Chapter 14

“Hoo.”

I let out a deep sigh.

Having spent every last drop of internal energy at the end, my strength drained away.

If not for the Yin-Soul Pellet and the Heavenly Demon’s aid, I would have been in trouble.

Well, I did cling to the Heavenly Demon precisely because I expected that.

“I lost… I can’t believe it…”

Mang Heun-baek knelt, muttering like a man whose soul had left him.

His eyes were clearly dead compared to before the fight.

More than the loss itself, it must have been the collapse of the world of martial arts he’d honed all his life that shocked him.

On top of that, he dropped his blade in front of everyone.

What greater disgrace is there for a swordsman?

‘As a swordsman, he’s half-finished.’

He likely won’t be able to grip a blade for a good while.

Each time he does, this moment will surface to torment him.

‘If only they were all here to see it.’

I thought of those who had suffered under him.

If they had seen it, how happy they would have been.

‘Well, what can be done? I’ll just enjoy it myself.’

They’re all likely living well in their own places by now anyway.

Since I’ve cut off this future calamity, this time around, they shouldn’t suffer the accidents of my past life.

“…”

I squared my shoulders and looked around the hall.

Stares at me brimmed with shock. The Elder Council Lord’s face had gone sheet-white.

Mang Heun-baek was skilled enough to have some notoriety.

So it was no wonder they were stunned when he was overwhelmed by me, someone said to have trained only a month.

This is why knowing your opponent matters.

I struck true when he tried to probe.

Had I not, the fight would never have flowed so one-sidedly.

No, worse, the result might have been different.

My internal energy could have bottomed out, or my Qi and blood boiled over and left me collapsing helplessly.

‘Either way, it went well.’

I could tell from the crowd’s reaction.

I achieved my purposes in attending this banquet.

First, I pressed the Elder Council Lord’s nose flat.

Second, I showed many my skill without exposing my weaknesses.

And third—

‘Did you catch all that?’

I turned my gaze to the Illusory Hwang Clan Head.

He, like the others, was astonished.

For now, mere astonishment is enough.

Having seen my talent, he’ll soon realize—

That clinging to Great Sahyung isn’t the only option.

If he dislikes him, he can side with another to oppose Great Sahyung.

“That unplanned fight wore me out. I’ll take my leave.”

I notified the Elder Council Lord.

The start of the banquet was his to decide, the end was mine.

He’ll likely regret this deeply.

The event he made to press me down produced the exact opposite effect.

I strode out of the hall.

I lightly ignored the many gazes pouring onto my back.

‘I should return to Silver Cloud Pavilion and begin circulation first.’

For me, circulation meant more than it did to other warriors.

Beyond refilling an empty dantian, it could settle my Qi and blood.

The seven-minute constraint on using internal energy could be reset through circulation.

“It’s getting dark.”

Night had come outside the hall.

Lanterns glowed here and there, but not enough to push back the black sky.

I stopped and looked up.

As I stood there, a strange feeling welled up.

Wrecking the place had been exhilarating, yet I felt a little lonely.

There were over a hundred people, but I was alone among them. There was no one I could call my side.

‘How odd.’

It felt unfamiliar to feel this way.

Even in my past life, I’d had many solitary moments.

‘Does the Heavenly Demon live like this every day?’

The Heavenly Demon walking alone and the ever-empty Hall of Ten Thousand Demons overlapped in my mind.

He surely considers loneliness a trifling emotion, yet somehow,

It occurred to me he might be lonely.

“Hm.”

I folded my arms.

After a moment’s thought, I headed back to the banquet hall.

“Seventh Young Lord?”

“Why did he come back?”

Murmurs rose among the guests.

Mang Heun-baek and his weapon were gone, cleared away by someone.

I strode to my seat.

I saw the Elder Council Lord swallow.

“I left something.”

I grabbed an item from my seat.

More gazes stuck into me as I walked out again.

My steps outside led to none other than the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons.

Where the Heavenly Demon stayed.

I went in without anyone stopping me.

‘Where would the Heavenly Demon be?’

Training again, perhaps?

As I looked around the empty grand hall, the elderly attendant I’d seen before appeared.

“Have you come to see the Cult Leader?”

“Yes.”

For some reason, the attendant’s eyes softened.

“The Cult Leader has finished his schedule and retired to his quarters.”

“Ah, already?”

“Shall I guide you to his quarters?”

I hesitated.

Should I ask to be guided, or not?

“It’s nothing important…”

“Since you’re here, I’ll guide you anyway.”

“Mm, then please. Thank you.”

“This way.”

I walked an unfamiliar path with the attendant.

Come to think, I had never once been to the Heavenly Demon’s quarters.

Despite being his disciple for seven years.

We passed corridors to the rear of the hall.

Even at night, my view suddenly opened.

A wide open ground spread before my eyes.

An empty space with only one shabby house set there.

The Heavenly Demon sat on a bench laid before the house.

I thanked the attendant again and approached him.

Sensing my presence, he turned his head.

“…What now?”

He looked a bit weary of me somehow.

It was interesting.

So the Heavenly Demon can make such a face.

“I just thought of you, Master. Shall we drink this together?”

I lifted what I’d fetched from the banquet. It was an unopened wine bottle.

It felt wrong to come empty-handed, and he loves to drink.

“I refuse.”

He refused at once.

Now I noticed he already had a gourd in hand.

Typical Heavenly Demon. Drinking alone without delicacies or company.

“Everyone was at the Elder Council, why drink alone? You could’ve come to the banquet.”

“Me, at your welcome? What an amusing joke.”

“It’s not a joke. Why act like you’ve taken on all the world’s loneliness?”

“Then why have ‘you’ already left? The banquet shouldn’t be over.”

“You know everything that happened.”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

As expected, the report had already come in.

He likely knew exactly how I felled Mang Heun-baek.

Tipping his gourd, he spoke.

“I told you not to bare your fangs until you have strength.”

“With Master here, what’s there to worry about?”

“I do not interfere in disputes between disciples.”

“Is the Elder Council Lord your disciple?”

“My disciple stands behind him.”

Naturally, he meant Great Sahyung.

Come to think, it was the same in my past life.

He never quibbled over whom I clashed with.

“The sharpest thorn is broken first. Your days ahead will be hard.”

“That’s fine.”

“A life marked by all is fine?”

“I’ll bear it. It’s because I’m outstanding.”

“Good. Don’t forget that mindset. And.”

He gave a small nod and added a word.

“Well done.”

For a moment, I was dazed.

I’d gone against his counsel. I had challenged the Elder Council Lord and beat Mang Heun-baek.

Yet, ‘well done’?

I had never heard that in my past life.

Perhaps that’s why.

It felt like I’d been acknowledged by him.

‘Of course. A disciple of the Heavenly Demon can’t grovel to just anyone for lack of strength.’

Smiling at the lips, I said,

“Anyway, you’re going to drink with me, right?”

“I refuse.”

“Oh, come on!”

My voice rose without meaning to.

“Is this how you treat a disciple who came all the way? I went back in after all that at the banquet ‘just’ to bring this to drink with you. You’ve no idea how cold the eyes on me were.”

“…”

He looked at me in silence.

Thinking I’d crossed a line again, I shut my mouth.

Then he said, flatly,

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

I happily sat in the empty spot on the bench.

“I hear your opponent used a blade. Did you not feel fear?”

“Not at all. It felt like it would be easy. I ‘did’ receive special instruction from you, after all.”

“Special instruction?”

“At the Heretical Alliance’s Nanzhou branch. You gave me pointers, move like this, like that. I applied those methods.”

I subtly talked him up.

All of it was true.

Many of the pointers he gave were parts of the martial arts I had learned in my past life.

They’d settled in my body, so I could deploy them similarly against anyone.

“There were clumsy parts.”

“Pardon?”

“Had you pursued concision, you’d have dodged twice instead of three times, had your use of internal energy been supple, you needn’t have dodged even those two.”

I was a little surprised.

Despite not even being there, he’d pierced my flaws just from a report.

I’d thought similarly, honestly.

Even though I’ve regressed, I’ve never stood at the peak.

So my martial arts are still unfinished.

I must keep seeking growth in this life.

In that vein, I asked.

“Master, when do lessons start?”

“In two days—eight hours a day.”

“Eight hours?”

My eyes rounded.

Eight hours!

“Do not grow arrogant. Eight hours is not excessive in the least.”

“No, I mean, it’s shorter than expe— never mind.”

I shut my mouth in haste.

In my past life, lessons were twelve hours.

Add a little exaggeration and, aside from eating, sleeping, and relieving myself, I trained all day.

But eight hours!

‘The plan worked.’

I worked hard to keep showing my genius, and this was the result.

I’d get roughly four hours a day to myself.

There’s a lot I need to do with that time.

For the future, I need to plant stones in many places.

“Ah, by the way, may I ask something?”

“Ask.”

“What kind of person is Great Sahyung?”

I had asked about the sahyungs and sajeos before as well.

I had heard nothing then, but this time I wanted an answer.

I was, indirectly, entangled with him now.

I wondered what sort of man he was in the Heavenly Demon’s eyes.

“Mu-hyeok is pure.”

For a moment, I doubted my ears.

Great Sahyung, Geuk Mu-hyeok, pure?

Has the meaning of ‘pure’ changed?

Ah, unless he meant this.

“You mean pure evil, right?”

“In your view, yes. He will trouble you.”

“And in Master’s view?”

I met his eyes straight on.

Truth is, what I wanted to ask was different.

I will live differently from my past life.

Back then, I avoided conflict with Great Sahyung as much as possible, but this time, I won’t.

Only then can I achieve my two goals. Curing my severed meridians and preventing the Heavenly Demon’s demonization.

There is no eternal neutrality in this world.

If I cross blades to the death with Great Sahyung, whose side will he take?

The one who’d been with him long?

Or me, the one to whom he shows strangely much lenience?

“Purity has two faces.”

“What does that mean?”

“Whatever heart you keep, whatever ends you train for, that is your freedom.”

“…?”

I tilted my head.

I didn’t quite understand.

But he tilted his bottle as if he had nothing more to say on it.

I didn’t press and drank.

In the quiet, only the sound of swallowing liquor echoed for a while.

“Ah, I’ve finished.”

He turned the gourd upside down.

A few drops pattered to the ground.

He didn’t seem likely to share his liquor, so I rose.

“I’ll get going.”

“Do not go yet.”

Unexpectedly, he stopped me.

“Why?”

“Circulate your Qi before you go. The way back may be dangerous.”

“Ah.”

I’d briefly forgotten I needed to circulate my Qi.

Only then can I use internal energy again.

“…Yes.”

With the Heavenly Demon standing guard, I began circulation.

For some reason, it felt immensely reassuring.