The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

It wasn't just the Qingcheng Sect's quarters where the commotion had occurred.

In a secret place deep inside the Geumjo Merchant Guild's inner residence, a huge commotion had also broken out.

"Master! Quickly! This way!!"

"M-move aside! Hyeonah!! Is it true that Hyeonah has recovered!?"

The one who came running into the secret place was Geum Gadong, the master of the Geumjo Merchant Guild and the star of this sixtieth birthday party.

And the sight that met Geum Gadong's eyes as he ran into the secret place was… a sight he had dreamed of for the past three years.

"Father, good morning."

His poor daughter, Geum Hyeonah, who had been suffering as if she were dying just yesterday, was greeting him with a fresh smile while basking in the warm sunlight.

Although there was a slight tiredness on her face, the signs of illness had already disappeared, and instead, a rosy blush like that of a girl in love had settled on her face.

How long had it been since he had seen that smile? How long had it been since he had seen that healthy appearance?

Tears naturally welled up in Geum Gadong's eyes.

"Hyeonah…!"

"Oh my, you're a man of your age. What are you going to do if you use your tears so freely?"

"It's okay! What does it matter if I'm a little free with my tears! You… you've gotten better!"

Geum Gadong shed tears drop by drop and examined Geum Hyeonah, who had regained her health.

In the midst of that, Geum Gadong's face turned pale.

"H-Hyeonah!? Your skin!? What on earth happened to your skin!?"

What Geum Gadong was pointing at was Geum Hyeonah's skin, which was bruised dark red. He was startled just by seeing the bruise on her forearm, but when he saw that the bruise continued past her forearm and over her shoulder, his face turned from pale to white.

To calm her father, Geum Hyeonah explained the situation.

What the cause of her illness was, and also how she had been treated…

And Geum Gadong, who had heard the whole story, now had a face that had gone beyond white to yellow.

Geum Gadong, who was stumbling backwards, soon missed his step and fell backwards, landing on his bottom.

The servants and maids who were watching the scene ran to help him up, but Geum Gadong did not try to get up, as if he had lost his mind.

That was because he had learned that he was the cause of his precious daughter's suffering for the past three years… if he had his way, he felt like banging his head on a stone pillar and dying right now.

"Th-this father, this father is sorry… this father was lacking and ignorant… I, sob, I made you suffer…"

Geum Hyeonah's gaze as she looked at her father, who was sitting on the floor and sobbing, was… warm.

Geum Hyeonah, who knelt down and met her father's eyes, gently wiped her father's teary eyes with her sleeve.

"Do you think I will resent you, Father?"

"No, no, it's not that, but… I, ugh!! I'm so pathetic…!"

"Father, no matter how good the act is, if the result is not good, it is not a right thing… you taught me so."

"…Yes, I taught you so…"

That's why he was so heartbroken. The self-reproach of having made his own child sick as a father, and the despair of not being able to keep even one thing he had taught himself, prevented him from getting up.

Ignoring her father's attitude, Geum Hyeonah continued.

"But I don't think that's necessarily the case. Even if the result was not right, if there was love in that act, and if it was the supreme love that a parent has for a child… who could call it a purely foolish act?"

Geum Hyeonah's eyes were firm. With eyes that would no longer tolerate her father's self-reproach, Geum Hyeonah asked again.

"Did you feed me elixirs, wishing for me to be sick, Father?"

"N-no!"

"Did you feed me elixirs, wishing for me to writhe in pain and suffer?"

"Absolutely not!"

Clap!

Geum Hyeonah, who had clapped once, returned to her smiling face and said.

"Then this story is over! If I, the party concerned, don't mind, who can say anything?"

At that sight, Geum Gadong cried again. He cried and cried and cried again. She was this kind of child. She was still young… she had suffered so much because of her ignorant father, yet she had not said a single harsh word… not a single word of resentment. A mature and good child… Geum Gadong cried.

He cried because he was so happy.

After crying for a long time, Geum Gadong and Geum Hyeonah, who had finally calmed down, sat opposite each other at a table where refreshments were prepared.

Before starting the story, the two of them took a sip of tea.

After drinking the good quality, fragrant tea, Geum Gadong spoke first.

"My emotions were so intense that I didn't check first. So where is the benefactor who cured you now?"

Geum Hyeonah, who closed her eyes at the question, shook her head.

"The benefactor came secretly in the middle of the night. He only said that he had a good connection with the Geumjo Merchant Guild, but he did not tell me who he was or where he belonged."

Hearing that, Geum Gadong was impressed.

"…Ha! The master who cured you is truly a great hero… to bestow such grace without expecting any reward in this heartless martial world…"

Sixty years old.

He had been born, raised, and lived as a person of a merchant guild for a cycle of sixty years.

A merchant guild, whether one liked it or not, was bound to be entangled with the powers of the martial world, and the Geumjo Merchant Guild was no exception.

Geum Gadong, who had lived his entire life entangled with the martial world, knew to some extent what kind of place the martial world, a world within a world, was.

He knew well that although they shouted about righteousness and chivalry on the outside, what existed inside was actually ugly desires and selfishness, and violence and heartlessness.

He thought he knew well how absurd the things like chivalrous men and great heroes that were talked about in the world were…

But…

'At the age of sixty, I have met a real chivalrous man for the first time…'

To be precise, Geum Gadong had not met the chivalrous man, but the feeling of being moved was the same.

Leaving Geum Gadong, who was soaked in emotion, behind, Geum Hyeonah continued.

"However, the benefactor left one piece of advice."

"Advice?"

"Yes, he said that it would be good to learn martial arts in advance so that I don't suffer a setback later due to my constitution."

"Martial arts? Hmm… martial arts."

As mentioned before, Geum Gadong knew the reality of the Orthodox Faction's martial world well. That's why it was not appropriate to send his precious daughter to a martial arts sect that was like a tiger's den. That's why he was about to proceed with the story by inviting a famous person to teach his daughter, but his daughter struck first.

"The benefactor only said to learn martial arts, but I think it would be better to learn proper martial arts in a proper environment for the sake of the future."

"Hmm? Hmm, that's right."

With Geum Hyeonah's one word just now, it became difficult to say, 'Let's just invite a famous person and learn.' The proper environment that Geum Hyeonah had mentioned was, of course, a martial arts sect, not the Geumjo Merchant Guild.

Geum Gadong, whose option of inviting a famous person and teaching her at the merchant guild was blocked, came up with a second-best plan.

'Hmm, then should I send her to a sect belonging to the Nine Great Sects, like Qingcheng or Emei, as a secular disciple…?'

As all fathers of daughters are, he was reluctant to send his cute daughter to a place where his hand could not properly reach. Moreover, if that place was a place teeming with wolf-like men, he could never allow it.

That's why Geum Gadong's options were naturally narrowed down to the Emei Sect.

As Geum Gadong was about to open his mouth.

"By the way, Father, who was the boy who held my wrist and sent his qi yesterday?"

Geum Gadong, who had been beaten to the punch again, recalled his memory with a bewildered face and answered.

"Ah, ah ah, you mean that child. He must have been a disciple brought by the Mystic Heaven Sword Great Hero."

The disciple of the Mystic Heaven Sword… that child was strangely clearly remembered by Geum Gadong as well.

"Mystic Heaven Sword? If it's the Mystic Heaven Sword, is he a master of Qingcheng?"

"Hmm? No, no. The Mystic Heaven Sword is a master produced by Mysterious Profound Sect."

"Mysterious Profound Sect? If it's Mysterious Profound Sect, it's a sect in the same Gangjeong County as the Geumjo Merchant Guild, right?"

"Yes, it's a sect with a power that is counted among the top three in Gangjeong County. In addition, the reputation of the Mystic Heaven Sword Great Hero has been rising recently, so naturally, the reputation of Mysterious Profound Sect is also rising."

"Wow, that's amazing. I didn't know there was such a strong sect in Gangjeong County with the potential to produce a transcendent master."

"Ho ho, it's true that Mysterious Profound Sect is a sect with a long history, so it has considerable potential."

After saying this much, Geum Gadong suddenly had this thought. Of course, the Emei Sect was a sect made up of nuns, but first of all, it was too far from the Geumjo Merchant Guild. In addition, since the opponent was one of the Nine Great Sects, it was difficult for the Geumjo Merchant Guild to interfere after sending Geum Hyeonah.

But.

But what if he sent her to a sect that was closer, and a little weaker in power, instead of the Emei Sect?

In other words, what if he sent her to Mysterious Profound Sect?

First of all, it was close.

It was a distance that would take less than an hour by carriage.

Since it was geographically close, it was easy to respond if something happened, and it was also easy to interfere a little, just a little, in the internal affairs of the sect for the sake of his daughter.

And although it was currently a sect that only wielded power within Gangjeong County, it was still a sect that had produced a transcendent master, so its martial arts would not be of a low level. And since it had such an ambiguous power, there was no way they could treat Geum Hyeonah, who had been sent from the Geumjo Merchant Guild, carelessly.

Thinking that far, Geum Gadong's heart rapidly leaned towards sending Geum Hyeonah to Mysterious Profound Sect.

Looking at her father, Geum Hyeonah showed a smile completely different from her previous fresh smile.

A woman's smile.

***

Geum Gadong was born in a merchant family and liked the act of selling things and making money itself.

It was what was commonly called a talent for business.

He had participated in the work of the merchant family from a young age and had brought a lot of profit to the Geumjo Merchant Guild as a result.

He was skilled in business and even had a good personality, so there was nothing to criticize about Geum Gadong as the successor of the Geumjo Merchant Guild. But even such a Geum Gadong had a flaw, and that was his wooden personality.

One might think why avoiding women was a flaw, but when it came to the head of a group, the story changed.

The master, who had to get married, embrace a woman, and have a successor, was not interested in women even after passing forty, so the people around him were burning with anxiety.

Since Geum Gadong had been involved in the work of the merchant guild from a young age, he had often seen the greed of people and the ugly and vile side of human beings that arose from it.

There was no distinction between men and women, or old and young, in this side, so to Geum Gadong, even the most beautiful lover was just a greedy human being with an ugly side inside.

It was when he was about to enter his mid-forties that such a Geum Gadong met the person of his destiny.

One night, when he couldn't sleep and was wandering inside the Geumjo Merchant Guild, an figure suddenly jumped over the wall and entered the Geumjo Merchant Guild.

The identity of the figure was a beautiful woman who looked to be just about twenty.

The woman was a martial artist who had made a mistake while carrying out a mission, had been seriously injured, and had met Geum Gadong while trying to hide in the Geumjo Merchant Guild to recover.

The strange relationship between the martial artist woman, who had mistaken him for a handyman working at the Geumjo Merchant Guild, and Geum Gadong had begun like that.

The relationship, which was awkward at first, gradually became familiar, and eventually, Geum Gadong and the woman became lovers.

At this time, the surprising fact was that the woman's age was older than he had thought.

She had a young appearance because she had learned martial arts and her aging was slower than that of ordinary people, but the woman was only three or four years different from Geum Gadong.

With the addition of the fact that their ages were similar, their love deepened, and soon a child was born.

And that was Geum Hyeonah.

It was a blessed event. But a few years later, the wife, who had been gradually weakening after giving birth to Geum Hyeonah, finally passed away.

He later learned that the cause of his wife's death was that the internal injury she had had since they first met had worsened after giving birth to a child.

Geum Gadong regretted it. He knew well that the truly dangerous injury for martial artists was not just a physical injury, but an internal injury. Yet, he blamed himself for not even having the simple thought that his wife, who had been covered in wounds at first, might have an internal injury.

That's why he had paid even more attention to Geum Hyeonah's health and had spent a thousand pieces of gold to gather and feed her elixirs. Although it had ended up with a bad result in the end…

Anyway, Geum Hyeonah was that precious to Geum Gadong, and at the same time, Geum Hyeonah's serious illness was a problem that could become a weakness of the Geumjo Merchant Guild.

Because he knew that, when his daughter fell seriously ill, Geum Gadong had gathered elixirs and physicians as secretly as possible.

But when he still couldn't get any improvement, he had finally gathered the masters of Sichuan under the pretext of this sixtieth birthday party.

Unlike physicians, it was difficult to shut the mouths of martial artists. Moreover, if Emei, Qingcheng, and the Tang Clan, which belonged to the Nine Great Sects and the Seven Great Families, were included, it was even more so!

He had summoned the masters, taking into account that the weakness of the Geumjo Merchant Guild would spread to the outside.

Of course, the rumor spread quickly.

Each sect cheered.

Since his precious daughter was seriously ill, Geum Gadong had no choice but to be desperate. And it was a simple matter to fleece such a desperate person.

No special method was needed. Just say that you would send a skilled master from the sect and just send them.

This time, since they had come to celebrate the sixtieth birthday party and had examined Geum Hyeonah, there was no need to give a special reward to the masters who had failed to cure Geum Hyeonah. Rather, they had given a sixtieth birthday gift.

But if this happened, the story would be different. Whether they cured Geum Hyeonah or not, since a master of the sect had personally made a long journey, the Geumjo Merchant Guild had to give a suitable reward for it.

And if they succeeded in curing her, it would be a complete jackpot.

The sects of Sichuan, who were contemplating how to suck the marrow out of the Geumjo Merchant Guild in the future, opened their eyes wide at the urgent news they heard in the morning.

"A mysterious master cured Geum Hyeonah in just one day!"

This story spread among the guests staying at the Geumjo Merchant Guild in an instant, and thanks to that, the masters who had gathered last night to cure Geum Hyeonah had their pride completely crushed.

In addition to that…

"Moreover, he didn't even reveal his identity and just disappeared? The reward that the Geumjo Merchant Guild had promised was enormous… isn't he truly a righteous man among righteous men, or rather, a great hero among great heroes?"

With this story added, they really had no face to raise their heads.

(End of Chapter)