I was swallowed by the Demonic Qi along with Seol Ri-hyang. And when I closed my eyes and opened them again, the world had been destroyed.
But in a way I didn't recognize.
"Surely not…?"
I hastily looked around. Buildings so thoroughly shattered that it was hard to make out their original forms, let alone that they had collapsed.
The corpses scattered here and there were clearly decayed or bore the marks of having been torn apart by wild beasts.
But what caught my eye even more than that were the corpses of beasts, not humans, visible here and there.
And these were no ordinary beasts.
Centipedes the size of small buildings, tigers gleaming with golden light, carp as large as a person, monkeys with skin made of stone.
The power each possessed seemed different, but one thing was certain—they were all Spirit Beasts.
I didn't know every battlefield from before my regression, but if Spirit Beasts had died in droves like this, there was no way I wouldn't have heard about it.
Yet this was a scene I didn't recognize at all. More than anything else.
"…Heavenly Demon."
There was a young man staring blankly at the devastation where everything had collapsed.
He was younger than the figure I knew, and his emotions were far more raw on his face… but he was unmistakably the Heavenly Demon.
Beside me, looking just as bewildered, Seol Ri-hyang spoke in a grave voice.
"Cheon Hwi. Something's off here. It feels similar to when I peeked into your memories using my technique."
"Wait. What does that mean?"
"Yes. It must be someone's memory. Perhaps the owner of this memory is…"
Seol Ri-hyang's hand naturally pointed toward a man. The only man standing aside from us.
"This is probably the Heavenly Demon's memory."
"This is insane."
We had entered the Heavenly Demon's memory.
***
My surprise lasted only a moment. If this truly was the Heavenly Demon's memory, there was no need to worry much. If anything, this could be called an opportunity.
After all, I had long since experienced cutting through a technique similar to this one.
I hadn't tested it, but the moment I gripped my sword and surveyed my surroundings with the Heavenly Eye, I could sense it intuitively.
This could be cut.
In other words, if I wanted to escape, I could escape at any time.
At the same time, I could also learn information about the Heavenly Demon.
Above all… if this really was the Heavenly Demon's memory, then regardless of which regression it was, the odds were high that it was a memory from a previous cycle.
If I played my cards right, I might even be able to uncover the truth about the Heavenly Demon's multiple regressions—something I had never been able to learn before.
Since Seol Ri-hyang, who wasn't bound by the seal, was here with me, unlike myself.
"For now, it's best to look around."
"That seems wise. This is your first time entering a memory, isn't it, Cheon Hwi? You've probably heard the gist of it, but let me explain a few rules again."
Seol Ri-hyang had been tense, but once she realized it was safe, she continued her explanation with a slightly smug air.
That here we couldn't interfere with anything and could only watch, that we could move freely through the wide streets but couldn't stray too far from the owner of the memory, and so on.
I'd heard it explained many times before, but since I'd never actually imagined I'd end up inside someone's memory myself, it was quite helpful.
Perhaps the shock had been great, for the Heavenly Demon just stood there blankly looking around for a while, which gave us plenty of time.
And so, just as Seol Ri-hyang's explanation came to an end, the Heavenly Demon, who had been standing still as if broken, finally began to move.
Staggering footsteps. A gaze still half out of focus. I never imagined the Heavenly Demon could wear such an expression, but… that kind of appearance itself was familiar.
"He's looking for survivors."
"Are there even any survivors?"
"Who knows. But whether there are or not isn't what matters."
He just hopes someone is alive. That he isn't the only one left. He entrusts his body to that hope and moves. But.
"…There's no one."
"Well. Honestly, the fact that even the Heavenly Demon alone survived is already a feat."
That was how thoroughly the entire surrounding area had been destroyed.
Even Seol Ri-hyang had vaguely sensed it, so the Heavenly Demon of the past must have known as well.
But he neither stopped his steps nor stopped calling out someone's name.
The desperation that could be felt even from here. Well, it made sense. Even the Heavenly Demon was human, so he couldn't have been that numb from the start.
It must have been worn down and eroded in this very manner.
"By the way, I can't hear whose name he's calling."
"Yeah. It feels similar to when we first entered your memories through the whistle, Cheon Hwi."
That was when they had used the power of the whistle for the first time, relying only on the strength of Jegal Bu and Great Master Gakjeong.
The Grand Ritual back then was incomplete, so it was said that they could only see what had happened within the memories, and obtaining any other information was nearly impossible.
Except for me, the owner of the memories, the faces of the others were invisible, their voices could not be properly discerned, and when names were spoken, the pronunciation was garbled and barely intelligible.
This memory probably felt the same way. If anything, it was worse, since even the Heavenly Demon's voice could not be heard clearly…
That might have been a deliberate choice, made to cram vast amounts of Demonic Qi and complex spells into that small ring.
Well… only the Heavenly Demon would know the truth. And that made sense.
"Hey. This is the Heavenly Demon deliberately showing us this, isn't it?"
"Most likely. As he has always done, that bastard enjoys using tricks to lure me into wanting something. Obtaining your mother's ring and pulling his schemes, bribing your father through some means—all of it was the Heavenly Demon's intention."
"Hah… So in the end, Father sold me out this time too. Not to Giru, but to the Heavenly Demon."
"That… is how it appears. What do you plan to do once we get out of here?"
"Just saying this in case—don't kill him."
"What exactly do you take me for…"
"Well. You fell into the Heavenly Demon's trap because of your father, right? I figured if anyone could handle it, it'd be you, Cheon Hwi."
Seol Ri-hyang shrugged. That was harsh. No matter the situation, he wouldn't just charge in and try to kill her father out of nowhere.
"I was planning to at least get proper permission."
"Isn't it weird to say things like that and then act all wronged every time? Anyway, there's no need for you to get your hands dirty directly. First, find out how the Heavenly Demon approached him if you can, and after that…"
"After that?"
"I'll simply make a formal declaration severing ties. Whether it's Haomun getting fooled outright, or the illness, or those other bullies—they'll sort themselves out."
Seol Ri-hyang said that with an attitude that suggested she truly didn't care anymore. She had certainly softened a lot lately, but it seemed she believed that reaching out once was enough.
"Understood. If that's your wish, Seol Ri-hyang, then I'll follow it."
After all, Seol Du-ho was Seol Ri-hyang's father. The decision about how to treat him shouldn't be mine—it had to be hers.
Seol Ri-hyang curled the corners of her mouth slightly. It was the moment she quietly took my hand to express her gratitude.
The Heavenly Demon, who had been walking without rest on an injured leg, finally stopped.
Before him lay the ruins of what had once been his home. Seeing the corpses buried among the debris, he sank weakly to his knees.
Among the scattered bodies, some were mutilated far more severely than the others.
Not only were arms and legs missing here and there, but there were signs they had been broken beyond necessity—as if someone had been playing with them.
Even so, judging by the few intact parts that remained… they must have been the Heavenly Demon's wife and child.
Clutching the pieces of the corpses, the Heavenly Demon prostrated himself on the ground and began to sob. Though no sound of weeping reached us, his despair came through all too clearly.
Seeing the Heavenly Demon like that, Seol Ri-hyang spoke in a troubled voice.
"Maybe this is the reason the Heavenly Demon became a Demonic Cultist? Who could have done something like this? With all the Spirit Beast corpses around here… Namman? Or a village nearby?"
"Hard to say…"
Now that I had grown somewhat accustomed to this world inside the memory, I could finally examine the surrounding corpses in more detail. The conclusion I reached was:
"This looks like a fight between humans and Spirit Beasts. And the location isn't near Namman—it's around the edge of Hubei Province."
"What?"
Seol Ri-hyang blinked her eyes. For her sake, I briefly explained the state of the corpses.
"Look closely. Most of the human corpses have rough wounds, as if they were crushed by something massive or torn apart by claws."
"Ugh… They're so decayed it's hard to tell, but now that I look more carefully, I suppose they do seem that way…"
"On the other hand, the Spirit Beast corpses show far more clean cuts, as if they were sliced by a blade."
"Ah, this side is less decayed, so it's easier to see. …These really are sword wounds."
The corpse of a rabbit Spirit Beast with abnormally long ears. Seol Ri-hyang nodded as she looked at the wound on its flank.
"I don't know the reason, but I can tell that humans and Spirit Beasts fought and it came to this. But how do you know this isn't near Namman? And if it isn't near Namman in the first place, how could this many Spirit Beasts be here?"
"I don't know how this many Spirit Beasts remain either. Perhaps if we look a bit deeper into the Heavenly Demon's memories, we'll find out… But the reason I suspect this is Hubei Province rather than Namman is simple."
The Heavenly Demon, tears still streaming down his face, gathered what little remained of his wife and child's bodies and began digging into the earth with his bare hands.
Seol Ri-hyang pointed to the half-shattered signboard stuck in the ground nearby. It was an inn's signboard, bearing the emblem that marked it as being under the protection of the Jegal Clan.
"No matter how powerful the Jegal Clan is, they wouldn't extend their protection beyond their home province of Hubei."
"Ah."
Seol Ri-hyang alternated her gaze between the Heavenly Demon, who was digging with a heavy expression, and the fragments of the signboard. She let out a soft sigh before speaking.
"So to summarize… the Heavenly Demon originally lived in Hubei Province, and lost his entire family to Spirit Beasts?"
"That would seem to be the case."
"I heard that during Sister Seomun's time, there were quite a number of Spirit Beasts. So many that it was a Martial Artist's role to take down rampaging ones. Back then, even Harmony Realm-level Spirit Beasts were said to occasionally roam the Central Plains. …Is the Heavenly Demon really that old? Well, I suppose it makes sense. He crossed the Harmony Realm wall that no one else could even attempt. He can't be young."
"That could be the case."
I gave a vague nod to Seol Ri-hyang's guess.
Unfortunately, it seemed she hadn't yet arrived at the fact that the Heavenly Demon was also a regressor like me.
I'd expected as much. When the Martial Princess shared the information about regressors she'd uncovered from the Imperial Court, she'd spoken as if there was a rule that regressors appeared during times of chaos in the world, and that only one existed per era.
That itself was true. The problem was that she didn't know that the beings who had been involved in regression had left the mortal world, and that this had caused a problem with that very rule.
Just as I had witnessed the world destroyed by the Heavenly Demon, the Heavenly Demon must have witnessed a destruction caused by something other than himself, and become a regressor.
And that was probably… a war between humans and Spirit Beasts.
I wasn't certain, but I had a guess as to the reason.
Just as with the North Sea Ice Palace, the territories of humans and Spirit Beasts had begun to overlap, and Natural Qi was gradually dwindling—a kind of survival competition had begun.
The Spirit Beasts, who were far more sensitive to Natural Qi itself since they handled it directly rather than refining it into internal energy like humans, would have been the ones to strike first.
If this was a memory from when the Heavenly Demon had just become a regressor, then the fact that Spirit Beasts were so rare in the present age that they had nearly gone extinct…
"It wasn't simply a change in the environment—did the Heavenly Demon alone kill every one he saw?"
"…Cheon Hwi! Look over there!"
"Hm?"
Perhaps it was because I hadn't entered with a physical body, but was merely skimming through the scenery of a memory.
My Qi Sense wasn't working properly, and I only noticed it after hearing Seol Ri-hyang's shout.
"And what is that supposed to be?"
A Spirit Beast sat atop a pile of rubble, sneering at the Heavenly Demon.
A monkey whose fur, hide, and even skin were all made of a texture like stone.
Calling it a monkey was generous—its size was comparable to that of a full-grown adult man.
When the creature cackled aloud, even the Heavenly Demon, who had been focused on digging through the earth, couldn't help but notice.
The Heavenly Demon flinched, then quickly rose and assumed a fighting stance. Spotting a small doll clutched in the monkey's grip, he gnashed his teeth.
Grind.
It was probably something the Heavenly Demon's child used to play with.
The monkey Spirit Beast grinned under the Heavenly Demon's gaze, then, as if showing off, tore off the doll's arms and legs, and finally ripped open its belly before tossing it to the ground.
The sight resembled the corpse left behind by the Heavenly Demon's child.
That stone monkey had probably played with the Heavenly Demon's family before killing them.
The enraged Heavenly Demon clenched his blood-soaked hands from digging at the earth and assumed a stance.
It was clumsy beyond measure, but it bore the traces of someone who had learned martial arts.
Perhaps those clumsy fists were the very prototype of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
An unexpected opportunity. Though it was not yet perfected, wasn't this a chance to examine the Heavenly Demon's martial art from its very roots?
I swallowed my saliva and focused on the battle about to unfold. But.
Thud!
The Heavenly Demon couldn't land a single proper punch before the monkey's kick sent him flying helplessly.
"Hm?"
The Heavenly Demon tumbled across the ground for a long while. When he finally came to a stop… he could no longer move.
"Surely this isn't the end?"
Part of it was that the stone monkey was stronger than expected… but more than that, the Heavenly Demon was simply too weak.
While both Seol Ri-hyang and I stood frozen, caught off guard by the unexpected sight.
The monkey's mocking laughter rang out loudly, and the world began to darken.
And when I closed my eyes and opened them again, I was back in the scene I had first seen.
Shattered debris. Ground littered with the corpses of humans and Spirit Beasts tangled together. And at the center of it all, the Heavenly Demon staring blankly down at his own body.
Only then did I understand.
"Ah."
The Heavenly Demon had just died and regressed.
…To a mere half-sijin before.
"This is a bit much."
What could he possibly do with only half a sijin to go back?
Why did the Heavenly Demon's regression have to be so difficult?