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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue
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A fierce blizzard and biting cold winds raged across Heavenly Mountain.
At its peak stood a grand palace emitting a faint glow.
Inside, golden silk tapestries fluttered beneath a ceiling adorned with intricate carvings of dragons on pillars and elegant motifs.
Yet in stark contrast to the opulent decor, an elderly man with snow-white hair lay in the bedchamber, his breaths coming in ragged gasps as if death could claim him at any moment.
"Hah... Hah..."
Even the blanket made of Heavenly Silkworm Silk—said to be lighter than feathers—felt like a crushing boulder upon him now.
With barely open eyes, he parted his cracked lips with great effort.
"Is... is anyone there...? If there is... please... give me some water..."
His desperate plea echoed into the empty air.
But no sign of another soul stirred in the chamber.
After staring futilely at the door, he gave up and turned his gaze away.
It was all too predictable.
The withered husk of a Heavenly Demon, little more than a corpse, had been cast aside while they feverishly debated selecting the next one.
...But still.
Even knowing this, the loneliness and bitterness of facing death utterly alone gnawed at him.
Where had it all gone wrong?
From the very beginning, I suppose.
He hadn't become Heavenly Demon through rightful means.
It had been an unavoidable choice.
Let his clan fall to ruin, or accept a political marriage and claim the throne.
No other paths were offered, no time for deliberation.
At first, I held out some hope.
What was the Heavenly Demon, after all?
The supreme leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, a position where one could command a million demonic warriors with a flick of the finger.
No man born in the Demonic Paradise wouldn't dream of rising to become Heavenly Demon.
And yet.
Nothing.
A Heavenly Demon in name only, with nothing he could actually do.
No one followed him out of true loyalty.
Even during emergency council meetings over major crises, they held them with his throne left empty.
All he could do was stamp the seals on their pre-approved documents and rubber-stamp their decisions.
In short.
A powerless puppet Heavenly Demon—that was me.
He was utterly impotent, unable to touch anything.
But even so, he hadn't given up.
He racked his brains to escape his plight and break free of the situation. In the end, the path he chose was martial arts.
There were two main reasons he received no respect in the cult.
His birth clan teetered on the brink of expulsion from the Seven Great Demon Clans and total collapse, and he himself showed no prowess befitting the Heavenly Demon's prestige.
The clan issue wasn't something he could resolve alone. So he poured his efforts into carving out a path through martial arts.
But by the time I found a clue, it was far too late.
His joints creaked, his body refused to obey, and he had become an old man with a full head of white hair.
Now, even lying in bed and drawing breath was a Herculean task.
What a futile life.
Right after becoming Cult Leader, there had been a chance.
A few souls waited, hoping for change. But he turned a blind eye to them and charged ahead like a wild horse with blinders on.
In the end, he lost both the people and the timing.
"Is this how it ends?"
Regret laced his cracked voice.
His body had grown ice-cold, not even enough strength to twitch a finger.
Death loomed right before him. The next breath would likely be his last.
Accepting reality, he closed his eyes, and his life flashed before him like a lantern show.
After reflecting on a lifetime in moments, he murmured softly in a hollow voice.
"A fleeting life... where I grasped nothing..."
With that empty lament, the color drained from his face, and all movement ceased.
The twentieth Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Lone Valley Heavenly Demon Hyeok Mulin.
He passed into eternal sleep, alone in his forsaken residence.
That was the entirety of the entry that would later be recorded in the Heavenly Demon Secret Record.