“Young Master! You really are all right, are you not?”
Rokiyan’s voice rang thunderously in my ears.
“Thank goodness. You were sitting there with your eyes closed without answering at all…”
I had held onto the hope that I might learn why I had come to this place. Yet all I had seen were visions of Kellick, the owner of this body, and I had gained no information.
“Young Master, well… the weather is chilly, so perhaps we should…”
If I circulated energy and accumulated internal energy in my dantian, then performed the Heaven-Defying Formation Kellick had created…
“Go ahead first. I have something to do here.”
“Pardon? Again? It is only natural that I should not ask about the oracle, but just what kind of place is this cave that you keep trying to stay here? I will remain as well!!”
Since I could fall into danger while circulating my energy, having Rokiyan stand guard and keep watch around me would not be bad either.
“Do so. However, even if something abnormal happens to my body, you must absolutely not touch me.”
“Are you saying something else may happen to your body besides losing your memories? That is absolutely—!”
“Absolutely! You must not touch me. I could fall into qi deviation or suffer external injuries.”
“Qi what?”
Ah, was this a term unknown in this place?
“No. Never mind. At any rate, you must never touch my body.”
“Understood, Young Master.”
I assumed a cross-legged posture, slowly closed my eyes, and began to regulate my breathing. I had already checked the acupoints, so I had to open the flow of my blood and energy with the Heavenly Demon Cultivation Method first.
CRACK, CRACK.
The blood inside my body gradually began to circulate more actively.
Now that I had prepared the circulation path, it was time for the internal cultivation method.
With my eyes closed, I examined every part of my body, but there was no turbid energy within it. So this was indeed the mysterious race of elves, who even possessed longer lifespans than humans.
Since I would likely be able to accumulate internal energy sooner than expected, I should gather internal energy in my lower dantian first.
As I gathered internal energy, my lower abdomen grew warm, and a gentle breeze softly brushed through my body. I could use martial arts right away from here, but at best, I would only be at the level of a second-rate master.
As expected, creating the lower dantian was easy. The problem was the middle dantian, where the Mana Circle I had never felt before was sealed. I could not rest here. I had to move on to the next stage immediately.
I slowly sensed the circular ring of energy near my heart.
This was what they called a Mana Circle…
Its form was different from the middle dantian, but the energy it gave off was similar.
WHIR. WHIR.
Chains were wrapped around the Mana Circle.
‘This is where the problem begins.’
I squeezed my energy through the narrow gaps between the chains and connected it. Now, if I poured the energy from my lower dantian into the middle dantian all at once, the chains would break in one stroke. I was sure breaking them was the right thing to do, but I could not be certain.
At present, there was more internal energy in the middle dantian, which they called the Mana Circle, so I first had to put more internal energy into the lower dantian.
I had gathered the power of nature flowing through every blood vessel as much as possible into the internal energy of my lower dantian, so now, for the final step.
SURGE.
Damn it.
My blood was flowing backward.
Connecting the lower dantian and the middle dantian was more difficult than I had expected, and I felt an unknown force from the chains. Was this what the elves had called their sealed spirit power?
WHIR. WHIR. WHIR.
The dark Heavenly Demon Cultivation Method that devoured everything and the warm power of nature, its exact opposite, collided with each other.
COUGH-!
***
I looked around.
It was a cave.
The Demon Cult’s secret cave where the Heaven-Defying Formation was engraved… No, it was not.
I slowly walked deeper into the cave.
As I walked, blue light began to appear little by little from within, so it seemed to be the cave Kellick had frequented, the one where the Nightglow Grass was.
STEP, STEP.
When I reached the deepest part, Kellick was kneeling in the center of the formation.
Was this also Kellick’s memory?
Heavenly Demon!!
Kellick was staring blankly at the Heavenly Demon’s apparition above the formation. Could Kellick see the Heavenly Demon?
The Heavenly Demon seemed to have suffered internal injuries, as he could not breathe evenly, and one of his arms had been severed. At his feet, corpses too numerous to count had formed a mountain. At that moment, a white-haired old man raised his voice and shouted at the Heavenly Demon.
“Heavenly Demon!”
I had never seen him in person, but if the descriptions of his appearance were accurate, that old man must have been the Martial Alliance Leader, a pillar of the righteous faction. Around the Alliance Leader stood people exuding powerful energy. Were they the Martial Alliance elders?
[Heavenly Demon Sword, Third Technique]
[True Heavenly Demon Flame]
The Martial Alliance Leader and the Martial Alliance elders joined forces to block the Heavenly Demon’s sword aura, which was spewing violet flames as though devouring everything around it. Then, all at once, they began rushing toward the Heavenly Demon. From the Heavenly Demon’s side, the warriors who guarded the Divine Maiden sprang out from every direction and blocked their attacks with their swords, or used their bodies to withstand them.
Were they not the ones I had ordered to go to the Central Plains and assist the Heavenly Demon?
“We greet the Heavenly Demon!”
We greet the Heavenly Demon!
The Heavenly Demon maintained eyes full of murderous intent and let out an incredulous smile, then laughed heartily.
“Hahahaha. Nameless!”
At that moment, the Martial Alliance bastards looked around in confusion.
“If he says Nameless… is that not the strongest person within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult? Has he come?”
“I cannot sense any presence within the vicinity!”
“Deal with the Heavenly Demon first.”
“Understood!”
The Heavenly Demon shouted at the soldiers guarding him.
“Do you… do you intend to make me this miserable? Where is the Nameless?”
“The Nameless is inside the cave according to your command, Heavenly Demon… It is not too late yet! You must call him!”
WHOOSH.
The Heavenly Demon handed a small box he had been carrying inside his robes to a soldier.
‘That wooden box must surely be the one containing the Extinction Pill.’
The Extinction Pill was a special elixir made by harmoniously combining half-pure demonic energy and half-pure natural energy.
The process of making it was unfamiliar, but its effect was even stranger. As soon as it was consumed, all of the taker’s internal energy vanished without the taker even realizing it. The only people who knew of this strange pill were me, the Heavenly Demon, and the elder who had created it.
“Have the Divine Maiden take the elixir inside this, then tell her to ask the Nameless to perform the Heaven-Defying Formation.”
“As you command.”
The one who had received the Heavenly Demon’s order held the box carefully and ran toward the Hundred Thousand Mountains without once looking back.
“Stop that man!”
SLASH.
HAHAHAHA-!
The Heavenly Demon smiled and cut off the limbs of the righteous faction member who had been charging toward the guard in a single exchange.
“What are you plotting, Heavenly Demon?”
The Heavenly Demon, clearly exhausted, dragged his sword along the ground and trudged forward. Then he burst into laughter and said,
“Buried alive.”
“That cannot be! The ones dying here will be you and the Demon Cult bastards!”
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
In the end, after exchanging hundreds or perhaps thousands of blows against many opponents, even the Heavenly Demon’s remaining left hand flew into the sky before falling to the ground with a thud. The Martial Alliance Leader and the sect leaders of each sect all pointed their swords at the Heavenly Demon.
STEP, STEP.
The Martial Alliance Leader approached the Heavenly Demon and asked him with an expression of incomprehension.
“Heavenly Demon, stopping you alone has cost this much blood. If the one called the strongest in the Demon Cult, the Nameless, had participated in the war, the result would not have been like this. Yet why, even in a crisis where you are about to die, does the Nameless remain within the Hundred Thousand Mountains?”
“Hahahahaha-!”
The Heavenly Demon laughed repeatedly, then let out a deep sigh.
“There is an old custom in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. When the Heavenly Demon dies, the Nameless is buried alive with him.”
“That is not an answer. This place will become your grave to begin with, Heavenly Demon. Then where is the Nameless who is supposed to be buried with you?”
“Hahahahaha… Nameless. Nameless… Nameless! Everyone is looking for the Nameless. Would we have won if he had been here…? Even without him, I should have won…”
SLASH.
He could not finish his answer before his head was severed and sent flying.
Kellick said nothing as he witnessed the Heavenly Demon’s final moments. And as I witnessed the Heavenly Demon’s final moments through Kellick, I, too, said nothing.
The people I had sent to help the Heavenly Demon had all died, except for the one person who had returned to the Hundred Thousand Mountains carrying the Extinction Pill.
The Divine Maiden must have taken the elixir as the Heavenly Demon ordered, then come to me. Since there would have been no internal energy in the Divine Maiden’s body, the Heaven-Defying Formation had been doomed to fail from the very beginning.
Hahahaha.
Without realizing it, I laughed in disbelief.
Did that mean the Heavenly Demon, blinded by jealousy, had not only betrayed me, but had killed everyone as well?
As I pondered and watched Kellick, the formation around him began to shine.
Kellick abruptly rose from his place, not knowing what to do, and murmured,
“With a half-finished formation… I have to call you…”
At that moment, someone whose entire body was on fire appeared before Kellick. The person seemed to be enduring pain and panted as he murmured.
But the position of the Nameless is only that of the Heavenly Demon’s assistant. Can I do it?
Can I, who have lived my entire life as a tool, act of my own will?
If I defy heaven, will I be happy?
I flinched in shock when I heard the voice of the burning person before Kellick.
How could that be my voice…
At that moment, Kellick slowly rose, sobbed uncontrollably, embraced me, and murmured,
“You were abandoned by the one who considered you a tool, yet I, too, am trying to use you as a tool… But you may live according to your own will. You may live without regrets!”
The body of Kellick, who was embracing me, gradually began to catch fire.
“I am sorry… I am truly sorry…”
Kellick repeated only those words of apology to me, and as the burning version of me before Kellick gradually turned to ash and slowly disappeared, Kellick, his body still aflame, turned his head toward me.
What was this?
Could he see me?
Kellick turned his head as though he could see me and said,
“I know this is selfish… I know this is my own greed. Still… still… our elves…”
Soon, Kellick’s body was reduced to ash by the flames and gradually disappeared.
“I beg you.”
What in the world were all these scenes?
I stared blankly at Kellick, who had vanished into ash, and walked to the center of the formation. Then flames began to rise around the formation.
Hahahahaha.
A hollow laugh escaped me before I realized it.
So that was it.
I had tried to defy the heavens by sacrificing the Divine Maiden and six hundred martial artists, but I had failed because of the one person I was supposed to protect.
Since the Heaven-Defying Formation had been doomed to fail anyway, were those deaths meaningless?
I regretted my life, in which I had merely lived as I was told and ordered.
I regretted not using my strength where it had been needed.
I regretted not breaking the rule that forbade me from leaving the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
How foolish I had been, trying to break the heavens when I could not even break a law set by mere humans. What I truly regretted was that I had not lived an independent life.
Not one who presented choices, but one who made them.
Not one who recognized others, but one who was recognized.
Not a shadow that had to move according to another’s footsteps.
Not an object of fear, nor the Heavenly Demon’s secret weapon.
Me.
Even if I had defied heaven and lived as the Nameless…
Would I have gone against the Heavenly Demon and lived the life I wanted?
I would think no more.
The important thing was that a young prince named Kellick had sacrificed his own body and gifted me a new life.
So that I could reflect on my previous life, which had been filled only with regret.
***
As Kellick’s form disappeared, I must have escaped the vision and returned to reality, for I felt it upon my skin. My entire body was soaked in sweat, and even the gentle breeze felt as though it were sharply tearing at my skin.
‘Was this the sensation of complete bodily rebirth?’
Had I awakened from qi deviation?
When I opened my eyes, Rokiyan was holding a brush in his hand and scribbling something as he spoke to me with a worried expression.
“Young Master. Can you move now? You told me not to touch you until you awakened…”
“What were you doing?”
“There was nothing to do for two days, so I thought I would at least draw…”
Two days…
I quietly rose and looked at the canvas Rokiyan was holding.
Oh!
How could he use colors?
“Who is this person with black hair?”
Rokiyan looked at me and answered in a low voice that seemed to crawl out of him.
“It is… Young Master. Your appearance is so outstanding that I could not capture all of it.”
I had definitely been blond, so had it changed during the complete bodily rebirth?
“Unlike my age, I had a pretty, childlike, androgynous impression, but now I look sharp.”
“I drew it while looking at your frowning expression…”
Rokiyan tucked the canvas into the inner pocket of his clothes and continued.
“I drew the pose from my imagination, but next time, I will draw it properly.”
A pose in an imaginary background, holding a sword as precious as my life.
He could not have known that I had come from murim, yet the painting that connected me from my previous life and me in Kellick’s body in this life left me with a strange feeling.
“What is the violet light rippling around me?”
“I also found that so fascinating that I hurried back to my residence, brought paints, and drew the picture! It would have been difficult to explain to the elders with words.”
If violet light had rippled around me while I was circulating energy, was it related to the strange power called a spirit?
More importantly.
“What are these clothes that look different from what I am wearing and seem rather comfortable?”
“They are clothes worn by senior Rangers! Some former Rangers are active outside the kingdom as well…”
Rokiyan stopped mid-sentence, clapped his hands, and spoke to me urgently.
“Ah!! I forgot to tell you that the leaders of the investigation unit are coming to the kingdom tomorrow to participate in the regular council meeting!”
A regular council meeting.
I wondered how the elders, who had treated me with such helplessness, would treat me now that I had undergone a complete bodily rebirth and accumulated even a faint amount of internal energy.