Chapter 92

Once the Heart-Demon Qi vanished, Mount Song returned to its original state.

I supported the Heavenly Demon as we went down a quiet mountain path. He was so tall that it looked awkward as hell.

Doing this made me feel strangely unsettled.

To think the day would come when I’d be supporting the Heavenly Demon.

It was something I’d never imagined even once, in my past life or this one.

‘Why did that illusion appear?’

The moment I was first picked up by the Heavenly Demon.

Me becoming the Heavenly Demon, destroying the world, and feeling exhilaration from it.

The battle between the Heavenly Demon and the Heart-Demon Qi.

Everything was vivid, but aside from the ending, I couldn’t make sense of any of it.

‘So that’s why he was weakening.’

Heart-Demon Qi was energy humans couldn’t handle, and mustn’t handle.

He’d succeeded in absorbing it, but inside the Heavenly Demon’s body, a fierce battle must be raging to completely subjugate it.

The point when the Heavenly Demon recovered would be after this second battle ended.

“Haa.”

A sigh slipped out on its own.

He’d already done this three times, and he was going to do it two more times?

‘Absolutely not.’

I had to rule out any act that raised the possibility of him becoming demonified.

I wouldn’t be able to stop it by force, so if I wanted to block the fourth time, I needed to find out first why the Heavenly Demon wanted the Heart-Demon Qi.

“Master.”

“What is it?”

“The reason you’ve been going around alone all this time. Was it because you didn’t want anyone seeing you absorb the Heart-Demon Qi? To keep it a secret?”

“Being alone was simply more comfortable.”

“In this condition, how did you make it back safely last time and the time before that?”

“You’re unusually curious today.”

“Today, you’re the one making me curious about more things.”

“……”

After that exchange, the Heavenly Demon shut his mouth tight.

I shut mine too.

There was no need to rush and pry it out.

The Heavenly Demon’s cycle for absorbing Heart-Demon Qi was one year.

We’d just finished one, so there was still plenty of time until the next.

As we retraced our steps, the mountain gate we’d passed came into view.

Gak-myeong, the Eighteen Arhats, and that suspicious Mount Hua Taoist were nowhere to be seen.

Where the hell did they all go?

I tilted my head and headed toward the farmhouse where we’d left our horses.

The Heavenly Demon, who’d been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke.

“There’s an uninvited guest.”

My steps stopped without me realizing it.

An uninvited guest?

At this timing?

“Master, hide. Now.”

“Too late.”

Doong-!

A huge drumbeat rang out like it would burst my eardrums.

It was a reverberation that made my chest feel tight.

The sound was close. The uninvited guest was nearby.

If the Heavenly Demon were normal, he would’ve detected them long ago, but with him like this, the range his senses reached must’ve shrunk a lot.

Doong- Doong-!

The drumbeats continued at steady intervals.

As if responding, an artificial fog crept in.

From within it, the uninvited guests revealed themselves.

It wasn’t one or two people, but a procession with no end in sight.

Women with their eyes covered in silk cloth, drums strapped at their waists.

They walked in identical posture, without the slightest deviation.

Their faces were blank and their movements stiff, like dolls mounted inside a mechanism.

Doong- Doong- Doong-!

The drumbeats grew more violent.

“Master, this atmosphere isn’t normal.”

“You noticed quickly.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“It’s Splendid Palace.”

“Splendid Palace?”

I was a little surprised.

Splendid Palace was a mysterious faction that barely showed its presence in Murim.

Even in my past life, aside from one extremely disgraceful incident, it was barely even mentioned.

Why were they appearing now?

‘It won’t be for a good reason.’

If it were, they wouldn’t show up this noisily.

Doong!

The drumbeats hit a peak, then stopped in an instant.

At the same time, Splendid Palace’s march also halted.

The procession split left and right, and beyond the fog, a single lavish palanquin came into view.

On it sat a young woman, unlike the others, her eyes uncovered, reclining at an angle.

It wasn’t just because she was sitting on a palanquin. She looked utterly accustomed to reigning over others.

Like someone born to rule.

That woman looked down at us and broke into a bright smile.

It was a beautiful smile, but it only made me feel chilled.

Because I could guess the meaning hidden behind it wouldn’t be as beautiful as it looked.

She spoke.

“At last, I meet your honored face. I truly wished to meet you. One who stands above all.”

I gave the Heavenly Demon a small look.

It meant I’d handle it, so stay still.

Then I immediately started denying it.

“Above all you say?”

“Are you not the Heavenly Demon?”

“The Heavenly Demon? Why would you put that terrifying, grotesque name in your mouth?”

The Heavenly Demon shot me a look.

I ignored it and stared ahead.

The woman smiled again.

“Little Heavenly Dragon, you’re mischievous. To think you’d try to fool this young lady.”

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

How did she even know that?

“You’ve been leaving traces everywhere you go. And it’s too early for that expression. I even know the fact that the Heavenly Demon absorbed the Heart-Demon Qi.”

“……!”

There was no room left to deny it.

There was no choice.

I hardened my face and asked.

“Who are you?”

“I am Yeon Ga-heun, the Splendid Palace’s Lesser Palace Lord.”

The moment I heard her status, Yeon Ga-heun looked different.

Splendid Palace was a place with rather peculiar customs.

Once every few decades, they gathered girls with exceptional talent from all across Murim. Most were orphans or abandoned children.

Those children went through a brutal competition inside the palace where they killed and be killed. Only one survived to become the Lesser Palace Lord.

Yeon Ga-heun was the sole survivor of that living hell.

And one more thing.

That disgraceful incident I mentioned earlier.

At the center of that horrific incident was the Lesser Palace Lord.

“Why is the Splendid Palace’s Lesser Palace Lord here?”

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself as well?”

“I’m a disciple.”

“As expected. Which number are you?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“That’s true. Did you ask why I came?”

Yeon Ga-heun gently fanned herself with elegant refinement.

“It’s to escort the Heavenly Demon.”

“Escort him?”

I asked again, on guard.

“If the great one would visit our Splendid Palace, it would be the glory of three lifetimes, so I dare to invite you.”

“We’ll have to refuse. We’re very busy.”

“I can’t accept a refusal. I’ve desperately wished for this chance for years.”

For years?

The phrasing felt off.

I asked in a sharp tone.

“What do you really want?”

“Are you curious about the real reason? It’s because of the great catastrophe.”

“Speak so I can understand.”

“Our palace has records passed down. If one person takes all the Heart-Demon Qi, an unprecedented great catastrophe will arrive. Our palace seeks to prevent that.”

An answer I never expected.

I wanted to snap that she should stop spouting nonsense, but I couldn’t.

I don’t know whether the Heavenly Demon ultimately absorbed all the Heart-Demon Qi in my past life.

But the Heavenly Demon became a demonic fiend.

He became an unprecedented great catastrophe and laid all of Murim to waste.

“You have no idea how hard we worked to receive the Heavenly Demon. At first, we couldn’t respond because we didn’t think you would target the Heart-Demon Qi, but after that, we stationed our subordinates at the remaining Five Sacred Peaks. But the report from Mount Heng came up far too late. Sadly, the Heavenly Demon had already left. We couldn’t find a trace either. So I personally waited here at Mount Song, the most likely next candidate site.”

Yeon Ga-heun snapped! her fan shut.

“I predicted you would weaken, but I didn’t think it would be to this extent. It seems heaven’s luck follows this young lady.”

“Was that in your records too?”

“If not, would I have dared to receive the great Heavenly Demon? Now, what will you do?”

Something was off.

If her pretext was truly to prevent a great catastrophe, killing the weakened Heavenly Demon would be the surest and simplest way.

So why insist on taking him alive?

Because of the Demon Cult’s retaliation?

Because there was a reason he had to live?

Or was it the Heavenly Demon himself?

All kinds of questions floated through my head.

‘There’s something.’

Splendid Palace was, put nicely, a mysterious group, and put badly, a suspicious bunch.

From the moment they said they’d take the Heavenly Demon to prevent a great catastrophe, I couldn’t trust them.

“I’m not handing Master over. Not ever.”

“Why is that? At present, our side’s strength should be overwhelmingly greater.”

“Because I want him to meet an end like that of a person.”

“……?”

Yeon Ga-heun tilted her head.

Even the Heavenly Demon looked like he didn’t understand what I was saying.

It made sense.

Because they didn’t know my ultimate goal.

I wanted the Heavenly Demon to die as a person, not as a devil.

That was what I was staking my life on.

Yeon Ga-heun looked at me again and spoke.

“It seems we’ll have to use coercive means. Don’t resent us.”

Gulp, I swallowed my dry saliva.

A situation where battle was inevitable.

My vision went dark thinking about how we were supposed to overcome this.

Even if I’d gained enlightenment at the Heart-Demon Abyss, it was nowhere near enough to face that many.

No, I probably couldn’t even handle Yeon Ga-heun alone.

‘What do I do?’

I fell into a brief moment of thought, then frowned.

It was because of what the Heavenly Demon said.

“Go.”

“Go? You’re telling me to run away alone?”

“That’s right.”

“Stop saying nonsense.”

I looked at the Heavenly Demon in disbelief, and the corners of his eyes were faintly curved.

He could smile at a time like this?

“Why are you smiling? Does this seem like someone else’s problem?”

“It doesn’t seem like my problem.”

“No, don’t you have way too little sense of crisis?”

I knew well he was the strongest under heaven, and I knew well he was strong enough to absorb Heart-Demon Qi.

But even so, Splendid Palace’s elites had mobilized to take him, and he couldn’t be this relaxed.

Feeling stifled, I decided to really press him.

“Since we’re on the topic, why have you been traveling alone all this time? Shaolin and Splendid Palace, there are this many people aiming for you!”

“I didn’t know.”

“……You didn’t?”

I had nothing to say.

He said he didn’t know.

I pressed one more time.

“Even if you did know, what would be different. With Master’s stubbornness, would you have brought escorts?”

“I would have.”

“Khmm.”

Again, I had nothing to say.

He said he would’ve brought them. What more could I say?

‘Honestly, it’s largely my fault.’

In my past life, until he became a devil, the Heavenly Demon never suffered any humiliation.

He would’ve finished this journey safely and returned.

But I couldn’t think of any reason for this situation other than me.

Because I was the only variable.

‘Looks like I’ve been sticking my nose in too much.’

That line about me leaving traces really dug in.

How else would they even know the epithet Little Heavenly Dragon?

Because I insisted on raiding the Heretical Alliance branch for no reason, we’d probably exposed our movements completely.

Though I can’t say for the other places, but Splendid Palace, which had deep interest in Heart-Demon Qi and the Heavenly Demon, could probably infer our identities from information that wasn’t even that significant.

“Are you finished talking?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Then we can begin. Bring the Heavenly Demon here.”

The moment the words fell, four shadows shot forward.

They were Splendid Palace warriors, of course, but I couldn’t even see their drums, as if they’d put them down at some point.

They came charging from different directions.

I didn’t even look.

Their target was only the Heavenly Demon.

But I wouldn’t let them touch even the edge of his clothes.

‘Come.’

My strategy was simple.

Don’t leave the Heavenly Demon’s side.

If I rushed out to intercept and got my feet tied up, the Heavenly Demon might end up in trouble.

Shyook!

A Splendid Palace warrior looped in a half circle and reached for the Heavenly Demon’s right shoulder.

I immediately twisted to the right and smacked her wrist away with the back of my hand.

At the same time, another warrior dove low, aiming for the Heavenly Demon’s hem.

Keeping my upper body angled toward the first one, I didn’t even look as I precisely kicked her arm away with my back foot.

The third warrior targeted the back of the Heavenly Demon’s neck from behind.

Using the Heavenly Demon’s body as my axis, I spun and slammed my shoulder hard into her.

The last Splendid Palace warrior attacked me directly.

Maybe because she’d loaded it with internal energy, the force was pretty fierce.

I also operated Perfect Demonic Qi.

Tak-tak-tak!

In an instant, three exchanges were traded.

Puk!

I received and redirected the strike with my elbow, and at the same time struck her with my opposite palm.

She reflexively rubbed the spot I’d hit and retreated.

“Master, did you see?”

“I did.”

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll protect you, Master.”

“……I’ll look forward to it.”

The Heavenly Demon’s voice held a faint trace of amusement, hard to notice unless you were listening for it.