Chapter 447: New Scenery

TL: FoodieMonster007

At dawn, carriages departed from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Headquarters. They were loaded with supplies being sent from the Headquarters to each branch.

Among them was the carriage carrying my father and me. Our driver was Hwi, dressed in the plain clothes of a coachman.

As we moved away from the Headquarters, I asked my father, "Father, this is your first trip with your son. How do you feel?"

In response to my excited question, my father, who had been silently gazing out the window, asked back, "This isn't a trip, is it?"

I thought, But for that to be true, you've packed far too much, haven't you? His large leather pouch was loaded in the luggage compartment at the back.

"Of course, we're on our way to carry out an important mission," I said. "Still, it's been a while since you've left the Cult, so it would be great if you could relieve yourself of any burdens and return refreshed. Please leave all your worries behind at the Headquarters."

At that, my father, still looking out the window, said to Hwi, "Stop the carriage."

The carriage immediately halted.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Get out."

"Me? Why me?"

"Didn't you say to leave our worries behind?"

I laughed out loud. The fact that he was joking like this meant he was in a very good mood.

"But isn't it true that worries are necessary for growth? Now, let's go. Onward!"

When my father again said, "Proceed," the carriage started moving.

I stuck my head out the window and said to Hwi, "I'll be in your care, Uncle Hwi!"

Hwi did not drive the carriage hastily. Perhaps Sama Myeong had asked him to.

I hoped that this departure from the Cult would be a journey, not a mission.

Leaning out the window, I let the wind blow against me. "The weather is fantastic!"

Father didn't answer, but I could feel it. He was excited, too.

"Isn't it great just to get a little way out of the Cult's grounds, Father? So, even if it's not for a trip like this, let's come out often in the future. Oh, if we go over that hill, there's a magnificent lake. Have you been there? In the winter, the lake freezes solid, and the thrill of breaking the ice to fish is incredible."

Father already had an expression that said his ears were hurting, but this was just the beginning. For this to be an enjoyable trip with him, I would have to be the one doing most of the chattering.

"Oh, and if you cross the mountain on the other side, there's a tent that serves amazing noodles. Would you like to go sometime?"

Then, an unexpected answer came from my father. "They used to be good at making dumplings back in the day."

I pulled my head back inside the carriage. "You've been there?"

"A long time ago."

I realized my father also had a time when he roamed murim like me. Was it when he went around fighting alongside the Fist Demon? Or was it when he was on friendly terms with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the Flower Sword Supreme?

"Should we stop by on our way back?"

Father nodded, as if he wanted to visit again too.

"People's palates are a scary thing, aren't they? They know what's delicious so well that even if a place does business in such a remote location, rumors spread like wildfire and people seek it out."

"Let's travel quietly."

"Yes!"

Father, you don't know this, do you? I lived just as taciturn a life as you. No, perhaps I was even more silent. All those words I couldn't say, I'm now saying them to my heart's content in front of you.

After running for a good while, the carriage came to a stop. While Hwi unharnessed the horses to let them rest, my father and I took a walk nearby.

"Before we left, Elder Blade Demon came to see me," my father said.

"What did he say?"

"He told me not to mess with you, Father."

A faint smile formed on my father's lips.

"The Blade Demon cares for you a great deal."

Right, how could my father not know? The Blade Demon had volunteered for the role of scolding me during the meeting to persuade Father, all for my sake.

"He's very fond of you, Elder Blade Demon is."

That wasn't just something nice to say. The Blade Demon's feelings for my father are truly deep.

"Don't mess with the Blade Demon."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon tells me not to mess with Father, and Father tells me not to mess with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. How could there not be something special between them?

I wanted to joke, 'Then who am I supposed to mess with?', but I couldn't mess around after being told not to.

"I understand. I will always be careful."

Just the fact that I was walking alongside my father, having this kind of conversation, made me happy. Everything that happens from now on will be a first for both my father and me. As long as the words together with Father, away from the Cult came first, anything we did would be a first.

Just then, my father abruptly asked, "Do you feel it?"

"Wolves, right?"

When I guessed correctly right away, my father looked at me with a surprised expression.

He was surprised that I had answered without him even saying where the presence was coming from. He was shocked that I had already sensed a presence from over twenty jang away.

"In unfamiliar places, I now naturally release my ki to survey my surroundings."

Countless strands of energy were extending from my body like a spider's web.

"It's all thanks to what you taught me, Father."

My skill was on a completely different level from when I learned how to emit long, thin strands of ki while hunting with my father in the past.

"So you haven't just been playing around."

"They say that training in martial arts and love are things best done out of sight."

His smile deepened, matching his look of disbelief.

After walking around for a while, we returned to where the carriage was. Just then, from a distance, Hwi waved his hand from beside the carriage and shouted, "The meal is ready."

Hwi had already started a campfire and finished preparing the meal.

"Doesn't it seem like Uncle Hwi is excited too, for some reason?"

Father didn't say no. Even to his eyes, Hwi must have seemed unusually cheerful.

I hoped my father would get to see many new sights. The sight of Hwi waving at us right now was probably a new one for him, too.

The meal Hwi prepared was something he had brought with him from the start.

"From now on, the meals will be meager," Hwi said.

"That's fine," my father replied.

I chimed in. "Don't worry, Uncle. We have Father, don't we? I can't forget the taste of the food he cooked for me."

The second time I went hunting with my father, he cooked himself. That dish, a stir-fry of meat with vegetables and mushrooms, was unexpectedly delicious. He even boiled a soup alongside it, proving that he cooked regularly.

Come to think of it, there are many sides to my father that I don't know. His floral pajamas, the way he packed his own bags for the trip yesterday, and the fact that he can cook. I hoped I could see another new side of my father on this trip.

"I've also prepared something."

I took out some leather hides from the pouch in the carriage. First, a tiger skin for my father.

"Here, please sit."

Father sat on it.

I had prepared more. I handed one of them to Hwi. "This one is for you, Uncle Hwi."

Hwi looked slightly surprised that I had prepared one for him as well.

"I'm fine."

"I have one for myself, so please sit. Ours are wolf skins."

Hwi's and mine were identical hides. As Hwi continued to refuse, my father looked at him and nodded. At that, Hwi no longer refused and sat on the hide I had provided.

"Thank you, Young Cult Leader."

"Don't mention it."

I learned something profound through my past life. A person's place is truly important.

Father's grandmaster's chair. The second-floor seats at the Alluring Inn. And now, this leather hide where Hwi sits.

Everyone lives to sit in their own place. We are beings who would even start wars to claim a seat.

If someone were to say, 'What's so important about a seat? Isn't it the heart that matters?', it's because they have never truly felt the awkwardness and bewilderment of arriving somewhere to find there is no place for them.

Therefore, someone who hasn't experienced it will never know how much relief and gratitude a small chair offered by another can bring.

I have never seen Hwi's seat. He was always hidden in the shadows. That's why that wolf skin is even more important.

Just as the three of us sat down in a row to eat, a sudden shower began to fall.

SHHHHHHH.

"Father, you should get in the carriage first and get out of the rain…" I stopped myself before I could finish.

Isn't this a bit inhuman?

"When a person is in the rain, they should get wet," my father said.

An invisible barrier of ki had spread around his body, repelling the raindrops.

"No, and if you have a trick like this, you should protect us from the rain too," I complained.

Of course, he wasn't the type of person to expand his ki barrier just because I said that.

Just then, my father extended his hand. The opening of his leather pouch inside the carriage loosened, and something came out. It flew out of the carriage and unfurled above our heads. It was a wind-and-rain-proof tarp.

Ropes attached to the tarp tied themselves to the carriage and a tree, securing it. It wasn't moved by telekinesis. The movements were as fast and precise as if a skilled person were tying them by hand.

To think Father prepared something like this!

"Watching the rain is the best part of camping! It creates the perfect atmosphere," I said cheerfully.

Father revived the campfire, which was being extinguished by the rain, with his Yang energy.

FWOOSH.

"You're amazing, Father!"

Father wore an expression that said, 'This is nothing'. He could probably set it up anytime it rained, but this moment was truly wonderful. It made the first meal of our first day unforgettable.

After the meal, Hwi brought out the tea he had prepared. We watched the rain while drinking tea. Father sat in the middle, with Hwi and me on his left and right.

"Uncle, isn't it difficult serving my father?"

It was a question that could have flustered him, being asked right in front of my father.

"It is difficult."

At his honest answer, my father and I both looked at Hwi at the same time.

Hwi smiled and replied, "I felt I should answer you this way, Young Cult Leader."

He had been listening to all my conversations with my father until now. He must have also heard all of Sama Myeong's reports about me. He was someone who knew me as well as my father did.

"You've caught me completely off guard. If you had said it wasn't difficult, I could have turned the tables on my father."

This time, my father looked my way.

"If you had answered that it wasn't difficult at all because Father is so taciturn, I was going to say this to him. That there must be difficulties precisely because he's so quiet. That it would be easier if he just said everything like I do, but since he's so silent, you have to try and guess his intentions. And that's not an easy task for a subordinate."

I was speaking to my father on Hwi's behalf. I didn't know what kind of conversations they usually had, but given their personalities, would they really share their hardships with each other?

"In the end, you say everything you want to say," my father noted.

"I have to. How would you know if I don't say it?"

At my words, my father looked forward again. Then he suddenly asked Hwi, "So, has it been difficult?"

This time, Hwi was truly flustered and surprised. Father wasn't the type to ask such a question. In fact, his personality was one that would have become even more silent in a situation like this.

"It has not."

The conversation didn't continue. However, I thought that just the fact my father had asked if it was difficult held great meaning for Hwi.

In the meantime, the rain stopped.

We camped out that night. We could have looked for an inn, but my father accepted my suggestion to spend the first day quietly.

Lying side-by-side with my father, gazing up at the pouring stars, felt truly wonderful.

I suggested Hwi lie down with us, but he firmly refused, saying he couldn't possibly lie down with the Heavenly Demon. Everyone has things they can and cannot accept, so I didn't press him further.

"Father, I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Thinking of you, I should have asked my brother to come with us. I'm this selfish. It seems I still want to have you all to myself."

Father was silent for a moment. "It's alright."

His words lightened my heavy heart a little. Still, I couldn't help but think of my brother when I was alone with my father.

"Father."

"What is it?"

"I just called your name to see if you were sleeping."

"Then shouldn't you not have called?"

I smiled and turned to look at my father lying next to me. He was gazing up at the night sky with a stoic expression.

I engraved this scene in my mind. Father looking up at the night sky, me watching him, and even the stars in that sky.

And so, the first night of our journey passed.

The next day, we stopped in a village. While Hwi rented a stable to feed and rest the horses, my father and I went out to look around the marketplace for a bit.

Even though we were walking through a place bustling with people, no one paid us any particular attention.

Both my father and I had reached the perfect state of Origin Reversal. Father had also wrapped his Heavenly Demon Sword in a worn cloth to make it inconspicuous, just like my Black Demon Sword was wrapped in Top-Quality Heavenly Silk.

"This is your first time in a marketplace other than the Demon Village, isn't it?"

"I went to many when I was young."

"You went around fighting with the Fist Demon, you didn't go to look around marketplaces, did you?"

Father nodded in admission.

"I wish I could have been the Fist Demon Master back then."

I answered the question in my father's eyes. "I want to see the younger version of you, Father. I want to have a conversation with that father."

I meant it sincerely. What did he look like? What was his personality? Was he like me?

"By any chance, were you as talkative as I am?"

After a slight snort, my father said, "I might be able to drink like the Drunken Demon. But I'm not confident I could talk as much as you."

"A chatterbox who outdoes a drunkard! That's too much!"

We looked around the marketplace, sharing all sorts of stories. We even stopped when a crowd of people rushed by. Even this experience must be new to my father. He's probably never had to stop walking because someone else was coming.

What do you think of the scenery you see when you stop like this?

People were coming and going, people were laughing and chatting, people were hawking their wares, and people were angry. All sorts of people were there.

Father watched them in silence. What could he be thinking as he looked at them?

"Even with so many people, nothing is happening, right? The Head Strategist was worried that as soon as you left the Cult, incidents would start popping up. He said the fate of murim wouldn't leave you alone. That a small incident would start, grow larger, and then spread into another."

I looked at my father and stated with conviction, "But something like that will never happen."

It was at that very moment.

A man sidled up to us. "Martial artists, how about a manly wager?"

He pointed to a spot where a few people were gathered. On a makeshift table were three overturned bowls.

Ah! The Heavenly Demon and a swindler! How could I possibly miss this delightful opportunity?

"Father is a gambler second to none in this world," I began. "What do you say? Maybe for the price of dinner…"

There was no need to provoke my father. Before I even finished speaking, he was already walking toward the swindlers.

I smiled at the man who had solicited us and asked, "Is that man's hand fast? It'll have to be really fast to be quicker than my father's eyes."