Little Demon Reversion to Youth

Chapter 43

"Master, have some of this."

Ajok placed a meatball on the plate in front of Baekji.

"Yes. Thank you."

Baekji smiled brightly, picked up the meatball, and put it in his mouth.

For some reason, Ajok got goosebumps.

The person had changed.

He was so different that it was somehow frightening.

'There has to be a middle ground. A middle ground.'

It was from one extreme to the other.

"It's nice to have a meal with you, Master."

"Me too. My heart ached so much when my master ate alone. Isn't it so much better to eat together like this?"

Senior Oh said.

It was a meal where everyone ate together.

The Baekji with the fierce eyes had eaten alone, but the newly awakened Baekji had suggested they eat together.

"Let's always eat like this from now on."

When Yang Soryeong said that, Baekji nodded.

"Let's do that."

Zhong Jia appeared, holding a large plate.

"Wow. What is this?"

"Today's special! Spicy braised duck."

Zhong Jia said to Baekji.

"This was made to commemorate Master Bai's re-entry into the way of cooking."

Zhong Jia tore off a leg and placed it in front of Baekji.

"Thank you."

This time too, Baekji smiled brightly.

'What happened? Did he get amnesia again?'

Ajok had a guilty conscience. He had gone to True Man Changshan and had asked him to add a personality-softening effect to Baekji's medicine.

It was an act of a sense of duty to prevent Baekji from becoming a public enemy of the martial world.

"Hehehe. To change a personality. What an interesting child. How did you think of that? To change a personality with medicine? What a novel idea."

"Is it possible?"

"I don't know."

True Man Changshan had not given a definite answer.

So, he had no way of knowing what kind of medicine he had been given.

'Amnesia again? No. He wasn't like that even when he had amnesia.'

After the meal, Ajok cautiously approached and asked, "Master, what are you going to do with the brothel owner, Menghua?"

"Menghua? That liar?"

Menghua was confined to a room in the lower building of the Songhua Hall.

"She has a bad temper. The Seven Plums are having a hard time taking care of her. Why don't we just let her go?"

"No. If she throws a tantrum, break one of her legs."

He smiled brightly while saying to break her leg.

"No. I will try to persuade her well."

Baekji smiled affectionately and said, "Is the general manager's job hard?"

"No. It's great. I will devote my body and soul!"

Ajok jumped up.

He had gone from being a servant of the Yang Merchant Guild to the general manager of the White Mountain Sect. He was in the process of achieving his dream of rising in status, so he couldn't quit.

"You're going to grind your bones and put your body into it? You don't have to go that far. What's so special about the general manager position to risk your life? Just do it in moderation."

Baekji smiled and patted Ajok's shoulder. Although it was meant as encouragement, Ajok's heart was heavy.

'Something is strange.'

* * *

A down-and-out scholar stood in front of the main gate of the White Mountain Sect.

The guard guarding the gate asked, "What is your business?"

"I am a scholar who has failed the state examination and is wandering the world. I have come to ask for a few days of lodging."

"If you are a scholar, go and find a literary family. This is a martial sect."

"People eat and sleep, so as long as there is a roof to shelter from the rain, is there a need to distinguish between literary and martial?"

"This person? This sect is currently in a state of emergency. We don't know what will happen, so please go on your way."

Bai Renguang had taken the White Temple Brigade, the Great Light Brigade, and the White Mountain Brigade and had gone on an expedition following the Meixian Fang.

The only ones guarding the White Mountain Sect were a few dozen escort warriors.

Ajok, who had become the general manager, was tightening security just in case.

"The hegemon of Sichuan, the White Mountain Sect, is in a state of emergency. I'm even more curious. Don't be like that and let me in. Although I may look like this, I am well-versed in the news of the martial world. I might be of help to your superiors."

The down-and-out scholar was confident.

Senior Oh, who was passing by, heard the conversation between the two.

The down-and-out scholar's aura was not ordinary.

'A strange person?'

Senior Oh approached.

"You said you know a lot about the martial world?"

"Who are you?"

"Ahem. I am called Senior Xiaoyao."

"Senior Xiaoyao?"

"A high-ranking official of the White Mountain Sect, shall we say?"

The down-and-out scholar never forgot a face he had seen once.

'This brat was a servant who was following Yang Soryeong.'

The down-and-out scholar had watched Yang Soryeong's wedding procession. He had seen Senior Oh at that time.

But he pretended not to know and put on a surprised expression.

"Ah! So you were. I apologize for not recognizing you."

"Hahaha. Didn't they say that the four seas are one family? Please come in. Since I have been idling in a remote corner of the countryside, I am curious about how the martial world is doing these days."

Senior Oh, who dreamed of being a great hero, laughed heartily and brought in a fellow of the martial world.

* * *

Ajok, who had become the general manager, was so busy that even if he had two bodies, it would not be enough.

He had to take care of the household of the White Mountain Sect with three butlers. In the midst of that, he trained, and at night, he organized the documents and papers of the general manager's office.

Although his body was tired, Ajok, who had entered the path of rising in the world, did not feel the hardship.

He could have had an easy life if he had entered a store as a clerk, but the reason he had become a servant of the Yang Merchant Guild was to learn great things.

A chance had come like a miracle.

After meeting Baekji, he had learned writing and martial arts and had become the general manager of the White Mountain Sect.

The general manager's job was not easy.

There were numerous ledgers to record and check.

Creak.

The office door opened, and Ximen Suo, with a splint on one leg, limped into the general manager's office.

"You've come."

Ajok was friendly to everyone. He approached Ximen Suo with a smiling face.

"You're finally calling me. How is it? It's not easy trying to do it alone, is it?"

"I have called you because there is something to confirm in the documents."

He had piled the documents that needed to be confirmed by Ximen Suo on his desk.

"What's there to confirm... can you even read it?"

Ximen Suo slumped into the general manager's chair, leaned back, and put his splinted foot on the desk.

Ximen Suo said, putting on airs, "Just say you can't do it. The household of the White Mountain Sect is quite large. It's not something anyone can manage."

Ximen Suo was relaxed.

He had been the general manager of the White Mountain Sect for over twenty years. There was no corner of the White Mountain Sect that his hand had not touched.

Moreover, the complicated flow of funds was not something a mere servant could handle.

'Hehe. His head must be splitting.'

Ximen Suo thought that Ajok had been unable to handle it and had called him.

In terms of martial arts and experience, Ajok was a brat who could not be compared to him.

He ignored him.

"Learn under me for three years. Then you can be a butler. And..."

"Butler Xi?"

Ajok cut off Ximen Suo's words.

Ximen Suo was officially the butler of the back garden forest.

Ajok picked up a book on the desk and rolled it up.

"Butler Xi, you need to learn the basics."

"What?"

Thwack!

Ajok struck the splinted leg that was on the desk with the rolled-up book.

Crack.

The shinbone, which had barely healed, broke again.

"Aack! You, you brat?"

"A desk is not a place to put your smelly feet. It is a place where sacred books should be."

"A-uuuk! This bastard!"

Thwack!

He hit the same place again.

"Keuak!"

"You're not coming to your senses. I am the general manager, and you are the butler. You should distinguish between high and low. How much do you have to be hit to come to your senses?"

"Sto, stop... I, I was wrong."

* * *

Yang Soryeong called Baekji to the back garden of the Songhua Hall.

As autumn reached its peak, it was a colorful and splendid garden.

Yang Soryeong and Baekji sat at a tea table in the pavilion.

Bangbang brought refreshments and placed them.

Smile.

Baekji smiled at Bangbang.

Bangbang made a strange expression and then quickened her steps and disappeared.

Yang Soryeong hesitated and then asked Baekji, "Baekji."

"Yes?"

"How much do you remember?"

"Memory? I remember everything."

His memory from after he had woken up as Baekji continued.

"What about before?"

"Not yet."

"That's strange. I thought you would find your memory if you took the medicine."

Yang Soryeong was really curious about what was going on in Baekji's head.

"How do you feel?"

It was normal for him not to feel good since he hadn't found his memory even after taking the medicine.

"Good."

A lazy sense of happiness and a full sense of fulfillment made him smile.

'He's not normal.'

Yang Soryeong sighed.

'Anyway, it's a relief that he feels good. He won't kill people carelessly.'

Just then, Jang Sam ran up.

"Grandmaster, people from the Martial Alliance have come."

"The Martial Alliance?"

"They say they're some kind of investigators, but they have a nasty impression. They're looking for you, Grandmaster."

Yang Soryeong stood up.

"I'll be back."

"Yes."

Baekji answered absently and stared blankly at the back garden with a lazy gaze.

All sorts of sounds came to his ears.

Rustle...

The sound of Yang Soryeong's skirt brushing as she walked became clear and then disappeared.

Silence fell in the back garden.

To Baekji's ears, it was not silence.

The sound of leaves rustling in the wind, the sound of carp swimming in the pond, the sound of insects passing through the grass.

The colors that filled the back garden also came into view at once. The red, yellow, and blue leaves, receiving the sunlight, shone in their own ways. His eyes were almost stinging from the light emitted by the trees, rocks, and flowers.

It was not just sight and hearing. His sense of smell and touch opened, and his sense of taste also awakened. He could feel the scent and taste of pine in the passing wind.

He looked at the sky.

A clear autumn sky.

But he heard a thunderous sound. An immense energy covered the sky and moved with an unimaginable force.

'The true realm of a True Man...'

The latent power that had been dormant when he had woken up as Baekji was manifesting day by day. He took it for granted. He was engrossed in learning, practicing, and having fun every day.

There was no lack.

After that, when he had felt his identity, he had tried to operate his internal energy as his body was accustomed to, but he had been blocked and had been at a loss. But he had immediately learned how to draw out the energy accumulated in his entire body, not just his dantian. He had learned it so easily and naturally, but he had not thought about why he could do so.

The not-so-long past time passed by in a flash.

Now, at this time, when his five senses were open and he could feel the energy of heaven and earth.

A sense of fulfillment overflowed.

It felt like he had entered a new realm.

'How did I learn martial arts?'

He tried to recall the time he had first learned martial arts, but he couldn't remember.

So, he couldn't know the origin of his martial arts.

He only had the feeling that he had trained for a long time, practicing forms and techniques, breathing according to the law and the way.

The feeling of hitting a wall, breaking that wall, reaching the extreme, and then going beyond that extreme to reach another boundary...

The feeling of having broken countless walls and gone beyond the extreme.

And now, he felt that he had reached the source of all those actions.

A realm that could not be reached just by the will to do so.

It was a realm that he had reached naturally, carried by the overflowing sense of fulfillment.

'Let's just leave it.'

Baekji sat in the pavilion in the back garden and entrusted himself to the immensely vast universe.

The unity of self and the universe.

Grin.

They said one felt joy when one attained enlightenment.

Baekji smiled instead and looked at the sky.

'Changshan, what did you give me?'

* * *

Guest hall of the White Mountain Sect.

Nangong Zhao was looking at a painting hanging in the guest hall while waiting for the White Mountain Sect Master.

It was an elegant landscape painting, but it did not catch his eye.

'They said the new White Mountain Sect Master is a young girl... who is behind her?'

He was considering what kind of variable the change of the sect master would be for his work.

He was not interested in the White Mountain Sect.

Although the situation of the White Mountain Sect was complicated, he was confident that he could get what he wanted.

Seven years since he had entered the military affairs department of the Martial Alliance as an investigator and had become the chief investigator.

He had solved numerous cases and had experienced all sorts of things in the process.

Tired from the heavy workload, he just hoped that things would be resolved easily.

The door opened, and the sound of someone entering was heard.

"The Sect Master has come."

Jang Sam's voice was blunt. He was displeased with Nangong Zhao, who was pretending to look at the scroll even though he had heard the presence of someone entering.

Nangong Zhao slowly turned his body.

A young woman wearing a veil was standing in the open door.

'She's really young.'

Yang Soryeong was surprised that Nangong Zhao, who was wearing a purple martial arts uniform, was a very handsome man.

'He doesn't have a nasty impression.'

Since Jang Sam had said he had a nasty impression, she had thought there would be a rough-looking man, but it was not so.

The man approached, neither too fast nor too slow, and cupped his fists.

"I am the chief investigator of the military affairs department of the Martial Alliance, Nangong Zhao."

"I am Yang Soryeong of the White Mountain Sect."

"I heard that the White Mountain Sect Master has changed."

Nangong Zhao's tone was very dry.

He had no expression.

'That brat, he looks like a gigolo, and he's acting all high and mighty.'

Jang Sam cursed Nangong Zhao inwardly.

He was just in a bad mood because the handsome brat was acting all high and mighty.

'...Who is that brat?'

Nangong Zhao was bothered by the gaze of Jang Sam, who was glaring at him from next to Yang Soryeong.

(End of Chapter)