Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 22
A truck that roasted and sold chicken appeared in front of Yeon-u’s Home three times a week.
From four in the afternoon until eleven at night.
The young Yeon-u would hang from the window long after the truck departed, breathing in its scent the moment it came into view.
The aroma was so delicious that even when his legs went numb and his hands ached, it didn’t matter.
That time of focusing solely on the smell was his only joy, his only happiness.
And that wasn’t all.
The smell of Fish-shaped Pastries eaten by passersby.
The salty aroma drifting from abandoned Pizza boxes.
Even the sweet scent of Candy shared among children.
Yeon-u had learned something.
If he concentrated, he could smell things, and if he smelled them, he could sense what they tasted like.
He could tell what food they were.
While it couldn’t satisfy his hunger, each new scent was his only source of joy.
* * *
This obsession with food.
It was the very source of Yeon-u’s remarkable powers of concentration.
Shhhhh—
With his eyes covered, Yeon-u felt the flow of water swirling around him according to his grandfather’s voice.
The sensation of water cascading down from behind him, coiling around him as it flowed past.
The current slipping and tearing through the Net stretched to contain the fish.
“Living fish always struggle against the current.”
Living creatures pushing upstream, moving against the water’s force.
“Follow slowly the flow that their movements create.”
Shhhhh—
‘He’s reading it.’
In that moment when only the sound of the stream flowing past filled the air, bubbling softly.
Yeon-u’s eyes snapped open.
“Three!”
Un-hyeon’s lips curved into a smile.
Un-hyeon removed the cloth covering Yeon-u’s eyes.
Yeon-u quickly counted the fish inside the Net.
“Oh no, that’s not right!”
“Unfortunate. The correct answer is five.”
“Hmph.”
Un-hyeon laughed softly watching Yeon-u’s disappointment.
“Don’t be too disappointed. You may have gotten it wrong, but I wouldn’t call it a failure.”
The fish in the Net were precisely three large fish and two small ones.
Large fish move forcefully against the current, so their movements are easy to read.
But to perceive even the movements of small fish on the very first day of training was, in truth, extraordinarily difficult.
“Simply gauging the large fish is commendable.”
Un-hyeon patted Yeon-u’s head.
Yeon-u laughed and asked, “So we’re eating fish today?”
Un-hyeon’s eyes widened for a moment.
Un-hyeon nodded with a hearty laugh.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
* * *
Yeon-u stared intently at the three cups placed before him.
Visual Training, unfailingly conducted.
With the single-minded determination to eat a snack today, Yeon-u blinked his eyes open wide.
“Mix them.”
“Okay!”
Tap— Tap-tap-tap— Tap!
Yeon-u’s pupils followed the moving cup, darting back and forth, back and forth for a moment.
“Now. Find it.”
Yeon-u’s brow arched slightly as he stared at the cups.
Yeon-u looked up at Un-hyeon.
“Grandfather.”
“Yes?”

“This one?”
Yeon-u pointed to the second cup.
Un-hyeon smiled slightly and lifted the cup.
“That’s right.”
But Yeon-u didn’t look pleased.
She only tilted her head, as if something felt off.
“This time, let me shuffle them a bit faster.”
“Okay.”
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap—
Un-hyeon’s hands moved swiftly, shuffling the cups.
This time, faster than Yeon-u’s eyes could follow.
One.
“This one?”
Yeon-u pointed to another cup.
Un-hyeon lifted it and nodded.
“You got it again.”
Un-hyeon prepared to shuffle once more.
“If you guess right one more time, we can have a snack today.”
“Grandfather.”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t see it.”
“Hmm?”
Un-hyeon feigned confusion.
“You didn’t see it? Then how did you find the White Stone’s location?”
“I’m not sure.”
Yeon-u stared intently at the cup holding the White Stone.
“I felt it. I felt that it was there.”
In that moment, Un-hyeon’s smile deepened more than ever.
Though he’d called it Visual Training, what they’d just practiced was closer to Qi Sensing Training.
Qi Sensing was the faculty to perceive Qi—that is, Martial Power.
In truth, a Martial Practitioner rose to greater heights more easily if her Qi Sensing was keen.
For perceiving, feeling, and commanding Qi is, in the end, the totality of Martial Arts.
So Un-hyeon had conducted a test.
To measure how awakened Yeon-u’s Qi Sensing was, though she had yet to learn any Martial Arts.
‘Normally, having learned no Mental Cultivation Method, she shouldn’t have sensed anything at all.’
As he’d suspected, Yeon-u had found the White Stone infused with Un-hyeon’s Martial Power.
Like other senses, Qi Sensing too was something one was born with.
‘The child has a natural gift.’
Un-hyeon rose from his seat after studying Yeon-u for a moment.
“Come with me.”
Un-hyeon led Yeon-u into the forest.
They stood in the midst of densely clustered trees.
There, Un-hyeon positioned Yeon-u between the trees.
“Wait here for a while.”
“All right.”
Yeon-u waited silently as Un-hyeon instructed.
The scent of the forest was pleasant.
How much time had passed as she hummed and played, following the sunlight that filtered through the leaves?
Whoosh—
“…?”
Yeon-u’s gaze lifted toward something.
She felt some inexplicable energy, yet there was nothing there.
“Grandfather?”
Yeon-u tilted her head in confusion.
Had she sensed wrong?
Just as she was about to move toward where she’d felt the energy—
Whoosh—
“!”
Something flew rapidly at her from behind.
Yeon-u reflexively bent forward in a bow, and with a sharp snap, she evaded it.
Thwack!
Whatever had come flying struck the tree.
Poking my head out cautiously, I saw it was a clod of earth bound together with a little water.
‘Earth?’
What is this? Why did it come flying at me?
But before I could even find the answer,
Whoosh—whoosh!
“!”
Two more clods of packed earth came flying from different directions.
This time they aimed in succession at my legs and shoulders.
I yelped and rolled away, barely dodging them.
“Who is it!”
I scrambled to my feet and shouted.
But no answer came from the surroundings, no sign of anyone at all.
In truth, what had come flying were clods of earth that Un-hyeon had thrown, infusing them with his Martial Power.
The speed was naturally something I could easily evade.
However, because they carried Martial Power within them, if I could read Qi Sensing, I should have felt the presence before they came flying.
In other words, without intending it, I had already grasped the direction before the earth came flying, and my body had already begun to react to what would come.
Thus, this situation was training to develop my Qi Sensing.
Huff!
Receiving no answer to my question of who it was, anger flared up and I clenched my fists.
But then, as if I’d realized something, my face brightened quickly.
“I got it!”
There were only two people whose presence I couldn’t read.
Grandfather Un-hyeon and Am-yeong Ma-gun.
But Am-yeong isn’t here right now?
“Grandfather wants to play with me?”
I laughed with a mischievous grin.
Then,
“Fine….”
I rolled up my sleeveless arms.
A strange confidence appeared on my face.
“Come on!”
And at that moment,
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Clods of earth came flying from five directions.
That evening, I had to eat dinner covered in dirt.
* * *
My Sensory Training continued.
Training where I caught a falling stick with my eyes covered.
Training where I guessed the number of times a rock was struck by counting the vibrations through it.
Training where I climbed a cliff with my ears covered, training where I guessed the number of fingers Un-hyeon held up from a distance, and so on….
The training was tailored to my level, someone who had only just begun learning Martial Arts, keeping my interest engaged while still ensuring genuine progress.
At first, I’d grumbled that I couldn’t do it, but somewhere along the way, my stubbornness kindled and I began to train with genuine effort.
“……!”
On the mountainside, atop a tall rock.
I, sitting with closed eyes on the rock, suddenly opened them wide.
Then I leaped down from the rock—thump-thump-thump—bounding down the mountain.
Hop—tap—tap!
Leaping over rocks and racing down the gravel path without pause, I burst through the door, gasping for breath.
“Grandfather…!”
“What brings you here?”
“The bell…! I heard it! Ding-ding-ding!”
Auditory Training.
Training where I meditate on the mountainside, and the moment I hear the bell announcing that dinner is ready, I come down to eat!
“I rang no bell.”
“But I heard it! Ding! Ding?”
“No. Go back.”
“But…!”
I’m getting hungry though…!
“If you’re in doubt, you’re welcome to leave. But if you don’t return by evening, there’ll be no dinner.”
“Grandfather, I’m going!”
Before Un-hyeon could finish speaking, Yeon-u was already racing back down the path he’d come, his feet pounding against the ground.
Un-hyeon watched the boy disappear into the distance, moving with surprising speed despite the exertion, and a smile played across his weathered face.
“The foundation of all training is Physical Conditioning.”
Without a strong body, one cannot learn Martial Arts, build strength, or sharpen the senses.
In other words, by doing this, Yeon-u would naturally develop his Physical Conditioning as well—truly, two birds with one stone.
“Well now.”
Un-hyeon set down the firewood he’d been holding and gazed off into the distance.
“It seems the time has come.”
He was looking toward the direction of Am-yeong Ma-gun’s House.
A week later.
“Perform the Vital Point Strike technique for me.”
Am-yeong Ma-gun, who had entered carrying heavy bundles slung across both shoulders and been rushing forward with a bright smile, suddenly froze mid-stride.
“…What?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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