Episode 62. Let’s Do It Next Time.
“Sect Leader, welcome.”
Murong Bai looked me up and down with a flustered expression at my sudden visit.
I had been caught in the act of rubbing the blood on my shoes into the dirt.
“Doctor, I hope I haven’t come too late.”
Murong Bai shook his head.
“Not at all. Please come in.”
“Were you not on your way out?”
“It was nothing important. I was thinking of buying some dumplings, but I can eat them another time. Did something happen?”
“Let’s go inside.”
As soon as Murong Bai sat down, he held out his hand.
“Let me take your pulse.”
I obediently offered him my wrist.
As he took my pulse, Murong Bai examined my eyes, my complexion, and even the bloodstains on my clothes.
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“There does not seem to be any major problem, but you look unusually weary. It seems you have expended a great deal of mental strength. Did you fight again?”
“Well, I fight often enough. It’s routine.”
I nodded.
“Have a cup of warm tea, at least.”
“Let’s do that.”
After Murong Bai asked the medical attendant for tea, he asked me.
“And who did you clash with today?”
“You know that the Great Rakshasa is dead?”
“How could I not?”
“With the Great Rakshasa dead, it seems the black path around him is gathering together. So I am on my way back from the Yunyu Society.”
Murong Bai nodded.
“So you had a bout at the Yunyu Society. Sect Leader, shall we speak honestly today?”
“Let’s.”
Murong Bai grinned and said to me.
“It looks as though your heart demon is standing right outside the door, Sect Leader. Your condition, I mean.”
I cackled with laughter.
“That’s what I thought, so I came to see you. I often become a patient.”
After killing the vice leader of the Yunyu Society, I freed the dancers, and in the process beat to death a few more bastards who attacked me.
Suddenly, I felt that if I fought Master Su when he returned like this, I would literally become the Mad Demon running amok, so I restrained myself and came to see Doctor Murong.
Because I want to be a clear-headed Mad Demon trying to fix my own problems, not a Mad Demon crazed by slaughter.
A Mad Demon slightly improved from my past life—that is my goal. And when one is sick, seeking a physician is also the proper way of the jianghu.
Murong Bai said.
“What happened at the Yunyu Society?”
“Nothing much. I think I killed some with an axe.”
“With an axe, how exactly……”
“I split their skulls.”
“Whether you kill with a sword, an axe, or your fists, taking life is all the same. Did you perhaps kill someone you should not have killed by mistake?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then where did the dangerous unrest in your eyes come from?”
“That, I do not know.”
Murong Bai looked at me and smiled faintly. Just then, the medical attendant brought the tea and set it down on the table.
As Murong Bai poured the tea himself, he said.
“Sect Leader, do you know much about poison?”
I shook my head.
“Not more than you, Doctor.”
To think the Poison Demon of my past life was asking me about poison—laughter came to me on its own.
Murong Bai, even before becoming the Poison Demon, revealed his thoughts on poison.
“Poison is originally medicine.”
“Why is that? Poison kills people, and medicine saves them.”
Murong Bai indicated the tea.
“Please drink.”
Together with Murong Bai, I took a sip of the clear tea.
Murong Bai continued.
“Most of the world’s most powerful poisons exist in insects, plants, and animals. People of the jianghu forcibly borrow those poisons from them.”
“That is so.”
“But what should I call the original conditions under which such poison is triggered? A reflex, perhaps. When insects that carry poison use it, it is often when their own lives are in danger. In most cases, they use it to survive. From the beginning, their purpose differs from that of the people of the jianghu. Since they use it so they will not die, it is essentially like medicine. Some things, when eaten, kill a person. Some things, when eaten, restore a person. So we divided them into poison and medicine, but originally they are the same.”
“Is that so? I agree with part of it, though there are some ambiguous parts as well.”
Murong Bai nodded.
“You may simply think, ‘So that is his opinion,’ and move on. A heart demon is the same. If you draw upon the poison of the heart and use it, there will inevitably be aftereffects. Insects, too, often die themselves after spewing poison. Or they spew poison while being eaten and perish together with their predator.”
“That is similar to a mutual-destruction technique.”
“It is.”
“Then you are saying there is poison in my heart as well, and that it is injuring me?”
“Would that not be the case? Killing the wicked also accumulates in the heart. And if one is human, that is normal.”
I tilted my head. It was a little different from an explanation of my heart demon. But Murong Bai was so serious that I could not say he was wrong.
“Then what should I do?”
Murong Bai laughed heartily, which was rare for him.
“Do it in moderation.”
I looked at Murong Bai’s expression, then let out a snort of laughter. In the days when I was the Mad Demon, the man had been even more crazed by slaughter than I was, and now he was telling me to do it in moderation. I could not help but laugh.
I nodded.
“Since you have given me the teaching to do it in moderation, Doctor, I shall try to do so.”
As Murong Bai poured more tea for me, he said.
“Do it in moderation. And divide the work among your comrades. The stronger you become, the more you should forgive once or twice, as well. If you take out and use all the poison in your heart, it will harm you, Sect Leader.”
I agreed with that much.
Because it had been so in my past life.
In my past life, Murong Bai had saved me with poison. This time, he was saving me by soothing my heart.
Unexpectedly, Murong Bai brought this up.
“Killing those of the wicked and heretical paths is necessary, but in the case of the Martial Alliance, it has established strict laws to keep its members from running amok. Summary executions are rare; usually, they are transported to the Alliance and dealt with there. This is not a law to protect criminals, but in a sense, a law to protect the Alliance members.”
“That is a view I have not heard before.”
At this point, I asked something I was curious about. I thought, rather, that this question might touch the root of my heart demon.
“There is someone I hate more than anyone in the world.”
“Yes.”
“A tremendous master. His subordinates are strong as well. Suppose I grow stronger and manage to defeat that master. If the countless people beneath him despise me and hate me, would it be right for me to kill them all too?”
“There is no need for that.”
“That is what worries me somewhat.”
“The only organizations like that are religions. Is your enemy the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Sect Master?”
Instead of answering, I grinned.
Murong Bai spoke with a tense expression.
“To think you have made one of the Three Calamities (三災) of the jianghu your enemy. It seems I had been thinking of you far too lightly, Sect Master.”
“I’ve always had rather grand ambitions.”
“They are grand indeed.”
I judged that Murong Bai was frightened because he was still in his physician days, so I tried to soothe him.
“I will make sure no harm comes to you, Doctor, so do not worry.”
In that instant, perhaps his pride had been scratched. The fellow suddenly said this to me.
“From what I hear, all the masters among the Three Calamities are impervious to all poisons.”
“Well, I have no intention of killing the masters under heaven with poison, so that has nothing to do with me.”
Murong Bai shook his head.
“That is not what I mean.”
“Then?”
“I will study further and make you, Sect Master, impervious to a hundred poisons, even a thousand poisons. If you build a resistance to poison, facing the evil and heretical paths will become much easier for you.”
“What about being impervious to all poisons?”
Murong Bai was a realistic man.
“That would be rather difficult.”
Murong Bai and I laughed at the same time.
“I should be going soon. It seems Master Su and the black-path men will not leave me be……”
“Please rise.”
As I walked out while being seen off by Murong Bai, he suddenly asked me this question.
“Sect Master.”
“Speak.”
“By any chance, have I ever treated an acquaintance of yours?”
What sort of intention was behind that question?
Feeling pointlessly caught off guard, I chose my words before answering.
“I do not know why you would ask such a question.”
Murong Bai replied with an awkward expression.
“It is merely because you have shown me such deep goodwill, Sect Master.”
I nodded.
“Mm, I suppose one might think that.”
After exchanging words of farewell in front of the Murong Clinic, I also gave him an answer to his question.
“When people live their lives, there are times they meet someone and immediately feel in perfect accord. Without knowing the reason why. Perhaps you once saved my life in a previous life, Doctor.”
When I smiled, Murong Bai shook his head.
“I doubt that.”
“Why?”
Murong Bai grinned as he spoke.
“In my previous life, I must have been a man of the jianghu. I often thought that perhaps, because I killed too many people, I was given karma in this life to look after and treat many people……”
I looked at Murong Bai, chills rising along my spine, but replied in a calm tone.
“That may be so. Let us both take care of our health.”
“Go safely, Sect Master.”
Murong Bai bowed his head. Unable to answer him with the etiquette of the jianghu, I also bowed my head.
The vague unease I felt in my heart was not exactly resolved in a refreshing way. In any case, it may have been the burden I carried because I considered many masters of the jianghu to be my enemies.
However, after speaking with Murong Bai, my insides quickly became at ease.
In any case, this man was someone to whom I could reveal my true thoughts, and since he was originally a sharp man, he understood my wandering to some extent.
Only then did flowers and trees enter my field of vision once more.
Even breathing had become much easier.
Feeling the inner demon that had been knocking at the door retreat again, I returned to the Black Cat Gang.
* * *
When I arrived at the Black Cat Gang, it was noisy, as if some fellows had arrived before me. As I headed toward the main hall, I briefly imagined the scene unfolding inside.
The ones I had summoned were the junior disciples of the Twelve Divine Generals, Dugu Sheng, Cha Seongtae, and the like.
Unfortunately, there was not a single one among them that Cha Seongtae could defeat. I could clearly picture Cha Seongtae meekly reading the room in some corner.
“Tsk.”
I flung the doors of the main hall wide open and took in the atmosphere inside, then stood still for a moment.
“……”
Dugu Sheng had not yet arrived.
However, the junior disciples of the Twelve Divine Generals and all the executives of the Black Cat Gang, including Xiao Junping, had gathered. With the Twelve Divine Generals on one side and the Black Cat Gang executives on the other, Cha Seongtae was seated in the place of honor at the very center.
“Hm?”
Cha Seongtae rose and gave me a cupped-fist salute.
“Sect Master, you have arrived.”
Only then did the others pay their respects to me as well.
“Gang Leader, you have arrived.”
“Eldest Senior Brother, you have arrived.”
When I went to the seat of honor, Cha Seongtae pulled out the chair and waited for me.
After sitting in the seat of honor, I looked at Cha Seongtae and also examined the mood of the Twelve Divine Generals and the other executives.
“Everyone, sit.”
“Yes.”
“There must be some people meeting for the first time. Have you finished introducing yourselves?”
Cha Seongtae, who was standing beside me, replied.
“All finished.”
I am a man with many curiosities. Though it felt somewhat petty, I asked Cha Seongtae in order to satisfy my curiosity.
“Why were you sitting in the seat of honor?”
Cha Seongtae replied with a composed expression.
“I am the Chief Steward of the Hao Sect, am I not?”
“That is true.”
Hong Xin, who had a blunt personality, cut in as if tattling.
“He said he was the second-in-command of the Hao Sect. Eldest Senior Brother, is that true?”
I whipped my head around and met Cha Seongtae’s eyes.
Cha Seongtae was speaking with his gaze.
‘Please say it’s true. Just a little.’
‘So I raised a fox cub.’
The very embodiment of hujiahuwei (狐假虎威, a fox borrowing the tiger’s might to strut around) was standing before my eyes. While thinking that it was fortunate I had not raised a tiger cub, I shook my head.
“That won’t work. Cha Seongtae is simply the Chief Steward of the Hao Sect. There is no such thing as a second-in-command. However, Chief Steward is also an important position, so treat him accordingly. As you can see, he is the sort who would die if struck once or twice.”
Only then did the expressions of the Twelve Divine Generals brighten.
As Cha Seongtae headed to the corner, I said,
“Cha Seongtae.”
“Yes.”
I kept needling Cha Seongtae.
“If you’re pissed, then get stronger. You pathetic bastard, you lousy bastard, you bastard who lost dozens of times in a row to Sama Bi, you bastard who flaunts borrowed power.”
Cha Seongtae, having taken a seat at the very end, replied to me.
“That’s not it. The people here met powerful masters, took miraculous medicines, learned fine martial arts, and so they became strong. I had no master, never even saw a miraculous medicine, and simply swung my blade to survive. So if we fight with external arts alone, my thought is that the outcome can’t be guaranteed.”
So Gunpyeong, who had been listening quietly, glared at Cha Seongtae.
“Shall we have a bout right now, with external arts alone?”
Cha Seongtae glared back at So Gunpyeong and answered.
“Let’s do it next time.”
It was nothing much, but Hong Sin suddenly burst out laughing, and when Hong Sin laughed, Geumhae laughed too, and then the Four Divine Generals also started snickering before eventually laughing outright.
In the end, everyone laughed except Cha Seongtae.
I, too, could only speak while laughing in the end.
“Make sure you do it next time.”
“Yes.”