Chapter 469: Nice To Meet You (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 469: Nice To Meet You (4)
My first sensation was the feeling of being cradled in someone’s arms.
A gentle hand was slowly rubbing my back.
I turned my head, taking in my surroundings.
“…Hmm?”
My movement caused the hand to still. My eyes met those of the person holding me.
It was the Demonic Sword.
Her eyes widened as she saw me stir.
“…You’re awake?”
“…”
She looked utterly exhausted. The sight left me speechless.
“Why…?”
Why was she holding me like this? I glanced around, my expression puzzled.
“…!”
A wave of horror washed over me.
Strange, ominous black substances were slowly dissipating in the air around us.
And… is that a fire?
The area was scorched. I knew immediately the flames were mine.
Blaze.
An undying blue fire burned beautifully upon the ground.
Blue flame?
My flames should have been a light red, or black when infused with Demonic Qi. This azure color could only mean one thing: Blood Qi had enhanced them. But why were they still burning?
Sensing something amiss, I channeled Qi to my palm.
Blaze-!
Flames erupted. I frowned.
They were blue.
“What the hell?”
I was certain I hadn’t used Blood Qi. I’d even suppressed my Demonic Qi, so my flames should have been their natural light red.
…This is.
There was no mistaking it—this was the same flame I produced when using Blood Qi.
I immediately turned my focus inward, inspecting my Dantian. I needed to know what had happened after my vessel shattered.
Thump-!
“…!”
A sharp recoil jolted me as I tried to access my Dantian. It came from near my heart—the location of my middle Dantian.
Huh?
Why was it reacting now? Confused, I willed Qi to flow through my body. Fortunately, I could control it without issue. Did that mean my vessel was restored?
But…
…It’s all coming from my heart.
The origin point of my Qi was now my middle Dantian. Normally, Qi should flow from the lower Dantian, up to the middle, then to the upper. For it to start at the middle could only mean one thing: my lower Dantian, the very source of my Qi, was gone.
Then where did all that Qi go?
I probed deeper into my middle Dantian.
Huh.
I found it. All the Qi that once resided in my lower Dantian had migrated to the middle. How was that possible?
As I struggled to comprehend this, a cold touch brushed my cheek.
“Are you okay…?”
It was the Demonic Sword’s hand. I jerked upright in shock.
“Huh?”
But I faltered halfway. Something felt off.
My perspective?
My point of view seemed higher than usual. That slight difference threw off my balance.
“…”
The Demonic Sword rose beside me, and I immediately saw the problem.
It’s my height.
For some reason, she seemed shorter. I’d always been slightly taller, but the difference had been negligible—about half a finger’s length. Now, it was a full palm’s width.
I’ve grown.
My arms and legs felt noticeably longer. But that wasn’t the only change.
My eyes widened as I looked at my right arm.
…What the hell is this?
The light red bandage wrapped around it was now blue, and the arm beneath felt strange. It was covered in scales.
I’d always had a few scales on my right arm, but now…
My left arm has even less.
In fact, my left arm looked like it belonged to a completely different creature. Blanketed in blue scales, it was clearly no longer a normal human limb.
I wondered how it had become like this.
Oh, wait…
It came back to me. This was the arm that had been nearly devoured by the Blood Qi monster. This must be the result.
The sight was deeply unsettling. The scales, partly hidden by the bandage, ran all the way up to my shoulder.
…Is the rest of me fine?
I checked my body. Aside from my left arm, I seemed normal externally, at least.
I clenched my fist a few times.
Squeeze.
“…”
My grip felt stronger. It wasn’t just my Qi; my physical strength had increased as well.
It’s like my bone structure has changed.
With my Qi now residing in my middle Dantian, this was akin to the legendary bone restructuring or rebirth.
And there was more…
…My unstable Fusion Realm has been stabilized.
The precariousness I’d felt at this level was gone. Did this mean my only problem was adjusting to this new body?
If so, what actually changed?
I’d been told that my humanity would be lost if my vessel broke, yet I didn’t feel monstrous. It wasn’t so bad, after all—
…Though I can’t really say that with my left arm like this.
My arm was a mess, but this was far better than I’d feared.
Having assessed my condition, I turned my gaze to the Demonic Sword.
She was staring at me with an odd expression. First, her eyes had been on my left arm; now, they were locked onto mine.
Under that intense gaze,
“…”
I instinctively looked away, hiding my face with my hand. Looking at her made it hard to breathe.
Dammit.
I’d suspected it for a while, but the current situation made it impossible to ignore. Her actions up to this point left no room for pretending.
I forced myself to meet her eyes again. That strange, uncomfortable look was still there.
Setting aside my unease, I asked her a question.
“You.”
I spoke to her informally, as I always did. It felt more natural than calling her ‘Vice Captain’.
“…You know who I am, right?”
I finally said it. Ever since she started treating me differently, I’d suspected she knew my true identity. I was never certain, so I’d never brought it up.
“…?”
The Demonic Sword tilted her head, considering my question. Did she not understand? Or…
Does she truly not know?
That was possible. My face was different, and I’d avoided using my signature techniques, making it nearly impossible for her to recognize me.
But there was one issue.
The flame I made with my hand earlier.
She saw it. Could she really be clueless after that?
As my anxiety grew,
“…What… do you mean…?” she replied with a question of her own.
She genuinely seemed not to understand.
Maybe that’s for the best.
It was fortunate if she didn’t know. That would mean I only needed to figure out why she’d been giving me special treatment.
I decided to let it go for now.
Just as I was about to change the subject,
“Never mind… Please forget what I just said, Vice Cap-“
“Gu Yangcheon.”
Pause.
I froze, my words dying in my throat. I stared at her, shocked.
I was sure I’d just heard my name.
“…What?”
“Your name.”
“…”
Her tone was calm, her eyes steady on me. I could only stare back, dumbfounded.
“…No matter what happens…” she continued, her voice as even as ever. “I… will always recognize you.”
“…”
She said it with absolute certainty. I didn’t even stop to wonder how she could be so confident; my heart was already in turmoil.
“…How?”
I couldn’t understand. I never could understand her.
And I didn’t want to admit it.
“You…”
I hated that I’d failed to uncover her true nature in my past life, and that I was only learning it now. I hated realizing how much of her I’d missed.
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but closed it. I repeated this a few times.
My eyes fell on her exhausted face, on the blood seeping from her wounds. Pretending not to notice, I asked something else.
“Then, why aren’t you surprised?”
“…?”
“Isn’t it strange… that there’s another me?”
There was already a Gu Yangcheon in this world. The thought of that bastard angered me, but I had to admit it was me. So why did she accept my true identity so easily?
After a moment, the Demonic Sword looked at me, her beautiful blue pupils unwavering.
“…It’s cool.”
Her response was short and calm, just like her.
“That’s all?”
“Mhm.”
“…”
So she found it ‘cool’, but felt no curiosity about how it was possible?
Huh.
“…It does suit you.”
Absurdly, that kind of response suited her more than anyone. I couldn’t help but smile.
Swish.
Her fingertips touched my cheek again. Unlike before, I didn’t jerk away in shock. I could have blocked her hand, but I didn’t bother.
“…The world you live in… Am I there?”
“You are.”
She seemed to take it for granted that I wasn’t from this world. I didn’t deny it.
“How is she?”
“Pretty similar. Slow like you, and she spaces out a lot.”
A slight frown touched her lips. The sight made my heart feel heavy.
“Yes, your eyes were always like this.”
The Demonic Sword of this life… and the Namgung Bi-ah I knew in my world. They weren’t so different after all.
Then why had I believed them to be worlds apart? No, it wasn’t that I believed it—I had prayed they were different.
As we held each other’s gaze, her frown remained.
“In that world… Do you look at her with the same eyes you have right now?”
“…The same eyes? What kind of eyes are they?”
When I asked, Namgung Bi-ah’s hand slowly left my cheek.
“I’m jealous.”
A faint smile accompanied her words, and a tumult of emotions struck me. It would have been better never to have felt them.
How was I supposed to respond? Several thoughts surfaced, but none found voice. I didn’t dare speak.
I could only watch her in silence.
“…First…”
Remembering her poor condition, I reached out to her. We needed to leave this place. I also had to learn more about the changes to my body. I needed to confirm if I was still human.
Just as I prepared to move with Namgung Bi-ah,
Woong-
“Huh?”
A strange sensation rippled through the air. I turned my head toward the source.
Thud.
A rift began to form behind Namgung Bi-ah.
Craaack-!
It tore through space, creating a crack in the air. I immediately grabbed her and pulled her behind me, scowling at the sudden phenomenon.
It was unmistakably a Gate of Demons. One had appeared without any warning.
Why had it opened now?
Skid-
“…!”
I felt a powerful pull, my feet dragging across the ground. Something was trying to suck me in. I resisted with all my strength. I couldn’t afford to be pulled into an unknown void.
But.
Dammit.
The force was immense. What was this thing?
I didn’t want to use my Qi until I understood it.
I gritted my teeth. With my lower Dantian gone and my Qi now originating from my middle Dantian, I wanted to be cautious. But I had no choice.
Swoosh-!
The Qi in my middle Dantian reacted, vibrating intensely before surging through my blood vessels. I was shocked by its power.
It’s much more than I expected.
It felt vastly stronger than before—as if my original power had been multiplied by a third.
With this…
I was confident I wouldn’t be easily defeated. I could truly claim to be a Fusion Realm martial artist now.
But that’s not important right now.
I had to escape.
Squeeze-!
I infused my feet with Qi, ready to flee with Namgung Bi-ah.
Tap.
Roll-
But then, something fell from the air and rolled to a stop at my feet. What now?
“…!!”
A gasp escaped my lips. Namgung Bi-ah had the same reaction, her grip on my shoulder tightening.
It was a natural response.
The object was a severed head, its face frozen in despair, as if it had been torn away without a fight.
And…
Why is this man…?
I knew that face. It belonged to none other than the Heavenly Venerable—the old man who had killed me, one of the Three Venerables, and Namgung Bi-ah’s grandfather.
My shock lasted only a moment.
“It took me a bit to find him.”
My body turned to stone at the sound of a new, familiar voice. It was a voice I could never forget, one etched deep into my soul.
A pale, slender hand reached toward the Gate of Demons. It was a woman’s hand, but not Namgung Bi-ah’s. It was delicate, almost fragile.
My eyes followed it instinctively.
Her fingertips grasped the edges of the spatial rift as if it were an ordinary door.
Craaack-!
With effortless ease, she closed it. An unimaginable force and gale of wind exploded outward, but it meant nothing to her.
Swish…
Just like that, the crisis was resolved. For her, it was that simple.
She could dispel a mysterious Gate of Demons with trivial ease. Her very existence felt like a cheat against the world.
Creak…
The gate shuddered weakly, not fully sealed. She placed a hand on it, stabilizing it without a tremor. She even seemed amused as she peered inside.
Her hair was a pure, unadulterated black. Her dark robes fluttered in the breeze.
I was speechless.
Finally, the woman’s gaze fell upon me. My heart nearly stopped when our eyes met.
I felt no complex emotion.
Fear.
That was all.
A smile touched her lips as she looked at me. Her violet eyes curved with her eyelids. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling.
Just why…?
Why was she here now?
She tilted her head slightly, her stunning violet eyes shining.
She was the ruler of all Demons, the heaven of the Demonic Cult. An absolute existence whose presence defied fairness.
She had many names and titles, but one was universal.
“Nice to meet you.”
A Demon sent from the heavens.
Heavenly Demon.
“Captain.”
The embodiment of despair was smiling at me.