Bedwetter.
Perhaps it was because I suddenly saw that disgusting face.
The words spilled out before I even realized it.
Creak-
It was enough to create a crack in the mask he wore so rigidly.
"...I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"Why don't you fix your expression before you speak?"
Look at this bastard.
Seeing his facial expression crumple the moment I brought up the bedwetter story.
It seems he hasn't forgotten what happened back then.
'I thought he had lost consciousness.'
Surprisingly, did he have a sliver of consciousness left?
If so, that wouldn't have been a very good situation for him.
Sure enough, Namgung Cheonjun's expression was rotting away as if his mask was shattering to pieces.
Judging by his state, he must have thought it was a dream.
Or he wanted to pretend it didn't happen. It must be one of the two.
"I even dried your pants so you wouldn't be embarrassed. Shouldn't you express your gratitude first?"
"...Grit."
I only told him not to embarrass Namgung Bi-a.
But if that were the reason, he would be even more enraged.
"...You bastard..."
See that?
He's getting angry right away.
Seeing that puts me at ease.
Fortunately, it seems he hasn't matured or anything.
Not that I would have looked kindly upon him if he had matured, though.
"...No matter how many times I see you, you still displease me."
"That's quite a way to talk to the benefactor who saved your face."
Zzt.
Mid-conversation, an energy brushed past my cheek.
It was Thunder Qi.
A piercing Thunder Qi was flowing out along Namgung Cheonjun's shoulders.
'It's vivid, unlike back then.'
Unlike the faint Thunder Qi he emitted during the Biimu Tournament.
I'm not sure if his realm has risen, or if it's because he did something foolish.
But the level was different from back then.
'Even so, it's only so much.'
That's all it amounts to.
At best, it was no different from the level of an outstanding late-stage expert.
In my current situation, late-stage experts are nothing special except for the top two or three.
Just as I considered grabbing and severing the incoming internal Qi.
Crunch.
A much larger energy surged forth and swallowed the Thunder Qi.
It was also Thunder Qi.
But it was denser, with a much more massive presence.
Swallowing the Thunder Qi aimed at me, someone stepped in front.
It was Namgung Bi-a.
"Cheonjun."
The coldly flowing voice was full of deep anger.
It was a voice I hadn't heard from her in quite a long time.
"What are you doing?"
"...Sister?"
"What... what are you doing right now?"
She hadn't drawn her sword, but Sword Aura was flowing from Namgung Bi-a.
It was the aura of a Sword Master who had surpassed the Peak realm and begun to handle energy with maturity.
To be able to gather and control her energy just a year after breaking through the wall.
'...It's amazing every time I see it.'
To me, it was simply fascinating.
Watching talents that might dare to reach the heavens from the closest distance.
It was a fascinating thing day by day.
In my past life, I was full of jealousy and inferiority complex over such things.
But now, that wasn't the case.
Around the time the thick Thunder Qi began to surround the area as if targeting me.
Namgung Cheonjun looked at Namgung Bi-a and narrowed his eyes.
"I merely came to give my greetings."
"This... is not a greeting."
That's obvious.
Who would give a greeting like this?
Of course, I started the provocation first, but his purpose for approaching was obvious, so it couldn't end well.
Hah.
At Namgung Bi-a's words, Namgung Cheonjun let out a hollow laugh.
His sigh was particularly deep.
"It seems Sister is still on that bastard's side. Your flesh and blood is me, not him."
"...Cheonjun."
As Namgung Bi-a called his name once more, clearly displeased.
The Thunder Qi flowing from Namgung Cheonjun vanished.
He had suppressed the emitted energy himself.
As the threatening aura disappeared, Namgung Bi-a also erased her Sword Aura.
Looking at Namgung Bi-a like that, Namgung Cheonjun.
"...If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have held back."
Leaving those reluctant words behind, he turned his back and walked toward the deep darkness behind him.
Is this really the end?
Did he come just to do this?
'That can't be.'
I frowned slightly and watched Namgung Cheonjun's back as he disappeared into the distance.
Because I wanted to know how that bastard ended up in this situation.
'Did he receive the Blood Qi again?'
When I saw him in the banquet hall earlier.
I didn't feel any Blood Qi in his dantian, so I thought nothing much had happened since last time.
But looking closely, that wasn't the case.
It meant the dantian wasn't the only place to look.
The Blood Qi hadn't completely disappeared from Namgung Cheonjun's dantian.
The Blood Qi that should have been lying dormant in his dantian.
Had melted into Namgung Cheonjun's body.
Leaving the internal Qi in the dantian as is.
The fact that faint Blood Qi was circulating around his body.
Was a sight I had seen many times in my past life.
'Back then, it wasn't Blood Qi, but Demonic Qi, though.'
Also, because internal Qi is converted into Demonic Qi.
It was hard to see them as exactly the same.
Just as internal Qi naturally permeates.
Into the body of a martial artist who had reached the Peak.
Demonic Qi naturally mixes into the body.
If one were to say they are similar energies so it's all the same.
The reason for that state was one I knew.
'Demonification.'
Namgung Cheonjun.
Was currently no different from a demonic human.
If that is called the energy bestowed by the Blood Demon, it might be ambiguous to call him a demonic human.
But from what I see, he doesn't look much different from a demonic human.
I'm not sure if he has been dominated by madness and become a lunatic.
'He was a crazy bastard to begin with, so it might not show.'
Otherwise, he might not be consumed by madness.
For example, the Sword Demon, who was a master of the Demonic Cult.
Was a lunatic obsessed with slaughter from the beginning, so becoming a demonic human didn't change his nature.
Namgung Cheonjun could be of that type as well.
If not.
'Blood Qi might have nothing to do with madness.'
Since it's an energy I don't know well.
I should keep many possibilities open.
But apart from that.
'Why did he end up like that?'
Since various things exploded after the Biimu Tournament.
Was it a problem that I didn't bother to care?
'Isn't drying his pants enough?'
I cleaned up after a grown man pissed himself.
What more was I supposed to do there?
Have some conscience.
Even if Namgung Cheonjun really became a demonic human. No, since it's Blood Qi, should I call him a Blood Demonic Human?
Anyway, even if he became like that.
I had no intention of doing anything about it.
The only thing I could know now was.
'That the Blood Demon is indeed making a move.'
I don't know what intentions he holds in moving.
But the fact that Namgung Cheonjun ended up like that wouldn't be entirely the Blood Demon's fault.
Above all.
'It's repulsive.'
His state.
The energies I faced with my eyes.
Are undergoing changes, but his body.
Looked nothing but abrasive.
It gave me a sensation like I wanted to grab him immediately and extract the energy.
'Thinking of absorbing it... is this because of that bastard's appetite?'
Is it because that pig bastard who eats anything is inside me?
Or is it because he rarely shows such full hostility?
Furthermore.
It seemed others besides me hadn't noticed.
Was it because I had received the exact same Blood Qi from the Blood Demon?
"Haa."
A sigh escaped naturally.
'If you're a retired old fogey, just stay holed up quietly.'
If you're someone who caused trouble centuries ago, just quietly rot in the ground.
Why are you still lingering and making things troublesome for people?
'I'm someone who's going to go crazy from other things as it is.'
Not the Blood Demon.
My life is already busy day by day with other things.
I really wished there was no room for the previous generation's disaster to butt in.
As I wrapped my throbbing head and sighed.
A cold, white hand reached out and covered my forehead.
It was Namgung Bi-a's palm.
"...Are you okay...?"
Her carefully asking tone was mixed with anxiety.
She was worried that my feelings might have been hurt because of what Namgung Cheonjun did to me.
'How foolish.'
She's still immature in some ways.
I covered Namgung Bi-a's hand with mine once more and said.
"I'm fine."
"...Yeah."
Namgung Bi-a probably still didn't know why I was acting like this.
She was just doing it because I looked tired.
'Then what should I do?'
If that bastard simply became depraved, drunk on his own energy.
Honestly, I didn't really want to care.
If he went that far because he was drunk on energy.
I wouldn't want to do anything about it.
It does bother me since it's related to the Blood Demon.
'I didn't want to intervene.'
If it weren't for the look in his eyes and the words he showed at the very end.
I wouldn't have cared.
-...If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have held back.
The guy's gaze as he spat those words was turbid.
The sliver of emotion that seemed mixed with his energy.
Was felt so vividly by my qi perception.
I had to wrap my qi around Namgung Bi-a so it wouldn't reach her.
Because I didn't want such disgusting emotions to touch her.
I recalled Namgung Cheonjun's face.
'I hope he doesn't cross the final line.'
How many times has it been now?
I think it's been at least three times.
Including the words that the Crouching Dragon bastard passed on as if it were his dying will.
Including making reasons to suppress it and hold back.
Leaving him alone quietly has reached its limit now.
'It means there is no next time.'
This warning wouldn't reach him.
Since I'm not kind enough to bother telling him.
I only murmured as I looked in the direction he disappeared.
Barely controlling myself in case my killing intent leaked out and reached Namgung Bi-a.
I pray that the bastard doesn't make an idiotic choice.
But from what I could see, that didn't seem likely.
Standing still and watching the darkness.
I said to Namgung Bi-a beside me.
"First.
"Yeah...?"
"Go back first, I have some business to take care of."
"
Namgung Bi-a looked at me with clear eyes as if trying to find something in my words.
But soon nodded.
I left her and walked away.
My steps toward the garden were fast.
As if seeking the distant darkness, I plunged into the forest.
The forest I entered was incredibly dark, just as I wanted.
A few old trees around had grown tall, blocking even the moonlight.
This meant it was a forest where not a single ray of light could seep in.
A voice echoed in the ears of Namgung Cheonjun, who was crossing the forest with hasty steps.
-I told you not to reveal it carelessly.
The voice was similar to a sound transmission.
It was a calm woman's voice.
Hearing this, Namgung Cheonjun couldn't help but crumple his expression like a fierce ghost.
"Didn't I tell you not to meddle in my affairs?"
-Thunder Dragon, I don't know what ideology you hold or what your goal is, but I clearly told you it is still too early.
"Whether it's early or not, I will decide."
-...If you keep acting like this, He will have no choice but to take back the Sacred Fire He bestowed upon you as well.
At the woman's words, Namgung Cheonjun's steps came to a halt.
One might think the woman's words touched a nerve.
But Namgung Cheonjun's face was filled with scorn rather than anger.
"Do you even have the authority to do that?"
-Thunder Dragon.
Anger seeped into the woman's voice, a rare occurrence.
However, Namgung Cheonjun didn't care much.
"He calls you a Dancer, so you seem to think you're really something. In reality, you're just a parrot passing on the words of the Great One."
-Watch your words. Even if you're drunk on energy and not in your right mind...
"I'm being careful right now. As you said, I'm in a position where I've received the Sacred Fire."
Even that so-called Pang Ujin.
And pushing aside that shitty divine clan.
It was the power he had received.
The day he was utterly defeated by that bastard and followed Pang Ujin underground.
That day, Namgung Cheonjun faced a great existence and was granted power.
This meant he had been chosen.
The power to tear apart the bug who took his sister.
As if the power wasn't a lie.
His elusive Thunder Qi grew stronger, and his dantian became wider and firmer.
The wall of the Peak, which seemed impossible to overcome, was also able to be broken so easily.
'Just a little more.'
So just a very little more.
Until the newly received power completely permeates his body.
It was just a very short time. He just had to get past this time.
That person had said.
When the body is assimilated.
And the energy returns to the dantian once again.
Only then would a new world unfold.
'When that happens, this time I will truly...'
Tear that bastard's limbs apart and burn them.
And after that... he would reclaim his beautiful sister.
And after that...
Killing his boiling desires, Namgung Cheonjun let out a breath.
His sister was still beautiful.
And she had become much stronger.
He remembered the massive thunderbolt that devoured his Thunder Qi.
His sister was growing into a stronger figure day by day, just like her blooming appearance.
Wasn't it absolutely perfect?
'As expected, she is my sister.'
That was why he couldn't hand her over to a mere bug like that.
His sister, caught in that bastard's tricks, was being deceived.
Listening to empty words and thoughts, she was gradually pushing him away.
...
!
...
.
So, he had to bring her back.
It was the power to do so.
"...How much longer do I have to wait?"
How much longer must I wait.
For the complete assimilation He spoke of to arrive.
Namgung Cheonjun asked the Dancer again to find out.
But for some reason, the Dancer answered with silence.
He didn't like the way she treated him with that calm voice.
But she had never been without an answer like this.
Namgung Cheonjun expressed his doubts and asked again.
"Why is there no ans..."
"What answer.
The answer came from somewhere else.
Goosebumps instantly rose on Namgung Cheonjun's back.
He hurriedly pulled up his internal qi and turned around, but.
"...Keuk...!"
An outstretched hand instantly grabbed Namgung Cheonjun by the throat.
"I'm asking you. What answer."
He struggled desperately, but just having his neck grabbed felt like his entire body was restrained.
Soon after.
Where Namgung Cheonjun faced, unable to even breathe properly.
As if lighting up the dark forest.
"Are you not going to answer?"
Glowing red eyes, brimming with killing intent, were staring up at him.