The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was in the midst of training. He had entered seclusion long before I took this trial, so he had been absorbed in cultivation for quite a long time without rest.
“Are you truly preparing for war or something?”
Without even turning his head, he answered.
“When you’re old, living each day is war.”
“I’m back.”
This time, I ran over and threw my arms around the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“What disgusting thing are you doing?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon recoiled and forcibly pushed me away. To be honest, I wanted to hug Father like this. But I was too afraid I’d get beaten with the Nine Flames Demonic Art to try.
“I missed you, sir.”
“You’re acting as if you haven’t seen me in ten years.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon drove the Heaven-Destroying Great Saber deep into the ground.
Then he leaned against it. At times like this, that blade looked like his friend, and it was quite a pleasant sight.
“And the leader of the Cheonmyeong Society?”
“He’s dead.”
“There must have been many people around him.”
“I got a lot of blood on my hands this time.”
Perhaps sensing the bitterness in my answer, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon went inside, brought out some liquor, and poured me a cup.
“What can you do? That is your fate. Drink and shake it off.”
I drained the liquor he gave me in one refreshing gulp. It felt as though the Blood Heaven Blade Demon were washing the blood from my hands. At the very least, it was liquor poured by someone who knew better than anyone what it meant to kill a person, and it was comfort.
I did not say thank you. As always, it was not something I could repay with words.
“The First Young Master will never give up, so things won’t be easy from here on. His ability and talent may not match yours, but when it comes to his obsession with becoming the Heavenly Demon, he is stronger than you.”
That was why it would be difficult, trying to go forward while keeping such a brother alive.
“By the way, have you met your disciple?”
“He came by earlier.”
“You truly made the right decision choosing him as your successor.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
“He’ll do better than anyone. Ah, you must have heard he won the Little Dragon Tournament.”
“He won?”
“You wrote that he’d die if he lost, so how could he not win? Even if it wasn’t the Little Dragon Tournament but the Greatest Under Heaven Martial Competition, he’d have to win. And whose martial arts is he using? How could he lose?”
As if he had not truly expected him to win, joy flickered across the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s face. Seeing him like this, it was clear he did have affection for Seo Daeryong.
“Good grief. The fact that that chatterbox didn’t boast about it shows just how difficult he finds you, sir. Please treat him a bit more comfortably.”
“If master and disciple are too comfortable with each other, trouble is bound to follow. In any case, he must be unbearably arrogant now. He’ll need hellish training.”
Ah, Inspector Seo. This was something I failed to foresee. Sorry.
“Go on now. Don’t you have to see the other Demon Venerables too?”
“No. I’ll see the others slowly. Today, I’m only here to see you, sir.”
If you like someone, you should like them this clearly. Just as they say that a person who likes everyone likes no one, regardless of that person’s true feelings, everyone ends up thinking that way. Isn’t that person fond of everyone anyway? At least when it came to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, that was not a misunderstanding I wanted.
“You’re still good at flattery.”
But an unmistakable smile had bloomed at the corners of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s mouth. He secretly liked this sort of thing.
“Go greet the Demon Venerables. They all stepped forward for your sake, so it’s proper to pay your respects.”
“Yes, then I will.”
“You wanted to go in your heart anyway.”
“All you need to know is that you are always my first priority, sir.”
Leaving the Blood Heaven Blade Demon behind as he swung his saber once more, I departed from his residence.
Before going to the Valley of Villains, I stopped by home and brought my white mask. When going to the Valley of Villains, wouldn’t wearing a mask be proper etiquette?
The Faceless Ones wearing white masks no longer watched me especially closely as they had before. The hostility in their gazes toward me had also disappeared.
From their reactions, I could tell that my friendship with the Extreme Evil Young Demon was deepening. If they were to look at me with friendly eyes and even greet me, then that would mean we had become even closer than we were now.
Guided by a Faceless One, I entered the residence of the lord of the Valley of Villains.
At first, I had thought these Demon Venerables were as important as martial arts training, so meeting them had been work. But now it had become a relationship, not work. Surprisingly enough, I was visiting them because I truly wanted to see them.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon was looking at the white wall again today. Truly, what was he thinking about while staring at that wall like that?
“I’m here.”
Lifting the mask onto the top of my head, I greeted him cheerfully. Then the Extreme Evil Young Demon turned his body toward me.
My gaze met the two eyes behind his mask. To think a day would come when I would feel this glad upon meeting eyes with the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
Together, the Extreme Evil Young Demon and I had joined forces and fought battles risking our lives twice. The first was the fight against the Sword Emperor Baek Manggi, and the second was the fight against his martial uncle Yang Cheogi.
Both of those battles had been fights where we staked our lives, and perhaps because of that, there was a special feeling between us as comrades of the battlefield who had protected each other’s lives.
“I heard you resolved the matter with the Cheonmyeong Society well.”
“Whose revenge was it? How could I have been careless?”
In truth, this trial had been connected to the Extreme Evil Young Demon as well. After all, they had recruited Yang Cheogi, his martial uncle.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon said with a smile,
“As you know, I am very clear about debts of grace and grudges.”
He was referring to the time he had given Chusaeng of the Wolpyeong Sect a token of debt and grudge. The Extreme Evil Young Demon and such a token—truly an unfitting combination.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon held out a small box.
“What is this?”
“Open it.”
When I opened the box, there was a single white pill inside.
“It is the White Spirit Pill, a secret elixir handed down in our sect.”
A sharp yet intense fragrance quickly filled the room. I could tell its effects were anything but ordinary.
“My sect sent it to me. It seems peace has come after the death of Martial Uncle Yang Cheogi.”
It seemed they had sent it in gratitude because I had sent back the warriors of his sect who had come under his martial uncle’s orders without injuring a single one of them.
“I will give it to you, Second Young Master.”
“Why would you give something this precious to me?”
“Because I received it thanks to you.”
It was a gift he was giving sincerely for my sake. Caught off guard by the unexpected gift, I was flustered.
“No. You should take it, Young Demon.”
Then the Extreme Evil Young Demon said something unexpected.
“I am giving it to you because I want to earn some points with you as well, Second Young Master, so stop refusing and accept it.”
“I want to earn points too. Very well. Then how about this? Let’s split it in half and eat it together.”
At my words, the Extreme Evil Young Demon was startled.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m not the sort of person with enough greed to share an elixir, but I want to make an exception this time. To commemorate fighting together and surviving, let’s each take half.”
The Extreme Evil Young Demon’s eyes shone brightly. It was the clearest look I had seen in his eyes since meeting him. I could feel it. In our relationship, we were passing through yet another turning point.
“Very well. Let us do that.”
I drew the Black Demon Sword and split the White Spirit Pill exactly in half.
As if drinking liquor, we consumed it at the same time.
I swallowed the White Spirit Pill down my throat. A cooling energy filled my mouth, then soon melted and slid down my throat.
It was an elixir of extremely potent nature, but because my existing internal energy was so profound, I absorbed all of its medicinal effects without any problem. Though it was only half, the amount of internal energy added to my dantian was not small.
My two eyes shone with a clear and deep light before returning to normal.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon also finished circulating his energy and rose from his seat.
“It tastes good.”
“It is more delicious than any elixir I have ever eaten.”
No other words were needed. We simply laughed together.
“By the way, what would you have done if I had given you poison? What if that had been a fake White Spirit Pill?”
“That’s why we split it, didn’t we? So we could die together.”
The Extreme Evil Young Demon laughed loudly. To everyone else, his laughter might be nothing more than habitual laughter, but at least to me, it carried emotion. I could feel his feelings in that laughter.
“But is it really all right for you to keep looking at that wall like that?”
“Isn’t it good? It makes me look like a madman. Originally, madmen are not to be touched carelessly. Why? Are you worried? That I might go mad?”
“A little.”
At my honest answer, the Extreme Evil Young Demon told me an unexpected fact.
“Shall I tell you a secret? Our sect’s mental cultivation method becomes more effective when trained while looking at a white wall.”
“Ah, so that was why.”
I had not known the Extreme Evil Young Demon had been training his mental cultivation while looking at the wall. I realized it once again. To my eyes they might look unstable, but everyone was living their own life just fine in their own way.
“After returning, you saw the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and then came here?”
“Yes.”
“It must be tiring to look after each of us one by one.”
“There are still only four of you, aren’t there?”
“You intend to look after all eight.”
Surprisingly, his guess was correct.
“Yes. Whether they are allies or enemies, I intend to manage and look after all eight.”
“Can you endure it?”
Of course, it would not be easy. Even if things were pleasant and we laughed like this now, I did not know when or how the relationship might go wrong. If I took the Demon Venerables lightly, someday I would suffer for it.
“I said something like this to Pretty Heart. That martial arts and life are connected. How could that apply only to her? If I become a vessel capable of embracing all Eight Demon Venerables, then I should also be able to overcome the wall in martial arts that blocks me.”
After gazing at me for a moment, the Extreme Evil Young Demon conveyed what he had felt.
“What are you looking at, Second Young Master? Sometimes, when I see you, I get the feeling that what you are gazing at is not merely the succession, not merely becoming the Heavenly Demon, but something else beyond that.”
Was it because we were a pair who looked only into each other’s eyes? He, too, was seeing that far place I was looking toward. Something even those closer to me could not sense, only the Extreme Evil Young Demon sensed.
Someday, perhaps the day would come when I would tell him. About my enormous enemy. And perhaps the moment would come when we once again stood back to back and crossed through a moment of life and death.
“If it is you, Young Demon, and not someone else, I do not think that moment would be so bad.”
I spoke without any context before or after, but the Extreme Evil Young Demon did not ask me what I meant.
“I will wait for that moment.”
“Then I’ll see you again.”
After bidding him farewell, I left the Valley of Villains. My reunion with him was as clean as that white mask.
* * *
The One Blossom Sword Venerable and the Drunken Demon were drinking together, so I was able to see both of them in one place. As friends, the two of them often drank together, and today happened to be one of those days.
“Welcome, Second Young Master!”
Both the One Blossom Sword Venerable and the Drunken Demon were drunk. It was the first time I had seen the One Blossom Sword Venerable this intoxicated.
“You have fallen to the temptation of evil.”
“Since you’re here, hurry and rescue me.”
Even as he said that, the One Blossom Sword Venerable poured me a drink.
“Thank you for what happened at the Valley of Villains last time.”
“What did we do? We merely rushed over in a crowd.”
At that moment, the Drunken Demon asked me with a dissatisfied look.
“You already met the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Extreme Evil Young Demon, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why are we last? Why third and fourth? If you came back, you could have come to see us first, couldn’t you?”
The One Blossom Sword Venerable joined in that complaint as well. When he glared at me with a face flushed red from drink, I smiled and said,
“Which one of you is third?”
The two of them gladly accepted this powerful attempt at sowing discord.
“I am.”
At the One Blossom Sword Venerable’s confidence, the Drunken Demon shook his head as if finding it unfortunate.
“My friend. I’m sorry, but this one is me. The Second Young Master and I are sworn brothers.”
“Listen, my friend. If you were truly sworn brothers, would you be fighting over whether you’re third or fourth?”
“We are close enough to drink together and swim together.”
“I wasn’t going to go this far, but we even sparred beneath the moonlight.”
The two of them, who had been bickering like that, looked at me. They wanted me to choose. Who was third, and who was fourth. The Drunken Demon asked with an earnest gaze,
“Little brother. I’m not last, am I?”
“You are not last.”
“Right?”
Just as he smiled brightly,
“You’re in the middle. Fourth among the Eight Demon Venerables.”
The One Blossom Sword Venerable drank the victor’s wine.
“My friend, not all brothers are close, are they?”
The Drunken Demon pouted and drank.
I was so grateful to the two of them. Were these people who should be treated like this? Were they people who should have been in positions like third or fourth in the first place? They were putting up with it for my sake. They were willingly fighting over third and fourth place.
“I’ll tell you both clearly today. You know the two who came before you, don’t you? Picky, stiff-necked, eccentric. In contrast, what about the two of you? Aren’t you the most broad-minded among the Demon Venerables?”
“Because we’re broad-minded, right? Not because we’re pushovers?”
When the Drunken Demon asked that, I deliberately flinched, and the two of them burst into laughter as if amused.
The three of us toasted and emptied our cups.
As he set down his cup, the Drunken Demon also shared somewhat surprising news.
“Not long ago, the Blade Demon, I, and the Sword Venerable here had a drink together.”
It was not easy to imagine the three of them drinking together.
“How was it? Was it good?”
“Would it have been?”
The Drunken Demon let out a sigh.
“No blades were drawn, right?”
“They nearly were.”
“Then that’s good enough.”
At that, the One Blossom Sword Venerable said,
“What do you mean, good enough? Don’t ever invite me to such a gathering again!”
Yes. If people whose relationship had gone bad could reconcile so easily, why would there be fights in this world?
In any case, it had meaning. The Drunken Demon was trying to reconcile the two of them.
Holding up my cup, I spoke with my eyes.
You worked hard, brother.
The Drunken Demon smiled as he raised his cup. Sometimes, having that hardship recognized just once is better than a hundred kind words.
“I’ve given my greetings upon returning, so I’ll be going now.”
I said my farewells and stood up. The Drunken Demon even clung to the hem of my trousers, insisting that I drink more, but I forced myself to rise.
I could spend time with the Demon Venerables another day, but hunting with Father was not an opportunity that came often.
At dawn the next day, carrying a leather pouch even larger than before, I headed toward the Heavenly Demon Hall for my second hunt with Father.