Chapter 146: The End of Childhood (5)

The Heavenly Demon lives.

That voice kept ringing through his head.

Namgung Hyeong sat at the desk in the Family Head’s Office, clutching his head and groaning.

“Damn it......”

He should have known when things were different from usual.

He should never have gone in at all.

He should have dragged that great father of his over and pressed him to do something about it.

Even if he had been rebuked for it...

He would not have ended up in this state, corroded by Demonic Energy.

Namgung Hyeong gritted his teeth and struck the desk.

It was because the Demonic Energy had made his nerves sharp.

And then...

Namgung Seon knocked on the door of the Family Head’s Office.

Knock, knock, knock.

Namgung Hyeong let out a deep sigh, then answered aloud.

“Come back later, later!”

“......Understood.”

Outside the door, Namgung Seon narrowed his eyes at his father’s voice and turned away.

He had clearly felt something from this place.

Namgung Seon, too, was a genius born with enough talent and senses to stride through his era.

And he was also the next Family Head.

I am certain that was Demonic Energy.

He, too, knew that the Young Cult Leader’s head was sealed alive in this place.

He knew the Family Head had a duty to watch over it.

And...

He also knew that his father was not a man suited to carrying out that duty.

This was not a matter of martial level.

It was a question of whether he was what people commonly called “firm at the core.”

From that point of view, Namgung Hyeong was actually less firm at the core than Namgung Seon.

Namgung Seon quietly stared at the Family Head’s Office where his father was.

Then, before long, he left.

He no longer had anything like affection for his father.

This was a man who had envied him his entire life.

He had no right to be respected as a father.

Rather, Namgung Seon...

Remembered more vividly the girl who had inflicted his only defeat.

Among those of his own age, it had been the first time he had ever thought he could not win.

That kind of overwhelming gap made a person feel admiration.

“......Cheon Soyak.”

Whenever he repeated that name, his head grew hot.

The thought came rushing in that this was no time to lounge around in comfort.

Namgung Seon gripped the sheath at his waist.

It was the treasured sword that had shared every victory with him, and his defeat as well.

“I should go train.”

Meanwhile, there was a father who felt relieved as he listened to his son’s footsteps recede.

Namgung Hyeong held his breath with his head pressed against the desk.

A normal father would not have acted like this.

Since the Sword Sovereign was perfectly alive, if he told Namgung Seon, the Sword Sovereign would come.

But Namgung Seon’s eye was correct.

He did not want to show his own weak and inadequate state to his son.

If that had come from paternal love, it would have been truly nice.

The tragedy was that it did not.

There was one reason he did not tell Namgung Seon about his symptoms.

He was afraid his own son would laugh at him.

His son, Namgung Seon.

And his father, the Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak.

Those two had understood each other since Namgung Seon was young.

But not him.

Not once in his life had he ever received recognition or praise from his father, the Sword Sovereign.

He had only ever been an inadequate man.

An inadequate son.

That was why he had tried not to do the same to his own son.

Because his own talent had not been particularly outstanding.

Some might ask how reaching the middle stage of Transcendent Apex in his mid-forties could mean he lacked talent...

But his realm was the result of consuming countless spirit medicines and receiving the finest training.

Compared to that, what of Namgung Seon?

It had not even been half a year since his spar with Cheon Soyak.

And yet, he had gone from the entrance of Apex to racing toward its very end.

Already touching the wall of Transcendent Apex, he was working to advance into the next realm.

When Namgung Hyeong thought of how, at that age, he had barely managed to reach Apex and then wandered for a long time...

It was genius on a level he found difficult to understand.

Because of that, Namgung Hyeong did not understand his own son at all.

A lack of understanding gives birth to fear.

Every terror of humanity comes from what one does not know.

That was why, without even realizing it himself, Namgung Hyeong had begun avoiding his own son.

As though a king might cast away an overly brilliant crown prince.

It was not strange that he began to feel his position was being threatened.

But had he been a person of slightly better character...

Had he been a person who knew how to reach out to his son first, instead of clinging to his lack of understanding, fear, and prejudice...

His life would have been a little happier, and a little more peaceful.

*****

Jeonggang’s residence.

Three people sat around a small low dining tray.

They were Jeonggang, Eunsong, and Soyak.

Beside the tray where the three of them sat was a jar.

It was the jar containing Eunbyeok’s remains.

Elder Jeonggang had personally gathered the remains, burned white and reduced to powder, and placed them inside with his own hands.

Sitting beside the dead...

The mood began turning unnecessarily solemn.

Soyak, too, could not bring herself to open her mouth for no reason and only sipped the early-harvest green tea Jeonggang poured for her.

Eunsong was the same.

Fortunately, it was not long before Jeonggang broke the silence first.

He did so to ask about what came next.

“So, what do you intend to do about Eunbyeok?”

He was not asking about burial methods such as cremation or interment.

In Mount Hua, Eunbyeok still officially existed in perfectly normal condition.

Though now he had become a proper dead man...

It was true that no one had seen his face for the past few days.

Almost half a month had passed without anyone properly meeting Eunbyeok.

Even Eunsong.

During that time, something had clearly happened.

During those fifteen days...

Eunbyeok disappeared.

Soyak discovered a cave filled with Demonic Energy.

And the Young Cult Leader’s body, sealed inside that cave, escaped after finding another host.

“I will need to think on it a little. If things go well, I think we may be able to use this incident.”

“Use it?”

“Yes. There is a way even without informing the Sect Leader.”

Soyak looked up at Eunsong.

“What kind of plan could make it fine even without Master Myeonggon and without telling the Sect Leader?”

“We spread a rumor.”

Soyak tilted her head.

Spread a rumor.

Then naturally, it would reach the Sect Leader’s ears.

But it would depend on what kind of rumor they spread, and how they spread it.

“If we make a mistake, we may be the ones driven into a corner instead.”

“It is a rumor that cannot do that. Because it is the truth.”

Eunsong shrugged.

“We will spread a rumor that Brother Eunbyeok has not been seen recently, and that no one can find where he went.”

Jeonggang raised his brows.

Because he thought it was quite a good method.

Eunbyeok could not be seen.

This was true, and there would not be anything strange about Eunsong, Soyak, or Jeonggang bringing up such a thing.

This was Mount Hua, and everyone lived together.

Naturally, if a face one usually saw was no longer visible...

It would be normal for worried or concerned talk to emerge, would it not?

But if that controversy grew, the Sect Leader or Eunbyeok’s master, Myeongjeok, would have to answer.

If they did not...

It would become proof that they were completely indifferent to their own disciple or disciple-grandson.

“They will respond to the rumor... one way or another.”

Eunsong drained the remaining green tea and set down his cup.

Then he rose from his seat.

Jeonggang looked up at Eunsong with a smile.

“Do not act too hastily.”

“To be honest, how could I possibly not become hasty?”

The Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader.

The being commonly called the Little Heavenly Demon.

He had awakened from a long seal and was even creating and using his own puppet.

Whether he was moving while avoiding the Sect Leader’s eyes, or moving under the Sect Leader’s tacit approval...

If it was the former, it was incompetence.

If it was the latter, it was dereliction.

Both could be called serious problems.

On top of that, the problem Cheonjeong had raised had not yet been resolved, let alone properly examined.

The hypothesis that something like what happened at the Shandong Ak Family could happen just as easily here at Mount Hua.

Too many things had already occurred to dismiss it as a mere hypothesis.

And... if it became reality, Mount Hua truly would burn.

In order to kill the Sword Sovereign, it was better for Mount Hua to remain intact.

In the end, they would have to fight a Life-or-Death Duel anyway...

But to reach a one-on-one Life-or-Death Duel, they first had to strip away all his forces and troops.

That was something that could only be done with forces and troops of their own.

A burned and shriveled Mount Hua would make that impossible.

Only an intact Mount Hua could offer any answer to the ideal of shattering the heavens.

Otherwise, they would have to rely on the righteousness of the courageous...

And from ancient times, very few things had ever been achieved through righteousness alone.

“......Let us go, Soyak.”

“Yes, Master.”

The Young Cult Leader’s appearance had tangled everything.

Originally, the Demonic Cult had not even been under consideration.

At most, Eunsong had regarded them as cell-like remnants of the fallen old Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

He had never thought they would become such a major variable...

But whether it was because of someone’s incompetence or a foolish ambition, the Little Heavenly Demon had begun acting again.

Through rotten luck, even the Left Luminary Guardian had appeared at the right time.

And the Flame-Saber Lord Ak Jupae had joined the Demonic Cult.

If Eunsong did not consider them as variables, he would be disqualified as a strategist.

Eunsong thought he needed to find Zhuge Yeon as soon as possible.

The plan had to be revised.