Surprisingly, So Baek-ta had given the divine relic to Geom Mugeuk as a gift at the request of the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
“Do you know why I told you to give the Young Cult Master a gift?”
“Was it not to show gratitude for this matter?”
“Of course, that is one reason, but there is a greater one.”
“What is that reason?”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader then said something unexpected.
“It is because of you, Cult Master.”
“Because of me?”
It was to tie the bond of fate between Geom Mugeuk and So Baek-ta even tighter.
In fact, his own relationship with him had also begun by giving him a divine relic.
There was a great difference between simply parting ways and expressing gratitude by gifting a divine relic.
Even if the other person is not one who expects repayment, exercising the virtue of refusal is entirely their choice.
The act of giving itself becomes a gift.
“Do not let go of your bond with the Young Cult Master. For your sake as a Cult Master, and for the sake of the Wind Heaven Sect.”
Only then did So Baek-ta understand his Master’s profound intentions.
It was also a moment he realized once again just how highly his Master regarded Geom Mugeuk.
“To be a good Cult Master, you must covet people more than objects. Even if you have to use up all the divine relics here, you must make people who can protect you.”
“I understand.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader then stared intently at So Baek-ta and asked.
“Really? Do you truly believe that people are more important than the divine relics here?”
“Well…”
So Baek-ta could not answer with conviction.
After all, just yesterday, he had been played for a fool by another.
“Yes, human relationships are dreadful. Forming them, trying to maintain them, being disappointed, being betrayed. There is truly nothing that consumes so much mental energy. Still, you must prioritize watching over and guiding people. Do you know why?”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader was telling his disciple all the things he had not been able to say until now.
“Because you are a Cult Master. If you lived an ordinary life, there would be no need to value human relationships so much. But a Cult Master is, in the end, a person who rules over people. You must be able to handle not only our Main Sect and our allied organizations, but also our enemies."
"Do not forget that the fates of the Wind Heaven Sect and everyone living in The Outlands will change depending on who you keep by your side and whom you employ.”
Before So Baek-ta could reply, he quickly added.
“It’s not for me to say, who spent all my time just looking at divine relics, is it?”
“Is that not precisely why you are able to say it?”
The two faced each other and smiled.
“By the way, what did the Young Cult Master choose?”
“He chose the Black Eye.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader wore an expression of incomprehension, but soon nodded.
To choose only the best, and then to choose the most worthless.
It seemed so much like the Young Cult Master.
“It’s the Young Cult Master, not just anyone, so there’s no need to feel it’s a waste. A moment ago, you were the one who received a gift. So, if you get the chance later, give him another.”
He meant that forming a bond with Geom Mugeuk with just one divine relic was actually a gain.
He shouldn’t feel this way, but So Baek-ta felt a pang of jealousy toward Geom Mugeuk.
At the same time, he resolved to become a person his Master could trust like that as well.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader read his disciple’s inner thoughts.
“Do not rush. It was only when I was more than twice your age that I began to think deeply about my own life. Before that, I feel like I just lived my life being mindlessly pushed around.”
To think that at my age, I would feel as if my real life was just beginning.
“So do not be impatient. Your real life may not have even started yet.”
So Baek-ta did not want to part with his Master.
“Will you be returning with the Young Cult Master?”
He was afraid he would say he had to go.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader smiled and said.
“I will stay with our Cult Master for a while. We’ll train together, drink together, and talk about old times.”
At least for now, his disciple came before Go Wol, and even before Geom Mugeuk.
His disciple still had much to learn compared to those two, so he wanted to stay with him a little longer and teach him.
So Baek-ta beamed a bright smile.
“Thank you, Master.”
Jealous one moment, happy the next.
Seeing him fluctuate so much in such a short time.
Yes, his Master was right.
He still had a long way to go.
*
My heart pounded as if it would burst the entire way from the Cult Master’s Hall back to my quarters.
My steps quickened with the anticipation that I might finally be able to solve the secret of the Secret Vessel, a mystery that even the past Heavenly Demons had been unable to solve for ages.
After ordering my guards not to let anyone disturb me, I entered my room.
I took out both the Secret Vessel and the Black Eye from my robes and placed them side by side on the table.
“Hey, Secret Vessel, you’ve made a friend.”
Because I had drawn a smiling face on the Secret Vessel, it truly looked like it was happy to have made a friend.
What kind of relationship could these two have?
I picked up the Black Eye and placed it on top of the Secret Vessel.
But nothing happened.
It had vibrated and everything, telling me to pick the Black Eye.
“If you’re going to be so distant, why did you look for this friend?”
I waited for a moment, but the Secret Vessel showed no reaction.
I turned the Secret Vessel and placed the Black Eye on another side.
Still no reaction.
I placed it on another side, and then another.
“Even if a handstand is uncomfortable, bear with it for a bit.”
The moment I turned the smiling Secret Vessel upside down and placed the Black Eye on its bottom surface.
Swoosh.
The Black Eye began to be sucked into the Secret Vessel.
I had never imagined that the Secret Vessel would absorb the Black Eye like this, so I could only stare at it in astonishment.
As if a drop of water was being absorbed, the Black Eye slipped right into the Secret Vessel.
I raised my inner energy to prepare for any eventuality and held my breath, watching the Secret Vessel.
Even after waiting for a long time, the Secret Vessel remained as it was.
“You! You ate your friend!”
The moment those words ended.
Vrooom!
The Secret Vessel vibrated once.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The Secret Vessel shook and vibrated again.
The vibration was so strong that the table shook.
The violently vibrating Secret Vessel floated into the air.
The Secret Vessel began to rotate rapidly in mid-air.
Whirrrrrrrrr!
It felt like it would explode at any moment, or fly off somewhere.
What should I do?
There was no time for long thoughts.
I followed my instincts.
I raised my protective energy to its limit and then snatched the floating Secret Vessel with my hand.
At that very moment!
Shuuuuuuuuu!
I heard a sound I had never heard before, and something pitch-black began to emerge from the Secret Vessel.
That pitch-black thing was not smoke, nor was it liquid.
It was not inner energy or any kind of aura, nor was it light.
It was something indescribable, something I had never seen or felt before in my life.
What came out of the Secret Vessel spread from my hand, up my arm, and into my body.
It did not spread elsewhere.
Like ink spreading on paper, it spread only through my body.
Fwooooosh.
I watched as it spread.
I could feel it instinctively.
That at the very least, this was not an energy that meant to harm me.
If it had been, the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art would have activated.
If it had been, I would have instinctively thrown the Secret Vessel to the floor.
But I held the Secret Vessel tightly and watched as it transferred to me.
It shimmered like light, rippled like water, and gave off a certain feeling, like an aura.
It was pitch-black in color, but the sensation was as refreshing as drinking clear water.
Whoooosh!
The moment it had spread from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
Flash!
A radiance burst forth from my entire body.
It was so bright that I squeezed my eyes shut.
When I opened my eyes again, the radiance was gone.
What had spread through my body had already disappeared into me.
I hurriedly checked my body.
The energy from the Secret Vessel had clearly seeped deep into every part of me, but there were no particular changes.
My inner energy hadn't increased, nor was there any undissolved energy clumped somewhere in my energy core.
But I felt it.
That it remained in my body.
That it existed somewhere inside me.
‘What in the world is this?’
It was at that moment.
Thud!
The Secret Vessel spat out the Black Eye it had swallowed.
The ejected Black Eye rolled across the floor.
I picked up the Black Eye and examined it.
It no longer had its initial glossy, ink-black sheen.
It had now become an ordinary lump of iron.
I knew instinctively.
The energy hidden within the Black Eye had been absorbed into me through the Secret Vessel.
It was the moment the secret of the Secret Vessel was revealed.
The Secret Vessel was a device for absorbing energy contained in something else.
Without something absorbable like the Black Eye, the Secret Vessel was truly worthless, so how could anyone have discovered this secret?
I had uncovered the secret precisely because I hadn't tried to solve it.
I was able to solve the mystery because I had simply carried it in my robes like a friend.
And another premonition came to me.
This didn't seem to be the end.
I had a feeling that if there were other things from which energy could be absorbed, besides the Black Eye, I could absorb them with this Secret Vessel.
‘What are you, really? Who made you?’
As if nothing had happened, the Secret Vessel remained upside down, smiling brightly at me.
Now that I knew which way was up, I would have to draw a new face on it.
*
The next day, we parted ways.
While the guards, who had woken up early, were busy preparing the carriage, the Wind Heaven Sect Leader and So Baek-ta came out to see us off.
“Have a safe journey back.”
In response to So Baek-ta's farewell, I said what I had been wanting to tell him.
“As you’ve experienced yourself, there are those who plot in the shadows. Please be careful from now on.”
“I will. Young Cult Master, you take care as well.”
Next, I bid farewell to the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
Though it was not a long farewell, the fact that I felt so sad about it must mean I had grown quite fond of him.
“Do you know what I realized while dealing with the New Might Iron Workshop this time?”
“What did you realize?”
“They didn’t know who they belonged to or what their goal was. And yet, they worked in sync and operated well."
"Do you know who they reminded me of? It was Silver Moon. An organization made of thoroughly isolated cells, yet one that operates under a perfect system.”
So, this was what he wanted to tell me.
“Someone really smart, like you or Go Wol, must be behind it all.”
Someone of the Wind Heaven Sect Leader’s caliber could tell how large and ferocious the monster was just by touching its tail.
“I will keep that in mind when dealing with them. Thank you for telling me.”
“I will send a separate message to Go Wol. I won’t be staying there for too long.”
“Please rest comfortably before you return.”
“Our Young Cult Master who cleaned out the Wind Heaven Sect, farewell.”
He was beaming, thinking he would be using this to attack me for a while.
I did not just let it pass either.
“Looking at the divine relics this time, I saw there were many desirable ones left.”
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader shouted to So Baek-ta.
“Protect our divine relics well from the Young Cult Master!”
If my farewell with him ended in such jokes and banter, my parting with the Demon Buddha was very blunt.
“I’ll be going first.”
“See you at the Sect.”
But the way the two looked at each other was different from when they had arrived.
And so, I left the Demon Buddha and the Wind Heaven Sect.
Three had come, but two were returning.
Yet, it felt as if four were returning in spirit.
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader and So Baek-ta watched from the main gate until our carriage disappeared.
*
The journey back was leisurely.
When we saw a high mountain, we stopped the carriage and climbed it to dig for poisonous herbs, and we camped under the stars in the wasteland.
For meals, we cooked the beasts the guards hunted.
I taught the guards everything from how to prepare the animal hides to which cuts of meat were tasty and how to cook them so they wouldn't be tough.
Thanks to that, the guards’ cooking skills improved day by day.
“Truly, there is nothing the Young Cult Master cannot do.”
I shook my head at the guards’ admiration.
“There is just one thing I cannot do.”
“What is it?”
Without telling them, I turned away with a sigh.
And so, today too, after a good meal, we lay down to sleep around the bonfire.
Lying down and gazing up at the night sky, I spoke to the Demon Buddha.
“Come to think of it, you are also a star.”
Across the bonfire, the Demon Buddha turned toward me.
“What do you mean?”
“Because like the stars, you always shine on your own.”
I can see the Demon Buddha’s face beyond the flickering flames.
Now accustomed to it, he stared at me and said.
“I don’t have things like divine relics like the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.”
“But you have poisonous herbs, don’t you?”
The Demon Buddha had dug up seven, but I still hadn’t found a single one.
The one thing I couldn’t do that I hadn’t told the guards about was herb gathering.
“Please just give me one!”
The Demon Buddha made a face that said ‘not a chance,’ then turned and lay down on his other side.
I know what he's feeling.
He wants to hear the Poison King say that our Demon Buddha is the best.
He wants to be a special person who can find poisonous herbs no one else can.
The more he’s like that, the more I want to tease him.
I rose silently and was about to tiptoe toward the box of herbs the Demon Buddha had gathered when.
While still lying down, the Demon Buddha stretched his hand out toward it.
A golden radiance extended from his palm, becoming a golden dragon that wrapped around the box as if to protect it.
It was the Demon Buddha’s signature demonic art, the Great Golden Arhat Demon Art.
“That’s too much! I’m the Young Cult Master! The man who will become the Heavenly Demon!”
As if it wouldn't work, the golden dragon writhed and roared fiercely.
“Yes, I should sleep. I’m sleeping.”
I lay down again.
The head of the guards, Jeok-yeon, who was watching us from a little distance, couldn't hold back his laughter, but when his eyes met mine, he turned his head to the other side.
The Demon Buddha, who was lying with his back to me, called me softly.
“Young Cult Master.”
“Yes.”
After a brief pause, the Demon Buddha spoke.
“Thank you.”
I was looking at the stars in the night sky.
The starlight was unusually bright tonight.
“Me too.”
We did not ask each other what we were thankful for.
And so, cutting through the sandstorms of The Outlands, we returned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.