After Wuchang rescued me from the dead end, I made up my mind that I would never again involve myself with anything related to the supernatural.
That dead end would surely become the nightmare of the rest of my life. I no longer wanted to fall into such a terrifying predicament.
But Wuchang's words shattered my plans for the future.
"Looks like you already know how terrifying supernatural things can be. Since that's the case, let me tell you something important. Consider it a way to mentally prepare yourself for the future."
"...What are you going to say?" I immediately had a bad feeling.
"The moment you accidentally became caught up in a supernatural incident, a line was already drawn between you and those ordinary people outside who know nothing about such things. From now on, you should stop hoping to safely live out the rest of your life." Perhaps he had been kindly warning me, but his words sounded unbelievably cruel to me. "There's a saying in Luoshan: 'To encounter the supernatural is to become bound to it.'"
"Luoshan still hasn't figured out the principles behind this phenomenon, but according to the statistics, people who have experienced supernatural incidents have a greatly increased chance of encountering the supernatural again. It's practically like being cursed."
"Unless you're the legendary Great Wuchang, who is impervious to all evil and makes demons and ghosts flee at the sight of him, you'll encounter dangers like this again in the future."
-
I couldn't face it, and I couldn't run from it. The shadow of the supernatural had already become entangled with my fate.
In that situation, I had only one choice. From a rational perspective, making that choice was perfectly natural, but it still took me a great deal of effort to convince myself. I had to delve into the supernatural world and learn how to handle supernatural incidents.
With the help of that kind Wuchang, I joined Luoshan with a letter of recommendation and became a student there.
Most of Luoshan's other students had experiences similar to mine. They were ordinary people who had encountered supernatural incidents and joined Luoshan to learn how to survive. The program generally lasted four years. Although there were a few exceptions, graduates could broadly be divided into two paths: one was becoming a genuine Demon Hunter capable of hunting the supernatural; the other was becoming a "probe," someone unable to become a Demon Hunter who could only serve as their vanguard.
The name alone made it clear that probes were Luoshan's expendable assets. Although they called one another "Luoshan agents" outside, both Luoshan and the probes considered themselves half outsiders. Even though Luoshan equipped its agents with safety gear out of obligation, the agents' death rate in the field remained extremely high.
I wanted to become a Demon Hunter. I wanted to possess power. Since I was bound to encounter the supernatural again in the future, at least let me gain the means to protect myself. Driven by overwhelming fear and fervent desire, I absorbed knowledge related to Demon Hunters like a sponge. Looking back on my memories, I had never studied so eagerly—not even before the college entrance examination.
The reason I had been so helpless back then was surely that I lacked power. If I had possessed enough strength to break through that dead end, or even the power Wuchang had displayed—the ability to directly resist illusions and slay an evil spirit with one sword—how could I have ended up in such a miserable state?
All the fear and despair in this world stemmed from the person involved lacking sufficient power.
Yet I despaired once again.
Most of Luoshan's students lacked the talent to become Demon Hunters, and so did I. Four years passed, but I remained just as powerless. In the end, I could only return to ordinary society as a probe.
Several years passed, then more than a decade...
Nearly twenty years passed. That was enough time to change many things. For example, the Wuchang who had once saved me had now become a "roving inspector" and, by a strange coincidence, my superior.
Many things also remained unchanged, such as me, who could never obtain what I desired.
As a Luoshan agent, I came into contact with countless supernatural incidents. Thanks to the caution born of fear—and, more importantly, some crucial good luck—I was still alive. But the fear in my heart had never faded. I knew perfectly well that I had survived this long only through sheer luck. Meanwhile, one colleague after another died horribly, just like the friends who had entered that dead end with me in the past, leaving me alone in an abyss of darkness.
During that time, I also tried to pursue further training, repeatedly challenging the gateway to becoming a Demon Hunter. But the world of talent was brutally cruel. Some things existed, and some things simply did not. The door to becoming a Demon Hunter remained firmly shut.
Perhaps I would never fulfill my wish. One day, the color of regret would emerge once more, and I would be buried in that darkness.
Just as I was drowning in despair, a stranger wearing a silver mask appeared before me, bringing hope laced with hidden poison.
After so many years as a Luoshan agent, I had accumulated extensive experience observing the supernatural. Thus, I could tell at a glance that this masked stranger was wrapped from head to toe in an eerie, mad atmosphere. Beneath his seemingly rational and confident manner lurked the face of a lunatic.
He was insane. Nothing he said could be trusted. I had to get away from this dangerous man immediately.
But the words he uttered made it impossible for me to refuse.
"Do you want power?"
"...Power?"
"From the look in your eyes, you seem to know what kind of person I am. Likewise, I can see the coward's face you've worked so hard to hide."
"There's no need to get so angry. Being afraid of dangerous things and wanting to stay away from them is human nature. Only when the granaries are full do people understand etiquette; only when they have enough food and clothing do they understand honor and disgrace. Courage is the same. People often think courage is the companion of the weak. Only fools brainwashed by peace and order would say such absurd things. Courage without power is merely a fool's self-satisfaction. True courage must be born from power."
"And what I've brought you is precisely the treasure you've desired for so long and begged for in vain."
Right in front of me, he took that thing out.
I couldn't take my eyes off it.
"What is this?"
"True courage."
His voice was like the devil's seductive whisper.
-
In the end, I accepted that man's "gift."
He called himself Monster Maker. His real name and origins were unknown, and his whereabouts were impossible to predict. The thing he gave me was called the "Seed of the Heart." It was a supernatural object capable of merging with my body and granting me power.
While using its power, I transformed into the form of a Ram-headed Demon and could manipulate the power of shadows at will. This power was extraordinarily strong. The moment I obtained it, I had already surpassed the realm of the Broken level.
Demon Hunters generally divided their paths of cultivation into four realms: Accomplishment, Abiding, Broken, and Emptiness. The names were taken from Buddhism's four stages of the world, from its birth to its end.
"Emptiness" corresponded to ordinary people without power. As the name implied, they could not cast even the slightest spell, and their bodies were essentially empty. Many Demon Hunters who had only just embarked on the path of cultivation, capable of manipulating external natural forces but not yet able to cast spells themselves, were also classified at this level.
"Broken" corresponded to most Demon Hunters. Just as people who did not regularly review what they had learned would gradually forget it, and people who did not exercise regularly would slowly grow weaker even if they had once possessed strong muscles, Demon Hunters at this stage were in a state of "rowing against the current; if they did not advance, they would retreat." Some Broken-level Demon Hunters even possessed power no weaker than that of the Abiding level, yet they still had to face the risk of their strength declining and continue refining themselves through arduous training.
Abiding-level Demon Hunters had no such concern. Their magic power had already transformed their souls and bodies in turn, fusing deeply with them and becoming a permanent power. From their perspective, Broken-level Demon Hunters were essentially no different from lucky people relying on powerful Magic Tools or accidentally awakened espers: ordinary mortals holding formidable weapons. Only Abiding-level Demon Hunters could be considered transcendental, "true Demon Hunters," and the backbone of Luoshan.
Accomplishment-level Demon Hunters represented the limit of the cultivation path. Demon Hunters at this stage could no longer evolve any further because they had reached the summit. In the literal sense, they had reached the stage of "completion."
Originally, even if I had been able to become a Demon Hunter, I would have had to start from "Emptiness" and travel backward along the world's path from birth to destruction. But with the help of the "Seed of the Heart," I had immediately touched the threshold of "Abiding." If Luoshan learned about such a thing, it would certainly cause massive upheaval.
But I also knew perfectly well that Monster Maker had not given me this thing for free.
The "Seed of the Heart" itself had a side effect that could not be underestimated. Monster Maker had told me very clearly that anyone I killed would have their soul automatically devoured by me. The more souls I devoured, the more I would crave devouring souls. It was a bodily instinct, like throwing fragrant roast meat before someone starving—of course they would want to tear into it and swallow it. Only while digesting the souls would this evil desire temporarily cease.
Monster Maker also had demands of me, though compared with the side effect, they might not seem like much. He needed to examine my body regularly and collect my blood and other bodily tissues. I also had to report my physical condition to him like a patient reporting to a doctor.
It was obvious that he regarded me as an experimental subject. I was unimportant to him. What mattered was what changes the "Seed of the Heart" would undergo in someone like me.
I wasn't stupid enough to resist him with violence, either. Threatening a shopkeeper with a gun bought from a gun store only worked in idiotic jokes. Although I didn't know what kind of power he possessed, he certainly had a way to suppress me.
The power I had gained from the "Seed of the Heart" left me filled with pride, but the impulse to kill plunged me into anxiety. Before resisting Monster Maker, I first had to find a way to deal with this urgent problem.
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