The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

A cloudless night.

Under the beautifully shining moonlight, the white skin reflected the light and shone white.

Her wet brown hair clung to her snow-white skin, making the woman's existence feel like a reality, not a fantasy, and her eyes, receiving the moonlight, shone brilliantly and strongly asserted her existence.

"…You're too bold for a peeping tom, you trash."

But the words coming out of her mouth were extremely vulgar.

Splash!

The woman, who was bathing in the river, shot up from the water and fell towards Jang Baekseo.

"Wh-what!?"

Paang!

Jang Baekseo, who had dodged the woman's attack, looked at the woman with a dumbfounded expression.

'In a situation like this, don't you usually cover yourself first?'

She was rushing at him as if to kill him for peeping at her bathing, but if she rushed at him like that, wouldn't her body be more exposed?

Poong!

"Ouch!"

The woman, who had no way of knowing what Jang Baekseo was thinking, continued to attack Jang Baekseo.

'Ho ho! Her skills are quite good.'

Although she looked like a woman who had just passed twenty, her skills had reached the first-rate realm.

Seeing that her posture for using palm techniques was strangely awkward, it seemed that she had probably mainly practiced some kind of weapon, and judging from her movements, it seemed to be spear techniques.

But even so, her palm techniques were by no means clumsy.

Her skills were more than enough to beat a simple peeping tom to death with a single blow, but…

"Hup!"

"Kya!?"

The opponent was too bad.

Although Jang Baekseo's main skill was clearly swordsmanship, it did not mean that his bare hands were weak.

For someone who had reached a level to be called the Sword Demon, it was a simple matter to unfold the subtleties of the sword techniques he had learned with his bare hands.

In addition to that…

'I'm glad I learned from the Fighting Demon.'

The Twelve Demon Palaces of the Demonic Cult, and among them, the master of the Fighting Demon Palace, Fighting Demon Chung Gon, who boasted the best skills in bare-handed fist techniques and combat.

Before his regression, Jang Baekseo had been deployed to the front lines of the Righteous-Demonic War in Sichuan with him, and since they were both people who were crazy about martial arts, they had had a lot of exchanges.

And the combat technique he had learned from him was…

Spirit Fist Combat!

Of course, Jang Baekseo had learned various other bare-handed martial arts, but among them, this Spirit Fist Combat was the best.

Using the technique of the Spirit Fist Combat, he pulled the wrist of the woman who was rushing at him head-on, scattered her center, and pushed the woman away with his palm.

Although it was a technique with almost no actual damage…

Since the place where they were fighting was a river, the woman who had lost her center and had fallen fell face-first into the water. After she hurriedly got up, she held her nose as if water had entered it, got up, and spat out water from her mouth.

"Are you a little calmer now?"

"…Yes, now that my head has cooled down a bit, I'm thinking that I should have brought a weapon from the beginning."

'Cooled down, my ass…'

Looking at the woman who had not softened her hostility in the slightest, Jang Baekseo let out a sigh and continued.

"Young lady, I'm sorry that I unintentionally saw you bathing… but first of all, it wasn't on purpose, and please take a look at my face."

"What?"

The woman, who had frowned at those words, took a step towards Jang Baekseo and looked at his face.

"…You have a baby face. Perverts usually look younger than their age, because they're honest about their desires!"

"…I've never been told I have a baby face in my life. I look my age."

"…How old?"

"Fourteen…"

"…"

"…"

A brief silence fell between the two.

Swish.

The woman looked Jang Baekseo up and down.

"…Tsk! What kind of brat has such a disgusting body? I mistook you for a disgusting peeping tom."

"…Why is my body disgusting?"

When Jang Baekseo frowned at the word 'disgusting' and asked, the woman said with a face as if it were a matter of course.

"If you're a kid, you should look like a kid… what kind of fourteen-year-old has such a big physique? No, even if you're big… you're too muscular, it's creepy…"

"C-creepy…!"

After his regression, Jang Baekseo's body had undergone rapid growth for three months.

It was not just about the internal energy part and the sword technique.

Jang Baekseo's body, which had originally been at a level of being a little bigger than his age, had become as hard and elastic as that of a wild animal due to the fierce training of the past three months.

Of course, the muscles that had grown in that way had clear lines, and depending on the person… well, it could be thought of as burdensome, but…

"How can you say it's creepy!!"

Jwaak!

Jang Baekseo, who had raised both arms and taken a pose, said.

"How can you say that after seeing these beautiful muscles!!"

"…Ugh, the bulging is creepy."

"…!"

As Jang Baekseo was at a loss for words at the repeated 'creepy', the woman jumped up to the riverbank. The woman, who had roughly put on her clothes, glanced at Jang Baekseo and said.

"…Be careful in the future, you creepy brat."

Taat!

Looking at the woman who was leaving after saying what she had to say, Jang Baekseo, who was at a loss for words for a moment, shouted a beat late.

"Don't insult my muscles!!!!!"

***

After going through many twists and turns, Jang Baekseo, who had returned to the Mysterious Profound Sect by climbing over the wall, spoke to the girl under the wall.

"Junior Sister."

"Oh my~ what a coincidence, Senior Brother."

Although Geum Hyeonah said it was a coincidence calmly, Jang Baekseo knew that this was by no means a coincidence.

She had probably asked her escort to find Jang Baekseo…

"Keep it a secret that I went out secretly at night."

"Huhu, next time you go out at night, please be sure to call me too."

"No, that's not it…"

Jang Baekseo was relieved that she would not tell others.

"But, Senior Brother?"

"Huh?"

"Did you perhaps meet a woman outside?"

Geum Hyeonah's voice, which had been soft until just a moment ago, sank coldly.

"Uh, huh? No, that's…"

"I don't think so, but did you perhaps go to a place like a brothel?"

Although her mouth was smiling, her eyes were by no means smiling. Jang Baekseo, who thought that Geum Hyeonah was scary inwardly, desperately asserted his innocence.

"N-no, absolutely not! I just went to the river at the end of Gangjeong County and happened to meet a woman there."

'Why am I making excuses so desperately?' Jang Baekseo, who was making excuses desperately while having that question, was approached by Geum Hyeonah.

From the approaching Geum Hyeonah, there was a fragrant flower scent and a sweet smell that could not be expressed in words.

While Jang Baekseo was flustered by Geum Hyeonah's scent that hit him, Geum Hyeonah also smelled Jang Baekseo.

"Wh-what are you doing, Junior Sister?"

"…Certainly, there is no smell of a woman."

"R-right? …But if there was no smell, how did you know that I had met a woman outside?"

"If you're a woman, you can naturally know that much."

"I-is that so?"

Since he was not a woman, he could not know the truth, but Geum Hyeonah had had a sharp side since before.

Jang Baekseo, who thought it was the unique sharpness of a merchant's daughter, let it go.

"But why were you looking for me at this time of night?"

"Does that mean I shouldn't look for you at night, Senior Brother?"

Looking at Geum Hyeonah, who was looking up at him with a pouting cheek and a sulky expression, Jang Baekseo was at a loss for words and was flustered.

"No, that's not it…"

"Huhu! I'm just kidding, Senior Brother. Actually, I was looking for you because I have a story I need to tell you."

"A story I need to hear?"

As Jang Baekseo expressed his question, Geum Hyeonah began to talk.

In other words, the situation of the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency, which had a close relationship with the Mysterious Profound Sect, was not good these days, and since the escort warriors of the escort agency were lacking, it was affecting the business, so the Mysterious Profound Sect was going to send support for the escort warriors… it was a story like this.

Up to this point, it was a story that was not that strange, but…

"Why am I going with them?"

"That's what I'm saying."

Geum Hyeonah also let out a sigh, as if she did not like the fact that Jang Baekseo was going on the escort mission.

"…You're going to be the master of the Geumjo Merchant Guild in the future… on such a shabby business trip…"

"Huh? What did you say, Junior Sister?"

"No, I was just worried that you might be too active outside these days, Senior Brother."

Certainly, unlike the original history before his regression, he was strangely going out often.

'Thanks to that, I was able to reach the peak realm in a short period of time, but… thinking long-term, I need to restrain my actions.'

Although he thought that, for Jang Baekseo, this escort mission was a good opportunity.

Although it had not been decided where he would go on the escort mission yet, if the path was close to the secret treasury of the Hegemon King, Jang Baekseo was thinking of taking some time to go and get one or two elixirs.

Jang Baekseo was not very interested in the martial arts or the gold and silver treasures of the Hegemon King. What he needed was an elixir to cure Sohyun's illness, not the martial arts of the old losers or the gold and silver treasures they had stored.

As Jang Baekseo was having other thoughts…

"Come to think of it, how on earth do you know all these facts, Junior Sister?"

Jang Baekseo, the person in question, did not even know this fact. This meant that although they had had a meeting and had made a decision, it had not yet been announced.

But since Geum Hyeonah had brought such information as if it were a matter of course, Jang Baekseo could not help but be surprised.

"Huhu~ for a merchant, information is as good as life."

At Geum Hyeonah's meaningful words, Jang Baekseo felt a fresh thrill that could not be expressed in words.

Whether that was the case or not, Geum Hyeonah was still looking at Jang Baekseo with a smiling face.

"Senior Brother."

Such a Geum Hyeonah called Jang Baekseo.

"Huh?"

"You can't get hurt this time."

At those words, Jang Baekseo felt something stuffy in his chest.

Jang Baekseo could not easily think of how to express this ticklish and warm feeling.

But one thing he could know was that if he returned seriously injured again, this silver-haired girl would shed tears.

And for some reason, Jang Baekseo did not want to see such a Geum Hyeonah.

She was a girl who had been writhing in pain from their first meeting. The face of the girl he had first seen was full of agony, and Jang Baekseo had saved her.

After that, this girl had always been smiling at Jang Baekseo. The existence of Geum Hyeonah, who sent a smile anytime, anywhere, had already become his daily life without Jang Baekseo knowing.

That's why Jang Baekseo thought that he did not want to see a shadow on this girl's face again.

"It's okay."

Saying so, Jang Baekseo touched Geum Hyeonah's cheek.

Geum Hyeonah closed her eyes and felt the touch of Jang Baekseo's hand caressing her cheek.

"Your senior brother is strong. He is still getting stronger as we speak."

(End of Chapter)