So Jeong-hu could not sleep until late at night.
He was lost in thought with a small lamp lit.
Looking at Wu Ha, no, So Jin-ha, he kept thinking of his deceased son. His son, So Seong-hwi, had died in the war against the Blood Sect about ten years ago.
Although he had thought it was natural for a martial artist to die fighting... after losing his only son, all worldly affairs beca troubleso. But he still had to take care of his grandson's safety.
Sending his daughter-in-law, Yong Ryeo-un, and the infant Jin-ha to her parents' ho in Yuecheng was a desperate asure to save his grandson.
Although he had hidden his identity so thoroughly, after the death of the Young Lord was announced, the movents of several families were unusual, so he had hastily dispatched the 'Blood Wind Squad' and guests.
Fortunately, So-ha had returned... but he called himself Wu Ha and had taken refuge in the Taoist gate, asking not to be involved in the affairs of the Demonic Cult.
'You bold brat! I'm your grandfather, for goodness' sake...'
The little brat would talk about the 'Tao' and try to teach him whenever he opened his mouth. The more he did, the more he thought of his son, So Seong-hwi. So-ha was the spitting image of his son. Not only his excellent constitution, but also his personality was similar.
It wasn't that he was rebelling because he had been cast out. His nature was like that.
Let alone the competition for the Young Lord... it seed he had no intention of succeeding to the position of the So family's head.
"Hoo... of all places, Kunlun..."
As So Jeong-hu let out a deep sigh, a voice was heard from behind.
"Jeong-hu... what is your worry so deep?"
So Jeong-hu, as if he had been struck by lightning, was surprised and stood up and looked back.
A person was standing in the darkness... but his face could not be recognized because his entire body was covered in deep darkness.
But So Jeong-hu recognized him right away.
It was a familiar energy. His cousin and the Young Lord, So Ya-hu.
"Older brother!"
As So Jeong-hu was about to approach, the darkness retreated.
"Just a mont... speak from there."
"Yes? How much I have longed for my older brother's return, what are you saying?"
"I am saying that because you might be too surprised."
So Jeong-hu's brow furrowed slightly.
"What on earth is the matter? As soon as you entered closed-door training... to have a cultivation deviation. I did not believe it. Why would my older brother die? I believed you would return healthy like this. But to be surprised? I can recognize my older brother even if his white bones have turned to dust."
As So Jeong-hu shouted as if he were screaming, Baekji thought for a mont and then said, "I am not completely healthy."
Baekji revealed himself.
Go-o-o-o.
Just in case, he unfolded his 'Heavenly Demon Qi' so that he would be recognized. The space around Baekji's entire body flickered.
But there was no need to do so.
"―!"
So Jeong-hu's eyes widened and then grew as if they would tear.
"Ah..."
"Yes, it is . I have reincarnated."
"Oh!"
So Jeong-hu approached Baekji. He looked at Baekji with wide-open eyes and then reached out and touched his face.
"Older brother... even if you have beco younger... you have beco too young."
It was So Jeong-hu, who rembered Baekji's childhood appearance. Why wouldn't he know?
They had grown up, hitting and playing with each other... So Jeong-hu, upon seeing Baekji, suddenly felt as if ti had turned back.
"Older brother...!"
"Get a hold of yourself!"
"......!"
So Jeong-hu's own wrinkled hand ca into his view. Only then did he co to his senses.
"So the realm of 'returning to youth and reincarnating' really exists."
In his two eyes, a light of hope, 'I also...', flashed. In front of that gaze, he could not bring himself to say it was thanks to the 'reincarnation pill'. To make the 'reincarnation pill', he had had to raid the dicinal herb warehouse that Changseon Jin-in had collected his entire life. Since so many dicinal herbs had to go in, if So Jeong-hu were to try to make it, the So family would be ruined.
"Train hard."
He cut him off appropriately and brought up the main point.
"The sect is too chaotic. I must sort it out."
"That's right... I was in the middle of worrying. Where on earth have you been all this ti?"
"After I reincarnated... the world looked different. There were so things to sort out."
Since there was no need to say he had lost his mory.
"It is a relief that you have co now. An impure force has infiltrated the sect, and if the So family were to step in directly, a war between the families would break out, so I was looking for a justification. Since my older brother has co... if you step to the forefront..."
"Wait!"
Baekji cut off So Jeong-hu's words and pointed to his own face.
"If I, with this face, say I have reincarnated and step forward as the Young Lord... how many brats would believe ?"
"...You must wipe out all the brats who have no faith."
As expected of a demonic person.
"If you kill them all... who will be left in the sect? I will change my identity."
"You will change your identity?"
"I am thinking of acting as So Baek-cheon."
So Jeong-hu nodded his head.
"Ah! So that's why you said you were the grandson of the Young Lord?"
"That's right. You will have to certify it. If the old family head of the So family proves the fact, there will be no brat who will argue."
Originally, he had intended to act as So Baek-cheon without even telling So Jeong-hu the fact of his reincarnation. But because So Jeong-hu had not even t him and had neither affird nor denied the rumor that the grandson of the Young Lord had co, it had beco ambiguous.
"That is not a difficult matter... but then, wouldn't the Cult Leader have ascended and the position of Young Lord also be vacant? Are you going to compete for the successor with the young brats?"
"I have no intention of doing so. Is there a usable 'reverse-use art' in the family's library?"
So Jeong-hu thought for a mont and then nodded his head.
"When we raided the Blood Sect at the 'Jade Spirit Mountain', I think there was a book called 'Bone Shrinking and Muscle Reversing Art' among the books my older brother brought. I rember it was a secret art of Tianzhu."
"'Bone Shrinking and Muscle Reversing Art'?"
"It is a 'reverse-use art' that adjusts the skeleton and muscles using internal energy."
"That's good. I can just learn that."
Baekji was pleased.
"Who are you going to disguise yourself as?"
"I will have to act as my father for a while."
"The Cult Leader? The Elder Hall has officially declared that he has ascended... are you going to say he has been reincarnated?"
Baekji frowned.
"Which brat on earth confird the Cult Leader's ascension?"
"Did he not ascend? The old family head of the Hyuk-ryeon family said he had personally witnessed the ascension and had even received his last will. Of course, we are in the middle of confirming the truth of the matter."
"I personally saw the Cult Leader's ascension. But... are you saying that old monster of the Hyuk-ryeon family told such a lie?"
"Hmm... as expected, there was so trick."
"Hmph! The Hyuk-ryeon family is hiding a lot. They must have spread the fact of the Cult Leader's ascension, thinking I was dead. To be so sure of the Cult Leader's ascension..."
It was a trick that could not be played unless one knew the fact that the Cult Leader had reached the end of his lifespan and had sealed his soul, spirit, and ethereal soul in the 'Heavenly Demon Flying Cave'.
No one who had not learned the 'Heavenly Demon Divine Art' could enter the 'Heavenly Demon Flying Cave'. Since the Young Lord was dead, no one could confirm it.
That being said, the Cult Leader, who had died after reaching the end of his lifespan, could not co out either.
If they officially declared the death of the Cult Leader and took the position of successor, they could obtain and learn the 'Heavenly Demon Divine Art'. And... after learning the 'Heavenly Demon Divine Art' and entering the 'Heavenly Demon Flying Cave' and releasing the seal on the Cult Leader's soul, spirit, and ethereal soul... everything would be perfectly finished.
Baekji had no intention of acting as the Young Lord of the Demonic Cult, so he had faked his death, but coincidentally, because of that, the conspiracy of the Hyuk-ryeon family had been exposed.
Baekji, with a sudden thought, asked, "I sent the 'Little Ghost' after catching him, have you investigated? Is he really the 'Yin Wind Twin Ghost'?"
So Jeong-hu nodded his head.
"Yes. And... there were traces of the 'soul weaving art' of the Hyuk-ryeon family."
"As expected... he was a 'soul jiangshi'. But how did the 'Yin Wind Twin Ghosts' fall into the hands of the Hyuk-ryeon family?"
"A long ti ago... that is, when my older brother was in closed-door training, preparing for the 'Great Successor War'. When the 'Mingshan Sect' annihilated a tribe in Xinjiang, the Cult Leader personally stepped in to punish them. At that ti, the twelve guardian families also participated in the war. Perhaps they were smuggled out at that ti and were made into 'soul jiangshi'."
"These brats have clearly harbored rebellious intentions for a long ti. Besides the 'Yin Wind Twin Ghosts', there were brats who claid to be from the 'Mingshan Sect'. But their martial arts were similar to the brats who were guarding Hyuk-ryeonhu. Send people to Mingshan and find out. The brats might be hiding there."
"I understand. And... you said you will also maintain the identity of So Baek-cheon... then how about you assu the position of the So family's head?"
So Jeong-hu confessed his worries. He had already stepped down from the position of family head, but because his son, So Seong-hwi, had died, he was ruling the family with the status of an old family head. Wu Ha had said he could not take the position of family head, and it was a good thing that Baekji had said he would act as So Baek-cheon.
Baekji shook his head.
"No. Pass it on to a smart child from a branch family."
"That's... there is no brat with the martial talent to take on the position of family head."
"Pick a brat with a proper character. I will solve the martial talent with the 'Great Reformation Art'."
"Ah! If that's the case..."
A face ca to So Jeong-hu's mind.
Although his head was smart and his character was good, he had hesitated because his martial arts were weak... but since Baekji said he would solve it, he was relieved.
"As expected, now that my older brother has co, things are being resolved. I am relieved."
So Jeong-hu said with a relieved face.
* * *
The next day.
The 'Blood Wind Squad' lined up in front of the inn where Baekji was staying. The So family's strategist, Zhong Yue, ca to the front of the inn's separate building and reported, "We have co to escort Young Master So Baek-cheon, the descendant of the So family's So Ya-hu."
It was So Jeong-hu who had sent them. The So family, saying that it had taken ti to verify the truth of So Baek-cheon's claim, had officially recognized Baekji, no, So Baek-cheon, as the grandson of So Ya-hu.
Baekji, along with the 'Blood Wind Squad', entered the So family with dignity, and this news quickly spread to all the families of the sect.
The gazes of the people within the sect were focused on the So family. Since So Baek-cheon had been recognized as the grandson of So Ya-hu, he had gained the qualification to participate in the 'Great Successor War'.
Although everyone was watching the Young Lord's sacred fire, a torch with So Baek-cheon's na was not placed.
People thought it was unexpected. The family that had produced the previous Cult Leader and the Young Lord was not stepping forward for the 'Great Successor War'?
There was a lot of talk about the So family's intentions. The situation, where the entire sect, not just the main headquarters, was in an uproar over who would sit on the absolute throne, was fanning the flas.
Which family would the So family support! While each family was busy watching each other and lining up with the three families that had stepped forward for the 'Great Successor War', the So family had locked its doors and had made no movent.
* * *
The So family's martial library.
"Hmm... have I roughly looked through everything?"
It had been three days since he had been stuck in the library.
Although he was at a 'harmony realm' and did not need techniques, to act as the Cult Leader, he still had to know the characteristics and techniques of the martial arts.
Since So Ya-hu's mory had co in, he could understand most of the martial arts just by looking through them once.
The 'Bone Shrinking and Muscle Reversing Art' was also not very difficult. Since they were a father and son who had similar body types and appearances in the first place, the degree of transformation was not much, so he could change easily.
"Shall I go to the 'Heavenly Demon Martial Library' now?"
The 'Heavenly Demon Martial Library' was in the inner fortress. Of course, not just anyone could go in and out.
Since the security was tight, it was impossible to sneak in.
'But...'
There was a secret passage that led directly from the Cult Leader's hall to the 'Heavenly Demon Martial Library'.
Of course, it was a passage that only the Cult Leader knew... but after ascending to the position of Young Lord, he had gone once with the Cult Leader.
Baekji waited for night to fall and then infiltrated the Cult Leader's hall.
Since the security had beco lax after the official declaration that the Cult Leader had ascended, he could enter easily.
No, even if the warriors had been guarding with their eyes wide open, it would have been difficult to detect Baekji's movents.
The Cult Leader's hall's library.
In the darkness, Baekji found the passage leading to the 'Heavenly Demon Martial Library' and entered.
The 'Heavenly Demon Martial Library' was a huge stone chamber. From the outside, it looked like a square, three-story stone pagoda. Inside it, the history of the Demonic Cult for thousands of years was contained.
Baekji went up to the third-floor library with familiar steps. The third-floor library was a place that only the Cult Leader and the Young Lord could enter.
Even the librarian did not know what kind of books were there. In fact, only the Cult Leader knew the chanism to open the stone gate.
Baekji flowed 'Heavenly Demon Qi' into one side of the wall.
Seu-reu-reuk...
The door of the library opened.
(End of Chapter)
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