"It's a bit uncomfortable."
"Ah, I adjusted it so that there shouldn't be any problems except for the part where your internal organs melt away… It seems it was a bit lacking. Where exactly is it uncomfortable?"
As One-Blade Asura, who had swallowed the poison, subtly furrowed his brow, Tang So-wol tilted her head with a worried voice.
At that genuinely concerned reaction, One-Blade Asura let out a deep sigh as if he couldn't believe it.
"Hoo. To think the one who poisoned me would say such a thing."
"If it had been before you drank it, that would be one thing, but since you've already drunk it, you're one of young hero Cheon's people, aren't you? As his betrothed, it's only natural that I take care of you."
Tang So-wol shrugged her shoulders and cleared her throat. One-Blade Asura, who had been staring at her for a moment, let out another sigh.
"You've found a fine match, White Moon Sword Lord. Treat her well."
"I already am, so don't worry. Rather, I'd like you to tell me what's bothering you."
"It's nothing serious. It's just that I feel a bit of heat in my body, likely from a Yang-type poison."
"Heat, you say…"
"Ah! If that's the case, it should be a temporary phenomenon. I believe it's a problem caused by One-Blade Asura's energy and poison energy forming an antagonistic state… It's just that the Yang energy has been overly activated, so once your body adapts, there won't be any problem. No. In fact, it might even improve."
"Yang energy… good for the body… Hmph hmph."
I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but One-Blade Asura, muttering to himself like that, nodded his head.
"If it'll be fine later, then it was nothing serious after all."
"That's true. The sect leader is getting on in years…"
"Shut up! That's not it!"
One-Blade Asura snapped at the words of the disciple behind him. Tang So-wol, who had been watching the scene, whispered softly.
"Young hero Cheon. Young hero Cheon."
"Let me say this in advance—I have never lacked yang energy."
"Oh my. That's not what I meant."
"Then what is it?"
"It's just that even though we lost, the mood doesn't seem as bad as I expected. The sect has practically fallen into your hands, yet everyone seems too at ease, don't you think? Of course, that's fine for us…"
"Ah, so that's what's been bothering you. It's simple. Either way, no one died and everyone survived. They're not taking our money, and they didn't say they'd treat us like dogs. They just said we'd have to risk our lives once—so they figure this is a cheap price to pay for their lives."
"…Truly, the world of the Unorthodox Sects is something you can never fully understand."
Well, that's how it would seem to Tang So-wol.
In the Orthodox Sects' martial world, even a small sect would fly into a rage and stake their lives on it if they felt their name had been sullied.
Of course, the Unorthodox Sects also valued face, but they tended to prioritize their lives and practical gains over it.
Tang So-wol shook her head. As I debated whether to reach out and touch her hair swaying with the motion, One-Blade Asura, having finished his conversation with his subordinates, approached while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"By the way, you mentioned a war? The Imperial Court doesn't seem to be in a situation desperate enough to borrow the strength of the martial world. Could you tell me in detail what's going on?"
"Of course I'll explain. But let me say this in advance—this isn't the Imperial Court's affair, it's a matter of the martial world. …If it truly erupts, it'll become something even the Imperial Court will struggle to handle."
"What is it… no, I suppose I'll have to hear more to understand. Let's head inside first."
One-Blade Asura shut his eyes tightly at the sight of the shattered gate and signboard, then let his shoulders droop.
"…I should have fought somewhere farther away."
***
Human imagination has its limits. This depends on one's upbringing, the experiences one has gone through, and one's nature—how much one can tolerate strange situations.
Of course, that in itself is neither good nor bad. It's simply the kind of person one is.
Let me state this clearly before going further: One-Blade Asura is a man with a poor imagination.
"Wait, that can't be right? The Heavenly Demon is that strong? And he casually handed out such martial arts to the Demonic Cult?"
"Have you not heard the story from when they attacked the Black Alliance before? Even when the Lord of the Black Alliance, the Sword King, and Senior Seomun Hwa-rin attacked him together, they couldn't leave a single wound on him."
"I just figured they were overhyping the Alliance Lord because they couldn't beat him themselves."
"…"
That's something the Lord of the Black Alliance would do. If you can't beat someone, you might as well build them up. In a sense, isn't that a strategy perfectly suited to the Lord of the Black Alliance, the most Unorthodox of them all?
"Even if the Heavenly Demon is an absurdly strong Martial Artist, and the Demonic Cult's average combat power has risen, and they've joined hands with the Potala Palace—isn't that still a matter that ends within the Murim?"
"Hm."
"Of course, given that the Demonic Cult is based in Xinjiang Province, the Murim Alliance could collapse. The Orthodox Sects might be utterly shattered. But here in Zhejiang Province, things will be different."
"Hm."
"Isn't it just a matter of the Black Alliance dealing with those who've been weakened from fighting the Murim Alliance? And if even the Black Alliance can't handle them, we can just make a quick retreat to Hebei Province. Martial Artists tend to look down on the Imperial Army, and I'm no different… but that's on an individual level. As a collective, the Imperial Army is strong."
"Hmm."
"It's not that there haven't been outstandingly powerful individuals until now. There have been—they just all failed to achieve their goals. An individual cannot overcome the world, after all."
"Indeed. I understand well."
He now understood just how strong the strongest martial artist the One-Blade Asura could imagine truly was.
It was a complicated feeling—absurd that the man was personally explaining how the Central Plains had been thoroughly ravaged by the Demonic Cult before the regression, yet at the same time satisfying to finally understand so clearly why they had lost last time.
Whether the One-Blade Asura's words were reasonable or not, he clearly didn't know that the Heavenly Demon was a monster beyond comprehension.
Well, even before the regression, when we were fighting the Demonic Cult for so long, no one had ever fully understood this.
After all, who in the world would think that someone had turned back time over and over, learned every martial art and everything that was to come, and was leading the charge to destroy the Central Plains?
The fortunate part was that I had anticipated this to some extent.
It wasn't as if I had recklessly forced them into submission through sheer power.
"If you want to keep living, even a poisoned life, then do as you're told."
"I don't have much of a choice. As I said before, martial artists below the Peak Realm will focus their training on formations, while I and the Cultivation Guardians will train under the assumption that we'll be facing the Force Qi Skill."
"Well done."
Honestly. It always takes words like that to get people to listen.
Shaking my head, this time the Twin Ghost Sword, who had been quiet, asked.
"Young hero Cheon, Great Hero White Moon Sword Lord. It seems the matter at the Tyrant King Asura Gate has been resolved, but what will you do next?"
"We'll rest here for about a day and then set off immediately."
"Who do you plan to visit this time?"
"Hmm. Where should I go? The closest one would be where the Lust Demon is, wouldn't it?"
"Yes. After that, the cleanest route would be to go meet the Golden Wolf King and the Illusion Witch."
"Then let's go with that."
As I was discussing what to do next with the Twin Ghost Sword, this time the One-Blade Asura cut in, startled.
"Hold on, wait a moment! Wasn't I the last one? Do you intend to recruit the others using this same crude method?"
"Is there a problem?"
"If so… doesn't that mean I might have to fight alongside the Lust Demon?!"
"That could very well be the case."
"…Do you really have to bring him along?"
"Don't worry. The Lust Demon won't have any interest in you. I don't know much about his personal life, but he lives enjoying everything there is to enjoy, doesn't he?"
"That's true, but…"
Tang So-wol looked back and forth between me and the One-Blade Asura before asking.
"Um. Young hero Cheon? What kind of person is the Lust Demon that you'd react like that? From what I've heard, he's the most harmless of the lust demons…"
"He is the most harmless of the lust demons, that's true. To women, that is."
The Lust Demon, Bi Jeong-ryu.
Those who cultivate the Erotic Arts can become experts quickly, but they struggle to reach the Harmony Realm.
The reason is that whether it's Harvest Yin to Nourish Yang or Harvest Yang to Nourish Yin, both are martial arts that ultimately take another's internal energy and make it your own to grow stronger.
As one's internal energy becomes turbid, it becomes difficult to imbue it with one's own Intent, which in turn means it's hard to unite Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
In other words, the path to the Harmony Realm is all but narrowed to a thread.
From what I'd heard while researching ways to treat Seol Ri-hyang before my regression, the Erotic Arts originally had no such side effect of turbid internal energy.
In the first place, the Erotic Arts were originally a part of health preservation methods, not a martial art meant to accumulate energy and build power.
Having forcibly twisted them to focus on building power, it was only natural that side effects of that magnitude would follow.
At any rate, the Erotic Arts had problems like the one at hand, and that was why, throughout the entire history of the martial world, those who reached the Harmony Realm while primarily using the Erotic Arts could be counted on one hand…
The Lust Demon was one of those rare Harmony Realm lust demons.
And being a eunuch by origin made him an even rarer kind of lust demon.
"…A eunuch is a lust demon?"
"They say that cutting off the member doesn't completely erase one's desires. The Lust Demon is also a somewhat special case."
"A special case. Ah-ha! He secretly avoided castration, didn't he! Or maybe he… only cut off half?"
"Do you think cutting it in half would be enough? That's not what I meant by a special case."
This happened a long time ago, so Tang So-wol probably wouldn't know the details. It's a fairly well-known story among the Unorthodox Sects, though.
In families poor enough to starve, selling off a child was common. Of course, they weren't sold to just anyone.
Some were sent to wealthy households as servants, some were enrolled in famous Taoist sects, and others were sent straight to the government offices.
In the Lust Demon's case, he was sent to a government office. In Zhejiang Province, where the Unorthodox Sects held sway, that was the most stable option.
Many children were sold off for the same reason, but the Lust Demon was the one with the most outstanding talent among them all.
His talent was recognized, and he was set to be transferred all the way to the Imperial Court to become a eunuch.
But all of this was carried out without any regard for his own will.
The Lust Demon, whose manhood had been forcibly severed, harbored a deep grudge—and he possessed a talent the Imperial Court itself had acknowledged.
A talent that let him knock out his fellow trainees' martial arts instructor with a single basic technique, then steal the jar containing his severed member—kept to be buried with him after death—and flee.
But no matter how brilliant a genius, one cannot reattach what has already been cut away.
And so the Lust Demon threw himself into the Erotic Arts with a single obsession: to reach Bone-Exchange Rebirth and restore what was his.
The problem was that the Erotic Arts of the present day were all founded on the principle of Harvest Yin to Nourish Yang, or Harvest Yang to Nourish Yin.
Stimulating a eunuch—whose original Yang energy had been greatly diminished—with Yin Energy did not make that flame burn any fiercer.
On the contrary, the little Yang he had left was merely suppressed by the Yin, growing weaker still.
Add to that the fact that, as a eunuch, true Union in the fullest sense was impossible, and Harvest Yin to Nourish Yang proved woefully inefficient.
Thus, the Lust Demon decided to change his approach.
If all of this was caused by a deficiency of Yang energy, then the first step was simply to replenish that Yang.
And if he himself could not perform the act, then he could simply make use of someone who could.
And so, the Lust Demon seduced men.
His eunuch-like smooth, fair face made this entirely possible.
"W-wait a moment, young hero Cheon! So you're saying the Lust Demon is just a sodomite?!"
"No. He likes women. He still wants his own member back. …It's just that, to achieve his goal, he seduces and mounts men."
"He sounds like a sodomite to me."
"I suppose if I did the same things a sodomite does, I'd be a sodomite myself, but don't say that to his face. They say it's his sore spot."
Anyway, the Lust Demon only targeted men, but surprisingly, the process itself was peaceful.
What the Lust Demon wanted was Yang energy. Specifically, pure and intense Yang energy.
Since he hadn't learned the Erotic Arts simply to increase his internal energy easily, he never resorted to aphrodisiacs or Seophonsul, which would have degraded the quality of his internal energy.
He seduced all sorts of masters with his pure charm(?), and since his only goal was the revival of his own member, he wouldn't harm people unless they attacked him first—by Unorthodox Sect standards, he had a relatively gentle disposition.
The problem, I suppose, was that what came afterward wasn't so peaceful.
Men who couldn't forget a single night with the Lust Demon fell lovesick, and their families began to fall apart.
It was only after he had shattered countless families that the Lust Demon came to be called a lust demon, and his life as a fugitive began.
"I see. So I understand the 'lust demon' part, but why is 'Brahma' attached to the front? What happened afterward? Just from the alias alone… did he offend someone from the imperial family?"
"No. It's not 'Brahma'—it's 'Brahma.'"
"'Brahma' is a term often used in Buddhism… Surely not?!"
"…Yes. It's said that the Lust Demon hit a wall during his life as a fugitive. He couldn't even achieve Bone-Exchange Rebirth by reaching the Harmony Realm—he was too busy fending off the pursuers chasing him."
And so, he sought purer yang energy. Not simply martial artists who were strong and brimming with yang, but those who had never so much as held a woman's hand in their entire lives.
For instance… monks of the Shaolin Temple.
"Eh."
"Surprisingly, it's true."
A smirk crossed my face at Tang So-wol's startled expression as I continued my explanation.
Just as female martial artists of the Emei Sect often became targets of lust demons, the Lust Demon had set his sights on the monks of the Shaolin Temple.
The Lust Demon used neither love potions nor Seophonsul. The Shaolin monks' physical training was impressive, but their mental discipline was even more so.
And it couldn't have been easy to seduce a monk so pure that even someone who had already reached the Transcendent Peak realm would find clear benefit from his cultivation.
But the Lust Demon had accomplished that difficult feat.
"I don't know what enlightenment he gained afterward, but they say the Lust Demon reached the Harmony Realm."
"…What happened to that monk?"
"The Lust Demon himself was the one who returned the vacant-eyed monk to the Shaolin Temple. When the circumstances became known, that's how the 'Brahma Heaven' part got attached to his alias."
"…"
Tang So-wol wore a strange expression, as if she didn't know what to say.
In truth, it would have been fine if things had stopped there. The world was vast, and strange things never ceased to happen.
"The problem is that even after the Lust Demon gathered a massive amount of yang energy and achieved Bone-Exchange Rebirth, his member still didn't return."
"He achieved Bone-Exchange Rebirth and still—?"
"When he underwent the Bone-Exchange Rebirth, the severed member itself did grow back, but… it didn't function."
"Ah."
"Considering that Bone-Exchange Rebirth is a matter of being reborn with a body suited for using martial arts, and the training methods the Lust Demon used to reach the Harmony Realm, it's only natural."
After undergoing the Bone-Exchange Rebirth, the Lust Demon became even more beautiful and radiated a Seductive Aura that would put any seductress to shame… but as a man, he was a failure.
"They say he no longer wrecks households like he used to, but he's still stirring up trouble everywhere, digging around to fully restore his manhood."
"Indeed. His uncooperative attitude toward the Black Alliance is also…"
"He originally joined the Black Alliance to find a cure for himself, but no matter how much he searched, no cure was to be found. So why would he listen to anything they say?"
In fact, the reason the Lust Demon had defected to the Demonic Cult was because he had heard that a cure existed there.
If the One-Blade Asura had sided with the Demonic Cult for his own survival, the Lust Demon had thrown himself into the Demonic Cult for the personal goal of reviving his manhood.
However, perhaps it was the karmic retribution for the many families he had destroyed—there were victims he had created within the Demonic Cult as well… and naturally, the Heavenly Demon sided with his own followers.
The feeling he had when he heard that a Harmony Realm Martial Artist had been lost so vainly—that was something else entirely.
Just as I was about to let out a sigh at the memory of that time.
"Hoo."
Tang So-wol let out her sigh a step ahead of me and spoke in a serious tone.
"Young hero Cheon. Do you truly need the Lust Demon?"
"If he's usable strength, we should use him. As I said before, the Lust Demon isn't particularly dangerous to women, so don't worry…"
"No. What I'm worried about is you, young hero Cheon."
"…?"
"What if the Lust Demon sets his sights on you?!"
"A needless worry."
I let out a snort and shrugged my shoulders.
"If we fight, I win."
"That's a very young-hero-Cheon-like answer, but…"
"Then how about this? With Tang So-wol by my side, there's no way I'd let my eyes wander to some man who isn't even a woman."
"Hmm. That's true, isn't it? It should be that way… but huff."
Tang So-wol's face still showed signs of unease.
She really did worry a lot.
Surprisingly, the Demonic Cult was already in contact with the Lust Demon.
So I informed her of this.
"Oh my? What a fine man."
"Damn it."
At the seductive gaze sweeping over me, my hand moved to my sword before I even realized it.
But the Lust Demon merely laughed it off, as if she were used to such reactions.
"But I'm well aware of that much. I know, and yet I'm letting myself be fooled by a child of the Demonic Cult."
"…What?"
Something was going strangely.