The New Master of the Heavens

When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling.

It was stained from a leak during last summer’s monsoon season, and a dim fluorescent light—nearly at the end of its lifespan—flickered overhead. Seol Ah-heon blinked his sleepy eyes.

“Did I leave the light on before I slept……?”

He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t even recall when he had fallen asleep. He must have been so exhausted that he passed out without realizing it.

But why was he so tired?

“…….”

The reason didn’t surface, but Seol Ah-heon didn’t dwell on it. His life had always been exhausting, after all—walking on eggshells around his parents, meeting graduation requirements, working part-time jobs. He occasionally bought energy tonics, but his fatigue wasn’t the kind that could be cured by a bottle of caffeine.

‘It would be great if there was a miracle pill that cleared chronic fatigue with just one dose.’

Seol Ah-heon entertained the idle thought. Of course, he knew it was impossible. He wasn’t in some martial arts novel with mythical elixirs; such things didn’t exist in reality. Even in stories, once you took a real elixir, you had to endure suffering proportional to its effects.

“Wait……?”

Something was strange. At the thought of elixirs, his chest suddenly felt tight. Now that he thought about it, an elixir seemed to have appeared in his dream—though he couldn’t recall the details.

‘A handsome man with long silver hair shoved me into a catacomb……. Before that, a crazy man who castrated himself put me through the wringer at a training ground……. And before that, an escort—no, a performer—who scammed the Young Cult Leader…….’

The more he tried to remember, the more his head throbbed. Seol Ah-heon summed it up in one word.

“What a pipe dream.”

It was time to forget this messy dream and start his day. As he sat up, something slid off his chest. It was his phone.

The screen was on, displaying an e-book reader. The book he was reading was The Record of Mount Hua.

Only then did he realize why he’d had such a dream. He had fallen asleep reading the novel as usual, and as a result, a crowd of long-haired men with flowing sleeves had invaded his subconscious.

“Ah, right. I was re-reading up to this part.”

Seol Ah-heon scrolled through the pages. It was the scene where urgent news from the Murim Alliance reached the Mount Hua Sect. The contents were as follows:

‘Baek Geon-ha, the Fifth Young Master of the Demonic Cult, launched a surprise attack on the former Cult Leader, killed him, and ascended to the position of the new Cult Leader.’

Brutal descriptions followed. Even if it was fiction, Seol Ah-heon didn’t enjoy such stories, so he pressed the volume key repeatedly to skip the pages. Then, his eyes stopped on a specific sentence. It was because his favorite character, Kang Seol, had appeared.

Seol Ah-heon began reading The Record of Mount Hua again.

************************************************************

Deep into the night.

Kang Seol entered Myeong-jin’s quarters.

‘I have come at your summons, Master.’

‘Yes, sit.’

Myeong-jin looked at Kang Seol with warm eyes. His disciple was incredibly bright; if taught one thing, he realized ten. He was noble and kind-hearted. To have formed a master-disciple bond with such a child was a blessing for Myeong-jin as well.

A disciple who had much more to achieve in the future than what he had accomplished so far. As Myeong-jin gazed at Kang Seol, a hint of worry touched his eyes.

‘I am sorry for calling you here for no reason when you must depart on a long journey tomorrow.’

‘Master, please do not say that. How could a disciple not respond when his Master calls? And……’

Kang Seol smiled slightly.

‘I am glad I could see you once more before leaving for Kunlun.’

The Kunlun Sect, located far from the center of the Central Plains, was a closed-off sect. However, because they shared the same Taoist roots, they had regularly interacted with the Mount Hua Sect since ancient times.

For that reason, Kang Seol was set to depart for the Kunlun Mountains with his fellow disciples. However, the circumstances this year were different from previous ones.

‘Kang Seol.’

‘Yes.’

‘Be careful in everything. You must have heard the urgent news. The master of the Hundred Thousand Mountains has changed.’

The Kunlun Mountains are the inevitable path the Demonic Cult takes when invading the Central Plains. Being geographically close to the Cult, the Kunlun Sect had suffered great damage whenever the Great War between Good and Evil broke out.

This was why Myeong-jin could not shake his worry for Kang Seol.

‘It would not be strange if those wicked ones invaded the Central Plains again, just as they did three hundred years ago. Especially since the Fifth Young Master is a man rumored to have thoughts that no one can fathom. He may be busy with internal affairs for now, but once he has complete control over the Cult, there is no telling what he might do.’

‘I will take your words to heart, Master. I will be careful in all things, so please do not worry too much.’

Kang Seol replied reliably. Nowhere in his demeanor could one find the trace of the frightened child he had been when he first entered the Mount Hua Sect. Myeong-jin sighed in relief and gave a final piece of advice.

‘This is only the beginning. Many things will change and be overturned in the future.’

‘Even so, I believe that if I do not waver and spend my days faithfully, I can overcome any storm.’

‘If I do not waver…… and spend my days faithfully…….’

Seol Ah-heon read Kang Seol’s lines aloud.

It was a habit he’d had since middle school. Whenever he recited Kang Seol’s dialogue, he felt a surge of courage as if he had become Kang Seol himself.

It was the same now. In reality, he was an unorthodox wanderer who had barely survived by offering himself to the Young Cult Leader, but he felt as dignified as a rising star of the Mount Hua Sect. It was as if he were dreaming.

‘……A dream……?’

Blink. He closed and opened his eyes slowly. Suddenly, the sentences appeared distorted. Like a printed paper submerged in water, the letters were completely blurred and unreadable.

The pages began to flip wildly, even though Seol Ah-heon wasn’t touching the volume key. Before long, the flipping stopped, and a readable sentence appeared.

‘The blood-soaked night passed. Only one victor greeted the morning.

It was the Heaven-Destroying Sword Demon, Baek Geon-ha, who had beheaded the Heavenly Demon—his own master, lord, and Cult Leader who had personally taken him in—and usurped his throne.’

*************************************************************

The moment he read that, his eyes flew open.

“……Gasp!”

Seol Ah-heon woke up, panting for air.

Instead of a fluorescent light, the glow of the Night Glow Pearl he’d placed by his head illuminated the surroundings. He didn’t even need to look around. This wasn’t his studio apartment; it was the training room of the Demonic Cult.

“It was a dream……”

He stroked his chest. It wasn’t exactly a nightmare, but he felt unsettled. It was like the lingering, cloying sweetness in one’s mouth after eating junk food. It must have been because the dream ended on such an ominous note.

“I don’t know if I should say this is a good thing or a bad thing.”

If Baek Geon-ha became the Cult Leader, it was beneficial for him personally. But if asked if it was beneficial for the world, the answer was “not necessarily.” Just as Taoist Myeong-jin of the Mount Hua Sect had said, Baek Geon-ha instigated a bloodbath once he had perfectly seized control of the Cult.

‘Though, it’s a bit different that he attacked the Qingcheng Sect instead of the Kunlun Sect.’

Seol Ah-heon groaned and pushed himself up. The Record of Mount Hua may have gone that way, but what was the reality? He had no way of knowing what Baek Geon-ha’s current situation was.

But that wasn’t the only thing he didn’t know. He couldn’t tell if it was day or night, or how many days had passed. It was the result of having zero contact with the outside world since starting his Closed-Door Training.

He felt like a month had passed, but it probably hadn’t. Time always feels slower when you’re locked up. Taking everything into account, he guessed maybe two weeks had gone by.

“How does everyone else do Closed-Door Training……?”

The only thing that increased during his confinement was the habit of talking to himself. Seol Ah-heon muttered that the protagonists in martial arts novels were clearly superhumans. He didn’t know the secret of how they could stay in Closed-Door Training for anywhere from three to a hundred years without getting tired.

“Let’s just train.”

Seol Ah-heon stood up.

When he first entered the training room, he was full of determination to “work hard this time,” but lately, his mindset was more along the lines of “what else am I going to do if not train?” It wasn’t a very pure motivation, but the effect was significant. Regardless, he was focused on his training.

‘I’m so glad I have something to immerse myself in……’

Perhaps that was why it didn’t feel as utterly hopeless as when he was in the dungeon. Believing that Baek Geon-ha would return also played a part. That man wouldn’t leave him in this training room forever—not after all that talk about “when we meet again.”

“……The problem is when he’ll return.”

Thinking of that frustratingly beautiful face, he swung his sword down powerfully. White Sword Qi shimmered faintly from the blade. He had become able to use Sword Qi at will.

Seol Ah-heon performed the Ice Soul Divine Art as he had learned from Jin Gun-seong. He secretly liked these moments of being entirely absorbed by the sword. His complicated worries gradually faded, and his mind cleared.

‘A little more.’

He felt like he could do better. A restless greed rose within him, though he didn’t know what he was aiming for.

‘More!’

His sword path became even sharper—like the harsh winds of the coldest season.

‘More……!’

The surrounding temperature had dropped noticeably, but sweat broke out on Seol Ah-heon’s forehead. Just as beads of sweat rolled down his temples, cheeks, and chin……

Rumble……

A heavy sound echoed through the training room. His concentration broken, Seol Ah-heon snapped to a halt. He withdrew his sword and looked toward the entrance.

A streak of light leaked through the slowly opening crack in the door.

“…….”

The light grew stronger until it finally filled the dark training room. It was so bright that he could barely see what was in front of him. However, he felt he knew who had opened the door. Seol Ah-heon swallowed hard and spoke.

“……Is it you, Young Cult Leader?”

“No.”

A voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar answered.

“I am the one and only master of the Sun-Moon Divine Cult.”