The next day, Ian came to me with a bewildered look.
“How did I get back yesterday?”
“You carried me on your back. I don’t remember how I got back, either.”
At that, Ian’s cheeks turned red.
“Don’t lie. I wasn’t that drunk. I was very heavy, wasn’t I? I’m sorry, Young Master.”
“If I said you were light, that would be the lie. You weren’t heavy enough to warrant an apology. Look at these forearms!”
“Oh dear, your already slender forearms have gotten even thinner.”
“Look at these bulging muscles properly!”
After exchanging banter like that, Ian bowed her head deeply.
“Thank you, Young Master.”
“Let’s drink again next time.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
As she was about to turn away, she asked again.
“If I made any slip of the tongue, please forgive me with a generous heart. Honestly, I can’t remember what I said.”
“You didn’t make any mistakes, so don’t worry. Ah, if you ever make a mistake later, use your pardon pass.”
“A pardon pass? What’s that?”
“The right to be forgiven if you make a mistake or do something wrong to me.”
“You gave me one? I don’t recall receiving it.”
I extended my hand to her.
“A handshake.”
Ian took my hand with her large one.
“There, I’ve just issued it.”
“Since you’re giving it anyway, couldn’t you be generous and give me ten? I’ll be following you for the rest of my life, so one sheet won’t be enough, will it?”
“No! Just one sheet. So use it sparingly!”
“Yes! Young Master!”
As she smiled broadly, her eyes disappeared into the folds of her cheeks.
‘If there’s anyone in this life who ought to be forgiven, it would be me, not you. You should be the one issuing me fifty pardon passes…….’
* * *
That night, I sat alone practicing qi emission.
While detecting three places simultaneously, a stream of qi flying to the left detected a person.
These days, I was deeply engrossed in the amusement of discerning what kind of person someone was through qi. Whenever I discovered a person while sending out qi, I would begin by scanning them from head to toe. How tall they were, what weapon they used, what level their martial arts were at.
This time, too, just as I was trying to examine them.
They slightly dodged to the side.
Thinking it a coincidence, I sent qi toward them. But the opponent moved their body to the opposite side again, evading my qi.
‘Could they be dodging on purpose?’
This qi, thin and stealthy as a thread, was something the opponent could never detect.
Yet the opponent began dodging every which way, as if sensing my qi.
Who in the world?
Curious, I continued emitting qi and left the room.
I was practicing emitting qi while moving. Of course, it required several times more mental exertion than emitting it while stationary, but in real combat, there would be far more occasions to emit qi while moving.
I felt the opponent retreating. I gave chase as they fled, seemingly within reach yet not.
The place I arrived at was a pavilion in the inner courtyard.
The moment I confirmed the person standing there, I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.
“Father!”
The one who had led my qi all the way here was none other than Father.
“So it was you. I was nervous, thinking someone else had detected my qi.”
“As if it were some extraordinary qi. Even the dog dozing beneath that fence over there would have noticed.”
“Dogs are naturally perceptive creatures, are they not? But what brings you to my quarters?”
“I was just passing by.”
Though he spoke thus, there was no doubt he had come looking for me.
“The fact that we meet like this, even by chance, proves ours is truly a fated bond.”
“Enough with the nonsense.”
“Yes!”
I closed my mouth and quietly joined Father in gazing at the night sky.
After a while, I asked.
“When will you decide on the successor?”
“In a hundred years. You all are still far off.”
“Make it a hundred days. I believe I am ready.”
“Had that been the case, Hyeolcheon Doma would not have come looking for you.”
“How did you know?”
It had been a meeting between just the two of us, yet Father knew. In other words, he was watching me. Then again, he had even known when I fell victim to the Dispersing Cultivation Poison.
“After meeting you, Hyeolcheon Doma came straight to me.”
“What did he say?”
“He wished for me to punish you.”
“What?”
Startled by the unexpected words, I was taken aback. Surely Hyeolcheon Doma had not gone straight to Father after that and asked him to punish me?
“It was unexpected. He is not someone who would come to me with such a request merely because a disciple died.”
“Why did he do it?”
I pretended not to know, but I guessed Hyeolcheon Doma’s true intentions. He was testing the relationship between me and Father. Whether Father would truly punish me, and if so, what kind of punishment he would mete out. He was trying to find out whether Father considered me his successor.
“So I am thinking of punishing you.”
“There is no justification for punishing me. That disciple deserved to die.”
“Justifications can be fabricated; that is all.”
I drew my sword and drew a long line on the ground.
Then, making a mark about one-tenth of the way along it, I said.
“Hyeolcheon Doma told me this. That this long side represents the measure of how much Father regards him. Did that justification perhaps come from this length?”
Instead of answering, Father repeated the question I had asked him at the hunting ground.
“Did you not ask who I trusted most among the Demon Lords?”
“Yes.”
Father gave his answer to that now.
“I trust no one.”
I understood. With that answer, he had simultaneously conveyed that the line Hyeolcheon Doma had drawn was not accurate.
“Which side are you? The side that trusts people, or the side that does not?”
“I suppose it depends on what kind of person they are.”
“How can you know what kind of person they are?”
“Don’t you find out by spending time with them?”
“A foolish thought. The human heart is something you can never truly know. No matter how transparent someone beside you may seem, you must never think you know them.”
Ian suddenly came to mind. It was the same principle: I had thought I knew her well, yet I kept discovering new sides to her.
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Did you not say the discipline of our cult must be straightened?”
“Yes.”
“Cut the nonsense about catching corruption. Tell me your honest thoughts.”
“May I truly speak honestly?”
“Since when have you reported falsely?”
“It is not that. It is just that this answer may be disrespectful.”
“Speak.”
“At some point…… I believe we lost the Demon Way.”
The skin beneath Father’s eyes trembled. It was not something to be said in front of him.
“What is the Demon Way you speak of?”
“The Demon Way I think of is…….”
After a brief pause, I revealed the thought I had kept buried for a long time.
“I believe it is our cult’s sole creed of striking down absolute evil.”
Perhaps because it was an unexpected answer, Father turned to me, his eyes wide.
“……Our cult’s creed is to strike down absolute evil?”
“I believe what stands at our opposite extreme is not the Orthodox faction.”
“Then what is it?”
“Absolute evil.”
What I was about to say from now on would surely not be easily accepted by Father. Even so, I calmly conveyed my thoughts to him.
“There exists in this world an evil so cowardly, treacherous, and vicious that humanity cannot bear it. It is an absolute evil that would make even demons click their tongues and turn away. I believe that while the justice and chivalry championed by the Orthodox faction might suppress lesser evils, they cannot bear this absolute evil. Because the Orthodox faction inherently carries forgiveness at its root. How can they bear an evil that has abandoned its humanity and rampages like a madman, while they still harbor hearts that cherish human beings?”
Father was staring at me. It was the first time I had seen him so focused on my words. Perhaps, deep in Father’s heart, he harbored thoughts like these.
—Was that absolute evil not us?
—No, Father. In my world, I wish for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult not to be absolute evil. I will make sure it is not.
My words continued.
“The sole existence in the martial world capable of eradicating a vile, treacherous evil in an even viler, more treacherous manner—I believe we must find our reason for being here. Whether we are good or evil is not important. At times with the face of good, at times with the face of evil. When a great evil that the Orthodox faction could not bear kneels before us and trembles, I believe that only then is the true Demon Way established. Only then will the martial world truly bow its head before the dignity of our cult. When they cannot solve problems by themselves, they will beg us for help. Saying that only the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult can save the martial world. This is the Demon Way I think of.”
I daresay Father had never once conceived or heard such thoughts in his entire life.
Because this thought was not learned or realized within our cult. It was something I had felt myself while wandering the Central Plains all my life.
“If we fail to properly establish the Demon Way, we will not last long. In order to survive…… we must punish ourselves.”
Even Father, who was skilled at concealing his emotions, could not hide his shock in this moment. Father was someone who would send a blast of finger wind at one’s face to verify a lie. Yet in this moment, he showed no reaction at all, even as words that should have invited ten such blasts unfolded before him.
Father was lost in deep thought. Although I had lived a longer life than him, I could not guess what he was thinking now.
But there was one thing I could clearly feel.
Only a few days had passed since my regression, but both Father and I were changing fate. We had begun to turn toward a different future.
Eventually, Father broke the long silence.
“Any more impudence left to spout?”
“No, not today.”
I scratched my head and smiled awkwardly.
“I think I know why Hyeolcheon Doma came to me and asked me to punish you.”
“Why?”
Father’s eyes, filled with conviction, shone intensely.
“He read something in you. That is why he is trying to test you through me.”
“He must have read the potential for me to become the successor.”
“Or the danger of ruining our cult.”
“Whichever it is…… that bag-of-bones old man has quite the eye.”
After staring at me briefly, Father strode out of the pavilion as though his mind were set.
“Follow me.”
* * *
Father took me to the deepest part of the Heavenly Demon Hall. It was a place I knew well from hearing about it.
A small plaque hung above the stone cave.
Xiaotian Dong.
Surprised, I exclaimed to Father.
“Surely you cannot mean to send me in there?”
This place was a training ground of sorts for late-stage practitioners striving to become the Heavenly Demon.
Usually, disciples or children of the Heavenly Demon entered when undertaking their trials.
One must never look down on it simply because it was a training ground.
One could enter freely, but leaving was not guaranteed. I had heard that if one failed to break through the gates, one could never exit. The success rate was fifty percent. In fact, half of the Heavenly Demon’s blood relatives who had entered here lost their lives within.
That was why even that ambitious older brother of mine had never volunteered to enter.
But it was also a place one had to pass through to become the Heavenly Demon. Everyone who became the Heavenly Demon had passed through here. Seen in this light, the Heavenly Demon was among the most extreme of occupations.
“I too entered here when I was your age.”
“So how long did it take you to come out?”
“Two months.”
“Goodness. You want me to spend two months of my shining youth in this dark, damp place?”
“Do not be mistaken. It took two months because it was me. The average breakthrough time is three years.”
Father was regarded as possessing the greatest martial talent among all past Heavenly Demons. It was only because I had inherited such blood from him that I came to possess the Heavenly Martial Physique.
“Father, why are you doing this to me?”
“Did I not say earlier? I intend to punish you.”
“Is this not too cruel a punishment?”
“The Yangpo you killed will spend eternity underground.”
“While receiving the cheers and applause of the people he tormented.”
But Father had already hardened his heart.
Father. Are you truly sending me to a place where I might die? Just because that old Hyeolcheon Doma said to punish me?
I suddenly recalled what Father had said about mind-reading at the hunt.
‘Do you not care if your son dies? Or do you wish for me to emerge stronger?’
It was a place that would be a punishment if one failed to survive, but could become a reward if one did.
‘Or are you trying to protect me from Hyeolcheon Doma, now that I have stuck out like an awl from a pocket?’
Because Father never revealed his heart at all, I could not fathom his intentions.
Father placed his hand on the stone tablet attached to the side of the cavern and infused his unique inner power, causing the stone door to open.
*Rumble.*
At Father’s gaze telling me to stop complaining and enter, I refused no longer.
“Very well. I will come out even faster than you.”
*Rumble……*
Through the closing stone door, Father spoke with a cold yet smug smile.
“Whatever you do. Don’t die.”