There was no need to go far for a hunting ground.
The mountain behind the school was famous for its rugged terrain, and with defensive arrays and mechanism formations installed throughout, it was a place no one could enter to begin with. In this deserted place, the only people were my father and me.
‘Ah, three, I suppose.’
Father’s personal bodyguard, Hwi, would be following from somewhere in hiding.
I called him Uncle Hwi. I saw him often when I was young, but as I grew older, there were fewer chances to meet him. Hwi, the personal guard Father trusted absolutely. If I had Ian, then Father had Hwi.
I raised my qi and surveyed the surroundings, but I could not detect Hwi’s presence. As expected of a master who had reached the pinnacle of concealment arts. Of course, even Hwi… was killed by Hwa Mugi that day.
The first thing Father said to me that day was this.
“What is all that distracting baggage?”
I was carrying a leather pack as large as my own body.
“Things we’ll need for the next few days.”
“A few days? I intend to come down after one day.”
“You never know, do you? Hunting with me may prove so enjoyable that you’ll want to stay a few days longer.”
Father’s face blatantly revealed what he was thinking: as if such a thing could ever happen.
“You have quite the grand dreams.”
It had not even been half a shichen since I had set out with Father, yet I realized something I had not known. My memories of Father had been greatly distorted.
I remembered Father as someone who almost never spoke. But he spoke more than I had thought.
“You were better than I expected.”
He was evaluating how I had faced Gu Pyeongho in the martial bout. Though my movements had been without internal energy, they must have revealed the skill I had built up in my previous life, so I did not bother trying to deceive Father.
“I was hiding my ability.”
“So it seemed.”
Riding the mood, I added a joke.
“I am not a hissing cat, but a beast that hides its claws.”
Father stopped walking and looked back at me.
“If you are a beast, why hide your claws?”
“Ah, I hadn’t considered it from that perspective.”
“That is why you are a cat.”
Just as he was about to turn away, Father abruptly asked,
“What stage have you reached in the Flying Heaven Sword Art?”
The Flying Heaven Sword Art was a martial art passed down to those of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline. Though it could not compare to the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, which was passed down only to the Heavenly Demon, it was an art of the highest order, said to be on par with the martial arts cultivated by the Demon Venerables.
Of course, learning a superior martial art did not unconditionally make one stronger. Depending on who wielded it, even a weaker martial art could kill someone who possessed a stronger one.
Judging that I could not deceive Father, I answered honestly.
“I have achieved great completion.”
At that moment!
Piiing!
A strand of finger wind shot from the tip of Father’s finger and grazed past my cheek. If I had not instinctively turned my face aside to avoid it, a hole would have been pierced through my cheek.
Father asked with a surprised expression.
“You really have achieved great completion!”
I touched my cheek, which stung from the force of the finger wind, and asked almost in a shout,
“Good heavens! You fired finger wind at me without even believing me? What were you going to do if I hadn’t dodged?”
“You would have paid the price for lying. If you had achieved great completion, you would be able to avoid it.”
“A scar doesn’t suit this handsome face I inherited from you, Father!”
After snorting once, Father began walking again.
‘No wonder the me back then was afraid of him.’
What father in the world would fire finger wind at his own child without hesitation? At the face, no less! It would not have killed me, but if I had failed to dodge, it would have left a serious wound.
Father, who was walking ahead, spoke without looking back.
“To reach great completion at your age… is remarkable.”
Even in my previous life, I had only achieved great completion well into my thirties, so it was only natural that Father was surprised. In any case, when it came to martial arts, Father was sincere; that praise was the highest compliment.
“Thank you.”
After that, we climbed the mountain for a long while without exchanging a word.
If we had been in a room with no conversation like this, it would have felt suffocating. But climbing a mountain was different. Simply walking in silence felt like sharing an unspoken conversation.
I was the one who broke the long silence.
“Who taught you to hunt?”
After a brief pause, Father said,
“My elder brother taught me.”
“I had an uncle?”
“He died. By my hand, when he was about your age.”
A short silence passed. Instead of offering polite words of comfort, I said what I honestly thought.
“You did well.”
Father stopped walking and looked back at me with a sharp gaze.
“If you hadn’t, I might never have been born.”
Father stared coldly at me for a moment, then resumed walking.
As if Father would not have wounds in his heart left behind by kin fighting kin. I had seen it often in my previous life. The stronger a person appeared on the outside, the deeper the wounds in their heart often were.
That was why I had tossed the words out like squeezing pus from a wound.
There was a lesson I had learned in my previous life.
Bury corpses, but do not bury wounds of the heart.
Perhaps that was why I was able to hear these words from Father.
“At the time, I… could not find a way.”
I understood what he meant. He had not found a way to win the succession struggle without killing his brother.
My answer was firm.
“Do not expect that from me either.”
Father glanced back at me. His eyes were colder than before, but I said what I had to say.
“What you could not do, Father, I cannot do either. And if you are going to say such things, you should have given me an elder brother worth agonizing over. You know, don’t you? How vile and cruel he is.”
“You are quite good at cursing him behind his back.”
“He deserves to be cursed.”
In truth, even that was not enough. Not when I thought of the things my elder brother would do in the future to become the successor.
“He is suffering out on the frontier, and you sit in comfort cursing him.”
“Someone who is the eldest young master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would not suffer even if he were locked in the very last cell of the underground thunder prison, let alone on the frontier.”
My elder brother was currently acting under Father’s orders. At this time, he had yet to reveal his true nature, and since he was quite capable in his own way, Father trusted him more than me. Not only that, many demonic practitioners within the cult were striving to attach themselves to his line.
“My elder brother will never yield the position of successor. Thinking I can become successor while keeping him alive is nothing but foolish arrogance.”
Father’s expression as he looked at me contained the emotion, Were you such a child? My gaze answered steadfastly, Yes.
Father began walking again.
I had not married in my previous life. So I did not know exactly what kind of emotions the existence of a child stirred in a man.
That was why I was curious.
What kind of existence was I to Father?
How long had we climbed like that?
“Shh.”
At Father’s signal, I raised my head. Father was pointing with his finger far ahead.
“Do you see it?”
I opened my eyes wide, but all I saw was dense forest, nothing else.
“I don’t see it.”
“I do.”
“What is there?”
“Dinner.”
“Then we should catch it.”
When I first took out the bow hanging from my leather pack, Father stopped my impatience.
“How do you intend to catch something you cannot even see? First, close your eyes and feel your surroundings.”
“Yes.”
When masters assessed an opponent, they did so through the ripples in the surrounding air. What people commonly called an opponent’s aura was precisely this.
There was only one aura I could sense nearby: Father’s. It was calm. And that was why it was frightening. Because I knew better than anyone how savage this aura became when it was angered. Beneath that peaceful sea, a typhoon capable of overturning the world lay asleep.
“Now send out a single strand of energy. Just one.”
I released a strand of energy exactly as Father instructed.
“Slowly, without cutting it off. Imagine your body is a spool of thread and release it slowly, as though drawing out a thread.”
In my life before regression, I had never sent energy as thin as a thread forward like this. There was always a clear reason to emit one’s energy: to press down an opponent’s momentum with my own aura. Yet now I was releasing qi in a way I had never imagined.
“Thinner. It must not break!”
This was the first time I learned that energy emitted from the body could travel so far.
“More, more, more.”
If Father had not been beside me urging me on, I would never have been able to extend my energy this far.
And in the next moment, my energy touched something.
“Did it touch?”
Father realized that my energy had touched something almost as quickly as I did.
“Yes. I can feel it.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I think it’s a tree.”
Amazingly, I got a sense of what it was. It was truly just a feeling, so I did not know how to explain it, but it was definitely a tree.
“Examine the area around it. Slowly.”
It felt as if the thread tied to the spool had all unraveled, about to slip free at any moment. But I did not lose my concentration.
I extended my energy even farther and searched the surroundings. Then, beneath the tree, I discovered a living presence.
“Is it a wild boar, by any chance?”
When Father gave no answer, I quietly opened my eyes. Father was looking at me with a surprised expression.
“Or is it a bear? The bristly fur and long body felt like a wild boar.”
“It is a wild boar.”
I looked toward the place my energy had reached. It was still not visible to my eyes. Yet I had found the wild boar in the forest far away.
“It will not be easy to hit it in one shot from this distance.”
Even after experiencing it firsthand, Father seemed to find it difficult to believe.
Thinking about it, the technique from a moment ago was not merely some miscellaneous trick needed for hunting. It was an extraordinary secret technique that could be applied to martial arts.
“You were originally going to tease me after watching me fail, weren’t you?”
“Of course you should have failed.”
“I am your son, Father.”
“Even I did not hit it in one shot the first time.”
“Am I not a Heavenly Martial Body?”
When the Heavenly Martial Body was mentioned, Father’s eyes changed slightly.
At that time, I had harbored this resentment toward Father regarding the Heavenly Martial Body.
—You pursue strength so relentlessly, you even hold martial tournaments to find a talent who can crush your own child in search of a strong successor, so why did you leave me, a Heavenly Martial Body, unattended like that? Why did you not support me?
I had even thought Father might be jealous of me. Yes, the me of that time was that petty.
But now I knew.
The affairs of the world did not move according to my wishes alone.
It was not about asking to be treated specially because I was a Heavenly Martial Body, but about making use of that body well and becoming someone special by my own power. Only when everyone’s expectations and aspirations were carried by that specialness would the Heavenly Martial Body truly become a blessing bestowed by heaven. Now, I knew that.
“What are you doing? Do you intend to skip dinner?”
I drew the bow with force toward the place where I had sensed the energy.
Piiing.
In the darkness, a campfire was burning, and above it, neatly dressed wild boar meat was cooking.
“When did you learn to dress an animal?”
“I learned from books.”
“You seemed rather practiced for that.”
Father, I must have eaten hundreds of wild boars alone.
I subtly changed the subject.
“That thing you’re sitting on was prepared to curry favor with you. It was worth groaning under the weight of it.”
Father was sitting on the tiger pelt I had packed in my leather bag.
At my self-praise, the corners of Father’s lips curled slightly upward. It was hard for a sneer to suit a person’s face that well, but Father managed that difficult feat with ease.
“Did you say you wanted to hunt with me because you wanted to impress me and become the successor?”
“No. I know very well that something like that would not work on you, Father.”
“I am glad you know.”
“I can become chosen as successor even without your help.”
“You are full of confidence.”
“Of course, my greedy, cruel, foul-tempered elder brother will get in my way.”
“You are badmouthing him behind his back again.”
“I should. How often does one get the chance to openly badmouth him in front of the judge who will be scoring us?”
Father, if you truly wanted peaceful brotherly affection within the family, you should have decided from the beginning. This person is the successor, so harbor no foolish thoughts. Even if you had decided that, wouldn’t the succession struggle still be filled with fighting, killing, and chaos?
“Why did you say you wanted to hunt with me?”
“There are two reasons. The first was to learn anything at all and grow stronger. I think the first one has succeeded.”
“And after you grow stronger?”
At Father’s provocative gaze, asking whether I intended to aim for his position, I quickly answered,
“The reason I want to become stronger is not because I want to become the Heavenly Demon. You are still hale and vigorous, Father. I don’t want to waste my youth prattling on about becoming the Heavenly Demon. If I can become the successor and learn the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts, I will be satisfied.”
Considering our ages, my elder brother and I must still look utterly unqualified to become successors in Father’s eyes. In truth, Father would choose my elder brother as the successor about ten years from now.
But the me of now could not wait ten years. Being an awl hidden in a pouch was not enough. It was time to take that awl out of the pouch and stab it here and there.
So I had to receive the Nine Calamities Demonic Art as quickly as possible and achieve great completion. No, I had to reach a realm beyond that. Since even Father, who had achieved perfection at the tenth star, was defeated by Hwa Mugi, I had to achieve perfection at the twelfth star.
“Sometimes I imagine it. What if, while living, I encountered someone I truly wanted to beat to death, but I couldn’t kill him? How maddening would that be? I want to become stronger if only to avoid suffering such a humiliation.”
Father’s expression did not change, so I could not tell what he was thinking.
“The second reason?”
“I wanted to spend time alone with you, Father. It is the first time, isn’t it?”
Again, a sneer deepened at the corners of Father’s mouth.
“What cheap sentiment, perfect for getting oneself killed.”
“How could it be cheap when I am with the greatest in the world? If we sing, it will be the greatest song under heaven; if we drink, it will be the greatest wine under heaven. Even if we shit…”
“That is enough.”
“Yes! I will keep my mouth firmly shut for one shichen.”
My eyes met Father’s, and I smiled in good spirits. It was probably the first smile I had ever given in front of Father. Though Father merely turned his head away coldly.
‘When I thought of you, Father, there was not a single thing I could call a memory. A memory of being frightened is not a fond memory, is it? In this life, I will not let my memories become so barren. But do not be pleased. I am doing it not for your sake, but for mine.’