WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
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◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈
Chapter 18: Older Brother and Younger Brother
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Revered One Hall was unchanged when I returned.
The Heavenly Demon was still sitting there with that damned smirk.
I looked around the darkening hall.
Since Que Biao hadn't come looking for me yet, the job probably wasn't done. I'd ordered them to investigate that bastard Agyo.
I shook the Divine Maiden, who sat slumped as if they'd lost their country, out of their daze.
“You okay?”
“...Big bro.”
They were now glaring murderously at the Heavenly Demon, who lounged sideways in the grand tutor's chair.
“What if that bastard really wakes up?”
The Heavenly Demon waking up.
They had clearly declared us enemies, calling us the Non-Souls (不魂). They had even announced that they would join forces with the River North Alliance if things didn't go their way.
What the hell had the Gallers been doing to the Demonic Cult to make even the Heavenly Demon afraid?
“How many Gallers are active in the Demonic Cult?”
“I don't know. I only told you who I was because you're a Return Seeker... You're the first person I've told, too.”
“That bastard Agyo was definitely a Galler.”
“Huh? What makes you so sure?”
“They cracked jokes in front of me.”
I briefly explained Agyo's modern jokes.
“Oh, you really are a newbie.”
“Why?”
“Cracking jokes doesn't automatically make someone a Galler. Sure, the chances are high, but some bastards teach people to do that behind the scenes.”
“...They teach them?”
“Think about it. Cracking jokes might let you fish someone out, but it also reveals that you're a Galler. Would you do that just to catch one other Galler?”
The Swordwood Lord suddenly came to mind.
“Someone did.”
“They must have been confident they could overpower you.”
Thinking it over, they weren't wrong.
My chest felt tight.
What if Agyo really was nothing more than a Galler's lackey?
How was I supposed to deal with Gallers who hid behind so many layers of tricks and disguises?
In the end, it meant I couldn't trust anyone unless the original novel had already proven what kind of person they were.
It felt like an escape room game where the walls were covered in broken mirrors.
A den of deceivers, where hidden intentions tangled like spiderwebs and no one showed their true face.
No matter how strong my martial arts were, I would clearly meet a miserable end if I lost at these sinister games of strategy.
The Gallers were acting even more cunningly than the native masters. How could that not give me chills?
Were money and a power base really the problem in a situation like this?
I needed a completely different approach.
But if I couldn't trust anyone around me, that meant I had to level up all on my own.
Seriously, what if that Heavenly Demon actually woke up?
The thought alone made my head spin.
Was I supposed to face one of the strongest beings in this world with nothing but Silent Aeon Demon Soul?
“This is driving me insane.”
I knew how powerful the Mad Demon was in the original novel.
Overwhelming martial might that had crushed the Seven Sects of Mount Hua (華山七宗) single-handedly.
A legendary balance-breaker who had changed the very landscape of Mount Tiantai with a single thrusting slash.
But even that overpowered monster was only in the early part of the story.
After chapter 206, in the later parts I knew nothing about, I couldn't even imagine how much stronger the Mad Demon had become.
‘Could I even compare?’
Of course, I had also overwhelmed dozens of masters from Hundred Snakes Valley in an instant.
The realm of the Absolute Demon Sword that had unfolded before my eyes the moment I gripped Silent Aeon Demon Soul.
That ability was certainly broken enough.
‘No. It's nowhere near enough.’
To an ordinary Galler, it would have seemed incredibly powerful. But the problem was that the standard I had to meet was the Mad Demon.
The people I would have to face weren't small fry from Hundred Snakes Valley. They were the orthodox faction's Nine Exalted.
On top of that, even the Heavenly Demon, one of the Seven Seats who should have been on my side, had become an enemy.
Silent Aeon Demon Soul wielded by a newbie.
There was no way that would work against the Heavenly Demon, who could see through even the original novel's settings and rules.
‘...’
Silent Aeon Demon Soul.
The more I used it, the more my soul and mind crumbled. It was like living on borrowed time.
When merely gripping it accelerated the loss of my humanity, no kind of training was realistically possible.
The Gallers' jokes about killing themselves if they ever possessed the Mad Demon no longer sounded like jokes.
“Ha... Why don't I have a dantian?”
“A dantian?”
“This thing, Silent Aeon Demon Soul. Sure, it's an overpowered item, but it's like a battery on borrowed time. Using it will turn me into a monster, so I can't even train. Damn it...”
At my complaint, the Divine Maiden pursed their lips and fell silent for a moment.
Then they spoke.
“My divine power.”
“Huh? Your divine power?”
“Ever since I possessed this body, I've been stuck in an endless cycle of baths, rituals, and confessions. So how do you think I learned to use this divine power? Who could have taught me?”
I sat up straight.
“Tell me more.”
“Just because you entered that body doesn't mean the being called the Mad Demon disappeared. Look.”
The Divine Maiden took a small booklet from inside their white robes.
They opened it and held it up in front of my face.
“Can't you read it?”
“Are you sure you should be showing me this? It looks like your diary.”
The booklet they held out was clearly a private diary, filled with daily activities and brief thoughts and impressions.
“Look again. Is my diary written in Hangul?”
“Uh...?”
I really hadn't even noticed.
Their diary was clearly full of complicated, winding Chinese characters.
“How did you understand what it said the moment you saw it?”
I froze in shock.
Did that mean the Mad Demon's consciousness remained inside my body?
I had never once considered that possibility.
“The Mad Demon's experiences and consciousness haven't completely disappeared. You're still a newbie, but you'll definitely have moments when something clicks.”
As I sat there and thought about it, it did make sense.
The Mad Demon's body, this brain, had spent over forty years learning how to kill.
The soul might have been replaced with an outsider's, but that didn't mean the original brain had disappeared.
Once I accepted that possibility, my troubled mind eased considerably.
It meant the paths of slaughter that had overlapped like layers in my vision were the Mad Demon's accumulated experience.
“But it doesn't change the fact that I can't cultivate internal energy. That really hurts. It makes my heart ache.”
I had to be carried like a princess whenever I went anywhere.
My pride belonged to the cruel and merciless Mad Demon, yet I had to surrender my body to someone else's arms like a baby every time.
Then the Divine Maiden said something unexpected.
“You said you weren't going to worry about the chapters, right?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don't you know the Divine Physician of Life and Death? Oh, is it because you're a skip freak?”
“The Divine Physician of Life and Death (生死神醫)?”
A character from Mad Heaven Records I'd never heard of.
“Yes. The Fragrant Immortal's younger half sibling, by a different mother. When the Mad Demon shattered the Fist Saint's dantian, that physician restored it.”
“The Mad Demon? Me?”
They smiled.
“Shattering someone's dantian and laughing at the sky like a lunatic. That's the Mad Demon's signature move. You do it so often that you become a public enemy of the martial world.”
...Well, it was something I knew nothing about, so I didn't need to feel guilty.
“If you really aren't going to worry about the chapters, finding the Divine Physician of Life and Death is one option.”
“If they're the Fragrant Immortal's sibling, wouldn't they belong to the orthodox faction?”
“Oh, who cares about factions? We'll just buddy up to them until they soften. We're Gallers.”
A great villain of the Demonic Cult restoring internal energy through the orthodox faction's renowned medicine.
If this were a novel, the readers would curse the author out for that plot. But this was reality, and my life came first.
“Buddy up, huh?”
“Or you could shower them with gold.”
“...I don't have any money.”
“Haha!”
I tilted my head at the Divine Maiden, who had suddenly burst out laughing.
“You're laughing?”
“How is this not funny? The Mad Demon is ignoring the chapters but worrying about money.”
“I'm completely broke, you know.”
“Ha, you're hopeless.”
They looked at me as if I were pathetic.
My temper flared, but I couldn't show it.
Who knew what other precious information might come out of that mouth?
“Where did the Mad Demon get Silent Aeon Demon Soul in the original novel?”
“From the clan's secret vault... Huh?”
My brain froze again.
“Exactly. How to get into the Mad Blood Sword Clan's secret vault. That information has to be somewhere in your head.”
The Mad Blood Sword Clan was an ancient, prestigious demonic clan that had existed back when the Demonic Cult was called the Ming Cult (明敎). No, even before that.
Its history ran deeper than that of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. The clan had literally spent over a thousand years accumulating treasures.
The Mad Demon had found Silent Aeon Demon Soul in that clan's secret vault.
After being driven out by his father, he'd robbed the clan on his way out.
Of course, neither the Demonic Cult nor the Mad Blood Sword Clan knew that.
Only the readers, the Gallers of Mad Heaven Records, knew.
But...
“I don't know how.”
“Hmm. Yes, that's the problem for now.”
To ignore the chapters and restore my dantian, I had to meet the Divine Physician of Life and Death?
To grease that physician's palm, I needed money?
And since I needed money, I should rob the clan's secret vault again?
The whole situation only seemed to be getting more tangled, and irritation surged through me.
“Ah, damn it. Forget it. The Fate Lot Pavilion would be quicker.”
“Pfft.”
Even if that joke-cracking bastard Agyo was just a Galler's stand-in, there had definitely been a Galler at the Fate Lot Pavilion to judge my reaction.
As I renewed my resolve, the Divine Maiden pursed their lips again, seemingly out of habit.
“What can you do for me, big bro?”
“Where did that come from?”
“Nowhere. I was just wondering what you think of me.”
The sudden question caught me off guard.
Every Galler had been dropped into this martial arts world against their will.
Still, how should I put it? Their situation was far more pitiful than mine.
“Don't feel pressured. Just tell me. How much can you help me, and how?”
I answered without filtering my thoughts.
“I'm barely keeping my own head above water right now. I'm not in any position to help someone else. But...”
The Divine Maiden's pretty eyes kept sparkling.
“If I ever become certain there's a way back, you'll be the first person I think of. No hesitation.”
The Divine Maiden sat there, expressionless.
After a long while, a faint smile began to form.
“...That's enough for me.”
“But why ask that all of a sudden?”
“You're an idiot, big brother. You say you want to find someone rich in the Demonic Cult, so why leave out the person right in front of you?”
The Divine Maiden slowly stood and began putting on their court robes.
“Come to Ten Thousand Demons Hall at sunrise. I'll provide all the money.”
“You? You're rich?”
The Divine Maiden gave a small smile.
“Cultists moved by the Divine Maiden shed tears as they offer tribute. How much do you think those offerings add up to in a single day?”
Ah.
I'd heard that churches and temples made a lot of money.
The representative of the Great Light.
Suffering fanatics begged for salvation, while ambitious people sought a justification for their actions through the Divine Maiden's words.
The secret deals and bribes that must have changed hands in the process, along with the fanatics' offerings, had built a mountain range of wealth.
I stared up at the Divine Maiden.
Damn it. The darkest place really was right under the lamp.
I'd thought their mind was simply rotting away after three years of serving as an emotional dumping ground.
But in exchange for that suffering, they'd gained an enormous fortune.
“...How much can you lend me?”
Step. Step.
The Divine Maiden, already some distance away, waved a hand.
“As much as you like. Whatever you need, big bro.”
So cool.
So incredibly cool.
The words came straight from my heart and out of my mouth.
“Starting tomorrow, you're my big bro.”
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