Chapter 209 - The Cult Leader Has No Intention of Losing That Bet

The person Father wanted was the Poison King.

At the mention of his title, the Demon Supremes' expressions stiffened slightly, and they exchanged glances. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon sighed so softly that only I could hear it. That alone told me how difficult this would be.

Indeed, judging by their reactions, Father seemed certain the Poison King would never step forward.

“Can you do it?”

“I'll try.”

Father's eyes challenged me.

Could I really manage even this? If I truly pulled this off too, he would acknowledge me.

His gaze shifted to the Demon Supremes.

His eyes betrayed no emotion, yet I sensed subtle differences in that impassive gaze. The look he gave the Fist Demon differed from the one he gave the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, and the one he gave the Wicked Laughing Demon was different again.

If he knew how deeply the Single Flower Sword Supreme respected him, couldn't he spare her even a little warmth?

His gaze settled last on the Drunken Demon, who met it with calmer eyes than ever before.

After that silent exchange with the Demon Supremes, Father turned and walked toward Heavenly Demon Hall.

The Demon Supremes and I bowed our heads in respect.

What was Father thinking now? Would the day ever come when we sat face-to-face and he told me frankly what he had felt and thought at moments like this?

Once Father had left, I bowed to the Demon Supremes.

“Thank you. Truly.”

The Single Flower Sword Supreme looked embarrassed.

“There's no need to thank me. The Drunken Demon dragged me here against my will.”

“That was a great help too.”

“What do you mean?”

“If all five of you had pushed him, Father might have become furious. He's human too. But you and my brother the Drunken Demon acted as a buffer, Senior, and that must have softened his feelings.”

The Drunken Demon made a show of lamenting his fate.

“I'm finished. Making a drunken scene in front of the Cult Leader!”

The Single Flower Sword Supreme practically snatched the flask hanging at his waist and took a long swig.

“I'm the one who said far too many unnecessary things in front of him.”

The Drunken Demon took back the flask and drank.

“It's all this hopeless friend's fault.”

“As long as you know.”

I cut into their exchange.

“No, you all gathered because of me, so it's my fault.”

I bowed respectfully to the Demon Supremes once more.

“I'll repay what you've done today for years to come. You have no idea how reassuring it is to have the five of you with me. Thank you so much. Since we're all gathered here, I'd like to say a few words... Oh, wait! I'll keep it short. I'm not that talkative. We could all get together and devise a plan to win over the Poison King...”

The five Demon Supremes were already leaving in five different directions without looking back.

“You're all so cruel!”

Since I didn't have five bodies, I sprang after just one of them.

* * *

Of the five Demon Supremes, I followed the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

Though he was pleased I had come after him, he chose to be contrary.

“Why aren't you chasing the Wicked Laughing Demon?”

“You're always the best in my eyes, Elder.”

“I thought Wicked was the best in your eyes?”

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon told me exactly what had happened earlier.

“The Wicked Laughing Demon staked everything he had. Neither the Cult Leader nor I nor the Fist Demon expected him to go that far.”

I hadn't realized he had pushed so hard. Laughing Demon, your answer had reached me loud and clear.

“I should have been there.”

“That made it all the more remarkable. He did it even though you weren't there. You can't do that unless you genuinely care for someone.”

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was remarkable in this moment too. He might well have felt jealous of my relationship with the Wicked Laughing Demon, yet he told me everything exactly as it had happened, repeatedly calling it remarkable. How could I not like this man?

“When did you two become so close?”

“I'm not sure myself. Somehow, we became friends.”

“Friends? With that age difference?”

Exactly. I was so much older. I had lived longer than even you, Elder.

“Surely friendship can transcend age?”

“That magnificent friendship has made me thirsty. Bring me some tea from over there.”

I fetched the teapot from the table beside his bed and poured him a cup. The sight of his still painfully thin arm made my heart ache.

“Have you been eating properly lately?”

“Why are you suddenly fussing over my meals?”

“Your health matters most to me. What does the Poison King matter? What does that silly permission matter?”

“You don't mean a word of that.”

Still, he seemed pleased, sipping his tea with a faint smile.

“You were the first to go to Father today, weren't you?”

“That's just my impatience. Don't read anything into it.”

“I will. You were the first to rush there for me!”

“Yes, to be honest, I meant to take some credit for going first, but that mask-wearing fellow beat me hollow today.”

It seemed that mask-wearing fellow had moved the Blood Heaven Saber Demon today.

“Though it looks as if all our efforts were wasted.”

He had sighed when the Poison King was mentioned. The other Demon Supremes' expressions suggested they felt much the same.

“Is it really that hard to bring him on board?”

“It would have been easier if he'd told you to bring all Eight Demon Supremes. We could have convened a gathering and pushed for everyone to act together for political reasons. That might have settled it. But by singling out the Poison King, he prevented that approach in advance. The Cult Leader is rather clever, you know.”

“What do you know about the Poison King?”

“We aren't personally close. From what I've seen, he lives firmly in a world of his own, and he's proud. He's obsessed with poison. That's about all I know.”

But it wasn't his personality that worried the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. It was this:

“Can you still be yourself in the face of the Poison King's poisons?”

Could I still be myself in the face of his poisons?

I understood his concern. Poison inspired a primal fear: you might die without even getting a proper chance to fight. That was why, alongside the now-dead Soul-Seizing Demon, the Poison King was the Demon Supreme martial artists least wanted to face.

“No matter how eloquent you are, or how good at flattery, can you really remain so uninhibited before a man who uses poison? He could poison you without any obvious sign and leave you to fall ill and die years later.”

In truth, he was the one before whom I could be most uninhibited. Since poison didn't work on me, he was, at least to me, the weakest of the Eight Demon Supremes.

That was precisely what worried me.

The moment I wounded his pride, bringing him before Father would become forever impossible.

Before my regression, when I returned to the Cult to obtain materials for the great art, the Poison King was already dead, and his successor held his seat among the Demon Supremes.

I knew how he had died. I also knew how many people he had taken with him.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon stared at me as I briefly sank into thought.

“Do you have a method in mind?”

“I do. Somehow, I'll have to learn the secret of winning the Poison King over from you.”

“If you used the methods I have in mind, you'd drive away even your closest friends.”

He looked straight at me.

“If I were to offer you advice, I'd say to do what you do best.”

“What's that?”

“The Cult Leader calls it cheap sentimentality that's just the thing to get you killed.”

I burst out laughing. It was astonishing that Father and the Blood Heaven Saber Demon had had such a conversation. Father's use of that expression with someone else was proof that our relationship had grown a step closer.

“Use it as you did with me and the other Demon Supremes.”

Look the other person squarely in the eye, and if you have something to say, say it without delay.

Those were the two principles by which I dealt with people. Whether they would work on the Poison King remained to be seen.

“Understood, Elder.”

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon took something from inside his robe and held it out to me. It was the highest-quality poison-warding pearl I had once given him for his birthday.

“Take this too. I've washed it thoroughly, so don't complain that it's dirty.”

For a moment, I silently looked down at the pearl. This was his heart laid bare. Lately, that heart kept stirring my own.

I took two poison-warding pearls from inside my robe and tucked one into each cheek.

“I'll go with my cheeks stuffed like a squirrel! Keep that one, and if the Poison King gets me, put it in your mouth and come rescue me.”

“Forget it! I'll never set foot in that filthy pit of poison.”

I knew he would be the first to rush there, so I would never let that happen.

“Get some rest. I'll be going now.”

“Don't push yourself too hard. It may seem like a grand matter with your destiny at stake right now... but once it's past, you'll see it wasn't such a big thing.”

“Yes. I'll remember that.”

It was already dark when I left the Blood Heaven Saber Demon's residence.

When everyone's attention is on me, watching to see which path I'll take, the pressure to do well sometimes weighs me down.

At those times, there is always someone who comes to mind. Forgetting the Poison King, forgetting Father's permission, I walked slowly, following the instinctive pull toward solace.

* * *

Today, too, Yi An was burying her efforts in the passing years.

As she performed the Heaven-Soaring Sword Art at the ninth level, I could sense the maturity forged by her painstaking efforts.

SHING.

The sword qi split in two before her chest. She still lacked the internal energy to divide it further, but she had succeeded in executing Shadowed Heaven precisely.

WHOOSH. WHOOSH!

The two streaks of sword qi shot through the air and planted themselves on either side of my face. Her sword was on the left, the sword-shaped qi on the right.

Once, she had been so absorbed in training that she never noticed my arrival. Now she was launching Shadowed Heaven at me.

“I can send you out into the Central Plains without worry now. It's time to leave the mountain, Yi An. Try not to go around killing too many people.”

“No, Young Master. I'm going to stay right by your side and live comfortably like this forever. Ah! Though my comfortable days are over now.”

“Congratulations.”

“You heard, didn't you? Senior Blue Face has finally joined the Ghost Shadow Squad as First Team Leader.”

Her voice trembled. Apart from matters involving me, this must have been a momentous event in her life. The successor who would become the next Wicked Laughing Demon had become a team leader in the organization she headed.

“How do you feel?”

“Nervous.”

“The most important thing is to believe in yourself. People pick up on it uncannily fast. Oh, that person isn't confident about leading us. We're fucked. We're going to die for nothing.”

Yi An sighed.

“I believe in myself. What worries me is whether my abilities will be enough.”

“If you can't trust yourself, trust your tail.”

She raised her head and grinned.

“That is rather reliable.”

“Discuss it with Blue Face and start building the organization in earnest. There's one principle: create the finest elite unit in the Cult. Look at their skills and their character. We're not making a band of skilled butchers. We're making an elite unit we can trust. Fill it with people like Jang Ho and Investigator Seo. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“From now on, your judgment of people matters more than your martial moves. That's what will keep you alive.”

Yi An's life as the head of an organization began now.

We talked about this and that. Being with her put my heart at ease. The moon, which had looked so forlorn on my way here, now filled the window, bathing the world in warm light.

I didn't forget one last tease before we parted. She had endured all those side effects and gone through so much to become beautiful, yet all she ever did was train. Someone had to say something, even if it was only me.

“I thought you were the greatest beauty under heaven, but perhaps not.”

Yi An immediately tensed, wondering what I meant.

“You're even prettier than before you left the Cult. If you were already the greatest beauty under heaven, you shouldn't be able to get any prettier, should you?”

I left her there blushing. Yi An wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

* * *

The next day, I stopped by the Demon Physician's clinic on my way to see the Poison King.

With no patients at the moment, he was enjoying a quiet spell and looked surprised to see me.

“Second Young Master, I've been seeing you often lately.”

“Watching you save lives somehow puts me in a good mood, Medical Sage.”

How could the Demon Physician fail to realize I had come with a purpose?

“Another patient could arrive at any moment, so tell me what you need.”

“There's something I'd like to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you happen to have any dealings with the Poison King?”

I asked as though I didn't know, but I was aware that the Demon Physician was the only person the Poison King associated with. It was one of the few things I knew about him.

“One of you saves lives, and the other kills people with poison, doesn't he? They say extremes meet, so I thought perhaps the two of you might be friends.”

“Why the Poison King?”

“There's something I want from Father, and he made it a condition that I persuade the Poison King and bring him along.”

The Demon Physician shook his head.

“Then the Cult Leader has no intention of losing that bet.”

He, too, doubted I could persuade the Poison King.

“I know you're an extraordinary person, Second Young Master. But the Poison King won't be easy.”

“Is there anything you can tell me?”

The Demon Physician held his tongue for a moment. He was likely weighing how much to tell me, caught between his friendship with the Poison King and his relationship with me.

“I've met many human poison vessels in my lifetime, but I've never seen anyone as devoted to poison as the Poison King. His pride is just as strong. He believes the Cult Leader is the only person he cannot kill with his poisons.”

That was another reason not to reveal my immunity to all poisons carelessly. The moment I mishandled his pride and self-respect, I would ruin everything.

“Wait a moment.”

The Demon Physician briefly left and returned with a small medicine bottle.

“This is the best antidote I have. I can't guarantee it will counter every poison the Poison King has, but it should help.”

I handed it back to him.

“Please put this medicine to good use elsewhere.”

“Why?”

“The Poison King could only poison me if he were prepared to stake his life on a rebellion. In that case, he'd use a poison no antidote could counter.”

“You're right.”

The Demon Physician nodded.

“I'll come see you again.”

I had visited the Demon Physician because he would be the greatest help in persuading the Poison King.

'There will be something I'll need your help with. And it won't just be for me. It will be for you as well, Demon Physician.'

As I rose to leave, the Demon Physician offered one last remark.

“Do you know what the Poison King's dream is? To compile all the poisons in the world and preserve them in a book. Even now, he is quietly researching poison alone. Getting him out of his laboratory will be the key. He has no interest in the world.”

The Poison King had lied even to the only person he associated with. His dream wasn't to compile all the world's poisons.

He dreamed of becoming the Supreme Poison Master Under Heaven, bringing Murim to its knees with his poisons.

Leaving the clinic, I headed southwest within the Cult's grounds. There lay the Thousand-Poison Forest, where the Poison King lived.