I headed to the training ground in the backyard for a duel.
As I was warming up, I asked the Mad Demon.
"Nothing special happened, right?"
The Mad Demon also answered while warming up.
"The Captain was in his room recovering the whole ti, so you probably don't know, but sothing huge happened in the Heavenly Demon Cult."
What I had asked about was the two children, but for now, I listened quietly. Because I was curious about what had happened in the Heavenly Demon Cult during that ti.
"You know the 10th unit, right?"
I couldn't not know. Because it was a place directly related to this incident.
"The grand commander and the unit commander there had their dantians destroyed and were exiled. I heard they have to mine ore for the rest of their lives."
I stumbled for a mont while warming up.
"Their dantians were destroyed?"
"Yeah! I heard the Lord destroyed them himself."
As expected of the Heavenly Demon. Just like when my stomach was pierced and he just watched, he has no blood or tears.
"And the rest of the unit mbers were all scattered."
I can't believe he dismantled a unit with the military power of the Nine Great Orthodox Factions in one go.
"And all those related to the forr 3rd rank were dragged to the inspection departnt. Rumor has it that they all died. Because there isn't a single person who has co out after being dragged to the inspection departnt."
This is also my intuition, but they probably all died.
-The cleanup is mostly done now.
It was probably not just a coincidence that the Heavenly Demon's refreshed expression, which he had shown just yesterday, flashed through my mind for a mont.
Gulp.
Swallowing, I was glad that I hadn't told the Heavenly Demon about Yang So-pyeong.
'If I had told him, he might have destroyed the Sura Cult, not just Yang So-pyeong...'
Just like when he had killed the Blood Demon.
I thought there would be no more surprises, but the Mad Demon looks around.
"And this is a top secret I heard from my master."
It's not over yet?
He's even more cautious than before about what he's about to say. After looking around again, the Mad Demon opened his mouth.
"As a responsibility for this incident, one of the elders' heads will fly."
Wow... he's going to hold an elder responsible.
Who is an elder?
It could be said to be the greatest military power the Heavenly Demon Cult possessed.
If the already dismantled 10th unit possessed the military power of the Nine Great Orthodox Factions, an elder was a one-man army who possessed the sa ability as an individual.
To put it simply, a master who had reached the realm of the Demonic Zenith was an elder.
"I-is that so?"
"Phew. That's a relief. At that ti, everyone said the Captain would die, but I believed that the Captain would never die."
"Thank you for believing in ."
"Of course! The Captain is the strongest!"
And I realized once again that the Mad Demon was not called the Mad Demon for nothing. Even though such a big thing had happened, the Mad Demon didn't seem to be particularly shocked.
Mad Demon... you've really beco a madman now.
I felt proud for no reason, and at the sa ti, I felt a sense of guilt in a corner of my heart.
"It seems that this incident will end cleanly with only about a hundred heads flying."
"Clean."
I said, pretending to be calm.
"That's right. Very clean! Ah! And I heard that the Diancang Sect was destroyed a while ago."
The destruction of the Diancang Sect was sothing that had also happened before my regression. This incident later beca the cause of the Gansu Province battle. It was still a matter for the future.
"Rumor has it that the angry Lord wiped them out."
It doesn't make sense, but hearing it, could it really have been so?
'Did he really do it?'
Since I couldn't confirm it with him directly, there was no way to know.
"Well, that's all that happened while the Captain was recuperating. Nothing special happened!"
Our Mad Demon has beco a very big person while I haven't seen him. What on earth is a big deal to you!
After that, I had the duel I had promised with the Mad Demon. The Mad Demon had beco even stronger in just a week that I hadn't seen him.
Though not to the extent of , who had risen to the Demonic Zenith. If this continued, the Mad Demon would easily enter the end of the Peak.
I told the Mad Demon to take good care of the two kids and returned to the Ten Demon Hall.
And so, my life flowed without any particular events.
My relationship with my junior sister also returned to how it was in the old days. Though at first, it was a little awkward because I rembered the day she had forced to drink her blood. And the biggest change in my relationship with my junior sister was the duel.
At so point, I had deliberately avoided dueling with my junior sister. The reason was that I felt that I might die while dueling.
Fortunately, my junior sister had not asked for a duel since that day.
But now that I had risen to the Demonic Zenith, it was different.
My junior sister was a very excellent dueling partner for .
And there was sothing I could newly learn while dueling, and that was that my junior sister had also risen to the Demonic Zenith, though not completely.
I thought, 'As expected of my junior sister.'
And if it were the old days, I would have felt fear at this fact and would have distanced myself from my junior sister even more, but now, I didn't have any particular thoughts.
And not long ago, I had even congratulated my junior sister on rising to the Demonic Zenith.
And I also gained sothing through the duels with my junior sister. Just as my junior sister was, I had also not completely reached the Demonic Zenith.
Today's duel, like any other day, ca to an end.
"Let's call it a day for today."
"Alright."
My junior sister had a rather refreshed expression.
Recently, when the duel ended, I would always approach my junior sister and hold out my hand.
When my junior sister faced this side of , for so reason, she would tense up her body and be on guard. In the old days, if that appearance was scary, now it just looked like a cat with its fur on end, afraid of a strange situation.
'Cute.'
A terrible thought flashed through my mind.
Tap.
I placed my hand on my junior sister's head and said.
"Thank you for joining today too."
"Yes..."
Since she had liked it when I touched her head even before my regression, she probably didn't particularly dislike it now. The atmosphere I felt was not particularly bad.
But I don't know why she's so nervous.
After parting with my junior sister, I imdiately returned to my room and reviewed the duel I had just had.
"Is the great ridian the problem?"
As I rose to the Demonic Zenith, I had created the tenth great ridian using the minor ridians attached to the first, second, and third great ridians. Perhaps because of that, this tenth great ridian acted more like a minor ridian than a great ridian.
Of course, it did act as a great ridian, but if the ability of the existing great ridians was '10', the ability of the tenth great ridian was only about '3'.
On the contrary, as a minor ridian, its ability was a value that far surpassed the existing '10', showing an ability of about '13'.
The problem here was that the great ridian was not performing its role as a great ridian properly.
"Due to the imbalance that cos from that, my body is always in a state of overload. So there is a disadvantage that I can't use my full strength."
If this state continued, the great ridian would overwork itself to faithfully perform its role as a great ridian, and the minor ridian would eventually cause a problem in one or both of them due to the continuously accumulating load, which was drawn in my mind.
For now, it's okay because the recovery speed of my body is faster than the fatigue accumulating in the great and minor ridians, but it's only a matter of ti before one of them bursts.
This imbalance must be resolved.
And so, the solution I ca up with was the restoration of the minor ridians.
"The reason the great ridian is too biased towards the role of the minor ridian is because the existing minor ridians are not performing their roles properly."
If the efficiency of the existing minor ridians is '10', the tenth great ridian has an efficiency of '13'.
The thod I ca up with was to use this excess '3' part.
It was worth a try.
If it were my past self, I would have ended it with just a thought because of the fear of failure.
"The important thing is an unyielding heart!"
I now knew that nothing would change if I just stayed still.
The best way to suck the ultimate honey was for to jump into the honey pot myself first.
As soon as my thoughts were organized, I imdiately sat in the lotus position and began to circulate my energy.
In an instant, the internal energy filled up to the tenth great ridian.
And I detached the excess '3' of the minor ridians attached to the tenth great ridian and attached each of the '1' corresponding minor ridians to the first, second, and third great ridians.
Perhaps because I had already done it once, detaching and attaching the minor ridians as I rose to the Demonic Zenith, this whole process proceeded like flowing water.
And in that process, I was able to discover sothing I hadn't thought of.
The detached and attached minor ridians began to suck up the energy from each great ridian and began to grow a little.
When I first attached it, it was definitely a single strand of a minor ridian, but now it had beco two strands.
Opening my eyes, I said softly.
"Honey deal."
A month passed.
* * *
A silence flows.
Only the sound of insects and the footsteps of people passing by are echoing.
At a glance, it's peaceful.
But the atmosphere in the Heavenly Demon Cult was exuding a sense of unease, as if a typhoon was about to co. Perhaps it had already passed.
In just one week, over a hundred people had died. A month had passed since then, but everyone was holding their breath and being careful because of the lingering aftereffects.
A month after returning to the Heavenly Demon Cult, the Sword Demoness appeared in front of .
"Jae-ha."
The mont I saw the Sword Demoness, the sense of unease I was feeling beca even stronger. It probably wasn't because I hadn't seen her in a long ti. Perhaps the identity of this sense of unease was because of the Sword Demoness's appearance, which was different from usual.
A sight I had seen for the first ti since I was young.
A broken composure.
The Sword Demoness was looking at the floor, unable to et my eyes.
She looked downcast.
It was also the appearance of the 5-year-old Sword Demoness who had only cried before learning martial arts.
The Sword Demoness extended her arm and grabbed my sleeve.
A trembling was transmitted from the sleeve.
She stayed like that for a long ti.
The trembling that was transmitted from the sleeve stopped.
The Sword Demoness raised her head and looked at .
The Sword Demoness reflected in my eyes had the cold, resolute, and cold appearance that I knew well.
But the look in the Sword Demoness's eyes now was not the look of the Sword Demoness I knew well, but resembled soone I had known before my regression.
The fact that there was no wavering and that she was upright was the sa... but the light in them was lost.
It felt as if sothing was empty sowhere.
The Sword Demoness said to .
"I'll be waiting at the 9th street of the capital at the hour of the rat tomorrow."
As soon as I heard those words, a certain incident with the Sword Demoness before my regression cos to mind.
After saying that, the Sword Demoness turned around and left. I quickly extended my hand. This ti, I grabbed the Sword Demoness's sleeve.
For a mont, a trembling was transmitted through the sleeve again, but the trembling soon stopped. The Sword Demoness looks back.
"Seryeong, are you okay?"
"Yeah."
The Sword Demoness, who had answered shortly, left.
After that, the sense of unease did not disappear and continued to be felt.
The next day.
The hour of the rat.
I ca out to the 9th street of the capital, where the Sword Demoness had told , and was waiting.
Perhaps because it was night, there was no one.
A deep darkness and silence filled the street.
For so reason, a certain scene that the Sword Demoness had shown before my regression ca to mind today.
The Sword Demoness would stare blankly at the night sky on a specific day every year and would stay still all day.
Was it the third ti I had seen such a sight? I had approached the Sword Demoness out of curiosity and had asked.
-Why are you doing this?
At that ti, the Sword Demoness had answered like this.
-I was holding a morial service.
-Did you also have a family?
-I did, but the Heavenly Demon Cult took them away.
-Ahem. I'm sorry about that.
-It's okay. I will repay the Heavenly Demon Cult in the sa way soday.
-Your personal opinion is free, but I would like you to know who is here now.
-The great Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult is here.
-It sounds like a mockery for so reason.
-If you heard it that way, you must have heard it correctly.
Before my regression, the Sword Demoness was a rather direct woman.
A morial service.
It is an act of honoring soone who has died.
At that ti, I had thought that the Sword Demoness was holding a morial service for the people of the Murong family who had left first.
"Jae-ha."
The Sword Demoness arrived.
"I have sothing to say, not here, but sowhere else."
Seven days and a month after returning to the Heavenly Demon Cult.
The change I had been waiting for had co.
The day the Sword Demoness held a morial service before my regression was also the day the first elder had died.
(End of Chapter)
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