Regressed by the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 2

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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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I had returned to the Heavenly Demon.
Cycle (2)
Rrriiip—
The sound of tearing flesh screamed in my ears.
And then I woke.
Retch—
The moment my eyes snapped open, I was vomiting into rain-soaked mud. A seizure unlike any pain I’d endured in my entire life seized me.
Countless poisonings, internal injuries, external wounds.
Multiple Grand Laws and bone-marrow transformations.
Even combined, all those experiences paled against this.
Screams poured from my throat without end.
Aaaahhhhh!!!
I thrashed in agony, driving my face into the mud.
Crack!
Thunder and lightning split the sky at that very moment, and horses trampling in the downpour flickered between the sheets of rain.
Whoosh—
The last thing I remembered was someone hoisting me onto their shoulder.
*
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*
Young master…?
A voice like an auditory hallucination echoed and lingered.
I jerked upright reflexively.
A sight so distant it had become strange, and yet familiar.
My childhood room.
“This is… real….”
My fingertips trembled enough to betray a surge of emotion.
If not for the woman gazing at me with those composed eyes, I would have cried out in relief.
“You….”
A fragment of memory so ancient it had hardened like stone.
But the moment I recognized that I had returned, my past memories blazed back to life as vivid as yesterday.
“Are you well?”
I said nothing, merely staring at her as she asked after my condition in that measured tone.
Skin pale as white jade, silver hair—as if she’d come from the far north. Every line of her face held perfect proportion, unmarred.
She carried both a cold presence and an air of refinement. She was my childhood guardian, the only person my late mother left behind in this world.
No blood ran between us.
Yet she was family when needed, a protector by trade, and something warmer than either—a counselor, a dear friend.
And the one I had lost…….
After staring for a long moment, I suddenly pulled her into an embrace.
“Y-Young master?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Really. Let me just stay like this for a moment.”
Seol Ha, who had hesitated, allowed it, patting my back gently.
Though only five years older than I, she was a woman far more mature and wise than I could be at this age.
I felt her warmth, then pulled away.
Seol Ha straightened her clothes and opened her mouth again.
Her eyes held a note of concern.
“Forgive my boldness, but the Lady of the Manor asked that you not cause needless worry to the estate master, who is away. She said to keep quiet.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
It was partly that I hadn’t heard the words “Lady of the Manor” in so long, but mainly that I had just been struck by the reality of my return to the past.
“Sister, I’ve been rolling around in mud for days now—what exactly happened today?”
Seol Ha’s eyes widened in shock.
The child I had been back then was so sullen about the ways of the world that I’d been venting my helpless feelings to Seol Ha, treating her poorly.
So of course she would be startled by this sudden composure from me.
But Seol Ha quickly recovered, parting her full lips to speak.
“The Second Young Master summoned you, saying he would practice for the Gyeok Gu tournament that the estate is hosting in a fortnight. You truly don’t remember?”
Ah, yes—now I remember.
Considering the white bandages wrapped around my forehead and the dull throb of pain, it all came rushing back to me—what kind of day this was.
I was seventeen years old.
A specially made Iron Ball had grazed my forehead, leaving a scar like a blade wound, and the memory of the day before the Gyeok Gu tournament had been wiped away.
Of course, this had all been a scheme by Geon A Sung, the Second Young Master of Hwanggeum Manor, to torment me outright.
They’d conspired beforehand, mocking and tormenting me during practice matches, even knocking me unconscious in the end.
I wasn’t ignorant of what they’d done.
I’d stepped forward only because I couldn’t bear the harassment that redoubled whenever I tried to ignore it.
Weakness left me no choice.
Seol Ha must have intensified her own training around that time, pushing her body to its limits out of sheer determination.
She’d tormented herself with guilt and fury over her failure to properly protect and assist me, while I’d done nothing but spill my own grief in her presence.
It wasn’t long before I came to my senses and faced reality, but by then, Seol Ha was already gone from my side.
“At least I remember it clearly now. One hit from that Iron Ball, and suddenly I know exactly what I need to do.”
“…Yes?”
Seol Ha’s expression shifted, as though she sensed something had changed.
“For now, go easy on your training. You think my situation will improve just because you’ve grown stronger?”
Seol Ha swallowed hard, her throat tight.
A direct hit—she’d taken it straight to the heart.
She might hear my words as cruel, but this is our reality.
Because.
The master of this vast estate is Geon Ui Jin, the patriarch of Hwanggeum Manor—the largest trading house in Sichuan Chengdu, controlling the greatest warehouse and numerous business ventures.
I am the son of a concubine, born to one of his secondary wives. Naturally, Geon Ui Jin spends his days away on business and drinking, leaving the Lady of the Manor—his legitimate wife—to hold absolute control over most affairs within the estate and its internal factions.
“I know exactly why they keep me alive instead of simply disposing of me.”
“…”
“It’s because of Seol Ha. Knowing that she possesses exceptional talent, they keep me alive as leverage—a bargaining chip to ensure they can manipulate her as they please.”
It’s the truth.
The Lady of the Manor is brilliant and ruthless.
She excels at playing with people.
And she reads talent in others with equal precision.
Just look at how she reinterpreted my mother’s incomplete clan martial arts into something far more aggressive and refined—Seol Ha already shows the makings of a Founder of a Lineage.
In any case, the Lady of the Manor wants to use me as bait to turn Seol Ha into a puppet, obedient to her every whim.
“That said, I’m not telling you to abandon your training. Your choice was, upon reflection, brilliant. You gain Hwanggeum Manor’s full support without the Lady’s persecution, all while publicly maintaining distance from me and treating me coldly.”
“…”
“Thanks to that, I survive, and I can keep you as my escort. But haste spoils the broth. Don’t push yourself. Slow your pace. Train your Qi while cultivating both spirit and body in balance.”
I paid no attention to Seol Ha’s reaction and seized her wrist.
I felt for her pulse and sent my Qi flowing through her meridians.
I didn’t need to examine her entire body.
By sensing the scattered fragments of my Qi within her, I could judge her talent.
Having overseen the recruitment of countless talents for the Heavenly Demon Sect, my ability to assess aptitude surpasses that of most physicians.
Remarkable. Simply remarkable.
The Lady of the Manor was wrong.
Seol Ha, as close to me as a sister, is not merely excellent.
She isn’t just talented—with proper martial arts to guide her, she possesses a potential that is truly formidable.
My eyes now are those of a ninety-year-old warrior worn smooth by time, the Second Person Under Heaven who stood beside the Heavenly Demon—history’s greatest master.
Of course, my martial prowess isn’t exceptionally high for someone my apparent age.
That position was possible only because of my versatility and the Heavenly Demon’s trust in me.
Perhaps that’s why I see it so clearly.
Her talent ranks among the top ten I’ve witnessed across countless masters.
But soon she will hit the wall—the limit of what martial arts alone can achieve.
And I must repair that wall for her.
Once that barrier falls, she will grow into a master worthy of mention among the greatest in all the realm.
Unless she falls victim to Demonic Deviation prematurely and fails to recover.
So I must make her understand.
That the burden of my life must rest on my own shoulders, not hers.
“Do you understand?”
Those words were also for myself.
“…”
“Did you hear me?”
Only then did Seol Ha nod.
“Yes…”
“For the next fortnight, devote yourself to training with an easy mind. Don’t seek me out. I’ll stay confined to this room and won’t step outside. You don’t need to keep vigil through the night—just tell them I’m bedridden. That will keep things quiet for a while. Those fools will probably be delighted, thinking they’ve properly tormented me.”
“But Young Master, what exactly—”
Something in my demeanor—as though I could see through everything—unsettled Seol Ha, her eyes brimming with questions.
But I had no intention of explaining kindly and at length.
Seol Ha would follow my will without such explanation.
“I’m staking my life on this—do as I ask. Especially if you regard me as your lord.”
Seol Ha, whom my mother took in.
Seol Ha, who calls my mother her benefactress and has protected me out of gratitude all these years.
This time, it was my turn to safeguard what they held dear.
“Let no one—not even my attendants—set foot in my chambers. Leave here with utter contempt.”
Bang—
Seol Ha’s eyes hardened with resolve as she kicked the door open and stormed out.
“I said leave with contempt, not smash the door down….”
I pushed the half-hanging door shut again.
Cold. Like that day.
*
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Me, prostrate in the Snow Field, bleeding until the very brink of death.
The young sect leader, Cheon Yu Wol, gazing down at me in silence.
A soft laugh.
Though it was so long ago, that day came back to me every winter.
Shiver.
I cut short my reverie with a sudden tremor—the winter chill running through my frame.
Right. This was no time for pointless memories.
Major events, minor incidents.
I had to gather everything I knew and be reborn as something stronger than the Heavenly Demon, and sooner.
Only then could I ward off the danger posed by the being presumed to be her father.
What she had gained, or lost.
Or what she had taken.
Whether those things were people, spirits, or treasures—if they held any utility, I had to seize them first.
I deepened my meditation, sorting through the haze that clouded my mind.
Unless I gave everything, I could not surpass her.
She was the strongest Heavenly Demon in history, the only one to devour the world beneath her heel.
Surpassing that required meticulous plans, my own aptitude layered upon them, and fortune.
Of these, what I could currently control were two things: the environment of Hwanggeum Manor, and one other.
“Aptitude.”
I turned the word over in my mind.
Had anyone overheard, they would have dismissed it as nonsense.
Aptitude was the totality of one’s vessel.
As clay—the source of pottery—hardens when fired.
Innate aptitude, too, solidifies as time passes.
Even afterward, in martial training, achievement is largely determined by that inborn aptitude.
Thus far, this was common knowledge.
To artificially alter aptitude granted at birth seemed an impossible feat.
Yet that notion was both right and wrong.
Remarkably, by awakening latent potential that lies dormant,
the shell concealing one’s innate aptitude falls away, and the ceiling rises.
Spirit, vital essence, and body are fortified, and I am reconstructed.
But bone-grinding pain accompanies it.
One must endure acts akin to the Turtle Breathing Method until touching the threshold of death.
Purging every turbid qi accumulated over a lifetime, then ceaselessly channeling pure essence into bone, dantian, meridians, and vessels.
Before my return, it was done by force through the Heavenly Demon’s guidance.
Now it was by my will.
Perhaps that was fortunate.
This moment, when no one disturbed me, was the perfect opportunity to achieve it.
The Heavenly Demon called this the Cheonbeom Talpi Gong.
Shedding occurs in stages.
This time, I would begin at the first.
I remember it clearly.
What the Heavenly Demon told me.
—Had you come far earlier, your aptitude with awakened potential might have rivaled this body’s own. There is a time for raising the ceiling of one’s aptitude.
The Heavenly Demon was no one to speak of impossibilities lightly.
By her judgment,
if executed at the proper juncture, my aptitude through the Cheonbeom Talpi Gong might equal the transcendent dantian she possessed—the Heavenly Demon Divine Body.
In truth, my growth has accelerated at an astonishing pace ever since I practiced the Cheonbeom Talpi Gong with the Heavenly Demon’s direct guidance.
No one could say where my aptitude might reach through this return.
A soft exhale escaped me.
Gradually, my consciousness drifted and the sensations of my body grew dim.
Now, the preparations to die for a fortnight were complete.

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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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