Chapter 12: I Shall Perform a Sword Dance

TL: FoodieMonster007

I polished the Soaring Sky Sword Art to perfection, having already achieved complete mastery. Practicing the art with a younger body felt different, even after so long. This must be why they say one can devote an entire life to martial arts and never see its end.

While training in the Soaring Sky Sword Art, I also practiced the qi emission my father taught me. I worked to balance my inner and external arts, which the Demonic Essence Pill had enhanced.

I trained relentlessly.

On the ninety-seventh day, I could perfectly control my increased power. My qi emission grew more skillful, allowing me to release a greater number of qi strands. It was not quite a spiderweb, but I could emit more than ten strands at once.

"That's enough. This is it."

For the final three days, I quietly calmed my mind and organized what I needed to do in the future.

On the one-hundredth day, I pushed the stone monument aside.

The door leading outside opened.

"Ugh, this fresh air! Fucking grain balls, goodbye for now!"

I stretched widely and walked out of that place.

A martial artist from the Heavenly Demon Hall waited at the exit of the Little Heaven Cave.

"Aigoo! Young Lord!"

He stared at me in surprise.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"I was ordered to escort the Second Young Lord to the Heavenly Demon Hall as soon as you came out, but I didn't expect you this early. They told me I'd have to wait at least a hundred days starting from today."

"Since when have you been waiting?"

"I just started today."

So my father expected me to emerge between one hundred and two hundred days. That was his assessment of my talent.

He rated me quite highly, didn't he? Also, he didn't think I would die, at least.

Thinking that perhaps the Little Heaven Cave was a reward, not a punishment, I followed the martial artist.

When I arrived at the Heavenly Demon Hall, my father was alone.

I walked slowly across the red carpet toward the grand chair where my father sat.

People call this carpet the 'Path of Blood'. How much blood must be shed to reach that spot? How much blood did my father see before he could sit there? And how much more blood must be spilled to protect that seat?

"It took you exactly one hundred days."

Father's words made my mouth itch. I wanted to tell him I cleared the trial in a single day. That that's the kind of son he has now.

I guess I really will have to find a bamboo forest on the back mountain to shout in.

"I struggled, but I couldn't break your record, Father."

"Did you cut the sphere properly?"

"I cut it well, without getting heated. You left such a big clue, so of course I had to cut it properly, and I didn't rest in the final illusion formation."

Just then, I saw it. A smile formed on my father's lips. It was not the sneer I had always seen, but a genuine smile of joy. Unfortunately, the smile vanished as soon as it appeared. For my father, a smile is like a mirage.

"You're not a complete fool."

"Of course. Whose son do you think I am?"

Before my regression, the father I knew enjoyed the life-or-death succession battle among his children. But now, I think I understand. He is a man who endures even his children's deaths for the cult's future, not someone who enjoys the conflict.

"So, why did you call for me?"

Before stating his business, my father summoned someone to the hall. He was Sama Myeong, the Head Strategist who held power below only my father in our Cult.

"It's been a while, Strategist Sama."

"To pass through the Little Heaven Cave in just one hundred days. That's incredible, Second Young Lord."

He was not only the Head Strategist but also the Director of the All-Knowing Hall, the brains of our Cult. As the true power who held all the information of the Central Plains, he was a man who had my father's complete trust.

"It was a punishment that lasted a hundred days."

"A punishment? Or a reward?" Sama Myeong gave a meaningful smile.

"Perhaps he tried to give me a punishment but failed?"

"Hahaha."

Sama Myeong laughed, and I laughed with him.

Once the greetings were over, Sama Myeong got to the point. "The reason I asked to see you today, Second Young Lord, is to discuss a certain internal matter of the cult."

He called for me, not my brother, to handle an internal affair? And right after I came out of the Little Heaven Cave? This is definitely different from the past. Normally, internal matters were entrusted to my brother. Even if he were away, they would have sent a letter to assign him the task.

My gaze shifted past Sama Myeong to my father, sitting on the grand chair. In the end, this decision involved my father's will.

"Please, speak."

"A petition arrived recently. It contained allegations of corruption within the Demonic Army."

The Demonic Army was one of our Cult's military organizations, famous for the rough temperament of its members.

Ah!

I sighed inwardly because the leader of the Demonic Army was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's younger brother. This was another moment involving the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

"A petition also arrived last year, and the Sanzu River Hall investigated it."

The Sanzu River Hall was the agency that investigated treason, corruption, and misconduct. Everyone disliked it due to its nature, but it was a powerful body that superseded all others.

"However, the investigation failed. No one gave any related testimony, and the dispatched Special Investigator was murdered. The member of the Demonic Army who killed him then committed suicide."

It was such a major incident that I remembered it too. It looked like the Demonic Army had obstructed the investigation from within, but they could not find any evidence. In the end, the case was swept under the rug.

And now, another petition has arrived.

"We would like you, Second Young Lord, to become the Special Investigator and handle this matter."

There was no need to ask, 'Why me?'

This task, which reeked of danger before it even began, was a test from my father.

Getting involved in a corruption case within an elite organization like the Demonic Army is punishable by beheading. The culprits would inevitably try to hide their crimes by any means necessary. They would not go easy on the investigator just because he is the Heavenly Demon's son.

Moreover, I am supposed to poke at an organization led by his younger brother, right after the Blood Heaven Blade Demon himself warned me.

"You're sending me to my death."

Sama Myeong nodded in agreement.

"That's right. You will have to risk your life for this mission."

I looked at my father. He stared back at me with a stern face and suddenly said something unexpected.

"Didn't you say you would seize them and tighten their leashes?"

Those were the words I had said to my father at the hunting grounds.

"That's for when I become the Heavenly Demon."

"So you're too scared to do it now?"

"No, if you put it like that, I can't exactly refuse…"

By putting me in the Little Heaven Cave, my father saved the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's face. Now with this test, he is trying to keep the Blood Heaven Blade Demon in check.

What on earth is going through my father's mind?

Suddenly, I recalled what my father had said on the night of the hunt.

"Could you kill me for your own sake, Father?"

"If this is even a question for you, you shouldn't carelessly speak of reading minds."

My gaze met my father's in the air.

His stern gaze was the same as when we went hunting, and the same as when he sent me into the Little Heaven Cave.

Thinking about it differently, this is not my father's decision.

I faced my father as a changed person, and this is the choice he made as a result. In the end, this is also the path I have chosen.

"I said it while looking at those magnificent stars, so I have to take responsibility. I'll take the case."

At my ready acceptance, my father gave an unreadable smile.

I don't know what your plan is, Father, but I'll perform one hell of a sword dance for you.

Sama Myeong, on the other hand, seemed surprised by my acceptance.

"Will you be alright? As I said, this is an extremely dangerous task."

"Even so, we can't just let those bastards who are plundering our Cult's coffers go, can we? But I have one condition."

"What is it?"

"Grant me not only the authority to investigate, but also the right of summary execution."

The right of summary execution. It was the privilege of not being held responsible for killing a target if it was unavoidable during an investigation.

It was an unprecedented request, so Sama Myeong looked to my father. Father gave a slight nod, granting permission.

"Very well. However, please exercise the right of summary execution only when there is clear evidence."

"Of course."

I bowed my head. "Thank you for entrusting me with this difficult task."

"If by some chance I die, please engrave on my tombstone that Mugeuk was brave."

Sama Myeong let out a chuckle. "I will send an investigator from the Sanzu River Hall to assist you tomorrow, Second Young Lord."

"If possible, please send a beautiful woman."

"Hahaha. I heard that the Second Young Lord has been showing a new side of himself lately, and you really have changed a lot."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Then I'll be on my way. This might be my last night, so I should at least have a drink."

After giving a polite clasped hands greeting, I was about to leave when I glanced back at my father. "Father, how about a drink with your son on what might be his last night…"

Father shot up and walked out before I could even finish.

I grinned at Sama Myeong and commented. "He seems prickly on the outside, but he's surprisingly kind."

"He doesn't seem that way at all." Sama Myeong also left the hall with a smile and a final word.

I called out loudly after him. "You're becoming more like my father, Strategist!"

Sama Myeong did not look back either.

In front of those two, I tried to joke and be playful. To them, I was just a fresh-faced young man. I always repeat it to myself. Don't bring the darkness of the past into this life. I have been reborn.

I stretched widely in front of the Heavenly Demon Hall.

I will pass this test and take one more step toward the position of successor.

The next morning, Lee Ahn informed me that the investigator from the Sanzu River Hall had arrived.

"Young Master, I will follow and help you."

She knew very well how dangerous investigating the Demonic Army was.

Instead of giving permission, I asked. "Is she pretty?"

"Pardon?"

"The investigator waiting outside, is she pretty?"

"Pardon?"

"Don't you go ruining our cozy time! No jealousy allowed!"

Lee Ahn gave me a look that said, 'What on earth are you talking about?' and replied. "The investigator is a man."

"What did you say?"

A moment later, the person Lee Ahn guided in was noticeably short with melancholic-looking eyes. He was, indeed, a man.

"A pleasure to meet you. I am Special Investigator Seo Daeryong of the Sanzu River Hall."

His name meant 'Great Dragon', but his build was the complete opposite. Even his voice was quiet.

"Why did they send you? I asked the Head Strategist to send the most beautiful woman from the Sanzu River Hall."

After looking troubled for a moment, Seo Daeryong shrugged and answered. "I suppose in his eyes, I must be the most beautiful."

At Seo Daeryong's joke, Lee Ahn, who stood beside me, snorted with laughter.

"You're laughing? In this tragic situation?"

Lee Ahn quickly composed her expression. "No, sir."

"Ah, and here I was, hoping to spend some quality time with a beautiful woman for a change." I feigned a sigh. "Alright, let's just get to work. Tell me everything you know about the Demonic Army, and don't you dare stutter. I'll show you what a tragic fate awaits the one who took a beautiful woman's place."

At my half-joking words, Seo Daeryong began to explain as if he had been waiting. "The Demonic Army is composed of six squads under the command of the Demonic Army General. They are an organization that only carries out the direct orders of the Cult Leader. Each squad has thirty members, for a total of one hundred and eighty-one, including the Demonic Army General. There is no vice-commander. The First Captain takes on that role, and he is the Demonic Army General's trusted subordinate."

"You've memorized it well."

"Here is the data on the members of the Demonic Army."

He handed me a thick file. It was a document containing the profiles and histories of all the Demonic Army members.

I pulled out a random page from the file.

"Tell me about Jongpyo."

I thought, There's no way he memorized this one, but he answered as if he had been waiting.

"He belongs to the First Squad of the Demonic Army and is in his seventh year. His unique martial arts is a palm technique called the Soul-Seeking Palm, and he has a very cruel personality. He loves drinking and gambling and has caused trouble several times, but the Demonic Army covered it up."

I asked in surprise.

"What? How do you know all that? Is he your friend? Your enemy?"

"Neither."

I pulled out another file and asked about that person. This time, too, he knew everything about him.

"Don't tell me you've memorized all one hundred and eighty of them?"

"Yes. One hundred and eighty-one, to be exact."

"You're a genius, aren't you?"

"It's a case I've been investigating for a long time."

"No, no. If you memorized all this, you're a genius. A real genius."

"I would prefer if you acknowledged it as hard work."

"Oh, and humble too. I'm starting to see you in a new light."

He had a short stature and a somewhat melancholic impression, but now that gloomy aura felt like the prickliness of a genius.

"There must be a reason I was sent, other than my beauty, wouldn't you agree?"

"Oh, just being humble is no fun, so you show off a little too. You entered the Sanzu River Hall at the top of your class, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"This is it! Lee Ahn, did you hear that? To the question 'Were you top of your class?' he replies, 'How did you know?' That's the kind of answer I'm talking about. So cool, so cool, but unfortunately, I bet you don't have a girlfriend."

"Why would you think that?"

"Don't you own a mirror?"

"Regrettably, I do not."

"What don't you have? A mirror? Or a woman?"

"No, the courage to resist a rude superior."

"Hahaha."

I laughed heartily. I had a feeling I was going to like this guy.

Alright then, shall we see how well you work?

"So, what kind of man is the Demonic Army General?"