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127
"Kyaaaah!!"
The person being abducted by the Ice-Colored Demon Ui Sa-baek—Dokgo Yeon—screamed toward the sky.
"It's so wonderful!!"
A scream of pure delight. Relishing the sensation of racing through the heavens, she nestled in my arms and let the night we had been gazing at wash over her skin.
"You truly are stronger than my father!!"
"I revealed that I am a lust demon, but would I still lie? I am mightier than your father."
It was the truth. I had only lost once this time while playing the role of the Ice-Colored Demon, who was 'stabbed but abducted the daughter for revenge.'
If I used my full power while bracing for the severe backlash, I could defeat even the Murim Alliance Leader or the Heavenly Demon. It was just that the backlash was something I would rather die than endure.
"Heh-heh, so does that make you the best under heaven, doctor?"
"Well, that you still call me healer even after I revealed I am a lust demon..."
"I thought I should have my own title for you as well."
Dokgo Yeon, her violet eyes glinting in the starlight, winked and raised several fingers.
"Sis Hee calls you Lord, and Sis Shia—though she rarely says it—calls you Bi-cheon, right? So I feel like I need one too."
"It is good to create your own form of address. But will you still call me healer in front of others later? When the Ice Demon has abducted you?"
"Mm... then would you prefer Gaga?"
Thump.
My heart plummeted. For an instant, the footwork technique maintaining my Void Step nearly collapsed along with it, and we almost plummeted far below, toward the city of Xuchang.
"Bung Gaga?"
"Do not do that."
"Why not?"
"Strictly speaking, I am not your Gaga."
The sound aside, I am not Dokgo Yeon's 'Gaga.'
"You and I are peers."
"......What?"
Dokgo Yeon was horrified. The expression of the former Celestial Maiden nestled in my arms stiffened.
"It doesn't seem like a joke..."
"There are those who reach the Peak Realm at twenty, so there could be someone stronger than the Murim Alliance Leader at twenty. Unless there were ten such fellows in the entire Central Plains Murim, there could easily be at least one like me, couldn't there?"
"But your manner of speech is..."
"What about my manner of speech?"
It didn't seem much different from the young men of the Murim these days, so why was she claiming my speech showed signs of age?
"So you want me to speak like some street thug?"
"Ah... I think your current voice has a nice resonance, though..."
"Hmph. I won't do it even if it kills me."
I'm not sure about my physical age, but how old is my mental age turning this year?
I might act like a twenty-something young man to hide my identity, but I won't regress my mental age just to seduce a woman.
"There is only one moment when I act like a child."
"When you bury your face in Sis Hee's chest and Sis Shia's rear?"
Waaah.
'Honestly, Sagong Hee's chest and Lee Si-a's rear are unavoidable.'
Even if King Yama judged me for the crime of mental age fraud, the sight of Sagong Hee and Lee Si-a would secure an acquittal.
"That is an act of God."
"Is that so... I am at a disadvantage in many ways."
"What is?"
"Your martial arts are mighty, but I fall far behind the two of them. I still cannot embrace all of you, doctor."
Dokgo Yeon puffed her cheeks out, showing her displeasure.
"I will definitely take revenge on the person who inflicted this poison on me. For my lost potential."
After the play in the flower garden, Dokgo Yeon had heard the details of her illness. She was genuinely indignant that her physical growth had been impaired by the Celestial Maiden transformation.
- So, I could have grown as big as Sis Hee, but the illness prevented it?!
- Perhaps not as much as Gyeon-hui, but the potential to rival her was likely there.
The Young Heavenly Demon was also indignant at this news. Again today, the Eldest Prince's karmic debt grew by one more.
"As for me, if I meet the person who gave me this illness, first, with the Dugu Nine Swords..."
After conversing thus while walking through the night sky, I was finally able to reach the Soul-Bewildering Talisman Nine Palaces Formation I had set up beforehand.
"It's gradually coming into view. I shall land now."
"You're laaaaate!!"
A shout came from below. I landed carefully so as not to jostle Dokgo Yeon, who was in my arms.
"You said you'd be right back—why are you so late?! The two of you didn't roll around in the flower bed again, did you?!"
"No. We were just late seeing the stars because the night sky was pretty. I apologize."
At Dokgo Yeon's earnest apology, Lee Si-a couldn't bring herself to stay angry.
"H-hmph! Good, as long as you know!"
Because if it came to a fight, Dokgo Yeon would win. The Young Heavenly Demon does not fight losing battles.
"Alright, let's see the cooking skills that will substitute for my Bi-cheon's! Hmph, you claim to be so good at kitchen work?!"
"Well, about that..."
Dokgo Yeon rolled up her sleeves and pointed to the kitchen. I took her hand and guided her into the repaired kitchen.
Fwoosh.
"This is the Zhongli Divine Fire Well. The flames surge without adding firewood. Turning this sphere here counterclockwise lets you control the heat."
"Wow, it must be convenient for low heat?"
"...Sniff."
Suddenly, tears welled in my eyes. Knowing the concept of low heat in cooking is the most basic of basics, but the thought of living with two people who couldn't even manage that made my eyes redden.
"Hey, Bi-cheon! Why are you looking at me with those eyes? I-I told you I'm not going into the kitchen!!"
"It meant nothing at all."
Still, Sagong Hee—who has the patience to keep feeding firewood for a long time to boil things—is better than the Young Heavenly Demon, who once burned down a three-room thatched house when told to use fire. And Dokgo Yeon—who can produce the skill of a top local chef if she sets her mind to it, even if she isn't the greatest cook under heaven—is far better.
"You can do the laundry down in that stream."
"I just hang it on that thing near the path down to the stream, right? Isn't that a drying rack?"
"That's right. You two share the room. I brought plenty from the fabric shop near Xuchang Fortress, so wear whatever you like."
"That's a lot... I'd like to fold the clothes we aren't wearing, but is a wardrobe too much to hope for?"
"I will make one immediately. The outhouse is—"
"Oh my, doctor."
Dokgo Yeon cut me off with a smile.
"A Celestial Maiden supposedly doesn't need to know about such things."
"......"
At that chilling smile, I shut my mouth firmly. Lee Si-a, who should have been backing me up, was also snorting and glaring at me with disdain.
"We aren't children; we know that much, you know?"
"Ahem. Understood. I will be mindful."
Today's lesson. Celestial Maidens do not use the outhouse.
"Doctor."
"Hm?"
"Leave this place to me and have a safe trip."
"...Understood. I will return shortly."
I donned black robes and pressed a black bamboo hat firmly onto my head. To anyone watching, I looked like someone trying to hide their identity, and to anyone watching, I looked like someone who would be challenged with 'Reveal your identity!'
"Don't make me wait too long. Otherwise, I'll come looking for you."
"Can't you see this? If I come back out, I'll be bald."
"Rather than grow old waiting here in lonely widowhood, wouldn't the right choice be to go kill that bastard if something happened to my man, even if I go bald?"
"......"
Lee Si-a's powerful conviction made me suddenly ashamed of the sign I had prepared.
As expected of the Young Heavenly Demon. No one in the Central Plains can match her proactive nature.
"Understood. Two weeks. I will definitely return within two weeks."
There are no 'what ifs.' If going to Hebei proves truly difficult, I will change course and return.
"Sis Shia, please take good care of me for these two weeks."
"I should be the one saying that. ...Hey, I have a favor to ask."
Murmur murmur. Lee Si-a whispered something into Dokgo Yeon's ear. Dokgo Yeon's face flushed red as she opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, then she trotted over to me and grabbed my collar.
"U-um. Doctor."
"Speak."
"...Before you go, do you have a little time?"
"Ha."
Giving such a mission to a younger sister. I glanced up at the position of the moon hanging in the night sky.
'If I run using the Heavenly Demon Divine Step, I can manage it somehow.'
It was cutting it close, but I could roughly make it in time. I hung the bamboo hat I was about to tie onto the fence.
"Orthodoxy and the demonic shall harmonize as one here today."
Encircling the waists of the women who would one day become the representatives of the White Path and the Black Path, I moved my steps into the room.
"I feel a little sorry for Gyeon-hui."
"What are you talking about? She had her turn for three whole days, going at it leisurely. So isn't that enough?"
"...Even though you just did it with Sis Hee yesterday too."
"No, that was because Gyeon-hui was the first to depart—"
Mmmph.
I was silenced by both women simultaneously.
...Two full watches had passed by the time I put the bamboo hat back on.
* * *
Morning.
The people of the Murim Alliance had been unable to sleep the previous night.
- They say the Ice-Colored Demon abducted the Alliance Leader's daughter!
Dokgo Yeon, the gold branch jade leaf of the Dokgo Clan and one of the Six Phoenixes, had vanished. People hushed it up to keep the news from spreading far, but everyone found out when the Murim Alliance stirred on a massive scale.
The Murim Alliance had already been searching for the Ice-Colored Demon for the month since the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle ended.
But this was the first search so massive that nine out of ten Alliance warriors were mobilized.
Xuchang Fortress was a domain of the Murim Alliance, an area the government had given up on managing, and Alliance warriors made inquiries throughout the civilian homes, trying to find the Ice-Colored Demon's location.
- The Ice-Colored Demon? A white-haired man? I haven't seen anyone like that...
- Did something happen?
- Was that the bastard they said attacked the Martial Arts Arena a month ago?!
People began to piece together the truth one by one. They also learned that this figure called the Ice-Colored Demon bore a personal grudge against the Murim Alliance Leader, due to his lustful nature.
Those who had crossed swords directly with the Ice-Colored Demon knew. The hatred that the being called the Ice-Colored Demon held for Dokgo Ja-yeong.
And that, based on that hatred, he had been hiding somewhere in Xuchang for a month, waiting for his opportunity.
At present, the various sect leaders who remained in Xuchang were having a great deal of trouble trying to calm the enraged Alliance Leader.
"Calm yourself, Alliance Leader!!"
"I am in an extremely calm state right now."
The Alliance Leader's expression was gentle. But his attire and travel gear made it seem as if he might depart at any moment.
"My daughter has been kidnapped; can a father remain still?"
"We understand that, but the Alliance Leader is the center of the Murim Alliance!!"
"I am aware! But if no one in the Alliance can find Yeon-i, how can I just stay still!"
"I understand your feelings. But if you move, people will fall into chaos."
The Beggar Sect Leader stepped within Dokgo Ja-yeong's guard and placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"The Beggar Sect is searching for Yeon-i's whereabouts with all its might. The fellow did leave traces, did he not? He probably hasn't escaped Xuchang Fortress yet."
The Ice-Colored Demon had scaled the walls, spread Ice White Divine Art across the vast lake's surface, and infiltrated the estate. He then abducted Dokgo Yeon from near the flower garden and left the estate again.
His blood remained, and traces of Dokgo Yeon's rough resistance were left behind. A torn piece of Dokgo Yeon's skirt hem was caught between the camellia trees.
"Trust the Alliance's warriors! Everyone is struggling desperately to find your daughter!"
"I don't even know if my daughter is alive or dead right now...! Aah, Yeon-a... If you die, the Dokgo Clan Gaga...!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong tore at his hair in despair. His daughter, who had suffered from an incurable disease, had finally been able to treat her illness thanks to the Divine Doctor's arrangements, but now he couldn't even tell if she was alive or dead.
"Is this the karma of my own greed...?"
If he had prevented her from participating in the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle, if she hadn't become widely known, could he have prevented his daughter from being kidnapped?
"She must be married off to a man from a good clan, to bear many children... so the Dokgo Clan Gaga...!"
Just as Dokgo Ja-yeong was tormenting himself with self-reproach.
"Alliance Leader!! We've found him!!"
At the words of the Strategist, who had hastily opened the door and entered, Dokgo Ja-yeong shot up from his seat.
"Where?!"
"North of Xuchang Fortress!! We have intelligence that the bastard was sighted in Zhengzhou! He was said to be carrying a human-shaped bundle!"
"!!"
"How did you discover this? The Beggar Sect has yet to receive such information?"
"It is said the Nine Dragons, who were holding a gathering at the Eul Family Manor, discovered it! The Matriarch of the Eul Family, mother of the Fan Dragon Eul Ji-sang, was abducted by a white-haired fiend...!! The Nine Dragons are currently pursuing the fellow!! It is very likely the Ice-Colored Demon...!!"
Boom!
Dokgo Ja-yeong drew his sword, his momentum surging.
"I, Dokgo Ja-yeong, proclaim in my name! The Ice-Colored Demon Ui Sa-baek is a public enemy of the Murim Alliance!"
"Alliance Leader, that is?!"
"I was going to proclaim it anyway! Any more hushing up and the Alliance will become a laughingstock!"
Another victim had already occurred. If they failed to stop it here, it was a matter that could shake the Murim Alliance itself, beyond shaming it.
"Inform the Nine Dragons! The one who rescues my daughter from the Ice-Colored Demon...!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong shouted, shedding tears of blood.
"I will give him my daughter's hand in marriage!!"
"I knew he'd pull something like that."
Hiding secretly on the roof of the Murim Alliance hall, I was floored by Dokgo Ja-yeong's words.
"Tsk, tsk. Marrying off his daughter to keep the Dokgo Clan lineage from ending; he's a true madman."
Dokgo Ja-yeong is indeed a good father.
But before being a good father, he is the leader of the Murim Alliance and the head of the Dokgo Clan.
That is why I had to abduct Dokgo Yeon. To prevent her from becoming the bride of some stern old geezer. Otherwise, a year from now, she would surely have been pregnant with the child of a bastard like Namgung Pae.
"Going to Nanyang, then Zhengzhou, and now back to Xuchang; my energy is flagging. Tsk."
"Mmph, mmph mmph!!"
I pressed my index finger to my lips toward the woman bundled over my shoulder.
"Shh. Madam, be quiet."
"Y-you... madman! What do you intend to do by using me?!"
"A packed meal and a trail."
"What...?!"
The expression of the Eul Family's mistress, Eul So-mi, turned pale.
"Since you'll lose your memories later anyway, remember it well. You will become the internal energy of me, the Ice-Colored Demon. Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang. You know it well, don't you?"
"M-ma-madman...!!"
"Quiet."
I held the mature woman who had once been one of the 'Six Phoenixes' of her generation alongside the Emei Peak and ran north of Xuchang Fortress. Then, I secretly entered a deserted warehouse and stripped her clothes off.
"If you don't want to be abandoned on a mountain path in a violated state, keep your mouth shut."
"......!!"
To replenish my internal energy. And to leave traces of the Ice-Colored Demon.
"Pardon me while I perform the Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang."
"......H-hiik...!"
To prepare for the future, I raped the mistress of the Eul Family Manor, Eul So-mi.
The witch who would one day become a pawn of the Blood Cult and cause a great massacre in Henan Province.
"Ah, aaaahk! It's reaching places my dead husband never entered! I'm sorry, darlingggg!"
...It was absolutely not because Eul So-mi is a widow.