- Heavenly Demon Devine Cult West Wing; Poison Clan Manor -
The night was depressing for the Poison clan. The heir to the throne of their cult, the son of the current 23rd Lord of Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Cheon Yu-Jon, Cheon Jong Sum, lay on the ground in front of his clan. He was beaten up badly, with missing teeth, dozens of broken bones in his face and even more throughout his entire body. His arms and legs were broken and twisted in the strangest angles, with bones sticking out. But the worst thing was that his Dantian had been destroyed, leaving him unable to cultivate further and to use martial arts again.
"This... is my nephew... Jongsum?!"
They looked shocked at the pathetic figure of Jongsum. Baek Moon Woong, the uncle of Jongsum and brother of his late mother, one of the six wives of the Lord, shook in anger.
"Ri... right away... Report it to the Clan Head right away," he said.
.
Baek Oh, the Poison Clan Head, also known as the Uncanny Demonic Poison Staff, sighed in anger and frustration as he read the report of what had happened.
The Demonic Academy was a martial arts school where all the children, aged 14 to 19, from every family and clan in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were trained to become elite warriors and martial artists. The academy opened only once every ten years, lasted for four years, and consisted of six-stage exams that could be taken only once. In the academy, all previous statuses or privileges of the students, including the Vice-Lord candidates, were void, and only by gaining strength would one succeed.
The only way to be expelled from the academy was to fail a test or if a cadet killed someone outside of a test. Cheon Jongsum had his Dantian destroyed by Cheon Yeo Woon.
Cheon Yeo Woon was a member of the Cheon Family, the ruling family of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. He was the son of a female servant who worked at the Lord's chamber and was not from the prestigious Six Clans. Although considered an illegitimate son of the Lord due to his mother's background, he was still part of the Cheon Family and had the right to the title of Vice-Lord, though he had an extremely low chance of gaining it without support.
No one knew how, but he succeeded and passed the first two tests of the academy. In his anger at finding out that the Poison Clan had somehow been involved in his mother's death, he lost control and tortured Cheon Jongsum, going as far as to destroy his Dantian.
"We cannot let this slide, Clan Head! We shouldn't wait until he's out of the Demonic Academy!" one of the Poison Clansmen shouted.
They were all angry at seeing their chance to rise in rank destroyed. The dantian was a martial artist's life, after all, so while it wasn't 'technically' a violation of the rules, it was a very harsh and cruel thing to do.
"Let's send an assassin. We can hire a killer from the noxious clan to quietly take care of him! Or better yet, what if we were to bribe one of the instructors to murder him?" someone suggested.
"We can also easily take care of him by making one of the cooks or workers poison his food!"
Baek Oh sighed.
"...stop suggesting such awful ideas. Or did you all forget what happened to our Poison Clan 6 years ago after the death of Lady Hwa?"
Lady Hwa, as she was known, was the female servant and only true love of the Lord who had been poisoned and killed. Due to the cause of death having been poison, naturally, the Poison Clan had been the main suspects.
"If we don't act, our reputation will be stained!!" Baek Moon Woong shouted.
"Don't be so foolish. If that were the case, the Sound Clan would have also acted. Ever since that incident, the Lord has tried to weaken the power of the Six Clans with any excuses he could find. Harming a cadet inside the Demonic Academy would be giving him a prime reason," Beak Oh said.
"Then... do we just have to wait until he exits the Academy on his own?" Moon Woong said through clenched teeth.
"That would generally be the case, but... I shall personally--"
"Clan Head! Something happened to young master Jongsum! Come quickly!" a servant interrupted his speech.
.
Outside, on the ground, Cheon Jongsum was still lying there, and, unknowingly to everyone, his heart had stopped beating. In that moment, his soul left his body, and a new one, from very far away, took its place. This new soul was special, though and not from this reality. It was the soul of a modern man who had been gifted the opportunity to do what he had always read about... cultivation. He had been armed with the Essence of Cultivation and sent off. And so, here he was, in the body of a useless vegetable.
Or was it?
"Young master? Young master Jongsum?!"
"Urgh..." Jongsum groaned in pain.
He held his head, processing all the memories which flooded his mind right now. He realised who he was and where he was, and he sighed. He had hoped to arrive here sooner, at least, and then walk his path differently, but it was what it was. He ignored those around him and slowly stood up. Or he tried to and fell back down again.
"Are you kidding me?!" he asked rhetorically as he noticed the amount of damage that had been inflicted on him.
He looked like he had been run over. The servants and guards stared at him with wide eyes, as if they had seen a dead man rise, which was actually accurate. Before he could try again, several figures flashed towards him: his grandfather, uncle and several of the higher-ups of the Poison Clan.
"Jongsum! Are you alright?" his uncle asked.
"What do you think?" he asked.
A servant helped him stand up. Everything about him was shaking in pain. Most of his main bones were broken, and many muscles were ripped. Still, he didn't allow himself to appear weak, since the new Jongsum, the one who now stood before them, had unbreakable and seemingly boundless willpower.
"How are you feeling, Grandson?" Baek Oh asked.
He noticed how Jongsum didn't care about his injuries and stood tall before them. The old clan leader also saw the powerful will which hadn't died in his grandson's eyes. On the contrary, he saw immense ambition. And yet, he could only sigh in regret. Without a functioning dantian, a martial artist was effectively dead. Then again... Baek Oh looked at his grandson again, then realised he was effectively standing. This shouldn't have been possible with a broken dantian, especially since it had been destroyed only hours prior.
"Angry," Jongsum answered.
"Understandable."
"Don't worry, nephew. We were already discussing how to destroy Cheon Yeo--"
"No," Jongsum interrupted.
"Huh? No?"
"What do you mean, no?! That bastard son of a who--"
"No!" Jongsum repeated.
Baek Oh noticed something again and allowed this to happen. He addressed his grandson softly.
"Why don't you want that, Jongsum?" he asked.
"If there is anyone who will take revenge or pay my half-brother back for destroying my dantian, it will be me."
"You? Jongsum, your dantian was destroyed! You won't be able to do anything to that bastard, even less harm him now," his uncle argued.
"Don't worry about my dantian. I will recover soon," Jongsun said.
!!!
Everyone looked at him as if he were an idiot and had spouted the most disgusting nonsense imaginable. And from their point of view, it did make sense. But again, only Baek Oh saw Jongsum's words as more than merely hopeful fantasies.
"And how would you do that?" he asked.
"I've had... a fortunate encounter. An epiphany, if you will. I am certain that my dantian will be recovered in two days, at the latest. So don't worry about that."
"Epiphany?! What sort of epiphany is that?!"
"What is the young master talking about?"
"Can you truly recover from a destroyed dantian?"
"Silence!" Baek Oh said. "Jongsum, I see that you have truly changed. Tell me, what do you need now?"
Jongsum grinned, hearing his grandfather say that. His situation was bad, but it wasn't the worst it could be. He didn't lie about his dantian recovering; that was part of his Essence. In fact, if things worked out, this could be a fruitful moment for him.
"I would like to read Elder Jong Woo's notes, and then, we shall talk to the Left Guardian."
Baek Jong Woo was the highest-ranking doctor within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Lord's personal physician. He was a member of the Poison Clan and naturally had left several of his notes and discoveries. As for the Left Guardian, he was the Chief Headmaster of the Demonic Academy.
.
Lee Hwamyung sat in his office, looking at the two people in front of him. Two days had passed since the incident in which Cheon Yeo Woon had crippled Cheon Jong Sun. He had sent him back to the Poison Clan with an explanation of what happened, fully expecting the famous Baek Oh to visit the Academy and ask to see Yeo Woon for 'questioning'. The Lord had warned him about this and told him to comply with the old elder for a particular purpose. And now, he was here, together with Cheon Jongsum.
"You want me to take you back?" Hwamyung asked with a neutral expression on his face.
"Indeed."
"Everyone only gets one chance at the Demonic Academy, only one. And if you fail, that was it."
"Oh, I understand that, Left Guardian. But in what way... have I failed, exactly?" Jongsum asked.
Lee Hwamyung stopped. He thought it was obvious, but here was Cheon Jongsum asking him such a question. Why was that? He looked at Baek Oh, who hadn't said anything as of yet and let his grandson do all the talking.
"As far as I know, a student can only be expelled from the academy if he fails a test or kills someone outside of a test."
"That is correct," Hwamyung said.
"So I ask again, why was I expelled?" Jongsum asked again, this time with a darker tone.
Then it hit the Left Guardian. He was right, technically, Jongsum hadn't failed a test and neither had he killed someone. But his dantian had been destroyed; he should be a vegetable right now. But then again, he wasn't for some reason.
"Your dantian was destroyed. Why are we holding this conversation? Without a dantian, you will never be a martial artist. Expulsion seemed the logical path for you."
"I see. Logical, maybe, but not the right one. Not even you, Left Guardian, can simply change the rules and bar me from staying at the academy if I haven't done anything wrong. I have passed both the first and second tests and not killed any students."
"No one gets a second chance. You can't simply reenter the academy, because you make a compelling argument," Hwamyung said.
"I see. But if you hadn't sent me home and instead brought me to the infirmary, I would still be allowed to stay. Why is it that things are different now?" Jongsum asked.
The Left Guardian stopped and thought about it. Again, Jongsum was technically correct, but he would lose face and, again technically, go against the rules if he allowed Jongsum back in.
"All arguments aside, what would it even matter to you? You lost your dantian, so why are you trying to reenter?" he asked.
"This isn't about me, it's about you going by the rules and allowing me to take the 3rd Test."
"Do you think you can tell me what to do in my academy?" Hwamyung asked, allowing some of his Ki to leak.
No matter that Baek Oh was and that he was sitting right there, the Left Guardian only obeyed the Lord and no one else, so this wasn't something he would take lightly. Jongsum, however, raised his hands.
"Please calm down, Left Guardian. I am not challenging you or trying to tell you what to do. I am merely remarking upon he rules and saying that I should be allowed to continue my studies. If I fail the 3rd Test, then I will gladly leave."
But Hwamyung wasn't convinced yet. He couldn't understand why they were talking about this in the first place. He had lost his ability to use martial arts! But Jongsum was unwilling to reveal anything about that, so he talked around this.
"How about a wager, Left Guardian?"
"A wager?"
"Yes. You will allow me to take the 3rd Test, and we will say that I was merely brought to Baek Jong Woo, a member of our Poison Clan, for treatment. The injuries I sustained would warrant this, I believe. If I fail the 3rd Test, my grandfather, Baek Oh, who is currently the 6th Elder, will step down."
!!!!
The Left Guardian's eyes widened at that.
"After all... I know how adamant the Lord is in decreasing the power of the Six Clans."
That was the final nail which sealed the deal. The Lord had sent Hwamyung a note telling him that he should allow Baek Oh into the academy and 'punish' Cheon Yeo Woon. That's also something that Baek Oh would have done if Jongsum hadn't woken up before that and stopped his grandfather from doing so. The Lord hated the Six Clans after his true love, Lady Hwa, who happened to be the mother of Cheon Yeo Woon, had been killed.
He wanted to find reasons to punish the Six Clans and reduce their influence and power. So by offering Baek Oh's position as 6th Elder, they were essentially giving the Lord what he wanted. A powerful wager, from his perspective and the Left Guardian knew that. After a while of contemplation, he nodded his head.
"Very well. We shall do that."
____________________________
Cheon Jong Sum/ Jongsum = MC
Cheon Yeo Woon
- the main character of the story 'Nano Machine'
- His mother, Lady Hwa, was killed by poison years ago, and after finding out that the Poison Clan had something to do with it, he lost it and destroyed Jongsum's dantian.
Lee Hwamyung - Left Guardian
- He is the Chief Headmaster of the Demonic Academy
Baek Oh
- Clan Head of the Poison Clan, one of the Six Clan, the most powerful clans in the Cult
- Currently the 6th Elder of the Cult