The moment I confirmed what kind of pill had been hidden inside the split iron orb, I was completely stunned.

The Demon Essence Pill.

It was a legendary elixir refined once every ten years by the Heavenly Demon Sect. When consumed by a martial artist who had mastered demonic techniques, it granted them a tremendous surge of internal power. The amount of energy it bestowed varied depending on the user’s physical constitution and the cultivation method they practiced.

I was truly impressed. Not just by the pill itself—but even more so by the ingenuity of the orb that had concealed it.

If someone had split the orb using a blade imbued with sword energy, the resulting heat would’ve sealed the hidden passage inside and prevented the pill from ever being retrieved.

A reward granted only to those who used the sword, not sword energy.

In a situation where internal energy was what I lacked most, the Demon Essence Pill was nothing short of a heaven-sent miracle.

“Nice to meet you, Demon Essence Pill! Thank you, Father!”

Without hesitation, I sat down on the spot and swallowed the pill.

The elixir melted in my mouth with a spicy fragrance, and its essence surged through my entire body.

Vast energy coursed through my veins, spreading through every meridian. I focused on my cultivation method and began absorbing it all.

Having taken many such elixirs in my past life, I had no difficulty guiding it through my system. Thanks to the Heaven’s Martial Vessel—my unique body—I could absorb far more energy than an ordinary person.

Immersed in a state of complete concentration, I regulated my breathing and circulated my energy. Only after two full hours had passed did I open my eyes again.

The energy of the Demon Essence Pill had been absorbed into my bloodstream like rain after a long drought. Through repeated cycles of focused energy control, I refined that energy into pure internal strength, which now rested within my lower abdomen.

I stood and summoned my inner power.

Swish! Boom!

The sound from my unleashed fist was unmistakably different. The slicing of air was sharper, and the shockwave of impact felt as if it might rupture eardrums. The force behind it was beyond comparison, and the sensation lifted my spirits like a bird taking flight.

“Hahahahaha!”

I couldn’t suppress my laughter, echoing through the cavern like thunder.

‘Wait… could it be?’

Had Father taught me how to perceive energy flow during our hunting trip to help me find the hidden seam in the orb? Had he succeeded in cutting it the same way?

But I shook my head.

No matter how extraordinary Father was, he couldn’t have predicted I’d enter the Lesser Heaven Cavern because of the Blood Heaven Butcher. Then again… maybe he expected I would eventually come here.

Whether he wished for me to obtain the pill, or simply wanted to maintain the Blood Heaven Butcher’s pride, I owed this incredible fortune to my father.

‘Thank you, Father.’

I circulated my energy once more to stabilize both body and mind, then began walking toward the next trial.

And so, I arrived at the third gate.

One: Discern life from death.
Two: If you fail, you may try again in five days.
Three: Those prepared, stand in the red circle.

Discern life from death?

What kind of trial was this supposed to be?

And the waiting period before a retry had been shortened to five days. That didn’t feel like a good sign.

When I stepped into the red circle, a stone table rose from the floor.

The moment I saw what was placed on it, a smile crept onto my face.

Ten herbs were laid out on the table. This trial was a test to distinguish between medicinal herbs and poisonous ones.

They say in the martial world, the people you must watch out for most are old men, children, and women—but in truth, the most dangerous thing is poison itself. You must never accept food or drink from others lightly. And if you must, you should always test it with a silver needle.

Everyone in the martial world had some degree of caution ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) regarding poison, but how many had actually studied the poisonous plants themselves? Those who had would be thrilled. The rest would likely be baffled.

I was one of the former.

There’s something I once said to Ghost Caller before my regression:

“I dare say I’m a master when it comes to hiking, swimming, diving, and camping. I could draw a map of the entire Central Plains with my eyes closed.”

I had wandered across the land in search of the Eternal Flame Lily. Swimming and diving were the least of my skills. I could identify nearly every herb and poisonous plant, and I knew their properties in detail. If some herbalist tried to lecture me, I could send him off to dig up balloon flower roots like an amateur.

So I didn’t even need to read Father’s inscription on the wall.

I confidently picked one from the set of ten—a single herb that was medicinal rather than poisonous.

The table sank back into the floor, and a new one rose with ten more herbs.

Unlike the previous ones, these were a different set altogether.

“Ah!”

To prevent lucky guesses from clearing the trial, it required two correct answers in a row.

I could already imagine how difficult this trial must have been.

Think about it.

You have to get it right twice, and each time you’re choosing from ten options. What are the odds?

If you just rely on instinct or try to guess randomly, you might end up picking poison for the rest of your life.

‘In the end, this test forces you to eat to find out.’

That had to be the intended solution—the poisonous samples contained just enough to avoid killing you outright. Of course, they’d make you suffer for days if you got it wrong.

But even so, it was the most efficient method. If you got lucky and picked the right one early, you’d move on quickly. If not, you’d be stuck here for a while.

From the second batch, I selected the single herb that wasn’t poisonous. I half-expected a third table to appear, but the trial wasn’t that cruel.

With the second correct choice made, the door to the next trial opened.

I wondered if anyone else had passed this test as cleanly as I had. A poison-specialist challenger might’ve breezed through, but most likely suffered greatly here.

Curious, I walked over to the wall where challengers had left messages.

—Damn it! At this rate, I’ll become a poison maniac.
—Whose idiotic idea was this? When do we ever deal with this many poisonous plants?
—There has to be a clue. We need to study the herbs more carefully.
—I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve failed. Maybe I should just eat them all and die. Even fasting pills taste poisonous now.
—I should’ve calculated better from the start. I hate that I trusted my gut.
—Success on the ninety-sixth try. I’m crying tears of blood.
—I’ve eaten so much poison, my hair’s falling out.

And at the very bottom, Father had left a message:

—Fools! Never rely on luck.

From that, I understood—Father had identified the poisons one by one, remembering them each time. He realized immediately that guessing was a waste of time.

He’d cleared this trial in just two months.

Even though he warned against relying on luck, he must have had a fair bit of it to clear it so fast. Or perhaps he already knew enough to eliminate a few candidates each time.

“At least we’ve both kept our hair intact, Father and son.”

 

****

The fourth gate was the final one. The monument beside it read: Final Trial.

One: Survive the Life-and-Death Illusion Formation.
Two: If you die inside, you die for real.
Three: Those prepared, stand in the red circle.

A trial that led to actual death had finally arrived.

The Life-and-Death Illusion Formation.

If you died within it, you truly died.

This time, the messages carved into the wall were from those who had lived.

—That was the hardest fight of my life. Someday, when I become the Heavenly Demon, I’ll find whoever made this formation and kill them.
—I was so afraid. It was unbearable.
—Who the hell made this cursed formation?!
—I swear I’ll never step into a Life-and-Death Illusion again.

And among them was my father’s note. This time, there were no insults—just a single piece of advice:

—Do not stop.

It was, of course, a clue for this trial. But more than that, it felt like something he was saying to guide my entire life. Perhaps it was because this was the final trial.

Yes, I’ll keep going. Without stopping.

I calmly circulated my energy, filled myself with power, and stepped into the red circle.

As soon as I did, the formation activated. The scenery around me began to shift.

Moments later, I found myself standing in a wasteland.

The sand running between my fingers, the dry leaves on the brittle trees, the insects crawling over rocks—everything felt real. No… it all was real.

“The highest-level formations truly are incredible.”

It surpassed mystery and bordered on divine craftsmanship. How could something so realistic be constructed within an illusion? It made me believe that true geniuses really did exist in this world.

And then—

With the wind that carried grains of sand, the warriors appeared.

They had no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Featureless masks. Illusions born of the formation.

There were thirty of them.

Illusions—but illusions with substance. Just like the rock I’d touched earlier, their swords would be real.

The illusions encircled me, radiating murderous intent. Even those trained in advanced martial arts would find their bodies tightening in this moment if they lacked real battle experience. The anxiety of being stabbed in the back, the pressure of so many enemies—it weighed heavier than one might expect.

But I had fought far more foes than this. And they weren’t even human. That, if anything, made me feel more at ease.

I launched myself forward, diving directly into their midst.

Thud! Thud!

The fight began with a double thrust to the chests of the illusions to my left and right.

I didn't hold back. I drove my blade through throats and bellies, shattered arms, crushed skulls. They weren’t human—I had no need to feel remorse.

I dodged some attacks, met others head-on. I tested techniques both with and without internal energy. Since they never tired, I could experiment as much as I wanted.

Every time one of them died, it burst apart with a satisfying pop, and each sound cleared my mind.

When I brought down the last of the thirty, the formation gave me a brief reprieve.

Just as I was about to begin circulating my energy, Father’s words flashed through my mind.

Do not stop.

‘Ah. So this was what he meant.’

Even though the formation gave me time to recover, his advice was not to restore my energy. He meant for me to continue fighting with what I had—just like in a real battle.

In real combat, there would be no time to replenish your strength. This was a rare chance to practice energy control in true combat conditions.

‘Still, really now—this is a formation where it’s live or die, and the advice is to not rest? That’s just like Father.’

So I followed his will and refrained from recovering my internal energy.

When the time it would have taken to circulate qi passed, the next wave appeared.

This time, there were twenty.

Fewer than before—but they were far stronger.

Their movements were faster, their martial techniques more refined. They came armed not only with swords and sabers, but also bows, firing from afar, and throwing weapons from every direction.

I was in a fight where one wrong step could mean death. But to be honest, I was exhilarated.

For the first time since returning to the past, I was experiencing real combat.

Faster! Come at me faster!

I leapt across their shoulders, danced through volleys of dozens of flying blades. I used the illusions themselves as shields and, at one point, closed my eyes just to test myself against them.

Even after the second battle ended, I didn’t replenish my energy. I didn’t know how many waves there would be, but I’d decided I would only use half my remaining strength.

Then came the third group.

Ten.

I knew right away they were the final wave. Their aura made it clear—this was the limit of what a challenger could endure.

Many had died here.

These were on an entirely different level. They were faster, stronger, and more lethal than anything before.

And yet—I felt disappointed.

Already over?

I wanted to fight more.

So I dashed between them, dodging their strikes, using the opportunity to refine my evasion technique.

And when I felt it was time, I ended it—brilliantly.

Because I was certain this was the last, I poured all my remaining power into it.

My sword drew dazzling arcs of light. From past experience, I knew that the Radiant Sword Art was judged differently depending on the opponent.

In the end, even martial arts were only understood as deeply as one could perceive. To the untrained, Radiant Sword Art was little more than flashy choreography. But to masters, each of the seven sword forms concealed within revealed endless transformations, infinite depth. And to them, it was terrifying.

As the seven ultimate forms of the Radiant Sword Art unfolded in sequence, the illusions were torn apart. They were the strongest enemies the formation could conjure—but they vanished faster, more explosively, than all the others.

Boom. Boom.
They burst like fireworks, one after another.

With the destruction of the last enemy, the Life-and-Death Illusion Formation collapsed.

My cultivation realm was too high for the situation Father had hoped to simulate—no desperate crisis had emerged. But it was a thoroughly satisfying battle, like unclogging a blocked artery. The heat in my chest had finally been released.

Yes. That alone gave it meaning.

When the formation dissolved, a door opened to the outside. Next to it stood a stone monument.

One: To exit, push this monument aside.
Two: Congratulations on surviving the trial. May your strength be used to restore and elevate the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Thus, the trials of the Lesser Heaven Cavern came to an end.

Astonishingly, I had cleared all of it in a single day.

When this news got out, the entire sect would erupt.

Father had taken two months to finish it, and I’d come out after just one day? There’d be more disbelief than praise.

Gu Pyeongho, the one who’d fought me, would probably foam at the mouth screaming that I’d cheated. Father, and the Eight Demon Lords, would scramble to find out how I managed to get through it so quickly. A hundred headaches were already lining up.

In the end, I made up my mind not to leave yet.

Yes—I'll continue training.

I’ll train here. And to preserve Father’s dignity, I’ll stay for exactly a hundred days before stepping outside.

Thankfully, I had plenty of training to do, and even more of those wretched fasting pills stockpiled.

Time to train.
Time to chew through loneliness—
—and chew through the fasting pills too.