Dan Se-ryeong
The regression succeeded.
The moment the ritual was completed, a flash of light snuffed out my consciousness. When I came to, I was back twenty years in the past — twenty years old again.
The fact that something this absurd had actually worked left me speechless, but I didn't waste any time. I headed straight for Shandong and killed that son of a bitch who would become the Blood Cult Leader in the future.
That bastard — whose name wasn't even worth remembering — had originally been a two-bit cult leader in the Shandong region, making a living fleecing gullible people. Then one day he got his hands on a Shang Dynasty black art that turned humans into monsters through human sacrifice, and he hatched this asinine ambition to conquer the world.
He offered up tens of thousands of his own followers as sacrifices, transformed into a massive, hideous monster, and founded a new religion called the Blood Cult. Then he lured the countless villains overflowing throughout the land with promises of overwhelming power and eternal life, drew them into the Blood Cult, and raised a rebellion to seize the world.
In the hell those Blood Cult vermin created, a truly staggering number of people died horribly. That will never happen now.
The thought filled me with satisfaction — and at the same time, I felt a little uneasy that I'd let that bastard die too easily. I'd slathered a kitchen knife with the King of All Poisons, a toxin said to be dozens of times more agonizing than the pain of being burned alive, and carved him up slice by painstaking slice. But the version of him in this era didn't have much meat on his bones, and his vitality was pathetic. He kicked it in just five days.
That's on me. I should have prepared a more thorough torture, remembering how that same bastard had refused to die no matter what I did to him before the regression. But regret doesn't change anything. The dead stay dead. I decided to stop thinking about him and get on with what I needed to do.
And now I was in the Tianshan Mountains — better known as the Ten Thousand Demon Mountains, infamous as the stronghold of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Somewhere deep in the Tianshan Mountains, magnificent halls that wouldn't have looked out of place in an imperial palace were crumbling with age. This had once been the estate of the Dan clan, who had hereditarily held the position of Cult Leader — a place called Heavenly Demon Palace.
Dan Jung-hyeok, the thirty-seventh Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, had been an ambitious man. By the time he took the throne, most of the Cult's power had already passed to the Council of Elders, a deliberative body of the Cult's core masters excluding the Cult Leader himself.
That was only natural. The Heavenly Demon Cult had originally been a religion founded by those who gathered to revere the absolute martial prowess of the First Heavenly Demon. His descendants had inherited the position of Cult Leader generation after generation, but none among them had ever been as strong as the First. Naturally, their authority was a pale shadow of his.
Even so, as the family that carried on the Heavenly Demon's martial arts, they had periodically produced the strongest under heaven in their respective eras, striking terror into the martial world. But by Dan Jung-hyeok's generation, even that was a thing of the past. Over several preceding generations, men of insufficient talent had become Cult Leader, and the lineage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's major techniques had been severed.
Of course, even a rotting Heavenly Demon Divine Art was still the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Dan Jung-hyeok was the strongest master in the Cult — but he was only slightly better than a single Elder. And yet, despite that, he wanted to enjoy the absolute power of the Cult Leaders of old. A man whose ambition far outstripped his ability. What happened next was obvious.
Dan Jung-hyeok tried every underhanded scheme he could think of to bring down the Council of Elders. All of them failed. In the end, the Council rose in rebellion, and the Dan clan was destroyed. The Council of Elders then tore itself apart in a power struggle over the vacant throne, and the Heavenly Demon Cult splintered into numerous factions. It degenerated into a loose alliance called the Demonic Path Alliance, only pooling its strength when it needed to go to war with other powers.
But the bloodline of the Dan clan had not been completely extinguished. Just before Heavenly Demon Palace fell, Dan Jung-hyeok stuffed one of his children — the daughter with the greatest martial talent — into the First Heavenly Demon's secret grotto.
It was said that the First Heavenly Demon's true teachings and insights slumbered within. Countless people had entered that grotto seeking them, and not a single one had ever returned. Dan Jung-hyeok couldn't have expected a daughter who was barely ten years old to come back alive from a place that had swallowed even formidable masters without a trace. It was nothing more than a last, desperate flail.
But that girl, whose talent rivaled the First Heavenly Demon himself, passed the grotto's trials and claimed the true Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Then, after ten years of closed-door training inside the grotto, she emerged into the martial world. With overwhelming martial arts, she shook the heavens and conquered the Demonic Path Alliance. She ascended as the thirty-eighth Cult Leader and proclaimed the revival of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
She was Dan Se-ryeong, the Shattering Heaven Mysterious Maiden.
And today was the day Se-ryeong would come out of the grotto.
I descended into the underground of the hall that had once been the Cult Leader's audience chamber, at the heart of the ruins. Night-luminescent pearls were densely set into the underground ceiling, so it wasn't particularly dark. I wondered why the Council of Elders hadn't pried those expensive things out. Too uneasy about touching the First Heavenly Demon's legacy, maybe?
On one wall of the underground chamber stood a massive door that looked at least five times my height. With a faintly fluttering heart, I walked up and stood before it. Say what you will — this was the woman I would marry in the future. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Just in case, I ran a hand through my hair one more time and carefully checked that my clothes weren't wrinkled anywhere.
About an hour later—
Grrrrumble—!
The door opened with a heavy, rumbling vibration. And from within walked a young beauty, wearing a palace robe of black silk embroidered with lavish golden thread, a single sword at her waist.
Elegant black hair. Golden eyes that lent her an air of nobility. A face so beautiful that only a fairy from a snow-blossom tale could rival it. She looked exactly as I remembered. Except her eyes were rounder, more innocent than before the regression... she was ridiculously cute.
Then Se-ryeong spotted me.
"Oh? I did not expect a guest to be waiting. Who are you? Seeing as you fail to show this lady proper respect, you cannot be of Heavenly Demon Palace. Did the Council of Elders send you?"
The way she planted one hand on her hip and forced intensity into her eyes, trying to look imposing — compared to before the regression, it was almost painfully clumsy. Of course, I was the only one who could tell. To anyone who didn't know her, she'd look like an absolute master radiating terrifying killing intent.
Anyway, that clumsy act was so insanely cute I wanted to bite her cheek. Tsk. But I need to keep my expression under control right now.
"I have nothing to do with the remnants of the Heavenly Demon Cult. My purpose is one thing and one thing only: you, Dan Se-ryeong — the woman who inherited the First Heavenly Demon's true teachings."
"No demonic energy can be felt from you, so you are clearly not a follower of this cult. And yet you predicted that this lady would obtain the First's true teachings and return? The Council of Elders — even the father who shoved this lady in there — must have assumed she was dead... Truly a bizarre affair."
Interest sparkled in Se-ryeong's eyes.
"You... you are an interesting one, in more ways than one. Are you some kind of fortune-teller?"
"Curious about who I am?"
"Yes. Extremely so. Under ordinary circumstances, this lady would have shattered the knees of a man who dares hold his head so high in her presence, and only then asked. But this lady is in an excellent mood, so she shall let it pass. Produce some amusing banter that entertains this lady, and your life shall be spared as well."
At that, I shot Se-ryeong the most contemptuous smirk I could manage.
"A girl who still smells of milk, putting on airs. If you're that curious, ask with that Heavenly Demon Divine Art you're so proud of. But you'd better be prepared. Lose, and I'll take everything from you."
No Heavenly Demon would let a provocation aimed at the Heavenly Demon Divine Art slide. Twenty-year-old Se-ryeong, overflowing with self-awareness as the Heavenly Demon, would take the bait immediately.
Just as I expected, Se-ryeong bared her teeth like a snarling beast.
"I see now. You are simply a madman who wants to die. Very well. This lady shall grant your wish."
We moved to the wide courtyard in front of the Cult Leader's hall. In the past, this had been where the Cult's martial artists demonstrated their arts before the Cult Leader, so it was broader than the training grounds of most major sects, the floor paved with well-dressed stone.
Standing across from me on the training ground, Se-ryeong spoke in a tone of surprise.
"Don't tell me you came alone?"
She must have assumed that the moment she stepped outside, countless masters would be lying in ambush to attack her.
"Of course I came alone."
"Don't tell me the name of the Heavenly Demon became a joke while this lady was in seclusion?"
"Hardly. The Heavenly Demon is still the terror that chills the blood of every martial artist under heaven."
"Hmph. I'll grant you have nerve, at least."
Having found me interesting again, she started tossing questions at me.
"This lady shall be magnanimous. After she kills you, she will bury you in a sunny spot and raise a tombstone."
"I'm honored."
"A few words will be needed for the epitaph, so answer. What is your name?"
"Jeok Mu-hwi."
"Your age?"
"Same as yours."
"Hm? How do you know this lady's age?"
"I know a great deal about you. In some respects, I know you better than you know yourself."
"Oh? So you investigated this lady thoroughly."
Well, I did investigate her thoroughly. Just not in the way she was thinking.
"Your presence is considerable. You must have a title, at least?"
A title? A title... The alias attached to me in this era was probably...
"Muwon Assassin."
"Assassin? You're a killer-for-hire?"
"The martial arts I use resemble an assassin's, that's all. I'm not an assassin. I don't work for anyone. I only kill the ones I want to kill."
"To challenge the Heavenly Demon Divine Art head-on while using an assassin's arts... the more I look at you, the stranger you are."
As she tilted her head cutely, I drew my sword.
"That's enough small talk."
She smiled faintly.
"You don't intend to leave last words? Well, fine."
Her entire demeanor shifted.
"In exchange for not hearing your last words, this lady shall kill you without pain."