I woke up early in the morning, packed all my belongings, and then spoke to my father.
"You should be heading back."
"Go where? I am out hunting with the Heavenly Demon, of all people. I must at least catch a tiger before I go."
Was that really the reason? It meant that his time with me had not been unpleasant.
"That's a relief."
"What is?"
"I also prepared for the second day."
"Stop talking nonsense and lead the way."
"Yes."
My father and I ventured deeper into the forest.
How long had we been walking?
My father spoke to me again.
"Close your eyes again."
"Yes."
"The target is one hundred jang out to the right."
It was farther than last time.
"This time, feel the wind."
"I feel it."
Once again, he said something I had never heard in all my lives.
"Let your energy ride the wind."
In all my time learning martial arts, I had never once thought of letting my energy ride the wind.
No one had ever told me to.
No martial arts manual had ever mentioned such a thing.
A thrilling shiver from this new lesson ran through my body.
Of course, knowing something and putting it into practice were two different matters.
"First, emit your energy."
I cautiously released my energy, just as I had when searching for the wild boar yesterday.
"If you are this slow and cautious, it will be nothing more than a minor trick. To use it in a real battle, you must extend your energy to the very end as quickly as possible."
But it was not easy to get my energy to ride the wind.
I could feel the wind, and I could feel my energy.
How was I to combine these two things that were moving separately?
Besides, the wind my father spoke of was not a gusting wind.
He was describing the flow of air around us as wind.
I had to find the air current flowing straight ahead among the various flows and place my energy upon it.
Even as I struggled for a long time, my father said nothing.
Nor did he rush me to hurry.
He simply stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at a distant mountain.
Why is it that a person can see another's life in their back? From my father's back, I should have felt the strength of an absolute ruler, yet I felt loneliness and solitude.
"Not bad."
"Pardon?"
In that moment, the energy I had emitted was cut off sharply one hundred jang out to the right.
'Huh! When did my energy get all the way over there?'
It seemed that while I was staring blankly at my father's back, I had inadvertently let my energy ride the wind.
With the considerable understanding I had gained in my life before regression, even tasks that seemed difficult were accomplished with ease.
"It happened without me realizing."
My father stared at me with a somewhat stirred gaze.
Whether by chance or luck, it was not something that should have been accomplished so easily.
Soon, my father spoke as if it were no big deal.
"It doesn't matter. That beast has already fled far away."
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows, we met the one that had escaped earlier.
"It's the same one from before!"
Since my father said so, I believed him, though I couldn't tell myself.
I couldn't even see it.
It was simply astonishing how my father could accurately grasp the size and energy of something so far away.
"It is one hundred and fifty jang out. Find it by riding the wind."
I emitted my energy again, trying to let it ride the wind.
Seeing as I had succeeded by chance earlier, it wasn't that difficult at my level.
In the end, it was a matter of the heart.
I tried this way and that.
Then, I had a sudden realization.
I had only been trying to place my energy on the wind.
That was the problem.
The act of intentionally placing it.
I sent my energy along with the path of the wind.
As if walking side-by-side with a friend, I let my energy out with the feeling of playing and mingling with the wind.
Like that, my energy flew as a separate force, but soon, the wind and my energy began to entwine, like two dragons coiling around each other in flight.
'Ah! This is it!'
I realized that riding the wind was not like a person mounting a horse, but about entangling with each other like this.
Sssssssssst.
My energy, carried by the wind, reached one hundred and fifty jang away in an instant.
The moment I identified what it was, a mighty tiger's roar erupted from the distance.
I flinched in surprise, and the energy that had stretched out so far was cut off.
"It really was a tiger!"
I was startled by the tiger, and my father was startled by me.
It seemed he hadn't expected me to master his teaching so quickly.
Father, this is just the beginning.
I want to stroll leisurely by the lake with you, but we must ride the current.
We must ride the rapids and fall down the waterfall.
The enemy we must face may, at this very moment, be battling a typhoon alone in the middle of a distant sea.
Father, please send me out to the sea.
"Do not be lazy in your training of energy emission. As the number of strands increases, so too will your lifespan."
"Yes, I will keep that in mind."
I will create more strands than you, Father.
I absolutely must.
"This time, close your eyes and feel my energy."
I closed my eyes and emitted my aura to sense my father's.
Just as my energy had found the tiger, I felt my father's aura.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
I carefully examined the energy spread around my father, one strand at a time.
My mouth slowly fell open.
"Father? What in the world is this?"
My father was standing in the center of a spider's web.
Dozens of threads extended in all directions with him at the center.
Strands of energy that stretched too far for me to even probe.
If someone wanted to approach my father in secret, they would have to avoid that spider's web, and that was absolutely impossible.
Hwa Mugi defeated my father, who had reached such a level of mastery? How in the world?
I really didn't want to, but once again, I couldn't help but marvel at that man.
* * *
That night.
"This is my trump card."
What I took out of the leather pouch was wine.
And it was my father's favorite.
I took out a clean, well-packaged cup and filled it with wine.
"Excellent."
"It's too strong for me."
In truth, I liked wine and drank it well.
In my lifelong search for the materials for the Great Regression Art, the occasional sips I took in difficult times had added up.
I just said it was strong because I had no intention of boasting about my tolerance for alcohol to my father.
If we drank all night, my father would be the first to collapse.
"There is no demonic practitioner who whines that wine is too strong."
"What does it matter if I can't drink well? A poisonous heart is more important than poisonous wine."
"A poisonous heart?"
My father scoffed at the words 'poisonous heart' and asked.
"Can you kill me to save yourself?"
After a brief pause, I answered.
"No. How could a son kill his own father?"
Honestly, this too was a lie.
If there was a good enough reason, I could kill my father.
Today was the first time we'd had a proper conversation; how could he be more precious than my own life?
This time, I asked.
"Can you kill me, Father?"
"If this even requires a moment of thought, you should not speak of a poisonous heart so carelessly."
I could feel it in my father's eyes.
He could kill me without a moment's hesitation.
"Then I suppose I'll have to learn to drink poisonous wine."
As I took a drink and grimaced at its strength, my father watched me with a strange look in his eyes.
That night, I sat alone, practicing the energy emission my father had taught me.
'This is fun.'
I could now send my energy riding on the wind quite quickly and far away.
My energy explored and wandered through the pitch-black darkness.
This act was incredibly exhilarating.
'This is a tree, and beneath it is a rock…'
I could even feel the movement of a small insect crawling there.
I sent my energy to another place.
The more I trained, the faster my energy moved.
My rapidly searching energy came to a sudden halt.
It had passed through something that felt out of place.
'What was that?'
I pulled my energy back and then sent it through that spot again.
But the foreign energy from before was gone.
I opened my eyes and stared at the spot.
In the darkness, I couldn't feel any presence.
'What in the world was that? There was definitely something there.'
Just then, my father, who had been lying down, was looking at me.
"You weren't asleep?"
"Why were you staring over there?"
"I felt something over there, but… I'm not sure."
My father looked at me with a startled expression before turning over to the other side.
"Let's sleep now."
"Yes."
I lay down with the bonfire between my father and me.
'What could that have been?'
Judging by my father's reaction, he definitely seemed to know something…
"!"
In that moment, I knew.
'Hwi! It's Uncle Hwi!'
I had sensed the stealth of my father's bodyguard.
When I tried to sense it a second time, he had already moved away.
The thought sent a shiver through my entire body.
I had detected his presence, something I absolutely could not have done just two days ago.
Of course, it wasn't a situation where Hwi was desperately trying to hide, but just perceiving his basic stealth was a huge improvement.
If I continued to train and could simultaneously emit dozens of strands of energy like my father, any stealth technique would be nullified.
The process of searching would be eliminated; it would just be here, there, everywhere.
They would simply be discovered.
Perhaps because I had drunk clumsily, I couldn't fall asleep easily that night.
When I grew tired of searching for the materials for the Great Art, I would drink, and at such times, I often gazed up at the stars in the night sky.
The stars that had shared my loneliness on those days were shining just as brightly today.
My father couldn't sleep either.
I couldn't know his exact inner thoughts, but perhaps he was feeling stirred by my talent for absorbing martial arts like blotting paper absorbs water?
"Father, among the Demon Sovereigns, whom do you trust the most?"
I wasn't necessarily expecting an answer, but my father responded.
"Why do you ask?"
On the day our clan was annihilated.
Hwa Mugi had desecrated the Heavenly Demon Hall.
The Heavenly Demon Hall.
A place guarded like an iron fortress by three energy formations, six mechanism formations, and carefully selected demonic practitioners.
Again, surrounding the Heavenly Demon Hall in eight different directions, the Eight Demon Sovereigns and their subordinates protected the Heavenly Demon.
To the north, the Demon Swords of the Northern Heaven Sword Clan, led by the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign.
To the south, the Blade Ghosts of the Southern Path Sect, led by the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
To the east, the Iron Fists of the Eastern Fist Hall, led by the Invincible Fist Demon.
To the west, the Ghost Art practitioners of the Western Illusion Sect, led by the Soul-Devouring Demon.
To the northeast, the Faceless Ones who wished to be like the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
To the southeast, the drunkards intoxicated with the Great Drunken Demon.
To the southwest, the poison gatherers who research all sorts of poisons with the Poison King.
To the northwest, the Mad Monks fanatically devoted to the Demon Buddha's deceptions.
At the time, I thought the enemy had broken through from the outside.
But that wasn't it.
Looking back, the exterior was never breached that day.
It was certain that one of the Eight Demon Sovereigns had let Hwa Mugi into the inner sanctum where the Heavenly Demon Hall was located.
The traitor could have been one, or perhaps more.
It was never revealed who the traitor was, but it doesn't matter who it was.
I consider all Eight Demon Sovereigns to be traitors.
After my father's death, the Eight Demon Sovereigns' choice was not revenge, but to seal their gates.
Not a single one of them stepped forward to seek vengeance.
If even one of the eight had, I wouldn't feel this sense of betrayal.
Yes, I understand.
Faced with the overwhelming martial prowess of Hwa Mugi, who stood over the Heavenly Demon's corpse, they probably didn't dare to think of revenge.
I understand, you're all human too.
So, you all should understand as well.
In the future, even if I use you as I please, even if I treat you like disposable pawns, I hope you all will understand.
Wouldn't that be fair?
"If I become the Heavenly Demon, I will seize control of the Eight Demon Sovereigns and tighten their leashes."
"What?"
My father shot up.
At his sudden movement, the flattened grass around him stood up all at once.
I quickly sat up as well.
"The reason?"
Because they are much farther away than you think, Father.
You know precisely where the tiger hiding a hundred jang away is, but you don't know how distant the hearts of those smiling before you are.
I couldn't bring myself to say that, so I gave another reason.
"There is a great deal of corruption related to them. The individuals themselves, and especially those who borrow their authority, are the same."
My father listened to my story without a word, so I continued.
"Of course, to run the sect smoothly, their authority must be acknowledged. But they have crossed the line."
Around this time, there had been various incidents involving the Eight Demon Sovereigns.
"Isn't it time to properly establish discipline?"
My father said nothing, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
From his attitude, I could guess his inner thoughts.
That he, too, felt the same way.
That he definitely had complaints about the Eight Demon Sovereigns.
Otherwise, a thunderous scolding for my insolence in suggesting to discipline the Demon Sovereigns would have already fallen upon me.
"If you get too greedy, you'll end up tearing yourself apart."
"Haha, my future is long and bright, I can't have that happen. I will walk slowly and eat little."
He called it greed, not nonsense or a wild remark.
I guessed my father's inner thoughts.
That the direction of his yet-undrawn blade was the same as mine.
Don't worry, Father.
I know them better than anyone.
To obtain the final material, the Demon Soul Essence, I returned to the Main Sect and spent many long years there.
Because these were events of the distant future, I know everything about the Eight Demon Sovereigns.
What kind of lives they lived, and what kind of end they met.
'I will set them straight.'
Thus, the night, filled with as many thoughts as the stars in the sky above, was passing by.Word Count: 2381