Chapter 113. Who Dares Disturb My Stone-Skipping?

It was the first drinking session in over fifty days.

All this time, I had been training in the Moon Shadow Heartless Art, so I had neither the time, the leisure, nor even the thought to drink. After coming down from Oksu Mountain Villa, we walked along the road, and the moment we spotted a quiet inn, we went inside. The place was lined with shabby establishments that did not even bother hanging up signboards.

People who traveled the mountains tended to like liquor more than one might expect, so our group mingled with ordinary folk and drank.

However, the people in the inn glanced at us from time to time, realized we were martial artists of the jianghu, and left one by one with awkward coughs.

It was not as though we had meant to drive the customers out, but that was what happened in the end.

For one thing, even to ordinary people, the Sword Demon’s atmosphere must have been far too imposing and memorable.

Even though the Sword Demon looked rather dignified in his own way, it could not be helped.

Seeing this, Jwasa said while drinking.

“It seems everyone is avoiding us because Lee Jaha’s face looks too vicious.”

“……”

I ignored Jwasa’s words and drank, asking the Sword Demon whenever something curious came to mind.

“Senior, is your staying in Baekeungji because of the Cult?”

The Sword Demon replied.

“Not necessarily. Wherever I am, if they intend to kill me, they will send people. It is just that there likely are not many suitable candidates to send.”

“Why is that?”

The Sword Demon smiled faintly.

“Because they would have to be prepared to suffer rather heavy losses.”

Come to think of it, he was a man who had killed cultists and broken away from the Demonic Cult. This time, Jwasa asked what he was curious about.

“Master, you have crossed hands with the Alliance Leader and also with the Cult Leader. Can you judge which of the two is superior?”

It was a question of who was stronger.

The Sword Demon fell into thought.

“The Alliance Leader and the Cult Leader.”

To be honest, I was curious about that as well. Even in my days as the Mad Demon, the Cult Leader and the Alliance Leader had not clashed one-on-one.

“Each has many subordinates, so I wonder if the two would ever have occasion to face each other directly. Judging from my perspective, the Cult Leader’s internal energy seems deeper. If it proceeded as a spar, the Cult Leader would win.”

Jwasa asked, looking somewhat surprised.

“And if it wasn’t a spar?”

The Sword Demon grinned as he answered.

“The Alliance Leader would stake his life and choose mutual destruction with the Cult Leader. An attack of mutual destruction unleashed by a man on the Alliance Leader’s level would not be something the Cult Leader could easily shake off. It would be difficult for both men to go on living in one piece. At the very least, one of them would have lost an arm or a leg, so even victory would not truly be victory. My guess is that the two of them have more or less grasped each other’s realm, and are continuing to train whenever they can make time. The reason the jianghu is relatively quiet thanks to that is likely because the balance between the two is roughly even. Not only in terms of their forces, but also their individual martial power.”

Indeed, at this point in time, both sides were storing up their strength.

That was also time granted to me.

I asked something I had been wondering about.

“Senior, did you also learn demonic arts?”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“Those who have learned martial arts in the Cult since childhood begin with demonic arts. The fundamental principles are different from those of the White Path and from ordinary energy circulation.”

Since I was also learning the Moon Shadow Heartless Art, I was curious what exactly was different.

“In what way are they different?”

“During the process of building one’s foundation, they often choose shortcuts. After roughly twelve or thirteen years of training, qi deviation naturally arrives. It is the consequence of abusing those shortcuts, so there is no way to avoid it.”

Jwasa asked.

“Isn’t twelve or thirteen years far too short?”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“That is why the Cult often stirs up conflicts on such cycles. Ordinary cultists die fighting in missions or disputes before problems arise in their bodies. Their average lifespan is short.”

This was an internal circumstance of the Cult that even I had not known.

The Sword Demon said.

“The thoughts of those in power are so merciless as to feel hollow. From the beginning, those bastards have had little interest in the lives of low-ranking cultists. They are consumables. Things that can be replaced when they die. Among them, however, there are clever ones who overcome qi deviation, survive even crises that should have killed them, and grow older. Then they naturally rise upward. They are recognized by the Cult as well. With various benefits, money, women, and luxurious surroundings, their loyalty deepens too. In that way, they become slightly more useful consumables that receive better treatment.”

I poured myself a cup of liquor, drank it, and laughed.

Strangely enough, the Sword Demon and I had similar thoughts regarding the Cult.

The Cult Leader did not see people as people.

The Sword Demon knew that well too.

After checking my expression, the Sword Demon asked in passing.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I merely laughed because it was similar to what I usually think. Then is the Alliance different?”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“In the end, an organization is bound to follow the thoughts of its leader. The Alliance could become like the Cult at any time. The Cult could also become like the current Alliance at any time. This is a problem of those who lead, not of the group itself. If the current Alliance Leader were someone like the Cult Leader, and conversely, someone like Im Sobaek were sitting as the Cult Leader, I would not have left the Cult.”

I nodded, then asked the Sword Demon.

“Was it not difficult when you faced the Cult Leader?”

“My only true defeat is death. The Cult Leader cannot kill me easily either.”

Listening to the Sword Demon’s words, I wondered if my guess had been right, and from what he had just said, I came to know a certain truth.

‘Is he truly, as the old rumors said, a man impervious to blades and swords?’

This time, the Sword Demon asked me.

“By the way, Sect Leader, your aura has changed somewhat. Have you learned a new martial art?”

“Senior, how can you tell such things? I feel as though nothing in particular has changed.”

The Sword Demon laughed.

“This is something rather subtle.”

“Please explain.”

The Sword Demon lifted his cup and said.

“Let us assume this cup was made by the craftsman who makes the most beautiful wine cups in the world.”

I nodded.

“On the other hand, let us assume that my disciple’s cup is an imitation resembling that craftsman’s work. Ordinary drinkers would find it difficult to distinguish the genuine article from the imitation. Their shapes are the same, after all. But in the eyes of the craftsman who made the cup himself, the difference between the imitation and the genuine article would be felt. Why would that be?”

Jwasa answered.

“Would it not be because he can see the difference in their degree of completion?”

The Sword Demon set down his cup.

“It is the same for martial artists. The three of us are not completed martial artists. If that imitation is moving toward becoming genuine… then those differences are bound to show little by little. If I feel something has changed compared to last time, it must mean the Sect Leader is advancing properly. As for our busy disciple, however……”

Jwasa, whose face had been red since earlier, answered.

“Master.”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“It is good that you are so consistent.”

“Yes.”

“But the day will come when your mind awakens as well.”

Since it was hard to tell whether he was teasing him or being serious, I asked.

“Why is that?”

The Sword Demon answered.

“Because he is the disciple I am teaching, so that is how it should be.”

Just as the Left Envoy bastard looked slightly moved, the Sword Demon’s true thoughts followed.

“Even if the Cult Leader dies, the cult will not disappear so easily. Too many old families are clinging to it. That is why a proper Cult Leader must be raised up. Even if we have to kill every last one of the current leaders to do it. Whether my disciple becomes Cult Leader later or someone else does, there is no other way. In any case, the current Cult Leader must die.”

Perhaps the Left Envoy had heard this several times before, for a sharp reply came at once.

“Master, I do not want to become anything like a Cult Leader.”

“Why?”

The Left Envoy answered.

“They just seem like madmen. The very idea that all the logic of the world is contained in their doctrine, I mean. Though I may be a madman terribly fond of women, such doctrine is hard for me to accept.”

When the Sword Demon laughed, the Left Envoy asked.

“Why are you laughing?”

The Sword Demon answered.

“That is the Demonic Cult. Those fellows are not ones who persuade. They reign by force and make others submit. Fanatics are not people to be suppressed by arguing reason with them, but people to be killed and erased. Sooner or later, the day will come when we decide who is superior.”

The Sword Demon looked at me.

“Sect Leader, you should keep this in mind as well. A part of the world under heaven is already mad. It has been for a long time.”

For a conversation held in a shabby inn, it was extremely under-heaven-ish. I did not know whether the word under-heaven-ish existed or not, but that was none of my concern.

In any case, the drinking session was good.

I came to understand a little more about what the Sword Demon lived thinking about.

And my thoughts regarding the pants-shitter had also changed slightly from before.

I mainly chatted with the Sword Demon about all sorts of things in no particular order, and when the drinking session was about to end, I made a request of him.

“Senior, I have one favor to ask.”

“Speak.”

“I do not know whom you are thinking of as your next sparring opponent, but call me then as well.”

“The training will likely take a long time, but I shall do so.”

I stared silently at the Sword Demon’s face for a moment. Perhaps because he was a man who lived always prepared for death, when I read his features, I did not get the impression that his lifespan would be long. He might have been ambushed by masters sent by the Cult Leader, or he might have been unlucky and been annihilated by the Three Calamities.

But since we had formed a connection, I had come to dislike the idea of seeing the Sword Demon die a futile death somewhere. I intended to personally confirm just what the shadow of death clinging to the Sword Demon was.

Suddenly, this thought occurred to me.

‘Surely it isn’t the Mad Monk?’

The timing of the Mad Monk’s appearance was a little vague, so even I could not know. There was a time when the Mad Monk appeared, caused incidents and accidents, rampaged about, and earned an evil reputation, and the time when he dragged me around came after that, so I was slightly confused as well.

In any case, killing a man impervious to blades and swords was no easy matter.

Perhaps there was also a possibility that the Cult Leader had faced him personally.

After drinking a moderate amount with the two of them, I rose. Since they had to return to Baekeungji and I had to go to the Black Cat Gang, we exchanged a few calm words in front of the inn and parted ways.

As soon as I began walking alone down the road, I drew the Black Cat Fang.

I could not help it, because the Alliance Leader’s Six-War Great Sword kept coming to mind.

When a man who had been drinking walked along while swinging a blade, the peddlers I met from time to time fell on their backsides or fled in terror the moment they saw me.

Again, it was none of my concern.

When I tried performing it myself, the Six-War Great Sword was truly an absurdly difficult sword art. It was not a sword art one could imitate merely by watching someone else.

However, I simply found it amusing that the color of the blade changed from moment to moment, so I continued repeating downward strikes on the quiet road.

Once again, a woman passing by screamed and fled.

“Ah……”

Was this a world where one could not even train as one pleased?

Had I forced it a little?

I thought the situation was enough for people to be frightened, so I had no choice but to put the blade back away.

After that, I practiced barehanded.

As I walked while repeating knife-hand chops, the people I occasionally met on the road finally stopped screaming. They were a little afraid, but it was more like the expression and gaze one wore when looking at an ordinary madman.

This must be why being a madman is comfortable.

Suddenly, I wrapped the Flame Realm around my left hand and ice art around my right, then performed knife-hand chops with both hands.

After trying it a few times……

Even to me, this was frightening, so I restrained myself.

A man who does not cross the line—that is me.

I returned while walking mountain paths, bustling streets, and quiet roads alike. Then I briefly looked around the nameless lake I had noticed when heading to Myogaesan.

“Peace like a lake, for me.”

As I carefully searched for a flat, thin stone to skip across the water, I noticed wild geese gathering and watched them for a while.

“……”

However, the flock of geese that had been coming toward where I was in search of food suddenly changed direction and moved away from the waterside again. As the flock of geese retreated, various humans who did not seem particularly afraid of me gathered and took positions behind me.

Without bothering to turn around, I folded my arms.

“Who dares interfere with my stone skipping?”

“……”

They seemed to be fellows with enough killing intent to drive away a flock of geese. Why had they surrounded me and yet did not attack right away?

Curious about that, I turned around.