Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Hazily, Suddenly (1)
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The old man's nails sliced through skin, exposing bone and muscle.
-Ugh.
The tendons snapped, the artery severed, and blood spurted out in a stem-like gush.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Are you alright? 'I'm fine.'
Even as he carved away at my flesh bit by bit with his blade, my body regenerated in an instant.
It was the power of the World Tree of Healing and the potions.
'I'm fine.'
My nerves, sharpened by the old man's power, felt agony like needles piercing my skin just from the brush of my clothes.
'I can endure it.'
Compared to when my mind wandered in delirium, this let me feel truly alive.
The realism of possibly dying if I slipped up.
The pain searing through my entire body even brought a smile to my face.
"You've changed a lot overnight."
The old man, who had been silently watching me, stopped the torture and asked.
"What trick did you use?"
"I had a nightmare."
"Hah, it'd be more believable if the tree said what method it used."
I laughed off the old man's jab.
"Still..."
Looking at me with distrust, the old man flashed a sticky grin of his own.
"I like your eyes."
-Flash.
In an instant, the old man's nails struck precisely at my cornea.
"Enough to want to gouge them out."
"If it heals, go ahead."
"...Did you eat a tiger cub last night or something?"
Pulling back his hand in disgust, the old man nonetheless drove his blade into my thigh without pause.
The pain had been familiar from the start.
I'd simply lacked the motivation to endure it with a laugh before.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Are you really okay? 'It's actually good. Until just now, I was worried this might be a dream and I'd go back... But the pain proves this is reality.'
I shouldn't be happy about it, but I was.
An absurd smile kept bubbling up unbidden.
Watching my face, the old man yanked the blade from my thigh and recoiled in horror.
"Madman. I just wanted to peek at your liver, and you show up completely unhinged. Even the old Beggar Clan dogs weren't this crazy."
"...Isn't that a bit harsh?"
"Enough. Any more would just waste medicine. Eeeny, meeny, miny, moe... I had no intention of taking a disciple who'd abandoned his humanity."
"In my eyes, Heavenly Demon isn't exactly human either."
"Don't talk back."
-Boom!
The old man's fist smashed into the back of my head.
My body pitched forward, forehead slamming into the ground.
"Still, you'll be fun to raise."
"Glad to hear it."
Rubbing the lump bulging on the back of my skull, I stood up.
Maybe from losing too much blood, my head throbbed fiercely.
'I bled like a stuck pig.'
The surroundings were completely splattered in blood.
From skin to vital organs like lungs and liver, it was inevitable.
In one shichen, I'd sustained every external injury imaginable.
"Head down the mountain today. I'll teach you slowly where to start."
"Are you taking me as a disciple?"
"Everything has its order, you rascal. If you don't want to call my daughter master prematurely, shut it."
The old man gathered his used poisoned daggers and stowed them in their sheath.
"If word gets out that I've accepted you, the others will lose their minds and flip out. There's a sparring match coming up soon."
"Sparring?"
"I command the Peach Paradise, but not everyone follows me."
The Peach Paradise was like a miniature murim created by the Peach Tree Family.
A small world of martial artists.
Naturally, other sects existed within the Peach Paradise too.
"You'll have blood on your hands for a while."
"Can't the Heavenly Demon just command them into line?"
"Listen here, kid. Why's your comprehension so lacking? Lately, these punks who aren't even a mouthful are crawling up my back, so I'm planning to have you clean them up for me."
Just dumping the dirty work he doesn't want to do.
I stopped sneering and turned my head.
The dizziness had finally eased.
"You've killed before, right?"
"Yes."
"Good enough. I'll treat you like you know to keep your head down, so from now on, handle it yourself."
"So when do I start learning?"
Frowning at my persistent questions, the old man replied.
"Tomorrow, right away. Don't run off crying it's too hard."
To me, where every moment was precious, it was exactly what I wanted.
*****
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I grumbled while sweeping the courtyard in front of the tiled house.
"So. What is this?"
He'd said starting tomorrow.
But the actual work was just errand boy chores.
One sweep of the broom scattered a riot of colorful peach blossoms.
"Everything has its order, the master said to start with this."
"Any reason to ban magic too?"
"Sorcery makes the body degenerate..."
"What does the Heavenly Demon know about sorcery? He just wants to see me pissed off."
What, does my body retreat like a dragon's if I don't use magic?
Cheondo knelt politely on the veranda, watching me with amusement.
How entertaining it must be—she'd even set down peach tea beside her.
"Tea?"
"Sure."
I propped the broom roughly against the wall and sat beside Cheondo.
A perfectly brewed cup of sweet peach black tea.
Sipping the fragrant brew warmed me inside and out, soothing my chest.
"Thanks."
"No big deal. But... do you have to stick so close?"
Because she was pressed right up against me, our shoulders touched.
Gently stroking her hair with one hand, her brow twitched.
"Nngh. What's with you today?"
"Just... feels anxious if I'm not like this."
"......"
Even if it was just a simple nightmare, sitting still left my heart fluttering uneasily.
"Your hair's messy."
"Then I'll just hold you."
"......Sigh."
Letting out a heavy sigh, Cheondo wordlessly leaned into me.
The light weight of her head settled against my chest.
"Your emotions are showing on your body. Why are you radiating such killing intent?"
Busted.
As expected from the perceptive Cheondo.
Even in my original reality, she'd uncanny guessed the dissonance in my mood.
When I killed the father of the child who became an ent and felt downcast.
She'd noticed first and approached me then too.
"...Because of master?"
"Crazy. Like I'd get mad at that guy. I value my life, you know."
"Good to hear."
No matter how much he'd forcibly whittled my bones, I wasn't mad enough to hold a grudge against him.
If anything, I'd grown more cautious. No intention of letting my mental guard down.
Right now, I was viewing this moment very positively.
"Then why are you so on edge?"
Gently scratching Cheondo's head again, I shrugged.
"...Who knows."
I'd witnessed the death of someone precious firsthand. Spent weeks enduring that loneliness—how could I not be angry?
But Cheondo didn't know the circumstances.
Unable to explain, I brushed it off vaguely.
"I realized I don't have to worry anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly that."
It wasn't a lie.
That was truly all I'd realized there.
Now it was just about how I designed the rest.
"...Until now, weird stuff kept holding me back."
"Sounds like a story I don't know."
"Yeah."
Cheondo fiddled with her teacup and murmured softly.
With each word, I felt the vibration of her vocal cords through my chest.
"Someday I want to know. Now that we're both under the same master."
"You'll find out eventually. Way later, though."
"What's that supposed to mean. Get off, it's hot."
"No."
"Tch."
I slowly imprinted the warmth felt through my palm into my heart.
Like animals remembering each other's scent and touch.
It steadied my scattered mind a bit.
'Won't be here much longer anyway.'
When time passed and we met again, would Cheondo remember me?
Come to think of it, when we first met, my body and looks were completely different.
'No clue. Even if I change the past, the present doesn't, right?'
Here, I had to cherish everything I could.
Even if I missed the many people in reality, I had to endure now.
I continued stroking Cheondo's hair, letting out a hot sigh.
My left hand was still trembling faintly.
*****
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "This is absurd. You've chosen a successor, and now you're saying you'll take another disciple?"
"Yeah."
"You're not young anymore. You should focus on raising that one successor alone."
"Do you think my successor needs coddling like a swaddled infant to grow strong?"
Hong Yeon furrowed her brow fiercely at the old man's words.
"......This isn't the time for wordplay. You're on death's door. Planning to rejuvenate in this day and age?"
Rejuvenation. He wasn't expecting some fictional nonsense.
Nor was he searching for an elixir of immortality like the First Emperor.
The old man blew on the finger he'd been digging in his ear with.
Hong Yeon's brow creased even deeper.
"You foolish girl. Who do you think my successor is? That kid'll do fine without me."
"How can I know without seeing it myself? Didn't you say you wouldn't reveal your successor until death?"
"I chose him as successor because he has that kind of talent. Does my Heavenly Demon's insight look like water to you now?"
Swallowing a curse at the Heavenly Demon's bellow, Hong Yeon held her tongue.
In the Peach Paradise, the Heavenly Demon was a living legend and god.
Even if other sects glared daggers, they had no choice but to crawl before his word.
That might not hold in the old days.
Back in ancient times, in China's vast murim, some might have scoffed at the Heavenly Demon.
But in the modern world, murim barely existed. The age of justice and chivalry had long perished, and now people even questioned if it ever truly existed.
Whereas here, it was a world made by the Heavenly Demon, for the Heavenly Demon.
Yet Hong Yeon had to step forward and shout.
As the cult leader responsible for guiding it after his death.
"...Please focus on raising your successor."
"That guy's practically a successor too."
"What nonsense is this now?"
Making two successors would complicate things.
When their identities were revealed later, if their factions split, war could erupt within the Peach Paradise.
"From the start, hasn't your current successor been growing well? No matter how heaven-defying that latecomer’s talent, can he surpass the current one?"
Even she thought she'd spoken well.
A smile crept onto Hong Yeon's lips.
"Kuhuhu, is that so?"
But the old man, the Heavenly Demon, only wore a bizarre grin.
The senile old coot's smile when playing strange pranks!
Was something going wrong? Hong Yeon shuddered.
"Then how about you spar with him once?"
"P-Pardon?"
"Aren't you the cult leader? You didn't rise just on skill alone, but you can handle the riffraff."
"Th-That's true, but a sudden spar..."
"If you win, I'll reconsider taking that monkey as a disciple."
Not even revoking it, just reconsider.
Hong Yeon clamped her mouth shut in dismay.
Without a firm promise from the Heavenly Demon, sparring gained her nothing.
But as a martial artist, hearing "you're not up to it" pissed her off naturally.
Even in the Heavenly Demon Cult, she couldn't swallow an insult to herself.
"...Let's do it. But if I win, you really need to reconsider taking him as disciple."
Hong Yeon's sharply glaring eyes fired at the old man.
Yet the old man just kept smiling.