The Heavenly Demon Patriarch or Cheon Ma (천마조사, 天魔祖师)[2], real name Larisha, also known as Jeong and "Mok Gyeongwoon", is the founder of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as well as the Cheon Family's ancestor. He was the first person given the title of the Heavenly Demon/Cheon Ma and was regarded as the greatest martial artist in all of Wulin history[3]
He is the central protagonist of the prequel novel, 괴력 난신(소설) [1] or Myst, Might, Mayhem that is currently in serialization as it follows his life story and journey in becoming the 1st Heavenly Demon in the world.[3]
Personality[]
Possessing a cruel streak that makes his descendant, Cheon Yeo-woon look tame in comparison, the Patriarch was an unflinchingly ruthless man that even evil spirits, villains, and ordinary people were terrified of his murderous nature and would rather obey him than fight with him. But he was a clever man with quick-witted intelligence that he fully used throughout his life and was a deep thinker with curiosity that propelled his growth as a martial artist. He was also known for his smile as he always found the time to smile no matter the situation.
Background[]
At the age of 18, Cheon Ma had attained the highest level of martial arts and vanquished all famous masters with only one sword, earning the title of world's greatest warrior[2]. His exploits are detailed in a prequel novel that explains his journey across the Wulin. Along the way, he secretly learned martial arts by observing many martial artists and improving their techniques. He also studied the sword arts of the Blood Demon, Jin Woonhwi, who was hailed as the greatest swordsman of his era and created the Supreme Sky Demon Sword to counter all those techniques.[4] Cheon Ma was so talented, it was said that he never needed a teacher and could make his way.
In the entirety of Wulin, he was known to be one of the "Four Great Warriors" along with 'Lone Supreme Warrior' Dokgo Gupae, Western Dharma, and Jang Sambong[3].
Plot[]
Myst, Might, Mayhem[]
See also more detail article.
Cheon Ma as he appears in Myst, Might, Mayhem.
800 years before the time of Cheon Yeo Woon, the man who would become the first Heavenly Demon was a teenage boy named Jeong. He used to live with his grandfather, who collected herbs for a living. Jeong's grandfather warned him never to reveal his true nature to anyone. But, when the old man is brutally murdered, Jeong goes on a killing spree. He found the murderer, but he was defeated and became a death row convict. The young master of the Mok Sword Manor, Mok Gyeongwoon, discovered that Jeong was his exact lookalike and decided to use him as his stand-in to usurp the position of the heir of his family. However, before they can step out of the prison, Mok Gyeongwoon is killed, his neck twisted by Jeong with his bare hands. Since then, Jeong begins to live as "Mok Gyeongwoon" at the sword manor.
During his stay, Mok Gyeongwoon reads a book about Shamanism and acquires the ability to commune with spirits. While exploring the secret chamber of the Mok manor, Mok Gyeongwoon discovers a sinister book made up of human skin and releases an extremely dangerous Blue Spirit (a.k.a Cheon Ryeong). The spirit attempts to possess Mok Gyeongwoon's body, but the latter subdues her with sheer will, turning her into his familiar. With some advice from Blue Spirit, Mok Gyeongwoon quickly learns the basics of cultivation.
Nano Machine[]
The 1st Heavenly Demon that founded the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult along with the Guardian Families. He is the legendary figure known as the Heavenly Demon God[5] and even though he pursued the path of demons (which was strength above all others) and even when his reputation was overshadowed by the other factions, he was still the only one who shook the entire Wulin[3].
His greatest achievement was the creation of the Sword Force of the Heavenly Demon, one of the greatest martial arts to ever exist. That technique was inspired by the sword arts of Sima Chak, one of the Four Great Evils from the previous era of the Blood Demon, Jin Woonhwi. He established the Heavenly Demon's Order, which was considered inviolable to all his followers, including the Lord of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. He also created the black "Heavenly Demonic Energy" which granted absolute control and dominance over his subordinates. Some of his followers even believed that he was the incarnation of the Demon God.
Eventually, he was told by a "Prophet" (who was actually his own descendant, Cheon Mu-Sung) that an immortal would arrive to threaten the Wulin, including the Heavenly Demonic Cult in the future. Since then, he has devised three plans to stop the immortal.
The first plan that he thought of was to eliminate the Spirit Beasts and completely prevent their cores from being used to create an immortal. He stated that the first plan was a failure since a new spirit beast would soon after arising whenever any of the spirit beasts disappeared since their energy is natural and one with nature[6].
He then devised a secondary plan, which was to turn a future generation's cult head into an immortal. He discarded that option because collecting the spirit beast cores ahead of time was likely to incite infighting among his followers. And he did not want to become an immortal through such means as this wasn't the path he pursued also because there was no telling when Blade God might appear and as he also believed that future problems must be solved by the corresponding generation[6].
After careful consideration of his plan, he discarded it and thought of another method and took it as a challenge. He wanted to kill the prophesied Immortal Being and prove that ‘true immortality’ doesn't exist in the world. So, he began to study about powers that could possibly destroy the supposed immortal and approached the matter from martial arts point of view. But since it included spiritual energy and beings, he began to learn about force, energy, and Buddhism, eventually attaining enlightenment[6].
He founded the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult not because he was evil but because he wanted to develop the means to suppress Blade God's immortality by corrupting the energy of spiritual beings. Eventually, he fought Blade God at Sword Creek. He called Blade God's technique lacking even compared to the Great Guardian's and that it was only at the level of understanding basic qi. Although he defeated Blade God, he was unable to kill his opponent due to the latter's regeneration. Contrary to Cheon Yeo Woon's speculation, the Heavenly Demon mastered the Blade God's Extreme Art of the Blade God and successfully combined it with his own Sword Force of the Heavenly Demon. However, since the resulting martial art would be too difficult to teach anyone, he decided not to complete the martial art and left it as it was. Nevertheless, Cheon Yeo Woon completed the martial arts and named it Sword Art of the Demon God.
Before he left, he recorded the secrets of his martial arts on five sapphire monoliths and left clues all over the Heavenly Demonic Cult, specifically at the location of the Demonic Academy. He also left behind his Heavenly Demon Sword, which remained undiscovered for eight centuries until it was inherited by Cheon Yeo Woon. During his battle with Blade God, Cheon Yeo Woon has a vision where he meets a vestige/intent of the will within the Heavenly Demon Sword. He explains that the Sky Demon Energy was created to suppress Blade God's immortality. He imparts the Non-Existent Sky Demon Sword technique to Yeo Woon, wishing him to defeat Blade God before disappearing.
Descent of the Demon God[]
When Yeo Woon infiltrated and attacked the Murim Association and successfully destroyed the EV Field, the Legendary Heavenly Master Level is revealed to many martial artists. In the entire history of Murim, there are only five masters that reached that level along with himself, and they're the First Monk of Shaolin Temple, Jang Sambong from the Wudang Sect, the Blade God, and the 1st Heavenly Demon God, and the 2nd Chun Ma / Demon God Cheon Yeo Woon[7].
In the past, along with the Five Spirit Beasts lived the Three Yokai that existed in the beginning. One of them was the Golden-haired Gumiho that terrorized humans. Then, one day, he encountered the Golden Gumiho and defeated it. However, he didn't kill the yokai. The Gumiho then questioned him, and he just answered that he wasn't interested. After the Golden Gumiho recovered, he was always visited and challenged but won every battle against the Yokai.
Eventually, the Gumiho turned into a beautiful woman who always accompanied him as his protector. However, she was heartbroken when the Heavenly Demon parted ways with her, and even after hearing rumors of his death, she waited several centuries for his return[8].
His backstory is revealed when Yeo Woon inherited the memories and absorbed the demonic power of the Demon King Taura. His original name was Larisha (meaning Black Flame in the demon's language), and he was the Demon King of another planet. Weary of the constant war with his rival, Talisha, Larisha sought to migrate to Earth and suggested cooperating with the humans over there. In one battle, Larisha and Talisha were badly injured, and the former retreated to his palace to recover.
There, he was confronted by his subordinate Taura. Taura was furious that the real reason Larisha wanted to migrate to Earth and cooperate with humans was because he was in love with a human woman. Taura threatened to exterminate humanity. Larisha gave up his reign and permitted Taura to become the new king, on the condition that he was forbidden to enter Earth.
Taura furiously shoved Larisha through a Gate (planetary portal). Larisha recovered from his injuries and his body and soul regressed due to his condition and transformed then he was adopted by an old man and mastered 'earth' martial arts and took a new name as the "Heavenly Demon". He married the woman of his dreams, founded the Heavenly Demonic Cult, and became the founding patriarch and ancestor of the Cheon Yeo Woon. Years later, Taura and Talisha both attempted to attack Larisha at different times and conquer the world again but were soundly defeated. Larisha reclaimed his sword (which became famous as the Heavenly Demon Sword) from Taura[9].
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
References:[]
- ↑ https://skydemonorder.com/projects/descent-of-the-demon-god/230-demon-god-2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%B2%9C%EB%A7%88%EC%8B%A0%EA%B5%90(%EB%82%98%EB%85%B8%20%EB%A7%88%EC%8B%A0)#toc
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 https://skydemonorder.com/projects/nano-machine/393-second-generation-chun-ma-1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":2" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ https://namu.wiki/w/%EB%AA%A9%EA%B2%BD%EC%9A%B4
- ↑ https://skydemonorder.com/projects/nano-machine/400-rise-to-the-five-strongest-warriors-3
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://skydemonorder.com/projects/nano-machine/467-natural-state-heavenly-master-3
- ↑ https://skydemonorder.com/projects/descent-of-the-demon-god/101-surrender-2
- ↑ https://skydemonorder.com/projects/descent-of-the-demon-god/147-great-yokai-3
- ↑ https://skydemonorder.com/projects/descent-of-the-demon-god/213-memory-1