Obtaining Heavenly Demon Martial Arts in the Magic Era - Chapter 23

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

23
Do-hyeon’s Home Training Hall.
The lazy afternoon sunlight streamed through the great windows, painting the interior in shades of gold. In stark contrast to the peaceful scene outside, the atmosphere within was fierce and uncompromising.
Whirrk—
The air inside the hall rang continuously with the sharp sound of wind being torn apart. It was the Blade Splitting Sound produced by Cheon Do-hyeon as he practiced the Celestial Demon Sword Technique.
Wheeeee—
What lay in his hands was no real blade. It was a keepsake left behind by Gwak Cheol—a Titanium Three-Section Staff.
Using the three-section staff made storage easier than carrying a sword and spared him the headache of unfounded accusations. More than that, there was no need to worry about drawing unwanted attention.
What was most remarkable was that when the staff was fully extended, its length matched the demands of the Celestial Demon Sword Technique with perfect precision—not a hair’s breadth of error. From its center of gravity to the grip that settled into his palm, he couldn’t help but wonder if Gwak Cheol had somehow foreseen this very moment and crafted this weapon specifically for him to use.
Whoooosh—
The three-section staff traced a straight arc as it was swung.
What appeared to be a simple horizontal slash was actually the first technique form of the Celestial Demon Sword Technique—the Black Break Flash. Despite its name, which promised cuts like obsidian lightning, the actual power was disappointingly unremarkable.
“Exhale.”
How many times had he tried now? Certainly his stance, the intensity of his force, and his mental cultivation method were not far off. Yet the results were worlds apart. The Black Break Flash was supposed to be an instantaneous strike that released black light. What he’d just done was clumsy flailing.
Wheeeee— wheee—
Even after dozens, hundreds of repetitions, the outcome remained the same.
Counting the attempts had become meaningless long ago. He deployed the technique form relentlessly, yet the true essence of the Black Break Flash kept slipping through his fingers like water. Do-hyeon released a deep sigh of frustration. The heat rising from his Dantian, coursing through the blood vessels of his entire body, was a testament to how brutally he was pushing his physical form to its limit.
Slip—
As he peeled away his sweat-drenched shirt, his body was covered in a tapestry of red and blue bruises. They were the accumulated scars from trial and error—struck by the rebounding staff after his own swings, tripping and falling from miscalculated steps, driving himself into walls from misjudged distances.
The Celestial Demon Sword Technique was a completely different order of martial art from any mental cultivation method or footwork technique he’d mastered before. The Celestial Demon Sword Technique consisted of ten technique forms, and Do-hyeon felt the weight of that burden.
‘It’s not learning a single martial art—it feels like mastering ten completely different divine techniques.’
Each individual technique form that composed the sword technique was grotesquely complex and bewildering, rivaling the difficulty of refining an independent supreme divine technique. With every movement he took, the usage of his muscles felt foreign, and even the manner of channeling his Internal Energy was frustratingly intricate.
Do-hyeon gazed down at the three-section staff gripped in his sweat-soaked hands. He was holding nothing more than a single iron rod. Yet that small difference had twisted everything—the distance to his opponent, the timing of each footfall, the depth of his breathing. He had to redesign his entire approach to combat from the ground up.
‘But I will make it mine no matter what.’
Jang Ki-han had hired professional assassins to cut off Do-hyeon’s breath. And at their hands, his benefactor Gwak Cheol had been ruthlessly cut down. If Do-hyeon himself had been overwhelmingly strong from the start, that tragedy would never have occurred.
A knot of guilt coiled deep in his chest, driving Cheon Do-hyeon forward.
‘I must grow stronger by any means necessary.’
Cheon Do-hyeon’s goal was to bring down Jang Ki-han. To avenge what had been done to Gwak Cheol.
His grip tightened on the three-section staff, his knuckles turning bone-white.
Wheee— whee—
He executed only the first technique form without pause. He’d lost count of how many times he’d swung.
Whirrk—
Something had changed. The movement had become fluid. The arc of the three-section staff traced itself as naturally as water flowing downstream.
And for an instant, he felt it—a sensation where his breath, the angle of his planted foot, and the speed of his descending strike all became one.
The Black Break Flash.
Shwip—
The velocity was invisible to the eye. The sound of air being rent reached his ears only after the staff had passed, delayed by a beat.
Like the sound of a blade cutting through silk.
Yet in his hand was only the three-section staff, devoid of any edge—
Do-hyeon slowly raised his head. And before him lay the miraculous sight wrought by his strike just now.
On the wooden pillar at one side of the training hall, a perfectly straight groove had been carved into the surface. As if sliced by a blade, the cut was clean, despite having merely grazed past. Do-hyeon looked down at his own hands. The sensation of Internal Energy condensing and erupting from his fingertips still lingered.
For that instant, his three-section staff had been surrounded by black Sword Aura.
Sword Aura. So this was what Sword Aura felt like.
Of course, it was still too rough and unstable to be called a finished form. The direction in which he released the force was off, the range was unpredictable, and the density of the energy scattered haphazardly. But the fact remained that he had achieved the first physical manifestation of the Celestial Demon Sword Technique’s technique form.
Sizzzzle—
A tingling rush of accomplishment flooded through the back of his head. Do-hyeon resumed his stance. He had no intention of stopping until the sun dipped below the horizon.
#
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and at last Cheon Do-hyeon’s suspension from school came to an end.
Step, step—
Walking down the school hallway for the first time in ages, sunlight poured through the windows.
Dust particles drifting pale white. The chatter of students filling the air.
The familiar weight of his school bag slung over his shoulder.
As he took in this utterly ordinary scene, everything that had transpired over the past ten days felt like a dream. That was when, his ears sharpened by his ascension to the level of a supreme martial artist, he caught fragments of the students’ voices.
‘The gang killer’s back.’
‘I thought he wouldn’t come back.’
‘Wasn’t he completely done for?’
The true reason behind Do-hyeon’s severe disciplinary action had apparently spread quietly among the students. A rumor that he had offended a scion of the Demonic Martial Arts Noble Family. Most students who knew the power wielded by that world had already accepted as certain that Do-hyeon would never return to school.
‘Kim Min-ho and those punk gangsters as victims? Even a dog passing by would laugh.’
The students who had suffered at the hands of Kim Min-ho and his gang—including Lee Chan-hui, Moon Seong-il, and Park Tae-woong—had vented their frustration at the school’s decision. And yet Cheon Do-hyeon had completed his ten-day suspension without incident and returned.
His return commanded the attention of all eyes.
‘It’s Cheon Do-hyeon.’
‘Kim Min-ho and his cronies are finished now.’
Cheon Do-hyeon heard the whispers around him and let them wash over him without a second thought.
‘I need to ask Kim Seung-yeon what happened while I was away.’
Creak—
As he opened the classroom door and stepped inside, the noise that had filled the room fell silent for a moment.
“…”
Feeling the awkward hush, Cheon Do-hyeon quietly made his way to his seat and sat down.
The cold, hard chair felt oddly welcoming. He was about to set his bag on the desk when a looming presence approached from behind. It was Kim Byeong-hak. His hands were hidden behind his back, and his face was tense with nervousness.
“Do-hyeon, hey there…”
He brought along a crowd of passersby—and despite his fierce appearance, he offered a warm greeting.
“What’re you hiding behind your back? Is this an ambush?”
Cheon Do-hyeon’s brow furrowed sharply as he asked.
“Oh… no, it’s not. I just wanted to congratulate you on finishing your suspension. Try this.”
Kim Byeong-hak’s cheeks flushed red, at odds with his hulking frame, as he nervously produced what he’d been concealing. Inside the white plastic bag was a block of tofu.
“… You mean I’m out? Thanks.”
When Cheon Do-hyeon accepted the tofu, Kim Byeong-hak beamed as if he’d just won the lottery and returned to his seat.
“What’s with Kim Byeong-hak? Why’s he being like that?”
Kim Seung-yeon had appeared without warning, her expression one of displeasure. Kim Jun-pyo stood beside her. But something was clearly wrong with Jun-pyo’s face. He stared at the pristine block of tofu placed on Do-hyeon’s desk as though the world had just crumbled around him.
“Jun-pyo, what’s wrong? Oh…”
Cheon Do-hyeon belatedly noticed the tofu in Kim Jun-pyo’s hand and understood his expression.
“I… I was beaten to it…”
Jun-pyo muttered with a dejected face. Do-hyeon barely managed to suppress the laughter threatening to burst out of him and hastily turned his gaze toward the window.
Beyond the glass lay the vast school playground spread before him. At the start of the semester, Do-hyeon used to wander the corner of that field alone, friendless. But now, standing in the same space, the same school, it felt like he’d entered an entirely different world—one he could barely believe was real.
He’d never once thought about changing schools. He’d simply endured each day as it came, doing his best. Yet somehow, his world had transformed beyond recognition.
Do-hyeon slowly turned his head and looked back and forth between his two friends.
“Let’s all share it.”
“What? Plain tofu? Are you insane? Why would we eat that?”
Seung-yeon cried out in disgust. Listening to her complaints, he finally felt the reality sink in—he had truly returned to an ordinary student’s life.
#
Lunchtime.
Do-hyeon, Kim Seung-yeon, and Kim Jun-pyo sat huddled in a quiet corner of the school rooftop.
Kim Seung-yeon spoke first.
“What’s the plan next?”
Do-hyeon fell silent for a moment.
“Why are you like this? We know everything anyway. You’re not going to stop here, are you?”
“That’s right, Do-hyeon. Let us help. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Kim Seung-yeon had infiltrated Babylon trying to help him and nearly died in the attempt.
But it was also Kim Seung-yeon who’d saved Do-hyeon in that critical moment with Flash Magic.
He’d been ready to refuse firmly, saying it was too dangerous, but the memory of that moment silenced him.
Had his heart opened so much to these two?
“Aren’t you scared? It could be dangerous?”
“I’ll help with anything that isn’t too risky!”
“And wasn’t it me who gave you the information to find that person you were looking for at Seoul Station?”
“….”
The memory of searching the closed-off area of Seoul Station came back to him. Without the hint Kim Seung-yeon had given him, he never would have found Gwak Cheol.
It was true—finding someone would certainly be faster with three of them than alone.
“Yongsan Station.”
Do-hyeon spoke.
“I need to find someone there. But the problem is I have no idea where in Yongsan Station they might be.”
“Do you know what they look like?”
“No.”
“Their name?”
“…No.”
“….Are you out of your mind?”
The words escaped Kim Seung-yeon’s lips of their own accord.
“Do-hyeon must have a plan…”
Kim Jun-pyo tried to smooth things over. Cheon Do-hyeon paid no mind to Kim Seung-yeon’s reaction and shared what he’d deduced and considered.
“There should be sealed underground passages or old storage areas somewhere in Yongsan Station. We need to find those kinds of places first.”
Kim Seung-yeon and Kim Jun-pyo exchanged glances. A brief flash of understanding passed between their eyes.
“There’s no specific target, but at least the objective is clear—we’re scouting a location. All right, I’ll dig through the Yongsan District Office’s building registry and pull up all the old blueprints.”
Kim Seung-yeon rolled up her sleeves with determination. Cheon Do-hyeon gazed at his capable allies and offered a thin smile, nodding in agreement.

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