Chapter 183: The Way (1)

However, the change in the women’s expressions was nothing compared to Il-mok’s.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

Il-mok had never even uttered the word "marriage" in his entire life, let alone thought about it seriously.

"Hmm? Didn't you say you considered a woman around twenty as a marriage partner? I heard this from our Eldest Brother on the way back from a mission."

"...I did say something like that, but I didn't mean I was planning to get married right away, Third Brother."

Il-mok never imagined that a casual conversation would get twisted into this mess.

Hearing Il-mok's explanation, Seo Wan-pyeong just smiled with that "I knew it" expression.

"Hahaha. That's our youngest for you. So cautious even when it comes to marriage."

Seo Wan-pyeong interpreted Il-mok's words to mean he'd want to consider age first, then carefully weigh all the other conditions.

"You know, our youngest might end up being the first among us brothers to tie the knot. I'm still way too lacking, and while our Eldest Brother has already achieved Transcendence, he said he wants to focus on the Demon-Teaching Pavilion's affairs and prepare for the future first."

While Seo Wan-pyeong rambled on with his unnecessary commentary, everyone caught in the blast of his bombshell was lost in their own thoughts.

Ju Seo-yeon didn't care about Il-mok's love life, so she wasn't thinking about anything.

'Interesting. I'll need to keep this in mind when serving the Eighth Young Master in the future.'

As the First Squad Leader of the Hidden Guard Pavilion, Dam Bin treated Seo Wan-pyeong's words as 'intelligence' and filed them away in her mind.

'Tw-twenty years old... since I'm eighteen now, that means in two years... What am I thinking right now?!’

Jeong Hyeon found herself imagining weird scenarios and hung her head, blushing furiously from embarrassment.

'So the Young Master likes women around twenty. Come to think of it, I was nineteen two years ago.'

Jin Hayeon pretended not to care much, but she couldn't help recalling her own age.

'Five years.'

For some reason, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah was holding up her left hand and folding down her fingers one by one.

'If I can just keep everyone away for five more years...'

With each finger she folded, the murderous aura radiating from her grew thicker.

***

Five days flew by quickly once the trip to the Central Plains was confirmed.

Jin Hayeon and Dam Bin continued to train Ju Seo-yeon and Jeong Hyeon while attending to Il-mok, and Il-mok spent his time either immersed in his training or receiving guests who came to Windrock Palace.

The Hyeokryeon Family was doing much the same.

Actually, they seemed to be in an even more harmonious mood.

This was all thanks to the atmosphere that Young Lord Hyeokryeon Hwan subtly gave off.

‘Huhuhu. That lecher is finally leaving.’

Word had quietly spread that the Eighth Young Master would soon be leaving the main headquarters for a secret mission.

Those who had been trying to recruit him were either sick with disappointment or desperately searching for some way around it, but for Hyeokryeon Hwan, this was nothing but delightful news.

And on the day Il-mok was supposed to leave, around lunchtime...

"Hmm...?"

After the morning greetings, Seon-ah always came by at this time to have lunch with her parents, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Sensing something ominous, Hyeokryeon Hwan shot up from his seat, and his wife, Lady Cheonghwa, felt the same way.

They rushed over and soon arrived at the building where Hyeokryeon Seon-ah lived, and Hyeokryeon Hwan's anxiety peaked.

For some reason, the lock that was always there had been unlocked.

Hyeokryeon Hwan and Lady Cheonghwa looked at each other, nodded, and entered the room. In the center of the room lay a letter.

Hyeokryeon Hwan strode over, picked up the letter, and began reading.

When Hyeokryeon Hwan stood there holding the letter, Lady Cheonghwa felt uneasy and cautiously approached.

Only then did she realize what had happened.

Her husband had frozen solid while standing.

Lady Cheonghwa deliberately looked away from her husband and turned her gaze toward the letter their daughter had left behind.

The letter's contents weren't very long.

It was basically a runaway declaration.

"Sigh."

Lady Cheonghwa, who had somehow sensed this might happen, sighed softly and shook her husband out of his stupor.

"Husband. Pull yourself together."

Snapping out of his daze at his wife's call, Hyeokryeon Hwan frantically shouted.

"You're right, my dear! This isn't the time to be spacing out. I need to go find that damn womanizer right now and bring our daughter back!"

"Sigh... It's already too late. The Eighth Young Master left the main headquarters at least two hours ago. Moreover, she clearly stated in the letter that she’ll return for her time in the Hall of the Demonic Way.”

Lady Cheonghwa pointed to the letter Seon-ah had left behind.

This was the main reason she was accepting Seon-ah's running away.

It wasn't about the part where she said she would return before entering the Hall of the Demonic Way. Rather, it was because of her daughter’s side effects.

'After entering the Hall of the Demonic Way, she won't be able to see the Eighth Young Master again for another two years. She already seemed to have reached her limit after being apart for the past two years, so it might be better to let them be together for just a few months.'

However, the answer that came from Hyeokryeon Hwan’s mouth was something that even Lady Cheonghwa had not anticipated.

"What are you talking about, dear? Seon-ah won't be entering the Hall of the Demonic Way!"

"What do you mean? Don't tell me you're planning to send her to the Hall of the Demonic Way when she turns eighteen in three years?"

Lady Cheonghwa was thinking of the newly reorganized education system of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The system that would delay the start of Demonic Arts training to sixteen and naturally push back the Hall of the Demonic Way entrance to eighteen was scheduled to be implemented in a few years.

But that system was only for young children who hadn't started learning Demonic Arts yet.

Her daughter, who had begun learning Demonic Art around age ten, wasn't part of that group.

And Hyeokryeon Hwan wasn't referring to that system either.

"Thanks to the Family Head, I already couldn't see my daughter for three and a half years! And now you want us to be separated for another two years? What kind of horrible thing is that to say! No way! She’s not going anywhere until she’s thirty!”

"......"

At the doting father’s declaration, Lady Cheonghwa felt doubt for the first time.

Doubt about whether she had made a mistake marrying this man.

Maybe it was because of her existential crisis.

"Urgh."

She suddenly felt a strange wave of nausea.

"My dear!!"

Seeing his wife's condition, Hyeokryeon Hwan's face went pale.

Lady Cheonghwa was also a woman who had learned Demonic Arts as a member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, only stopping her training after conceiving their first child, Seon-ah.

Hyeokryeon Hwan was convinced that his daughter's running away had triggered Qi Deviation in his wife.

'That damn Eighth Young Master!!'

Thinking this was also Il-mok's fault, Hyeokryeon Hwan quickly carried his wife and rushed toward the medical quarters.

Seeing Hyeokryeon Hwan's pale complexion and Lady Cheonghwa in his arms, the physicians quickly brought Lady Cheonghwa inside.

After waiting tensely in one corner of the medical quarters for a while...

The door opened and one of the physicians came out to approach Hyeokryeon Hwan.

"Is my wife alright?!"

The physician smiled and answered.

"Congratulations, Young Lord Hyeokryeon. Your wife is expecting your second child."

It had been about a month since Hyeokryeon Hwan finished his closed-door training.

And since they hadn't seen each other in three and a half years, they'd been... busy.

***

News of Lady Cheonghwa's pregnancy spread quickly, and the Hyeokryeon Family was in an uproar. The child is the direct line of the current Family Head, and more importantly, this was a blessing that came fifteen years after their first child, Seon-ah.

Everyone in the Hyeokryeon family was on high alert regarding Lady Cheonghwa's wellbeing.

Since it was her first pregnancy in fifteen years, her safety was more important than anything else so much so that the matter of Seon-ah's running away was completely overshadowed.

Meanwhile...

Il-mok, who had no idea what was happening at the main headquarters, looked at Seon-ah traveling beside him.

She was smiling with a look of pure happiness on her face.

'That Young Lord gave permission for her to come along...'

That is what Hyeokryeon Seon-ah said when she came to find Il-mok early in the morning as he was preparing to leave the main headquarters.

Of course, Il-mok hadn’t believed her. It was just that…

‘She did say it was only until she had to enter the Hall of the Demonic Way…’

The kid's eyes had looked so desperate. Now their roles were reversed; soon she would be the one confined within the academy, unable to communicate with the outside world for two long years.

But this was only Il-mok's perspective.

Il-mok turned his head to look at Dam Bin.

While he technically held the highest position, in many ways, she could be considered the person in charge of this journey.

As a Squad Leader of the Hidden Guard Pavilion, she was responsible for assisting and protecting him.

Il-mok couldn't understand why she had accepted Hyeokryeon Seon-ah's lie.

And why had she also accepted that fellow as well.

"Hahaha! Just trust me, Hayeon! Thanks to my time in the combat unit, I now know Xinjiang like the back of my hand!"

Ouyang Mun was shouting confidently, but somehow, his words didn't inspire any confidence at all.

What’s more absurd is that Ouyang Mun joined this group as a member of the Hidden Guard Pavilion.

This crazy bastard had defected from the White Tortoise Corps and transferred to the Hidden Guard Pavilion.

He could guess why Dam Bin had accepted Ouyang Mun and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah into the group.

Like other organizations in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Hidden Guard Pavilion was desperate for talent, and both Hyeokryeon Seon-ah and Ouyang Mun definitely had the skills.

Especially since both of them were better than her actual trainees.

So even though they both had some personality issues, Dam Bin didn't care.

After all, finding someone with a normal personality among those living in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's main headquarters was like trying to find a needle dropped in the Xinjiang wasteland.

Ouyang Mun pestered Jin Hayeon enthusiastically.

"If we go just half an hour more from here, there's a small oasis where we can rest!"

And sneakily glanced over at Il-mok.

The biggest reason he had gone so far as to move from the White Tortoise Corps to the Hidden Guard Pavilion was because of Il-mok.

He was deeply impressed by Il-mok's talent and wanted to serve him.

This was, of course, complete bullshit.

Ouyang Mun may have acknowledged Il-mok’s talent, but he had no intention of living his life serving someone else.

The first reason he transferred to the Hidden Guard Pavilion was Ju Seo-yeon's case.

He had witnessed with his own eyes that getting seriously injured while trying to save Il-mok could lead to being embraced by Jin Hayeon, so he strived to take the chance.

The second reason was due to a sense of crisis.

'At this rate, Master might steal Hayeon away from me!'

The "Master" Ouyang Mun referred to was Il-mok.

When his sworn brother mentioned the topic of marriage, Ouyang Mun’s obsessive gaze was fixed upon Jin Hayeon. He had not failed to notice the subtle change in her expression when Il-mok mentioned his age preference.

Master claimed to have no romantic interest in her, but the human heart is a fickle thing! Who knows what might happen between those two while I'm not around!'

He was completely oblivious to the fact that he still had zero chance with her even if he stayed by her side constantly.

Or maybe he just doesn’t want to acknowledge that.

Il-mok briefly observed the pitiful girl and the pathetic young man who had suddenly joined their group, then sighed softly.

And so, a modest group of seven was formed.

Il-mok and Dam Bin. Jin Hayeon and Ju Seo-yeon, Ouyang Mun. Jeong Hyeon and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah.

Originally, a different configuration could have been created, but Il-mok’s influence had played a large part.

'One supervisor like Dam Bin is enough.'

What was his reason for heading to the Central Plains again? For Il-mok who was dreaming of a carefree life, having another eye from the Hidden Guard Pavilion accompany him would be inconvenient in many ways.

'I'll need to train to reach Transcendence, but I hate people breathing down my neck.’

So, he rode off with his new crew.

But as he dreamed of his comfy future, an ominous premonition settled in his heart.

'It can't be, right?'

***

They left the main base, went through the awful Xinjiang desert, passed the border gate, and then traveled the roads in Gansu for a few days. After more than ten days of riding horses and using their lightness skill, they finally reached Gulang County in Gansu Province.

Just one more step and he’ll welcome his long-awaited carefree life.

That’s when the Branch Leader of Gulang County welcomed him.

"Please, you have to stop Young Master Baek Cheon!"

Hearing that, Il-mok squeezed his eyes shut.