I had known for a long time that my father dreamed of unifying the martial world.

The real question was when he would draw his sword—that precise timing was the issue.

If the Blood Heaven Sword Master’s guess was true, then the timing was sooner than I had expected.

“Isn’t it true that even recently, the hidden forces working secretly within each faction haven’t been completely eradicated yet?”

He’s thinking about war in this situation?

I knew well that my father was not someone to handle such major matters emotionally. He wasn’t the type to create enemies while having enemies already.

How could the Blood Heaven Sword Master not know this?

Though we had grown distant recently, back in his youth, he had been closer to my father than anyone else. Because of that, he knew my father better than anyone else. And that was exactly why he made such a guess.

“As you know, the martial world has been at peace for a very long time. There hasn’t been a proper fight. But this time, while facing those hidden forces, the Demon Lords have awakened.”

That was true. The Demon Lords took turns joining the battles. They had their first real combat experience facing formidable enemies. For Demon Lord level masters, facing opponents of similar strength was a rare opportunity in a lifetime.

“While fighting them, we naturally started preparing seriously for war.”

The Blood Heaven Sword Master’s surprising words came now.

“And above all, our sect has gained a force more powerful than anything else.”

“What do you mean?”

Without a word, the Blood Heaven Sword Master looked at me.

“Could you possibly be talking about me?”

He nodded.

It was true. My martial arts had grown the most during the struggle against the hidden forces.

“Because of you, the possibility of our sect achieving martial world unification has greatly increased.”

That was also true. If I perfected the Nine Flames Martial Arts and combined my strength with my father’s, we could probably accomplish unification more easily than if he worked alone.

The Blood Heaven Sword Master added one more surprising remark.

“Perhaps you are the one who awakened the sect leader’s dream.”

“!”

I couldn’t argue against that. Whether it was true or not, his words were convincing.

Because lately, I was the one who had the greatest influence on my father.

“Of course, my guess might be wrong.”

My father has changed a lot recently. Maybe it was just a simple thought influenced by seeing how I interacted with the Demon Lords—that he should get closer to them. That would be wonderful.

If not, it could be that he’s only trying to soothe the Demon Lords to root out the hidden forces. How nice it would be if that was his intention.

There is nothing harder than reading my father’s true feelings.

The final reason why the Blood Heaven Sword Master made this guess lay in the distant past.

“The sect leader dreamed of unifying the martial world since he was young.”

“Did you ever talk about that?”

The Blood Heaven Sword Master’s eyes deepened as he recalled the past.

“It was before the sect leader ascended to the Heavenly Demon. Back then, he traveled across the Central Plains with Kwonma, fighting. Just like you now, without any guards, only the two of them moving around. One day, the sect leader returned to the sect with an excited face and told me:”

What did my father say to the Blood Heaven Sword Master in those youthful days?

He relayed my father’s exact words.

“I will take this martial world for myself.”

At that moment, I pictured my young father—the moment he first dreamed of unification. What had triggered this dream? Was what he saw then the good side of the martial world? Or its ugly face?

“Since then, the sect leader never spoke of it again.”

“It was probably the first and last time. My father isn’t the type to reveal such dreams to just anyone.”

When you want to tell someone about the burning passion in your heart, the only person you tell is the Blood Heaven Sword Master.

Because they shared such a past, the Blood Heaven Sword Master had once said he could give up on having children but would never give up on that dream.

I felt heavy inside. Could I make my father give up on the dream he had cherished since then?

“And you, sir?”

“What?”

“If your father ordered you to attack the Martial Alliance, what would you do?”

The Blood Heaven Sword Master lowered his gaze to the book in his hands, clearly troubled.

“Speak freely. I’m prepared to be hurt.”

I said jokingly, but he did not take it as a joke.

“I’m not ready to be hurt yet. Neither you nor your father.”

From those words, I understood his feelings. No matter how close I became to him, or how distant he was from my father, it would never be easy to disobey my father’s orders. Leaving personal matters aside, this was a relationship between the sect leader and the Demon Lords.

Just seeing him agonize over this showed how much he cared for me.

“I won’t let you face that choice.”

Not only the Blood Heaven Sword Master but other Demon Lords would be spared from having to disobey my father’s orders for my sake. This issue was only between my father and me.

“What will you do?”

“You know what kind of martial way I dream of, don’t you? I have to find a way to persuade my father.”

The Blood Heaven Sword Master’s gaze returned to the book. He stared blankly for a moment, then quietly said:

“Not everyone can live the life they want.”

Was he speaking to me, to my father, or to himself? I could not tell.

I told Jam that I would come back with pajamas next time and left the Blood Heaven Sword Master’s quarters, thinking he would want to be alone.

I decided to think positively about this issue.

This opportunity was a moment for both my relationship with my father and with the Demon Lords to advance to the next level. Getting close was easy—the real challenge always comes after.

Now we stood at a new testing ground in our relationships.

When I returned to my quarters, someone was training martial arts in the yard.

It was Jeok-yeon, the head of the guards. The news of my return had already reached him, and it seemed he was waiting there until I arrived.

I watched his training without interrupting. His skill had noticeably improved since the last time I saw him. It meant he had been training hard while I was in the Northern Sea.

When his training session ended, I showed myself.

“You’ve improved a lot.”

Jeok-yeon greeted me with respect.

“Little Pill Master! We have been eagerly awaiting your safe return.”

His face was full of delight.

“After hearing you had returned, I sent the other guards away so they could train properly.”

Just hearing that made me guess how hard they were working. They wanted no disruption to their scheduled training even for a single day.

“Take off your blindfold.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“I always say it’s not fine.”

Looking into his eyes reminded me of Ian’s full-body petrification technique. Even enduring this much pain, the guards’ desire to protect someone was clear. I wanted to free them from this suffering as soon as possible.

When he removed the blindfold, I was surprised.

His eyes had returned to normal.

“You’ve achieved mastery!”

Jeok-yeon smiled as if pleased to surprise me.

“It’s thanks to you, Little Pill Master. Because you occasionally touched my eyes, I made rapid progress in the ear acupuncture training.”

I knew that wasn’t the only reason. He had surely endured great pain and trained with tireless effort.

“Then why keep the blindfold on?”

“It feels strange to take it off suddenly.”

“Take it off. If you do, the female guards will follow you around.”

“Then all the more reason to keep it on. I’ll be following you around.”

Maybe because the eye pain was gone, he seemed much brighter than before. But perhaps the joke felt awkward, because he quickly said goodbye.

“Then rest well.”

“Jeok-yeon.”

“Yes, Little Pill Master.”

I couldn’t let him go after waiting until late at night just to see me.

“We have to celebrate.”

I drank with Jeok-yeon and talked about various things.

I reported to him what had happened with my father, and he told me everything that had happened at the sect. He had carefully gathered information that might be useful to me.

He also said that the guards’ skills had improved greatly. They were training as hard as they could, motivated by their desire to accompany me.

“I always told them that if they wanted to be with me, they needed to become stronger.”

The Blood Heaven Sword Master was right. Our sect’s strength was increasing everywhere.

Especially those connected to me were all getting stronger. Even Ilhwa Geomjonjo, who hadn’t fought the hidden forces, grew stronger after sparring with me.

Maybe that was really true.

Maybe I was the one who awakened my father’s dream.

The next day, I went to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the Villainous Demon’s Valley to meet the Extreme Villain Demon.

My bed and his bed were still there, just as before.

Now, there was also a desk and a chair that hadn’t been there before.

The Extreme Villain Demon was examining something at the desk.

“Welcome back.”

His eyes behind the mask smiled brightly as he looked at me.

“You’re here?”

He greeted me as always.

“You got a desk.”

It was freshly painted white—both the desk and chair.

“It’s convenient now.”

He lifted what he was looking at to show me—a ledger filled with numbers.

“I’ve been studying something new these days.”

Seeing that reminded me of when I followed him to the Central Plains. Back then, Cheongmyeon had relayed the ledger’s contents by telepathy, but now he was reading it directly. He must have learned how to read the ledger in the meantime.

I thought it was a good sign. When Demon Lords ascend to the next level, they sometimes get inspiration from unexpected places. That’s what’s frightening. The Blood Heaven Sword Master reading books, the Extreme Villain Demon reading ledgers.

It had been since I brought the bed there. I could feel the Extreme Villain Demon’s mindset change. He was responding to my wish for comfortable rest with bigger changes. Because of you, I’ve changed like this.

“How was the Northern Sea?”

“It was a magnificent and beautiful place. You must have been there often?”

Since the Extreme Villain Demon liked white, I figured he’d been there a lot.

“Only once. I really hate the cold.”

He laughed loudly at that unexpected reason.

This time the Extreme Villain Demon asked,

“Then you must have visited the Northern Sea Palace.”

“Visited? More like stayed there for a while.”

“It’s known for not accepting outsiders. You truly are the Little Pill Master.”

I sat on the edge of my bed and told him everything that happened in the Northern Sea, especially about the Blood King and his subordinates.

Repeating myself was sometimes annoying, but I wasn’t bothered. I believed even a small piece of information could later be valuable enough to save a life.

After finishing the Northern Sea story, I brought up the most important matter of today’s visit.

“I heard you recently met my father.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“I’m curious about what kind of conversation you had with him that day.”

A flicker of surprise passed through the Extreme Villain Demon’s eyes. Asking about the conversation between the Heavenly Demon and the Demon Lord was not something to ask lightly—even between close friends.

“I know it’s an impolite question.”

“I’m sure there was a reason.”

I did not hide anything from him about this matter.

“I wondered if my father had begun to move for martial world unification.”

When I said martial world unification, the Extreme Villain Demon’s eyes flashed intensely.

“Seeing you spar with the Blood Heaven Sword Master yesterday made me think that maybe your father was seriously drawing his sword.”

Only then did he understand why I asked such a question.

“When he met me, he never mentioned martial world unification. We only talked about daily matters and sect affairs. Mostly, he talked a lot about you, the Little Pill Master.”

“My story?”

“Yes. He said he was counting on you.”

My father asking the Extreme Villain Demon to look after me?

Maybe it was because our relationship had improved recently.

But the uneasy feeling didn’t go away.

“Are you worried?”

“To be honest, I am. So much that I came here and risked being rude.”

Leaving aside our relationship, what did the Demon Lords think?

Since my return, they had changed a lot. Their relationship with me changed as well.

But did their view of the martial world and their hearts change too? If I asked such a question—

Did the Extreme Villain Demon like a peaceful martial world? Or did he want to run across a battlefield releasing dark energy?

Could I be sure he liked peace? Was the Extreme Villain Demon in front of me such a person?

Then he said something that seemed to read my mind.

“I can endure it.”

I understood what kind of heart he spoke with. This was how the Extreme Villain Demon felt about me.

“I don’t want Somma to live a life of endurance.”

His eyes asked me from the depths of their sockets: Is there a way?

“We have to find one starting now. Both for my father and the Demon Lords, we will replace ‘endure’ with another word.”

What word should go there instead of ‘endure’—I still don’t know.

“Little Pill Master.”

“Yes, Somma.”

The Extreme Villain Demon said quietly with clear, deep eyes,

“No matter what orders come down, I will follow you. Your martial way is my martial way.”