The 44th Son of the Heavenly Demon is a House Husband!?

The 44th Son of the Heavenly Demon is a House Husband!?

…

Water splashed on my face, and I felt it sting as it got into cuts.

I did a quick check on my body from toes to fingertips.

Okay.

Not paralyzed from the neck down.

Good progress.

“You barely match a First-Rate warrior. You should be ashamed of yourself.” I moved to a familiar position. Kneeling on one knee with head bowed and hands clasped in gratitude. “To be so well practiced at playing the beggar, you are truly shameless, brother.”

“This one thanks his venerable sibling for the lesson.” I didn’t raise my head. I didn’t need to. The noises from the crowd looking onto the training block were enough. Yes, I’ve been beaten by a child eight years younger than me. “This one humbly requests another spar in a month’s time.”

“Hm… no. I don’t feel like it. There’s no point in humbling you, brother.” I felt the tip of a shoe lightly touch my temple, and I prepared myself to get thrown back and off the meter-tall fighting stage. “See? You’ve been beaten so much you take the fun out of hurting other people. Boring. If you talk to me again, I’ll just kill you.”

My response to the complete crushing of my pride was simple.

Kneel on both knees, place my palms against the floor, and press my forehead against the floor, too.

No words.

She said she’d kill me if I did, after all.

The chattering of onlookers kept the silence from deepening, but eventually it ended with her scoffing and leaving.

I didn’t raise my head until she was past the audience area of the stage.

And, I didn’t start thinking for real, until she was out of the common area of the sect.

People with enough talent have the uncanny ability to tell when you’re thinking poorly of them.

Best not to risk it.

Damn, that’s another trainer that won’t kill me gone.

I wonder if the next generation coming out of training will be willing to help me?

68 through 76 should be graduating this year.

 Only eight, since pops was fighting a war for half a year a decade and a half ago.

I finished cleaning the beatdown square, circulating power through my body to speed up healing, when I felt a presence just behind me.

Turning with broom in hand, I was ready to bow when I found a masked figure covered in cloth from head-to-toe kneeling before me with an outstretched hand.

An outstretched hand holding a red scroll capped with jade claws at the ends and a real gold seal.

“Thank you for your work.” I gave the dude my thanks and took the scroll. There was no response. Just him disappearing to murder a hundred babies or whatever else father’s personal assassins do. I opened the scroll worth more than the shack I lived in. Of course, pops pulled the batshit crazy father message with a simple ‘come.’ No time and no date, so… if I didn’t want to die, it was right now and as fast as possible.

Naturally, I didn’t want to die, so I made a break for it to the top of the mountain with a scroll in hand.

…

After the equivalent of fifty flights of stairs, I had to open a massive iron door without any help, and after that leap over a moat filled with broken blades of all of Pop’s defeated foes. The moat was at least three Olympic pools long, ten meters deep, filled with rusted and probably cursed weapons, and every time I tried to leap over it, it was a near thing with me getting only one hand on the ledge.

Then, I had to walk a football field or two to get to the central palace.

Where Father was on his throne, and every child of his was present sitting on cushions, before a lacquered, elevated tray of food.

I barely crossed the threshold when I decided that groveling on both knees was a good idea.

“This one great the venerated, head Patriarch, the Heavenly Demon!” I put everything behind those words, making sure that it travelled the massive hallway, and that it reached him. “This one has heeded the summons sent!”

Three heartbeats later, I was still alive, but not one of my siblings was laughing at me or jeering.

Then, in another heartbeat, a shadow fell upon me from the center of the path towards father’s throne.

There was only one being that was allowed to stand at the center of that long path.

Not good.

Things get too interesting when he gets up from his throne.

At the very least, if he unleashes his power here and now, I’ll get pasted and die painlessly.

“The Orthodox Sects require further humbling. I have forced their greatest clan to accept you as the husband of their greatest talent.” Of all his children, I was the worst performing, but I guessed that I was still of his blood. No. I was of his blood and expendable, so I could act as a tripwire, or give a reason for them to attack by dying. “Indeed. You now know your duty. Leave my sight, and never return here again. Begone.”

With those words, father raised his hand, and I felt an immense pressure grip my body before I was bodily flung out of the mountaintop palace, over the defenses, and past the stairs.

Hundreds of meters above the common area of the sect at the foot of the mountain.

Time to aim for the nearest well, I guess.

…

If I were some incredible person reborn into a life of martial arts, mystical powers, and monsters, I’d probably have someone see me off before I got exiled. Maybe, some genius, talented maiden would stare longingly at my back as I walked away into the sunset. Perhaps, a childhood friend would try to follow me, but be held back by her clan. Hell, a rival could show up and state that if we ever see one another again, I should be prepared to lose.

Yeah.

None of that happened.

If I wasn’t required to attend something, I was training my ass off, hunting down demonic beasts, and generally doing my best to not be the greatest disappointment ever.

Just, you know, a regular disappointment that tries hard.

It’s not my fault that I can’t seem the summon up the required hatred and loathing needed to use the Demonic Arts.

If I were born to a normal clan, even amongst the unorthodox sects, I’d be considered pretty good. Twenty-five years old, but a first-rate warrior with exceptional regeneration? I’d already be married with a good household. Instead, because I was just a first-rate warrior with exceptional regeneration as the Heavenly Demon’s son, I barely deserved a hut, didn’t get a servant, and needed to risk my life constantly to not get executed for being worthless.

Yeah, so no flags popped up on my departure.

I got given a horse, five days of supplies, a map with a marker, then they slapped the horse’s ass and sent me away with a laugh.

No guards, no entourage, and no gift to give to my new ‘family.’

Basically, if I just went over there like an idiot and demanded entry with my seal, I can be put down and killed.

If I don’t act like the proper husband, my new family will find a way to dispose of me without dirtying their hands, and dear-old-dad will probably just shrug it off if they prepared well enough.

So, I need to be perfect all on my own.

Thankfully, in this land of mystical kung fu, demonic beasts that popped out via portals from the demonic realm, and where mortals can ascend and become divine, being perfect comes with an instruction manual.

Just do as tradition says, stay humble, and you'll do fine.

I should know.

It’s how I’ve survived two and a half decades in a world filled with psychopaths.

…

Interlude: The 7th Sword Saint of the Namgoong Clan, Seol

…

There was a clamor at the western gate, and I knew that the day that made my heart race with trepidation so many times across the season had finally arrived.

It was almost a relief to be free of the maddening palpations that I had to hide behind a smile.

“Sister.” June reached out to me, but I shook my head and gave her a smile. I looked towards the sky, took in the gentle rustle of the leaves in springtime, and when I lowered my gaze… I strengthened my resolve. “Is there truly no other path than to marry a monster?”

“Not if there is peace to be had.”  The Demonic Cult is ascendant. Their constellation rules over all. Many orthodox sects have entered seclusion under the face of destruction. The Namgoong cannot lest justice fade from the world forever. I must make the sacrifice to ensure that. “If this is not done, all mortals will suffer the wrath of the unorthodox sect for centuries.”

“But—” I knew what June would say next, and I elected to silence her by reaching for her auburn hair and giving it a light ruffling. Her amber eyes teared up. Worry and consideration filled those pools of honey.

“No, it is better that it be me. Who better to shoulder the burden?” All my life, I have known only the sword. June and the rest of my generation had lived. They embraced one another, drew breath from one another’s lips, and shared nights beneath the stars. My duty has always been to become a Sword Saint of the Namgoong Clan. I achieved it. Now, rather than wage war outright, the Heavenly Demon sought more insidious means to bring us low. “With this, many lives will be saved.”

June sniffled and dried her tears, before nodding and setting her features.

“Sister, please, at least allow me to stand at your back while this is done.”

I felt a smile form on my face, and I gave her a nod.

“I would like that, sister.” I gave her a light embrace, before taking a step back, and turning towards my destiny.

The path between the main compound and the gate should’ve been longer, but it felt like only a few heartbeats passed before I faced the great gates and addressed the keepers.

“I can feel the power and strength of the Demonic Cult through the door. I know that my betrothed has arrived. Shame the clan no longer with this display.”

Apologies were given, and I spared them a nod and a smile to assure them that no harm would befall them, then my focus was taken by the opening of the gates. Wrought of strong iron, reinforced with sturdy elderwood, and with a core composed of the bones of strong demonic beasts… it was not enough to halt the Heavenly Demon at his most wrathful.

It was not even enough to halt his eldest children.

Therefore, to prevent our destruction or seclusion, the Namgoong sought a treaty of peace with the Demonic Sect with myself as collateral.

If we did not do it, then all other orthodox sects would fall, and the Heavenly Demon would rule over all the mortal realm.

I knew that this was my duty, that I had to accept this marriage, yet in the back of my mind… something bright and burning hot that I though smothered whispered for me to draw my blade, to rouse all the orthodox sects to a fighting fury, and to fight for the sake of justice against the Heavenly Demon’s tyranny.

There are other rising stars in my generation. Some of them were smaller sects, but still they are powerful. More than a match for all the Heavenly Demon’s sons and daughters, especially as he destroyed and consumed all the Unorthodox sects into the Demonic Cult.

All I needed to do was draw my blade and cut through the destiny that was laid before me—

“This one, Jin of the Demonic Sect, humbly offers his greetings to the Namgoong Clan!” Words filled with arrogance. Eyes set with hate. A young prince with scarlet eyes, bone white skin, and long black hair that stank of Demonic Qi. My expectations were all shattered. I looked upon a scarred, tanned face with short hair, a build suited for a laborer, and simple traveling robes. He had the Demonic Cult’s seal at his waist, but he looked more like an escort warrior, especially with what was at his back. “I bring with me the gift of a groom!”

My mind went blank at the pronouncement.

At his back were more than a dozen wagons pulled by oxen with lacquered boxes stacked atop them.

The inklings of tradition arose from my mind, but before I could reply, a swift and sharp voice that made my spine straighten resounded.

“You worthless lickspittles! Are you going to stick around staring like idiots, or are you going to get to work! Especially you!” I reached to cover my rear instinctively, only to receive a slap to the back of my head instead. Grandmother surged past me, and a frighteningly, a wide and bright smile I’ve never seen crossed her face. “My apologies, dear Jin, for the poor reception! Please, follow me, I’ll show you to your quarters at the main compound!”

Main compound?

Not the guest compound?

The fact that I was going to be married suddenly came rushing back.

“Head Elder, please—

My mouth snapped shut, as my grandmother looked over her shoulder at me, while gently escorting my fiancé towards the main compound. Her brow was heavy, her eye as hard as steel, and the scowl on her face promised death. A demonic cultivator would’ve been less terrifying to see at twilight on an empty mountain trail.

Somehow, grandmother replaced that hellish glare barely bereft of baleful flames with a smile my way.

“My dear, little Seol, why don’t you take the day off to rest and relax? We can meet tomorrow for lunch.” With those words, I was dismissed by Matriarch of the clan, as she introduced herself with a light laugh and a hand on the back of the Heavenly Demon’s son.

I made sure they were both out of earshot before speaking to June.

“I don’t believe she’s ever spoken to me so nicely.”

“…I was unaware that she could smile.”

We both stared at each other, then we both turned to the long train of wagons at our back, and despite myself I felt… at a loss at how to feel.

Then, an old laborer came by and gave a deep, appreciative whistle.

“Eighteen wagons of treasure and not one lick of it with the Demonic Sect’s seal. The Heavenly Demon might be a right bastard, but it looks like he’s raised a decent son.” The man stated, to the agreement of many his age, as they all went to see the oxen, wagons, and treasures kept in. I froze at the words, and the older laborer looked my way and raised a thumb at my direction. “Young lady, you’ve hooked a real keeper of a husband! He gathered all these treasures with his own hands to give today… just for you!”

Despite myself, I felt a deep blush suddenly come alight on my face.

All these treasures were for my hand!?