After Seol Ri-hyang entered the underground training hall, Bing Yerin excused herself, saying she would go meet the other North Sea Ice Palace people who were still staying at the Tang Clan.
And so, what remained was just me and Tang So-wol in a slightly awkward atmosphere.
"Ahem. What have you been up to in the meantime?"
"Young hero Cheon… it's only been ten days at most since we last met, you know? Not much could have happened in that time. I just ate, trained, thought about you a bit before falling asleep, ate again… that's about it."
"So nothing much really happened."
"Right. The only thing worth mentioning was, as I told you, the Demonic Cultists who had been hiding all this time rising up all at once. And even that was subdued in an instant."
"That's only natural, since the Tang Clan's strength is greater than ever."
Not only were there two Harmony Realm martial artists in Tang Jincheon and Seomun Hwa-rin, but the overall level of the Martial Force Unit had also risen through the Spiritual Medicines and rare materials brought in from the North Sea and the Beast Palace.
Not to mention the absorption of the Heavenly Poison Sect's secret arts and the large-scale import of rare Spirit Beast venom through the Centipede Gate.
The new poison combination formulas that Tang So-wol had created during her journey through the martial world had also spread widely.
Comparing to the time when I had just entered as a live-in son-in-law was one thing, but even compared to the Tang Clan before the regression—that is, the Tang Clan of the future, roughly ten years ahead of now—it would be far stronger.
However, I could not rest easy with just this. I knew the Heavenly Demon's martial level, and I had also learned how he had obtained that level.
The Tang Clan's strength was formidable, but it was not absolute. The fortunate thing was that the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance had been formed in time.
…No, was it that the Heavenly Demon's timing had been hastened because the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance was formed so quickly?
At any rate, it was certain that the war with the Demonic Cult was not far off now.
"The Demonic Cultists who attacked this time—they probably revealed themselves because there was no longer any need to hide, right?"
"Yes. Some of them worship the Heavenly Demon but wanted to take revenge with their own hands, while others acknowledge the Heavenly Demon's greatness but believe he can't face the entire Central Plains alone, so they moved on their own. The reasons vary, but they all acted because war is imminent."
"Is that so?"
"They say the Heavenly Demon himself issued a command, telling them that war will soon break out, so whether they return or complete their revenge, they may do as they wish. Along with information about where each spy's personal enemy is located."
"Hoh…"
Well, of course. From the Heavenly Demon's perspective, mediocre martial strength wasn't all that important. After all, with the Godok and the seal in place, even if they were captured, it would be difficult for information to leak out, and truly important information wouldn't have been shared with them in the first place.
And attaching a list of revenge targets on top of that…
"Then this side must be in chaos too."
"Well, it's essentially a list of wrongdoings."
"So there was a purpose of internal strife in this too. You're quite impressive in this regard. So? What did you decide to do?"
"Since past wrongdoings have been clearly revealed, most won't be able to avoid punishment. However, they've decided to postpone the punishment and lower its severity depending on how much merit they earn in the upcoming battle against the Demonic Cult."
"Not bad."
Some of them would surely take the chance to flee amid the chaos of war… but on the flip side, that meant the rest could be used as fighting strength.
It was a better choice than punishing them all right now.
…Well, there was also the matter of face for each sect and clan.
It gave them room to say things like, 'Our child may have done this and that wrong, but can't their merits cover their faults?'
At least before the regression, in the early days of the war, there had been plenty of talk like that.
Was it because a wave of nostalgia had welled up for no reason? I quietly looked up at the sky.
Before the regression, right after I regressed, and even now. The sky had never changed. What had changed were always the ones living beneath it.
"So a day like this really does come."
"Young hero Cheon… you've been preparing for a long time, haven't you? For this very moment."
That's right. I had prepared for a long, long time, and diligently at that.
From the childhood right after my regression all the way to now. There hadn't been a single moment I'd let it slip from my mind.
"Whether my preparations were enough or not—the answer will come soon enough."
"…I'm sorry."
"Hm? What's with the sudden apology?"
"It's just that I feel like I'm falling behind. Perhaps I might end up holding young hero Cheon back."
"That's a foolish thing to say. Is Seol Ri-hyang reaching the Harmony Realm really weighing on your mind that much? Even if you search the history of the martial world, this is clearly a remarkable feat and something to celebrate… but against the Heavenly Demon, that meaning fades."
"I know the Heavenly Demon is strong, but is he really on that level?"
"This is the same matter—once Seol Ri-hyang arrives, we've agreed to gather everyone and discuss it all at once."
"Tch. So that's how it ends up."
"That's how significant this story is."
The Heavenly Demon being an infinite regressor was something I couldn't have even dreamed of.
I shrugged and headed to Seomun Hwa-rin's room with Tang So-wol.
The three of us spent the rest of the day catching up there, bringing the first day back at the Tang Clan to a close.
***
The next morning. Seol Ri-hyang, looking a bit more refreshed than usual, spread her arms wide and spun around in place.
"Cheon Hwi. How do I look? Do I seem different at all?"
"…Did you get your hair trimmed?"
"No, I went through Bone-Exchange Rebirth! Isn't there anything different about me?"
Ah, damn. The answer I'd been fed by Seol Ri-hyang before the regression slipped out reflexively.
Still, that just went to show how little difference there was between before and after the Bone-Exchange Rebirth.
In my own case, my features had become a bit more refined, my skin a little clearer, and my body more prone to building muscle… but.
Even that was just a subtle sense of dissonance you'd catch at a glance. A difference you'd only notice if you looked closely.
That made sense, of course — I'd already been in my physical prime when I underwent the Bone-Exchange Rebirth, so all it did was make minor adjustments to suit the martial arts I'd mastered.
Well, that was only how it looked on the outside. Inside, my meridians had changed on a scale akin to the heavens and earth splitting apart.
And the same would surely be true for Seol Ri-hyang. No, perhaps even more so for her.
After all, Seol Ri-hyang, born with the Pure Yin Constitution, had already possessed a body specialized for Yin-Cold Energy Cultivation.
It's not as if I'm limping on one leg like before my regression, so even if there's no major external difference, it wouldn't be strange.
The fact that I look a bit more refreshed than usual is… probably because I achieved the state of being impervious to cold and heat after completing the Bone-Exchange Rebirth.
"No matter how I look at it, there doesn't seem to be much difference on the outside. My appearance was always admirable, and I'm at an age where I don't need to look any younger… so I suppose the internal meridians changed more than the outward appearance? That was the case for me."
"Hmph. You're half right and half wrong."
Seol Ri-hyang, with a triumphant expression, raised her palm as if to show off.
I reflexively raised my hand, but she shook her head with a subtle expression.
"No, I wasn't asking for your hand. Just watch."
"…You could have said so earlier."
I awkwardly lowered my hand, and before long, cold energy began to concentrate above Seol Ri-hyang's palm.
Up to this point, it wasn't particularly surprising—I had seen this countless times before.
But then, suddenly, Seol Ri-hyang's black hair began to glow with a faint blue light.
At the same time, the flow of internal energy gathering in her palm. The wind blowing along with it began to take on a subtle blue-white tint, mixed with a strange shimmer.
"Huh?"
It's common for internal energy to have a color. Even before, when Seol Ri-hyang used her full martial power, she would often dye her surroundings white.
But that was always the color of the internal energy itself—not the air moving along with it being painted over.
Wondering if she had somehow distributed her internal energy finely through the air itself, I activated my Heavenly Eye and looked closer.
"Is it ice? No, this is…"
Snowflakes. Or rather, fragments that crumbled like tiny pieces of ice, mixed into the wind and glittering—their true identity was, surprisingly, fragments of finely divided aura.
Seol Ri-hyang, as any Harmony Realm martial artist would, had not created a single massive mass of aura. Instead, she had produced small fragments of aura, scattered them around her, and was manipulating them with complete freedom.
"Something like this… was possible?"
"It works if you just do it, doesn't it?"
"Minute aura crystals, you say. If you could make an opponent inhale these, you could tear them apart from the inside out. You've created something terrifying."
"Cheon Hwi, your idea is even more terrifying! … But still. It might be possible with practice. It doesn't seem like it'll be easy, though."
"What are you talking about? Aura is a product refined only through Intent. You might not know how to utilize it, but once you've drawn out aura, handling it shouldn't be difficult."
"It's just that the aura feels a bit different from the one you and Sister Hwa-rin use."
Seol Ri-hyang shrugged her shoulders and continued her explanation, showing off her aura in a bit more detail.
To summarize roughly, it wasn't that she was manipulating each tiny fragment of aura individually—rather, she had simply moved her energy in a lump as she normally would when operating Glacier True Energy, and it had split apart on its own.
"I see. If that's the case, it would be easy to move large amounts at once, but fine control would be difficult."
"Yeah. My martial art has always been like that, right? It can't be helped."
"It's not that it can't be helped… it's that I had the wrong idea to begin with. Bone-Exchange Rebirth is achieved by further specializing one's own martial art. In other words, the correct way to look at it is that you've become capable of handling a greater amount of energy than before."
"So I need to find out how much energy I can handle, and how far I can refine it into aura, right? Well, my internal energy is something I can naturally pour out in full… Bing Yerin hasn't gone back yet, has she, Cheon Hwi?"
"She's not the type to leave without a word in a single day, so she should still be staying at the Tang Clan."
"Heh heh. Perfect. There should be other martial artists from the Ice Palace around too. If I ask them for help as well… ah, while I'm at it, maybe I should try drawing out the energy of the Millennium Ice Crystal and using it too."
"…"
It seemed that Bing Yerin was fated to get no proper rest as long as she was with Seol Ri-hyang.
Offering a silent prayer for her soul, I lightly patted the shoulder of Seol Ri-hyang, who was grinning mischievously.
"More importantly, we need to head to Father-in-law's office now."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"No. But don't you think you should tell me whether something happened or not?"
"Ah. Right. Yeah."
Seol Ri-hyang needed to boast a bit about reaching the Harmony Realm, and above all, she needed to tell me about the Heavenly Demon's past that she had learned about in Haomun.
Whether she had the same thought as me, Seol Ri-hyang, who had calmed down as if she had never been excited, let out a short sigh and nodded.
"Alright. Then let's go."
"Oh, and I think we need to find the Illusion Witch and bring her along. She's the only one who can interpret what we saw."
"Cheon Hwi."
"What is it?"
"Be honest. You forgot about the Illusion Witch's existence until just now."
"…That's a secret to her."
It is absolutely not because, among the countless possible futures, I want to completely forget the scenes where I was involved with the Illusion Witch.
Anyway, it's not that.