Chapter 52 - If They Hate You Like You Do

My first stop was an inn in the village below Mount Hong. It was crowded with people, and the staff were rushed off their feet. I stood at the entrance for quite some time, but no one came to greet me.

Then I spotted a child carrying dishes back and forth between the kitchen and the customers. The sight brought a smile to my lips.

When I had come here for the Thunderous Sound Bell in my life before regression, that child had welcomed me as a grown adult. The face was just the same, only younger.

The child finally noticed me and scurried over.

“Hello, warrior. As you can see, we have no tables available right now.”

“Do you have a room?”

“No, we’re out of rooms too. We’ve had a flood of guests because of the Blood God Ceremony.”

“When is the Blood God Ceremony?”

“In exactly ten days. There’s another inn at the end of that road, but I doubt things will be any different there.”

With that, the busy child hurried off at another customer’s call.

Ten days before the Blood God Ceremony. I had arrived at just the right time.

The Blood God Ceremony was the Wind Heaven Cult’s greatest ritual, held once a year to honor the Blood God. It was precisely why I needed two months for the third method of countering the Soul-Seizing Demon’s sinister sorcery.

The Blood God Ceremony.

Only on the day of that ceremony could I obtain the means to subdue the Soul-Seizing Demon. Fortunately, it had been two months away. If the timing had been wrong, I might have had to wait a year to kill him.

In my previous life, it had taken years to infiltrate the Wind Heaven Cult Leader’s throne chamber, where the Thunderous Sound Bell was kept. That was how long it had taken to discover the secret passage he used to escape in an emergency.

The actual infiltration and theft of the sacred relic had taken less than half a quarter-hour, but finding that passage had taken all those years.

Even after I had painstakingly discovered the secret passage, stealing the Thunderous Sound Bell was far from easy.

The problem was the Wind Heaven Cult Leader. He spent most of his time in the throne chamber. He ate there and even slept there. I could not take advantage of his brief trips to relieve himself, either, because bars of ten-thousand-year cold iron were lowered over the area where the Thunderous Sound Bell and the other sacred relics were kept.

Moreover, the Wind Heaven Cult Leader was not the only person there. Someone else guarded the sacred relics.

Shackled with ten-thousand-year cold iron, he lived beside the Thunderous Sound Bell like a spirit bound to a single place. Not only was he an outstanding martial artist, he had been born with an exceptional sense of smell. Whenever anyone approached, he noticed immediately and warned the Wind Heaven Cult Leader.

Stealing the relic without the cult leader noticing was therefore impossible.

How, then, had I managed to take the Thunderous Sound Bell?

Exactly once a year, there was a moment when the bars were raised and the Wind Heaven Cult Leader briefly left his seat.

The day of the Blood God Ceremony.

On that day, the prescribed rites required him to leave his throne chamber and perform the ceremony at the great training ground. Meanwhile, the shackled master guarding the Thunderous Sound Bell had to strike it thirty-six times in accordance with ritual law. The moment I targeted was the final, thirty-sixth strike.

After the final toll, it took the Wind God Cult Leader the time needed to drink a cup of tea to return from the great training ground to his throne chamber.

In that brief span, I accomplished a miracle.

I had rehearsed my escape dozens of times, allowing me to evade the Wind Heaven Cult’s pursuit.

Investigating, infiltrating, winning people over, fighting, practicing... The countless things I had done back then flashed through my mind.

My target this time was kept in the same place as the Thunderous Sound Bell. Stealing it would be simpler than carrying out that bulky bell, so this journey to the Wind Heaven Cult could be considered a gift from the hardships of my previous life.

I stood in front of the inn for a while, watching the crowds pass by.

Countless martial organizations with ties to the Wind Heaven Cult sent congratulatory delegations for the Blood God Ceremony, filling not only the inns but the streets as well.

That was exactly what I wanted. With so many people here, no one would remember me. Of course, even amid these crowds, I kept my identity thoroughly concealed beneath a bamboo hat pulled low over my face. I would arrive quietly and vanish without a sound.

At several shops in the marketplace, I bought camping supplies, basic provisions, and a pot for brewing medicine.

My final stop was an apothecary.

“You want qi-flower herb?”

The old apothecary looked at me in surprise.

“That’s expensive.”

Qi-flower herb grew only here beyond the frontiers. It could not be obtained in the Central Plains.

“How much is it per catty?”

“How much do you need?”

“Two catties.”

“You’ll have to pay eighty taels per catty. I don’t know whether you’re aware, but it’s a very rare herb.”

“Understood. I’ll take two catties at that price.”

“What do you intend to use it for, though?”

Qi-flower herb was seldom used, so the old man looked at me again. But I had kept my bamboo hat pulled low ever since entering the shop, leaving him unable to see my face. I was also using a voice different from my own.

“I don’t know either. I’m buying it on orders from above.”

The old man asked no further questions and brought out the qi-flower herb. After letting me inspect it, he carefully wrapped it up for me. I paid him and left.

Leaving that apothecary, I went to another one far away. This time, I sought bird cherry and mallow.

After obtaining those two ingredients, I visited an apothecary in another distant village and bought jimsonweed and white sandalwood.

There was only one reason I bought the herbs from different places: to keep anyone else from knowing what I was making with them. Buying everything in one shop probably would not cause any trouble, but I was taking precautions against the slightest possibility.

There was no harm in being careful. In ordinary life, shirking a troublesome task cost you money. In Murim, it cost you your life.

Once I had all the herbs I needed, I headed straight into the mountains.

Deep in the rarely traveled mountains, the cave where I had once stayed was still there. I cleaned it out and started brewing the medicine first.

Some ingredients had to be brewed separately, while others needed to be brewed together. It would take at least several days.

This was a special concoction that could numb the shackled master’s sense of smell. He had said he had been held captive ever since his youth, so he would certainly be there now. The time and money I had spent discovering this secret formula back then had been considerable as well.

While the medicine simmered, I sat cross-legged and practiced the Heavenly Demon’s Body-Protection Art.

I had nearly died when I first learned it, but now it had become an indispensable childhood friend. The more I practiced it, the more I sensed its unique qualities.

Was that because of the art’s nature? It roused me when danger came and activated on its own, so I often felt as though it were a living martial art. I knew it would grow even stronger when combined with the Nine Calamities Demonic Art. All I could do was hope that day would come soon.

After training late into the night, I stepped out of the cave and looked up at the stars.

I had stood here looking at the night sky before my regression as well, but one feeling was fundamentally different now.

Back then, my only thought had been to return to the past. Now, in place of that determination, I felt a longing for the people I missed. I was particularly curious whether Seo Daeryong was learning well under the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

Both would deny it, but they were rather alike.

‘He’s doing well, isn’t he?’

* * *

On his first day of training, Seo Daeryong waited for the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in the courtyard.

He had arrived on time, but the elder had yet to come out.

To think he would be learning martial arts from the Blood Heaven Saber Demon. His heart truly felt as though it might burst.

He tried swinging the saber by himself. Without internal energy, it was indeed far too heavy.

Deciding not to waste his strength, he waited for the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

When the elder still had not appeared after a long wait, Seo Daeryong cautiously approached his quarters.

He was peering through a gap in the closed window when he sensed a cold presence beside him. He turned with a start to find the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, who had appeared without his noticing, peering through the window alongside him.

“What are you snooping at?”

“Aagh!”

Seo Daeryong screamed in fright.

“S-sorry! I was waiting, and I wondered if you were inside.”

“I hear the Second Young Master has left the Cult?”

“Yes.”

“And he’ll be gone for about two months?”

“You’ve heard, then.”

“Plenty of time for someone to disappear, or perhaps die in an accident.”

Seo Daeryong hurriedly replied.

“The Pavilion Master is extremely astute. He would never believe such a tragedy could occur in a mere two months.”

“An astute man should soon forget a tragedy that’s already happened, then.”

With his long, slender fingers, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon mimed gouging out eyes.

“I’ll never peek again!”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“Ah, yes. I’m going!”

Seo Daeryong hurried to the center of the courtyard.

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon showed him how to hold and swing the saber. Then, heading back inside, he said,

“A thousand times!”

Drenched in sweat, Seo Daeryong kept swinging his saber.

“Eight hundred fifty-three, eight hundred fifty-four...”

The saber felt impossibly heavy, as though it would tear his arms from their sockets.

‘Ugh, I can’t do any more!’

He flopped onto his back on the ground. Even if the Blood Heaven Saber Demon was watching, there was nothing he could do. He did not have the strength to twitch a finger.

Ordinarily, this would be the time he lay on his bed at home, eating snacks and reading a book.

‘Did I get myself into this for nothing?’

Now that his body was suffering, regret came flooding in.

‘No, no. I’ve already made up my mind!’

If he failed to finish his training and was kicked out on the very first day, he would never be able to face Geom Mugeuk.

He sprang up and swung the saber. Somehow, he managed to complete all thousand swings.

“I did it!”

Sitting on the ground, he gazed down at the saber in his hand.

That cold, solid weight! Yes, if he followed that feeling, it would surely guide him toward a better life than one spent idling around.

Just then, the window opened, revealing the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.

“If it’s too hard, quit. I won’t stop you.”

Seo Daeryong sprang to his feet. His arms felt as though they would fall off, but he spoke firmly.

“I won’t quit.”

“Why?”

“I’ll never have an opportunity like this again.”

“I will never teach you my exclusive martial art, you know.”

“I don’t expect you to. The opportunity I mean is the chance to learn martial arts from you, Demon Supreme. Someday, when I have a child, I’ll say, ‘Your father learned martial arts from the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in his younger days.’ That’s enough for me. As a martial artist, having a memory like that is all I need.”

“So you do intend to marry.”

“Yes. I’d like to.”

“Why?”

“I want to raise a child. I want to give them the fatherly love my own father never gave me, not even once.”

His words carried a sense of history and sorrow.

“What if your child hates you, just as you hate your father?”

“Then... would you put my child through this training too?”

The Blood Heaven Saber Demon chuckled at his reply.

Pleased at having made the elder laugh, Seo Daeryong broke into a broad smile as well.

As he closed the window, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon said,

“Another thousand!”