The Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked for wine the moment he sat down.
I brought out the wine I had at home and filled a cup for him.
“Has something unpleasant happened?”
Only after downing several cups in succession did the Blood Heaven Blade Demon reveal why he was angry.
“Those crippled fools were openly excluding me.”
“Hahaha.”
“I did not say that to make you laugh.”
“My apologies. I simply never imagined there would be a Demon Venerable who was being ostracized.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared even harder, as if to say he was not joking.
“I’m sorry. How exactly did they ostracize you?”
“No one spoke to me.”
“Wasn’t that how it usually was?”
“They never talked much, but not like today. I’d rather they had confronted me outright. Then I wouldn’t be this angry.”
“Confronted you about what?”
“You, of course. You!”
“Pardon? Me?”
“They suspect you conspired with me to kill the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable. That’s why they’re excluding me.”
“Did we do that?”
“We did not.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon stared at me with cold eyes.
“You must have. You killed him, didn’t you?”
“Why does everyone suspect me?”
“Because you’re the one who has stained his hands with the most blood lately. There is no law saying Soul-Capturing’s blood cannot be on those hands as well, is there? It was you, wasn’t it?”
Instead of answering, I gazed at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. He must have read it in my eyes—that I had killed the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.
“Why are you telling me the truth?”
“I said nothing.”
“True, not in words. You said it with your eyes.”
If I had intended to deny it flatly, I could have. There were two reasons I did not.
The first was to make him feel a sense of tension toward me. Friendship was friendship, but he and I would be bound by the relationship of lord and retainer. It was meant to tell him not to harbor other thoughts, but to trust and follow me. In human relationships, a proper degree of tension reduces mistakes.
The second reason was that I trusted him. I wanted to tell him the truth, and I believed that even if I did, no problems would arise.
“You truly trust me.”
“If I did not, I would never have seated you as my Left Envoy.”
“Before I am your Left Envoy, I am one of the Eight Demon Venerables.”
“You are one of the Eight Demon Venerables, but you are also my Left Envoy.”
“If you trust people this easily, one day you will be stabbed in the back.”
“It was not easy trust. Think of everything that has happened between you and me.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon abruptly asked,
“Are you not afraid?”
“Of what?”
“Of making enemies of the Eight Demon Venerables.”
“To be precise, it would be the Four Demon Venerables.”
“The Four Demon Venerables?”
After staring at me blankly for a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon slammed his cup onto the table and sprang to his feet.
“What? When did you kill three more? Who did you kill?”
I hurriedly spoke to him as he roared.
“Calm yourself. That is not what I meant.”
It was only for a very brief instant, but the fact that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had actually thought that way surprised me. Just how highly did this man think of me?
“Then what is this talk about the Four Demon Venerables?”
“Listen to my calculation. Since the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable is dead, there are now seven Demon Venerables, correct? Remove you, and that leaves six. The Sword Venerable has only come over to me halfway, so five and a half Demon Venerables. Let us say, for now, that five and a half Demon Venerables are my enemies. In this situation, you and Senior Sword Venerable would not simply sit around doing nothing, would you? If the two of you together take on one and a half Demon Venerables, then exactly four Demon Venerables remain. That is why I said my opponents were the Four Demon Venerables. In fact, it may be even fewer. If just two more among the seven Demon Venerables join hands with me, I only have to face two Demon Venerables. Easy, isn’t it?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at me with the most dumbfounded expression he had worn since we first met.
“Fine. Since I already know you are a madman to this extent, I will let that pass. But there is one thing you have failed to consider.”
“What is it?”
“Neither I nor the Sword Venerable will ever fight the Demon Venerables.”
I knew that as well. It was an ironclad rule among the Demon Venerables that had been handed down for a very long time.
“I know. I will do the fighting, so all you need to do is not betray me.”
“Betrayal is not done by people. It is done by circumstances. So you must not trust me.”
“Yes, I will not create circumstances in which I can be betrayed. So please help me, Elder.”
I treated the Blood Heaven Blade Demon with trust. I believed that was the best way to make him my man.
After drinking, he spoke as if pouring it all out.
“One wrong move and you die, you bastard!”
In that instant, my chest stirred. From the words he had barked out, I felt sincere concern.
“Yes. I will be careful.”
We drank without another word. When his cup emptied, I filled it, and we drank again. When the wine bottle was nearly empty, he told me one thing.
I had said before that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was more emotional than I was. At the time, he denied it, but he was certainly an emotional man. If he were not, he would not be telling me this now.
“The Demon Venerables have called someone in to uncover the truth behind this incident.”
“Who is it?”
An unexpected person came from his mouth.
“The Fengtian Cult Leader.”
I was startled. The Fengtian Cult Leader, of all people? It was none other than the Fengtian Cult where I had obtained the Yin Thunder Bell and the Blood-Eyed Essence.
“Why the Fengtian Cult Leader?”
“Because Soul-Capturing’s sorcery is based on the demonic arts of the Blood Cult. As you well know, the Blood Cult was the predecessor of the Fengtian Cult. So they judged that if the Fengtian Cult Leader examines Soul-Capturing’s corpse, he will be able to determine the exact cause of death.”
“I heard the Fengtian Cult Leader never vacates his seat of power.”
“He will certainly come.”
“Why are you so certain?”
“Because they will make him come, one way or another. Do not underestimate the power of the Eight Demon Venerables. They will ensure the Fengtian Cult Leader comes here no matter what. Whether by threats, by handing him treasures, or by some other means.”
In the past, during the era of the Blood Cult, such a thing would have been impossible. They had fought several wars with our cult and were a force that could not coexist with us.
But afterward, when they became the Fengtian Cult, the relationship changed. As the Eight Demon Venerables joined hands with them, the Fengtian Cult established itself as an ally that was not quite an ally.
“What about the sacred relics of the Fengtian Cult?”
“He will handle it. If he is that anxious, he will come even if he has to pack them all up and bring them with him.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to send the corpse there instead?”
There was also the method of treating it so it would not decay and sending it by carriage.
“The Fengtian Cult Leader is not coming here solely for the autopsy.”
“There is another reason?”
“There are three more. The first is that the Demon Venerables are showing their will to find the culprit no matter what. They intend to show not only our cult, but even the Martial Alliance and the Evil Dao Alliance, that the Eight Demon Venerables must never be touched. That is the most important purpose.”
“They are trying to show that they can move even the Fengtian Cult Leader. That if anyone touches a Demon Venerable, they will be avenged without fail.”
“Exactly.”
“What is the second reason?”
“The Cult Leader.”
“My father?”
“They are showing the Cult Leader. They are flaunting the fact that the reason the Fengtian Cult and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult are currently allies is not because of the Cult Leader, but because of the Eight Demon Venerables.”
The Eight Demon Venerables had checked my father endlessly. Perhaps the reason my father had drawn me in was also born from that conflict.
“And the third reason?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“If you killed the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable, the Fengtian Cult Leader will surely uncover that fact through you. He will figure out what sort of person you are and determine what method you used to kill him.”
He was right. If it was the Fengtian Cult Leader, he might even discover that I had placed the Blood-Eyed Essence in my eyes.
I absolutely had to hide the fact that I had killed the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable. If it came to light, never mind the revenge the Eight Demon Venerables would take on me; with their desperate opposition, I would never be able to become the successor.
“By the way, are you all right?”
“Me? Why would I not be?”
“You became my accomplice, did you not? Since you drank with me all night, they may think we moved together.”
“Perhaps I dozed off for a moment while drinking.”
At his words that he would wriggle out of it like that if necessary, I gave a faint laugh.
“Which of the Eight Demon Venerables went to fetch him?”
“How did you know one of the Eight Demon Venerables went?”
“Of course someone important would have gone. Would it even be strange if all of them went together?”
“The Demon Buddha went.”
The Demon Buddha, one of the Eight Demon Venerables, was close to the Fengtian Cult Leader. Sending him meant they were determined to bring the Fengtian Cult Leader back.
Smiling, I asked the Blood Heaven Blade Demon,
“Shall I chase after him and kill the Demon Buddha? Or kill the Fengtian Cult Leader as he sets out? Or perhaps…… kill them both?”
“If you do that, we will end up at war with the martial world beyond the borders. If we split apart, those idiots in the Martial Alliance will be quiet one moment and suddenly start shouting about destroying the Demon Cult. As for the Evil Dao Alliance, their eyes will turn bloodshot looking for scraps to pick up.”
“Let us drench ourselves in blood together, just once.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon stood up and said,
“If you wish to die, die alone.”
“Elder, were you and I not to live and die together?”
“Second Young Master, from the moment we were born, each of us has had to seek his own survival. I am leaving.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon left my room.
I drained the last of the wine.
‘The Fengtian Cult Leader is coming, is he?’
* * *
The next morning, when I arrived at the Heavenly Demon Hall after being summoned by my father, he was not seated in the grand chair but standing by the window.
“You called for me, Father.”
“Come here.”
I slowly climbed the stairs and walked to where my father stood.
“I hear Seohwanjin is already in an uproar.”
“Would ghosts be any different? The power struggle must be beginning.”
Seohwanjin, which had lost its master overnight, was in chaos.
At the center of that chaos, there was no grief. Because the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable had always been immersed solely in his own world, no one mourned his death. The spirit sorcerers were focused only on who would become the next Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.
“Go out for a while.”
“Where do you mean?”
“Is it not about time you toured the branches of the Yellow Springs Pavilion in the Central Plains?”
I could tell. My father also knew that the Eight Demon Venerables had called the Fengtian Cult Leader. He was trying to send me outside because he was worried about me.
“Please reconsider sending me away.”
“Why?”
“The Eight Demon Venerables have called the Fengtian Cult Leader to investigate the death of the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable.”
As expected, my father was not surprised in the least. He already knew. For a moment, I thought that perhaps one of the Demon Venerables was among my father’s eyes and limbs. Or else a highly skilled spy was relaying precise information about the movements of the Eight Demon Venerables.
“If I leave the cult at a time like this, they will suspect me.”
“They already suspect you. That is why they called the Fengtian Cult Leader. The Fengtian Cult Leader is not an easy man. I do not know what method you used to kill Soul-Capturing, but he will certainly reveal that it was your doing.”
“It was not me, Father. Could the Martial Alliance not have sent an assassin?”
“That would mean they intend to wage war against us, and they are far from war at the moment.”
The Martial Alliance and we knew each other inside and out. If war were to break out, no matter how secretly they proceeded, we would detect the signs at least three days in advance.
“Are you truly confident you can get through this matter without incident?”
“Yes.”
“Where does that confidence come from?”
He had asked the same question before. I gave the same answer in a different way.
“If you were me, Father, would you leave the cult?”
“No.”
“I am your son.”
“Yes, you are my son, not me.”
“But I can at least imitate you. If the subject of imitation is you, Father, then imitation alone is enough.”
My father decided he could no longer break my will.
“Very well. Then keep one thing in mind.”
I thought he was going to tell me to be careful. Naturally, I expected as much.
As my father turned and walked away, he said,
“You must not kill the Fengtian Cult Leader.”
At that moment, I realized.
“Surely not? You have not been worried about me all this time, but about the Fengtian Cult Leader?”
As my father strode out, he added,
“Not any other Demon Venerable either! For the time being, do not kill anyone.”
“I told you, I did not kill him!”
I denied it to the very end, but my father had already closed the door and left.
I slowly descended the stairs, walked the path of blood, and left the Heavenly Demon Hall.
Kill the Fengtian Cult Leader? I know the Fengtian Cult and its leader far too well for that. To me, he is someone as welcome as a treasure vault. However, if he comes all the way here and pressures me…… then he will become someone even more welcome to me.