The Outer God Needs Warmth

Chapter 106

A day passed.

On the way home yesterday.

I wondered if Sooga might be obsessing over her relationship with me, perhaps due to emotional neglect, so I carefully watched her, but I didn’t see any signs of it.

It wasn’t that she had separation anxiety from me being gone.

Children are complicated.

There are still four years left, so I can watch carefully during that time.

And today, the Heavenly Demon finally arrived.

As soon as the Heavenly Demon arrived, Sooga clung to him and chattered non-stop about what happened yesterday. She talked so much that, at one point, the Heavenly Demon asked me for help, clearly overwhelmed by her chatter.

I found it amusing, so I pretended not to notice and went outside for some exercise.

I shifted my steps toward the ruins further north.

I hadn’t run out here in a while. As I thought about it, I looked around, and in the middle of the ruins, I saw a body lying there.

Huh?

A body?

Well, there are plenty of bones scattered around here from decaying corpses, but this one is fresh, with its insides not completely dried out.

It appears to have a hole in the head, so it doesn’t seem like it was killed by a sword.

Why is it here, dead all alone?

I approached the body and examined its clothes.

Even after rummaging through its pockets, there was nothing particularly recognizable. Maybe it was something I couldn’t recognize. However, there was still a faint warmth remaining.

So, I pressed my hand against its chest.

Crack.

The body shattered, and the warmth right before it vanished entered me. Immediately, the light turned black and shriveled, falling away from the flesh.

That was when it happened.

Bang!

Suddenly, the ground came rushing towards me.

No, to be precise, I was attacked and my body fell forward. The impact was at the back of my head.

Of course, even if my body was damaged, I wouldn’t lose consciousness. If it were Choseol’s body, maybe, but I don’t even sleep, let alone faint.

I know that when my head is severed, I can still think, and by that point, it has nothing to do with the body anymore.

"Damn, Makyodo bastard. How did you notice? Does this mean that Samho, who lost contact, has been dealt with too?"

A man’s voice came from behind me, where I had collapsed.

There’s no one here who would call the Heavenly Demon "Makyodo." It’s something used outside.

The Five Evil Sword Faction or the Old Faction are groups that dominate the martial world. They often use this term.

The man who attacked me was sent by the Old Faction. Of course, I also know that even the newly unified Five Evil Factions sent several operatives this time.

The man approached and kicked me, pushing me away.

I kept my eyes closed, so I couldn’t exactly tell what was happening, but I heard him rummaging through my pockets.

"Ah, it’s here. Where? Oh Myung Seong, Makyodo’s ear. Super-high level. Threat assessment. Judgment needed. Ha, he finally betrayed us."

Before I had gained the warmth, I didn’t realize it, but there was an encrypted record hidden in the cloth he was holding. It seems the person who attacked me was reading that.

And not long after, the sound of footsteps faded as he walked away.

I regenerated my severed neck and stood up.

Having roughly understood the situation when I crushed the man’s chest, I held back from stealing the warmth of the one who attacked me.@@@@

Hehe, I’m glad I held back.

It seems the man didn’t come because of Oh Myung Seong. According to his memory, the intelligence agency he belonged to sends agents at this time every year to scout the Heavenly Demon Church during the promotion battle.

But he has no intention of catching Byeongil.

Using that excuse, he plans to fully escape from the Heavenly Demon Church.

After chasing Byeongil far away, he intends to sever all communication. He knows that there’s no bug left in his body.

How do I know this?

I told you. He’s following him.

He has already met Byeongil and discussed his desires with him.

Then, under the pretext of chasing him, he’s distancing himself more and more from the Heavenly Demon Church.

I like how he’s moving according to his own desires.

Next is Gapja.

Originally, he was in the lowest position among the first three, but within just a year, he has risen to the highest position in the Heavenly Demon Church.

Gapja became the head of the Mountain Stone Hall, which used to belong to Byeongil.

However, unlike Byeongil, he has maintained a more moderate relationship. Of course, a hardliner was killed by Byeongil, but still.

So, without much resistance, he’s been learning to manage the hall. Though, since there are few people, he has to recruit people from other factions and has been pushed around by the heads of other factions.

That’s his problem to solve.

Inshimwon is handling the work of the Wolje faction leader.

But it’s not exactly the same. He has completely gotten rid of the matters related to the Blood Evil Sect, leaving records about severing ties with them in a book.

And in that book, there are also notes about the Tongcheon Sect leader and a monster that resembles a fish-human hybrid.

Since this is information I have no way of knowing, I find it hard to ask Inshimwon why he’s writing it.

So, I’ve been collecting information slowly.

And the girl he was after. She has moved out of the main duties of the Wolje faction. Although she’s still a member, she’s been assigned a job that’s closer to the work done in the Heavenly Palace.

To put it simply, they removed her from dangerous and difficult tasks and placed her in an easier spot to approach.

Of course, the girl finds this favor very burdensome.

I’m not sure how this will turn out.

And Oh Myung Seong.

He’s been enjoying married life with Gu Mill Mil.

On the day of the promotion battle, the Heavenly Demon gave him a position called Gwangmyeongusa.

At first, I thought it was just a guard captain position, but it turns out it’s a position for someone who is likely to inherit the Heavenly Demon’s seat.

Gwangmyeongusa and Gwangmyeongjosa. There are two of these positions, and one of them has escaped to a remote place under the pretense of seeking rest.

Because the Gwangmyeongjosa had sided with Guseongyong when the Heavenly Demon came to kill him.

So, Gu Mill Mil and Oh Myung Seong are planning to call him back while watching the Heavenly Demon’s mood.

The Heavenly Demon?

She knows and is leaving it alone. When Sooga was training, she mentioned in passing that if they manage to politically bring back Gwangmyeongjosa, they would reward him with the position again.

Until then, they plan to test it with strong intentions to reject it.

"Are you thinking of making him the next Heavenly Demon?"

One afternoon, as usual, I asked the Heavenly Demon, who was sitting on the verandah, while Sooga was sprawled on the yard. But she just smiled without answering.

I have no idea what she’s thinking.

Meanwhile, the person from the Old Faction who ran away back then has been captured and killed, and strangely, there’s been no news about it.

If the martial world is moving, the Heavenly Demon should have received the news, but it’s not in the reports she receives.

At most, the blind leader of the Five Evil Sword Faction went into the Old Faction, and they formed a large group called the Martial Alliance.

Although some factions from the Five Evil Factions belong to the Old Faction, it hasn’t fully merged into a new faction. It’s complicated here too.

If this is a sign of war, I thought, I poked the Heavenly Demon’s cheek, who was not answering. Then, suddenly, she burst into laughter.

I have no idea why.