Little Demon Reversion to Youth

Chapter 42

"Oh, right. Menghua!"

Baekji, who was about to leave, called Menghua, who was standing in a corner of the main hall.

Menghua was being held hostage at the White Mountain Sect until Hongyan came.

"Yes!"

"Apply it."

Menghua took out a powder puff and applied something to the necks of those in the main hall.

"What is this?"

When Bai Renguang refused, Baekji said, "Stay still."

Menghua applied the powder from the powder puff to the necks of those in the main hall and said, "It's Thousand Li Tracking Incense. Once it's applied, it lasts for a hundred days, so bathing is useless."

Baekji said, "It would be more certain if I fed them poison... what a shame. If those brats run away, Menghua, you... will be hit."

Since Baekji couldn't kill people, he had changed his threat to 'will be hit'.

Menghua looked mournful.

"I can only chase them."

"That's enough. How far can they run in a hundred days?"

Baekji glared.

"If you're caught running away, I'll break your limbs and shatter your dantian."

"...!"

"I can do that much."

* * *

Zheng Qing was worried about her daughter, who had become the sect master of the White Mountain Sect.

"Let's just go home."

"No. It's irreversible now."

Yang Soryeong held Zheng Qing's hand.

"From now on, no matter what anyone says, I won't be separated from you, mother."

Zheng Qing held her daughter's hand back.

"Yes. Let's die together if we have to."

Yang Soryeong buried her head in her mother's chest.

Zheng Qing stroked Yang Soryeong's back and said, "I'm worried about Old Man Ma."

She had been captured, and only Old Man Ma was left.

"I've sent people, so they will bring him."

Yang Soryeong had sent people as soon as she had heard Yang Jongu's words. Although their paths had crossed because Zheng Qing had been captured by the Meixian Fang, they would bring Old Man Ma.

"Then that's a relief."

Just then, Bangbang came and reported, "Guard Shang has come."

Shang Yiqing entered.

As soon as Shang Yiqing saw Zheng Qing, he prostrated himself. Since she would be his future mother-in-law, he had bowed deeply, but Zheng Qing felt burdened.

"Then you two talk."

When Zheng Qing left, Shang Yiqing said, "Grand Martial Uncle is going to the main mountain."

Since Bai Renguang had recovered on his own and Bai Yandu had also come to his senses, there was no reason for True Man Changshan to stay any longer.

"I have to escort Grand Martial Uncle to the main mountain."

"I'll see you off."

As Yang Soryeong was about to stand up, Shang Yiqing waved his hand.

"No. Grand Martial Uncle dislikes troublesome things and said he would go quietly. He said not to come out."

"Still..."

"He told me to give you this."

Shang Yiqing held out a bundle in his hand.

When Yang Soryeong opened it, there were pine needle dumplings and a black pill.

"The pill is Baekji's medicine."

"Baekji's medicine?"

True Man Changshan had said he would make a medicine to cure Baekji's amnesia.

'If Baekji regains his memory, won't he become even more fierce?'

She had seen with her own two eyes Baekji mercilessly beating the battered Mo Dahou and Hu Yeonjo with his bamboo staff.

'Still, I should give it to him, right?'

Yang Soryeong took the pill and placed it on the side table by the window.

Shang Yiqing hesitated and then said, "Soryeong. I will learn more martial arts at the main mountain. I will become a master that no one can ignore and propose to you."

"..."

"You can wait until then, right? You can't marry the Young Sect Master."

"I have no intention of marrying anyone."

"Don't say that."

"It's true. I... will make money."

"What?"

"I am the daughter of a merchant. I will lead a merchant guild and travel to every corner of the world."

Shang Yiqing thought to himself.

'Soryeong is still young. Let's wait.'

Shang Yiqing said with a lighthearted expression, "Alright. As long as you don't marry the Young Sect Master."

* * *

A small estate a little away from the Hongmeng Brothel.

In a secret room deep in the inner garden, Hongyan was prostrating herself.

A man with a huge build was sitting on the head seat.

Hongyan couldn't even raise her head.

"A master who recognized the Nine-Tailed Jade Shattering has captured Menghua? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

Although she had reported the situation of the Hongmeng Brothel to the main sect, she had not expected such a high-ranking official to come so quickly.

'The rumor that all the Divine Generals have come out must be true.'

Considering the distance from the Heavenly Mountain where the sect was located, the Eastern Divine General must have been in the Central Plains.

The Eastern Divine General, Tie Yantai.

If the Cult Leader was the sky, the Four Divine Generals were the four pillars that supported the sky.

It was also surprising that Tie Yantai, who was in charge of the eastern sky, had appeared in Sichuan.

Hongyan was anxious, wondering if she would be punished for the crime of exposing a demonic art.

"But that master is a child of about fifteen?"

"That is correct."

"You don't know his origin sect?"

"No. That is what is strange. He calls a girl of the same age 'master'. If he is the master of such a master, he must be an absolute master."

"There is an absolute master in the White Mountain Sect? Are you telling me to believe that?"

Tie Yantai muttered to himself.

Even in the sect, which was full of masters, there were only two absolute masters.

The Cult Leader and the Young Cult Leader.

But an absolute master was crouching in a mid-sized sect in Sichuan?

Was that possible?

'It might be related to the appearance of the Blood Hand Grand Seal. Could he be a disciple of the Blood Sect Leader? No!'

At the thought that suddenly crossed his mind, Tie Yantai shot up.

'What if the Blood Sect Leader has obtained a new body through the Soul Exchange Grand Technique?'

Tie Yantai knew well that the Blood Sect used all sorts of demonic arts.

'I must find out for sure.'

"Are there any other movements around the White Mountain Sect?"

"After the Qingcheng Sect left, suspicious brats appeared. I am watching them, as they seem to be remnants of the Blood Sect. And a few days ago, the Meixian Fang Master came and went from the White Mountain Sect."

Hongyan reported on the movements of the White Mountain Sect and its surroundings.

Tie Yantai was not interested in the likes of the Meixian Fang.

"Remnants of the Blood Sect? There was no such report."

"It is not yet certain..."

"I believe I ordered you to report any matter related to the Blood Sect, no matter how trivial, immediately."

"I'm sorry."

After the report was finished, Tie Yantai said, "I told you not to use the martial arts of our sect carelessly, and you have violated that, so originally, I should punish you. However, since you have found out that the Blood Hand Grand Seal has appeared, I will offset your merits and demerits."

Hongyan let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

A rumor had spread that the body of a warrior with the Blood Hand Grand Seal imprinted on it was at the front of the White Mountain Sect estate. When everyone said it wasn't true, Hongyan had approached Hu Yeonjo and had found out that Bai Renguang had been hit by the Blood Hand Grand Seal.

In the process, she had been caught by Baekji, and her demonic art had been revealed.

'That incident saved and killed me.'

"You have a job to do. Spread the rumor about the Blood Hand Grand Seal."

"What?"

"I'm telling you to spread the rumor that Bai Renguang almost died after being hit by the Blood Hand Grand Seal. Also spread the rumor that there is a secret to his survival."

In the past, numerous masters had died from the Blood Hand Grand Seal. If it became known that there was a way to survive, the whole world would be interested.

Tie Yantai decided to raise the stakes.

"I understand."

The orders of a superior must be carried out without question.

"But Menghua..."

"I will take care of Menghua. You may leave."

"Thank you."

After Hongyan left the secret room, the lone Tie Yantai muttered, "The rumor that the Blood Hand Grand Seal has appeared must reach the Young Cult Leader's ears..."

The Young Cult Leader gritted his teeth at the mention of the Blood Sect.

The only ones who had learned the Blood Hand Grand Seal in the Blood Sect were the Blood Sect Leader and the left and right Honored Ones.

When they had smashed the Blood Sect, they had missed those three brats. Because of that, the Divine Generals had almost been killed by the Young Cult Leader.

But now, after more than ten years, the Blood Hand Grand Seal had appeared again.

It meant that one of the three brats had been at the White Mountain Sect.

If the Young Cult Leader heard this news, he would come running immediately.

"But it's strange. To have lived in hiding all this time and then to appear as soon as the Young Cult Leader went missing."

He was worried that the Young Cult Leader's disappearance might be a trick of the Blood Sect.

'First, I have to meet that so-called master of the White Mountain Sect.'

While he was at it, he had to capture and interrogate Bai Renguang.

Tie Yantai was cautious. If that young master was one of the Blood Sect Leader or the left and right Honored Ones who had changed their body, it would be difficult to handle him alone. Moreover, there was also the girl who was his master.

'Grrr. Should I call that Western Divine Messenger brat?'

* * *

"What? Where did my medicinal herbs go?"

Baekji jumped up when he saw that his hidden medicinal herbs were gone.

Ajok said, "True Man Changshan took them."

"That old thief? I knew it!"

Baekji slung his bamboo staff over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to get my medicinal herbs back."

"True Man Changshan has left."

"What? Left? Where to?"

"I don't know. The Grandmaster would know."

"I'll chase him to the ends of hell!"

Baekji went to the Songhua Hall.

Yang Soryeong's heart sank at Baekji's fierce gaze.

"What's wrong now?"

"True Man Changshan, he went to Mount Qingcheng, right?"

"Why do you ask?"

Since the atmosphere was not ordinary, she couldn't just tell him.

"That old Taoist stole my medicinal herbs."

"No. The medicinal herbs were the payment for your medicine."

"My medicine?"

Yang Soryeong explained the situation and brought the pill she had placed on the side table.

"Hmm. This is the medicine that will bring back my memory?"

"You don't need it now, do you? Your memory has returned."

Yang Soryeong said cautiously.

Even with half his memory returned, he was quick to say he would kill people. What would happen if it returned completely?

She was worried.

"It would be better if you didn't take it."

"No. My memory is not complete."

Baekji picked up the pill with an expectant look and sniffed it.

It had a bitter smell.

Baekji was one to eat any medicine he saw first. But for some reason, he felt a sense of unease.

'I don't know what tricks that old Taoist Changshan might have played. Could it be poison?'

He gently scraped the surface of the pill, made a powder, and tasted a little.

It was not poison.

'That old Taoist is good at making medicine. He's a so-called elder of a righteous sect, isn't he? It wouldn't be poison.'

Baekji put the pill in his mouth.

"How is it? Are you okay?"

Yang Soryeong asked.

Baekji's blinking eyes slowly closed.

"I'm sleepy."

Baekji collapsed, and Yang Soryeong caught him.

"Kids. Baekji is sleeping."

Bangbang and the others came, carried Baekji, and laid him on the bed.

* * *

On the road to Mount Qingcheng, a cart pulled by two mules rolled along.

True Man Changshan, sitting on the cart loaded with bundles of dried medicinal herbs, was making pine needle dumplings and then picked his ear.

Shang Yiqing, who was leading the mules, saw him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I think I hear a buzzing sound in my ear."

"Could a bug have gotten in? Shall I take a look?"

"No. Hehehe. It happens sometimes when you get old."

After going in silence, now that he had started talking, he wanted to ask what he was curious about.

"But, how did Baekji become such a master?"

"You too can become like that if you devote yourself to training for fifty or sixty years. Though you'll have to eat some good medicine sometimes."

"Baekji is young, but he's a master."

"No. That brat is an old imugi."

'Imugi?'

Shang Yiqing, who knew that True Man Changshan sometimes said strange things, just let it go.

Shang Yiqing licked his lips as he looked at the bundles of medicinal herbs.

"If I eat good medicine, will my internal energy increase rapidly?"

"To become like Baekji, this kind of medicine is not enough. You have to eat things like a dragon's core or a thousand-year-old stalactite."

"Do such things really exist? Could Baekji have eaten something like that?"

"I don't know. It seems they exist, but I'm not sure. How would I know when that brat himself doesn't know what he ate?"

True Man Changshan had seen with his own two eyes Baekji send Mei Zhongjun and Wu Tai flying with one blow.

And he had solidified his suspicion that he was an absolute master who had undergone 'reversal of aging' after eating a legendary spiritual medicine like a dragon's core or a thousand-year-old stalactite.

'Who on earth has undergone reversal of aging?'

The reason he was hurrying back to Qingcheng was to find out about the movements of the absolute masters.

Reversal of aging was a story that only appeared in legends, like a dragon's core or a thousand-year-old stalactite.

He had occasionally seen cases where one's appearance became younger when their martial arts reached the extreme. But he had never seen a case where one's body completely transformed into that of a child like Baekji.

Even True Man Changshan himself was half-convinced, half-skeptical.

"If Baekji's memory returns, we can ask him."

"I don't know. Will his memory return?"

"Since you gave him the medicine, Grand Martial Uncle, it will return."

"Hehehe."

True Man Changshan let out an unreadable laugh.

* * *

He opened his eyes.

A lazy sense of happiness washed over him.

"A-eum. I slept well."

He got up and stretched.

"Master Bai? You're up early this time."

Zhongmei, who was guarding the bedside,'s face lit up.

When Baekji had fallen asleep, the Seven Plums had taken turns guarding the bed.

They had said he would sleep for a few days, but he had woken up in just one day.

"I'll bring you something to drink."

Zhongmei went out.

Baekji felt like he could fly.

An unknown sense of fulfillment made him smile broadly.

"Why do I feel so good?"

(End of Chapter)