Absolute Regression

Chapter 513: It’s Time to Restore Discipline

“If you don’t kill the Great Young Master, you will die.”

Gu Cheonpa still remembered it vividly. The answer Geom Woojin gave when those words were said—and his expression too.

“I don’t want to kill my brother.”

That was something no one would ever hear from the current Cult Leader. A Cult Leader who hesitated to kill someone was unimaginable.

Yes, even the Cult Leader had such a time.

“I know.”

Gu Cheonpa was someone who had felt that burning fire in Geom Woojin’s heart.

Within the cult, Geom Woojin was more popular. Cold, calculating, and aloof—he was adored by all the demonic followers. He was handsome, intelligent, and above all, possessed an innate talent for martial arts.

He had every quality the demonic followers admired. Truly, he was hailed as the most exceptional among all bloodlines of the Heavenly Demon.

The reason the Great Young Master tried to kill Geom Woojin by joining hands with his master was because he knew that, at this rate, he had no chance of winning against him.

“Fine. I’ll try to resolve this without killing the Great Young Master.”

Then Geom Woojin spoke firmly.

“Stay out of this, brother. This is my fight.”

How could Gu Cheonpa not know it was out of concern for him?

Gu Cheonpa shook his head. Now that his master was involved in this matter—

“From the moment I told you about the plan between the Great Young Master and our master, this became my fight too.”

Their gazes intertwined in the air. Eyes that now could no longer be recreated—filled with youthful passion.

“I want to live as the Demon Supreme of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult you lead.”

Gu Cheonpa still remembered the trembling in his voice when he said that.

He wanted to return to that time. A youth as hot as a midsummer night, as refreshing as an autumn breeze. When he staked his life without asking for anything in return, when he could read emotions on the face of the Cult Leader. ᚱ𝔞ƝőβËś

The one who pulled him back from the past was Gyo Cheon.

“Meeting you was the greatest misfortune of my life.”

At the voice of his master, the image of a young Geom Woojin disappeared.

In his place stood his enraged master.

Even without those words, he had lived carrying that very feeling.

The words he had once said to Geom Mugeuk—that he had lived his whole life with misfortune—had come out because of his master.

Though he had done it to save the Cult Leader, he could never escape the shackles of having betrayed his master.

“Do you know why I came here at your summons, Master?”

“You must’ve come to kill me.”

Even at the mocking reply, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon remained calm.

“If that were the case, I would have contacted the Cult Leader.”

But Blood Heaven Blade Demon had come alone to Chongqing in silence.

Gyo Cheon looked at him with eyes asking for an explanation.

And the reason was something Gyo Cheon never would have imagined.

“I wanted to see you, Master.”

“!”

The deep wrinkles on Gyo Cheon’s face twitched.

It was Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s sincere feeling. Of course, it wasn’t because of ordinary longing.

How could he describe this yearning?

Was it like his younger self reaching out his hand now, as he stood in the twilight of life?

Yes, it wasn’t that the master before his eyes had called him—it was his younger self who wanted to respond to the summons.

Gyo Cheon laughed. His mouth had an abundance of wrinkles, making it difficult to discern what emotion his smile conveyed. But this time, it was unmistakably a sneer.

“You knew why I came, and you say nonsense like that?”

The sneer soon turned into open laughter. Was it due to old age? Or perhaps some illness? A metallic rasp scraped through his cracked voice, and the laughter soon broke into an uncontrollable fit of coughing.

Blood Heaven Blade Demon waited quietly for the coughing to subside.

“You wanted to see me?”

Gyo Cheon slowly rose from his seat and untied his robe.

His shriveled body—one that made it doubtful whether he could even wield martial arts with such a frame. And yet, it was precisely that frail body that evoked fear. For within that meager shell resided unfathomable power.

Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s gaze shifted to the center of his chest.

There, a large scar remained. It was far bigger and deeper than any wound from a sword.

“Look. See for yourself.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked at the scar in silence.

Then, he conveyed the words he had held in his heart for so long. Words he had never shared with anyone—never once uttered before.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“!”

Even though he had known that his master was always open to accepting another disciple as his successor, even though he understood that had he continued defying him, the master would not have hesitated to kill him, and even though it had all been to save Geom Woojin—

Still, he felt sorry toward him.

Blood Heaven Blade Demon bowed his head with respect. A head that bowed only to Geom Woojin now bowed again.

From Gyo Cheon’s eyes, a light flared, and the wrinkles across his face deepened.

“You’ve always been insincere… even when you were young.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon understood his master. He was not someone who would believe that he cared for Geom Woojin purely out of friendship. Not someone who would believe even a sincere apology.

But it didn’t matter. In the end, he said those words for his own sake.

Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked up at the sky.

‘Thank you… for letting me say what I had only planned to speak in Hell.’

Gyo Cheon did not consider Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s apology to be genuine. But even if it were—what meaning would it hold now?

“If you help me kill the Cult Leader, I’ll let you live.”

“What attachment could I have to this old life?”

At that, Gyo Cheon used Seo Daeryong to threaten him.

“If you don’t listen to me, I’ll kill your disciple.”

“So that’s why you involved the child too?”

Of course, such a threat wouldn’t work.

“Then he too will live a life cursed with a master like mine.”

In Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s eyes toward his master, there was both love and hatred.

“You used to look at me with those same eyes.”

“This, too, is a misunderstanding. I suppose since you hate me now, even the past must be distorted.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon had a premonition. That this would only end with either his death or his master’s. So there were no words he couldn’t say. If he had spoken of love before, what followed now was hatred.

“As people age, you’d think they’d grow wiser—but that’s not always the case. Judgment becomes clouded, only stubbornness remains. I read books diligently trying to hold on, but stopping the mind from going blank was never easy.”

After a brief pause, Blood Heaven Blade Demon continued.

“You must be far worse, Master. To those who don’t know you, they might think, ‘How great that old martial artist must be. How immense his wisdom must be. He must see right through people’s hearts. His insight must be profound.’ They might think that. But I know. Your mind is filled with a fog so thick it clouds everything.”

A surge of fury began to rise on Gyo Cheon’s twitching face.

“And in that fog, only hatred shines. Without even that, you would’ve lost your way long ago.”

“There you go again, acting all superior.”

“There you go again, twisting the truth. I’ve never once pretended to be better than you, Master. Then tell me—apart from the Cult Leader, me, and what happened that day, have you ever had a single other thought? About the world of martial arts, about life itself, or even something as simple as ‘summer has passed, and autumn is arriving’? Have you ever cared about such things?”

Gyo Cheon’s gaze turned even colder, but he could not offer a single rebuttal.

Blood Heaven Blade Demon continued saying what he had long held back.

“If it were the past, I wouldn’t have known any of this. But recently, through the Young Cult Leader, I’ve come to realize something. I had been walking through the fog purely out of habit. I never fell because the path was too familiar, the fog too routine. But it was thickening every day.”

After meeting Geom Mugeuk, the stagnant heart began to flow again. He trained harder in martial arts, read more books, took on a disciple, changed his relationship with other Demon Supremes, and even tended a garden.

All of it was an effort to clear the fog. It wasn’t easy, even with that effort.

“That’s why I’m not afraid of you anymore, Master.”

And that’s why he didn’t speak of the other truth—how afraid of him he still was.

If Geom Mugeuk had met his Master just a little earlier... if only that had happened, would Master’s heart have changed?

Perhaps it really could have been. If it were Geom Mugeuk—if it were that sharp-minded young man—he might have known a way to unravel this deep resentment.

The mere thought of it revealed just how pitiful the situation had become. His master, once a wound buried deep in his heart.

And now, to meet again like this, skipping all the middle chapters and opening straight to the final page—such a fate felt unbearably tragic.

“You arrogant bastard!”

Gyo Cheon, on the other hand, was furious. How dare his life be summarized with such words?

But no words of rebuttal came to mind. Surely, countless things had been swirling in his head just moments before.

Now, it was as if fog had truly filled his mind—he no longer knew what to say.

Only the emotion of hatred shone clearly within.

“What if I said I would kill that so-called brilliant Young Cult Leader?”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon laughed. If you could kill him, go ahead and try. Most likely, you’d collapse grasping your chest mid-conversation.

“Sounds more like a threat meant for the Cult Leader. Save it for him.”

Threats meant nothing to Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

“But tell me—how exactly do you plan to kill the Cult Leader? He’s not someone you can kill just because you want to.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon was genuinely curious about what trick his master had prepared.

“The Cult Leader is human too. All humans die eventually.”

With that, Gyo Cheon pulled something from his robes.

It was a small box. Using Void Telekinesis, he sent it flying through the air to Blood Heaven Blade Demon.

Upon opening it, there was a small medicine bottle inside.

“Put that in the Cult Leader’s liquor.”

Looking down at the bottle, Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked,

“What is this?”

“No need to know. Just mix it into the Cult Leader’s liquor.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon truly found this unbelievable. Did his master really think this would work? Was he really so lost in the fog?

“You’re right. He’s someone you can’t kill without resorting to methods like this. Spreading division among orthodox sects, threatening to kill disciples, and now using poison. But did you really think I would do such a thing?”

“Didn’t you say you were sorry to me?”

As if the conversation was no longer worth continuing, Blood Heaven Blade Demon prepared to pour the contents of the bottle onto the ground. As he opened the cap, he hesitated.

His gaze turned once again to Gyo Cheon.

“You must have expected I’d throw it away.”

A dark thought passed through Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s mind.

“No… it can’t be.”

He hurled the medicine bottle far away.

Clang.

From the exposed liquid, a poisonous vapor burst forth. Had he poured it onto the ground, the fumes would have engulfed him in an instant.

“This was meant to kill me, wasn’t it?”

Gyo Cheon’s eyes were filled with murderous intent.

“I can’t let you die easily.”

Judging by his words, the poison wasn’t ordinary. It was one that inflicted extreme pain.

Though Blood Heaven Blade Demon had known his master intended to kill him, seeing him use poison so boldly—such a cruel one at that—left him with a bitter feeling.

Even in a situation where one must kill or be killed, he was reminded again that human relationships could still stir such emotions.

“Do you hate me that much?”

“Weren’t you the one who said it? That all I had left in my mind was hatred.”

Looking at his master, Blood Heaven Blade Demon truly felt like he was speaking to an immovable wall, one that could not be reasoned with.

He had wanted, somehow, to ease his master’s heart. Not for his own sake, but for his master’s.

Of course, his master would never believe that. He would think it was just a ploy to avoid death.

‘You still won’t give me a choice, Master.’

Gyo Cheon slowly clapped his hands.

Then, the door on the left wall opened, and someone walked out.

Wearing a fiery red robe, the man was an old figure of a similar age to Gu Cheonpa. He also wore a great saber. From his steps alone, it was clear—he had trained in the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Form for many years.

He appeared to be someone whom Gyo Cheon had taken in as a new disciple and personally passed down his martial arts to.

He wasn’t the only one.

Another door opened on the opposite wall, and someone else stepped out.

This time, it was an old man in a blue robe, and his presence was in no way inferior to the red-robed elder.

Moreover, the two radiated opposing energies. If the red-robed elder was fire, this one radiated the qi of water.

And Gu Cheonpa instinctively knew—

‘They’ve reached great mastery in the Heaven-Extinguishing Demonic Saber Form.’

They were martial artists on par with Demon Supremes. Raised by his master in vengeance, their strength could easily be imagined even without witnessing it.

Gu Cheonpa’s eyes grew still. He sensed this would not be an easy battle.

Gyo Cheon spoke as he looked at him.

“A betrayal by a disciple should be paid back by a disciple.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon did not lose his composure.

“Looks like it’s time to restore discipline among the disciples.”

Gyo Cheon sneered.

“Who said they’re your fellow disciples? You were expelled a long time ago.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon responded calmly.

“I never expelled you, Master.”

Once more, Gyo Cheon’s face twitched. He would misunderstand and grow angry—but that, too, was part of the deep affection Blood Heaven Blade Demon held for him.

“I truly did want to see you again. And when I said I was sorry, I meant it. Even now, I genuinely wish you’d just step back and live quietly. And this too… is sincere.”

Blood Heaven Blade Demon slowly drew the Heaven-Extinguishing Saber and said,

“For his sake, I can kill again.”