As far as I know, there are two ways to avoid being found out after putting Blood-Eye Essence into one’s eyes.
The first is Hwan-gol Tal-tae. When the body is completely remade, it becomes impossible to tell that Blood-Eye Essence was put in. This method is as difficult as mastering the Nine Transformations Demonic Art, so it is not worth considering right now.
The second method is to change not my entire body, but only my eyes.
Can eyes be changed, you ask?
They can. In this era, there is exactly one person who can change my eyes. What’s more, he is within our cult. The problem is whether he will actually grant my request.
The person in question greeted me with the heavy stench of blood.
“Second Young Master, welcome.”
“Have you been well, Elder Ma-ui?”
That person was none other than Ma-ui. The blood on his clothes belonged to a patient.
“I am always the same.”
“Please take breaks as you work. You look tired.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
I had not had much contact with Ma-ui before, but after becoming the Pavilion Master of Hwangcheongak, I had run into him several times on business and was able to build some familiarity.
“I happened to obtain some medicinal herbs, so I came to give them to you.”
I handed him the gift I had prepared. These were not ordinary herbs that came into the infirmary, but ones I had specially purchased from outside at great expense.
“Oh, such precious herbs. Thank you.”
“Not at all.”
“Come, have a cup of tea.”
“Yes.”
I drank tea with Ma-ui. After exchanging a few casual words, Ma-ui asked in an offhand manner.
“It seems you came because you have business with me?”
“That is correct. In truth, I came because I have a request to make.”
“Tell me.”
“You are a busy man, so I will not beat around the bush. Please perform the New Eye Art on me.”
For an instant, Ma-ui was greatly startled.
The New Eye Art.
It was a procedure that strengthened a martial artist’s eyes. Once one received the New Eye Art, not only ordinary vision but even dynamic visual acuity improved by leaps and bounds. In addition, one would not be easily affected by external influences entering through the eyes. Light or darkness, underwater or amid smoke—none of those external environments would affect them.
As the name implied, one was reborn with new eyes. Its effects were so extraordinary that it was also called the Divine Eye Art.
If I received this New Eye Art, even if Cult Leader Pungcheon examined my eyes, he would not realize that I had put Blood-Eye Essence into them. Unfortunately, however, the New Eye Art was known as a secret art that had been lost long ago.
Ma-ui’s expression sank completely.
“How did you know that I can perform the New Eye Art?”
Since it was not something that could come out by chance, Ma-ui did not pretend ignorance. What he wanted to know was how I knew.
I would only learn that Ma-ui had mastered the New Eye Art far in the future.
When I returned to the cult again to obtain materials for the Great Art, Ma-ui had already died. His chief disciple, Ho Baek, held the position of Divine Physician then, and I learned everything through him.
Ho Baek offered the New Eye Art to Ju Baekdo, who was the cult leader at the time.
Because of that, it came to light that Ma-ui had passed the New Eye Art and the necessary medicines to his disciple, Ho Baek.
I did not say whom I had heard it from. Rather, if I did not say it, there would be one person Ma-ui would think of.
“Ah!”
His expression turned grave. He would think that Father had told me. There was a reason he could not help but think so.
According to the recollections of his chief disciple Ho Baek, Father had refused when Ma-ui offered to perform the New Eye Art on him. Ho Baek had recalled that thanks to that, the materials for the New Eye Art were passed on to him, allowing him to perform it on the cult leader of that time, and that everything was thanks to his master.
That was why Ma-ui would grant my request.
Though Father had refused the New Eye Art, the fact that he had told me about it could be interpreted as an intention for Ma-ui to perform the New Eye Art on me.
“Do you know that one of the materials needed for the New Eye Art, the fruit of the Paradise Guanyin Herb, is so extremely difficult to obtain that the New Eye Art can be performed only once in an era?”
“Yes, I know.”
“And knowing that, you still want the New Eye Art?”
“I do.”
Ma-ui fell into thought. I gave him time to think. I waited quietly while drinking tea, and before long Ma-ui opened his mouth.
“If I perform the New Eye Art for you, Second Young Master, what will you do for me?”
“I have nothing to give you right now. Instead…”
Looking at Ma-ui, I spoke with eyes full of certainty.
“I will become the cult leader.”
“!”
“When I become the cult leader, I should be able to grant whatever it is that you wish for, Ma-ui.”
Ma-ui’s gaze wavered. I knew what Ma-ui wanted.
Ma-ui desired it until the day he died, but Father never permitted it in the end. That was also the reason Father had refused the New Eye Art. If he received the New Eye Art, he would have had to grant Ma-ui’s request.
But unlike Father, I had no intention of refusing. I intended to grant Ma-ui’s request.
“Will you grant it, no matter what it is?”
“Yes. However, only one thing.”
“One request is enough.”
“I promise.”
Now, there was one final thing left for Ma-ui to judge.
“Are you confident you can become the successor?”
“I am.”
This time, I asked.
“How do you see it, Elder? Do you think I will become the successor?”
Given my recent actions, Ma-ui must certainly have been paying attention as well.
“I believe your abilities are more than sufficient. In fact, one could say they overflow. However… you are too clear. I cannot be certain whether you truly suit the position of cult leader.”
“That works out even better.”
“What do you mean?”
“Please use the New Eye Art to hide these clear eyes. Make them into new eyes.”
I said it like a joke, but Ma-ui did not laugh. He was facing the choice of a lifetime, and he knew that choice would determine his own fate.
“This is an important decision, so please think it over and contact me.”
I rose from my seat.
“Second Young Master, let me ask one final thing.”
“Yes.”
“If you become the cult leader, how do you intend to deal with the Murim Alliance?”
“That will depend on the situation at the time. But one thing is certain. Whether orthodox or unorthodox, individual or organization, man or woman, if I judge them to be absolute evil, I will surely eliminate them.”
Knowing that, at least for him, it was the model answer, I left that place with an easy heart.
* * *
Three days later, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon visited the infirmary.
Ma-ui was sitting blankly in the treatment room, and the fatigue from several days of deliberation had settled over his face.
As he entered the room, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon said,
“Is it your time to die? Why are you doing something you never do?”
Ma-ui had sent someone to say he wanted to meet in secret. That was why he had quietly come here at such a late hour.
“For us, the time to die is not far off.”
“Shut your unlucky mouth. Or stop saying ‘us.’”
“Why do you have so many lingering attachments to this world?”
“The ones who say they have no attachments to the world usually have an even worse hell inside them.”
Not many people knew that the two of them were such close friends.
“What is it? Seeing as you called me, have you finally gotten sick of saving people? Shall we go kill people together?”
Ma-ui smiled faintly. He and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who always blurted out whatever he wanted without restraint, were oddly well matched. The saying that people become close because their personalities are different made sense when one looked at his relationship with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
There had been times when he had thought he wanted to live like the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, saying everything he wanted to say.
“I called you because I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you choose the Second Young Master?”
For a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stared intently at Ma-ui. Then he burst into hearty laughter.
“That bastard truly doesn’t have a place his hands can’t reach. Seeing as he’s even calling the infirmary’s prim scholar out to the battlefield. Why are you asking that?”
After a brief pause, Ma-ui answered.
“Like you said, perhaps I’ve grown tired of saving people.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon laughed heartily, but Ma-ui remained serious.
“Why the Second Young Master?”
“Why else? I chose him because he seems like he’ll become the cult leader.”
Ma-ui nodded. He was under the misunderstanding that the cult leader had told Geom Mugeuk about his New Eye Art.
Judging by that fact, there was a high possibility that the Second Young Master would become the successor.
But Ma-ui needed more than that. He stood at the crossroads of whether or not to use the one chance he had in his entire life. And on that depended whether or not he could fulfill his lifelong wish.
“So I’m asking what the reason is.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s honest answer was this:
Before I knew it, I got swept up by that bastard. When I came to my senses, I was putting the Divine Pill Beyond Heaven into his mouth.
But he could not bring himself to say that.
“The Second Young Master said this. In his demonic path, people do not smash tables at inns. That is why I chose him.”
Ma-ui stared blankly at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon for a moment. He had not expected such an absurd answer, but strangely, he felt as though he understood what that meant. Geom Mugeuk’s heart, and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s heart as well.
“Well, it is about time you stopped breaking them.”
Ma-ui rose from his seat.
“You call a man here and now you’re leaving? We should have a drink.”
“Next time. I’ll pay then.”
“What next time is there for old men? Pay today!”
But Ma-ui had already left.
Watching his back, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon let out a hollow laugh.
“With that kind of diligence, he won’t die easily.”
Of course, he was not talking about Ma-ui, but Geom Mugeuk.
* * *
I opened my eyes in the middle of sleep.
The Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art had informed me of a visitor’s presence.
I rose from my bed, belted on my sword, and went outside. Ma-ui was standing in the yard.
“Elder, you have come?”
“I released no demonic energy at all. How did you know I had come?”
“I opened my eyes while sleeping. As if it were fate.”
The reason I deliberately added that commonplace word, fate, was because it worked extremely well on older people. At their age, there were many things that were difficult to sort through unless they decided that it had all been fate.
“I have spent my entire life saving people.”
“That is a noble thing.”
Ma-ui shook his head.
“I am not a self-sacrificing person. The reason I saved people was because I wanted to kill one person.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked as if I did not know, but I already knew. That was also the reason Ma-ui had thrown himself into our cult.
“For a physician to kill someone is to defy the will of heaven. That is why. To wash away even a little of that sin, I strove to save even one more person.”
After letting out a long sigh, Ma-ui asked me,
“If you become the cult leader, will you kill that person for me?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you not ask who it is?”
“If it is someone you wish to kill, Elder, then he must surely be a wicked man. I trust you.”
“How do you know what lies inside me?”
“I believe there are times when the shell is more important than what is inside. The shell called Ma-ui is not one that can be easily obtained. I trust the effort it took to create the name Ma-ui.”
Of course, my trust in him was not based on that alone. I trusted him because I knew everything about him—his life and death, even the person he wanted to kill. If not, I would never entrust my eyes to him.
“It will not be easy to kill him. If things go wrong, many people will be swept up and die. That is why my wish is to kill only him, without any other sacrifices. Can you promise me you will do that?”
This was probably why Father had refused. To grant his request, Father would have had to move personally, and the position of Heavenly Demon was far too heavy a thing to be moved for one individual’s grudge.
“I will become stronger and kill only him without unnecessary sacrifice.”
“Will you promise me?”
“Yes.”
“Even if I die first, will you keep this promise?”
“I promise. When I drive my sword into his heart, I will whisper to him that it is the sword Ma-ui sent.”
Perhaps the mere thought pleased him, for a smile formed at Ma-ui’s lips.
At last, Ma-ui made up his mind.
“Very well. I will perform the New Eye Art on you.”
“Thank you very much.”
I bowed to him in courtesy.
“Give your thanks after the New Eye Art is finished. Now, let us go.”
“You intend to do it now?”
“Once I’ve made up my mind, I should do it right away. Who knows what my mind will be like tomorrow? Why? Do you dislike it?”
“Of course not. Let us go.”
I followed Ma-ui as he strode away.
As I did, I carefully looked around. This was the last world I would see with these eyes.