I refined and refined the Soaring Sword Technique, which had achieved great accomplishment.
It was a martial art I had honed for so long, yet performing the Soaring Sword Technique with this younger body gave an entirely different feeling. This is why they say one can never see the end of martial arts, even if they devote their entire life to it.
While training in the Soaring Sword Technique, I also practiced the Qi Emission training my father had taught me. I also worked to balance the internal and external energy that had increased thanks to the Demon Essence Pill.
As a result of repeated training upon training.
On the ninety-seventh day since entering this place, I became able to perfectly control my increased energy. My Qi Emission too grew more proficient, and I could emit a greater number of qi. Though not yet like a spider's web, I could already simultaneously emit more than ten strands of qi.
"Good. This is enough."
For the remaining three days, I quietly calmed my mind and organized what I had to do going forward.
On the hundredth day since entering this place, I pushed the stone monument aside.
Then, the door leading outside opened.
"Ahh, this fresh air! Byeokgokdan, farewell!"
Stretching out wide, I walked out of there.
At the exit of Socheondong, one warrior from the Heavenly Demon Hall was waiting.
"Good heavens! Young Master!"
He looked at me in surprise.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"I was told to escort the Young Master straight to the Heavenly Demon Hall as soon as you appeared, so I was waiting. But I didn't expect you to come out this early. I was told I would have to wait at least a hundred days from today."
"Since when have you been waiting?"
"I came out here today."
Father had expected me to come out between one hundred and two hundred days. That was the extent of the talent he saw in me.
That was quite a high estimation, wasn't it?
And another thing: at least he hadn't thought I would die.
Thinking that perhaps putting me in Socheondong had been not a punishment but a reward, I followed the warrior.
* * *
When I arrived at the Heavenly Demon Hall, Father was alone.
I slowly walked the red carpet toward the throne where Father was seated.
People called this carpet the "Road of Blood." How much blood had to be spilled to reach that place? How much blood had Father seen before he could sit there? And how much more blood had to flow to keep that seat?
"It took exactly one hundred days."
At Father's words, I was practically dying to speak. That I had broken through the barrier in just one day. That his son had done it. I really felt like going to the bamboo forest behind the mountain to shout it out about.
"I struggled, but I couldn't break Father's record."
"Did you cut the orbs properly?"
"I cut them all cleanly. Since you left me such clues, of course I had to cut them well. And I didn't rest in the final Illusion Formation either."
Then I saw it. A smile forming at the corner of Father's lips. It wasn't the sneer I had seen until now. It was a smile born of genuine joy. But unfortunately, that smile vanished the moment it formed. To Father, smiles were like mirages.
"So you are not a complete fool."
"Of course not. Whose son am I?"
Before the regression, the father I had known was a man who enjoyed the succession struggle in which his children's lives were at stake.
But now I think I understand. He was a man who endured even the death of his children for the future of the cult, not someone who enjoyed the struggle.
"But why did you summon me?"
Before telling me his business, Father called one person there.
He was none other than Sima Ming, the Chief Strategist who held power second only to one, above ten thousand, within the main cult.
"It has been a while, Strategist Sima."
"To pass through Socheondong in merely one hundred days. You are remarkable, Young Master."
He was also the pavilion master of the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion, which oversaw the main cult's intelligence. He was an influential figure who held all information of the Central Plains in his grasp and enjoyed Father's absolute trust.
"It was a punishment I endured for a hundred days."
"A punishment? Or a reward?"
Sima Ming smiled meaningfully.
"Perhaps Father tried to punish me but failed?"
"Hahaha."
Sima Ming laughed, and I laughed with him.
Once the greetings were over, Sima Ming got to the main point.
"The reason I asked to see the Young Master today is to discuss a matter within the cult."
I was called to handle internal cult affairs instead of my older brother? And immediately after leaving Socheondong at that? This was certainly a different situation from the past. Normally, internal cult affairs were left to my brother. Even if he was outside, they would be entrusted to him by letter.
My gaze passed over Sima Ming and toward Father seated on the throne. In the end, this decision involved Father's will.
"Please speak."
"Not long ago, an anonymous letter arrived. It contained information about corruption within the Demon Army."
The Demon Army was one of the main cult's military organizations, notorious for the rough temperament of its demon practitioners.
'Ah!'
The reason I inwardly sighed was because the leader of the Demon Army was the younger brother of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. It was yet another moment entangled with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
"Last year as well, an anonymous letter arrived, and an investigation was conducted by the Yellow Springs Pavilion."
The Yellow Springs Pavilion was an organization that investigated treason, corruption, and graft. By its nature, everyone hated it, but it was a powerful organization that superseded them all.
"But the investigation at that time failed. No one gave related testimony, and the special investigator who was dispatched was murdered. The Demon Army soldier who killed him committed suicide."
It had been such a major incident that I remembered it too. Anyone could see it looked like the Demon Army had obstructed the investigation from within, but they couldn't find evidence. Eventually, the case was buried and forgotten.
And now, with time passed, another anonymous letter had arrived.
"We hope that the Young Master will become the special investigator and handle this matter."
The question "Why me?" was unnecessary.
This matter reeked of danger even before it began because it was Father's test.
For an elite organization like the Demon Army, involvement in a corruption case meant execution. In the end, whoever committed the corruption would somehow try to hide their crime, and they wouldn't spare the investigator just because he was the son of the Heavenly Demon.
Moreover, in a situation where the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had even warned me, I would be touching an organization led by his younger brother?
"You are driving me to my death."
Sima Ming nodded and acknowledged it.
"That's right. This mission is one where you must stake your life."
I looked at Father. Father, who had been staring at me with a stony face, suddenly said something unexpected.
"Didn't you say you would bring them to heel and hold their leash?"
They were words I had said to Father at the hunting ground.
"That was for when I become the Heavenly Demon."
"So now you're too scared to do it?"
"No, if you put it that way, I can't exactly refuse……"
Father had saved the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's face by sending me to Socheondong, and now with this test, he was trying to keep the Blood Heaven Blade Demon in check. What in the world was Father's true intention?
Suddenly, I recalled what Father had said that night while hunting.
"Father, could you kill me for your own sake?"
"If this gives you pause, then you mustn't invoke the word 'heartlessness' so carelessly."
My gaze met Father's in the air.
His stony gaze was the same as when we had gone hunting and when he had sent me into Socheondong.
Viewed another way, this wasn't Father's decision.
Because I had approached Father with a changed demeanor, this was the choice that resulted from it. In the end, it was also the path I had chosen.
"I spoke those words while looking at those brilliant stars, so I must take responsibility. I will accept."
At my ready acceptance, Father smiled an inscrutable smile.
'I don't know what Father's plan is, but I will perform a magnificent sword dance for him.'
On the other hand, Sima Ming seemed surprised by my acceptance.
"Will you be alright? As I said, this is a very dangerous matter."
"Even so, we can't just leave those who are plundering the main cult's coffers, can we? However, I have one condition."
"What is it?"
"Grant me not just the right to investigate, but also the right to summary execution."
The right to summary execution.
It meant the privilege of not bearing responsibility even if one inevitably killed a subject during the investigation process.
It was unprecedented, so Sima Ming looked at Father. Father slightly nodded in permission.
"Very well. But please exercise the right to summary execution only when there is clear evidence."
"Of course."
"Thank you for permitting such a difficult task."
"If I happen to die, please engrave on my tombstone that Mugeuk was brave."
Sima Ming snickered.
"Tomorrow, I will send an investigator from the Yellow Springs Pavilion to assist the Young Master."
"If you're going to send one, please send a beautiful beauty."
"Hahaha. I had heard that the Young Master has been showing a new side these days, but you truly have changed a great deal."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Then I shall take my leave now. Since this might be my last, I ought to have a drink at least."
After respectfully cupping my fists, I was about to leave when I glanced back at Father and said,
"Father, a drink with your son who might be seeing his last……"
Father didn't even hear me out to the end before springing up and leaving.
I smirked at Sima Ming and said,
"He may seem sharp-tongued on the outside, but he takes care of me in his own way."
"He doesn't seem that way at all, though."
Leaving those words with a smile, Sima Ming also left.
I called out loudly to him,
"The Strategist is growing more and more like Father, too."
Sima Ming didn't look back either.
Before those two, I tried to crack jokes and be playful. Because to them, I was a fresh-faced young man. I always repeated to myself: don't bring the darkness of the past into this life. I have been born anew.
In front of the Heavenly Demon Hall, I stretched out wide.
I would pass this test well and take one step closer to the position of successor.
* * *
The next morning, Ian announced that the investigator from the Yellow Springs Pavilion had arrived.
"Young Master, I shall accompany you and help."
She, too, knew how dangerous investigating the Demon Army was.
Instead of giving permission, I asked,
"Is she pretty?"
"Pardon?"
"I asked if the investigator waiting outside is pretty."
"Pardon?"
"Don't you dare ruin my cozy time! Jealousy is forbidden!"
Then Ian looked at me with an expression asking what on earth I was talking about and said,
"The investigator is a man, though?"
"What?"
A short while later, the person who entered under Ian's guidance was remarkably short and had gloomy-looking eyes. And he was indeed a man.
"It is an honor to meet you. I am Xu Dalong, special investigator of the Yellow Springs Pavilion."
His name was Dalong, but his build was the exact opposite. Even his voice was small.
"Why did you come? I asked the Chief Strategist to send the greatest beauty from the Yellow Springs Pavilion."
Xu Dalong wore a bewildered expression for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and answered,
"I suppose in his eyes, I looked like the greatest beauty."
At Xu Dalong's joke, Ian, standing beside him, let out a small laugh.
"You're laughing? At this tragic situation?"
Ian quickly composed her expression.
"No, sir."
"Ah, and here I was trying to have a cozy time with a beauty for the first time in ages."
I let out a deliberate sigh.
"Fine, let's get to work. Tell me everything you know about the Demon Army. Don't stutter. I'll show you what a tragic fate it is to have replaced a beauty."
At my joking words, Xu Dalong began to explain as if he had been waiting for exactly this.
"The Demon Army is composed of six companies under the Demon Army Lord. It is an organization that carries out only the direct orders of the Cult Leader. Each company has thirty members, and including the Demon Army Lord, there are one hundred and eighty-one members in total. There is no vice-lord; the First Company Commander takes his place, and he is the Demon Army Lord's confidant."
"You've memorized that well."
"Here are the documents regarding the Demon Army members."
He handed me a thick stack of documents. Documents containing the physical descriptions and records of all the Demon Army members.
I randomly pulled one sheet from among them.
"Tell me about Jongpyo."
I thought there was no way he'd know this by heart, but he answered as if he had been waiting for the question.
"He belongs to the Demon Army's First Company and is in his seventh year. His unique martial art is a palm technique called the Soul-Seeking Palm. He is very cruel by nature. He likes alcohol and gambling and has caused accidents several times, but the Demon Army covered them up."
I asked in surprise.
"What? How do you know? Are you friends? Enemies?"
"No, sir."
I pulled out another sheet and asked. Again, he knew exactly about that person.
"Don't tell me you memorized all one hundred and eighty of them?"
"Yes. To be exact, one hundred and eighty-one."
"You're a genius?"
"It is the result of long investigation."
"No, no. If you've memorized all of this, you're a genius, a genius."
"I would prefer to be acknowledged as effort rather than genius."
"Oh, humble too. I see you in a new light now."
He was short and had a rather gloomy impression, but that gloomy air felt like the cold arrogance of a genius.
"Surely there was another reason for sending me besides the beauty requirement, wasn't there?"
"Oh, if you're only humble it's no fun, so act a little conceited too. You entered the Yellow Springs Pavilion as the top of your class, right?"
"How did you know?"
"That's exactly it! Ian, did you hear? I ask if he was the top of the class, and he says, 'How did you know?' That's the kind of answer you should give. So cool, so impressive. But unfortunately, you probably don't have a girlfriend either."
"Why do you think so?"
"Don't you have a mirror at home?"
"Shamefully, I do not."
"What? The mirror? Or a woman?"
"No. The courage to resist my rude superior."
"Hahaha."
I laughed cheerfully. Somehow, this guy was growing on me.
Now then, shall we see how well he works?
"Then what kind of man is the Demon Army Lord?"