← A Demonic Cult Elder, Disguised and Employed as a Righteous Sect LaborerThe night grew deeper.
Hyunmyeong left the courtyard. He headed toward the forest behind the sect, in the opposite direction from where the other disciples slept. He passed the room where Song Jun and Jin-ah's snoring could be heard, and avoided the quarters of Elder Cheongmok. Lee Seol's room was dark.
Deep in the forest, the sounds diminished. He reduced his movements to the point where even twigs wouldn't crack. It was an instinct left behind by his identity as a Demonic Sect elder. The art of leaving no traces.
Hyunmyeong found a spot where the sound of valley water could be heard. When the water's roar was loud, external acoustic detection became difficult. It was sufficient as a concealment location.
He removed his outer robe. The mountain wind brushed against his skin. The night air was cold and damp. But Hyunmyeong closed off his senses. Temperature was irrelevant.
He sat down.
He brought his hands together at his dantian. His thumbs and index fingers of both hands facing each other, the remaining fingers spread open. It was not the basic training posture of the Orthodox Sect. It was the Demonic Sect style. More precisely, it was the posture used by the Demonic Sect in the novel he had read before his possession.
The memories of this body and his knowledge overlapped.
What a disciple at the Gi-gam realm felt. A warmth stirring at a point one and a half inches below the navel. They called it the 'dantian,' and learned that it was the convergence point of qi. But properly trained disciples knew this was an illusion. Actual qi flowed along the blood vessels. The dantian was merely a metaphor for beginners.
Hyunmyeong rejected that illusion.
He sensed the blood vessels.
Deep within the abdomen, starting from the area around the aorta and extending to the upper abdomen—subtle pathways. The Orthodox Sect's training method told practitioners to ignore these and focus only on the warmth of the dantian. The Orthodox way was slow but safe. It was gradual.
The Demonic Sect way was different.
It stimulated all blood vessels simultaneously. It forced qi to flow. It was dangerous. In a body without flaws, the blood vessels could rupture.
But Hyunmyeong's body was a flaw.
'Begin,' he thought. He applied force to his fingers.
Qi moved.
At first, it was a thread-thin flow. A sensation rising from below the navel to the upper abdomen. It felt as though someone was tracing a line through his insides with their finger. It was both cold and hot.
The blood vessels responded.
His heartbeat quickened. His pulse thundered in his ears. Heat gathered at his fingertips. His fingers began to tremble.
Hyunmyeong controlled the trembling. To not appear as weak as he had shown Lee Seol, perfect control was necessary. In Demonic Sect training, trembling of the body meant failure. Loss of control over qi. Failure to break through a realm.
So he pushed deeper.
Qi enveloped his entire abdomen. Now it was not a flow but a vortex. Something expanded. Not the dantian, but deeper than that. At the intersection of blood vessels.
That place rotated.
'Gi-chuk.'
That was the signal of a realm breakthrough. In the Orthodox way, it was a process that took days to weeks. Accumulating sufficient qi in the dantian, allowing it to naturally flow through the blood vessels. A process that tested the cultivator's patience and stability.
Hyunmyeong skipped that process.
The system error allowed it. Three times normal speed. He still didn't know what that meant. But the result was clear.
Hyunmyeong opened his eyes.
Blue flames were blooming from his fingertips.
Demonic Sect qi. Its color was different from Orthodox Sect qi. Orthodox Sect qi was white or yellow. Colors known to be gentle and righteous. The qi blooming from Hyunmyeong's hands was blue. Cold. Dangerous.
Hyunmyeong quickly withdrew his qi.
The flames disappeared from his hands. He exhaled. His chest sank.
'This is a problem.'
The only one who had seen his hands was Lee Seol. But then, his hands had only trembled; she wouldn't have seen the color of the qi. It had been dark, and she wouldn't have seen his fingers clearly.
But now was different.
If someone had witnessed this moment, it would not be evidence of a 'weak disciple's trembling hands' but of 'training in a path other than the Orthodox Sect.' Especially an elder like Cheongmok would have recognized everything from the color of the qi alone.
Hyunmyeong brought his hands together again.
This time, more carefully. He gathered qi, but prevented it from leaking outward. As if trapping water within his hands.
'Gi-chuk realm. The stage of accumulating qi in the blood vessels.'
It was an explanation he had read in the original novel. At this realm, qi begins to circulate throughout the body. The structure of the blood vessels becomes clear. Strength increases noticeably. Even a weak disciple, upon reaching this realm, gains physical abilities different from ordinary people.
Hyunmyeong already possessed that.
The realm of a Demonic Sect elder was far higher than Gi-chuk. He likely possessed something around the Gi-sunhwan realm, below the Gi-byeon realm that Kangho had supposedly reached in the original novel. But this body was weak.
'A body at the Gi-chuk realm cannot contain qi of the Gi-sunhwan realm.'
That was the reality Hyunmyeong had come to understand. The blood vessels were too narrow. Qi overflowed. His hands trembled. The color of the qi leaked outward.
Hyunmyeong reduced his qi.
To the level of the Gi-chuk realm. To a level this body could handle.
The qi stabilized. The trembling in his hands stopped. The sinking feeling in his chest eased.
'An adaptation period is necessary,' Hyunmyeong thought.
Once stabilized at the Gi-chuk realm, the next was the Gi-hae realm. Beyond merely accumulating qi in the blood vessels, now came the stage of 'refining' qi. Removing impurities and elevating the quality of qi. Only through that could one reach the Gi-sunhwan realm.
But Hyunmyeong already possessed qi of the Gi-sunhwan realm.
'Because of the error... no.'
Hyunmyeong stopped his thoughts.
Was 'system error' the right term? Or was it something else? Was the possession itself an error? Or did his qi operate differently only in this world?
Hyunmyeong decided not to think further.
Thinking wouldn't yield answers. What mattered now was survival. Avoiding Lee Seol's suspicion. Deceiving the inspector Han Bi. Protecting Elder Cheongmok. And understanding the background figure, Kangho.
Everything else could wait.
Hyunmyeong withdrew his qi.
The night air of the forest cooled his body. His hands stiffened at the joints. But there were no traces. No color of qi. No trembling.
He put on his clothes.
The sound of the valley water continued. Nothing had changed. The night was still deep. No one had come to this place.
Hyunmyeong walked out.
On the way back to the sect, he gained one realization.
'Lee Seol was right.'
About needing to be weak. Really needing to be weak.
But not pretending to be weak—actually becoming weak. Was that possible?
Hyunmyeong swallowed a laugh.
A Demonic Sect elder pretending to be a weak disciple. That was no longer pretending to be weak. That was abandoning strength. Sealing one's own qi. Confining high-realm qi within a low realm.
'Slowly. Gradually,' Hyunmyeong murmured.
'Until weakness becomes familiar.'
The sect's lights came into view. Elder Cheongmok's room. The room where Seoun would be sleeping. And Lee Seol's room.
Hyunmyeong passed their windows. Lee Seol's room was still dark. But Hyunmyeong felt it.
That someone was awake in that darkness.
Hyunmyeong returned to his own room.
The night was still deep. But dawn was drawing near.
Hyeonmyeong entered his room.
He did not light the candles. In the darkness, he lifted his hand. A blue aura flowed between his fingers. Still.
'It hasn't calmed down.'
He steadied his breathing and clenched his fist. The blue aura slipped through his fingers. He clenched again. It escaped once more.
Demonic sect energy. A color distinct from the righteous faction's energy, uniquely its own. If anyone saw it, that alone would be the end. A single suspicion would be enough.
Hyeonmyeong sat on his bed. In the darkness, he observed his own body. Energy at the Gi-chuk realm circulated throughout his body. His forearms, legs, chest. The meridians reinforced by demonic sect cultivation methods shone with a blue light.
'This won't do.'
The blue aura leaking out when he spread his fingers. It wasn't merely a cosmetic problem. It was a matter of control. Forcing high-realm energy into a low-realm body, the energy was trying to pierce through the skin and escape.
'If a Gi-chuk realm disciple reveals demonic sect energy?'
Hyeonmyeong drew out the scenario.
Han-bi sees it. The inspector witnesses that blue color. Then it's a report. A report to the righteous faction's main headquarters. And then?
'Cheongmok becomes implicated.'
No, Cheongmok was already implicated. Simply by accepting him. In the original work, the reason Cheongmok was assassinated by Kangho was precisely that. To prevent the weak sect from falling out of favor with the righteous faction's main headquarters, Cheongmok would try to protect Hyeonmyeong. And that would become an opportunity for Kangho.
'What about Iseol?'
She was already suspicious. The reason she was awake in the middle of the night was probably because she sensed Hyeonmyeong going outside. And now if demonic sect energy is revealed, she would have no more reason to remain silent.
Hyeonmyeong lifted his hand again. This time he deliberately gathered his energy. A blue sphere formed above his palm. Small and beautiful, demonic sect energy.
He knew that beauty meant death.
Hyeonmyeong opened his hand. The sphere scattered. The blue aura drifted through the room and slowly faded away.
'Lower to the Gi-chuk realm.'
When he made that decision, Hyeonmyeong recalled Iseol's words again.
'You have to be truly weak.'
Not pretending to be weak, but actually becoming weak. It wasn't abandoning energy. It was sealing it. Confining high-realm power within a low-realm body and naturally acting it out.
'Step by step.'
Hyeonmyeong murmured. He let energy flow through his meridians. At a thin Gi-chuk realm level. The blue color faded. When he spread his fingers, energy no longer leaked out.
Good.
But this wasn't enough either. He had to lower it further, to the beginning of the Gi-chuk realm. Until the demonic sect's color was completely hidden beneath the righteous faction's pale blue.
Hyeonmyeong closed his eyes. He looked inward. Meridians branched out like tree limbs, and energy flowed between them. High-realm energy was thick and dark. Energy that didn't suit his current body.
He slowly restricted that flow. He deliberately blocked parts of his meridians. Created places where energy couldn't go. He confined high-realm power there.
Pain flowed in.
'I have to endure this too.'
Hyeonmyeong gritted his teeth. The Gi-chuk realm energy slowly thinned. When he opened his hand, the energy was now barely visible. Indistinguishable from a righteous faction disciple's Gi-chuk realm.
But within it, Gi-gam realm energy slept. And beneath that lay Gi-chuk realm energy.
'Lower to three stages.'
It wasn't abandoning strength. It was learning weakness.
Hyeonmyeong lay on his bed. The night was still deep. But morning was definitely drawing near.
---
Around 4 AM, Hyeonmyeong opened his eyes.
His body was trembling. His meridians were being damaged in the process of sealing his energy. It was a side effect of demonic sect energy not matching righteous faction meridians.
'I have to adapt to this too.'
Hyeonmyeong took a deep breath. The trembling gradually subsided. But the pain remained. A twisted pain felt deep in his chest and abdomen.
Hyeonmyeong sat up. He looked out the window. The sky was still dark, but the eastern edge was turning purple.
'If Han-bi comes, I have to finish adapting by then.'
Han-bi was an inspector. A monitor dispatched from the righteous faction's main headquarters. His job was to detect abnormalities. And Hyeonmyeong was already abnormal. Abnormally fast cultivation speed, abnormally colored energy, abnormally rapid realm breakthroughs.
Everything had to be concealed.
Hyeonmyeong let his energy flow again. This time lower. To the beginning of the Gi-gam realm. The demonic sect energy was buried deep. In the meridians deep within his body, near his lungs, within his bone marrow.
'If someone tries to read my energy, I'll appear as nothing more than a weak Gi-gam realm disciple.'
For that to happen, the very fact of reaching the Gi-chuk realm had to be erased. He had to claim he intentionally lowered from that realm. Or that he never reached that realm in the first place.
Hyeonmyeong opened his hand. A very faint blue light appeared at his fingertips. The righteous faction's blue. The demonic sect's blue had completely disappeared.
'Good.'
He murmured. But unease didn't fade.
Because Iseol was awake.
Hyeonmyeong thought about it. If Iseol was tracking him, she was already suspecting something. A disciple who witnessed another disciple leaving for the forest in the middle of the night wouldn't stay quiet.
'How do I deal with Iseol.'
That was the next problem. Tell the truth. Maintain the lie. Or convince her with partial truth from somewhere in between.
Hyeonmyeong got out of bed. The sky outside the window was growing brighter. Morning would come soon. Then another day of lies would begin.
Pretending to be weak. No, actually becoming weak. Sealing strength, adapting to weakness, living within that lie every day.
'And remaining at the Gi-chuk realm, gradually lowering to even lower stages. Until Han-bi arrives.'
Hyeonmyeong picked up a mirror. The face in the mirror was the same as always. Cold, expressionless, as if feeling nothing. But dark shadows were forming beneath those eyes.
Was it a side effect of cultivation, or the fatigue of concealment.
Hyeonmyeong put down the mirror. It didn't matter. What mattered was survival. Surviving in this sect without being exposed. Identifying Kangho's backing before Cheongmok is assassinated. And protecting Iseol.
In the original work, Iseol became one of Kangho's subordinates. If that ending could be avoided, that would be enough.
Hyeonmyeong looked out the window again. The eastern sky was now clearly turning a definite blue. Birds began to sing. The sect's daily life was awakening.
And within it, Hyeonmyeong had to perform yet another lie.
As a weak disciple.
As a disciple concealing an error.
As a weak disciple of the righteous faction, not a demonic sect elder.
'Now it begins.'
Hyeonmyeong murmured. His voice carried a note of cynicism.
'The true time of concealment.'