Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation-Chapter 548: Search Projects

The space where the light that had filled my vision vanished was soon filled with darkness. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Thick darkness. And dust of light slowly seeping into the darkness.

As my sight gradually gained outlines, I realized that I was myself.

“…!”

I instinctively shot up.

‘I’m alive, then.’

Breath returned, and my heart beat.

And the scenery in my clear sight was familiar.

There was also tactile sense — the chill of the floor and the smell of dust.

‘This place is…’

It took a moment to recall, but I remembered clearly.

The small cot I lay on and the makeshift barracks.

“Could this be where our Flying squad is…?”

Twisted wooden pillars.

A patched tent showing the weight of years.

Damp earth on the floor, sweat, and the scent of metal.

The owners of steady snores lying on thin sleeping bags.

‘Lee Sook, Yu Am, Ju-myeong…’

Subordinates who had shared life and death with me.

Companions who had died, vanished, or been lost countless times in the System and time-space were now lying beside me, breathing.

“Then the moment I returned to the bars of time-space was…”

Just before the System manifested.

A world earlier than the point where everything began.

“Why this time?”

Puzzlement came before surprise.

Why I was sent back to before the System manifested.

‘…Was I sent back to before its influence reached here?’

I couldn’t be certain.

The System might already have existed even before I died.

But at least one thing was sure.

The old man had arranged it intentionally.

‘Ah!’

While thinking various things, I suddenly looked down at my palm.

As my senses sharpened, unintended emotions flooded in.

‘This is… human emotion.’

I clutched my chest.

I felt it.

What had dulled little by little since rising to Profound Demon.

What had vanished the moment I reached Demon God.

This raw trembling, different from learned emotions, blood surging and scattering through my body and bursting out.

“Ugh.”

I missed it.

Truly.

“Kuk. Huh-huh.”

Tears fell.

Not from sadness.

My body reacted as if something overwhelmed me.

My chest felt hot, as if collapsing.

With every breath, air scratched past my throat.

In this state of myself, I could be sure.

‘I’ve returned to being human.’

What emotion is.

What it feels like.

I could clearly perceive it.

“Squad leader, is something the matter?”

A subordinate, awakened by the movement, asked.

It was Ju-myeong.

He had died for me during the regressions.

The one the System had ravaged each time.

Concern was written on his face as he looked up at me with half-open eyes.

“Ah, no. Go back to sleep.”

I patted his shoulder and rose from my place.

I pushed open the tent flap, folded layer upon layer of cloth, and stepped outside.

The cold night air struck my face.

Ssshh.

I walked outside a few steps and stopped.

Because of the wide view under the dawn light.

“Yeah… it’s been a while.”

I muttered standing where I could see the entire lower division.

Our Flying Squirrel squad was settled on a ridge.

So the view was really nice.

Whoooosh.

The dawn wind blew.

My breath puffed white.

“Hah…”

I closed my eyes.

Anything was fine.

The dawn light brightening at the edge of the sky, being able to stand here, and this late cold pricking my skin — all of it.

Ssshh.

The wind scraped across my cheek.

I felt the sting.

‘This is… proof that I’m alive as a human.’

I spread my arms.

I embraced the wind with my whole body.

‘I still don’t know why I was sent back so long before the System manifested.’

For what purpose did the old man in the bars of time-space choose this moment?

Clomp, clomp.

After walking a bit, I approached the cliff’s edge.

The world spread out beneath my feet.

The mountainside still not freed from darkness and the faint lights of the village.

“Perhaps he judged that starting here would lead to the most advantageous life.”

I hoped so.

If it’s the old man, he’d likely have that ability.

And more than anything, one thing was certain.

‘Cheon Miryeo exists in this world.’

My chest leapt once.

I looked up at the sky.

The North Star hanging at the edge of the dawn sky twinkled faintly.

‘A human life, not a god’s. One life, not many…’

Save her, protect my comrades, and build my own life rather than the System’s existence.

This would be the goal of this life.

“There’s still plenty of time until it’s time to work.”

Footsteps sounded behind me.

When I turned, Ju-myeong was there.

“Did you wake up because of me?”

“No. I was already awake.”

He came over with his characteristic banter.

And quietly stood beside me.

Whoooosh.

The wind blew.

A brief silence passed.

“Isn’t the view lovely? From here, our Flying Squirrel squad actually has some good points too.”

Ju-myeong spoke first.

“…Are you satisfied with this life?”

“Well, it can’t be helped, right? Since it’s come to this, it’d be good to get a proper secret manual and become stronger.”

He was just as he had been.

Still talking about getting stronger at the first chance — unchanged.

‘He hasn’t changed.’

I smiled.

To see that familiar, longed-for face again.

“Do whatever you can. If luck’s on our side, the Fourth Disciple might summon us.”

“…Fourth?”

Ju-myeong reacted.

“There’s only a third, isn’t there?”

Thud.

My chest dropped for a moment.

“Right… so it was.”

It fit the timing, and besides, there wouldn’t be a Fourth afterward either.

The reason our Flying Squirrel squad was formed was actually simple.

Someone at the main school had to do the work others wouldn’t.

And that someone was us.

Digging out drainage, cutting saplings, restoring torn and ripped landscaping.

Collecting rotten crates and trash and throwing them away…

In short, dirty, bothersome tasks that only required strength.

That was the duty of our Flying Squirrel squad.

Clack, clack.

I paused my hoeing for a moment and looked up at the sky.

‘About three years before the System activated.’

It was shortly after I had been appointed squad leader.

Honestly, being leader didn’t mean much.

They simply placed the person who ranked high during collective training at Heavenly Fragrant Hall and seemed most likely to do the work there.

‘If that’s the case…’

Life had been returned to the point I wanted, or even much earlier.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Lee Sook asked inside the barracks upon returning from afternoon work.

True to her cheerful nature, she always looked happy.

“I’m fine.”

“Today’s side dishes were pretty good, you know?”

“You eat a lot first.”

“Ah, yes. Then.”

Lee Sook walked out cheerfully.

Like any subordinate, she was still lively.

To the point that conversation was enjoyable.

I soon sat down.

Huuuh.

I exhaled deeply.

Focusing on breath-cultivation, I thought.

‘I must meet Cheon Miryeo first.’

I estimated the timing.

The rumor that she entered seclusion training would spread around a year from now.

Then I had to grow quickly within a year to be of help if I met her.

For that reason, I had to diligently raise my level from now on.

‘In a year, I think I can somehow reach Profound Demon..’

The first is the hardest, in truth.

Building internal qi from nothing, shaping the body to it, and adapting would take almost a full year.

Once you reach Supreme Demon, it takes less than a month to reach Profound Demon.

Because that stage must be unlocked by enlightenment, not body or technique.

Thump, thump.

My heart beat.

Internal energy began to circulate in the dantian.

‘Yes. Stop her death. Then strike the Sect Leader.’

I conceived the most certain method to settle this matter.

The succession fight would break out in earnest a year later.

I planned to eliminate the Cult Leader, the root cause.

Then such events wouldn’t occur at all.

‘Finally… I’ll have to destroy everything up to the Demonic Cult Cave where Strange Being Troops went.’

I watched the Demon Lord’s movements at the time.

And seeing them obtain the System, I realized.

If the Demonic Cult’s cave were destroyed, there would be no route to obtain the System anymore.

If I did that, the System would not appear in this world for any reason.

‘And…’

Sssss—

Qi circulated through my whole body.

The heat that started at the dantian flowed along the meridians.

‘Make Yu Pae into the Cult Leader.’

After killing the Cult Leader, I’ll assume his role and designate the Yu Pae as the successor.

There’d be no one of equal stature.

Someone with virtue, outstanding skill, and above all no greed.

If he became Cult Leader, the Demonic Cult would stabilize.

‘Then I’ll leave.’

Afterwards, leave the Demonic Cult alone.

With no Fourth Disciple, the Hidden Troops wouldn’t be formed, and So Ryeong would get to live her own life.

A world where everything flows naturally. I felt I could restart my life in the Central Plains.

This was my plan for my final life as a human.

Time passed quickly.

Though I had once earned the Supreme Pavilion Lord’s dislike, not in this life.

Knowing his temperament, I pandered to it, so there were no big issues.

Rather, I gained his favor.

The Supreme Pavilion Lord even suggested I join his unit.

“I still want to work at a lower position.”

I diplomatically expressed that I didn’t want to be tied to him, and that seemed to appeal to the Head.

He provided our Flying Squirrel squad with a new barracks.

Half a year passed like that.

I reached Peak Demon faster than expected.

Every night, breath-cultivation practice.

Every dawn, blade-diet training.

My body remembered.

If I had any spiritual pills, I could’ve reached it in one go, but I tried not to rush.

Such spiritual pills were hard to find here, and even if obtained, they’d bring more danger.

Sssss—

Every night, breath-cultivation practice.

Every dawn, blade-diet training.

And another three months later.

Tschut— tschpat!

With the sound of meridians opening throughout my body, I reached Supreme Demon.

From then on, there was no stopping.

Even a little training yielded great results; I leapt several stages of Supreme Demon and reached Profound Demon within a month.

“Ssp.”

From then, I felt everything around me.

Expansion of qi.

Amplification of senses.

The flow of wind, the tremor of the earth, the breaths of people.

I liked this.

The boundary where human senses were still perceptible.

Beyond the initial divine stage, when one becomes Ma-shin, emotions dull and only learned responses manifest.

Thud.

My heart beat.

Still hot.

‘Then…’

It was time to leave now.

Of course, I had reported to the higher-ups beforehand that I’d suffered a severe injury.

Huuush.

In the mountains where a biting wind blew, I moved quickly.

‘I’m not too late, right?’

Beyond the summit, snow peaks soared as if to swallow the sky.

This was where the rumor first spread that she had secluded herself for closed-door cultivation.

The rumor that she entered seclusion training circulated around here roughly at that time.

She was probably training here now or had entered a hibernation-like state.

“Hoo. So this is the place.”

The location was easy to find — I’d come here not long before.

I could quickly find which cave she would be in.

“Huh? It’s different this time?”

When I entered the cave, I had a hunch.

The space where she would be.

When she had reached Talma before, it had been tranquil; in hibernation it had been freezing.

Now it was in between.

Just a bit chilly.

I judged this to be the cave’s natural state, not due to any balancing.

‘She might not be here.’

I guessed roughly as much, but decided to look for her first.

So I reached the spot where she’d stood before.

“…Not here?”

As expected, she wasn’t visible.

There wasn’t even a trace of a person having been here.

My breath stopped.

She was the reason I returned and my last wish — but she wasn’t here.

“Maybe she hasn’t come yet? Did I arrive too early?”

That was something I couldn’t know.

I didn’t even know when she had entered seclusion training.

Or perhaps that old man had sent me to a world without Cheon Miryeo.

“What should I do?”

I sat down and pondered.

Then as I was about to stand up.

A chill ran down my spine.

Shu-yuk!

The moment I turned, a sharp blade flashed and flew at my face.

I hurriedly drew my sword.

Klang!

Blade met blade. Sparks flew. Ice shards scattered everywhere.

At that moment, I met my opponent’s eyes.

“Who are you?”

A woman like the white snow. She asked with beguiling eyes.

Coldly, sharply, and with killing intent.

“I…”

A smile touched my lips — a natural smile of joy.