Chapter 68

Our party all came back to our senses.

An awkward silence hung over us for a moment.

It seemed no one had yet shaken off the aftereffects of the illusions.

‘Can’t blame them.’

Apparently, the illusions had shown each of us the person who weighed most heavily on our hearts.

To Ak Mu-jin it had shown his dead subordinates, to Hwang Seung-jong, my Great Sahyung, and to me the Heavenly Demon.

They were all people I knew.

But who had appeared in Im Yeon’s illusion? Since she mentioned the Heaven Rebelling Society along with him, they had to be connected somehow.

Curious, I glanced at Im Yeon and asked.

“Do you have a grandfather?”

“Huh? Young Lord, how do you know that?”

Im Yeon asked back, looking quite shocked.

She must remember seeing the illusion but not what she said while it was happening.

“You kept saying ‘Grandfather, Grandfather’ just now.”

“Did I? In truth, I did have a grandfather, but he has passed away.”

A smile that was half bitter and half sad tugged at Im Yeon’s lips.

“Oh, I see. I’m sorry.”

“Please do not be. But… I didn’t say anything else, did I?”

Unease seeped into her face as she asked carefully.

“You didn’t.”

“All right.”

Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.

Why had she spoken the name of the Heaven Rebelling Society? It was a name that would one day sweep up the Cult and the world outside in a huge storm.

If Im Yeon was tied to that place, there was no way she had avoided a tragic end in my previous life.

And this life might well be the same.

‘I’ll have to ask her later.’

She was still my personal guard. I could not just leave her be.

“Phew, that was a nasty illusion. It was as vivid as the ones we see in my clan.”

As if only now shaken free of the illusion’s residue, Hwang Seung-jong pressed his temples and spoke.

His gaze shifted back to me.

“Seventh Young Lord, how did we get out of the illusion?”

I gave a simple explanation.

Right before I blacked out I saw an illusion of Master and remembered what he had said before he departed. So I took out the wine he had given me, drank it, and was able to overcome both the cold and the illusion at once.

Everyone let out murmurs of admiration.

“The Cult Leader’s foresight saved you and all of us, Young Lord!”

“So the rumors were true that the Seventh Young Lord is favored by the Cult Leader.”

“Favored, my foot.”

“Our Young Lord even shares drinks with the Cult Leader.”

Im Yeon added proudly.

She seemed more proud of me than I was of myself.

“Oh, so it was to that extent? I have failed to recognize what a great person you were.”

“Enough chatter. Let’s get moving. We don’t know when the wine’s effect will end.”

I waved a hand and cut off the two of them making a fuss.

We were just about to set off again when Ak Mu-jin, who had been silent all this time, spoke up quietly.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

Ak Mu-jin’s eyes grew distant.

It was a reaction you could expect from someone who had just come back from the brink of death.

“Because I followed you, Young Lord, that I was able to see their faces so vividly again.”

“…Is that so?”

So that was what he was thanking me for.

I could clearly feel how much he missed and cherished his subordinates.

“I see something up ahead!”

I did not know how much farther we had walked.

At some point, Im Yeon pointed ahead.

There was light where her fingertip pointed.

Had the end of the maze that had stretched on for so long finally appeared?

…

No one readily opened their mouth.

It had only been about three days, yet those unbearably harsh hours must have been running through everyone’s mind.

Even more so for me.

The Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass I had longed for so desperately was waiting beyond that light. The first key to breaking the hateful shackles of the severed meridians that had bound me since my previous life.

Step by step,

the closer I drew to the light, the harder my heart pounded.

Like that, we passed through the light.

Fwoooosh—

Beyond the light, the place we emerged into was a sheer cliff edge whipped by slicing winds. Snow was falling in great big flakes, and it had piled up to our knees.

Flustered, Im Yeon asked.

“Were there not supposed to be ten gates?”

“There were. Strange.”

Hwang Seung-jong scratched his cheek.

“This is the place.”

My eyes were fixed on the very edge of the cliff.

I could see a green stalk shyly poking its head out of the pure white snowdrift.

I headed toward it without hesitation.

My feet sank deep into the snowfield with each step, but I walked as if it were flat, empty ground.

Soon, I reached the very edge of the cliff.

Forgetting the cold biting at my hands, I dug into the snow with both of them.

After a short while, what had been hidden under the snow at last revealed itself.

Two spiritual herbs that had bloomed alone amid the blizzard.

They both sprouted from a single stem, yet they stood in stark contrast.

The Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass had a stem as clear as ice crystal, with green leaves, while the Eternal Snow Blossom blooming above it was a blazing red, like roaring flames.

It was said these two were always found in the same place.

Now that I saw them, it seemed the flower the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass bore was the Eternal Snow Blossom.

“Is that it?”

Hwang Seung-jong and the others approached.

I nodded and dug into the soil with my gloved hands. Maybe thanks to the herbs’ influence, the ground was not frozen, and I was able to unearth both of them quickly.

“Huh?”

It was then.

The heavy snow that had been pouring down stopped as if someone had flipped a switch.

The fierce, cutting wind died down, and the gray clouds that had covered the sky vanished cleanly, letting brilliant sunlight pour down.

Then, over the vast snowfield spread out below the cliff, a rainbow rose into the air.

We were all stunned by the unreal sight.

We could only stare blankly at the rainbow.

It was Hwang Seung-jong who finally broke the long silence.

“The rainbow of the demon realm…”

“What?”

“I read about it in an old text. It said there was a rainbow that appeared only to the one who opened the garden of the Ice-Soul Demon Realm. I thought it was nonsense, but to think it was real.”

Maybe because I heard those words.

The rainbow felt special.

Perhaps she felt the same, for Im Yeon spoke in a voice full of emotion.

“It feels somehow like we have been rewarded for all we went through in the Frozen Plain.”

“The one who got the reward is the Seventh Young Lord. He got everything worth taking, and we are just here to stare at a rainbow. Still, I suppose it was worth it.”

Hwang Seung-jong gave a clear, refreshed smile, not like him at all.

I tore my eyes away from the rainbow and looked around at my companions.

“Let’s head back. Back to the Main Altar.”

By the time we arrived at the Main Altar, it was already late at night.

I was so exhausted I felt I could fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, but my destination was not Hidden-Cloud Pavilion. It was the Ten Thousand Demon Hall.

I had something very important to discuss with the Heavenly Demon.

“Master! I’m back! Your disciple did it! I broke through that terrifying Frozen Plain and came back alive!”

I shouted as I entered the Heavenly Demon’s quarters.

As always, the Heavenly Demon was sitting alone on his platform, drinking.

At this point, it felt like something would be missing if he was not doing exactly that.

“It has been quiet for a few days, and you make a racket the moment you arrive.”

The Heavenly Demon spoke without even turning his head.

I plopped down on the platform, joking around.

“But you like it, right? You must have been bored without me. So I brought a present for my lonely master.”

The Heavenly Demon looked at me with eyes that held a faint hint of expectation.

I puffed out my chest shamelessly and said.

“The present is me. Your beloved disciple making it back alive. Isn’t that the greatest gift of all? Hahaha!”

…

His gaze was colder than the Frozen Plain.

Ahem. I cleared my throat.

Was the joke that bad?

Honestly, what meaning did a “present” even have to someone like the Heavenly Demon?

He could have anything he wanted the moment he desired it.

“I told you before, right? That there was a spiritual herb that blooms once every hundred years.”

“And?”

“I was hoping to receive your ‘guidance’ with it. Like when I took the Yin-Soul Pellet before.”

“You mean you want me to help you absorb it, not guide you.”

“It’s the same thing in the end. Haha.”

I pushed straight through with a smiling face.

“I went through all that trouble to get something incredibly precious. What if I take it alone and fail to absorb even half its effects? That would be a waste.”

“If you cannot withstand it, that is simply the natural order.”

“Aren’t demonic cultivators the furthest people from the ‘natural order’? Help me, Master. If I grow stronger, it is good for the Cult too. Look. It looks strange, doesn’t it?”

I casually took out the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass.

The Heavenly Demon’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

“So that is Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass.”

“How did you recognize it at a glance?”

“You went to the Frozen Plain for this.”

“Yes. I want to take it, and I was hoping to borrow a bit of your help.”

“Do you know what will happen if you take Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass?”

“Not in detail. I only know it is very good for True Blood Severed Meridians.”

I answered vaguely on purpose.

Lately the Heavenly Demon had grown more indifferent, but if I gave him the impression I knew too much about everything, it would arouse suspicion sooner or later.

Besides, I had already sold the old monk’s name far too often, so I felt the need to rein myself in a little.

“Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass has the nature of extreme Yin. It would play a large role in calming your Qi and blood that surge up whenever they find the slightest gap.”

“Oh, then it’s perfect for me, isn’t it?”

“Under normal circumstances, yes. Now, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because of Perfect Demonic Qi and the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade.”

I faltered and asked, and the Heavenly Demon answered calmly.

Then, uncharacteristically for him, he began a long explanation.

“The extreme Yin Qi of the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass will cause cracks in the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade. Some of the Chaotic Demonic Qi that has been dwelling inside it will flow down into your dantian.”

Up to that point, it was something I already knew.

Thanks to that effect, I would be able to use a portion of the internal energy stored in the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade even before I fully mastered the Nine Heavens Demon-Ascension Art.

“If there were Pure Demonic Qi in your dantian, there would be no problem. Pure Demonic Qi and Chaotic Demonic Qi can coexist. But Perfect Demonic Qi tends to try to turn all the Qi in your dantian into the same nature as itself. What do you think that means?”

“The Chaotic Demonic Qi will turn into Perfect Demonic Qi?”

“It will not end there. The Perfect Demonic Qi will try to dig into the cracks in the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade and turn even the Chaotic Demonic Qi inside into itself. But the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade will not allow other Demonic Qi to enter. That clash will erupt, and your Qi and blood will go berserk under its influence.”

My mouth fell open before I knew it.

I had never considered that possibility.

But I didn’t panic.

The most reliable person in the world was right in front of me.

“I knew coming to you was the right move, Master. How do I fix it?”

“I do not know.”

“…What?”

The Heavenly Demon did not repeat himself.

He simply looked at me in silence, as if to say I had heard him the first time.

“T-that can’t be. You are the greatest under heaven, Master.”

“That does not mean I am versed in every field.”

“Then what do I do? I absolutely have to take this.”

“The one most versed in Perfect Demonic Qi will know the solution.”

“Surely you don’t mean the Lord of Demon Valley?”

The Heavenly Demon inclined his head ever so slightly, then rose to his feet.

“Why are you getting up, Master?”

“You get up as well.”

Not knowing why, I did as he said.

“Come with me.”

The Heavenly Demon strode off.

“Where are we going?”

“Demon Valley.”

For a moment, I was almost at a loss for words.

“You know the Demon Valley Lord really hates you, right? He will probably throw himself at you like he is ready to die just to fight.”

“Let him.”

The Heavenly Demon walked off, swinging his arms as if he had nothing more to say.

Watching his back, he suddenly felt bigger and more dependable than Mount Tai.

“Um, Master.”

I hurried to walk at his side.

“What is it?”

“Thank you for the wine. It saved my life.”

“If you would have died just because you did not have a single bottle of wine, having it would not have made much difference.”

“It did. It helped a lot.”

For a moment, I felt like the Heavenly Demon was smiling.

“How much are you planning to sell that flask for?”

I was about to ask what he meant, then snorted with laughter.

“This time I am thinking of putting it up for auction.”

“…Hand it over.”

“I’ll return it if it doesn’t sell.”

…

In silence, we set out for Demon Valley.