Absolute Regression

Chapter 447: First-time Sights

At dawn, carriages departed from the main division of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

They were carriages loaded with supplies to be delivered from the main division to each branch.

Among those carriages was the one my father and I were riding. The driver, dressed as an ordinary coachman, was Hui.

As we moved away from the main division, I asked my father,

“Father, how does it feel to be on your first trip with your son?”

To my excited question, my father, who had been quietly looking out the window, replied with a question of his own.

“Isn’t this not a trip?”

But isn’t that hard to say when you’ve packed so much? In the back of the carriage, a large traveling pack belonging to my father was loaded.

“Of course, we’re heading out to carry out an important mission. Still, it’s been a while since you left the Cult, so it’d be nice if you could return with a lighter heart. Leave all your worries back at the main division.”

Then, my father, still looking out the window, said to Hui,

“Stop the carriage.”

The carriage came to an immediate halt.

“What is it, sir?”

“Get off.”

“Me? Why me?”

“You said to leave my worries behind, didn’t you?”

I burst out laughing. Just the fact that he was joking like this meant he was in a very good mood.

“Isn’t it having worries that helps us grow? Come on, let’s go. Depart!”

When my father said, “Let’s go,” the carriage started moving again.

I stuck my head out the window and spoke to Hui.

“Looking forward to working with you, Uncle Hui!”

Hui didn’t drive the carriage roughly. Maybe Sima Myung had asked him to take it easy.

Hoping that this trip would become a journey, not a mission.

I leaned out of the carriage, letting the wind blow against me.

“The weather is amazing!”

My father didn’t reply, but I could feel it. He was excited too.

“Isn’t it so nice just to step out of the Cult, even a little bit? Father, even if it’s not this trip, let’s go out more often in the future. Ah, if we go over that hill, there’s a beautiful lake. Have you ever been there? In winter, the lake freezes solid, and cracking the ice to fish is such a thrill.” ɌÂ𝐍ỘʙĚS̩

My father already looked like his ears were hurting, but this would be a regular occurrence from now on. If I wanted this trip with him to be fun, I’d have to do most of the talking.

“Also, if you cross the mountain on the opposite side, there’s a tent that serves incredible noodles. Want to try it sometime?”

Then an unexpected answer came from my father.

“They used to be good at making dumplings back in the day.”

I pulled my head back into the carriage.

“You’ve been there?”

“A long time ago.”

Yes, my father too had once roamed the martial world like me. Was it during the time he fought alongside the Fist Demon King? Or perhaps when he was close with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the One-Slash Sword Supreme?

“Even if it’s on the way back, let’s stop by once.”

Maybe he wanted to revisit it as well, because he nodded.

“People’s mouths are really something, aren’t they? They always know where the good food is. Even if someone sets up shop in the most remote place, the rumors spread like ghosts and folks go looking for it, right?”

“Let’s just keep quiet.”

“Yes, sir!”

Father, you don’t know this, do you? I used to live just as quietly as you. No—maybe I was even more silent. All those things I couldn’t say back then, I’m finally saying in front of you now.

After traveling for quite some time, the carriage came to a halt.

While Hui unhitched the horses and let them rest, I took a walk around the area with my father.

“Before we left, the Blade Demon Elder came to see me.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me not to mess around with you.”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of my father’s lips.

“Seems the Blade Demon cares a lot about you.”

Of course. How could my father not know? The fact that the Blade Demon volunteered to play the role of scolding me in front of my father—was all for my sake in the end.

“He really likes you, Father. The Blade Demon Elder, I mean.”

I didn’t say that just to be nice. It was true. The way the Blade Demon thought of my father ran deep.

“Don’t mess with the Blade Demon.”

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon told me not to mess with my father, and now my father told me not to mess with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. How could there not be something special between the two of them?

I wanted to joke, “Then who can I mess with?” but I couldn’t bring myself to do it after being told not to fool around.

“Understood. I’ll be careful, always.”

Just being able to have this kind of conversation and walk with my father made me feel happy. From this point on, everything that happened would be new to both of us.

As long as the phrase “leaving the Cult with Father” came first, then everything we did would be a first.

Then my father suddenly asked,

“Do you feel it?”

“Wolves, right?”

As soon as I gave the correct answer, my father looked at me in surprise.

He hadn’t said where it was coming from, yet I answered right away. He was surprised that I had already sensed the presence from over twenty jang away.

“In unfamiliar places, I naturally emit qi and scan the surroundings.”

Threads of energy, like spiderwebs, were extending outward from my body.

“It’s thanks to what you taught me, Father.”

It was on a whole different level from when I had gone hunting with him long ago and learned to emit fine, threadlike qi.

“So you haven’t just been wasting time.”

“They say martial arts training and love are both things best done where no one can see.”

As ridiculous as my words were, my father’s smile deepened just as much.

We strolled around a little more and then returned to where the carriage was.

Then, off in the distance, Hui waved his hand and shouted from beside the carriage.

“Meal’s ready!”

Hui had already lit a campfire and finished preparing the food.

“Doesn’t it feel like Uncle Hui’s excited too?”

Father didn’t deny it. Even he must’ve felt that something was different today—there was a distinct liveliness in the air.

I hoped Father would see many new sights.

Even Hui, waving his hand toward us right now, must be one such new sight for him.

The meal Hui had prepared was something he brought along, prepared before our departure.

“From now on, meals will be rather simple.”

“That’s fine.”

I jumped in with a comment.

“Don’t worry, Uncle. We’ve got Father, don’t we? I can never forget the taste of the food he cooked.”

The second time we went hunting together, he cooked personally.

The meat stir-fried with vegetables and mushrooms had turned out surprisingly delicious. He even made soup alongside it, showing that he must cook often.

Come to think of it, there are many sides to my father I don’t know. Like his floral pajamas, or how he packed his luggage himself for this trip yesterday, or the way he cooked.

I hope I get to see more of these hidden sides of him on this journey.

“I brought something as well.”

I pulled some leathers out of the traveling pack stored in the carriage.

First was a tiger pelt, prepared for Father.

“Here, please have a seat.”

Father sat down on it.

I had brought more. I handed one of them to Hui.

“This one is for you, Uncle Hui.”

Hui looked a little surprised that I had prepared something for him too.

“I’m fine, really.”

“I have my own as well, so please sit. Ours are wolf pelts.”

Hui’s and mine were made from the same kind of leather.

As Hui kept trying to decline, Father looked at him and gave a slight nod.

At that, Hui stopped refusing and sat down on the pelt I had prepared.

“Thank you, Young Cult Leader.”

“Don’t mention it.”

There’s something I came to understand deeply through my past life.

Seats are incredibly important to people.

Father’s Celestial Zenith’s Throne.

The second-floor seat at the Flowing Wind Tavern.

And now, this wolf pelt Hui is sitting on.

We all live our lives trying to sit in our rightful place. We even go to war just to claim a seat.

If someone says, “What’s so important about a seat? Isn’t the heart what really matters?”—that person probably hasn’t experienced the awkward discomfort of not having a place of their own somewhere they’ve gone.

That’s why people who’ve never felt the comfort and gratitude of someone offering them a simple chair will never understand how deeply it can move someone.

I had never seen Hui’s seat before. He was always in hiding. That’s why this wolf pelt matters even more.

Just as the three of us sat down side by side to eat, a sudden shower began to fall.

Ssshhhhhhhh.

“Father, please head to the carriage first and take shelter from the rain…”

I was about to tell him to take cover—but held back.

“Isn’t this a bit too inhuman?”

“What do you mean?”

“When a person gets caught in the rain, they should get wet.”

Around Father’s body, an invisible barrier of qi had formed like a curtain, causing the raindrops to bounce off.

“Also, if you have such a skill, shouldn’t you use it to keep us dry too?”

Of course, saying something like that wasn’t going to make Father extend that qi to cover us.

Just then, Father reached out his hand.

At that moment, the mouth of his traveling pack inside the carriage loosened, and something emerged from within.

It flew out of the carriage and spread wide above our heads. It was a Wind-and-Rain Canopy, used for shielding against wind and rain.

The strings attached to the fabric quickly tied themselves to the carriage and a nearby tree, anchoring it in place. It was moving with Void Telekinesis—its motion was fast and precise, like the skilled hands of someone tying it by hand.

Who would’ve thought Father would prepare even something like this!

“After all, the true highlight of camping is watching the rain! There’s no greater atmosphere!”

When I said that cheerfully, Father even revived the dying campfire using Heat Yang Energy.

Fwoooosh.

“Amazing, Father!”

Father made a face like, “This is nothing.”

He would probably set it up anytime it rained during our travels, but right now felt perfect. The first day of our journey, our first meal—this moment was sure to stay with me.

After the meal, Hui brought over some tea he had prepared.

We sipped tea while watching the rain. Father sat in the middle, and Hui and I sat to his left and right.

“Uncle, isn’t it hard serving my father?”

It was the kind of question that might catch someone off guard when asked in front of Father.

“It is hard.”

At his honest answer, both Father and I turned to look at Hui.

With a slight smile, Hui added,

“I figured I should answer this way to the Young Cult Leader.”

He had been listening to all my conversations with Father. He probably also heard all of Sima Myung’s reports about me. He knew me as well as Father did.

“You’ve struck exactly at my weak point. If you had said it wasn’t hard, I could’ve directed the blame toward Father.”

This time, Father turned his gaze toward me.

“If you’d said it wasn’t hard because Father is so quiet, I was planning to say this: That his silence must make things difficult. That it’d be easier if he just said everything like I do, but since he doesn’t speak much, you always have to figure out what he means. And that for someone in a subordinate position, that’s not exactly easy.”

I spoke on Hui’s behalf to Father. I didn’t know what kind of conversations the two of them usually had, but given their personalities, it wasn’t likely they ever shared their burdens with one another.

“In the end, you really say whatever you want, don’t you?”

“I have to. If I don’t say it, how would anyone know?”

At my words, Father turned his eyes back to the front.

Then suddenly, he asked Hui,

“So it was hard?”

This time, Hui truly looked flustered and surprised. Father wasn’t the kind of person to ask such things. If anything, he was the type to say even less in situations like this.

“It wasn’t.”

The conversation didn’t continue further. But just the fact that Father asked if it was difficult must have meant a lot to Hui.

Meanwhile, the rain had stopped.

That night, we camped out.

We could’ve looked for a guest inn, but Father had accepted my suggestion to spend the first night quietly.

Lying side by side with Father under a sky full of stars filled me with joy.

I asked Uncle Hui to lie down and sleep with us, but he firmly declined the idea of lying down alongside the Heavenly Demon. There are things each person can and cannot accept, so I didn’t insist further.

“Father, I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“I should’ve asked Brother to come too, considering how much he means to you. I’m so selfish. I must still want to have you all to myself.”

Father was silent for a moment before he said,

“It’s alright.”

That one sentence lightened the weight in my heart just a bit. Still, when I was with Father alone like this, I couldn’t help but think of Brother.

“Father.”

“What is it?”

“I was just checking to see if you had fallen asleep.”

“Then shouldn’t you not call me?”

I laughed and turned to look at Father lying beside me. He was gazing up at the night sky with a stoic expression.

I engraved that image in my heart.

Father gazing at the night sky, me watching him, and the stars above us.

Thus, the night of our first journey passed.

The next day, we stopped by a village.

While Hui borrowed a stable to feed and rest the horses, Father and I stepped out to browse the market street.

Though we walked through the bustling crowds, no one paid us special attention.

Both Father and I had reached the level of Complete Reversal of Energy and Spirit, and Father had wrapped his Heavenly Demon Sword with old cloth, just like my Black Demon Sword which was wound with Supreme Silkworm Thread, to keep it inconspicuous.

“This is your first time visiting a market street like this outside of Maga Village, right?”

“I walked around a lot in my youth.”

“You were traveling to fight the Fist Demon King, not to browse market streets, right?”

Father nodded in acknowledgment.

“I wish I had been my master, the Fist Demon King, back then.”

I answered the look in Father’s eyes, which silently asked for a reason.

“I want to see you in your younger days. I want to talk with that version of you.”

“!”

I meant it sincerely. What kind of person had he been? What kind of temperament did he have? Was he anything like me?

“Don’t tell me you used to be talkative like I am?”

Father let out a faint scoff before replying.

“Maybe I drank like the Drunken Demon. But talking as much as you do? I doubt it.”

“A chatterbox who beats even a drunkard? That’s too cruel!”

We chatted idly while strolling through the market street together.

When a crowd surged by, we paused our steps. Even that must have been a new experience for Father. He had probably never stopped just because others were coming through.

What do you think of this scenery you see while standing still like this?

People passing by, people laughing and chatting, people shouting to attract customers, people looking irritated. All kinds of people were there.

Father watched them silently. What thoughts might he be having as he observed them?

“Even with so many people around, nothing really happens, right? The Chief Strategist was worried that once you left the Cult, incidents would start popping up one after another. That the martial world wouldn’t just leave you be. That it would start with something small and gradually spiral into something bigger.”

I looked at Father and said with conviction,

“But that kind of thing will never happen.”

It was at that moment.

A man quietly approached us.

“Martial artists, how about a manly match?”

He pointed toward a group of people gathered nearby. Three overturned bowls sat atop a makeshift table.

Ah! The Heavenly Demon and a street swindler—how could I pass up such a delightful opportunity?

“My father is quite the unparalleled gambler, you see. What do you think? Shall we bet on our dinner, at least…?”

There wasn’t even a need to provoke Father.

Before I finished speaking, he was already walking toward the group of hustlers.

I turned to the man who had approached us and asked with a grin,

“Is that guy quick with his hands? He’ll have to be really quick to be faster than my father’s eyes.”