The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

Ma Juhwa.

The Twelve Demon Palaces of the Demonic Cult.

Born as the daughter of Ma Jeonghu, the master of the Cold Demon Palace, which was in charge of law enforcement, she had lived her entire life in the Demonic Cult and had thought that she would continue to do so.

And that she would succeed her mother's position and become the next Cold Demon…

But there was a meeting that changed her life completely.

He was an ordinary man.

An ordinary appearance, a friendly personality, and even a mediocre martial prowess.

Although there was nothing special about the man, Ma Juhwa was strangely attracted to him.

And as if it were not only Ma Juhwa who had a crush on him, the two were attracted to each other and quickly became close.

In the end, the two got married, avoiding the eyes of Ma Juhwa's mother, Ma Jeonghu, and they nurtured their love, avoiding her eyes.

During those days.

"Honey, can you trust me?"

"I trust you more than anyone else in the world."

The truth that the man had revealed to Ma Jeonghu was surprising.

In fact, the man was a spy sent by the Chivalrous Alliance to spy on the Demonic Cult.

Then, he had met Ma Juhwa by chance and had come to love her sincerely, so he had sworn to cut off his relationship with the Chivalrous Alliance and live only for Ma Juhwa from now on.

Although Ma Juhwa was shocked at first by the fact that the man was a spy, she forgave the man, knowing that his love was sincere.

A happy event occurred between the two who were nurturing their love.

A child was conceived. Ma Juhwa was overjoyed.

What woman in the world would not be happy to have a child with the man she loved?

And at the same time, the man was erasing his traces to completely liquidate his life as a spy.

Then.

The man discovered the traces of some strange people.

At first, the man had thought that it was the trace of a spy planted by the Righteous Heaven Alliance, but he soon realized that it was not.

The man felt an instinctive threat at the trace of an unknown third force that was neither the Chivalrous Alliance nor the Righteous Heaven Alliance, and despite his promise to liquidate his life as a spy, he began to dig into their identity.

But that became a disaster.

The man noticed that he was being watched from a certain day and secretly evacuated Ma Juhwa.

And in the end, the man was killed by the unidentified group that had been watching him.

Ma Juhwa was dumbfounded. How could she not be, when her husband and the father of the child in her womb had been killed overnight?

But she could not be so dumbfounded.

Before he had evacuated her.

The man had passed on the information about the unidentified group he had investigated to Ma Juhwa.

And he had asked.

To deliver this information to the Chivalrous Alliance.

Ma Juhwa had no other choice.

The moment she had loved a spy and had turned a blind eye to the fact that he was a spy, she had already been unable to ask for help from the Demonic Cult and her mother, the Cold Demon. And the moment her husband had died, the threat of the unidentified group had come right up to Ma Juhwa's chin.

They were chasing the information that Ma Juhwa and her husband had passed on, and Ma Juhwa had no more choices.

Although Ma Juhwa had left the territory of the Demonic Cult, had passed through Xinjiang, had passed through Qinghai, and was heading for Henan, where the Chivalrous Alliance was, the pursuit became more and more persistent as the days went by.

By the time she had barely crossed Qinghai and had reached Sichuan, the net of pursuit had already narrowed to the point where she could not even move properly.

Ma Juhwa felt the need to cut off the line of pursuit once.

That's why she had disguised her identity and had tried to head to Chongqing by hiding in the escort mission of an escort agency.

To go to Hubei from Chongqing and then to the Chivalrous Alliance in Henan.

But…

"That unidentified group already knew Madam Ma's whereabouts and attacked us during the escort mission… that's the story."

Hwa Mokyeon said with a serious face.

"…Why the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency of all places? There must have been many other escort agencies in Gangjeong County, right?"

Jang Yuran, whose escort agency was on the verge of ruin due to Madam Ma's action of choosing the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency, asked with a dissatisfied expression.

"…That's."

Although he did not look kindly on Jang Yuran's attitude, it was the same for Jang Baekseo that he was curious about the reason.

That was because, although it was true that the situation of the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency was not good at this time and it was on the verge of ruin, this was only due to things like the escort mission being late or losing an important escort item during the escort mission.

It was by no means a big deal like this time, where they were attacked by an unidentified group and the escort warriors were annihilated.

In the first place, there was no such thing as Cheong Yeonah or Cheongdo suffering such serious injuries in the world before his regression. Then that means…

'Is it because I changed the future?'

As expected…

"I heard that the Mysterious Profound Sect is on the rise in Sichuan. I heard things like they had eradicated the traitors who had infiltrated Qingcheng, or that a disciple of the Mysterious Profound Sect had reached the second-rate level at a young age…"

'It's all because of me…'

Although he had guessed that he was related, he had not known that it was so directly due to his influence.

"In other words, since the Mysterious Profound Sect is on the rise these days, you naturally chose our Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency, which is no different from a subordinate escort agency of the Mysterious Profound Sect… is that what you're saying?"

Ma Juhwa nodded her head at Jang Yuran's summary of the story.

"…Haa~ what do you think of this story, Jang Baekseo?"

"…Even if you say that to me…"

Although Jang Baekseo was extremely wronged, he had nothing to say to Jang Yuran, whose escort agency was on the verge of ruin because Ma Juhwa had chosen the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency due to his performance.

"Now, now~ that's enough…"

Hwa Mokyeon, who had stopped the fight between Jang Yuran and Jang Baekseo, looked at Madam Ma and said.

"Madam Ma, I roughly understand your situation. But I can't believe it. A spy of a third group that has infiltrated the Demonic Cult, not the Righteous Heaven Alliance or the Chivalrous Alliance…"

"…"

"No matter how much I think about it, I don't think there is such a place…"

"Hundred Rivers Association."

"What? Hundred Rivers Association… what's that, brother?"

"There was a big incident in Qingcheng recently. Do you know about it, Young Master Hwa?"

At those words, Hwa Mokyeon, who had thought for a moment, nodded his head.

"I've heard the story. Weren't there traitors inside Qingcheng who had joined hands with another external group, and it was an incident where they were ferreted out? And a young disciple of your sect, the Mysterious Profound Sect, was involved…"

After saying that much, Hwa Mokyeon's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me that young disciple is…?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Ho ho!! I never thought that the famous person in that story would be my younger brother! No wonder Young Lady Jang Yuran was angry at my younger brother… so that's what it was!"

Leaving the happy Hwa Mokyeon behind, Jang Baekseo continued.

"And the name of the external group that those traitors had joined hands with is the Hundred Rivers Association."

"Hundred Rivers Association… but why are you suddenly talking about that now, brother?"

"It's just my guess…"

Saying so, Jang Baekseo looked at Madam Ma.

"The third force that has infiltrated the Demonic Cult and has harmed Madam Ma's husband. I think they are probably the Hundred Rivers Association."

"Do you have any grounds for thinking that, brother?"

At Hwa Mokyeon's words, not only Jang Yuran but also Madam Ma looked at Jang Baekseo.

Of course, Jang Baekseo had grounds for this claim.

Before his regression, when the Righteous-Demonic War had broken out, the people of the Orthodox Faction had simply thought that the reason for the outbreak of the Righteous-Demonic War was that the evil Demonic Path had revealed its ambition to conquer the Central Plains.

But it was not.

The reason why the Demonic Cult had started the Righteous-Demonic War was for revenge.

Revenge for whom?

To avenge the grudge against whom did the Demonic Cult, which had been silent for a long time, break its silence and invade the Central Plains?

The Heavenly Demon.

The sky of the Demonic Cult and the one at its peak.

The Demonic Cult had started the Righteous-Demonic War to avenge the Heavenly Demon.

***

What comes to mind when you think of the Heavenly Demon?

Although there would be various opinions, one common perception would be the word 'the best in the world'.

The master of all demons and the best in the world who had learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the strongest martial art!

Through several Righteous-Demonic Wars in the distant past, the image of the Heavenly Demon, the best in the world, had been deeply embedded in the minds of the martial artists of the Orthodox Faction, and that perception had continued to the present generation, which had not experienced the Righteous-Demonic War.

But one thing to know was that the position of the Heavenly Demon, that is, the leader of the Demonic Cult, was a system of bloodline succession.

This meant that whether the successor had a talent for martial arts or not, whether their achievement in martial arts was outstanding or not, the one who had inherited the bloodline of the current Heavenly Demon would become the next Heavenly Demon.

No matter how much the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a unique divine art in the world, it did not unconditionally make the person who learned it the best in the world.

This meant that there could be those who were the Heavenly Demon but were not the best in the world, and beyond that, there could even be those who had no particular aptitude or achievement in martial arts.

And the current Heavenly Demon was like that.

A person whose personality was gentle and who disliked fighting.

A person who was more engrossed in taking care of political affairs than in training in martial arts, and who had no particular talent for martial arts in the first place.

The current Heavenly Demon was the opposite of the Heavenly Demon that the people of the Central Plains martial world thought of.

Among the festivals of the Demonic Cult, there was a festival called the Seongyeonhoe. During this festival, the Heavenly Demon would go around the twelve cities of the Demonic Cult for a month, give blessings to the followers, and hold a ritual to pray for the peace of the year.

At such a festive occasion, a tragedy suddenly struck.

The Heavenly Demon, who was giving blessings to the followers in the Cold Demon City, where the Cold Demon Palace was located, was assassinated.

Of course, around the Heavenly Demon, there were guards carefully selected from the Cold Demon Palace to protect him in layers, but it was useless.

Although it was not known how the assassins had known, they had known the deployment of the troops of the Cold Demon Palace as well as the guards, and the structure of the city and the structure of the Cold Demon Palace in detail. Moreover, among the assassins, there was even a master who had reached the transcendent realm.

In the end, the Heavenly Demon was absurdly assassinated by them, and as a result, the Demonic Cult was turned upside down.

Although they had succeeded in assassinating the leader of the cult, the assassins had not been able to escape the Demonic Cult in the end.

The Demonic Cult, which had interrogated the captured assassins and had conducted a wide-ranging investigation, learned that various forces of the Orthodox Faction were involved in the background of this assassination.

At this, the Demonic Cult, which had been continuing peace under the leadership of the dove faction for a long time, was instantly placed under the leadership of the hawk faction, and they started the Righteous-Demonic War to make them pay the price for the assassination of the Heavenly Demon.

And the ones who were most suspected of leading this Heavenly Demon assassination incident were the Hundred Rivers Association.

'I had been wondering why the assassination site was the Cold Demon City since before…'

The Cold Demon City was a place located deep inside the cities of the Demonic Cult.

It had been a question since the past why they had chosen the Cold Demon City, which was difficult to infiltrate and even more difficult to get out of, as the assassination site.

But by meeting Madam Ma this time, that question was solved.

In short, in the world before his regression…

'Madam Ma was captured…'

(End of Chapter)