The vast hollow fell briefly silent.

The Heavenly Demon’s tomb was damp.

The light of the ancient luminous pearls flickered intermittently, carried on a faint breeze.

Thick moisture ran down the walls like a cracked tongue.

The shadows of stalactites hanging from ceiling to floor danced like deranged spirits.

But what sank deepest into Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind was the laughter, echoing in Baek Mi-ryeo’s voice, spreading through the cave.

“Rather than Laughing Heaven, Obedient Heaven suits better. It’s as if you’re Heaven’s personal servant.”

“......”

The existence of the Heavenly Demon itself was the crowning touch of this cave.

And Jeong Yeon-shin had already experienced a similar place before.

The underground chamber where Sambong Jin-in’s engraved sword had drawn a massive Taiji due to the Imoogi.

It was when he had joined forces with Yulha Nangnang against the Heavenly Extremes Sect Master and the Dark Heaven Emperor.

And back then too, he had been with So Cheonmujuk.

After using her as a cautionary tale, he had ultimately completed the Great Taiji using Sambong Jin-in’s traces.

It had been a profound exchange.

—Let’s just live according to the mandate that damned Heaven gave us.

—Stop saying “us.”

When he reflected on all the debts between him and So Cheonmujuk, he knew well that, as she once said, the grace far outweighed the grudges.

In some ways, she was like the Seven Sabers.

She had saved him in Hangzhou, arranged major schemes to ensure his safety and growth—So Cheonmujuk had done all that.

More than anything, she evoked pity.

Jeong Yeon-shin, too, had once considered her, even if only slightly, as his sole true confidante.

Now, she was like a broken mirror.

That’s ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) why he didn’t wish for her to suffer great disgrace.

That was the reason he now stood shielding her before the Heavenly Demon.

“The three of us are gathered. In the end, things went just as she intended.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke quietly.

The Heavenly Demon, who had been gazing down at So Cheonmujuk again, tilted Baek Mi-ryeo’s head ever so slightly to the side.

“I told you,”

The Heavenly Demon slowly moved her lips.

“One is enough.”

“......”

Just as Jeong Yeon-shin fell silent—

So Cheonmujuk, still kneeling with one leg before the Heavenly Demon, let out a low laugh.

“Ungrateful for being shown the world of the living.”

Bluish lightning sparks wrapped around her body.

It was a full-body discharge of thunder energy, the kind Jeong Yeon-shin had experienced before—an attack that imprinted itself on the air at a speed surpassing sound.

At that moment, the Heavenly Demon lightly lifted the tip of her foot—

Phwak!

The swelling bolts of lightning were swallowed into space and vanished.

All that remained in the emptied air was a faint shimmer, a translucent flicker of the residual thunder mark that quickly disappeared.

Jeong Yeon-shin recognized it at once.

‘She simultaneously nullified and shattered it before the technique could even be unleashed.’

She had read the qi structure like a streak of light and disrupted it with the step of Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Stride.

The entire process took place at a speed that surpassed natural law.

It was a skill unrelated to the amount of stored energy.

Even the tiniest bit of qi would have sufficed.

‘The incarnation of martial power.’

If the God of War and the Sovereign of Huang had merely reached the edge of the power Heaven permitted, the Heavenly Demon was that Heaven itself.

Though all stood at the limits of human capability, the gap in scope was immeasurable.

Had she forged the original spirit body from her living demonic energy and fully manifested—what then?

It was fortunate the three of them were not at full strength.

Even if his Starlight Void Sword technique had already been depleted.

“I was right.”

Jeong Yeon-shin spoke.

By now, the ends of ashen-burnt hair fluttered glamorously beside him.

So Cheonmujuk had retreated in a flash.

Jeong Yeon-shin glanced at her profile.

The corner of her mouth, forcibly pulled into a smirk, twitched slightly—an expression he had never seen before.

She also deliberately avoided making eye contact with him.

So Cheonmujuk replied with a feigned calmness.

“Well, think again. Who created this unparalleled stage, if not me?”

“I did.”

She could not answer Jeong Yeon-shin’s calm reply.

As ridiculous as it seemed, she must have believed the Heavenly Demon would show her favor simply because she had fully manifested her.

Jeong Yeon-shin shook his head.

“You’ve been pampered.”

“Of course. Who wouldn’t praise a face and talent like mine?”

He could tell it was bravado.

There was an unstable breath to her voice.

Perhaps her composure had crumbled.

Or perhaps it was the backlash of manifesting the First Heavenly Demon.

Jeong Yeon-shin thought it was both.

She had suffered humiliation for the first time in her life—

And Jeong Yeon-shin had seen it.

Then—

“What’s she doing?”

So Cheonmujuk’s question was directed at the Heavenly Demon.

Jeong Yeon-shin had long fixed his gaze on her as well.

Now, the Heavenly Demon stood with a strange smile, eyes closed.

He heard her muttering softly.

“Strange things roam freely. The power of the world has reached its peak.”

Only after those words echoed did insight stir in his upper danjeon.

The Heavenly Demon’s perception was expanding endlessly—

As though she could feel all under Heaven through martial skill alone, like the Empress Dowager’s wind-king technique.

“...Ho.”

What had she seen?

A different kind of interest than what she showed toward So Cheonmujuk appeared on her face.

He understood the reason when she spoke to Jeong Yeon-shin:

“A cripple, a tree, and a worthless sword... If this is the age, then that level of martial power is appropriate for their age group. Unlike me, you won’t be bored.”

Whoosh—

The dark air burst three times in succession.

As though a colossal gaze had bounced thrice across the space.

The Heavenly Demon smiled.

“How impudent.”

Yet Jeong Yeon-shin was not swept up in the overwhelming presence.

He had already seen through what had just happened.

And that left one question to ask.

“Have you seen the woman who resembles the moon? I want to know how she is... and where she resides.”

“Your lover?”

“She is my master.”

At that, the Heavenly Demon’s smile faded ever so slightly.

“I will not answer.”

“What?”

“Perhaps you can’t understand it yet, but your only true master is yourself. Just as I was.”

“My path is different. Tell me.”

At that moment, Baek Mi-ryeo tilted her head to the side—

And with that small motion, the atmosphere in the cave shifted drastically.

At the same time, murky energy surged and churned through the entire space.

“Are you the kind of man who begs the enemy?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

A chill raced down Jeong Yeon-shin’s strong back.

Even calling it a deep shudder wouldn’t be wrong.

Though his inner calm remained, his body reacted instinctively.

He asked again.

“Are you my enemy?”

A vague smile played on the Heavenly Demon’s lips.

“I can be anything. That is what it means to be a demon.”

In the tension that grazed every fine hair,

The Heavenly Demon spoke only to Jeong Yeon-shin, casually sharing words steeped in the experience of life.

The more she spoke, the paler So Cheonmujuk’s snow-white face grew.

Myeonggyo.

Even if it was a heretical cult, it was still a religion.

To be rejected by its founding ancestor—

The authority of the Myeonggyo Leader was now worth less than a speck of dust.

If this were to be made known to the outside world, So Cheonmujuk might no longer be able to remain as the Myeonggyo Leader.

Even the believers’ support would vanish.

That’s what zealots are like.

She would become endlessly alone.

‘Will there be even one person to guard her grave after death?’

Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.

“Judging by your attitude, I doubt you’ll hand over wisdom so obediently.”

[Enough. Shut up.]

It was So Cheonmujuk.

She lifted her lashes higher than ever before, and cloaked herself in black flame and blue lightning simultaneously.

Pitch-black and sky-blue flames and thunder surged through her body like a raging torrent.

Jeong Yeon-shin immediately sensed that the entire qi structure of those techniques had changed on the spot.

Like rewriting the way one used every micro muscle in martial arts.

She had completely reformed the shape of her techniques just because the Heavenly Demon had read them once.

Most martial artists devoted a lifetime just to completing the techniques they inherited.

Boom!

Right before the Heavenly Demon.

Fragments of deep blue qi scattered like shards of glass.

So Cheonmujuk was slamming her heel down before the Heavenly Demon.

Locking eyes with the very founder of her sect.

[Didn’t you want your name to be remembered forever, since you created such a great religion like Myeonggyo?]

Naturally, the Heavenly Demon’s indifferent face was reflected in her eyes.

“That was an act of charity.”

[What?]

“Didn’t you use the name Heavenly Demon and my martial arts for your own convenience?

I never needed underlings.”

Then, the Heavenly Demon slowly concluded.

“All things in the universe already bear my mark. What need is there for anything else beyond me?”

[......!]

Her hand reached So Cheonmujuk’s abdomen, ripping through the churning black flame and flashing blue lightning like paper.

It was the same technique that absorbed the stars of the Silent Night Radiant Sword Scripture.

If she could devour the condensed force floating far above in the sky, then gripping So Cheonmujuk’s danjeon like a toy was nothing.

At the moment of realization, Jeong Yeon-shin stepped in with rapid speed.

With Joo Gwang-shin’s body shattered and as delicate as powdered gold, it was clearly the footwork of the world’s fastest man.

Hwack!

In his vision, crushed then restored in an instant, So Cheonmujuk’s hair surged up.

He grabbed her shoulder first, pulling her with Ten Thousand Lotus Flowers’ Absorption Formation.

With the other hand, he tossed the Divine Sword into the air, and the tension of Shattering Heaven formed along each of his extended fingers—

Kururung!

Before the thunderclap could even fully echo, he crushed the back of the Heavenly Demon’s hand.

The hand that was gripping the torn hem of So Cheonmujuk’s robe.

‘Heavy.’

It was incredibly bizarre.

Even though he pressed down from above, the weight pressing back felt absurdly immense.

No matter from which direction he attacked, it felt like in the end he’d be the one pinned down.

“I aimed for sorcery-based martial arts, but this technique works in any context. Your nature is easy to read.”

Even though it was only the core secret of the Absorption Technique that was blocked, the Heavenly Demon praised Jeong Yeon-shin as if it were a remarkable feat.

Her tone was natural, even calm.

Yet her hand hadn’t budged an inch.

Jeong Yeon-shin clearly felt it.

Right now, in front of his eyes, the Demon of All Ages had flicked her fingers for a second strike.

At the same time, her body retreated like a mirage and struck up at Jeong Yeon-shin’s chin—Bam!

The cave filled with a rushing earthquake of dust.

The protective energy he had refined in the north—known as Radiant Star—exploded in his head with roaring tinnitus.

A sign his defenses couldn’t keep up.

But Jeong Yeon-shin lowered his head again, a sharp blue light flaring in his eyes.

The Heavenly Demon’s internal energy still didn’t surpass his.

It happened in a flash.

He saw himself reflected in the Heavenly Demon’s pupils.

Images of the Northern Kings, divine warriors, and the Six-Star Warlord flicked rapidly through her eyes, overlapping with his own.

The Heavenly Demon’s lips twisted like a smile.

“You took a direct hit and remained sane. That’s a first.

I tried recreating my own footwork from life.”

She wasn’t wrong.

In that instant, the leg technique that carved itself into the space was the most overwhelming of any battle style Jeong Yeon-shin had ever witnessed.

The trajectory, speed, and power—divine.

It was as if she had bounced herself like a puppet using earthwind.

Jeong Yeon-shin understood the principle, but recreating such a supreme technique with Baek Mi-ryeo’s body was another matter.

She really was a monster.

“...That era must have been peaceful.”

“Perhaps, compared to your world.”

She brushed off Jeong Yeon-shin’s provocation with a crooked smirk.

The very image of a being that defied Heaven.

“I’ll be disposing of this first, so don’t interfere.”

The Heavenly Demon’s voice echoed from behind Jeong Yeon-shin.

Now in front of So Cheonmujuk.

“You’re in my sight. It’s an eyesore.”

[Noon Thunderclap!]

So Cheonmujuk’s willpower turned the cave blue like high noon.

A net of lightning tightened from all directions, centered on the Heavenly Demon.

The stone floor it touched hissed with burning sparks and released a foul burnt stench.

But the Heavenly Demon gathered all those lightning bolts like tangled vines and tore them apart to either side.

Seeing the unseen, touching the untouchable.

A state beyond even the natural body.

The words that instantly floated to Jeong Yeon-shin’s mind: Heavenly Demon’s Divine Body.

‘A realm the Heavenly Demon constructed herself...!’

Why?

In the blink of an eye, Jeong Yeon-shin had rotated around the Heavenly Demon and was holding So Cheonmujuk’s hand.

His body swam through an entirely different temporal flow.

His heart moved, and so did he.

[......!]

He pulled her close.

So Cheonmujuk’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

At the same time, her entire body’s demonic energy rose in sync with the flow of energy surging from Jeong Yeon-shin’s palm.

It was purely instinctual, her combat senses aligning with his.

Their thin sleeves twisted and tangled, striking sparks between magic and divine power.

And in that clash, Jeong Yeon-shin’s Three Pure Energies pierced in.

Thump—

Between the two of them, a single indigo sky unsheathed its blade.

It was Starlit Night.

“......”

All the lightning instantly faded into silence.

The Heavenly Demon, now still in place, asked Jeong Yeon-shin a question.

“What is your name?”

“Jeong family’s Seom-ye. Commander of the Divine Sword Unit of the Heaven’s Sovereign Sect, guardian of the people.”

“What you’re trying to protect—isn’t that the very evil that plagues the world?”

She asked again.

The Heavenly Demon’s face was colder than ever.

Her aura resembled a starless universe—ready to devour souls and all creation alike.

Jeong Yeon-shin calmly replied.

“A weed in my grasp is still a Divine Sword.”

“I saw you let my manifestation happen.

What were you trying to achieve by doing that?”

“A way to survive.”

His voice was firm.

He had poured great will into the act of living.

In contrast, the Heavenly Demon showed deep disappointment—

Just like she had with So Cheonmujuk.

Until Jeong Yeon-shin added his words like a brushstroke to the end of a line.

“The world.”

With martial arts as the final stroke of the dragon’s eye.

In that instant—

The Heavenly Demon’s expression changed, as if she had switched masks.

A grotesque shift.

And soon, laughter began to spill from her lips.