Chapter 21: Four Strides Are Enough

TL: FoodieMonster007

"Hahahahaha!"

Father's thunderous laughter echoed through the main hall.

"Is talk about killing someone really that funny?"

Father stopped laughing and stated definitively, "You can kill the Demonic Army General, but you can't kill the Blood Heaven Blade Demon."

He meant I couldn't kill him yet.

"Then why'd you make me conflict with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon? Take responsibility!"

"Alright, I'll take responsibility."

He took responsibility as easily as he spoke.

"I'll entrust you with the position of Sanzu Hall Director."

I was stunned. I never dreamed he would make me the Sanzu Hall Director.

"Is that even possible?"

Of course, what could be impossible for the Heavenly Demon?

"Was it possible for a mere investigator to kill the Demonic Army General?"

As things unfolded, I realized Father might have planned to make me the Sanzu Hall Director from the start.

"You said you wanted to establish proper discipline, didn't you?"

To me, his words meant one thing. He was giving me a sword and telling me to go on a rampage. More bluntly, I would be the shield and take all the blows.

Father would face many complications if he acted directly, but what about the wild, uncontrollable youngest son of the Heavenly Demon?

Are you trying to use me to handle the matters you've been putting off? Regardless of whether I live or die?

I couldn't tell if this was a cold father's love or just a step in making me his successor. Right, I shouldn't get emotional about this.

Father was right about one thing. You can never truly know a person's heart. Don't try to read their mind. Judge them by what you see and hear, by the situation as it unfolds.

Father was always like this. He was the kind of man who would leave a message on the wall for his child, but also throw that child into danger if it served a purpose.

In a way, a father like this was easier to handle. I just had to give him what he wanted and take what I needed.

"If you send me out to catch a bull, you should at least give me a knife."

"Is there something you want?"

The name of a place I absolutely had to visit after my regression flowed from my lips.

"Please allow me into the Heavenly Demon Archives."

The Heavenly Demon Archives collected all sorts of precious murim secret manuals. Only a few permitted individuals, including the Heavenly Demon himself, could enter.

"The Heavenly Demon Archives? Why?"

A bewildered look appeared on Father's face.

"If you think you can learn some ultimate martial art just by going in there, you're gravely mistaken. You'll just end up reading the titles."

There were that many secret manuals. Even if I got lucky and found the best one, it would be on a similar level to the Soaring Sky Sword Art I already knew.

Father's eyes held a mix of doubt and reprimand, as if asking how I could not know that.

"I want to test my luck."

Father must have been curious. He must have wondered what my intentions were.

After staring at me for a moment, Father made his decision.

"I don't know what kind of vile intentions you have, but…"

Father gave his permission only after adding that unnecessary remark.

"I grant you access to the Heavenly Demon Archives for seven days."

"Thank you, Father."

Seven days was an unprecedented amount of time for someone who wasn't a successor. It meant that entrusting me with the Sanzu Hall Director position was that important.

"Tell them that the discipline of our Cult will have to wait for just seven days!"

Lee Ahn was extremely excited that I was going into the Heavenly Demon Archives.

"Young Master, when you go into the Heavenly Demon Archives, you have to focus on memorizing one martial art and come out. If you get greedy, you won't gain anything. Oh, and make sure to eat your meals. If you skip meals to save time, your memory will suffer, and it'll be a loss in the end. Ah, and it's so big in there, you might get lost…"

I watched Lee Ahn chatter on and reflected on myself.

The Lee Ahn in my memory was a very quiet person, yet here she was, a chatterbox.

I must have been like that back then, filled only with the desire to become the successor. I must have just stared at the roof of the Heavenly Demon Hall while the very people who could help me achieve my dream stood right in front of me.

That must be why Lee Ahn became so quiet. I was the one who made this talkative, cheerful woman so taciturn.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"I heard you. Focus on one thing, and eat my meals properly."

"And sleep well. I'll be hoping for a good result. Don't forget. Being able to enter the Heavenly Demon Archives when you're not even a successor is a heaven-sent opportunity."

"Aigoo, my ears are going to bleed. Ugh, they might be bleeding already."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I'll talk less from now on."

"No. A depressed personal bodyguard is even more terrifying."

"Then please keep my words in mind, and ah, another thing you should think about when you're looking for a secret manual is…"

"Please!"

In truth, Lee Ahn didn't need to worry. I knew exactly where to go in that vast Heavenly Demon Archives.

To explain why I wanted to enter the Heavenly Demon Archives, I had to go back to my search for the Secret Demon Soul, the final ingredient for the Great Regression Technique.

I had returned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult after its closed-off period to get the Secret Demon Soul.

I had carved a deep wound on my face to become unrecognizable. I was already a dead man. After leaving the cult for decades and disfiguring my face, no one recognized me.

On my own strength, I rose from a common martial artist to a position where I could have a private audience with the new Cult Leader. It took a very long time.

In the final year, when I obtained the Secret Demon Soul, I heard a story about a certain martial art.

The Four Strides of the Wind God.

The person who obtained the Four Strides of the Wind God was none other than Ju Baekdo, the Cult Leader of the Wind Demonic Cult at the time. The Cult Leader position had changed six times in the decades after the closed-off period, which shows how chaotic our Cult was.

I clearly remembered what he told me during a drinking session.

"…I was able to rise to the position of Cult Leader because I found the lost Four Strides of the Wind God."

The Four Strides of the Wind God was unquestionably the greatest movement art, composed of just four techniques.

It was said to have once supplemented the Heavenly Demon's martial arts, but it was lost in some generation and no longer passed down, yet, Ju Baekdo had obtained that very art.

"…The previous Cult Leader and his blood relatives suddenly met a tragic end, causing the Heavenly Demon's unique martial arts, the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, to be lost. The only silver lining was that only the Heavenly Demon Hall was wiped out, so we were able to preserve the strength of our Cult and enter the closed-off period. After that, our Cult was in continuous chaos over the Cult Leader position. If I hadn't obtained the Four Strides of the Wind God, our Cult would have continued in turmoil and eventually collapsed from internal strife."

He rose to the position of Cult Leader just by adding this movement art to his own martial arts. That showed how outstanding the Four Strides of the Wind God was.

"Where did you find the Four Strides of the Wind God?"

"In the Heavenly Demon Archives. At the time, I was in charge of managing it."

"If the secret manual was there, why was it known to be lost?"

"Because it wasn't placed on a bookshelf."

"……"

If I hadn't drunk with him that day, if he hadn't been in a good mood, if he hadn't started boasting in his drunkenness, I would never have known where the Four Strides of the Wind God was.

The Heavenly Demon Archives was the largest library I had ever seen. Ninety-nine massive bookshelves filled the space, lined with all sorts of secret martial arts manuals. Unparalleled arts that would make anyone's heart pound were scattered throughout, secret manuals our Cult had collected over many long years.

I walked slowly between the shelves and savored the smell of old books. Endless bookshelves overflowed with martial arts manuals. Seven days didn't seem like enough time to even read all the titles.

Of course, I didn't need to search for a needle in a haystack.

"Here it is."

I stopped in front of the nineteenth bookshelf.

Secret manuals on sound arts were shelved here. I had no intention of spending my new life with music.

I looked not at the manuals, but underneath the shelf. A single book propped up one sagging side, leveling it against the weight of the other books.

I used my inner arts to lift the bookshelf slightly and pulled out the book.

Four characters were written on the cover of the old secret manual.

風神四步.

"It really was here!"

I was overjoyed.

I recalled my past conversation with Ju Baekdo.

"Because the Four Strides of the Wind God wasn't placed on a bookshelf."

"Then where was it?"

"That precious secret manual was being used as a prop for the nineteenth bookshelf."

He said he discovered it because of his obsessive compulsion. He was the type who had to place his chopsticks perfectly straight and fold his clothes without the slightest error. He said that a water cup on the corner of a table would make him too worried to eat.

In the Heavenly Demon Archives, he had seen the crooked prop under the bookshelf and discovered the manual while trying to straighten it.

I didn't know why this precious secret manual became a bookshelf prop. Ju Baekdo, who discovered it, didn't know either.

I could only assume some past intrigue was involved. Some incident must have required hiding the world's number one movement art here. It could have been a succession struggle or the result of a misguided love from a past Heavenly Demon. Or perhaps it was someone's twisted ambition.

In any case, I now had a connection with the Four Strides of the Wind God.

I carefully opened the first page of the secret manual.

A single, proud line written before the main oral secrets made my heart swell.

To walk the world, four strides are enough.

Yes, this was it. A martial art vying for number one in the world should have this much pride.

The Four Strides of the Wind God was composed of four techniques: the Shadow Step, the Vanishing Step, the Hell Step, and the Swift Step.

The first stride, the Shadow Step, was an infiltration art. At first, it could only avoid one person's eyes, but mastery increased the number of people one could evade. The manual said that at complete mastery, one could vanish instantly even while watched by dozens of people.

The second stride, the Vanishing Step, was a defensive movement art. It was an evasion method to find a path to survival against an unavoidable attack.

The third stride, the Hell Step, was a movement art for closing in on an opponent. The manual explained it could neutralize any defense or evasion.

The Hell Step was essentially saying, "I'll open the path to hell for you, so you just take the head."

The Hell Step and the Vanishing Step were therefore contradictory. One art always evaded, and the other always closed in. If the two techniques clashed, the outcome would depend on the caliber of the martial artists.

The final stride, the Swift Step, was a movement art that pushed the limits of speed. The higher one's mastery, the smaller the Central Plains would become. I was certain that at complete mastery, the Swift Step would demonstrate movement beyond human limits.

In the end, the Four Strides of the Wind God was simple.

Infiltrate, evade, attack, and run.

It asked a simple question. When facing someone, weren't these four perfect steps enough?

I sat in a corner of the Heavenly Demon Archives and quietly began to memorize the oral secrets.

I followed Lee Ahn's advice faithfully. I ate the beef jerky I brought for every meal and slept soundly. In return, I focused all my remaining time on the Four Strides of the Wind God with a clear mind.

The oral secrets were as deep as the sea and their meaning as vast as the sky.

It was a martial art designed to modify a single excellent technique for any situation. That made it much harder to understand than arts woven from dozens of techniques. It was a depth I could never have understood without my past life.

Was that why? The meaning changed every time I read it, from the first time to the tenth.

I lost track of time, engrossed in the oral secrets.

After seven days in the Heavenly Demon Archives, I had perfectly memorized the oral secrets of the Four Strides of the Wind God and could perform the art. Of course, I was only at the first stage of mastery. All that remained was to raise my level through continuous training.

I tore out the most important part of the secret manual and swallowed it. I then propped the rest back under the bookshelf. The Four Strides of the Wind God returned to its role as a bookshelf prop.

I didn't want another lucky person to learn the Four Strides of the Wind God. I intended to be honest with my desires.

And with that, I took my first step out of the Heavenly Demon Archives.