The next day, Ian came looking for me with a flustered face.

“How did we get back yesterday?”

“You carried me. I don’t remember how we made it back.”

Ian’s cheeks turned red.

“Don’t lie. I wasn’t that drunk. I must’ve been really heavy… I’m sorry, young lord.”

“If I said you were light, that’d be a lie. But you weren’t heavy enough to be sorry about. Look at these arms!”

“Oh no, your already thin arms got even skinnier.”

“Look closer! These are firm, well-defined muscles!”

We exchanged a few lighthearted jabs before Ian bowed her head.

“Thank you, young lord.”

“Let’s drink again sometime.”

“Yes, young lord.”

As she turned to leave, she paused and looked back.

“If I said anything wrong… please forgive me. Honestly, I don’t remember what I said.”

“You didn’t say anything wrong, so don’t worry. But if you ever do mess up, just use a pardon.”

“A pardon? What’s that?”

“It’s the right to be forgiven by me, even if you mess up or offend me.”

“You gave me one? I don’t remember receiving anything.”

I reached out my hand to her.

“A handshake.”

Ian took my hand in her large one.

“There. It’s issued now.”

“Since you’re giving them out, could I maybe get… ten? I plan to follow you around for the rest of my life—one won’t be enough.”

“No way! Just one. So use it wisely!”

“Yes, young lord!”

Her smiling eyes vanished into the round softness of her cheeks.

‘If anyone needs to be forgiven in this life, it’s me—not you. You’d probably have to issue me fifty pardons just to balance the scales.’

 

****

That night, I sat alone, training in energy projection.

I was tracking three directions at once when I sensed movement to the left—someone crossing my qi’s path.

Lately, I’d become fascinated with identifying people through qi. Whenever I found someone, I started by scanning them head to toe—how tall they were, what weapon they carried, what level their martial arts had reached.

Just as I tried to examine this one—

They subtly dodged to the side.

I figured it was coincidence and sent another thread of qi toward them. But they shifted again, this time to the opposite side, cleanly avoiding my energy.

‘They’re not actually sensing it… right?’

This thread of qi was thin as silk and subtle beyond notice. No one should be able to detect it.

And yet, the person kept dodging, as if they could feel it brushing past them.

Who were they?

My curiosity deepened. Still projecting qi, I stepped outside.

I practiced projecting while moving. It consumed far more mental effort than doing it while stationary, but in real combat, projecting while moving would be the norm.

I felt them retreating. I chased after them, never quite closing the gap.

Eventually, I arrived at the inner pavilion.

The moment I saw who was standing there, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“Father.”

The one who had drawn my qi this far… was my father.

“I should’ve known. I was nervous thinking someone else had sensed my qi.”

“With that pathetic thread of energy? Even the mutt sleeping under the wall over there could’ve sensed it.”

“Well, dogs are known to be perceptive, aren’t they? Still… what brings you to my quarters?”

“Just passing through.”

He said it casually, but I knew better—he had come to see me.

“Meeting like this, even by chance, makes me think we truly share a fated connection.”

“Enough nonsense.”

“Yes, Father.”

I shut my mouth and turned my eyes to the night sky, matching his gaze.

After a while, I asked,

“When will you choose your successor?”

“In a hundred years. You’re all far from ready.”

“Make it a hundred days. I think I’m almost there.”

“If that were true, Blood Heaven Butcher wouldn’t have come to test you.”

“How did you know?”

It was a private encounter—yet he knew. That meant he was watching me. Then again, he had known I was poisoned with Scattering Qi too.

“Right after meeting you, Blood Heaven Butcher came to see me.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked me to punish you.”

“What?”

I was genuinely stunned. He’d gone straight to my father and asked for punishment?

“That was unexpected. He’s not the kind of man to run to me just because his disciple died.”

“Then why did he do it?”

I acted like I didn’t know, but I had a hunch. He was testing the relationship between Father and me. Would Father actually punish me? And if so, how harshly? He wanted to know if I was truly the heir in Father’s eyes.

“That’s why I’ve decided to punish you.”

“There’s no justification for it. That disciple of his deserved to die.”

“Justification can be created.”

I drew my sword and etched a long line across the floor.

I marked a small section about one-tenth of the way down and spoke.

“Blood Heaven Butcher told me this longer part represents how much Father values him. Is that where this ‘justification’ is coming from?”

Instead of answering, Father asked me the question I had asked in the hunting grounds.

“You asked me which of the Demon Lords I trust most, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

He gave his answer now.

“I trust none of them.”

With that, I understood. It was also his answer to the line Blood Heaven Butcher had drawn. The proportions were wrong.

“Which side are you on, then?” he asked. “Do you believe in people, or not?”

“That depends on the person.”

“How can you know what kind of person someone is?”

“You learn over time.”

“That’s foolish. You can never know a person’s heart. Even if someone stands beside you looking like glass—clear and honest—you must never assume you understand them.”

Ian flashed in my mind.

I thought I knew her well, but I kept discovering new sides of her. He was right.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You said the sect’s discipline needed to be restored, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Spare me the crap about rooting out ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ corruption. Tell me what you really think.”

“Are you sure you want me to be completely honest?”

“Have you ever lied to me?”

“No, but this answer might be… disrespectful.”

“Say it.”

“I think… somewhere along the way, we lost the Demonic Path.”

Father’s eye twitched. That wasn’t something one said lightly—especially not to him.

“And what is the Demonic Path, in your eyes?”

I paused for a moment. Then, finally voiced the thought I’d buried deep for so long.

“In my eyes… the Demonic Path is our sect’s conviction to crush absolute evil.”

My father’s eyes widened. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that answer.

“…You call that our sect’s creed—to crush absolute evil?”

“I don’t believe our true enemy is the righteous sects.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s absolute evil.”

I knew the words I was about to say wouldn’t be easy for my father to accept. Still, I delivered my thoughts calmly and clearly.

“There exists in this world an evil so cowardly, so vile, and so vicious that no human could ever hope to withstand it. Evil so extreme that even devils would click their tongues and turn their backs. I don’t think the justice and heroism preached by the righteous sects are enough to subdue such evil. Their creed is built on forgiveness at its core. As long as they cling to their love for humanity, how can they ever hope to confront evil that has abandoned humanity entirely?”

My father stared straight at me. It was the first time I’d ever seen him so focused on my words. Maybe—deep down—he had thought along these lines himself.

—Wasn’t that absolute evil… us?

—No, Father. In my world, the Heavenly Demon Sect must not be that evil. I’ll make sure of it.

I kept going.

“We are the only ones in the martial world capable of eradicating such vicious evil with even greater ruthlessness. That is where I believe we must find our purpose. Whether we’re called righteous or demonic doesn’t matter. Sometimes we’ll wear the face of justice, sometimes of cruelty. When the overwhelming evil that the righteous sects cannot contain is brought trembling to its knees before us—that is when the true Demonic Path will be realized. Only then will the martial world bow before our sect’s power. And when they can no longer solve their own problems, they’ll come begging us for help. They’ll say only the Heavenly Demon Sect can save them. That, Father… is what I believe the Demonic Path truly is.”

I can say with confidence—Father had never once thought about this. Nor had he ever heard such an idea.

Because this belief didn’t come from our sect’s teachings. I’d realized it myself, wandering Zhongyuan for a lifetime.

“If we don’t properly establish the Demonic Path… we won’t last. To survive… we must judge ourselves.”

Even Father, a master of concealing emotion, could not hide his reaction now. He was the kind of man who would strike someone across the face just to check if they were lying. But this time, he didn’t say a word. Even though I’d said enough to be slapped ten times over, nothing came.

He stood in complete silence, deep in thought. Despite living a longer life than him, I couldn’t read what he was thinking now.

But one thing—I could feel it.

It had only been a few days since I regressed, but our fates had already begun to shift. My father and I… were turning toward a different future.

At last, he broke the silence.

“Anything else you want to spout off?”

“No, not today.”

I scratched my head and gave a sheepish grin.

“So that’s why Blood Heaven Butcher came to me, asking to punish you.”

“Why?”

My father’s eyes gleamed with certainty.

“He saw something in you. That’s why he wanted to test you—through me.”

“He saw a possible heir, then.”

“Or a danger that could destroy this sect.”

“Either way… that old skull-faced bastard has good instincts.”

Father stared at me for a moment longer, then turned and strode out of the pavilion like a man who had made up his mind.

“Follow me.”

 

****

He led me to the deepest part of the Heavenly Demon Hall.

I knew this place well, even though I had never been inside.

A small plaque hung over a stone cavern.

The Lesser Heaven Cavern.

I blinked and shouted.

“You’re not seriously telling me to go in there, are you?”

It was a trial cave reserved only for successors to the Heavenly Demon. Only direct disciples or blood heirs entered it during their final tests.

But don’t let the name “training cave” fool you.

You could walk in freely—but you couldn’t walk out unless you passed. Fail to overcome the trial, and you’d be trapped forever. I’d heard the success rate was fifty-fifty. Half of the blood heirs who entered this place never made it out alive.

Even my ambitious older brother had never dared suggest entering.

But to become the Heavenly Demon, one had to pass through it. Everyone who wore that title had survived this place.

In a way, being Heavenly Demon was one of the harshest jobs in the world.

“I entered this place when I was your age.”

“How long did it take you to get out?”

“Two months.”

“Come on. You want me to spend two whole months of my glorious youth in this damp, dark hole?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. Two months was my record. The average time is three years.”

My father was considered the greatest martial prodigy among all past Heavenly Demons. The fact that I inherited the Heaven’s Martial Vessel from him must’ve been thanks to his blood.

“Father… why are you doing this to me?”

“Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m punishing you.”

“That’s an awfully cruel punishment.”

“Yangpo, the one you killed, will spend eternity buried underground.”

“Surrounded by cheers and applause from the people he tormented.”

But Father had already made up his mind.

Father… you’re really sending me to a place where I could die? Just because that old man said you should?

Suddenly I remembered what he’d said during the hunt—about reading thoughts.

Do you really not care if your son dies? Or… are you hoping I’ll come out stronger?

It was a place that could either punish or reward me, depending on whether I survived.

Or maybe… you're doing this to protect me from Blood Heaven Butcher—because I’ve begun to stick out like a blade hidden in a cloth pouch?

He showed no emotion. I had no way of knowing his intent.

He placed his hand on the stone slab beside the entrance and poured in his inner energy.

With a heavy grinding sound, the stone gate creaked open.

Rrrrrnnk…

His eyes told me: Enough talk. Go in.

I didn’t resist anymore.

“Very well. I’ll come out faster than you did.”

Rrrrrnnk…

As the stone gate slowly closed behind me, Father gave one final smirk—detached and infuriating.

“Whatever you do… try not to die.”