Chapter 8
Gluttony
Despite Jeong-ah 's repeated attempts to stop him, Yeon Sohyeon insisted on helping prepare the meal.
In the end, they finished cooking together.
Yet she hardly had the mind to care about his strange behavior.
A lingering, indescribable sense of unease clung to her.
How... how is he escaping my eyes?
He was clearly sitting right in front of her.
Yet that was all her eyes could perceive.
What was he thinking?
What emotions was he feeling?
What would he do next?
Her eyes read absolutely nothing.
"Now, now. Don't just stand there. Sit down and eat with me."
"How could this lowly servant possibly share a table with the Eldest Young Master?"
She had tried to stop him from the moment she began setting the table, but it was becoming increasingly clear that the Eldest Young Master had absolutely no intention of listening to her.
"Come now. Sit."
In the end, she had no choice.
A servant could not refuse her master's command.
Sighing inwardly, Jeong-ah squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment before taking a seat across from him.
If anyone outside heard that she had shared a meal alone with the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan...
Who would believe it?
"Mmm. This seasoned vegetable dish is excellent. You have a good touch. It's simple, but the flavors are perfectly balanced."
"...It's nothing worthy of praise."
She could barely tell whether the food was entering her mouth or her nose.
Yet, strangely enough, every bite went down with remarkable ease.
Thinking about it...
All she had eaten since dawn had been a single bowl of porridge.
Or perhaps it was because every ingredient on the table had been grown inside Wongak Pavilion itself.
Thanks to the grand formation, Wongak Pavilion maintained the mild temperatures of early spring even in the middle of winter.
"Oh, right. You're not feeling dizzy from the formation anymore, are you?"
Covering her mouth politely, Jeong-ah answered,
"No. I believe it's thanks to your care and concern."
Yeon Sohyeon nodded as though something had clicked into place.
"I see. That's fortunate. There are people who are unusually sensitive to spiritual energy from time to time. Even if they don't possess internal energy."
"I-Is that so?"
"And those eyes of yours... They're almost golden."
Jeong-ah 's composure wavered once again.
Everything she knew about her eyes came only from her own experiences.
At that moment...
Fear and hope arose together.
Fear that the Eldest Young Master might discover the secret of her eyes.
Hope that he might know the truth behind the curse she had carried all her life.
Just then, Yeon Sohyeon, who had been sitting with his eyes closed in thought, suddenly opened them.
"...!"
Jeong-ah unconsciously held her breath.
"I've decided."
She waited anxiously.
"I should have another bowl. Heap this one up nice and high."
"...Yes, Young Master."
In the end...
The Eldest Young Master ate five more bowls of rice.
Not once during the meal did he mention her unusual constitution again.
Instead, he chatted casually about trivial matters.
"...Hmm. Still not quite enough."
He smacked his lips in dissatisfaction.
"...My apologies. Shall I cook more rice?"
The generous pot of rice was already empty.
He had even poured hot water into the pot and finished every last bit of scorched rice clinging to the bottom.
"No. It's better to stop while still a little hungry."
Jeong-ah had no idea in what world that qualified as a little hungry, but she simply nodded.
"Then I'll prepare plenty of snacks to accompany the tea."
"Hmm... Tea is fine, but I'd rather have some wine."
"...Very well. I'll prepare enough dishes to go with it."
"Haha. You're quick to catch on."
Suppressing her bewilderment, Jeong-ah returned to the kitchen.
Preparing meals for such a voracious master would certainly be exhausting.
Still...
It was far preferable to serving someone who was excessively picky about food.
After she left, Yeon Sohyeon rubbed his stomach and tilted his head.
"...That's strange."
He had always been a light eater.
Half a bowl of rice.
A few pickled or seasoned side dishes.
One bowl of hot soup.
That had always been more than enough to satisfy him.
He remembered it clearly.
Yet now...
He was still hungry.
This was no longer a matter of eating a lot or a little.
He had just eaten six bowls of rice, an entire pot of scorched rice soaked into soup, countless side dishes, and several bowls of soup.
Anyone should have felt completely full after that.
Instead...
What he felt was merely the mild hunger one experiences just before eating a late-night snack.
If there was any likely explanation...
The Jeam Jincheon Scripture.
The supreme demonic art.
The ultimate martial scripture, woven together from everything three Immortals had sacrificed in order to suppress the greatest demon in history.
Perhaps...
This endless hunger was the price of possessing it.
A moment later, Yeon Sohyeon let out a dry laugh.
"So the price for turning back time and twisting fate... is never feeling full?"
Even if that were true...
So what?
He was the legitimate heir of an absurdly wealthy clan.
Even while countless commoners outside starved to death...
He could eat until he was satisfied.
Even if he consumed an entire ox every single day...
It would hardly matter.
At that moment...
He failed to hear it.
He failed to hear it.
The small, sinister giggle that echoed from his lower abdomen...
...from within his dantian.
And before the night was over, he devoured enough side dishes to feed five or six grown men.
***
"...This is troublesome."
It was already deep into the night.
Yet Yeon Sohyeon could not fall asleep.
The hunger had returned.
He considered calling Jeong-ah again, but stopped himself.
He might enjoy teasing her in various ways, but he had no desire to look like some ravenous demon.
More importantly, he was convinced there had to be a reason behind this insatiable hunger.
He had several theories, but regardless of which was correct...
For now, satisfying his hunger came first.
He got out of bed and quietly put on his clothes.
In his previous life, whenever he was too restless to sleep, he would wander the streets of Luoyang at night.
As one of the largest cities in the Central Plains, Luoyang's taverns remained lively until dawn.
Finding food at this hour would not be difficult.
If he quietly slipped out of the clan estate, a few bodyguards would undoubtedly trail after him while making no effort to hide their displeasure.
Back then, with no internal energy whatsoever, there had been no way for him to deceive the clan's watchful eyes.
But...
For some reason...
Tonight, he felt there was no need to leave that way.
It was as though someone...
Or rather, something...
...was calling him.
Like the instinctive feeling that makes you turn around the moment someone calls your name from behind.
He took a single step, as though responding to that unseen call.
"...?!"
The next instant...
He found himself standing atop the highest conifer tree supporting Wongak Pavilion's grand formation.
It was the tallest and oldest tree in the entire forest.
"What is this...?"
At that moment, the branch beneath his feet swayed gently.
It was so thin and fragile that it should have snapped even under the weight of a small child.
Yet somehow...
It merely bent softly, as though stirred by the breeze.
Nor did he feel the slightest fear despite standing at such a dizzying height.
His heart remained perfectly calm.
Questions such as how he had gotten there...
Or how he was standing upon such a delicate branch...
Simply vanished from his mind.
Instead...
An inexplicable certainty filled him.
I can do it.
He did not even know what he could do.
The thought did not feel like his own.
It was as though someone...
Something...
...was whispering to him.
"...Bearer, you can."
"...Yes."
"I can."
Yeon Sohyeon stepped beyond the branch.
The next moment...
He was standing upon the tiled roof of one of the Sword Clan's towering pavilions.
A quiet murmur escaped his lips.
"So this is it..."
He understood instinctively.
This was movement from one darkness into another.
Was it like the legendary art of shrinking the earth, folding space itself?
Or was he passing through some hidden pathway?
Dense demonic energy flowed endlessly from his body.
It was a technique permitted only to beings who lived within demonic energy...
Who breathed demonic energy...
A movement technique born from a corrupted immortal realm.
The one and only movement art belonging to the bearer of the Jeam Jincheon Scripture—
Darkstream Transformation.
At the same moment...
His body melted into empty space.
Only the pale moonlight remained upon the rooftop.
There was no longer any trace of him.
Nothing remained except a faint swirl of demonic energy that quickly dispersed into the wind...
The only evidence that he had ever been there.
***
A certain inn in Luoyang.
It was famous for its excellent food.
Regular customers visited constantly, while gourmets traveled from far away after hearing rumors of its cuisine.
One of the waiters, who had spent most of his life working there, was experiencing something beyond words.
Although he was still young, he had always believed he had seen enough of the world that nothing could surprise him anymore.
Yet...
What exactly was unfolding before his eyes?
Instinctively realizing the situation had gone beyond his ability to handle, he dashed off in search of a senior waiter.
"What did you say?!"
Hearing the younger waiter's story, the senior decided he would have to see it himself.
When he looked toward the direction indicated by the trembling finger...
His jaw nearly hit the floor.
This inn was renowned for its food.
Even at this late hour, customers still came not for drinks, but specifically to eat.
Naturally, it often attracted gourmets who considered enormous meals to be life's greatest pleasure.
The senior waiter had long believed that no amount of gluttony could ever surprise him again.
But...
What in the world was he looking at now?
After watching the scene for a moment, he noticed something strange.
Why are there so few customers left on this floor?
The remaining guests had all deliberately chosen seats as far away as possible from that table.
Even they were quietly gathering their belongings and preparing to leave.
Normally, a famous glutton would attract attention.
Some people cheered whenever another dish arrived.
Others encouraged them.
Still others clicked their tongues in disbelief.
But...
He had never seen anything like this.
What... what is going on here?
He stared a little longer.
Then...
His legs gave way beneath him.
He collapsed onto the floor.
"G-Good heavens...!"
Turning to the side, he saw the younger waiter had also gone deathly pale and sunk to the ground.
Without another thought, he threw himself down the stairs.
In fact...
He literally rolled down them.
"Hey! What's happened?!"
The broad-shouldered innkeeper strode toward the terrified waiter.
"M-Master...! Master...!"
The waiter grabbed the hem of his trousers with trembling hands and cried out in a hushed voice.
As though terrified that someone might overhear him.
"...It's a hungry ghost...!"
"A hungry ghost from hell has appeared...!"