Chapter 184. Who Understands My Heart?

They say there is nothing more entertaining than watching a fight, but in truth, that saying leaves something out.

It is only entertaining when you watch the strong fight.

A tiger and a bear fighting draws the eye far more than stray dogs brawling. Because you cannot rashly predict who will win.

The way the tiger fights may be flashier, but if its luck is bad, a single ferocious swipe of the bear’s paw could snap the tiger’s neck.

This fight was like that.

The Lust Demon was a man who fought well even if all his internal energy was stripped away. I knew that well, having once grabbed him by the hair and fought him myself.

On the other hand, Master Liùhé was a man who knew how to endure. Since I knew from the start that the Six Harmonies Sword Art was a martial art that ended things with a counterattack after an iron-wall defense, I could read the flow of the fight precisely.

But the parties involved were a little different.

As the match dragged on longer than expected, they were gradually growing impatient.

Master Liùhé seemed surprised that the young Lust Demon was so overwhelmingly strong.

And the Lust Demon seemed surprised that such a shabby-looking fellow could thoroughly block his ice arts.

Even as I thought this, the duel was growing rougher and rougher.

Deafening booms erupted several times, and killing intent was beginning to flash in both men’s eyes.

At this rate, some part of the Lust Demon’s body might be cut off in vain, while Master Liùhé could, with one wrong move, have his whole body frozen and suffer serious internal injuries.

‘In any case, both of them fight well.’

Having the Ghost Demon and the Lust Demon clash had already achieved my intended purpose.

At any rate, as I watched the public enemies of the martial world meet in advance and fight like this, my heart swelled with satisfaction.

However, since the fight was growing fierce enough that it would only end once one side was badly injured, I had no choice but to open my mouth again.

“This isn’t a duel to the death. Get a hold of yourselves. Did you madmen run into sworn enemies or what?”

I deliberately spoke with a snicker, trying to scatter the killing intent the two were giving off.

“Are these romantic rivals meeting? Did the pants-shitting bastard have his lover stolen by an ugly man? You’re throwing yourselves at each other like you’re ready to die.”

The Lust Demon shouted.

“Shut up!”

Master Liùhé started to curse, then stopped.

“Damn it…….”

The two of them briefly widened the distance, steadied their breathing, and then clashed again.

Perhaps they had not expected the fight to last this long, because killing moves meant to take the opponent’s life were beginning to appear.

Each time a killing move came out, I deliberately pointed it out.

“Wow, a trick? Didn’t fall for it. Not a chance. Saw right through it, didn’t he?”

At that instant, the enormous palm the Lust Demon thrust out from midair stretched forward.

Bwoooooong!

Even I, who was watching, felt the frigid energy surge toward me.

Naturally, since it was palm force the Lust Demon had unleashed while wrapping it in ice arts, the pure-white palm force was strangely impressive.

At the same time, a muddy yellow sword qi erupted from Master Liùhé’s sword, and the white palm split apart in the shape of a cross.

Pak!

Amid that confusion, the Lust Demon appeared by piercing through his own scattering palm force and poured out a fierce assault. Even then, Master Liùhé calmly retreated while combining defense and counterattack to respond.

I applauded sincerely.

“That was good from both of you just now. Wow…….”

Master Liùhé’s response had become far more flexible than when he had attacked me before. It seemed he had refined the Six Harmonies Sword Art whenever he fell into meditation. On the other hand, the Lust Demon was displaying a variety of techniques he had not shown when he attacked me.

At that moment, the Lust Demon clenched his molars hard.

Judging from the look of him, he was about to use a secret technique, having forgotten that I was watching.

‘Where does this pants-shitter think he’s using a secret technique…….’

From where I sat, I immediately shot into the air and charged toward the center where the two were fighting, murmuring.

“Step back.”

While suspended in midair, I wrapped the Moon Shadow Heartless Art around my left hand and caught Master Liùhé’s sword, then wrapped the Flame Realm Great Hand Seal around my right hand and struck back against the Lust Demon’s palm force.

Kwaaaaaang!

The Lust Demon quickly retreated three or four steps.

And Master Liùhé’s sword blade was half-filled with the cold energy of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art.

The Lust Demon said,

“What are you doing all of a sudden?”

I pushed Master Liùhé’s sword away, then said,

“A brief rest.”

Master Liùhé frowned and said,

“A rest, says who?”

I put both hands on my waist and looked at the Ghost Demon and the Lust Demon.

“I did not arrange this fight so that one of you could get an arm cut off, or so that the other could suffer serious internal injuries from ice arts. You stupid bastards. Know when to stop.”

The moment the Lust Demon opened his mouth again, I roared.

“Shut up! You pants-shitting bastard.”

“…….”

“If no victor emerged after fighting this long, it means neither side’s skill is overwhelmingly above the other’s. It looked like both of you were preparing secret techniques, so I deliberately cut you off. What matters is building more skill and overwhelming your opponent. What’s the point of winning by throwing out a gamble in a mere duel like this? It’s not as if I introduced you two to mortal enemies.”

At that moment, the Sword Demon’s voice was heard.

“Sect Leader, it’s been a while.”

When I turned my head, the Sword Demon, whom I had not seen in some time, was approaching with a wooden sword in hand. Being a man with sharp ears, he seemed to have heard the booms from his residence some distance away and come over.

Even now, this man had an atmosphere as though he were wrapped in pitch-black darkness whenever I saw him. If not for the faint smile spreading across his face the moment our eyes met, this man would have been darkness itself. That faint smile looked like the only light squeezing out from the darkness.

The Sword Demon was originally a man with an extremely firm nature, so it seemed he could live in his right mind as long as he maintained even that much light.

As soon as I saw the Sword Demon, I smiled brightly for the first time in a while.

“Senior, you’re here.”

The Sword Demon looked at Master Liùhé and said,

“You were fighting my disciple for quite some time. Who might you be? At a glance, you don’t seem to be his mortal enemy.”

Master Liùhé stared at the Sword Demon and answered.

“I am an insignificant swordsman from Mount Lingbao, called Master Liùhé. And you?”

The Sword Demon introduced himself.

“I am a swordsman training at Baek-eungji.”

Seeing it like this, even I found the meeting of the two swordsmen impressive.

The Sword Demon looked at the Lust Demon without a trace of laughter.

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master.”

“How was the skill of the swordsman from Mount Lingbao?”

The Lust Demon looked at Master Liùhé, then answered.

“Not bad. His defense is extremely solid.”

“Spar with him again later. Even from far away, the sound of your ice arts shattering was quite pleasant to hear.”

“Yes.”

I made a suggestion to the Sword Demon.

“Senior, since you’ve come out anyway, let’s have you treat us to a cup of tea.”

“You’ve come from afar, so that is only proper. Let’s go.”

I went to the Sword Demon’s side and showed off the wooden sword I had received from Elder Heo.

“Recognize it?”

The Sword Demon glanced at it and nodded.

“Is it usable?”

“It’s too light, so I’m still getting used to it.”

“I heard from Yongmyeong when I went to visit him while he was ill. He said you had stopped by only a few days apart from me. I also heard then that you had received a sword as a gift. As it happens, the Chief Strategist was rather worried about you.”

“Hm. Why would a sick man worry about me?”

The Sword Demon said with a smile.

“He said that since me, you were the first person to speak so recklessly to the Cult Leader. He even said the Cult Leader recognized you.”

“Exactly. How did he recognize me?”

“There are many under the Cult Leader who try to be excessively loyal. They report this and report that, so your description must have slipped through as well. There may also have been a spy there.”

“Seems that way. Ah, recently, I killed Master Yukhap, who accompanied me here, and an old man suspected to be Hwangwija.”

“Hwangwija?”

The Sword Demon tilted his head and replied.

“He could not have been an easy opponent. Did you attack him together?”

“Hwangwija looked down on us far too much. He was exceedingly relaxed until the moment he died.”

“Ah, it seems he let his guard down because you were too young. Depending on the situation, he was a man with an extremely arrogant side, so his death is not impossible to understand.”

Master Yukhap, who had been following behind us, let out a sigh.

“Is the Cult Leader you are speaking of perhaps the Cult Leader whose rumors I have often heard?”

I nodded.

“That’s right.”

“Then is the swordsman speaking with the Sect Leader a member of the Demon Cult?”

I shook my head.

“He fought with the Cult Leader and left the cult, so there is no need to be tense.”

The Lust Demon, who had been following along, also asked the Sword Demon as if curious.

“Master, is there a famous sword sect on Mount Lingbao?”

The Sword Demon replied.

“Why are you asking me that? You should ask the man you crossed swords with.”

The Lust Demon asked Master Yukhap.

“Are you from a famous sword sect?”

When the Lust Demon asked him so bluntly, Master Yukhap and the Sword Demon sighed at the same time. Since both of them looked like they were going to keep their mouths shut, I answered in their place.

“He is the last disciple of the Yukhap Sect.”

The Lust Demon asked back.

“Yukhap Sect? I’ve never heard of the Yukhap Sect.”

I looked at the Lust Demon as we walked.

“What do you want me to do about it, you bastard? Of course you don’t know when all you do is stare at women’s asses.”

The Sword Demon said to me.

“It truly is strange.”

“What is strange?”

“I get the feeling that when you scold him, it is more effective than when I do.”

“Senior, I know the reason well.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s because I’m an expert on pathetic bastards. This is my field. I’m the best in the murim.”

When I glanced beside me, the Sword Demon was smiling faintly. Behind us, the Lust Demon let out a sigh. Since his master was with us, it seemed he could not chatter as usual.

After we walked for a while without saying anything, the Sword Demon unexpectedly asked me a question.

“Is Master Moyong doing well?”

“He is. It would have been nice if he had come with us.”

It was idle conversation, but this was good in its own way.

‘Now, after we have a cup of tea, if I set the Sword Demon and Master Yukhap against each other……?’

In any case, it would be a fight worth seeing. After all, both of them were men who had chosen the sword among countless martial arts and weapons.

They also had in common that their stubbornness was damned near outrageous.

Moreover, the Sword Demon was currently training with a wooden sword, and Master Yukhap was a man who put up an absurdly ironclad defense.

If Master Yukhap and the Sword Demon fought…….

He would likely gain more than he had fighting the Lust Demon.

A man who travels the murim, arranging fights in various ways and watching them—that is me. Beneath all these actions lie the peace and tranquility of the murim, the improvement of my allies’ skills, the broadening of my own horizons, the stimulation of competitive spirit, the exchange of martial arts, and the wish that everyone who belonged to the Evil Men’s Association in my past life would grow into great grandmasters.

Who would ever understand my heart?

* * *

Perhaps that pathetic little shit-for-brains could not even brew tea properly, for the Sword Demon personally came out to the wooden bench carrying the tea utensils.

But it was not the tea we had drunk before.

The Sword Demon poured a little of something like the undiluted essence of poison into four liquor cups, then filled the rest with ordinary water.

“Senior, what is this?”

The Sword Demon handed out the teacups and said.

“Plum extract.”

“Plum? Ah, that plum?”

“Elder Heo recommended it. He said it has the effect of stimulating the appetite, and that it would also be good for pent-up anger.”

I asked the Sword Demon with a puzzled expression.

“Do you have pent-up anger?”

The Sword Demon tilted his head and looked around at everyone.

“Do we not all have it?”

“…….”

“You speak the obvious. Drink.”

The four of us downed the plum drink. It was an ambiguous taste, neither particularly delicious nor particularly bad. Since it was said to be good for pent-up anger, we simply drank it thinking of it as medicine.

All four of us were, on the whole, blunt and dull men, so we were enveloped in silence for a while. I was at least on the talkative side, but with the Sword Demon, whose presence always made the atmosphere heavy, my usual nonsense did not flow smoothly.

The Sword Demon, wearing that frightening expression again, filled the teacups with undiluted plum extract and then poured water over it once more.

We had no choice but to drink another cup of plum extract.

A heartwarming tea ceremony in which a swordsman from the demonic path personally handed us teacups, the leisure of two cups of plum extract, and a suffocating silence…….

Plum extract was originally quite effective even when one had indigestion, but right now, the atmosphere felt as if drinking it would give me acute indigestion instead.

Suddenly, the Sword Demon looked at me and said in a calm tone.

“Sect Leader, you work hard day and night without rest.”

“It’s not particularly something I’d call hardship.”

The Sword Demon pointed at Master Yukhap with his hand.

“Here, you took in a highly skilled swordsman as an ally and set up a fight between him and my disciple. Judging from the fact that you introduced him to me as well, I suppose I should also cross swords with him. Since you, Sect Leader, nevertheless regard the three of us as allies and have arranged a place for us to exchange martial learning, I can only say that you have worked hard.”

The Sword Demon said to the Lust Demon.

“Is that not so?”

The Lust Demon lowered his head slightly.

“That’s right. At first, I underestimated his skill, but after crossing hands with him, I changed my mind. He isn’t one of those ordinary swordsmen we often sparred with at Baekeungji. Master, I understand the Sect Leader’s intention as well.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

This time, the Sword Demon looked at Master Yuk Hap.

“What do you think, Master Yuk Hap?”

Master Yuk Hap nodded.

“Since I was able to cross hands with masters one can hardly meet, I think I now understand the Sect Leader’s intention.”

Suddenly, the Sword Demon, the Lust Demon, and the Ghost Demon all looked at me at the same time.

“Hm.”

Since the three of them were signaling with their eyes for me to say something, I folded my arms and said briefly.

“……As long as you understand.”

I wondered who would ever understand my heart……

In any case, the three of them understood my heart. Perhaps it was because I was an expert on good-for-nothings?

.

.

.

After thinking it over again carefully.

I think these three understand me because they’re experts on good-for-nothings too.

Anyway, that’s how it is.

I wondered who understood my heart……

It was you, everyone.