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Translator: thursdays Editor: Sasha QC: LightBrin
1.
Murmuring sounds flowed all over the snowfield.
“What the hell just happened?”
“I… I’m alive…?”
“Is this heaven…?”
The members of the Demonic Cult. The people of the Righteous Sect.
The last thing they remembered was their own death. They may have memories of being bitten by Jiangshi, but they had no memories of turning into Jiangshi. From their point of view, years had passed in the blink of an eye.
“…….”
But there were also people who had been fully aware of the past three years.
Master stared at the snowfield blankly like she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Disciple…”
“Yes, Master.”
“You’re not simply from beyond the walls, are you? No, you must be from a completely different world… This, this sort of thing is not the sort of sorcery that a mere human can do. It’s an act out of some absurd legend. Or, did I perhaps die and arrive at Paradise without realizing it?”
“No. That’s not the case.”
I shook my head quietly.
“These people, like you, Master, can no longer use martial arts. They’re very weak compared to when they were alive. However, this is not Paradise, and those people have memories of their lives.”
“…….”
“Please go and check it for yourself.”
“…….”
“Please go now, Master.”
Tap.
Master stepped on to the snow. Tap, tap… Her footsteps were very light. They were the footsteps of a person whose lower abdomen chi was taken out. They were the footsteps of a martial artist who lost her inner energy. They were the footsteps of a woman who struggled against a disease for three years.
The Heavenly Demon.
My master.
She approached the cultists with those light footsteps. The cultists were still trying to make sense of the situation.
“F, first we have to check the current situation. Everyone stay calm! Send a reconnaissance…!”
“Blood Guard Leader.”
They stopped.
The cultists flinched. A group of 12 or so cultists fell into silence. They then looked at Master, their leader, with a confused look.
“Heavenly Demon…?”
Master’s breath thickened, becoming whiter.
“Blood Guard Leader.”
“…….”
“It really is you.”
The silence was contagious. At first, only ten or so were silent. But when ten people shut their mouths, the dozens of people around them shut their mouths, and the hundreds of people around those dozens shut their mouths as well in a cascade.
The snowfield was silent.
“Demon Lord Wolyeong…”
“Yes.”
“Flame Ghost Demon.”
“Yes, my liege.”
“Sword Demon…”
“At your command.”
One by one, Master began to call the names of the cultists. The cultists who were called did not ask any questions. They just immediately knelt down. Crunch. Crunch. As they all knelt down, the snow beneath them compressed.
“I had lost you all…”
Master reached out her hand.
“I lost you, again and again.”
Master stroked one of the cultists’ cheek. She patted it.
“My children…”
Her fingers trembled. Seeing their master tremble like so, the cultists hurriedly bowed their heads. This wasn’t something that they should see. It was their way of showing their devotion to her. One thousand members of the cult all turned their gaze to the floor.
It wasn’t just the Demonic Cult members that were in shock, of course.
“…Oho.”
The old monk stroked his beard.
“I must have died in the cave and crossed the river. When I closed my eyes, there is no Nirvana, no grave, just this snowfield…”
“M, monk!”
“…And there is also this common man mixed in among us. Oho. Even if I close my eyes, I must still mix with this person. What does the Buddha want from this monk?”
“Seeing how you’re just talking bullshit… you really are the monk!”
The Murim Lord ran and hugged the old man. I finally realized who the old man was. He was the Shaolin head monk, the one who endured the longest after Master and the Murim Lord.
“You came back! You’re alive! My friend, you came back to us!”
“I am not your friend.”
“Ahh! This is undoubtedly a miracle from the Jade Emperor!”
“I hear the sound of a dog eating grass.”
In other words, it was complete and utter nonsense.
“Don’t dirty the ears of this monk, commoner. In the first place, I should never have fallen for your temptation to fight against the Demonic Path. It’s better to quietly join the temple.”
“Ahh! My happiness from seeing you cooled as soon as you talked. It really is the monk I know! I just want to punch you in the face!”
The Demonic Cult members were quiet, and while the Righteous Sect’s fighters were noisy with chatter.
They were experiencing this reunion in their own way.
Time passed.
“…….”
It was Master who first turned her head to look at me. Master and I exchanged glances. Her eyes were dark. And in her eyes, her heart was reflected. My own heart was smeared, engraved with her feelings.
“……I…”
Master opened her mouth.
Her mouth opened, and she spoke to the Murim Lord.
“I am So Baek-hyang of the Demonic Cult.”
The Murim Lord, who was having a small discussion with his sect members, stopped. The Murim Lord let his peers go from his embrace and stared at Master from afar. Master bowed.
“I am the Heavenly Demon.”
“Maybe today is the delusion of a blind man, but that is all right.”
It was midday.
“It’s okay if I am just a sick patient who is daydreaming.”
The snow in this field was not known as the perpetual snow because it did not melt in the sun. It was called that because even as it melted, more snow continued to build on top of it.
“It’s all right if this is just a dream as the world goes to sleep. After all, life is originally an illness that we live through, and the world is the dream that we all share.”
For humans who wished to remain pure white under the blazing sun, it wasn’t enough that they were born white. They had to endlessly spread the white color over the world. They needed the determination to break, be broken, and scattered over and over again.
“I haven’t forgotten the name of the disease I was trying to get. I haven’t lost the fever of my dreams yet. So I haven’t let go of any people yet, and I haven’t let go of the world. Baraya! The name of the disease, not the martial arts, proves my place, and the fever of my dreams, not my internal energy, is proof of who I am.”
The sound of breaking snow.
“I am here, and as long as I stay here I will continue to be me.”
Even if it melts, it falls again.
“I am the main seat of the Demonic Cult.”
Master recited the declaration of war.
“I request our 990th battle.”
Everywhere, it was silent.
The noisy Righteous Sect suddenly became quiet.
The oldest of them and the youngest of them—they were all last heroes of the Murim world. They came here thinking that it would be the last battle of the great war.
How could they act rashly?
If their last words were their wills and testaments, they wanted the words to be the will of the Righteous Sect.
And the people of the righteous path turned to the one who represented the will of the sect.
“Murim Lord. Namgung family.”
The old man bowed.
“Taesang Family Head. Namgung Un.” “I am the Ax Saint.”
One thousand Demonic Cult members and one thousand Righteous Sect members faced each other.
“Your Demonic Cult made the screams of the common folk into your doctrine. The screams turned to revenge, and the revenge turned to genocide, painting the world red with blood. Blood-stained spirits, full of vengeance! You’ve turned the heavens and the earth red, but you still pretend to be the weak.”
The one who had risen as the lord of the Murim world, with his own voice, explained the difference between the demonic path and the righteous path.
“You ceaselessly cry and grab at the hem of the Heavenly Demon. You beg her to take your place, to take on the evils of the world for you. And as you grabbed onto her sleeves, it became clear that you are weak and pitiful people!”
The old lord bellowed.
“Wrong! You too have hands and feet. How long will you dwell on the evils of the past? The Buddha said that if a tree wants to bear fruit, it must throw away its flowers. But what are you doing? You sell your pain like a florist sells flowers!”
In response, a group from the Demonic Cult growled.
The cultists grabbed the hilts of their swords. Their malice rose and killing intent bloomed. Standing against them was the Righteous Sect’s fighters, ready to fight.
Neither side would have any chi, but the air in the snowfield turned savage.
“Well.”
The corner of Master’s mouth tilted upward.
“I suppose this means you accept the challenge.”
“Of course.”
“To surrender, or to the death?”
“To the death.”
“I accept.”
The two fighters broke their stances.
Shiiing!
At the same time, a thousand Demonic Cultists and a thousand Righteous Sect fighters drew their swords. It was midday. Two thousand blades shone brightly in the sunlight.
“Children of the Demonic Cult!”
Master clenched her fist.
“You can think of today as a dream or a hallucination!”
“Baraya!”
One thousand cultists cried all at once.
“Perhaps this is all just a vain dream!”
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