By Zephyria 
Leaving behind Mu-gyeong, whose eyes had widened in bewilderment, Ho-yeon diligently filleted and ate the fish. The fish bones were large and there were hardly any small ones, making it perfect to eat.
“Don’t say things like that so carelessly.”
“Huh?”
Ho-yeon, acting like a herbivore that had never encountered a natural predator, was starting to grate on his nerves. He wondered what would happen once they left this place and had to mingle with people, given how naive he was about the ways of the world.
“Saying I can touch you anywhere… you must be out of your mind.”
Because Mu-gyeong looked quite serious, Ho-yeon was simply puzzled.
“Anywhere? I said it was okay to touch me anytime.”
A sharp breath escaped Mu-gyeong’s lips. He had heard “anytime” as “anywhere on the body.” It wasn’t as if he were hard of hearing; having passed through the days of the demon-taming cave, his hearing and sight had reached an extraordinary level.
In the demon-taming cave, he had reached the peak of a true demon, and after absorbing the inner core of the fire dragon, he had attained enlightenment once more to reach the extreme demon realm.
In the history of the demon sect, the only person to reach the extreme demon realm at Cheon Mu-gyeong’s age would have been the first heavenly demon.
The fact that someone like him had failed to properly understand Wi Ho-yeon’s words made Cheon Mu-gyeong click his tongue inwardly several times. As the saying goes, one sees what they want to see, and he was exactly in that position. It was true that he wanted to touch Wi Ho-yeon.
“Don’t you want to eat more?”
While halfway through the fish, Ho-yeon seemed to suddenly remember and looked after Mu-gyeong. He couldn’t even hide the gaze of concern, worrying if he had been eating too greedily.
“A fasting pill is enough for me.”
“Those taste really bad, though.”
Mu-gyeong simply looked as if he were wondering if that were true, watching Ho-yeon’s expression of utter distaste. As Mu-gyeong sat on a rock, Ho-yeon settled down beside him. Mu-gyeong had acted without a word because he wanted Ho-yeon to sit and eat comfortably, and as expected, Ho-yeon followed right along.
“What’s your favorite food?”
Ho-yeon asked while nibbling on the fish. Thinking that the tooth marks left on the fish were quite cute, Mu-gyeong cast his gaze toward the pond.
“Nothing in particular. As long as my stomach is full, it’s fine.”
“I like seolgo.”
Before Mu-gyeong could ask what food he liked, Ho-yeon spoke fluently.
“Freshly steamed seolgo with white steam rising from it is so delicious. My mother always tore off a piece for me because she was worried I’d burn my hands if I ate too hastily.”
Ho-yeon, who had been chatting away, looked down at the fish and curled his lips inward. Seeing the state he was trapped in here, he didn’t think his parents would be faring well.
“My mother passed away too.”
“…Oh, when?”
“A long time ago.”
Mu-gyeong spoke as if it were no big deal, but Ho-yeon could glimpse a fierce aura in his red eyes.
“Did she pass away because she was sick?”
“Poisoning.”
“The culprit? Did you catch the culprit?”
Ho-yeon turned his body toward Mu-gyeong, filled with worry.
“No. That’s why, as soon as I return, I’m going to kill them all. I won’t kill them easily. I’ll make them experience every pain imaginable.”
Ho-yeon shrank back from an energy even colder than this underground cave. That was how rough and fierce the demonic energy flowing from Cheon Mu-gyeong was. When Ho-yeon let out a small groan of pain while trying to endure it, Mu-gyeong retracted his demonic energy in an instant.
Ho-yeon was very grateful to Cheon Mu-gyeong, who immediately checked him to see if he was hurt anywhere. Thus, to show him that he was okay, he took another bite of the fish. Part of it was because his appetite had vanished at the thought of parents, but also because his stomach was so weak that he needed time to digest.
“What about your father? Did your father pass away too?”
“Yes.”
To Mu-gyeong, the cult leader was not a father. Therefore, his father was as good as gone from the world.
“Me too…”
Ho-yeon murmured bitterly that neither of his parents were around. Feeling that Ho-yeon wouldn’t answer unless asked this time, Mu-gyeong spoke first.
“Why did they pass away?”
Ho-yeon shook his head slightly.
“I don’t know for sure. I think they said they committed treason… My parents said they were falsely accused. But my parents are really not the kind of people who would commit something like treason.”
If they were embroiled in treason, Mu-gyeong guessed that Wi Ho-yeon’s family must have held quite a high status. They were likely relatives of the palace lord or one of the hall masters.
“That’s how all the family members were executed… and I was trapped here. At first, there were many other children, but they died one by one, and I was the only one left.”
“Were they planning to make a human elixir?”
Ho-yeon only nodded slightly at Mu-gyeong’s murmur.
“But since there was a landslide, they probably gave up, thinking everyone had died. If I weren’t an ice dragon, I probably wouldn’t have been able to meet you like this.”
Despite having such a wretched backstory, Ho-yeon smiled brightly.
“I’ll kill them for you.”
“Huh?”
Ho-yeon’s eyes grew wider than ever.
“The one who framed them for rebellion was the North Sea Palace Lord anyway. Killing your parents and trapping you here must have been that bastard’s doing too.”
“That’s… true.”
“As soon as we get out, I’ll rip off the palace lord’s head and hand it to you. Then let’s go to the hundred thousand great mountains.”
Ho-yeon was so surprised he almost dropped the fish from his hand. His open mouth showed no sign of closing.
There were countless days he had imagined leaving this place. The ice dragon had promised to let him out. However, he had never once pictured a scene where someone else was by his side during the escape.
“Do you think we can get out…?”
“As long as we find the barrier, we can cross over to the Flame Mountain. It’ll be enough to settle the affairs of this cult first, then go to the ice palace and take his head.”
“T-the palace lord must be incredibly strong.”
“I am certain it won’t even take a snap of a finger to cut his throat.”
The time it takes to snap a finger would be like the blink of an eye. Ho-yeon already had the illusion of the palace lord’s severed head being held in Mu-gyeong’s hand.
He didn’t think he was bluffing. He was the one who had killed the fire dragon, a being with power equal to the ice dragon. Ho-yeon guessed that there were few people in the world capable of killing a divine beast. Perhaps Cheon Mu-gyeong was the only one.
“Can I… go with you too?”
“Why, do you have somewhere else to be in the North Sea?”
Mu-gyeong asked back in a slightly offended tone. Ho-yeon shook his head vigorously, his long hair fluttering wildly.
“No, I don’t. All the adults I knew are no longer of this world.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
However, he had nothing. He felt lost on how to repay Mu-gyeong for doing so much for him.
Ho-yeon set the fish aside for a moment and hurried to the pond to wash his hands clean. Mu-gyeong slowly followed behind Ho-yeon and threw the half-eaten fish into the pond. Ho-yeon watched the fish sink to the deep bottom with a splash and then looked up at Cheon Mu-gyeong.
“Why did you throw it away? I was going to eat more in a bit.”
Since he had finished eating, Mu-gyeong had assumed he went to wash his hands. Looking a bit flustered, Mu-gyeong knelt down beside Ho-yeon.
“It won’t taste good once it gets cold, so I’ll grill it for you again.”
Ho-yeon’s hands, dipped in the pond, were frozen red. Mu-gyeong quickly put his own hands in the cold water, pretending to wash them while grabbing Ho-yeon’s hands.
As warmth flowed into the hands that were cold and hard as ice, Ho-yeon interlaced his fingers with Mu-gyeong’s. After playing with the water for a while, Ho-yeon suddenly remembered his original purpose.
“You know. I’m told I play the seven-stringed zither quite well.”
Mu-gyeong didn’t need to ask who had told him. It must have been the ice dragon who provided entertainment in such a place.
“I have no money, and my martial arts aren’t great. I’m just truly grateful to you, but I have no way to pay you back. So from now on, I’ll play only for you, Mu-gyeong.”
After speaking confidently, Ho-yeon seemed to lose some confidence and murmured while glancing at Mu-gyeong’s reaction—adding, “If you’re okay with it…”
But to Mu-gyeong, Ho-yeon’s chattering voice was already no different from a performance. He had no knowledge or interest in music, but for some reason, he wanted to hear the melody that would flow from Wi Ho-yeon’s hands.
Mu-gyeong fell into thought as he watched Ho-yeon walk briskly toward where the seven-stringed zither was.
‘Once I return to the cult and become the leader, should I build a music hall? He’d like it even more if I gave him a fancy title like Hall Master.’
Watching Ho-yeon approach him holding the seven-stringed zither, Mu-gyeong thought again.
“Eumbyeol Hall.”
When Mu-gyeong murmured the name he had just thought of, Ho-yeon tilted his head.
“Eumbyeol Hall?”
“Your residence that I’ll build in this cult.”
He had heard that rank in the demon sect was determined by how strong one’s martial prowess was, and he believed someone like Cheon Mu-gyeong would be very high. Ho-yeon barely suppressed the urge to hug Mu-gyeong, who was already taking care of his residence. Instead, Ho-yeon sat his bottom on the rock he had been on before and prepared to play the seven-stringed zither.
Dong—a deep sound, as if tuning the strings, instantly flew out and wrapped around Mu-gyeong’s body.
‘I hope Wi Ho-yeon becomes a member of the cult. So that he can be entirely subordinate to me, the leader and the heavenly demon.’
For Mu-gyeong, who had been interested in nothing but demonic arts, it was a very unfamiliar sensation.
- Extreme Demon Realm: A state of having reached the pinnacle of demonic arts and completed the logic of the demonic way. It is equivalent to the Hwa-gyeong (Transcendence Realm) of the orthodox sects.