Back in my quarters, I stood before the bronze mirror.

My younger self looked fresh and full of life. I could happily have spent the entire day doing nothing but gazing into the mirror.

After enjoying my rejuvenated appearance for a while, I suddenly thought of Hwa Mugi.

What was that bastard doing right now?

Was he somewhere undergoing hellish training to grow stronger?

If only I could find him and kill him before he grew any stronger, this would be simple. The problem was that finding Hwa Mugi would be no easy task. He had appeared in Murim as though he had dropped out of the sky, then left it to live in seclusion after accomplishing the Three Sealings. As a result, there was no known information about him at all. But sending people throughout the Central Plains to search for someone named Hwa Mugi would be a dangerous undertaking that might provoke him into some unexpected action.

Ultimately, my best option was to become stronger than Hwa Mugi.

Fortunately, Heaven had given me ample time to prepare. I would make time my ally and grow stronger.

Was it because I had thought of Hwa Mugi? The internal energy in my dantian stirred in response.

The energy-dispersing poison had already vanished as though I had never been poisoned at all. Since it left no trace of poisoning after the duel, Gu Pyeongho had certainly procured the right poison.

Of course, that must have been why he had dared to think of poisoning the Heavenly Demon's own flesh and blood.

After lingering in those thoughts for a moment, I called the name of the person I was most grateful to in my life.

"Yi An."

A welcome voice answered from outside the door.

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Come in."

The door opened, and a young woman entered. Her martial uniform looked ready to burst. She was beyond fat; enormous was a more fitting description.

Yi An, my personal bodyguard.

Back then, I hadn't known that she was so enormous because of the martial art she practiced. No, because of me.

The Whole-Body Petrification Art.

It was a martial art that temporarily made flesh as hard as stone, a secret technique entrusted to her alone, never to be passed on to anyone unworthy. Its devastating side effect was making the body enormous.

Looking at her through the mirror, I asked, "How do I look?"

Her reflection answered without hesitation.

"You're the most handsome man in the martial world."

I hadn't realized Yi An had such a lovely voice.

So lovely that I could confidently say she would win any competition for the best voice in the Central Plains.

"That's no fun."

"Questions from the person paying your wages always have a predetermined answer."

So it wasn't just your voice. You had such a cheerful personality, too.

Our eyes met in the mirror, and Yi An asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yi An was the reason I had survived that day.

She had thrown herself in front of the sword qi Hwa Mugi had launched to kill me.

His sword qi had pierced her Whole-Body Petrification Art, but in the process its trajectory had shifted ever so slightly. That was why it had narrowly missed my heart.

Hwa Mugi hadn't checked whether I was dead. He would never have imagined his attack could miss. Yi An's sacrifice and his arrogance had saved my life.

'Thank you, Yi An.'

She had been ready to give her life for me, yet at the time I had regarded her as nothing more than a guard. I had taken her presence for granted, just as we go through life without appreciating the air we breathe.

"You did so well in today's duel. You were absolutely amazing."

I turned toward her and slowly approached the real woman, rather than her reflection.

She was different from the woman I remembered.

'You were bigger than I thought.'

I quietly studied her, recalling what she had looked like as a child.

Her warm, open eyes, her high nose, her doll-like face that was so beautiful when she smiled. Everyone had agreed that if she grew up just as she was, she would become the greatest beauty under heaven.

Then one day, that beautiful girl had appeared fat. She had gained so much weight that I hadn't realized how much she had cried, or how swollen her eyes were.

Even then, that little girl had spoken to me with the same look in her eyes that she had today.

["I'll protect you, Young Master."]

What on earth must she have been feeling?

Her only crime was being born in the Demonic Cult and raised as a bodyguard. The price she had to pay was far too great.

She had given up looks that could have made her the greatest beauty under heaven, but had I comforted her? Perhaps I had gradually grown colder toward her after she became fat. I could barely remember my time with her.

She, on the other hand, had kept her promise. She had thrown that great body in front of the sword qi, and thanks to her, I had lived.

Saving Yi An alone would make this regression worthwhile.

'Yi An, I'll make you a promise, too. I'll find a way to remove the side effects of the Whole-Body Petrification Art.'

Then I abruptly said, "We mustn't become close."

She gave me a puzzled look.

"What? Why not?"

"Growing attached to a bodyguard, of all martial artists, is just currying favor so they'll die in your place, isn't it? That's despicable."

"How can you say that? Protecting you is simply my duty, Young Master."

"No sacrifice should be taken for granted. You should always put yourself first, then your family, then the person you're guarding. I want someone that sensible protecting me."

Yi An didn't hesitate for even a moment.

"I can't do that. You're my first priority, Young Master, and my second, too. Besides, I have no family."

I couldn't begin to measure the depth of this stubborn woman's loyalty to me.

"You're acting strange today."

"Want to see something even stranger? Come on."

"Where are we going?"

Striding out, I said, "To overturn a dinner table."

I went straight to the kitchen.

There, I summoned the entire kitchen staff, including the head cook, Cook Im.

From the people lined up before me, I singled out an assistant cook who had worked here for three years.

"Why did you do it?"

"Pardon? What do you mean?"

"Why did you put energy-dispersing poison in my rice?"

Everyone was shocked.

"I didn't! It wasn't me!"

One good thing about regressing was that I didn't need to look inside people's minds. I already knew why this fellow had poisoned my rice. Addicted to gambling, he had run up enormous debts. After squandering his parents' money and all his friends' money as well, he had gone so far as to commit the audacious act of putting energy-dispersing poison in the rice of the Heavenly Demon's own flesh and blood. That was how terrifying gambling could be.

"You went gambling again with the three thousand taels you received, didn't you?"

He flinched, then immediately prostrated himself.

"Please spare me. I was wrong. My greed for money blinded me, and I committed a terrible crime."

"Did Gu Pyeongho come and give you the money himself?"

"Yes."

The moment he admitted it, I severed his head with a single stroke.

SHICK!

It was my first killing since regressing, but I felt little. I had lived a life of mercilessly killing those I deemed evil. Giving him a painless death was the last mercy I offered him.

He had died today in my previous life, too. On the night of the tournament, he had been stabbed to death in a gambling den. Most likely, the blade had belonged to an assassin Gu Pyeongho sent to silence him.

In any case, poisoning someone's food was something that must never be forgiven. Forgiving it once would only lead to another attempt.

"Of all people, a cook putting poison in food!"

At my words, Cook Im dropped to his knees, his expression stricken.

"I'm sorry, Young Master."

"What are you doing? Your knees are bad enough already."

"This is all my responsibility."

"How is this your responsibility? It's the responsibility of the bastard who put in the poison."

"Everything that happens in the kitchen is my responsibility."

I helped him to his feet.

"Cook Im. If something unjust happens in the Cult, is it my father's responsibility?"

"What? No, absolutely not."

"Then why are you saying this is yours? Enough of that nonsense. Make me shredded chicken noodles for dinner! It's been ages, and I'd like some."

Just how many decades had it been since I'd eaten them?

"You had them the day before yesterday."

"Cook Im, I'm still holding a sword. One that's dripping blood."

"I'll make them delicious and serve them to you."

As I left the kitchen, Yi An, who had been waiting outside, urgently spoke up.

"I'm sorry. As the person responsible for your protection, this is my fault."

"Why is everyone so desperate to take responsibility? Have you all caught some kind of responsibility sickness?"

"I'll make sure this never happens again."

"Enough. Just spread the word throughout the Cult. Tell everyone Gu Pyeongho ordered it, and I cut down the cook who poisoned my food."

"The Blood Heaven Saber Demon's faction will deny it."

"It won't do them any good. Plenty of eyes and ears here witnessed it."

The entire kitchen staff had seen it, so denying it would be useless.

"If they did something dirty, they deserve a bad reputation. Spread it far and wide! Make even the dogs in the Cult bark, 'Poison! Poison!'"

"Understood."

"Let's go."

Following me, Yi An spoke cautiously.

"Ah... you really do seem different today."

As the person who attended me most closely, she was the first to notice the change.

"You're making jokes when you never used to. The way you act and speak seems different, too."

"I've decided to live differently starting today."

"Just like that?"

"Yes, just like that. I don't think people change a little every day. When something triggers it, they change all at once. It's difficult, and it doesn't happen often, so isn't that why everyone says people never change? Come on."

I set off again before she had a chance to ask what had triggered it.

* * *

"Do you need all of this?"

Yi An stared in surprise at the supplies I had prepared for my hunting trip with Father.

I nodded as I neatly packed them into a large leather bag.

"I do."

"I didn't know you knew so much about camping, Young Master."

Yi An, there probably isn't anyone in the Cult who's camped as much as I have.

"I'm going with Father, so I need to prepare thoroughly."

"I hope you have a wonderful time."

"Will that even be possible?"

I wasn't worrying for nothing. I was confident about other things, but not about my relationship with Father. I had even lived longer than he had... which made me less confident, if anything.

"You'll have to make it possible. It'll work out."

Yi An smiled as she bade me good night.

"Have pleasant dreams tonight."

But I didn't sleep well that night.

I had a truly awful nightmare. In it, I was still searching for the materials for the Great Art of Regression. They weren't where they were supposed to be, and I wandered everywhere looking for them.

Then I heard Yi An's voice.

"Young Master, are you all right?"

Apparently, I had screamed or something in my sleep.

"No. It was a shitty dream."

"What did you dream about?"

"To put it in terms you'd understand, imagine dreaming that you had to start over as a martial artist of the lowest rank."

"Oh! I'd rather you killed me."

Still sitting on the bed, I looked at the bronze mirror standing against the wall. My younger self looked back at me, as though to say a dream was only a dream.

Seeing myself young again lifted my spirits.

Yes, if I could greet the morning in my youth again like this, I wouldn't mind having nightmares every night.

"You seem nervous."

"I'm going with someone scarier than a tiger."

"If it were me, I'd hardly be able to breathe."

"I'm going to wash. Have a fresh martial uniform ready for me."

"Yes."

Whenever things grew difficult in my previous life, I had imagined what I would do if I returned to the past. Just imagining it had made me happy and helped me endure the pain.

But nowhere in all those imaginings had I gone hunting with Father on the second day after my return. I would find out whether my instinctive choice had been right when the hunt was over.

With every preparation complete, I shouldered the large leather bag and slowly walked toward the Heavenly Demon Hall, where Father was waiting.