Absolute Regression

Translator: FenrirTL
Editor/Quality Checker: Saphartlantis
Murim Term Consultant: Kopke
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< Chapter 196: Every Time You See That Scar >

The boat, carrying passengers, was crossing the river.

The Fist Demon King and I stood on the windy deck, gazing at the river. We were gradually drifting away from the Cult.

Some people feel uneasy about deviation. They worry—will something go wrong? Or will this incident change his life for the worse? Could it all be my fault?

However, I felt no unease about Dan Woo-gang’s deviation. Was it because of the sincerity he displayed in his life? Or perhaps, I thought that sincerity was suppressing his true nature.

It was then.

A soft thud echoed.

A ball made of yarn rolled to the Fist Demon King’s feet.

A young child ran up but stopped, looking scared at the towering figure of the Fist Demon King. He picked up the ball and handed it to me.

“Please give it to the child directly.”

“Do you want to make the kid cry?”

“He won’t cry.”

The Fist Demon King offered the ball to the child, but the child hesitated to approach, so he rolled the ball gently toward him.

Kid, today you received a ball from the Unbeatable Fist Demon.

The child picked up the ball, bowed, and ran back to his parents. Watching the child, Dan Woo-gang suddenly asked me a question.

“You said we’re going to a place where I’ll be happy?”

“Yes.”

“And how do you know what will make me happy?”

“Shall we make a bet?”

“What kind of bet?”

“If you enjoy yourself, I win. If not, I lose.”

“What if I’m happy but say I’m not?”

“You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“If it’s a bet, we need stakes, don’t we?”

“We’ll bet our pride.”

It was the same when we jumped off the waterfall.

The Fist Demon King looked at me with a peculiar expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Don’t you want to bet the Third Technique?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Then why don’t you suggest it?” 1

“I won the First Fist and Second Technique too easily because you showed mercy. I have some pride; I can’t do that again.”

It was both a sincere statement and a bid to earn his favor.

“Alright then, let’s bet a man’s pride!”

I held out my fist to him.

“What’s this? You want to fight?”

“When martial artists make a promise, they clash their weapons, don’t they? As practitioners of martial arts, we should bump fists.”

“I don’t clash fists with baby hands.”

I glanced at the Fist Demon King’s hand and then at my own fist.

“As much as it pains me, I can’t deny it.”

Dan Woo-gang turned his body towards the river.

In the distance, the sun began to set over the water.

“Not bad.”

It was the first time he expressed that he liked the scenery. The Fist Demon King was staring at the river, while I leaned against the railing, facing the sunset with my back to him.

“I heard you traveled a lot in your youth.”

“I wasn’t tied to the Cult.”

“They say you often went out with my father, too?”

“Did the Cult Leader tell you that?”

I answered quietly, “Yes,” but, in truth, it wasn’t something I heard from my father. It was information I found while investigating the Demon Supremes before my regression. The place we were heading to now was also something I discovered that way.

“Do you still meet Father often these days?”

“Hardly at all. Even at that tavern, it had been a long time since we last met.”

“Is everything alright?”

“What could be wrong? Relationships can’t always be warm, can they?”

“That’s true.”

I turned my body around. The sunset that had colored Dan Woo-gang now fell on my face.

Could this idle moment be remembered as one of our most intense?

* * *

Two days later, Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon King were walking through a busy marketplace crowded with people. If the place where the Beast Sect was last time belonged to the Murim Alliance, this area was under the control of the Unorthodox Alliance.

As they walked, Dan Woo-gang’s expression subtly changed. His face tightened, and at times, he showed a flash of intensity.

The two arrived at a shabby warehouse building on the outskirts of the area.

Geom Mugeuk handed some money to the person guarding the entrance. After receiving the money, the guard led them inside. There was a passage leading underground between piles of cargo.

After descending the stairs for a while, they reached a large iron door. As soon as it was opened, they were hit by a blast of heat and the roar of a crowd.

In the center was a large arena where two shirtless men were fighting each other with bare fists.

“This is an underground fighting arena.” 2

There are various types of underground arenas in the Central Plains. Some use inner power, while others employ weapons. And then there were places like this one, where the fights were pure, involving nothing but fists—no inner power, no weapons.

“You can just pay the entrance fee and watch the matches, or you can place bets on who the winner will be. Most people come mainly for the betting.”

“How did you find this place?”

“I have a great interest in all things related to martial arts. Since it’s a place where people fight purely with fists, I thought that you might enjoy it, so I brought you here.” 3

There was a tremble in the Fist Demon King’s eyes.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

Then, Dan Woo-gang said something surprising.

“When I was young, I used to be a fighter here.”

“What?”

Geom Mugeuk was surprised. Or rather, he pretended to be. After all, he already knew that the Fist Demon King was from this place.

“Here? You mean this place?”

“Yes, right here.”

Dan Woo-gang’s life had not been a smooth one, either.

“Then how did you end up joining the Cult?”

“I was scouted by someone from the Cult after they noticed me here.”

That part, even Geom Mugeuk didn’t know. It must have been before the Fist Demon King started learning proper martial arts, but still, with the potential he had, how could his skills go unnoticed?

“Were you undefeated here as well?”

In response to Geom Mugeuk’s question, the Fist Demon King countered.

“I’m not undefeated even now, am I?”

“What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t win against the Cult Leader, nor could I beat the leaders of the Murim Alliance or the Unorthodox Alliance, right? I don’t need to bring up the countless hidden masters out there. Even with you right in front of me, I can’t say for sure that I’d win.”

“I’m just a baby hand, remember?”

“That Black Demon Sword in those baby hands is quite fearsome.”

Geom Mugeuk suddenly thought that maybe the Fist Demon King disliked his epithet of “Undefeated.”

“You never know. If it came down to a real fight to the death, who knows what the outcome might be? You might even beat my father, wouldn’t you?”

Dan Woo-gang’s gaze returned to the arena. Watching a martial artist getting beaten within an inch of his life, he spoke.

“If I fought the Cult Leader, that’s what it would look like. Even if the Cult Leader didn’t draw his sword.”

Geom Mugeuk nodded.

“True. He’s the kind of person who would even beat his own child like that.”

At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the Fist Demon King nodded with a serious expression.

In truth, Geom Mugeuk didn’t know what kind of memories the Fist Demon King had of this place. Perhaps they were memories he despised, and it could very well be a place he never wanted to revisit.

But even so, he brought him here because the Fist Demon King had become who he was now. He had risen from the very bottom of the world of fists to its peak.

Wouldn’t he want to come back at least once? Wouldn’t he want to feel that intense heat once more?

Geom Mugeuk and the Fist Demon King stood among the crowd, watching the match.

The heat of this place was so intense that even with the intimidating presence of the Fist Demon King nearby, no one paid any attention to him. 3

Geom Mugeuk realized that these people, lost in the excitement, weren’t just absorbed in the fight—they were caught up in the gambling. They were shouting only for the outcome of the fight.

After watching the fight for a moment, Dan Woo-gang casually muttered.

“The one on the left will win.”

Whose judgment could be wrong here?

Sure enough, the fighter on the left emerged victorious.

The matches continued without pause. As soon as one match ended, three or four men would rush out to quickly clean the sweat and blood from the stage.

Meanwhile, other men displayed large boards showing the fighters’ past records and recent performance stats for the next match. People would place their bets based on these.

The whole process happened in a flash, as if time was money, and as if they couldn’t afford to let the audience’s excitement cool down. The matches went on relentlessly. 4

The Fist Demon King accurately predicted the outcome of the next match as well. He was like a prophet.

“We might walk out of here rich at this rate,” I joked.

Despite my words, I didn’t place a single bet.

“Why don’t you place a bet for fun?” Dan Woo-gang suggested.

“No, thanks.”

“Why not?”

“To be honest, I’m having second thoughts. I brought you here to feel the heat of the fights, but it seems like the heat of gambling is even stronger.”

At Geom Mugeuk’s frank words, the Fist Demon King gave a bitter smile.

“It was the same back then. This place… it’s always been like this.”

Dan Woo-gang suddenly fixed his gaze on a young fighter.

“That young fellow has a good look in his eyes.”

I could sense it—he was seeing his younger self in that fighter.

“Alright, then. I’ll bet my entire fortune on that kid,” I said jokingly.

The Fist Demon King encouraged me, “Go ahead. He’s bound to win.”

“No, I’m good.”

But the young fighter the Fist Demon King had predicted to win lost the match. His expression hardened slightly at the result.

“If I had bet as you suggested, I would’ve lost my entire fortune. We’d be sleeping on the streets tonight!” I remarked jokingly.

It wasn’t that the Fist Demon King had misjudged their skills. There was match-fixing involved.

“Should we go have a word with the owner?” I asked.

It would have been like the Fist Demon King to give the owner a piece of his mind.

“The match-fixing likely has nothing to do with the arena itself. In fact, the arena management would probably try to root it out. They make a fortune just letting things run their course; they wouldn’t bother with fixing matches and risk causing trouble.”

He meant that the manipulation was likely happening from the outside.

“Some memories are best left buried. I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“What do you have to be sorry about?”

“I brought you here hoping you’d enjoy watching the fights, but I’m worried you might just be upset now.”

“It’s fine,” the Fist Demon King reassured.

“Times have changed a lot. It seems like pure fights like the old days don’t exist anymore.”

Then, with a peculiar smile, Dan Woo-gang turned to me and said, “Why do you think there was no match-fixing back then?”

“There was?”

“Of course. It’s what changed my life.”

The Fist Demon King’s gaze shifted to the young fighter leaving the arena, and naturally, he began recalling his past.

“It was one of those days when I was on a winning streak. The local Black Path leader came to see me in the dead of night with his subordinates. He asked me to throw the next match. Given my winning streak, if I lost, they stood to make a lot of money. He even offered me a share—a pretty substantial amount.”

“What did you do?”

“I refused.”

“They wouldn’t have taken that well, I imagine.”

The Fist Demon King nodded and closed his eyes. The memories of that moment came back as vividly as if it were yesterday.

He remembered the fight, throwing punches and dodging blows from those Black Path thugs.

He managed to knock down all the subordinates who had come with the leader, but he couldn’t handle the leader himself. The leader had formally trained in martial arts, while he hadn’t started learning martial arts yet. In the end, the leader subdued him completely.

“If you don’t listen, you’ll die.”

“You damn Black Path bastard! If you’re a real man, fight me in the arena without using your inner power!”

“Talking won’t get you anywhere.”

The leader pulled open the Fist Demon King’s shirt.

Swish!

With a dagger, he slashed a long cut across the Fist Demon King’s chest. He clenched his teeth, trying not to scream in pain.

“Since you have to lose anyway, what’s a little pain, right?”

Eventually, the Fist Demon King couldn’t hold back and screamed in agony.

“Alright, I’ll lose the next match.”

“If you’d just said that from the start, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Every time you get stupid ideas, look at this scar.”

The leader laughed as he walked away.

After hearing the story, Geom Mugeuk asked, “So, what happened?”

“What do you think? I went out and won the next match decisively. I made that bastard lose his entire fortune.” 5

Geom Mugeuk burst into loud laughter. Yes, this was exactly like the Fist Demon King.

“That’s impressive!”

“It wasn’t impressive; I was just reckless and fearless back then. Even now, when I’m a thousand times stronger, I was far more fearless back then.”

Dan Woo-gang pulled his shirt open again, showing me the scar on his chest.

“This scar on my body was earned that way. It’s not from some grand master; it’s a pathetic and disgraceful mark left by some nameless Black Path thug whose name I don’t even remember. I didn’t get this fighting a Murim Alliance elder.”

I sensed that the Fist Demon King had probably never told anyone about this scar. It wasn’t just a scar on his body—it was a wound on his heart.

“Isn’t it a more honorable scar?” I asked.

“Honorable?”

“Wasn’t it far scarier than fighting a Murim Alliance elder? And yet, you endured it.”

“You might want to paint it in a positive light, but to me, it’s nothing but a stain I wish I could erase.”

“Please don’t say that. I’ve actually grown to like that scar even more. From now on, every time I see that scar, I’ll be reminded of the young Fist Demon King who stood tall without a shred of inner power. I think it’s a far more impressive scar than any blow left by the Murim Alliance Leader or any wound from the Unorthodox Alliance Leader.” 6

Having never thought of it that way or heard such words before, the Fist Demon King felt momentarily bewildered. He’d always felt bad when he saw the scar, but today, he thought, maybe those unpleasant feelings might lessen just a little.

Geom Mugeuk knew that to heal the wounds of the heart, the essential thing was the words someone else offers. No matter how much you think things over a hundred or a thousand times by yourself, it’s only when someone says something like this that the healing truly begins.

“Show me that scar often.”

The Fist Demon King, feeling a warmth stirring deep within him, was at a loss for words and simply stared at Geom Mugeuk in silence.

Whether he understood his thoughts or not, Geom Mugeuk asked again.

“Tell me the next part of the story. That Black Path thug must have come to kill you, right?”

The Fist Demon King nodded, recalling the day his fate had changed.

“That night, he came for me with all his subordinates in tow.”

1 : To truly obtain your loyalty, he can’t take advantage of you all the time.
2 : The Thunderdome !!! Two men enter, one man kill !!! Two men enter, one man die !!!
3 : I’m getting flashbacks from Street Cultivation. Really good books from a really good author. Try to read it ^^
4 : The whole principle of gambling is not letting the excitement fall, or else rationality will resurface and they will stop spending so much money.
5 : Lol, get rekted XDXDXD
6 : I agree, it’s far more difficult to be courageous when you’re powerless than when you’re one of the strongest in the world.