The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

Baek Yi-gang, who had been hesitating, made the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon a bit nervous about what he might ask.

However, Yi-gang turned to look at the Forest Lord instead of the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon.

“Why are you helping this person? Isn’t she a demon?”

It was a question about why the Azure Forest’s Forest Lord was helping the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon. This had been nagging at Yi-gang.

Her name was tagged with the nickname “Mad Demon.”

A demon expelled from the Demon Cult, she was a public enemy of Murim, designated jointly by both the orthodox and unorthodox factions.

On the other hand, the Azure Forest was like the head of the orthodox Murim, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Nine Sects One Gang. There seemed to be no reason for them to help a demon.

“Even if it’s to heal my body, I think I need to know the reason first.”

“Ha-ha, Yi-gang, you do not easily trust even the words of your sect’s respected elders. You want to verify everything and understand the full story.”

In fact, such an attitude was usually not tolerated.

In martial arts sects, the words of a master were absolute. How much more so the words of a sect leader? Normally, even expressing doubt is a crime.

“I apologize. It seems I was born with this nature.”

“Boy, don’t worry, it’s a compliment.”

“…Yes?”

“Not asking can be a virtue, but in troubled times, we need those who can make their own judgments.”

It was not a time of chaos now. Rather, it could be said to be an era of peace. There had been no major conflicts since the great expulsion of the Demon Cult about 50 years ago.

As Yi-gang looked at the Forest Lord with such doubt, the Forest Lord smiled faintly.

“I’ll show you why I decided that Miss Seo-ho is not a demon.”

To show, not just explain with words, but to show with actions. There was no reason to refuse.

“Follow me.”

“Yes.”

Yi-gang followed the Forest Lord.

The place the Forest Lord took him was not below White Cloud Peak.

It was inside a hall above White Cloud Peak, the central inner quarters where no one else was allowed.

「You really are fearless. Different from how you look.」

‘What do you mean?’

「To stare down the sect leader and demand an explanation? Isn’t that a bit audacious?」

Yi-gang clamped his mouth shut. From the perspective of Yi-gang, who was once a modern man, it seemed like a reasonable question, but perhaps not from the perspective of a martial artist.

「I can tell you’re from a wealthy family, aren’t you?」

‘A wealthy family?’

「Why did you come to a place like the Azure Forest, with its fragrance of incense? You look like a son of a rich family, right?」

‘Yes, I am the young master of the Baek Noble Clan.’

As Yi-gang boldly responded, the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon stuck out her tongue and scoffed.

「Human beings are just human beings, after all. How funny is it to determine one’s status by whose child one is born as, and to debate who is noble and honorable?」

‘That’s true.’

「Oh, really?」

When Yi-gang readily agreed, the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon was taken aback. Normally, such a remark would have provoked a predictable reaction from a real wealthy young master.

Either they would get upset or show contempt.

Of course, for Yi-gang, who had lived in a world where at least legally everyone was equal, this was of little concern.

‘Still, better a human than a yokai.’

「What? You know nothing, little kid!」

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon’s eyes shone bright blue again. Yi-gang stared at them and muttered.

‘Your eyes are shining again.’

「Ah, don’t tell me you’ve been watching all this time… Don’t look!」

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon suddenly covered her eyes with her hands. It seemed like a somewhat embarrassed gesture.

「Don’t look, I said.」

‘It’s not like you got caught with something stuck in your teeth, what are you doing?’

At Yi-gang’s nonchalant response, the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon lost her temper.

Then she remembered that instead of covering her eyes with her hands, she could simply close them.

「It’s a bit awkward to show these eyes to people.」

‘You were once proud of having yokai blood mixed in.’

「…Anyway.」

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon fumbled her words. Everyone had their contradictions. Yi-gang didn’t press further.

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon continued to follow Yi-gang with her eyes closed.

‘You walk well even with your eyes closed.’

「When I have to, I fight with my eyes closed. This is nothing.」

Yi-gang suddenly realized something.

The legend of the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon as a blind swordsman. Could it be because of this? Fighting with a sword with eyes closed, it was beyond the ordinary.

‘So that’s why there are records of you being a blind swordsman.’

「I’m not blind. But hey, you’ve been calling me ‘you’ and ‘that person’ all this time. Call me properly.」

‘What should I call you?’

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon opened her eyes. Her original black-brown pupils had returned.

Her voice had a hint of playfulness.

「Call me Sister Seo-ho.」

‘Sister? What’s with that.’

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon chuckled. Given her young appearance at the time of her death, it wouldn’t have been strange to call her “sister,” but Yi-gang didn’t want to do that.

「Or you could call me lady. Like, ‘Lady Seo-ho~.’」

Just as Yi-gang was about to refuse, mimicking the slurring tone of an uncle, the Forest Lord, leading the way, spoke up, “We are almost there.”

Despite White Cloud Peak and the hall above it not being very large, the Forest Lord had walked for quite some time.

The reason this was possible was because they kept spiraling inward. The interior of the hall was narrow and maze-like.

It seemed designed to protect or guard something.

Talking with Seo-ho and following behind, they finally reached a dead end.

Yi-gang muttered.

“…An iron door?”

What suddenly appeared inside the hall was a door made of iron.

The Forest Lord flicked the door with his finger.

Boom—

The sound was extraordinary.

“It’s the storage vault, made of mixed iron.”

The storage vault was a place for keeping valuable treasures. If it were fortified with precious cold iron, the contents would undoubtedly be of exceptional value.

“Is this where the Treasures are stored?”

“There are Treasures, yes.”

“I thought Treasures were managed in the grand library.”

“Most of the Treasures are indeed in the grand library.”

As Yi-gang said, almost all the treasures were managed and stored in the grand library.

“The Treasures stored here require no maintenance and include a few particularly dangerous ones. Among the ten forbidden Treasures stored in the Forest, three are here, and seven in the grand library. Yi-gang, I’m telling you this because it’s you. You too will handle forbidden Treasures someday.”

After saying this, the Forest Lord fiddled around various parts of the door. There was a click, and a keyhole appeared.

“But today, I am not showing you the Forest’s treasures.”

The Forest Lord inserted a key and turned it, and the heavy iron door opened by itself.

Creaking—

Yi-gang and the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon followed the Forest Lord through the opened door.

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon stuck close behind Yi-gang.

「It’s a dangerous place. If you touch something wrong, it could hurt.」

‘Can’t spirits just pass through walls?’

「Not here.」

What could be the reason for even blocking the entrance of spirits into the storage vault?

Naturally, there were no windows inside the storage vault. Yet, somehow, a faint light was circulating, making the interior visible.

The Forest Lord stopped in front of a wall filled with drawers.

He opened one drawer and pulled out something wrapped tightly in black silk.

As the Forest Lord unwrapped the silk, he asked Yi-gang, “Yi-gang, do you know what defines a demon in the martial world?”

“A martial artist who learns demonic arts is a demon, right?”

“That’s correct, but it’s an incomplete explanation.”

Righteous, Evil, Demonic.

The martial world was divided into these three forces. Currently, martial artists belonging to the demonic path were exclusively members of the Demon Cult.

“It refers to those who have mastered extremely dangerous demonic arts or have been titled as demons by the Demon Cult.”

“Yes.”

The Blue-Eyed Mad Demon seemed like an unusual person, but she did not appear entirely insane.

Then, had she received the title of a demon from the Demon Cult?

“All formal disciples of the Demon Cult have a restriction on their minds. Even spies dispatched to the Central Plains cannot escape this restriction.”

“What kind of… restriction are you talking about?”

“The restriction of obeying the authority of the Heavenly Demon.”

The explanation was not intuitively clear.

The Forest Lord showed the object he had taken out of the silk. It was a badge-like object, about the size of two fingers put together, made of a peculiar metallic substance with a purplish hue.

“Would you like to read the inscribed phrase?”

“‘The sole sun in the sky’… What a grandiose statement.”

It was a phrase befitting the Emperor, implying that there was only one sun in the sky.

“Yes, this is the Heavenly Demon’s Plaque.”

“Aha, the Heavenly Demon’s… what?”

The Heavenly Demon’s Plaque, a token representing the Heavenly Demon. From the Demon Cult’s perspective, it was an item worthy of being a sacred relic.

Why was it in the Forest Lord’s possession? Yi-gang’s mouth fell open in shock.

“If energy is infused into this. Oops!”

The Heavenly Demon’s Plaque in the Forest Lord’s hand began to emit a purple glow. It was a beautiful light that seemed to captivate anyone who saw it.

Both Yi-gang and the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon were mesmerized by it.

“This mysterious radiance appears. And I’m speaking in front of a martial artist affiliated with the Demon Cult. Ahem, the Heavenly Demon… Is this not it? Cough.”

The Forest Lord kept clearing his throat with a cough.

Then, when he seemed ready, he slowly opened his mouth.

Soon, a voice as if echoing from the caves of hell burst forth, “Divine Demon Advent.”

It was a voice that seemed to split and tear through the air.

With the radiance emanating from the Heavenly Demon’s Plaque, it felt as though it was shaking one’s spirit. There was a pressure that made one want to kneel before its strong authority.

Yi-gang couldn’t see the Forest Lord’s face clearly as it was blurry.

That was until he smiled again and spoke, “The followers of the Demon Cult respond with ‘unrivaled in the world’ as an answer. That is the restriction imposed on them.”

“This is, huff, a kind of sorcery, isn’t it?”

Yi-gang, wiping his cold sweat, spoke in disbelief. It was an object beyond belief. It seemed like more than just a Treasure.

“They say the Heavenly Demon himself made this. Certainly, it’s clear that he is someone who reached the Unrestrained Demon realm.”

“So, the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon is…”

“I had met Seo-ho before she became a public enemy of Murim. At that time, I tested Seo-ho using the Heavenly Demon’s Plaque.”

“She didn’t respond to that phrase, I guess.”

“She wasn’t a demon. Even the martial arts she had learned were not demonic arts.”

“Then why did the Murim Alliance…”

The Forest Lord made a strange expression.

“I don’t know either. I sent a message to warn them. But I heard later that the message never arrived. Whether it truly didn’t arrive, or the person who received it burned it, I don’t know.”

If the Forest Lord had directly informed the Murim Alliance back then, maybe Seo-ho wouldn’t have become a public enemy of Murim.

The Forest Lord’s voice sounded bitter, “Yes, that’s why I took care of Seo-ho’s body. I never imagined she would fail to achieve enlightenment in her spirit form.”

“That’s regrettable.”

“Yes, I can vouch for Seo-ho’s character. She was not a demon. On the contrary, she was a good person. Yi-gang, you have much to learn from her.”

Yi-gang looked back at the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon. Contrary to the Forest Lord feeling guilty, she did not seem to resent him.

She was digging her ear with an indifferent expression.

「Tell him to stop making a fuss.」

Of course, Yi-gang did not relay that message.

“I understand.”

Many unclear points had been resolved. Especially the issue about being a demon, which had been most concerning.

However, it seemed the Forest Lord’s purpose in bringing Yi-gang here was not yet complete.

“Having shown you the Heavenly Demon’s Plaque. Well then, since you’re here, why not resolve all your curiosities before leaving?”

Yi-gang’s eyes sparkled.

“Is there something else?”

“Yes, aren’t you curious? About the reason the Azure Forest was established, and about our enemy.”

“The enemy of the Azure Forest… you say?”

Yi-gang suddenly thought of the Demon Cult. The most significant recent activity of the Azure Forest was the great expulsion of the Demon Cult decades ago.

“The enemy of the Azure Forest and your enemy are the same.”

“Could it be…”

Yi-gang’s eyes widened. His enemy would be no other.

“That great evil is now operating under the name of the Evil Cult.”

From the words “great evil,” Yi-gang recalled something. The top three rules of the Azure Forest.

‘Do not commit evil.’

‘Do not forget the Tao.’

‘Prepare for the power to counter the great evil that might appear at any time.’

He had thought “the great evil” was just a vague expression. Was it actually referring to a specific entity?

“The Evil Cult, has it truly resurrected?”

“That Evil Cult Leader whom the Immortal Divine Sword slashed back then was certainly their leader at the time. But even so, he couldn’t completely eradicate them.”

Suddenly, the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon interjected, asking what he was talking about and why the Immortal Divine Sword came up out of the blue.

Yi-gang ignored her and focused on the Forest Lord’s words.

Those presumed to be from the Evil Cult had tried to kill Yi-gang and had reached out to the Baek Noble Clan.

For Yi-gang, this was a topic he couldn’t just ignore.

“So, you know the identity and whereabouts of those people.”

“No, I don’t know where they are or what they are doing. But I do know their objective.”

“Their objective?”

“For hundreds, no, thousands of years, the Azure Forest has been guarding an item, and they have been trying to seize it.”

The Forest Lord led Yi-gang by the wrist to the center of the storage vault.

There was something resembling a well there.

However, it was unique because an iron plate was covering its entrance.

“This is what they want.”

The Forest Lord opened the iron plate.

Carefully, Yi-gang peered into the depths of the well.

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