Chapter 11 – The Divine Demonic Vault (2)

The time spent inside the vault for the day, flowed effortlessly like water in a stream.

Woon Seong tried to read as many volumes of martial arts that were applicable to him within that small time frame of 24 hours.

And as a result, he was able to memorize a little more than thirty volumes of martial arts.

To even read 30 books, and somehow generalize their information was quite a feat, but Woon Seong took it a step further and ingrained the knowledge into his head.

It was something he could barely do even with his iron will.

Ordinary people could never memorize such vast amounts of intricate knowledge in their heads with only 24 hours.

Woon Seong was more or less the same.

It wasn’t normal to be able to completely memorize all those volumes of texts, but he couldn’t exactly not remember the most important volumes of texts.

‘But this is enough.’

Nevertheless, there was a smile hanging around the mouth of Woon Seong, who was stepping outside the Divine Demonic Vault.

This is because he had achieved all his goals, he set on himself, when he first entered the Divine Demonic Vault.

‘It’s already enough if I can get the core information from each manual, not just focus on one manual the entire time there.’

He was the heir to the Spearmaster Sect, which originally had a wide knowledge of martial arts inside their library.

To be able to summarize the core points of each martial art manual of the thirty books he was able to read through in one of the biggest libraries across all of Murim was incredible for Woon Seong and his goals moving forwards.

‘It’s not bad.’

No, that was an understatement.

‘No, it’s amazing.’

There was a slight smile on the mouth of Woon Seong.

There were two more things he earned, aside from the summaries of the 30 Martial Art texts he found.

The first was an in-depth understanding of a spear martial art he thought to have been lost a long time ago.

‘In the end, it all came down to harmony like Master said.’

Woon Seong was able to find harmony within this special spear martial art he had found. As his master had once said, it was true that harmony was the most important thing for him to remember. 

‘The degree of how well I can utilize this martial art, depends on how well I can harmonize the internal qi flow required for it, with my own body’s compatibility with it.’

On the contrary, most martial arts were known to trade such explosive power with incompatibility with the user’s body. Especially so when they were demonic arts.

But it was actually a misconception that almost every martial artist fell for.

The more outstanding the martial art, the more it actually requires that balance of harmony with the mind and body. And if found, the more powerful it actually becomes. 

As a result of this, a lot of martial artists used martial arts they were incompatible with. This was best described as pearls on a swine’s neck.  

Although they were made to balance through their initial imbalance, not everyone could transcend their human limits to achieve such harmony with the martial art. 

If one picked a martial art, they did not have the knowledge to master it with, the body or the internal qi to match it, it was obvious they would struggle to bring the full ability of the martial art out.

‘In the end, the goal to become stronger is almost a must if I want to bring the glory of this martial art out. And…’

Woon Seong raised his hand and slipped the book into his robe’s sleeves, recalling his goal of vengeance and the strength required to achieve it.

‘I never thought I’d find this here.’

Not only did Woon Seong realize he would have to train harder to complete Heavenward Soul Earthen Body technique to achieve harmony and talent required for his goals, but he also realized the true glory of the new spear martial art he had once thought was lost.

It was the martial art he just slipped into his robe’s sleeves.

Heavenly Spear Martial Arts: The Six Seals of Destruction (六結破天例)

Upon returning to his room within the Cave of Latent Demons after leaving the Divine Demonic Vault, Woon Seong put his hand back in his robes and went up to the dim candlelight within his small room.

The small booklet he had taken out of the Divine Demonic Vault came into view.

The dust from the cover of the book was wiped off by Woon Seong’s delicate hands as he handled the booklet with care.

Woon Seong carefully read over the title of the martial art once more.

‘The Six Seals of Destruction’

Woon Seong had heard of it and it’s origins.

The creator of the martial art was someone that had once been a part of his very own Spearmaster Sect! However, that person had also joined the Demonic Cult, which led to a very unusual history regarding the Spearmaster Sect in Murim.

The story had been told to Woon Seong back when he was a child in his previous life, when he first became the disciple of the Spearmaster sect.

The history was indeed unusual, but what was for certain, was that this was indeed the lost and great martial art of that unique individual, who seemed to have walked a path with the same setting as Woon Seong currently.

‘In the end, The Six Seals of Destruction was being kept hidden within the Divine Demonic Vault. I got lucky.’

Woon Seong smiled faintly, slightly shaking the dust off the back of his hand.

As he recalled this mysterious master’s history, this martial art was known to be incredible. It was unbelievably strong yet also was just as mysterious as its owner. That was the case for it being known as a lost martial art, all throughout Murim.

Woon Seong knew that in Murim, the knowledge about this legacy was rather misled. The Spearmaster sect was known as a sole apprenticeship sect. Meaning there was only one heir to the sect at a time.

But, if this legacy had somehow gotten to the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, then how was the apprenticeship still strong until Woon Seong’s generation?

‘That’s because some of the stories about the spearmaster sect that are known to the public are not true.’

For generations, the Spearmaster Sect produced only one disciple at a time. Therefore, it was treated as the common knowledge in Murim…

However, this was not technically true.

The Spearmaster Sect, if one looked hard enough, had no such law or rule to their apprenticeship stating it was only for one heir.

The reason for this was because mastery with the spear was known as one of the most respectful, and most difficult to learn, in terms of the martial arts associated with the weapon.

If one also looked closely enough to the history of the Spearmaster Sect, one would realize there was indeed a generation where there was more than one apprentice to the sect.

This happened to be the case in the 5th generation of lineage for the Spearmaster Sect. The Master of the Spearmaster Sect at the time, accepted two different apprentices and taught them both equally.

However, the Title of the Spearmaster, could only be passed down to one of them, and the apprentice who was not able to inherit the title, traveled far and wide to pursue his martial arts further.

The apprentice who had decided to travel, traveled as far as the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, and had created his own martial art in this process. That martial art he created, was title the Six Seals of Destruction (六結破天例).

‘But I’d never heard that the martial art for the Six Seals of Destruction was actually formally recorded anywhere. There were only partial records of this martial art left behind in the Spearmaster Sect.’

However, it was the apprentice of the Spearmaster Sect who had created the art. If that was the case, then why was the full art left behind here, in the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.

Although he had left and traveled all the way to the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, he did not forget his roots as a martial artist of the Spearmaster Sect.

‘But if that was really the case, then why is the record left here?’

There was something that seemed to be hidden from the public eye and the records of the Spearmaster Sect, seeing how the record was left here in full. If so, something must have happened between the unknown apprentice, the Spearmaster Sect, and the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.

Besides, that was not what mattered now to Woon Seong.

‘What matters, is that it’s now in my hands.’

Woon Seong clenched his grip tightly with his free hand that was not handling the book.

The Six Seals of Destruction was made with both the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s practices, and the Spearmaster Sect’s practices as well.

It was quite literally perfect for Woon Seong, who although might have different goals from that apprentice, also was treading the same path currently.

It was as if the Six Seals of Destruction dropped into his hands like it was fate.

For Woon Seong, this martial art would definitely play a pivotal role for him in his revenge against Jwa Do-Gyeul.

‘That fucker, I’ll kill him.’

As Woon Seong recalled the face of Jwa Do-Gyeul, a surging and violent anger popped up inside of his head. In all the times in the Cave of Latent Demons, the only time Woon Seong ever truly felt this rage was when he recalled that bastard’s face.

Perhaps Woon Seong’s emotions had been fluctuating since he was excited about the discovery of the Six Seals of Destruction.

‘Let’s not get too excited.’

Bit by bit, Woon Seong recollected his breath.

A scarlet aura of killing intent swirled around in Woon Seong’s eyes before disappearing altogether.

He didn’t forget.

He was just waiting to build his strength and bide his time accordingly.

His revenge would happen. He would make sure of it no matter what, even if it took him countless years to achieve it.

‘Master…’

As an orphan, Woon Seong’s master was not just a man who taught him martial arts, but a father who had helped him rediscover what it meant to be human. He had brought Woon Seong up, who was nothing but a measly orphan, practically on death’s door, to someone who could appreciate his own life.

‘To do so, I will use what I can, and I will take what I can.’

Even if that means using the power from the Cult of the Heavenly Demon!

Woon Seong clenched his fist.

Woodduck-

The sound of Woon Seong’s teeth grinding rang out in the room along with his knuckles popping in frustration.

He would wait patiently.

Until he could build enough strength to pursue his revenge whole-heartedly.

He was incredibly likely to die if he went out as he was now, trying to recklessly pursue his revenge on Jwa Do-Gyeul.

He had to focus on what he could do right now.

Woon Seong thought as such and then admired the Six Seals of Destruction with a murderous glint in his eye.

However, there was also a look of utmost concentration as well.

Inside the stone chamber, only ragged and fierce breaths from Woon Seong could be heard.

* * *

After the trip to the Divine Demonic Vault, the schedule of the Cave of Latent Demons continued without much change.

The only difference was that one’s personal time to practice had increased.

The instructors would have normally made the children move according to the tight training schedule before dinner.

However, after leaving the Divine Demonic Vault, Woon Seong and the other children were given free time after finishing training before lunchtime.

Of course, it was a given time to learn the martial arts that they each took out of the Divine Demonic Vault.

Woon Seong made the best use of his time to learn the art of the Six Seals of the Destruction.

The qi flow required for the martial art was needed to be trained, along with the technique itself for his body.

‘The martial art is so strange in nature, it’s not easy to grasp at all.’

It was incredibly difficult to master the Six Seals of Destruction. Even for Woon Seong, who had knowledge of the Spearmaster Sect’s original values and martial arts, this new technique was incredibly difficult, odd… and extremely dangerous.

The martial art could not even be pulled off in earnest if one did not have the correct body frame and firmness in their bone structure. Otherwise, the user’s body would be torn to shreds if they tried to complete their mastery of the martial art impatiently.

“Even so, the Six Seals of Destruction is a well-made martial art.’

As many generations of martial arts had been passed down since the creation of the martial art, Woon Seong could tell just how amazing it was to create such a dangerous and powerful martial art back then.

However, the analysis for finding the roots between the Spearmaster Sect and the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, was incredibly hard to divide.

‘It’s like trying to split a tree down the middle and expecting to find two main roots.’

This was the case for the martial art Woon Seong was learning that was passed down through texts from opposing cultures and practices.

‘However, that’s exactly why I can master the art itself.’

Line by line, Woon Seong analyzed the text and scripture from the booklet.

Of course, it was also important to learn the art with his body as well.

The difference between learning by simply reading and learning with the body was huge.

Whirl-

The spear in the hands of the Woon Seong moved.

The movement was unbelievably impressive, with the iron speartip twirling in a half crescent, hanging from his hands and feet.

‘This is the origin.’

The Spearmaster Sect’s main martial art unfolded in the hands of Woon Seong with his spear.

The Divine Spear of the Ending Night (覇道 流水)

The name of the spear art handed down in reverence to the spear of god, which erases all things, even the night, was the martial art his teacher had passed down to Woon Seong.

It was stable and soft compared to the flow from the Six Seals of Destruction and was the martial art his master had developed by himself.

…

The spear flows like water.

The stream and current of the stable water flow, traps the opponent in a sea of endless spear strikes.

The opponent who gets trapped by such spear arts, will be lost and drowning in the endless barrage of spears, unable to do anything.

…

The reason it was such a strong martial art, was because of the breath-by-breath nature of the art, and the stability within the structure of movements.

‘Next is Six Seals of Destruction.’

The iron spear, which was swirling all over the place performing the Divine Spear of Endless Night, disappeared.

Soon after, a series of heavy blows were swung. The spear parted heavily in the air.

Boom-

It contained the power to smash even rocks in one go.

The air shook and cracked every time the spear in the hands of Woon Seong moved.

In other words, if the Divine Spear of Endless Night was water, the Six Seals of Destruction was fire. The Six Seals of destruction flowed out like a lava that cracked through the molten earth and ravaged all living things to oblivion.

The movement of the spear was so destructive and powerful that Woon Seong’s body that he had been training rigorously, still couldn’t come out unscathed after practicing it.

‘This is a dilemma.’

The softness and consistent flow of the Divine Spear of Endless Night, and the extreme firepower from the Six Seals of Destruction.

In other words, if Woon Seong was able to somehow combine these two, he would be able to complete a new martial art that had never been seen before.

But to do this, it would be much harder than creating the cultivation method he created already in the Tempered True Blossom technique.

This was like directly mixing oil and water together.

Therefore, if he could combine the two somehow, he would create a dastardly new technique that would be unparalleled to any spear martial art in existence.

It’s not like it hadn’t been attempted before. But none were able or capable to even try finding an ounce of success in combining two polar opposite techniques like this before.

‘But it’s still worth trying.’

The pursuit of extreme stability, and extreme destruction.

The two spear martial arts depicting these two natures that Woon Seong had, were already enough to be called treasures in all of Murim in terms of their profoundness.

However, if he could mix these two martial arts, which were already so high-level, that were able to be treasured as a Clan’s secret martial art, he would create a martial art only to be known in legends.

In addition, the generational difference between the two martial arts to master them on their own, was not much of a problem for Woon Seong as it would be for others.

‘What I have to pay attention to, is the mastery of both martial arts first, and creating a foundation to build upon. If I can create this martial art successfully, those orthodox hypocrites will truly die by my hand!’

In terms of mastery between the two martial arts, Woon Seong could most likely master them both with his old body at that very moment. However, the current body of No. 900 was not used to such movements quite yet. 

If it doesn’t work, I can always use other martial art techniques to cover up the flaws if I can’t mix the two of them perfectly.

‘Let’s do it.’

Woon Seong was not only excited for his revenge, but to learn and create new martial arts was any true martial artist’s greed. Especially when Woon Seong held all the keys to power within his own knowledge, he was bound to be ready.

‘First we master these two separately, then… we create an entirely new martial art!’

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Il-Hwang, 일황]

[Translator – betterdays]

[Proofreader – Mayank]