Chapter 121: Reform (7)

The next morning.

The core leadership of the Demonic Cult gathered in the Heavenly Demon Palace.

Each and every one of them was the head of a major division, and among them stood several middle-aged warriors who commanded the cult’s martial forces.

The Heavenly Demon, who had summoned them all, set aside his usual folksy old man persona and spoke, his face stern and solemn.

“I have called you all here today to begin a task that will shape the future of our great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.”

With that opening, he laid out the education reform plan—the one Il-mok had conceived and Wi Jin-hak was now putting into action.

Since the ban on Demonic Arts for those under sixteen had already been implemented, those gathered here had some general understanding of the situation.

However, what the Heavenly Demon instructed them today was beyond their comprehension.

“To ensure the Elementary Demon Halls are properly established, each department will select members to serve as instructors. Furthermore, a portion of the martial units will be reassigned as escorts so that children can travel to and from their home villages during the holidays.”

The Head of the Elder Council, Deng Fei, stepped forward and kneeled.

“If it is a command from the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, we are prepared to throw ourselves into a pit of fire. And we all understand that this is for the future of the cult. However… if we divert too many personnel to education, I fear we will lack the manpower to watch our enemies abroad and manage our own affairs at home.”

He wasn't the only one with that concern. Several other warriors followed Deng Fei’s lead, prostrating themselves before the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon seemed to have expected this.

He showed no surprise at all.

He stroked his beard once, his solemn gaze sweeping over the prostrated men, and spoke again.

"The need to monitor external threats is a problem this old man is well aware of. However, internal governance is a somewhat different story. But as for internal affairs… that is a different story. It has been nearly two hundred years since our cult established itself in Xinjiang. Now, the only ones in Xinjiang who would raise their flags against our cult are vagrants who have drifted in from outside. For something of that level, I believe we could handle that while dealing with the process of escorting the children, no?"

He was saying that he would use the martial units, who were already periodically patrolling the Xinjiang region and serving as a kind of surveillance force, as escorts for the children attending the Elementary Demon Hall.

"Furthermore, since the children will travel to and from their villages only once every ten days, the martial units can continue their surveillance duties by patrolling around each village during the remaining time. It's simply a matter of adding the task of escorting children once every ten days."

Il-mok had initially proposed five days of education and two days of rest, but this was rejected by the Heavenly Demon.

But in a world where the concept of weekends didn't exist, resting for two out of seven days was deemed too lazy.

Though it was a tragedy for the children, the system that eventually took shape was eight days of education and two days of rest.

On the eighth day, classes would run until noon, with children returning to their respective villages in the afternoon. They would rest for two days and then return to the Elementary Demon Hall with their escorts on the afternoon of the final holiday.

"And the matter of external threats is the same. While the invasion of those who threaten our Divine Cult is something we must be concerned about, I have no intention of attacking them first. To attack outsiders when we still lack strength would be nothing more than a pointless sacrifice for our own people.”

"!!!"

“It is our fault for being inadequate!”

"Please execute us!"

Those gathered began prostrating themselves again and confessing their sins without exception.

The Heavenly Demon frowned once and circulated his internal energy.

The vast and weighty demonic energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts spread from his body and pressed down on all sides; those gathered in the Heavenly Demon Palace didn't dare to even open their mouths.

"Listen to the end."

Having silenced them all in an instant, the Heavenly Demon continued in a voice full of authority.

“Why do you think we are educating not only the children of the warriors who have joined our cult and learned our arts, but the children of all our followers living in Xinjiang?”

"......."

The leaders remained silent, not daring to speak. The Heavenly Demon answered his own question.

“We may be reducing our external surveillance for now, but in ten, twenty years, we will have cultivated twice, no, three times as many talented individuals as we have now. When that day comes, it will no longer be a dream for our cult to return to the Central Plains. This is merely a time for our cult to crouch, to build our strength. Do you understand?”

As he spoke these words, the Heavenly Demon knew a bitter truth.

By the time that day came, he would likely no longer be in this world. By his own estimation, he had less than ten years left, at best.

But the Heavenly Demon neither brought up those words nor showed any sign of it.

Befitting the leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the prosperity of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult took priority over his own remaining lifespan.

That was also the reason he was going through this song and dance of persuasion with his top brass. He was the Heavenly Demon, a god to his followers. He could just give the order, and they would have to obey without question.

The reason he handled things this way was to prepare for the possibility that his death might come sooner than expected.

He couldn’t risk this reformation stalling and dying with him. He needed them to understand, even just a little, how important this was.

“Please, punish us for our foolishness!”

"We shall follow the will of the Supreme One!"

As the senior members who had heard the Heavenly Demon's full explanation began to speak up one by one, the Heavenly Demon nodded once and gave his final command.

“Good. Then you will all begin selecting candidates for the roles of instructor and escort. Furthermore, you will devise an efficient plan to fill the vacancies they will leave behind.”

"!?"

For a moment, they all looked at him with pure shock.

"What are you all doing? Go back immediately and start your meetings. Or have you already come up with a brilliant idea?”

Those gathered bowed without exception and left the Heavenly Demon Palace.

Once they were clear of the Heavenly Demon’s presence, they gathered again, and a heated debate erupted.

“We’re already short-staffed trying to gather intelligence on the Nine Sects and One Union and the Murim Alliance. And you think it makes sense to pull even more people out?” the Head of the Dark Shadow Pavilion spat.

The newly appointed Head of the Sacred Order scowled.

"Didn't you hear what the Supreme One said? He said we are building our strength. If your ears can’t even hear the Supreme One’s words, might as well let me help you by cutting them off.”

The Dark Shadow Pavilion Master's face turned beet red. He glared daggers at the Head of the Sacred Order as if he would kill him.

“And what about your Sacred Order? Isn’t it useless now? The Heavenly Demon himself said there are hardly any subversive elements left in Xinjiang. I’m sure you could spare one or two people from your division without much trouble.”

The division heads went at each other’s throats, desperately trying not to lose even a single subordinate.

"How about we just pull all the instructors from the Eight Trigrams Hall? Since they've been bragging so much about being smart, why don't we just have the Eight Trigrams Hall handle all the non-martial arts education?" the Head of the Elder Council sneered, taking a shot at the department in charge of formations and spells.

“And what about the old fossils in the Elder Council? They are all just wasting food and air. Let them be useful for a while. When they go senile, we can just ship them off to the Peach Blossom Ridge. I hear it’s much improved, so there’s nothing to worry about, right? Hahaha.”

The Eight Trigrams Hall Master, with veins bulging on his forehead, also sneered at the Head of Elder Council.

A similar scene was playing out where the martial unit leaders and the Left and Right Protectors had gathered.

The only saving grace was that their superiors, the Protectors, were at least trying to mediate.

And so, while the cult’s top brass was suffering daily migraines from the bomb the Heavenly Demon had dropped on them, he himself was getting a progress report from the Hidden Guard Pavilion Master.

"Heh heh heh."

The Heavenly Demon stroked his beard and let out a hearty laugh. It wasn’t just because his orders were being carried out swiftly.

It wasn't just because the matters he had instructed were being processed quickly.

It was because of his precious youngest disciple, Il-mok, the one who had thought of all this. He still didn’t know which bastards were scheming against Il-mok, but…

“They’ve had it too easy for too long.”

The Heavenly Demon thought that they only had time to scheme because they had too much time on their hands.

"It might be better to keep them busy so they don’t have time for any funny ideas until Il-mok has fully matured. Hmm. It would be nice if that boy Il-mok could come up with another useful reform plan. Hehehe.”

The Hidden Guard Pavilion Master, who stood closest to the Heavenly Demon, maintained an expressionless face outwardly, but cold sweat ran down his back.

It wasn't because he was afraid of being swamped with work himself.

“…There is a risk, my Lord, that this could backfire and unite the high-ranking officials in a plot to assassinate Young Master Il-mok.”

Having attended their meetings, the Pavilion Master knew. He knew that the men gathered there were grinding their teeth in frustration at Il-mok, the source of all their new troubles.

They were fanatical cultists who would follow the Heavenly Demon’s orders without question, but Il-mok was a different matter entirely.

***

I shuddered from a sudden chill that came over me.

‘Did the rampage weaken my body? Why am I getting the chills so often these days?’

It was strange.

Right after I’d woken up, I hadn’t felt a single chill, even while being tortured by Master, that quack of a doctor, and Eldest Brother.

But ever since my job as a Wikipedia for education policy had ended and Eldest Brother had stopped visiting, the chills had become unsettlingly frequent.

"Are you alright, Young Master?"

I shrugged my shoulders once and answered. “Just a little chill, that’s all.”

“…It’s possible that the cold energy from the White Hand Demonic Art is accumulating in your body. I will reduce the frequency of the treatments.”

Since it seemed like a plausible reason, I nodded.

"That would probably be better."

Ouyang Mun, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.

"Then, Young Master, let me perform the treatments in Hayeon’s place. Hayeon must be tired after all her hard work. Doesn’t she deserve a little rest?”

As if to broadcast how helpful he was being, he shot Jin Hayeon a wink.

And as usual, what he got in return was a look from her that said she’d just spotted something disgusting on the bottom of her shoe.

‘God, this guy never gives up. You’d think he’d take the hint by now.’

I was shaking my head at his pitiful one-sided crush when my Third Brother, who was also there, spoke up.

"Are you feeling dizzy?"

I almost nodded without realizing it.

‘Yeah, it is, thanks to you people.’

I had dreamed of a comfortable rest after Eldest Brother's visits stopped, but that dream didn't last long.

Because a cockroach-like existence by the name of Ouyang Mun exists.

"Since Third Young Master and Young Master Il-mok are having a conversation, how about we step away together for a moment?"

Then there was my Third Brother, Seo Wan-pyeong, who would tag along, supposedly to help Ouyang Mun with his love life, and just fill the room with his gloomy stories.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you last time at Peach Blossom Ridge, and now with this incident too. I'm such a useless senior brother, always disappointing you."

And then there was my Sixth Brother, Jong-ri Chu, who would also pop in from time to time to spout absolute nonsense.

“Youngest, isn’t it tiring to always carry that old man on your back?”

Especially Jong-ri Chu. He was the rarest visitor, but never failed in giving Il-mok the worst headaches when he did come.

'Has his Mad Soul Sword Art reached a higher level in the past six months? His getting more and more schizophrenic these days.’

I made a mental note to avoid that guy like the plague after I graduated from the Hall of the Demonic Way.

And as my shitty luck would have it, today all three of them had decided to visit me at the same time.

Hiding my desperate wish for them all to just fuck off, I tried to gently kick them out.

"Thank you all for coming despite being busy with your schedules. I’m quite healthy now, so please, feel free to return to your duties.”

"Young Master Il-mok is truly kind indeed."

“Huhu. Do you think so too, Young Warrior Ouyang?”

"I think so too, Third Brother. My friend here, who’s been listening quietly, is nodding in agreement. It seems his tongue has been cut out, so he cannot speak.”

"......."

This trio was so dense it was painful. Or maybe it was a quartet, if I included Sixth Brother’s invisible friend.

‘…Wait. Don’t tell me that I’m getting these chills because of my Sixth Brother’s friends?’

I started to miss the Hall of the Demonic Way more and more.