After returning to my quarters, I stood before the bronze mirror.
My youthful appearance was fresh and brimming with vitality. I felt as though I would not mind being told to spend the entire day staring into the mirror.
After enjoying my rejuvenated appearance for quite some time, Hwa Mugi suddenly came to mind.
What was that bastard doing now?
Was he undergoing hellish training somewhere to become stronger?
If I could only find him and kill him before he grew stronger, the matter would be easily resolved. The problem was that finding Hwa Mugi would not be easy. He had appeared in the martial world as if he had dropped from the sky, and after attaining the Three Peaks, he had left the martial world and gone into seclusion, so there was virtually no information known about him. And sending people throughout the entire Central Plains to search for someone named Hwa Mugi would be a dangerous attempt that might provoke his unpredictable actions.
In the end, the best course was for me to become stronger than Hwa Mugi.
Fortunately, the heavens had given me enough time to prepare. I would make time my ally and become stronger.
Was it because I had thought of Hwa Mugi? The inner energy in my dantian stirred and reacted.
The San Gong Poison had vanished as if it had never been administered in the first place. Since there were no traces of poisoning after the duel, Gu Pyeongho had indeed procured the proper poison.
Well, that must have been why he dared to think of drugging the Heavenly Demon’s own blood with San Gong Poison.
After being lost in thought for a while, I called the name of the person I was most grateful to in my life.
“Li An.”
At my call, a welcome voice came from outside the door.
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Come in.”
The door opened, and a young woman entered. Her martial uniform looked as if it might burst; she was a woman for whom the word massive suited better than merely fat.
Personal bodyguard, Li An.
At this time, I had not known. I had not known that the reason she was so enormous was because of the martial art she had learned. No, because of me.
Whole-Body Petrification Art.
It was a martial art that temporarily made the flesh as hard as stone, a secret technique passed down only to her. The body growing massive was the fatal side effect of this martial art.
Looking at her through the mirror, I asked,
“How do I look?”
In the mirror, she answered with refreshing certainty.
“You are the most handsome man in the jianghu.”
So Li An’s voice had been this pleasant.
So pleasant that if she entered a contest to choose the person with the best voice in the Central Plains, I could guarantee she would win.
“Boring.”
“The answer is always fixed when the person asking the question pays your monthly wage.”
Not only did you have a good voice, you also had such a cheerful personality.
Our eyes met through the mirror, and Li An asked me,
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
The reason I survived that day was because of Li An.
She threw herself in the path of the sword energy Hwa Mugi had sent to kill me.
Hwa Mugi’s sword energy pierced through her Whole-Body Petrification Art, but in the process, its direction shifted ever so slightly. That was why it narrowly missed my heart.
Hwa Mugi did not confirm my death. He would not have imagined that his attack had missed. Li An’s sacrifice and his arrogance saved me.
‘Thank you, Li An.’
She had been ready to throw away her life for me, yet at this time, I had regarded her as nothing more than an ordinary guard. I had taken her existence for granted. Like living without knowing how grateful one should be for the air one breathes.
“You did well in today’s duel. You were truly incredible.”
I turned toward her. Not toward her reflection in the mirror, but toward the real her, and slowly walked over.
There was a difference between the Li An in my memories and the Li An before me.
‘You were bigger than I remembered.’
I quietly looked at her and recalled how she had looked as a child.
Her warm, amiable eyes, her straight nose, her doll-like appearance that had been so pretty when she smiled. Everyone had said in unison that if she grew up like this, she would become the greatest beauty under heaven.
Then one day, that pretty little girl appeared fat. Because she had gained so much weight, I had not known how much she had cried, or how swollen her eyes had been.
Even then, that young girl had said to me with the same look in her eyes as today.
Young Master, I will protect you.
Just what had that girl been feeling?
Her only sin had been being born in the Demon Cult and being raised as a bodyguard. Yet the price she had to pay was far too great.
She had given up the appearance that could have made her the greatest beauty under heaven, but had I ever comforted her heart? Perhaps, after she grew fat, I had gradually treated her coldly. I could not clearly recall my memories with her.
On the other hand, she had kept her promise. She threw that large body of hers into the path of the sword energy, and thanks to that, I lived.
I think this regression will be worthwhile enough if only I can save Li An.
‘Li An, I’ll make you a promise too. I’ll be sure to eliminate the side effects of the Whole-Body Petrification Art.’
I suddenly said to her,
“We mustn’t become close.”
She asked with a puzzled look,
“Pardon? Why not?”
“Building affection with a bodyguard, of all warriors, is just like racking up points so they’ll die in your place, isn’t it? It’s despicable.”
“Why would you say such a thing? It is only natural that I protect you, Young Master.”
“What sacrifice in this world is natural? Yourself first, always. Then your family. Then the person you’re guarding. I’d like someone that rational to protect me.”
Li An did not hesitate for even an instant.
“That cannot be. You are first for me, Young Master. Second is also you. And I have no family.”
I dared not measure the depth of this stubborn woman’s loyalty toward me.
“You are strange today.”
“Want me to show you something even stranger? Let’s go.”
“Where?”
I strode out and said,
“To overturn the dining table.”
From there, I went straight to the kitchen.
Then I called out everyone working in the kitchen, including Head Cook Im, who was in charge.
Among those lined up, the one I called forward was an assistant cook who had worked here for three years.
“Why did you do it?”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
“Why did you put San Gong Poison in my food?”
At those words, everyone was shocked.
“It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”
One good thing about regression was that I did not need to look into people’s hearts. I already knew why this fellow had put in the San Gong Poison. He had fallen into gambling and incurred a massive debt. After squandering his parents’ money and even all the money of his friends, he had gone so far as to commit the brazen act of putting San Gong Poison in the food of the Heavenly Demon’s blood. Gambling was that terrifying.
“You went gambling again with the three thousand nyang you received, didn’t you?”
For an instant, the fellow flinched, then fell flat on the spot.
“Please spare me. I was wrong. My eyes were blinded by money, and I committed a grave sin.”
“Did Gu Pyeongho come to you personally and give you the money?”
“Yes.”
The moment he admitted it, I cut off his head in a single stroke.
Schlik!
It was my first killing after regression, but I felt nothing in particular. It was because I had lived a life of mercilessly killing those I deemed evil. Killing him without pain was the last mercy I granted him.
In my life before regression, he had died today as well. On the night of the martial arts tournament, he had been stabbed to death in a gambling den. It had probably been the blade of an assassin sent by Gu Pyeongho to silence him.
In any case, putting poison in food was something that absolutely could not be forgiven. A single forgiveness would lead to another attempt.
“A cook, of all people, putting poison in food!”
At my words, Head Cook Im, who wore a devastated expression, knelt down.
“I apologize, Young Master.”
“What are you doing? Your knees aren’t even good.”
“Everything is my responsibility.”
“Why is this your responsibility, Head Cook Im? It’s the responsibility of the bastard who put in the poison.”
“Everything that happens in the kitchen is my responsibility.”
I helped him to his feet.
“Head Cook Im. If an unjust matter occurs in our cult, is that my father’s responsibility?”
“Pardon? No. Absolutely not.”
“Then why do you say it’s your responsibility? Don’t say unnecessary things, and make me chicken-thread noodles for dinner! I want to eat them after so long.”
How many decades had it been since I last ate them?
“You ate them the day before yesterday.”
“Head Cook Im, I’m still holding a sword. Blood is dripping from it.”
“I will make them delicious and send them up.”
When I left the kitchen, Li An, who had been waiting outside, asked urgently,
“I apologize. This is my fault as the one responsible for your guard.”
“Why is everyone so eager to take responsibility? Have you all caught some responsibility disease?”
“I will make sure this never happens again.”
“Forget that. Spread this matter throughout the cult. Say Gu Pyeongho instigated it, and that I cut down the cook who poisoned my food.”
“The Blood-Heaven Blade Demon’s side will deny it.”
“That won’t matter. There were too many eyes and ears that saw and heard here.”
Since all the kitchen staff had seen it, denying it would be useless.
“If they did something filthy, then an ugly rumor should spread. Spread it far and wide! Make even the dogs in the cult bark, ‘San Gong, San Gong!’”
“Understood.”
“Let’s go.”
Li An, who was following behind me, spoke cautiously.
“Ah… you really do seem different today.”
Because she had attended me from the closest distance, she noticed my change first.
“You are making jokes you never made before. Your actions and words also seem to have changed.”
“Starting today, I’ve decided to live a different life.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes, suddenly. I don’t think people change little by little every day. When there’s some turning point, they change all at once. Because that’s difficult and doesn’t happen often, isn’t that why everyone says people don’t change? Let’s go.”
Without giving her a chance to ask what the turning point was, I began walking again.
* * *
“Do you need all of this?”
Li An was startled as she looked at the things I had prepared for the hunt with my father.
I nodded as I carefully packed the prepared items into a large leather bag.
“I need them.”
“I did not know you were so knowledgeable about camping, Young Master.”
Li An, there is probably no one in our cult who has camped as much as I have.
“Since I’ll be with Father, I need to prepare a lot.”
“I hope you have a good time.”
“Can that really happen?”
It was not needless whining. I was confident in other things, but when it came to my relationship with my father, I had no confidence. Since I had even lived more years than my father’s age… I was all the less confident.
“You must make it happen. It will happen.”
Li An smiled and bid me farewell.
“Please have good dreams tonight.”
But I could not sleep well that night.
I had a proper nightmare. In the dream, I was still searching for the materials for the Great Regression Art. It was a dream in which the materials were not where they were supposed to be, so I wandered all over the place.
Then I heard Li An’s voice.
“Young Master, are you all right?”
Perhaps I had screamed in my sleep.
“I’m not all right. It was a filthy dream.”
“What kind of dream was it?”
“To put it in your terms, it was like starting over from the very lowest-ranked martial artist?”
“Ah! Please just kill me instead.”
Sitting on the bed, I looked at the bronze mirror propped against the wall. As if telling me a dream was only a dream, it showed me my youthful self.
Seeing my rejuvenated appearance made me feel better again.
Yes. If I could greet mornings from my youth like this again, it would be fine even if I had nightmares every day.
“You seem nervous.”
“I’m accompanying someone more frightening than a tiger.”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t even be able to breathe properly.”
“I’m going to wash. Prepare a new martial uniform for me.”
“Yes.”
In my previous life, whenever things were difficult, I had imagined what I would do if I regressed. Truly, just imagining it had made me feel better and helped me endure the pain.
But nowhere among all those countless imaginings had there been a hunt with my father on the second day after my regression. Whether my instinctive choice was right, I would know the moment the hunt ended.
After completing all preparations, I carried the large leather bag and walked slowly toward the Heavenly Demon Hall, where my father was waiting.