I closed my eyes for a moment and recalled the Cult Leader’s conversation.

If I was going to beat him to death later, I couldn't afford to miss even a single word that was exchanged here.

A person’s personality and weaknesses are hidden in their conversation.

As I reviewed it...

It seemed that the subordinates had often tried to stop the Cult Leader from creating the Heavenly Pearl. Knowing Elder Heo’s personality, he would have certainly spoken out directly.

Also, the fact that the Cult Leader often engaged in closed-door training meant he either hadn’t completed his martial arts yet or was still in a period of learning something new.

However, no matter how much I reviewed and retraced the conversation, no obvious weakness revealed itself from his personality at the moment.

Rather, he had immediately noticed that Gyo-yeong had been here and hurriedly fled.

He also seemed to have a fair grasp that Yongmyeong was Elder Heo’s final disciple, and knew something about me as well.

The reason he realized I had Elder Heo’s expectations on me must have been because he recognized and deduced the wooden sword Elder Heo had given me.

He was an insightful man, meticulous enough not to forget minor details.

In front of the Blood Night Palace Lord, he spoke of killing her husband with no emotion whatsoever, meaning his humanity had already become faint.

In conclusion, this bastard...

Was highly insightful, quick-witted, keen-nosed, and obsessed with completing his martial arts.

Thus, the only weakness he had was his obsession with martial arts. Because he often locked himself away for closed-door training, allies like the Sword Demon and Elder Heo who had once held high ranks were able to leave the cult.

Even the reason I was able to steal the Heavenly Pearl and flee was because the Cult Leader had been in closed-door training.

Aside from that, there were no current weaknesses to exploit.

Opening my eyes, I couldn’t help but ask something out of curiosity.

“I feel sorry to ask this while visiting a senior’s sickbed, but there’s something I’m curious about.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord answered.

“Ask away.”

“Do you happen to know why the Cult Leader often engages in closed-door training?”

The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.

“...Of course. During the time of the successor struggle, he used his family’s martial arts. Only after becoming Cult Leader did he begin to train in the martial arts practiced by past Cult Leaders. Moreover, it’s probably the most difficult martial art in the cult. One must master both yin and yang simultaneously to reach perfection. Over several generations, no Cult Leader has fully mastered it, so it must be incredibly difficult. Without mastering it, he cannot claim the title of Heavenly Demon. He would simply be a Cult Leader, nothing more.”

“Hmm.”

“In truth, with the Senior Brother’s abilities, he could already be called Heavenly Demon. But as you know, unless the Ten Thousand Demons truly submit, he cannot claim the title. To end his journey, he must either unite Jianghu, become the strongest under heaven, or master the martial arts of the Cult Leader. One of the three must be achieved.”

I nodded.

“To fail at even one of those three... what a pathetic fool.”

Naturally, no one laughed at my joke.

“......”

I checked on Heo Gyeom’s condition again. He had always been a man of immense composure, so he seemed to have suffered less psychological damage than others.

Taking the chance, I asked another thing that had piqued my curiosity.

“Tell me about the Three Calamities. There are many rumors and misinformation, but no one seems to know the truth properly.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord responded.

“Indeed, few know the details. Elder, may I speak freely according to what I know?”

Heo Gyeom replied briefly.

“Go ahead.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord said.

“The Cult Leader massacred the family involved in the successor struggle. Not only the family members. These people also had subordinates and collaborators within the cult. He hunted them down, tortured them, and killed every last one revealed. Normally, it was customary to spare them. But it was just a custom, not a law. Even though the struggle was intense, even Elder Heo and the Left Guardian frequently opposed the extremity of his actions. Senior Brother originally intended to purge them all from the start. Even the slightest blemish was enough for entire families to offer hostages. That’s when the term was born.”

At that point, I finally spoke what I knew.

“A disaster born of the demonic path.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.

“A disaster created by those who pursued the demonic way. As you’ve seen today, Senior Brother’s humanity is severely lacking. If he entered closed-door training to avoid killing the Left Guardian or Elder Heo, that would have been his final shred of conscience.”

Thus, I heard the story of the Cult Leader during his human days.
Even the stories I had heard before didn’t consider him fully human.

I looked at Heo Gyeom.

“Then the Three Calamities you fought against were not the Cult Leader himself...”

Heo Gyeom nodded.

“I’ve never fought directly against the Cult Leader. The man I fought was Tian E. And to be exact, I didn’t fight him — I just barely survived after challenging him.”

Frustrated, I immediately asked.

“What the hell kind of guy is he?”

Heo Gyeom chuckled.

“I was curious too and asked him myself. The result... as you see. I lost my martial arts. After that, he and the Cult Leader went somewhere and fought. The Cult Leader returned gravely injured. But they said even after meeting the Three Calamities, they couldn’t determine who was truly the strongest under heaven.”

It was only at the end that the truth I knew emerged.

“An era without a strongest under heaven.”

Heo Gyeom nodded.

“If the Cult Leader decided to forsake the human path, then the other two must have already abandoned it too. By now, they would be closer to immortals or evil gods rather than humans.”

In the past, my dream had been to become the strongest under heaven.

I’m thinking of putting that on hold for now.

First, I need to beat down all the top human masters before setting my sights again.

Anyway, if this was the case...

It meant that even in my past life, the reason the demon path didn’t fully take over Jianghu was because the other Two Calamities were still standing strong somewhere.

And if the Cult Leader had taken the Heavenly Pearl at that time?

A smile naturally crept onto my face.

'Wow, I already saved Jianghu once, didn’t I?'

At Manjang Gorge, I had said something to that perverted bastard.

That there might be an answer to becoming a demon god in my shit.

Turned out, it was true.
If I hadn’t eaten the Heavenly Pearl, the Cult Leader would have become a demon god.
Come to think of it, I realized the connection between perverts and shit runs unexpectedly deep.

Since my thoughts were spiraling weirdly, I stared at Heo Gyeom for a moment.

“Senior, you’ve exhausted too much mental strength today because of the Cult Leader. I’m thinking of discussing some minor things with the Palace Lord, so you should rest. We’ll just be rambling without conclusions, so please understand.”

I looked at Yongmyeong. He approached his master and suggested.

“Master, why don’t you rest for a bit?”

Heo Gyeom nodded.

“Let’s do that.”

As Heo Gyeom left the main hall, I quietly stared at the wooden sword he handed me.

Only after Heo Gyeom had disappeared did I speak to the Blood Night Palace Lord.

“Palace Lord, let’s speak privately.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord responded, sounding puzzled.

“Is that necessary?”

I pointed at the Blood Night Palace’s officers around us with my finger.

“It makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, there must be someone in the Blood Night Palace leaking information to the Cult Leader. Not saying it’s any of these people, of course. But I’d like to speak just between the two of us. Please understand.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord finally nodded.

“I’ll speak with the Lord. You all can rest.”

Only then did the people stand up and disperse.

I stroked my chin and said to the Blood Night Palace Lord.

“So, what will you do now? It’s impossible to find the traitor. It’s probably not just one or two people. No matter where we run, it feels like our movements will continue to be reported to the Cult Leader.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord let out a sigh.

“There’s nothing we can do. When the time comes, we’ll just have to fight and die.”

“When do you think that will be? You should know the Cult Leader better than I do.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord nodded.

“It won’t be right away. He probably felt guilty about not seeing Elder Heo before leaving. If he clashed with Lim Sobaek along the way, it would have resulted in a full-scale war between forces. So for now, he must have returned to the cult. The reason he can’t immediately attack us is because of a few factors.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“He’s killed too many already. Individually, the Cult Leader is strong, but if a war of attrition breaks out without a decisive victory, the cult itself would suffer considerable damage. He needs time not only to train himself but also for his forces to grow stronger. He’ll need at least another three years.”

I nodded.

“Then let’s assume the worst-case scenario. We’ll train our forces as much as possible. But within three years, the Cult Leader could come here alone and wipe out the entire Blood Night Palace.”

The Blood Night Palace Lord smiled faintly.

“No matter how bold he is, he wouldn’t come alone.”

“Why not?”

"Because he's also keeping the Sword Demon in check, and today he met you. I heard you attacked Lim Sobaek and the Namgak Gang?"

"You knew?"

"If I know, then the Cult Leader surely knows as well. Normally, he might have thought he could sweep through the Blood Night Palace alone, but now there are more variables. Senior Brother is cautious by nature, so he’ll definitely think it through. If he comes alone and has bad luck, he’ll have to face me, the Sword Demon, and you at the same time. What do you think that means?"

Listening to the Blood Night Palace Lord, I grinned.

"Ah, it means I’ve become a threat too."

"Either he attacks the Blood Night Palace first, or he removes you first. Or, he could ignore both of us and focus on training. Or, he could take out the Sword Demon first and then make his move. Senior Brother will have to use his head well."

I asked the Blood Night Palace Lord,

"......How did you interpret his words about letting us ‘struggle and flail’?"

The Blood Night Palace Lord furrowed his brows as if pondering something.

"Elder Heo once vehemently opposed the creation of the Heavenly Pearl. Since even the cult’s Chief Commander opposed it, the Cult Leader had no choice but to relent at the time. So perhaps his comment meant that we should just struggle and flail until the Heavenly Pearl was completed."

Indeed, being the Cult Leader’s martial sister, she knew a lot.

"What is the Heavenly Pearl used for?"

Even though it was inside my body, I had to ask out of courtesy.

The Blood Night Palace Lord said,

"It’s probably a forcibly created elixir. Perhaps it was described in a manual as a method for the Cult Leader to achieve martial perfection. If the subordinates prepared the Heavenly Pearl while he focused on training, it would shorten the time needed. Just a guess, but a lot of people would have to die in the process of making it."

I said to the Blood Night Palace Lord,

"Palace Lord, investigate it thoroughly. Find out when it will be completed. Or if it’s already completed and requires other preparations. Since there are already those siding with the Cult Leader inside the Blood Night Palace, you’ll have to either send in spies or recruit insiders. Fighting isn’t done with martial arts alone."

The Blood Night Palace Lord let out a deep sigh.

"I don't have the right person for the job…"

"There’s one."

"Who?"

I answered in a calm tone.

"Yongmyeong."

"How can you send Elder Heo’s last disciple into a death trap?"

Clicking my tongue, I retorted,

"Palace Lord, can you be sure where the real death trap is? Right now, this place is closer to a death trap than inside the cult."

"You’re right. I’ll think about it. Still, you should be careful too. I didn’t expect the Cult Leader to already know."

I shook my head.

"Don’t worry about me for now."

"Why?"

I deliberately crossed my arms and began boasting to put the Palace Lord at ease.

"I am destined to become a master of psychological warfare, a grandmaster of psychology, a first-generation mind-reader."

The Blood Night Palace Lord replied with a sour expression.

"What good will that do?"

"It means I see through everything. The more the cult investigates me, the harder it’ll be to report anything useful to the Cult Leader."

"Why is that?"

"Because I’m a ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) jomsoi. A lowly, vulgar man—that’s me."

"Hmm."

I pointed to the sky with my hand.

"If the Cult Leader is as noble as the heavens..."

Then I pointed down.

"I’m a man crawling up from the very bottom. I’m so low that he can’t even confront me directly. He’ll have no choice but to send his subordinates instead. Moreover, the sect I founded is called Haomun. It’s a sect so lowly that a being aspiring to become a demon god wouldn’t even stoop to look at it."

"......So you had a plan after all. I worried for nothing."

"There’s more. With the Cult Leader’s eye for talent, he would have noticed that I’ve mastered both yin and yang martial arts."

I spoke terrifying words with ease.

"Materials like me are rare in Jianghu. But I’m not fully ripe yet."

The Blood Night Palace Lord barely suppressed her laughter with a troubled look.

I said to her in a serious tone,

"Feel free to laugh."

Only then did the Blood Night Palace Lord throw her head back and laugh heartily at the ceiling.

Anyway, I’m a man who learned from an old, tough senior how to joke while staking his life.

Honestly, if I die, Jianghu’s finished too.

The fate of Jianghu rests in my hands.

Ah, how thrilling this is...