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Chapter 40

The winds swept away the darkness around me that I’d thought had just been black walls.

“Ah...”

Right after they did, I realized I was in a far-too-familiar place.

A stony mountain without a single tuft of grass. A messy fog that mystically disturbed the surroundings. A grey sky.

...The place I had spent my last 10 years. It was like home to me, now.

Spirit Mountain.

On the ruined building atop the peak of this stone mountain...

“...Master?”

Master was sitting there.

***

It was an unbelievable scene.

I felt like I was dreaming. After I finished spacing out while looking at him, I called out to him again.

“Mas—”

“Why are you calling me?”

“...”

I flinched a little at his bored tone, but a seed of doubt also popped up in my heart.

“Are you really my mast—”

Smack!

“Ack!”

I clutched my head and crouched on the spot.

A dried stick had suddenly appeared in master’s hand.

I was familiar with that as well.

That was the wooden stick master had used to hit my head countless times when I’d been on Spirit Mountain.

“Youngest.”

“Yes...?”

“It seems you’ve become stupid while you were away.”

While I continued standing there speechless, Master spoke slowly.

“Am I really your master? Of course it’s me. In the first place, none under the heavens nor upon the earth can imitate me, Baek Nogwang, the Strongest Under the Heavens.”

“...”

That arrogant way he spoke... it was definitely Master, though I’d realized that truth the moment I was hit on the head.

I rubbed my head slightly as I asked, “...What’s going on here?”

“I had to use this method to give my foolish disciple some advice.”

“Advice?”

“About the First.”

“....”

My expression became serious at the mention of my eldest senior brother.

“I also have a lot of things I want to ask you about that. Why did you send me to the past when you told me to bring Eldest Senior Brother back? Is it because you want me to grow up steadily from a young age? And what’s the forgotten era? And it looks like someone called the Martial God knows about you; just what is—”

I got swept up in my emotions and began to rapid-fire all my questions.

Master calmly looked at me before a light smile appeared on his face.

My master rose from the ruined building and rested his arms behind his back as he walked toward the edge of the cliff.

I stopped talking and followed after him.

Soon, we were looking down at the foggy world from atop the peak of Spirit Mountain.

“So, how have you been?”

“...”

Master’s questions sometimes had many different meanings hidden within them, and this seemed to be one of them.

I hesitated, unable to give a direct answer.

“A lot of things must already be different compared to your past life. Although it hasn’t even been a month, many things must have changed.”

“...”

“The Strongest Fire Technique has found a good placement in your body, and you’ve met a new opportunity as well. You’ve also endured through a few life-threatening moments.”

He was still speaking calmly. However, as Master continued to talk, I was unable to say anything.

I knew what it meant when my master—the Strongest Under the Heavens, Baek Nogwang—chose to speak like this.

“Do you think you’re doing well?”

“...”

Only when Master wanted to criticize his disciples did he show a gentle side.

I felt my heart drop as I felt the truth.

“I...”

“I know. You weren’t lazy at all. However, you should know what I am asking isn\'t something like that.”

“...”

“Was the month you spent there as valuable as a month spent on Spirit Mountain? Has the time you spent built a better foundation for your future? In truth, it’s difficult to answer a question like this. There is no right answer. You can only make that judgment for yourself.”

I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t holding back; I really couldn’t think of what to say.

“Youngest.”

“...Yes.”

“There must be many things you’re curious about. None of the questions you currently have are light.”

“...”

“However, if that were all, I wouldn\'t have appeared like this.”

Master looked directly into me.

“Do not let your guard down.”

I have never let my guard down.

At least... that was what I’d thought. I had spent my time very carefully and fiercely.

...But was that really the case?

Since returning to the past... maybe, in some corner of my heart, I’d thought that life was too easy and everything was too simple.

Of course, I’d survived many different life-threatening dangers, and the last month had never been boring.

However, my master wasn’t talking about anything like that. He was telling me to always be diligent in my work and to be wary of the complacency that could sprout in my heart.

Master tapped me on my shoulder.

“I didn’t send you to the past to simply improve your growth. I don’t know if you believe me, but it’s tiresome even for me to regress someone. Be wary of the world you’re in. If I must give you advice, you should have already felt that something was off.”

Tap, tap. Every time his wrinkled hand touched my shoulder, I felt my exhaustion fade and my body become energized.

Then, my surroundings started to turn blurry.

The darkness that had been swept away by the winds came back.

Without any resistance, my body was swallowed by the darkness as well.

“Know this, Youngest...” said Master’s calm voice. “If we hadn’t met today, you would’ve died next month.”

***

I blinked.

I thought that I had lost consciousness and then woken back up, but for some reason, my mind was clear.

“...”

“...”

I was still standing on the stage... but it took me a moment to notice this because my surroundings were completely silent.

[Inheritor, did you just...]

As soon as I heard the Martial God’s words...

Murmur—

A small wave of murmuring broke out around me.

The nobles that were sitting in front of me seemed to be talking to each other in shock.

Only now did I notice that they were looking not at me but behind me.

I turned around to look at the mirror. More accurately, I turned to look at the number above the mirror.

[1]

It was true.

I had received a blessing.

But...

What blessing is it?

I couldn’t really tell what had changed about me.

But since others needed to receive their own blessings, I got off the stage.

After getting off the stage and sitting in my spot, I thought about everything that had just happened.

It didn’t feel like I’d hallucinated or fallen asleep and dreamed.

I had truly met my master again, and I would need to seriously heed his warnings and advice.

The reason he sent me to this world...

I nodded.

I had a question, but there was no one I could ask.

In the end, I turned and asked my one and only friend.

“Good friend, let me ask you something.”

At that, Sellen frowned.

“Friend? Did something happen to your head? Did you get the Blessing of the Fool?”

“Then should I call you ‘fiancée’?”

Sellen chose to ignore that question.

“What is it?”

“The gods of disaster... No, do you know about the demon lords?”

“Do you think I’m stupid? If you’re a descendant of the Great Houses, you should’ve been hearing about them since you were a baby.”

I nodded as I said, “My memory is a little blurry, so just tell me if what I know about them is true.”

“...Go on.”

I proceeded to name each of the demon lords.

Demon Lord of the Blood-lit Moon, Hadenaihar.

Demon Lord of the Green Tongue, Tangtata.

Demon Lord of the Golden Horn, Kingarodtus.

Demon Lord of the Black Swamp, Ahop.

And the worst of the demon lords, the greatest threat to The Empire and the sole great demon...

The Great Disaster, Behimos.

“...”

After naming all the demon lords, I looked to Sellen.

She tilted her head a little.

“You’re kinda weird.”

“How so?”

“How do you know a minor demon lord like Tangtata when you don’t even know the most recent one, the Demon Lord of Black and White?”

When I heard that, I felt the same oddness I’d felt during my conversation with the Council of Elders.

—How could this be?

—You mean to say the servants of the Six Demon Lords infiltrated Bednicker?

The oddness I’d felt toward the phrase “Six Demon Lords.”

—I honestly didn’t know much about the gods of disaster.

—I‘d never had any contact with them, nor did I care to.

—From the start, I hadn’t even known there were six of them. I knew them as the Five Demon Lords.

The thoughts I’d had back then...

“...What’s the name of the Demon Lord of Black and White?” I asked.

And Sellen answered, “Haru.”

I forcibly held back a sigh.

Haru.

The Unrivaled Sword Under the Heavens, Haru.

That was the name of the first disciple of the Strongest Under the Heavens, Baek Nogwang... the name of my eldest senior brother.