Demon Eyes
Gongson Chun Gi had secretly visited Cho Ryu Hyang just before he met Maksu.
He had been thinking about something.
After sitting with Cho Ryu Hyang for a few minutes, Gongson Chun Gi grinned and opened his mouth.
“You’ve managed to make a pretty shabby Demon Eye, huh. You managed to copy me quite well.”
Cho Ryu Hyang scratched his cheeks and opened his mouth.
“You saw?”
“Of course. I was thinking of not saying anything about it, but I really couldn’t. After all, it’d be better for you if I just taught you how to create the real thing.”
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded.
He had only managed to barely imitate the Demon Eye that his teacher had used.
Gongson Chun Gi hadn’t taught him how to use it, and the man himself didn’t seem like he wanted to teach it.
“The Demon Eye would simply act as your third eye if you used it like you did before, but once you get better at it, you can do much more with it. That was why I really didn’t want to teach you about how to use it.”
Other uses?
When Cho Ryu Hyang made a curious face, Gongson Chun Gi opened his mouth.
“Curious?”
“Yes.”
“Because you used your Demon Eye in such a shabby way, you’ve attracted all sorts of weird stuff around yourself. The problem is, you don’t have any ability to even see those things around you.”
“What are those things?”
Gongson Chun Gi grinned creepily.
“I’m getting a little off topic, but I think I can see why my master said talented students are always a pain to deal with.”
“……”
“I didn’t really want to teach you about this, but since you opened this door yourself, not teaching you would just end up becoming a poison. Those things are more tenacious than one might expect.”
Gongson Chun Gi rubbed Cho Ryu Hyang’s hair.
“Disciple.”
“Yes, master.”
“I was hoping that you wouldn’t have had to learn this.”
“…..May I ask you why?”
Gongson Chun Gi smiled faintly.
“You’ll see soon enough. Are you ready?”
Cho Ryu Hyang let out a small laugh.
That laugh resembled Gongson Chun Gi’s very much, for some reason.
“Was there ever a moment I had the chance to be ready for something? I’ll just take it as it comes.”
Gongson Chun Gi let out a uproarious laughter.
“Kuhahah! Very good. I was worried for nothing.”
Shf-
Cho Ryu Hyang could feel Gongson Chun Gi’s hand on his head cool rapidly.
He was beginning to feel quite wary at this point.
But Cho Ryu Hyang decided to wait and see.
His teacher wasn’t one to harm him.
Gongson Chun Gi saw this and grinned.
“This will… hurt a bit.”
When Cho Ryu Hyang scrunched up his eyebrows.
Crack-
His vision turned white.
‘Kuh!’
It almost felt like an icicle had pierced his head.
At the same time, his eyes felt like they were going to pop off.
Cho Ryu Hyang was unable to do anything but to tremble in pain.
Gongson Chun Gi returned to his seat and put a cigarette in his mouth.
“Watch. It isn’t something that I really wanted to show you, but… you should have some fun experiencing it for the first time.”
Cho Ryu Hyang endured the pain in his eyes and turned slowly.
His eyes widened instantly.
“Ah…”
The sight he saw was almost enough to make him forget about his pain.
There were numerous ‘stains’ surrounding him.
‘What’s this?’
It almost felt like he saw something he shouldn’t have seen.
At the same time, curiosity bubbled up inside him.
The stains resembled humans.
When he observed them even more, his eyes met with one of the stains.
He could feel them watching him.
When he felt this, Cho Ryu Hyang felt a chill run down his spine.
He stepped backward in fear and stuttered.
“A-aren’t these… ghosts?”
Gongson Chun Gi smiled.
“Correct. Welcome to the swamp of darkness, disciple.”
This was the moment Cho Ryu Hyang got connected with the world of the dead.
* * *
Cho Ryu Hyang lay down on his bed with his eyes closed.
But it was useless.
Despite having his eyes closed, he could still feel the ghosts watching him.
And the ghosts were even whispering amongst themselves.
‘So this is why master didn’t want to teach me about this.’
Hearing the voices of dead people was something truly horrifying.
It was almost like torture for martial artists.
Having your victims appear in front of you was really different than from simply seeing a ghost.
“Am I supposed to get used to this sooner or later? Something like this?”
Cho Ryu Hyang frowned after pondering a bit on his master’s words.
It didn’t feel like he’d get used to this at all.
Cho Ryu Hyang, after rolling on the bed for quite some time, almost bounced into a standing position.
Kii-!
A giant amount of energy passed through his body.
Cho Ryu Hyang ran to the door immediately.
He frowned and muttered to himself.
“This is…”
He had felt this kind of power before.
“Maksu?”
The power of that arrogant rabbit.
This made him nervous.
Did that rabbit had the gall to break the promise with him?
When Cho Ryu Hyang ran out the door, No Jin Nyung followed.
He, too, had felt the immense wave of power that just passed.
“Allow me to carry you, my lord.”
No Jin Nyung kneeled down to Cho Ryu Hyang.
But Cho Ryu Hyang shook his head.
He had a better idea.
An idea he just didn’t make use of much.
“I’ll be seeing you there.”
Shhhh-!
Cho Ryu Hyang’s body began to fade and shot forward.
He was walking forward at an unbelievable speed.
No Jin Nyung widened his eyes.
“Heavenly Demon Steps?”
Was that not similar to the Heavenly Demon Steps that he was practicing?
Something was off about it, though.
Cho Ryu Hyang’s version seemed a lot more stable.
After looking dumbly for a moment, No Jin Nyung came to his senses and began to chase after Cho Ryu Hyang.
He needed to ask what had happened.
* * *
‘I was one step late.’
Cho Ryu Hyang frowned after reaching the place where Maksu had released his energy.
He couldn’t find the rabbit.
Instead, he found someone completely unexpected.
Sunwu Cho Rin.
“What happened?”
Sunwu Cho Rin looked at Cho Ryu Hyang strangely.
She had recognized it as well.
Cho Ryu Hyang was using the Heavenly Demon Steps.
‘This kid learned the Heavenly Demon Technique?’
The Heavenly Demon Technique was an incomplete martial art.
The art was famous for having numerous side effects, but the heir was managing to learn the Heavenly Demon Technique.
Sunwu Cho Rin stopped thinking about such things the moment No Jin Nyung appeared.
“I felt something strange where his Holiness used to be, so I came immediately.”
Cho Ryu Hyang’s face stiffened.
His master was here?
“Master was… here? Did you happen to see a white rabbit as well?”
“Yes, I did.”
“…Damn it!”
How did he miss it?
Cho Ryu Hyang tried thinking of his teacher’s encounter with Maksu.
No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t see their exchange going the right way.
‘I need to hurry.’
Even his teacher would have a problem with Maksu’s power.
Maksu was a monster, after all.
There was no way to beat the thing with pure strength.
Cho Ryu Hyang looked around in agitation.
He could feel the ghosts around him stare at him silently.
Cho Ryu Hyang bit his lips.
‘Now’s not the time to think about these.’
Cho Ryu Hyang activated his Demon Eye.
The eyes that were redder than ever before flew up high into the sky.
The ghosts around him began to react strongly to this red light.
They immediately rushed towards Cho Ryu Hyang.
Uoooh-!
The stains began to stick to Cho Ryu Hyang’s body.
Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t dodge them.
Rather, he couldn’t dodge them.
Stick-
Ghosts began to stick to Cho Ryu Hyang’s body.
Cho Ryu Hyang shuddered at the disgusting feeling and raised the eye ever higher.
His body began to tremble.
He could feel ghosts trying to dig into him.
But Cho Ryu Hyang endured.
‘Now’s the important part.’
He had never tried to lift the Demon Eye this high up before.
Around the time when Cho Ryu Hyang’s face turned pale.
He could see.
An eye similar to his that was spewing out red light.
The moment his eye met with those of his master’s.
Cho Ryu Hyang canceled his Demon Eye and fell on the ground.
The strength in his body had left him completely.
“Hah, hah…”
“Are you alright?”
When Sunwu Cho Rin tried to support him,
Cho Ryu Hyang waved her away and stood up by himself.
The annoying things stuck to his body dissipated.
‘What the?’
Sunwu Cho Rin watched as Cho Ryu Hyang brushed his body.
She couldn’t see the ghosts, making the entire scene extremely strange.
No Jin Nyung opened his mouth.
“Are you alright?”
“……”
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded silently.
No Jin Nyung opened his mouth.
“If I wasn’t wrong, what you have just shown me was the completed form of the Heavenly Demon Steps.”
Cho Ryu Hyang turned to look at No Jin Nyung.
He could see a flame burning in the man’s eyes.
‘Desire.’
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded.
“You’re right. This is the completed form.”
The completed form of the Heavenly Demon Steps?
Didn’t this mean that Cho Ryu Hyang learned the completed Heavenly Demon Technique?
‘Is that even possible?’
When Sunwu Cho Rin made a suspicious face,
No Jin Nyung grabbed onto Cho Ryu Hyang’s hands desperately.
“W-would you teach it to me?”
Sunwu Cho Rin looked at No Jin Nyung as if she was looking at a crazy person.
It was the unspoken rule of the martial world to not ask others to teach them their techniques.
‘How does he not even know of something so basic?’
Sunwu Cho Rin didn’t know if Cho Ryu Hyang knew the completed form of the Heavenly Demon Technique.
But regardless of that, asking a person to teach was just wrong.
Cho Ryu Hyang thought for a bit, then opened his mouth.
“I’ll teach you. But before that, I must go somewhere.”
No Jin Nyung nodded.
“I’ll wait.”
He could wait as long as Cho Ryu Hyang wanted.
As long as he could learn the completed form of the Heavenly Demon Technique, he could wait.
Cho Ryu Hyang moved away, leaving the dumbfounded Sunwu Cho Rin behind.
His body was lighter than ever before.
He needed to save his teacher.
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