I visited Seohwanjin for the first time in a long while.
Not only the towers and grotesque ornaments placed on every side, but even the flowers in the garden swaying in the wind exuded a ghostly aura that unsettled the heart.
The ghostly aura was unchanged, but the ghost sorcerers I encountered in passing were no longer hostile as they had been before. They greeted me courteously, with the proper respect due the Young Cult Leader.
Following the ghost sorcerer who guided me, I walked between houses built like snail shells.
They were so bewitching and dazzling that anyone who was not a reasonably accomplished master would have had to close their eyes and walk just to avoid dizziness.
At the end of that path stood a cone-shaped building. This was the residence of the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.
Walls, ceiling, even the floor. In a room filled with swirling patterns, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable received me.
“Young Cult Leader, you have come?”
The ghostly aura flowing in her two eyes had grown even more intense than when I had seen her before.
“I believe this is the first time I have met you here.”
“Are you all right? If you are uncomfortable, we can go outside and speak.”
Just being in this place, because of the dizzying patterns that covered the room, was enough to disturb one’s state of mind.
She was being considerate in case I found it uncomfortable. Of course, the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art, having reached great completion, was guarding me, so her concern was needless.
“When the previous Demon Venerable was here, this place was nauseating and dizzying. But now, it is beautiful and mysterious.”
I knew that she was doing well. Though she had ascended to the position of Demon Venerable at a young age, she had already taken complete control of Seohwanjin and was being acknowledged by the ghost sorcerers as their new Demon Venerable. What remained was for her to bring her unique martial art to great completion, and to accumulate experience as a Demon Venerable.
“What brings you here?”
She was different from the other Demon Venerables. She was still so young that she felt less like one of my father’s Demon Venerables and more like one of mine.
Thus, this very meeting was also the moment when the Heavenly Demon and Demon Venerable of the next generation stood face to face.
I told her the current situation exactly as it was. I neither omitted nor embellished anything because she was young. I respected her as one Demon Venerable.
“To state the conclusion first, there is only one Demon Venerable who stands on my side.”
I had not revealed who that was, but to my surprise, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable guessed that person correctly.
“Could it be Lord Extreme Evil Young Demon?”
“How did you know?”
She told me that during the three-party meeting, when she had seen the Extreme Evil Young Demon standing apart from the Demon Venerables, alone and lonely, she had felt a certain kinship.
“During the last three-party meeting, Lord Young Demon said he envied me. He said that because I was young, I could serve you for a long time. Because of the way he thought of you then, I guessed it might be him.”
She still remembered vividly the conversation they had exchanged that day.
“Then do you know what I said to Lord Young Demon?”
“What did you say?”
“Lord Young Demon, you truly do enjoy difficult things.”
I burst out laughing. She, who had always seemed somewhat stiff when dealing with me, was now speaking comfortably. It meant her position had become that much more secure, and she had gained confidence.
Like the other Demon Venerables—no, she still had a long road ahead of her, and for that very reason she was growing faster than anyone.
“If not for you, Young Cult Leader, I would never have ascended to the position of Demon Venerable.”
“You need not make your decision this time for that reason. Decide as you wish, Demon Venerable.”
At that, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable asked with a peculiar look in her eyes.
“Do you mean that?”
There was mischief in her gaze, as if asking, Do you really not need my help? Of course that was not true. If it were, I would not have come.
“No. I desperately need your help, Demon Venerable.”
At my honest answer, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable smiled. Her silent smile now suited her ghostly aura rather well.
“As I said, the situation is unfavorable. I may even fall out of my father’s favor.”
That was the most important point to the other Demon Venerables, but not to her.
“You need not worry about that. I already stand outside the Cult Leader’s sight.”
She did not mean that my father hated her. She meant that it would require more time and effort for her to enter his sight. To my father, she would still be regarded as an incomplete Demon Venerable.
She understood precisely where she stood, and precisely what sort of man my father was.
“Will someone like me still be acceptable?”
I cupped my fist to her respectfully and said,
“You may stand outside my father’s sight, but to me, you stand before me.”
Those words were enough. The ghostly aura flowing from the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable’s eyes grew even more intense.
“All the ghosts of our cult will follow you, Young Cult Leader.”
* * *
The Demon Buddha was making a stone statue in a small clearing some distance from the Golden Great Buddha.
The sight of the Demon Buddha carving away stone with a chisel and hammer suited him, and yet also felt unfamiliar.
The surrounding buildings, stone statues, and towers were all gilded in gold, but the stone statue the Demon Buddha was making now was ordinary stone.
“I am winning, three to two.”
I tried bluffing first with the Demon Buddha. Of course, it did not work.
“In the time I have not seen you, only your lies have improved.”
“And you remain as sharp as ever, Demon Buddha.”
Those words, in fact, were the true lie. The Demon Buddha felt softer than before. Had he gained some realization of the heart?
I stood for a moment and watched the Demon Buddha who had become a stonemason. He was not only good at digging up medicinal herbs. His craftsmanship in carving stone statues was excellent as well.
“But how did you know? That there were two on my side.”
“Because even two is many.”
At those words, I could not help but laugh. How could I deny it? My opponent was my father.
“There is a good side to this matter as well. I have been able to meet all the Demon Venerables like this and confirm what they are thinking. Perhaps Father intended this. Know your place and face reality!”
Clang! Clang!
The hammering stopped for a moment. Beyond the hammer, the Demon Buddha glanced at me.
“Do you truly think the Cult Leader made this stage to show you that many Demon Venerables support him?”
The Demon Buddha used the word stage. In other words, he believed my father had created this situation deliberately.
“Was it because he wanted me to grow closer to the Demon Venerables?”
Clang!
As though telling me I was wrong, the Demon Buddha’s hammer rang out briskly.
“Or is Father trying to look back on his relationship with the Demon Venerables through this opportunity?”
Again, as though that too was the wrong answer, only the sound of hammering rang out, clang, clang.
How did the Demon Buddha view this matter? Though he was now acting as if he had taken a step back from the world and attained enlightenment, at one time he had been the most political and realistic of the Eight Demon Venerables.
“Please tell me. Why did Father create this stage?”
The Demon Buddha stopped hammering and examined the stone statue. Perhaps its balance was off, for he frowned and shook his head.
Of course. How could he concentrate on his work while having this sort of conversation?
The Demon Buddha set down the hammer and turned toward me.
“To seat us as the audience for that stage.”
It was not what I had expected. If he had seated the Demon Venerables as the audience?
“Surely not? Do you mean he intends to fight me on that stage?”
The Demon Buddha looked at me as if it were only natural.
At that moment, I recalled what the Fist Demon had said.
—The Cult Leader has already started the war.
Had the war my father spoken of through the Fist Demon meant a war against me?
“Isn’t it said that no parent can defeat their child?”
Then came an unexpected line.
“The Cult Leader will not lose to you on purpose.”
I could feel that the Demon Buddha, too, saw my father in the same way the Blood Heaven Blade Demon did.
“Ordinary people think it foolish to create another enemy when they already have one, do they not?”
“Is it not?”
“For ordinary people, that may be true.”
“Then what about Father?”
The Demon Buddha raised his head and looked toward the Heavenly Demon Hall in the distance.
“With a sword drawn once, the Cult Leader intends to cut down everything.”
“!”
“Before the watching eyes of the Demon Venerables, he will persuade you, then with the power united as one, he will punish those behind the scenes. And further still, with that sword dripping blood, he intends to cut down even the Martial Alliance and the Evil Dao Alliance.”
The words “That cannot be” did not come out of my mouth.
Instead, a single scene came to mind.
An empty taishi chair.
It was the image of my father, who had always guarded that place, absent from it. That was a sight more terrifying than the image of my father holding the Heavenly Demon Sword dripping blood.
“Is there a reason you are so certain?”
“There is.”
A golden radiance blazed fiercely from the Demon Buddha’s body.
“Because our cult has never been this strong before.”
What if the Demon Buddha’s thoughts were true?
In the end, the one who had moved my father was me.
* * *
“Young Cult Leader!”
The person looking at me with startled eyes was Gowol.
After leaving the Demon Buddha, I ran straight to where Gowol was with Swift Steps. Truly, I ran like the wind.
Even while I had been in the North Sea, Gowol had been traveling between the main cult and the outside world, further strengthening Silver Moon.
The branch I arrived at today was at a distance that could be reached after half a day of running with Swift Steps.
“You must be busy. What brings you all the way here?”
The desk where he had been sitting was still piled high with documents.
“How can there be so much work? I told you to have your subordinates do it all.”
“I do have my subordinates do it.”
“You should just drink tea and nag them.”
Because I knew very well that was not in his nature, I added one more thing today.
“Strategist Go. You know how important you are to me, do you not?”
“I know.”
“Then do not make me worry about your health too.”
I was not worried about his guards, since I knew the experts sent by the Cult Leader Pungcheon were protecting him. How thoroughly would Cult Leader Pungcheon take care of Gowol?
But as for his health, I had to nag him.
“You must be busy meeting the Demon Venerables. How did you come all the way here?”
As expected, Gowol knew the circumstances within the main cult in detail.
“I came because I wanted to see you. Come, let us get some air, even if only for a moment.”
I left the office together with Gowol. When we stepped out into the backyard, it led directly to the marketplace. We walked side by side through the place where people came and went.
“Do not sit in one place for too long. They say your lifespan shortens by as much as you sit, do they not? Get up and walk at least once every half hour.”
“I understand.”
“It has been a long time since we last met, and I am nagging too much, am I not?”
Gowol smiled without denying it. I knew. I knew just how well Gowol teased Cult Leader Pungcheon. If Cult Leader Pungcheon had been the one to nag him like this, his reaction would have been different.
“Does the Cult Leader contact you often?”
Cult Leader Pungcheon had remained at Pungcheon Cult for the sake of his disciple, the current Cult Leader Pungcheon. I had thought he would return after a month or two, but he had stayed quite a long time. Since his relationship with his disciple had recovered, it seemed there was much he wanted to teach.
“Letters come from time to time. Half of them are complaints about his disciple.”
“And the other half are insults about me?”
“How did you know?”
We laughed together.
“Seeing that the interval between letters is growing shorter and shorter, it seems the Cult Leader is feeling frustrated as well. I believe he will return before long.”
“I miss Cult Leader Pungcheon too.”
After walking and talking about this and that, I revealed the main reason I had come.
“Throughout the time I met the Demon Venerables, one thought kept occurring to me.”
“What thought was that?”
“Do I have the right to break Father’s dream?”
The Demon Venerables all understood my father’s desire. Though they did not reveal it openly like the One Flower Sword Venerable, their feelings were likely similar. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s conflict must lie there as well, and would the Extreme Evil Young Demon be any different?
“Even so, what is the reason you intend to stop him?”
Because too many people will die.
But that answer did not come easily. Just as it had been difficult for the Poison King to answer, “Because I like poison,” I too could not say those words easily.
Are you truly someone who worries for the safety of all martial artists?
That question was the first to rise in my heart.
Originally, I should have said this:
The purpose of my regression is to save those who must be saved, and kill those who must die.
But if war breaks out, people who should not die will die. I do not know who that will be.
It could be one of the Demon Venerables. It could be Ian, or Seo Daeryong. It could be Gowol standing before me, or Cult Leader Pungcheon. It could be Jo Chunbae, or the patrons of the Pungryu Tavern. This matter will not end with a table being broken.
Beyond that, there is also my feeling for my father.
In my life before regression, I experienced truly many things. I saw many lives, and felt extreme loneliness. I endured many hardships difficult to bear, and crossed the threshold of death many times.
I endured all of it for revenge.
That is what revenge is.
To kill a person is to create this kind of vengeance. Even a few hurtful words can make a human being remember the other party for a lifetime; this matter would take the lives of countless people.
The friends, comrades, and families of the dead.
Through war, thousands, tens of thousands of vengeful hearts will be born.
Tens of thousands of me.
Tens of thousands of Hwa Mugi.
That burden will come to rest on the shoulders of my father, the one who started the war. I do not want my father to bear the weight of that resentment. I do not want him to stand at the tips of countless swords of vengeance.
You say it is Father’s dream? His long-cherished wish?
I believe that my father was the same as I was before regression.
We were never given the chance to dream a different dream.
My father lived as the Heavenly Demon, unable to open his heart to anyone, and I had lived as the blood kin who had lost that Heavenly Demon.
We were stronger than anyone, but we were people who had never been able to dream properly.
In addition to that feeling, I had one more belief.
The heavens had not given me the chance to regress so that I could drive countless people to their deaths.
After many thoughts circled round and round, I returned to the starting point.
“Because too many people will die in that war.”
For a moment, Gowol silently watched the people passing by.
Then he looked at me and said quietly,
“Is that reason not enough to risk everything and stop it?”
Yes, it seemed I had wanted to hear those words from Gowol. That must have been why I had run such a long road like the wind. Because I wanted to hear those words from my strategist.
Now the moment had come for me to return and meet my father.
“I think I am ready to step onto the stage as well.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 442