Published at 7th of June 2026 8:25 pm

Chapter 447

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First, I assessed the situation. My head wasn't working properly.

'... What is this.'

What could it be?

Even as I tried to grasp the situation, it wasn't easy.

The woman I was holding in my hand appeared to be about fifteen years old. Judging from her appearance, she didn't even look older than that.

For someone that age, she was impossibly beautiful. And her face closely resembled someone I knew.

No, not just a resemblance. If you just made that person younger, she'd look exactly like this.

"... Are you the Bow Ghost?"

I asked just in case. At my words, the girl glared at me fiercely.

"You bastard...!"

She shouted in a delicate voice, then struggled. But.

'... She's weak.'

I didn't feel any damage at all.

Was she even trying to use force?

There wasn't a hint of strength.

She was honestly no different from an ordinary person.

No, even for an ordinary person, her strength was weak.

"What on earth did you do to me...!"

"... Do to you? That's what I'd like to ask."

If this girl was really the Bow Ghost...

"Did you undergo reversal of age?"

Did she become young again, like the Sword Empress?

I asked with that meaning.

"How ridiculous."

The Bow Ghost's eyes narrowed upward.

"As if I would ever do such a thing."

"Then why do you look like this now?"

"This is all your fault, isn't it!"

"Me?"

What? Suddenly I was being pegged as the culprit, and I was dumbfounded.

"What did I do?"

"What did you do to my spirit?"

"Hmm?"

Spirit?

Did the topic of spirit just come up?

"What did I do...?"

Honestly, nothing much.

"I just tinkered with it a little."

"... Tinkered? Just tinkered?"

The Bow Ghost's face twisted.

"Do you really think just 'tinkering' would damage my entire spirit?"

"Why not?"

I chuckled.

"That's what I meant to do."

"... What?"

"Why would you show up in such a dangerous form and ruffle my feathers? You should have been more careful."

"You little...!"

What I did wasn't even much.

I just sprinkled a bit of death curse onto her spirit.

The curse pierced in like an awl, so whenever she tried to use spiritual ki, it would give her pain—and unless she extracted and dealt with it herself, she couldn't use her spiritual ki at all.

In other words—

"You could have just removed it and used your spiritual ki. Couldn't you do it?"

That meant the Bow Ghost hadn't managed to remove all the death curse I cast.

"... You..."

Grit—!

Her eyes shone with killing intent.

"Fine, let's say you didn't remove it. But why do you look like that?"

Why had she grown younger?

I couldn't understand.

It wasn't just her appearance that had regressed.

'I can't sense her energy at all.'

She was just a regular person.

Exactly the state of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl who possessed no ki.

"... I have no reason to tell you."

"Ah, I see."

It was fascinating, but if she put it that way, I wasn't particularly curious.

"If you're done with your business, you may leave. I'm a bit busy."

I had to get to Liaodong as soon as possible.

I was pressed for time; I really didn't have the leisure for a brawl with the Bow Ghost.

At my words, the Bow Ghost grabbed me.

"Remove it and go."

"Why are you like this?"

"I said, dispel the curse before you go."

"Ah, just do it yourself. Why is someone who used to act so confident acting like this now?"

She'd always been so composed in spirit form, so why like this now?

I shoved her away in disgust.

"Hurry up and remove it...!"

"I said no..."

"Young master Bang. We should be leaving—why aren't you coming...?"

Creeaak.

The door opened, and someone walked in. It was Poison Dragon.

"Hm?"

Poison Dragon narrowed his eyes at the scene unfolding inside.

"..."

Me, pushing away a fifteen-year-old girl I was holding onto.

Upon seeing this, Poison Dragon's eyes rolled.

"Hey."

I spoke hurriedly.

"It's not what it looks like, so don't misunderstand."

"My apologies."

"I'm telling you, it's not!"

"I will... let them know that our departure will be delayed for a bit—"

"I'm saying it's not like that! Don't you dare walk away!"

I shouted, but Poison Dragon had already darted out like a shot.

"Ah, damn it."

I'm screwed.

* * *

I chased after Poison Dragon to the carriage.

I was rushing, but couldn't move at full speed.

It was because the Bow Ghost was clinging to my back.

"Seriously, why are you acting like this?"

"Remove the curse, I said!"

"... Ha."

The same answer, over and over. I stopped in my tracks.

Only then did the Bow Ghost get down from my back, and I said,

"It'll come undone on its own."

"What?"

The Bow Ghost's eyes widened.

"Give it some time, and it'll resolve itself. I didn't even cast it that strongly."

"... What does that..."

"Either work hard and remove it yourself, or just wait a bit. It'll be gone in a month or two. I set it up deliberately, so if you try to force it, it'll shatter instead."

Whether I could dispel it myself was ambiguous.

Rather than a death curse, it was closer to a seal.

For it to work, it had to be something I myself couldn't just undo, so I cast it that way on purpose.

"... Such a thing exists?"

"I put a lot of effort into learning it, you know? Isn't it neat?"

Of the things I learned from Chief Baek in my previous life, this was one of the most useful.

I remembered pinning down evil spirits with this, after all.

"What exactly are you...?"

The Bow Ghost asked in confusion.

"I'm the third son of the Bang Family."

"You know that's not what I'm asking, right?"

"Why not? It's my identity."

He was denying me as a person entirely. How absurd.

"Anyway. That's how it is, so handle it yourself. I'm a bit busy right now."

"... How am I supposed to trust that? It's absurd."

"It doesn't matter whether you believe me. If you want, senior can think about it together with her disciple."

I mentioned Death King.

I had cast something similar, though weaker, on that old man too.

"Don't be such a hassle and just leave, will you?"

I didn't know why the Bow Ghost ended up like that. I didn't care to know, either.

"Or else, keep scheming with the Young cult leader if you want."

"..."

She reacted when I mentioned what she'd asked of the Young cult leader.

"I'm off."

I put some distance between us during the gap.

With a regular person's body, she wouldn't be able to keep up with my speed.

In a flash, I'd reached the carriage.

"So, well... I, uh, went to the quarters, and Young master Bang was..."

I saw the back of Poison Dragon's head.

I immediately smacked it.

Slaaap-!!

"Gah!!"

"I told you not to spout nonsense. It's not what it looks like."

"Urrghh...!!!"

He knelt down, clutching his head.

Yu Yun and Yu Yul looked disappointed, as they had been listening, clearly entertained.

"What is it? It was just getting to the fun part."

"It's nothing interesting. This guy's just spouting crap."

I grabbed the staggering Poison Dragon and tossed him into the carriage.

Watching him crumple in, I said,

"... Quit babbling and just drive. And keep your mouth shut."

"... Y-yes..."

Still in pain, Poison Dragon nodded, holding his head.

After giving him a final warning, I called to the others.

"Everyone, take your seats. The sooner we leave, the sooner we return."

"You really plan to come back quickly?"

Yu Yul sounded surprised.

"Why?"

"Well, it's your hometown, but you don't seem excited at all."

"Ah, yeah. Not really."

He was right.

It's my hometown, but there's nothing exciting about it.

To be honest, I didn't even want to go.

'... That damn trash heap of a family.'

It was the last place I wanted to see.

'But what else can I do.'

I had to go.

Work called for it.

If I didn't go, the loop would unravel, and I'd be the one suffering for it.

And,

'I need to see elder brother, too.'

It was also time I saw the rascal young head for the first time in a while.

"... Let's go."

At my words, Yu Yul and Yu Yun nodded, getting into the carriage.

As I was about to step in after them—

"Are you leaving?"

A voice came from somewhere.

I turned around to see an old man. It was the Tyrant King.

"Ah, elder."

"You're off to Liaodong, I hear."

"Yes. I'll be back soon."

This was all arranged already.

"Don't you wonder what the Demonic Cult might do while you're gone?"

He smiled playfully. I scratched my cheek at that.

"Well, I'm sure the seniors here can handle it."

"Heh..."

"We are in Henan, you know. There are plenty of great figures here; what is there to worry about?"

If something would explode just because I'm here, then it would have exploded anyway.

With so many Heaven Beyond Heaven gathered here, what could possibly go wrong?

If something disastrous happened, it wasn't in my hands to prevent.

"... I can't tell if you're open-minded or just thoughtless."

"I'm always grateful."

This was gratitude for having postponed the suggestion that I visit the Mo family.

'So busy...'

Even after coming back from Liaodong, going straight to the Mo family wouldn't be possible.

'I've got the matter of the gathering first.'

That had to be settled before going to the Mo family.

"I would love to go with you, but the task you shoved on me is no ordinary matter."

The Tyrant King sounded genuinely displeased.

"Ahaha..."

"Don't laugh. I am seriously not pleased about this."

"My apologies."

"You'd best be quick to return. If not the Demonic Cult, then it might be me who loses my temper."

"Oh..."

That was a genuinely frightening threat.

I let out a few fake coughs.

Seeing that, the Tyrant King turned his back.

"Go on, then."

"Yes, sir."

After hearing his farewell, I closed the carriage door.

"Alright, should we se—"

"Are we ready to depart?"

A cheerful voice made me pause.

Not a voice I should have been hearing here.

"What's wrong, young master?"

Grinning at me was Ghost Demon.

What the hell?

When did he get in?

And in the form of a servant, no less.

"..."

Was I seeing things? I rubbed my eyes and asked by telepathic transmission.

-... How did you get in here?

― You said you were leaving, so I came along.

― What about the Young cult leader?

― That one is in no condition to worry about me now. After all, thanks to you, my heaven, something big occurred.

"..."

Ghost Demon seemed to know that I had messed with the Young cult leader by pretending to be the Heavenly Demon.

Not a guess, but a look of certainty.

It was deeply unsettling.

― I don't know what you're talking about.

― As expected of my heaven.

What does that even mean...

'How does he know?'

Even asking that felt pointless.

Ghost Demon knew I possessed the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, that I could wield it.

And furthermore—

'That I used demonic ki.'

It was through the Heavenly Demon, but he even knew I could handle demonic ki.

-... As expected, my heaven always has a plan—plans so unfathomable that base people like me cannot even guess at them.

-...

He was seriously misunderstanding something, but I didn't bother denying it.

If I started, there'd be no end.

-... Are you sure it's alright for you to come?

― The path my heaven walks is the path I must follow.

His voice was tinged with madness. Now he truly terrified me.

"... Let's go. Hey, set out."

I muttered feebly. At my words, the coachman cracked his whip.

Neighhhh—!!!

The carriage began to move.

It was my first journey to Liaodong in years.

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