EP.67 Divine Physician. (4)
Hundreds of people knelt in lines within the spacious, dark room.
A man slowly walked between the black martial uniforms devoid of any patterns.
The kneeling fiends all trembled at the demonic qi implicitly radiating from the man.
Directly forward.
The man's gaze was fixed on the end of this long path.
[I am glad you seem to have returned safely.]
At the calm voice coming from the end of the path, the man's pace quickened slightly.
Sseuuuuu.
[Ugh….]
[Keughhhhh!]
The demonic qi radiating from the man's footsteps became infused with his emotions, crushing everything around him.
[My, you are very angry.]
Even so, the bastard just sat on the railing, leisurely taking a sip of alcohol.
The man growled at the sight.
[Are you satisfied now?]
Demonic qi was mixed into the short, spat-out words.
Surely because of his turbulent emotions.
[About what?]
At the bastard's words, the demonic qi spread across the entire area suddenly surged, but right before it could reach him, it all scattered and disappeared.
Crrrrunch.
Teeth naturally ground together at the sight before him.
The damn Heavenly Demon's authority was still protecting him.
[Hall Master, I, being ignorant, cannot understand why you are so angry.]
The bastard brushed his long hair back with his hand.
A deep scar crossing from his cheek across his eye became noticeable.
[We conquered Sichuan as planned, and in the process, we were able to drive out the Tang Sect.]
And within it, Dudie faced her end alone.
[There were unexpected deaths in the war as well, but result-wise, we gained much more, didn't we?]
We eliminated the majority of the Orthodox Sect's key personnel, and succeeded in dragging down the Alliance Leader on the grounds of irresponsibility.
However, the Demonic Sword Empress died.
[What is the problem?]
His laughter-laced voice tickled the ear.
He covered his mouth with the fan he had been delicately waving.
The man endured his throbbing headache.
[Hall Master.]
The bastard calls me.
Zhuge Hyeok.
The sole existence among the countless fiends who was both a fiend and not.
The bastard who had become the pillar of the Divine Cult with only his tongue was merely smiling like a fox as he looked at the man.
[Everything is the will of the Cult Leader.]
[They say one cannot cover the sky with the palm of their hand, yet you try to cover the sun with your mouth.]
[What exactly is so dissatisfying to you, Hall Master? Are you acting like this just because some woman died?]
Crrrrunch!
The fire qi that spread in an instant devoured the spacious room, but lamentably, the flames couldn't reach the bastard.
[Aaaargh!]
[My body…! My body is burning!!]
The spewed flames began to devour the innocent fiends, but the man's gaze was still fixed only on Zhuge Hyeok.
As if finding it so amusing, Zhuge Hyeok smiled lightly.
[Your subordinates are all burning, Hall Master. Please calm your anger.]
The flames that soared across the entire area showed no signs of diminishing.
Because as the man's emotions fluctuated, the flames surged even hotter.
Due to the war between the fiends and the Tang Sect, Sichuan became a land that could no longer be tread upon, and in the midst of the poisonous fog, Dudie faced her end alone.
The Demonic Sword Empress, who swung her sword under the moonlight and only looked up at the sky, eventually closed her eyes after searching for the moon.
The moon and the sky she so loved were covered by dark clouds and could no longer be seen.
Then what was left?
Nothing was left.
He himself knew better than anyone that sacrifice was originally such a thing.
Why was he so angry?
Was it because even after laying down his humanity with his own hands, a handful of lingering attachments remained?
It was a laughable contradiction.
The hand that was about to grab the bastard's neck gradually lowered.
The internal heat radiating along his spine also gradually diminished.
Seeing that, Zhuge Hyeok chuckled out loud.
[Have you finally sorted out your thoughts?]
[Shut up. I'm desperately holding back the urge to tear your mouth apart.]
[I hope you, too, do not harbor any misconceptions, Hall Master.]
Zhuge Hyeok, who had been continuing to speak, opened his closed eyes slightly.
[We all came here 'voluntarily', did we not? Such an attitude from the Hall Master does not help our Cult.]
[What are you trying to say?]
[I am telling you to always keep in mind that above you, there is only the Cult Leader.]
Zhuge Hyeok tapped the man's shoulder with his folded fan.
Clenching his teeth, the man glared fiercely at Zhuge Hyeok before finally turning his back.
It was a meaningless meeting if he had been called just for such idle chatter.
[The Heavenly Venerable died.]
The voice was still heard, but the man moved on, ignoring it.
[The Tyrant Venerable will also die tonight, I presume.]
He didn't stop.
[The Sword Venerable has become one-armed, so the Heavenly Demon won't even need to exert Himself.]
At the end of his continued strides, he grabbed the door handle.
[Then, who do you think will be left?]
He stopped.
He couldn't help but stop at the end of Zhuge Hyeok's laughter-laced words.
The man didn't turn around.
Because he couldn't confidently say if the expression on his face was normal or not.
[Think carefully. The Cult Leader will surely entrust it to you.]
Crrrk.
It was the sound of metal crumpling.
The door handle the man was holding warped under his immense grip strength.
[I hope you make a good choice. Hall Master.]
The laughter-laced voice now dirtied his ears.
The man who came out after shoving the door open as if breaking it shouted while deploying his qi barrier.
After shouting as if vomiting blood, the man soon caught his breath.
The man, who stood like that for a while, then moved his feet.
He barely managed to straighten his anger-distorted expression.
Demonic qi was still turbulent within his body, but he couldn't show it.
The man slowly moved forward.
The next destination was Henan.
******************
The Heavenly Demon was an absurd existence to the point where one might think he had shed his human shell and achieved transcendence.
But in the end, he is just one person.
No matter how strong he is, the Demonic Cult, which gathered fiends with the Heavenly Demon as its core, ultimately meant it was a single group.
Looking at it another way, considering it was a small group where each and every individual was a fiend dyed in madness, it was by no means a normal state.
The reason the Demonic Cult was able to reach a level where it could devour the entire region under such circumstances was solely due to the machinations of a single man.
It was the biggest reason why Sichuan, home to the Four Great Families and the Number One Demonic Sect, could be wiped out by the Demonic Cult.
And the reason why the Martial Alliance, the heart of the Orthodox Sects, as well as the Nine Sects and One Faction, collapsed.
The brain of the Demonic Cult, and the one called the Heavenly Demon's mouth and ears—Tianru Lang'er, Zhuge Hyeok.
The monster I wanted to find first of all after I regressed.
The very person who had caused me to harbor a small anxiety because I couldn't easily find him was right before my eyes.
"Why are you here?"
Anger unknowingly seeped into my voice.
An appearance looking a few years younger than my current self, with white frost covering half of his black hair.
Since his bangs were covering half of his face, I brushed them up.
"...??"
The hideous scar that had covered half of his face in my past life was nowhere to be seen.
Or perhaps, it's just not there yet.
"Hey."
I called out to him.
The bastard didn't answer and just quietly met my gaze.
Even as time passed a little, he still said nothing.
Is he ignoring me?
When that thought crossed my mind, I unknowingly felt a rush of heat.
A cool sensation rising from my dantian.
The killing intent I had been holding down forcefully surged up to the top of my head on its own.
'Ah, can I just kill him right now?'
My head was filled with such thoughts.
Actually, since I wanted to kill him anyway, there was no need to hesitate....
[Gah-!]
"...!"
My mind snapped back into focus at Grandpa Shin's shout that suddenly burst in.
[You can't even keep your mind straight! What are you doing! Step back right now!]
Step back? From what?
Only after thinking that did I realize my hand was already gripping the bastard's neck.
'...When?'
What was I trying to do just now?
A cool sensation passed the nape of my neck.
No matter how emotional and youthful my body might be, did I just reach my hand out so recklessly?
Something was weird.
It's one thing to be so hot-headed that I couldn't see straight, but to not be able to control myself to this extent...
'...Something.'
It was as if I was being manipulated by something....
"What are you doing!"
At the sound of someone shouting, I was shoved to the side and fell with a thud.
I rolled vigorously on the grassy ground, groaning as I barely managed to catch my balance.
"...You suddenly show up, and what the hell are you doing now?"
It was a clear, bell-like voice.
Shifting my gaze, the plum blossom robe of Huashan caught my eye first.
I could see her bobbed hair that slightly passed her shoulders and the characteristic raised corners of the eyes of that damn family.
Yet, her face, which didn't look all that fierce, was probably because she took after someone else more than the Gu Family.
She was, in a way, a younger sister I was meeting after a long time.
Even if I didn't know we'd meet again in such a shitty reunion.
Gu Linghua continued to shout as she looked at me.
"Just looking at your face is already too much, so why are you trying to pick on him again!"
"What are you suddenly...."
"What were you trying to do to a kid who can't even speak? Did you think I'd be hurt if you did that because he's someone important to me?"
"What?"
"How could you come all the way here and...."
What did Gu Linghua just say?
Who can't speak...?
I shifted my gaze to Zhuge Hyeok with startled eyes.
The bastard still had an expressionless face.
Even though a stranger had suddenly grabbed his neck tightly, he was just lightly touching his neck, his expression remaining as unchanged as ever.
'He can't speak?'
My mind went blank for a moment at the words that the bastard I thought was Zhuge Hyeok was a mute.
...Is it not him?
There was no scar, and he couldn't speak.
The only things that overlapped were his age range and the frosted hair.
From a certain perspective, it was possible that he wasn't.
But somehow, I just knew.
That the boy crouching over there was indeed Zhuge Hyeok.
[Gather your wits first.]
At Grandpa Shin's words, I stabilized my breathing first.
As soon as I came out of the Sect Leader's quarters, Grandpa Shin appeared again, venting his grievances about how suffocating it was not to be able to speak.
I couldn't know for sure whether this was because of the quarters or Meihua Xian's power.
But I didn't have the time to figure it out right away.
It was because, as soon as Meihua Xian came outside, he ordered the disciples to assign lodgings for the remaining people to rest, and then leaped high up.
Since he had given me a look to follow, I also hastily leaped and followed him, but...
'...What is going on.'
A place slightly far from the Huashan Sect.
A worn-out cabin fitting the atmosphere within a beautifully grown forest.
Zhuge Hyeok was there.
Gu Linghua, whom I was meeting after a long time, was also beside him, but I had no choice but to approach as if possessed by the bastard right before my eyes.
Grandpa Shin asks.
[Is he a child you know?]
'....'
[Even if I were to deny it, my body has never acted up like this because of a guy.]
What on earth had happened inside my body when I hadn't even used my internal qi?
Just as I barely calmed my body down, Meihua Xian approached.
"It seems you two are much closer than I thought."
A sudden, completely out-of-the-blue statement.
"What do you mean by that...?"
"Were you not angry because your sister was with another boy?"
"...Excuse me?"
Goodness, what kind of crazy talk is that.
It seemed flowers were blooming in his head, as if to prove he was indeed Meihua Xian.
At Meihua Xian's words, Gu Linghua's face severely crumpled in distaste.
She alternated looking at Zhuge Hyeok behind her and me, then brushed her arms off as if she had gotten goosebumps.
She even seemed like she wanted to scream, but since the person in front of her was the Sect Leader of her sect, she seemed to be holding it in.
Screeeech.
In the meantime, the cabin door slowly opened.
The one who opened the door and stepped out was a skinny old man with pure white hair.
Who is that...?
[He doesn't seem to be a martial artist.]
I thought so too.
Judging by his physique and atmosphere, he didn't seem to be a martial artist.
However, with the Sword Venerable being a martial artist with a similar appearance, it wasn't a thought to be taken lightly.
The old man looked around once before opening his mouth.
"Why the hell are you making a racket and bullshitting in someone else's yard!"
At the old man's words, Meihua Xian let out a good-natured laugh.
"Taiyi! I have come!"
At Meihua Xian's words, the old man's brow deeply furrowed.
"You damn bastard... You shoved a busy man deep into the mountains, and now you show up as if you did something right!"
To call the Sect Leader of Huashan like that....
On the contrary, Meihua Xian didn't seem bothered at all even after hearing such rough words.
Meihua Xian, as if he didn't care about the old man's words at all, rather pointed at me and spoke.
"Please take a look at this child, Taiyi!"
At the tip of Meihua Xian's finger, the old man glanced at me.
With eyes that seemed to find it the most annoying thing in the world, I stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.
The old man immediately withdrew his fleeting gaze and shouted at Meihua Xian.
"He's fine, so piss off, you horse-faced bastard!"
Slam!
The cabin door closed once again.
In the situation where only silence remained, I cautiously asked Meihua Xian.
"Who is that person...?"
Meihua Xian stroked his beard with an awkward face and answered.
"He's just a physician I know. I guess he's a bit sensitive today."
"...Ah, yes."
"Come, let's go inside first."
"Excuse me? Didn't he just tell us not to come in...?"
At my question, Meihua Xian laughs out loud.
"He told us to piss off, not that we couldn't come in, so it'll be fine."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Whether he didn't hear my words or just ignored them, Meihua Xian threw the cabin door open and just walked right in.
-Taiyi!
-Yah, you... fucking...!
I couldn't gather my wits at the shouts immediately coming from inside the cabin.
For some reason, the figure of Elder Yi overlapped with the highly esteemed Daoist of Huashan.
Somehow, I felt like I knew why those two were close....