And I replied:
“After my drunkard father passed away, I’ve lived alone. Recently, I grew tired of poverty and ran away without a plan.”
It wasn’t a lie.
After his father died in such a ridiculous way, Kang Moon-soo survived only by working exhausting part-time jobs.
He desperately wanted to change that life.
“I understand your story. But the older you get, the more suspicious you become…”
“Do you have any proof that you’re truly the Heavenly Demon’s grandson?”
“Of course.”
I smiled calmly and raised my right index and middle finger.
“There are two pieces of evidence. The first is strength.”
Swoosh, swoosh…
A light breeze began to circulate around me.
“……”
“……”
But the Fist King’s friends didn’t dare laugh.
That breeze was my territorial mark—
My attack range.
If any of them showed even the slightest hostility, their heads would be split open by an internal-energy-enhanced kick before they could blink.
“The second is a relic. The source of my strength.”
“Hoh…”
“A secret manual…!”
I had read it thirty-two times and still gained nothing, but martial artists would see it differently.
Rustle—
I pulled out the book my bone-teacher had asked me to deliver to the Heavenly Demon and showed only its cover.
A plain brown leather-bound book with no title or decoration.
But no one doubted its authenticity.
“Lord Kang, what is your purpose for entering the martial world?”
“Money.”
“Is that truly all?”
“I’m searching for someone.”
“An enemy?”
“I was promised a treasure if I find the man hiding his identity somewhere in the martial world, pretending to be someone else. Consider it a commission.”
“What kind of treasure…?”
“That’s a secret.”
The treasure was the “real-world money” I received from the family of a Ranuvel patient.
No matter how much money I made in the world of <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, it meant nothing.
‘He should be showing up any moment now…’
I wondered how Mao Zhai would react.
***
The preliminaries of the Sichuan Martial Arts Tournament ended, and the main tournament finally began.
There had been one unexpected incident—Sichuan’s First Sword being eliminated in the preliminaries—but aside from him, all the famous participants made it to the main bracket exactly as the organizers intended!
“Victory: Fairy of Mount Emei!”
“Victory: Poison King!”
“Victory: Sword Saint of Emei!”
“Victory: Sword Demon!”
But the audience paid no attention to the fight content.
Boom! Flash! Clang…!
Martial artists moving at invisible speeds in clouds of dust—
It wasn’t entertaining to watch.
So the crowd only cared about who won.
If the fighters they bet on lost, they’d be kicked out of their homes.
A very serious matter.
The only exceptions were—
“Hoh! What a clever technique!”
“That was a hair’s breadth difference!”
“A marvelous counterattack.”
—A handful of martial artists watching with real interest because their skills were on a similar level.
People say: “You see only what you know.”
The organizers knew that too, so they kept the matches moving quickly.
“Kang Moon-soo.”
“…Already my turn, huh.”
At this pace, the tournament could be finished in half a day—but fighters needed time to heal and recover, so that wasn’t possible.
Shff—
I had been watching the other martial artists’ matches from the front row—the best view, but also the most dangerous—when the tournament staff finally called for me.
“Lord Kang! Blow them away!”
“Yes.”
Beauty Phoenix cheered, balling both hands into cute fists.
“Fight well, for the share meant for Sichuan’s First Sword as well.”
I ignored Blade Dragon’s encouragement entirely. He had bet on last year’s champion, Sichuan’s First Sword, so his “support” didn’t count.
“Please! Please!”
Sword Phoenix, who hoped the winner of this match would face the Fairy of Emei next, was praying desperately for me to lose or get injured.
She wanted the Fairy of Emei to win the entire tournament—
I would thoroughly crush that dream.
“Young Hero Kang, I wish you luck.”
Fist Dragon offered a half-hearted cheer, frequently glancing at his master.
Ignored, of course!
I walked toward the arena at the same pace as my opponent.
“……”
“……”
No one cheered for me.
The audience was furious— Many had bet on Sichuan’s First Sword to win the finals. They had come expecting to watch him, only for him to be eliminated in the preliminaries… by me.
‘Still, it’s quiet.’
Given how people lose both money and reason so easily, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to shower me with boos and insults.
But they remained silent.
Because the rumor had spread— I was the grandson of the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon.
Even commoners and government officials who knew nothing of the martial world feared that name.
Or rather, because they didn’t know, they feared it even more.
Instead—
“Lady Divine Sword of Emei~!”
“The Emei Sect’s genius swordswoman!”
“We believe in you, Divine Sword!”
The audience poured their support onto the woman who would soon be fighting me.
The Divine Sword of Emei.
She once declared she had married her sword. When she lost to the protagonist, she immediately “divorced” it—
Then promptly remarried the protagonist.
A shameless record.
Judging by the timeline, she probably hasn’t divorced her sword yet.
“Kang Moon-soo.”
“As the rumors say… are you truly the Heavenly Demon’s grandson?”
“If I’m stronger than you, you’ll believe it. If I’m weaker, you won’t. So why ask?”
“…You strike true. I am the Divine Sword of Emei.”
After a brief, pleasant exchange, we took our designated positions.
The match overseer spoke.
“You should already know the rules, but I will repeat them. Shout surrender or lose consciousness—loss. Leave the arena or use a forbidden weapon—also loss. The match begins when the coin I toss lands on the ground. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“I understand.”
While listening, I quickly examined the Divine Sword.
Song Sun-young’s condensed notes summarized her swordsmanship and internal energy methods, but they were low priority, so I didn’t remember the names—
Just the rough idea.
Her tall height matched the long, elegant sword she carried—it suited her well.
Shing—
The sword had the same name as its owner: Emei Divine Sword.
A treasure of the Emei Sect.
She had sworn to spend her life with it—
Then cheated and divorced it later.
Meaning her grand nickname came from her “husband.”
“Your weapon?”
She glanced at the Green Forest Eighteen-Blade hanging at my waist.
“Don’t mind it. It’s just decoration.”
“……”
Her expression hardened, clearly annoyed.
“Prepare yourselves.”
The overseer gave the ready signal.
Sssrk—
I lowered my body into a sprinter’s stance.
A crouching start.
Feet staggered front and back, fingertips touching the ground, weight shifted forward—
A launching posture built for explosive reaction and speed.
“What is that…?”
“You’ll see.”
Ting~!
The referee tossed a coin between me and the Divine Sword of Emei—
And immediately bolted out of the arena for safety.
Then—
Tock.
The moment the coin touched the ground, I sprang forward in a straight line.
Just two steps.
With internal energy reinforcing my legs, my stride length was absurdly long—nothing comparable to reality.
My speed, even more so.
“Ah…?”
The Divine Sword of Emei had her elegant sword—her ‘husband’—raised in perfect form, ready to fight.
Crack—!
My fist buried itself cleanly into her stunned face.
‘It’s a match, after all.’
If I had kicked her, her forehead would’ve caved in, and she’d be dead.
Whoooosh—!
A beat later, the delayed shockwave blasted the unconscious Divine Sword and her “husband” sword clean out of the arena.
“……”
“……”
The arena fell silent.
Feeling mildly embarrassed, I casually waved my hands as I walked off.
“Lord Kang! What was that bizarre preparatory martial art stance just now?!”
“Crouching.”
“Cra- what—?”
“I don’t explain twice.”
“Khmm.”
Fist King looked hurt, but I had zero interest in comforting an old man—especially one who wasn’t a beauty.
“Master Kang, will she be okay?”
Beauty Phoenix glanced nervously at the collapsed Divine Sword.
“She’s not dead.”
“Her face.”
“Even Elder Fist King recovered quickly, despite thinking he’d be drinking porridge for life. She’ll be fine.”
“Well… that’s a relief…”
As a fellow woman, she was clearly worried about the Divine Sword’s face.
Then—
“Lord Kang! So you finally reveal your true nature! Striking a woman’s life—her face—again!”
Sword Phoenix stormed over, having insisted she couldn’t possibly miss the clash of masters.
She came all this way just to scold me before the matches even ended.
‘What an exhausting life.’
A meddlesome woman like her survived this long only because she married well.
Anyway—
“I’ll try not to aim for the face in the next match.”
“How exactly?”
She pried further, desperate—having bet money on the Fairy of Emei.
“I’ll tear her clothes instead.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Then she’ll have to forfeit, right?”
“In front of countless spectators—you’re going to strip her?!”
“Yes. A gentle method—no injuries to the skin whatsoever—”
“No! Do you have a grudge against the Fairy of Emei?! This is worse than hitting her face!”
“Hmmm~”
“Absolutely not!”
“If you’re that worried, you can warn her.”
“Don’t underestimate me! As if I’d do something so cowardly—”
“Then never mind.”
“……”
In the novel <Is This Heavenly Demon for Real?>, the Divine Sword received endless marriage proposals from men. Yet she was never won over.
‘What about the Fairy of Emei?’
Let’s see whether Mao Zhai ignores her too.
_____________________________________________
TL Note — Regular chapters will be updated 5 chapters per week on the site.
If you want to read ahead, join my Patreon for early access:
Plus Tier: 7 chapters/week per novel (21 total)
Premium Tier: 9 chapters/week per novel (27 total)
You don’t need to pay extra for my other novels —
• Poseidon Doesn’t Like Greek and Roman Mythology
• The Genius Shut-In Writer — they’re included in the same tiers.
Link — https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls?utm_source=search
If you want to read this novel, just check the collection under “Shaman: The Breaker of Dreams.”
------------
If you’d like to binge-read:
Plus Tier has 33 chapters, and Premium Tier has 68 chapters available.
_____________________________________________