Chapter 152. Ah, How Thrilling This Can Be
I closed my eyes for a moment and went back over the conversation with the Cult Leader.
Because if I was going to beat him to death later, I couldn’t afford to miss a single word that had been exchanged here.
A person’s character and weaknesses are hidden in their words.
After reviewing it……
It seemed likely that whenever the Cult Leader had ordered the Heavenly Jade to be made, his subordinates had often stopped him. With Elder Heo’s personality, he would certainly have spoken frankly.
Also, the fact that the Cult Leader often entered closed-door cultivation meant either that he had yet to complete his martial arts, or that he was still in the process of learning something more.
But no matter how much I reviewed and probed the conversation, I couldn’t immediately see any weakness revealed by his personality.
Rather, he had instantly noticed that Gyoyeong had been here and had hurriedly fled.
He also seemed to know, to some extent, that Yongmyeong was Elder Heo’s final disciple, and about me as well.
The reason he realized that Elder Heo had expectations of me was likely because he recognized the wooden sword of Elder Heo’s in my hand and inferred it from that.
It meant he was a meticulous man, one with sharp insight who did not forget most things.
Since he had spoken, right in front of the Blood Night Palace Lord, of having killed her husband as though he felt nothing at all, his humanity was already in a threadbare state.
Putting it all together, this bastard was……
A man with excellent insight, quick wits, a dog’s nose, and an obsession with perfecting his martial arts.
If so, his only weakness was the fact that he was focused on martial arts. Because this bastard frequently entered closed-door cultivation, allies who had held high positions, like the Sword Demon and Elder Heo, must have been able to leave the Cult.
Even the reason I had been able to seize the Heavenly Jade and flee was because the Cult Leader had been in closed-door cultivation.
Other than that, there was currently nothing that could be called a weakness.
I opened my eyes, then had no choice but to ask about what I was curious about.
“I’m sorry to ask something like this when I came to visit you in your illness, Senior, but there is something I’m curious about.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord answered.
“Ask.”
“Do you happen to know why the Cult Leader often enters closed-door cultivation?”
The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.
“……Naturally, he has no choice. During the period of the succession struggle, he used his family’s martial arts. Only after becoming Cult Leader did he begin cultivating the martial arts practiced by successive Cult Leaders. Moreover, it is likely the most difficult martial art in the Cult. It can only reach great completion if one cultivates both yin and yang at the same time. It is so difficult that no Cult Leader has appeared for several generations who has achieved great completion in it. If he cannot achieve great completion in this, he cannot use the title Heavenly Demon. He is merely the Cult Leader.”
“Mm.”
“In truth, with Senior Brother’s ability, it would not be strange for him to call himself the Heavenly Demon right now. However, Senior Brother must know as well that the myriad demons do not truly submit to him. Unifying the jianghu, becoming the greatest under heaven, or achieving great completion in the Cult Leader’s martial arts. Only if he properly accomplishes at least one of those three will Senior Brother’s journey end.”
I nodded.
“To think he can’t properly do even one of the three. What a pathetic bastard.”
Of course, no one laughed at my joke.
“…….”
I checked Heo Gyeom’s condition once more. Since he had originally been a man of remarkable composure, he actually seemed to have suffered less of an emotional blow than others might have.
I took the opportunity to ask something else I had been curious about.
“Tell me what you know about the Three Calamities as well. There are many rumors and false pieces of information, but no one knows the truth properly.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord replied.
“Indeed, there are likely few who know the details. Elder, may I speak of what I know?”
Heo Gyeom answered briefly.
“Please do.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord said.
“The Cult Leader annihilated the families that had participated in the succession struggle. It was not only the families he annihilated. They also had subordinates within the Cult, and collaborators as well. As soon as he found them, tortured them, and uncovered them, he killed them all. Ordinarily, it was customary to spare them. But it was only custom, not law. Even if one said he had no choice but to kill them because the struggle had been fierce, he went so far that Elder Heo and even the Left Envoy often stepped forward to oppose him. Senior Brother had intended from the start to carry out a purge, so from the beginning he meant to kill them all. Families that had even the smallest fault began offering hostages first. That was when the words appeared.”
Only then did I put into words what I knew.
“A calamity born of the Demonic Path.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.
“He is, in a sense, a calamity produced by those who pursued the Demonic Path. As you saw for yourself today, Senior Brother has little humanity. If he deliberately entered closed-door cultivation because he did not want to kill the Left Envoy or Elder Heo, then that should be considered his last remaining conscience.”
In this way, I heard about the Cult Leader from when he had still been human. The Cult Leader I had heard about was no human either.
I looked at Heo Gyeom.
“Then the Calamity you faced, Senior, was not the Cult Leader……”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“I have never fought the Cult Leader directly. The man I faced was Cheonak. And to be precise, I did not face him. I challenged him and barely kept my life.”
I felt so stifled inside that I immediately asked.
“Just what kind of bastard is he?”
Heo Gyeom laughed.
“I was curious too, so I did ask the man himself, but the result was as you see. My martial arts vanished. After that, he must have moved somewhere with the Cult Leader and crossed hands with him. The Cult Leader returned gravely wounded. However, they said that when the Three Calamities met, they were unable to determine the true greatest under heaven.”
Only at the very end did something I knew come up.
“An era without the greatest under heaven.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“If the Cult Leader has resolved to leave the path of humanity, then the other two have likely already left the path of humanity as well. They are probably beings whom it would not be strange to call half-immortal or evil gods already.”
Once, my dream had been to become the greatest under heaven.
I think I’ll put that on hold for a while.
For now, I’m in a situation where I need to beat down all the masters on the human level first, then set my goal again.
In any case, if this was the situation……
It meant that even in my previous life, the reason the Demonic Path’s domination of the world had not been perfectly achieved was because the other Three Calamities had been holding out somewhere.
What if, at that point, the Cult Leader had obtained the Heavenly Jade?
A laugh came out of me on its own.
‘Wow, so I’ve already saved the jianghu once, huh?’
At Manjang Cliff, I had said this to that lecherous bastard.
That the answer to becoming a Demon God would be in my shit.
It had been true. If I hadn’t eaten the Heavenly Jade, the Cult Leader would have become a Demon God. Come to think of it, it suddenly occurred to me that the lecherous bastard and shit had quite a deep connection. Because my train of thought was flowing strangely, I looked at Heo Gyeom for a moment.
“Senior, today you exhausted too much of your mental strength because of the Cult Leader. I intend to discuss minor matters with the Palace Lord, so it would be best for you to rest. We will be rambling about matters with no conclusions, so please understand.”
I looked at Yongmyeong. Then Yongmyeong also approached his master and urged him.
“Master, please rest a bit before coming out again.”
Heo Gyeom nodded.
“Let us do that.”
As Heo Gyeom left the main hall, I stared silently at the wooden sword he had handed me.
It was only after Heo Gyeom disappeared that I spoke to the Blood Night Palace Lord.
“Palace Lord, let us speak alone.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord replied as if puzzled.
“Must we?”
I pointed at the Blood Night Palace executives present with my finger.
“I feel uneasy, that is why. In any case, there must be someone in Blood Night Palace colluding with the Cult Leader. Of course, I am not saying it is these people. Either way, I will speak with the Palace Lord alone, so I ask for everyone’s understanding.”
Only then did the Blood Night Palace Lord nod.
“I will speak with the Sect Leader for a while. You all should rest as well.”
Only then did the people rise and disperse.
As I rubbed my chin, I said to the Blood Night Palace Lord,
“What will you do now? Finding the informants will be impossible. There will not be just one or two. No matter where you flee, it seems your movements will continue to be reported to the Cult Leader.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord let out a sigh.
“There is no way. When the time comes, we can only fight and die.”
“When do you think that time will be? You know the Cult Leader better than I do.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.
“Not immediately. He likely came because it weighed on his mind to send Elder Heo off without seeing him. If he ran into Im Sobaek on the way, there would have been an all-out war between their forces, so for now he should be returning to the Cult. There are a few reasons why the Cult Leader cannot strike us right away.”
“Let us hear them.”
“He has killed far too many people until now. In terms of individual martial might, the Cult Leader is strong, but if forces clash and it turns into a war of attrition without a clear conclusion, the damage to the Cult will be considerable. It means he himself needs to train, but his forces also need time to grow stronger. They will need at least three more years.”
I nodded.
“Then let us assume the worst. While he has his forces train as forces should, within three years the Cult Leader could come here alone and massacre all of Blood Night Palace.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord smiled faintly.
“No matter how bold he is, the Cult Leader cannot come alone.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he is also keeping the Sword Demon in check, and because today he met you. I heard you struck Im Sobaek and the Namak Alliance?”
“You knew?”
“If I know, then the Cult Leader knows as well. Originally, he might have thought he could clean up Blood Night Palace alone, but now more variables have been added. Senior Brother is cautious by nature, so he will consider it thoroughly. If he comes alone and is truly unlucky, he will have to face me, the Sword Demon, and you at the same time. What do you think that means?”
As I listened to the Blood Night Palace Lord, I grinned.
“Ah, it means I am in danger now too.”
“He could strike Blood Night Palace, or eliminate you first. He could leave both of us alone and focus on training. Or he could remove the Sword Demon first before making his move. Senior Brother will have to use his head well.”
I asked the Blood Night Palace Lord,
“……How did you interpret his words about us writhing in our death throes?”
The Blood Night Palace Lord, who had been thinking about something, narrowed his brow.
“The matter Elder Heo opposed until the very end, practically defying him, was the creation of a sacred object called the Cheonok. Since the Cult’s Chief Strategist opposed it, the Cult Leader had no choice at the time. Perhaps he meant we should keep struggling until that is made?”
As expected, the Blood Night Palace Lord knew many things because she was the Cult Leader’s junior martial sister.
“What is the Cheonok used for?”
It was inside my body, but out of courtesy, I had no choice but to ask.
The Blood Night Palace Lord said,
“It is likely a forcibly made elixir. Perhaps it was written as a method for bringing the Cult Leader’s martial arts to full completion. If the Cult Leader devotes himself to training and his subordinates prepare the Cheonok, he could shorten the time needed. It is only a guess, but when the Cheonok is made, many people will die one way or another.”
I said to the Blood Night Palace Lord,
“Palace Lord, please look into that in detail. When it will be completed. Or whether it has already been completed and some other work is needed. Since there are already people in Blood Night Palace attached to the Cult Leader, you must make a move as well, whether by sending spies or winning over people inside the Cult. How could a fight be won with martial arts alone?”
The Blood Night Palace Lord let out a sigh.
“A suitable person……”
“Is there not one?”
“Who?”
I spoke in an even tone.
“Yongmyeong.”
“How could I send Elder Heo’s final disciple into a deathtrap?”
I clicked my tongue and replied,
“Palace Lord, can you be certain where the deathtrap is? Right now, this place is closer to one than the inside of the Cult.”
“That is true. I will think about it. In any case, you should be careful now too. I did not know the Cult Leader would know about you.”
I shook my head.
“Do not worry about me for the time being.”
“Why?”
To reassure the Palace Lord on purpose, I crossed my arms and began to show off.
“I am, by nature, a master of psychological warfare, a great scholar of psychology, and a grandmaster of mind-reading.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord replied with an uneasy expression.
“What use is that?”
“It means I have seen through everything. The more the Cult investigates me, the harder it will be to report to the Cult Leader.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I was once an inn waiter. A vulgar, low-class man—that is me.”
“Mm.”
I pointed at the sky with my hand.
“If the Cult Leader is as noble as that.”
I pointed downward again.
“Then I am a man crawling up from the very bottom. A man so low in standing that he cannot deal with me directly—that is me. Since our levels do not match, naturally he will send his subordinates. Moreover, the name of the sect I created is Haomun. It is not a bottom-dwelling level that some noble bastard daring to become a Demon God can covet.”
“……So you had a plan all along. I worried for nothing.”
“There are more reasons. With the Cult Leader’s eye for detail, he must have noticed that I have learned martial arts of yin and yang at the same time.”
I put frightening words into my mouth.
“Materials like me are quite rare in the martial world. But I have not fully matured yet.”
The Blood Night Palace Lord was holding back laughter with a troubled expression.
I said to the Blood Night Palace Lord in a serious tone,
“Laugh freely.”
Only then did the Blood Night Palace Lord look up at the ceiling and burst into loud laughter.
At any rate, a man who learned from an old, manly senior how to joke with his own life on the line—that is me.
In truth, if I die, the martial world is finished as well.
The fate of the martial world rests in my hands.
Ah, how thrilling…….