After parting with my brother, I went to see Ian.
I do not know why Ian suddenly came to mind, but perhaps I wanted to see the person who understood me best.
Ian was training hard today as well.
Ian, who did nothing but train every day.
The sight of her overlapped with the me who had gathered materials for the great ritual before my regression. The me who had never stopped, aiming only for a single goal.
After training for quite some time, she belatedly realized I had arrived.
“Young Master! When did you get here?”
“A while ago.”
“What if you had been an assassin?”
“I suppose I would have died about twenty times?”
“Ahhh!”
I drew my sword and stepped in front of her.
“Let’s reduce those twenty times to nineteen.”
Realizing that I was going to demonstrate the Flying Heaven Sword Art, Ian’s eyes sparkled.
“Thank you!”
It had been a long time since I had shown her a demonstration. I did not deliberately lower my realm, but displayed it as it was, at the realm of the Eleventh Star.
There was a great difference between when I had been at the grand completion of the Tenth Star and now. Of course, she would not be able to feel it as keenly as I did. Her achievement would depend on how much of that difference she could perceive.
When I finished the forms from beginning to end, Ian stood there, sunk deep in thought.
I could tell. At some point, Ian had fallen into a state of selflessness.
So as not to disturb her, I even stilled my breathing and quietly sat down cross-legged. There was no telling when she would emerge from that state, and I could not simply wait around idly.
I began training in the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art. Perhaps our training compatibility was good; last time, I had been the one to fall into a state of selflessness, and today it was her.
When a full six double-hours had passed, I sensed her coming out of it.
Congratulations, Ian.
In my heart, I offered her my congratulations. Falling into a state of selflessness for six double-hours was not something that came easily in a martial artist’s life.
Seeing that the surroundings had grown pitch-black, Ian looked bewildered.
“Young Master?”
“How was it? Your first time in a state of selflessness.”
“A state of selflessness? Don’t tell me I was in one?”
“You were.”
“I thought I was only dazed for a moment.”
“Well, if you think about the length of our lives, six double-hours is only a moment.”
“Six double-hours passed?”
Ian was startled. In a state of selflessness, the moment right after awakening was always the most important.
“Perform the Flying Heaven Sword Art at once.”
“Yes.”
Ian performed the Flying Heaven Sword Art before me.
It had indeed taken effect. More than merely taken effect. Her Flying Heaven Sword Art had risen to the realm of the Eighth Star.
“How can this be? All I did was watch you perform the forms.”
“How do you think? It was possible because you normally do nothing but train like a bear. Did you think it would be possible just from watching my demonstration?”
“Even so…”
“All the effort you have built up until now melted together in this state of selflessness.”
“Ah!”
I taught her, and she, with her exceptional talent in martial arts, worked herself to the bone. My realm, having reached the Eleventh Star, gave her deeper inspiration, and most decisive of all, she spent six double-hours in a state of selflessness. It was a miraculous achievement created by all of these things coming together.
“There is no need to be too pleased. As you know, progress in martial arts is fast at the beginning and slows the farther you go. Think of the Flying Heaven Sword Art as truly beginning from now on. Let alone grand completion, it may take you a lifetime just to go from the Eighth Star to the Ninth.”
“Even if it takes my whole life, I will definitely reach grand completion. Heaven has granted me such a precious connection; if I fail to reach it, I would be too pathetic, and it would be too unfair.”
At the same time, the moment to perform the Divine Poison Purification Art for her had taken another step closer.
In order to perform the Divine Poison Purification Art safely without side effects, the realm of my own martial learning was important.
But afterward, her realm would be important. The thought of the greatest beauty under heaven being weak in martial arts was enough to conjure up terrible things awaiting her.
The proper time I had in mind was to perform the Divine Poison Purification Art once she reached the Ninth Star. With the Flying Heaven Sword Art at the Ninth Star, she would be able to protect herself well enough wherever she went.
But with her achievement today, I thought that moment might come much sooner than I had expected.
“Instead of dying twenty times, now you’d die about twice.”
Overcome with emotion, Ian bowed deeply on the spot.
“Thank you, Young Master.”
“No need for that between us.”
“What exactly is between us? I was only a mere guard warrior. Why do you treat me so well?”
Because you threw yourself forward to protect me, and that was how this entire story could begin.
“Ian.”
“Yes.”
“I was troubled after meeting my brother and coming back. Do you know who came to mind then? You. That is why I treat you well.”
She looked at me with an emotional expression.
“And you have used two out of your five questions.”
We had agreed that she could only ask why I treated her well five times.
“You have three left now.”
“I will use them sparingly.”
“Now that your Flying Heaven Sword Art has reached the Eighth Star, you must use it carefully. Its power will be completely different from before.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“Ian. This may not suit you when you must be wildly excited, but… do not live a life where you do nothing but train in martial arts.”
“Yes!”
Ian nodded with a bright smile.
Ian, this is why.
Because you are someone who nods beside me like this.
Even though you are clever and intelligent, and surely have all your own thoughts, you are someone who smiles like this and nods at my words.
Because you are the kind of person one hopes to have at least one of in life.
Because you are someone I could give a different answer to even if you asked not four times, but a hundred.
Stay strong, Ian. Let’s make it to the Ninth Star!
* * *
When I returned after meeting Ian, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was waiting for me near my residence, his Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber thrust into the ground.
“Why are you here?”
“I was recalling the day I first met you here.”
“Now that my brother has returned, do you want to turn everything back?”
“I thought I should at least show you that I am not a fish you have already caught.”
He pulled out the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber and drew a long line across the ground.
“When I first met you, it was here.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon drew a line at the very beginning. That day when he first came to find me, he had drawn a line on the ground just like this, poking me in the ribs all the while.
“And now, it is here.”
He drew a new line a little past the halfway point.
“Oh! It is past halfway!”
“Barely past. Is that something to be so happy about?”
“At this much, it is enough.”
“Enough?”
“Whether friend or foe, you are a friend; whether life or death, it would be life. Besides, does it not become burdensome when someone is too close? I am not confident I can take care of that person until the end, yet that person keeps crossing the line and coming over to my side.”
I drew the Black Demon Sword and made a mark near the end of the line.
“To come this far, would one not have to be my child? Well, my father would probably be around here.”
This time, I drew another line at a point that did not even reach the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s mark.
“How are you so good with words? You prepare them all night before coming out, do you not? You spend the whole night memorizing what to say and how to say it today, do you not?”
“Please say things like that when I come to visit you. Not on a day when you have suddenly come to see me, Senior.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon shook his head as if he could not win. The reason he had come to find me was my brother.
“I came because there is something I must tell you about the Eldest Young Master.”
“Please speak.”
“The first Demon Venerable the Eldest Young Master meets will probably be the Extreme Evil Young Demon. Prepare accordingly.”
In fact, his judgment was accurate. In the past, the three Demon Venerables who had supported my brother most strongly were the Demon Buddha, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, and the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
In the life before my regression, my brother committed many cruel acts at the point in the future when he was chosen as successor. It was not because of my brother’s decisions alone. The Demon Buddha, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, and the Extreme Evil Young Demon, who had attached themselves to my brother at the time, had greatly influenced him.
Would my brother’s fate change as well, like the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s or the Ilhwa Sword Venerable’s? For that to happen, the fates of the Demon Buddha and the Extreme Evil Young Demon would have to change too, would they not?
“After the Demon Buddha, the person closest to him will become the Extreme Evil Young Demon.”
“Originally, it was me, but now the Extreme Evil Young Demon will take that place. I expect the Eldest Young Master will meet all the other Demon Venerables except me. Only the order will differ.”
I silently nodded.
“The Extreme Evil Young Demon is no ordinary figure either.”
“I know.”
How else would the words extreme evil be attached to his epithet?
“You must prepare. Do you intend to simply stay as you are?”
“Yes.”
“You are going to leave it alone?”
“So long as I have you and Senior Sword Venerable, that is enough for me.”
“That is pleasant to hear, but if five Demon Venerables side with the Eldest Young Master, it will be difficult to deal with.”
“Why five, and not six?”
“Since the Cult Leader Pungcheon has come, has the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable not naturally become one of ours?”
“Cheongseon is still young and ambitious, so we cannot necessarily say that. In fact, if my brother tries to win her over, she is the one most easily won over.”
She might act like an ally and then turn her back on us. My brother might use her as a spy. There were many possibilities.
“It does not matter even if the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable is on the other side. If my brother wins her over, we might instead be able to make use of her at a decisive moment.”
“You had thought that far?”
“I have to. Of course, I intend to prevent that from happening if possible.”
Not because of Cheongseon, but because of Cult Leader Pungcheon. I also wanted to see the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable smoothly become his disciple and grow well.
“Then the opponent has six. No matter how capable you are, this will be difficult. No, I will have a hard time, so it will not do. We must definitely draw at least one of the Demon Venerables over to our side.”
“Who do you mean?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon parted his lips as if to name someone, then stopped.
“That is for the clever you to decide.”
There must be someone he thought could be on our side, but he seemed to believe it would not be right for him to say it. It also meant he trusted my judgment.
“Move quickly before the Eldest Young Master wins over all the Demon Venerables.”
“My brother will meet someone else before the Extreme Evil Young Demon.”
“Who else?”
I stared straight at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“Me?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon blinked, his expression asking what nonsense that was.
“Me?”
“Yes. My brother will go to see you first, Senior.”
“That cannot be. Does he not know that I have sided with you? He may go to all the other Demon Venerables, but he will not come to me.”
“No. Even if he does not go to the other Demon Venerables, he will surely come to you. And after you, it will be Cult Leader Pungcheon.”
Even with my certainty, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon tilted his head as if he could not believe it.
“What is the reason you think so?”
“My brother will want to show Father that the reason you came to me was only because he had been absent. He will think that taking you back from me will earn him more points with Father than bringing all the other Demon Venerables under him.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon slowly nodded. Seeing as he did not say that was impossible, it seemed he thought it could happen.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon stared at me and asked,
“Then are you not anxious? Afraid that I might go back to the Eldest Young Master?”
After a brief pause, I said,
“I am anxious.”
“Truly?”
With a face devoid of any playfulness, I said to him,
“Of course. You saw my brother that day, did you not? When he gave the gift to the Ilhwa Sword Venerable. The gift itself was not what was impressive; the meticulousness was. And he will try to give you something even more remarkable.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon nodded. He, too, knew enough about my brother.
“I would like you not to go, Senior. No matter what good offer my brother makes, please be sure to tell me. I will hold onto you with a better offer.”
“You are not going to tell me to stay out of loyalty?”
“We are not twenty-year-old children, are we?”
“You are, are you not?”
“Ah, that is true. But I am an old man in a child’s body, you see.”
I smiled awkwardly.
“At the very least, he will not be able to take you away.”
“Why?”
“Because even if I have to stake everything I have, I will make you a better offer. And if by any chance he finds a weakness and threatens you with it, you must tell me that as well.”
“Why that too?”
“Because I will definitely resolve it for you. If you ask whether I can, I believe I have shown you enough by now. If you do not want to show me that weakness, then please think of us as people who have seen everything there is to see of each other.”
After gazing at me in silence for a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon withdrew the Heaven-Extinguishing Great Saber that had been deeply embedded in the ground and rose.
“Let us wait and see. Whether, as you say, he comes to me first.”
As he was about to leave, he glanced down at the line drawn on the ground.
“And where this line will move.”