I visited the Western Illusion Sect for the first time in a while.
From the towers and bizarre decorations placed everywhere to the flowers in the garden swaying in the wind, I could feel a ghostly energy that stirred the hearts of men.
The ghostly energy was the same as ever, but the Ghost Art practitioners I met on the way were not as hostile as before.
They greeted me politely with the respect due to the Young Cult Master.
Following the guiding Ghost Art practitioner, I walked between houses built like snail shells.
It was all so bewitching and dazzling that any but the most skilled masters would have to walk with their eyes closed from dizziness.
At the end of that path was a cone-shaped building.
This was the residence of the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign.
The walls, the ceiling, the floor.
In a room filled with swirling patterns, the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign greeted me.
"Young Cult Master, you've arrived?"
The ghostly energy flowing in her eyes was even more intense than when I had last seen her.
"I believe this is the first time we've met here."
"Are you alright? If you're uncomfortable, we can go outside to talk."
The dizzying patterns in the room were enough to unsettle one's mind just by being there.
She was being considerate, worried that I might be uncomfortable.
Of course, with the Heavenly Demon Body-Protection Art that I had achieved Great Mastery in protecting me, her concern was unfounded.
"When the previous Demon Sovereign was here, this place was nauseating and dizzying. But now, it is beautiful and mysterious."
I knew she was doing well.
Though she had become a Demon Sovereign at a young age, she had already taken complete control of the Western Illusion Sect and was acknowledged by the Ghost Art practitioners as their new Demon Sovereign.
All that remained was for her to achieve Great Mastery in her signature martial art and build her experience as a Demon Sovereign.
"What brings you here?"
She was different from the other Demon Sovereigns.
Still so young, she was closer to being my Demon Sovereign than my father's.
Therefore, this moment was also one where the Heavenly Demon and Demon Sovereign of the next generation stood face to face.
I told her the current situation as it was.
I neither omitted nor added anything because of her age.
I respected her as a Demon Sovereign.
"To get straight to the point, there is only one Demon Sovereign on my side."
I did not reveal who it was, but surprisingly, the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign guessed the person correctly.
"By any chance, is that person the Evil Heart Laughing Demon?"
"How did you know?"
She told me that during the three-party meeting, she had felt a sort of kinship with the Evil Heart Laughing Demon, seeing him standing lonely and apart from the other Demon Sovereigns.
"During the last three-party meeting, the Laughing Demon expressed his envy of me. He said because I was young, I could serve you for a long time. From his heartfelt thoughts for you, I guessed it might be him."
She still remembered the conversation they had that day vividly.
"Do you know what I told the Laughing Demon then?"
"What did you say?"
"I said, ‘You truly seem to enjoy difficult tasks, Laughing Demon.’"
I laughed out loud.
The woman who had seemed somewhat rigid when dealing with me was now speaking comfortably.
It meant her position had stabilized and she had gained confidence.
Like the other Demon Sovereigns—no, she who still had a long way to go—was growing faster than anyone.
"If it weren't for you, Young Cult Master, I would not have been able to ascend to the position of Demon Sovereign."
"You don't need to make this decision for that reason. Decide as you wish, Demon Sovereign."
At that, the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign asked with a peculiar gaze.
"Are you serious?"
It was a playful look that said, ‘Do you really not need my help?’ Of course not.
If that were the case, I wouldn't have come.
"No. I desperately need your help, Demon Sovereign."
At my honest reply, the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign smiled.
Her silent smile now suited her ghostly energy quite well.
"As I've said, the situation is unfavorable. You could even fall out of my father's favor."
That was the most important part for the other Demon Sovereigns, but not for her.
"You don't have to worry about that. I am already standing outside the Cult Master's eyes."
It didn't mean my father hated her.
It meant that to enter his eyes, more time and effort were needed.
To my father, she would still be considered an incomplete Demon Sovereign.
She knew exactly where she stood and what kind of person my father was.
"Will someone like me be alright?"
I clasped my fists respectfully towards her and said.
"You may be standing outside my father's eyes, but to me, you stand at the forefront."
Those words were enough.
The ghostly energy flowing from the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign's eyes grew even more intense.
"All the ghosts of our sect will follow you, Young Cult Master."
The Demon Buddha was making a stone statue in a small clearing a short distance from the great golden Buddha.
The sight of the Demon Buddha chipping away at stone with a chisel and hammer was both fitting and yet strange.
The surrounding buildings, statues, and towers were all plated in gold, but the statue the Demon Buddha was now making was of ordinary stone.
"I'm winning three to two."
I tried starting with a bluff to the Demon Buddha.
Of course, it didn't work.
"You've only gotten better at lying in the time I haven't seen you."
"And you, Demon Buddha, remain as sharp as ever."
This statement was the real lie.
The Demon Buddha felt much gentler.
Had he attained some kind of spiritual awakening?
I stood for a moment and watched the Demon Buddha, now a stonemason.
He wasn't just good at digging up herbs.
His skill in carving statues was also excellent.
"But how did you know? That I only have two on my side."
"Because even two is a lot."
I couldn't help but laugh at his words.
How could I deny it? The opponent was my father.
"There are good things about this affair too. I got to meet all the Demon Sovereigns and see what they were thinking. Maybe my father intended this. ‘Know your place and face reality!’"
Clang! Clang!
The hammering paused for a moment.
Beyond the hammer, the Demon Buddha glanced at me.
"Do you really think the Cult Master created this stage just to show off how many Demon Sovereigns support him?"
The Demon Buddha used the word ‘stage.’ In other words, he also saw this situation as being intentionally created by my father.
"Was it his wish for me to grow closer to the Demon Sovereigns?"
Clang!
As if to say I was wrong, the sound of the Demon Buddha's hammer rang out cheerfully.
"Or is it an opportunity for my father to reflect on his relationship with the Demon Sovereigns?"
Again, as if it were the wrong answer, only the sound of hammering echoed, clang, clang.
How did the Demon Buddha see this matter? Though he was now acting like an enlightened man who had taken a step back, he was once the most political and pragmatic among the Eight Demon Sovereigns.
"Please tell me. Why did my father create this stage?"
The Demon Buddha stopped hammering and examined the statue.
He frowned and shook his head as if the balance was off.
Indeed, how could one concentrate on work while having such a conversation?
The Demon Buddha put down his hammer and turned to face me.
"To seat us in the audience for that stage."
It was an unexpected statement.
If the Demon Sovereigns were seated as the audience…
"Don't tell me. Does that mean he intends to fight me on that stage?"
The Demon Buddha looked at me with an expression that said, ‘Isn't it obvious?’
For a moment, the Fist Demon's words came to mind.
—The Cult Master has already started the war.
Did the war the Fist Demon spoke of mean a war against me?
"Don't they say that no parent can win against their child?"
Then came an unexpected remark.
"The Cult Master will not lose to you."
I could feel that the Demon Buddha saw my father in the same light as the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
"Ordinary people think it's foolish to make another enemy when you already have one, don't they?"
"Is that not so?"
"For ordinary people, perhaps."
"Then what about for my father?"
The Demon Buddha raised his head and looked at the distant Heavenly Demon Hall.
"The Cult Master intends to cut down everyone with a sword once drawn."
"He'll convince you in front of the watching Demon Sovereigns, use that united power to punish the hidden forces, and then with that same blood-dripping sword, he intends to cut down the Martial Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance."
The words ‘that can't be true’ did not leave my lips.
Instead, a single scene came to mind.
The empty Grand Advisor's seat.
It was the sight of my father, who had always occupied that seat, having left it vacant.
That was a more terrifying sight than my father holding the blood-dripping Heavenly Demon Sword.
"Is there a reason you are so certain?"
"There is."
A golden light shone intensely from the Demon Buddha's body.
"Because our sect has never been this strong."
What if the Demon Buddha's thoughts were true?
Ultimately, the one who set my father in motion was me.
"Young Cult Master!"
The person looking at me with startled eyes was Go Wol.
After meeting the Demon Buddha, I had immediately run towards Go Wol's location using Swift Step.
I truly ran like the wind.
Even while I was in the Northern Sea, Go Wol had been traveling between the Main Sect and the outside world, solidifying the Silver Moon even further.
The branch I arrived at today was a half-day's run away using Swift Step.
"You must be busy, what brings you here?"
The desk where he sat was still piled high with documents.
"Why is there so much work? I told you to have your subordinates do it all."
"I do have my subordinates do it."
"You should just drink tea and nag."
Knowing he wasn't the type, I added another word today.
"Grand Strategist Go. You know how important you are to me, right?"
"I know."
"Then don't make me worry about your health as well."
I wasn't worried, knowing that masters sent by the Wind Heaven Sect Leader were guarding him.
How well must the Wind Heaven Sect Leader have taken care of Go Wol?
But when it came to his health, I had to nag.
"You must be busy meeting the Demon Sovereigns, how did you manage to come all this way?"
As expected, Go Wol was well aware of the situation at the Main Sect.
"I came because I missed you. Come on, let's get some air, even for a moment."
I left the office with Go Wol.
The backyard led directly to the marketplace.
We walked side by side through the bustling street.
"Don't sit for too long. You know they say your lifespan shortens the more you sit, right? Get up and walk at least once every hour."
"I understand."
"I'm nagging too much for someone I haven't seen in a while, aren't I?"
Go Wol smiled without denying it.
I know how well Go Wol teases the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
If the Wind Heaven Sect Leader had been the one nagging, his reaction would have been different.
"Do you hear from the Cult Master often?"
The Wind Heaven Sect Leader had stayed behind at the Wind Heaven Sect for his disciple, the current Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
I thought he would return in a month or two, but he's been there for quite a while.
Now that his relationship with his disciple has been restored, it seems he has much he wants to teach.
"A dispatch comes occasionally. Half of it is complaints about his disciple."
"And is the other half complaints about me?"
"How did you know?"
We laughed together.
"Seeing as the interval between his dispatches is getting shorter, it seems the Cult Master is also growing frustrated. I think he'll be back soon."
"I miss the Wind Heaven Sect Leader too."
After talking about this and that, I revealed the real reason I had come.
"While meeting the Demon Sovereigns this time, one thought kept occurring to me."
"What thought was that?"
"Do I have the right to crush my father's dream?"
The Demon Sovereigns all understood my father's aspiration.
Though they didn't express it as openly as the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign, their feelings were likely similar.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon's conflict would lie there as well, and how would the Evil Heart Laughing Demon be any different?
"Even so, what is your reason for trying to stop him?"
Because too many people would die.
But this answer did not come easily.
Just as it was difficult for the Poison King to answer 'because I like poison,' I too could not easily say those words.
‘Are you really the kind of person who worries about the welfare of all martial artists?’
This question immediately surfaced in my mind.
Normally, I should have said this:
The purpose of my regression is to save those who should be saved and kill those who must die.
But if a war breaks out, people who shouldn't die will die.
There's no telling who it will be.
It could be one of the Demon Sovereigns, it could be Lee Ahn, it could be Seo Daeryong.
It could be Go Wol standing before me, or the Wind Heaven Sect Leader.
It could be Jo Chun-bae, or the patrons of the Flowing Wine Tavern.
This matter will not end with just a broken table.
On top of that, there are my feelings for my father.
In my life before regression, I experienced so much.
I saw many lives and felt extreme loneliness.
I endured hardships that were difficult to bear and overcame near-death crises many times.
I endured all those things for the sake of revenge.
This is what revenge is.
The act of killing someone creates this kind of vengeance.
If humans can't forget someone for a lifetime over a few hurtful words, this is an act that takes the lives of countless people.
The friends, comrades, and families of the dead.
The war will create tens of thousands of vengeful hearts.
Tens of thousands of me.
Tens of thousands of Hwa Mugi.
That burden will be placed on the shoulders of my father, who started the war.
I do not want my father to bear that burden of resentment.
I do not want him to stand at the tip of those countless swords of vengeance.
Isn't it my father's dream? His aspiration?
I think it was the same for my father as it was for me before regression.
We never got the chance to dream a different dream.
My father lived as the Heavenly Demon, unable to open his heart to anyone, and I lived as the kin who had lost that Heavenly Demon.
We are stronger than anyone, but we were people who couldn't dream a proper dream.
In addition to this feeling, I had one more belief.
The reason Heaven gave me the chance to regress surely wasn't to drive countless people to their deaths.
Many thoughts swirled around and returned to the starting point.
"Because too many people will die in that war."
Go Wol silently watched the people passing by for a moment.
Then he looked at me and said softly.
"Isn't that reason enough to endure everything and stop it?"
Yes, it seems this is what I wanted to hear from Go Wol.
This is why I ran all this way like the wind.
Because I wanted to hear these words from my strategist.
Now, the time has come to go back and meet my father.
"I think I'm ready to get on the stage too."