Chapter 469 - Pleased to Meet You.
The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes.
Was the sensation of being held in someone's arms.
Swish, swish.
A careful touch.
A sensation of someone slowly stroking my back.
I slowly lifted my head and assessed the situation.
"...Hm?"
Perhaps because I had stirred, the hand stroking my back stopped, and I met eyes with the person holding me.
It was the Demon Sword Empress.
She looked at me, widening her eyes.
"...Are you... awake?"
"..."
The Demon Sword Empress wore an utterly exhausted expression.
Looking at her, I was rendered speechless.
"Why...?"
Why was she doing this? I looked around with a puzzled expression.
"...!"
I was shocked the moment I saw. The situation was far from ordinary.
Everywhere were piled unknown black forms.
The traces were gradually subsiding, but their appearance was unspeakably grotesque.
Moreover.
'Did it burn?'
Traces of flames remained in the surroundings as well.
I could tell at a glance.
That those were flames I had spewed.
Fwoosh, fwoosh.
The flames that hadn't fully died out, heating the floor, were splendid.
And they were blue, so blue.
'Blue flames?'
Originally, the flames I spewed were tinged with purplish-red.
Or black flames mixed with demonic energy; that would have been normal.
Seeing blue flames burning splendidly meant it was the influence of blood qi.
But how could such flames remain in this place?
Feeling something strange, I exerted strength in my fingertips.
Fwoosh!
Flames ignited.
I frowned at that.
It was blue flame.
"What the hell."
I definitely hadn't raised my blood qi.
Since I had kept my demonic energy quietly subdued, normally a purplish-red flame should have burst out.
'...This.'
The flame that had ignited at my fingertips was unmistakably the flame that appeared when I used blood qi.
Seeing that, I immediately checked my internals.
The first thing I checked was my dantian.
To see what had become of the space that had broken and emptied.
Thud!
"...!"
When I exerted force to check my dantian, I felt a reaction in an unexpected place.
My heart.
To be exact, the location of my middle dantian.
'What.'
Why was this reacting out of nowhere?
Holding back confusion, I began circulating energy to observe my body.
Fortunately, the energy circulated according to my will.
Did this mean my vessel had returned?
If that were the case.
'...The location is all near the heart.'
The starting point of all energy was the middle dantian.
It was natural to fill the middle dantian through the lower dantian.
And from there, to fill the upper dantian.
'The fact that the starting point is the middle dantian.'
Meant the lower dantian, which should have been the source of my internal energy, had disappeared.
Then where had all that abundant internal energy gone?
I immediately examined my middle dantian deeply.
'Ha.'
Found it.
All the energy that had been in my lower dantian had moved and gathered in my middle dantian.
How could this happen?
Just as I couldn't properly understand the strange situation.
A cold sensation touched my cheek.
"Are you okay...?"
It was the Demon Sword Empress's hand.
Feeling it, I startled and sat up.
"Huh?"
As I sat up, I suddenly swayed.
Something was strange.
'The height.'
It felt slightly higher than the eye level I used to know.
As the perception differed, my body briefly refused to listen.
"..."
Watching this, the Demon Sword Empress also softly sat up.
Looking at her, I could finally properly grasp what the problem was.
'My height.'
Looking at the Demon Sword Empress, she somehow felt smaller.
I had been slightly taller than her originally, but not by this much.
Compared to when the difference had been about a finger joint.
Now it seemed like roughly half a forearm's length.
'I grew taller.'
I could especially feel my arms and legs had lengthened.
The changes didn't stop there.
The moment I looked at my right arm, I had to open my eyes wide.
'...What the hell, this is crazy.'
The purplish-red bandages that had been wrapped were abruptly changed to blue.
And the state of the arm visible between the bandages was unspeakably bizarre.
It was covered in scales at a glance.
Originally, only my right arm had slight scales protruding....
'Rather, the right arm is fewer.'
Now, compared to my right arm, my left arm might as well have been a different creature's.
The left arm covered in blue scales was difficult to see as human.
I racked my brain wondering how my arm had ended up like this.
'Ah, this....'
A memory surfaced.
When the blood qi rushed in the form of a dragon, the arm that had been bitten and torn off was my left arm.
Could it be the effect of that?
Its appearance was utterly grotesque.
Though the bandages covered it, it was not a normal sight for it to have reached my shoulder.
'...Are other places fine?'
While examining my body, fortunately other parts seemed fine.
Or maybe not, but the visible parts were okay except for my left arm.
I tried clenching and opening my fist repeatedly.
Grip.
"..."
I could feel the pressure was stronger.
It seemed not my energy, but my physical body itself had grown stronger.
'It feels like I've undergone a rebirth.'
Except for the energy gathering in my middle dantian and the physical transformation.
It wasn't much different from what was commonly called rebirth.
Moreover.
'...My previously incomplete realm has been settled too.'
The realm that had remained incomplete seemed to have firmly taken root.
Excluding my outer appearance overall, was there no major problem?
'Then what has changed.'
For something said to make me no longer human once the vessel breaks.
I couldn't feel that great a change.
I thought I might suddenly transform into a monster or something.
It wasn't as severe as I thought....
'...Though saying that, my condition is still pretty grotesque.'
Looking at my left arm, it wasn't exactly fine, but this was much better than expected.
After looking my body over here and there, I suddenly looked at the Demon Sword Empress in front of me.
She was looking at me with a strange gaze.
At first her eyes went to my left arm, but now she was looking into my eyes.
As I met that gaze.
"..."
I unknowingly averted my eyes slightly.
And then lightly swept my face.
Because looking at the Demon Sword Empress made my breath catch.
'Damn.'
The part I had been suspecting, combined with the situation coming to this, made it even harder not to know.
Moreover, if I recalled how she had acted toward me.
I could no longer pretend not to know.
I turned my gaze back to the Demon Sword Empress.
She was looking at me with still enigmatic eyes.
That gaze looked particularly uncomfortable to me.
Suppressing it, I asked her.
"You."
Informal speech came out naturally.
It was much more comfortable than when I had addressed her as Vice Lord and used formal speech.
"You... know who I am, don't you?"
I finally spat out the words that had been subtly pricking at my insides.
Ever since I realized she had been treating me specially.
I had expected she knew my identity.
It was simply because it was more than a mere 'suspicion' that I hadn't bothered to bring it up.
"...?"
Hearing the question, the Demon Sword Empress tilted her head and looked at me.
Had she failed to grasp the intent of my question?
If not.
'Could it be she really doesn't know?'
That wasn't impossible either.
From the beginning, when I first came, my face itself looked different.
And I had sealed my martial arts, so I thought there was no way to know.
The problem is.
'She just saw the flame.'
She must have seen the flame I ignited with my hand.
Could she still not know after seeing that?
Was my face still different even now?
Just as such anxiety and doubt sprouted.
"...What... do you mean?"
The Demon Sword Empress asked me back.
She really didn't seem to understand my words.
'Perhaps that's for the best.'
If she hadn't recognized me, that was rather fortunate.
Then I only needed to know why the Demon Sword Empress treated me specially.
Let it slide for now.
Just as I thought that and tried to continue.
"No... forget what I just said...."
"Guyang Cheon."
She froze.
At the words the Demon Sword Empress spat out, my mouth shut on its own.
I looked at the Demon Sword Empress with greatly startled eyes.
Just now, I was certain she had called my name?
"...That."
"Your name."
"..."
With a calm face, the Demon Sword Empress said so.
Holding confusion, I looked at her blankly.
"...No matter... what happens...."
The Demon Sword Empress spoke to me in a tone no different from usual.
"I...."
"There is no chance I wouldn't recognize you."
"..."
A tone full of conviction.
Leaving aside how she could say that with such conviction.
The words she spat out without hesitation were enough to thoroughly stir my anxious heart.
"...How?"
I couldn't understand.
As always, I couldn't understand her.
Moreover, I didn't want to admit it.
"You...."
Knowing you now, who I hadn't noticed in the past.
I hated that so much.
Because the current me knows how damnable it is to see the you that I missed and failed to notice.
I tried to ask something but had to close my mouth.
I repeated that several times.
I saw her tired eyes and her bleeding, wounded body.
Pretending not to see that, I asked something else.
"Then, why aren't you surprised?"
"...?"
"That I exist again... isn't that strange?"
In this world, I already exist.
He is a sight that annoys me just by looking, but he was definitely me too.
It was simply amazing that the Demon Sword Empress, having grasped my current identity, held no doubt about this.
To this question, the Demon Sword Empress only looked at me with her unique blue eyes.
"...That's amazing."
The short answer was almost serene.
"Just amazing?"
"Yes."
"..."
She's not curious, just amazed, huh.
What can I say.
"...That's so like you."
It was an answer so absurdly characteristic of her more than anyone else.
At that sight, a slight smile formed.
Swish.
Her fingertips touched my cheek again.
This time I didn't avoid it in surprise.
I could have actually blocked it, but I didn't bother.
"...In the place where you were. Am I... there?"
"I am."
She seemed to naturally think I wasn't from this world.
I didn't deny it.
"How is it?"
"Similar. Dull and slow-witted like you are now, with foolish eyes like you have now."
Hearing my words, the Demon Sword Empress's brows furrowed slightly.
Seeing that, my heart sank heavily.
"Yeah, it was always these eyes."
The current Demon Sword Empress too.
The Namgung Bia I know too.
They don't particularly look different.
Then why did I think they were different.
No, I didn't think they were different.
I must have wished, begged, that they were different.
As we kept our gazes fixed like that, the Demon Sword Empress spoke to me without relaxing her furrowed brows.
"The me of that place... do you look at her with these eyes?"
"What eyes? What do you mean, these eyes?"
Wondering what she meant, as I spoke again, the Demon Sword Empress... Namgung Bia's hand carefully fell away from my cheek.
"Envy."
At the word she uttered with a slight upturn of her lips, various emotions flashed.
It was an emotion I had rather wished not to know.
What should I say?
A few words came to mind, but in the end, I couldn't say anything.
Because there were no words I dared to utter.
Silence flowed as I quietly looked at Namgung Bia.
"...For now...."
Recalling that she wasn't in perfect condition, I reached out my hand.
It wasn't a situation where we could stay here indefinitely.
For now, leaving this place was the priority.
Moreover, right after moving locations, I needed to further understand my body.
I needed to find out how it had changed, whether I had really become inhuman.
Thinking so, just as I tried to take Namgung Bia and move to a safe place.
Wooong-
"What?"
I suddenly felt something in the empty air.
As I moved my head at the clearly alien sensation.
Thud.
A crack began to reach behind Namgung Bia's back.
Tear-!
Suddenly, the empty air ripped open, leaving afterimages.
The moment I saw it, I grabbed Namgung Bia and pulled her back.
I frowned at the sudden phenomenon.
That was unmistakably a Demon Gate.
It had appeared suddenly without any warning.
Just as I wondered why a Demon Gate had suddenly appeared.
Screech.
"...!"
My toes dragged as strength entered my body.
Something was pulling me.
This was definitely an intentional force.
I put strength in my feet and resisted forcibly.
Because I couldn't be dragged away by a force I didn't know.
But.
'Fuck.'
The force trying to pull me was absurdly strong.
What the hell is this?
'I was planning to avoid using it if possible until I checked.'
I gritted my teeth.
Because I didn't know why my lower dantian had disappeared, and since it was a point where I didn't know what effects energy starting from the middle dantian would have.
I hadn't wanted to use energy if possible.
But as I was about to be dragged into that unknown Demon Gate, I had no choice but to manifest my energy.
Hwoook-!
As I exerted force, the internal energy gathered in my middle dantian reacted and began to vibrate.
With this, energy spread throughout my body along the meridians.
Feeling the heaviness of the settling power, I was somewhat surprised.
'Far more than expected.'
Because the amount of power felt was no joke.
I couldn't tell exactly at the moment, but it felt at least thirty percent stronger than the power I originally had.
'At this level...'
I felt like I wouldn't really get beaten anywhere I went.
It meant I had reached a level where I could confidently declare myself a martial artist of the Transformation Realm.
'That's not what's important right now.'
For now, escaping was important even if I checked.
Grip-!
The moment I loaded power into my feet, trying to get away from that Demon Gate with Namgung Bia.
Tap.
Roll, roll.
Something fell from the air and rolled in front of me.
What is this now....
"...!!"
I had to gasp at what suddenly appeared. Namgung Bia was the same.
She even had to grab my shoulder in surprise.
It couldn't be helped.
Because what had abruptly appeared was a human head.
From the traces of it being torn straight from the neck, a despair-laden expression remained as if he hadn't been able to react properly.
Moreover.
'Why is that man.'
It was a face I knew.
The owner of the head was none other than the Heavenly Venerable (天尊).
The old man who had once killed me.
And the great-grandfather of Namgung Bia, one of the Three Venerables.
My surprise at the Heavenly Venerable's head rolling on the floor was brief.
"It was a bit of trouble finding you."
At the voice that followed, my body stiffened like stone.
It was a familiar voice. Moreover, a voice I could never forget.
How could I forget a voice so deeply engraved in my heart?
From somewhere, a pale hand appeared and approached the Demon Gate.
It was a woman's hand, but not Namgung Bia's.
An infinitely slender and beautiful arm shape.
My eyes naturally followed that calm, light movement.
Her slender, jade-like fingers reached out and grasped the Demon Gate floating in the air as if it were truly a door.
Crack-!
And closed it nonchalantly just like that.
In the process, tremendous wind pressure burst forth from friction and energy, but the woman looked as though it wasn't a problem at all.
Swoosh...
The perilous situation was concluded so easily.
That was the nature of that woman's existence.
Power that handled even the unknown calamity called the Demon Gate as lightly as drinking tea.
A monster whose very existence made one think it was unreasonable.
Grrrind...
Perhaps it hadn't closed completely; the crack of the Demon Gate trembled violently.
The woman held that crack fixed with her hand.
Despite such an act, not a hint of trembling was felt.
Rather, the woman watched the crack she held with interest, as if fascinated.
Immaculate black hair without a hint of another color.
Each time the wind blew slightly, her ink-black dao robe fluttered splendidly.
Even while watching all those moments, I still couldn't utter a single word.
Soon, the woman's gaze turned to me.
The moment I met her eyes, it felt like my breath would stop.
It wasn't that any special emotion had flashed by.
Fear.
That was the only emotion I felt looking at her.
The woman quietly looked at me and smiled.
Beautifully curved purple pupils.
An expression and atmosphere whose intent I couldn't fathom.
I had to bite my trembling lips to stop them.
Why in the world....
is she here?
The woman who had been peering into my eyes slightly moved her head.
I saw purple eyes so splendid they couldn't be compared to other demonic people.
Master of Ten Thousand Demons, Heaven of the Demonic Cult.
An absolute being with unreasonable power.
There were countless strong titles to call the woman by, but in the end, there was only one word that called to her.
"Pleased to meet you."
The demon bestowed by heaven.
Heavenly Demon (天魔).
"Great Lord."
Despair was smiling at me.