Chapter 60 Life-and-Death Judge Gu Jin-gyeong
Heavenly Demon Palace.
It was a massive palace perched at the pinnacle of the Ascension Realm, which split the main headquarters in two.
The Heavenly Demon touched the heavens, and thus resided in the highest place.
The current Heavenly Demon had a particular tendency not to venture out of the palace much. So when she emerged from Punishment Cave, it had caught everyone off guard. No matter how freely one could act, personal inclinations mattered.
She rarely even meddled in matters between the internal families of the cult.
And yet, such a Heavenly Demon had sent a message to me?
"Where is the messenger?"
"He awaits before the main hall."
A typical messenger might be left outside the door, but even for the Sado Family, one could hardly leave the bearer of the Heavenly Demon's words abandoned like that.
"I'll go."
I rose from my seat. Sa Wol melted into the air, vanishing from sight.
In any case, she too was under suspicion for the murder of Sado Gwang alongside me, so she'd been keeping herself hidden lately.
A single man stood before the main hall.
His black bamboo hat was pulled low, obscuring his face, but a long beard dangled gracefully down.
He stood motionless, arms crossed and eyes closed, while all the heavyweights of the Sado Family had poured out to meet him. Among them was the family head, Sado Mu Yeol. He looked plainly terrified to anyone watching.
'No wonder, with this guy showing up in person.'
His distinctive appearance brought the novel's details rushing back.
The Heavenly Demon's secretary and chief steward, overseeing the palace's affairs for three generations.
Cult rank 12, the Life-and-Death Judge Gu Jin-gyeong.
His guiding principle was solely the 'Heavenly Demon's will.' He embodied her will and executed it in her stead.
He had been the same under the previous Heavenly Demon, Do Il Gwang. In truth, he might have been treated like a war criminal for it, but everyone in the cult knew his rigid adherence to principles, so no one blamed him.
For such a stickler for rules to deliver a message to me personally...
'...This is nerve-wracking as hell.'
Cult rank 12 meant he was that strong.
Sa Wol had said it: Not all Super Peak experts were created equal.
She was right.
In the world of Murim Return, martial prowess inflated more and more as the story progressed. Later on, even the errand boy at some roadside inn you wandered into would be Super Peak. To advance the plot, realms beyond Super Peak emerged.
And why mention this? Because Gu Jin-gyeong was one who eventually stepped into those new heights.
'If the Heavenly Demon sees me as a threat...'
I'd die without a trace.
But there was no reason for that.
I drew up the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Raising it to my eyes was too risky—someone at Do Il Gwang's level might recognize it.
Instead, I just clenched my gut, swirling it fiercely in my dantian.
With that, I stood before Gu Jin-gyeong. The cult didn't use clasped-fist salutes like the orthodox sects; a simple bow of the head sufficed.
"I see the Life-and-Death Judge."
"I see the Black Shadow Corps Leader."
Gu Jin-gyeong removed his deeply pulled hat, draping it over one arm, then cut straight to the chase. He felt utterly 'businesslike.'
"His Excellency sends a message to the Black Shadow Corps Leader."
"I shall receive it."
I dropped to one knee right there, prostrating myself.
"Cult rank 23, Black Shadow Corps Leader Sado Hwan—heed the message."
Gu Jin-gyeong drew out a bamboo slip and began reading.
"In nine days, enter the Heavenly Demon Palace. That is all."
He closed the slip.
"I have received it."
All that formality just to say that?
Of course, to me, it was far from 'just' anything.
An invitation to the palace meant the Heavenly Demon had taken an interest in me.
For a fake Super Peak expert with only half the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, her attention was poison. But refusing was out of the question.
Sending the Life-and-Death Judge himself was also a warning: Decline on any pretext, and he'd cut you down on the spot.
"Then, farewell."
As Gu Jin-gyeong turned to leave,
"W-wait a moment!"
Sado Mu Yeol called out to him. Gu Jin-gyeong paused mid-turn.
"What is it, Sado Family Head?"
"D-did His Excellency say nothing else?"
"Nothing else?"
"My son, Gwang, is dead! He was betrothed to His Excellency! How can she not even show her face once? Calling on him when needed and ignoring him when not—"
At that instant.
Thump!
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art's inner energy pulsed like a heartbeat. The surge forced me back a step involuntarily.
Rooooar—!
An absurdly massive aura erupted from Gu Jin-gyeong's body. Even I, unable to properly sense inner energy or natural qi, could see it clearly...
'Simsang!'
The Super Peak master's feat of manifesting fragments of their mental world into reality!
Gu Jin-gyeong's simsang took the form of iron chains.
Like those binding a dragon, enormous chains stretched skyward from his body.
What kind of life had forged such a simsang?
Those directly hit choked and gasped as if suffocating. I'd stepped back just in time to escape the worst of it.
Gu Jin-gyeong, who had eyed my retreat intently, shifted his gaze back to Sado Mu Yeol.
"Consider this a warning, Sado Family Head."
"...!"
"Disrespecting His Excellency is among the gravest sins. Even as head of the Sado Family, you cannot escape it. I trust you won't."
With that, he withdrew his simsang. Deeming further talk pointless, he turned away.
Our eyes met in passing, so I seized the chance.
"Must I enter alone?"
"Not necessarily... Do you mean that one?"
His gaze flicked to a nearby wall, then returned. I hadn't sensed her, but Sa Wol must have been hiding there.
"It matters not."
"Understood."
"Then, until then. I take my leave."
Gu Jin-gyeong departed the Sado Family grounds.
Only then did the tense Sado elites exhale in relief.
"My son... what of my son Gwang?"
Sado Mu Yeol collapsed to the ground, glaring at me with venomous resentment.
'Does he think he's some queen dowager or something?'
From the moment rumors spread that I was gunning for the family head, Sado Mu Yeol had begun crumbling fast.
He was doing so now, too.
In truth, he had a point.
The current Heavenly Demon, Yi Se-ryeong, had been betrothed to Sado Gwang. If her fiancé met a violent end, she should have at least sent a letter or taken some action. But there had been nothing.
Protesting was fair.
But then, he should have confronted Gu Jin-gyeong with dignity, weakling or not. Instead?
Choking under the simsang, now slumped and glaring at me like he might cry.
The cult was a world of strength supremacy.
Looking that weak... he'd get devoured.
Indeed, the family head faction wore anxious faces, while the elders beamed with delight.
Looking back, it seemed ridiculous how intimidated I'd been by one of the Mad Demon Six Families at first.
'Maybe this will wrap up faster than I thought.'
I left them to it and returned to my room.
Once Sado Gwang was properly handled, I'd install a suitable puppet as family head and leave the cult.
As Sa Wol said, my goal wasn't to become head of the Sado Family.
My aim was survival in this mad world—and returning to my original one. For that, I needed to find Cheon Gi-ja, wandering aimlessly across the martial world.
He knew everything, after all.
And hope had dawned.
Back home, I'd had skills far beyond a celebrity, but no 'overwhelming' acting prowess.
Now, I could be confident. If I could just return, my overwhelming acting—honed by real blades at my throat—would crush anyone.
No one else had acted with actual death staring them down.
'That's for later.'
For now, the priority was entering Heavenly Demon Palace and meeting the Heavenly Demon.
Nine days left.
There was no real preparation to be had. You needed a matching level for that. The Heavenly Demon was beyond levels.
Undisputed strongest in this world.
No matter how much I flew or armored myself with plot cheats, I couldn't scratch her.
No bolting if things went south. I couldn't even flee Sa Wol—against the Heavenly Demon? Forget it.
'At least she's a pacifist.'
In typical wuxia, Heavenly Demons were incarnations of destruction, like the previous one, Do Il Gwang. But Murim Return's Heavenly Demon wasn't.
She wouldn't kill you on a whim.
Best prep? Maintain composure. A flinch sending Heavenly Demon Divine Art to my eyes would end me.
'I've got a gift ready, at least...'
Still, wasn't there something better? My eyes fell on Pa Cheon.
"Not leaving yet?"
I muttered aloud to check if Sa Wol was around. She wasn't. Just me.
"Tch... maybe head to Ma Ui Pavilion then."
Ma Ui Pavilion was the cult's hospital, plain and simple.
"They've got all sorts of pills, including ones for mental composure, right? Sedatives would dull my head—no good. Need something that calms without slowing the mind. Only their pills would do. Yeah?"
Talking aloud on purpose in my empty room, but Pa Cheon stayed silent.
With the Heavenly Demon summoning me, some reaction would have been nice.
Though I'd steered everything so far, bouncing ideas off him helped. Eased the anxiety.
Days after Sado Gwang's death, talking and thinking alone was getting stifling.
"How long you gonna stay quiet?"
[......]
"Tch."
Couldn't push harder. The mental shock of nearly slaying his own creator wasn't something to prod lightly.
Maybe the aftershocks of a gaslit childhood and youth were hitting all at once.
Pitiful.
Of course, his silence only spiked the risk.
"Can't exactly injure myself to visit Ma Ui Pavilion either..."
The pavilion master was too prickly; show up demanding pills, and he'd refuse.
There was a place that handed them out freely—similar quality, eternal rivals with Ma Ui Pavilion.
"Guess I'll hit up Dok Ma then?"
[You mad bastard.]
I grinned.