Chapter 8
Agong fished with his rod cast out, stealing glances at Tongtian.
'Heavenly Demon Hand...'
For a fishing method, it was a rather grandiose name.
Since he was learning to read these days, he could roughly tell that it used the character for 'heaven'. But no matter how great it was, who on earth would attach 'heaven' to a mere fishing technique?
But it was a divine skill that could pull up fish the size of a forearm whenever he wanted.
It was unlikely that Tongtian would easily teach such a great technique, so he was planning to steal a glance and learn something.
"Do you want to learn?"
"Are you going to teach me?"
"Hmm..."
Seeing Agong ask with a bright face, Tongtian frowned with a look of regret.
He seemed to regret asking without thinking.
If he was going to hesitate, he shouldn't have asked.
What was with asking and then hesitating?
Agong pouted and narrowed his eyes.
"You should be fishing for fish, not for an innocent person."
As the silence grew longer, Agong grumbled.
"Hoho... Is that how it is?"
Agong's complaint had a point.
The question of whether he wanted to learn itself was a question based on the premise that he could teach it.
For Tongtian, it was an uncharacteristically rash action.
The existence of Agong, who had suddenly appeared in the Hermit's Valley, seemed to have come as a small stimulus without him realizing it.
Although he had cultivated deeply and achieved a high level of study, he had failed to control a simple impulse.
'A heart demon is not far away.'
"It's okay if it's difficult. I'm not shameless enough to ask you to teach me your means of livelihood for free."
Although his disappointment was evident, Agong put on a brave face and fixed his gaze on the fishing rod.
When Agong came out like this, Tongtian felt as if he, the one who had brought it up, was becoming a narrow-minded person.
It wasn't something that the current cult master or the new cult he had left behind would be happy about, but in a way, this could also be fate.
No, he was convincing himself that Old Ancestor Hongjun might have arranged this from the moment he brought this child.
"Originally, you have to join the cult and formally establish a master-disciple relationship to be taught fully, but do you have any intention of doing so?"
Agong didn't know it, but this was a huge opportunity.
"Join the cult?"
"Yes, this divine art is a secret art of the cult and is only permitted to its members."
To be precise, it was a unique martial art of the cult that symbolized the authority of the cult master, but that alone seemed to be shocking enough for Agong.
"Was that a martial art?"
Agong, surprised by the words 'martial art', turned his head to look at Tongtian.
He had thought he had given a grandiose name like Heavenly Demon Hand to a fishing technique, but there was a reason for it.
Common sense dictated that an ordinary fisherman would not be fishing in such an otherworldly demonic realm.
And he was an old man who came and went from the Hermit's Valley as if it were his own home.
How could someone who hadn't learned martial arts survive in the Hermit's Valley?
"Do you want to learn?"
"To learn that, I have to join the cult and also take you as my master, right?"
Contrary to Tongtian's expectation, Agong did not give an immediate answer.
"You don't seem to like it. Is it because of the Slender Moon Squad?"
Tongtian roughly knew the circumstances of how Agong had come to stay here following the Slender Moon Squad of the Black Contemplation Fortress.
The Slender Moon Squad would have already met the Black Qilin by now.
But it was unlikely that the Slender Moon Squad or the Black Qilin would care about Agong.
A piece that had served its purpose from the beginning.
Just as no one looks for a discarded object that has served its purpose, the same was true for Agong.
Agong flinched for a moment when Tongtian knew about the Slender Moon Squad, but he soon shook his head.
"It's unsettling to become a member of a cult I don't even know... and although it's just learning to read, I'm already serving a master."
Agong didn't know much about the cult that Tongtian was talking about, but since Tongtian, who was practicing martial arts, had said to join the cult, he thought it was definitely a place related to the martial world.
"Hmm... If that's the case. It's a pity for you."
Joining the cult was one thing, but to refuse the opportunity to learn martial arts because he was serving a master was admirable.
Of course, it was a statement made because Agong didn't know the value of the Heavenly Demon Hand...
Contrary to the words coming out of his mouth, Agong's eyes were clearly full of a desire to learn the Heavenly Demon Hand.
Tongtian once again applied the Heavenly Demon Hand, held the fishing rod, and pulled it lightly.
Splash!
"W-wow!"
Once again, a huge carp magically got caught on Tongtian's fishing line and jumped out of the lake.
Seeing Tongtian display his near-divine skill again, Agong could only blink his eyes wide.
"Now, go back."
Tongtian, without another word, released the flapping carp back into the lake without putting it in his net bag.
And then, he once again used the Heavenly Demon Hand to catch a fish.
Agong watched the scene as if possessed.
Tongtian was now slowly using the Heavenly Demon Hand as if to show off.
If he didn't join the cult and didn't take him as his master, he couldn't teach him the Heavenly Demon Hand of the Manifest Demon True Art.
It was admirable that he wanted to keep his loyalty to his reading master, but Agong was just a child.
If he kept displaying the Heavenly Demon Hand like this, it was clear that he would one day be unable to resist and ask for teachings.
'In the end, if he covets it, he will ask for teachings. The beginning of the demonic path is to know how to take what one covets by any means necessary.'
Even if he stole glances at the Heavenly Demon Hand from the side, it was only the form of the Heavenly Demon Hand, so it was a technique that was not even half-complete.
In the first place, understanding the subtleties of a supreme martial art is not simple.
In the end, the essence of the Manifest Demon True Art was the cultivation method, which could be said to be the root of the martial art.
In the end, if Agong wanted to wield the complete Heavenly Demon Hand, he had no choice but to follow Tongtian's intentions.
It was a funny thing that Tongtian, who was the supreme one of the ten thousand demons, had hidden such a troublesome and unseemly intention.
But Tongtian was enjoying this situation in his own way.
Thus began the fishing of the old man who released every fish he caught on the lake of the Hermit's Valley, and the boy who couldn't catch a single one.
* * *
It had already been a fortnight since Agong started fishing.
He was now much more used to the work at the tavern, and except for being a little tired lately, he was living a much more comfortable life than when he lived in the village before.
Time in the Hermit's Valley was slow, but it did not stop.
"Hum, hum... hum, hum, hum."
Agong, who was cleaning the tavern, was humming a tune, looking unusually excited for the first time in a while.
Pat, pat... Pitter-patter...
Then, Agong's ears perked up at the sound of raindrops tapping his ears.
He had felt a humid energy for some reason, and it seemed that it was starting to rain.
"How did he know the weather?"
As Old Ancestor Hongjun had predicted in the morning, the falling raindrops eventually gained momentum and turned into a downpour.
The strange thing about the Hermit's Valley was not just the flora and fauna that inhabited it.
The Hermit's Valley, which was mostly armed with thick fog, had a humid and unpleasant smell of sulfur, but when it suddenly rained, it would pour down so heavily that it would put the rainy season to shame.
On some days, it was so hot that all the energy was drained from the body, and on other days, it was so cold that it felt like the flesh was being cut, and chunks of ice could be seen in the lake.
Agong had not stayed at this Mountain Sea Tavern for a long time, but he thought that the Hermit's Valley was the only place in the world with such cranky weather.
"Are you done cleaning?"
"Yes."
Agong, who had stopped sweeping for a moment at Tongtian's voice, was startled and came to his senses.
At some point, Old Ancestor Hongjun had appeared in front of Agong like a ghost.
"Tsk, tsk, you must have been slacking off so much to be startled like a bird."
"Hehe."
Agong's ears turned red, and he scratched his head.
Agong didn't usually have much conversation with Old Ancestor Hongjun.
He had become quite friendly with Cook Li in the kitchen and Master Gongsun, but to Agong, Old Ancestor Hongjun was still an uncomfortable person.
First of all, both Cook Li and Master Gongsun's attitude of being cautious around Old Ancestor Hongjun was subtly revealed, and the reason he was stuck in this tavern in the first place was because Old Ancestor Hongjun had pointed him out.
"Are you getting used to life here?"
"What? Ah, yes."
While he was lost in thought for a moment, Hongjun asked Agong a question as if he had been looking into his mind.
"Learn well what you can from Master Gongsun. I can't be teaching you every little thing, can I?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you're going to take on some work, you need to have the basics."
"Work? Is there other work to do at the tavern?"
The owner, Old Ancestor Hongjun, was living a leisurely life, so that was that, and Cook Li was cooking, and he was serving and cleaning. What other work could there be in this small tavern?
"Is the food at the tavern made by digging up the ground? It's hard for an old man to deal with the merchants, so you should at least know how to read and do arithmetic, shouldn't you?"
"Do merchants come here?"
It was truly surprising to hear that a merchant caravan regularly traveled through such a rugged and remote area.
Hadn't the escort agency that Agong had guided before gotten into trouble after setting foot in the wrong place?
Come to think of it, since it was a tavern, they did sell food and wine, but as Hongjun said, it was unlikely that they would spring from the ground.
"The escorts of the merchant caravan I deal with separately stop by once every couple of months, so you'll have to do that work."
At the words that a merchant caravan stopped by here, Agong's small head began to spin furiously.
He had thought that there was no way to leave the tavern except for the Slender Moon Squad, but now there was a way to return by following the merchant caravan.
'Come to think of it...'
He couldn't understand why the Slender Moon Squad had bothered him, who only roughly knew the way to the Hermit's Valley, when there was a merchant caravan that came and went from here.
"And from now on, learn how to hunt outside from Cook Li."
"Hunting?"
"As you know, the tavern is swarming with flies and business is bad, so we don't have money to trade with the merchants, do we?"
"Don't tell me..."
"So we have to hunt to get ingredients and so on to be self-sufficient, and if there's any left over, we sell it to the merchants to help with our poor livelihood."
In a place where wild deer ate meat and fish had the fangs of a tiger in their mouths, how on earth was he supposed to hunt?
Agong felt his vision go dark, thinking that this crazy old man was trying to kill him.
"Sir, I've only ever gathered medicinal herbs from the mountains..."
"Of course, you have to gather that too. The fog here is a bit thick, but it's full of spiritual energy, so it won't be hard to find spiritual herbs."
It felt like talking to a wall.
Agong realized that it was not a time to be at ease in the tavern.
He judged that the way to preserve his life was to leave this place as soon as possible, while he was still healthy.
"Sir, but I won't be staying here for long. The Slender Moon Squad will be here soon..."
"You were paid as their price, so you don't have to worry about that."
"I'm not an object!"
"Even so, didn't you agree to it? If you try to walk out of here on your own two feet, you will have to pay the price."
Feeling the sharpness in Hongjun's words, Agong clamped his mouth shut.
Even the masters of the Slender Moon Squad, with their great martial arts, did not refuse Hongjun's request.
'No, maybe they didn't need to refuse...'
Would they keep their promise to a mere child with no use value?
Agong was tormented by the extremely realistic thought.
"If you have even a sliver of hope, it will be settled today."
"What do you mean?"
"The guest we've been waiting for has arrived."
At Hongjun's words, Agong threw away the broom in his hand and ran out of the tavern into the pouring rain.
Swoosh!
Through the pouring rain that made it hard to open his eyes, the figure of a person was faintly shimmering.
The location was the valley where the fog was thickest, the direction where the Slender Moon Squad had disappeared.
"They're back."
Agong, who had secretly thought they had abandoned him and left, greeted them with a strange expression, torn between the joy of not being abandoned and the burden of having to follow the Slender Moon Squad.
"H-hello!"
Seeing their figures, which had gotten close enough to be identified with the naked eye, Agong squeezed out a greeting from his sticky throat.
It was impossible to tell whether his voice was filled with joy or bewilderment, but Agong's emotions were also buried in the noise of the downpour.
The Slender Moon Squad, the Slender Moon Squad he had been waiting for so eagerly, had returned.
Zhao Wei, the leader of the Slender Moon Squad, made eye contact with Agong but did not say anything.
Instead, a man with a face he hadn't seen before among them opened his mouth in a low voice.
"Who is it?"
The voice of the man, with a five-pronged beard and a large scar on his forehead, was loud and clear, piercing his mind despite the sound of the downpour.
"Old Master, the one I mentioned before..."
Judging by Zhao Wei's polite attitude as he answered the question, this man must be the one who had made them drag Agong all the way here.
'That person... he's not wet at all from the rain.'
The man, called Old Master, was not wet at all, even though raindrops were falling around him, as if he had performed some kind of magic.
Agong, who had been staring at him so intently that it was rude, felt dizzy for a moment.
It felt like looking down at the ground from a high mountain cliff.
"Where is the Old Ancestor?"
"Ah, he's inside."
His voice contained an irresistible force.
Agong, trembling uncontrollably, whether from the cold in the rain or from the aura of the man in front of him, followed them as they strode into the tavern.
(End of Chapter)