"Right. The Demonic Physician and Tang So-wol. Let's decide who the better healer is with our blades."
"…?"
Maeng Gyeom shot me a look as if he were staring at a madman he couldn't begin to understand.
No matter. He was the sort who'd surrendered long ago and even tried to kill his own sister after she left home.
It was only natural that a man like that would see a sane martial artist like me as a lunatic.
…Still, it was a little disconcerting that everyone else was giving me the same look.
"Good heavens. What did I just hear, sister Tang?"
"Don't try to understand him. Young hero Cheon simply thinks differently from us."
"Mmm. As a physician, I hardly know where to begin. Medicine is the art of saving lives—how could one measure its superiority through a martial art meant to kill…"
My companions wore hollow smiles, as if they had half-achieved enlightenment.
"Th-the Flying Butterfly Poison Peak Lord was a physician?!"
"I can numb the pain so one feels nothing, but I cannot heal."
Maeng Yu-baek asked Tang So-wol in a bewildered voice.
"I am Maeng U-gak. White Moon Sword Lord, do you intend to suppress the Beast Palace by force?"
"Suppress? That is an unpleasant turn of phrase. Since ancient times, conversation through the sword has been the most honest way to draw out a martial artist's true heart."
"Ah, so the Poison Demon and the Flying Butterfly Poison Peak will be the ones to step forward."
"It is said that husband and wife are one mind and body. I imagine it would be much the same whether the Poison Demon and I step forward together."
"…"
The eldest, Maeng U-gak, who had been about to speak, fell silent instead.
And finally, it was the Beast Palace Lord, who had been watching all of this with a hollow laugh, who spoke up.
"Heh heh. White Moon Sword Lord. You are suffering from a severe case of martial art poisoning."
"That is a ridiculous thing to say. Martial art poisoning for a martial artist… Then let us settle this matter through the sword as well."
"What did you say?"
Now he was outright laughing heartily, his voice booming.
What a world, where someone's sincerity became a laughingstock. Righteousness and justice had clearly fallen to the ground.
How could he not understand my desire to cut down the Demonic Cultist and pass it off as an accident?
…No, wait. Maybe it was the opposite—perhaps my intent had been conveyed too clearly?
As I shook my head inwardly, Maeng Gyeom, who had been frozen stiff for a long while, finally began to protest.
"What nonsense is this! You claim to want to build friendship, but it's obvious you intend to toy with the Beast Palace as you please!"
"I have no interest in such troublesome matters. Besides, what would I gain from swallowing up the Beast Palace while the Beast Palace Lord is weakened?"
"The Beast Palace's wealth, perhaps…"
"The Tang Clan has more money. I can't spend it as I please, but since I earned most of it myself, getting permission to use however much I want shouldn't be difficult."
"Could it be that you're building your own power base to overcome the limits of being a live-in son-in-law…"
"Oh. You suspect the same thing as the Beast Palace Lord. Then I'll give you the same answer. If that were the case, I'd have swallowed up a sect in the Central Plains rather than the Beast Palace, which is far away."
"It's possible you're after the Beast Palace's martial arts, which are hard to find in the Central Plains."
"The Beast Palace's martial arts are all premised on having a Spirit Beast as a companion, aren't they? I don't keep pets…"
He glanced over at Seomun Hwa-rin for a moment. As the tense atmosphere eased slightly, she was sneakily stealing food from Seol Ri-hyang's plate beside her.
"My pet understands human speech just fine without the Beast Palace's martial arts."
"…You there? Weren't you just looking this way?"
I let Seomun Hwa-rin's sharp interrogation pass as if I hadn't heard it, continuing on.
"Rather, I find it suspicious that you keep trying to avoid a confrontation with the Poison Demon."
"Then why on earth do we need a sword to determine who's better at medicine?!"
"If someone can properly treat it, what does it matter who does the treating? Ah, in this case, Tang So-wol would actually do a better job. She yields to no one when it comes to matters of poison."
"Is that so. I suppose that's true. It's only natural, since the poison the Palace Lord was afflicted with was originally administered by the Poison Demon, a man of the Tang Clan."
"You know your stuff. Why take the long way around when there's an easy, fast, and accurate path? And the Poison Demon is not a man of the Tang Clan. He received an execution order before I was even born."
"Regardless, he's still of the same blood! I can't believe this!"
"Indeed. So you're saying the Poison Demon's deeds are also the Tang Clan's deeds."
"Yes. Now you finally understand…"
"Then the Karmic Debt of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild becomes yours as well, since you're its master."
"…What?"
Maeng Gyeom flinched at the sudden mention of the Cheonghwa Merchant Guild. I grinned at him.
"The Guild Head tried to kill me. Shouldn't you share in that punishment as well?"
"What are you—"
"Don't worry. I took into account that you didn't know who I was, so I didn't take your life—I only destroyed your Dantian."
"…"
Maeng Gyeom finally fell silent.
Naturally, the gazes around us turned to me. More precisely, I felt them focusing on what I would say next, and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Who gets treated isn't for you or me to decide—that's the Beast Palace Lord's call. What is your will?"
"Hmm."
The Beast Palace Lord pretended to ponder. I already knew he'd made up his mind, so seeing him put on this act, there was no denying he was a sly old fox.
He was probably hoping I'd offer something more.
"For your reference, he was once affiliated with the Demonic Cult. You could say he and I are half-way enemies."
"Th-that's all in the past! Ma-ui already achieved his revenge long ago and is now nothing more than a wandering physician who left the Demonic Cult! The alias Ma-ui came from his eccentric personality, not from any reputation as a Demonic Cultist!"
"Oh."
I don't know about anything else, but I have to admit that Maeng Gyeom's nerve is something else.
He's cornered, yet he dares to act so boldly in front of a Harmony Realm martial artist. It's not as if he doesn't know that the Beast Palace Lord backing him up is in no condition to use his poison arts at full strength.
Maeng Yu-baek is the same, and so is the Beast Palace Lord… Perhaps boldness is the Beast Palace's greatest hidden strength, after all.
While I was quietly revising my assessment of the Beast Palace upward, the Beast Palace Lord let out a bitter smile and spoke.
"The answer was set from the start. Even if I chose the Tang Clan, Ma-ui wouldn't hold a grudge against me—but if I choose Ma-ui, I'll end up at odds with you all."
"It wouldn't come to that. It's just that our bond would become a little less close."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
The Beast Palace Lord let out a snort of laughter and rose from his seat.
"Listen well. My second son's intentions are admirable, but the treatment will be received from the Tang Clan's daughter as previously agreed. So this matter ends here. Let there be no more talk of it from this point forward."
"Understood."
"…Yes."
Maeng U-gak nodded silently. Maeng Gyeom, having realized there was no chance of redemption for himself, bowed his head gloomily.
Maeng Yu-baek, in contrast, let out a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere seemed to be wrapping up on a warm note.
And so, before the Beast Palace Lord could take his seat, I spoke up.
"However, it seems a shame to send the Demonic Head away empty-handed after he went to the trouble of coming all this way."
"White Moon Sword Lord, what exactly are you trying to say…?"
"It's nothing much. I'm grateful that the Beast Palace Lord has spared our face, but this is a matter of life and death, so shouldn't we look into it a bit more and choose a better option?"
The Beast Palace Lord stared at me intently, as if to say he would at least hear me out. I put the main point into words.
"As I said at first, how about we determine who the better physician is?"
"…With swords?"
"This is nothing more than a simple exchange. Who knows—perhaps we'll end up cooperating rather than competing."
"Wasn't it you who said just a moment ago that you couldn't trust someone from the Demonic Cult?"
"If someone shows that much sincerity—destroying their Dantian and giving up their martial arts—then of course they'd earn our trust."
"So you're saying you won't acknowledge him until he destroys his Dantian and gives up the Demonic Cult's martial arts."
"I understand your concern, but it will be fine."
"Why?"
"Because it will be a sparring bout, not a life-and-death duel."
"…I'm so relieved I could go mad."
Hearing my words, the Beast Palace Lord shook his head and added one more thing.
"Just remember that the Demon has now left the embrace of the Demonic Cult, and that this is the Beast Palace—and you are merely a guest."
"Yes. I will keep that in mind."
"If so, I will speak to the Demon directly. If he refuses…"
"Then I will withdraw cleanly."
The Beast Palace Lord smiled faintly, seemingly satisfied with my answer. Meng U-gak, who had been watching all of this, whispered quietly to Meng Yu-baek.
"Youngest. I've lived my whole life in the southern wilderness, so I wouldn't know, but the Unorthodox Sects of the Central Plains are truly frightening."
"…Brother. The Sichuan Tang Clan is an Orthodox Sect."
"…!"
For some reason, Meng U-gak's body trembled, but it was hardly an important matter.
After the meal ended, Tang So-wol couldn't quite grab me by the collar, but she seized my shoulders and began shaking me vigorously.
"Young hero Cheon! How could you say something like that!"
"I had my reasons."
"You always have reasons! But the current Demonic Head has no real connection to the Demonic Cult, does he! Are you truly trying to become a real Unorthodox Sect martial artist!"
"Easy, easy. Calm down. And listen for a moment."
I reached out, wrapped my arm around Tang So-wol's slender waist, and pulled her close.
After a brief resistance, she melted into my embrace. Taking the sensation of her squirming in my arms as a signal, I began to pat her back slowly.
I could understand to some extent why Tang So-wol, who usually just let such things slide, was reacting this way today.
She must have thought that dragging up a settled matter and forcing it into a sparring bout was crossing the line.
Anyone would have thought the same. But.
"There's one thing we've all been mistaken about."
"…What might that be?"
"The truth is, the Demon of Martial Arts never succeeded in his revenge, contrary to what the world believes. Naturally, he didn't escape from the Demonic Cult either."
"Pardon…?"
Tang So-wol blinked her eyes. The other women reacted similarly, so I decided to explain in a bit more detail.
Perhaps it was because the opponent could be convinced that the seal didn't activate.
After I showed them the memories through the bell, I was able to explain in far more detail than I'd expected, thanks to the seal having loosened considerably—except when it came to directly mentioning the regression or future events.
The women had simply listened quietly at first, but as my words grew longer, they began to focus… and soon they were asking follow-up questions with serious expressions.
"If that's true, then we absolutely cannot leave the Beast Palace Lord's body in the hands of the Demonic Cultist."
"I think so too. You're saying he's not someone who cycles between madness and recovery, but someone who's permanently insane."
"…What concerns me more than that is the people who have been treated so far. In a situation like that, purely treating them would be impossible. At the very least, if it were me, I would have planted some kind of trick for emergencies."
The three of them had managed to guess on their own the one thing I couldn't say—the incident that would shake the Righteous-Unorthodox Alliance from within in the future.
Seeing how well they understood despite the seal, I felt a quiet sense of pride.
"Then what will you do now, young hero Cheon? No matter how I look at it, killing someone during a sparring bout seems a bit much…"
"What do you take me for…? Coat my sword with a poison similar to Chujonghyang. A light graze on the skin is common enough during a sparring bout, so it should be fine."
"So you intend to pay him a visit once the matter at the Beast Palace is settled."
"Yes."
Considering what the Poison Demon might do, I should kill him now. But on the other hand, as long as he doesn't do something like drive all the patients he's treated so far insane at once… there's no real need to cut him down.
He hasn't exactly acted as a pure physician, but he hasn't indiscriminately vented his grudges and killed people either.
The reason I can kill Demonic Cultists without hesitation even while feeling sorry for them is simple.
Because they are victims who have become perpetrators.
In that sense, the Poison Demon is a victim who has not yet become a perpetrator.
Even at this point, he probably hasn't lived a completely upright life, but it's not as if he deserves to be called a Demonic Head.
He's killed people in the past and will likely harm others in the future, so we kill him first. That's no different from the Orthodox Sects' subjugation of the Green Forest.
It does feel a bit off to run experiments on a patient whose death is already certain, with no cure possible no matter what we do… but in the Unorthodox martial world, far more horrible things happen all the time.
The words I'd said half-jokingly — that I'd believe him if he destroyed his Dantian and gave up martial arts — were half-serious.
If I could be certain that he wouldn't cause the people who were once his patients to go berserk, then why would I need to take his life at all?
"If you visit him in secret later…"
"He's still a physician, isn't he? We should at least try talking first."
For all that, the Poison Demon has saved far more people than he's killed. At least, so far.
"Welcome. So you're the White Moon Sword Lord who's been making such a stir lately?"
"…?"
The moment I met the Poison Demon under the Beast Palace Lord's mediation, I realized it.
He was a hunched old man, as befitting a master of the previous generation… but the Poison Demon before me was completely different from the one in my memories.
As if he were a different person entirely.
Or as if he had undergone a Bone-Exchange Rebirth.