RM-Bab 8

Chapter 8: When the Blade Shimmers Under the Moonlight

Rumors that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s disciple died at my hands began to spread rapidly within the sect.

As the rumors spread, so did Lee Ahn’s worries.

“It’s absolute chaos. Everyone I meet is talking about you and Yang Po, Young Master.”

She let out a sigh and added another word.

“… And about me, too.”

Since she was the cause of the fight, it was natural that there would be all sorts of talk.

“Isn’t it good to be famous? Aren’t we martial artists the kind of people who do all sorts of crazy things just to make a name for ourselves?”

“I don’t like it.”

“You’re going to get even more famous from now on. What will you do?”

Lee Ahn let out a light sigh, but her expression wasn’t dark.

Perhaps it was because at the heart of this chaos was the positive element of change.

“I’m worried because the Blood Heaven Blade Demon values his honor. I hope he just lets this go.”

“Who said that? That the Blood Heaven Blade Demon values honor?”

“What? He doesn’t?”

“Would a person who values honor neglect and condone the trashy behavior of his disciples?”

“Maybe he doesn’t know about it?”

“That would be underestimating the subtlety of our dear Blood Heaven Blade Demon.”

“You’ve been like this before. You keep talking as if you know the Blood Heaven Blade Demon well.”

“I know as much as I need to, not just about the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, but about the other Demon Sovereigns too. I’m the son of the Heavenly Demon, after all. It’s the least I should do to investigate them.”

Lee Ahn stared at me with wide eyes.

She must think she knows everything about me, so she was probably wondering when on earth I conducted such an investigation behind her back.

“Then why does the Blood Heaven Blade Demon let his disciples’ misconduct slide?”

“That’s because…”

There was a clear reason, but it was something I couldn’t explain to Lee Ahn.

So I gave her another reason that she could accept.

“Because it’s easier.”

“What?”

“It’s easier to handle greedy and selfish bastards than well-behaved disciples. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon has been making his disciples compete for a long time without choosing a successor. Why? Because it makes them easier to use as consumables. Just watch, Yang Po’s empty spot will be filled within a few days.”

“He’s a frightening person, the Blade Demon.”

“I find the disciples more frightening. Those guys who rush in, fully knowing what kind of person their master is.”

“I’m glad I get to serve you, Young Master.”

“Of course. How can you even compare? Lee Ahn, want to have a drink? It’s been a while.”

She looked at me with a surprised face.

“Why so surprised?”

“Because it’s not ‘been a while,’ it’s the first time.”

“The first time?”

“Yes.”

I’ve never had a drink with you until now? What on earth has been driving you to throw yourself on the line for me?

“Let’s go. Let’s drink till we drop today!”

I went with Lee Ahn to the Demon Family Village.

The Demon Family Village was a town that had formed around the Main Sect.

What began as a small village where the families of demonic practitioners lived has now become a large city.

I took her to the most expensive and finest tavern in the Demon Family Village.

“It’s a historic day, so let’s drink somewhere nice.”

“I’m fine with a small, humble place.”

She was uncomfortable in crowded places.

No matter where she went, eyes would be drawn to her first, so she must have disliked it.

Out of consideration for her, I entered a private room in the tavern.

“How much can you drink?”

“I can’t drink much.”

“Let’s find out your limit today. Don’t worry, if you get drunk, I’ll carry you on my back.”

“I’m… heavy.”

“It’s fine. Look at these biceps.”

“They’re half the size of my biceps.”

“That’s because I haven’t flexed yet!”

Since it was my first time drinking with her, I ordered a lot of fine wine and dishes.

“It’s my first time trying these dishes. This one, and that one too.”

“Try everything, and let’s order more of whatever’s delicious.”

“My stomach will be surprised.”

“You’re so busy with guard duty you just eat whatever, right? From now on, eat properly.”

“Look, with this body, it’s fine even if I eat whatever.”

She lifted her thick arm and grinned.

“Eating carelessly makes you gain more weight. What am I eating, what ingredients is this made of? The more you pay attention to your food, the less weight you gain. To lose weight, you have to become a gourmet.”

“Ah! I didn’t know! I’ll do that from now on.”

But I knew.

No matter what she ate, even if she starved herself every day, she wouldn’t lose weight.

Because that weight wasn’t gained from food.

Of course, she knew it well too.

She was only saying that because she thought I didn’t know about the side effects.

She could have revealed the side effects and made a resentful joke… but she was someone who had become an adult too young.

“From now on, learn while eating delicious things with me.”

Lee Ahn stared at me and asked.

“Please tell me your secret.”

“What secret? Cooking?”

“No. How a person can change so much.”

I looked at her and smiled faintly.

“Why? Do you want to change too?”

“It’s not that, but…”

She emptied her cup.

How could she not want to change? In her heart, the image of her younger self would forever remain.

When things got hard, she would remember that day, and it would make things even harder.

‘Once you regain your original form, you won’t need any such secrets.

Everyone in the world will adore you.’

Receiving the drink I poured for her, Lee Ahn asked politely.

“Young Master, what are your plans for becoming the successor?”

The reason she asked a question she had never asked before was probably because she now saw that possibility in me.

I raised my cup and said softly.

“Flattery is the only way to survive!”

Lee Ahn smiled, raised her own cup, and lightly clinked it against mine.

“You must melt the Cult Master’s heart!”

I emptied my cup with her.

She said she couldn’t drink well, but Lee Ahn held her liquor quite well.

Of course, I had to pay the price for getting her drunk.

I had to carry her back on my back, completely intoxicated.

The whole way back, she shouted from my back.

“Don’t worry! I will protect you, Young Master. Just trust me!”

“I wasn’t worried at all, but hearing you say that over and over is starting to worry me.”

“I told you not to worry! I will protect you!”

“Alright, I won’t worry.”

“You should. You must worry. But don’t worry! Because I will protect you!”

“Hahaha.”

Just then, a window in a nearby building opened and someone shouted.

“What kind of half-wit keeps repeating the same thing?”

Looking at the man who had stuck his head out the window, I said.

“Cut her some slack, for my sake.”

“Who are you?”

“I am the Second Young Master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.”

He stared at me blankly for a moment, then an apology came as fast as light.

“Aigoo, my apologies, Young Master!”

The window slammed shut even faster than it had opened.

Lee Ahn was sound asleep on my back, breathing softly.

‘I’m sorry it took so long for me to carry you.’

Returning to my quarters, I laid her on the bed and went outside.

I sat in the courtyard, stretching my legs out, and looked up at the moon.

Thinking back now, after the destruction of my sect, while living as a fugitive, I was steeped in a deep sense of defeat.

It was a depression so profound that I couldn’t sustain my life without running toward the goal of regression.

If I hadn’t met Seo Jin back then? If I hadn’t learned about the Great Regression Art? In the end… wouldn’t I have taken my own life? Or I would have gone looking for Hwa Mugi, only to die a miserable death at the hands of his followers without ever meeting him.

Yes, that’s what would have happened.

As I was lost in such thoughts.

Something right next to me flashed, reflecting the moonlight.

When I slowly turned my head, a large blade was right next to my face.

My tense face was reflected on the blade of the ridiculously large great blade.

The blade was slowly lowered, revealing the owner of the sword behind it.

The wrinkles on the back of the rough, gaunt hand holding the blade were valleys of experience, showing that the past years had not been easy.

Beyond those valleys, a pair of sharp eyes was glaring at me.

He was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

I was inwardly surprised, as I had not expected him to visit me so suddenly.

The sword aimed at my neck as if to cut it was his signature weapon, the Heaven-Slaying Blade.

The Heaven-Slaying Blade, listed among the Ten Great Weapons of the Martial World, had earned the nickname ‘Weapon Destroyer’ because it shattered most other weapons on impact.

The cold demonic energy emanating from the Heaven-Slaying Blade enveloped the surroundings.

A chill so cold it felt like my breath would stop made all the hairs on my body stand on end.

‘If that blade flew at my neck, could I dodge it?’

I couldn’t easily answer.

No matter how deep the insights I gained in my life before regression, my inner energy was overwhelmingly lacking right now.

At that moment, as the tension peaked, the icy energy that had been swirling around vanished in an instant.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon smiled faintly and poked my side with the end of the Heaven-Slaying Blade’s hilt.

“Why’d you do it?”

He meant, why did I kill his disciple.

Just a moment ago, his aura was like that of an assassin who had come to kill me, but now he was grinning like a friendly neighborhood old man and poking my side.

“Because he acted like an idiot.”

At my nonchalant reply, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stared at me intently.

His gaze was similar to my father’s, yet different.

If my father’s eyes were impossible to read, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s eyes were clear.

Hostility.

I saw a blazing fire in his pupils.

“What kind of idiot in this world would pick a fight with the Cult Master’s youngest son, the apple of his eye?”

Swish!

The blade resting on the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s lap shot up and was once again aimed at my neck.

“Should I cut off this head of yours and tell the Cult Master to put it in his eye? To see if it hurts or not?”

The sharp killing intent flowing over the blade carried its master’s will, saying, ‘It might have sounded like a joke, but it’s not.’

“I don’t think my head would fit in my father’s fearsome, slanted eyes.”

As I took a step back, the energy flowing over the blade instantly receded toward the hilt.

Incredible.

To handle such immense energy so freely with that gaunt body.

This time, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon used the Heaven-Slaying Blade to draw a long line on the ground in front of us.

Then he drew a vertical line about a handspan from the left end.

“From here to here is our Second Young Master, and from here to the very end is me.”

The line was divided in a ratio of nine to one.

“What is this?”

“It’s the degree to which the Cult Master cherishes us.”

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon himself was the nine, and I was the one.

I used my finger to draw a new line at about the two-thirds mark.

“Still, I am his son, after all. This side is me, and that side is you, Elder.”

This time, I was the seven, and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was the three.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon gave a sly smile.

“We can just test it then. If I take the Second Young Master’s head to him, will the Cult Master kill me or spare me?”

“Aren’t you underestimating the Heavenly Demon’s paternal love?”

“So let’s test it.”

The Heaven-Slaying Blade slowly began to move toward me again.

I gently pressed the flat of the blade with my palm, stopping it from reaching my neck.

The blade was cold.

No matter how brightly the Blood Heaven Blade Demon smiled, this coldness was his true nature.

To forget that was to die.

“There’s no need for a test. There are two sons, but only one of you, Elder.”

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon grinned.

“The Second Young Master is no idiot like my disciple.”

“If your disciple had resembled you, Elder, he would still be alive.”

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon placed a hand on my shoulder and patted it a few times.

“Second Young Master, this old man has lived his entire life with misfortune. So it’s best we don’t see each other often.”

Having said his piece, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon vanished.

His body shot up from beside me with a whoosh and disappeared into the distant darkness.

After the Blood Heaven Blade Demon disappeared, I checked my side first.

A dark bruise had formed where he had poked me with the hilt of his blade.

It had seemed like a playful ‘poke-poke’, but the impact I felt was a ‘thump-thump’.

The final pats on my shoulder had been the same.

“Damn that old bastard.”

I hadn’t let my guard down for a moment while facing him.

Separate from the fact that I had regressed, I always had to be cautious of the dangers created by variables.

The fact that he repeated twice that he would take my head to my father meant that the thought of actually doing it was in his mind.

At first glance, he seems to do as he pleases, but he is not an impulsive person.

He is a man who always calculates, and then calculates again.

If he seems impulsive, that too is a calculated impulsiveness.

That’s why he was such a difficult person to deal with.

Although I knew a lot about him, knowing well doesn’t mean I can handle him well.

Information is just information, and a variable that could overturn this advantage could appear at any time.

‘Anyway, why did he come to see me?’

Was it a warning for killing his disciple?

No. As I told Lee Ahn, he isn’t someone who cares about his reputation.

He came to see me.

The side of me I showed on the dueling stage must have been impressive, and my wish for a hunt must have felt special to him.

On top of that, I even cut down his own disciple, so he must have felt the need to test me.

He came to taste for himself whether I tasted sweet or like crap.

To see if I had what it takes to be the successor.

‘So, how did I taste?’

To me, he was spicy.

I only got a small taste, but it was fiery.

But it was a deliciously spicy taste.

‘Will the Blood Heaven Blade Demon be my first opponent?’

Perhaps.

After all, I was sent back to the very day I was to duel with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s disciple.

‘Perhaps your great blade was just particularly eye-catching to the heavens.’