Chapter 168: Running Rampant (2)

To run rampant.

It meant wielding one’s authority or power without restraint.

And virtually no one would dispute that there was only one group in the martial world to which those words truly applied.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The fanatics of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

They worshiped the Heavenly Demon and followed the rule of the strong.

Those who served an unnamed Malevolent God earned the right to wield Demonic Energy—an unnatural, corrupt power—by receiving and devouring a piece of the Heavenly Demon’s body.

And the more deeply twisted their faith became, the more Demonic Energy they were granted...

The further they strayed from human nature.

One of them might seek vengeance against the person who killed his daughter...

Not because he loved her, but because her death had prevented him from devouring her heart and completing a rite.

That was why the Demonic Cult had never been an ally with whom one could cooperate, nor an opponent with whom one could negotiate.

The deeper a master had fallen into Demonic Energy, the more reasonable they might appear at first glance...

But that was an illusion.

In this deranged world, the more thoroughly one lost their mind—the further their madness crossed some invisible line—the more normal they appeared.

A few exchanged words were enough to reveal the truth.

Such people had already cast aside their humanity at its very foundation.

That was the Demonic Cult.

And Flame-Saber Lord Ak Jupae knew that better than most.

“...You want me to accept Demonic Energy?”

Ak Jupae looked down at Left Luminary Guardian Seon Byeok-il.

Judging by physical strength alone, it seemed as though Ak Jupae could kill Seon Byeok-il with a single swing of his hand.

But the man before him was the Left Luminary Guardian of the Demonic Cult.

Together with the Right Luminary Guardian, he served the Heavenly Demon and protected the Little Heavenly Demon.

Even setting rank aside, Seon Byeok-il was stronger than Ak Jupae.

Ak Jupae had only just entered the Transformation Realm and had yet to progress beyond its earliest stage.

Seon Byeok-il had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm at the age of thirty-eight.

A martial artist in the middle stage of First-Rate often lost to one who had only just entered it.

An early Apex martial artist occasionally defeated one in the middle stage.

An early Transcendent Apex martial artist defeating one in the middle stage was exceedingly rare.

But an early Transformation Realm master defeating one in the middle stage...

No such event had ever been recorded in the history of the martial world.

The higher one climbed, the more even the smallest difference in realm became an insurmountable wall.

Soyak had accomplished a feat that might never be repeated, even in all the history yet to come.

She had drawn upon Innate True Qi and confronted an assassin head-on, but even so...

She had killed a Transformation Realm master while only at the earliest stage of Transcendent Apex.

Ak Jupae’s presence within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had not cut him off from news.

And because he had personally seen Cheon Soyak, he understood.

That monstrous talent of hers.

“Yes. That is precisely what I am asking you to do.”

Left Luminary Guardian Seon Byeok-il smiled with a remarkably pleasant voice.

The pressure Ak Jupae radiated was not even a threat to a man in the middle stage of the Transformation Realm.

Ordinarily, if someone weaker dared direct such pressure at him, Seon Byeok-il would have struck them dead on the spot...

But Ak Jupae was, in his own way, a “guest.”

“...How amusing. Do you truly believe I would agree?”

“If you refuse, then we cannot give you the information we possess. How could we, when you might return to the Martial Alliance at any moment and reveal everything about us?”

His reasoning was sound.

Except for the fact that the condition was accepting Demonic Energy.

Demonic Energy devoured a person’s reason and sense of self.

There was a limit to how long it could be resisted. And if even a single strand remained within one’s body...

That person became a public enemy of the martial world.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would become the only place left for them to belong.

Ak Jupae was surrounded on all sides.

By now, word had undoubtedly spread throughout the martial world that he had followed the Left Luminary Guardian of the Demonic Cult.

Everyone would also know why.

He had gone to uncover the truth behind his son’s death and take revenge.

Were he to turn back now and return to the martial world—

Assuming the Demonic Cult allowed him to leave unharmed...

People might point fingers for a time, but little more would come of it.

He was a valuable Transformation Realm master, and anyone might falter when given the chance to avenge their child.

But if he did otherwise...

If he accepted Seon Byeok-il’s proposal and swallowed the Heavenly Demon’s hair resting upon that deathly pale palm...

No matter what anyone said, he would never be able to cast off the label of a Demonic Cult member.

Extenuating circumstances could only be considered for someone who returned without crossing that line.

Once Demonic Energy entered his body, it would slowly stain him.

His soul would fare no differently.

And every experienced martial elder who understood the Demonic Cult and its power knew that.

“...You already knew.”

“Knew what? That you would seek revenge for your promising son even if it meant bearing the disgrace of becoming a Demonic Cult member?”

“Yes.”

“We did.”

Seon Byeok-il held a single strand of the Heavenly Demon’s hair before his eyes.

It was thin, long, and black.

“Then swallow it. You know as well as I do that you have no other choice.”

Ak Jupae’s brow furrowed.

No—the anguish twisted his entire face.

And yet, even with that tormented expression, he reached out and accepted it.

Then he asked the Left Luminary Guardian,

“One question.”

“Go ahead.”

“It has been fifty years since the Heavenly Demon was beheaded. How did you obtain this? Was it collected beforehand?”

Left Luminary Guardian Seon Byeok-il looked up at Ak Jupae with a faint, mocking smile.

Then he answered calmly.

“Who told you the Heavenly Demon was dead?”

“...What?”

“The Heavenly Demon lives.”

*****

“You are leaving?”

Eunsong quietly asked Jeonggang.

Eun Jeong and Myeonggon stood beside him, along with Cheonjeong, Cheonju, Cheonhwa, Cheongak, and Cheongu.

Jeonggang stood before the large gate at the foot of Mount Hua.

A modest but sturdy-looking carriage waited nearby, laden with all manner of baggage.

“It is time I went home.”

“Soyak has only been inside the training cave for seven days.”

“You make it sound as though I must let all of you watch me waste away before I am allowed to leave.”

“That is not what I meant, but...”

As Eunsong trailed off, Myeonggon firmly patted him on the back.

Then he offered his master, Jeonggang, a cupped-fist salute and spoke in a loud voice.

“Thank you for all the guidance you have given me.”

“Hoho. Once you were fully grown, I do not recall you treating me much like your master.”

“You choose now to complain about that? Get in the carriage already.”

Myeonggon answered with a faint grin.

Jeonggang had been the first to laugh and turn the moment into a joke.

He quietly looked over the others.

“Eun Jeong... I leave what comes after to you. Stand as one with your brother.”

“...I know.”

Eun Jeong offered a cupped-fist salute.

Jeonggang waved it away.

Eun Jeong knew everything now.

The Reverse Heaven Society.

The Sword Sovereign.

All of it.

Jeonggang slowly looked over the third-generation disciples of the Cheon generation.

Then he called Cheonjeong, their Eldest Brother.

“Come here.”

“...Yes.”

Cheonjeong stepped forward.

Jeonggang smiled faintly, unfastened his sword, and held it out to him.

“This is...”

“Give me yours in exchange.”

“My sword?”

“Yes. Ever since I lost my internal energy, my arms have grown too weak to wield this one properly.”

Still bewildered, Cheonjeong handed over his Small Plum Blossom Sword.

It was a weapon suited to a still-growing adolescent.

In truth, it had already begun to feel slightly short even for Cheonjeong.

Jeonggang slowly drew the sword, held it up to the sunlight, and gave it a single swing.

It was the sword stroke of an old man without a trace of internal energy.

Yet not one person present could look down upon it.

The path of that blade possessed a profundity none of them could imitate.

Myriad transformations were contained within that single swing. No technique could possibly have stopped it.

...Had it carried internal energy.

“Light. I like it.”

Jeonggang smiled and fastened Cheonjeong’s Small Plum Blossom Sword at his own waist.

Then he stroked Cheonjeong’s head with his wrinkled old hand.

“Do you know why I gave you my sword?”

“...I do not.”

“Because you are the Eldest Brother. The only one in the line of my disciple, my disciple’s disciple, and the disciple after that.”

Cheonjeong silently looked up at Jeonggang.

Jeonggang, too, had once been the Eldest Brother.

He had merely believed himself unsuited to politics and schemes. Thinking that deficiency made him unfit to lead, he had passed the position to his junior brother.

“Sometimes I find myself wondering.”

“Wondering what?”

“Whether things might have turned out better if I had not pushed the responsibilities of Sect Leader onto someone else, inadequate and lacking though I was.”

Jeonggang slowly removed his hand from Cheonjeong’s head.

Then he personally fastened the sword he had given him at Cheonjeong’s waist.

“I regret it.”

“...Grand Master, you...”

“Yes. It was not my fault. But I did make a mistake, did I not? That weighs heavily upon me.”

Jeonggang swept his gaze across those gathered before him.

Then he offered one final piece of advice.

“Do not place too many burdens upon that child.”