‘The foundation?’

Chun Yeowun realized a new fact about the vicious black energy emitted by Chun Ma.

At first, he thought of the black energy he held as simply Sky Demon Energy.

And later, when he saw the fallen White Tiger, he realized that the spiritual energy possessed by fallen spirit beasts had to be different.

‘Then, why was the spiritual energy of the fallen White Tiger still in its original state?’

Actually, this was just a guess on his side.

There was another energy source inside the fallen White Tiger body that kept it moving despite its core being removed.

And he felt a ferocious energy from it.

‘Even if that’s the case, the ancestors didn’t seal the demo…’

This was a shock to Chun Yeowun.

The Sky Demon Sword was sealed inside the hall.

Chun Yeowun, who had seen the vision at that time, thought that Chun Ma had sealed the corrupted Imoogi’s spiritual energy with the help of the Sky Demon Sword, but it looked like the story was the opposite.

‘Did you corrupt what was trying to ascend to heaven?’

When he thought back on it, it was definitely clear.

As Chun Ma cut the horns of the dragon, which was about to ascend to heaven, it filled with hatred and anger.

And that was why it couldn’t ascend.

[It’s a sad story for the dragon trying to ascend to heaven, but I didn’t have any other choice.]

‘Choice?’

[We don’t have much time, but our meeting now is to let you know the reason.]

Shhh!

Chun Ma reached out into the space of nothingness. A stone chair was created where he stood, and he sat down and continued.

[Inside the Sky Demon Sword, I watched you fight.]

Swoosh!

When Chun Ma reached out to the right, a human form was created.

Unlike augmented reality, it was as if a cloud of smoke came together.

Nothing more than taking up a human form,

‘Blade God!’

The first monster who drove Chun Yeowun to the brink of death for the first time since he started out.

Chun Yeowun, who didn’t know that Chun Ma inside the Sky Demon Sword had been watching the showdown, felt embarrassed.

[No need to be shy. My blood, even though there was such a gap between you two, you deserve full praise for the judgments you made.]

Normally, people would have fallen into despair.

However, Chun Yeowun fought till the end, not giving up.

Chun Ma appreciated that aspect of Chun Yeowun.

[I didn’t believe that the prophecy would come true until I saw it for myself. Immortality…]

Chun Ma said, staring at the figure of the Blade God standing still like a doll.

It was as if he recalled a distant past.

‘What do you mean by prophecy?’

[In the past, there was an extraordinary prophet who came to me and gave me a prophecy about the future of the Sky Demon Order.]

‘Prophet?’

He would have frowned if Chun Ma used the word psychic.

But Chun Ma called him a prophet, one who foretells the future.

‘… ancestor. Are you sure it was a prophet?’

At Chun Yeowun’s question, Chun Ma, not answering, continued.

[The prophet said that a crisis would come to our cult in the distant future. It was said that an immortal being would arrive in Wulin and bring hell, even to our cult.]

Immortal being.

Chun Yeowun spoke while looking at the figure of the Blade God standing still next to the seated Chun Ma.

‘And the immortal being the prophet spoke of is the Blade God?’

At that question, Chun Ma frowned and answered.

[Even I was skeptical. However, I never dreamed that I would see that person again with my own two eyes.]

As soon as he heard those words, Chun Yeowun remembered something.

The traces of confrontation engraved on the cliffs.

It was obvious that the traces were created by the Sword Force of the Sky Demon and the Extreme Art of the Blade God.

‘Ancestor. Is it okay if I ask one question?’

[You don’t need to stick with formalities.]

‘Are the traces in the Sword Creek from you fighting him?’

[Sword Creek?]

‘Yes, that was the place where our ancestor engraved the word ‘Sword’ on the mountain peak.’

At that moment, Chun Ma nodded as if he understood.

[Did you call that place Sword Creek? Right. There was a battle there with him. He was a person with a completely different system of martial arts that I never experienced before.]

The Extreme Art of the Blade God was extremely difficult to unfold with a normal human body.

After seeing the martial arts, even Chun Ma tried to incorporate parts of the Extreme Art of the Blade God into the Sword Force of the Sky Demon.

[Even so, it was lacking even compared to the Great Guardian’s. Now, it can be said that it was only at the level of understanding basic qi.]

‘Ah…’

Now he totally understood it.

When he looked at the legendary records about Chun Ma.

Every time he looked into it, he found it hard to believe what he was reading.

At that time, when the records were done, Chun Ma was only 18, and he rose to the top as he defeated all the famous masters of the time and earned the title of the best in the world.

Ancestor, no, Chun Ma, was called the best and the strongest in the history of Wulin, and Chun Yeowun was able to see just how great he was by taking a look at the records, not once had Chun Ma been defeated.

[But, he would survive even if my sword pierced through his head.]

The words of Chun Ma convinced Chun Yeowun that he hadn’t died.

However, despite seeing the Blade God through Chun Yeowun, Chun Ma couldn’t help but be shocked.

He became stronger.

‘… it’s possible if a core is absorbed.’

As Chun Ma said, even after taking that critical blow, there was only one reason that he was alive.

Even if he didn’t acquire a core containing spiritual energy, if he absorbed the blood, that would be enough to get regenerative power.

[You’re right. Perhaps that’s it. Maybe he’s a person who absorbed the core of a spirit beast and turned into a being which transcended humans.]

Since Chun Ma was the one who cut off the Imoogi’s head, there was no way he was unaware of the cores and their powers.

Chun Ma reached out to the left.

Shh!

With smoke, five creatures were created.

Although smaller in size, they could be identified as the five spirit beasts.

Imoogi, Flame Qilin, Dragon Turtle, White Tiger, and Great Bird.

Pointing to them, he said.

[The prophet spoke of immortality. However, no matter how high the martial state was, human life had always been finite. Immortality cannot be reached by ordinary methods. Accordingly, we came to know about the existence of the five spirit beasts through ancient books. The spirits were collectively called the Five Spirit Beasts.]

Upon learning of the existence of the spirit beasts, Chun Ma set out to find them. And they found out that the cores of the creatures and their blood had a great influence on human lifespan.

[If I absorbed all five cores, I was convinced that immortality wasn’t a false dream.]

“… that’s right.”

Even Chun Yeowun didn’t deny it.

Even a small amount of spiritual energy from the spirit beasts was enough to surpass human limitations.

[From then on, I came up with three options.]

‘Three options?’

[Yes. The first was to prevent the existence of the five spirit beasts.]

But there was a big problem with the first option.

When one of the five spirit beasts disappeared from the world, a new one would appear.

It continued to exist as their will was passed down, just like how a human passes down their will to their children or disciples.

In the end, the first option didn’t work.

[The second was to change the method, to make the head of the future generation immortal. It was similar to nurturing a being equal to the immortal enemy who might appear in the future.]

‘Ah!’

In fact, this was something that Chun Yeowun had always been suspicious about.

If Chun Ma himself became immortal, he could have further helped in strengthening the clan, but he chose not to.

‘Why didn’t our ancestor do that?’

[Huhuh, that is such a stupid question. Simple. How long would I be able to embrace the cult and keep protecting the new ones in my arms? Besides, it felt wrong to wait for an immortal enemy whose existence and when he would arrive was unknown.]

Chun Yeowun was speechless for a moment, but he understood.

In a way, Chun Ma thought it was ridiculous to turn into an immortal being just because he was worried about the future generations.

‘Hold on. Then the content about ancestor rising to prominence?’

[Listening to you, it seems like I succeeded in it.]

Chun Ma, who heard that, smiled.

That was what was written in the records of the demonic cult.

It said that Chun Ma, who achieved the highest level of martial arts, rose to prominence.

Rising to prominence was another story that could only happen in Wulin. However, Chun Ma, who reached the highest, realized something.

[That’s a good thing. In any case, I came to understand that the second plan that I thought of was a task for future generations to do. If our cult captured so many creatures and tried to hide it, then it was bound to cause a civil war inside the cult.]

‘Ah…’

Chun Ma created the new Sky Demon Order, but he didn’t trust everyone.

Even those who followed him seemed to be hiding their greed for infinite power.

Therefore, the gathering of the spirits was stopped.

‘… it was the right decision.’

Thinking about the six clans, Chun Ma’s decision was right.

Even if he didn’t actually catch them all, Chun Yeowun got them all as if it was destined.

[I thought of a different method. It was interesting because it was like a challenge for me.]

‘Does it have something to do with the Sky Demon Energy?’

At Chun Yeowun’s question, Chun Ma smiled and nodded.

[I wanted to kill the immortal being that the prophet spoke about. I wanted to prove that immortality doesn’t exist in the world.]

It was indeed an absurd idea.

So Chun Ma began to study powers that could possibly destroy the supposed immortal.

Those who took the cores had regenerative powers, so it was only possible to kill them by beheading or completely annihilating their bodies.

[I was convinced that if I could make those beings irreparable, then I could even kill immortals.]

Chun Ma talked about the research he did.

At first, he approached the matter only from a martial arts point of view. Still, in order to learn about spiritual energy and beings, he began to learn about energy and Buddhism, eventually attaining enlightenment.

[Spiritual beings are born out of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. To oppose that energy, I believed that an opposite energy was needed.]

[The demon energy!]

[Clever one. Yes. That was the beginning.]

The Sky Demon Order was called the Demonic Cult because they worshipped demons and their leader held the title Sky Demon, but that didn’t mean they followed the teachings of evil.

It was simply their ideas that sprouted from respect for the strong.

However, in order to obtain the power to destroy all things, Chun Ma believed that an opposite energy, with demonic attributes like hatred, anger, and destruction, was needed.

[However, although humans have anger, murderous intent, and viciousness, they can’t reach the level of pure evil.]

‘Ahh!’

With those words alone, Chun Yeowun understood why Chun Ma cut off the horns of the Imoogi.

By blocking the entry of a spirit being with the highest level of spiritual energy in the human realm, he turned its emotions into rage, anger, and destruction.

[You inherited my will and gained the energy which contained the Imoogi’s demon energy left behind by me, but an incomplete demon energy cannot completely eliminate immortality.]

‘That… is right.’

As Chun Ma said, he was completely unable to kill the Blade God.

However, the Sky Demon Energy was able to go against the Blade God.

It had an effect that interfered with regeneration.

[Don’t worry. Now you have achieved the true demon energy. With your current strength, you can destroy everything.]

With those words, Chun Ma rose from his seat.

And lightly flicked his fingers,

Visor!

A sword appeared in the air.

It was the form of the Sky Demon Sword.

Chun Ma grabbed it and spoke to Chun Yeowun.

[From now on, you can lead. Now that you are qualified, I will show you the true way to handle the Sky Demon Energy.]

‘The true way?’

Chun Yeowun thought that he had already been handling the Sky Demon Energy the right way.

The Sky Demon Energy had been able to maximize all his skills.

At that look, Chun Ma shook his head.

[Those who realize the mysteries of mother nature will be able to wield divine swordsmanship.]

At those words, Chun Yeowun suddenly remembered the Blade God and the God of the East.

The blade energy which was pushed into Chun Yeowun’s heart, which could have killed him in an instant.

‘Divine swordsman…’

Come to think of it, the Blade God became one with the sword for a moment and blocked Chun Yeowun’s attacks.

Chun Yeowun instinctively thought that it was a technique the Blade God could do because of how strong he was.

Looking at Chun Yeowun, who was puzzled, Chun Ma spoke with a smile.

[I’ll show you the unity gained from the Divine Swordsmanship that people have forgotten. Following me, I will pass on the best sword to someone who has mastered demon energy.]

Only

‘What is that?’

Despite the spirit body, Chun Yeowun could feel the thrill run down his spine.

And Chun Ma spoke.

[A sword that can destroy everything. It is the Non-existent Sky Demon Sword.]