[Listening to this quietly… what a spectacle.]
"Now you talk?"
[I never planned to say a word. That is, unless you caused trouble.]
Skybreaker spoke up.
[Monster. Let me ask you just one thing.]
"Yeah, what is it?"
[How are you able to remain 'yourself'?]
"What do you mean?"
[Your body isn’t even your own, and the world doesn’t belong to you either. So how can you still be so firmly yourself?]
Skybreaker, now experiencing a delayed adolescence due to Sado Gwang’s interference, seemed to still be struggling with his identity.
After all, Skybreaker had lived his entire life with every step dictated by Sado Gwang. Just like Saweol, this was similar to falling into a type of Heart Demon state. So who could blame him?
“Well...”
[Even my roots have denied me. Then what am I? Why should I continue living?]
"I was an orphan."
[…]
"From as far back as I can remember, I lived in an orphanage. Not everyone has roots. And the reason for living—"
I held onto Skybreaker and said,
"—isn’t something someone else gives you. It’s something you decide for yourself."
I had a dream once.
My earliest memory was of an old, small TV in the orphanage. Watching that, I once dreamed of piloting a transforming dinosaur robot and defeating villains.
Time passed, reality set in, and I conformed to it. Busy with daily survival, I just followed what others were doing. Because everyone else was doing it.
I could at least say I lived diligently. Working in sales meant I rarely went home, often sleeping in saunas or on a folding bed in the office break room.
Even on a meager salary, I worked hard to save, taking English listening classes every morning to better myself.
But that was just eating me alive.
“If you live without knowing what you want, relying on reasons others have decided for you, you’re ultimately eroding yourself.”
[…]
That’s why I quit everything and returned to acting to chase my dream.
[How do you find what you want?]
"Start by figuring out what you like."
[What I like, huh...]
"It doesn’t have to be anything grand."
Like drinking a beer in front of a convenience store on a breezy day, or realizing your favorite song is the one playing at a random phone store you pass by. Little things like that.
Those small things eventually piled up into a reason to live.
[What I like… I had something too. I had things like that.]
"Right? You did, didn’t you?"
[Yeah. What I liked was... martial arts. That’s right, ever since my body changed, I’ve just been pretending otherwise and deceiving myself.]
At that moment—
A sacred aura began to envelop Skybreaker’s sword body.
[Yes, I loved martial arts. Born into the Cult, I loved it more than anyone.]
The sacred aura surrounded the entire sword body, forming three round shapes.
A sight I’d seen before.
Insane.
Three Flowers Gather at the Summit.
A phenomenon that occurs when reaching Transcendent Peak. I was now witnessing it for the third time.
If this were a NovelBin, the title might be: Everyone’s Reaching Transcendent Peak Except Me, or maybe A Normal Office Worker Turned Lucky Break Machine in the Martial World.
A sword reaching Transcendent Peak? That was unheard of. Not even in Return of the Murim had anything like this occurred.
[Hmm...]
At that moment, Skybreaker groaned faintly.
One of the dazzlingly radiant buds failed to bloom and withered away.
"?!"
There was a simple reason why martial artists set up protectors during qi training or enlightenment—if it failed midway or got interrupted, the damage could be fatal.
What’s commonly called deviation by inner demons.
I called out urgently.
"Skybreaker, are you alright?!"
[I'm fine. Not having a human body actually helps in situations like this.]
"What happened?"
[The components needed for Three Flowers to Gather are mind, qi, and body. Just now, the realization awakened my mind. The body is a given—the Sky-breaker Sword is unbreakable. This much doesn’t affect it.]
"Then it must be the qi. Since you can’t use it unless you absorb it."
[Still, it seems I can now stop the qi absorption midway. I feel like my resonance with this sword has improved. I might even be able to use qi forcefully, though limited.]
“Well, that’s good.”
Originally, once Skybreaker absorbed energy, the other party was doomed to die. That’s why Do Il-gwang had accused him of using the Absorption Technique.
Now, if he could simply injure someone and leech it slowly, that would be a huge help for sustained fighting.
[Thanks to you, Monster. Reaching Transcendent Peak... doesn’t that mean I’m truly human now?]
“Well, yeah. I guess.”
Though that’s not entirely true.
There are mystic beasts who’ve awakened enough spiritual awareness to converse with humans, and some of them are also Transcendent Peak-level strong. They probably went through a similar process.
Still, it felt wrong to say “no” to someone who’d only just evolved from being a sunfish.
That’s also why I couldn’t say anything about the family head situation. If Skybreaker found out Sado Gwang was still probably alive, he’d definitely waver again.
[Anyway. That talk about going to the Poison Demon—you're not serious, right?]
“Of course not. If I go and have to return the Black Ox Fan, I’m screwed.”
Though I’d been treating the Black Ox Fan roughly, in truth, it was a sacred relic of the Cult. You could say I was using my status as heir to delay its return.
If the Poison Demon raised a formal objection, I’d have no choice but to return it.
I couldn’t afford to lose such a useful artifact when even one treasured item was precious.
[So, the key is composure.]
"Exactly."
I’m just a regular guy. I shut my eyes when a fist comes at me, and scream when I’m startled.
Even with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art suppressing most of it, the problem was that my opponent was the actual Heavenly Demon.
If she sensed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s qi in me, I’d be in big trouble.
[How about learning a mental cultivation technique?]
“A mental technique?”
[Yes. Something to calm your mind. Wouldn’t that help?]
"Know any?"
[I only learned the Asura Demon Emperor Divine Art... no, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. But there should be some secret manuals in the library.]
“Let’s go check.”
I headed straight to the library.
It was smaller than expected. About the size of a high school library?
[Most things are kept in the Family Head’s private collection.]
“Greedy bastard.”
[He wasn’t really my father, to begin with.]
I gave Skybreaker a look. What’s up with him? Noticing it, Skybreaker added,
[At the funeral, I saw it. The Family Head wasn’t grieving because his son died. He was just worried about losing his position. I don’t see any reason I should respect such a man.]
Anyway, I browsed through the secret manuals in the library.
Skybreaker, the cutting-edge martial arts AI, picked out a few titles like Lake Heart Classic, Calm Sky Divine Art, and more.
I couldn’t make sense of them just by reading, so Skybreaker explained each incantation step by step.
No matter how vague and flowery the language, it started to make sense with the martial arts AI’s guidance.
That wasn’t the problem.
“It’s not working.”
[Did you really do it properly?]
“Yeah, I did. It’s not working.”
Trying other techniques gave the same result.
“I get it. The qi from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art won’t budge.”
[Ah... that makes sense.]
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is the ultimate martial art. The inner energy it creates acts as if it has a will of its own and rejects all other energies. This was no different.
“So martial techniques can’t help me then. Maybe there’s an artifact that can, but that’s probably in the family head’s private vault.”
[There’s one more method.]
“What is it?”
[You were shaken by Heavenly Demon because of her mental domain, right?]
“Yeah.”
Mental Domain. A manifestation of a martial artist's life and spirit projected externally.
Unlike intention manifestation (의념), which is the refined will shaped into martial form, Mental Domain is a direct projection of one’s internal spiritual world—unique to every person.
[You’ve never experienced a mental domain before. Members of the Cult, whether directly or indirectly, are exposed to them, so they’re somewhat adapted. You’re not.]
The Cult is a place where the strong show their power without holding back. Even Gwak Jin earlier had used it for intimidation. Cult members are exposed often enough to adapt.
It’s like altitude sickness. Those born at high altitudes are used to the conditions, but normal people get sick right away.
The only Transcendent Peak master I’d been around was Yun Yeopja, and he hadn't shown Mental Domain, only qi force.
Saweol being able to manifest her Mental Domain immediately and crush hundreds of warriors was abnormal.
That was still a shocking scene.
People confessing their sins while sobbing uncontrollably—it was hard to breathe just watching.
Then, another thought hit me.
“Wait, Skybreaker. That time in the Discipline Hall—Do Il-gwang never showed his mental domain, did he? He only emitted killing intent, right?”
[Correct. That was killing intent, not Mental Domain. At the end, when the shadow took on a demonic form, it still wasn’t a full manifestation. Probably couldn’t use his inner power freely due to restrictions.]
“Crazy…”
That overwhelming pressure wasn’t even his mental domain—just killing intent. Then again, Do Il-gwang was the former Heavenly Demon. Said to be the closest to the current one.
It really drove home how reckless my plan was. Trying to provoke and negotiate with alcohol? Foolish doesn’t even begin to cover it.
It was the Dunning-Kruger effect in action.
The idea that shallow knowledge makes people overconfident applies even in Return of the Murim. No matter how well I knew this world as a seasoned reader, it had always been through text.
Experiencing it with my own body was an entirely different matter.
I needed to stay constantly aware of that.
"Always be cautious."
I asked Skybreaker,
“So the method you mentioned—is it to train with Saweol? Get used to it through constant exposure?”
[Exactly. Not bad for you.]
“I can’t be the only one to benefit from it, though.”
[What?]
When he heard my plan, Skybreaker couldn’t help but mutter,
[You bastard... just like Sado Gwang.]
Looks like he really overcame his Heart Demon. I’ll take that as a compliment.
And so, I summoned the Black Shadow Corps.