Chapter 70

I briefly explained why I had come here.

That I needed to take the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass, but that my Perfect Demonic Qi and the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade would end up clashing.

After hearing me out, the Demon Valley Lord lifted his chin.

“So, what you need is my power?”

“Yes. I am trying to find a way for the Perfect Demonic Qi not to cause problems. You are the one most versed in Perfect Demonic Qi, Valley Lord. You are its creator, after all.”

“Hmph, your premise is wrong!”

The Valley Lord suddenly shouted.

“Perfect Demonic Qi is perfect. The problem does not arise because of Perfect Demonic Qi. The Nine Heavens Demon-Ascension Art is the problem!”

“Perfect Demonic Qi is incomplete.”

The Heavenly Demon refuted him coolly.

The Valley Lord shot back fiercely.

“You are wrong! Only Perfect Demonic Qi is the one and only path to fully cure True Blood Severed Meridians! The real problem is that Nine Heavens Demon-Ascension Art you taught him! What was your true intent in teaching that art to the boy? You meant to raise him and devour him later, did you not?”

“Raise me to devour me later? I’m not livestock. That’s a bit much, you know.”

“You stay out of this. Answer me, Seol Yu-won!”

“You are spouting nonsense.”

“With your sly nature, it would be no surprise! Twenty-seven years ago you tricked me and bound me to Demon Valley!”

He had already repeated this story several times.

I had been curious about it for a while, so after gauging the Heavenly Demon’s mood, I cautiously cut in.

“What exactly happened back then?”

As if he had been waiting for me to ask, the Valley Lord spilled out one detail after another I had not even asked for.

“That rootless outsider struggled to become the Little Demon. To build up merit, he used me and my subordinates as sacrifices. Seol Yu-won, do you remember when you approached me? You told me there was a great opportunity here. Because of you, I was ensnared by the curse in the mural!”

“…?!”

I was suddenly thrown into confusion.

So many shocking bits of information came at once that my head turned into a jumbled mess.

I went through them one by one in my head.

‘Master was not originally from the Demon Cult?’

That was news to me.

I didn’t know why, but I had always thought the Heavenly Demon was Demon Cultist down to his bones.

But he had been an outsider like me.

He had taken the seat of Cult Leader with no background at all.

‘And he lured the Valley Lord into Demon Valley with the promise of an opportunity? Why?’

A great opportunity lay dormant in Demon Valley.

It was only revealed after the Valley Lord died several years later, and it produced a long trail of victims.

I had planned to seize that opportunity someday as well, but it seemed the Valley Lord and the Heavenly Demon had known of its existence long before.

Why had the Heavenly Demon drawn the Valley Lord into Demon Valley?

And what did he mean by being trapped by the mural’s curse?

‘Ugh, my head hurts.’

It was not just jumbled anymore. My head throbbed.

Just then, the Heavenly Demon spoke in a low voice.

“Enough.”

“You say enough and I am supposed to stop?”

“It would be better if you did.”

The Heavenly Demon opened his Qi presence toward the Valley Lord.

The Valley Lord’s face went pale.

‘…They are going to fight again at this rate.’

I had a lot of questions, but today’s goal was the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass.

I stepped in at a good moment.

“Come on now, how about you two stop and have a constructive discussion? The priority is finding a way for me to take the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass safely.”

“What is your reason for taking the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass?”

“Because of my severed meridians, of course.”

“You wish to fix them? There is no meaning unless it is done with Perfect Demonic Qi.”

“I get it, but could you help us first? Master said he definitely needed your help, Valley Lord.”

“He said that?”

“Really. Would Master have gone out of his way to accompany me here for nothing? I am not that important.”

The Valley Lord stroked his chin, cracked like a dried-out field.

“Fine. Just trust me. Your master is utterly useless.”

“So what are you going to do?”

At my question, the Valley Lord answered full of confidence.

“It is simple. I will neutralize the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass’s energy with Perfect Demonic Qi. With my skill, I can pass that energy to you without harming the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade.”

“By neutralize, do you mean you will absorb its energy into yourself first, Valley Lord?”

“I won’t steal it from you. Do not worry.”

“Ah, okay.”

I answered awkwardly, feeling as if he had read my mind.

The Heavenly Demon rejected the Valley Lord’s plan in a single line.

“Your plan is highly likely to fail.”

“Perfect Demonic Qi is mutually compatible with itself, so there will be no problem!”

The Heavenly Demon quietly gazed at the proud Valley Lord.

“In what way do you see it?”

“It is solid yet rigid, gentle on the surface yet greedy inside, and looks perfect but is actually fragile. That is what Perfect Demonic Qi is at this point.”

“…!”

For a moment, the Valley Lord pressed his lips tightly together.

He could not refute it because the words had struck at the core.

Confirming this, the Heavenly Demon continued.

“We will perform Twin Dragon Qi Infusion.”

Twin Dragon Qi Infusion was an act where two people infused Qi into a single person’s body.

It was extremely dangerous, so the unwritten rule was never to attempt it unless the situation was truly desperate.

“I will control Su-gyeong’s Chaotic Demonic Qi. You take charge of the Perfect Demonic Qi and the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass.”

I stared at the Heavenly Demon with wide eyes.

Earlier he had said he did not know a way for me to take the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass safely.

Now he looked as though he knew the perfect solution.

Could he have come up with it on the way here?

‘That’s just like the Heavenly Demon.’

As I was secretly impressed, the Valley Lord shouted in displeasure.

“You just said not to neutralize the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass’s energy, and now you want me to wrap that energy while protecting the brat’s Perfect Demonic Qi and prevent it from clashing with your Chaotic Demonic Qi? I cannot do that!”

“Do it.”

“I cannot!”

The Valley Lord’s mood was turning ugly.

They looked ready to clash again, so I stepped in.

“Master, how about I take care of the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass myself?”

“It will be too much for you. Will you be able to do it?”

“Yes. It is my body, after all.”

The Heavenly Demon did not ask any further.

Soon, we all sat in meditation posture.

I sat in front, while the Heavenly Demon and the Valley Lord sat behind me and each placed a palm on one side of my back.

“Swallow it.”

“Yes.”

I took the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass from my robe.

Once I took this, many things would become different from how they had been until now.

Carrying that sense of expectation, I gulped it down in one go.

And immediately, my whole body began to freeze.

I had once taken the Yin-Soul Pellet. Its energy had spread outward in all directions.

The Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass was a top-grade spiritual medicine, incomparable to the Yin-Soul Pellet.

Perhaps because of that, its energy didn’t scatter and instead condensed perfectly in a single point.

That was Extreme-Yin True Qi.

Maybe because of that.

I felt cold far faster and far more overwhelming than back then. The Extreme-Yin had not even reached it yet, and just from taking it the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade developed cracks.

At that moment, two streams of Qi entered my body.

One was the Heavenly Demon’s Qi, acting as if it were superior to any other energy in the world, just like its owner, and the other was the Valley Lord’s Qi, which for some reason felt oddly familiar.

I focused all my senses on channeling the Extreme-Yin True Qi into my dantian.

But then, an unexpected situation arose.

The Valley Lord’s Qi moved not toward the Perfect Demonic Qi, but toward the Extreme-Yin True Qi.

He seemed intent on neutralizing it his own way.

‘This old man, seriously!’

Just as I was panicking, the Heavenly Demon’s Qi split into two.

One stream instantly wrapped around the cracked Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade, and the other blocked the Valley Lord’s Qi from the Extreme-Yin True Qi.

The Valley Lord’s Qi didn’t stop and kept advancing.

The enormous Qi of the Heavenly Demon and the Valley Lord clashed inside my body.

Kkwarreung!

A tremendous shock rang through me. It felt as if thunder were crashing inside my body.

‘I have to endure this.’

Right now we were doing work as delicate as walking on thin ice.

If I so much as let out a groan, everything might fall apart.

The Valley Lord’s Qi was no match for the Heavenly Demon’s Qi.

Just as it was being overwhelmingly pushed back, the Valley Lord’s Qi split into dozens of strands.

True to Perfect Demonic Qi’s exceptional stability, he could control all those strands individually.

Some of those strands blocked the Heavenly Demon’s Qi, while others pursued the Extreme-Yin True Qi.

The Heavenly Demon’s Qi forced the Valley Lord’s strands back with brute strength, but there was a limit.

My Qi and blood, which could explode at any moment, were the problem.

‘What do I do?’

Cold sweat trickled down my back as a sense of crisis mounted, and a transmitted voice came from the Heavenly Demon.

[Spread the Extreme-Yin True Qi through all of your Qi and blood.]

‘What?’

I reflexively questioned him inwardly.

No matter how heated my Qi and blood might be, this was Extreme-Yin True Qi.

If I spread it, my Qi and blood would freeze solid on the spot.

It would be just as disastrous as my Qi and blood exploding.

However.

‘Would the Heavenly Demon not know that?’

Of course not.

This was the Heavenly Demon we were talking about.

‘…Let’s do it.’

What I had to do right now was trust the Heavenly Demon.

It was not as if I could trust the Valley Lord.

I did as the Heavenly Demon said.

To avoid the Valley Lord’s pursuit, I spread the Extreme-Yin True Qi through all of my Qi and blood.

As expected, something terrible happened.

‘Kkugh…!’

A chill tens of times stronger than when I had nearly frozen to death in the ice plains surged over me.

It would not have been strange to simply freeze to death on the spot.

I kept telling myself I had to endure.

Then, the Heavenly Demon’s Qi rampaged through my Qi and blood.

It heated up my Qi and blood, and thanks to that, the parts that had frozen began to thaw.

The Heavenly Demon’s Qi crushed the Valley Lord’s Qi and drove it down into my dantian. He was basically telling him to just wrap the Perfect Demonic Qi properly.

The Valley Lord’s Qi resisted a little, but when the Heavenly Demon’s Qi seemed about to invade his dantian outright, it panicked and slipped back into his own dantian.

At last, the Heavenly Demon’s and the Valley Lord’s Qi had settled into their proper places.

Now the problem was me.

I had to gather the scattered Extreme-Yin-True Qi back into my dantian.

If it were in one lump, that would be one thing, but I still lacked the ability to collect scattered Extreme-Yin True Qi into a single whole.

This was the part where the Heavenly Demon had to lend his strength.

As expected, the Heavenly Demon’s Qi exerted pulling force.

The Extreme-Yin True Qi that had melted into my Qi and blood was drawn out like iron filings to a magnet.

The Extreme-Yin True Qi, broken up not into one mass but into hundreds of fragments, stopped at the Jeonjun acupoint.

It did not move any further in that state.

‘What is this?’

I panicked for a moment, then realized.

He wanted me to handle the rest myself.

There was no way the Heavenly Demon would spoon-feed me everything.

I fell into brief thought.

I had no easy idea how to get hundreds of Extreme-Yin True Qi fragments into my dantian without losing any.

Then a thought flashed through my mind.

‘What if I create artificial pulling force?’

Just as the Heavenly Demon had created pulling force to gather the Extreme-Yin True Qi, I could create pulling force in my dantian and draw it in.

The problem was how to create that pulling force.

‘The Heavenly Demon’s and the Valley Lord’s Qi.’

Right. That was it.

At the moment, two enormous Qi forces were awkwardly coexisting inside my body.

They were strictly holding to their own positions so that the Perfect Demonic Qi and the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade would not meet.

But what if I disturbed that balance?

The force that broke the balance and the force that tried to preserve it would clash, generating enormous pulling power.

If so, I could suck all the Extreme-Yin True Qi gathered at the Jeonjun acupoint into my dantian.

‘This should be okay… right?’

It was extremely dangerous, but as I said earlier, I trusted the Heavenly Demon.

If things truly went bad, he would protect me somehow.

I moved one of the many Extreme-Yin True Qi fragments.

Its destination was the delicate point of balance between the Heavenly Demon’s and the Valley Lord’s Qi.

One was not enough, so I kept adding more Extreme-Yin True Qi to that balance point.

When I had moved over more than half like that, a reaction began.

A great resonant sound rang out.

A whirling pull of force arose between the two Qi streams and violently drew in all the Extreme-Yin True Qi that had been staying at the Jeonjun acupoint.

Stacking up bit by bit, the Extreme-Yin True Qi finally became one large mass again, just like at the start.

Now, in my dantian, the Heavenly Demon’s Qi, the Valley Lord’s Qi, and the Extreme-Yin True Qi were coexisting in a precarious balance.

The Extreme-Yin True Qi roamed every corner of my dantian like a predator searching for prey.

But the Heavenly Demon’s Qi and the Valley Lord’s Qi held firm, thoroughly protecting my Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade and Perfect Demonic Qi.

Realizing there was nowhere left to target, the Extreme-Yin True Qi circled my dantian once, then gently melted into all the minor meridians throughout my body.

‘…It’s over.’

I had finally absorbed all of the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass’s energy in full.

It felt like I had been reborn. In a way, I actually had.

First, my lifespan had increased. It would be meaningless if the Heavenly Demon turned into a demonic fiend, but at least I could live several more years without that constant unease.

My Qi and blood had been permanently strengthened as well.

Because the Extreme-Yin True Qi had melted into my minor meridians, they did not heat up as easily as before.

It meant the time I could use my internal energy, which had originally been no more than fifteen minutes, had greatly increased.

I would have to test it to be sure, but I figured I could probably last up to an hour now.

The cracks in the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade had also been neatly filled in.

And the Chaotic Demonic Qi that had leaked out before the cracks were repaired now settled independently in my dantian, separate from the Perfect Demonic Qi.

I had gotten back a portion of my internal energy that the Chaotic Demonic Qi Jade had monopolized until now.

Combined with the internal energy I originally had, I now possessed nearly ten years’ worth of internal energy.

‘That’s exhilarating.’

It had not even been half a year since my regression, and I had already obtained one of the three keys needed to completely cure True Blood Severed Meridians.

If things continue to go this smoothly, I might be able to completely cure it within a year or two.

“Phew.”

The Twin Dragon Qi Infusion ended.

I let out a deep breath and unfolded my legs.

The Heavenly Demon watched me closely and spoke.

“Your eyes have grown deeper.”

“It is thanks to you, Master.”

I answered with a smile, and the Valley Lord suddenly cut in.

“It’s thanks to me as well!”

I gave the Valley Lord a cold look.

“Thanks to you? Thanks to you?”

“What is with that way of talking?”

“You are one to talk. What in the world were you trying to pull back there, old man?”

“I helped you, did I not!”

“You acted on your own. Everything almost went to hell because of you, old man.”

“Khmm, in the end it turned out well, did it not? And I am the Valley Lord, not ‘old man’!”

“You are ‘old man’ as far as I am concerned from now on.”

“You little brat…!”

“Anyway, thank you for the trouble.”

Leaving the Valley Lord shouting for us not to go, I left Demon Valley with the Heavenly Demon.

“Master, can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“It is about the Valley Lord.”

“No.”

I shut my mouth, feeling awkward.

He clearly didn’t want to talk about the Valley Lord.

“Then I’ll ask something else.”

I took a moment to pick my words, then looked straight into the Heavenly Demon’s eyes and asked.

“Why do you go this far for me? You are not like this with the other little demons. Are you perhaps seeing your younger self in me?”

“…”

The Heavenly Demon was silent.

I wondered if I would get no answer again this time, when he spoke.

“It is all for my sake.”

“Huh?”

What was that supposed to mean?

But the Heavenly Demon didn’t speak again.