Chapter 408. Did You Succeed?

It was impossible to know what the Cult Leader was thinking.

Not just I, but everyone was looking at the Cult Leader.

Somehow, it wouldn’t have been strange if the Cult Leader told us to shut our mouths and rushed us all at once. Nor would it have been strange if he decided the best under heaven, as I had proposed.

I was the one who proposed it, but the choice was the Cult Leader’s to make.

The truth is, the thought nestled deep in my heart is this.

The possibility of me losing to the Cult Leader in a martial contest is, of course, high. But it would be different if it became a duel to the death with the Four Great Evils participating. My conclusion is that I could somehow kill the Cult Leader on Huashan.

Because my entire body’s Ilwol Gwangcheon is something no human body can withstand.

However, if it came to that.

We would all be dragged into misery.

Not only would there be few survivors,

but our sorry state upon surviving would be so wretched that we probably wouldn’t be able to appear before Yorani.

Because we couldn’t show our pitiful, ruined appearances as masters to a young disciple and wound her heart again.

So my heart did not want to head toward a path where everyone becomes miserable. I want to believe that I haven’t suffered all this time only to end up miserable.

Even after facing the Cult Leader.

How wonderful would it be if we could meet Yorani intact and unharmed?

Someday, I hope to make Gyejuguksu for Yorani at least once, so that Yorani can feel the greatness of Brother Deuksu.

Even I, who have grown much stronger than before, have no confidence that I could survive a duel to the death with my arms and legs intact.

I need my arms intact to make Gyejuguksu, after all…….

Of course, if it were someone I had to kill even at that cost, I would kill them by any means.

But if you ask whether they are someone I must kill while giving up our remaining lives and even our noodles, I no longer know.

Because he has never directly killed anyone around me. The fact that he is the leader of an organization capable of starting a Great War between the Righteous and the Demonic, just as in my previous life, is a cause for concern, but I have supported Im Sobaek and the Righteous Path all this time, thereby blocking that possibility at its very source.

Before hearing the Cult Leader’s answer.

Our gazes turned to the Maehwajangju.

It was the first time he had come out as a group with the serving maids, each one holding a tray.

The Maehwajangju, having arrived, bowed his head to the Cult Leader.

“Cult Leader, it is I, the Maehwajangju. The weather is a bit sweltering, so I was late in greeting you as I was making tea with water drawn from a deep well. It cannot compare to cutting and eating ice in the depths of winter, but it will still be refreshing. It is a nameless cold tea (冷茶) which we occasionally drink among ourselves.”

The serving maids placed the cold tea from the trays onto the table and handed cold tea to the standing people as well.

Fight or no fight, we had to drink the cold tea first.

Because even martial artists feel the heat.

In the awkwardly quiet atmosphere, Left Councilor Wi spoke.

“Cult Leader, I shall drink first.”

“…….”

It was an attitude of checking for poison, but the Cult Leader said nothing and drank the cold tea first.

We drank the cold tea only after the Cult Leader had tasted it first. In the end, Left Councilor Wi was the last to drink the cold tea.

As the Maehwajangju had said, it was a cold tea that cooled the chest, and perhaps because a very small amount of fruit juice had been mixed in, a faint sweetness could be felt.

A leisurely sip of cold tea before a great battle?

A clean aftertaste and a deep flavor to boot…….

“Hm, good.”

Just what kind of fight would we have been having if we hadn’t discovered the Maehwajang? It meant we would have been fighting on Huashan and had to come back down the mountain when we got thirsty. Or perhaps fought near a waterfall from the start…….

This is why famous sects are located in the mountains, not in barren deserts. When the stream of consciousness reached even the saying, mountains are mountains and water is water, I came to my senses while drinking the cold tea.

The Cult Leader, having drunk the cold tea, spoke to the Maehwajangju.

“I drank well. You look like you have a request, so speak.”

“Yes, Cult Leader. May I send the serving maids inside and watch the martial contest of the various seniors?”

“If there is something to gain, do so. However, since we do not know what will happen, watch from inside the house.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Cult Leader.”

“Are you a descendant of Gwanyunja?”

“I am not entirely unrelated, but I am one of the later generation who would be ashamed to be called a descendant. Gwanyunja devoted himself more to scholarship than martial arts, and as so much time has passed, most of the transmitted martial arts have been lost, so I would be ashamed to claim to be his descendant.”

“Even so, those hands appear to have trained with the sword for a long time.”

“Yes, I had no talent for scholarship, so I grabbed hold of books of which not even half remain and a few orally transmitted words, and trained alone.”

“Were you originally acquainted with the Sect Leader?”

“It is rather amazing to me as well, but he simply came out of nowhere and asked to borrow the place for a martial contest because the scenery was good.”

The Cult Leader looked at me.

“Because the scenery was good?”

I had nothing in particular to say, so I just nodded. I didn’t suppose there was any reason to fight in a place with bad scenery.

The Maehwajangju spat out words as if slightly aggrieved.

“……If I had won, I would have sent him back, but since I lost, it ended up like this.”

The Maehwajangju muttered as he looked around parts of the manor that were already in shambles.

“The manor has ended up like this too.”

I burst into laughter for no reason, chuckling to myself.

“My apologies.”

Strangely, the Maehwajangju was a man who could converse with us as well as with the Cult Leader. Yet he didn’t show an attitude of fearing the Cult Leader like Left Councilor Wi. Is it that when a person has nothing to be ashamed of, there is no fear? Anyway, just as I had seen before, the Maehwajangju was Huashan’s Foremost Sword even before the Cult Leader.

It was because he was a man who knew the true value of courtesy.

Moreover, such courtesy shines when the outside and inside are the same, so the atmosphere was quite different from Left Councilor Wi’s courtesy.

The Cult Leader nodded.

“I see.”

Though they were words of understanding, they were also an implicit dismissal to take the serving maids and withdraw. The Maehwajangju returned to the manor with the serving maids holding the trays. At any rate, it was best to watch from afar. In truth, if one’s martial level is not high, there is a great risk of dying while watching a fight between such experts.

One should at least be a frog capable of batting away suddenly flying stones with its forelegs, but since the Maehwajangju is a frog with insufficient internal energy, it is right for him to stay far away.

As the leisure of the sip of cold tea came to an end…….

The Cult Leader opened his mouth.

“Left Councilor Wi.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

“Have you restored much of Gwangseongja’s martial arts?”

Left Councilor Wi mumbled with a greatly flustered expression.

“Hm, well, that is…….”

“Did you intend to challenge me after achieving great attainment, but the timing was too early?”

“No. I tried to restore it through deep research, but the martial arts of old were entirely different in method, so it was no easy task.”

“Even so, since your household arrogantly embraced the Sun and Moon, I expect there were some results.”

The Cult Leader looked around at us, then his gaze came to rest on me.

“According to the reports, the Sect Leader has handled Samadhi True Fire (三昧眞火) since long ago.”

Was he referring to the Flame Realm? I did not deny it.

“That is so.”

“Fewer than a dozen martial arts that handle Samadhi True Fire remain in the jianghu now, yet even I cannot tell what martial art your Samadhi True Fire belongs to.”

This was something even I, well versed in the jianghu, had never heard before, so I asked the Cult Leader.

“Why are there only a dozen or so left?”

“Because they are old. They could only be forgotten.”

“It seems there must be a reason behind their being forgotten.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“Humans are, by nature, inclined to seek comfort. Samadhi True Fire has many branches, but in essence, it burns what jianghu people call true qi. In other words, if you burn more than what you have accumulated, your true qi is damaged. The more one personally feels that damage, the more one clings to circulating and regulating qi. This is deeply connected to heart demons (心魔) as well. Possessing fire and burning it are different matters. Most masters capable of handling Samadhi True Fire are not free from qi deviation. Why do you think that is?”

“Hm. In the end, in order to win, they burn more true qi than they’ve built up...”

“That must be the nature of jianghu people.”

I looked at the Cult Leader in inward astonishment.

This man knew the reason why the Shit-Pants had been called the Lust Demon, and he had even grasped part of the reason why I had once become the Mad Demon. It seemed that if one was deeply knowledgeable about martial arts, one could anticipate most of the things that occurred because of them.

In other words, the Cult Leader was also a great grandmaster.

The Cult Leader said to me,

“There are even fewer Samadhi True Fire martial arts not possessed by the Demonic Dao. Sect Leader, you seem to be either the successor of Qishengzi or the successor of the Japbu Secret Cult. Did you have some connection with them?”

Standing had become difficult for me for a moment, so I sat down near the Cult Leader before answering.

“The truth is, I learned Qishengzi’s martial arts.”

The Cult Leader nodded.

“You did well not to go mad.”

“I think I’m half mad, though.”

“If it is only that much, you endured well.”

Only now did I notice that everyone had sat down on the ground and was simply listening to the Cult Leader and me speak. Partly because they were not especially busy, and partly because everyone seemed curious about the Cult Leader’s words.

It was the sort of talk one could not hear anywhere else.

I asked the Cult Leader.

“Does the Japbu Secret Cult also have Samadhi True Fire?”

“Sect Leader, most ancient sects possess Samadhi True Fire martial arts. What the majority of your Orthodox Path calls demonic arts (魔功) are, in the end, of that kind. They are martial arts that branched off from Samadhi True Fire.”

“Why did Samadhi True Fire come to be called demonic arts?”

The Cult Leader smiled faintly.

“A religion believed in by the majority ultimately becomes an orthodox lineage. If only a minority believes in it, it is treated as a Demon Cult. Why would a religion possess Samadhi True Fire martial arts? Because it was never mainstream to begin with. Many of the founders of certain sects had the temperament of revolutionaries. Whether they were dissatisfied with the world or dissatisfied with the nation, the very notion that revolution was necessary meant they intended to overturn the existing order. Naturally, the mainstream would treat them as devils.”

I nodded.

As far as I knew, the term Demon Cult first appeared in imperial records.

The Cult Leader continued.

“In reality, the largest sect slaughtering those belonging to smaller sects happened often, just as great nations slaughtered small ones. This is the essence of human affairs, yet records of such massacres are also frequently erased. What remains is the term Demon Cult, whose true substance can no longer be known.”

This is why, if one says the words Demon Cult in front of people from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, one may end up fighting for no particular reason or be beaten to death. Of course, it is different when the leader of that place himself uses the term Demon Cult. Such is the way of the world.

The Japbu Secret Cult was, in truth, the sect to which the Mad Monk belonged.

That meant the madness the Mad Monk suffered from and the madness I suffered from were, to some extent, connected to Samadhi True Fire.

Of course, that could not have been all.

For the Mad Monk, the death of his junior brother must have been the catalyst, and when the inn burned down, my heart too was engulfed in Samadhi True Fire.

The Cult Leader looked at me and said,

“You originally have a fiery temperament. And you also have a cold temperament that finds all things troublesome. Whether the so-called Yin-Yang Body is truly something one is born with, or whether it can be developed later in life according to martial arts as in your case, I cannot know.”

“Are you saying I am an acquired Yin-Yang Body?”

“I mean that I cannot know the details. Who could determine that someone has a Yin-Yang Body without martial arts? That is something only a quack physician would say.”

At the words quack physician, I looked at Murong Bai. Murong Bai glared at me with a sunken gaze.

“I am not a quack.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just because. You’re the only physician here, so I looked once. Sorry.”

“Yes.”

I looked around at those nearby and said,

“Come to think of it, everyone learned demonic arts.”

According to the Cult Leader’s expression, they were all people who had learned ancient martial arts. Was this why tradition was frightening?

It sounded like a passing remark, but the Cult Leader spoke unexpected words.

“We had been doing since far earlier what the scholars only did after they were massacred. Otherwise, even more martial arts would have been lost than now. To think, unexpectedly, the successors of Guan Yinzi, Guangchengzi, and Qishengzi have gathered in one place... Left Envoy Wei.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

The Cult Leader looked at Left Envoy Wei and spoke in an indifferent tone.

“The reason I should leave you alive is growing increasingly faint. What do you think?”

“......”

“I told you to reduce the number of attendants and have only the minimum personnel present, so what is the meaning of assassins?”

“I apologize, Cult Leader.”

“Have you not once considered pouring out everything you possess and fighting without the aid of your subordinates? The previous heads of your clan sought to earn money because of martial arts. They did not learn martial arts in order to earn even more money like you. Choose your opponent here. For now, more than any of the others’ fights, I want to confirm your end first. Whether you truly were a trash-like bastard blinded only by money, or whether, as the elders say, you were the head of a clan with hidden strength... I will see for myself.”

I could not tell whether it would be a life-and-death duel or a spar.

At the Cult Leader’s order, Left Envoy Wei lowered his head slightly.

“Understood.”

In any case, had the Cult Leader accepted my opinion to some extent? After the Cult Leader’s arrival, the opening battle (開戰) was taken by Left Envoy Wei. However, his opponent could not be known.

Left Envoy Wei first looked at me.

I pointed at myself with a finger and asked,

“Me?”

Was this bastard mad too? He dared choose me?

Left Envoy Wei’s gaze moved, and he looked at the Lust Demon. The Lust Demon stared back at Left Envoy Wei with a somewhat dumbfounded expression. He was already injured after being beaten by the First Demon Ancestor. Shit-Pants imitated me.

“Me?”

Left Envoy Wei clicked his tongue, then looked at Murong Bai. At that, Murong Bai lowered his head slightly.

“I am a physician.”

“I know.”

Gongsun Shen was the first to express his intention to challenge him.

“Left Envoy Wi, how about me?”

“I must decline, since I don’t know who you are.”

Come to think of it, he was the one who had already declared his intent to challenge Eldest Brother before the cult leader arrived.

Eldest Brother met Left Envoy Wi’s eyes and smiled.

“It seems there really is no one but me.”

Left Envoy Wi nodded.

“I shall challenge you.”

In that instant, every action of Left Envoy Wi’s seemed detestable to me. No matter how I thought about it, he was a skilled man, yet from beginning to end he had been resorting to petty tricks. Judging by the speed with which he killed the Hainan Killing Star and his party, he was certainly no weakling.

Perhaps Eldest Brother thought the same, for he mocked Left Envoy Wi in an uncharacteristically emotional tone.

“Why are you so hypocritical to the very end?”

Left Envoy Wi gave a faint smile as well.

“This is what I was taught, so I ask your understanding.”

As the two of them moved to a more open area, I was startled by the sudden sound of the Blood Cult Leader’s voice.

“Hey, Sword Demon.”

“What is it?”

The Blood Cult Leader said to Eldest Brother,

“At least cut off one of his arms.”

I whipped my head around and stared at the Blood Cult Leader.

Whose side is this bastard on, anyway?