A day has passed.
On the way home yesterday.
I watched her closely wondering if she might be clinging to relationships, especially with me, due to emotional deprivation, but there’s no sign of that.
She doesn’t have such severe separation anxiety about me disappearing either.
Children are difficult.
There’s still 4 years left, so I guess I’ll just keep watching until then.
And today, Heavenly Demon finally came.
As soon as Heavenly Demon arrived, Soo-oh clung to her and chattered non-stop about what happened yesterday. She talked so much that Heavenly Demon even asked me for help at one point because Soo-oh was clinging and chattering so much.
I found that amusing, so I pretended not to notice and went outside the house saying I was going to exercise.
I walked towards the ruins that appear if you go further north.
I haven’t come out here to run lately. Thinking that, I looked around and there’s a corpse right in the middle of the ruins.
Huh?
A corpse?
Well, there are many bones rolling around weathering here, but this is a fresh corpse with its internal organs not yet fully dried.
Seeing that it died with a hole in its head, it doesn’t seem like it was stabbed to death with a sword?
Why is it dead alone in a place like this?
I approached where the corpse was. And examined its clothes.
Even after searching its pockets, I don’t see anything recognizable. Or maybe there is but I don’t know. But there’s still faint warmth remaining.
So I crushed its chest with my hand.
Crunch.
As the corpse was crushed, the warmth on the verge of disappearing entered me. Immediately, the light turned black and shrank, separating from the body.
That’s when it happened.
Thwack!
Suddenly the ground came closer.
No, to be precise, the body fell forward from being attacked. The point of impact was the back of the head.
Of course, even if the body is damaged, I don’t lose consciousness. Unlike Choseol’s body, I don’t even faint, let alone sleep.
I know I’m already unrelated to the body at the point where I can think even if my head flies off.
“Damn, you evil cult bastard. How did you notice? If it’s come to this, does it mean the third contact who lost communication has been dealt with too?”
A man’s voice is heard from behind me who has fallen.
There’s no one here who calls the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult an evil cult. They’re outside.
Organizations called the Five Mountains Sword Sect or the Nine Sects dominate the martial world. It’s mainly a term they use.
The fallen one is someone sent by the Nine Sects. Of course, I also know that several spies were sent from the Five Mountains that recently united, not just the Nine Sects.
The man approaches and kicks me aside.
Since my eyes are closed, I can’t know exactly what’s happening, but I hear the sound of him searching through pockets.
“Ah, here it is. Let’s see. Oh Myeongseong, joined evil cult. Above supreme level. Force dangerous. Judgment needed. Ha, he betrayed in the end.”
I didn’t know before gaining warmth, but there’s an encrypted record hidden in the cloth inside his pocket. The person who attacked me seems to be reading that.
And not long after, the sound of footsteps faded away.
I regenerated my torn neck back to normal and stood up.
Since I roughly understood the situation when I crushed the man’s chest, I refrained from taking the warmth of the opponent who attacked me.
Hehe, it was good I held back.
It seems the spy wasn’t sent just because of Oh Myeongseong. According to this person’s memories, the intelligence agency he belongs to dispatched people every year around this time because the promotion battle is held at a similar time each year.
To scout how the power rankings change in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
This time, they were also trying to confirm what happened to Oh Myeongseong on top of that.
Hehe.
Things are flowing interestingly. There’s a high chance the martial world will move. Of course, they might just deal with it moderately since it’s so far away.
Currently, fear of the Martial God remains in the martial world.
Yes. The incident where Eunjae was able to take the name of Martial God.
So it seems they’ve always been interested in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
I understand now that I’ve gained memories from the other side, not only what Heavenly Demon Divine Cult people knew before. This is why people need to go far away.
Though it’s become very faded, the memory of the martial world being completely wiped out by Eunjae still remains.
I didn’t understand why the monks suddenly designated Oh Myeongseong as a demon head when his hair color changed and he used this energy called me, but now I get it.
And Oh Myeongseong didn’t know about this.
I understand. Of course, if I search through the memories thoroughly, he did learn about it at a place called Mount Hua where Oh Myeongseong was, but this person wasn’t very interested in learning such things.
It was just vaguely remembered as a catastrophe his master’s master or someone like that saw in the past.
It means it would have been easier to know if he had recalled it often.
In other words, there was a reason to oppress harvesters, and now a reason to oppress them again has arisen.
I’m not sure if they’ll actually invade this far, but I hope they take it seriously and deal with it.
I stretched my body, ran my usual course again, then returned home.
I deliberately arrived a bit late.
The time when Heavenly Demon had already left.
Soo-oh is sprawled out on the porch like half-melted ice.
Maybe because she pestered Heavenly Demon as soon as she arrived, her movements were especially rough this time.
“You got hit a lot, didn’t you?”
“I thought I was going to die!”
Soo-oh grumbles that Master was too harsh, saying she just asked but was made to experience it directly with her body.
Wondering if there might be other thoughts mixed in, I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
* * *
The season has arrived where the air is very cold without the sun.
Part of the forest has now turned red and yellow too.
I’m not sure what the latitude here is. Searching through the memories of the second world I gained, it’s at least not ancient China of the faded man’s memories.
There are similar nouns, but they’re subtly different.
No, I just need to say this.
There are lots of lands floating in the sky at Mount Kunlun in this world.
Of course, the original is the Great Kraken’s memory, and it’s from a very long time ago, so I don’t know how it is now.
Meanwhile, many things have happened in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
First, Byeongil left the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
He tried to establish his authority by killing those who didn’t follow him in the Mountain Stone Hall, but he killed too many and incurred the anger of other hall masters.
When I asked Yin Simwon who sticks to my side whenever I go to the village, he said that they initially supported him seeing him as the next Heavenly Demon candidate, but he took it for granted and even made demands, so resentment was added on top.
In reality, several hall masters and protectors tried to kill him in a joint attack, but he noticed and fled the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
They tried to kill him with those special insects, but the insects were already dead. Of course, Yin Simwon didn’t tell me this much.
I just saw it through Yin Simwon’s perspective. After I said I dislike insects, Yin Simwon doesn’t talk about anything related to them in front of me at all.
Byeongil is still constantly fleeing northward.
And there’s someone following him.
Jung Jaewoo, the protector of the Heaven Palace Hall Master.
He left the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult under the pretext of chasing Byeongil. He volunteered himself, giving the reason that it’s difficult for ordinary people to deal with a harvester.
But he has no intention of catching Byeongil and bringing him back.
He’s thinking of using that as an excuse to completely escape from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
After fleeing far following Byeongil, he plans to cut off all contact. He knows too that there are no longer any insects in his body.
Why do I know this?
I told you, right? That I’m following him.
He’s already met with Byeongil and told him his wish.
And he’s moving far away from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult under the pretext of chasing him while deliberately keeping his distance.
It’s nice to see him moving according to his desires.
Next is Gapjae.
He was originally in the lowest position among the first three, but in just one year, he’s in the highest position among them in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Gapjae became the hall master of the Mountain Stone Hall, which was originally Byeongil’s hall.
But unlike Byeongil, he’s maintaining moderate relationships. Of course, it’s also because the hardliners were killed by Byeongil.
So he’s learning the hall master’s work without much resistance. Because there are few people, he’s being pushed around by other hall masters as people are pulled from here and there.
That’s a problem for him to solve.
Yin Simwon is doing the work of the Moon Emperor Hall Master.
But it’s not exactly the same. He’s completely removed work related to the Blood Vessel Secret Religion, and is leaving records about the Blood Vessel Secret Religion and the Severance Religion in books.
And it includes content about Supreme Leader Tongcheon, and about monsters that look like humans mixed with fish.
Since this is information I have no way of knowing, it’s hard to ask Yin Simwon why he’s writing it.
So I’m slowly gathering information.
And the girl he wanted to save. She’s been removed from the main work of the Moon Emperor Hall. She’s still affiliated with the Moon Emperor Hall, but she’s been assigned work closer to what’s done in the Heaven Palace Hall.
To put it simply, she’s been taken out of difficult and dangerous work and put in a position that’s easy to approach.
Of course, the girl finds this kindness very burdensome.
I’m not sure how this will twist.
And Oh Myeongseong.
He’s living happily in newlywed life with Gu Milmil.
On the day of the promotion battle. Heavenly Demon gave him the position of Right Light Officer.
I thought it was simply a job like head of the guards, but it turns out it’s also a position held by someone highly likely to succeed Heavenly Demon.
There are two people, Right Light Officer and Left Light Officer. One person fled to a remote place under the pretext of recuperation.
Because Left Light Officer was on Gu Seongyong’s side when he came to kill Heavenly Demon.
So Gu Milmil and Oh Myeongseong are thinking of calling him back while being wary of Heavenly Demon.
Heavenly Demon?
She knows but is leaving it be. It came up in conversation while Soo-oh was training, and she said she’ll give the position of Left Light Officer again as a reward if they can politically maneuver to bring Left Light Officer back.
Until then, she’s testing them while strongly expressing her dislike.
“Are you thinking of making him the next Heavenly Demon?”
One afternoon. As usual, with Soo-oh sprawled out in the yard, I asked Heavenly Demon sitting on the porch. But she just silently smiled at my question.
I really don’t know what she’s thinking.
Meanwhile, whether the person from the Nine Sects who fled then was caught and killed, there’s strangely no news at all.
If the martial world moves, news should come to Heavenly Demon, but there’s no such news in the reports Heavenly Demon receives.
At most, just that the blind leader of the Five Mountains Sword Sect bowed to the Nine Sects and formed a huge organization called the Murim Alliance?
Of course, it’s not completely different factions merging since several sects of the Five Mountains Sect belonged to the Nine Sects, but it’s a bit complicated here too.
Thinking it would be good if this is a sign of war, I poked Heavenly Demon’s cheek who wasn’t answering. Then suddenly Heavenly Demon burst into laughter.
I can’t understand why.