After the sparring bout ended, the Beast Palace Lord formally announced that Tang So-wol would take charge of his treatment, and that the Sichuan Tang Clan would henceforth become a close ally of the Beast Palace.
The Demonic Physician, who had suddenly lost his patient, accepted the situation without much complaint and withdrew from the Beast Palace.
Tang So-wol's research, having received some of the Beast Palace's martial arts passages, was also progressing smoothly.
A result more ideal than could be asked for.
But precisely because of that, I found myself growing more and more troubled.
"What in the world happened?"
The Demonic Physician, who should have remained at Transcendent Peak, had risen to the Harmony Realm—and that enlightenment was not a half-forged thing forcibly injected by someone, but a complete one… and I could sense neither madness nor vengeance from him.
For a moment, I entertained the thought that he was simply hiding it from me, but that was practically impossible.
Forging an Aura absolutely requires Intent, and that Intent is heavily influenced by an individual's inner state of mind.
That is why a martial art always carries the mark of its practitioner's mind, and the Aura—which can be called the very essence of martial arts—is nothing less than that inner state made manifest.
Setting aside hiding or showing, how could one possibly disguise something that is what it is?
Every Harmony Realm martial artist must, at least once, confront their true self and arrive at their own answer in order to wield Intent.
That was why I had believed it impossible for a Demonic Physician tormented by madness and a vengeance with nowhere to go to ascend to the Harmony Realm… but.
To put it differently, if he had set aside his madness and his thirst for revenge, that meant he was ready to awaken his Intent.
Just as I only ascended to the Harmony Realm after letting go of my obsession with killing intent, and just as Seomun Hwa-rin only reached it after acknowledging and accepting her own regrets.
If the martial arts I had built up over the years were not wrong, and if what I had felt during my sparring bout with the Demonic Physician was not just my imagination.
Then, astonishingly, the Demonic Physician must have abandoned his madness and his thirst for revenge and reached the Harmony Realm through his own power.
Even after he had completely lost his mind before the regression, these were things he had never been able to let go of.
I did not know what had changed the Demonic Physician's future. But one thing was certain…
This change in the Demonic Physician was not the direction the Heavenly Demon wanted.
If I were the Heavenly Demon, I would have guided things to flow according to my original expectations.
The Demonic Physician would still be mad, clinging to the impossible Corpse Puppetry Arts, secretly planting all sorts of things in the patients he had healed.
And in the end, the barely-formed Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance would crumble from within, unable to muster its strength for a while.
Wasn't that the best he could do, given that the Heavenly Demon himself possessed martial power second to none, while the other Demonic Cultists were comparatively weak?
Thus, it was highly likely that this change in the Demonic Physician was not caused by the Heavenly Demon.
Then what on earth had made the Demonic Physician change so drastically? And what was I to do with the Demonic Physician as he was now?
"Phew…"
"You there. Sighing again. So the Demonic Physician is really weighing on your mind, is he?"
"Yes, something like that."
I had been meditating to try to catch a trace of the Azure-White Flood Dragon that had melted into that killing intent, but somehow, all that came to mind were other things.
I had been in this state ever since the sparring bout with the Demonic Physician, so it was only natural that Seomun Hwa-rin had noticed.
"Hmm. I cannot say I understand it well. It is only natural that you cannot predict everything in this world."
"That may be so, but the unease is too great to simply brush aside."
"Is it not rather a good thing? It means the Demonic Physician may never turn against us as an enemy."
"But what if he becomes an even stronger enemy and commits something beyond my ability to foresee?"
"If you put it that way, I too might one day be consumed by the fire I thought I had extinguished, and strangle you in your sleep."
"Pardon?"
"Did you not defeat the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate? That rendered my revenge incomplete, so it would only be right for you to bear the brunt of my anger. …That is what I would say if you asked how I would respond."
"Hmm."
After a moment's deliberation, I nodded.
"There's no helping it. I'll just have to let Senior Seomun Hwa-rin kill me once."
"What?"
I grabbed the flustered Seomun Hwa-rin's hand and pulled it to my neck.
She reflexively moved to guard my neck, then flinched. I curled the corners of my mouth into a grin at her.
"It's not as if I could do anything to you, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Even so, you can't just take it lying down! Fight back!"
"Is that so. If I resist, you'll have no choice but to force me…"
"Isn't that a bit odd to say?!"
"It's assuming the case where Senior Seomun Hwa-rin suddenly lost her mind, so this is just about right."
"Eek! Eeek…!"
She was stomping her feet, so I let her go. Then, as if she'd been waiting for that, Seomun Hwa-rin roughly pulled her hand away.
In the process, did her nails scratch me? I felt a slight burning sensation from the back of my neck.
I hadn't neglected my External Arts training, and I'd undergone Bone-Exchange Rebirth, hadn't I? Naturally, it didn't hurt much.
It would probably just swell up red for a moment. It would heal by dinnertime.
Taking it lightly, I uncrossed my legs and was about to rise from my seat, when—
"…Stay still."
As if she felt a bit sorry for going that far, Seomun Hwa-rin crept closer and sat down on my lap as she was.
Her cheeks were still puffed out from being teased a moment ago, but her eyes had already softened.
"It doesn't hurt much, you know."
"I know. Still, just stay still."
Answering with a touch of gruffness, Seomun Hwa-rin fiddled with my chin, adjusting the angle, then stretched her neck out long.
Slurp.
A lukewarm, soft sensation brushed against the nape of my neck.
Seomun Hwa-rin was licking my neck.
"…What are you doing?"
"Hmph. When this lady goes this far for you, you should just say thank you and accept it."
"You sound like an old granny today, but you're not wrong."
"O-oh, granny…!"
Unable to let that one slide, Seomun Hwa-rin patted my thigh with her small hand, thump thump.
How long did that strange time pass—her sitting on my lap, licking my nape while slapping my thigh?
Deciding that was enough, she stopped her tongue and leaned into me, half-lying against my body.
"Do you know why I'm going to all this trouble?"
"I've only thought of you as troublesome one time out of three, and this isn't it… but I suppose it's because I seem too lost in thought, too worn down."
"That much, was it…? Ahem. Ah, well, you've read me correctly. No matter what you do or how boldly you handle it, when you're this coiled up over a single matter, how could I not take notice?"
"Hah. Was it that obvious?"
"It was that obvious. Won't you tell me a little more? What makes this matter so different from the ones before, that it weighs on you so deeply?"
"It's nothing much. I just wondered—what if the demonic energy really had changed on its own?"
"Hm?"
Most Demonic Cultists carry their own personal demon within their chests, save for exceptions like the Sword Demon.
However, that is not to say it is absolute evil. The demonic is that which disturbs the human heart. And so, the demonic is everywhere.
The reason I cut down every Demonic Cultist I encountered was that their path ran opposite to mine, and that no matter how much it was for revenge, they crossed the line too often.
Victims who became perpetrators. Those who became monsters themselves in order to bring down a monster. Racehorses that cannot stop even knowing it is wrong.
As one who has lived for a long time within Qi Deviation, to be honest…
I pity the Demonic Cultists.
Because if I had experienced what the Demonic Way had experienced, I could not be confident that I would have reached a different conclusion.
Though regression granted me a new chance, in the end I extinguished the flames of killing intent that I had been feeding with my own body as fuel all this time.
I was able to let go of my obsessions and realize what I truly desired.
…If I could do it, wouldn't others be able to as well?
Even without experiencing regression, given enough time—or in the future that I and the Heavenly Demon have reshaped—perhaps a small opportunity that was unattainable in the previous life would present itself.
Take Gwimongmanyeo, Sama Su-ryeon, for example. She had no interest in anything other than her targets of revenge.
Unlike her comrade who wanted to wipe out all martial artists, she thought that as long as she could take revenge on the Sama Clan, that was enough.
But she only agonized over this and never acted on it. That was why she was cut down in turn while trying to kill me and Tang So-wol on the orders of the Demonic Cult.
Suppose I hadn't killed Sama Su-ryeon.
Sama Yuryeon and the Lord of the Black Alliance married earlier than expected and purged the Sama Clan.
If she had been able to join in on that, wouldn't something have changed?
Of course, I know all of this is a meaningless assumption.
Whether there was a chance of things improving or not, what matters is always what's happening right now. Sama Su-ryeon tried to harm me and Tang So-wol, regardless of the circumstances.
No matter how many times I regress, if the same situation arises, I would make the same choice.
So what I'm pondering isn't a pointless fantasy about what might have been in the past.
If the Demonic Physician reached the present through countless assumptions and coincidences, then what should I do about it? That's what I was contemplating.
Even if the Demonic Physician had set aside his obsession, isn't it still true that he could, at any moment, cause the people he once healed to go berserk?
Imagine if numerous masters from both the Orthodox and Unorthodox Sects suddenly went mad after eating and sleeping well.
That would be a problem that's hard to plug up easily. In fact, before the regression, before we knew it was the Demonic Physician's doing, anxiety and tension had spread throughout the entire Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance.
To the point where talk of splitting apart again and each going their own way was being raised.
At the time, I wasn't very well-informed about rumors, so I didn't hear the details, but… they say something similar happened at the Imperial Court.
That's only natural, I suppose, since even the Imperial Court and central officials would seek out a Demonic Physician.
No, wait. That place is far more riddled with power struggles, so things might have gotten even more complicated there.
In truth, if this had been a few years ago, I wouldn't have even entertained such concerns.
I felt it during the sparring bouts. That the current me is definitely stronger than the Demonic Physician.
Perhaps even in a life-and-death duel that called upon my Killing Move… no, if it were a life-and-death duel, I'd win even more easily.
If that's the case, rather than dragging along an unnecessary risk factor, it would be better to just shut my eyes tight and cut down the Demonic Physician.
The problem is that I don't want to.
What difference is there between me and the Demonic Physician? And after all this time since achieving my revenge, what makes me any different from Seomun Hwa-rin, who was ultimately able to let everything go?
I conveyed only what I could say without tripping the seal.
At that, Seomun Hwa-rin nodded with a serious face and spoke.
"I understand. You feel a kinship with him. Then why not simply ask?"
"Pardon?"
"I said you could ask the Demonic Physician directly, and if you decide he's not worth sparing, cut him down. That's all there is to it."
"But… isn't that far too unorthodox?"
"…?"
"…?"
Seomun Hwa-rin and I tilted our heads at each other for a moment, but soon she came to her senses, rose from her knees, and jerked her chin.
"Enough. Get ready first. We should ask So-wol to track him down before he gets any farther."
"But…"
"Whether we let the Demonic Physician go, cut him down, or do nothing at all, we'll regret it either way. So I think the right thing is to try everything we can before making the decision."
"…"
Thinking about it, Seomun Hwa-rin was right. Perhaps I had been trying to handle things too perfectly, especially when it came to the memories from before my regression—the ones tied to matters of considerable importance.
When faced with something unfamiliar, the first step is always to find out more about it.
"Understood. I'll let Tang So-wol know."
"Then I'll tell the Beast Palace people that I'm stepping out for a night stroll. …But what about Hyang-i?"
"Seol Ri-hyang is…"
The Demonic Physician's martial level was Harmony Realm. If something unexpected happened, having Seomun Hwa-rin around would be a great comfort.
Tang So-wol was needed to track down the Demonic Physician who had left the Beast Palace, so she was out of the question.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I shook my head.
"Let's leave Seol Ri-hyang behind. It's not like this will take past tonight anyway."
I decided to hold back the nasty remark that, of course, Seol Ri-hyang was the weakest among us.