Chapter 39 - This Is How You Handle It

On my way back from meeting the Single Flower Sword Supreme, I found the Blood Heaven Saber Demon waiting at his usual spot along the path.

"What did that fox say?"

The Single Flower Sword Supreme had him on edge.

"She told me to sever my ties with you, sir."

"Of course! What did I tell you? Didn't I say she would? Did she give a reason?"

"She said the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and I have different ideals. That you're too freewheeling..."

"Fucking bullshit."

Cold demonic qi swirled out of his body.

"So what will you do?"

"Naturally, I'll join whoever offers me better terms."

"What?"

I deliberately provoked him.

"I should weigh my options while I can. Wouldn't you do the same?"

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon couldn't get angry. He would have done the same himself.

"For now, you have the advantage. Surely she won't offer anything better than the Divine Pill Beyond Heaven?"

"She might. She'd do anything if it meant ruining me."

"How did things get so bad between you and Senior Single Flower Sword Supreme, anyway?"

After a pause, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon said,

"Do you need a reason to hate someone?"

I knew the reason.

The two of them had a reason no one in the world would believe. Villains they might be, and neither would tolerate being second to anyone in their hunger for power, yet...

"Would you care for a drink? If you go back like this, won't you just brood over it and feel bitter?"

"What do you take me for?"

"Being cold and detached? I don't consider that a virtue. When you're upset, be upset. When you're in a bad mood, talk it out. Come on, let's go. Drinks are on me today."

He seemed to consider it briefly, then abruptly launched himself away.

"I'll wait in Demon Family Village."

In an instant, he vanished into the distance.

What a temper that old man had.

Still, he had definitely changed since he first approached me and kept prodding me in the ribs.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was waiting for me outside the Merry Life Tavern, run by Jo Chunbae.

"I thought you'd be at a courtesan house."

"I dislike places where women entertain you."

"That's unexpected."

"Unexpected? Why? Do I look like a womanizer?"

"No, that's not what I meant. But your late younger brother enjoyed courtesan houses."

"You'll spoil my drink. Stop talking about that bastard."

"Yes, sir."

Actually, I had brought him up deliberately, to keep any emotional wounds from festering inside him. Though the Blood Heaven Saber Demon didn't seem to need much help with that.

As we took our seats in the Merry Life Tavern, I asked,

"Why did you choose this tavern in particular?"

"You've opened a Yellow Springs Pavilion branch across the street."

Apparently, he had noticed it while passing by and stopped here.

"Be careful. If you beat someone up in the street for no reason, even you'll be brought before me under arrest."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon gave me an incredulous look at my joke.

Jo Chunbae greeted us warmly.

"Welcome, Pavilion Master."

"It's been a while."

"It's an honor to have you visit again."

"I come because the liquor and food are good."

Once Jo Chunbae had taken our order and disappeared toward the kitchen, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon spoke.

"You're needlessly kind."

"What's wrong with being kind?"

"Let sentiment sway you, and sooner or later it'll ruin something. Take that proprietor just now. Will the food be better when you're kind to him like this, or when you tell him you'll kill him if it tastes bad? In that respect, the First Young Master has an advantage over you."

"Being heartless certainly makes life easier."

"It's not too late."

"Even so, I won't climb aboard that carriage of heartlessness."

"Why not?"

"Because I believe the food coming out now will taste better if it was made happily, with someone whistling, rather than trembling in fear."

"Someday, that man will exploit your kindness to ask for and demand bigger things. If you refuse, he'll criticize you and curse you. That's human nature."

"Someday, that man will repay this small kindness with something greater. It might even save my life. That's human nature too."

"We'll see."

We drank together.

"Actually, I think you're more emotional than I am."

"How'd you block my saber with eyes like those? You've got me all wrong."

I thought I had him right. Throughout this entire process of becoming entangled with me, he had expended a great deal of emotion. Even now, he was pouring it into a conversation unlike any he had ever had in his life.

"While we're on the subject, let me say one thing. I think you need to start keeping your Saber Fiends and disciples in line. Otherwise, they'll keep clashing with Yellow Springs Pavilion."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon slowly raised his head and gave me a cold look.

"You're growing more arrogant by the day."

"You're the arrogant one, sir."

"What?"

"Aren't you treating the Cult and my father with contempt? 'It's me. I'm the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. What does it matter how my disciples behave?' Isn't that it?"

CRASH!

The table broke, and the wine bottle and dishes of food fell and shattered.

"You're far too insolent. Sometimes I really want to beat you within an inch of your life."

After glaring at me, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon shouted at the blameless Jo Chunbae.

"What are you standing there staring at? Bring a table here, and fresh wine and food!"

"That's not how you handle a situation like this. This is how you do it."

I rose, moved to the next table, and placed money on it.

"I'm sorry. This should be enough to cover the broken things and today's lost business."

Jo Chunbae waved his hands, refusing the money.

"It's all right. Really, it's all right."

"It's not all right with me. Take it, and set out wine and food here again. Enough to make the table groan."

"Yes!"

Jo Chunbae took the money and hurried into the kitchen.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon scowled fiercely.

"You expect me to do that sort of thing?"

"If you don't want to, you shouldn't smash things."

"Are you trying to teach a Demon Supreme to do good deeds?"

"The Demonic Path I intend to establish doesn't smash up inns just because someone's in a bad mood."

"You really—!"

"Stop shouting and come sit here."

In the end, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon sat at the table I had moved to.

"Insolent brat. You really are out of your fucking mind!"

He glared at me, then said coldly,

"Betray me, and I'll kill you."

Jo Chunbae, returning with fresh wine, flinched. Then he pretended he hadn't heard, set down the wine and cups, and returned to the kitchen.

I filled a fresh cup to the brim and handed it to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

"Did you mean what you just said?"

"Yes. I meant it."

"Then be genuinely loyal to me. Only then can you make a threat like that. When you've given your sincere loyalty and your master betrays and abandons you, that's when you can drive a sword into his heart."

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon couldn't argue.

I filled my own cup and held it out for a toast.

He snorted and drank alone. Though our cups never touched, I heard their clink in my heart.

* * *

A man entered the Single Flower Sword Supreme's cottage.

It was Sa Ujong, her right-hand man.

"The Second Young Master is currently drinking with the Blood Heaven Saber Demon."

The Single Flower Sword Supreme stood with her back to him and said nothing.

"He's an insolent brat."

Only then did she turn and glare coldly at Sa Ujong. He bowed his head.

"I apologize."

"Watch your tongue. There's nothing more vulgar than speaking carelessly behind someone's back."

"I'll bear that in mind."

Sa Ujong had insulted Geom Mugeuk deliberately, knowing it would anger the Sword Supreme. He believed he was giving voice to the feelings she couldn't show outwardly.

He believed he was special to her. She spoke respectfully even to the gatekeepers, yet only with him did she comfortably dispense with such courtesy. He was special.

"He isn't the Second Young Master I knew."

In the few short months since the martial contest, the storm Geom Mugeuk had stirred up had been steadily growing.

"Even so, it's only a storm in a teacup."

Sa Ujong underestimated Geom Mugeuk, but the Single Flower Sword Supreme thought differently.

"What if that teacup is large enough to hold all of Murim? That greedy old man offered him the Divine Pill Beyond Heaven. It's as good as offering everything he has. The Saber Demon must have seen the potential for the Second Young Master to become the successor."

"Did you see that potential in him as well, Sword Supreme?"

Geom Mugeuk had certainly shown an unexpected side of himself. But it wasn't enough to warrant giving him an elixir like the Divine Pill Beyond Heaven.

That was why she was irritated. Had the Blood Heaven Saber Demon seen something she hadn't? That damned old man had seen something she couldn't? Her pride was wounded, and she was annoyed.

"Please retire for today. I've prepared someone new."

The Single Flower Sword Supreme looked coldly at Sa Ujong and started to say something. But though her lips were about to move, no words came out.

She turned abruptly and went inside the cottage.

As Sa Ujong watched her retreating figure, his expression was immensely complicated, but his eyes burned.

Inside the cottage, she operated a hidden mechanism. The floor opened, revealing a secret passage.

She descended into it. The farther she went, the more pitch-black it became, yet she moved with the ease of someone who had made the descent many times.

A long corridor lay underground. She walked to its far end and opened the door there.

Inside was a lavishly furnished bedroom.

A young man sitting on a large bed sprang to his feet.

The Single Flower Sword Supreme walked slowly over to a dressing table fitted with a large bronze mirror and sat down. In the reflection, the young man's eyes were filled with fear.

She spoke gently to the young man in the mirror.

"It's all right. Take off your clothes first."

* * *

On my way back after drinking with the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, I stopped at Yi An's training grounds.

The heat I could feel coming from within was enough to tell me how hard she was training.

She moved her massive body all over the training grounds, sweating profusely. The grueling training pushed her past her limits, but not a single movement was wasted.

Watching her, I felt it was time to teach her a new martial art.

"Oh! You're here, Young Master?"

"Looks like you've been training hard lately."

"How did you know?"

"You look like you've lost a little weight."

"Really?"

Though she knew she hadn't, Yi An beamed. Perhaps because I had mentioned her weight, she asked the question she had been holding back.

"Young Master. Was what you said before really true? That you could cure my side effect?"

Knowing her, how much must she have agonized before asking that question? She must have thought over and over about how to respond if I said, "I was joking."

Even if the person who taught her the Whole-Body Petrification Art had told her its side effect could never be removed, she still couldn't have kept herself from asking.

"Can you really cure it?"

I had never seen her so tense.

"I can."

"Really?"

It was time to tell her the truth.

"I know a procedure that can remove the side effect of the Whole-Body Petrification Art."

I had discovered it while wandering throughout the Central Plains in search of materials for the great ritual, determined to restore her original body once I regressed. Thinking about it now, I realized my past life hadn't been only a desolate road devoted to revenge.

"What kind of procedure is it?"

"It's a great ritual called the Bodily Toxin Purification Procedure."

"... Bodily Toxin Purification Procedure?"

She repeated the words several times, then asked again,

"How did you learn it?"

"That's a secret. You know how it is. There are a lot of secrets you have to keep when it comes to martial arts."

"Yes. I know. I understand."

Her voice trembled throughout our conversation.

"Then you could perform it right now."

"I could."

"Then why haven't you?"

"It's an extremely dangerous and difficult procedure. And I don't know what complications might arise during it. That's why I'll perform it once my martial skills are far beyond where they are now."

"Oh! There really was a cure!"

Joy flooded her face.

"You'll have to risk your life. There's no telling what might happen during the procedure. Can you still go through with it?"

"Yes!"

There wasn't the slightest hesitation in her answer.

"That's disappointing."

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

"I thought you'd say, 'If I die, I won't be able to protect you, Young Master, so I won't undergo the procedure.'"

It was a joke meant to head off that possibility.

"You told me to live my own life, didn't you? Or did you not mean it?"

Then she smiled brightly, as if she had been joking.

I knew now. What she had shown me a moment ago was her true self.

Her real feelings had lain dormant, crushed beneath loyalty and responsibility—the perfectly natural feelings any person would have. Those were what I wanted to help her rediscover.

"Yi An."

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Is there anywhere in the Central Plains you'd like to visit?"

"No, nowhere."

She had spent her whole life watching only me. Wherever she went, she probably never got to properly see the sights.

"Let's tour the Central Plains together someday."

"Really?"

"Yes. We'll visit every famous spot and see every magnificent view. I'll let you taste all the famous dishes. I know quite a few places."

"Is that a promise?"

"You have to promise me something too."

"What?"

"Don't abandon me then."