Chapter 51: That's All There Is

TL: FoodieMonster007

"Ughhh!"

Seo Daeryong groaned and pushed himself up in bed, his face contorted.

"Thirsty, water! Water!"

"Beside you!"

At the words, Seo Daeryong instinctively reached out and drank the water from the bedside table.

"Ugh, my head. I'm a dog if I ever drink again, a dog."

Seo Daeryong chugged the water straight from the pitcher.

After quenching his thirst, he realized he had woken up in an unfamiliar place. The bed was large and plush, the bedding soft and luxurious.

Come to think of it, who was it that just said 'Beside you'?

Seo Daeryong looked around.

In the distance, a person sat by the window, reading a book. The sunlight made it impossible to see who he was.

"……"

As his eyes adjusted to the light, the figure slowly came into view.

"Aargh!"

Seo Daeryong screamed. The man reading the book was the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

"Wh-where is this? Why is the Demon Supreme here?"

Seo Daeryong was so startled he stuttered.

"Because it's my room."

"Goodness! Why am I here?"

"Don't you remember?"

"……No."

"When we were about to part ways at the tavern, you shot up and started screaming that I had to carry you on my back. You yelled about how I could possibly abandon my disciple. You even clung to my pant leg."

"I did? No way."

Seo Daeryong felt flustered. Oh my god, I actually clung to his pant leg.

"I can't recall the last time in decades I allowed someone to touch my leg."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glanced coolly at Seo Daeryong.

"Do you want to die but lack the courage to jump off a cliff?"

"……"

Then, a question popped into Seo Daeryong's mind.

"But why did you let me sleep in your bed, Elder?"

"Of course, you don't remember that either, do you?"

Seo Daeryong gasped, tensing up.

"I brought you here and tried to put you in a guest room, but you called me a heartless Master for making my disciple sleep in such a shabby place. Then you plopped down on the floor, crying and making a scene about how you were a wretch who deserved such treatment."

"……"

"Is life hard for you? It was hard for me too. I had to restrain myself from killing you."

Seo Daeryong scrambled off the bed and knelt.

"I'm sorry. I'll quit drinking from now on."

"Why quit something as good as alcohol? You should quit your drunken antics."

"Yes, I'll quit everything. Please forgive me. I drank too much yesterday."

Even though he had screamed and acted out, the man could have just hit his pressure points and thrown him in a stable, not a guest room. It was so unexpected that he had let him sleep in his own room, and in his bed at that. It was probably because of Geom Mugeuk, but still, to let him use his own bed… Seo Daeryong saw a new side to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

"You may go."

"……"

His outer clothes were neatly folded on a table. A servant must have done it, but Seo Daeryong felt like he had been properly treated.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon kept reading his book, a sight that felt unfamiliar.

Is he trying to act all scholarly in front of me?

Strangely, the sight of him reading suited him. Seo Daeryong looked around the room and saw several bookshelves filled with books.

Then, a particular book caught his eye.

"Huh? This book is…?"

Seo Daeryong casually pulled the book from the shelf. It was an adventure story about a boy who meets an unparalleled Master and grows into a hero, a book he had read several times since he was young.

"This is my favorite book. Have you read it, by any chance?" he asked the Blood Heaven Blade Demon excitedly.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon glared at him menacingly.

"I hate it most when people touch my things without permission."

"Gasp!"

Startled, Seo Daeryong dropped the book. He tried to stop it with his foot, but it bounced off and tumbled across the floor.

Silence fell.

Seo Daeryong saw the book lying open and crumpled, and his vision went dark. He thought his own fate would soon be the same.

Seo Daeryong scrambled over, picked up the book, and smoothed the crumpled part with his hand.

"I'm sorry. Ah, thankfully, it was a boring part that got crumpl… I'm sorry!"

Instead of cutting off Seo Daeryong's arm, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon simply turned his gaze back to his book. He was the embodiment of forgiveness today.

"I'll be on my way now."

Seo Daeryong bowed timidly. As he was about to leave, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon suddenly asked a question.

"Why do you like that book?"

"Ah, because I feel like the main character is similar to me. Born poor, with a dark personality, and doesn't fit in well with others. It's a story about a guy like that becoming a hero… I've probably read it twenty times by now. It's a book I keep by my side and read whenever I can't sleep."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon stared at Seo Daeryong for a moment before turning his gaze back to his book without a word.

"Well then, I'll be going. Thank you so much for letting me sleep here."

Then the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked again.

"Do you think the Second Young Lord will become the successor?"

This question required no hesitation.

"……"

"The reason?"

"He is a magnificent person. More so than anyone I've ever seen. I believe our Cult will change because of him. For the better, of course."

"Can you offer your life for him?"

Seo Daeryong thought for a moment before answering honestly.

"No."

"But you said the Second Young Lord is a magnificent person?"

"I'm not. I'm not the kind of great man who sacrifices himself for others."

His gaze was still on the book, but the corners of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's mouth lifted slightly.

"Wait in the courtyard."

"……"

Seo Daeryong stood in the courtyard, waiting for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

Did he tell me to wait so he could use my answer about not being prepared to die for the Director as an excuse to beat me up? Should I have said I could die for him?

As he was worrying, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon finally came out and threw a large blade at him.

THUD!

The lightly thrown blade landed and stuck in the ground before Seo Daeryong's feet. It was not as large as the Heaven Destroying Dao, but it was a giant dao with a wider and longer blade than a typical one.

"Pick it up."

"……"

Seo Daeryong pulled the blade from the ground. The martial arts he had learned before were swordsmanship, so he had never practiced with a blade. He had hardly even held one like this before.

"How is it?"

Seo Daeryong didn't know the intent behind the question, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"It's heavy."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon nodded.

"That's all there is."

"……"

"Understanding that weight is the beginning and the end of the blade arts I intend to teach you."

"!"

In that moment, something clicked in Seo Daeryong's mind.

"My heart tingled."

Seo Daeryong looked up from the blade, his face flushed.

"That's because you drank too much yesterday. Or you have a heart condition."

"Ah! Yes."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned away.

"Don't be late for training later."

"Yes! I won't be late!"

Seo Daeryong put the blade in a corner of the courtyard and left, only to return and pick it up before leaving for good.

Even as he walked away, he wondered if he had really just talked with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, if he had really slept here.

Maybe I'm still dreaming…

He walked out of that place, the hangover weighing on his body as heavily as the blade in his hand.

Seo Daeryong entered my office.

He still looked disheveled and hungover, but he wore a giant dao at his waist that I had never seen before. Just seeing that giant dao told me that things with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had gone well.

"My right-hand man has arrived?"

"You mean the right-hand man you sent to his death."

"Good thing you came back without getting it chopped off."

"How could you just send me off with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon? You should've taken care of me, Director!"

"It seems you don't remember anything from yesterday."

Seo Daeryong flinched at my words.

"You insisted you'd go with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon even if it killed you. Do you even know what you said to me?"

"What did I say?"

"You asked why I was trying to separate a Master and his disciple! I honestly thought you two had been together for fifty years."

"……Don't lie to me."

"I wish it were a lie. Before you passed out, you swore you'd rather die than learn martial arts, then you suddenly woke up as his top disciple. If you really doubt me, go ask General Jang. General Jang just shook his head watching you."

"Ughhh. Is there really such a crazy drunkard living inside me?"

Seo Daeryong clutched his head.

"It's a shame."

"What is?"

"You have a unique and good personality when you're gloomy and dark, but you've been getting too bright lately. You're even becoming funny, like you were yesterday."

"Don't worry. I'll be dark again by tomorrow."

"What do you mean?"

"My first training session is after work today. He'll probably beat me half to death. Ah! I wish work would never end."

"Too bad. I won't be able to see it."

"……"

"I'm leaving the Cult today. I'll be gone for about two months, so protect the Sanzu River Hall well while I'm away."

The playful look vanished from Seo Daeryong's face.

"Are you leaving because of that matter?"

"What matter?"

Seo Daeryong then pointed a finger at his own eye. Only then did I understand what he was talking about.

Yesterday, before we went drinking, Seo Daeryong had said something in front of the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme's residence. He had looked at my eyes and said they were the same ones I had before achieving the impossible.

"That's right, that's the one."

"It must be dangerous."

"Fortunately, this task won't be that dangerous. I plan on using a danger I've kept in reserve."

"……"

Seo Daeryong didn't understand what I meant, but I didn't explain further.

His playful expression gone, Seo Daeryong bowed his head respectfully.

"Please be careful on your journey! I'm sorry I can only ever worry you with words."

"If you want to lend a hand later, learn diligently from the Blade Demon."

As I was about to leave, Seo Daeryong called out to me.

"Director."

"What is it?"

"If it weren't for you, Director, I would've never had the chance to learn martial arts from a Demon Supreme in my entire life."

"You never know how things will turn out. If not for me, you might have had the chance to learn martial arts from my father. Well then, take care."

"Yes! Don't worry about things here, and have a safe trip."

After that, I found Lee Ahn and told her about the training she needed to do for the next two months. Then I quietly left the Cult.

I ran continuously to the northwest.

As my mastery of the Four Strides of the Wind God gradually increased, the speed of the Swift Step also rose.

My speed was now so great that most experts couldn't hope to keep up unless they specialized in movement arts.

When my inner arts ran low from running like a madman, I rested and circulated my qi in a secluded part of the forest. Once my inner arts were replenished, I ran again. When they ran low again, I circulated my qi.

When I got hungry while running, I hunted using the qi emission technique my father had taught me.

Now, I could instantly sense a wild boar deep in the forest.

While I roasted a boar over a campfire, passing hunters or herb gatherers sometimes joined me for a drink. Before my regression, I had met and grown close to many people like them, so I felt comfortable and at ease with them.

About halfway to my destination, I started to control my pace.

Since it was useless to arrive too early anyway, I enjoyed the journey itself.

If I found a mountain worth climbing, I climbed it. I didn't just walk up. I scaled the cliffs using only my physical abilities, without inner arts, to check my body's condition. I checked for any sore spots or areas where my muscles were lacking.

Relying mainly on inner arts makes it easy to neglect one's body, which is what separates a true master from a mediocre one. True masters do not overlook the smallest details. They know that small differences ultimately become everything, so they never miss a single nook or cranny of their body.

While climbing a cliff, if I saw a distant sunset, I would perch on a protruding rock or tree branch and gaze at the scenery.

Gazing at the beauty of the great outdoors, I felt something blocked in my chest clear away.

I had promised to tour the Central Plains with Lee Ahn, but watching the sunset from the edge of a cliff, my thoughts turned to my father instead.

I wanted to travel with my father. I wanted to share conversations with him while looking at scenery like this. I wanted to know what kind of person my father was, what thoughts he lived with.

Will I ever get such a chance? Will such a moment ever come for us?

Before my regression, I never would have dreamed of developing such intimate feelings for my father. Perhaps I missed the father with whom I had never even had a proper conversation…

Even while enjoying the journey, when it was time to run, I ran until I was out of breath.

By the time I reached my destination, my mastery of the Swift Step had risen by another level.

My running speed became faster, and the amount of inner arts it consumed decreased.

"Hahahahahaha!"

I laughed like a madman as I dashed down the road.

As my mastery of the Four Strides of the Wind God increased, I realized the Swift Step touched upon human nature. It maximized the pleasure of running to an extreme, making it so addictive that I wanted to keep running.

Now, I passed people on the road so fast they couldn't even recognize my form. I would literally whoosh past them.

In fact, I overheard conversations like this several times.

"Didn't a person just pass by?"

"What? I didn't see anything."

I had reached a level where someone lost in thought wouldn't even notice I had brushed past them.

If I rise one more level, they won't know even if they stare wide-eyed. They won't be able to tell if a person or a bird passed by.

What would the Swift Step be like at complete mastery?

I thought that perhaps they might not even feel me passing by.

The place I arrived at was somewhere no one from our Cult would ever have imagined to be my destination.

This was Hongsan, the Red Mountain, the location of the Heavenly Wind Cult's Headquarters in the Outer Regions.

The place where I had obtained the Echoing Thunder Bell, the first ingredient for the Great Regression Technique.

I had returned to this place once again.