Heavenly Demon's New Path

--- Chapter 1 --

[Prolog]

In a hidden mountain range, there is a beautiful garden full of flowers and exotic trees.

An elderly with decayed white hair with a peaceful expression on his face calmly sat on a rock while gazing at the starry night.

"I miss some anime for some reason." The elderly suddenly said while releasing a sigh.

He once died when walking on the side's road and was surprisingly reincarnated to this martial world.

Even though he doesn't appear to be talented in cultivation, he could still forge his own path using the help of accident and opportunity.

"Heavenly Demon." The elderly quietly muttered the rank he achieved after living in this world for one hundred years, which might long for some people, but it was very short to him.

Cough!

He suddenly coughed decayed red blood, and a frown appeared on his wrinkled face because his body condition seemed to become more and more severe after fighting the orthodox faction.

The elderly opened his shirt a little, and we could see a few black wounds on his abdomen, which somehow released black hues.

"This wound is getting worse with each second..." He silently commented.

These holes filled with mysterious corrosive ki, which slowly destroyed his body, and of course, he tried to heal it but found no one could even treat it.

The elderly suddenly felt a presence entering the garden, and he naturally shifted his gaze to a middle-aged man, who wore a black adorned robe.

"Jeon." The elderly smiled because this middle-aged man is his secretary or, more precisely, his loyal right hand.

"Lord." Jeon nodded his head and kneeled in front of him.

"So, how was it? The cult." The elderly asked while shifting his gaze back to the skies.

"We... Lost." Jeon quietly replied with a solemn expression.

"I see, we lost..." The elderly responded with a bitter sigh.

"To think, the heavenly demon cult would fall when I'm the leader. I am certainly a failure, huh." He added, which widened Jeon's eyes.

"No! That's not right, my lord!" Jeon shouted while tightly gripping his hands.

"If you didn't become the cult's leader seventy years ago, we wouldn't be able to survive until now." He added while giving him a sad expression.

"Is that so..." The elderly casually replied while releasing a few chuckles.

"Jeon, I can't live any longer than this. That's a shame." He added, which caused Jeon to stare at him with a horrified expression.

"My Lord, your wounds...!" Jeon looked at his chest, which released an unpleasant black hue.

The elderly only laughed and shook his head a little, indicating that he's alright. "You don't have to worry about it." He said while waving his hand.

"Even though my life isn't perfect, it's still enjoyable. Well, It was a little boring." He continued.

The elderly took a last gaze to the starry skies and calmly closed his eyes.

"My Lord..." Jeon gritted his teeth in sorrow and looked at the lifeless body in front of him.

He firmly kneeled in front of his lord's corpse and said, "The sixtieth heavenly demon, Yeop Jin-Sang, has fallen in honor!!"

That day, the unorthodox group, Heavenly Demon's Cult, goes on a full-scale war against the orthodox faction to honor their leader's death.

-- [Unknown Realm] ---

After the heavenly demon closed his eyes, he felt a great force sucked him into an unknown space, where he couldn't even sense ki.

He opened his eyes and looked around but found nothing except for the incredibly vast yet empty white space, which made him feel uncomfortable for some reason.

"Where am I? I couldn't sense any ki in here?" He said while trying to check his body condition but realized that he didn't even have a hand.

He has become a floating grey light ball, which floated in this white space.

'What happened to me? I should have died, right?' He wondered with wonder a nonexistent frown, but a bright golden flash abruptly swallowed him into the void.

The void led his soul through space cracks and transferred him to another realm full of beautiful starry skies.

"This is…?" He gazed around and looked at the bright stars around him.

The stars radiated brightly, and each of them emanated intense pressure that made his soul tremble, but these stars made him excited for some reason.

Even though instinctively and spiritually felt pressured, he decided to grasp a star near him, and throbbing sensations immediately spread through his soul.

"I'm not strong enough, eh?" He commented, and another flash came, sucking him again to a different kind of realm.

When he arrived in this new realm or world, he felt dizziness and cold, which made his entire body tremble.

'Wait, body?' He gradually opened his eyes and saw a bunch of snowflakes falling from the skies.

He was baffled by what he witnessed for a moment and tried to move his hands, which were very tiny.

There is a woman in a shrine maiden outfit not far away from him, and even though it's winter, she doesn't seem to feel any cold on her body.

The woman possessed long flowing black hair with a fair complexion and combined with her gentle expression.

She looks like a gorgeous woman who's still maintained her purity and seemed to be in her early-twenty.

"Hmm? I heard baby noises a second ago. Where is it?" The woman said while looking around and noticed a baby lying inside of the basket.

Her eyes widened, and she instantly approached the basket with a solemn expression.

"Oh my! Who left a baby alone here..?!" She said with a shocked tone.

The woman gently took the baby into her embrace, which warmed him from the winter cold.

'Warm!' The baby thought while feeling the warmth of this woman's embrace.

'I really got reincarnated again, huh.' He added while blinking his eyes at the woman.

"What a poor child." The woman quietly muttered while caressing the baby's head.

She decided to bring the baby into her place, which is not that far away.

While walking on the stairs to her place, sometimes she would peek at the baby and change his position to make him feel comfortable.

'This isn't bad.' The baby thought while peeping at the woman, which is really beautiful.

"Please bear it for a moment, okay." The woman suddenly smiled at him.

"We will arrive in a few minutes," She added while shifting her gaze back to the stairs.

They moved for a few more minutes and arrived at a place where there is a decent-looking shrine with a small house on the side.

"Hmm, we have arrived." She said, and the baby opened his eyes to see around the area.

"You are a strong child, aren't you? I wonder why your parents abandoned you in that cold forest?" The woman said with a complicated expression as this baby didn't even cry after she picked him.

"Well, let's go to my house first." She continued while bringing the baby to her house.

They entered the house, and a bright lamplight suddenly hit the baby's eyes, which caused him to groan for a second.

'Tch, this body is weak.' The baby inwardly clicked his tongue in annoyance,

The woman put the baby on her bed, which is very soft, and covered him with a blanket.

"Ah, I have not told you my name." The woman touched the baby's nose and chuckled.

"Shizuka, Watase Shizuka." She confidently said while smiling at him.

Shizuka, Japanese name? Well, she's wearing a shrine maid outfit.' The baby looked at the woman with a curious gaze.

He didn't sense any ill intent from this woman, so he decided to close his eyes a little because he felt really sleepy all of a sudden.

'I got reincarnated twice, but let's think about it later.' So he thought and fully closed his eyes, which made him fall into the dream.

Shizuka softly caressed the baby's head a few times and looked at his cute face, which really struck her heart with love arrows.

"What a cute baby, maybe I should adopt you." Shizuka softly giggled.