“Are you serious?”
That single question from Father contained the meaning, “Are you truly going to make such an uncertain choice?” There was a chance I might have no affinity with it, and even if I did, something completely useless might pop out.
“If it has no affinity with me… I’ll use it to bash in an enemy’s skull. Or I can melt it down and make a sword out of it.”
“Well, in any case, the choice is yours.”
“I’ve shown you nothing but perfection until now, so in the sense of letting you know that I do make mistakes from time to time, I’ll choose this.”
I slowly reached out toward the secret coffer.
The moment I carefully placed my hand on it—
“Ahhh!”
At my deep sigh, Father asked,
“What is it?”
“When I picked this up, I was supposed to feel some kind of thrilling sensation, or hear some mysterious guuuuung sound that only I could hear…”
I sighed and added,
“I feel nothing.”
Father shook his head.
“It was your choice. Among the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng over there, there should have been a bottle containing a few drops of Gongcheong Stone Milk.”
“No, right? Please tell me you’re joking!”
I rushed over to where the spiritual medicines were. There really was a bottle of Gongcheong Stone Milk nestled among the spiritual medicines and herbs. It seemed to be saying, You didn’t see me? This milky, resplendent glow?
“You should have told me sooner!”
“Why would I tell you, when I ought to have hidden it on purpose?”
I put on a pained expression and asked Father,
“Don’t tell me there’s something else too?”
Father was thoroughly enjoying teasing me.
“This is, in name and fact, the treasury of our cult. How could that be all? There is also the Bingji Snow Fruit.”
I went to Father’s side and spoke in a low voice.
“Let me change my choice.”
“Impossible!”
Right. If he let me change it, he wouldn’t be Father.
“Don’t use any of these! Make sure you leave them exactly as they are! Keep them until the day I become cult leader! Father!”
I thought Father was amazing for keeping such things stored away. Would Father really have no greed for them? He must have been saving them not for now, but for some decisive moment. As expected, Father had been drawing a larger picture all along.
I looked down at the secret coffer and said,
“You little thing, you’re more precious than Gongcheong Stone Milk!”
I was only joking around with Father for no reason, but still, my instincts were drawn to this secret coffer. I didn’t feel that sinking chill in my chest that came when I had made the wrong choice.
Even if I were told to choose again, I felt as if I would choose the secret coffer. This feeling was not some foolish stubbornness desperately denying a mistaken choice.
Because this dull lump of metal was still pulling me in with a fierce force.
Father was no different from me. On the outside, he wore an expression that said, Serves you right for fooling around, but on the other hand, he seemed expectant. As if wondering whether I might be able to unravel the secret he had failed to solve.
“It will open when the time comes. ‘O fated one, you have chosen well! I was offended that you compared me to some paltry Gongcheong Stone Milk!’ Like that.”
“Yes, you ought to live with at least that much hope.”
Shouting “O fated one!” once more, I tucked the secret coffer into my robe.
Ah, why is it so damn heavy?
Together with Father, I left the Heavenly Demon Treasury.
We conversed as we retraced the path we had taken in. In truth, today I had received a gift far greater than the secret coffer. The fact that Father had given me a congratulatory gift. That was the greatest gift of all.
“What will you do now?”
“I have to train. When I’m tired from training, I’ll play with the Demon Venerables. Even if you ask if I’m playing again, I’ll play. Even if you ask if I’m not sick of it, I’ll play.”
Watching Father’s mood, I asked casually,
“Should I call you too when I play?”
Father snorted, but he did not tell me not to call him.
“Father. What I said earlier about wanting to go out and have fun together was not idle talk. Come out with me sometime soon. If Strategist Sama tries to stop us, the two of us will secretly run away in the middle of the night. We’ll just dash off with the Heavenly Demon Flight Art and Rapid Steps.”
In the end, Father did not say, Let’s do that.
“Then I’ll take my leave. Thank you very much for the gift.”
I bowed politely and was about to turn away when Father spoke.
“Let us play a game of baduk sometime soon.”
I smiled brightly and said,
“You’ll need to be on your guard from now on. My strategist has started learning baduk.”
* * *
When I came out of the Heavenly Demon Hall, the day-shift guards, including Jeok Yeon, fell into line behind me in perfect order. It was a silent greeting and an expression of welcome.
“You’ve all trained hard.”
Just by looking at their revealed presence and the way they walked, I could tell the results of their training. It seemed they had trained quite fiercely.
Yes, let’s all become stronger. Because right now, it is time for all of us to grow strong.
From there, I went straight to find the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“Elder!”
I ran toward him happily as usual, but then stopped in my tracks.
An unfamiliar sight was unfolding before me.
A flower garden had been made in the yard, and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was moving that massive Heaven-Destroying Great Saber with meticulous care as he pruned the branches of flowering trees.
“Oh my! I thought I’d come to the Southern Blade Sect, but I’ve arrived at the Northern Heaven Sword Clan instead. It has been a long time, Sword Venerable. How have you become so unsightly in the meantime?”
“Stop spouting nonsense and sprinkle some water over there.”
“Yes.”
It seemed that lately, while getting along well with the Ilhwa Sword Venerable, he had learned from her how to grow flowers.
Judging by appearances alone, it was something that did not suit him at all, but I knew. Tending a flower garden suited the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who loved books, quite well. Beneath that manliness, there was the Blade Demon’s softness.
“If you give too much water to one spot, it will die. Spread it evenly.”
I watered another area as the Blood Heaven Blade Demon instructed.
“You seem to be getting along well with Senior Sword Venerable these days.”
“She’s busy after belatedly becoming absorbed in martial arts training. She says she doesn’t want to show me her face without makeup and won’t even meet me.”
It seemed that after our last spar, she had devoted herself to martial arts training. For the Sword Venerable, who loved adorning herself, not to put on makeup meant she was truly serious.
“It’s because of you, isn’t it?”
“No.”
“As if it isn’t. At her age, what competitive spirit is this?”
Because there are things that only hit home after one grows old. Things you thought were nothing when you were young now look different, don’t they? It’s the same for you, Elder, isn’t it? Gifting a blade to your disciple and growing flowers in your yard? Would that have been even remotely possible in the past?
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon added one more thing to that.
“Don’t just look after the masked fellow. Look after the drunkard too.”
“Brother Drunken Demon?”
“On the day I returned, he was drinking on the roof, waiting for you.”
“Good grief, my pathetic brother. He got drunk and acted pitiful again.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon said only that and spoke no more about the Drunken Demon. In truth, the fact that he had looked after him at all was change enough.
“There, done. That’s enough for today.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon stopped pruning and went inside the house.
When I tried to follow him in, he attempted to chase me out.
“You’ve seen my face, so that’s enough. You don’t need to concern yourself with me for no reason.”
“This place is the most comfortable and pleasant for me.”
“It’s uncomfortable for me. I’m comfortable alone.”
I quickly slipped in and threw myself onto the bed, but with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s telekinetic grasp, I stopped in midair, floating.
“I am the young cult leader! The young cult leader, I say!”
My body slowly flew toward the window.
“Even if you become cult leader, you still can’t! Wash up, change your clothes, then lie down.”
While the Blood Heaven Blade Demon changed his clothes, I sat by the window. On the table lay the book the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had been reading. It was a book about tending a flower garden.
It was a book unrelated to saber arts, but I believed his Heaven-Destroying Great Saber would grow even more powerful and fearsome. Because sometimes, one gains enlightenment not while cutting off an enemy’s neck, but while pruning the branches of a flowering tree.
Besides, if the Ilhwa Sword Venerable rushed into training, there was no way the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who already trained diligently, would stay still. If only to avoid losing to the Sword Venerable, he would run alongside her. It had not been my intention, but all of us were growing stronger together.
“Elder. Do you know what this is?”
I took the secret coffer from my robe and showed it to him. I expected him to reveal curiosity and ask what it was, but he continued changing clothes and spoke as if it were nothing special.
“It’s the secret coffer.”
“How do you know?”
“How would I not? In his younger days, the cult leader made such a fuss trying to solve that thing’s secret.”
It was a moment that once again confirmed that there had been a time when the young Blood Heaven Blade Demon and Father had been close. Compared to then, their relationship seemed a little distant these days.
In any case, if Father had made such a fuss over it himself, he should have stopped me before I chose it. It really was just like Father.
“Why is that in your hands?”
“I received it as a gift for becoming the young cult leader. No, I chose it.”
“Why would you choose that of all things?”
“It opens only to one with affinity. How could I possibly endure after hearing that? You would have chosen it too, Elder.”
“I wouldn’t have. There is no way a man as unlucky as I am would have any affinity with treasure.”
It was something the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said when we first met.
That his life had been accompanied by misfortune.
I stared at him and asked,
“But not anymore, right?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon smiled faintly and nodded.
“Now, I might choose it.”
Of course. That’s how it should be. Even if only for my sake, when I came running to see you right after meeting Father, that is how you should be.
My gaze turned toward the secret coffer.
“One day, it will suddenly click open. I’ll tell it every day, Open, please open, until it opens, so even if only because it gets sick of hearing me, it’ll open.”
After putting the secret coffer away, I rose from my seat.
“Then I’ll be going. Don’t forget. I came to see you first, Elder, even so.”
“Showing off, are you?”
Though he spoke that way, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon would be inwardly pleased.
After leaving the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s residence, I returned to my own. I had originally planned to see the Fist Demon too, but I postponed it until tomorrow.
I did not tell the guards to rest. It was the first day of my return, so how much must they have wanted to stand guard?
“I’ll be in your care!”
“Do not worry and rest well!”
Leaving the guarding to them, I entered the house. Though I had been away from home for quite some time, it had been cleaned neatly.
“Still, home is nice.”
I lay down on the bed and slept first.
Since leaving the cult, there had not been a single day when I had slept deeply. I had substituted sleep with circulation of internal energy, and poured all my remaining time into martial arts training.
Today, I intended to sleep well and recover from the fatigue of travel. No matter how much of an expert one is, long-distance carriage travel is tiring.
* * *
When I woke, it was already night.
I had truly slept deeply without dreaming even once. The refreshed feeling after a good sleep put me in a pleasant mood.
Lying down, I stared for a while at the night sky visible through the window. Come to think of it, the scenery from here while lying down was nice.
After rolling around on the bed for quite some time, I went outside.
The guards had been replaced by the night shift.
“You are awake?”
The one leading tonight’s night shift was Samho.
“I’m hungry. I want to eat home cooking made by your mother.”
A smile naturally spread across Samho’s face.
“I thought you might be hungry when you woke, so we prepared a simple meal.”
Another guard brought the prepared dishes into the room.
“Let’s all go in and eat together.”
“We have already eaten.”
“How do you eat your meals?”
“We eat before the night duty begins, and at dawn we take turns eating.”
“Your days and nights have already been reversed, so don’t eat carelessly. Eat properly. You’ll ruin your stomachs.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Don’t just say thank you. Make sure you do it!”
I went into the room and ate.
They had called it a simple meal, but it was a proper dinner. Since they did not know when I would wake, they had prepared dishes that would be fine even if they cooled.
After eating, I drank a cup of warm tea. Sitting by the window and drinking tea, my mind grew calm.
It was truly a joy of daily life that I had not felt in a long time.
If there is joy in being with people, there is also happiness in quietly being alone like this. The more I joke around when I am with people, the more precious time to myself becomes.
Then I thought of my life before regression. Back then, I had been sick and tired of being alone. People are so fickle.
After finishing my meal, I took the secret coffer from my robe and placed it on my palm.
I examined it carefully.
Just what is this? If it is a box, what could be inside?
I shook the secret coffer. It just felt like a solid lump of metal, and did not feel like a box at all.
Father and the previous Heavenly Demons must have tried all sorts of things. Infusing it with internal energy, soaking it in water, applying heat to it.
So I intended to do nothing.
They said it would open if there was affinity. Not that it would open if its secret were solved.
“Fine. If you don’t want to open now, open when it’s convenient for you.”
As I was looking at the secret coffer like that, Samho spoke from outside.
“The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon has come.”
When I went out, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon, wearing his white mask, was indeed standing beneath the moonlight.
“Smiling Demon!”
“Young cult leader!”
“I was going to visit you tomorrow. What brings you here?”
I tensed, wondering if something had happened, but the reason he had come was something truly unexpected.
“I came because I missed you.”
“!”
“Until now, you were always the one who came to find me, Young Cult Leader. There should be times when I come to find you as well.”
The moment I heard those words, my heart swelled. Whenever I went to him, he had always been standing there looking at a white wall. No matter how much that helped his martial arts training, the thought of him alone in a room with nothing in it had always weighed on my heart.
But now, he had come out of that room of his own will and come to find me. Today, Father had descended from the Grand Preceptor’s chair, and the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon had come out of the white room.
The faces of the guards standing watch around the residence were full of astonishment. They likely never dreamed that the fearsome Extreme Evil Smiling Demon would say such a thing.
“How was your journey outside the cult?”
“Thanks to your concern, I returned safely.”
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon’s gaze had grown even deeper than before.
“Somehow, your aura feels different, Smiling Demon.”
“Thanks to the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng you gave me, Young Cult Leader, I made progress in my martial arts. I am truly grateful.”
“How could that be because of a mere ginseng? It was thanks to your efforts, Smiling Demon.”
Perhaps the expression mere ginseng was amusing, because the Smiling Demon laughed aloud.
“I have seen your face, so that is enough.”
As if he had truly come not on any other business, but because he wanted to see me, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon immediately bid farewell.
There are times when a single action is more moving than a hundred kind words. This was one of those times.
I went to the side of the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon as he turned and walked away, and walked alongside him.
“What do you mean, enough? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, and we can’t part like this. I’m going to play with you all night, Smiling Demon. I’ve already declared it to Father too, that I’m going to play.”
After a brief pause, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon said,
“Judging by how things have gone so far, I do not know whether the fate of the murim will allow you to play, Young Cult Leader.”
Even without going as far as something grand like fate, I probably wouldn’t be able to play around because I myself would be in too much of a hurry. Of course, today was an exception.
“Then we’ll have to hurry. Before that thing called fate gets in our way.”