As soon as Hyeolcheondoma sat down, he looked for alcohol.

I brought the alcohol I had bought at home and poured him a full glass.

“Did something bother you?”

After drinking several glasses of alcohol in a row, Hyeolcheondoma revealed the reason for his anger.

“Those idiots are blatantly ignoring me.”

“Hahaha.”

“I wasn’t joking.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know there would be a demon lord who was ostracized.”

Hyeolcheondoma glared even more as if it was no joke.

“I’m sorry. How on earth did you ignoring me?”

“No one talked to me.”

“It’s not like that usually?”

“Well, I didn’t talk to you much, but not like today. If you had just confronted me, I wouldn’t have been this angry.”

“What are you arguing about?”

“You, you!”

“Huh? Me?”

“They suspect you and I of conspiring to kill the Sub-Hon Ma-Jon. That’s why they’re ignoring me.”

“Did we do it?”

“We didn’t.”

Blood Heavenly Sword glared at me with cold eyes.

“You must have. You killed him, right?”

“Why does everyone suspect me?”

“You’re the one with the most blood on your hands these days. There’s no way you wouldn’t have the blood of the Sub-Hon on your hands, right? You?”

Instead of answering, I stared at Blood Heavenly Sword. He must have read it in my eyes. That I killed the Sub-Hon Ma-Jon.

“Why are you telling me the truth?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Yeah, I didn’t say it with words. I said it with my eyes.”

If he had tried to hold me back, I would have. There were two reasons why I didn’t do that.

The first was to make me feel tense. Being close is being close, and my relationship with him would lead to a master-lord relationship. The intention was to tell me not to harbor ulterior motives and to trust and follow him. In human relationships, a moderate amount of tension will reduce mistakes.

The second reason was because I trusted him. I wanted to tell him the truth, and I believed that telling him wouldn’t cause any problems.

“You really trust me.”

“If you didn’t trust me, you wouldn’t have let me sit in the throne.”

“I’m a member of the Palma Zone before I’m a seat.”

“I’m a Palma Zone, but I’m my seat.”

“If you trust people so easily, you’ll get stabbed in the back someday.”

“I didn’t trust them easily. Think about what happened to you and me.”

Hyeolcheon Doma suddenly asked.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“What?”

“Becoming the enemy of the Palma Zone.”

“To be exact, it’s Samazone.”

“Samazone?”

Blood Heavenly Sword Master, who had been staring blankly at me for a moment, suddenly stood up, slamming his glass on the table.

“What? When did you kill three more people? Who did you kill?”

I quickly said to him, who was shouting.

“Please stop, I didn’t mean it like that.”

It was a really short moment, but it was surprising that Blood Heavenly Sword Master thought that way. How much does this person think of me?

“Then what does Samazone mean?”

“Listen to my calculations. Since the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon is dead, now it’s the Seven-Ma-Jon, right? If you leave, it’s the Six-Ma-Jon, and the Sword-Ma-Jon is only half mine, so it’s the Five-Ma-Jon half. Let’s say that the Five-Ma-Jon half is my enemy. In this situation, the two of you, the Elder and the Sword-Ma-Jon seniors, wouldn’t be playing around, right? If the two of you take on the One-Ma-Jon half together, exactly Sima-Jon will be left. That’s why my opponent is Sima-Jon. In fact, it could be less. If there are two more of the Seven-Ma-Jon who join hands with me, I only have to deal with the One-Ma-Jon. Easy, right?”

Blood Heavenly Demon looked at me with the most bewildered expression since we met.

“Okay, I know you’re this crazy, so let’s move on. There’s one thing you can’t think of.”

“What is it?”

“I, Sword-Ma-Jon, will never fight the Demon-Ma-Jons.”

I know that too. It’s a rule that has been passed down for a very long time among the Demon-Ma-Jons.

“I know. I’ll do the fighting, so just don’t betray me.”

“Betrayal isn’t something people do. It’s something that happens in situations. So you shouldn’t trust me.”

“Yes, I won’t create a situation where I’ll be betrayed. So please help me, sir.”

I treated Hyeolcheondoma with faith. I thought that was the best way to make him my man.

After drinking, he poured out his words.

“If you make one mistake, you’ll die, you punk!”

My heart raced in that moment. I could sense genuine concern in his outburst.

“Yes, I’ll be careful.”

We drank in silence. When the glass was empty, I poured him another glass, and then another. When the bottle was almost empty, he told me one thing.

I’ve said this before. Hyeolcheondoma is more emotional than I am. He denied it then, but he’s definitely an emotional person. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told me this now.

“The demons have called in someone to uncover this incident.”

“Who is it?”

An unexpected person came out of his mouth.

“The leader of the Fengchun sect.”

I was shocked. Of all people, the leader of the Fengchun sect? The very same Fengchun sect that I had saved from the Yin Lei Zong and the Blood An Essence.

“Why the leader of the Fengchun sect?”

“The magic of the Seop Hon Ma is based on the magic of the Blood Sect. As you know, the Blood Sect was the predecessor of the Fengchun sect. Therefore, if the leader of the Fengchun sect sees the body of the Seop Hon Ma, he will be able to know the exact cause of death.”

“I heard that the leader of the Fengchun sect never vacates his throne.”

“He will definitely come.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“I’ll make them come somehow. Don’t ignore the power of the Palmazones. They’ll make the leader of the Fengchun sect come here somehow. Whether it’s through threats, or through giving them treasures, whatever.”

This would have been impossible in the past during the Blood Sect era. There had been several wars with the main sect, and they were powers that could not coexist.

However, after changing to the Fengchun sect, their relationship changed. The Palmazones joined hands with them, and the Fengchun sect became an ally, not an ally.

“What about the Fengchun sect’s sacred water?”

“They’ll figure it out. If they’re really worried, they’ll come even if they have to pack everything up.”

“Why don’t we just send the body there?”

There was also a way to send it by carriage after disposing of it so that it wouldn’t rot.

“The leader of the Fengchun sect isn’t coming here just for the autopsy.”

“Is there another reason?”

“There are three more reasons. The first is that the Mazones are showing their determination to find the evil spirit. They want to show not only the main sect but also the Murim Alliance and the Sadomaeong Alliance that the Palmazone should never be touched. This is the most important goal.”

“They want to show that even the leader of the Pungcheon sect is moving. They will definitely take revenge if you touch the Mazone.”

“That’s right.”

“The second reason?”

“It’s because of the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} leader.”

“Father?”

“They want to show the leader. They want to show that the reason the Pungcheon sect and the Cheonmasin sect are currently allies is not because of the leader, but because of the Palmazone.”

The Palmazone has been constantly keeping my father in check. Perhaps the reason my father brought me in was also because of that conflict.

“The third reason?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“If you killed the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon, the leader of the Feng-Cheon sect will definitely find out through Janelle. He will figure out who you are and how you killed him.”

That was right. The leader of the Feng-Cheon sect could find out that I put blood-eye essence in my eyes.

I must hide the fact that I killed the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon. If it is revealed, not only will the Palm-Ma-Jon seek revenge, but their desperate opposition will make it impossible for me to become the successor.

“But are you okay?”

“Me? Why me?”

“You became my accomplice, didn’t you? Since you drank with me all night, you might think we moved together.”

“Maybe you fell asleep while drinking.”

I snickered at the words that I would get away with it if necessary.

“Which of the Palm-Ma-Jon went to pick him up?”

“How did you know that the Palm-Ma-Jon went?”

“Of course, someone important must have gone. Isn’t it not strange if everyone else is there?”

“Mabul is gone.”

Mabul, one of the Palmazones, was close to the leader of the Pungcheon cult. Sending him meant that he was determined to bring the leader of the Pungcheon cult back.

I asked Hyeolcheon Doma with a smile.

“Should we chase after Mabul and kill him? Or should we kill the leader of the Pungcheon cult who is leaving? Or… Should we kill them both?”

“If we do that, there will be a war with the new Murim. If we split up, the retarded Murim Alliance will suddenly shout to overthrow the Demonic Cult. The Sado Alliance will have nothing to eat and their eyes will turn red.”

“Let’s share some blood together.”

Hyeolcheon Doma said as he stood up.

“If you want to die, then die alone.”

“Elder and I, weren’t we living together and dying together?”

“Lee Gongja, from the moment we were born, our lives were about each of us living our own lives. I’m leaving.”

Hyeolcheon Doma left my room.

I poured out the last of my alcohol.

‘The leader of the Pungcheon sect is coming, right?’

* * *

When I arrived at Cheonmajeon after receiving my father’s call the next morning, my father was not sitting in the Taesa-sa seat but standing by the window.

“Did you call, Father?”

“Come here.”

I slowly walked up the stairs to where my father was standing.

“I heard that Seo Hwan-jin is already noisy.”

“Wouldn’t it be different if they were ghosts? This must be the beginning of a power struggle.”

Seo Hwan-jin, who lost his master overnight, was confused.

There was no sadness at the center of that confusion. Since the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon was usually lost in his own world, no one mourned his death. The magicians were only concerned about who would become the next Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon.

“Go out for a moment and come back.”

“Where are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it time to take a look around the Hwangcheon-gak branch in the Central Plains?”

I could tell. My father also knew that the Palma-Jon had called the Fengcheon Sect Leader. He was worried about me and wanted to send me out.

“Please reconsider sending me out.”

“Why?”

“The Palma-Jon had called the Fengcheon Sect Leader to investigate the death of the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon.”

Indeed, my father was not surprised at all. He already knew. I thought that perhaps one of the Ma-Jons might be Father’s right-hand man. Or perhaps the skilled Se-jak had been watching the Palma-Jon’s movements.

Or if you are giving accurate information.

“If you leave the church at this time, they will suspect me.”

“I already suspect you. That is why I called the leader of the Pungcheon sect. The leader of the Pungcheon sect is not a person who can be easily taken advantage of. I do not know how you killed Seop-hon, but I will definitely find out that it was you.”

“It was not me, father. Couldn’t the Murim Alliance have sent an assassin?”

“That means they want to go to war with us, but they are far from war right now.”

The Murim Alliance and the other party knew each other very well. If war were to break out, no matter how secretly it was conducted, they would detect the signs at least three days in advance.

“Are you really confident that you will get through this without a hitch?”

“Yes.”

“Where did your confidence come from?”

He asked the same question before. He gave the same answer in a different way.

“If you were me, father, would you have left the sect?”

“No.”

“I am your father’s son.”

“Yes, you are my son, not me.”

“But you can imitate your father. If the object of your imitation is your father, then imitation alone is enough.”

My father thought he could no longer break my will.

“Okay, then keep one thing in mind.”

I thought he would tell me to be careful. Of course he would.

My father turned around and walked away, saying,

“You must not kill the leader of the Pungcheon cult.”

At that moment, I knew.

“No way? You were not worried about me until now, but the leader of the Pungcheon cult?”

My father added as he strode away.

“No other demons! For the time being, do not kill anyone.”

“I told you, I did not kill anyone!”

I held on until the end, but my father had already closed the door and left.

I slowly went down the stairs and walked the bloody path out of Cheonmajeon.

You kill the leader of the Pungcheon cult? I know very well about the Pungcheon Church and the leader of the Pungcheon Church. He is a person who is like a treasure trove to me. However, if he comes here and pressures me… … he will become a person who is even more grateful to me.