“No matter what anyone says, I will always come to see you first, Elder. Even if my heart is pierced, I will come to see you first. Even if my father scolds me, I will come to you first. What, the Blade Demon again? Aren't you tired of it? Then what about the other Demon Sovereigns? No matter how upset they are, you come first, Elder!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon was reading a book as Geom Mugeuk stood outside the window, raising his voice.
After parting with the Evil Heart Laughing Demon, Geom Mugeuk had rushed straight to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's residence.
“You’re pretending to read a book right now, but I know full well the words aren’t registering. I also know you’re so happy to see me you want to give me a hug, but you’re holding back because you’re shy. Just stop holding back and express yourself! Isn't life a journey where we don't know what tomorrow will bring?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who had been looking at his book, lifted his head.
“Are you done?”
When Geom Mugeuk nodded, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon removed the cotton he had stuffed in his ears.
“That’s too much! I was stabbed through the heart and came back alive.”
When the Blood Heaven Blade Demon didn't believe him, Geom Mugeuk bared his chest.
“Look at this!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s eyes, which had glanced over indifferently, flashed wide open.
The place where a moment ago there was a hint of playfulness was now filled with astonishment.
“That wound, what is it?”
As the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was so startled, Geom Mugeuk quickly covered the wound with his clothes.
“No, it’s nothing. Just a small scratch.”
In that instant, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s aura exploded.
“That damn masked man!”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon shot to his feet.
He looked ready to go find the Evil Heart Laughing Demon at once.
He intended to hold him responsible for failing to protect Geom Mugeuk properly.
It was obvious that if he said the Evil Heart Laughing Demon had stabbed him now, the man would fly off before even hearing the circumstances.
“If it weren't for the Laughing Demon, I would be dead.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared at Geom Mugeuk.
It had been a long time since he had seen the Blade Demon this angry.
Right, this was how he originally was.
He had just forgotten because he had been treated so gently all this time.
“This time, the Laughing Demon took care of all the enemies! It’s true!”
With that, he managed to soothe the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's anger.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon sat back down.
“Pathetic! Shouldn't you be at a level where you don't get stabbed by swords anymore?”
“There were too many beauties, so I got distracted.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon started reading his book again.
Was it because he saw the wound? This time, he spoke first.
“Have you already lost interest in reading?”
“I was too busy to find time to read.”
“Excuses. If you set your mind to it, you can read even while fighting.”
After reading for a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon raised his head.
He had been silent, making Geom Mugeuk wonder what he was doing, but Geom Mugeuk was leaning against the wall next to the window, looking up at the sky.
How long had it been like that?
Geom Mugeuk suddenly spoke.
“I will be entering seclusion training starting tomorrow.”
When the Blood Heaven Blade Demon lifted his head, Geom Mugeuk, who had been looking at the sky, turned to look at him.
“It might take quite a while.”
Geom Mugeuk felt that Ten-Star Great Mastery was rapidly approaching.
Great Mastery was shimmering right before his eyes.
He planned to greet his father and immediately enter seclusion training.
And once he entered, he was determined not to come out until he had achieved Great Mastery.
If he had his way, it felt like he could achieve Great Mastery and emerge in just a few days, but that was just wishful thinking.
There was no telling if it would take a month or several years.
At least he had the hope that, with the Heavenly Time Secret Art, it wouldn't take an absurdly long time.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon accurately grasped Geom Mugeuk’s current situation.
“Are you on the verge of Great Mastery?”
“Yes.”
Even though he had asked the question himself, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was inwardly surprised by the affirmative answer.
To be on the verge of Great Mastery in the Nine Calamities Demon Art at such a young age? Had there ever been a Cult Master who achieved Great Mastery so quickly? It was a statement he wouldn't have believed if it hadn't come from Geom Mugeuk.
“I felt that it was not far off.”
For some reason, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon didn't offer congratulations or words of encouragement.
He simply stared at Geom Mugeuk in silence.
Just then, someone entered the premises.
“Young Cult Master!”
The person who ran over happily was Seo Daeryong, who had come to train after finishing his work.
“When did you return?”
“A little while ago.”
“I missed you!”
Seo Daeryong rushed forward to embrace Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk lightly dodged him and glanced at the basket in his hands.
Inside were wine and food.
“What’s this? It looks delicious!”
“This is off-limits!”
Seo Daeryong hastily turned his body to protect the basket, then brought it to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“This is a dish from Miss Dan for Master.”
It was a dish made by Dan-ah.
She often cooked for Seo Daeryong’s master, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
The food, made with healthy ingredients, was a dish full of sincerity that couldn't be found at a tavern.
“I told her she didn't need to send any.”
“We just made a little extra while making our own food. Please eat comfortably.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon knew that wasn't true.
Most of the dishes brought to him were his favorites.
“Tell her I will enjoy it.”
“Yes, Master.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon took the food and went inside his house.
Dan-ah’s cooking always satisfied him, so he wore a pleased smile.
Once they were alone in the yard, Geom Mugeuk asked casually.
“Are Miss Dan and her sisters doing well?”
“Yes, thanks to you, they are doing fine.”
Not only Dan-ah, but her two younger sisters, Dan-bi and Dan-yeon, had also adapted well to the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
Dan-bi as an enforcer and Dan-yeon as a member of the Ghost Shadow Branch were each performing their roles well.
Dan-ah was focusing on her martial arts training while also taking care of Seo Daeryong.
Although she would have willingly done any job in the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect, even shoveling horse manure, she had decided that for the time being, taking care of Seo Daeryong and her sisters was more important.
Seo Daeryong in particular was enduring a grueling schedule with his Underworld Pavilion duties and martial arts training, so she was looking after his health.
Thanks to her, Seo Daeryong was often told that he was looking well these days.
“Do you like Miss Dan that much? Does just thinking about her make you smile?”
Seo Daeryong’s face bloomed into a wide smile.
The answer was in his smile.
“Are you not getting married?”
“I can only get married after you do, Young Cult Master. Please clear the way! Let the carriage behind you pass!”
“There are plenty of roads, so why do you insist on coming down a blocked path and shouting for it to be cleared?”
“The only path I walk is the path you walk, Young Cult Master. I will follow that path for my entire life.”
“A fine excuse.”
Geom Mugeuk narrowed his eyes and looked at Seo Daeryong with suspicion.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re not confident, are you?”
“Sigh, what do you take me for? I am your right-hand man, Seo Daeryong. Seo Daeryong!”
“Right, my right-hand man who has never once properly dated a woman.”
Seo Daeryong finally let out a sigh and revealed his honest feelings.
“To be honest, I don’t know. Whether I should get married. Whether I can support her.”
“If the Lord of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect’s Underworld Pavilion says something like that, then no one can get married. And why are you worried about supporting her? If you marry Miss Dan, she’ll be the one supporting you.”
Considering Dan-ah’s refreshing and decisive personality, that was entirely possible.
“Instead of that, tell me the real reason you’re hesitating.”
How could he deceive Geom Mugeuk’s eyes? In the end, Seo Daeryong revealed the true reason.
“I’m scared of whether I can be a good father.”
He hadn't known Seo Daeryong was wrestling with such a concern.
No matter how close people were, the depths of their hearts were this profound.
“Worried about that before you’re even married?”
But he couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘That’s so like you.’ It was something Geom Mugeuk couldn't be confident about either.
“I’ve never experienced having a good father. I don’t know how to be one.”
Seo Daeryong genuinely wanted to know.
“Should I just do the opposite of what my father did?”
“Do you think that would work?”
“Probably not, right?”
Seo Daeryong sighed.
Geom Mugeuk let him sigh his fill.
Since a long-suppressed emotion had come out, it would be fine even if the ground sank a little.
“Even if you had met a good father, I think that’s a separate issue from you becoming a good father.”
“Why is that?”
“Just as you and your father are different, the child born will be different from you. The methods a good father used won’t work in the same way. This isn’t something you can learn by watching; I think it’s something you have to figure out while watching your child, finding the right method for that child.”
“!”
“It’s like stepping onto a fighting stage without knowing who your opponent is. You just get on, thinking, ‘No matter who the opponent is, this is going to be hellishly hard.’”
Seo Daeryong’s expression softened.
“So in the end, it’s all hard?”
“Look at you, look at me. Do you think raising a child like this would be easy?”
At those words, Seo Daeryong’s dispirited face relaxed.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who had been sitting by the window drinking, chimed in.
“Family is the enemy, so why would a child be any different?”
Geom Mugeuk and Seo Daeryong laughed together.
Geom Mugeuk pointed out one fact.
“And you don’t have to worry about that in the first place.”
“Why not?”
“Miss Dan will make sure you become a good father.”
At those words, Seo Daeryong smiled brightly.
“Young Cult Master, you haven't even experienced it yourself, yet how do you know so well?”
“It’s me, you know. Your Young Cult Master.”
“Of course, you’re our Young Cult Master who knows everything about the world!”
The two of them laughed together.
“It’s all thanks to you, Young Cult Master, that I can have such happy worries.”
“As long as you know. Pay me back with money later.”
“I will continue to repay you with my heart forever.”
Geom Mugeuk turned to leave.
“You’re leaving already? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, stay and hang out a little longer!”
To the disappointed Seo Daeryong, Geom Mugeuk said.
“I won’t be able to see you for a while.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who was emptying his cup by the window, spoke.
“Come out tomorrow.”
It was an unexpected command.
He had clearly said he was entering seclusion training, yet he was being told to come out.
Geom Mugeuk replied without asking for a reason.
“I will see you tomorrow.”
He would find out tomorrow.
But when tomorrow came, he did not find out the reason.
The next day, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon didn't say why he had been summoned.
He just sat in the same spot as yesterday, reading a book.
“Is there something you need me to do?”
“No.”
“Do you have something you want to say?”
“No.”
“Are you lonely these days?”
“This room is full of friends.”
He meant that books were his friends.
“By any chance, have you been feeling irritable for no reason lately, and just want to bother someone?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon scoffed.
“If not, then why did you call for me!”
No matter how much he asked from the side, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon wouldn't tell him.
Of course, he couldn’t just say, ‘If you have no business with me, I’m leaving,’ and go.
His opponent was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, after all.
That afternoon, there was a bombshell announcement from Seo Daeryong.
“I told Miss Dan.”
“Told her what?”
“That I want to marry her.”
Not only Geom Mugeuk, but even the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was startled.
“Really?”
“Didn’t you tell me to?”
“I didn’t tell you to, but even if I did, you went and did it the very next day?”
“What’s the point in hesitating? The words of my smarter Young Cult Master must be right. And I’ve come to want to step onto that fighting stage.”
“Didn’t you say you’d follow my path for life? Hasn’t that carriage moved yet?”
Seo Daeryong bowed his head as if ashamed, but he said what he had to say.
“I’m much older, aren’t I? The carriage blocking the road is me. A cart full of manure, that is.”
“So what did Miss Dan say?”
“She said she was flustered to hear that while eating.”
Geom Mugeuk asked with a look of disbelief.
“You said it while you were eating?”
“I’m regretting it enough, so please don’t scold me for that part. Suddenly, while we were eating, the words just came out of my mouth. That I want to sit across from you and eat like this for the rest of my life.”
Seo Daeryong clutched his head.
“Ah! I should have said it while reciting a poem.”
Geom Mugeuk said with a smile.
“No. It was better this way.”
“It was really the right thing to do, right? Please tell me it was.”
To the worried Seo Daeryong, wondering if he had messed up, Geom Mugeuk said with a smile.
“You did well. And that cart isn’t full of manure, it’s full of jewels. You will be a good father.”
Tears welled up in Seo Daeryong’s eyes.
He had thought something like marriage would never happen in his life.
“Since you’re getting married, it should be the best wedding possible. I’ll ask my father to be the officiant, too.”
“The Cult Master?”
Seo Daeryong’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You’ll be the first martial artist to be married with the Heavenly Demon as the officiant.”
Normally, Seo Daeryong would have freaked out and made a fuss, but now he spoke cautiously.
“If I do get married, the officiant…”
Seo Daeryong looked at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and said.
“I would like to ask my master.”
For a moment, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon flinched in surprise.
He hadn't expected him to refuse the Cult Master’s officiating and ask him instead.
“Master, I ask this of you.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon scoffed and said.
“A fine thing to ask of a master who has never been married.”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned sharply and went into his house.
At that sight, Seo Daeryong turned pale.
“Did I make a mistake?”
Although he had grown closer to his master, Seo Daeryong still found him difficult and was cautious around him.
Geom Mugeuk looked at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s retreating back and tried to recall his expression.
Wasn't there a smile playing on his lips?
“No, he’s probably feeling good right now.”
He must have gone inside because he couldn’t manage his expression.
Just then, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s out-of-the-blue words came from inside.
“The more desperately you want something, the further it moves away.”
For a moment, Geom Mugeuk was startled.
The person who was even more startled was Seo Daeryong.
Seo Daeryong bowed his head with a crestfallen face.
“Ah! I made my decision too impulsively. I was too hasty! What should I do?”
He naturally thought the words were directed at him, but Geom Mugeuk said with a deepened gaze.
“No, he was speaking to me.”
The moment he heard the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s words, Geom Mugeuk understood.
He understood why he had been told to come to his residence.
His heart had been too hasty.
So much so that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon was worried.
Yes, if it had been moving from the Seventh Star to the Eighth Star, or from the Eighth Star to the Ninth Star, he wouldn't have been so desperate.
Great Mastery of the Nine Calamities Demon Art.
Because a level of mastery he had only dreamed of was right before his eyes, Geom Mugeuk's heart had grown impatient without him even realizing it.
When I feel something, I have to grab it!
That’s why his heart was filled with the desire to immediately enter seclusion and achieve Great Mastery.
Normally, he would have gone to see the Demon Sovereigns, Jang Ho, and Jo Chun-bae.
But now, his mind was so set on Great Mastery that he only wanted to rush to the training grounds.
He hadn't reached the Ninth Star through seclusion training; it wasn’t a result achieved through such impatience, but something accomplished among people.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon had held onto that hasty heart and given him a lesson.
The greater the desire, the more an illusion appears to be real.
Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly and said in a loud voice.
“I will come tomorrow as well.”
At that, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon appeared at the window.
As if to confirm that Geom Mugeuk's thoughts were correct, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon smiled and said.
“You don't have to come anymore.”
Seeing that warm smile, a thought naturally arose.
Could he really have come this far if not for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon? Because he was the first button among the Demon Sovereigns, hadn't he been able to come this far safely?
Geom Mugeuk looked at Seo Daeryong, who was standing beside him blinking, and said.
“No, I will come. I have to come and plan my right-hand man's great marriage operation.”
Seo Daeryong flinched and asked.
“Is this something that requires a great operation?”
Geom Mugeuk, hiding his playful spirit, nodded his head resolutely with a frighteningly serious gaze.
“I can’t just send you off into that fierce and endless battlefield without any preparation, can I?”