Seo Daeryong ran up before Geom Ujin and paid his respects with utmost courtesy.
“I greet the Cult Leader.”
Geom Ujin accepted Seo Daeryong’s greeting.
“It has been a while.”
His father seemed slightly surprised by his appearance as well.
If it was Seo Daeryong, the Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion, there was no problem. The problem was that he was the foremost disciple who had inherited Hyeolcheon Doma’s martial arts.
“I greet the Young Cult Leader.”
Since Geom Ujin was present, Seo Daeryong also formally paid his respects to Geom Mugeuk. Under normal circumstances, since this was a reunion after so long, he would have run over shouting, “I missed you, Young Cult Leader!”
At any other time, Geom Mugeuk would have accepted his greeting with a joke, but now was not the time for that. And above all, he had to uphold the authority of the Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion in front of his father. The pleasure of joking around would last only a moment, but this moment before his father would affect Seo Daeryong’s life from here on.
“What brings the Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon here?”
Seo Daeryong felt it. Not only Geom Mugeuk, but even Geom Ujin had been surprised by his appearance.
Seo Daeryong wanted to make a face and say this.
—Am I not supposed to be here?
But he could not possibly speak that way in front of the Cult Leader.
Geom Mugeuk read that thought from Seo Daeryong’s expression.
“We are in a situation where we should not be meeting Pavilion Lord Seo here right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Right now, Father and I are with the culprit who destroyed Yumyeong Manor and the Daejeong Sect.”
Realizing that this culprit referred to him, Seo Daeryong’s eyes widened in shock.
“Me?”
“Yes. At the moment, you are the most likely suspect.”
Then unexpected words came from Seo Daeryong’s mouth.
“But how did you know? That I went there.”
This time, Geom Mugeuk was the one who was surprised.
“You went there?”
“Yes, I did. I went to both places.”
It was not even just one of them. Unable to hold back, Geom Mugeuk shouted.
“So Pavilion Lord Seo was the culprit!”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Seo Daeryong nearly jumped out of his skin.
“No, what are you—”
Seo Daeryong started to react as he normally would, then continued speaking politely.
“How could I be the culprit? It was not me!”
Of course, it had been Geom Mugeuk’s joke. Seo Daeryong was not the kind of person who would massacre an entire clan under any circumstances. It was said that even cooks who knew no martial arts and the women who worked there had all been killed. Geom Mugeuk knew well that neither Seo Daeryong nor Hyeolcheon Doma would ever commit such a brutal act.
Geom Mugeuk asked seriously again.
“Why did you come to Chongqing?”
The answer he had hoped would not come came. He wished Hyeolcheon Doma had simply stayed at the cult reading books.
“I came to see my master.”
Geom Ujin’s gaze, which had been listening, also sharpened.
He had wondered when Seo Daeryong appeared. If even Hyeolcheon Doma was here, this was no ordinary situation.
“Surely not. Is Elder Doma here?”
Seo Daeryong nodded and answered.
“Yes, he is here.”
“Tell me in detail what happened.”
Seo Daeryong glanced once at Geom Mugeuk, then began to recount what had happened in a trembling voice. He spoke to Geom Mugeuk, but it was a report to the Cult Leader.
“Some time ago, Master left the cult, saying he had something to attend to.”
“Without saying what it was?”
“Yes. He only said there was somewhere he had to go. But he was somewhat different from usual.”
“In what way?”
Because Hyeolcheon Doma was so strict when teaching martial arts, it had not been easy for Seo Daeryong to read his master’s feelings or inner thoughts.
But recently, the bond between them had deepened, and at times Hyeolcheon Doma even accepted Seo Daeryong’s jokes. Because of that, he could sense his master’s emotions better than before.
“Outwardly, he looked calm, but for some reason, his expression seemed dark.”
At those words, Geom Mugeuk’s expression naturally hardened. Seo Daeryong was quick-witted. If it was anyone else, maybe not, but if it was Hyeolcheon Doma, what he had seen was likely accurate. Something had happened to Hyeolcheon Doma?
“But I could not ask any further.”
Of course he could not. If Hyeolcheon Doma, of all people, said he had something to do and was leaving the cult, how could he have pressed him with questions?
“Then one day, long after he left the cult, this arrived for me.”
As he said that, Seo Daeryong took something out from his robes.
What he handed over was a book.
“Could this be?”
“That is right. It is the collection of poems and paintings Master usually enjoyed reading.”
This collection was certainly Hyeolcheon Doma’s book. On the front page remained the words Geom Mugeuk had left when returning it after borrowing it.
—If you had not become a martial artist, Elder, you would have become a poet.
“This arrived?”
Geom Mugeuk’s expression had grown grave.
“And this was tucked between the pages.”
Seo Daeryong handed over another sheet of paper.
—On such-and-such day, Chongqing, Yumyeong Manor.
It was a message to meet at the destroyed Yumyeong Manor.
Geom Mugeuk looked at his father in shock. It was clearly no ordinary matter. If there was a need to contact Seo Daeryong, a written message could have been sent; there was no reason to send the book. As expected, his father’s eyes had sunk coldly.
“Is it the elder’s handwriting?”
“I was not certain either. It seemed similar, and yet it did not. So I was going to have the handwriting specialist of my pavilion investigate it. But then I changed my mind and departed immediately.”
“Why did you leave without seeing the result?”
“When I thought about it, there was no need to confirm it. If it was Master’s handwriting, I naturally had to come. If it was not Master’s handwriting, then I had to come even faster.”
If someone else had written and sent it, that meant Hyeolcheon Doma was in danger.
“If you had been there, Young Cult Leader, I would have consulted you.”
But Geom Mugeuk was not there, nor was Ian. On top of that, Jang Homa had happened to leave the cult with the demonic troops.
In the end, Seo Daeryong came to Chongqing alone.
Geom Mugeuk realized it. This affair was a scheme by someone who knew Seo Daeryong would definitely come all the way to Chongqing. The enemy was someone who knew the circumstances of the cult and Hyeolcheon Doma well.
“I went to Yumyeong Manor on the date written there, but Master was not there. I did not know if the date had been written incorrectly or the place had been written incorrectly. Still, I could not simply return, so I waited at a nearby inn. I had a bad feeling. So I immediately relayed the situation to the Chief Strategist through Tongcheon Pavilion.”
“You did well.”
As expected, Seo Daeryong was clever.
“As I was waiting, that night someone sent a letter to the room where I was staying.”
Geom Mugeuk guessed the contents of the letter exactly.
“Was it a message to meet at the Daejeong Sect?”
“That is right. Since I had already found nothing the first time, I could not help but go. But this time too, it was for nothing. And then, starting the next day, those incidents happened one after another.”
When we turned the carriage around, Seo Daeryong had already come here and was already entangled in these incidents.
“Chongqing was sealed off because of the Yumyeong Manor and Daejeong Sect incidents. If I had really insisted on leaving, I could have, but I could not return without confirming Master’s safety. Then a message came from Tongcheon Pavilion. It said the Cult Leader and the Young Cult Leader were at the safe house, and that I should go there.”
If the Chief Strategist had not granted special permission, even the Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon Pavilion could not have come to a safe house reserved for the Heavenly Demon. In this urgent situation, Strategist Sama had made the wisest choice.
Seo Daeryong asked Geom Mugeuk.
“But what did you mean earlier? Why am I the culprit? Is it because I went to those places?”
But earlier, Geom Mugeuk had brought up the culprit before Seo Daeryong said he had gone there.
Geom Mugeuk told him the reason.
“The martial art used to kill the Daejeong Sect Leader was the Heaven-Destroying Demonic Blade Form.”
Seo Daeryong, startled, opened his eyes wide.
“That is impossible!”
That was why. Geom Mugeuk turned to his father and said,
“Whoever it is, they have plotted this rather convincingly.”
He could feel his father’s anger.
Rather, if someone had challenged his father directly, he would not have been this furious.
But they had touched the demonic path by leaving behind the words “Demonic Dao Under Heaven,” and now they had touched his father’s Demon Venerable.
“Before being my Hyeolcheon Doma, the Blade Demon is Father’s Demon Venerable.”
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. His father would never forgive the one behind this affair.
At last, Geom Ujin spoke in a low voice.
“He is not someone who would be defeated anywhere, so there is no need to worry about him.”
Those words revealed his absolute trust in Hyeolcheon Doma.
After saying that, his father went inside the building.
His father’s back was saying it: Find out where that man is, quickly.
Geom Mugeuk spoke loudly to his father.
“I will find out where the elder is.”
Once Geom Ujin entered his quarters, only Geom Mugeuk and Seo Daeryong remained in the courtyard of the safe house.
Only then did Seo Daeryong let out a sigh of relief. He had been very nervous before the Heavenly Demon. He had tried hard not to show it outwardly, but he had trembled a great deal.
“I was scared the Cult Leader would interrogate me, asking, ‘Was this not your doing?’”
Only now did the two of them begin speaking comfortably.
“As if that would happen. Father knows well enough that you are not the sort of person to commit such an act.”
“He knows about me?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“Do you think he simply handed you the position of Pavilion Lord of Hwangcheon just because I recommended you? The Chief Strategist has probably reported everything about Seo Daeryong the man.”
“Then he must know about my timidity too.”
Separate from the gravity of the situation, it was good to see Seo Daeryong after so long. A good person was good to see no matter when or under what circumstances.
“Have you been well?”
“Yes, I have been well.”
You do not know, Young Cult Leader, how much I missed you. I checked every day to see if you had returned.
“Did you take care of the matter you went for?”
At Seo Daeryong’s question, Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“Well, of course. With who went, how could it not have ended well?”
Even if Geom Mugeuk had gone alone, he could trust him; but the Cult Leader had gone with him as well.
“Even while we were handling matters there, I did not know the real problem was waiting here in Chongqing.”
Seo Daeryong asked carefully.
“Master will be all right, won’t he?”
But soon he looked down at the collection of poems and paintings and shook his head.
“There is no way he is all right when this is in our hands.”
After sinking into despair like that, he suddenly startled himself and shouted,
“What nonsense am I saying right now! The Cult Leader said so too, didn’t he? Our master is not someone who would be easily defeated anywhere. He will be all right.”
The deeper one’s affection grew, the more one’s worries grew as well.
When he was alone, he had somehow endured it, but when he saw Geom Mugeuk, the worry he had been holding back burst out. Seo Daeryong had been so worried about Hyeolcheon Doma that ever since this matter broke out, he had not slept properly.
Geom Mugeuk reassured Seo Daeryong.
“The elder will be all right.”
“You truly think so?”
“When have my words ever been wrong?”
“Of course, they have never been wrong!”
Geom Mugeuk thought of Hyeolcheon Doma.
The image that came to mind now was not of him swinging his enormous blade, nor his uncompromising gaze, nor his rigid, prickly personality.
The image that came to mind was of him sitting quietly and reading a book.
That was why he believed. Wherever he was, whoever faced him, he would not be easily defeated.
Because nowhere else could one find a Demon Venerable who read books.
Geom Mugeuk tucked the book into his robes. He was certain this book would protect Hyeolcheon Doma.
“Since this concerns the elder, you and I should resolve it, shouldn’t we?”
Flames rose in Seo Daeryong’s eyes.
“What should we do? Just leave anything to me.”
“They tried to make you the culprit of this affair. Witnesses who saw you will probably appear.”
A person who had learned the martial art that killed the Daejeong Sect Leader had visited the place beforehand? It was a situation with almost no way out. In that case?
“Let us move according to their intentions.”
“How?”
“When else in your life will you get to become such a villain?”
He meant that Seo Daeryong should become the villain who massacred the Daejeong Sect. Geom Mugeuk had expected him to shy away, asking if they really had to do that much, but Seo Daeryong answered readily.
“From this moment on, I am the culprit! Be careful. I am a merciless and terrifying fellow!”
“You will do it? If one wrong move is made, you may be branded by the martial world as that kind of villain, and this affair may end like that. Are you not afraid?”
“I am afraid.”
Seo Daeryong spoke honestly.
“You know, don’t you? How cowardly and timid I am. How much I look after my own skin. And how much I care about how others see me.”
But the reason he could overcome all of that was this.
“Still, I must do it. It concerns my master. Even if I die, I must do it.”
Seo Daeryong remembered the moment he first met Geom Mugeuk. He remembered how dark, gloomy, and timid he had been back then.
He also remembered the first time he met Hyeolcheon Doma. That day when, drunk, he clung to the hem of his trousers. He remembered Hyeolcheon Doma, who had put that version of him to bed. Despite being someone with such a fastidious nature.
When he thought of that time, what was there to hesitate over?
“It is unfortunate. That I can only serve as bait.”
How could Geom Mugeuk not know his heart? His desire to play a splendid role and resolve this affair. His yearning to be acknowledged by Hyeolcheon Doma.
But it was still too much for him. The one behind this affair was no ordinary bastard. Even serving as bait would not be easy.
“You may be bait, but you are bait to catch a monster. The pinnacle of bait-kind, a clever bait who entered at the top of the class, the greatest bait in the martial world.”
Seo Daeryong smiled faintly. Truly, if not for this Young Cult Leader before his eyes, he would already have fainted several times in this situation. But instead of running away and turning his back, he was saying this.
“That bait, even if it gets swallowed into the monster’s belly, you must pull it back out!”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 499