When they arrived at the location, they found Hwang Gu, Buntaju, and a few beggars sitting there.
Among the beggars, there was one who seemed to hold a fairly high position, as evidenced by the four or more knots tied at his waist.
"The translation of the scroll has just been completed, Young Master," someone reported.
'This is going to be a real hassle,' Jin Cheon-hee thought to himself and immediately responded, "Would it be alright if I stepped out so as not to disturb you?"
His master had once told him that while it was good to help others, it was better not to get involved in troublesome matters.
The martial world wasn't a place where knowing a lot always led to good things.
Buntaju grabbed Jin Cheon-hee's arm.
"No, no, Young Master. We urgently need your help. It's absolutely necessary!"
"Ah..."
Jin Cheon-hee muttered.
Something that was absolutely necessary—it was probably related to needing a doctor.
For some reason, Jin Cheon-hee recalled one of the events he had read about in a novel. 'Could it be...?'
Buntaju continued, "The Sect Leader has been attacked by some mysterious assailants and is currently in hiding."
"Attacked?" Jin Cheon-hee asked.
"Yes. The Sect Leader had been traveling for a long time to retrieve a certain divine artifact. It's said that he successfully retrieved it, but at the same time, he was severely injured by a masked assailant, as written in the scroll."
Jin Cheon-hee realized who the assailant might be. 'Little Heavenly Demon...? Could it be? Then, that divine artifact...?'
It was a divine artifact related to the Demon Sect.
In the novel, the Heavenly Demon would go out with other Demon Sect members to achieve merit.
This was one of the journeys the protagonist undertook before becoming the Young Sect Leader.
"What about the assailants?" Jin Cheon-hee asked.
"Most of them were defeated, except for one," Buntaju replied.
"That one was particularly strong. We couldn't finish him off, and he managed to escape. But he was severely injured, so he probably didn't survive."
This was strange.
Originally, the Sect Leader should have died from the assailants' attack.
The butterfly effect had taken place.
Or perhaps it wasn't such a big variable after all.
If Wang Gak-yeon hadn't found Hwang Gu and asked Jin Cheon-hee for help, Hwang Gu would have died, and the Sect Leader, who was now hiding and holding on, would have perished as well.
It would take some time to track them down, but in any case, the divine artifact would have ended up in the hands of the Demon Sect.
'So, both the Heavenly Demon Yeo Ha-ryun and the Sect Leader were injured?'
But Jin Cheon-hee only had one body.
Not far away, an avalanche had occurred.
The roar of the falling snow was deafening.
A masked child assessed the power and range of the avalanche. 'Fortunately, I'm far enough away.'
This child was the protagonist of the novel Supreme Heavenly Demon, whom Jin Cheon-hee referred to as the Little Heavenly Demon—Yeo Ha-ryun.
The child, true to his role as the protagonist, had grown significantly in a short time.
Yeo Ha-ryun dragged his leg slowly, looking for a place to hide.
He didn't have enough energy left to use his movement techniques, and he had lost too much blood.
"Ugh..."
His delicate brows furrowed in pain.
Fortunately, a small cave came into view.
Yeo Ha-ryun buried himself deep inside the cave.
'If only I had struck one more sword strike, that old man would have died.'
It was a good night for an ambush.
All the operatives sent by the Divine Sect were highly skilled.
Each of them had ambitions to rise higher.
That old man... he was weak to emotions.
Despite searching for the Demon Sect's divine artifact, he had tried to carry a child with a broken leg down the mountain.
That child, of course, was a member of the main sect.
Could a five-year-old child realistically break his own leg to deceive someone? In the Sun and Moon Divine Sect, such a thing was entirely possible.
And how many people could ignore the cries of a child begging for his life in the cold mountains? At least, that old man couldn't.
Despite being the Sect Leader of the Beggar Sect, who held vast amounts of information, he couldn't harden his heart against the cries of a child who was like a grandchild to him.
'To be swayed by emotions and expose his back so easily—he doesn't deserve to be a Sect Leader,' the leader of the ambush squad had commented.
The strong rule supreme.
That was the most important principle of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect.
Compassion was a weakness.
And that old man had fallen victim to the Black Blood Mountain Poison injected by the child.
No matter how skilled a master was, once affected by the Black Blood Mountain Poison, the story changed.
The interesting part was that even as the ambush squad attacked, the old man couldn't bring himself to kill the child who had stabbed him in the back.
He only looked at the child with sad and pitiful eyes.
He was soft but strong.
Even as the poison turned his blood black, he managed to kill all the other operatives.
But he couldn't kill Yeo Ha-ryun.
'Why couldn't I deliver that final sword strike?' Yeo Ha-ryun thought as he pressed on his wound inside the cave.
The blood of the Heavenly Slaughter Star was still commanding him to kill.
In that frenzy and madness, Yeo Ha-ryun's sword had hesitated for a moment.
And this was the result.
Yeo Ha-ryun pressed hard on his wound.
Blood seeped through his fingers.
It was deep.
He wondered, 'Did the divine artifact I sent reach my brother safely?'
All he could do was kill.
No matter how precious the divine artifact was, once it was in his hands, it became nothing more than a tool for killing.
Following the blood, following fate, he killed... and after killing, what was left?
The boy, who had been thinking this way since his earliest memories, repeated the thought once more.
Then, a low growl echoed from deep within the cave.
The stench of a beast assaulted his nostrils.
It seemed the cave was inhabited by a beast.
A pitch-black bear, as large as a mountain, growled softly from within.
Yeo Ha-ryun didn't know if he had the strength left to kill it.
But he gripped his sword.
'Who should I save first?' Jin Cheon-hee thought as he prepared at the medical room of the White Lotus Pavilion.
As expected of a medical room affiliated with a major sect, most of the necessary supplies were available.
Outside, disciples of the Beggar Sect were organizing a pursuit team.
'Wait, let me rephrase the question.
Can I even save the Little Heavenly Demon in this situation?'
If he went to save the Heavenly Demon now, it would look like he was siding with the Demon Sect.
'But he's the protagonist, so he won't die easily... right?'
In the novel, whenever a crisis arose, he would think, 'He's the protagonist, so he won't die.
There's still so much story left.' But now that it was reality, that logic didn't hold.
People died easily.
Would Yeo Ha-ryun really overcome the crisis and survive on his own, just like in the novel?
'Ugh, it's not like I should be saying this since I'm the one changing the story, but can't things just go according to the original plot? Damn it.'
His dilemma didn't last long.
There was only one person here he could fully trust.
Someone with excellent skills, tracking abilities, and movement techniques.
"Oh, are you ready?" It was Wang Gak-yeon.
She was warming herself by the heated floor in the guest room of the medical pavilion.
She was also munching on some roasted potatoes.
"Gak-yeon, are you planning to join the pursuit team?"
"Of course. Who else is going to protect you here?" she said with a laugh, handing Jin Cheon-hee a potato.
The warm, roasted potato looked delicious.
It was hard to imagine that just a few hours ago, she had been shooting arrows and taking down enemies with ease.
'Is this what the martial world is like?'
It was about time he got used to it, but it was still a bit overwhelming.
"This is a really difficult problem. Can I ask for your help? It's okay if you refuse."
"Why are you being so formal? Just tell me," she said, her mouth curling into a grin.
After finishing their preparations, they stepped outside to find a woman standing among the Beggar Sect disciples.
Dressed in tattered clothes typical of the Beggar Sect, she had her hair tied with a straw rope.
She appeared to be in her mid-thirties.
Her face bore a large scar, and she carried the Beggar Sect's symbol, the Tagu Staff, at her waist.
"Damn it, I thought I'd be the one to deal with that old man," she said, her tone as rough as her appearance.
But the number and shape of the knots at her waist indicated that she was no ordinary member.
She was the Vice Leader of the Beggar Sect—the next in line to become the Sect Leader.
Her name was Seol Gyeon.
'Her original name was Seol Hwa, right? With the character for "flower."'
But her actions were far from flowery—gambling, stealing dog food, drinking, and causing disturbances... these were her pastimes.
Since childhood, she had shown exceptional martial talent, mastering the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms by the age of twenty and assisting in major martial world events from behind the scenes.
But at some point, something happened, and she changed completely.
Being a beggar, one didn't need to have good conduct.
As long as you could beg and survive, that was enough.
But since the Beggar Sect claimed to be part of the righteous faction, there were minimum standards to uphold, especially for someone who was to become the next Sect Leader.
She began to act out in ways that were extreme even by beggar standards.
It started with her drinking and urinating on the walls of the Martial Alliance.
That went on for ten years.
People didn't hesitate to call her Seol Gyeon.
'I know why she changed, though.'
The martial world was a strange place.
Jin Cheon-hee scratched his head.
'People think she's really a dog.'
When the Beggar Sect finally began to give up on finding their Sect Leader, she was the last one to keep searching.
She gave up her position as Vice Leader and searched alone for eight years.
And finally, she discovered who the real culprit was.
Yeo Ha-ryun.
The Heavenly Demon.
The martial world was shocked, but that was all.
No one stepped forward to avenge the Beggar Sect's grievances.
Not even the other Beggar Sect disciples.
Not even the next Sect Leader, who had taken the position after Seol Gyeon stepped aside.
Everyone said to give up.
Seol Gyeon said this: "Heh heh, do you know why my nickname is 'Dog'? Because once I bite, I don't let go."
Seol Gyeon spent two years in hiding, preparing for revenge.
And the trap she set worked quite well.
She had cornered the Heavenly Demon.
But the title of this novel was Supreme Heavenly Demon.
As long as the protagonist was the Heavenly Demon, he would never die.
In the end, Yeo Ha-ryun's hand pierced Seol Gyeon's chest.
Seol Gyeon spat out bright red blood and said, "The Heavenly Demon of the world using his true energy to kill a dog? The world will laugh at this. Hahahaha—!!"
Mad with laughter, Seol Gyeon died.
Yeo Ha-ryun, the Heavenly Demon, watched his nemesis die to the very end.
And, true to his role as the protagonist, he buried her with respect.
It was a strange scene for readers.
In the martial world, it was common for people to sacrifice their lives to avenge their sect's grievances.
Even if the opponent was the Heavenly Demon, even if it was an opponent they could never defeat, they still had to go.
That was the way of the martial world's grievances.
'But did Seol Gyeon really need to go that far?'
Jin Cheon-hee knew why she had become a dog.
It all started with the karma from the Sect Leader.