The old man was none other than the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's master and the previous Blade Demon, Gyo Cheon.
He was the master he had thought long dead.
Truly, he had not once entertained the thought that he might be alive.
He thought he was someone he would only see again in hell, someone who no longer even appeared in his dreams.
When he received his master's message to come to the Central Capital, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was truly shocked.
If he hadn't written details that only his master and he knew, he would never have believed that his master was alive.
"I didn't know you were alive."
To the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's words, Gyo Cheon quietly replied.
"If you knew, you would have come to kill me."
Aside from the frailty felt in his voice, his words were sharp and grating to the ears, scratching at one's heart.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked up at him.
The shape of his eyes and chin, traces of his old face, remained.
But the fine wrinkles had swallowed his features, and he thought that if he had run into him on the street, he might have passed by without recognizing him.
Gyo Cheon also looked down at his disciple.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon's appearance from his prime was nowhere to be found.
"You've gotten very old, too."
"That's how much time has passed."
Standing before his master, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt as if he had returned to that time long ago.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
From the two eyes amidst the fine wrinkles, a strange light flowed out.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could feel that his master's martial arts mastery was far higher than when he had been a Demon Sovereign in the past.
Of course, his body was old and frail, but he could feel just from that gaze that his inner energy had deepened beyond words.
'Could it be he's confident he can defeat the Cult Master?'
Even if he had added the power of time to his existing skills, could he really handle the Cult Master's Nine Calamities Demon Art? The Nine Calamities Demon Art, a Supreme Demon Art?
"If I am? Will you come and give me a massage?"
It was a blunt response, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew.
He hadn't even started yet.
He couldn't imagine what it would look like when the emotions he had built up over so many years began to erupt.
"If you wish, I will give you a massage."
To the polite answer, Gyo Cheon gestured for him to come closer.
It was a gesture filled with the intention of asking, 'Do you dare to come?'
Surprisingly, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon walked toward him.
Gyo Cheon did not tell him to stop, and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not stop walking either.
The closer the two got, the greater the taut tension grew.
Thirty steps, twenty steps, ten steps...
When he had approached to ten steps away, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stopped.
His master was surely not alone, but he couldn't feel the aura of anyone else nearby as he drew this close.
If someone was there, it meant they were a great master, and if his master had come alone, that in itself was surprising.
"Why don't you come closer? Are you afraid of me?"
"I am afraid."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon answered meekly.
And the reason was unexpected.
"If it were me, I wouldn't have been able to endure for so long. I would have come out for revenge without even lasting ten years."
But his master had endured for over thirty years.
For this very moment.
"Why have you returned?"
Then came his master's quiet words.
"Because I'm alive."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon let out a long sigh.
"If you survived, you should have just lived."
It wasn't mockery.
He was speaking his true feelings.
"You could have enjoyed your old age in a place with good mountains and water. If you were bored with that, you could have become a hidden power unrelated to the Main Sect and coveted power and wealth."
Then, an unexpected answer came from his master.
"I've tried it. Both."
For a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon flinched.
"To forget. I went into the mountains and did all sorts of things to forget everything. But I couldn't forget what happened that day."
His voice was hoarse and cracked, but his emotions could be felt in every word.
"I realized that revenge was the only meaning in my life."
Knowing that the fire burning in his master's heart could not be extinguished by anything, a heavy sigh escaped the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's lips.
"So you intend to borrow the power of the Righteous Path? You're going to start a war to kill the Cult Master? Do you think the Cult Master will die just like that?"
"Don't those Righteous Path bastards try to cut off the Demon Cult Master's head no matter what?"
Was he really serious? The Blood Heaven Blade Demon thought not.
He wouldn't have spent all those years just to create a rift with the Righteous Path.
There was surely something his master believed in.
Something to kill the Cult Master and himself.
Something that would mark the end of his long revenge.
'What on earth have you brought with you?'
The one who broke the brief silence was Gyo Cheon.
"Are you sorry for what happened?"
Perhaps recalling that event had stirred his emotions.
A slight tremor could be felt in his hoarse and cracked voice.
"Do you regret it?"
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon didn't answer either question, but Gyo Cheon continued to speak.
"If you're sorry and regret what happened in the past, then wouldn't it be right to help me now?"
Finally, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon opened his mouth.
"How so?"
Gyo Cheon stared at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon as if to pierce through him.
"With those hands, kill the Cult Master for me."
A surprising addition followed.
"With the same hands that killed me."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon silently looked down at his own hands.
Not as much as his master, but now his hands too had deep traces of time etched upon them, layer by layer.
The wrinkles on those hands gradually faded and grew younger, and in the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's mind, that day from long ago resurfaced.
That distant event felt as vivid as if it were yesterday.
"Master, you called for me?"
The person who ran into the residence was the young Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
Having become the official successor to the Blade Demon, he was diligently training after receiving the Heaven-Slaying Demon Blade Form.
He was completely different from how he was now.
He had a rather handsome face, with even a touch of cuteness.
And above all, he was overflowing with the vitality of youth.
His master was sitting on the Grand Advisor's seat, just like today, looking down at him.
"I called you because I have something to tell you."
"Please give your order."
Gyo Cheon spoke to him as if making a declaration.
"From this day forward, our Southern Path Sect will officially support the First Young Master."
For a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's expression stiffened.
"Go and inform all the Blade Ghosts of this fact."
But instead of accepting the order, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked his master.
"Why the First Young Master?"
This time, Gyo Cheon's expression hardened.
"Because it is my decision."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon said something he shouldn't have.
"Please give me a reason I can accept."
He had never once disobeyed his master's words.
Even bracing himself for a scolding, he had to hear the answer.
That was how important this matter was to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
As expected, Gyo Cheon burst out in anger.
"Are you saying you will defy your master's will?"
"No. That's not it."
"Then why are you asking for a reason? Why are you still standing there?"
Gyo Cheon's rough demonic energy shot towards the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon resisted by raising his inner energy against the powerful demonic energy, but of course, it was not enough.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon gritted his teeth and endured the pain, feeling as if his whole body would be torn apart.
No matter how painful it was, he had to hear the answer.
Gyo Cheon strode over and stood before the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
He already knew the reason.
"I know that you have a special relationship with the Second Young Master. And that the cunning Second Young Master is trying to draw you in and use you."
Even in his pain, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon stated his thoughts.
"The Second Young Master is not that kind of person."
At the denial of his words, Gyo Cheon's expression hardened even more, and his demonic energy grew stronger.
"Ugh."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt as if his whole body was being torn apart.
If he held on just a little longer, he would suffer a severe internal injury.
Nevertheless, Gyo Cheon did not stop his demonic energy.
He would never forgive the rebellion of the disciple who would succeed him.
"Uuuuugh."
As the demonic energy intensified, his scream grew louder.
If he continued to disobey, he intended to kill his disciple right there.
He could do it.
There was a line of people wanting to become the next Blade Demon.
'Dying like this is a dog's death.'
In the end, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon bent his will.
If he had endured any longer, he surely would have suffered an irreversible internal injury or died.
"... I will follow my master's will."
Only then did the crushing demonic energy subside.
Gyo Cheon, with an angry face, ordered him to leave.
"Be gone."
As he turned to leave weakly, Gyo Cheon spoke from behind.
"You asked me to give you a reason you could accept?"
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned back to Gyo Cheon.
"In this succession battle, the Second Young Master will surely die."
At that moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt it.
The determination in his master's eyes.
'Master intends to jump into this succession battle himself.'
He felt that his master was determined to kill the Second Young Master himself.
For the First Young Master, he was a man who would do anything.
"Do not get close to the Second Young Master anymore. Otherwise, you will die with him."
"I will keep that in mind."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon bowed respectfully and then started walking again.
When he left the residence, his fists were tightly clenched.
As wrinkles formed on that young fist, he returned to the present.
The present Blood Heaven Blade Demon also had his fists tightly clenched, just like back then.
After that day, he treated his master even better.
He tried to earn even greater trust.
All just to find out when that time would be.
"I know. Why you chose the First Young Master instead of the Second Young Master."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon said now what he couldn't say then.
"It wasn't that the Second Young Master was cunning."
After a brief pause, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon said,
"Your cunning was discovered by the Second Young Master."
Crack.
The armrest of the Grand Advisor's seat shattered in Gyo Cheon's grasp.
The broken pieces turned to sand in Gyo Cheon's hand and scattered.
It was a display that showed just how profound Gyo Cheon's inner energy was.
But the Blood Heaven Blade Demon continued to speak.
"From his youth, the Cult Master was a person with clear likes and dislikes. He was a person who disliked what he disliked and liked what he liked. You knew. That to the Cult Master, you were a dislike."
A growling sound like that of a beast came from Gyo Cheon's throat.
"You knew that if the Second Young Master became the Cult Master, you would be pushed to the lowest seat of the Eight Demon Sovereigns. That was something you could never endure."
He didn't know back then.
It would have been better not to know.
If he had said these words in his youthful ardor, he would have likely been killed by his master on the spot.
"You're just as ill-mannered and fearless now as you were when you were young."
"Perhaps your memory has been distorted by your hatred for me. When I was young, I was more respectful to you than anyone else."
Gyo Cheon laughed.
It was a laugh that contained both disbelief and deep hatred.
"You betrayed me. You betrayed me who taught you martial arts!"
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon said nothing.
"Me, cunning? Could I be as cunning as you? You were the one who knew. That if the First Young Master became the Cult Master, you could not become the next Blade Demon. The First Young Master would not have left you alone, who was so close to the Second Young Master."
Yes, perhaps his master's words were right.
At the time, he thought it was for the Cult Master's sake, but perhaps deep in his subconscious, he might have been struggling to survive.
But at least, his master should not be the one to say those words.
Because he had not given him a choice.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon's gaze deepened as he returned once more to a moment in the past.
The young Cult Master stood before his eyes.
The Cult Master from his days as the Second Young Master, when they were like sworn brothers.
He too had a different aura back then.
If nothing could be read from the current Cult Master's eyes, emotions could be read in his eyes when he was young.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon liked him.
It wasn't just because he was the man who would become the next Heavenly Demon.
He just liked him.
His actions, his words.
Though younger, there was much to learn from him.
Though he treated everyone with aloofness and arrogance, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon could feel that he held something hot within his heart.
No, those reasons alone were not enough.
He liked him enough to tell him these words that would completely change everyone's destiny.
"The First Young Master and my master have joined hands and planned to kill you."
The Geom Woojin of that time was different from now.
The moment he heard those words, he clearly saw Geom Woojin's eyes tremble.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew.
That Geom Woojin wanted to end the succession battle without killing his brother.
"The two of them will make their move during this hunt."
Gyo Cheon's shout brought the Blood Heaven Blade Demon back to reality.
"You betrayed your master and made a younger brother kill his older brother. That is the kind of man you are."
If not, the Cult Master would have died.
But he didn't say that to his master.
To him, the relationship between himself and the Cult Master would mean nothing.
Because he doesn't believe in this relationship.
Yes, if he said he betrayed him because of a pure fondness for someone, it would only hurt his master more.
It was better for him to think he betrayed him for the sake of the Blade Demon's position.
Therefore, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon nodded his head and meekly admitted it.
"That's right. I am that kind of person. Selfish and wicked, and so........."
With sunken eyes, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon quietly added.
"Being with me will bring you great misfortune."