Chapter 143: The Reason You Appeared Before Me

TL: FoodieMonster007

"If I knew the answer, do you think I would have ended up like this!" Chu Saeng roared.

His hot-blooded nature was certainly clear. Not many people could shout like that at a demonic practitioner, especially one they knew was far stronger.

"My apologies. My patience is filled to the brim these days. Just one small pebble will make it overflow."

"I understand."

"What do you understand!" he roared again, then quickly apologized. "My apologies. This isn't something I should be angry at you for."

"It's fine. Wouldn't it be stranger to remain calm in a situation like this?"

Chu Saeng spoke to me in a slightly softer tone. "What should I do now?"

"Act as you normally would. Proceed with what you were planning to do, as if I'm not here."

"How can I pretend you're not here when you are?"

"Just focus on yourself. In a life-or-death situation like this, is there anything you can't do?"

I took out the paper with information about him and handed it over.

"Keep this with you always. Open it when you feel confused or your confidence wavers. Especially, don't forget the part that says you're brilliant. You are a brilliant man. So, use that smart head of yours to judge well."

Chu Saeng clenched the paper he was reading. It seemed even that paper was enough to make his patience overflow. He couldn't bring himself to tear it, so he stuffed the crumpled paper into his robes.

"How do you plan to move now? If I hadn't come, would you have contacted the Murim Alliance?" I asked.

Chu Saeng pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "I would have sooner joined hands with the Evil Alliance than call the Murim Alliance."

"Then will you join hands with the Evil Alliance?"

"Not them either," he answered honestly. Even before my regression, he hadn't joined hands with either the Murim Alliance or the Evil Alliance.

"Then how did you plan to resolve this?"

"I don't know either."

In that moment, I saw his pupils tremble minutely. To deceive me, one would have to be capable of deceiving oneself, and he was still too young.

He's hiding something from me.

However, I didn't press him. It was only natural for him not to trust me, someone he had just met. Pushing someone who tries to hide something only results in lies or excuses. It's best to handle such times calmly.

"Let's rest for today."

Seok Hyeong guided me to a guest room.

Good food and wine were brought out. I checked each dish for poison with a silver needle before I finished my meal.

Then, in my room, I trained in the Four Strides of the Wind God. The space, whether narrow or wide, didn't matter. Training in the room was an extension of the duel I'd had with Father at the inn, so it was highly effective.

My training would not stop now that I had the goal of achieving complete mastery before being taught the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

When the moon shone brightly, I went to see Chu Saeng. He couldn't sleep despite the late hour and was lost in thought in his room.

"Did you rest well?"

"I rested well, but it seems you haven't slept a wink, Sect Leader Chu."

"I haven't been able to sleep properly these days." Indeed, Chu Saeng's eyes were red and bloodshot.

"One cannot make proper judgments without sleep."

"What can I do when sleep won't come, even if I want it to?"

"Try to get a proper night's sleep, just for one day. Shall I help you?"

"How? Are you going to press my acupoints?"

"I have a secret method for falling asleep when sleep won't come, taught to me by our Cult's demonic physician."

Chu Saeng seemed intrigued at the mention of a demonic physician.

"Come now, you have nothing to lose. Lie down on the bed here."

"This is… embarrassing, Commander."

Contrary to his words, the pain of sleeplessness must have been too much for Chu Saeng. He obediently lay down on the bed like a new bride.

"Do as I say. First, relax the muscles in your face. Next, release the tension in your shoulders and arms. More relaxed. Now, release the tension in your thighs and your entire legs, and imagine you're lying on a sandy beach under the warm sun. Now, raise a stream of qi from your qi center and slowly move it as I instruct. Move it slowly from the Subun acupoint to the Jungwan acupoint, from Jungjeong to the Okdang acupoint, and again…"

When Chu Saeng opened his eyes, it was morning. He woke up in bed, bewildered. He hadn't slept properly in days, but his throbbing headache was gone, and his body felt as light as a feather. He had slept surprisingly deeply.

"Ah! That secret method!"

It seemed he had fallen asleep without realizing it while following the secret method taught by that man from the Demonic Cult whose name he didn't even know.

Chu Saeng got out of bed and hurriedly left the room.

Geom Mugeuk was in the main hall where they had first met yesterday, staring at a mark on the wall.

"You're here?"

"Thanks to you, I slept well. I don't know how long it's been since I slept so soundly."

"Sect Leader Chu, you seem like someone who belongs in the orthodox sects."

"What are you suddenly talking about?"

"It's because I think the reason you couldn't sleep, Sect Leader Chu, was due to guilt over not being able to protect your subordinates."

"What are you talking about? I was just angry at that person. I couldn't sleep because I couldn't overcome my own temper out of sheer rage."

Chu Saeng hated being treated as someone from the orthodox sects. This was largely his father's influence. From a young age, his father had taught him that being good only gets you taken advantage of.

"Do you think I could have survived in this jianghu until now with such a soft heart? Don't be ridiculous. Don't provoke me with such nonsense."

"I understand."

When he agreed so readily, Chu Saeng found himself getting angry at that too. He had come to thank him for the good night's sleep, only to end up raising his voice for no reason.

Just then, Geom Mugeuk turned, pointed at the wall, and asked, "This hole here."

"Ah, I punched a few holes in a fit of anger. I'm on the verge of making another one right now."

"Not those, I mean this one."

Where Geom Mugeuk pointed, there was a small hole.

"Is that the hole made by the finger qi bullet he fired?" Chu Saeng's expression hardened.

"That's right. It pierced through my subordinate and then through that wall. I specifically told them not to patch it up, so I can look at it and remember what happened that day."

Geom Mugeuk's expression was grave as he looked at the hole.

"What's wrong?"

"Because it looks exactly like the real Blood Calamity Finger."

"Are you perhaps talking about the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's martial arts?"

"Yes. I have seen his martial arts before."

At that, Chu Saeng became agitated. "See, wasn't I right? It's the real Extremely Evil Smiling Demon!"

"It's not the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon."

"What are you talking about now? Didn't you just say it was the real Blood Calamity Finger?"

"I meant that the technique is that exquisite. It is not the work of the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon."

"You seem to trust the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon too much."

"I trust him."

"This is why I can't trust you. How can I trust someone who trusts the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon so much?"

"Whether you trust me or not is your choice, but this time, please trust me."

Chu Saeng stared at Geom Mugeuk without a word. He was a truly strange person. He said he was from the Demonic Cult, but he didn't feel like a demonic practitioner. He lacked the characteristic roughness, cruelty, and sinister aura of a demonic practitioner. On the contrary, despite having met only a few days ago, he had a strange power that somehow made one want to trust him.

If this man is a villain, he'll be a truly great one.

Chu Saeng hid such thoughts and asked Geom Mugeuk, "But why did you tell me, knowing I would be this suspicious?"

"I had to tell you. There is nothing more foolish than hiding your true intentions while pretending to work together. If that's the case, we shouldn't have joined hands in the first place."

The words struck a nerve with Chu Saeng, who was hiding something.

"If you can't sleep today either, use the method I taught you. Your face looks much better."

The next morning, Chu Saeng came to see me again.

"I slept well again yesterday. Perhaps you were right. The better I sleep, the more I feel sorry for the dead."

"Think of the other sect members you must protect, Sect Leader Chu. What can be done? The living must live on and move forward."

It was a cliché consolation, but it seemed to offer some comfort, as he stood up with a slightly more relaxed expression.

"If there's anything you need, please let me know."

"I will."

Chu Saeng looked around the room as if he had something to say. "How long are you going to be here? It doesn't seem like anything will change by just staying here."

"I'll be here until you tell me the truth."

"!"

Flinching for a moment, Chu Saeng turned toward me.

"Sleeping well has cleared my head, and my thoughts about you have changed as well. I realized there must be a reason for this person to be by my side. An extraordinary person like him wouldn't be here for no reason."

I said to him calmly, "That's right. I noticed you were hiding something from me."

If this had been when we first met, he would have flatly denied my words, but the Chu Saeng of now did not.

"Then why don't you force it out of me? With your martial arts, you could surely find out, even if you had to resort to torture."

"This may sound strange to you, but I will say it. My demonic path is one that eliminates the absolute evil of the world. My demonic path does not break tables, and my demonic path does not torture those who are not evil."

"Those are truly strange words."

However, his expression said otherwise. He was beginning to understand what kind of person I was.

"I believe the reason they chose you is because of that something you're hiding right now. If my guess is correct, you will eventually be killed by them because of it. It may be hard to believe, but I want to save you."

"It is hard to believe… but I am believing your words. I have no reason to trust you, yet I keep wanting to, which makes me hesitate even more. I wonder if I'm being deceived by you. Father told me never to trust anyone's words. That was his last will."

Chu Saeng looked up at the sky. What answer would his father be giving him now? He had done well so far, but this trial, which had befallen him before he even turned thirty, was too difficult for him to overcome on his own.

Tell your son to open his heart a little. I will definitely save your son.

Did my feelings perhaps reach him?

After agonizing for a long time, Chu Saeng confessed his inner thoughts.

"After this incident, I kept thinking of one method. I kept debating whether I should tell you about it or not. My head told me I must never reveal the secret, but my gut told me to reveal it. It told me to trust you."

"I'll contact the All-Knowing Hall's Hunan Branch and have them change your record. 'Good intuition, but not brilliant.' Like that."

Chu Saeng laughed. It was the laugh of someone who had finally made up his mind. "I was planning to ask one person for a favor."

"Who is that?"

"I don't know who it is either."

Chu Saeng took out something he had kept on a necklace chain and showed it to me. It was a coin, cut in half.

"It's a gratitude coin."

A gratitude coin was a type of token where a coin was cut in half and given to a benefactor. Later, if even a descendant brought the coin, the debt of gratitude would be repaid.

"Father said he saved the owner of this gratitude coin when he was injured and on the verge of death. When he passed this down to me, Father repeatedly warned me to only use it when the life and death of myself and my family were at stake."

"Do you know who the owner of this coin is?"

Chu Saeng shook his head. "He didn't tell me. I don't even know if that person is still alive."

"How do you use this gratitude coin?"

"He said if I go to any Yellow River Inn in the Central Plains and show the coin to the owner, someone will come looking for me."

Contacting someone through an inn was a method used by our Cult and the Murim Alliance. I thought the owner of the coin must have been part of a large organization at one time.

"Can just anyone use it?"

"No. He said only our direct family members can use it. I'm not saying this because I'm worried you'll take it from me. He really told me that."

"I believe you. If that weren't the case, they would have already killed you and taken the gratitude coin."

"Do you really think that bastard did this because of this coin?"

"I can't be certain, but I have a feeling that's the case."

If they were after this, as I suspected, then they must be looking for the owner of this coin. Who could it be?

"When the incident happened, why didn't you use it right away?"

Chu Saeng let out a long sigh. "I agonized over it. I truly agonized until my head felt like it would burst. I was afraid. I was afraid that if I used this, I would get entangled with that person again. I was afraid that if I failed at revenge, that bastard would come find us and annihilate my family. I wished it would all just pass."

Chu Saeng lifted his head and looked at me.

"I believe Father sent you to appear before me to rebuke me for my cowardice. I will bet my fate, and the fate of my sect, on you."

Four days later, we sat in a Yellow River Inn in Hunan. When we showed the coin to the owner, he simply told us to wait here.

We waited without a plan.

Chu Saeng sat in the inn all day, perhaps afraid that someone would come and leave.

I stayed cooped up in my room training in the Four Strides of the Wind God. When it was time for meals, I ate with Chu Saeng, drank tea, and talked with him.

I told him about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. I also told him stories about famous martial artists, sects, and mercenaries from various regions. I described the scenic beauty and delicious cuisine of the Central Plains. I also told him about hunting and camping.

He was amazed by my extensive knowledge. No matter what he asked, I was the one with the answers.

It got to the point where Chu Saeng said this. "How can someone so young know so much? Are you perhaps… someone who has undergone Rejuvenation?"

"Even if I had the chance, I wouldn't do it. I'm going to grow old and die with my people."

"I'm curious about what kind of people they are. I want to see who surrounds a person like you."

"You'll regret it if you see them."

"Why is that?"

I answered with a smile. He wouldn't say such things if he'd ever been poked in the side by the Blood Heaven Blade Demon until he was bruised.

On the tenth day of waiting there, someone finally came to find us.

The moment he saw him, Chu Saeng shot up from his seat in shock.

It wasn't just Chu Saeng. I was surprised too.

A man wearing a white mask strode toward us.