Chapter 7: I Became the Childhood Friend of the Demonic Cult’s Young Leader (2)
Chapter 7: I Became the Childhood Friend of the Demonic Cult’s Young Leader (2)
From that day on.
"You have to eat with chopsticks. Who picks up food with their hands?"
"Un... uncomfortable..."
"Ahem, now. That won't do."
"Nng... mm-mm."
My daily routine now included spending about two hours entertaining Im Hwa-yeong, who came to visit every single day.
"Look, you take turns placing white stones and black stones. The first one to get five in a row wins. It's a game."
"Aha, mm. Mm-mm. Un... understood."
"...No, I said you take turns. Why are you placing three in a row?"
"Heavenly Demon... Heavenly Demon Divine Art..."
"There's no Heavenly Demon Divine Art in Omok!"
To be honest, it felt more like training an animal than playing with a child.
Still, I wanted to give her major bonus points for the fact that she was actually starting to use 'words.'
"Watch closely. You hook the string with your index finger like this, then slide it over! See?"
"Whoa... whoa!"
"This is called Cat's Cradle. There's no better way to train your Seizing and Grappling techniques."
"Mm-mm...!"
By the time three months had passed.
"Hwi, this!"
"Oh... what's the name of this one?"
"The Thread of... the Heavenly Demon's Reincarnation and the Submission of Ten Thousand Demons...!"
"There's no such thing in Cat's—hmm. Fine, then this is the 'I Found a Gap' Thread."
"Why, why did you break it!!"
"Ah! Hey, hey! Don't bite! Don't bite!!"
Just as I realized I could finally engage in somewhat human communication with her, a thought occurred to me.
I had assumed I’d become the fiancé of the Demonic Cult’s Young Leader, but three months had passed without a single word about the marriage proposal progressing.
It seemed that instead of becoming her fiancé, I had simply become her childhood friend.
*
Seo Wi-ryang sat on the veranda of the guest hall, staring blankly at Im Hwa-yeong, lost in deep thought.
Dressed in fine silk clothes, Im Hwa-yeong was looking up at the moon, swinging her legs back and forth.
She looked like any other child her age, with nothing peculiar about her.
But that was exactly what was 'peculiar.'
The Demonic Energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art begins in the Lower Dantian and eventually pollutes the Upper Dantian.
If one fails to suppress the Demonic Energy before the Upper Dantian is cleared, they become a 'Demonic Person' whose brain—the Upper Dantian—is destroyed.
In such a state, driven by the aftermath of the Demonic Energy, they crave only destruction and slaughter, mired in madness every waking moment.
That was the fate decreed for Im Hwa-yeong; she was destined to be 'disposed of' the moment she reached adulthood.
A natural Extreme Demonic Body.
To exploit that powerful constitution, they would keep her barely alive until she grew sufficiently, then extract all three Dantians from her body to be used as ingredients for elixirs.
Her future had been decided the moment she failed to overcome the Demonic Energy.
That was why he pitied her.
That was why he had pushed for the marriage proposal and even considered a connection with the Hebei Peng Family for the sake of the Cult's future, traveling all the way to Beijing himself.
He had persuaded others that joining hands with a family ruled by one of the Three Venerables of the World would bring infinite benefits to the alliance between the Cult and the number one sect of the Black Path...
'What has changed this child?'
The traces of madness in her eyes had grown faint.
She listened carefully to people's words and even attempted to respond to conversations.
Compared to her initial beast-like state, the change was staggering.
And it had happened in just three months.
'Is it the Earth Qi of the Hebei Peng Family?'
Was it the flow of the ley lines, the terrain, or some feng shui influence that was suppressing her Demonic Energy? After considering it, Seo Wi-ryang shook his head.
In terms of feng shui, while the Peng Family estate possessed a grand and vigorous spirit, it could hardly be said to be specialized in suppressing Demonic Energy.
Then, was it a secret elixir of the Peng Family?
No, that wasn't it either. The Hebei Peng Family's Medical Bureau had medicines for external injuries and unique elixirs for external art cultivation, but they weren't the kind of elixirs that could help one withstand Demonic Energy.
If it were that, it would have to be a legendary elixir from a prestigious Taoist sect, like the Taiqing Pill or the Pine-Flower Pill, which could disperse Demonic Energy.
During these three months, Hwa-yeong had only moved between the Purple Tiger Hall and the guest hall...!
The girl's daily routine was monotonous to a fault.
Once the youngest son of the Peng Family, who resided in the Purple Tiger Hall, finished his training, she would slink over there at the appointed time, spend a few hours with him, and then return to sleep.
If she was gradually showing signs of improvement through that process, there was only one conclusion.
'Peng Hyeon-hwi. There is something about that boy.'
Seo Wi-ryang let out a heavy sigh, burdened by worry.
'Then what should I do?'
If—and it was a big if—that boy, Peng Hyeon-hwi, possessed 'something' that could help her overcome the Demonic Energy.
The moment the boy was brought into the Cult as a son-in-law, neither his nor Hwa-yeong's life could be guaranteed.
The Supreme Master's two sons—Hwa-yeong's older brothers—were not weak-willed men who would overlook a newly emerged, 'threatening' rival.
If Hwa-yeong's immense talent were to bloom brilliantly—if even a sprout of it were seen—her brothers would surely try to kill her.
But if he left Hwa-yeong here with this family... then.
'A genius of the ages, who might even surpass the Supreme Master's achievements, will be lost forever.'
The reason Hwa-yeong had to begin her Demonic Arts training before she could even walk was because of her talent.
Her talent was a disaster in itself.
What would have happened if she had mastered the Demonic Arts while retaining her full intellect?
The earlier one completes Demonic Arts, the higher the achievement they guarantee.
Paradoxically, training in Demonic Arts at too young an age is poison, but starting too late makes progress sluggish.
That was why the current Supreme Master was considered the strongest Cult Leader in the history of the Cult.
He had achieved the Extreme Demonic Body and mastered his Demonic Energy at the young age of fifteen, and there had been no one younger than him who had entered the Demonic Arts without losing their sanity.
But Hwa-yeong was only six.
If this child succeeded in fully utilizing her constitution to control her Demonic Energy, would the current Supreme Master still be able to boast of being the 'strongest in history'?
Indeed, was it right to abandon this genius, who might one day carry the future of the Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism, in this distant land of Beijing?
'What must I do?'
As the Discipline Elder of the Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism, he had a duty to take this child back to the Heavenly Mountains and help her complete her transition to the Extreme Demonic Body.
However, as Seo Wi-ryang—as an adult who had watched this child from birth to growth.
As the cultist who had first noticed her talent.
As the martial artist who had spearheaded her entry into the Demonic Arts.
As a powerless man who had been forced to watch her mind be consumed by Demonic Energy and witness her seizures of madness.
At this moment, when the child had finally found a chance at happiness.
What choice should he make?
Lost in these thoughts, Seo Wi-ryang carefully picked up the now-sleeping Im Hwa-yeong and headed toward her bedchamber.
He laid her small body down, pulled up the covers, and gently brushed a stray hair from her cheek.
"What is it that you want?"
"Mm... nng..."
The child was mumbling in her sleep. Her small, soft lips parted slightly.
"Are you happy now?"
"Mm... mm-mm."
After stroking the babbling child's hair, he stepped out of the bedchamber. A small sound drifted from behind him.
"Happy... it's fun..."
At those words, Seo Wi-ryang let out a faint chuckle, closed the door, and sighed.
"Is that so?"
He shook his head with a wry smile.
As he passed the maid who was bowing deeply by the door and walked down the hallway.
The maid, who had been holding her breath, slowly raised her head.
"Lady Hwa-yeong is achieving the Extreme Demonic Body...?"
One of the maids who had served Im Hwa-yeong since they were at the main cult headquarters muttered this to herself, then quietly slipped away.
She dispatched a secret letter to the main cult in the Heavenly Mountains.
*
Two months later, a man arrived at the Peng Family estate.
The man glanced at the high walls of the estate. In the next moment, he entered, wearing the face of one of the Peng Family servants. Once inside the inner hall, he walked with yet another face.
After several such changes, the man melted like a shadow under the eaves of the guest hall in the inner court. A few days later, he vanished.
The man, who had spent a long time observing Im Hwa-yeong during her stay, immediately wrote a coded message on a bamboo slip and sent it off via pigeon.
The letter, which began in the inner hall of the Peng Family, traveled to the Demonic Cult in the distant Heavenly Mountains and then back to the Peng Family. Finally, it arrived at a secret location in Shuntian Prefecture, Beijing, tied to a pigeon's leg.
A Taoist smiled faintly as he read the bamboo slip, then tossed it into the embers to burn.
"So, the Heavenly Demon's youngest daughter is achieving the Extreme Demonic Body."
"What shall we do?"
"The Young Leader of the Demonic Cult has asked so fervently; it would be difficult to ignore his sincerity. Foolish things, throwing away a treasure they already hold in their hands."
The Demonic Cult already had two grown Young Leaders.
He knew they wouldn't want a new rival emerging, but...
It was truly laughable that those who supposedly led a sect would hand over their sect's pillar to foreign powers for their own gain.
"When the current Heavenly Demon dies, the prestige of the Thousand-Year Demonic Cult will die with him. Not a bad outcome at all. Do as they wish."
*
The marriage talks between the Demonic Cult and the Hebei Peng Family were essentially the result of an alliance that had been brewing under the surface for a long time.
There is a saying: Befriend the distant, attack the near.
It is a diplomatic tactic of forming alliances with distant powers to deal with nearby enemies.
As part of that, it wasn't strange for the Peng Family, the ruler of the eastern Central Plains, and the Demonic Cult, the ruler of the western Central Plains, to try and join hands.
The strongest alliance is always a marriage alliance through relatives. Since neither side could fully trust the other yet, they wouldn't send their primary heirs.
Instead, it was proposed because the youngest of each direct line—Peng Hyeon-hwi and Im Hwa-yeong—happened to be the same age. The fruits of that proposal were now within reach.
Naturally, not only the Demonic Cult but also the Peng Family was watching these marriage talks closely.
"These are traces of the Tiger-Mountain Step."
Late at night, at the training ground of the Purple Tiger Hall.
"And this... is a trace of Demonic Energy."
"He blocked it here with the Heart-Protecting Fist. The shockwave left scratches on the flagstones. And this... must be the stomp of the Iron-Smashing Hammer."
"So, he used the Iron-Smashing Hammer to block a strike infused with Demonic Energy?"
"Match the footsteps. Considering the Fourth Young Master's height, he retreated two and a half inches here... and we must assume he advanced seven steps."
Two elders of the Peng Family were exchanging opinions while looking down at the battle scars covering the training ground.
The two spent a long time reading the traces, retracing the flow of the combat that had taken place.
Soon, they reached the same conclusion and turned around.
"Peng Jeon-gun. What do you think?"
The man was the youngest to ever earn the title of elder in the Hebei Peng Family.
He was the elder whom Family Head Peng Ik-jin trusted most, having retired to a life of leisure after serving as the martial arts instructor for the First and Second Young Masters.
"Hwi... is it true that boy has only been learning for a year? Could he have... that is, could he have learned the Heart-Protecting Fist and the Tiger-Mountain Step before he even began the Hunyuan Art?"
"That's impossible. The Young Family Head himself was the one who taught him the Heart-Protecting Fist and the Tiger-Mountain Step after he became familiar with the mnemonics of the Hunyuan Art."
"Hmm... then..."
Peng Jeon-gun quickly scanned the traces on the training ground once more.
For the past few months, the Heavenly Demon's youngest daughter and Peng Hyeon-hwi had been meeting almost every day to exchange blows in 'sparring.'
It wasn't a bad thing.
Fostering a close relationship between the two children was something to be encouraged. These traces of intense sparring, disguised as playing house, paradoxically showed that the bond between the two was deepening.
But Peng Jeon-gun saw something else.
Something the other elders here wouldn't have seen.
Something those who had never taught a young direct descendant wouldn't notice.
'The Heavenly Demon's youngest daughter... that child has Demonic Energy.'
The Hebei Peng Family was also aware of Im Hwa-yeong's Demonic Energy.
They had noticed that, no matter how young and inexperienced she was, she had mastered a fragment of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The Demonic Energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a power far too great for a direct descendant child who had barely learned the forms without a single shred of enlightenment to handle, no matter how powerful the Hebei Peng Family's martial arts were.
And she had projected that power here with full force.
So powerfully that traces of the Demonic Art remained on the flagstones.
'And he blocked it.'
Right in front of it, he could see the traces where the force of the Heart-Protecting Fist had scattered and scraped the stones.
A kid who had just started the Hunyuan Art. Six or seven years old.
Even if his achievement was so meager he couldn't even be called third-rate... even so.
'His response to the offensive and his judgment!'
'The timing of triggering the Iron-Smashing Hammer and the application of his martial arts.'
The stomp powerful enough to crack the flagstones, and the torrent of force blocked through that stomp.
Even the chaotic traces on the flagstones where the two children's faint footprints remained.
To Peng Jeon-gun, who had taught direct descendants for many years, every single action of these children was as clear as if he were seeing it happen.
As he retraced the 'sparring' the two must have had this afternoon...
No, as he thought back on the friendly matches these two brats must have shared over the past few months.
"A genius... indeed."
He couldn't help but say those words.
Seven years old, only a year after starting the Hunyuan Art.
At this stage, it would be normal to trip after a few steps of the Tiger-Mountain Step, and the Iron-Smashing Hammer should only be practiced against a stationary log.
Yet, the form of the Iron-Smashing Hammer he had fired with precise force toward a randomly moving target...
The footprints of the Tiger-Mountain Step, which seemed to have moved in response to reading the opponent's attack with his own eyes...
And the forms of the Heart-Protecting Fist that must have perfectly filled the gaps in between.
Considering all of this, his judgment and application already far exceeded the level of a seven-year-old.
"I'd like to try teaching him."
He found himself muttering words he hadn't even said when he was teaching the First Young Master.
"Ha, a genius..."
A deep curve formed on his dry lips.
*
"Achoo!"
"Oh dear, Young Master. I told you to use an umbrella when it's raining."
"I'm sick and tired of umbrellas, Nang-nang."
Damn Ming Dynasty. One of the reasons I grew to hate this era was the umbrella.
I have a very valid defense for this.
Generally, time travelers have certain things they must do depending on the period.
As I've reflected before, it's the same logic as investing in Bitcoin in the 2010s or Google in the 2000s.
If you're born in the Middle Ages, you're supposed to try and change history or advance technology using your brilliant modern knowledge and superior technical skills.
For example, statistically, there's a nearly 90% chance that a 'medieval transmigrator' will make soap.
Now, does anyone actually know how soap is made?
If you roughly know that you mix used cooking oil with soda or something, you're in the top 10%.
I only barely remembered that much myself.
Then, does anyone know how to get caustic soda in the Middle Ages?
I can't even imagine.
What even is soda? The only soda I know is the carbonated kind.
Even if I did know, two more problems arise.
First: The Ming Dynasty already has soap.
I don't know how they make it, but they have it.
They even have soap mixed with incense.
Soap for washing is expensive, but it's not rare.
It's even easier to find in Beijing.
Second: A direct descendant of a prestigious martial family can't spend his time fussing over oil and lye like he's in a home economics class.
Not only kitchen work, but any technical job like that is classified as extremely lowly under the strict 'Scholarly Hierarchy' of Scholar, Farmer, Artisan, and Merchant.
Soap production is industry, and soap sales are commerce.
I'd be taking a firm position as an untouchable in the Ming Dynasty caste system.
And doing that in the Hebei Peng Family, of all places?
Instead of being called a genius, I'd be told the family was doomed, and I'd likely get my shins broken.
—Shhhhhhh...
Back to the point: umbrellas.
I thought medieval people just walked around in straw capes when it rained.
In the 15th-century Ming Dynasty, most modern goods already exist in some form.
Umbrellas, soap, metal type, even basic steam engines exist.
The idea of doing something with the steam from boiling water isn't inherently revolutionary.
Even the ancient Greeks knew that much.
Of course, since metallurgy wasn't advanced enough for steam engines to be used as industrial components, they mostly ended up as toys.
Naturally, I don't have that metallurgy knowledge either.
I told you, I was a liberal arts major. A tragic humanities student who got isekai'd right after graduating college.
I know how to use a computer, but I don't know how to manufacture a CPU. Semiconductors?
Haha, you should ask if I even know how electricity is made first.
Is there a way to produce electricity other than lightning?
Penicillin? Blue mold? You mean that blue stuff that grows on tangerine peels?
I've never seen blue mold other than that.
Chemical fertilizer? Just hearing the words 'chemical' (industry) and 'fertilizer' (agriculture) mixed together makes me hear the ghost of Zhu Xi in my soul scolding me.
The Confucian caste system—Scholar, Farmer, Artisan, Merchant—is an actual 'living law' written proudly in the Great Ming Code.
This is the science of a liberal arts major.
If God had any sense, He should never have sent a liberal arts student to the Middle Ages.
"Achoo!!"
"You might have caught a cold. Shall I bring some medicine from the Medical Bureau?"
"Forget it. Medicine for what? If a Young Master of the Peng Family takes medicine for a summer cold, he'll lose all face."
I grumbled and waved Nang-nang away.
Besides, the reason my body was shivering like this was just unfair.
"That's why I told you not to play outside when it's raining."
"Hwa-yeong kept insisting we play at the training ground. What was I supposed to do?"
"To me, that didn't look like a 'game' like tag..."
"I don't know. I guess that's how they play in the Demonic Cult."
I had just finished a game of tag that was basically a rough brawl bordering on a real duel (if you're caught, you die) under the pouring summer rain, so of course I had a cold.
I tried to suppress the sneezes that kept coming and opened my book.
As expected, this peaceful time of reading scriptures while listening to the sound of rain is what I treasure most.
This feeling that puts my mind at ease. Watch over me, Confucius. Mencius. Master Zhu Xi. I'll be the one delivering the Confucian punches.
"P-achoo!!"
Anyway, it seemed like someone was talking behind my back.