224
Sometime during our walk, the attackers who had been watching us stopped trying to strike.
Was it because I had extended my qi sense? Or because Lee Si-a had beaten half to death the men who kept leering at her with lecherous eyes?
Neither.
They had noticed our arrival and realized any assault was pointless. Now they just watched us from a distance, safely out of reach.
"Should I just put the coat back on?"
"Why?"
"It's unpleasant, the way they keep staring at me."
Lee Si-a was hesitant to move her limbs freely. She especially avoided spreading her arms to the sides.
The same woman who had shamelessly ridden me in the Heavenly Demon cowgirl position while stark naked was now shrinking away in front of other men. The sight wasn't entirely unpleasant. It was actually quite pleasing. It meant Lee Si-a allowed her body to be bared for my eyes alone.
"Then wait just a moment."
I channeled the Ice White Divine Art as a qi aura into the coat draped over her moon-patterned dress. As soon as the chill-infused coat settled on her shoulders, Lee Si-a's eyes lit up at the coolness radiating through her outfit.
"How did you do that? The Ice White Divine Art can do this kind of thing?"
"It's an application. A method that uses the energy of the Zhongli Divine Fire Well in reverse."
There's a saying about fighting fire with fire, but the best approach is actually to cool that fire down. Especially since the structure of Lee Si-a's cultivated martial art forces a great deal of internal heat to vent through her head. Suppressing the heat was far better than clashing hot against hot.
I can't let my woman go bald.
I couldn't let her walk the path of the future Heavenly Demon. As we walked, I kept stroking Lee Si-a's hair, channeling inner energy to strengthen her weakening hair roots.
"Aren't we being directed somewhere right now?"
"We are. We've effectively been invited."
The assailants watching us were subtly guiding our path. Human psychology instinctively avoids areas thick with an ominous aura, so we naturally walked toward the spots without any attackers.
"Si-a, take a guess. What method is the enemy using to direct us?"
"Usually they'd try to drive you away, make it clear you're unwelcome... but this feels more like they're telling us to come this way."
"Correct. It's an invitation, meant to welcome the Little Princess's visit."
"The Mad Demon figured out we were coming?"
"That's the answer."
The fact that the attacks had ceased entirely was proof. Lee Si-a's heart was pounding hard at the prospect of meeting the Mad Demon.
"Hoo, what should I do? Should I have brought a proper, tidy martial uniform? He's not going to think I'm loose-moraled and be disappointed by this kind of look, is he?"
"...You are truly something else. You tell me to ravish the Mad Demon's daughter while you yourself are trying to bring the Mad Demon under your own roof?"
"No harm in it, right? If the Mad Demon's daughter is that beautiful... what's wrong with taking her as a secondary wife right away?"
"......."
I couldn't answer that easily. To take her as a secondary wife, I knew far too much about who she was.
"Who knows... I doubt I'd even feel like she's a woman. As I said before, we'll know when we meet. I'm even doubtful the Mad Demon will let his own daughter show herself in front of me."
I didn't say it to Lee Si-a, but the Mad Demon and I were already on bad terms. It wouldn't have been strange for the attacks to continue, and the fact that they stopped was quite unexpected to me as well.
Is he giving us a pass because he saw the face of the Demonic Cult's Little Princess... or does he actually want to meet me first?
I'd find out when we met face-to-face.
Swaaak.
The moment we broke through the dense forest, a vast ocean stretched out before us.
"Whoa...!"
Lee Si-a marveled at the wide sea. Having grown up seeing only sheer cliffs and thickly wooded mountains, this clear ocean—wider even than the Yangtze River—was a completely new experience for her.
"This is the sea?"
"Your reaction is similar to Yeon's. Yes, it is. ...And it seems we've really come to the right place."
Step, step.
On the white sandy beach, a woman in a red martial uniform stood before us. Her hair bore a dark crimson tint, and her outfit was rarely seen in the Central Plains—casually revealing her arms below the elbows and her legs below the knees.
"......!!"
"That outfit, could it be?"
Lee Si-a was startled by the sight of her, and she was equally startled by Lee Si-a. Their attire had distinct differences but looked similar in overall effect. Their fundamental nature aligned.
"Why is the Demonic Cult's Little Princess...?"
"Blood."
"!!"
The instant the word left my mouth, the woman drew the sword at her hip. From the starting stance alone, I could immediately figure out who she was—but we hadn't come here to fight.
"Lineage."
"......."
Just two words. After only two words, the woman sheathed her blade again. Her eyes were filled with confusion as she scrutinized me from head to toe, trying to gauge my identity. I simply smiled and gently but firmly held Lee Si-a's hand.
"Bi-cheon...?"
Lee Si-a looked up at me with anxious eyes.
"Si-a, don't forget. I am your Sky-Soaring Lust Demon. That is my unchanging foundation."
"...Okay. I'll trust you."
Lee Si-a squeezed my hand back. The woman blocking our path—the Blood Maiden—let out a hollow laugh.
"Truly an unfathomable combination. The Demonic Cult's Little Princess has a lover, and that lover knows about 'us'."
"I might know more than you do."
"...Cheeky."
The woman twisted the corner of her mouth and stepped back.
"He is waiting. Follow me."
"No need for that."
Still holding Lee Si-a's hand, I turned around. Lee Si-a glanced back over her shoulder, but she trusted me and walked with me along the white sand beach in the opposite direction.
Shwaaaah-
Ignoring the sharp stares piercing our backs, we finally arrived. On a wooden platform set right on the white sand, a middle-aged man had placed five drinking cups and was frying something in a pot.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
".......I suppose so. Feels like a first meeting to me too."
The middle-aged man scrutinized me intently. Then his gaze shifted toward Lee Si-a.
"So you must be the Little Princess. It's good to meet you. I am the wild man whom the Heavenly Demon named the Mad Demon."
"It's good to meet you as well, Mad Demon. ...Um."
"Don't mind my attire, haha."
The middle-aged man called the Mad Demon greeted us wearing nothing but a broad-brimmed hat and a pair of short pants that reached his thighs. Still holding Lee Si-a's hand, I strode up, pulled my shoes off confidently, and sat down on the wooden platform.
"Now that is... a hard thing to make sense of."
The Mad Demon stared intently at me.
"You there, do you perhaps know me?"
"I've heard much about you."
From the Blood Cult Leader.
In the future, he would be the father of the Blood Cult's young lady who turned me into a Blood Jiangshi.
And the current Blood Cult Leader himself.
The man who had imparted all of his knowledge and ideology to his own daughter, Hyeol So-ye.
"...Well, standing makes my legs hurt, so let's sit and talk. Have you ever had fried eight-tentacled fish? It's a delicacy among delicacies in this eastern region."
The Blood Cult Leader spoke.
"You, do you drink at all?"
* * *
"Hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm~"
A crimson-haired woman hummed as she walked through the forest. She wasn't using a movement art or a lightness art; she moved as though dancing, in a peculiar rhythm that matched the notes of her tune.
Those she passed only muttered among themselves as they all cleared a path. A woman dyed completely in red, walking along while humming?
- That's definitely an unhinged murim warrior!
- She's clearly from the Unorthodox Faction!
- If you're near her for no reason, you'll end up seeing blood!
Everyone in her vicinity avoided her. No matter how pretty a woman looked, if she seemed like she'd lost her mind, few dared to lay a hand on her.
"Wahaha! Even if the mind's gone, the body works just fine! Halt, I am—"
"Ei!"
The man who boldly stepped forward went tumbling down into a rice paddy with a single touch from the woman. No one even saw her hand move. The woman fumed, visibly furious.
"You made me forget my lyrics!"
"......."
The bystanders hurriedly left the area, afraid they might get caught up in the trouble. The woman let out a derisive snort at the man who'd planted his face into the gray irrigation channel, then resumed her humming right where she'd left off and walked onward.
"Hmm, hm-hmm. ...Oh my."
The woman's eyes glinted curiously at the two figures blocking her path—a man and a woman.
"You look like people from the Demonic Cult. What business do you have with me?"
A young man who seemed like an elegant noble young master, and a woman whose entire body was draped in black yet exuded an overflowing air of allure. The woman unhesitatingly identified both of them as Demonic Cult members.
"Is that person truly 'her'?"
"Of course, young master."
"...Ahem, excuse me."
The young man offered a martial salute with a refreshing smile.
"I am the Eldest Prince of the Demonic Cult—"
"Next time, don't bother excusing yourself."
The woman gave him a light nod, smiled once at the Eldest Prince, then pushed past his shoulder and kept walking. The unexpected brush-off left the Eldest Prince flabbergasted, nearly tumbling into the paddy himself.
"...Huh?"
The Eldest Prince was genuinely dumbfounded. The woman in the red martial uniform, her hips swaying as she walked away, was unpredictably and utterly rude.
"Look here, Most Beautiful Phoenix!"
Stock-still.
The moment she heard the name Most Beautiful Phoenix, the woman turned around. She flicked half her hair back with one hand and smiled.
"What?"
"Ha, you certainly are haughty. Unlike the reports, your hair has turned red, so I couldn't recognize you immediately. Without Ma-hwa's help, I might not have known it was you."
"Is that so? Well, you recognized me. Goodbye, then."
"......."
Most Beautiful Phoenix took off again. Having been ignored twice in rapid succession, the Eldest Prince's fists were trembling, while Ma-hwa covered her mouth with her hand, holding back her laughter.
"That bitch, indulged far too much...!"
"What? Bitch?"
Most Beautiful Phoenix's eyes lit up with fury as she turned her head. She strode right up to the Eldest Prince, jabbed a finger right between his eyebrows, and shook it firmly.
"Father always said. If a man calls a woman a bitch, you pay him back in kind."
"What is that even supposed to—"
"Why should I follow you just because you tell me to come? Fuck off."
Most Beautiful Phoenix bit her lower lip and turned around.
"Trying to act respectful while drooling just because you want to seduce me once. Talk to me with that lustful desire cleaned out of your eyes, you perverted bastard."
Then she scattered a cloud of red mist and vanished from the road with a poof.
"......What did that bitch just say to me, Ma-hwa?"
"She said 'fuck off'. Perverted bastard."
"......Huh."
The Eldest Prince stared in the direction Most Beautiful Phoenix had disappeared, his eyes full of twisted delight, and laughed.
"Telling me to jerk my dick off. Isn't that a signal that she wants me to do exactly that? Hoho, what a seductive little siren."
"...Yeah, yeah. So what are you going to do about it?"
"I'll make her my woman. I'll take her as one of the Ten Demons, make her my concubine. Yes... she's preposterously bewitching, so the title of Bewitching Demon will suit her well."
"......Hm-hmm."
Ma-hwa smiled, her eyes narrowing slyly.
"As you wish, Eldest Prince."
"Naturally. Tch, if only I had the time, I'd chase after her."
The Eldest Prince twisted his lips as he shook a long, jadestone plaque.
"Let's go. It's been a while. Let's go lick some tears at the pleasure house."
The plaque he held was inscribed with the words: 'Pleasure House Certain Victory.'
* * *
The Mad Demon just kept staring at me looking conflicted.
"Who are you?"
"Sky-Soaring Lust Demon."
"...An epithet is a phrase that proves a murim warrior's existence. I have never heard the name Sky-Soaring Lust Demon before."
"It's a title given to me by the woman who will become the Heavenly Demon in the future. Even if the world knows nothing of my epithet, so long as I take pride in being the Sky-Soaring Lust Demon, the entire world will come to know it one day."
"......."
The Mad Demon picked up the bottle of liquor. I held out my cup with both hands, extending it forward.
"Have a drink."
He poured the alcohol for me and then naturally handed me the bottle. After I took it, I flicked my gaze toward his cup.
"Are you a light drinker?"
"......Kahahahaha!!"
The Mad Demon roared with genuine, wild laughter. He clutched his stomach and cackled, then with a shaking hand, downed his still-half-full cup in one gulp.
"Yes, yes. I've learned something truly good. Who taught you this level of drinking manners?"
"The most beautiful woman in the Central Plains taught me."
"The Little Princess seems to be hearing this for the first time, though?"
At the casual remark propping up the Little Princess, Lee Si-a lowered her head. At the same time, she shot me a sharp sideways glare.
A single remark that could drive a wedge between Lee Si-a and me. The lethal verbal strike sent cold sweat running down my back. As expected, a genuine article was on a different level.
"You'll understand once you've had a drink."
I raised a finger and used my qi aura to draw a cut across it. Sensing the formation of Qi Aura, the Blood Maiden from behind moved to swing her sword at me, but the Mad Demon subdued her with a single look.
Plip.
I let a single drop of blood fall into the liquor cup.
"One shot, all or nothing. Please, accept this drink."
I offered him the cup now mixed with my blood. The Mad Demon looked down at the cup with an expressionless face and finally spoke.
"If."
Beneath the large hat, his hair was streaked with white, but his eyes were stained the color of blood.
"After I drink this, if I try to kill you... what will you do?"
"I will fight with my full strength. You and I. And Si-a will face off against that woman standing behind us."
"...Hmph."
The Mad Demon snatched up the blood-mixed cup as if seizing it, then downed it in a single swallow.
"......."
Then, keeping his eyes closed, he set the empty cup down without a word. I waited quietly until he chose to speak.
"...Can such a thing really happen?"
The Mad Demon murmured in a voice full of remorse.
"......What should I call you?"
"Sky-Soaring Lust Demon."
"Right, Lust Demon. ...I inadvertently caused you a great deal of trouble."
He apologized to me in a deflated voice.
"However, I cannot give up. Even if a prophecy foretells my destruction, I cannot give up."
"So in the end, you intend to spill blood?"
"Spill blood... No, that's wrong. Even if it isn't me, a preordained fate cannot be changed. You truly have no idea why such turbulent times came to pass."
The Mad Demon was right.
I had simply been swept up in events, not a mastermind behind them. To be precise, I was nothing more than a sword—a tool—wielded by the true architect of those events.
"This Blood Calamity that I will set into motion, you see."
The Blood Cult Leader—the Mad Demon—lifted his cup with fearsomely sharp eyes.
"It was never something I intentionally set out to cause. It's a flow of heavenly secrets that could only happen naturally. I merely exploited that flow to my advantage."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"It means the Blood Calamity is a fate that was always bound to occur upon the Central Plains Murim. And I am simply someone who held a personal, selfish desire within it."
"Explain it in a way I can easily understand."
He emptied his glass again.
"If you, like me, could read the memories within blood, it would be simple. But since you can't, I have no choice but to tell you. Though I don't want to tell a long story. So... I'll just give you the conclusion."
Crunch.
The Mad Demon chewed on a piece of fried eight-tentacled fish heavily coated in red sauce.
"The true culprit is the Demon Flower."
"......?"
A name I'd never expected left me unable to say anything. Lee Si-a also carefully gauged my reaction before finally speaking up.
"So who is this Demon Flower?"
"......There are two ways to make a person furious. One is to stop talking right in the middle of something, and the other is."
Trickle.
The Mad Demon smiled and started pouring the alcohol again.
"......Care for a drink?"
"Hey!!"
That was the day I saw Lee Si-a genuinely lose her temper for the first time.