When I entered the Evil Heart Laughing Demon’s room, I saw a wall with a long line drawn across it.
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon had his back to that line, looking at the opposite wall.
“I definitely like the color of this wall more.”
At my joke, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon looked at me.
My gaze met his through the eyeholes of his mask.
To think I would see a feeling of gladness in those eyeholes.
Though I only communicated with the Evil Heart Laughing Demon through the look in his eyes, we shared a deeper connection than anyone else.
“Your mask has changed.”
“As expected, the Second Young Master notices right away.”
The reason for the change was unexpected.
“Blue Mask brought me several masks he had made. He told me he wants to live a new life now. He said he’s going to his pretty heart.”
At last, Blue Mask had accepted the position of First Squad Leader of the Ghost Shadow Branch.
“So, did you cut off his arm?”
He had once said he wouldn’t let Blue Mask go without at least cutting off an arm.
“I didn’t cut it.”
“Why not?”
“Didn’t he ask me to be sure to tell the Second Young Master before I cut it? But since you were away from the Sect, I couldn’t.”
How could that be the real reason? He had let Blue Mask go to live the life he wanted.
Well done, Laughing Demon.
If things had continued as they were, Blue Mask would have never become a Demon Sovereign and would have lived an unhappy life until he grew old.
“You’re admirable.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes. You are truly admirable.”
“Having heard such a compliment, I suppose I won’t be able to cut off his arm in the future.”
The two eyes within the eyeholes were smiling.
At least in his relationship with me, he was the Laughing Demon, not the Evil Heart.
“I heard you left the Sect with the Fist Demon.”
“I went out to slack off but came back as the Fist Demon’s disciple.”
At the words that I had become the Fist Demon’s disciple, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon shot up from his seat.
“You must be a better fighter now!”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon had no interest in whether the Fist Demon was my Master or not.
He was excited by the fact that I had grown stronger.
“Yes, I have become a little stronger!”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon was the one to whom I could most comfortably say such things.
Just as my father and the Fist Demon had spent time together in their youth, so was the relationship between the Evil Heart Laughing Demon and me.
“Laughing Demon Sovereign, I have a favor to ask.”
I was inwardly trembling.
How would the Evil Heart Laughing Demon receive my request?
“I want to kill Yelü Han of the Unorthodox Alliance. To do that, I need my father’s permission. Please persuade him.”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon answered without hesitation.
“I will.”
He asked nothing.
Not why I had to kill him, or how I would do it.
His attitude, as if he would have granted any request I made, moved my heart.
The only person in this world who would grant my request simply because it was mine.
I was happy.
It was the first time in a long while I had felt such pure joy.
I was so happy I felt the urge to jump up and down.
“Thank you so much.”
While I understood the other Demon Sovereigns’ refusals, a part of me must have been disappointed.
I knew this from how good I felt now.
I didn’t know you would accept so easily.
I stopped myself from saying those words.
It felt as though no words could properly express my gratitude to him.
Instead, I conveyed my thanks in a different way.
“If this matter is approved, please help me then.”
Laughing Demon, let’s go.
Let’s go have another great fight together.
That’s all I can do for you.
And… thank you so much.
Seeing my ardent gaze, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon smiled pleasantly.
“Very well.”
And the more dangerous our fight, the more his blood would boil.
“Who has agreed so far?”
“The only one who has clearly said they will persuade my father is you, Laughing Demon Sovereign.”
“Am I number one?”
“That’s right. You are the first.”
After all, neither the Blood Heaven Blade Demon nor the Fist Demon had directly said they would persuade him yet.
Of course, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon would step up.
The Fist Demon would too.
Right now, there were three Demon Sovereigns who would definitely help.
“For some reason, that feels good.”
“Thank you for being my first.”
I looked at the long line drawn on the opposite wall.
The Laughing Demon’s gaze followed mine.
I hope you keep that wall for a long time.
I didn’t say this either.
Because I knew that even without words, he felt the same way.
When I become the Heavenly Demon later, I plan to take that wall and hang it in the Heavenly Demon Hall.
*
When I went to see the Fist Demon, he was standing at the bottom of a cliff.
I stood beside him.
After returning from his journey, did this cliff begin to look different in his eyes?
“The Evil Heart Laughing Demon said he would step up for me.”
The Fist Demon looked at me with a surprised face.
“The Laughing Demon? That man?”
The Fist Demon seemed surprised that it was the Evil Heart Laughing Demon and not someone else.
“Are you two close?”
“We are.”
“He’s not an easy person to get close to.”
“In that case, are you an easy person to deal with, Master?”
I continued as I looked up at the cliff.
“You’re someone who’s trying to bring this cliff down in a single blow.”
The Fist Demon’s gaze followed mine toward the cliff.
The wall we were seeing now was not this cliff.
It was a wall much higher and harder than this.
“The Cult Master will not permit this. To you, saving those young people may be important, but to the Cult Master, it’s not important at all. To be honest, it’s the same for me. It’s likely the same for the other Demon Sovereigns as well.”
I understand my father and the Demon Sovereigns.
They were always like that.
The way they are now is already so changed, they might as well be different people.
Nevertheless, the reason I strive so hard for change is because I believe that we must change for our martial arts to change, and for our destiny to change.
If I just let everything pass by as I did in my past life.
Because they’re not important to me.
Because it has nothing to do with me.
If I live a life where I let everything pass, just as I did before my regression… I feel like I’ll be swept away again by Hwa Mugi, who appeared like fate.
Master, just as you cannot bring down this cliff if you, the person, do not change.
“As we discussed on the snowy mountain, the Cult Master dreams of unifying the Martial World. If you kill Yelü Han, a variable will be introduced into the grand picture the Cult Master is drawing. There’s no way he will easily permit it.”
“Then I must create a variable all the more. Because I am determined to stop my father’s unification of the Martial World, no matter what.”
I was resolute, and the Fist Demon silently gazed at my stubbornness.
“Will you persuade my father? Master.”
The Fist Demon sank into a final moment of thought.
Why wouldn’t the Fist Demon also wish to avoid a clash with my father? No, because he was the Fist Demon, that feeling would be the strongest.
Eventually, the Fist Demon nodded his head.
“I will.”
“Thank you, Master.”
This is why.
This is why I made you my Master.
Because you are a man who does not back down, even when it’s difficult.
I had not heard an answer from the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, but I would not go to him to confirm it again.
I was certain that he would help me.
And my certainty was correct.
The first person to go see my father was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
*
Walking down the path of blood, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stopped below the Grand Advisor's seat.
“It has been a long time.”
At the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s polite greeting, the Heavenly Demon Geom Woojin spoke to him.
“Are you the one to fire the first shot?”
Geom Woojin had already guessed why the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had come.
“What can I do? A young man wants to try something big, so an old man like me has to at least put in a word.”
“If a young whelp is trying to cause reckless trouble, shouldn’t we older ones stop him?”
“That is correct. When we think back to our youth, it was a truly thoughtless time. But then again, there was never a time we were as passionate as we were back then, was there?”
“Do you have no passion now?”
“If this trace of what has been burned is passion, then yes, I have some.”
Although the words were exchanged calmly, the Heavenly Demon Hall was filled with a taut energy.
Geom Woojin rose from the Grand Advisor's seat and slowly descended the stairs.
“Shall we take a walk?”
“Very well.”
Geom Woojin walked with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon out of the Heavenly Demon Hall.
The two of them walked together in the courtyard in front of the hall.
“He made his request right in the middle of the Grand Martial Arts Arena. Asking for permission to kill Yelü Han. It wasn’t a request, it was a declaration.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked in a slightly more relaxed tone.
“A son is a pain, isn’t he?”
A smile that he would never show Geom Mugeuk appeared on Geom Woojin’s lips.
“You should experience it too. It’s a shame.”
“That’s the one area where I’m happier than you, Cult Master. Please don’t even joke about such things.”
There was a time when the two of them conversed even more comfortably than this.
If he had known time would pass so quickly, he would have spent a little more time with the Cult Master.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt a fresh sense of regret.
What on earth had he been doing with all that time?
“I knew the other Demon Sovereigns might, but I never expected you to fall for the boy like this. What is it about him that made you fall so hard?”
“I have wondered that myself many times, but I have nothing more to say than this. Your son has a strange charm.”
“A strange charm, you say.”
This time, it was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon who spoke.
“Did you not feel it? I thought you would have felt it too, Cult Master.”
“I used to call that a cheap sentimentality that’s perfect for getting oneself killed.”
Geom Woojin did not go so far as to say that his description of that cheap sentimentality had changed to innocent sentimentality.
“I have fallen completely for that cheap sentimentality.”
A faint smile also appeared on the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s lips.
Though he had come for a sensitive and important matter, he enjoyed this long-overdue conversation.
“Cult Master, please just give in this once.”
At the casually thrown words, Geom Woojin firmly shook his head.
“When Bi Sa-In eventually takes the seat of the Unorthodox Alliance Leader, Yelü Han will become a lingering source of trouble for the Unorthodox Alliance. The current Unorthodox Alliance Leader might deal with Yelü Han before he dies. There is no reason for us to eliminate him.”
“Instead, Bi Sa-In will be greatly indebted to the Second Young Master for this. There will be gains to match the losses.”
“The people of the Unorthodox Faction only hold onto grudges for a long time; they are not a tribe that remembers favors.”
“But the Second Young Master will remember. That his father made a great concession for him.”
Geom Woojin stood with his hands behind his back and silently gazed at the grounds of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not press further.
He had said all he needed to say.
Just then, a person appeared there.
It was the Fist Demon, who had been on his way to the Heavenly Demon Hall.
“Are you all determined to take turns wearing me down?”
At Geom Woojin’s joke, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon laughed and replied.
“I wonder why that big fist fell for him.”
In the meantime, the Fist Demon had approached them.
“Have you been well?”
After politely greeting Geom Woojin, the Fist Demon also greeted the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“You came first.”
“I thought you would come as well, Fist Demon. Oh, and congratulations on taking the Second Young Master as your disciple.”
Then, Geom Woojin interjected a word.
“Is that something to congratulate? Or something to offer condolences for?”
The Fist Demon’s gaze locked with Geom Woojin’s in mid-air.
It was a look that contained a deep trust that only the two of them could feel.
That was why this situation was difficult for the Fist Demon.
Fortunately, with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon present, the atmosphere did not become too serious.
“I can roughly guess why you have come, so let’s see this joint attack of yours.”
“I’m not sure if a joint attack is a wise choice. He is someone who grows stronger the stronger his opponent is.”
And you know that! Geom Woojin’s expression seemed to say as he asked the Fist Demon.
“Why did you fall for the boy?”
“I was slacking off for the first time in my life, I must have lost my mind.”
Geom Woojin was not satisfied with that answer.
“Tell me the real reason.”
The Fist Demon was lost in thought for a moment before he revealed his honest feelings.
It was an unexpected answer.
“I suppose I’ve been lonely all this time.”
“!”
Both Geom Woojin and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon were startled.
They had truly never expected to hear the word ‘lonely’ from the Fist Demon’s mouth.
“At the end of our journey, we had a race with our lightness arts. He was so fast I couldn’t keep up. As I was walking alone, do you know what I thought? I was bored. For the first time in my life, I felt the emotion of boredom.”
The Fist Demon looked at Geom Woojin and added.
“I suppose that’s why I fell for him.”
The Fist Demon’s and Geom Woojin’s gazes locked in mid-air.
The Fist Demon cautiously said what he had been thinking all the way here.
“He is my first disciple. I have come to commit this rudeness because I want to be of help as his Master. I am sorry, Cult Master.”
The Fist Demon respectfully bowed his waist in apology.
As his loyalty to the Heavenly Demon was incomparable to any other Demon Sovereign, Geom Woojin did not reprimand him at all.
Just then, Geom Woojin’s gaze went past the Fist Demon’s shoulder.
“I can somehow understand you two, but that man over there, I cannot understand at all.”
A person was walking toward them.
Wearing a white mask, it was the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
After politely greeting the Heavenly Demon, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon also exchanged greetings with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Fist Demon.
And then he said something completely unexpected.
“I was number one, but it seems you two have cut in line.”
It was already incomprehensible that he had stepped forward, but now he was even making a joke like this?
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon spoke on behalf of the three people who had been there first.
“I suppose getting involved with the Second Young Master makes everyone go mad like this.”
Geom Woojin asked the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
“What is your reason?”
The moment he received that question, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon recalled the moment the boy had supported his slipping mask.
That was all it took.
If someone else had asked, he would not have answered, but because it was Geom Woojin’s question, the Evil Heart Laughing Demon replied thusly.
“The Second Young Master is a person who knows courtesy.”
At those words, not only Geom Woojin but also the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Fist Demon were startled.
The word ‘courtesy’ coming from the Evil Heart Laughing Demon’s mouth? Since when did the Evil Heart Laughing Demon care about courtesy?
The three of them could feel it.
The courtesy the Evil Heart spoke of was not simple etiquette, but contained a more fundamental meaning.
It was courtesy toward another human being.
“I am here to respond to the courtesy the Second Young Master has shown me.”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon turned around and took off his mask.
Then he put on a new mask he had brought from his robes and slowly turned back.
It was not the pure white mask he had worn until now.
It was a terrifying mask of a laughing evil spirit.
The red-painted eyes were slit long like a ghost’s, and the blood-red mouth was smiling up to his ears.
This mask was the Immortal Ghost Mask, which the Evil Heart Laughing Demon wore when he went to war.
“Please grant the Second Young Master’s request.”
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon had come here with the heart of one going to a battlefield.
He had steeled himself for the Heavenly Demon’s wrath and was prepared to fall out of favor.
He had come here today prepared to die.
As if to say this was what it took to persuade the Cult Master, the two eyes within the mask shone more intensely than ever before.
“This is the first and last request I will ever make.”