Chapter 559. Taking a Leap (4)

If progress was something tangible, something that could be seen, heard and felt, people would've always put in their best effort. But not everyone could do it. That was because the reward for all of their efforts wasn't immediate.

The same logic applied to cultivation. It was easy to think that a martial artist would see an immediate return on investment by cultivating diligently, but the reality wasn't so kind.

The act of cultivation was similar to climbing a staircase, with each step being taller than your own height. The cultivating martial artist would never see themselves getting stronger while struggling to climb just one step.

Only after climbing one step by expending so much energy until they were on the brink of passing out would the martial artist feel the growth in their strength. Only then would they begin to think they had reached a realm a tiny bit higher than before.

Unfortunately, what waited for them was a step even taller than the one they had climbed over.

Until now, Yi Myeong-Hwan took that as gospel, the way of a martial artist's life. Any martial artist would have to experience this wall as it was their fate to do so! However...!

'This is insane.'

Yi Myeong-Hwan's view on martial art cultivation began crumbling down into tiny pieces soon after Kang Jin-Ho handed out his demonic cultivation method. And now he understood why demonic arts could improve a martial artist's cultivation so fast.

Obviously, Kang Jin-Ho's demonic cultivation method didn't instantly make anyone strong if they were unwilling to put in the necessary effort. What it did, however, was take the tall staircase of cultivation and flatten it until it became a massive incline instead. The more one put in the effort, the higher their realm rose. Unless one was a martial artist, it was impossible to fathom how significant this was.

Consider this: to climb a step taller than a person, a martial artist would have to work hard. The problem was when they failed. If their effort wasn't quite good enough, they would have to return to the step below and then try again. Even though their condition or the environment hadn't improved or changed at all.

Just how many martial artists had to give up in the face of this insurmountable wall and choose the path of complacency? The answer would be too many to count!

However, that wasn't the story for demonic cultivation methods. Even if one stopped climbing in the middle of this incline, they could still resume from where they paused as long as they didn't inadvertently roll down the slope first. And more effort was immediately rewarded by their realm creeping up higher and higher.

This ecstasy of sensing one's strength improving in real time! This sensation was stronger and more addictive than any drug for a martial artist. And it was also the perfect answer to the question of what was so different about the demonic arts that the demonic cultivators could improve themselves so much faster than their counterparts cultivating in orthodox cultivation techniques.

Of course, the demonic arts did come with a side effect or two.

“What the f*ck, you stinking b*tch?”

“What did you say, you f*ck?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan sighed grandly while listening to a flurry of swear words. 'Ah, sh*t. Here we go again.'

The side effect of cultivating demonic arts wasn't something outrageous. The rumors of demonic arts practitioners being bloodthirsty serial killers or carnivores out to munch on human flesh were all total rubbish. Anyone with such a broken mental state needed to be killed on the spot, whether they were demonic cultivators or not!

No, the side effects Yi Myeong-Hwan had encountered so far could be seen as much milder than those. Even so... They could also be seen as several times more headache-inducing!

“You f*cking son of a bt*tch!”

BOOM!

In the middle of cultivation, martial artists would suddenly start staring contests, which rapidly devolved into fisticuffs. And this 'event' was happening with alarming frequency.

'Gimme a freaking break. Seriously!'

The demonic cultivation's side effect was quite simple. How would a man walking in the middle of an insane heatwave during August feel after a sudden downpour had doused him from head to toe? All the while, a run of diarrhea had made a mess of his innards, and the humidity relentlessly clung to his skin to squeeze out every drop of sweat from him?

Wouldn't they lose their mind if someone accidentally brushed past them? With enough fury to blow up this crappy world? That was the situation for these younger-generation martial artists.

If only their side effects were more like thirsting for blood or losing their rational minds to destructive urges! Symptoms like those at least had clear, straightforward solutions. But these idiots acted like nutjobs experiencing anger management issues and started punching first from some of the most trivial things one could imagine.

This must be a result of them becoming more and more neurotic while gradually losing self-control!

'Look at those punks...'

A couple of bastards started trading several blows, but that obviously inconvenienced other folks around them, and soon, all the hot-headed fools jumped in to turn a small quarrel into a messy gang fight.

Yi Myeong-Hwan facepalmed in silence.

'Goddamn it... If I kill all these useless as*holes, things will get simpler for me, right...?'

When his thoughts reached that far, Yi Myeong-Hwan's head shot up in alarm. “Heol?! What the hell was I even thinking about here!”

However, this didn't come as a total surprise to Yi Myeong-Hwan. Even he was having a torrid time trying to escape the side effects of cultivating demonic arts. And yes, he also had been through a few fisticuffs and gang fights already.

If it hadn't been for the tacit agreement between everyone here about not using internal energy during the scuffles, dozens of people would've left the training hall as corpses by now!

'Will this really be okay?'

Without a doubt, Yi Myeong-Hwan—and seemingly everyone else—was glad about the opportunity to become stronger. But the side effects were proving themselves to be too tough to handle.

The younger generation acted independently and decided not to interact with non-cultivating civilians for the foreseeable future. They made a wise choice since any one of them running free in the streets would've summoned the SWAT immediately. No, scratch that. Probably the entire platoon of the Korean military would've shown up instead!

Yi Myeong-Hwan rubbed his chin, wondering how he should go about cleaning up this mess. That was when a cold, still voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Wow. What a pleasing scenery this is.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan grandly flinched in fear. Even before his head could process what happened, his body reacted first and stood straight at attention. Even the gradually-spreading gang fight lurched to a halt in no time!

All Kang Jin-Ho did was mutter a few things, yet the boiling atmosphere in the training hall cooled down in an instant. Many terrified gazes focused on a spot riiiight behind Yi Myeong-Hwan.

'What a weird feeling this is...'

Yi Myeong-Hwan found himself being swept up in a bizarre sensation when all those gazes landed on him. Or, more correctly, on Kang Jin-Ho behind him.

All these younger-generation martial artists had become incomparably stronger than their past selves, yet they were still staring at Kang Jin-Ho with gazes of sheer terror and awe. And Yi Myeong-Hwan realized he wasn't adequate enough to handle such intense levels of attention.

Only the truly strong absolute beings were qualified to revel in the gazes of respect and awe like this!

“Why don't you carry on?” Kang Jin-Ho derisively muttered.

All the martial artists hurriedly untangled themselves from the melee and stood up straight while freaking out like meek lambs in front of a hungry wolf. In the proverbial blink of an eye, these once-irritable warriors got into a neat rank-and-file.

'Wow. Is this the army or something?'

Yi Myeong-Hwan wryly thought to himself. These idiots were behaving like privates staring at the division commander who had shown up unannounced for an impromptu inspection. No, wait... This situation seemed way more intense than that.

The worst a mere division commander could do to an unruly soldier was court-martial the idiot and throw him inside a prison. Not Kang Jin-Ho, though. He could cut their heads off if they got on his nerves for too long!

Also, how should they explain this...?

'For some reason, Mister Jin-Ho is... even scarier than before?'N0vel_Biin hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

In a slightly different sense, too! In the past, these people rationally understood their fear of Kang Jin-Ho. But now, that fear was more instinctual in nature. It seemed the demonic qi they had begun cultivating was quaking in fear at Kang Jin-Ho's bountiful internal energy!

“...Yi Myeong-Hwan,” Kang Jin-Ho quietly called out.

“Yessir!” Yi Myeong-Hwan loudly replied, then instantly spun around to face Kang Jin-Ho.

“Didn't I already tell you to keep the rowdiness to a manageable level? Why is everyone in a group scuffle?”

“M-my apologies, sir.”

“I was being serious back then. If you wish to control these men, you must allow them to vent their steam regularly.”

“Yessir! I'll engrave that to my heart!” Yi Myeong-Hwan cried out, but his heart was bleeding nonstop at the same time. 'Why are you telling me all this, though!'

Since when did Yi Myeong-Hwan become the recognized superior officer of these younger-generation martial artists? He was obviously not, so how was he supposed to control them!

Kang Jin-Ho tutted loudly. “Periodically set up some matches and have them fight. It's about time we establish the pecking order, anyway.”

“Understood, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho scanned the crowd, only for a deep frown to etch on his face. “Although you guys are improving, your progress is slower than I thought.”

“...”

“Are you all slow-witted? Is that it?”

“N-no, sir! We'll try even harder!”

“Yes, you better try harder. If you don't, you'll pay for your laziness. I don't know how this place used to punish lazy members, but I must warn you. My methods are considerably less humane.”

“...We'll definitely remember, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho silently scanned the crowd again before turning around to leave. That was when someone among the martial artists cautiously raised his voice.

“E-excuse me...?”

Kang Jin-Ho stopped turning around and glanced back. “What is it?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

The martial artist raising his hand nervously swallowed his saliva. “I was wondering if we've been doing this right, sir. Don't you, uh, need to inspect us?”

“I've already done that,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“...Oh!” The martial artist recalled how Kang Jin-Ho had been scanning them earlier, then nodded weightily in understanding. Although, he couldn't stop wondering if that was enough.

To be able to discern whether the cultivation was going swimmingly or down the pits just by looking? Even if Kang Jin-Ho's degree of understanding in demonic arts far outstripped everyone here, was such a thing even possible?

Unfortunately, no one here was brave enough to question Kang Jin-Ho's claims.

“T-then, what about basic techniques or...”

“It's too early for you,” Kang Jin-Ho firmly cut that martial artist off. “Build your foundation first. Once I decide you're all adequately prepared, I shall personally guide you toward even greater heights of strength. However, it's too early.”

“I-I see.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded while glancing at other martial artists. “Any other questions?”

“...Sir, it's like we're getting a bit more violent lately. Is this supposed to happen?”

“Yes. It is a side effect you must deal with. I thought I explained to you before we began?”

“W-well, it's just that... It's a bit worse than we thought, and...”

“It's worse than you thought?” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled wryly.

These youngsters wouldn't dare say that if they knew about all the horrible things the members of the demon cult did back in the day.

'In that sense, humans sure are amazing creatures, aren't they?'

No, that couldn't be right. Rather than humans being 'amazing', the credit should go to education and changing cultures.

Even back in the demon cult, the usage of internal energy during disagreements between fellow cult members was prohibited for fear of this side effect running amok. Even then, demonic cultivators still often killed each other, whether it was done through fists or axes chopping each other's heads off!

Despite the punishment for harming one's comrade being grave, incidents of murder never stopped. However, what about the situation in the Martial Assembly?

So many martial artists were cultivating the demonic arts under one roof, yet no one was injured, never mind dead. The patience of the modern-era folks was incomparably better when it came to enduring the same level of urges that would've driven the ancient martial artists to go on a rampage.

Back then, it was the era of primitive savagery where people didn't bat an eyelid at the sight of rotting corpses of innocents discarded on the road. Compared to that era...

These young martial artists were demonstrating how much things have changed over the years.

'And that made them a bit too soft, but we can't have everything, now can we?'

Kang Jin-Ho wryly chuckled. These guys didn't emit as much coarse or blade-sharp aura as the demonic cultivators of the past boasting comparable cultivation levels. So much so that they came across a bit... flaccid?

However, that should be seen as a plus point, no?

“Anyway. Keep giving it your all,” Kang Jin-Ho quietly addressed everyone. “Only you can improve yourself. Remember that. So, keep trying harder and harder. And when you succeed... I shall make you even stronger.”

A loud chorus of replies rang out in the training hall. “Yes, sir!”

Kang Jin-Ho was about to say something else, but the exit behind him opened first to interrupt him. A messenger carefully trotted inside, then whispered something into Kang Jin-Ho's ear.

Kang Jin-Ho silently nodded while listening, then replied to the messenger. “I'll be right there.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the messenger left, Kang Jin-Ho turned around to address the crowd. “I guess there's no need to say anything extra, then.”

“No, sir!”

“Yi Myeong-Hwan?”

“Yes, sir!”

“About what I told you earlier. Compile a proposal, submit it to Lee Hyeon-Su and get his approval.”

“Understood, sir!”

“Okay, I'm off.” Kang Jin-Ho lightly waved his hand before exiting the training hall. That prompted several sighs of relief to gush out from here and there.

“Gee whiz! I thought I'd suffocate just now!”

“Holy cow... I thought he was a pretty mellow dude until recently, so why is Mister Jin-Ho getting scarier than ever before? I nearly wet my pants just now, man!”

“...I've already leaked a little, though?”

“Eww, what the hell, man! Get away from me, you smelly b*tch!”

Yi Myeong-Hwan's expression stiffened as he watched his colleagues bicker and discuss with each other.

'If this keeps going, no one's gonna even dream of insubordination...'

These folks were already so scared of Kang Jin-Ho right now. In that case, would they dare think of mutiny after their fear of him had ballooned to something even larger later? It seemed this training hall was fostering not the future combat force of the Martial Assembly... But a private army strictly loyal to Kang Jin-Ho!

“...Oh, well. I actually prefer that, anyway.” Yi Myeong-Hwan smirked softly before turning his head away. He began thinking about who should fight who so that these idiots could pummel each other properly into a bloody mess!