NOVEL WEB Chapter 21
21 – Demon Sword Technique
The place my master guided me to was a passageway opposite the entrance of the bathhouse.
After passing through the well-lit passage filled with Night Pearls, we arrived at a storeroom.
A large storeroom filled with huge jars.
One wall, while not as grand as the bathhouse, had water trickling down, forming a small stream.
Upon checking the contents of the jar, I found it was Boggokdan.
I took a piece of Boggokdan and smelled it.
‘It seems to be in good condition.’
Having roamed around the treacherous Gongdong Mountain all night, I was quite exhausted.
Even though I had replenished some of my energy with elixirs earlier, it was still not enough.
I tossed a piece of Boggokdan into my mouth.
The taste was average.
It had a somewhat bland grain flavor.
The key to Boggokdan wasn’t its taste but its preservation capability, which could last for 300 years without spoiling—a true revolution in preservation.
Cliché plots in martial arts novels where protagonists eat Boggokdan over a century old and still have no problem are not lies. In this world, it was 100% true.
Lasting 300 years and providing a caloric value equivalent to a full meal in a single piece!
It was truly the emergency food of the medieval martial arts world, representing its mysteries.
Thus, in every secret cave made for retreating great masters, there were storerooms stocked with Boggokdan, and this seemed to be such a place.
The water flowing down one wall seemed to be for drinking.
“Where is the sword marking?”
Now that I had solved my hunger with the Boggokdan and my brain was getting some nutrients, I asked calmly.
In fact, I already knew the formula for the Demon Sword Technique.
Not just that.
The essential techniques of famous sects, including Guo Faibang, were all stored deep within the Imperial Palace archives.
The reason the Imperial Palace maintained its power over the martial world while ensuring the inviolability of official matters was that it had already acquired the essential techniques of famous sects and developed various solutions tailored to each sect.
That said, it didn’t possess all the essential techniques—only one that represented each sect was kept.
The Gongdong Sect’s martial arts in the Imperial Palace archives consisted only of the Demon Sword Technique.
Anyway, I memorized the formulas for all the martial arts stored in the palace.
‘But knowing the formula and telling it to my master or others is a different matter.’
I knew the formula of the Demon Sword Technique, but I couldn’t just blurt it out to my master or disciple.
So, when my master earlier came to Gwangseong Elixir Point to naturally acquire the technique and was met with no secret manuals, she was puzzled.
Thankfully, she had not mentioned the sword marking, or I would have had to randomly pick a cave scattered around Gongdong Mountain to secretly create a technique, a bothersome task.
“Here it is, Master.”
As my master’s voice came, I turned my gaze.
There were lines chaotically etched into the stone wall.
It was clearly a mark made by a sword, the so-called sword marking.
“I think this marking is a diagram left by the Ancestor of the Honwon Geomje, indicating the Demon Sword Technique for future generations,” my master said with a serious tone.
Following her words, I approached the wall and gently traced the chaotic sword markings with my fingers.
At first glance, the lines seemed haphazard and irregular.
However, having been a martial artist at the level of Hyun-gyeong in my previous life and now practicing martial arts under the Gongdong Sect, I could recognize the identity of the markings on the wall.
‘My master was right. This is the sword marking of the Demon Sword Technique. Inscribed by Honwon Geomje himself.’
The basic movements and derived variations of the Demon Sword Technique were engraved on the wall in sword markings.
The meticulously etched lines, without a hint of wasted effort, demonstrated that the wielder of this sword marking was a grandmaster.
Only Honwon Geomje could carve the Demon Sword Technique onto a stone wall with such precision and detail.
The problem was.
‘This marking isn’t meant for future generations to inherit.’
Unlike my master’s words, the sword markings inscribed on the wall weren’t diagrams for gently instructing future generations on the Demon Sword Technique.
No, it was almost the opposite.
I quietly placed my hand on the stone wall, activated my inner energy, and carefully projected my senses while closing my eyes.
According to the Minor Yang Heart Method, as I circulated all my inner energy and focused my entire spirit on sensing the surroundings, an empty space beyond the thick stone wall was detected.
‘Just as I expected. This marking is a code.’
After finishing my exploration, I retracted my inner energy.
It was a common pattern of fortuitous encounters.
Assuming a distinguished martial artist from a reputable sect left arrangements in a secret cave, they would, of course, likely want their disciple to inherit it rather than outsiders.
Such arrangements typically involve security devices like the sword marking on this wall that only open to those who have mastered the sect’s essential techniques.
If the grandmaster had thoroughly mastered their sect’s techniques, they could safely leave behind their arrangements for future successors.
‘This marking must be the same. Without a martial artist who has mastered the Demon Sword Technique, it would be impossible to open the door.’
Thus, the sword marking was a code.
It was likely that the door would only open when the Demon Sword Technique was performed along the markings.
That means.
‘The real arrangements left by Honwon Geomje must be beyond this stone wall.’
Having concluded that, I felt a slight tremble in my hands.
In my previous life, Yu-jinhwi consumed Mita Sacred Water at Honwon Cave and acquired seven secret manuals: Three Yin True Formula, Seven Kill Sword, Mysterious Heaven Sword, Flowing Cloud and Water, Demon Subduing Great Power Technique, Dry Yang Finger, and Wet Yin Finger.
Mita Sacred Water is, of course, a rare item, and the seven martial arts recorded in the manuals could arguably be classified as first-rate martial arts.
However, Honwon Geomje was a hero who defended against the advances of the Blood Sect during the chaotic times of the late Yuan Dynasty and saved the martial world, reaching the realm of Boundary of Life and Death—a true legend unparalleled in this world.
Unlike the history of modern Earth, where he existed, this fantasy isekai world had a martial arts foundation that allowed nations to persist for over 300 years longer than the original history.
The Manchu people, who would eventually establish the Qing Dynasty, could not withstand the fortified Imperial Palace martial arts and the military strategies of the Ming Dynasty.
In the original history, the large peasant revolt that led to the fall of the Ming Dynasty had been completely averted. To be precise, the martial world’s cooperation with the Imperial Palace, in exchange for the inviolability of official matters, suppressed those revolts in their early stages.
Ignorant peasant farmers wielding only third-rate martial arts and the Jurchen armies lacking in Rising Supreme Technique could not defeat the Imperial troops and the cooperating martial masters.
Consequently, in this fantasy world, the last Ming Emperor, Shunzhi, became a revered ruler known as the Times of Shunzhi, and the Ming Dynasty enjoyed a renaissance.
Anyway, did the great Honwon Geomje leave behind merely those seven first-rate martial arts and a bit of Mita Sacred Water?
‘That makes no sense.’
From the beginning, it was absurd.
In other words, whatever Honwon Geomje left behind was nothing more than bait.
The reason there were no significant devices near Gwangseong Elixir Point was because the genuine treasures were likely hidden elsewhere.
And that genuine arrangement would be beyond this stone wall.
However, Yu-jinhwi in his previous life did not reach the true arrangement.
Of course—no matter how brilliant Yu-jinhwi was—he was merely fifteen when he discovered Gwangseong Elixir Point.
At fifteen, Yu-jinhwi had no knowledge of security devices.
Actually, just acquiring the formula for the Demon Sword Technique from the code was an impressive testament to his genius.
‘To reverse-engineer the formula of the Demon Sword Technique from a security code marking? Who if not a genius could accomplish that?’
The markings engraved on the wall were not diagrams.
They were intentionally unclear for security purposes, making it difficult for outsiders to comprehend.
If I hadn’t obtained Hyun-gyeong enlightenment or known the formula of the Demon Sword Technique, I would never have realized that the markings represented the Demon Sword Technique.
However, Yu-jinhwi was able to reverse-engineer the formula of the Demon Sword Technique from the code markings by mobilizing everything he had learned from the Gongdong Sect.
The Demon Sword Technique wasn’t just some third-rate martial art one finds in a marketplace, nor was it one of the first-rate martial arts bait thrown out by Honwon Geomje; it was the Rising Supreme Technique representative of the Gongdong Sect, and he was reverse-engineering it from such a marking?
That was an insane talent. No wonder he had the qualities of a great master.
Though I had known about it through recordings and intel, it felt entirely different to experience that talent firsthand.
‘I suppose that’s why he deliberately came to the Imperial Palace archives to verify the formula of the Demon Sword Technique.’
At some point, Yu-jinhwi likely realized the secret of this stone wall.
The records that mentioned him attempting to re-enter Honwon Cave as an adult hinted at that.
On the surface, it looked like he aimed for seclusion and training, but in truth, he likely sought to obtain the genuine arrangements hidden beyond the security device.
Though the cave collapsed, preventing his entry.
In his previous life, Yu-jinhwi likely entered the Imperial Palace and verified the manual of the Demon Sword Technique to confirm whether the reversed formula he learned matched the original.
Such a horrifying wisdom level suited the term Heavenly Body.
“But the diagram is too complicated. Is it representative of the essential technique of our sect? I feel like I could comprehend it if I look a bit longer.”
Yu-jinhwi muttered beside me.
Experiencing the scene of history was making me want to drop my jaw in disbelief.
Still, that aside, now that I knew there was indeed a genuine fortuitous encounter, I couldn’t afford to waste any more time.
“Master, there’s no need for you to ponder alone. There’s a saying, ‘One hand cannot clap alone,’ right? Although I am not as talented as you, I am also a martial artist and your disciple. So let me lend a little bit of my support to you as you decipher the Demon Sword Technique.”
I aimed to drop enough hints to help restore the Demon Sword Technique quickly and open that door.
‘Heh heh heh… I can’t back down from obtaining Honwon Geomje’s arrangements.’
Honwon Geomje was the strongest martial artist in the history of the Gongdong Sect.
There was a 99.9999% certainty that what he left behind was a martial art technique.
Moreover, if it was the martial arts left by Honwon Geomje, who reached the Boundary of Life and Death, it would undoubtedly be the ultimate technique that reached the pinnacle of Gongdong Sect’s martial arts.
Ultimately, the martial arts left behind by Honwon Geomje could likely offer a path towards Ultimate Life Force.
‘Ultimate Life Force meaning overflowing vitality… thus the martial art he left behind might allow one to achieve Ultimate Vitality.’
Heh heh heh.
I barely contained my upward-curving lips.
The invaluable martial arts of a legendary being didn’t matter as much as the Ultimate Life Force; no, Ultimate Vitality was far more significant.
To miss the chance to acquire a technique guaranteeing Ultimate Vitality, crafted by a martial artist who had reached the Boundary of Life and Death right in front of my eyes?
‘That simply cannot be allowed.’
Thus, I had to open that door. I needed to swiftly seize the Ultimate Vitality rooted in the enlightenment of the Boundary of Life and Death.
Other esteemed sects like Shaolin Temple, Mount Hua Sect, and Wudang Sect have no essence of life intertwined in their core principles.
Hence, their martial arts have no use for vitality. Therefore, they’re unnecessary.
Taiji? Meihua? What on earth would one even use them for?
Moreover, regarding Shaolin, the “pinnacle of martial arts,” as a Buddhist sect, there are often teachings to restrain desires for profound enlightenment.
To restrain desires and forego the pleasures of Cloud and Rain? What a terrifying philosophy for martial arts!
But not the Gongdong Sect.
Indeed, joining the Gongdong Sect’s martial arts was a wise choice.
Anyway, since I already knew the formula for the Demon Sword Technique, hastening its restoration without being discovered was a piece of cake.
Upon hearing my words, my master’s eyes widened.
His face broke into a bright smile as he cheerfully exclaimed, “Really? Are you helping me? Thank you, disciple!”
Hearing my master’s words made me smile back.
Now, it was time to quickly restore the Demon Sword Technique and head for the Ultimate Vitality that lay beyond that wall!