Translator: FenrirTL
Editor/Quality Checker/Notes : Saphartlantis
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Chapter 397: They said it was a pretty heart
The footwork of the Drunken Demon was fast.
The speed shown at first was only a part of his true ability. The more he ran, the faster he became.
‘Just how much trouble did he get into after drinking to become this fast?’
It was so fast that I wanted to joke like that. That was how the Demon Supremes were. Even though we drank together, joked around about all sorts of things, and even jumped into a lake to swim together, not once did they ever mention that their footworks were this fast.
They neither bragged about nor even mentioned their martial arts. That was the truly terrifying part about real masters.[a]
So? Did an unexpected twist happen?
Unfortunately, it did not. No matter how fast Song Sa-hyuk was, I had reached the eleventh star with my Star Light Step, beyond even the Ten Star Greatness.
"I'm going first!"
While running at a similar speed and nearing the destination, I increased my speed. I did not hold back, nor did I let my guard down. There was no way I could, since a bet involving Fire Dragon Liquor was on the line.
I exerted the Star Light Step to the extreme and arrived first at the promised place.
Shortly after, the Drunken Demon arrived, panting heavily.
"What the heck are you? Why are you so fast?"
"I saved my strength for the last moment."
Song Sa-hyuk knew that this was not the reason he lost. I was breathing calmly like usual, whereas he was panting hard. It simply meant we were not even on the same level.[b]
Had I used my full strength from the beginning, he might have gone to a nearby village, bought some snacks, laid them out, and waited for me. That thought even crossed my mind.
"I've never lost in a race before."
"I'm the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
I looked around while bragging.
"So, where should we drink our Fire Dragon Liquor?"
I half expected that he would not actually give me the Fire Dragon Liquor.
"Follow me."
The Drunken Demon flew away somewhere using his footwork.
I followed behind. This time, I used the Heavenly Demon Flight Technique that I had been practicing from time to time. Flying with my back straight, arms crossed, and an aloof posture for all to see.
It really was a footwork that suited Father so perfectly. Flying so loftily like this, then descending slowly by stepping through the air! Ah, so cool!
No matter how fast the Star Light Step was, this was why I could never give up on the Heavenly Demon Flight Technique.
The place where Song Sa-hyuk took me was a small rock protruding from a cliff overlooking a breathtaking view.
"Sometimes, when I return to the Cult, I stop by here for a drink."
Far off in the distance, the Ten Thousand Mountains could be seen, and the river flowing in front of them sparkled as the sunlight skid across it. Reeds spread around the riverbanks, creating a scene so beautiful it looked like a painting.
"If you're going to drink Fire Dragon Liquor, you have to drink it at a place like this."
The Drunken Demon pulled the Fire Dragon Liquor out from his bosom and held it out to me.
"You're really giving it to me?"
"Of course. We made a bet, didn't we?"
"But it's Fire Dragon Liquor."
"Still, I have to give it to you."
"You joined hands with the Poison King, right? That's why you added Formless Poison in here, right?"
"Seems like you don't want to drink it. Then forget it."
"No way!"
As Song Sa-hyuk tried to put it back into his bosom, I quickly snatched the Fire Dragon Liquor away.
The Drunken Demon pulled out a cup from his sleeve.
"This cup will give exactly three pours. Rather than drinking it all at once, it's more effective to split it into three times, so drink it in three parts."
Even though he had run so desperately, seeing that he even brought a cup made me think he might have intended to gift this liquor from the beginning.
Song Sa-hyuk pulled out another cup and poured from the gourd-shaped blood calabash hanging at his waist. When he was outside, he would drink any kind of liquor, but as for the cup, he tried to drink from his own whenever possible.
"Here, I admit defeat."
I vigorously clinked the cup the Drunken Demon handed over and drank the Fire Dragon Liquor. A burning heat, as if it would scorch my insides, passed down my throat. I understood why he had told me to split it into three drinks.
I immediately started circulating my energy to dissolve that burning heat. It was the utmost yang energy among all yang energies, but I began absorbing it through all the blood vessels of my body without any major difficulty.
After a single cycle of circulation, I had completely dissolved the energy, and Song Sa-hyuk looked at me in surprise. He knew my martial arts were strong, but he had not expected me to dissolve a cup of Fire Dragon Liquor in a single circulation.
The second cup, too, I drank after a toast.
"Ughh, this is great!"
The flames burned all over my body again. The more I drank, the more fiercely it burned, but it was not to the extent that my body could not handle it.
Thus, after drinking the Fire Dragon Liquor in three parts, I completely absorbed all the energy contained in the liquor.
The pure and vast energy that circulated through all my blood vessels gathered into my dantian as internal energy.
It was more than I had expected.
Even before, when it came to internal energy, I had more than anyone else, but I still needed more. These days, I was learning the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique, the Heavenly Time Secret Art, and even the Nine Calamities Demon Art.
The more internal energy I had, the shorter the training time, so even a handful of internal energy was unconditionally welcome.
After a full cycle of circulating true energy, a clearer and deeper light settled into my eyes than before and then disappeared.
Watching this, the Drunken Demon shook his head and said,
"We'll have to rewrite the Fire Dragon Liquor section."
"What do you mean?"
"The secret manual passed down through generations said it would take three days to absorb all of the Fire Dragon Liquor."
Even if not for three days, Song Sa-hyuk had expected that at least a day would be spent here circulating energy. But the reality was that I had absorbed all the energy of the Fire Dragon Liquor in less than two hours.
"What are you? How can you keep shocking people like this?"
To his half-joking, half-serious question, I replied in a dignified voice.
"I am the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Who might you be?"
The Drunken Demon played along with my jest.
"I am a drunkard who lost a bet and was completely robbed of his Fire Dragon Liquor. Future generations! Never bet on races against the Heavenly Demon bloodline!"
The two of us laughed facing each other.
"Brother, thank you."
"Thank me for what? You won the bet and got it fair and square."
"What’s your request?"
"Why suddenly?"
"Even if it wasn't a bet, I'd still do you a favor. Tell me! I'll do anything."
"Anything?"
"Even if you asked me to spill your liquor all over Father's bed, I would do it."
"That wouldn't be doing a favor, that would be an assassination, wouldn't it?"
After joking around like that, the Drunken Demon, in the end, did not state any request.
"It's fine. I'll tell you if the opportunity comes later."
Since he seemed unwilling to say it now, I did not press him further.[c]
"Let's have another footwork race next time."
"Next time, let's bet with Longevity Liquor."
Longevity Liquor was another legendary drink, no less than Fire Dragon Liquor, for gaining internal energy.[d]
"Shall we head to the Ice Palace first?"
I tried to show consideration for Song Sa-hyuk, but he did not accept it.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even have thought about going. Go meet your heart first. You know where that heart is now, right?"
"If I knew where it was, I wouldn't be going. I’m going because I don’t know what it's doing or where."
"How are you going to find it?"
I stared at the river glittering like a jewel under the sunlight far away.
"Don't worry. Knowing my heart... it will be harder not to find her."
* * *
The two of us ran and ran toward the Northern Sea.
When we found an inn, we stayed there; if not, we camped outdoors.
I demonstrated my skilled camping abilities. After properly preparing the hunted game and even seasoning it with secret spices, the Drunken Demon expressed great admiration.
Seeing him happily enjoying it as the perfect drinking snack made me feel a little sorry. I had already cooked such dishes several times for the other Demon Supremes, and even taught my guards how to camp and cook.
Talking about unfinished stories like that, we continued running north.
Run, camp, run, drink. Without rest, we finally arrived at the Northern Sea.
"Snow."
Spring had already arrived in the Central Plains, but snow was piled up in the Northern Sea.
"There wasn't much snow this year, so I was a little disappointed, but let's enjoy it to our heart's content before we go back."
Watching my excited self, Song Sa-hyuk thought to himself..
'Will we really be able to play and return peacefully?'
Strangely, being with me made the Drunken Demon feel a primal sense of impending crisis, as if something was bound to happen. It must just be a feeling, right?[e]
The place where the two of us arrived was the village where the last news from Lee Ahn had come. It was located a little away from the center of the Northern Sea, so there were not many outsiders.
The villagers wore fur hats and clothes made from animal skins. Trees and plants that could not be seen in the Central Plains were growing all around. There was indeed a unique sense of mystery that the Northern Sea exuded.
'Why did Lee Ahn come all the way to such a remote place?'
She must have had a reason.
At the appearance of the two of us wearing thin martial robes, the villagers' gazes focused on us. Passersby, shop clerks, and people poking their heads out of windows all silently watched the two strangers.
"Let's go over there."
The place was peculiar — a tavern set up inside a cave.
When the two of us entered the tavern, several customers drinking inside all turned their eyes toward us at once. Their gazes were full of wariness.
Of course, neither I nor Song Sa-hyuk paid them any mind.
As we sat down, a tavern boy came over to greet us.
"Welcome!"
"Bring us some liquor and a few light dishes."
"Please wait just a moment!"
While looking around the interior, the Drunken Demon glanced up at the ceiling and said,
"I don't think I can even get drunk here. You never know when those things will fall on your head."
At his words, I raised my head. Long icicles stretched down from the cave ceiling like spears in several places.[f]
"If we break those and put them in the liquor, it would be nice and chilled."[g]
Hearing that, Song Sa-hyuk laughed, agreeing to the idea.
A moment later, the tavern boy brought out the liquor and food. There was no need to break the icicles. The cups themselves were already frozen solid.[h]
"If you drink from these, the liquor should stay nice and cold."
Even though it was cold outside, everyone here preferred drinking chilled liquor over warmed liquor.
"Hey, you."
"Yes, customer."
"Let me ask you something. Has a woman wearing a veil and carrying a sword ever come through here?"
"No. No such person has come."
But I saw it — in that fleeting moment, the tavern boy flinched. No matter how experienced he was, he could not deceive my eyes.
"We are friends of that heroine. We aren't bad people, so please tell us."
The Drunken Demon chimed in.
"Look at our faces. Do we look like villains to you?"
"In my experience, whether someone is a villain or not has nothing to do with their appearance. Anyway, I have never seen such a person."
After the tavern boy withdrew,Song Sa-hyuk wondered,
"Why do you think he lied when he clearly knew?"
The Drunken Demon had also realized that the tavern boy was lying.
"We must have looked like villains, so he tried to hide her."
At my words, Song Sa-hyuk bewilderedly touched his own face.
"This face? This handsome face? In what way!"
The Drunken Demon was indeed good-looking. Wherever he went, he could easily be called a charming middle-aged man.
If the Poison King, the unmasked Evil Smiling Demon, Song Sa-hyuk, and I traveled together, we would surely be called either the Four Handsome Men or the Four Heavenly Kings.[i]
"Otherwise, they must be associated with people so dangerous that even mentioning them is forbidden."
That was probably it. Otherwise, there would have been no need to hide the fact that they had seen Lee Ahn.
While we drank a few more cups, the tavern boy brought out some dishes. They were dishes native to the Northern Sea, ones that could not be found in the Central Plains.
As the tavern boy set down the dishes, I discreetly placed a silver ingot on the table. The tavern boy flinched. It was too large an amount for just a tip from a customer. It was an amount that would take at least ten days of work to earn.
The sharp-witted tavern boy immediately understood. He realized that I was telling him to give us information about that heroine and take the money.
"You two must be new around here, right?"
"That's right."
"I'll recommend some sightseeing spots nearby."
The tavern boy began to tell us about some places worth visiting around the area.
"If you go about five kms to the east, you'll find a place where snow flowers are blooming. It's a spectacular sight you can't see in the Central Plains. There's also the Suinsa Temple to the south, which is worth a visit. Be careful not to slip when climbing the stairs."
After mentioning a few more places, he added at the end,
"Oh, and don't ever go toward the manor to the west. It's a dangerous place."
That was enough. He had just told us that Lee Ahn had come here and had gone toward that manor.
The tavern boy took the money and went toward the kitchen. It was a clever answer. Even if problems arose later, he could claim he had never said anything directly about Lee Ahn.[j]
After leaving the tavern, the Drunken Demon and I headed west.
Following the directions the tavern boy had given, we indeed found a manor there.
As we entered through the front gate, Song Sa-hyuk looked around and said,
"Didn't you say you were looking for someone with a pretty heart?"
What came into our view was a single line.
From the trees and stone lanterns in the courtyard to the rear wall, everything was sliced in a perfectly straight line. It was as if someone had measured it with a ruler and cut cleanly— a flawless single strike.
And on the ground, bloodstains remained, not yet cleaned up. Judging by the scene, it was clear that those caught along that line had been sliced apart just as cleanly.
The Drunken Demon, shivering as if from the cold, pulled his collar tighter and said,
"That's not a pretty heart, it's a terrifying heart."[k]
[a]Each of them are also eccentric in their own way, like every true master should be.
[b]And just wait for him to fully integrate the Heavenly Demon Flight Technique ^^
[c]Still, for him to hesitate so much means it's significant.
[d]Glug glug glug.
Remember, drink moderately.
Sadly, IRL drinks don't give you superpowers, even if intoxication makesyou believe so.
[e]Good instincts. *thumbs up*
Wherever Mugeuk goes, chaos follows.
[f]Scary.
People can, and do actually die from that.
[g]The idea is nice, but if there are indoor icicles, the drinks are already chilled enough on their own.
[h]Aahhh, see ? Remember, your awesome editor is always right !!! (Except when I'm wrong, very often, but come on, roll with it ^^)
[i]How about the 4 Horsemen ?
Both meanings of the Bible and 'Now you see me' can apply, really XDXDXD
[j]Thanks !!!
[k]No, it's a heart capable of defending itself.
It'll only be terrifying when it becomes an angry wife XDXDXD