Chapter 95

After parting ways with Yeon Ga-heun’s group, it was just the Heavenly Demon and me.

As we rode toward the Demon Cult’s secret outpost, rain began to pour as if a hole had opened in the sky.

For the already weakened Heavenly Demon, the cold rain was likely to have a negative effect.

Secret outpost or not, we needed to find somewhere to get out of the rain first.

‘There.’

Not long after, I spotted an abandoned house.

We went inside.

Cobwebs hung everywhere, and mold had spread in spots.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

It wasn’t a good place to stay, but it was far better than taking the rain head-on.

I roughly cleared a spot and sat down.

The Heavenly Demon also sat in a lotus position to circulate and regulate his Qi.

Before he sank inward, I spoke quickly.

“Master, I have something to ask.”

I had a lot of questions piled up.

Up until now, aside from when we were moving, the Heavenly Demon had been absorbed in circulating and regulating his Qi, so there hadn’t been time to talk.

And while traveling, the Splendid Palace warriors had always been surrounding us.

The Heavenly Demon asked back in a low voice.

“What is it?”

“Heart-Demon Qi. What’s the real reason you absorbed it?”

“I thought I answered that.”

When I asked in the Heart-Demon Abyss, the Heavenly Demon said, ‘order.’

No matter how many days I turned it over, I couldn’t grasp it at all.

The Heavenly Demon and the word order felt like oil and water that wouldn’t mix.

“Not that. For real. I seriously don’t understand. What are you trying to become by going this far? You’re already the strongest under heaven. Are you not satisfied with that?”

“Do you think I covet Heart-Demon Qi because I want power?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“You speak as if you know everything.”

A chilling voice.

It felt like the air inside the abandoned house froze.

‘Did I dig too deep?’

I flinched without meaning to, but there was no helping it.

I believe Heart-Demon Qi had the greatest effect on the Heavenly Demon turning into a devil.

Finding out his objective and making him give up Heart-Demon Qi was a hundred times better than risking my life in a fight later.

“Did I? When?”

I asked back shamelessly.

Instead of explaining at length, the Heavenly Demon tossed out a single syllable.

“Always.”

Always?

I narrowed my brows slightly.

When had I talked like I knew everything?

I thought back step by step, starting with recent events.

The time I saw through Yeon Ga-heun and her master’s relationship and ran my mouth.

The time I ran my mouth about why the Heavenly Demon had weakened.

The time I ran my mouth about what catastrophe would happen if Heart-Demon Qi went berserk.

‘It wasn’t just once or twice?’

If I went further back, there were far more than that.

How many places had I stirred up, using the fact that I knew the future?

Starting from the Heretical Alliance’s Nanchang branch, all the way to Demon Valley, the Four Great Forbidden Lands like the Ice-Soul Demonic Realm, and the Longevity Cult.

There were far more days I hadn’t been quiet than days I had.

‘Let’s retreat one step.’

I pressed my lips shut.

If I kept pressing, there was a high chance I’d get counterattacked instead.

The Heavenly Demon looked at me, then closed his eyes.

“I’ll circulate and regulate my Qi.”

“Yes. Have a fulfilling circulate-and-regulate session.”

The Heavenly Demon sank inward.

“Hoo.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

Early on after regression, the Heavenly Demon had looked at me with suspicion, but at some point he stopped asking anything.

So I think I’d let my guard down without realizing it.

Because I knew the future where the Heavenly Demon became a devil, I’d ended up pushing him without realizing it.

I rummaged through my pack, took out some hard jerky, and chewed.

There were only two of us, so we couldn’t both go into circulation and regulation.

As his guardian, I had to watch over the Heavenly Demon.

That was when it happened.

“I finally found you!”

At the sudden voice, I sprang to my feet on reflex.

I drew my cold-iron dagger and aimed it toward the entrance of the abandoned house.

In Murim, someone who appeared without warning was likely to be an enemy.

But the person who appeared in the doorway was unexpected.

It was the Taoist I’d seen outside the Heart-Demon Abyss, the one who’d said he was from Mount Hua.

He ignored me and immediately looked for the Heavenly Demon first.

“Hm, Dao-friend Seol is circulating his Qi. Was his condition severe?”

“Not to the point you’d call it severe.”

I answered briefly and subtly put myself between the Heavenly Demon and the Taoist.

At this, the Taoist’s gaze changed.

“Huh. Dao-friend Seol has a solid disciple. You understand well that in Murim, one must be wary of everything. But you need not do so with me. Dao-friend Seol and I share deep ties.”

“Deep ties?”

I couldn’t believe it at all.

It was clear the Heavenly Demon knew this Taoist, but deep ties? With the Heavenly Demon?

The Taoist smiled.

“If I explained it, a day wouldn’t be enough. But what happened? You were traveling with those noisy ones from Splendid Palace.”

“How did you know that?”

“After Dao-friend Seol went into the Heart-Demon Abyss, I had a huge brawl with those baldheads from Shaolin Temple. Then I searched for Dao-friend Seol, and unexpectedly, I felt his presence among the Splendid Palace warriors.”

So that’s why no one was there when we came out. This Taoist must’ve dealt with the Shaolin monks.

“Now, will you tell me what happened?”

“It just happened, somehow.”

I answered without dropping my guard.

Either way, I still couldn’t trust this Taoist.

Because claiming deep ties with the Heavenly Demon made no sense. The Heavenly Demon was someone who didn’t even know how to socialize.

“Heh heh. So you still don’t trust me. You’re remarkably cautious for your young age. You may not know this, but this isn’t the first time Dao-friend Seol absorbed Heart-Demon Qi. The last two times, I helped Dao-friend Seol return safely to the Demon Cult.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Even while suffering from Heart-Demon Qi, he drank that damned liquor nonstop, so I, a Taoist, had to run in and out of taverns all the time!”

“Then you were Master’s benefactor! Nice to meet you, Dao Master!”

My address for him upgraded from ‘Taoist’ to ‘Dao Master.’

As someone who’d been responsible for the Heavenly Demon’s drinking throughout this journey, there was no more room for doubt.

“Right, I’m a benefactor. Dao-friend Seol owes me.”

“But Master said the opposite. He said you owe Master a debt.”

“I do have a life-debt as well. We’ll talk about the details later. Now, will you tell me what happened?”

I skipped what needed skipping and explained briefly.

That after we came out of the Heart-Demon Abyss, we were attacked by Splendid Palace, and one thing led to another and we ended up under their escort.

When I finished, the Taoist clicked his tongue in admiration.

“How can you be this clever! Dao-friend Seol isn’t just the strongest under heaven, he even raised his disciple well. The world is so unfair, so unfair!”

The Taoist dropped the large sack he’d been carrying on his back onto the floor with a koong.

“Ow!”

A human voice came from inside the sack.

I blinked.

Maybe because his realm was so high, I couldn’t read his presence or the presence around him, but there was someone inside the sack.

He’d been carrying that sack even when I first saw him at the Heart-Demon Abyss. Don’t tell me he’d been doing that the whole time?

“Come out, you bastard.”

The Taoist loosened the sack’s opening.

A person wriggled and crawled out from inside.

It was a boy who looked about my age.

‘He’s not normal.’

I should’ve known the moment the Heavenly Demon had ties with this Taoist.

He wasn’t walking the Dao. He was a fake Taoist walking the heterodox path.

As if reading my suspicious look, the Taoist spoke.

“Don’t look at him like that. He’s my disciple.”

“That’s even weirder.”

Why on earth would you carry your disciple in a sack?

At this point, he was closer to a kidnap victim than a disciple.

The Taoist sighed and said.

“There’s a reason. This kid is so passive and lacks motivation that he couldn’t reach the level I wanted. So I’m training him until sincerity wells up and he gives it his all.”

“By kidnapping him?”

“Hahaha! Kidnapping, you say. Dao-friend Seol’s disciple is good at jokes too!”

The Taoist patted my back hard.

He hit so hard it felt like it reached my heart.

I exchanged a brief look with the boy who came out of the sack.

What I could read in his eyes was the feeling of shared misery.

A disciple’s life must be hard by default.

Though the Heavenly Demon and that Taoist tormented disciples in different ways.

Then the Heavenly Demon, who was circulating and regulating his Qi, slowly opened his eyes.

It was much shorter than usual.

He must have sensed the visitor’s presence.

The Taoist shouted boisterously.

“Dao-friend Seol, I’ve come for you.”

“I know.”

Even at the Heavenly Demon’s dry reply, the Taoist laughed.

“I heard from your disciple. Thanks to his wit, you’ve managed to receive Splendid Palace’s escort until now, yes?”

The Heavenly Demon nodded silently.

“What do you intend to do from here? Like last time, I’m thinking this Taoist will move with you. What do you say?”

Once again, the Heavenly Demon didn’t say anything.

Instead, he only looked at me quietly.

“So it seems your disciple is the one who handles the travel plan. What will you do?”

I told him the original plan.

That we’d mobilize the people at the sect’s secret branch and return.

At that, the Taoist burst into loud laughter.

“Hahaha! What use are those chaff-like fellows? I’m here.”

“Sorry, but who are you?”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked the Taoist.

From his presence and his confident words, he seemed like an incredible martial artist, but I couldn’t guess his identity.

“Curious about my Dao name? I’m Jeok-hyeon.”

Jeok-hyeon…

‘I’ve never heard of him.’

But I knew about the Jeok, generation.

Because Mount Hua’s current sect leader was from the Jeok generation.

But something was strange.

All the Jeok-generation elders I remembered were old men with white hair and long white beards.

How was Jeok-hyeon that young? Even being generous, he looked like he was in his mid-forties.

And how on earth did the Heavenly Demon end up having ties with someone like that?

“Anyway, I’ll take it that we’re traveling together.”

“Ah, yes.”

Honestly, there was no reason to refuse.

Even the masters we could mobilize from the secret outpost would be far inferior compared to a Jeok-generation elder.

And yet this kind of master was offering help.

What situation could be better than this?

“You, unlike my disciple, are very sharp. While we travel together, fix this kid’s mental state for me.”

“……Me?”

“I have a feeling you’ll create the trigger that transforms this kid.”

‘Now isn’t the time for me to be fixing anyone’s mental state.’

The Heavenly Demon’s mental state was the problem I needed to deal with first.

From that day on, Jeok-hyeon and his disciple joined our journey.

For the next few days, the group’s atmosphere wasn’t very good.

Because Jeok-hyeon chewed out his disciple viciously.

“Truly pathetic. Why did you even set foot in Taoist school in the first place?”

“You have neither zeal nor passion. So how can your sword and will ever align?”

“When will you ever become fit to call yourself a person. Get in the sack, now!”

It was such intense scolding it was embarrassing just to watch.

The problem was, at the end of that scolding, he always dragged me into it.

“Learn from that kid! You’re about the same age, so how can you be this opposite?”

“S-sorry.”

“Not ‘sorry.’ Say you’ll do better from now on!”

“Ah, I’ll do bet—”

“Stop stammering! Why can’t you even speak properly compared to this kid.”

“S-sorry.”

Jeok-hyeon shook his head.

Then one day, Jeok-hyeon said he would leave for a while.

Jeok-hyeon’s disciple asked.

“W-where are you going?”

“Where do you think I’d go in this situation?”

“W-well…”

“We’ll be staying here tonight, so I’ll look around the area to see if there are any dangers.”

“Ah…”

Maybe he didn’t like the way he scratched his head like an idiot.

Jeok-hyeon looked back and forth between me and his disciple, then clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. If only you could follow even half as much.”

Jeok-hyeon vanished like the wind.

The Heavenly Demon was circulating and regulating his Qi, so it was practically just me and Jeok-hyeon’s disciple left.

For some reason, the guy approached me.

He hesitated, then opened his mouth.

“Uh, um. What’s your name?”

Come to think of it, we hadn’t introduced ourselves.

Not that I’d been interested enough to.

“Baek Su-gyeong. You?”

“I’m Jin Mu-seong.”

“That’s a good name.”

Jin Mu-seong asked.

“You… how old are you?”

“Seventeen. You?”

“What month were you born in?”

Jin Mu-seong asked again without answering my question.

“September.”

At my answer, joy spread across his face.

“I-I’m seventeen too. But I was born in August.”

“Yeah?”

“Th-then that means I’m the hyung.”

I tilted my head without realizing it.

Hyung over a one-month difference.

Did he want to be treated like an older brother?

Jin Mu-seong spoke with a more smug attitude than before.

“N-normally you don’t do the brother thing with Demon Cult people, but since my master is close with your master, I-I think you’re okay.”

“So you’re saying I should call you hyung?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He really seemed to want older-brother treatment.

I wondered why he’d suddenly come talk to me, and why he was acting like this.

Leaving everything else aside, I barely even called my sahyungs sahyung properly. There was no way I’d call this guy hyung just because he was born one month earlier.

I replied flatly.

“Hey. Are you stuffed and warm?”

“H-huh?”

“Stop talking nonsense and go away.”

“Alright…”

Jin Mu-seong awkwardly returned to his spot.

‘Tsk, this guy’s weird.’

Somehow, I understood why Jeok-hyeon kept putting this guy into the sack and taking him out.