Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon

The smile didn’t leave his face, pleased at having accomplished something unexpected.

He called the woman and told her about borrowing the money. After boasting as if he had done what I had done, he proudly added:

“You should have seen how they trembled before me.”

I was listening to this story from outside the door.

How can he be so shameless? Even knowing that I’m listening outside.

“Relay it properly! Understood?”

After those words were heard, the woman came out. She glanced at me.

Her eyes seemed to ask: Did you do all this?

Having observed Ma Jeongsu for a while, she probably knows he’s not the type to display such courage.

I didn’t give her a look that would judge whether it was true or not.

She immediately left. Watching her back as she left, I suddenly had such a doubt.

Was she really sent by Ma Bong-gi? No matter how much Ma Jeongsu was a morally corrupt person who was losing in the succession fight, could she show such a cold reaction to the flesh and blood of the master she serves?

Of course, if she was raised from childhood like a killing machine without any fear or emotion, it might be possible.

What if she wasn’t raised by Ma Bong-gi? Is that why she can behave like that?

But even with that assumption, questions remain. Why would a third party send someone they raised to accompany Ma Bong-gi’s offspring? Why did Ma Bong-gi allow it?

“Warrior Gal, come in.”

“Yes.”

As I entered, he said with a smile:

“I borrowed Warrior Gal’s achievements a bit. Is that okay?”

“Of course.”

“Haha, as expected, you’re big-hearted. I knew you would be.”

I smiled pleasantly at his insincere praise.

“There’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Did women like that accompany the other successors too?”

Ma Jeongsu nodded.

“That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Are they all women?”

“I’ve heard there are both women and men. But why do you ask?”

“I thought I should know everything if I’m going to help Young Master Ma in the future.”

I was trying to extract as much information as possible before killing him.

Not knowing this, Ma Jeongsu smiled contentedly.

“Then, how did your father become the Alliance Leader? Did he prepare for a long time?”

“Well… of course.”

The answer didn’t come immediately. This means Ma Jeongsu doesn’t know well either.

Well, how could he take care of all of them when he carelessly fathered over twenty children?

“Why do you ask that?”

“I just imagined the scene of Young Master Ma becoming the Martial Righteous Alliance Leader.”

“Me becoming the Alliance Leader? Isn’t that too far-fetched?”

“It’s not necessarily far-fetched. If you become the successor, it’s quite possible, isn’t it?”

“It might be possible if you help me.”

“Since we’re on the topic, let me ask. Who do you consider your strongest competitor?”

“Probably Ma Cheol-gun.”

Ma Cheol-gun was the fifth among Ma Bong-gi’s twenty-two sons and currently held the position of interim sect leader of the Heavenly Blade Sect.

I had seen Ma Cheol-gun before, and unlike Ma Bong-gi’s son, he was smart, intelligent, and had a decent personality.

“Who’s next?”

“Ma Ryeong-in[1] is cunning, Ma Yang-hwa[2] is treacherous. Ma Gung-tae[3] is just stupidly strong, and Ma Seong-hu[4] is a naive child who doesn’t know the ways of the world.”

Of course, this evaluation is just Ma Jeongsu’s opinion. I’ll have to meet them to know what they’re really like. They’re probably not worse than this Ma Jeongsu.

Ma Cheol-gun, Ma Ryeong-in, Ma Yang-hwa, Ma Gung-tae, Ma Seong-hu, and Ma Jeongsu. These were the six people fighting for succession.

“One of them is interfering with my work.”

Ma Jeongsu gritted his teeth.

“Isn’t it because Young Master Ma is the most threatening in the succession fight?”

Ma Jeongsu’s expression brightened at these sweet words.

I said with a sincere expression:

“I will help you wholeheartedly from now on.”

“I’ll trust only you, Warrior Gal.”

Ma Jeongsu brought up an unexpected topic.

“By the way, we’re going to Jinan.”

“To Jinan?”

“Yes. I’m only telling you this, but I’ve been having some trouble lately. The contract for establishing the martial arts academy was canceled when the funding from Shandong Merchant Association was cut off.”

“Ah, so that happened.”

“So this time, I’m going to go directly with the money. I need to make the contract as soon as possible when I get there.”

There was a way to call the person to make the contract here. But it would take time to send the message, and there was no guarantee that he would come immediately after receiving the news. There were rumors that he had gone bankrupt. He probably wouldn’t come, thinking it was a trick and making excuses.

“That’s why I’m going directly.”

I lowered my voice and said:

“But it’s dangerous to move with such a large sum of a hundred thousand taels.”

“I’m only going to take twenty thousand taels needed for the contract deposit. If I take you and that woman from earlier, it should be enough for an escort.”

Although he disliked and disapproved of the woman, he disliked the idea of having the money stolen even more.

Of course, there was a safe way to move the money.

He could deposit the money at the local branch here and withdraw it at the Jinan branch.

But that would require waiting at least ten days. In a situation where every day counted, that wasn’t possible.

“If she comes along, I think we can rest easy.”

“You trust her.”

“How could that be? You even warned me to be careful of her. I just meant two hands are better than one.”

“We’ll leave early tomorrow. Get ready.”

“Yes.”

I briefly considered eliminating him tonight.

But I decided against it. An opportunity had arisen to learn about that woman’s identity while traveling together to Jinan.

Don’t be happy that you’ve survived a few more days. You’re just unlucky. Because you’ll have to taste an even deeper despair when you find out the promissory notes are fake.

***

The next day, I was driving the carriage.

The woman was sitting next to me. We couldn’t refuse Ma Jeongsu’s order that she must come along.

We had been traveling for a while, but she hadn’t said a word. Knowing she was usually silent, I didn’t try to start a conversation.

I could see her hands up close. Unlike typical women’s hands, hers were very rough. The calluses on the back of her hands were those of someone who had properly trained their fists.

So she did learn bare-handed martial arts.

I could tell she had undergone very harsh training for a long time.

There were also scars. A long one extending from the back of her left hand to her arm. I couldn’t see how far the scar went because it was covered by her clothes. I thought she might have many more scars on her body besides that one.

Sensing my gaze, the woman subtly hid her hand.

I felt a bit sorry, but pretending not to have seen seemed more impolite.

“Did you learn bare-handed martial arts?”

After a moment, she answered:

“Yes.”

“Why bare-handed martial arts in particular?”

Bare-handed martial arts were not commonly chosen by women. Probably because they’re inherently lacking in strength.

“I… didn’t have a choice.”

The conversation paused for a moment. That statement almost confirmed that she had been raised in some organization from a very young age.

“I was once fascinated by bare-handed martial arts too. The idea of fighting with just bare fists, without any weapons, seemed incredibly appealing.”

I was speaking sincerely. Besides swordsmanship, I had learned various martial arts. I learned several martial arts including saber techniques, spear techniques, and bare-handed techniques.

Among them, I was particularly interested in bare-handed techniques, because of the Peerless Wind God Fist[5] I learned at the time.

The Peerless Wind God Fist was the martial art of the Fist King from two generations ago, which I learned after discovering the secret manual in the Martial Righteous Alliance’s archives.

Not only was it difficult to learn alone, but at the time, my pride in the Soul-Reaping Asura Sword Arts was sky-high, so I only learned it to about five stars before quitting.

“If I hadn’t learned swordsmanship, I might have seriously pursued bare-handed martial arts.”

Then she blurted out:

“That’s an excuse.”

I turned to look at her, and she stared back.

“You just didn’t want to learn bare-handed martial arts.”

“While swordsmanship requires delicate hand movements, isn’t bare-handed martial arts more aggressive in nature? Unless the martial art I learned was saber techniques, swordsmanship and bare-handed martial arts don’t mesh well.”

“Who says that?”

For a moment, I was taken aback. What I had just said was something anyone who had learned even a little martial arts would know. She must have heard such things before.

“Did you ask the world’s greatest martial arts master?”

“No.”

Look here, mysterious lady. This is the world’s greatest martial arts master speaking to you.

Then she said:

“I don’t think the world’s greatest martial arts master would say such things. They wouldn’t be bound by such formalities.”

Suddenly, something struck my heart.

The statement that someone at the level of the world’s greatest martial arts master wouldn’t be bound by such formalities, if it were in the past, I would have said this:

Look here, even the world’s greatest martial arts master isn’t that different. Rather, they’ve simply built up ordinary martial intent, piling it up to become the world’s greatest.

But when I heard her words just now, I didn’t think that way.

Shouldn’t they be different, as she said?

Even if something has been accepted as a principle of martial arts for a long time, shouldn’t the world’s greatest martial arts master be able to interpret and apply it differently?

Because they’re the world’s greatest. Because they’re the only one in the world.

Shouldn’t they be able to reveal that even what everyone believes to be right isn’t right?

I hadn’t verified it myself.

That swordsmanship and bare-handed martial arts truly don’t mesh well. Because I hadn’t reached the ultimate level in both martial arts.

If bare-handed martial arts reach the ultimate level, and swordsmanship also reaches the ultimate level, wouldn’t some realm I hadn’t imagined unfold as the two interact?

Even if not.

Shouldn’t I have learned martial arts with this mindset from the beginning?

When viewing martial arts as nothingness without any framework, and thus breaking all frameworks, isn’t that when one can truly manifest the heart sword?

I fell into a trance, immersed in these continuing questions.

When I came to my senses, she was driving the carriage. Seeing me deep in thought, she had taken over driving the horses.

I had set out on this journey to find out her identity, but I had gained a precious experience of realizing my own limitations and frameworks. Although it’s just deep contemplation for now, I had a feeling that this realization today would be a great help in my future martial arts training.

Just as I was about to thank her, the carriage turned a corner onto a main road.

“Ah!”

She let out a brief exclamation. In the distance, a mountain was covered in brilliant autumn colors. It was truly a beautiful sight.

Her appreciation felt even greater because she didn’t seem like the type to be moved by such things.

I said to her:

“Thank you.”

I felt her flinch. Not used to hearing words of gratitude, she pretended not to hear and kept her gaze fixed on the autumn leaves.

How long had we traveled like that?

Up ahead, a group of people on horseback came galloping towards us.

I was shocked to see the person in the lead.

It was Song Woo-gyeong. Song Hwa-rin was also riding beside him. The people riding with them were warriors from Song Clan Manor. It seemed they were on their way back from some business related to Song Clan Manor.

I was inwardly surprised to meet them in such an unexpected place.

Of course, since I was wearing a human skin mask, they didn’t recognize me.

They passed by us.

At that moment, Ma Jeongsu spoke to me from inside the carriage.

“Stop the carriage.”

I stopped the carriage.

He stuck his head out the window and called out loudly:

“Manor Lord Song!”

The passing horses stopped.

Song Woo-gyeong recognized Ma Jeongsu and turned his horse around.

“Oh! Isn’t it Young Master Ma?”

Ma Jeongsu hadn’t stopped them because of Song Woo-gyeong. It was because he had seen the slender woman beside him.

Song Woo-gyeong dismounted. Song Hwa-rin and the warriors followed suit.

“This is my daughter Hwa-rin. Greet him, he’s Young Master Ma from the Heavenly Blade Sect.”

Song Hwa-rin greeted Ma Jeongsu.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Hwa-rin.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were such a beautiful person! My heart is pounding.”

Although he spoke as if joking, Ma Jeongsu was serious. He couldn’t take his eyes off Song Hwa-rin.

Uncomfortable with his gaze, Song Hwa-rin smiled and said:

“What should I do? Unfortunately, I have a fiancé.”

“Ah, I heard about that too. The ruffian from the Wall Sword Sect, oh, I’m sorry.”

He intentionally said it and then apologized as if it was a mistake.

I could see his true nature.

He trembled in fear when dealing with the Night Merchants. But to someone he thinks he has the upper hand over, he acts sly and pulls all sorts of tricks. He’s a typical petty person, weak to the strong and strong to the weak.

“If I may ask an impertinent question, I heard that Miss Song requested to break off the engagement?”

At this potentially awkward question, Song Hwa-rin smiled and said:

“Women are fickle creatures.”

“Does that mean you won’t break off the engagement?”

“All I can say is that Young Master Byeok is a much more excellent person than is known in the martial world.”

“Oh, to receive such faith from a woman. It seems Young Master Byeok has a very different side than what men see.”

Damn you, you’re just dying to badmouth me.

Song Hwa-rin smiled gently and said:

“I think that’s similar for Young Master Ma too.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Song Hwa-rin just smiled enigmatically.

But both I and Ma Jeongsu could understand. It meant that she had heard rumors about how great Ma Jeongsu was, but seeing him in person, he was quite lacking. Song Hwa-rin had indirectly criticized him.

If she had done this in front of me, I would have been less grateful. But seeing her behave like this when I’m not visible, I felt not just gratitude but even moved.

At that moment, the woman beside me said quietly:

“You’re no different.”

“What?”

I turned to look at her.

“You can’t take your eyes off that woman.”

“That’s…”

Since I couldn’t explain my relationship with Song Hwa-rin, there was no room for excuses.

Meanwhile, sensing the awkward atmosphere, Song Woo-gyeong quickly said his goodbyes.

“We’re busy today, so we’ll be going now. I’ll formally invite you to our manor next time.”

“Let’s do that.”

Ma Jeongsu got into the carriage with a cold expression.

Song Woo-gyeong’s party quickly disappeared in the opposite direction.

I could hear his voice from the back of the carriage:

“Arrogant bitch! How dare she ignore me? This damn woman!”

Listening to his angry words, I smiled. A petty person who likes to trample on others can never tolerate being treated the same way.

Hahaha. Well done, Hwa-rin.

I increased the speed of the carriage. The sound of the wind drowned out Ma Jeongsu’s voice.