I opened my eyes.

I felt tears rolling down from my eyes. I quickly wiped them away roughly.

Opening my eyes meant that I was alive.

[Are you alright?]

The first voice I heard was that of Uncle Dagger.

‘Uncle?’

[You must be in a lot of pain. Too much to move.]

My whole body hurt, but it was more bearable than I expected.

‘It’s not as bad as I thought…’

I blinked my eyes blankly.

“Lin, Nam Gung Lin. Who on earth are you looking at… No, are you okay?”

I turned my head at the familiar voice.

Ji Cheon Wu was there.

“Ji… Cheon Wu?”

He spoke to me with a choked voice.

“I’m glad you woke up while I was here.”

I blinked my eyes blankly.

It was because Ji Cheon Wu’s eyes were red. He looked like he hadn’t slept properly.

I examined Ji Cheon Wu.

After taking the sword of the Hideous Demon, I had passed out immediately.

It was too big a shock for my body to endure.

It was horrifying just to imagine what Ji Cheon Wu might have gone through after that.

But Ji Cheon Wu looked much more intact than I had thought.

Although he seemed to have a wound on his arm, the Hideous Demon wasn’t the type to end things so easily.

The fact that Ji Cheon Wu was alive and well meant that someone had saved us.

“You… are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Ji Cheon Wu gave a hollow laugh at my question.

“You really…”

He lowered his head while holding my hand. And then he didn’t say anything.

I couldn’t help but be flustered.

Clearly, the Ji Cheon Wu in the novel had an arrogant and willful personality.

He wasn’t the type to hold my hand with such a pitiful appearance.

I thought that what the Hideous Demon had done had given Ji Cheon Wu a big shock.

Well, it was too horrific an experience for a child.

I could understand why Ji Cheon Wu was shocked.

‘He wasn’t originally the type to show such a weak side…’

I wonder if he’s okay.

His personality had become completely different from the protagonist in the novel.

‘Has he become too soft-hearted?’

It seemed like I had twisted the original work too much and affected Ji Cheon Wu’s personality.

In the Heavenly Demon Sovereign, numerous rude villains appear. The original Ji Cheon Wu was even ruder and more shameless than those villains. He had the appearance of a martial arts novel protagonist who spewed out satisfying scenes.

But the current Ji Cheon Wu showed no signs of that shamelessness at all.

Looking at him, who was like a single lily, I couldn’t help but worry.

‘In this harsh world, having a dirty personality would be more advantageous.’

Watching such a Ji Cheon Wu, Uncle Dagger clicked his tongue as if he didn’t like it.

[That guy is acting. You need to know what he did while you were unconscious.]

‘He seems to have been very shocked. Surely nothing happened?’

[That guy… the head of the Hideous Demon that you cut off… Aish, never mind.]

Uncle Dagger clicked his tongue as if it was detestable.

Ignoring Uncle Dagger’s words, I tried to get up.

Then I heard Uncle Dagger shouting in surprise.

[Don’t move carelessly! Your body is in a very bad state.]

“Uh… yeah, I can’t get up…”

At my words, Ji Cheon Wu approached me in a panic.

“The doctor said you shouldn’t move for a while.”

I frowned.

It seemed fine when I was still, but my body condition was worse than I thought. Then Uncle Dagger sighed and said.

[It can’t be helped.]

Uncle Dagger whispered softly.

[Hmm, I do know of an elixir that could help restore your body…]

‘An elixir?’

Could it be…

I recalled a memorable sentence from the Heavenly Demon Sovereign.

Ji Cheon Wu discovered a thousand-year-old wild ginseng while walking.

“This antique dagger is making noise again.”

Ji Cheon Wu frowned.

The dagger was vibrating and humming again. What happened before wasn’t his imagination.

‘This thing, does it really understand what I’m saying?’

Ji Cheon Wu tapped the dagger as if annoyed.

“Should I really throw you away?”

Then the dagger emitted a hot energy as if feeling wronged.

It was content I remembered because it was so ridiculous. I shook my head as I looked at Ji Cheon Wu.

The protagonist’s buff was a terrifying thing.

‘I envy you, protagonist. To discover a thousand-year-old wild ginseng while just walking…’

At that time, I had thought that it was too much, even for a protagonist.

‘Later on, maybe because Uncle Dagger was upset with Ji Cheon Wu, that role didn’t appear anymore, so I had completely forgotten about it!’

That’s right.

Only Ji Cheon Wu didn’t know, but Uncle Dagger had the ability to detect elixirs in the original work as well.

[Don’t expect too much. It’s just enough to urgently restore your body.]

Uncle Dagger continued speaking.

[After reaching a certain level, I became able to see spiritual energy. But I can only confirm it from a few zhang away.]

‘Wow…’

[Besides that, I have things I prepared when I had a physical body. I was going to give them to my disciple later.]

‘When you had a physical body?’

[Yes, I wandered around many places for a long time to obtain elixirs. There was something absolutely necessary. I have some elixirs hidden all over the martial arts world.]

Perhaps some of Ji Cheon Wu’s fortuitous encounters were also things that Uncle Dagger had hidden.

‘Actually, every time Ji Cheon Wu discovered an elixir, was that shuddering feeling like someone who had their treasure stolen…?’

I became really curious about what kind of person he was.

And why he was trapped in a dagger.

But people have things they don’t want to reveal. Uncle Dagger also seemed to dislike revealing his past.

‘I’m the same.’

I also had a past I didn’t want to talk about. So I didn’t pry into what had happened in his past.

I just thought he would tell me when the time came.

[That guy is coming.]

I opened my eyes wide. As soon as Uncle Dagger finished speaking, the door to my room opened.

“You’ve woken up.”

Grandfather was entering my room. I looked at Grandfather with a surprised face.

I saw Ji Cheon Wu leaving my room after glancing around for a moment. Grandfather’s appearance, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, felt unfamiliar.

‘Why does he look sick?’

It wasn’t that his body looked sick.

It was more like…

‘His heart looks hurt.’

It was like how I always looked when Grandfather and Aunt Ji Cheon Wu weren’t around.

Grandfather’s face looked similar to the face I always made when I looked in the mirror.

I couldn’t help but say this.

“Are you alright?”

At my words, Grandfather made an expression similar to Ji Cheon Wu just before.

Grandfather asked me.

“What do you mean?”

“You look like you’re having a hard time.”

The grandfather in the original work was always a cold person. It was described that he had never shown weakness.

Ji Cheon Wu, who feared nothing in the world, only found my grandfather difficult to deal with. But I knew.

It was something that only I, who knew the original work, could understand.

The heart demon that had settled deep in his heart.

‘When I was first born, I thought grandfather would kill me.’

Grandfather was someone who could become even stronger. But after my father, Nam Gung Hyun, went missing, his martial arts stagnated.

In the original work, even I die, Nam Gung Yu Cheong dies, and aunt dies too.

So how could he have maintained his sanity?

Grandfather looked down at me with an unreadable face.

“I should be the one asking if you’re alright.”

“I’m fine.”

“…”

“Actually, it was a bit hard, but I’m okay now.”

I said that while nodding my head.

“So… Father will be alright too.”

At my words, grandfather just stared at me, frozen in place.

Grandfather was silent for a long time. Instead, he embraced me.

Grandfather’s body was trembling slightly. I could feel deep regret from him. It was a long time before grandfather left.

[This is the timeline separator]

Nam Gung Jin Cheon, who had left Nam Gung Lin’s quarters, looked up at the sky. Yuk Il Gwang, the secret guard behind him, let out an exclamation of admiration.

“She’s really a brilliant person, isn’t she?”

Nam Gung Jin Cheon nodded with a complicated expression. He had gone to check on Nam Gung Lin’s condition. The child clearly looked unwell. Although she said she was fine, her complexion was pale and her movements were slower than usual.

Even if they brought the most skilled doctor, injuries wouldn’t heal in an instant.

Especially after experiencing severe internal injuries. It was clear that the pain would not be insignificant.

Yet, she asked if he was alright instead.

Nam Gung Jin Cheon’s heart ached at the sight of a child who had grown up too quickly.

Nam Gung Hyun would surely have felt heartache if he saw the child’s appearance.

And yet, he would have been proud.

Proud that she had grown up well even without him there.

‘Hyun, your daughter has already grown this much.’

Nam Gung Jin Cheon spoke to his son, knowing there would be no reply.

Eight years, it was a long time.

The moon setting, the sun rising. Repeating that hundreds of times. But his time had stopped eight years ago.

His set sun had not risen again. But now he knew.

‘It seems it’s time to let you go.’

Seeing Nam Gung Jin Cheon like this, Yuk Il Gwang fell silent.

He raised his finger as if telling the maid approaching them to be quiet.

He could see Nam Gung Jin Cheon closing his eyes.

The deep heart demon that had been sleeping in his heart had disappeared.

Nam Gung Jin Cheon could realize at that moment.

As the heart demon that had been sleeping deep in his heart disappeared, he was now ready to move forward towards the sky.

Yuk Il Gwang watched this scene with eyes full of emotion.

The world’s greatest, Nam Gung Jin Cheon.

He had reached an even higher level.