The Myth of the Greek Heavenly Demon

“Clean it thoroughly, kids!”

“Isn’t there dust accumulated here? You need to make it shine!”

“Those who haven’t washed yet, speak up quickly! If you get caught later, you won’t even be able to give me excuses anymore!”

Like a military unit that heard the news of the commander’s arrival, the priests also rolled up their sleeves and cleaned the temple, and the children also had to busy their hands without a moment to enjoy the festival.

“Hey, hey, Dianes. Did you hear that story?”

“What is it, Talus?”

In my past life, I was a Heavenly Demon or whatever. Now I was just one of the ordinary orphans, working hard with my hands, when suddenly, a red-headed kid clung to my side.
That kid’s name was Talus.
He often liked to boast that he was the son of the War God Ares, and his self-praise wasn’t entirely unfounded, as he had quite a knack for fighting.
When I first came to this temple, he and his gang tried to intimidate me but ended up in a mess.
Maybe he changed his approach after that, as he occasionally came to me, busy boasting about this and that.
He claimed to be the son of Ares and a prince from a distant kingdom.
And that soon his servants would come to escort him.

They were picking on me for being an orphan with no connections, but honestly, no matter how much this kid acted up, to someone like me who had rolled through the history of thousands of years of warfare in the martial world of the Central Plains, it was just cute.

“So, what’s the matter today?”

“Hehe… Don’t you know? Why everyone is so busy?”

This punk must have sneaked into the high priest’s room and eavesdropped again.
Judging by his actions, he seemed more like the son of a Thief God than a War God.

“What’s got you so excited? If you’re not going to tell me, then stop bothering me and get lost.”

“Ugh…! You’ll regret treating me like this later! When Master Chiron arrives at the festival…!”

“Chiron?”

Even though the period I lived as the Heavenly Demon in the Murim world of China was significantly longer than my time on Earth, my first life on Earth had not faded from my memory.
And even in that distant memory, the knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology, which I had often glanced at, was quite helpful at times like this.

Chiron.

A centaur, a race that was half-human and half-horse, unlike the usual members of their kind, was well-versed in knowledge and highly skilled in martial arts, raising numerous heroes and being remembered as the mentor of heroes.

Was such a great figure coming all the way here?

“Hmph! No doubt he’s coming to take me, the son of Ares! Just wait. When I become a hero at Chiron Academy, I’ll make sure that arrogant…”

“Thanks for the valuable information.”

In an instant, I sealed Talus’s pressure point, shutting his noisy mouth, and kicked his butt.
I thought about Chiron.

A centaur, a descendant of Kronos, the God of Time and the former king of the Titans, and the mentor of many heroes.
That was as far as I could clearly remember.
In the original myth, I wondered if there was a story about that half-human, half-horse coming this far, but nothing came to mind. While I was spacing out, I stopped my hand and got a light knock on the head for no reason.

Thus, as the day’s tasks roughly came to an end and the crescent moon rose in the night, I carefully sneaked out of the room where the other kids were sleeping and grabbed a wooden sword.

In my head, there were countless martial arts forms, regardless of being orthodox or unorthodox, but whatever the martial art, it was best to train during the early dawn when the energy of the heavens and earth was the most refined and pure.
Especially since the body of a child had fewer impurities in the blood and qi pathways, and the muscles and bones were still growing, training with this clear qi would undoubtedly speed up the recovery of my past life’s accomplishments.
I never skipped dawn training for a single day.

“Honestly, it’s much better than rolling around in the River of Three Crossings in my past life…”

In my previous life, I died without knowing the reason, and when I awoke, twelve Divine Demons looked down at me and decided to train me to become the contemporary Heavenly Demon, to the point of death.
Thanks to them, I was able to swiftly reach the state known as Heavenly Demon’s Natural Realm, but honestly, I’d rather slowly build up my state than go through that again.

“Let’s see… Did I pack everything?”

Other than the wooden sword at my waist, there wasn’t much to pack, but after a final check, I lightly activated my light footwork and dashed through the forest.
I was not yet strong enough to master ascending footwork like Heavenly Demon Illusion Step or Cloud Step.
Thus, the footwork I was currently using was Ghostly Flying Step, abbreviated as Ghost Step, which was practiced by the Demons of the Demonic Cult who acted as assassins.
True to its name, “Ghostly Flying Steps,” it was footwork that was both stealthy and fast, rivaling even the footwork of assassins.

Now, it was a high-level footwork technique that made one wonder if a mere fifteen-year-old should even learn it.
But who cares?

“I am the Heavenly Demon.”

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had a history spanning thousands of years.
At the end of that history was the Heavenly Demon, who became the supreme being of the Demonic Cult and the heaven itself, rather than a mere leader.
Even though I’m now an orphan in a different mythological world, that enlightenment and aura haven’t gone anywhere.

Look even now. Though I had only been retraining in Demonic Arts for barely over a year, my Ghost Step was already stealthy and swift enough to rival the upper-tier assassins of the Demonic Cult.

‘First of all, today I aim to raise the Ghostly Flying Step to at least the 3-star level. As for my sword techniques and sword forms… My internal qi isn’t enough yet, so…’

The qi cultivation technique I was currently mastering was the Ghostly Cultivation Arts, which I happened to acquire while exploring the relics of the former Jeonjin Sect.
The achievement of Demonic Arts was originally very fast, but it was unstable, making the risk of entering a state of deviation high.
In the original Demonic Cult, to support such an unstable initial stage, they would provide Demonic Soul Pill to prospective demons or have higher-ranking demons assist with the operation of Demonic Arts.
But I am the Heavenly Demon.

Even if I relearned Demonic Arts, such instability wasn’t considered dangerous.
However, another characteristic of the Demonic Arts hindered me from learning it.
It was the unique demonic qi of demons who mastered Demonic Arts.

Regardless of what arts one would master, unless it was the Stealth Arts of the Demonic Cult assassins, the moment the achievement of ordinary arts surpasses five star level, it reveals the practitioner as a demon whenever they operate their qi.
Merely releasing qi induces a sense of oppression and fear in the surroundings.
That was the teaching of the asuras and yakshas of the Hell Realm, and it showed their qualifications as demons.
But, given my current situation, if I went around openly using demonic qi, I would definitely be considered a monster or a villain, so I would surely get stabbed by someone. So I couldn’t learn any Demonic Arts right away.
But there was a way to replace it. It was the martial arts technique of the Jeonjin Sect. Demonstration of the Demonic Cult’s arts and other sects require innate qi, but such limitations didn’t exist for the Jeonjin Sect’s martial arts.
It was a technique that harmonized seamlessly with both normal arts and Demonic Arts.
It was the Martial Spirit.
Whether it was Demonic or Justice Arts, they were martial arts, and it was something that anyone would accept.
It was a truly amazing feat in my current situation.

“Um? What?”

As I was planning my training for the day and rushing forward with my light footwork, something sharp suddenly flew towards me, cutting through my senses.

-Flinch!

Sensing the incoming object, I quickly swung my wooden sword on my back to deflect it.

“Ueuk?! What kind of power is this?!”

The deflected object was an arrow.
A silver arrow, softly glowing as if it held the moonlight.
The arrow, which shattered my wooden sword into pieces in slow motion, was as beautiful as a piece of art.

Kwajik!

The arrow, which had almost half-penetrated a rock after passing by me in an instant, was still vibrating, and its force had not yet dissipated.

“What is this?”

I thought it was a hunter’s arrow, but the energy contained in it was unusual.
At first glance, it resembled the divine qi used by the hypocrites of the Nine Great Sects, but its purity sense was even higher.
I felt a sense of rejection that seemed to refuse any human presence around it.
No, was it rejecting the touch of a man rather than a human?

“Stay still.”

-Woong, woong, woong!

The arrow that was pulled out with force—no, to be precise, the qi contained in the arrow—vibrated as if it were alive and rejected my touch.
The moonlight-like qi, which seemed as if it would immediately burrow into my meridians and twist them, thrashed nervously. It was both elegant and fierce.

“Giving the will to qi…?”

In my past life, during the time when I was the Heavenly Demon, it was a technique of cultivation that only I could perform in the martial world of the Central Plains.
Not only handling the energy with intention but also assimilating with it and imbuing it with consciousness, a realm of power that approached the creation of life.
Was there a being who could show such a skill?

-Woong!

“I said stay still.”

Although I had become a feeble little kid now, I was once capable of creating a spirit guardian with just my demonic qi and had shown the pinnacle of internal qi.
Suppressing the qi contained in such an arrow was no problem at all for me.
When I drew my energy from my dantian and infused it into the arrow, the moonlight-like qi contained within the arrow raged.
I thought about extinguishing it right away, but somehow, it felt like a waste.

“With such pure energy…”

Given that my own qi was already insufficient, wasting such refined qi, which was within my grasp, seemed like a shame.

“Come. Come to me.”

Following the profound principles of the Martial Spirit Divine Art, I slowly enveloped the qi contained in the arrow and drew it into my body.
True to the Martial Spirit Divine Art, which embraces both Demonic Arts and Justice Arts, I could easily guide the unfamiliar qi and slowly transfer it into my qi meridians.
The qi that entered my body tried to twist my innate qi and blood.
But that struggle was quickly bound by the Unification Demonic Arts, I operated and slowly pulled into one side of my dantian.

“Phew… I’ll digest this slowly later… Now let’s see.”

The arrow in my hand no longer shone as beautifully as before since the qi had dissipated, but it was still incredibly beautiful, as if it had been crafted by melting moonlight into an arrow.

Even in the past, when I reigned as the Heavenly Demon, the God of Ten Thousand Mountains, countless rare tributes pleased my eyes and ears, but this arrow was one of the most beautiful among those I saw there.

“…Truly in the realm of divine craftsmanship.”

As I quietly looked at the arrow, a familiar sharp qi once again targeted and rushed at my back.

-Shhwoook!

There was a hint of malice in the arrow this time, as if angered by the first one being blocked, making my skin prickle.

“Tsk, I wondered if it was done by mistake.”

But a master capable of imbuing such qi into an arrow wouldn’t confuse their target.

-Thwack!

The swiftly swung arrow accurately deflected the incoming one.

“Ugh… As expected, my body still can’t keep up…”

Since it was made of the same material, the arrow didn’t break as easily as the wooden sword from before, and it could be blocked with a bit of internal qi.
However, my still-growing body couldn’t handle the force, and my bones cracked.

“Tsk… With a day’s rest, this should heal, but do you have more?”

A presence subtly appeared from the direction the arrow came.
It must be the one who shot the arrows at me.
I moved my hand to fix the broken bone and aimed the arrow at the sound of footsteps.

-Rustle!

“It seems like you are not an ordinary person… Why did you shoot an arrow without warning?”

As I infused qi into the arrow and stayed alert, the culprit hiding in the forest shadows slowly revealed himself.

“Hmph…!”