Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1085

Sweat stung my eyes as it trickled down.

My arms and legs trembled, and a metallic taste filled my mouth.

It was an unpleasant sensation, but Kang Jin-ho was completely surrendering himself to it at this moment.

‘How long has it been?’

Since he last felt pure fatigue, untainted by pain.

It was a rather old sensation.

Looking back, it seemed he hadn’t fully focused on his physical body since returning to this world.

There hadn’t been a need to.

The process of training his body was something he had experienced enough in his past life. And the higher he climbed, the less helpful raw strength became.

He could draw out more power with internal energy than he could ever create with brute force.

But…

‘That’s not everything.’

Training to build physical strength was meaningless. Adding more muscle or making his body tougher wouldn’t make him stronger now.

What he needed to overcome wasn’t about strength or speed. It was something more fundamental, something metaphysical.

Squeeeeze.

He tightened his grip on the sword.

‘It’ll be different.’

He had been missing something essential.

He had fought countless battles with this Red Dew. He fought and fought, won and won. All those experiences were etched in his mind. But those memories of victory weren’t imprinted on his body.

‘Why did I miss this?’

He was Kang Jin-ho.

And the Kang Jin-ho in the Murim [Martial Arts World] was also Kang Jin-ho.

But there was a clear difference.

His current body and his body in the Murim were completely different.

Memories aren’t just stored in the mind. A body that knows the heat of fire avoids it faster than the mind, and a body that knows the sharpness of a blade twists before the mind even commands it.

Kang Jin-ho vividly remembered his past. The experiences he had accumulated to become the Demonic Heavenly Venerable, and the sensations he felt when he reached the highest realms.

But his body was that of Kang Jin-ho living in the 21st century.

This body didn’t retain the experiences he had in the past.

Squeeeeze.

Kang Jin-ho’s hand gripped the Red Dew as if it would break.

He didn’t want to spout grand words like the unity of essence, energy, and spirit. The problem was simpler. His body couldn’t keep up with his mind, which had grown through experience and memory.

Or rather, it was slightly different from not being able to keep up.

It was more like the gears were slightly misaligned.

The sensations Kang Jin-ho felt in his memories all originated from his past body. But his current body was clearly different from his past one.

The length of his arms, the length of his legs, and even their elasticity and firmness.

It was hard to find any similarities if you looked closely.

That subtle difference had been holding Kang Jin-ho back.

Why hadn’t he noticed it until now?

‘Because I haven’t been fighting.’

If it had been his past life, he would have noticed it quickly. Moments of life-or-death battles had been endless.

He had to push beyond the limits of his body and his own limitations.

But since returning to this world, he hadn’t experienced many life-threatening fights.

These subtle sensory issues don’t usually surface. Even if the gears are slightly misaligned, they still manage to turn when running at low speed.

It’s when you maximize the output and spin the gears at full speed that the misalignment spreads throughout, eventually leading to a breakdown. Kang Jin-ho had an absolute lack of opportunities to fight at his maximum output.

That’s why he hadn’t noticed this sense of incongruity until now.

“Hah.”

Kang Jin-ho drew up his demonic energy as much as he could.

The dantian [energy center below the navel] deep in his lower abdomen felt like it was burning. He extracted his internal energy, again and again. The demonic energy that flowed out soared into the sky.

‘More!’

It wasn’t enough.

He was fundamentally a martial artist.

When walking, breathing, even thinking, he naturally drew up demonic energy. Even that faint demonic energy was a hindrance now. He had to extract all the demonic energy remaining in his body, leaving only a body devoid of energy.

But, how should he put it?

“It’s a contradiction.”

Kang Jin-ho scoffed.

Until recently, Kang Jin-ho had struggled to regain his powerful internal energy from the past.

As a result of that struggle, he had learned to naturally convert external energy into demonic energy with every breath. Thanks to that, he had reached a level where he could use his internal energy like water.

It was the same now.

As soon as he extracted his demonic energy, external energy naturally flowed into his body. Before Kang Jin-ho could even think, his body converted the incoming external energy into demonic energy and pushed it into his dantian.

His mind was trying to deplete his energy, while his body was trying to fill it.

It was amusing.

He blocked the external energy trying to push into his body and extracted every last drop of demonic energy.

It was a terrible feeling.

His body, devoid of internal energy, didn’t know where to go. The arm holding the sword felt heavier than a ton, and his head wobbled on his neck.

‘This is it.’

It was an indescribable horror.

Kang Jin-ho’s body, without internal energy, was struggling to even maintain its balance. Of course, it didn’t mean he couldn’t stand or walk properly. As a human, he was fine, but as a martial artist, his balance was terrible.

The human body is constantly moving. No matter how still you try to be, you can’t be completely still. When you breathe, your lungs expand, and even when you hold your breath, your heart beats. Even when your heart stops and your breath stops, you can’t stop your cells from moving.

Martial arts begin with control.

You control everything you can to the very edge. The first thing you need to control is your own body.

It was so obvious. That’s why he missed it.

‘I knew it, but…’

The current Kang Jin-ho was like a person with his feet off the ground.

A person can only walk when their feet are on the ground.

Whether it’s a martial art that soars through the sky or one that cleaves the earth… it all starts from the body. If you can’t fully control and train your body, no martial art can take root.

The first thing to train was his own body.

It was the foundation for wielding martial arts.

A terrible, jarring discomfort washed over him, but Kang Jin-ho was thrilled.

He had found it.

What he needed to do.

Just like Wiggins, he had grasped his own question.

Knowing where to go was more important than anything. For someone who had reached Kang Jin-ho’s level, effort was nothing special. What mattered was the direction.

If you knew where to go to reach your destination, you would eventually get there.

A smile he couldn’t suppress spread across Kang Jin-ho’s lips.

‘I need to get stronger.’

He swung the Red Dew with all his might.

Crack!

The muscles and joints, unable to withstand the weight and speed, screamed. The pain of his arm twisting backward stabbed at his brain.

Whoosh!

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t stop swinging his sword.

He was imprinting it on his body.

He had to imprint this sensation on his body.

Thud, thud, thud.

Sweat fell to the floor like rain. The sweat that soaked his clothes couldn’t withstand the heat and released steam like an aura. Yet, more sweat seeped out and flowed down his body to the floor.

Kang Jin-ho swung his sword again and again until his hands were torn and his body could no longer move.

Kang Jin-ho took a step, his face slightly strained.

Thud.

The sensation of his foot touching the step was strange.

‘It’s been a while since I felt this.’

It wasn’t that his legs were trembling or that he couldn’t walk properly. The moment he finished his training, the internal energy that had been depleted began to refill, and he started to control his body again.

But this sensation was definitely different from usual.

How should he put it?

It was like he had become a mollusk. And it felt like he was wearing plastic armor over it.

It was like his legs touching the ground had no strength, but he was wearing a huge cast that prevented his knees from bending.

Because of the bizarre sensation, he could only hope he wouldn’t fall down the stairs. If the Guild Leader fell down the stairs, it would probably become a legendary anecdote for about a year.

Thud, thud.

The cafe owner, seeing Kang Jin-ho barely making his way down the stairs, rushed over and bowed his head.

“Guild Leader, are you leaving work?”

“Yeah.”

He had told them not to do this, but it was no use.

“Would you like a cup of coffee on your way home?”

Kang Jin-ho, who was about to refuse, changed his mind and nodded.

“Make it iced.”

“I’ll prepare it right away.”

“…You can be a bit sloppy this time.”

“Oh, how can I do that? It’s for the Guild Leader.”

“I’m serious.”

“…I understand for now.”

The owner, realizing that Kang Jin-ho’s reaction was different from usual, sent him a suspicious look and started making coffee.

“Here you go.”

Kang Jin-ho, receiving the coffee in a clear plastic cup, turned his head.

“Do you have syrup?”

“Syrup?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, yes. Here it is.”

The owner, handing over the syrup packet, tilted his head in confusion. Kang Jin-ho usually didn’t add syrup. What had gotten into him…

Squeeeeze.

Kang Jin-ho squeezed a long stream of syrup into the coffee and lightly shook it.

“Today, I’m feeling a bit swee…”

Squeeeeze! Squeeeeze! Squeeeeze! Squeeeeze!

“Wh-what are you doing!”

Kang Jin-ho, pumping the syrup without hesitation to achieve a perfect ratio of half coffee and half syrup, looked at the coffee with satisfaction.

Then, he lightly sipped the coffee.

His face contorted into a grimace.

“I-it’s going to be sweet.”

“…I need sugar.”

Then just eat sugar, you idiot!

What are you doing with someone else’s coffee! Is that even coffee? It’s animal feed!

Kang Jin-ho, holding the otherworldly drink of half syrup and half coffee, staggered out of the building. The owner shook his head, watching him.

‘He’s someone I just can’t figure out.’

Kang Jin-ho, getting on his scooter, let out a light sigh.

‘Is it okay for me to drive?’

It was unlikely, but if something went wrong, there could be an accident. Even if an accident happened, Kang Jin-ho would be fine, but other people could get caught up in it.

He hated causing trouble for others.

‘I’ll try driving for now, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll stop.’

It was a strange feeling.

It had been a long time since he felt this lack of strength throughout his body.

Internal energy wasn’t omnipotent. No matter how much internal energy you had, it couldn’t restore lost physical strength. It could help you recover faster, but it couldn’t do anything about this languor and helplessness.

How long had it been since he felt like this?

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

Rather, how should he put it, he felt a sense of fulfillment that he had done something properly for the first time in a long time.

‘I should push my body a bit harder for a while.’

His distractions disappeared, and his mind became clear. In many ways, it was definitely helpful. If Kang Jin-ho’s thoughts were correct, he could definitely improve by repeating this training.

Sluuuurp.

Kang Jin-ho, taking a sip of the coffee that was pure sugar, enough to make anyone scream, grimaced and started the engine.

And then it happened.

“Huh?”

The phone lit up.

Kang Jin-ho, checking the screen, reached for the phone.