Though Tang Jincheon grumbled along the way as if the world had done him wrong, he didn't outright oppose my opinion.
"…I agree with what you, my son-in-law, intend to do, but if you step forward yourself, it will only look like you're strong-arming the Alliance Leader."
"Don't worry. This is only at a level worth attempting, not something I can guarantee victory in. So I won't go too far past the point of no return, and I'll stop at a reasonable line…"
"Then I'll go and speak with him directly. It will inevitably come to a discussion about your seal, but wouldn't that be something he'd learn of anyway once we borrow the military formation?"
"Oh. Is that possible?"
"Well. A small promise will be needed, but it shouldn't be a problem."
"I'll say this just in case, but you don't have to do anything that would bring harm to the Tang Clan because of me."
"Hmm? Ah, so that's why you were talking about smashing the Alliance Leader's office to bits? Not bad. It's too complicated to explain in detail, but the Murim Alliance won't refuse—not for the sake of its own dignity, nor for political reasons. After all, when it comes down to it, you're the one who resolved a situation that could have become serious before it ever got that far."
Tang Jincheon was reassuring me that while the Murim Alliance Leader was wary of me in a somewhat different sense, he wasn't the kind of man to be completely unreasonable.
Well. Unlike me, who only knew how to swing a sword both before the regression and now, Tang Jincheon was skilled at all sorts of negotiations, so his words were probably right.
It was in the same vein as how I left most complicated discussions to Tang So-wol whenever they came up.
No, actually—unlike Tang So-wol, who had only received the education of a direct-line daughter, Tang Jincheon had worked directly as clan head for over thirty years, so he would be even more adept.
"Understood. Then I'll leave it to you, Father-in-law, and wait with an easy mind."
"Right. …I need to retire soon and shove all this onto Cheong-i. I heard at Shaolin Temple last time that the Sword King has already handed over most of his duties."
"Hmm. This might just be my prejudice, but has the Sword King ever actually done his job properly in the first place?"
"Ah!"
He was always the type to abandon everything and rush over anyway, wasn't he?
"I'm actually surprised that Brother Namgung is quietly undergoing his successor training."
"There's a reason for that. He recently took the Changcheon Pill, so it seems he'll be focusing on internal energy training for a while."
"…I see. So it's a situation where he has no choice but to sit still and work."
In any case, these are people born with the sword in their blood yet burdened with a sense of responsibility—they have it rough.
In that sense, the more troublesome things like power and authority you can shove onto others, the better. A live-in son-in-law who gets to avoid all that is practically in the best training environment possible, isn't he?
His nod of agreement lasted only a moment. Tang Jincheon rose from his seat and gathered the luggage he had pushed aside nearby.
"Well, I've confirmed that my son-in-law has woken up in one piece, and since we've settled on our policy for the time being, I'll be on my way."
"You're leaving already?"
"What would I accomplish by sitting here longer? My only daughter keeps giving me looks. …More importantly, I need to relay what I heard today to the Alliance Leader tomorrow, and there's a lot to organize before the negotiations."
"My body is in a strange state right now, so I can't go far. Please see yourself out safely."
"Is there anything more frightening than a Harmony Realm martial artist who can't control their power? Don't move until you've adapted. And it's just right outside—what's there to see me off for?"
Tang Jincheon looked a bit embarrassed, yet a faint smile lingered on his face. He swung his arms and left the room.
I stared at the closed door for a moment, then looked at Tang So-wol with a gaze that asked why she wasn't leaving too.
In response, Tang So-wol nodded with a strangely resolute expression.
"You're envious of the young hero Geomryong, aren't you? I'll try to find a Spiritual Medicine suited for you, young hero Cheon. Something that can bolster your yang energy rather than your internal energy…"
"That's not why I was looking at you. And I won't need any Spiritual Medicine."
"Are you certain?"
"…Probably?"
It wasn't that I lacked confidence. I just wasn't entirely sure.
After all, wasn't it common sense that the higher one's martial arts realm, the better one's physical condition?
After a moment's deliberation, I took back what I'd said earlier.
"Still, I suppose there's no harm in taking it."
"Heh heh. If the young hero Cheon hadn't had his Immunity to All Poisons, we could have settled this a bit more simply. Then again, who knows—if I play my cards right, it might still work."
"Just what are you planning to feed me that makes you smile so suspiciously?"
"Why, the Tang Clan's secret medicine, of course."
"…You certainly have a secret art for everything."
"That's precisely why married couples of the Tang Clan enjoy such harmonious relations."
Tang So-wol shrugged her shoulders at the remark, which could have been either a joke or a serious confession.
After that, they all continued chatting lightly among themselves, but as the night deepened, they finally dispersed to their respective quarters.
***
The days that followed passed without any particular trouble.
Tang Jincheon secured a promise from the Murim Alliance Leader to lend him the Jegal family's forces.
He also succeeded in reclaiming the ownership of the secret manual he had sealed away just in case.
As for the incident where the Vajra Arhat had suddenly gone berserk—just as before the regression, they hushed it up and passed it off as an unfortunate accident.
Having experienced it firsthand, I understood now. Even if some matters were resolved cleanly, burying them could be better for everyone involved.
If the Blood Buddha's existence were to be revealed, just as with the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance before the regression, more people would come to look upon the Buddhist sects with suspicion.
Conversely, there would also be those who, twisted as their methods might be, would show interest in eternal life.
With the threat of the Heavenly Demon looming before them, what reason was there to split apart?
Around the time I was getting used to the sense of dissonance in my current body.
Great Master Jeonghyeon, who had rushed over from the Shaolin Temple, arrived at the Murim Alliance. …And it was around the same time that Great Master Gakjeong, who should have been at the Diancang Sect, arrived at the Murim Alliance as well.
He would be more familiar with Vajrayana methods than Great Master Jeonghyeon, so it was a welcome development. However, the problem was that he had come despite us not having sent word yet, and the fact that Great Master Gakjeong's complexion had been pale the entire time weighed on my mind.
The reason for that became clear before long.
"The Heavenly Killing Star has been stolen."
"Pardon?"
Those were the first words Great Master Gakjeong spoke after gathering not only our party, but also his disciple Great Master Jeonghyeon and the Murim Alliance Leader, saying it was a matter of urgency.
"Surely the Diancang Sect's daughter hasn't been kidnapped? I had sent warriors out because there were reports of suspicious figures lurking nearby."
For some reason, the Murim Alliance Leader kept glancing this way as he asked his question, and Great Master Gakjeong shook his head.
"No. The Heavenly Killing Star of this generation is fine, and so is the one who suppresses that killing intent at her side. As for the Murim Alliance's warriors, some are injured, but none are dead."
"Then what do you mean by saying the Heavenly Killing Star was stolen?"
"…Those who were digging around the Diancang Sect's perimeter were agents of the Demonic Cult. The Heavenly Demon. He appeared with a Demonic Cultist in tow."
"The Heavenly Demon?!"
It was far too sudden an appearance. Great Master Gakjeong slowly nodded toward me, who was startled out of my wits. His face had grown even paler, as if recalling the memory of that time.
"That man was truly a monster. The reason there were no casualties… I don't know the exact details, but they say it was because you, White Moon Sword Lord, performed better than the Heavenly Demon expected."
"Why me, all of a sudden…"
Great Master Gakjeong continued his explanation, his body trembling.
According to him, just as the warriors sent by the Murim Alliance were about to seize and interrogate those lurking around the Diancang Sect's perimeter—
The sky suddenly turned black, and the Heavenly Demon appeared.
For the Diancang Sect, whose strongest members were merely a few Transcendent Peak martial artists, and the Murim Alliance warriors, there was no chance of mounting any proper resistance—they could only be crushed beneath that Aura.
The Heavenly Demon, roaming through the inner grounds of the Diancang Sect as if it were his own home, found Heo Soye… the Heavenly Killing Star.
Along with Jang Inam, who trembled violently yet stood in the way, as if trying to shield her.
She had learned to suppress the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent, but that killing intent had not simply vanished somewhere.
When Jang Inam's life was placed in danger, Heo Soye's killing intent burst forth once more, and the Heavenly Demon welcomed it with delight, pushing the martial artist he had brought along to the front.
"…I had never seen his face before, but his features were so distinctive that I could recognize him at once. Blue-Eyed Blood Demon, Gu Yangpae. That old man withstood Lady Heo's killing intent. No, 'absorbed' would be the more accurate word."
The Blue-Eyed Blood Demon. His entire body was covered in unknown characters tattooed like ink, and because of that, only his eyes—the sole part retaining their original color amid his darkened, bluish-red skin—gleamed blue.
Like the Blood Flame Fist Demon, he was a veteran of the Demonic Cult, and one of the few Transcendent Peak martial artists. Uniquely, he was also said to carry the blood of the Western Regions.
Before the regression, he had been a relatively manageable Demonic Head—threatening, but too old to bring out his true strength.
As such, he was not the sort of person who could withstand the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent head-on.
"Strangely enough, the moment the killing intent touched the Blue-Eyed Blood Demon, the characters etched across his body writhed and absorbed it. And before long, the Blue-Eyed Blood Demon began emitting a killing intent similar to Lady Heo's. He was subdued by the Heavenly Demon's blood pressure and collapsed shortly after, but still."
"Does that even make sense?"
"I don't know either. It was something I had never seen before—a phenomenon I couldn't even begin to guess at, despite having spent half my life studying the Heavenly Killing Star. Yet what happened happened, and that's all I can say."
The Heavenly Demon hoisted the fallen Blue-Eyed Blood Demon onto his shoulder and spoke to Great Master Gakjeong, who was barely holding onto his senses.
He said that the reason no one died today was thanks to me, for helping him learn something he hadn't known before.
So, he told them to deliver this letter, scribbled something down on the spot with paper and brush, handed it to Great Master Gakjeong, and vanished without a trace.
A move similar to when he had appeared at the Black Alliance alongside the Sword Demon.
It was also a move that forcibly humbled me, who had been rejoicing at having defeated the Blood Buddha and gained a new enlightenment.
"…Are Lady Heo and Jang Inam alright?"
"Killing intent kept leaking out even after the Heavenly Demon left, so it was quite an ordeal, but it wasn't something we hadn't dealt with before. Sealing the killing intent again was resolved without issue."
"That's a relief. Then I suppose the theft of the Heavenly Killing Star was indeed the Blue-Eyed Blood Demon's doing.
"You're right. The Heavenly Killing Star is a constitution that buys fear and invites contempt, but its talent is undeniable, isn't it? There have always been those who sought to become a Heavenly Killing Star through acquired means. Of course, all of them failed… but it seems that's no longer the case."
Those who sought to become a Heavenly Killing Star. The moment I heard that, I could guess what had happened.
Upon learning that the Diancang Sect had a Heavenly Killing Star, I had tried to prevent the star's awakening. If that proved impossible, I was prepared to kill Heo Soye to stop it.
Because I couldn't afford to lose the Diancang Sect's fighting strength—a symbol of the Orthodox Sects—in one fell swoop.
What would the Heavenly Demon do upon learning of the Heavenly Killing Star's existence?
Just as I had tried to seal the star's power, he would have tried to claim that power for himself.
The Blue-Eyed Blood Demon absorbing the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent and scattering similar killing intent was probably thanks to a past regression where he had coveted the star's power.
The fact that he didn't use the Heavenly Killing Star's power himself was either because of unwanted side effects… or because he now believed his own martial arts surpassed the star's.
It was not merely because the Heavenly Demon was in a good mood that the Great Master Gakjeong and the Diancang Sect's martial artists had been spared.
If he was controlling the Heavenly Killing Star through a method I did not know, then it was only natural that someone who had experienced multiple regressions would be curious about the outcome.
What weighed on my mind was the fact that he had allowed the Blue-Eyed Blood Demon to take the star's power… but I had a rough idea of the reason for that as well.
Just as the Sword Demon had been, he was probably trying to force him up to the Harmony Realm.
…To use him as my trial, or whatever it was.
"Hah."
A question that had not left me since I faced the Heavenly Demon. Just what was the reason he was making me grow?
As I let out a deep sigh at a question with no answer, the Great Master Gakjeong pulled a letter from his bosom.
"Is this from the Heavenly Demon?"
"It is."
I unfolded the letter with a heavy heart. Inside, it detailed a method for bypassing the seal using the trick I had mentioned.
As if he had seen right through what I was planning.
Or perhaps, as if he were retracing a path he had already walked once himself.
A question suddenly arose in my mind.
There must be countless people across the world who, regretting their lives, wished to turn back time.
So what made me and the Heavenly Demon different from them, that regression had been granted to us?
…And why did the Heavenly Demon insist on calling himself a demon in the first place?
The master of all demons, one who claimed to be the executor of heavenly punishment and insulted the heavens themselves. That was why he was called the Heavenly Demon.
I still do not understand the meaning behind that alias.