Visiting the Heavenly Demon's Master (5)
Seeing the benefactor's bewildered face, I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. That man had teased me plenty of times, but I'd never once turned the tables on him. Now that the situation was reversed, it was surprisingly delightful.
I simply stared back at the old man who was gazing at me in silence. Someone I thought I'd never see again. A person I'd buried deep in my heart, someone whose kindness I could never repay—a source of lasting regret. There had been so many things I wanted to say to him, words I'd only ever whispered at his grave. And yet here he was, alive, moving, and speaking once more.
“Is that you, Hwaryeong? No… it couldn't be.”
“You must have had your suspicions, though.”
After all, you're the one who laid the foundation for my divine arts. There's no way you wouldn't have noticed something. When I asked that, the old codger fell silent. His eyes trembled, suggesting he'd already pieced together at least part of it.
“But aren't you an outsider?”
“Let's just say I'm me from another world. There are plenty of ways to prove it.”
There were several stories only the two of us would know, and besides, if I brought Baek Hwaryeong here, she'd confirm everything instantly. I wanted to explain in more detail as I watched him blink in surprise, but unfortunately, time was running short. The backlash from striking his pressure points was about to hit.
“Rest for now. I'll return soon.”
With those words, I closed my eyes.
In the darkness, the Blood Cult Leader sat up and clutched his face with one hand. The trembling wouldn't stop. The terror that had been directed at him moments ago refused to fade.
Physical pain meant nothing to the Blood Cult Leader. To him, a jiangshi's body was nothing more than a disposable tool to be used and discarded. No matter what happened to that vessel, it didn't matter. That was why he could smile even if his limbs were severed.
That didn't mean his mind was weak. Even if it was a borrowed body, it was still his. How could someone who had experienced countless horrors through jiangshi bodies—things that would shatter an ordinary person's mind after just one encounter—possibly be mentally fragile?
But what had just happened…
Just what…
Killing intent, when you broke it down, was simply the materialization of the desire to kill one's opponent. It was nothing more than projecting that will to pressure the other party. The Blood Cult Leader had both been crushed by killing intent and used it himself against many martial artists. But an experience like today's was a first.
The moment he recalled the scene of Min-ga radiating killing intent, the Blood Cult Leader's teeth chattered against each other. In that instant, he had seen it. The sight of his own body being hacked to pieces. The sight of his own flesh burning in flames. The sight of himself falling into an endless abyss. The sight of some colossal presence crushing him. And countless other deaths had rushed toward him—so many that it would have been fair to call it the judgment handed down by the underworld's arbiter.
It had been only an instant, yet it felt like an eternity of deathly visions. It ended when Min-ga's foot shattered the jiangshi's face.
'Remember this. That I am your enemy.'
It had been a warning. A warning to know his place.
The Blood Cult Leader clenched his jaw, forcing the tremors to stop, then took a deep breath. The moment he exhaled, the shaking began again. This time, he didn't try to stop it. Instead, he lowered his hand from his face and stood up.
In the darkness, his lips parted, revealing his teeth. The shape they formed was unmistakably a deep, profound smile.
Aah. How long has it been since I felt a real emotion?
Joy. Sorrow. Pleasure. Hatred. Fear. Emotions worn down and sunk beneath countless deaths had risen once more. Just how long had it been?
An enemy, you say? To be acknowledged as an enemy—I'm truly grateful. Doesn't that mean I'll get to feel this emotion again?
Haa. Even a light warning was like that. I wonder what kind of sight she'll show me if she truly considers me her enemy.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in that quiet village at the foot of the mountain. Looking around, I saw jiangshi with severed limbs writhing on the ground. Not exactly a pleasant sight.
I put my pipe in my mouth and used the system's functions to summon Baru.
“How are the two of them?”
“They said they'd rather die after saying what they need to say. It was a struggle to calm them down.”
“Didn't I tell them I'd come back?”
Since they already knew I was an outsider, worrying about death should be pointless, shouldn't it? When I tilted my head in confusion, Baru let out a sigh.
“You really don't understand people's hearts.”
“Is that something a divine spirit like you should be saying?”
“The fact that you're making a divine spirit like me say this is what's strange!”
Baru shouted and lightly whacked me on the head with her staff. The movement was clumsy, so I could have easily dodged, but I let it hit me. It didn't even hurt that much.
“Anyway, the two of them said they'd wait in the lodging where they were staying.”
“Then I suppose I can take my time getting back.”
“Do you have something to do?”
“I need to clean up the trash.”
I figured the Blood Cult Leader wouldn't be able to move for a while after taking my killing intent, but that didn't mean the mountain was free of the Blood Cult's filthy remnants. I had to deal with all of them and erase the blood formations installed on this mountain as well. Since this was where my benefactor lived in seclusion, it was only proper that I put in at least this much effort.
“Baru. About the blood formations installed here. Do you think you can analyze them?”
“I'll have to try, but it doesn't seem impossible.”
“Then I'd appreciate it if you could.”
Most of the formations set up by the Blood Cult had tricks built in so that blindly destroying them would cause strange phenomena. If it were just my own body taking the hit, I'd simply bury them, but this was the mountain where my benefactor resided. The mountain deity here—who seemed to have a fox tail—also appeared to be acquainted with Baru, so it felt wrong to act too crudely on this mountain.
“Alright. By the way, while I'm examining the formation, why don't you tell me your story?”
“Mine?”
“Yes. You promised, didn't you?”
I'd been moving so urgently that I hadn't thought about where to start, but since I'd agreed to tell her, I supposed I had to. “To put it simply, I was the Heavenly Demon.”
“Huh?”
“It's a story from a different world, though.”
I didn't tell Baru everything about possession or the modern world. I knew it would only add to her confusion. I simply explained that I had lived as Baek Hwaryeong in another world and had arrived in this one by chance.
I didn't think my explanation was particularly good, but Baru understood without much difficulty.
“So in the end, the current Heavenly Demon reached her position after going through all those events because of you.”
“That's right.”
“Then a lot of things make sense now. All those overwhelming displays you've shown so far. The way you acted like you already knew things even though it was your first time seeing them. And how you could be so close to the Heavenly Demon.”
“Did you find it strange?”
“Of course. Anyone who spends time with you would think it's strange.”
Baru pouted as if to say, Is that even a question? Come to think of it, she was right. There were more than a few things I'd casually brushed off because I hadn't said much about them.
“Then why didn't you ask?”
“Because you didn't tell me.”
When she said she'd been waiting, believing I'd tell her someday, my hand rose to the top of Baru's head. I ruffled her brown hair, from which her perky ears poked out. Baru got angry, saying it was interfering with her analysis, but she didn't pull away from my hand. That was just like her.
After bickering like that for a while, Baru pushed me away.
“Move aside. I'll take care of this now.”
When Baru struck the ground with her staff, the mountain's energy gathered around her. Her Taoist magic was a miracle based on vitality, so this mountain—which still held life—was practically her domain. That energy surrounded the blood formation and began to erode its crimson aura.
The blood formation's energy seemed to resist at first, but it eventually yielded before Baru's power. The moment the formation's color turned pure white, the ominous energy vanished, and the blood formation scattered into nothing.
“I haven't completely deciphered it, but this should be enough.”
“Amazing.”
“It's nothing special.”
Though Baru spoke modestly, she couldn't hide the pride showing in her perked-up ears and swishing tail.
“As expected of Baru. I didn't even dare touch it.”
“Our specialties are just different.”
“No. That child who seemed to be this mountain's deity couldn't even resist the blood arts, could she?”
“That was only because she was flustered. In reality, she's lived far longer than I have, so she's definitely better at this than me.”
“She didn't seem that way at all.”
“Aww, no way.”
The more I kept praising her, the more Baru's tail spun like a windmill. If her nose had physically grown any higher, she would have been poking the sky with it.
“Alright, enough with the empty flattery. Let's get moving. Didn't you say we were going to clean up the small fry?”
“I did.”
“I'll guide you to where I sense the blood energy.”
I picked up Baru, who spread her arms as if asking to be carried, and sat her on my shoulder before setting off. Let's finish this quickly. My benefactor is waiting, after all.