Chapter 101

“It would be best for us to part ways around here.”

At a place not far from Divine Demon Gate.
Jeok-hyeon said as he set the sack down on the ground.
Unlike the Heavenly Demon and me, who rode on horseback, Jeok-hyeon had run on his own two feet the entire journey.
And Jin Mu-seong had been carried around in the sack like baggage.
Jeok-hyeon looked at the Heavenly Demon.

“Dao-friend Seol, may you be well.”
“…….”

The Heavenly Demon only gave a small nod without replying.
That was his version of a farewell.

‘Tsk, tsk.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Why was he so cold?
He came with us all the way to the Demon Cult, so he could at least say ‘good work’ or ‘thanks.’

“Uuuh…….”

Jin Mu-seong wriggled and crawled out of the sack.
Maybe he was dizzy, because his complexion looked bad.
I looked down at him.
Sensing my gaze, Jin Mu-seong flinched and lowered his head.
And yet, as if he had something to say, he wobbled to his feet and glanced at me.

“What is it?”
“U-um….”
“Say it.”
“N-next time we meet……”

What was he going to say?
I waited quietly for what came next.
But he only scratched his head.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”
“If you’ve got something you want to say, say it clearly. That’s what a great hero would do.”

Jin Mu-seong hesitated for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

“S-spar with me again!”

A hollow laugh came out.
What was so serious about saying that?

“You want to spar with me?”
“Y-yeah.”
“So you can get beaten to a pulp again?”
“Th-that’s a bit……”

The flustered look on his face was obvious.
He seemed to take my words as ‘don’t get cocky when you don’t know your place.’
I went on like it was nothing.

“Next time, try to last at least ten exchanges.”
“Huh? Y-yeah!”

Only then did Jin Mu-seong’s face brighten.
He really was simple.

Jeok-hyeon, having exchanged farewells with the Heavenly Demon, walked over to me.
Seeing Jin Mu-seong, he wore a strangely satisfied smile.

“I’ve become indebted to you.”
“Indebted, my ass. I benefited too.”
“That part is certain. You’ll be the first outsider to read the Great Clarity Qi Art.”

A smile lingered at the corner of my mouth.
It was true, but this was only the beginning.
I planned to gather supreme inner cultivation methods from the orthodox sects, including Wudang and Shaolin, as much as I could.
Jeok-hyeon said it was fine, but the Heart-Demon Qi still didn’t sit right with me.

“I’d like to give you one piece of advice. Will you hear it?”
“As much as you like.”

Jeok-hyeon let the moment hang.

“Do you remember what I told you when we first met?”
“Of course. You said I had the face of someone who would die young, right?”

Back then, I was pretty shocked.
I wondered if he’d discovered that I had True Blood Severed Meridians from afar like the Heavenly Demon, but it couldn’t be that.
Only the Heavenly Demon could do something like that.

“You and Dao-friend Seol…… are like water and fire. Do you know what that means?”
“It doesn’t sound like a good meaning.”
“Mm, to put it simply, it’s a face that will lead you to devour each other. Perhaps, if you live as Dao-friend Seol’s disciple, something unfortunate may happen.”

Goosebumps rose on my forearm in an instant.
A face that would lead us to devour each other.
Hadn’t we actually killed each other in my past life.
Jeok-hyeon watched my expression and continued.

“Physiognomy isn’t necessarily a fate that must come. A person’s face changes many times over the course of a lifetime. I only said it to warn you to be careful so nothing disgraceful happens, so don’t take it too much to heart.”

I couldn’t.
Because Jeok-hyeon wasn’t wrong.
But why was I standing here?
It was to twist that fate.
In this life, it would definitely flow differently from my past life. By my own power.

“All right. But is it okay for you to say something that dangerous so openly? Master’s right beside us.”

I smoothly changed the subject.
Jeok-hyeon turned his head toward the Heavenly Demon and laughed heartily.

“Dao-friend Seol already knows this. At worst, he’ll scold me for saying useless things to his disciple. He won’t make a big deal of it. Isn’t that right, Dao-friend Seol?”
“…….”

The Heavenly Demon’s brow narrowed slightly.
It was a sign of displeasure, but even so, he didn’t say anything.

“Dao Master, should I give you one piece of advice too?”

As if intrigued, Jeok-hyeon’s nose twitched.

“Oho. Advice from you? I’m looking forward to it.”
“From what I’ve seen, you look happiest when you put your disciple in the sack.”
“Haha, that’s a misunderstanding.”
“If you push him like that, it’ll only backfire. He’ll probably end up hating his master more than anyone in the world, and he’ll run far away.”

At my words, Jeok-hyeon tilted his head.

“But aren’t you more violent than I am? Didn’t you say beating him would solve everything.”
“That and this are different.”
“How?”
“……In many ways.”

I vaguely brushed it off.
Honestly, when I said that, I didn’t care what happened to Jin Mu-seong’s future.

“Anyway, we’ll get going now.”
“Right.”

That was how we parted with Jeok-hyeon and his disciple, and I turned away.
Now the Demon Cult was right in front of us.
It was a place I truly hated, but at some point it started feeling like I was returning home.

‘I’ve really changed a lot.’

I shook my head and spurred the horse forward.

The sight of the Heavenly Demon and his disciple grew distant.
Jeok-hyeon couldn’t take his eyes off their backs.

“Truly outstanding.”

The last place his gaze went wasn’t Seol Yu-won, but Baek Su-gyeong.
It was enough to make one truly irritated.
The master was the strongest under heaven, and the disciple possessed comprehension no peer could match.
Jeok-hyeon had accepted that he would never surpass the Heavenly Demon in his lifetime, but he thought it would be different in his disciple’s generation.
He believed it would be possible if Jin Mu-seong only set his mind right.
But it was laughable.
Baek Su-gyeong wasn’t a vessel Jin Mu-seong could dare to reach for.
No, not just his disciple, but any rising junior talents in the current Murim would be the same.

‘How far will that child reach?’

Even to Jeok-hyeon, who read faces, Baek Su-gyeong’s limit couldn’t be seen.
Only a vague prediction was possible, that he might even surpass Seol Yu-won.

‘The Divine Cult will be noisy for a long time.’

Succession conflict was bound to call for blood.
With the youngest disciple being that outstanding, it would be even more so. Greedy sahyungs wouldn’t leave him alone.
And on top of that, there was the ominous physiognomy he’d seen.
Jeok-hyeon only hoped they would get past the problem without major trouble.

‘It’s better that I worry about this side instead.’

That side had its own fate. It wasn’t something he could interfere in.
What truly mattered to him was something else.
He looked back at his disciple, Jin Mu-seong.
The one who changed the most through this journey might be that boy.

“Mu-seong.”
“Y-yes?”

Startled, the boy’s eyes reflexively went behind Jeok-hyeon’s shoulder.
The place where the sack always hung.
At that unconscious reaction, Jeok-hyeon doubted his own teaching method.

‘This, too, seems like that boy’s view is right.’

He thought it would work if he only pressed and pushed.
He believed that was the fastest way to sprout a talented seed.
But it might be that his attitude only made Jin Mu-seong shrink back, slowing his growth.
Jeok-hyeon let out a short sigh, then spoke in a softer voice than usual.

“Let’s go.”
“Y-yes.”

Jin Mu-seong opened the mouth of the sack himself.

“Let’s go on foot.”

Jeok-hyeon slung the empty sack over one shoulder.
Jin Mu-seong didn’t understand, but he followed behind his master.
He looked a little lighter.

The Divine Demon Gate came into view.
The end of a long journey.
We finally returned to the Demon Cult.

“We greet the Lord of All Demons.”

The Heavenly Demon’s guards appeared like ghosts and prostrated themselves before him.
They must have been waiting near the Divine Demon Gate the whole time for him to return.
But as always, the Heavenly Demon didn’t even spare them a glance.
Holding the reins, I asked the Heavenly Demon.

“Master, are we walking again this time too?”

On the day I first came to the Demon Cult, the Heavenly Demon deliberately walked with me.
It was to let me know the Demon Cult was a place where people lived too.
The Heavenly Demon answered indifferently.

“There’s no need for that anymore.”

I was satisfied inside.
How should I put it? It felt like the Heavenly Demon acknowledged me as a member of the Demon Cult.

‘Yeah, at my level, I’m already an excellent Demon Cult member.’

I sucked in a reflexive breath.
What did I just think?
An excellent Demon Cult member.
The Demon Cult feeling like home, and all that, it felt like I was being assimilated into the Demon Cult.
The place I had wanted to escape so badly.

‘Get a grip.’

I steadied myself and moved with the Heavenly Demon.
It was eerily quiet inside past the Divine Demon Gate.
In a city with such a high population density, you should run into at least a few people even on back roads, but there was no one.

‘Looks like Gal So-ye put things in motion ahead of time.’

It was so the Heavenly Demon wouldn’t draw eyes, since he might not have recovered.
Anyway, she was decisive with her work.
She predicted exactly when we’d arrive and controlled this entire massive city.

That quiet continued as we passed the market streets and entered the main base.
Not even an ant could be seen inside the main base.
There was no one to welcome us. Even Gal So-ye herself was the same.
If she moved personally, it might draw needless attention, so she decided not to show herself at all.

A little later, we arrived at Ten Thousand Demon Hall.
At the entrance of that massive hall, the Heavenly Demon spoke.

“Go.”

I deliberately played it slick.

“Come on. I should at least escort you to your quarters. What if you suddenly collapse?”
“That won’t happen.”
“Ah. Dismount carefully. If you fall off the horse, it’s a big problem.”
“…….”

The Heavenly Demon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Go.”

I would go, but not yet.
I had to give the Heavenly Demon important advice.

“Master, don’t you have something to say?”
“No.”
“Master, do you not know words like ‘good work’ or ‘thanks’.”

Jeok-hyeon, who protected us all the way to the Demon Cult without balking at the long journey, and the guards who must have waited in the dew until he returned.
And me, the core of this Mount Song trip.
If he said even one small line, everyone would like it.
But the Heavenly Demon answered with a completely unshaken expression.

“I don’t know.”
“Do you have any intention of learning them from now on?”
“No.”

I let out a small laugh.
Because it was such a Heavenly Demon answer.

‘If he changed just because I told him to, would he be the Heavenly Demon? He’d be the Murim Alliance Leader.’

“I’ll get going now.”
“…….”

The Heavenly Demon only gave a small nod without replying.
That was the moment I turned the horse’s head to leave. An indifferent voice came from behind me.

“Good work.”
“?!”

I doubted my ears.
What did the Heavenly Demon just say?
I turned my body toward where the Heavenly Demon was.
But there was no one there. The Heavenly Demon was already gone.

‘Did I mishear?’

No.
I definitely heard it.

‘What’s gotten into him?’

It was a strange feeling.
I wasn’t expecting anything, and yet I heard him say “good work.”
Was it because of what I said?
With a dazed feeling, I looked at the entrance of Ten Thousand Demon Hall.
After staring for a while, I rode toward the strategist.
To put a period on the long journey.
Since she was the beginning, the end had to be tied with her too.