The old man was Qiao Tian, the master of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the Saber Demon of the previous generation.
A master he had believed dead. Truly, he had never once imagined the man might still be alive.
He had thought him someone he would only see after going to hell. Someone who no longer even appeared in his dreams.
When he received his master’s message telling him to come to Chongqing, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was genuinely shocked.
If the message had not contained something known only to his master and himself, he would never have believed his master was alive.
“I did not know you were alive.”
At the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s words, Qiao Tian answered in a low voice.
“If you had, you would have come to kill me.”
Apart from the senility that could be felt in his voice, the voice itself struck sharply into the ears and scraped at a person’s heart.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon looked up at him. The shape of his eyes and his jaw still bore traces of his old face. But fine wrinkles had swallowed his appearance whole, and he thought that if they had passed each other on the street, he might not have recognized him.
Qiao Tian also looked down at his disciple. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon of his prime was nowhere to be found now.
“You have aged a great deal as well.”
“That much time has passed.”
Standing before his master, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon felt as though he had returned to those days long ago.
“Are you unwell anywhere?”
A strange radiance flowed from the two eyes buried among the fine wrinkles.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon could feel that his master’s martial realm had risen far higher than when he had once been a Demon Venerable. Of course, his body had grown old and feeble, but he could tell from those eyes alone that his inner power had become indescribably profound.
‘Could it be that he’s confident he can defeat the Cult Leader?’
Even if he had built upon his original strength with the power of time, could he truly withstand the Cult Leader’s Nine Flames Demonic Art? That supreme demonic art, the Nine Flames Demonic Art?
“If I am? Will you come and massage me?”
It was a curt response, but the Blood Heaven Saber Demon knew.
He had not even begun yet. He could not imagine what it would look like when the emotions he had stored away for all those long years began to burst forth.
“If you wish it, I will massage you.”
At the respectful answer, Qiao Tian beckoned him closer. The gesture carried the intent: Do you dare come near me?
Astonishingly, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon began walking toward him. Qiao Tian did not tell him to stop, and the Blood Heaven Saber Demon did not stop walking either.
The closer the two men grew, the greater the taut tension became.
Thirty paces, twenty paces, ten paces….
When he had approached to within ten steps, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon stopped.
Surely his master had not come alone, yet even after he had come this close, he could not sense anyone else’s aura nearby.
If someone was there, it meant they were that much of an expert; if his master had come alone, that in itself was astonishing.
“Why do you not come closer? Are you afraid of me?”
“I am afraid.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon answered readily. And the reason was unexpected.
“Because if it were me, I would not have endured this long. I would not have lasted even ten years before coming out for revenge.”
But his master had endured, and endured again, for more than thirty years. All for this very moment.
“Why have you returned?”
Then came his master’s low words.
“Because I am alive.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon let out a long sigh.
“If you survived, you should have simply lived.”
It was not mockery. He was speaking sincerely.
“You should have enjoyed your old age somewhere with good mountains and good waters. If that bored you, you could have become a hidden power with no connection to our cult and pursued authority and wealth.”
Then an unexpected answer came from his master.
“I tried. Both of them.”
For a moment, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon flinched.
“To forget. To forget it all, I went into the mountains, and I tried all manner of things. But I could not forget what happened that day.”
His voice was hoarse and cracked, but his emotions could be felt in every word.
“I realized that revenge was the only meaning left in my life.”
Knowing that the flame burning in his master’s heart could not be extinguished by anything, a heavy sigh escaped the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s lips.
“So you intend to borrow the strength of the righteous sects? You will start a war and kill the Cult Leader? Do you think that will kill him?”
“Wouldn’t those righteous bastards do everything they could to cut off the Demonic Cult Leader’s head?”
Was that truly his real intention? The Blood Heaven Saber Demon did not think so. He could not have spent all those long years merely for a scheme to sow discord with the righteous sects.
There was certainly something his master believed in. Something meant to kill the Cult Leader and himself. Something that would mark the end of his long revenge.
‘What on earth have you brought out?’
The one who broke the silence that briefly flowed between them was Qiao Tian.
“Are you sorry about that incident?”
Had his emotions surged as he recalled that day? A faint tremor could be felt in his hoarse, cracked voice.
“Do you regret it?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon answered neither question, but Qiao Tian continued speaking.
“If you are sorry for what happened and regret it, then should you not help me now?”
At last, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon opened his mouth.
“How?”
Qiao Tian stared piercingly at the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
“Kill the Cult Leader with those hands.”
Then came an astonishing addition.
“With the very hands that killed me.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon silently looked down at his own hands. Though not as much as his master’s, the traces of deep years were now engraved layer by layer upon his hands as well.
As the wrinkles on those hands gradually faded and grew young, that day from long ago rose in the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s heart. That incident from long ago was as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.
“Master, did you call for me?”
The person who had run into the residence was the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in his youth. Having become the formal successor to the Saber Demon, he had received the Annihilating Heaven Demonic Saber Form and was in the midst of earnest training.
He was completely different from now. His face was rather handsome and even carried a hint of cuteness. And above all, he brimmed with the vitality of youth.
His master was seated in a taishi chair as he was today, looking down at him.
“I called you because I have something to tell you.”
“Please command me.”
Qiao Tian spoke to him as if making a declaration.
“From today onward, our Southern Saber Sect will officially support the First Young Master.”
At that moment, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s expression hardened.
“Go and inform all the Saber Ghosts of this fact.”
But instead of accepting the order, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon asked his master.
“Why the First Young Master?”
This time, Qiao Tian’s expression hardened.
“Because it is my decision.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon said something he should not have said.
“Please tell me a reason I can accept.”
He had never once disobeyed his master’s words before.
Even if he had to brace himself for a scolding, he had to hear the answer. That was how important this matter was to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
Sure enough, Qiao Tian erupted in anger.
“Are you saying you will defy your master’s will?”
“No. That is not it.”
“Then why are you asking for a reason? Why are you still standing there?”
Qiao Tian’s fierce demonic energy blasted toward the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. Under the powerful demonic energy, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon raised his inner power and resisted, but naturally, it was not enough.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon gritted his teeth and endured the pain that felt as though his entire body would be torn apart. No matter how painful it was, he had to hear the answer.
Qiao Tian strode over and stood before the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. He already knew the reason.
“I know you are especially close to the Second Young Master. And I know that the cunning Second Young Master is trying to draw you in and use you.”
Even amid the pain, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon spoke his thoughts.
“The Second Young Master is not that kind of person.”
As his words were denied, Qiao Tian’s expression hardened even further, and the demonic energy became even stronger.
“Uuugh.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon felt as though his whole body would be ripped apart. If he endured even a little longer like this, he would suffer severe internal injuries.
Even so, Qiao Tian did not stop his demonic energy. He absolutely would not forgive the defiance of the disciple who would succeed him.
“Uuuuuugh!”
The demonic energy grew even stronger, and his scream grew louder.
If he continued to disobey, Qiao Tian intended to kill his disciple then and there. He could do it. There was a line of people waiting to become the next Saber Demon.
‘Dying like this would be a dog’s death.’
In the end, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon bent his will. If he had endured any longer, there was no doubt he would have suffered irreversible internal injuries or died.
“…I will follow Master’s will.”
Only then did the crushing demonic energy subside.
With an angry face, Qiao Tian ordered him to leave.
“Withdraw.”
As he turned weakly to go, Qiao Tian spoke from behind him.
“You asked me to give you a reason you could accept?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon turned back to Qiao Tian.
“In this struggle for succession, the Second Young Master will certainly die.”
At that moment, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon felt it. The resolve that flashed through his master’s eyes.
‘Master intends to jump directly into this succession struggle.’
He felt that his master had resolved to kill the Second Young Master himself. For the sake of the First Young Master, he was a man who would stop at nothing.
“Do not stay close to the Second Young Master any longer. If you do, you will die with him.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon bowed respectfully, then began walking again.
When he left the residence, his fists were clenched tight.
As wrinkles formed upon that young fist, he returned to the present. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon of the present also had his fist clenched tightly, just as he had then.
After that day, he treated his master even better. He strove to gain even greater trust. Solely to find out when that time would come.
“I know. I know why Master chose the First Young Master rather than the Second.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon now spoke the words he had been unable to say then.
“It was not that the Second Young Master was cunning.”
After a brief pause, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon said,
“It was that the Second Young Master saw through Master’s cunning.”
Crack.
The armrest of the taishi chair shattered in Qiao Tian’s grip. The broken fragments turned to sand in Qiao Tian’s hand and scattered.
It was a move that showed just how profound Qiao Tian’s power was.
But the Blood Heaven Saber Demon continued speaking.
“From that young age, the Cult Leader was someone with clear likes and dislikes. If he disliked something, he disliked it; if he liked something, he liked it. Master knew. You knew that you were something the Cult Leader disliked.”
A beastly growl rumbled from Qiao Tian’s throat.
“You knew that if the Second Young Master became Cult Leader, you would be pushed to the bottom seat among the Eight Demon Venerables. That was something you could never endure.”
He had not known it then. It was better, perhaps, that he had not. If he had said these words in the hot blood of his youth back then, his master would likely have killed him on the spot.
“Your insolence and fearlessness have not changed from your youth to now.”
“It seems your memories have been distorted by your hatred of me. In my youth, I was more respectful to Master than anyone.”
Qiao Tian laughed. It was a laugh filled with both incredulity and deep hatred.
“You betrayed me. You betrayed me, who taught you martial arts!”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon said nothing.
“You call me cunning? Could I be as cunning as you? You knew it as well. You knew that if the First Young Master became Cult Leader, you could never become the next Saber Demon. The First Young Master would never leave alone someone like you, who had been so close to the Second Young Master.”
Yes, perhaps his master was right.
At the time, he had thought it was out of concern for the Cult Leader, but perhaps, deep in his subconscious, he had struggled to survive.
But at least his master had no right to say those words. Because he had given him no choice.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s gaze deepened, and he returned once more to a moment in the past.
The Cult Leader in his youth was standing before his eyes.
The Cult Leader from the days when he had been the Second Young Master, close enough with him to call each other brothers.
His atmosphere, too, was different from now. If nothing could be read from the Cult Leader’s eyes now, emotions could be read from his eyes in his youth.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon liked him. At least, it was not because he was someone who would become the next Heavenly Demon. He simply liked him. His actions, and his words. Though he was younger, there was much to learn from him.
He treated everyone with haughtiness and arrogance, but the Blood Heaven Saber Demon could feel that, in truth, he held something burning hot within his heart.
No, that reason alone was not enough.
He liked him enough to say these words to him, words that would change everyone’s fate from its very roots.
“The First Young Master and my master have joined hands and made a plan to kill you.”
Geom Ujin then had been different from now. Because the instant he heard those words, he clearly saw Geom Ujin’s pupils tremble.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon knew. He knew Geom Ujin wanted to end the succession struggle without killing his elder brother.
“The two of them will move during this hunt.”
Qiao Tian’s shout from then dragged the Blood Heaven Saber Demon back to reality.
“You betrayed your master, and made a younger brother kill his elder brother. That is the kind of man you are.”
If I had not, the Cult Leader would have died.
But he did not say those words to his master. Because the relationship between him and the Cult Leader would mean nothing to Qiao Tian. Because Qiao Tian would not believe in such a bond.
Yes, if he said he had betrayed him because of a pure liking for someone, it would instead wound his master. To Qiao Tian, it was better that he had betrayed him for the seat of Saber Demon.
And so the Blood Heaven Saber Demon nodded and readily admitted it.
“That is correct. I am that kind of man. Selfish and wicked, and so….”
With a sunken gaze, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon added in a low voice.
“Those who stand with me suffer great misfortune.”