Just as I felt we had taken care of most of the remnants, Master Yukhap flicked the blood off his sword and said,

“…Even after all this, the ones who escaped must have a long fate ahead of them. Nothing we can do. So, what now? Do we chase them, or head straight to Yuhwagok?”

I shook my head.

“What for? This is enough. The one who led them is already dead, so even if the Third Young Master tries to get to the bottom of it, there’s little chance he’ll suspect Yuhwagok.”

“And why’s that?”

I brought up the old man who had been annihilated by Heaven-Piercing Sun-Moon Radiance.

“That old man was pretty strong. Yuhwagok Lord or Uhyanggok Lord couldn’t have killed him. It would’ve taken a famous expert from the dark path to bring him down. Now, there are corpses scattered around, torn apart by my technique. It’ll be hard to trace the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) origin of the incident. They’ll probably think the Gok Lords died in the chaos as well.”

“That may be so, but if there are survivors, they’ll come looking for you.”

“No need to clean up too perfectly. There’s no such thing as a perfect ending. If clever, thorough men could solve all problems, Zhuge Liang wouldn’t have kept losing at Qishan. Let’s keep it loose.”

This was war, after all. It was easier if the enemies came for me instead of heading to Yuhwagok.

After a short pause, Master Yukhap said,

“I have somewhere to stop by. What about you?”

“Where?”

“To Yukhapmun. There’s something I need to retrieve.”

“Yukhapmun?”

“More precisely, a shrine that houses the ancestral tablets. It's where the old Yukhapmun once stood.”

I looked at his face and said,

“Sounds boring. I’ll come with you. We can spar or something on the way…”

It would be troublesome if either of us ran into the Third Young Master by sheer bad luck. There's no way someone called a Grand Duke of the Demonic Cult would be wandering alone. His maternal family might be one thing, but he’s bound to have top-level experts escorting him.

We left the corpses behind and headed to Yeongbo Mountain.

***

Master Yukhap climbed up the mountain slope and opened a gate hidden behind vines. It wasn’t particularly well-hidden, so as soon as he opened it, a few lonely buildings appeared in an open area.

As we walked, he looked around and pointed to a spot that seemed to be either a training yard or just an empty field.

“We mostly trained over there.”

The weeds had grown tall through the cracked stone floor of the yard, and loose pebbles littered the place—clearly untouched for years.

“Doesn’t look like you had many fellow disciples.”

It was my first time visiting the ruins of a fallen sect.

He nodded.

“We did have more, once. When First Brother went out and killed some notorious scum, we suddenly had an influx of disciples. Most of them couldn’t handle it and left soon after.”

“So they left because training was too hard?”

“Only those with nowhere else to go, like me, ended up staying.”

The truth is, not just anyone can become part of Jianghu.

Some join a sect because it looks cool or because they want to become strong. But most hit the wall of reality and go back to their previous lives.

They lack the compelling reason to train so harshly. They admire martial arts lightly, and quit just as easily.

Master Yukhap stood silently in the training yard, likely recalling the brothers who once trained there with him.

He finally spoke.

“…Our master wasn’t in good health, so it was mostly First Brother who trained us. Honestly, he was scarier than Master. He was so strict and cold that I often thought no one could be that harsh. But if he hadn’t been like that, I’d probably have died many times over.”

I imagined Yukhap in his youth, practicing swordplay alongside his seniors.

This place, halfway up the mountain where a cool breeze often blew, brought those imagined scenes to life—his brothers smiling as they trained, and First Brother with his stern face.

After silently gazing at the empty yard, Master Yukhap nodded.

“…Let’s go in. It’s been a long time since I’ve guided a guest.”

He led me into what remained of Yukhapmun.

***

Master Yukhap knelt before a shrine, setting down five swords in front of him. These, it seemed, were the belongings he had come to retrieve—his brothers' swords.

Suddenly, he stood and started clearing the cobwebs off the tablets and tables with his bare hands, then knelt again.

I looked at the ancestral tablets.

At the top sat the name of someone who appeared to be his master.

Beneath that were five tablets with different surnames. I realized then that these disciples were not blood-related—they had met and become brothers through martial bonds.

Since Yukhap was silent, I had nothing to add either.

After a while, he looked at me.

“……”

I nodded and stepped forward to light incense.

I didn’t know the proper rituals, so I mimicked what he had done—lighting the incense and placing it in the bowl of fine earth. His and mine started trailing smoke side by side.

I offered a martial salute toward the tablets.

“This junior is Yi Zaha, Lord of Haomun. I will assist Yukhapmun’s last disciple in eradicating the wicked heretics. Please watch over us from the heavens.”

I returned to my spot after that short address.

Master Yukhap, in a calm voice, said,

“Thank you. It’s been a long time since anyone visited. I’m sure they’re glad.”

“Don’t mention it… Those five swords—they belonged to your brothers?”

He smiled faintly, eyes still on the tablets.

“Yes. I was able to carry out my revenge properly because of these familiar swords. The bastards from the dark path must’ve known how valuable they were—none of them discarded or sold them. They carried them around like trophies. Thanks to that, I could identify them clearly and exact my revenge.”

“How many years did it take to kill them all?”

“I honestly don’t remember. Just that it took a long time… Find and kill, find, torture, extract information, kill again… I lost track of time.”

He gazed at the five swords quietly.

I asked,

“Are you planning to keep them with you now?”

He nodded.

“If Yukhapmun were to be rebuilt, it would make sense to leave them here. But now, I plan to take them.”

He saluted the tablets and said,

“First Brother, I will take your sword and the swords of our brothers with me. I’ll find five disciples who resemble your character and entrust each one with a sword. I’ll say this now—they won’t be Yukhapmun disciples. I’ve already tainted the name of Yukhapmun. The nickname ‘Master Yukhap’ was attached to a demon, a madman obsessed with revenge. Why, even after fulfilling my vengeance, did I end up defiling our sect’s good name? I still don’t know. That’s why I didn’t come sooner. I offer my apologies to you and Master.”

So he had been the second disciple of Yukhapmun.

He turned to me with a faint smile.

“I plan to give the swords to my future disciples.”

“That’s for the best.”

“I’ll call them the Five Swords of Jongnam.”

The fact that he hadn’t even recruited them yet, but already had a group name, made me chuckle silently.

He then addressed the tablets again.

“First Brother, I’m not worthy of being the head of a new sect. If people hear that the founding master of a sect was a killer named Master Yukhap, it’ll ruin everything. I’ll let my disciple take that role. I will remain Yukhapmun’s last disciple until the day I die.”

His voice began to tremble.

“First Brother… I still don’t know why I had to be the last one. You took me in with no conditions… I’ll repay that grace by taking in orphans and teaching them martial arts. I’ll try to understand the heart you showed me… I’ll be back someday.”

He bowed to the tablets.

One bow after another—for Master, for First Brother, for each of his brothers.

When he looked like he was holding back tears, I opened my mouth.

“…You dumb bastard, just cry already. You won’t be coming back for a while anyway.”

He laughed through his tears.

“You’re right.”

He wiped his face, bundled the five swords in cloth, and slung them over his shoulder.

He left them a final farewell.

“Master, First Brother… I’m leaving. Brothers, take care.”

As we left the shrine, I glanced around the ruins of old Yukhapmun and said,

“Don’t even think about settling down here. Move the tablets to Jongnam. Your brothers deserve to watch over the disciples you raise.”

He laughed, head tilted back.

“That’s not a bad idea.”

As we slowly descended Yeongbo Mountain, where the demon of my past life and Yukhapmun now rested, I said,

“You should include ‘Yukhap’ in the name of your sword style.”

He asked, though he likely already knew why.

“Why?”

“Even if no one else knows, your disciples should know where their roots lie.”

“‘Yukhap’ is such a common word.”

“Not when it’s attached to a sword art. Don’t worry.”

He was still in a somber mood, so I shifted to nonsense and started talking crap.

“You know what my favorite sword technique name is?”

“No clue.”

“Three Element Sword Style.”

“Why?”

“The guy who came up with it must’ve been really good. Or maybe… he only knew how to thrust, slash, and chop, so he boldly named it after the Three Elements.”

“What the hell kind of nonsense is that?”

“What I mean is… maybe the name was meant for teaching. Especially for those utterly untalented. The kind where you think, ‘These idiots can’t learn anything else, so I’ll just teach them three moves.’ But giving it a grand name like ‘Three Element Sword’ would still make them proud to learn it.”

Master Yukhap chuckled after pondering that for a bit.

Then I contradicted myself.

“But that might not be it either.”

“What now?”

“What if the creator truly believed that mastering those three was the key to transcendence? Then the one who made the Three Element Sword Style was a supreme master.”

“Hm.”

“That’s closer to the mystery behind the Yukhap Sword Art. Anyway, no one knows who made the Three Element Sword. It’s one of those unsolved riddles in Jianghu.”

“There are things like that?”

“Do you know when the Demonic Cult first appeared?”

“No idea.”

“They say there was one in every dynasty. Even several at once. When they merged, that’s when the title ‘Heavenly Demon’ was born. History never records them, but they probably existed even during the Yin or Zhou dynasties. Dynasties banned religions they couldn’t control, so they were branded as ‘demonic cults.’ Especially during times of upheaval. Rebels and their kin clung to the old laws and religion out of desperation. And eventually…”

He stopped walking and looked at me.

“Eventually what?”

“A clever leader would erase old history and command worship for himself. That’s how religion becomes corrupted. A man once called the Heavenly Demon probably erased everything and founded the Heavenly Demon Cult. These bastards killed and destroyed so much, they forgot where they even came from.”

I gave him a piece of advice.

“So if you ever settle in Jongnam, don’t forget your roots. Yukhapmun is where your master and brothers nurtured you. You’re nothing like those demonic bastards.”

“Certainly different from those wicked cultists.”

He sat on a nearby rock and said,

“Let’s rest a while.”

He didn’t mean physically. He needed time for reflection. I found another rock and sat cross-legged.

I closed my eyes and emptied my mind.

Eventually, Master Yukhap’s voice broke the silence.

“Lord.”

“What.”

“Even if we lose someday, our disciples will win in the end, right?”

Eyes still closed, I scolded him.

“Yukhap, that’s the wrong mindset. You can’t fight with that kind of loser’s hope.”

“Then what’s the right mindset?”

I opened my eyes and shared the mindset I’d developed since my past life.

“That we’ll drag every last bastard to hell. Until then, we’re not allowed to lose.”

The Demon of my past life quietly opened his eyes and stared at me. At last, I felt like we had formed a true mental alliance.

“Lord of Haomun. Master Yukhap… Names like that can rot in the mud for all I care. What we need is the resolve to fight dirty, cheap, dishonorable—to kill every last one of them.”

The past-life demon grinned.

“Now that’s a mindset I can get behind.”

I nodded and exhaled deeply.

At last, is it complete?

Now the Mad Demon, the Poison Demon, the Lust Demon, and the Ghost Demon could unite as one.

The Evil Society of My Past Life.

Only I know it exists. A secret force the likes of which Jianghu has never seen. Sure, one of us doesn’t listen too well, but every group has one like that.

One way or another, I’ve become the leader of a dumb but kind of awesome secret society.

.

.

.

A mysterious gang. A villainous circle. A pot of pork spine stew. All used to be a wild bunch. Still, I’m the boss. It worked out. Chills. That’s me.