Namgung Household, the Family Head’s office.

There was an underground passage there, made through a secret mechanism.

It was not a passage built for escape.

It was a passage that led somewhere.

A passage hidden behind an opened chest of drawers.

Pitch-black Demonic Energy was flowing out from there.

Every month, the thing Namgung Hyeong hated most was performing this ritual.

His father, the Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak, had handed it over to him, saying it was the duty of the Family Head, but....

To begin with, that Demonic Energy was not something one could simply endure.

Every time he went down and came back up, did he not need at least three full days of recuperation?

"...Haa. Let nothing happen today either."

Once a month.

The Family Head of Namgung checked on the preserved "head" of the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader.

Compared to an arm or a leg, it was better in that the head and torso were in no danger of escaping.

But there was a problem greater than that.

The most horrifying problem of all: Demonic Energy.

The head was also called the upper dantian.

The torso held the middle dantian, the heart, and the lower dantian.

In other words, the head and torso were where the most extreme concentration of Demonic Energy gathered.

At least the torso was better, since reason and intellect there were as faint as they were in the limbs....

But the head was not.

"Fuuu...."

Namgung Hyeong stirred up the internal energy of the Azure Sky Heart Method.

Then he took out a violet pearl from a drawer.

Still strung on a cord, he hung it around his neck.

The Thousand-Year Purple Shell.

A pearl condensed by absorbing the natural energy of extreme yin for some particular reason.

Originally it was a spiritual object used as an ingredient in elixirs.

But now, what he desperately needed was the object’s own power to resist demons and ward off poison.

The effect of the Thousand-Year Purple Shell was certain.

The Demonic Energy flowing out from the passage avoided him.

More precisely, every time Namgung Hyeong came, the Demonic Energy itself was forced back.

"Good. That will do."

He fastened his longsword at his waist and headed down into the passage at once.

When he pressed the wooden button inside, the chest of drawers closed again like a door.

Inside, the walls were packed with luminous pearls.

But the passage was narrow.

And every wall was covered in black stone.

"...I heard it was originally white."

It had been stained black by Demonic Energy.

Even so, every single brick had been made with a demon-repelling formation carved into it.

And in the clay used for those bricks had been mixed the inner core of a ten-thousand-year fire carp.

A ten-thousand-year fire carp.

A carp that had lived for a thousand years while holding extreme yang energy in its inner core.

When material of that level was mixed in, even a mere brick became a numinous object that repelled Demonic Energy.

But even that faded before the passage of time.

He had to count himself lucky that the shape of the passage had not collapsed and turned into the throat of some monster.

"This will need reconstruction before long as well...."

Namgung Hyeong tapped the wall.

At once, the bricks rattled.

Thick Demonic Energy poured out through the gaps.

"...Why is it this dense?"

He drew the longsword from his waist.

Then he raised the internal energy of the Azure Sky Heart Method.

Demonic Energy was an evil force that brought about grotesque distortion.

Even merely circulating internal energy offered some protection to the blood vessels and meridians.

And yet, despite that, it was abnormally dense.

He only came here once a month, true, but....

If it was more than twice as dense as usual, there was no way not to notice.

But even so, he could not neglect his duty.

More than anything, what was sealed here was the Young Cult Leader’s head.

A head that was perfectly alive.

Of course, over the past fifty years, it had not opened its eyes, much less spoken.

Even so, it still had to be monitored to make sure that condition was maintained.

Namgung Hyeong descended without end, then stopped before a great door made of yew.

A massive door of solid darksteel with wooden planks affixed over it.

Those were planks into which the abbot of Shaolin himself had personally carved the Heart Sutra in his own generation.

The handle was wrapped over and over with a darksteel chain and locked tight with a great padlock.

"...Nothing will have happened."

Namgung Hyeong opened that lock with a key.

And then he nearly recoiled in fright at the overwhelming wave of Demonic Energy that swept over his whole body.

In an instant, the Thousand-Year Purple Shell lost about a third of its luster and blackened.

The Demonic Energy was so dense that he could not see ahead at all.

Only after some of it had spilled out did his vision begin to clear.

And then Namgung Hyeong saw it.

The Young Cult Leader’s head, staring straight at him.

Those black eyes, like an abyss one might be swallowed into.

The creature opened its mouth.

Its torso was absent, its lungs gone, so it should not have been able to push out breath and form a voice....

And yet the voice thundered through the small sealed chamber.

"—The Heavenly Demon lives!"

*****

"Hey, Mister Park! Hurry up and carry that over here!"

"Damn it, how much are they paying us to work us like this?"

"If you get three or four silver pieces a day, you can boil meat soup for those rabbit-like little kids of yours. Still hate it?"

"When did I say I hated it?"

The inner courtyard of the Shandong Ak Family was bustling loudly.

Family Head Ak Taegyu had opened up the family funds and begun full-scale reconstruction.

Pillars rose once more atop the house sites where only foundation stones had been left bare and empty.

Rafters went up, and roofs were laid into place.

"They’re recovering faster than I expected."

Sitting on the wooden porch, Cheongak watched the work unfold.

Seven days had passed since the destruction of Yacha Blood Gate and the collapse of the Sura Unit.

Of course, there would still be wounds that could not be forgotten.

But the moment the Sura Unit, those remnants of the Demonic Cult, had been wiped out, the revenge had already been completed.

"How is it that Senior Brother Cheongak looks so perfectly fine?"

"Well, because I wasn’t hurt that badly?"

"I guess only Head Senior and I suffered, then."

"Huh? Huh? Why does that suddenly become the conclusion?"

Cheongak flicked Soyak on the forehead.

Hard enough that Soyak shrank down and clutched her head.

At that sight, Cheonjeong shot Cheongak a brief glare.

"No, Head Senior? This is completely unfair. She started teasing me first!"

"Even so, how can you hit an injured junior sister?"

"She may be injured, but...."

In fact, she was badly injured.

Three or four ribs were cracked, so wound medicine had been spread over them and bandages wrapped around her.

The muscles in all four limbs had been overstrained to the point of nearly melting down.

She was only barely recovering because the Ak Family had generously smeared their ointments over her without sparing any.

"...She is injured, isn’t she. Sorry, Soyak."

"It’s all right. Once I recover, I’ll flick your forehead too, Senior Brother."

"What?"

Cheongak just stared blankly, dumbfounded.

Cheonjeong chuckled at Soyak’s counterattack.

And Soyak was only just barely holding back her laughter.

If she laughed, her cracked ribs would hurt.

"More importantly, those clothes suit you quite well."

"Ah. The youngest young lady of the Ak Family gave them to me. She said they were clothes she wore when she was little...."

Just like before.

Soyak still had not gotten used to wearing clothes like these.

That embroidered skirt.

That soft, fluttering texture of the fabric.

All of it.

"...They feel a little awkward."

"No, wait a second. She gave them to you? For good?"

"Yes, Senior Brother Cheongak. She said a little girl shouldn’t be without at least one pretty outfit...."

Soyak gave a small shrug.

"But I’m still wondering whether it’s really all right for me to accept them."

"Young Lady Ak Hyenan has already come of age, has she not? She probably has no need for clothes from her childhood anymore."

"...That is what she said."

"It is also rude to refuse too strongly. Do not feel burdened. Just accept them."

Cheonjeong smiled warmly and patted Soyak on the head.

Whether that was so or not, Soyak quietly lowered her gaze to her own hands.

Hands whose palms were slowly building calluses.

Small hands, but unmistakably the hands of a martial artist.

"When I wear clothes like this, it becomes hard to swing a sword."

The words slipped out from one corner of her heart.

Cheonjeong quietly turned her words over in his mind before answering.

"Sometimes it is necessary to wear beautiful clothes and dress yourself well."

"Do you do that too, Head Senior?"

"I have clothes of my own that I wear when I go out."

Cheonjeong gave a little shrug and sat down beside Soyak.

"Cheongak, you have some too, don’t you?"

"I probably have more than Head Senior does."

"Just look at that."

"...I see."

Cheonjeong showed her the tassel attached to his scabbard.

It was a knotted tassel with a piece of carved jade hanging from it, the kind used as an ornament.

"I bought it last time. Isn’t it lovely?"

"It is."

"Treating yourself as someone precious is important, Soyak."

Slowly, he untied the tassel hanging from his scabbard.

Then he attached it to Soyak’s scabbard.

Soyak’s eyes went round.

"It looks like something valuable...."

"It’s a gift. Sometimes when I look at you, it seems like you have self-respect, but not pride."

"I... am not someone all that remarkable."

That remarkable talent of hers existed because she had been born as the Heavenly Killing Star.

And when she thought of the Blood Calamity that fate would bring....

Well.

Could that truly be called something remarkable?

"Take pride in yourself, Soyak."

"Pride in... what, exactly?"

"In anything. Even if you do not lean on the name of being a disciple of Mount Hua."

Cheongak abruptly cut in.

"No, but to begin with, you entered the threshold of Transcendent Apex at this age, and you’re saying that isn’t something to be proud of?"

"That’s...."

"Be quiet, Cheongak. How can you be so tactless?"

"Eek."

Cheonjeong flicked Cheongak on the forehead.

It was revenge on Soyak’s behalf.

A look of grievance rose all over Cheongak’s face.

"If you don’t like it, then you should have entered the sect before I did, Cheongak."

But what Cheonjeong possessed was the authority of the Head Senior.

Before that, Cheongak had nothing he could say.

What Cheonjeong said was right a hundred times over....

Chapter 89

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