The one who watched just how strong a person could become was the White-Robed Scholar.

Of course, the subject must have been Cheonak. The one who watched just how mad a person could become was also the White-Robed Scholar.

And of course, the subject then was the me of my previous life. When I saw the suddenly appearing White-Robed Scholar, I thought this: that bastard is not the kind of person who would just let Cheonak or me die. Because if his subject of study disappears, he’ll have no way to resolve his curiosity.

He came to save me with a pure heart? Not yet.

That bastard possesses a terrifying obsession with what he does not know.

He waits until he understands, analyzes, studies, and constantly watches—in that way, he fits the essence of “scholar” more than anyone else.

And for the sake of doing that scholar’s work, he is someone who can throw away the mercy, courtesy, and humanity a person should fundamentally have, even going as far as to kill his own master.

On top of that, the bastard, who’s supposed to be an administrator of a faction, even committed the disgrace of crawling into the Martial Alliance. He must have been unable to resist his curiosity about Im Sobaek’s martial arts.

That’s why he’s a man who can’t stand the sight of me dying. Because he hasn’t yet grasped the True Art of Zaha and me.

If anything, I probably know that bastard’s nature better than he does himself. He couldn’t leave me to die, so he came—but that unpleasant sentiment was spat out in that white spit and disappeared.

To be exact, the White-Robed Scholar is observing me, and I am standing atop the head of the observer.

Meanwhile, the Grand Duke, who had also been carefully watching the White-Robed Scholar like me but in a different way, opened his mouth.

“I don’t care who you are.”

“......”

“You can’t even tell whether it’s a fight you’re allowed to step into or not, beast.”

The moment the word “beast” ended, a man shot out from the ghost crowd like an animal, leaping up in an instant to the middle of the building opposite the White-Robed Scholar, and then rushing forward with both hands wrapped in energy like a mountain beast lunging, roaring like a tiger.

The watching White-Robed Scholar stretched his hand forward and smiled. The body of the beast, soaring like a beam of light, touched the light streaming from the Scholar’s fingers and was immediately split left and right.

Splurt!

The split corpse plummeted like blood-soaked shredded wings. The heavier parts landed first, and the sprayed blood splattered with a wet sound—then silence followed. The White-Robed Scholar grinned brightly from the rooftop.

“When they come up, they’re human, but when they fall, they’re not.”

The Grand Duke, watching the corpse, spoke.

“There’s a top-level expert among the Scholar’s group who is particularly skilled in light arts. But unless Cheonak shows up, he won’t be able to get out of here. Surround him and kill him. I’ll take care of the Left Guardian.”

In that moment, the Grand Duke sharply turned his head.

“......!”

Above the heads of the ghosts fighting the Sword Demon, the Lecher was hanging upside down with both palms extended, and in that brief moment, the Sword Demon and the Drunk each beheaded one of the ghosts, whose bodies were beginning to freeze. This time, two heads fell without even a drop of blood.

Thump. Thump.

The Lecher landed lightly between the decapitated ghosts and put an arm around the shoulder of one headless corpse, glaring at the Grand Duke.

“Let’s see who dies.”

Judging by the way the corpse continued to freeze in the Lecher’s grasp, it looked like he was planning to use it as a weapon. Either way, that bastard was once a Left Guardian of the Demonic Cult himself, so he wasn’t the type to even blink at such a siege.

The White-Robed Scholar spoke in a calm tone.

“Lord Yang of the Pavilion, ever since you received your accolades, you’ve become too arrogant.”

“Hm.”

“A man who claims to be a hermit isn’t truly a hermit. I’m someone who watches men like you. Surprised to find that out?”

Sure enough, the Grand Duke stared at the White-Robed Scholar with eyes full of shock.

“......”

The White-Robed Scholar taunted the Grand Duke.

“Did the world look easy once you made the Cult Leader your brother-in-law? You should step down today. Let’s do it this way. In exchange, I won’t step into this fight either. Let the outcome here be decided between the ghosts and those four.”

The Grand Duke responded.

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

“It must be. If you reject my proposal one more time right here, then you’ll be forced into a light footwork duel with me.”

The Grand Duke glared at the White-Robed Scholar.

“What do you mean?”

The White-Robed Scholar looked down at him and spoke.

“Why ask when you already know? We’ll sprint toward Deep Valley, where the view is so lovely. I’ll burn every living thing there. To think you’ve planted yourself in the demonic path while pretending to have a cozy family life—shameless bastard. I’ll help you truly walk the demonic path. If you gain something, you should lose something too. You must have been living far too happily until now, but if you keep acting up like today, that happiness won’t last long. Your misfortune is my joy. Lord Yang, Lord of the Pavilion... Why did you crawl out here?”

Indeed, the White-Robed Scholar is a troublesome bastard to deal with.

Suddenly, the Grand Duke asked the Sword Demon for his opinion.

“Left Guardian, is what this man says true?” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

That bit about receiving accolades meant they had worked together to elevate the current Cult Leader to the top position. So the Sword Demon and the Grand Duke looked like old comrades.

The Sword Demon answered.

“Grand Duke, you already know the answer.”

The White-Robed Scholar added.

“Lord Yang of the Pavilion, even if I take you on myself, the result won’t change. Step back.”

I waited patiently and then clapped my hands, wrapping things up.

“Alright, let’s wrap this up.”

“......”

“The Scholar and the Pavilion Lord will spectate. The ghosts and we will decide the outcome. The reason we waited was to give the people nearby time to flee. By now, anyone who wanted to live must have gotten away.”

Unlike Cheonak, the White-Robed Scholar definitely prefers to solve things with cunning over brute force.

Frankly, it looked like I’d end up smashing the surroundings more than the ghosts would.

The Grand Duke glanced around, then quickly leapt into the air and settled on the rooftop of the building opposite the White-Robed Scholar.

I turned my eyes toward the buildings on both sides again.

‘This really isn’t all that great.’

Though I’d removed the Grand Duke from their power, seeing him and the Scholar both watching us from above wasn’t exactly a comforting sight. Looking at it like this, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) that bastard the White-Robed Scholar wasn’t helping, but he wasn’t not helping either.

‘Goddamn bastard...’

Still, I trust in the White-Robed Scholar’s malice. He’s probably the kind of sly bastard who, after we kill the ghosts, will join in and kill the Grand Duke. But the Grand Duke still looked plenty relaxed, so it felt like two sly snakes were watching us.

At least I accepted that the Grand Duke wasn’t weak, judging by the fact that the eldest brother was still showing him basic courtesy.

The Grand Duke gave the nasty signal to begin the battle.

“Kill them.”

I was actually in the far back, so I watched as the ghosts rushed forward and the Sword Demon, Lecher, and Drunk charged to meet them. I drew my wooden sword and walked, but I kept freezing up, bothered by the White-Robed Scholar and the Grand Duke.

“......”

What was this feeling? Now that I thought about it, no one was coming to attack me. That’s because the Grand Duke’s goal is to retrieve the Bright Sword and the wooden sword, kill the Four Great Villains, and capture me alive.

But is it even possible to capture me alive? Instinctively, I checked the Grand Duke’s expression.

As our eyes met, the Grand Duke grinned.

“Haomun Lord, what’s wrong? Not fighting yet? I’m curious about your skills too.”

Only then did my opponents appear. Red King and Blue Earth King leapt from within the ghosts and landed in front of me.

A chill ran down my back as I turned—and there stood White Sky King and Black Underworld King, blocking the retreat. Compared to when I last saw them, their energy and presence had grown heavier. As if their mouths had been sealed, they surrounded me without saying a word.

“It’s kind of nice to see you again after all this time.”

“......”

To be surrounded by the Four Heavenly Kings of the Cult...

At this point, I really thought maybe I should just let myself be taken. But if I got captured, I’d probably become a Heavenly Pearl ingredient. I already carry the Heavenly Pearl inside me—if they melted me down and poured me into another, the world might as well end.

I’m not doing this because I want to live. I’m doing this because I can’t let Jianghu be destroyed.

I wanted to squeeze out as much cunning as I could, but...

The Four Heavenly Kings all attacked at once.

I’m not joking—the only thought that came to mind was to run. Escaping into an alley looked too dangerous, so I dashed into the inn I’d been eyeing earlier. Luckily, the poor innboy wasn’t inside, and there were no innocent customers.

Even now, seeing the tables and chairs of the inn felt oddly comforting—maybe an occupational habit? I had the urge to straighten the fallen chairs.

Since I knew the layout well, I rushed upstairs, entered one of the rooms, and looked at the window. Suddenly, Blue Earth King appeared in front of me and swung his sword.

I crossed swords with him briefly.

Maybe he’d been feeding off crumbs in the old Stronghold—he deflected my sword well. Then White Sky King burst through the door, and with even the wall smashed in, I released the cold energy of Moonlight Cold Heart Technique and swung my sword.

As the chill exploded from my body...

The Four Heavenly Kings all retreated at once, some releasing energy blasts, others swinging swords.

In that brief moment, I shattered the ceiling and soared up. No wonder the fight felt so suffocating—I'd been battling in a low place. My paranoia kicked in again, making me constantly check on the Scholar and the Grand Duke watching from above. As I fled, I climbed stairs, sometimes leaping, and finally reached the rooftop.

At that moment, I saw a man’s hand grab the rooftop railing—Blue Earth King was rising again. Below, the other Heavenly Kings were also climbing up.

Only then did Blue Earth King finally speak.

“Haomun Lord, let us guide you to the Cult. The Cult Leader wishes to see you. If you refuse, he said we may cut off an arm or a leg.”

I scuttled sideways like a crab and replied.

“Yeah. I’m a little busy right now, so send him my regards. I’ll meet him later.”

The rooftops ahead varied in height, looking like a colorful ridgeline to my eyes. I ran. I jumped rooftops, leapt over drying laundry, landed on low buildings, then vaulted up onto high ones. In the midst of it, I glimpsed the Four Villains fighting ghosts and caught a passing look at the smiling faces of the Grand Duke and the White-Robed Scholar watching me.

Why the hell do I live like this?

It was laughable, sad, infuriating, and hilarious all at once. My mind was a swirling mess, and I couldn’t decide what to do, just running across rooftops. Come to think of it, it wasn’t the Chief Strategist who looked like a thief—it was me. I was the damn thief.

Thankfully, I was confident in my light footwork, so I ran hard with the Four Heavenly Kings tailing me. At one point, I leapt toward a distant rooftop, turned in midair, and released a sword energy blast.

Blue Earth King, who’d been chasing me without thinking, raised his sword in midair—and was flung the opposite direction by the explosion.

Boom!

I landed on the rooftop and laughed.

“Ah... life is beautiful...”

Honestly, I hadn’t said it out loud to anyone, but I’ve been sane for quite a while now. Maybe because I’d stayed comfortably at the Martial Alliance, or maybe because I found a pathetic sort of comfort in Im Sobaek, who lives as miserably as I do.

If I could keep living like this, maybe I too could live like a normal person.

As I dodged a throwing weapon flying at my back, I tripped over a slope and staggered. In that moment, a sword slash from one of the Heavenly Kings flew at me. I awkwardly leapt to dodge it—then came the shockwave.

I swung my wooden sword and blocked it, but the force sent me crashing into a wall and rolling across the ground. My back hurt. My head hurt. My heart hurt...

Today, of all days, I started thinking of Yoran.

I pictured Deuk-soo and Sister Hong eating with her.

I even imagined old man Geum Cheol-yong somewhere hammering away at heated iron. That clanging echoed in my head too—clang, clang. I sheathed my sword, flung both palms wide, and leapt into the air. Even in this chaos, I was still wrecking other people’s belongings.

Come to think of it, all the inns, houses, stalls, and family homes I passed already had spilled blood, disheveled bedding, and toppled chairs.

It had already happened.

As I waited, the Heavenly Kings who weren’t much slower than me in light footwork arrived and perfectly surrounded me. The feeling was a little strange, but unlike when I used to be mad, the world wasn’t turning purple.

I still had my sanity.

As I became aware of the slowly approaching Four Heavenly Kings, I drew my wooden sword and infused the blade with the energy of the Heavenly Pearl extracted from within me.

The blade, which had shone white, now turned violet, yet I was still in control of my mind.

“......”

The Four Heavenly Kings stopped at once, staring at my sword. Even in this chaos, I remembered exactly how the extreme yin and yang energies from the Heavenly Pearl flowed within me. Moonlight Cold Heart Technique and Crimson Free-Wandering Manual—both were triggered simultaneously inside me, without even a moment’s delay.

I said to the Four Heavenly Kings, “I’ll go meet the Cult Leader someday. But not today.”