Three months was enough time to change not only mountains and rivers, but even a person’s muscles and bones.
In the deep darkness of Malyeong Valley in Jirisan, Siu devoted himself to cultivation without resting a single day.
The Heavenly Demon techniques that Baekhui had engraved into his soul flowed through his blood vessels and reconstructed his physical body, and now not a trace of his former frailty remained in him.
The nature of his hunting had also changed completely.
At first, there had only been wild boars he could catch by overwhelming them with raw strength and momentum, but now, whether it was fish cutting through water, swift pheasants, or even rabbits that vanished in the blink of an eye, before Siu’s Heavenly Demon Moon Shadow Steps, they were nothing more than a meal on the chopping block.
His footwork, gliding silently across the earth and closing the distance in an instant, was now nearing an instinctive perfection.
Evening, as the sun sank into darkness.
Siu, plucking a pheasant as usual, froze at the soft warmth he felt behind his back.
Together with a fragrant demonic scent, Baekhui gently embraced him from behind.
Though inwardly startled, Siu tried to continue his task in silence, unwilling to show it.
But his earlobes, already burning bright red, spoke an undeniable truth.
As if finding that sight lovely, Baekhui hugged him even tighter.
Her ample chest pressed against his sturdy back, and her breath against his ear sent a thrill more electrifying than black lightning.
“My disciple. I believe you could now face the demons of the Demonic Realm, rather than mountain beasts. Though still somewhat lacking, this much can be considered reaching the first-rate realm.”
Siu answered, seemingly embarrassed.
“Come to think of it, I heard this area is a Demonic Realm and demons appear quite frequently, but strangely, I haven’t seen any at all.”
“Hohoho, who do you think is the reason? Even lowly creatures can sense it instinctively. They know who the true master of this mountain is.”
Baekhui’s arrogant laughter broke the silence of Malyeong Valley.
By her presence alone, the demons would have held their breath and hidden deep in their caves.
But now, it was time to drag those hiding ones out and make them Siu’s ‘true’ prey.
The next morning.
Having finished gathering the demonic energy that had flowed through him all night during cultivation, Siu rose from his spot and spoke to Baekhui.
“Master, before we formally enter the Demonic Realm, I think I should go retrieve some necessities from the house where I used to live.”
Now, Siu’s eyes were no longer those of the wavering, orphaned young man from three months prior.
They were the eyes of a martial artist who designed and prepared his own future.
Baekhui stared blankly at such a Siu, then slowly reached out and grasped his rough hand.
“This master… still seems to need a little more time before I can leave this vicinity. Go alone, Siu.”
Baekhui’s voice was pitched lower than usual.
She held his hand with subtle strength, unwilling to let go.
The worry, affection, and strange sense of regret contained in that brief touch were conveyed fully through the back of Siu’s hand.
Feeling that warm touch, Siu nodded firmly.
“Yes, Master. I will return shortly.”
Forcibly tearing away steps that refused to leave, Siu turned his body around.
Lest he look back and find himself wanting to run into her arms again, he deliberately fixed his gaze forward and raised his internal energy.
*Swoosh!*
Siu’s figure blurred like a black moon shadow in an instant, then soon vanished into the thick fog of Malyeong Valley.
Baekhui stood as if nailed to that spot, watching the retreating figure of her disciple disappear at a speed the eye could not follow, for a long while.
Only silence remained in the valley.
Only after confirming that Siu’s presence had completely faded did Baekhui let out a sigh-laden smile and sit cross-legged on a rock.
“…Go. By the time you return, this master shall also greet you in my whole form.”
Baekhui slowly closed her eyes.
Black demonic energy rose around her like a heat haze and began to distort space.
It was the beginning of a quiet yet grand struggle, calling the scattered thousand years of solitude and karmic debt back into the abyss within her.
The house he set foot in for the first time in three months was in a far more miserable state than when he had left.
Whether it was the work of mountain beasts that had barged in from somewhere, the firmly shut door had been torn away, and not a trace remained of the food he had treasured.
The sight of the hut collapsing like ruins seemed to declare that Siu’s arduous past had truly come to an end.
But Siu, unshaken, approached a rusty metal cabinet in a corner of the room.
It was a cabinet infused with his sweat and tenacity, moved little by little every day over the course of seven days from the village, thinking it might someday be useful.
*Click.*
Opening the old lock and looking inside, the ‘everything’ he had guarded revealed itself.
An iron sword with a keen edge and a black training suit, purchased with great resolve after selling several wild ginseng roots in preparation for possible demonic creatures.
And beneath them lay a bankbook he had carefully saved up, holding his dream of moving to the capital.
[Balance: 7,024,500 won]
It was his entire fortune, earned by enduring asceticism in the mountains while keeping his expenses to an absolute minimum.
Memories of wandering rugged mountains searching for wild ginseng and drinking only valley water to stave off hunger crossed Siu’s mind as he held the bankbook.
“…That’s enough now.”
Siu erased the thoughts without attachment.
Throwing off old clothes stained with sweat and dust, he changed into the new black training suit.
The cold weight of the iron sword settling at his waist gave him a strange sense of liberation.
Siu’s eyes deepened further as he stepped back outside, leaving behind the home he loved.
He now looked toward a place he must advance to, not a place to return to.
Only the image of Baekhui smiling brightly while waiting for him was engraved vividly in his mind.
Without a shred of regret, Siu turned his back and leaped toward Malyeong Valley once more.
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Meanwhile, several double-hours had already passed since Siu left for the hut at the foot of the mountain where he was born and raised, ahead of the full-scale subjugation of the Demonic Realm.
While he was organizing the traces of his past, Baekhui, who remained alone in Malyeong Valley, sat cross-legged on a cold rock, immersed in deep meditation.
But the thousand years of grueling time had been cruel. Her demonic energy, which had slowly leaked through the cracks of the seal, had long since spread throughout Jirisan, forming a Demonic Realm that nurtured monstrosities, becoming nutrients that twisted the spiritual energy of the earth.
At her prime, her martial might had reached the pinnacle of the Life and Death Realm, arrogantly looking down upon the world, but now it had fallen to the level of the early Profound Realm.
Although she would be counted as a top expert in the present world, to the First Heavenly Demon who had believed herself to be heaven, it was an incomparably hollow decline.
“…In the end, my torn flesh has fed and sustained this mountain.”
Baekhui spat out bitter self-mockery and stopped her cultivation.
But soon, another emotion pushed its way into the place where that hollowness had dwelt.
In the silence of the empty Malyeong Valley, it was the young man’s voice that kept lingering at her ears.
*‘I will change Master’s world into blue skies, sprouting seedlings, and coolly flowing rivers.’*
An impudent promise daring to reshape the Heavenly Demon’s mental realm as he pleased.
When she first heard those words, she had thought them merely immature bravado.
But now, left alone, that single sentence from Siu was branded like a mark on her inner self, which was like a barren wasteland dyed crimson.
Though she herself had boldly declared with her own mouth that he would become her disciple and husband, this unfamiliar emotion was truly a first for Baekhui as well.
She found it vexing and bewildering that these few double-hours without Siu felt longer than a thousand years of solitude.
“Baekhui of all the world, fretting her heart just because one man is out of sight.”
Baekhui bit her red lips and cast her gaze toward the foot of the mountain.
A face that was vexing, yet one she kept wanting to see.
It was time spent for her disciple’s growth, but she had not known that enduring that time would be a greater tribulation for herself as his master.
Somewhere in the red sky of her mental realm, the illusion of the blue river Siu had promised seemed to ring in her ears.
A black moon shadow cut across the forest, moving away from the past.
As the sun slowly set beyond the horizon, Malyeong Valley was sinking into deep violet darkness.
Normally, the ominous howls of demonic creatures would echo through the valley, but now only an eerie silence permeated it.
Siu sent internal energy to his feet and leaped to the rock where Baekhui sat cross-legged in one breath.
But what greeted him was not her usual arrogant laughter.
“Master…?”
Baekhui sat without even a twitch, eyes closed.
The fierce demonic energy surrounding her was nowhere to be seen; only her pale complexion coldly reflected the moonlight.
Could it be that the aftereffects of forcibly transmitting martial arts to him had finally surfaced?
It felt like Siu’s heart plummeted to the bottom with a thud.
“Master! Come to your senses!”
Without thinking of the consequences, Siu ran to her and lifted her frail shoulders into his embrace.
His rough hands were trembling.
The moment her disciple’s warmth touched her, Baekhui’s head powerlessly tilted toward Siu’s chest.
In his sturdy embrace, Siu failed to notice that Baekhui’s lowered eyelashes were trembling ever so slightly.
“You can’t, Master… I’m here! Please…!”
In the moment Siu tried to hold her tighter with a voice on the verge of tears.
*Flash.*
Baekhui’s crimson pupils opened in an instant.
Before Siu’s gaze, frozen in shock, could reach her, Baekhui’s slender arm shot out and wrapped around his neck as if snagging prey.
“I thought I would die of boredom waiting, my disciple.”
She didn’t even give him a chance to speak.
Baekhui covered his lips as if to devour them.
A sweet yet chilly demonic fragrance paralyzed Siu’s senses.
At the sudden ambush, Siu’s eyes flashed wide, and the iron sword at his waist rattled, breaking the silence.
Hot breaths intertwined, and the cold air of Malyeong Valley instantly began to scorch.
After a long, deep kiss, Baekhui slightly parted her lips and smiled a languid smile.
A glistening strand of demonic energy-laced saliva hung between them like a secret thread.
“…Have you returned, Siu?”
With a face burning bright red, unable to say a word, Siu could only stare blankly at his master smiling seductively in his embrace.