Prologue (Part 2)

Jo Do-Yoon was the humble child of a farmer, growing up in a small village while doing some ordinary farmer stuff. His father wanted him to grow up just like him and inherit his small wheat farm. He simply wants Jo Do-Yoon to find a wife and grow a large family, living a peaceful and honest life until his last breath.

Thus, his father always reminded him to stay away from martial artists, from the dangerous and cruel world of Murim where the strong bullies the weak!

And so, Jo Do-Yoon did obey him. Or so his father thought until he finally turned ten years old.

He mysteriously recalled his previous life in a world called 'Earth'. Since then, his fascination with martial arts grew exponentially. Jo Do-Yoon started sneakily leaving his house at night to train his sword skills. He observed many local guards while they were training and tried to replicate them in the middle of the night. Days and months had gone by as he continued his happy life. At the time, hope sprung in his eyes that he would become a Wuxia protagonist and become the strongest in the world!

But, it was all for naught. It was simply a false hope. Just when he expected good things to happen, misfortune came right after...

Firstly, he found out that his talents in everything were below average. Rather, even lower than his friends in the village who were just simple farmers. This realization plunged him into despair, but still, he continued to train regardless of the cruel reality.

But it doesn't end there. One night when he was sneakily training outside, he was kidnapped by the Hao Sect and was forcefully recruited to be their member, or rather, their slave. He was injected with a Life and Death Parasite, a cruel parasite that could burst his heart the moment he disobeyed their orders. At a young age, he was forced to go through intensive and cruel training with a high death rate while also being treated no differently than an animal. And so, Jo Do-Yoon was forced to learn Hao Clan's signature assassination arts and become an assassin.

Since then, he has been forced to obey all orders from the higher-ups. Every single night he was forced to do an assassination with other poor souls like him against many kinds of people. Whether they be evil, good, or innocent, none of them could escape the wrath of the Hao Sect as Jo Do-Yoon was forced to assassinate them. Every time he had to end a life, he felt an immeasurable pain in his chest. As years went on, he became quite numb to it, but the wound in his heart was still there reappearing in his nightmares, every single night. This went on until he became thirty-five years old.

The future was no longer bright in his eyes. All sorts of hopes, just like becoming a heroic protagonist, were lost inside him as he experienced many painful memories throughout his life. His spirit was completely broken after years upon years in this god-forsaken sect.

But then, something happened...

On one mission, he accidentally stumbled upon a hidden ruin deep under the manor of one of his targets. Sensing an invaluable treasure, curiosity got the best of him. He quickly got rid of his target and went inside the ruin right after.

The ruin extended down for hundreds of meters deep with ancient texts and images carved into its walls and floor. Although at the time, Jo Do-Yoon could not read any of it, he could understand that it was some kind of godly martial arts from ancient times!

The more he descended down the ruin, the more complex the ancient text and images became. Then after going down the ruin for hours, it appeared in front of him. A skeleton sitting on a throne that emits an enormous aura despite being dead hundreds of years ago. On the skeleton's hand lies a treasure that would change his life forever, for the better. It was a book that contained all the knowledge of this long-dead person who sat on the throne till this day...

The Heavenly Martial God!

Inside the book, he found the secrets of Qi and Martial Arts. Through it, his talents and intelligence were mysteriously amplified to an unprecedented level and not only that, he also found out how to get rid of the parasite that enslaved him to the evil Hao Clan!

So, he immediately got rid of the parasite and secluded himself inside this ruin for many years. He trained endlessly using the Heavenly Martial God's Divine Arts. Whether it be cultivation technique, sword technique, or movement technique, he utilized everything that he could. He also modified the Hao Clan's assassination arts and made a new improved one that was many times stronger.

In the span of five years, everything about him changed. From a second-rate martial artist, into a grandmaster at the Unrestrained Realm. From a slave into a powerful figure with untouched powers and potential! He had used every single second inside this secluded training effectively and became thousands of times stronger than before, all for the sole purpose of one thing. Taking revenge on the Hao Clan and everyone related to them while stealing their martial arts for his own gain!

Finally, at the age of forty after five years inside the ruin, he finally stepped back out into the outside world. And so, a monster was released into Murim.

He went from province to province, annihilating every single Hao Sect branch that he saw. Not a single one was spared from his wrath as he assassinated them all. After deliberately eliminating them, he started going after forces in relation with them and the terrifying Demonic Cult was no exception. he did the same thing to them as he did to the Hao Sect. And so, rumor upon rumor, news after news was spreading to the whole world about him. 'An unknown Grandmaster that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, eliminating clans and sects while stealing their martial arts. All without leaving a single trace.'

Hearing this, the people didn't shun him. Instead, they started to hail him as a hero.

The thing is, the Hao Sect was a force from the Evil Faction who stole information through all kinds of cruel means. They were involved in many unjust assassinations, many kinds of kidnappings, and have been quite a thorn in society. Of course, the people would be happy with Jo Do-Yoon eradicating them! Because of this, they gave him the title 'Divine' in Divine Thief as a symbol of awe and gratitude, while also showing his mystical skill in stealth martial ability.

However, this reputation didn't last long, because along with his martial prowess, his heart also started to darken as if something was corrupting him deep inside. He started to lose himself day by day...

The more he caused chaos around Murim, the more confident and arrogant he became. He started going from sneaking into an enemy's territory to straight up showing up at their doorstep. His temper started to shorten as traces of brutality started to show in his fighting style. Greed and bloodthirst started to appear in his personality. Not only that, he also stopped concealing his identity and revealed his face to the public.

As seasons went by, Jo Do-Yoon became a completely different person.

It was unknown what made him change so much, whether it was the fame he had gotten, power, or something completely unrelated to it. Nevertheless, the public didn't care about that. All they care about is that their hero has changed into a brutish villain, and their opinion toward him slowly falls into the abyss...

"Did you hear? The Divine Thief apparently killed a group of Northern Gale Sect's disciples. They said that he cut their limbs off because they offended him a little..."

"Really? Well, that's not surprising. I also heard that he raped the women of his enemies..."

"Son, you must not become this kind of person in the future. Power and money corrupts people. Even the hero of commoners, the Divine Thief is no exception. Just look at the way acts..."

"What did you say? The Divine Thief stomped on another justice sect and stole their martial arts? Isn't this whole thing going completely overboard at this point?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Rumors slowly went around, whether someone was on the Evil Faction's territory or the Justice Faction's, they would definitely hear news about Jo Do-Yoon the moment they stepped outside. There were all kinds of rumors, most were false and only some were true. But one thing in common among all of them was that they were all slandering him. But nevertheless, Jo Do-Yoon ignored them all. What could ants like them do to someone like him who is one of the strongest martial artists in the land?

So, he simply laughed and continued with his routine regardless. But unknown to him, this is where his downfall began...

Ever since his reputation fell among the people, Jo Do-Yoon began to experience many kinds of assassination attempts, both from the Evil Faction and the Justice Faction. Not only that, he also started to develop an inner demon in his heart due to the amount of people he killed. This inner demon made him unable to advance in cultivation, which in turn also prevented him from getting stronger. Along with the number of attacks he received and the increasingly stronger martial artists that went after his life day by day, even if he was a strong figure, he started to become worried. After a month of receiving continuous assassinations and feeling the pressure getting tougher, he realized that his current strength was not enough. He started to become desperate for more power...

Simply training in seclusion wouldn't do, since his inner demon wouldn't let him advance his cultivation quietly. He needs something... something so extraordinary to make him truly become invincible! Something that is beyond human!

Then he discovered something... While reading the Heavenly Martial God's book, he read about something that could boost him greatly in his battle prowess. It is said that if he were to obtain this item, then he would gain an unparalleled amount of vitality and the Heavenly Martial God's techniques would go through a major transformation, making them ten times more effective.

It was the Divine Pearl, one of the greatest treasures of the Justice Faction!

Jo Do-Yoon was extremely tempted. Although he was someone who aspired to be a hero of the Justice Faction when he was a child, the experience he went through completely changed his mind. For him, The Justice Faction is the same as the Evil Faction, except with a few silver linings and bullshit reasonings along with every move they make.

In short, he already fell out of favor with them, so he didn't mind making a move against them. So, he began his heist. He meticulously created a plan and bought as much information as he could from all types of sources, as long as they were reliable. With a lot of preparation, he went all in and broke through the Murim Alliance's palace!

Of course, he didn't dare to break in directly as he used to. This is the Murim Alliance, the gathering of the strongest martial artists of all sects and clans of the Justice Faction that may house those who are stronger than him. Even if he managed to obliterate the Hao Sect, he was still quite afraid to face one of the Justice Faction's noble clans, let alone the Murim Alliance. So, he decided to take it slowly and sneaked in instead.

Everything went quite well just as he had planned. His unparalleled stealth and movement technique worked wonders as not a single soul noticed anything. He continued to go from building to building, hallway to hallway until he eventually found the treasure hall. There lies a single pearl the size of a tiny seed sitting upon a majestic pedestal.

The pearl shined brightly like a star with its aura radiating the whole room. Its silver color perfectly matched its white glow to a T and the world seems to lose its color in front of such an otherworldly item. Even imperial treasures would look like garbage if they were placed next to this pearl. This was none other than the Divine Pearl!

Jo Do-Yoon didn't want to waste time, he immediately got into action and swept the majestic pearl out of its throne!

If he were to immediately escape with the Divine Pearl, then he might have encountered no trouble and proceeded with his original plan, getting a good ending. However, at that moment, his new change in personality suddenly ticks in at an unfortunate moment. His greed started to kick in...

He started to look around in the treasure hall and saw many treasures alongside the Divine Pearl. There were heaven-defying martial arts, godly elixirs, and unparalleled artifacts sitting in front of him ready to be taken. His eyes shone as his mouth drooled. Jo Do-Yoon immediately jumped at those treasures, taking his precious time to make sure that he could take every single precious item in that room, no matter the cost!

Well, it is as you all can guess. He was caught red-handed by the powerful martial artists guarding the area and had a short staring contest before all hell breaks loose.

The guard let out the loudest shout that Jo Do-Yoon had ever heard in his life and every martial artist, including the big figures started to come flooding into the treasure hall. He was attacked left and right and sustained many vital injuries. Although he managed to put on some fight against them, the sheer number of powerful Martial Artists was simply too much. He was forced to retreat, losing all the treasure that he gained while bleeding all over. The good news though, he got the Divine Pearl!

That was all he cared about at the time, he could finally reach a new realm and truly become one of the top five strongest martial artists!

Of course, the Murim Alliance wasn't happy about this, they won't let this slide. They started to send big shots from all around the world to hunt him down. They used all sorts of methods, whether it was recruiting countless mercenaries or all sorts of trickery until they finally set down the Net of Heaven and Earth to trap him in this place. And since then, they have been ambushing him left and right.

Weeks past as Jo Do-Yoon went through endless fighting until he finally arrived at this moment...

'Nevertheless, since it already happened, then so be it. Since the Divine Pearl is already in my hands, then I should make the best of this opportunity...'

He shook his head as he cut his train of memories...