A week had passed in a flash, truly like an arrow.
During the time the library was open, I was busy exploring the Heavenly Demon Library and devouring martial arts texts, and when it was closed, I was busy practicing the martial arts I had read that day.
*Sigh.*
When the promised week ended, I couldn’t help but feel regret. Unexpected variables had wasted a fair amount of time.
That variable was the time spent searching for martial arts.
Initially, it was only natural to find things through a guide since the entire Heavenly Demon Library and its individual martial arts texts couldn’t be perfectly implemented in the game.
In the game’s martial world, the guides and clerks of the Heavenly Demon Library acted as human search engines.
However, this wasn’t a game; the clerks were real people, and the Heavenly Demon Library wasn’t a perfectly organized space like in a game.
“So, you’re saying you don’t really know where the Heart Technique is?”
“Umm, I’ll look for it. However, the martial arts classified as miscellaneous can be quite ambiguous, so it’s going to take time.”
The guides were well-versed in areas frequently visited by the Demon Sect martial artists, but they often struggled in rarely visited sections, leaving areas with miscellaneous texts unorganized.
Thanks to that, I had to waste quite a lot of time just trying to find the martial arts I wanted.
Though I finally managed to achieve the results I had aimed for.
That was truly thanks to recklessly using deadly techniques without a care.
“Dude! I’m sparring with the Heavenly Demon! Eating together and everything! That kind of person!”
Leverage your connections!
“Get the person in charge out here! Get the library supervisor! You! Are you the highest-ranking person here?”
Commotion!
As the guest of the Heavenly Demon began to stir up trouble, the Heavenly Demon Library had no choice but to mobilize numerous clerks to organize the miscellaneous text section while also assigning personnel to find the martial arts I wanted.
It felt like I had suddenly become a division commander who ordered the mountains to be pushed in a peaceful barracks, but I had to survive.
Thus, I relentlessly grilled the Heavenly Demon Library staff.
Amidst the sacrifices of the clerks, who were increasingly showing dark circles under their eyes, I barely managed to achieve my goal.
“It seems like you had quite a bit of time, huh?”
During a week of pulling all-nighters like it was a meal, while enduring the fierce glares of the clerks, I rummaged through the Heavenly Demon Library.
I had given it my all, but the gaze of Wi Seoryeon looking at me was sharp.
It seemed she was trying hard to control her emotions, but anyone could feel the dissatisfaction bubbling up inside her.
“The week was probably insufficient time for you to refine yourself. It seems you wasted time just to catch a glimpse of the rising martial arts and Divine Skill.”
Hey, Ms. Heavenly Demon.
Weren’t you the one who gave the token?
Why are you mad that I saw rising martial arts underground?
It was quite an unfair situation, but there was something to point at.
Was Wi Seoryeon’s mood related to the Black Cat standing right there?
I didn’t know why, but the Black Cat stood proudly, nodding as if satisfied while watching our duel.
“It seems like you have the leisure to be distracted.”
When I looked toward the Black Cat, Wi Seoryeon’s tone instantly turned fierce.
…Something definitely happened.
I decided to ask the Black Cat later about what went on and focused back on Wi Seoryeon in front of me.
Wi Seoryeon began to exude a threatening aura as if she would charge at me any second.
“I’ll check if you truly managed to achieve something to the extent of being able to be so relaxed.”
Seeing her clench her fist, I hurriedly drew my great sword.
Wi Seoryeon immediately closed the distance, as if to say that she wouldn’t give me time to operate the Enlightened Cloud Thunder Technique.
She was showing her intent to rain down relentless strikes just like a week ago.
It was an expression of her will to test if there had been any development over the past week.
…Though it felt like there was some emotion mixed in as well.
I recalled the past week, watching the approach of Wi Seoryeon charging toward me without hesitation.
The Heavenly Demon Wi Seoryeon said that increasing was what mattered.
That was the principle of martial arts the Heavenly Demon Sect pursued.
However, not all martial artists of the Demon Sect trained alongside Wi Seoryeon. Most of them learned a suitable main martial art for themselves and then modified or omitted some of the techniques by referring to other martial arts texts.
Not everyone can rise to prominence right from the start like Wi Seoryeon.
No matter how much the Demon Sect’s teachings emphasize adding on, the foundation built by the seniors is still needed for the martial artists of the Demon Sect.
In other words, the martial artists in the Demon Sect could also be seen as those who walk along a path in the bigger picture.
Those in the Righteous Faction blindly pursue only the path they choose.
And if the Heavenly Demon is a cliff, a waterfall, or whatever else that breaks through at will, then the martial artists of the Demon Sect are the ones who look around to see which path is the easiest at a fork in the road, or sometimes venture off the trail into rocky paths.
For that reason, those from the Demon Sect are even more obsessed with worthy martial arts.
The rising martial arts that supposedly embody the profound principles of martial arts. If a realization or the right technique that is desperately needed is hidden among those rising techniques, they can either engage in training or switch to that martial art directly.
And as much as they favor valuable martial arts, worthless martial arts are bound to be scorned.
While the Righteous Faction would preserve martial arts linked to the secrets of their ancestors by any means necessary, in the Demon Sect, those arts are all lumped together under the notion of miscellaneous texts and left like a useless burden in a corner.
So what constitutes worthless martial arts, treated as miscellaneous texts?
The answer is simple.
A “chicken rib.”
Martial arts that seem useful but one is reluctant to learn are classified as miscellaneous texts.
For example, a technique for safely landing from a height.
If you’re a gamer enjoying games where you take falling damage, it’s a technique you’d learn with your eyes wide open, but this is reality.
Unless you’re a crazy veteran who must check what’s at the cliff’s bottom even if it means performing a base jump, who would bother to learn such martial arts?
Or the Diamond Ironfoot technique, specialized for strengthening the ankles.
Having strong ankles is great, but is there really a need to push them to the limit like that?
Miscellaneous texts are martial arts that have no application in actual combat or yield results that are ambiguous compared to the effort put in.
And—
Those very miscellaneous texts could be the key to complementing the Enlightened Cloud Thunder Technique.
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