Everyday Life in the Demonic Cult
Deep in the foothills of the Ten Thousand Mountains.
This was once a dreaded place, known as Blood Spring because countless demonic cultists had died drinking from the poisonous spring that seeped up from the ground, their blood staining the earth a lurid red.
Now, that terrible name was nothing more than an artifact of the past.
In a pool of clear hot spring water, steam rising in soft curls, a girl was soaking with a lazy hum on her lips.
"Hmm-hmm~ hm. Hmm~"
Heavenly Demon Dokgo Ryeon.
Her red hair drifted across the surface of the water, and her pale shoulders, lit by moonlight, gleamed softly.
Her exquisite figure, half-lounging in the spring, was like something out of a peach-blossom dream.
"Good. It really does help the skin."
Dokgo Ryeon lifted one smooth arm and held it up to the moonlight, smiling with satisfaction.
Three months earlier, she had followed the advice her teacher had given her.
Match the mind to the body.
She had obediently taken those words to heart and, for the next hundred days, sought out women from orthodox sects who had lived ordinary lives, pestering them with questions about girlish habits, ways of thinking, and the proper manner of speech.
All she had done was change a few trivial habits.
And yet, astonishingly, the vast internal power that had once raged beyond her control had become something she could wield as freely as though it were resting in the palm of her hand.
No one had guessed that the reason was simply because time had passed and the power had stabilized on its own.
As the years went by and her aura changed day by day, even the guardians who had once doubted her had long since lost the courage to voice another word.
"How foolish. My teacher's words are absolute."
Dokgo Ryeon leaned back against a rock and opened a book.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
She traced the verse written within with her eyes.
Those who command darkness must beware of falling into it.
Though it spoke of demonhood, one must never be consumed by it.
One had to accept it, yet keep one's distance.
Only by viewing it objectively could one truly rule it.
What a magnificent teaching.
Dokgo Ryeon happily submerged her head in the hot spring water and blew bubbles through her mouth.
Blub-blub.
For some reason, the sound of the bubbles rising to the surface felt adorable.
This is nice. Very girlish.
Playing in the water while soaking in a hot spring.
She added another item to her training schedule.
That was when it happened.
At the disturbance that shattered the peaceful moment, Dokgo Ryeon's brow furrowed slightly.
"...You dare interrupt me."
She rose and turned her head, and a man emerged from the darkness to prostrate himself on the ground.
It was Taesajeong, one of the two great pillars of the Demonic Cult.
"At your command! I greet you, Heavenly Demon!"
"...Did I not say not to disturb me when I am enjoying my hot spring bath?"
"It is only that this matter is urgent..."
"Speak."
Her voice was crisp and almost petulant.
Seeing her like that, Taesajeong could only lament inwardly.
This isn't the Heavenly Demon.
He had spent years shedding blood and effort to stand at her side, captivated by the overwhelming figure who had once butchered her enemies mercilessly in the great war between righteousness and evil.
And yet the Heavenly Demon before him now was nothing more than a lovely girl.
Still, he did not dare reveal those thoughts. Keeping his forehead pressed to the ground, he delivered the report he had prepared.
"That man... the 'teacher' has arrived in Seoan."
The instant the words left his mouth, the warm, peaceful air of the hot spring turned ice-cold.
Dokgo Ryeon's brows drew up sharply.
"And why is that urgent? Do you want to die?"
As she casually reached out, an invisible hand of inner power seized Taesajeong by the throat.
Even while still immersed in the spring, she lifted the huge man into the air.
It was a miraculous display of control, proof beyond doubt that she was the Heavenly Demon.
"You ruined my mood by interrupting my bath. Don't you know stress is bad for the skin?"
Then maybe don't get angry!
Taesajeong screamed inwardly, but the pressure of her aura crushed his voice into nothing more than strangled groans.
Just as the suffocating force threatened to send his mind reeling, a voice of salvation reached him.
"Heavenly Demon, anger is not good for the skin either."
At the entrance to the hot spring, Soahopbeop Samacheon had somehow appeared, calm as ever.
Dokgo Ryeon released the force holding Taesajeong.
He dropped from the air, rolled across the floor a few times, and hurriedly straightened himself before prostrating again.
"...Do you actually know anything about skin?"
"I have two daughters under my care, and just recently I was blessed with a granddaughter. I think I may know a little more than the Heavenly Demon, who has spent her whole life as a solitary martial artist."
"...You've gotten awfully cheeky, haven't you?"
"That remark isn't very feminine."
"Y-you—!"
At Samacheon's deliberately teasing tone, Dokgo Ryeon's shoulders began to tremble.
Taesajeong, still with his forehead pressed to the floor, was horrified inwardly.
T-that crazy bastard of a left guardian. He's got a death wish.
But astonishingly, Dokgo Ryeon seemed to swallow her anger after a moment, then sprang up and headed outside.
"Aren't you going to enjoy the bath any longer?"
"You've ruined the mood! At this rate, it'll be less effective anyway."
As she walked, Dokgo Ryeon abruptly stopped, glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest and below her waist.
"Don't look! ...How about now? Isn't this a little more feminine?"
"I'd give it three points. If you'd screamed and ordered us out, it would have been ten."
"Tch!"
Defeated in the argument, Dokgo Ryeon stamped her foot and started walking again.
Then, as though something had just occurred to her, she whirled around.
Her eyes glinted coldly.
"Why are you tracking the teacher's movements?"
A suffocating wave of aura shot toward Taesajeong, who was still lying prostrate.
He could do nothing but tremble all over like a leaf in the wind.
"Answer."
"Th-that is... since he is someone the Heavenly Demon cares about, I thought I might help even a little..."
"How foolish!"
The burst of qi that followed her anger shook the hot spring itself.
A massive column of water surged upward, then collapsed helplessly, leaving half the pool emptied in an instant.
"As if the teacher wouldn't notice such a clumsy tail. And if he takes offense, who will bear that anger?"
"Ghh... I-I am sorry."
This time she did not even reach out.
Merely the aura spilling from her body was enough to flatten Taesajeong's enormous frame against the ground.
To think the Heavenly Demon has become this powerful.
Even under threat of death, he felt a thrill of joy.
As long as he could witness her achievements, anything was worthwhile.
But the pressure lifted almost at once.
"My bond with him is not something that needs to be clutched so tightly. If one follows the will of heaven, there will be no obstacle."
Dokgo Ryeon looked down at him for a moment.
"Still, if it's him, I doubt he'd be angry over that sort of surveillance. So I will forgive you as well. From now on, do not monitor the teacher."
"What a very girlish whim."
Samacheon couldn't resist adding a final barb to the Heavenly Demon's mercy.
At that insolent remark, Dokgo Ryeon's expression twisted.
Before her anger could burst out, Samacheon moved first.
"Isn't this the role the Heavenly Demon asked of me?"
"You... are sometimes too much."
It was, after all, an order she herself had given.
She had told the man who had always served closest to her that he should treat her as though she were his granddaughter.
She simply hadn't expected him to carry it out this perfectly.
Dokgo Ryeon glared coldly at Samacheon, but he met her gaze with complete composure.
"Would you like to put some clothes on? There are two healthy men here."
"There are no men in my life."
"One point. Shamelessness is not a girl's virtue."
"Ughhh! Get lost, all of you!"
Dokgo Ryeon's face turned red and then purple at Samacheon's assessment, and she stamped her feet furiously.
Burning with aimless rage, she ended up covering her face with both hands and fleeing in a panic.
Samacheon's bright voice rang out after her retreating figure.
"That was ten points for the action!"
"Shut up, you old fossil! Go die outside!"
Only after Dokgo Ryeon had vanished completely did Taesajeong, who had been sprawled on the ground, finally get to his feet.
"You... really do have nerve."
"I'm frightened too. I'm only doing it because it's the role the Heavenly Demon ordered of me. Are you all right?"
Despite his words, Samacheon's expression looked amused.
"Left guardian. As you heard, I was just ordered to die according to your 'at your command' business. Might you let it slide?"
"...You've changed a great deal too."
Samacheon and Taesajeong were the two who had remained by the Heavenly Demon's side the longest in the current Demonic Cult.
While Taesajeong had survived by filling his mistakes with unshakable stubbornness and ferocious martial skill, Samacheon had always been the mind that upheld the Demonic Cult, calmly adjusting every situation with flexible thought from the Heavenly Demon's side.
"I've grown old myself, you know. Once the Heavenly Demon entered seclusion and I had to actually run the cult, I realized it wasn't a simple matter."
Though it was called a demonic cult, it had long ago lost any true religious character and become a faction ruled by strength.
In a place like this, where only the logic of power reigned, the order was unstable and could collapse at any moment under rebellion. The only thing holding it all together was the absolute presence of the Heavenly Demon.
Over the past fifteen years, Samacheon had felt that truth in his bones as he effectively led the Demonic Cult.
Because of her alone, the cult's order held.
Because of her, the cult was not looked down upon.
Because of her, the cult could exist at all.
She was not merely the leader.
She was the Demonic Cult itself.
In this group that could no longer really be called a religion, the last remaining trace of religiosity was her existence, Dokgo Ryeon herself.
"And yet for such a Heavenly Demon to appear in that form, become a girl, and say she wants that... the world is full of things one can't predict."
"That I can certainly agree with."
At Taesajeong's words of agreement, Samacheon let out a bitter smile.
If someone had prophesied fifteen years ago that the Heavenly Demon, after completing her secluded training, would one day speak words like Old fossil, go die outside, what would have become of the fool who dared to say such a thing?
Whether he knew it or not, that person would not have died pleasantly.
Forget anyone else—Samacheon himself would probably have torn the man's limbs off one by one and thrown them to the beasts.
"Her revenge ended long ago. Now, can't we let her do as she pleases?"
"Well now. It really does feel like sending off a daughter."
Decades had passed since the great war between righteousness and evil ended.
By now, only the old orthodox fools still rejected the Demonic Cult.
Among the younger generation, a new perception had begun to spread: the Demonic Cult was a group that pursued power for the abandoned and the cast aside.
That shift had probably been influenced by a certain book that had become popular a few years earlier.
But Samacheon believed it was all thanks to the existence of the overwhelmingly strong Heavenly Demon.
Because she was an untainted being who cared for nothing but martial arts, such a change was possible.
The absolute powerhouse who had become a girl.
The one existence to whom she now gave her heart: the teacher.
Perhaps watching over and blessing the path she walked was the final duty left to the two aging guardians.
"Still, what I regret is that we can't walk that path alongside her."
If she truly abandoned the Demonic Cult and left in search of happiness, could they really bless her so easily?
But soon he realized such thoughts were meaningless.
She had grown stronger still.
Even as a girl, she was still the Heavenly Demon.
Even if she left the cult to seek happiness, she would remain the Heavenly Demon.
Until the day she died, no one would dare take her place.
Whatever the path of the Heavenly Demon might be, it was the right path.
That was the one truth Samacheon had learned when he entered the Demonic Cult.
The direction did not matter.
He wore a faint smile as he recalled the strange, bittersweet feeling of seeing his daughter off when she married for the first time.
"By the way, were you really not bothered by it?"
"Hm?"
Taesajeong asked an abrupt question.
"I mean the Heavenly Demon. Isn't her figure absolutely outrageous?"
"...Blasphemy."
It seemed the two of them could not quite be of one mind after all.