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At the entrance to the Main Hall, several dozen people stood in formation.
They were key figures of the Demon Cult, gathered to receive the Heavenly Demon.
In unison, they dropped to their knees.
“We greet the Lord of All Demons1”
I skimmed over them.
Naturally, every face was familiar.
From the influential figures such as the Elder Council Head, the Guardian Hall Head, the Demon Eye Pavilion Lord down to most of the Heavenly Demon’s disciples, the Little Demons.
People who would stand tall anywhere in the Central Plains were bowing their heads before him.
“……”
The Heavenly Demon gave only the slightest nod in reply.
That was all.
Utterly arrogant—yet nothing suited him better.
“Who is the child at your side?”
The Elder Council Head asked.
Beneath his long beard, the mild set of his mouth belied a razor-sharp gaze.
The Heavenly Demon answered dryly.
“My new disciple.”
With that single line, the air shifted.
None dared speak rashly before him, but the surprise was plain.
“…You have found fated affinity. Our congratulations, Cult Leader.”
“Congratulations!”
They echoed as one.
I couldn’t help finding it a little funny.
Because I knew exactly how few meant it.
The looks aimed at me fell into two kinds:
Indifference or hostility.
The overwhelming majority were the latter.
Which, if you think about it, is only natural.
Even small clans squabble over succession.
How much more so in a colossal force like the Demon Cult?
The sudden appearance of a new disciple would hardly please them.
Since it meant that a new variable in the succession race had appeared.
“Chief Steward.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
“See to it properly.”
“As you command.”
The Chief Steward bowed.
He hadn’t specified what to “see to,” but the steward would assign me quarters… and attach attendants.
As if finished, the Heavenly Demon started walking.
I watched his back for a moment.
If I could, I wanted to ask:
‘Why do you always walk alone?’
The Cult Leader had returned from a long absence.
Normally, attendants would accompany him and deliver reports, yet he walked alone.
For a moment, he looked lonely.
What does it matter to be the greatest under heaven?
What does it matter to be the supreme being of the demonic path?
When there’s not a single person to walk beside you.
Everyone only feared him. No one chose to stand beside him.
It had been like this in my past life too.
Though back then I hadn’t had the room to think it.
Then the Elder Council Head, the heads of the Seven Demonic Houses, and several Little Demons approached me.
All were unsettled by my arrival.
They’d have many questions.
Questions about my background, aptitude, temperament, and such…
They’d probe to judge whether I was a threat.
By any means they liked.
‘Which made things plenty tiresome in my last life.’
I’d been dragged to a banquet when I was exhausted to death.
In name it was to welcome the Seventh Young Lord, but it was not like that in truth.
I was thoroughly toyed with there.
Among the glittering instigators, one in particular drew the eye:
Yuk Ja-heung, the Heavenly Demon’s fifth disciple.
That guy was swaggering towards me now in an ill-suited purple robe.
His expression screamed that he was itching for a fight.
At that banquet he’d strutted as my sahyung, mocked how a wretch like me could be Master’s disciple, and “taught me a lesson” with his fists.
When he learned I had severed meridians, he’d grinned ear to ear, unable to hide it.
He never suspected that the severed meridians were exactly why I’d soon surpass him.
‘How nice it is to see you, you bastard.’
That aside, he’d annoyed me more times than I could count.
Yet I was glad to see an enemy like him for a simple reason:
I could pay him back.
Not just him, but anyone who grated on me should start getting nervous.
“Hey, you. What gutter did you roll out of?”
Yuk Ja-heung flapped his loose mouth.
Just as before, hostility oozed from every word.
‘In my past life I took it helplessly, but not this time.’
I squared my shoulders and met his eyes.
His eyes narrowed.
I opened my mouth with all the confidence in the world.
“Master!”
“…What?”
Yuk Ja-heung went slack-faced.
Leaving him and the others, I hurried after the Heavenly Demon.
“Where the hell are you going, brat? Hey!”
He shouted, but I was already at the Heavenly Demon’s side.
‘I’m a bit tired today. I’ll play with you later, alright?’
“What is it.”
His first words were frigid.
He meant, why are you following.
“What else? It’s to go with you of course.”
“Why.”
“Well, it’s because you looked lonely.”
This probably wasn’t the answer he expected.
He stared down at me in silence.
Then he snapped his head away.
“Nonsense. You’re using me to escape an unpleasant situation.”
From that, I inferred one thing:
He’d clearly anticipated what would happen to me once he left.
Yet he’d just left—either because he was perverse, or because he wanted to see how I’d handle it.
‘Maybe both.’
So like him.
Until just a moment ago, I’d thought he was deliberately showing me the lives of the Demon Cult members out of consideration for me—but I guess I was reading too much into it.
I snorted and replied.
“It’s better to avoid trouble, isn’t it.”
“If it will come anyway, face it early.”
“Well, there’s that.”
I pretended to concede.
This was a difference in what we knew.
I’d deal with a few of them—once I’d prepared.
If they dragged me off today, I could do nothing.
Right now I couldn’t handle even the weakest one’s little finger.
“How far do you intend to follow.”
Lost in thought as I trailed him, I looked up to find a sprawling single-storied hall before us.
The Ten Thousand Demons Hall.
The space where the Heavenly Demon resided.
I glanced back.
Everyone else was gone, with only the Chief Steward lingering there, looking utterly at a loss.
Having received orders from the Heavenly Demon, he’d followed all this way.
“You can go now.”
I dipped my head and moved to turn away.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
I looked up, and something flew toward me.
I caught it on reflex.
The flask he’d cherished the entire journey.
“Why this…?”
“Take it.”
“Why?”
“The Divine Cult does not lack for wine.”
Leaving me puzzled, he stepped into the hall.
So—now that he was back in the Divine Cult, wine was plentiful, so he didn’t need this anymore?
‘Is he messing with me?’
Why give me his leftovers?
I could get plenty myself now.
“…Still, might as well taste it.”
I muttered, eyeing the flask.
I’d tried for it a few times on the road and failed each time.
Since I had it, I might as well see what it tasted like.
“Gulp— ptew!”
I spat it out the moment it hit my tongue.
It was so strong it felt like my mouth was burning.
Now I understood his occasional slurred rambling.
‘You call this wine and drank it?’
I nearly hurled it away, but then tied it at my waist instead.
He’d given it to me; I couldn’t dump it in front of his hall.
“Chief Steward.”
“Yes?”
“Sorry to keep you. Please show me to my quarters.”
“Ah—yes.”
He looked taken aback.
Maybe it was because I was too at ease. He’d expected me to be flustered and tense.
He couldn’t imagine I’d already lived through all this once over.
I walked on with him.
He explained this and that:
That each Little Demon had separate lodgings, and that mine was called Hidden Cloud Pavilion.
It had sat empty for a long while, but it had been regularly maintained, which meant I could move in immediately.
It was while he was explaining all this.
The chief steward addressed me in a cautious tone.
“Seventh Young Lord.”
“Yes?”
“About the flask the Cult Leader bestowed…”
He glanced at it hanging from my belt.
“What about it?”
“I have served the Cult Leader for over twenty years, and I have never seen him hand a personal article to anyone. So I must ask—do you share some special tie with him…?”
So his earlier confusion wasn’t my demeanor—but this?
I chuckled and replied.
“There’s no special tie. He just happened to notice me and took me in. And personal article? It’s leftover wine. So why did he toss it to me? He should’ve tossed it somewhere else.”
“Ah… yes.”
He nodded, expression complex.
He didn’t quite buy it.
But he said no more.
I didn’t know the Heavenly Demon’s mind either.
We continued to walk, and soon after, we arrived.
The name plaque gleamed without a speck of dust.
It seemed that it was no lie when he said that the place had been regularly maintained.
The Hidden Cloud Pavilion was bustling with activity.
The Chief Steward oversaw internal affairs.
His deputy was urging servants on, commanding a deep clean of the place.
Although it was regularly maintained, a new occupant meant it required extra care.
“Ah, you’ve arrived! We received word and began putting things in order.”
The Deputy Steward bowed to us both.
He said they’d finish soon and asked me to wait a bit.
I agreed and looked around inside.
A wave of feeling rose.
Standing where I’d lived seven years in my past life, I truly felt that I was back in the Demon Cult.
It was smaller than the others’ quarters, but that didn’t matter.
A larger house doesn’t make for better sleep.
‘By the way, where’s Hong-ryeon?’
I watched the bustle.
Every face was familiar, but I didn’t see the one I sought.
There was someone I most wanted to see upon coming to Hidden Cloud Pavilion.
‘That’s right, Hong-ryeon arrives a few days later.’
I nodded to myself as the memory surfaced.
“Seventh Young Lord, may I show you around the pavilion while we finish?”
The Chief Steward asked.
He must have thought my glancing about meant curiosity.
“You don’t have to.”
“I insist. The Cult Leader bade me see to all particulars.”
“In that case, please do.”
I knew every inch already, but didn’t show it.
Welcoming the Heavenly Demon’s new disciple mattered to him too.
Best to let him do it his way.
“This way, please.”
He led the way.
“This is the main hall, and that is the study…”
He opened each room in turn and explained.
“And this is your bedchamber. Does it please you?”
“I like it.”
I answered honestly.
This had been my favorite room in my past life.
The moonlight through the window had been especially lovely.
Thinking of that moon, I indulged in a rare moment of sentiment.
That was when an unwelcome voice sounded outside.
“Hey, come out! Your sahyung himself has come in person!”
It seemed that Yuk Ja-heung had come.
With that simple-minded, foul-tempered personality of his, there was no way he’d let it end with what happened earlier. I’d suspected he might come looking for me—and sure enough, I was right.
He’d surely pick a fight.
He might even try to beat me like before.
‘What an infuriating bastard.’
He’s free to come.
Though, whether I meet him is my freedom.
And here in Hidden Cloud Pavilion, my freedom outranks his.
I turned to the Chief Steward.
“I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What sort…?”
“I’m much too tired to receive anyone. Please say I’m sleeping.”
“To the Fifth Young Lord?”
“Yes.”
He hesitated.
Such a reaction was understandable.
He didn’t interfere in matters between the Little Demons.
Knowing that, I added:
“You said Master told you to see to everything. Wouldn’t he want me to rest comfortably at least on the first day?”
“Ah. Thank you, Seventh Young Lord. You’ve reminded me of what matters.”
He bowed deeply.
No principle outranked the Heavenly Demon’s word.
He might still have qualms, but he’d later learn they were needless.
Since he wouldn’t come to harm.
He went out and spoke.
“The Seventh Young Lord has retired to his chambers.”
“Sleep? Are you serious? He just got here and you expect me to believe he’s asleep!”
“……”
“Even if he is asleep, wake him now. His sahyung is here!”
Yuk Ja-heung was fuming.
Look at him, already harping on being my sahyung.
So much like the typical brute that he is.
The Chief Steward ran the Cult’s household.
His rank might be lower than a Little Demon’s, but it paid to keep on his good side.
“At least for the first day, he must recover from travel. Allow him to rest today. This is by order of the Cult Leader.”
“Master’s order?”
“Yes.”
Yuk Ja-heung went silent for a moment.
It seems that he’s weighing his options.
“You said ‘today,’ did you? Very well. I’ll leave him be—for today that is. Heh heh.”
He let out a rotten chuckle and left.
I knew his type well.
He’d storm in at dawn and turn the pavilion upside down.
‘Come whenever. I’ll sleep well today and deal with you tomorrow.’
With the immediate problem solved, I sprawled on the bed in a good mood.
Then, I felt a sudden unfamiliar weight at my waist.
I’d forgotten I’d tied on the flask.
‘Wait.’
I untied it to set it aside—then an amusing idea struck.
Maybe I’d found a way to put this otherwise useless thing to good use.
On Yuk Ja-heung that is.
TL/N: The literal translation is Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, but the word Ten Thousand actually means All in the sense of Taoism, hence for that greetings, I believe it’s better to phrase it as All Demons instead of Ten Thousand Demons. ↩️
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