Chapter 305: Why the Two Look Good Together
Chapter 305: Why the Two Look Good Together
Seo Dae-ryong was in high spirits, feeling as if he could fly.
He finally understood why he hadn't been able to focus on his work all day. It was because this heart-pounding task had been waiting for him.
Lowering his voice, Seo Dae-ryong replied, "Catching villains is the duty of this pavilion, Young Cult Leader."
But his attempt at maintaining a serious atmosphere didn't last long.
"Phew... I want to be at least a little comfortable when I'm with you, Young Cult Leader."
In truth, what was harder than the work itself was the constant need to maintain the dignity of a Pavilion Master. It was especially difficult because he had grown so accustomed to joking around and being playful during his time with Geom Mu-geuk.
"So, who is the bastard we need to catch?"
"Sa U-jong."
Seo Dae-ryong was well aware of the man who had once been the right hand of the One Flower Sword Venerable.
Geom Mu-geuk explained how Sa U-jong had sought out Cheong-seon. However, since it touched upon personal matters, he didn't mention that the man had brought up the One Flower Sword Venerable’s weakness.
"That sounds suspicious. So, what is the pavilion’s role in this?"
"Conduct a secret special audit on him."
Once a special audit began, everything about Sa U-jong would be laid bare. His assets, his duties, his martial arts, his relationships—even his hobbies and how he spent every minute of his day. They would uncover every hidden detail of his life.
"Request support from Tongcheon Pavilion as well."
"Understood."
Then, Seo Dae-ryong raised a question.
"But isn't threatening a Demon Lord a capital offense in itself?"
Depending on the circumstances, it could even warrant execution. After all, the status of a Demon Lord within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was absolute. He was asking why they were launching such a grand investigation instead of simply dealing with him directly.
"Sa U-jong should know that too. I’m wondering why a man who knows the consequences would do such a thing."
"True. Why would he? Unless it’s a final act of desperation before death... he must have something to fall back on, right?"
Geom Mu-geuk nodded in agreement. "Let’s find out what that is."
"I’ll start the investigation immediately."
In truth, Seo Dae-ryong didn't care about the reason. He was simply happy to be working with Geom Mu-geuk again.
"I'm leaving. If you hate working that much, swap places with me!"
As Geom Mu-geuk turned to leave, Seo Dae-ryong spoke from behind him. "I'm glad you're back."
Though he still loved to joke, there was a newfound reliability to Pavilion Master Seo Dae-ryong. He was the only one who hadn't noticed the change in himself.
"Then I'll leave it in your hands, Pavilion Master Seo."
* * *
After leaving Huangquan Pavilion, I went straight to the Thousand Poison Forest.
My internal energy had increased significantly last time thanks to the potent poisonous spirit medicine the Poison King had procured.
The Poison King had even added his own money to the cost. Of course, what I was most grateful for was the fact that a man who hated leaving his home had personally traveled to the Central Plains to get it.
My handsome Poison King... I bet he’s out there today, lonely as ever, digging in the dirt for poisonous insects.
"Lord Poison King! I'll help you dig!" I called out.
Then, an incredible sight unfolded before my eyes.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s flower garden had been surprising, and the sparring between the Fist Demon and Lee An had been impressive. But objectively speaking, the scene before me now was the most shocking of all.
The Poison King and the Demon Buddha were walking out of the forest side by side. It wasn't someone else; it was truly the Demon Buddha. The two were even engaged in deep conversation.
"Ah, what a keen eye you have! Truly remarkable."
"This much is only natural."
The Poison King’s bag was filled with poisonous herbs. It seemed they had been foraging together. Seeing the two of them together in my absence felt incredibly surreal.
Once, the Demon Buddha and I had made a bet to find poisonous herbs in the Thousand Poison Forest. Back then, the Demon Buddha had found one, and I had joked that it was all a conspiracy by the Poison King to use us as gatherers. But the Demon Buddha was back for more?
I shouted toward them, "Watch out! One of those two is an impostor!"
At my banter, the two of them glanced at me. Then, as if they hadn't seen anything at all, they continued their conversation.
"Just how did you find it so quickly? Please, tell me your secret."
"There is no secret. I was simply lucky."
"Truly, Demon Buddha, you have a natural talent for herb gathering. I recommend you change your profession even now."
At that ridiculous suggestion, the Demon Buddha replied seriously, "I have been thinking of taking it up as a hobby. Walking through places with such fresh air seems good for one's health."
I shook my head and shouted to Sangseon this time, "Both of them are impostors!"
Sangseon merely offered a knowing smile.
I really hadn't expected this. To think these two would be getting along so well.
"What were you two just doing?" I asked as I approached.
The Poison King replied with an excited face, "The Demon Buddha found a Nine Yin Herb for me today. It’s something I’ve been searching for for years."
Judging by the way he spoke, this wasn't the first time.
"Was there a bet involved this time too?"
The Poison King let out a sigh of regret. "I lost this bet as well."
"What was at stake?"
"A meal. Sangseon, prepare the food."
Sangseon said with a smile, "I already have it ready, as I suspected you might lose again."
A grand feast was laid out in the front yard of the residence. I joined them at the table, and Sangseon brought me rice and chopsticks.
"How much is a single Nine Yin Herb worth?" I asked.
"At least a hundred thousand taels, wouldn't you say?"
"And you're going to settle that with just one meal?"
"The important thing is that I won the bet," the Demon Buddha interjected.
I whispered to the Demon Buddha, "You're being swindled by a wicked gambler."
The Demon Buddha replied as he enjoyed the food, "The Poison King is not that kind of person."
To think such words would come from the mouth of the world-weary Demon Buddha. One person pretending to deceive, the other pretending to be deceived. They were quite the pair.
The Poison King pulled the dish in front of me toward the Demon Buddha. "You eat less. This was made for the Demon Buddha, who worked hard."
"I am the Young Cult Leader! I'm the Young Cult Leader, not the Second Young Master! I'm someone who can flip this table, you know!"
The Poison King ignored my tantrum and continued to look after the Demon Buddha. "Please, eat plenty."
"It tastes excellent."
"I only went around the Hunan and Jiangxi branches," I grumbled, "but if I had toured the entire Central Plains, you two would probably have become sworn brothers by the time I got back."
Sangseon was the only one who laughed at my remark.
These two were polar opposites. One was a man who never left the Thousand Poison Forest and enjoyed his solitude, while the other was a man who had spent his life meeting all sorts of people and navigating complex politics.
Seeing them together, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Perhaps, in their hearts, they each harbored a longing for the other's life.
The Poison King might envy the Demon Buddha—the way he roams the world freely, meeting people without hesitation despite his small stature. Meanwhile, he himself, despite being more handsome than anyone, remains cooped up in the Thousand Poison Forest.
The Demon Buddha might envy the Poison King. Perhaps he is tired of wandering, tired of people, and now wishes for a quiet life of solitude.
Is that why the two of them look so good together right now?
If so, what kind of life do I want?
When I finally stand before my own life after killing Hwa Mu-gi, what will I do and how will I live? I ask myself this whenever I have a spare moment.
I was trying not to fall into the trap of "Let's just do the important things first and think later." Because the truly important things might be slipping away right now without me even realizing it.
While eating, the Demon Buddha suddenly asked, "The Fist Demon has been quite busy lately. Is that your influence?"
Taking in two disciples, saving his daughter, and even selecting a successor—it was only natural that it would catch the Demon Buddha's attention.
"You know my Master's personality. He's not the type to be influenced by anyone."
"If it's you, one never knows."
"You overestimate me."
Throughout the meal, the Poison King kept his eyes fixed on the Nine Yin Herb. I knew he was genuinely infatuated with that poisonous plant. Right now, his mind was likely filled with nothing but the desire to go inside and concoct a new poison with it.
"When are you going to see your brother?"
"Why would I rush to see him? I'll go last."
"I had a drink with the First Young Master recently," the Demon Buddha said. "He brought you up that day."
"I'd be lucky if he wasn't just cursing me."
I hadn't felt like seeing my brother my entire life, but today, I missed him.
"There is a heart of the defeated that the victor can never know," the Demon Buddha said softly. "Your brother is a great loser."
"That's only because you stayed by his side, Demon Buddha."
The Demon Buddha looked at me. "You don't have to say things like that anymore."
"I'll keep saying it. It's not flattery; it's the truth."
I felt the golden radiance emanating from the Demon Buddha's body grow slightly more intense.
While I was talking with the Demon Buddha, the Poison King had already lost his patience and retreated into his residence with the Nine Yin Herb. Through the window, I could see him intently cutting the herb.
"We should be going."
"Indeed."
I left the residence with the Demon Buddha. Sangseon did not follow, instead offering a polite bow from where he stood.
A moment later, the Poison King’s voice echoed from far behind us.
"Where did the Young Cult Leader go? Where are you going! You have to do the toxicity test for me!"
I had promised to act as a test subject for his poisons in exchange for the spirit medicines he had bought me last time. I quickened my pace, pretending not to hear.
Then, the Poison King shouted another message, this time for the Demon Buddha.
"Let our next bet be to find the Returning Immortal Herb!"
A smile played on the Demon Buddha's lips.
I felt that he, too, had changed a lot. Even the way he left the Thousand Poison Forest showed it. In the past, he would have chosen the shortest path and moved his short legs busily. Now, he was walking slowly along a scenic, winding path. He even stopped occasionally to admire the view.
Suddenly, I remembered what I had said to him in front of the cave in his hometown.
— Please, come out of that cramped and suffocating place now.
It occurred to me that perhaps the Demon Buddha had already left that cave and set out to find a new life.
"Next time, he'll use you as a gatherer again to find that Returning Immortal Herb," I joked.
The Demon Buddha replied as he walked leisurely, "The food was to my liking... so it is fine."
* * *
At the same time, Sa U-jong was walking through the marketplace of Ma Clan Village.
Passing the Pungryu Tavern and continuing down, he reached a small flower garden on the outskirts. It was a place that sold flowers, trees, and seedlings.
Rumors were already rife within the Northern Heavenly Sword House that he frequented this garden. Back when he was the right hand of the One Flower Sword Venerable, he used to visit a large-scale garden.
But now, having surrendered that role to another Demon Sword, he had taken to coming to this peripheral garden—not his usual haunt—to sit and stare blankly before leaving.
Because everyone knew how desperately he had desired to become the successor of the One Flower Sword Venerable, they understood his behavior. It wouldn't even be strange to hear news that he had taken his own life. His sense of loss was that great, yet no one came to comfort him. It was the result of a life spent looking only forward in pursuit of success.
The owner of the flower garden was a woman with a generous, kindly impression.
"Welcome."
Sa U-jong didn't even acknowledge the greeting. As if it were his own home, he sat in a corner of the garden and stared blankly at the trees. The flowers had all withered, and seedlings of evergreen trees stood in their place.
The woman left him alone, as if his sitting there in a daze was a daily occurrence.
He appeared to be trying to escape the Five Desires and Seven Emotions by looking at the plants, but he had not escaped his worldly agonies; rather, he was wandering deep within the forest of secular desire.
I even offered up a man just to become a Demon Lord, and yet she discards me?
Did she even know what it felt like to offer a man to the woman he loved? He hurled all sorts of profanities and curses at her in his mind. He didn't consider that it was he who had initially tried to use that man to bring the Sword Venerable under his thumb.
She wasn't the only object of his love-hate relationship. As soon as Cheong-seon ascended to the position of Demon Lord, she had bid him farewell as if she had been waiting for the moment. His final stronghold for becoming a Sword Venerable had crumbled.
For a long time, he lived only by nurturing his hatred. He dreamed every night. Some nights, he dreamed of killing the One Flower Sword Venerable and then himself. Other nights, he dreamed of killing Cheong-seon and then himself. On some nights, he killed both women before taking his own life. Yes, if I can't be a Demon Lord, I'll kill them both and die.
Since he never intended to achieve anything through his own merit, the end of this abandoned desire was always death. He simply hadn't acted on it because he lacked the skill to kill them.
At the edge of this despair, someone had approached him. It was the person currently sending him a voice transmission.
— Did you meet the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord?
Surprisingly, the one sending the transmission was the woman who owned the flower garden. The reason Sa U-jong frequented this place wasn't because of his suffering. He was not a weak man who would visit a garden to forget his pain; he was a man who would rather kill and be killed.
— I did as you instructed, but she did not try to kill me.
Sa U-jong was exceedingly polite. He was not one to trust others easily, nor was he one to bow his head. But this woman, who had approached him during his peak of misery, had recruited him in an instant.
A woman who dared to target the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult... yet she had given him the confidence that she could pull it off. Sa U-jong had already experienced the terror hidden beneath her ordinary appearance.
With this, he was entangled with three women. He thought to himself that he was destined to succeed only through women.
— Meet the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord again and provoke her. You must make her use her Soul-Seizing Technique to kill you.
— I shall do so.
Sa U-jong was not the type to die quietly, so the woman's words included a safeguard.
— The moment she uses the Soul-Seizing Technique, you must activate the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique.
The Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique.
It was a secret technique from the Outer Lands, long thought to be lost, that could block an opponent's Soul-Seizing Technique and cast one back at them. However, it was a secret art that only worked on an opponent with whom the user had shared a bed.
That was the reason he had been chosen for this task. He didn't care what the woman's intentions were. Whether she used the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord, trapped by the Yin-Yang Soul Reversal Technique, as a puppet to kill the Cult Leader or the Young Cult Leader didn't matter to him. There was only one thought in Sa U-jong's mind.
— You must keep your promise.
At Sa U-jong's reconfirmation, the woman, who had been moving a seedling as large as her torso, paused and straightened her back. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and sent a voice transmission. It was a reward Sa U-jong could never refuse.
— If you succeed in this, you will become the Sword Venerable, and the One Flower Sword Venerable will become your woman.