Chapter 87: Great Elder (2)

The Absolute Supreme must be absolutely alone.

There must not be any vulnerability created by another.

Even if that someone was the one who taught them human emotions.

If one becomes too deeply entangled with others, a flaw is bound to form in what was once perfect.

The Heavenly Demon could never be established under such conditions.

***

“Hohoho?”

The Great Elder let out a hollow laugh.

“From the way you’re charging in without hesitation, you’re definitely a descendant of the Jin Clan.”

In the Great Elder’s eyes, as she looked at me, there was a curious gleam, like she was observing a fascinating creature for the first time in her life.

“What exactly made you fall for Yura?”

“She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“What?”

“If you look closely, she has a lot of cute traits. She always looks expressionless, but if you pay attention, you’ll notice how rich her expressions actually are, in all the subtle changes.”

“…How do you know that?”

“She also has a tendency to be surprisingly proactive when experiencing something for the first time. She’s quite curious by nature.”

Like how she had run off from Ten Thousand Mountain on her own, or especially, if you consider all the cringe-worthy things she confessed to me right before our past lives ended.

“……”

“She gets grumpy in the mornings—adorably so. Lady Sa is a bit troubled by it, but from an observer’s point of view…”

“Al-alright. That’s enough.”

“And above all, she doesn’t treat people carelessly. And unexpectedly, she likes to tease those she’s close with…”

“I said that’s enough!”

The Great Elder shouted as she clutched her forehead.

Indeed, such detailed observations were only the kind of things one could know from staying close to her.

“Love. You say it’s love!”

How many decades had it been since she last heard that word?

Forty years? No—fifty?

In this Heavenly Demon Cult, ruled by iron and blood, she didn’t think she had heard such a luxurious word since her youth.

“This… is a real headache.”

The Great Elder cast a strange look in my direction.

“I never thought someone would genuinely care for Yura. But of all people, it had to be you, with a will stronger than the Cult Leader’s.”

I bowed my head deeply to the Great Elder.

“Please help me.”

“What?”

“For me to become the Demonic Faction Lord, I need your help, Great Elder.”

The Tribunal had all turned their backs.

Even among the Six Great Demonic Clans, there were traitors.

And even the blood relatives from the same Cheon Clan stabbed her in the back.

But through it all, there was one who supported Cheon Yura to the very end—who stood behind her, held her up, and sacrificed everything for the Cult’s sake: the Great Elder, Cheon Yeongha.

Right now, I needed her help more than ever’s.

The Great Elder looked at me with suspicion.

“…Don’t tell me you’re doing this for status?”

“Of course not.”

“I suppose that makes sense. With your current ability, even if all Six Demonic Dragons came at you, you could probably crush them with one arm. Snatching the position of the Jin Clan’s Young Master would be like drinking cold soup.”

At those words, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Even Jin Gun-ak hadn’t noticed my level, yet here was someone, not even the Cult Leader, was seeing right through me.

Thumping my chest boldly, I declared,

“Even if the Young Cult Leader loses her position, I will still love her.”

“What a brazen little bastard.”

“No, actually, if you think about it, wouldn’t that be better? If she loses the Young Cult Leader position, we’d be free to date as we please.”

The Great Elder, seemingly dumbfounded, parted her lips slightly.

“…If the Cult Leader heard that, you’d be torn apart and killed.”

“That’s why I’m saying it while he’s not around.”

“Have you forgotten where you are? This is the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.”

“Even if it is, without the Cult Leader present, it’s just an empty house. He usually takes care of matters in another location, right?”

“Hooh?”

The Great Elder’s eyes sharpened.

The Heavenly Demon Pavilion might be the Cult Leader’s residence, but the real place he conducted his duties was a small pavilion tucked away in a peak known as Mysterious Elegance Peak.

“Only a few know that. Where did you hear it?”

I raised my index finger and winked one eye.

“That’s a secret.”

“Hohoho.”

The Great Elder slightly raised a fist and asked,

“May I hit you just once?”

“Please have mercy.”

I immediately bowed low in a groveling posture.

There was no way I could withstand a single punch from someone known as Thousand Hands Witch.

“You want my help, do you?”

The Great Elder’s eyes turned icy cold.

In that instant, I felt as if dozens of ice serpents had wrapped around my body and constricted me.

‘I-It’s an enormous Yin Qi!’

The Great Elder was the cult’s greatest master of Yin Cold Qi.

Literally capable of freezing one’s limbs just by casting a glance—she was a supreme master in every sense of the word.

“You can endure this much, huh? If it were just a typical Late-Stage expert, your heart would have frozen and burst.”

“That’s… a bit harsh, isn’t it?”

“They say you captured the Seventh Elder. If that’s true, your level should be at least in that ballpark.”

It wasn’t just a rumor, but it seemed he hadn’t taken it seriously.

“I’ll admit you’re one of the rare interesting ones I’ve come across lately. However, even so, I can’t find a compelling reason to go against the Cult Leader’s will and support you as Yura’s partner.”

“I’m not expecting that much.”

The Great Elder stared at me for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.

At the same time, the feeling of being bound vanished from my entire body.

“Fine. I’ll at least share what’s in the Cult Leader’s mind.”

I bowed with my hands cupped.

“I’ll listen with all due respect.”

“The Cult Leader wants Yura to be the next Heavenly Demon after him. If we’re just talking about talent, Yura’s talent…”

The Great Elder hesitated briefly before continuing with difficulty.

“…might even reach that of the First Heavenly Demon.”

“……!”

I had rated her higher than the public did, but… this truly surprised me.

Was her evaluation within the Cheon Clan really this high?

“That’s why the Cult Leader wants Yura to become a flawless transcendental being. To reign over the Heavenly Demon Cult at the very peak, untouched by worldly emotions.”

“…Then why conduct something like the Exchange Ceremony?”

“The Blood Dragon Demonic Clan.”

“…?”

“The Black Gold Sa Clan, the Illusion Clan, and the Hidden Shadow So Clan.”

Why was the Great Elder listing the Six Great Demonic Clans?

“They’re clans either currently troubled by successor issues—or soon to be.”

“Ah!”

‘Successor issues.’

The moment those words were spoken, I understood why the Great Elder was saying all this.

“The Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan is rumored to have your younger brother take over instead of you. Thanks to Jin Gun-ak’s stable leadership, there hasn’t been any major infighting.”

Indeed, unless I stirred the pot myself, that was accurate.

“The Pa Clan has already named the elder twin sister as Young Master. They’re said to have a strong sibling bond, so no unexpected variables are likely. However—”

The Great Elder raised a finger.

“The Blood Dragon Demonic Clan is a mess, with outright conflict between the eldest and the second child.”

More fingers extended.

“The Black Gold Sa Clan is worse. Including Biyeon, Yura’s attendant, there are four people vying for the successor’s seat.”

As expected of the Great Elder—she had seen right through Sa Biyeon’s ambitions.

“The Illusion Clan and Hidden Shadow So Clan don’t have much external activity either, but their internal struggles are just as fierce, fought beneath the surface.”

I had only learned of this fact much later in my past life, but the Great Elder wasn’t wrong.

“So, if a variable is introduced from outside—someone declared as the Young Cult Leader’s spouse—what do you think would happen?”

“Even without direct manipulation, the successor competitions across the clans would fall into chaos.”

This was a variable that both the winners and losers couldn’t ignore.

“Exactly. Now what if we actively manipulated that variable?”

“The entire Six Great Demonic Clans might fall into full-blown turmoil.”

That wasn’t a guess—it was certainty.

Coincidentally, the heirs of the current generation of the Six Great Demonic Clans were mostly around the same age.

In my past life, I’d watched like an outsider from across the river, barely paying attention—but I at least knew that a great deal of blood had been shed as a result.

‘I had no idea that was all part of the Cult Leader’s scheme!’

“Yes. If the Six Clans fall into disarray, Yura gains time to grow and strengthen her influence.”

I had to fight the urge to add one more thought out loud.

‘And it also opens the door for the Heaven-Defying Society to dig their claws in even deeper.’

I knew how this scheme of the Cult Leader would end.

Failure.

A complete and utter failure.

Of course, in the past life, variables like the betrayal of the Yin-Yang Fist Demon or a massive purge against the Heaven-Defying Society hadn’t occurred.

Still, the outcome was so disastrous that it left me doubting Cheon Taejong’s political and strategic skill as Cult Leader.

‘I don’t care if the other clans lose power. What matters is how many more Heaven-Defying bastards will slither in through the cracks.’

“To my knowledge, the Cult Leader has already set the chaos into motion. I’m not sure what form it’s taking, but since the Heavenly Thunder Corps moved, they won’t stop at simple surveillance.”

‘Heavenly Thunder Corps!’

The very unit that led to the transformation of the Four Great Halls into the Five Great Halls after a thousand years.

I cautiously asked the Great Elder,

“Do you know how the Heavenly Thunder Corps came to be?”

“…Aren’t you trying to glean a bit too much information for free?”

“I suspect it was a contingency arranged by the Cult Leader to support the Young Cult Leader, but I’m not entirely sure.”

In truth, that was exactly its role in my past life.

The problem was that its authority had grown too bloated—so much so that it even infringed upon the Cult Leader’s own power.

Hearing that, a faint glimmer of admiration appeared on the Great Elder’s face.

“You already know and still ask? Fine. Yes, the Heavenly Thunder Corps was created to support Yura, who is to become the Absolute Supreme.”

The Great Elder admitted that the amount of effort the Cult Leader had poured into the Heavenly Thunder Corps far exceeded what most could imagine.

I sighed inwardly upon hearing that.

‘Damn it.’

Now I understood why things had turned out that way in the future.

With the Cult Leader pushing so hard to support her, the Heavenly Thunder Corps must’ve grown into an enormous force.

But then, for some reason, Cheon Yura’s abilities failed to meet Cheon Taejong’s expectations.

As a result, she lost control of the Heavenly Thunder Corps, and the unit went berserk.

‘Perhaps Yura’s halted growth was due to interference from that bastard Han Mubaek and the Heaven-Defying Society.’

If not, then how could someone as brilliant and radiant as Cheon Yura now have been degraded to merely the Heartless Demonic Empress in our past life?

‘I now have a clearer idea of what I must do.’

There was no avoiding it.

The Heavenly Thunder Corps had to be destroyed.

Which meant—my enemies might not just include the Heaven-Defying Society, but also the current Cult Leader, Cheon Taejong.

The Great Elder seemed to have picked up on my resolve.

“You’ve steeled yourself for something.”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I’ve clarified what I must do.”

“Hmm.”

The Great Elder stared silently at me for a moment.

And then—

“Take this.”

She tossed a round token toward me.

Etched onto the token was a single word.

*‘Heaven-Ascending Pavilion’*

The very place led by the Great Elder herself, one of the *Nine Demon Halls* of the cult and a force to be reckoned with!

“I’ll help you—once, when things get tough.”

“Gr-Great Elder…”

I called out to her, slightly moved.

“Of course, I can’t go against the Cult Leader’s will. That would be treason. But as long as it doesn’t go that far, it’s fine.”

From those words, I could feel just how deeply the Great Elder cared for Cheon Yura.

Somewhere deep inside, she too must disagree with the Cult Leader’s ways.

If not, she wouldn’t have handed me that token.

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