Absolute Regression

Chapter 446: I’ll Help You Pack

When I returned to my quarters after meeting Sima Myung, someone was waiting for me in the yard.

A person had planted a great saber in the ground and was sitting against it, drinking—he was none other than Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

On the way back, I had a sudden feeling that he might come. It seemed we were now close enough for such premonitions to come true.

“Have a drink.”

“Gladly.”

I accepted the drink Blood Heaven Blade Demon handed me and downed it in one go.

“It’s really nice to drink with you again after so long, sir.”

“Haven’t you had your fill drinking with the drunkard?”

“Barely drank at all. He swore off alcohol until we cut down the bastards behind all this.”

“Really?”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked genuinely surprised.

“The mysterious world of a drunkard, right?”

At my joke, Blood Heaven Blade Demon gave a faint smile and took another sip.

We poured drinks for each other and shared a few more in good spirits, and then, at last, Blood Heaven Blade Demon brought up what he wanted to say.

“The Cult Leader will approve your request.”

“Why do you think so?”

Staring down at his glass, Blood Heaven Blade Demon replied.

“If I were the Cult Leader, I would have approved it.”

But that wasn’t the only reason. Blood Heaven Blade Demon had an instinctive feel for his father. He was the first to sense that his father had made a move this time for the unification of the martial world.

“I just came from meeting the Chief Strategist. He said the same thing—that Father will likely give his permission.”

Even though his prediction was spot on, Blood Heaven Blade Demon neither gloated nor showed pride. It seemed he felt both pleased and concerned about this departure from the cult. ṟἈℕộBËʂ

“Are you happy to go with the Cult Leader?”

“Yes, I am.”

Just the thought of leaving with Father lifted my spirits. But I had to remember.

Even if I was with my father, we must not forget that our enemy was Hwa Moogi.

After sealing off the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Martial Alliance, and the Unorthodox Alliance, Hwa Moogi immersed himself in endless training, walking the path toward the pinnacle of martial arts.

No matter how recklessly the Twelve Zodiac Kings acted in his name, he never made an official appearance in the martial world.

In other words, he wasn’t someone driven by worldly desires.

So why did he kill the three leaders of the martial world? What kind of life had he lived before—and what kind would he live after?

I regretted not learning more about him when I had the chance, preoccupied as I was with gathering materials for the Great Regression Technique.

Back then, I was afraid I might ruin things by getting too close to him. Instead, I deliberately kept my distance. I believed that once I regressed, I could fix everything.

One thing was certain—he was no ordinary person.

Which meant he might not show up until all of the Twelve Zodiac Kings were dead, or he might appear suddenly out of nowhere.

Maybe it was because of someone like Hwa Moogi that my way of life had taken shape the way it had.

I lived my life to the best of my ability, without letting him affect me.

Even if I wanted to respond according to his actions, I couldn’t.

So Hwa Moogi, you match yourself to my life!

Just like I did before the regression, it wouldn’t be easy for you to respond to me either. I, too, was someone who defied common sense and expectations.

While I was momentarily lost in thought, Blood Heaven Blade Demon suddenly said something unexpected.

“A Cult Leader with a son like you is truly blessed.”

It was the first time he’d ever said anything like that since we became connected. I considered joking that Father must be topping the list of luckiest dads in the world, but I asked seriously instead—because this was the first time Blood Heaven Blade Demon had ever spoken such words.

“Do you really think so?”

“How many people in our entire cult would be this happy just to go out with the Cult Leader?”

“Well, the same could be said for all of the martial world.”

“Still, don’t act up too much in front of the Cult Leader once you’re out there.”

“Are you worried about me?”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon shook his head, then nodded, then shook it again.

“You’re better at everything than I am, so I wonder who should be worried about whom… and yet…”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at me.

“From this angle, you still look like a green kid.”

How could I not understand his heart? From the eyes of someone older, young people seemed unstable—and that came from experience. Back then, we all made absurd mistakes.

That’s why he worried. Because I was going out with Father, and I might make some mistake. Maybe I hadn’t made mistakes so far just so I could save them up for this moment—that’s the kind of worry he had.

“I’m not a kid.”

“To my eyes, you are.”

“And yet you always seem like you want to go back to my age.”

He often gave off the feeling that he missed his youth. Even if he always denied it like this.

“Even if I could, I wouldn’t go.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to live this life all over again.”

His yearning for youth was real, but so were those words.

“Then just live differently.”

“How can a person live differently when they’re still the same inside?”

“You’ll manage. You’ve lived this life well.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at me in silence, then emptied his final cup and stood. As he pulled the Heaven-Extinguishing Saber from the ground, he bid farewell.

“Have a good journey.”

“Yes, sir.”

As he turned and walked off into the distance, I called out to him.

“This time, I’ll head out with Father and come back having seen many things. So, sir, please see all the sights you wish to see too.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned back to me and said firmly,

“I already am.”

And in his gaze toward me, I felt it—I was standing within that landscape of his.

After Blood Heaven Blade Demon left, I returned to my room and immediately activated the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique.

The Twelve-Star Greatness of the Nine Calamities Demon Art was something even I couldn’t achieve within five years. That was simply because the mastery of martial arts required an absolute amount of time.

And yet I had promised five years, because I believed in the Heavenly Time Secret Art.

At first, the Heavenly Time Secret Art had given me triple the time. Through continuous training and sacrificing sleep, that multiplier had increased—now I could stretch time fourfold. In other words, when others trained for two hours, I could train for eight.

Moreover, thanks to the significant increase in my internal energy during the Northern Sea expedition, my cultivation had become even smoother.

I had to somehow push the time amplification of the Heavenly Time Secret Art up to tenfold. But the higher the realm, the harder it became to train, and progress would only slow down further. Only relentless effort would open the path forward.

I went through the sequence from the First Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art, Human Annihilation Form, to the Fourth Form, Dark Flash, once in full.

Then, I circulated my internal energy through my cultivation technique and composed my mind.

Now, for the first time, I would attempt the Fifth Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art.

If I went out with Father, I was certain there would be a chance to learn the essence of the Nine Calamities Demon Art directly from him. To be ready for that moment, I needed to be capable of executing the Fifth Form before leaving.

The Fifth Form of the Nine Calamities Demon Art—Soul Severing Demonic Strike.

Even its training was dangerous. It was known that a single mistake could cause severe injury or even death to the practitioner. Because of that, I focused more than I ever had when performing any technique.

I had to unleash it with the mindset that a mistake meant death.

I recited the incantation of the Fifth Form and slowly drew my sword.

In that moment—

The atmosphere changed. Like the calm before a storm, the sky and surroundings darkened ominously.

A heavy stillness followed.

But it wasn’t just silence. It was an absolute stillness that seemed to devour every sound in the world. Even in the middle of a chaotic battlefield, all noise would have vanished under this silence.

As I thrust my sword—

Shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu!

Ten streams of sword energy rained down vertically from the sky.

Pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak!

The sword energy slammed into the ground around me!

Each blast of sword energy carved thin but deep holes in the earth. So deep, I couldn’t see the bottom.

It was truly like a thunderbolt driving down into an enemy’s crown.

Since this was my first time unleashing it, the sword energy hadn’t landed exactly where I had aimed. In fact, two of the ten blasts landed right beside me. They almost struck me.

Among the human body’s many vital points, the crown of the head was one of the hardest to guard.

Even with Protective Energy, shielding the crown was the most difficult. Now imagine sword energy falling like lightning directly onto that spot.

And it wasn’t ordinary sword energy either. It was imbued with the essence of the Nine Calamities Demon Art. This meant it could rip through even Protective Energy and vertically cleave through the skull. Of course, such power came at a cost—tremendous internal energy consumption. It was not a technique to be used lightly.

Lastly, the essence of Soul Severing Demonic Strike lies in the fact that it’s a technique for dealing with multiple enemies. For now, it’s just ten streams, but the more advanced the realm of the Nine Calamities Demon Art becomes, the stronger the power of the falling sword energy grows—and its number increases as well.

Just imagine it.

Dozens of sword energies raining down from the heavens like divine punishment, simultaneously piercing through the heads of dozens of enemies.

How many enemies could Father strike at once with Soul Severing Demonic Strike?

Twenty? Fifty? A hundred?

I had yet to witness what the Nine Calamities Demon Art looked like when it had reached Twelve-Star Greatness, so I couldn’t know.

Again, I unleashed the second Soul Severing Demonic Strike.

Shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu!

Once more, sword energy rained down vertically from the sky.

Pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak-pak!

The sword energy was still beyond my control. Overall, it landed slightly farther away from me than before, but one stream dropped even closer than last time. It was truly a perilous technique.

I took a deep breath and steadied my mind.

It’ll never fall on me. Trust yourself!

Without that trust, one could never become proficient in this death-defying technique.

I unleashed the Fifth Form again, and again.

Though the sword energy still strayed from my will and threatened my life, it was alright. Repetitive training would protect me better than any Protective Energy.

Because my nights were long.

Three days later, Sima Myung came to visit my quarters.

“Chief Strategist, welcome!”

“Have you rested well?”

“I had a great rest.”

Honestly, what I should have said was this:

Isn’t martial arts training a warrior’s way of resting?

I had just been engrossed in martial arts training within the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique.

For the past three days, I had devoted myself to mastering Soul Severing Demonic Strike, and finally, I was now able to direct it—more or less—where I wanted. Though still lacking in precision, I had at least moved past the point where every strike made my heart leap in fear.

Sima Myung had come for one reason: to deliver some news.

“The Cult Leader has formally granted permission.”

As expected, Sima Myung’s prediction had been correct.

“Thank you! It’s all thanks to your efforts, Chief Strategist.”

Had he strongly objected, I wouldn’t have been able to leave. Even if Father had wished for it, he couldn’t easily ignore a firm refusal from the Chief Strategist. It was clearly Sima Myung’s concession that made it possible.

“During your absence, the Cult Leader will be regarded as having entered closed-door cultivation. We debated whether to notify the Martial Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance, but concluded that it would be better not to—considering the risk of information leakage.”

Naturally, for someone who prioritized Father’s safety above all, this decision made perfect sense.

And his caution didn’t stop there.

“Also, the Heavenly Demon Guard will discreetly follow.”

They were the ones led by Hui. Wherever Father went, they always followed—martial world’s finest escorts.

I truly wanted this departure from the cult to be just between Father and me, but I couldn’t insist on that now. Since Sima Myung had made a concession, I had to as well. Instead, I offered a compromise.

“Let’s have only Uncle Hui accompany us.”

I had a good idea of why Sima Myung wanted to send them along.

Protecting Father was, of course, important, but more than that, it was likely to maintain regular contact with the main cult. They needed to know when, where, and how we were moving in order to respond accordingly in case of any emergency.

But for something like that, Hui could handle it on his own.

“They’ll be following you from a distance anyway, so you wouldn’t even notice them.”

“That’s not the reason. If our enemies are spying on us, they’ll focus their attention on Father’s supposed closed-door cultivation. The timing doesn’t align with when he would normally enter seclusion, so they may become suspicious and suspect it’s a ruse. If that happens, they’ll undoubtedly check whether the Heavenly Demon Guard is active. If they realize the guard is absent, they’ll know Father has left the cult.”

Of course, I didn’t believe the enemy’s spies had infiltrated all the way to the Heavenly Demon Pavilion. This was just an effort to keep our group as small as possible.

I expected it would take more convincing, but Sima Myung agreed readily.

“Alright. Let’s have only Hui the Commander accompany you.”

I feigned a look of surprise.

“So the Chief Strategist intended to send only Uncle Hui from the beginning.”

“If I’d said from the start that only Hui would go, the Young Cult Leader would have come up with another reason to insist on going alone with the Cult Leader.”

“Ah! I’ve been completely read by the Chief Strategist.”

At my exasperated sigh, Sima Myung chuckled and said,

“Your destination is Shaanxi.”

Shaanxi was a considerable distance from here, so I would have plenty of time with Father.

“There’s no urgency. Take your time getting there.”

He didn’t say anything about the mission, as if I would find out once I arrived.

It was his way of being considerate. He meant for me to forget the mission for now and spend time with Father instead.

“How will you travel?”

“Sometimes by carriage, sometimes on foot. I’d like to move according to our mood.”

“I’ll prepare accordingly.”

At the end, he informed me of the timing for this historic first departure from the cult.

“You’ll leave tomorrow. At dawn, you’ll slip out among the transport wagons heading out.”

After meeting with Sima Myung, I went to Father’s quarters.

“Father, I’m here.”

Then Father’s voice came from inside.

“What is it?”

“I came to see you because I have something to tell you, Father.”

A moment later, Father opened the door and stepped outside. For some reason, he looked a little flustered—different from usual.

“This is the first time you’ve left the cult for such a long period since becoming Cult Leader, isn’t it? I’ll help you pack. You know, I am a seasoned traveler.”

“No need.”

With a blunt expression, Father declined and turned away. It struck me then—he was acting a little differently than usual. At that moment, as the door closed, I caught a glimpse of the room inside.

Clothes were spread out on the bedding, and a large leather satchel was visible. Various other items were also scattered around.

Father was packing!

I had assumed he sent Sima Myung to my quarters because he wanted to proceed discreetly and didn’t want to summon me to the Heavenly Demon Pavilion. But now I realized—it was because he was busy getting ready for the trip.

Father, too, was looking forward to this journey.

With a beaming smile, I called out loudly from outside the door.

“Father, don’t forget to pack your pajamas!”