The Return of the Crazy Demon

It wasn’t until I woke up that I remembered how drunk I was. Usually, if one has deep internal qi, they do not get drunk so easily. Yesterday, I drank to get drunk.

I look around and see that it is morning in the guest house.

“I won’t wake up back at the inn again.”

When I woke up in the guest house after drinking last time, I mistook it for the Zaha Inn.

Glad I didn’t this time.

Because I can’t exactly control how my life progresses, I hate feeling various emotions over and over again and I’m tired of having blood on my hands. In particular, I want to stop killing.

It’s because every time I kill, I feel like I am being pushed by my body. And seeing that my dagger isn’t on the table, it feels strange. If the killers were targeting me, there would’ve been no better chance to kill me than when I was asleep just now.

But the night has passed.

I look around the guest house with a clearer mind than usual.

On the top of the table, Pervert Demon is sleeping with his mouth open, like an old man.

“… don’t wake me up. I should sleep more.”

Does this bastard think of me as his servant? I answer to check if he is asleep or not.

“Yes, young lord. Have a good rest.”

Pervert Demon responds,

“Come on, third one.”

He isn’t sleep talking.

“… co-confir..”

Sword Demon seems to have left this place but since Ghost Demon wasn’t around, I go out. Shouldn’t I check the state of the drunken guests?

The leftover snacks were a mess on the table, or they should have been, but the table was clean. I fell into a deep sleep without realizing that I had cleaned the table.

Did I take a pill while sleeping?

I walk out of the guest house…

Even if everything was fine, Ghost Demon was swinging his sword with an uglier look than usual because of the excessive drinking.

I sit on the chair outside the guest house and watch him train.

Ghost Demon asks me while swinging the sword,

“You are up. You slept like a corpse.”

Well, why is this guy’s head like this? Why does he have to use a corpse to describe good sleep? Come to think of it, I felt the same when I saw Pervert Demon.

I ask, looking at Ghost Demon who looked extra ugly,

“Yukgap, you stayed up all night?”

He answers while swinging the sword,

“The third and the fourth suddenly spread themselves so I had to stay up.”

“Then you were swinging the sword all night?”

“It has been a while since I swung it at night.”

“And senior Sword Demon?”

“He told me the story of the Five Great Swords of the Cult and then went to sleep.”

“The Five Great Swords of Demonic Cult?”

Only then did the guy lower the sword and exhale. After drinking the water on the table, he sat down close by and said,

“It is said that the Heavenly Demon Sword of the Cult Leader, the Great Luck Sword of Right Elder, Bright Light Sword of Left Elder, and the Warlord’s Victory Sword. They are famous swords. The four of them. If we add another sword, First Slaughtering Sword, used by the old elders, it is one of the five greatest swords.

“Hmm.”

Ghost Demon looks at me and says,

“I heard that the First Slaughtering Sword is a wooden sword. I heard that these five swords had something in common, you know what it is?”

I couldn’t possibly know it.

“I don’t know.”

“Before that, about the First Slaughtering Sword. It is said that the sword is inherited from the first slaughterer, an honorable one. The sword is passed to those who it considers as a worthy successor.”

“Why is my spine feeling so cold now?”

Ghost Demon smiles and says,

“Right. They say that the Cult is trying to retrieve the five swords. They aren’t just some objects, but more of a symbolic weapon to the Cult. An honor for them.”

I scratch my head.

“To think that this old man handed over such a wooden sword to…”

“It could be. In any case, the swords are highly handled by the best of the Cult, so they need to get it back. Because of its symbolic meaning, it can be said that this weapon should be retrieved too.”

“Is there a reason for telling me this?”

Ghost Demon nods his head.

“He told me to be prepared to come bare handed in the case I lack energy or am fighting with a weaker sword that stands no chance. It is said that even if weapons collide, poor weapons will not hold on for long. Sword Demon senior said that despite training with a wooden sword, he has no intention of giving up his Bright Light Sword to the Cult. Training to build skills is important, but to reach the peak of swordsmanship he told me to get something better than the sword I am using now.”

He said what I knew.

“Don’t most of those swords already have owners? I know a couple are being held by the Orthodox sects.”

Ghost Demon nods.

“We need to make it.”

“Where?”

“At the iron union…”

I hit my forehead with my hand. Come to think of it, the other day I met the guy at Black Rabbit Union. It seemed that he was trying to make a famous sword, but I tried to stop him. I didn’t know. This is because the skills of Mister Geum seemed to have improved.

And I speak to Ghost Demon.

“I will request him later. If my wooden sword is one of the five famous swords of the Cult, it would have been natural for the sword of Mister Geum’s to break.”

Ghost Demon nods and asks me with a tired look.

“Will you take the shift now? I need to sleep.”

I nod.

Come to think of it, Ghost Demon training in front of the guest house was no different from him standing guard.

I accept the ordinary day that this was going to be and spend it guarding the guest house.

Or so I thought.

A man who fights all the time is likely to go insane one day, and a man who works all the time will end up as an idiot. Also, the man who plays all the time is bound to be miserable sooner or later.

Which is why it is important to fight, work, or do anything in moderation.

Right now.

I breathed slowly.

Merchants were approaching while speaking outside. They heard about the inn, and said a small meal is what they would like, and then they would leave. Since I didn’t have anything, I just pulled the wooden sword out and watched the blade shine in the sunlight.

The merchants who came to eat a meal passed by quietly. After putting the sword back in, I think about what the men I had saved for the first time were doing now.

My legs trembled at the thought.

As I’m passing my time normally by leaning on the table, I forget if I’m a server, the Crazy Demon, one of the Six Dragons, or the Low-Down Sect Leader.

Today, as I was a long time back, I had turned into a pitiful man in the world, and I welcomed the normal sunlight, wind, and air around.

My dantian divided into Yin and Yang and was moving roughly since the morning, but I warned my dantian.

‘Do not push your luck too much. Today is my day off.’

While thinking of each of my subordinate’s faces I think of Moyong Baek. I wasn’t sure if that guy would concentrate on martial arts training. The conclusion of the thought was always the same.

‘If I survive, the day will come when I will get stronger,’

I take a deep breath and feel the air cool down.

Sam Bok, the escort to the young lord, moved somewhere overnight, leaving the guest house, and arrived at a safe place.

But the safe place was a corpse filled room. Corpses were also in the yard, in the halls, and straddled to the walls.

There were so many corpses of his allies, but many were dressed in odd clothes. As soon as he saw that outsiders were mixed in, he realized that some other warriors had raided the place.

Thinking of escaping after checking for survivors, Sam Bok goes around and pushes the door of the main hall. After pushing away the corpse leaning against the door, the smell of blood stings his nose, just like what happened at the guest house.

On top of the hill of corpses, he sees the third young lord sitting there.

“Young lord. It is Sam Bok.”

Sam Bok approaches him with a pale face and kneels down.

“Sam Bok. You were alive?”

“Yes. I passed out in the guest house….”

Sam Bok couldn’t speak further at the fear of having the situation misunderstood. But even then, the young lord was doubtful.

“How did you live?”

“I was able to live because they showed mercy.”

He nods.

“Hmm, and any more survivors?”

“I didn’t see any.”

“I don’t know when the safe house was discovered. There will be an attack soon.”

“Any injuries?”

Young lord shakes his head.

“I got hit in an odd manner, so it hurts a little. Sam Bok.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t seem to have the skills to be the sub-cult leader. I failed.”

Sam Bok wasn’t sure what to say, so he listened. And the young lord said,

“I am in a position where I cannot ask for the mercy of my brothers and the Cult Leader won’t meet me. It is dangerous.”

“Yes.”

When the young lord says to, he shows a black palm print on his chest.

“Do you know what this is?”

Sam Bok says,

“Poison, maybe?”

“It was there, but I drove it out.”

“It seems like the other young lords captured warriors from around.”

“Seems like they didn’t hire anyone either.”

“How can the Poison Eye Emperor…”

Young lord points to the entrance with his chin. And Sam Bok turns as he sees a body with a huge hole in the chest.

Making him ask,

“Young lord. Even a member of the physician….”

Young lord shakes his head.

“Enough. I know my body well enough. It is faster to drive out the poison in here.”

“…”

“Sam Bok.”

“Yes.”

“You may have learned that when a young lord dies, so does the escort, but you don’t have to. If you are here, additional pursuers will come, so get out first. Leave when I cultivate or avoid the entire situation if you can. I think it would be better to hide in the orthodox village, which is full of them.”

“Where can I go? Let us head there together.”

“Sam Bok, not dying will mean revenge. Let us just move our separate ways.”

He waves his hand and closes his eyes.

Sam Bok says,

“Young lord, I will stay and train till the end.”

Young lord says with his eyes closed.

“Do what? I am not dead yet. I just got hit once. After I recover, I will go meet my mother and then seek revenge for what happened. Even if the fight of succession failed, I have no intention of not taking revenge. The grudge my mother’s family has, it has nothing to do with you, so do not intervene. I am tired of talking. If you are worried, come meet me at my mother’s house.”

Sam Bok bows his head.

“I understand. Young lord. Are we not returning to the Cult?”

“The Cult Leader despises the weak. I will not go there for a while.”

“Yes… ah, I was planning to tell you something, now is the right time. Thank you for taking care of an orphan who has nowhere to go. Please recover quickly.”

“Useless things.”

Sam Bok who listened, quietly moves back and, later, looking at the corpses around, he suddenly stops to put his hand into his pocket.

The coin given from the Low-Down Sect Leader was in his hand. He is reminded of what the Sect Leader had said.

‘Throw away the doctrine and get a new life.’

Sam Bok stands blankly and ponders for a moment.

‘What nonsense is that?’

He looked around and the sky felt so clear, but he couldn’t figure out the answer. Even though he felt things turning sour, he continued to think about what it meant to throw the doctrine of a cult away. As he tried to think of something, his head felt heated up.

.

.

.

“What are you doing! Sam bok!”

“….”

Sam Bok, who had a headache at the sight of the coin, enters the side of the road and picks up the young lord on his back and runs at full speed, the young lord says,

“Put me down! Where are you taking me!”

“If you stay here, you will die.”

“So where are you going in this situation?”

Sam Bok keeps silent as he continues to run. After a while, the young lord starts nagging and Sam Bok opens his mouth.

“Young lord, please go silent.”

“What?”

Sam Bok says while running,

“I will take you to a safe place for now, so shut up.”

In the end, Sam Bok abandoned the doctrine for a coin. But he had no choice but to believe that it was the only way to save the life of himself and the young lord.