CHAPTER: Chapter 23
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Chapter 23
“A cadet has defeated not a Head Instructor, but an instructor. This is the first time such a thing has happened since Hidden Demon Cave was founded.”
Gal Muheun personally descended and stood before Uncheon, who was battered from head to toe.
He glanced at the half-broken Black Iron Plaque in Uncheon’s hand, then asked in a low voice,
“This Hall Master made a promise. I said I would grant one wish to the one who seized a Black Iron Plaque from a Head Instructor. Though it is only half of one, you have proven that you are more than qualified.”
The training ground stirred.
Even the observers held their breath.
A wish from the Demonic Martial Hall Master. It was the greatest authority a cadet of Hidden Demon Cave could possess.
However, Gal Muheun approached Uncheon while exuding an extraordinary presence, holding his cherished weapon, the Judge’s Brush.
“In my capacity as the Demonic Martial Hall Master, Uncheon, I declare that you have passed through this sect’s Hidden Demon Cave. I proclaim that you are no longer a cadet, but have formally become a warrior of this sect.”
At his unprecedented declaration, the cadets began murmuring.
“What…? They said it would take at least three years to pass through Hidden Demon Cave, even at the earliest… and he did it in just one year?”
“A formal warrior of this sect? Does that mean he is at the level of a First Rate master?”
“He fought that well against an instructor who is a Peak Realm master…!”
The cadets exchanged words among themselves and looked at Uncheon as if he were an idol.
However, Uncheon himself felt little emotion.
‘A formal warrior of the Demonic Cult… Is this supposed to be a reward as well?’
As a disciple of Gonryun, Uncheon found himself in an awkward position where he could hardly rejoice over it as a reward.
‘Tsk… In any case, should I say that I have come one step closer to my goal?’
In the end, Uncheon’s objective was to break the Demonic Cult from within.
To accomplish that, what Uncheon aimed for was to rise to the position of the Heavenly Demon.
But that was not the end.
When Gal Muheun gestured into the air, a Black Iron Plaque from the observers’ seats flew toward him.
‘Void Object Seizing!’
When he drew a stroke through the air, the character for “pledge” was carved directly onto the flying Black Iron Plaque.
“As for your affiliation as a formal warrior, we shall discuss it later. Bring this plaque to me afterward. I will grant what you desire.”
“…Thank you.”
With Gal Muheun’s intervention, the noisy observers’ seats fell silent.
Thus, the monthly evaluation that had shaken Hidden Demon Cave came to an end.
***
After all the commotion had ended, Yuha, who remained alone, looked at the sparring platform and murmured softly, “As expected of the Demonic Martial Hall Master… It looked as though he was giving a reward, but he instantly turned the attention of every observer toward himself.”
Gal Muheun had publicly handed Uncheon a Black Iron Plaque.
He had even displayed Void Object Seizing while doing so.
There was an unmistakable intent behind it.
‘Was it to show off that Uncheon is still under his influence…?’
Even though Uncheon had received the Demonic Martial Hall Master’s recognition for passing through Hidden Demon Cave and had become a formal warrior, his affiliation and placement had yet to be decided.
The authority to decide still remained with the Demonic Martial Hall Master.
‘One-Brush Soul-Stealer… The method of the examination aside, he is a man who walks a different path from the previous Demonic Martial Hall Masters. His schemes run deep.’
Through today’s spar, Uncheon’s value had skyrocketed.
The Demonic Martial Hall Master had declared to the observers that the blue-chip stock everyone coveted was still in his hands.
“Now the organizations and observers will approach the Demonic Martial Hall Master to obtain Uncheon… This improvisation is one step above mine, is it?”
At this rate, all the effort Yuha had invested until now might fall into Gal Muheun’s grasp in an instant.
Even so, Yuha remained composed.
“…Let me see. How should I use this?”
In his hand was a Black Iron Plaque engraved with the character for “pledge,” just like the one Uncheon had received.
After all, Yuha had also subdued Head Instructor Geum Soso and obtained a Black Iron Plaque.
‘How I use this plaque.’
Depending on that, Uncheon’s whereabouts would be decided.
Trying to place a half-baked shackle on him would never win Uncheon’s heart in the end.
Since both Uncheon and Yuha possessed Black Iron Plaques,
Yuha decided to approach from the exact opposite direction.
“It seems… that would be best.”
***
That night, before the lingering heat of the fierce monthly evaluation had fully faded, when the exhausted cadets returned to their respective stone chambers to rest, someone knocked on the door of Uncheon’s stone chamber as he quietly tended to his battered body.
The presence caught by his senses, sharpened in the aftermath of the spar, was not unfamiliar.
Knock, knock—.
“Hey, Uncheon. If you have not fallen asleep yet, can we… talk for a moment?”
The voice from beyond the door belonged to Yayul Hui, but her usual sharp momentum was nowhere to be found.
“What is it?”
When Uncheon silently opened the stone door, she was standing there beneath the moonlight with a complicated expression.
“…Come in first.”
After entering the stone chamber, Yayul Hui could not speak for some time.
“…….”
She stared down at her own toes for a long while, then finally raised her head as if she had made a great decision.
“Your eyes were accurate. The truth is, my saber art is… only half complete without footwork.”
What came from the mouth of the proud girl was an honest confession.
But what it contained was not shame.
It held the seriousness of one who had faced her own limits.
“The splendid Mad Wind Thirteen Blades? Do you know what they are? All of them are incomplete. If I cannot learn the Wind Soul Step, I cannot even unfold the latter half of the Mad Wind Thirteen Blades.”
A cold, self-mocking smile appeared on her lips.
“In my family… I have an elder brother who is called a genius. I have always been in his shadow. The elders of the family do not even see me as a martial artist. They only calculate… which family it would be most profitable to betroth me to.”
She laughed at herself and continued.
“Unsightly, is it not? All the men in the school look up to me, yet in the end, I am destined to become the trophy of one of them.”
To those who thought only of the family, a “daughter” was someone who would one day leave the family.
An outsider upon marriage.
Her place had already been decided that way from the moment she was born.
“That is why Father and my elder brother have no intention of teaching me the Wind Soul Step or the latter half of the Mad Wind Thirteen Blades. They think I will be married off anyway. They cannot allow our secret martial arts to leak to a rival family!”
For the first time, deep anger mingled in the voice of Yayul Hui, who had always seemed so confident.
What she had truly wanted was only her family’s recognition, and to stand proudly as a martial artist.
‘They cry out that The Strong Are Exalted so loudly, yet they shackle themselves with bloodline and old customs, kicking away jade and stone with their own feet….’
As a martial artist, Uncheon sympathized with Yayul Hui.
The pure longing for martial arts that did not go out, even amid anger and resignation.
It was also the light in Uncheon’s own eyes.
Such talent was rotting away, bound by something as paltry as family recognition.
It was a pity.
Yet at the same time, he thought,
‘Perhaps there may be a clue here to break the Demonic Cult from within.’
What if he guided the followers of the Demonic Cult not onto the path of Demonic Practitioners, but onto the path of martial artists?
Even Uncheon himself could not be certain whether that thought came from “calculation,” or whether it was because he “sympathized” as a martial artist.
Before Uncheon’s eyes right now, there was only a single martial artist wandering before the wrong path.
“The world is vast, and martial learning is endless. Yet why are you so obsessed only with your family’s martial arts?”
“What…?”
“I will ask you. Do you want to live as a martial artist? Or do you merely want to receive your family’s recognition?”
Uncheon’s question became a dagger that pierced her heart.
“If you truly want to live as a martial artist, pursue your own martial path, not anyone else’s. That path is something you must open for yourself. That is the martial way.”
“……!”
Yayul Hui was seized by a shock as though she had been struck hard on the back of the head.
For the first time, a crack seemed to appear in the immense wall called the Mad Wind Yayul Family, which had been constricting her until now.
Her family’s recognition.
Her father’s praise.
Surpassing her elder brother.
‘Ah…….’
The world she had believed to be everything was shaken to its roots by a single sentence from the boy before her.
‘Like a fool. I was always staring only at the wall blocking my path.’
Uncheon merely waited silently for the storm within her to subside.
After a long silence, when Yayul Hui raised her head again, the world seemed to look a little different.
The fog of confusion had cleared, and a new path was clearly visible before her eyes.
‘I will no longer resent the wall. I will simply soar into the heavens by myself.’
At the starting point of that path stood Uncheon.
When she thought about it, Uncheon was different from everyone Yayul Hui had met until now.
Not only from the cadets of Hidden Demon Cave, but also from the people of her family and the children of the Twelve Guardian Families.
‘But not the people of my family. Rather, only this boy, whom I had looked down on, treated me as a martial artist….’
Uncheon was the most martial-artist-like and the most serious person she had ever encountered.
The eyes of the boy she had always seen now felt deeper and firmer than ever.
‘…I learned something from him. He really is not like someone his age.’
To think that a martial artist worthy of being an example was merely around the same age as herself.
“…Thank you.”
“There is no need for thanks.”
Noticing Yayul Hui’s hesitation, Uncheon spoke indifferently.
It was never easy to ask advice from a competitor while standing in a competitive position, much less to accept that advice.
‘If she can properly accept it, she may be able to proceed along the martial path without being bound by the Demonic Cult or her family.’
With the hope that she would move forward not as a member of the Demonic Cult, but as a martial artist, Uncheon said, “Walking a path alone is bound to be lonely. As a comrade walking the martial way, I can at least offer advice whenever you need it.”
At Uncheon’s calm words, Yayul Hui was briefly left speechless.
She had been ignored even by her own family, yet the one she had thought of as a competitor had readily extended his hand.
With complicated feelings, she nodded.
Soon, she brought up the other matter that had led her to visit his stone chamber.
“…Enough worrying about me. Let us talk about you. You said before that your body was like a cracked vessel.”
Merely receiving advice was not in her nature.
Her gaze swept over Uncheon’s entire body.
The excellence he had shown in the monthly evaluation.
However, to her eyes, having watched Uncheon all this time, it looked rather like a desperate struggle.
“If… you are thinking of entering the Hall of Myriad Demons to meet the honored Demon Physician, it would be better to think it over again.”
“…Why?”
“Because the honored Demon Physician no longer practices medicine.”
“……!”
“His only granddaughter… is suffering from an incurable illness. Even the Demon Physician under heaven could not cure his granddaughter’s illness.”
A deep furrow formed between Uncheon’s brows.
“Lamenting what meaning medicine had if it could not save his own granddaughter, he has long since withdrawn his hands from the healing arts. The Demon Physician no longer performs the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art either.”
It was hopeless information.
‘This cannot be… At this rate, even if I secure a private audience with the Demon Physician, there is a high chance I will be turned away at the door, let alone receive the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art!’
The most certain path to treatment had been blocked.
Yayul Hui added a warning.
“Simply meeting him is not the issue. The problem is breaking the stubbornness of the Life-and-Death Exalted One, the honored Demon Physician. To him, even the Demonic Martial Hall Master is only a junior far beneath him.”
Uncheon silently listened to her.
“Besides, the Hall of Myriad Demons is not a place where only the honored Demon Physician resides. Since it is where the elders of the cult gather, they say the scheming and madness there surpass imagination. This is as much as I was able to find out.”
Her information was painful, but at the same time, it was more valuable than anything else.
‘If demonic energy seeps into the brain, the end is qi deviation. If old monsters who have cultivated demonic arts are gathered in one place, it is practically a Hall of Mad Demons.’
Uncheon nodded and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you. That was helpful.”
“…No, I should be the one thanking you.”
With a relieved expression, Yayul Hui turned away without regret and left Uncheon’s stone chamber.
***
The next day.
After sufficient rest, Uncheon visited the office of the Demonic Martial Hall Master.
Knock, knock.
As befitted Gal Muheun’s epithet, One-Brush Soul-Stealer, the space was filled with the scent of ink and a cold authority.
Even after seeing Uncheon, Gal Muheun did not look away as he continued moving his brush.
“You have come.”
Uncheon took out the Black Iron Plaque engraved with the character for “pledge” and showed it to him.
“I have come to state my wish. Please arrange a private audience with the honored Demon Physician.”
Gal Muheun’s hand, which had been moving the brush, stopped.
“…….”
A brief silence passed.
Then he slowly raised his head.
An unreadable smile hung on his face.
“I cannot grant that wish. Name another.”
“……!”
An unexpected refusal.
Because those words came from the Demonic Martial Hall Master, a man who valued promises, the shock was even greater.
However, the words that followed were different from what he expected.
“There is no need to grant the same wish twice, is there?”
“What do you mean…?”
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