“If I put it in your mouth, can you digest it?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked provocatively.
“I’ll chew it thoroughly and swallow.”
“Listen, Second Young Master. There is a proper order to worldly affairs.”
“Isn’t eating side dishes while drinking wine also part of the proper order?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon pressed his fingers hard against both sides of his brow, as if his head ached. Then he exploded in anger and shot to his feet.
“I can’t take this anymore. I waited three whole days, and now you’re putting forward this absurd excuse for a condition?”
He pulled the Heaven-Destroying Great Blade from where it was embedded in the ground.
“I’ll take that head of yours to the Heavenly Demon Hall!”
Shwaaaaaak!
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon swung the Heaven-Destroying Great Blade. It wasn’t truly meant to kill me, but it was a testy attack filled properly with rage.
Kaaang!
When I parried it with the Black Demon Sword, a sharp metallic ring burst out.
“Not bad! Not bad at all!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon exclaimed in admiration. It seemed he hadn’t expected me to block so easily an attack into which he had poured a considerable amount of internal energy.
“Yes, I suppose it won’t be easy to sever that precious head of yours.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon swung the Heaven-Destroying Great Blade again. It was faster and stronger than the previous attack.
The blade came flying down vertically, tearing through the wind, and once again I struck it away with the Black Demon Sword.
Kaaaaang!
A louder sound than before rang out.
Though the Heaven-Destroying Great Blade bore the nickname Weapon Breaker, it could not damage the Black Demon Sword. I had room to spare.
—He keeps acting up. Should we just snap it in half? The Weapon Breaker, broken! Wouldn’t that make a splendid rumor to decorate tomorrow morning?
It was a thought I had sent to the sword like a joke, but perhaps because I had entertained such an idea, the desire to use the Four Steps of the Wind God surged within me.
Could the Blood Heaven Blade Demon truly block the Myeongwang Step if I unleashed it?
This was a temptation born from my fighting spirit. When faced with a powerful foe, a supreme martial art like the Four Steps of the Wind God reacted. Let us fight. Let us win.
‘No! Not yet.’
Time was on my side. There was no reason to wage a dangerous battle with my still-lacking internal energy.
Before the third attack could come, I pretended my wrist hurt and lightly retreated. Of course, that did not mean I withdrew my intent.
“Give me the Demon Army.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon lowered his blade and asked,
“Just who are you asking me to seat as the Demon Army Lord? Surely not yourself?”
“Of course not.”
“Then who?”
“Please seat Third Unit Captain Jang Ho.”
“Jang Ho?”
If Jang Ho became the Demon Army Lord, I could turn the Demon Army into an organization friendly to me. If that happened, my position within the cult would become incomparably stronger than before.
And not only would it help me, but if a martial artist like Jang Ho became the Demon Army Lord, it would be of great benefit to our cult as well.
“Seating Jang Ho as Demon Army Lord will not be easy even for me.”
His words were true.
If a commander were chosen from within the Demon Army, Jang Ho would be a strong candidate, but in the case of an elite organization like the Demon Army, its head was selected from outside. The Heavenly Demon Hall and the Eight Demon Venerables would engage in a battle of nerves, each striving to place their own people.
“Second Young Master! If greed goes too far, the belly bursts.”
“Isn’t the path we must walk one where we have to devour so much our bellies burst?”
“We?”
“You were the one who said we should devour everything with madness, Elder. You were also the one who asked to join hands with me. How could the path of mad bastards ever be an ordinary one?”
“Bastards?”
“Then is it not so? If it were anyone else, I might not know, but how could you possibly join hands with me unless you were mad?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared at me with blazing eyes.
I did not know where his ambition ultimately pointed. He had died before revealing it to the world.
Astonishingly, the first of the Eight Demon Venerables to die had been the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. This fastidious, cunning Blade Demon, of all people.
“Hmph! You speak as though you’ve already become the Heavenly Demon.”
“Were you not the one who put the wind in my sails, Elder? Just what do you intend to do with me? Are you simply trying to use a young man with nothing but fine-sounding words? Like your disciples?”
Perhaps my words struck home, for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon shouted furiously,
“Your greed has overturned the drinking table!”
Bang.
After actually kicking the drinking table over, he shot away just like that.
As I watched him disappear into the distance, I instead smiled faintly. It was the first moment the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s composure had cracked.
He would not be able to refuse my proposal. Because he knew better than anyone that, aside from his drinking table, I still had seven more.
* * *
I devoted myself to martial training in my private training ground.
It was something I always felt while training after my regression, but truly, tireless youth was a wonderful thing. This was not a matter of how much internal energy I had. Even without special effort, my body was light and full of vitality.
The eternal truth that one only realizes something’s value after losing it surely applied most powerfully to youth.
Yes, at this time, I had not known. How precious the time flowing past me was. How much I would come to miss this moment later.
Martial arts? Money? Power? The fact that what one offered up to obtain those things was youth… was both laughable and sad. Even after regressing, it was my reality that I had no choice but to run forward once more.
Even so, it was a mistake I made while knowing. Because I understood its preciousness better than anyone, I trained with care and all my strength, even in the act of taking a single step.
Using the Four Steps of the Wind God, I moved among imaginary enemies.
At first, there were three or four enemies, but as my training continued, their number increased. Five became seven, and seven became ten.
At first they had been enemies standing like scarecrows, but now the enemies in my imagination moved, conversed, and even cursed at me. The more I trained, the higher their martial level became. The level of my training was determined by the scope of my martial imagination.
If seventy percent of my training was devoted to the Four Steps of the Wind God, the remaining time was spent practicing the qi training my father had taught me and the Heavenly Demon Protective Art.
After a bout of training ended, I lay on the floor of the training hall and caught my breath. I had sweated enough for my whole body to be drenched, but there was no moment as pleasant as this one after finishing training.
Beyond the window, I could see clouds flushed red by the sunset drifting by.
How wonderful would it be to travel the Central Plains with this young body? The sunset I watched while gathering materials for the Great Art and the sunset I would see after killing Hwa Mugi and becoming the greatest under heaven would be completely different…
Before my regression, I had endured all that hardship by imagining only this moment after returning. Now I was enduring by looking forward to the future after killing Hwa Mugi.
I must not think only of today’s me. The me of tomorrow, who might die miserably to an opponent because my training was insufficient, was also me. Yes, endure it.
When I rose again, the imaginary enemies also rose once more.
* * *
Two days later, new news arrived.
It was news that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had recommended Third Unit Captain Jang Ho as a candidate for Demon Army Lord.
Though the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had vanished in irritation, in the end he had accepted my will. From the start, it had been a drinking table he could not overturn.
The person most surprised by this news was Jang Ho himself.
“Just what happened?”
The mere fact that he came to ask me made him intelligent and perceptive.
If he had been an ordinary person, he would have considered this sudden good fortune. But Jang Ho was someone who had realized at least that there was no such thing as luck like that in the world.
“This was something you made happen, was it not, Second Young Master?”
“That’s right. I asked the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.”
“I am grateful that you think highly of me, but it is not a position I can handle.”
“There’s no need to be modest. The Demon Army Lord who died by my hand occupied that seat as well.”
“That is a different case.”
“Just lead them as you led the Third Unit. Then I am certain you will become the greatest Demon Army Lord of all time.”
In particular, he was the strongest in martial arts among the unit captains. He also had the active support of the Third Unit’s martial artists. If someone were chosen from within, he was fully qualified.
“You are overestimating me too much, Second Young Master.”
“Or perhaps you are underestimating yourself. In any case, other candidates are being mentioned as well, so let us watch a little longer.”
Even amid his confusion, Jang Ho was also happy. What else would be the dream of the Demon Army’s unit captains?
“Now, we’ve done all we can, so let us leave the result to heaven’s will.”
* * *
I had told Jang Ho to do all that was humanly possible and await heaven’s will, but as if that indifferent heaven would kindly answer. I had to move diligently and make things happen myself.
That night, I went to find my father.
My father had separate quarters in the Heavenly Demon Hall, and I suspect they were probably the largest and most splendid quarters in the world.
And at the unfamiliar sight of my father standing before me now, I blinked as though I had seen a hallucination.
“Is that a newly made protective armor?”
“No. These are my sleepwear.”
“……”
“……”
“They’re sleepwear with a flower pattern. Not demons or evil spirits…”
“I believe one should sleep comfortably.”
It was the first time I had seen my father in sleepwear. The bright flower-patterned sleepwear was shocking enough, but what surprised me more was that he had shown me this sight so openly. He could have told me to wait and changed into other clothes.
“What brings you here in the middle of the night?”
“The middle of the night? It’s early evening. I didn’t know you went to bed this early. Isn’t this top-secret information? If the Martial Alliance finds out, they’ll invade at once. They’ll say, ‘The Heavenly Demon goes to sleep early. Let’s launch a midnight raid!’”
“Get to the point!”
“Yes.”
I stopped joking there and revealed the reason I had come today.
“I intend to use the Blood Heaven Blade Demon as my blade.”
“You said you would kill him before.”
“He’s too precious to kill.”
This would not be new information to my father. When the Blood Heaven Blade Demon recommended Jang Ho, Father must already have noticed that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and I had joined hands.
Not only Father, but anyone interested in the cult’s politics would be able to guess. Everyone was watching closely. How the relationship between the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and me would unfold. How my elder brother would react later, and how the other Demon Venerables would each move.
Father changed the subject.
“How is your new sword?”
“I like it.”
“Let me see.”
I handed the Black Demon Sword to Father, sheath and all.
Father slowly drew the Black Demon Sword, then soon nodded in satisfaction.
“You’ve tamed it well.”
“You can tell just by holding it?”
“You should be able to tell by holding it. Would you only know after being stabbed?”
Father returned the Black Demon Sword and said,
“The Blood Heaven Blade Demon will not be tamed this easily.”
“I don’t intend to tame him. I’ll use him until he breaks, then throw him away. For now, he isn’t worth keeping in my collection.”
“And if you get cut in the process?”
“Then I’ll have to be cut. But there will be a difference between the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and me. The old Blood Heaven Blade Demon will be finished once he breaks, but the more I am cut, the stronger I will become. I’ll apply medicine, wrap the wound in bandages, and keep moving forward.”
“Words are easy. But why are you reporting this to me?”
“I am now receiving a stipend from you, Father, so of course I must report it.”
My father’s gaze narrowed.
“You didn’t come to ask me to accept the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s recommendation?”
He was truly a perceptive man, but this time, he was wrong.
“No. It is the opposite. Please do not, under any circumstances, approve it according to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s wishes.”
“Do not approve it? Why?”
“I intend to take this chance to break the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s spirit. You have no idea how arrogantly he behaves in front of me. At times, he acts even more superior than you, Father. I plan to break that spirit.”
“Stop spouting nonsense. Tell me your true thoughts.”
“Why do you think that isn’t my true intent?”
“This is an opportunity to obtain the Demon Army, yet you would give it up merely to break the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s spirit? You are not that sort of child.”
As expected, Father was sharp.
“Yes, you saw through me.”
“What are you aiming for?”
“There is something I need to obtain from the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. For that to happen, this matter must not go according to his wishes.”
“Is it more important than the Demon Army?”
“In some ways, yes. Ah, and I will also make the Demon Army mine. I will make all of it mine.”
Father, who had been staring at me, turned away just like that.
“Stop making me laugh and leave.”
That was what he said, but I could feel it. Father would grant my request.
Looking at the flowers blooming across my father’s back, I gave a small chuckle.
‘Father. At least tonight, nothing will be funnier than those sleepwear.’