Absolute Regression Chapter 61

Episode 61: Are you going to kill me too?

The leader of the Pungcheon sect and Mabul entered Cheonma Hall.

The leader of the Pungcheon sect, Neungpaso (凌派素), was a man of fine appearance and complexion, and possessed an intense gaze that seemed capable of piercing through walls. He was known as the best martial artist in the world, and was the absolute ruler of the world of martial arts.

There was a time when the Blood Sect was on par with the Cheonmasingyo in power, but now that it has been taken over by the Pungcheon Sect, its power has been weakened considerably and cannot be compared to the Cheonmasingyo.

This time, when he left the Pungcheon Church, he brought with him the ten greatest demons representing the church, as well as the 100 elite Blood Na Army.

That wasn’t all. He brought all the sacred items from his throne, including the thunder bell and the blood fire. It would have been safer to just put them in an iron cage for eternity and have the masters he brought guard them, but he would never leave the sacred items.

The person who ensured his safety within the Cheonmasingyo was Mabul Jeoravan, who had walked in with him. He was a small man, about half the height of an average adult.

But it wasn’t his height that made everyone in the world turn their heads to look at him. It was his skin color.

His face, hands, and entire body were golden. So he gave the impression of a small golden Buddha statue moving like a boy monk. It was said that this was because of the Golden Great Lama technique he had learned.

The two walked side by side along the bloody path and arrived at the bottom of the Taesa.

First, the leader of the Pungcheon sect bowed politely and greeted them.

“I greet you, the master of the new religion and the leader of the world of martial arts. Thank you for inviting me.”

Cheonma Geomwoojin greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome, how many years has it been?”

It was a calm greeting, but each word flew into the ears of the leader of the Pungcheon Sect as if it were piercing. Even though he had no internal energy, the words flew in stronger than those that had internal energy, which clearly showed how high the level of the Heavenly Demon was.

Although he was a proud leader of the Pungcheon Church to everyone in the world, he was intimidated by Cheonma.

“It seems like it’s been at least ten years.”

“How have you been?”

“Thank you for your concern, I am fine.”

The leader of the Pungcheon Church was determined not to lose in a fight with Cheonma. However, at that moment, this thought occurred to him. Why fight, such a useless thing?

This time, Geum Woo-jin’s gaze turned to Ma-bul.

“You must have had a hard time coming this far.”

“It was a pleasant journey to meet my friends.”

As Ma-bul was about to add something while showing off his friendship with the leader of the Pungcheon sect, Geom-woo-jin cut him off.

“It’s late and you must have had a hard time getting here, so please take your time for today and rest. Let’s meet again on a brighter day.”

“Okay, then I will step aside.”

The greeting was formal and brief.

Originally, Cheonma and the leader of Pungcheon were not close. This is because the leader of Pungcheon was closer to Palmajon than Cheonmajeon.

That would be the case. Historically, there were several wars between the Cheonmasin Church and the Blood Church. Since they were inherently incompatible, it was natural for the Palmajons who opposed the Cheonmasin Church to join hands with the Pungcheon Church.

The leader of the Pungcheon Church walked out of Cheonmajeon with Mabul.

“No matter what, since the new king has come, you should at least treat him to a cup of tea. This is too much.”

“It’s late at night.”

“Then I should treat you better.”

The leader of the Fengchun sect said nothing to Mabul’s complaint.

“You don’t have to be so slanderous to become close with that cult leader. So stop it.”

“Sowing discord? This is a matter of your pride and honor.”

The leader of the Fengchun Church understood that Cheonma had cut him off. Mabul sometimes said things that touched people’s emotions. He had a bad taste in turning people upside down by saying things that were unnecessary.

“Let’s go and look at the body first.”

“Aren’t you going to see me tomorrow? You must be tired. Go to sleep and let’s meet tomorrow.”

“Let’s sleep until we die.”

“Then let’s do that. Why are you all so stubborn?”

Mabul took him to the place where the corpse was. The corpse of the Sub-Hon-Ma-Jon was kept in a cold place like an icehouse, with medicine applied to keep it from rotting.

The leader of the Pungcheon sect immediately conducted an autopsy on the body.

Mabul watched the scene from the side with a curious face.

The leader of the Fengchun sect carefully examined the inside of the corpse with skillful movements. He touched and smelled each organ and blood vessel with his hands, and even injected internal energy into the cooled corpse.

Finally, after quite some time, the autopsy was over.

“The Eight Extraordinary Vessels were damaged and the heart was severely strained. This happened because I kept using the Soul-binding Technique.”

“Are you saying that it is a coin-poisoning horse? Or is it not?”

“The sign is that of the demon possessed by the main character. However, it is certain that the demon possessed by the main character died fighting in the world he opened.”

Mabul’s expression hardened.

“It seems that he was murdered by someone’s hand.”

“That’s for sure. The problem is that he died even though I used the magic of seduction.”

Mabul shook his head.

“It’s hard to believe. Who would be so skilled as to invade Seo Hwan-jin, kill Seop-hon, and escape?”

Then, the leader of the Pungcheon sect pointed to the sky with his finger. He asked if it was Cheonma who killed him.

Then Mabul shook his head.

“We decided otherwise. Seop-hon is the most powerful figure when dealing with the Jeongpa bastards. The cult leader never disliked Seop-hon. There’s no way the cult leader would kill him.”

Compared to the cautious leader of the Pungcheon sect, Mabul mentioned the leader comfortably because he was certain that he was not the leader.

“Then is there anyone else who is considered a villain?”

“There is one person.”

“Who is that?”

“I am the second son of the cult leader.”

In that moment, the expression on the face of the leader of the Pungcheon cult hardened. He had no idea that he would suspect the leader’s son of being a criminal.

But thinking back, I thought that since he was the son of a cult leader, he would be capable of doing something like this.

He hadn’t said a word about it the whole time. He was seething inside at having dragged himself into such a dangerous situation, but the leader of the Fengchun sect showed no change in his emotions.

If someone tripped and fell, he would pick up a rock and get up, and he would laugh until someone hit him in the head with a rock.

“Let’s start with the science and engineering students tomorrow.”

* * *

Seo Dae-ryong turned around to leave after finishing his morning report and spoke to me.

“Are you okay?”

“what do you mean?”

“Now even the newbies are attacking you, my lord?”

“Tell them all to come.”

“Okay, I will. I just need to stay out of the fighting.”

“I’m sorry, but I guess I’ll always be there and be called your right-hand man?”

Seo Dae-ryong pretended to be in pain, holding his head.

“You said you’d become darker if you learned martial arts, but you’re still bright?”

“That… … I thought it would be dark, but to be honest, I enjoy learning martial arts.”

“Isn’t it better to learn martial arts, or is it better to learn the Blood Heavenly Sword?”

After a moment, Seo Dae-ryong said.

“… … I don’t hate it. Not yet.”

“So far? Is this a sign that it will get better?”

“If that happens… … I think you’ll have to cut off your right arm and save one of the dark ones.”

“Where can I find someone as dark, twisted, and funny as you? Don’t even think about running away from me.”

“I’m fine with it.”

At that time, Hwangcheon-gak’s subordinate reported.

“The leader of the Pungcheon Church has arrived.”

“Take it.”

Seo Dae-ryong said as he quickly left the office.

“Don’t give up!”

“Stay with me.”

“Life is our own!”

“I’ve heard that a lot! Are you starting to resemble me already?”

Seo Dae-ryong went out without looking back.

After a while, the leader of the Pungcheon sect came inside.

“I meet the new Lord.”

When I greeted him politely, the leader of the Pungcheon sect smiled.

“Lee Gong-ja, it’s been a while. I saw you when you were little, but now you’re an adult.”

“The leader is still right.”

Although he had a kind face and smiled, the leader of the Pungcheon Church was investigating me from the moment I entered.

“I heard you came. I know you have a busy schedule, so why did you come to see me?”

“Even from afar, there are ears listening. Recently, the fame of this scholar has reached our school.”

“It’s just a rumor.”

“Until you are humble.”

After exchanging such formal greetings, I sat down face to face with him.

“It seems that the leader was greatly heartbroken by the death of the Demon Lord.”

He casually mentioned my father and brought up the topic of the Subhonmazon. He must be trying to figure out something from every word of my answer.

“He was one of the Amazons I loved the most.”

“Who on earth killed him?”

“Were you murdered? I heard you died from possession of money.”

At that very moment, a ray of energy flowed from the eyes of the leader of the Pungcheon sect. Originally, it would have been a secret energy that did not show itself, but I could see it.

At that moment, I knew that I had developed a special ability.

An invisible energy was visible to my eyes. Originally, it was an energy that could only be felt, but now it looked like a mist.

It wasn’t just because of the Shinan technique, or because of the blood eye essence. When these two things came together, I had a new ability. I still didn’t know if it only worked on the blood sect’s martial arts, or if it also worked on the energy of other martial artists.

“Why are you laughing?”

“It’s nice to see you after such a long time.”

“I feel good too.”

Even in the midst of all this, his spirit was searching every nook and cranny of my body. After examining every nook and cranny of my body, he finally looked into my eyes. He was trying to see if he had put any divine water, like blood-eye essence, in my eyes.

But it was impossible to find anything in my eyes that had changed with the new technique.

The energy he had released was returned to his eyes. It was truly so amazing to see rather than feel.

“I guess I’ll be going now.”

“That’s too bad. Please stay a little longer.”

“I see your face, so that’s enough. You shouldn’t hold on to someone who’s busy.”

The leader of the Pungcheon Church stood up from his seat.

“See you next time. Thank you for stopping by.”

I appreciate the abilities you gave me.

From before my return until now, the leader of the Pungcheon Church has been giving to me without holding back. Of course, he didn’t give it to me because he wanted to, but somehow, by fate, I kept receiving something from him. That’s why I don’t hate him.

* * *

As the leader of the Fengchun sect left the office of the Geommu Theater, Mabul was waiting for him.

“How was it?”

“This scholar had nothing to do with the art of seduction. In order to subdue him in the space created by the seduction, one would have to master the martial arts of Buddhism or Taoism to the extreme, or master a similar level of martial arts, but there was no trace of that at all.”

“Does that mean that Geommugeuk is not a bad guy?”

“exactly.”

“Are you sure?”

“If you don’t trust me, why did you call me all the way here?”

“Please don’t be offended, I just double-checked this important information.”

Although he said that, Mabul didn’t seem to completely believe it.

“I’m sure.”

“Let’s go. I’ll summon the Seven Amazons, so speak to them.”

“Okay. You go and tell them what I said. It’s the same thing anyway.”

“Is that okay?”

“What else is there to know?”

Ma-bul knew that the leader of the Fengchun sect was dissatisfied with this trip to the Central Plains. That’s why he didn’t insist on recommending it any longer.

“Then let’s do that.”

Mabul said goodbye and left.

The eyes of the leader of the Pungcheon Church looking at his back were not kind.

There was another reason why he didn’t go to the Seven Amazons meeting. It was because he had to lie in front of seven people, not just one.

The leader of the Pungcheon sect looked back at the place where the sword dance was held and muttered softly.

“How on earth did Lee Gong-ja kill the Demon Lord?”

Surprisingly, he realized that the sword dance had killed the Demon Lord.

However, for some reason, the leader of the Fengchun sect did not tell Mabul honestly. If he had forced someone who did not want to come, he would have had to endure this much, and it was clearly a choice with another intention.

The leader of the Pungcheon sect walked in the opposite direction from where the demon had disappeared.

* * *

That night, the Bloodthirsty Demon came to see me. He came to see me right after finishing the meeting of the Seven Demon Lords.

“For now, you have been cleared of the charge of killing the Demon Lord.”

He looked at me with a surprised expression.

“How on earth did you avoid the eyes of the leader of the Pungcheon sect?”

“Didn’t I drink with you all night? It wasn’t my fault.”

The bloodthirsty demon shook his head.

“Truly, you… … are definitely born with the destiny of an ascending dragon. Otherwise, these things wouldn’t be possible.”

“The dragon is still a long way off. Now it has gone from a loach to a snake.”

“Then what kind of dragon are you that the snakes are like this?”

As I snickered, Hyulcheondoma spoke as if warning me.

“But let’s relax. Among the Seven Demon Lords, there are some who don’t believe the words of the Fengchun Cult Leader. In particular, Mabul, who is said to be the closest, seems to be the least trusting. Let’s not talk about being close.”

“Elder.”

“why?”

“If by any chance you have other thoughts, like a devil, please let me know.”

Then, Hyeolcheon Doma’s expression hardened slightly.

“Why do you say that?”

“I just thought that if we were just laughing with such good intentions and then the moment came when we were pointing knives at each other, how heartbreaking it would be. So if there’s something you don’t like or something you don’t like, please tell me right away. Don’t hold it in and build up anger. From what you’ve seen so far, haven’t I dealt with my shortcomings quite wisely? Please don’t assume anything about how I’ll react, and definitely tell me.”

The bloodthirsty demon stared at me for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“Scholar of engineering.”

“yes.”

Unexpected words flowed out of Hyeolcheondoma’s mouth.

“What if the opposite happens? What if you find me too unsatisfactory and inadequate? What if I’m not suitable for your new magic? What if I seem fine and good now, but the more you see me, the more old, outdated, and boring I seem? What if I lose all my charm then?”

Hyeolcheon Doma asked with a hot gaze.

“Should I remove it too?”