“Strange Demon.” At those words, Cheon Eujin flinched. His eyes said he thought he had heard wrong.

“Young Master Bang... What did you just say?”

“I said I’m going to meet Strange Demon.”

“What?”

So he hadn’t heard wrong after all. Confusion flooded Cheon Eujin’s face. He really hadn’t misheard that?

“...How could that...”

“There’s a reason for it.”

“Strange Demon is a dangerous figure...! Why would you do such a thing? He’s the very man who ambushed you.”

One of the resurrected DEMON CULT’s Eight Demonic Ones, and the one who had attacked me. At the thought that I would go out of my way to meet him, Cheon Eujin spoke.

“Why would you try to do something dangerous again?”

“It isn’t dangerous.”

I cut him off. Cheon Eujin immediately looked like he was about to say something else to me, but—

“He’s on my side.”

“No matter how I think about it, it’s danger—... What?”

Cheon Eujin froze at what I said next.

[Kid.]

Even Yoo Cheongil looked flustered by what I’d said. He wore the expression of someone who hadn’t expected me to say that, but I didn’t care. This was something I needed to tell Cheon Eujin specifically. And for the calculation I was making too.

“What do you mean, he’s on your side?”

“Exactly what I said. Strange Demon is someone who stands on my side.”

“...I don’t understand.”

“This whole matter was about weeding out HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE spies while also watching their movements. And for that, I needed Mount Hua Sect’s help, but...”

I cast a glance toward one side. It was Seongheon’s quarters, and Yuyeon was still completely absorbed in eating noodles.

She had to be listening too. Still, that was fine. With Yuyeon, I felt like that was all right.

“There was a spy in Mount Hua Sect as well. And that person was far higher up than I had expected.”

The Plum Blossom Commander. The fact that he had betrayed Mount Hua in order to become the new sect master had been an enormous shock to the current Mount Hua Sect.

“Trying to do what needed doing while identifying them all created a great deal of difficulty. And to do that, I needed a double spy.”

“...D-don’t tell me.”

Cheon Eujin’s eyes grew round as lanterns.

A double spy. It was already a fairly well-known fact that I had been using a double spy to watch the situation. I had to say that for there to be an excuse for what I was doing.

“That’s right.”

I nodded.

“Strange Demon is my double spy.”

“That’s—!!”

Cheon Eujin shot to his feet.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

He apologized as soon as he realized he had stood up too abruptly. I shook my head at that.

“It’s fine.”

Cheon Eujin carefully sat back down and looked around. He seemed afraid someone might overhear.

“You used one of the Eight Demonic Ones as a double spy...?”

“Yes.”

“How could Strange Demon possibly make a choice like that? I’ve always heard that the demonic disciples are all madmen completely bound to the Heavenly Demon.”

That was how martial artists of the Central Plains saw the DEMON CULT.

People who could never abandon the Heavenly Demon as their religion.

Demonic disciples were the sort who could cut their own throats and die on the spot if the Heavenly Demon told them to.

So it made sense that he’d find it strange when I said such a person had betrayed the DEMON CULT, come to me, and become a spy.

“This is an age after the Heavenly Demon has vanished.”

Right now, the Heavenly Demon was gone.

An age where the Heavenly Demon had been killed by Yoo Cheongil, and the very existence of the DEMON CULT had been shaken.

“In an age like this, isn’t it possible that even a demonic disciple’s way of thinking might change?”

“...”

Cheon Eujin hesitated at my words. On the face of it, it made sense. And if I said he had become a spy, he couldn’t outright deny it either.

“So... Strange Demon really has taken your side, Young Master Bang...? Then what is his goal...?”

“His goal is to stop the demon head who is currently called the little master.”

“What does that even... mean? Are you saying a demonic disciple developed some sense of justice?”

“As if.”

I gave a shallow laugh.

“Do you really think something like that exists in a demonic disciple?”

Maybe it could. That was what I thought, but looking at Cheon Eujin’s reaction, it seemed like that wasn’t something I should say.

“So that’s how much the Central Plains despise demonic disciples.”

I got a proper look at the perception. While I was at it, I stole a glance at Yuyeon. The fact that she was the Heavenly Demon’s daughter kept bothering me a little.

“What Strange Demon wants is a proper DEMON CULT.”

“A proper...?”

“It seems the current little master is not that. So he wants to stop the current little master and build a proper DEMON CULT.”

“And for that, he joined hands with you?”

“Yes. I also intended to use him.”

“...Just from hearing it...”

Cheon Eujin hesitated, then spoke.

“I still can’t shake the thought that he is a dangerous figure. Just how did you even come into contact with Strange Demon in the first place?”

In the little less than a year I’d known Cheon Eujin, he was asking when I could possibly have found the time to make contact with Strange Demon. So I pulled out my trump card.

“It was one of the arrangements my master put in place.”

[You little bastard.]

“Ah...!”

When something unbelievable needed explaining, I used Yoo Cheongil. Yoo Cheongil exploded at that, but Cheon Eujin clapped his hands in sudden understanding.

“...The Sword Saint...!”

[No. It wasn’t. It wasn’t.]

“That’s right. It was an arrangement my master had already prepared.”

[You lunatic, how far are you planning to drag me down?]

Yoo Cheongil was furious, but I ignored him.

“I don’t know how he ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) came to know Strange Demon. But one day Strange Demon came to find me, and because I had already heard about it from my master, it was easy enough to make contact.”

“...Unbelievable. Then... was that why you were able to stop what happened in Henan as well...?!”

“...Th-that’s right.”

Ah. So that connected like that.

I nodded at Cheon Eujin’s shock. I hoped he would think the rest through on his own up to that point.

“...I knew it. Young Master Bang, you truly had intentions behind everything....”

“There are going to be countless incidents in the Central Plains from here on. Not just HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE, but the DEMON CULT as well. So I would like you to keep this matter secret, Young Master Cheon.”

“...Keep it secret?”

“Yes. Strange Demon truly is dangerous, but for now, I have to use him.”

“...Understood. If you say you have some great purpose, Young Master Bang, then all I can do is believe you. But...”

Cheon Eujin spoke to me, his blue eyes trembling.

“I do not know whether there is anything I can do to help you in a situation like this.”

Strange Demon. HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE. The DEMON CULT.

And not just that, but things tied to matters on an enormous scale. In the midst of all that, what could he possibly do? I could feel that uncertainty clearly.

I understood.

“I don’t know either.”

Even I sometimes wondered what exactly I was doing. The farther I went, the more things kept exploding and growing out of control, and it made me wonder how the hell I was supposed to stop any of it, but—

“No. You can definitely help, Young Master Cheon.”

I didn’t know. For now, I’d just do it and see. There was no paradise waiting in the place you ran to.

If I were going by how I felt, I’d have wanted to bolt. But all sorts of things were blocking me from behind and making that impossible.

The best choice was to go forward and break through everything.

“That’s why I’m telling you the current plan too.”

“To me...?”

“Yes. I need you, Young Master Cheon.”

“...”

At those words, strength entered Cheon Eujin’s eyes.

“Understood. Whatever it may be, if you need me, Young Master Bang, then I will gladly help.”

“Thank you.”

Cheon Eujin’s eyes sparkled at the thought that he had become able to help in some grand undertaking. It was pretty burdensome. I ignored that for now and spoke to him.

“What I’m going to ask is nothing difficult.”

“Yes.”

“When it’s around midnight tomorrow...”

I whispered the plan to him.

“Ah...?”

Confusion flooded Cheon Eujin’s eyes when he heard it.

It had to be something he never would have expected.

*****

A day passed, and night came again.

Even with the day gone, no lights were lit in Mount Hua. The vigilance had become stricter than ever, and the noise kept growing louder as problems they still couldn’t solve piled up.

“You’re telling me to send this to the Alliance?”

I was speaking with the Small Moon Unit Leader.

“Yeah. Go to the Shaanxi branch and just hand it to the sect master.”

“Are you certain it is all right for you not to deliver it personally?”

“Yeah. Just make sure it gets to the Alliance without being seen by anyone if possible.”

“Understood.”

The Small Moon Unit Leader took the letter.

“Then I will go at once.”

The moment I said it was an important letter, the Small Moon Unit Leader moved immediately. At his speed, he would reach Shaanxi in an instant and send the message.

And so the Small Moon Unit Leader left.

“He’s gone. He left?”

I looked to Yoo Cheongil for a second confirmation.

[Yes. He’s gone.]

“Good. Then let’s get moving too.”

That letter had been a way to peel the Small Moon Unit Leader away. A favor to get out from under his watch. And because he had been listening to me well lately, it had been possible.

“All right, then.”

I loosened up my body at once. Now it was time to move. Since I had gotten out of the Small Moon Unit Leader’s line of sight, I immediately left Mount Hua Sect.

WHOOOOOSH—!!

I leaped with my lighter body.

“Oh.”

I couldn’t help admiring it. Maybe because I had reached Transcendent Peak, but my body felt absurdly light.

“So this is Transcendent Peak?”

It had already felt strangely light at Peak, but this was on another level. I might as well have been a feather.

[The energy is beginning to sink properly into your flesh. Be careful controlling your strength. I’ve seen plenty of fools get themselves killed showing off once that starts.]

Hearing Yoo Cheongil’s words, I focused on the sensation in my body. It definitely took concentration, maybe because everything had become too light.

[No eyes are watching nearby, but be careful for now anyway.]

“Yes.”

I nodded at Yoo Cheongil’s words.

[But are you planning on following along again?]

Yoo Cheongil flew beside me as he spoke. He was talking to Seongheon behind us. At that, Seongheon gave a faint smile.

[There is nothing for me to do in Mount Hua anyway, so isn’t this perfect?]

[What nonsense are you spouting? Even if you go, what exactly are you going to do there?]

[Still, having someone to talk to makes things a little different. Kehehe.]

[...Hah.]

Yoo Cheongil still clearly didn’t like Seongheon.

Seongheon only smiled at Yoo Cheongil.

“Would you two quit fighting? You’re making my head spin.”

I soothed the old men and reached the forest.

It was the place we had agreed on. I walked through the night and looked around. My eyes moved back and forth. I couldn’t sense a single presence.

A place covered in night.

I stared at the huge boulder in the middle of it.

“There.”

I felt it.

That was the place. Strength entered my eyes, and I sensed something.

I slowly approached it. It looked like nothing more than an ordinary boulder, but things no one else could see were pressing against my sight.

FSSSS

“So Primordial Life Force works too.”

What the hell had they put into that boulder to make it hold so much?

They had done something to it. The moment I instinctively realized that—

RRRUUUMBLE—!!!!!!

I felt a tremor. The ground shook violently, and then—

KRAAAACK—!!!

Light shot up from the boulder into the sky.

[What is this...?]

Seongheon looked at it in alarm.

[What a mess again.]

Yoo Cheongil clicked his tongue.

“Ah, this is disgusting.”

I frowned like I was used to it.

It was a familiar light. One I had seen countless times in my previous life.

The light of thought-forms.

The screams of things that could neither vanish nor pass on.