Chapter 21 - Four Steps Are Enough

“Hahahahaha!”

Father's laughter rang through the great hall.

“Is my saying I want to kill someone really that funny?”

Father abruptly stopped laughing and spoke with absolute certainty.

“You may be able to kill the Demon Army commander, but the Blood Heaven Saber Demon is beyond you.”

In other words, I couldn't kill him yet.

“Then why did you make me clash with the Blood Heaven Saber Demon? Take responsibility!”

“Very well. I will.”

He took responsibility just as readily as he had answered.

“I will put you in charge of Yellow Springs Pavilion.”

I was startled. Never in my wildest dreams had I expected him to appoint me Pavilion Master of Yellow Springs Pavilion.

“Is that even possible?”

Of course, what could possibly be impossible if the Heavenly Demon willed it?

“Was it possible for a mere investigator to kill the Demon Army commander?”

As events took this turn, it occurred to me that Father might have intended to appoint me Pavilion Master from the very beginning.

“Didn't you say you wanted to set discipline straight for once?”

This was what I heard in those words:

I'll put a blade in your hand. Go run wild.

To put it less kindly, become my shield and take the blades meant for me.

There would be all manner of obstacles to Father intervening himself. But what if it were the Heavenly Demon's youngest son, running recklessly amok?

'Are you perhaps using me to deal with the matters you've put off, Father? Regardless of whether I live or die?'

I couldn't tell whether this was heartless paternal love or a choice born of his decision to make me his successor. Yes, I shouldn't take this emotionally.

What Father had told me before was right.

[“The one thing you can never truly know is another person's heart.”]

I didn't need to try to read his heart. I could judge by what I saw and heard—not by deciphering another person's mind, but by the situation unfolding before me.

Father had always been this sort of man. He was someone who left words on a wall for his child, and someone who would throw that same child into danger if there was something to be gained.

Having a father like this actually made things easier. I could do what he wanted and get what I needed.

“If you're sending me out to slaughter an ox, you should at least give me a knife.”

“Is there something you want?”

The name of one of the places I absolutely had to visit after my regression slipped from my lips.

“Please let me enter the Heavenly Demon Library.”

The Heavenly Demon Library housed all manner of precious martial arts manuals. Only the Heavenly Demon and a select few authorized individuals were permitted inside.

“Why the Heavenly Demon Library?”

Puzzlement naturally surfaced on Father's face.

“If you think going in there will let you learn some peerless divine art, you are sorely mistaken. You'll spend the entire time just reading the titles of the manuals.”

There were that many manuals. Even if I was lucky enough to find one of the finest martial arts there, it would only be on par with the Heaven-Soaring Sword Art I already practiced.

Father's eyes held both doubt and reproach, as though asking, Surely you know that?

“I'd like to try my luck.”

Father would be wondering just what this brat was up to.

After watching me for a moment, he made his decision.

“I don't know what underhanded scheme you have in mind, but...”

Only after adding that entirely unnecessary remark did Father give his permission.

“I grant you access to the Heavenly Demon Library for seven days.”

“Thank you, Father.”

Seven days. For someone who wasn't yet the successor, that was an extraordinary allowance. It also showed just how important entrusting me with Yellow Springs Pavilion was.

“Tell the Cult's discipline to wait just seven days!”

* * *

Yi An was tremendously excited to hear that I would be entering the Heavenly Demon Library.

“Young Master, once you're inside, you must focus on memorizing a single martial art before you leave. If you get greedy, you'll come away with nothing. Oh, and make sure you eat. If you skip meals to save time, your memory will suffer, and you'll only lose out. Ah, and it's so vast that you could get lost...”

Watching her chatter without pause, I reflected on my mistakes once again.

The Yi An in my memories had been a truly taciturn person.

Yet she was such a chatterbox.

I supposed that was how I had been back then. Filled with nothing but the desire to become the successor, I must have spent all my time staring up at the roof of Heavenly Demon Hall. Meanwhile, the people who would help me realize my dream were standing right before my eyes, just like this.

That must have been why Yi An had grown quiet. I was the one who had silenced this cheerful, talkative woman.

“Were you listening to me?”

“I was. Focus on one thing, and make sure I eat.”

“And sleep well, too. I really hope you come back with good results. Don't forget: being allowed into the Heavenly Demon Library when you're not the successor is a heaven-sent opportunity.”

“Whew, my ears are going to bleed. Ugh, maybe they already are.”

“Oh! I'm sorry. I'll talk less from now on.”

“No. A depressed personal bodyguard would be even worse.”

“Then please remember what I said. Oh, another thing you should keep in mind when looking for a manual...”

“Please!”

In truth, Yi An didn't need to worry so much.

I knew exactly where to go in that vast Heavenly Demon Library.

To explain why I wanted to enter the Heavenly Demon Library, I must return to the time when I was searching for the Secret Demon Soul, the final material for the Great Art of Regression.

To obtain it, I had returned to the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon after it had sealed its gates.

I cut deep scars into my face to make it unrecognizable. I was already presumed dead, decades had passed since I left the Cult, and I had disfigured my face. None of them recognized me.

Starting as an ordinary martial artist, I rose solely through my own efforts to a position that allowed me private audiences with the new cult leader. It took a truly long time.

In that final year, when I obtained the Secret Demon Soul, I heard about a martial art.

The Wind God's Four Steps.

The man who had obtained the Wind God's Four Steps was Ju Baekdo, the leader of the sealed Demonic Cult at the time. In the decades since it sealed its gates, the Cult had changed leaders six times. That should give some idea of how chaotic things had become.

I clearly remembered what he told me over drinks.

[“... I was able to become cult leader because I found the lost Wind God's Four Steps.”]

The Wind God's Four Steps.

A footwork art consisting of just four forms, unrivaled in both name and substance.

It had supposedly once complemented the Heavenly Demon's martial arts, but had been lost in some generation and was no longer passed down. Yet Ju Baekdo had obtained it.

[“... The previous cult leader and his blood kin met a sudden, tragic end, and the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, the Heavenly Demon's exclusive martial art, was lost. The one fortunate thing was that only Heavenly Demon Hall was wiped out, so the Cult could seal its gates with its fighting strength intact. After that, the Cult suffered one upheaval after another over the leadership. Had I not obtained the Wind God's Four Steps, that turmoil would have continued until the Cult collapsed from internal strife.”]

He had become cult leader merely by adding this footwork to his existing martial arts. That alone showed how extraordinary the Wind God's Four Steps was.

[“Where did you obtain the Wind God's Four Steps?”]

[“In the Heavenly Demon Library. I was responsible for managing it at the time.”]

[“If the manual was there, why was the art considered lost?”]

[“Because it wasn't on a bookshelf.”]

[“...!”]

Had I not drunk with him that day, had he not been in a good mood, had he not grown tipsy and boasted of his exploits, I would never have learned where the Wind God's Four Steps was.

The Heavenly Demon Library was the largest library I had ever seen.

Ninety-nine enormous bookcases filled it, stocked with secret manuals on every sort of martial art. Scattered among them were peerless arts that set the viewer's heart racing—manuals the Cult had gathered over long ages.

I walked slowly between the bookcases, savoring the scent of old books. Endless shelves, packed with martial arts manuals. Seven days scarcely seemed enough even to read their titles.

Of course, I had no need to search for a needle on a sandy beach.

“Here it is.”

I stopped before the nineteenth bookcase.

It held manuals on sound-based martial arts. Not that I intended to spend my new life immersed in music.

Rather than the manuals on its shelves, I looked beneath the bookcase. One side had sagged under the weight of the books, and a book had been wedged underneath to level it.

Using internal energy, I lifted the bookcase slightly and pulled out the book propping it up.

On the cover of the worn manual, now brought back into the world, were four characters:

風神四步.

“It really was here!”

I could have leaped for joy.

Once again, I recalled my conversation with Ju Baekdo.

[“The Wind God's Four Steps wasn't on a bookshelf.”]

[“Then where was it?”]

[“That precious manual was being used to prop up the nineteenth bookcase.”]

He said his compulsiveness had led him to discover it. Even when setting down chopsticks, he had to lay them perfectly straight. When folding clothes, everything had to be aligned without the slightest deviation. He said that if a cup of water sat on the corner of a table, he couldn't eat for worrying it might fall.

In the Heavenly Demon Library, too, he had noticed the crooked book beneath the bookcase and discovered what it was while trying to straighten it.

I didn't know why this precious manual had become a bookcase prop. Neither did Ju Baekdo, who had discovered the art.

I assumed there was some untold story behind it.

Something must have happened that required the greatest footwork art under heaven to be hidden here. It might have been part of a succession struggle, or the result of some past Heavenly Demon's misguided love. Perhaps it had been someone's twisted ambition.

Whatever the reason, it had brought me together with the Wind God's Four Steps.

I carefully opened the manual to its first page.

Before the actual formulas, a single line written with lofty confidence made my heart swell.

—Four steps are enough to walk all beneath heaven.

Yes, that's it! An art vying to be the greatest under heaven ought to have at least this much arrogance.

The Wind God's Four Steps consisted of four principal forms.

Dark Shadow Step

Flicker Step

Underworld King's Step

Swift Step

The first step, Dark Shadow Step, was footwork for infiltration.

At first, it only allowed the practitioner to evade one person's eyes, but the number grew as their attainment advanced. The manual explained that with complete mastery of Dark Shadow Step, one could vanish in an instant even while dozens of people watched.

The second step, Flicker Step, was defensive footwork: an evasion method that unfailingly found a way to survive when an unavoidable attack came flying in.

The third step, Underworld King's Step, was footwork for closing in on an opponent. According to the manual, it could nullify any defense or evasion.

It was as though Underworld King's Step were saying:

I'll open the road to hell. You cut off their head.

Thus, Underworld King's Step and Flicker Step were truly contradictory. Footwork that always evaded, and footwork that always closed in. If the two forms clashed, the spear would break or the shield would be pierced depending on the abilities of the martial artists wielding them.

The final step, Swift Step, was a lightness art that showed the very limits of speed. The further one's mastery of Swift Step advanced, the smaller the Central Plains would become. I was certain that complete mastery would allow movement beyond human limits.

In the end, this was what the Wind God's Four Steps was saying:

Slip in, evade, attack, run.

When facing someone, weren't these four perfect steps enough?

I sat in a corner of the Heavenly Demon Library and quietly memorized the formulas.

I faithfully followed Yi An's advice. I ate the jerky I had brought at every mealtime, and slept soundly when it was time for bed. In return, I devoted every remaining moment, with a clear mind, to the Wind God's Four Steps.

The formulas were as deep as the sea, their meaning as vast as the sky.

This art was designed to take a single exceptional form and adapt it to the situation. That made it far harder to understand than an art tightly structured around dozens of forms. Its depths would have been impossible for me to grasp without my life before regression.

Was that why? The first reading was different from the second, and the tenth was different again.

I immersed myself in the formulas, losing all track of time.

Seven days after entering the Heavenly Demon Library, I had perfectly memorized the formulas of the Wind God's Four Steps and could put them into practice. Of course, I had only reached the first level of attainment. All that remained was to keep advancing through continued training.

I tore out the most important portion of the manual and swallowed it, then put the remainder back beneath the bookcase. The Wind God's Four Steps had changed roles from the greatest footwork art under heaven to a bookcase prop.

I didn't want another lucky person to come along and learn it. I intended to be honest about my desires.

Then I took my first step out of the Heavenly Demon Library.