The Footsteps You Walked (Part 2)
Inside the seal, Won Rip sneered at us and extinguished his presence.
“Before we can hold a strategy meeting in front of the monsters, the leaders of each force should return to their own groups. Prepare yourselves for the Dabcheon Desert Massacre and the great war in two hundred years!”
Cheongmun Jung-jin spoke in that tone, and a sword user wrapped entirely in white bandages—the Lord of the Eastern Empire—shouted at us.
“And all the Core Formation cultivators across the continent must gather for the next meeting. Let us decide the timing and place.”
After his words, the Core Formation cultivators who had been murmuring began gradually to reach a consensus.
Including me, several Core Formation cultivators who had lost their kin.
And there was the old rogue Core Formation cultivator Gak-ui Bangrip, standing beside Won Rip’s castle with a completely empty expression.
Several hours later.
The timing and location for the Core Formation Cultivators’ Conference were set.
The timing was ten years from now.
The Northern Great Prairie, where the Eastern barbarian tribes, the Western Holy Emperor, Yeon Kingdom, and Byeokra Kingdom’s cultivators could arrive safely.
It was the grassland tribe village that Won Rip had first massacred in the Great Prairie.
Talismans for inviting the heads of each family were given, and separate invitations were also given to me and the three rogue Core Formation cultivators with no force.
With that, the Core Formation cultivators received the timing, location, and invitations and began returning to their own places using the Escape Technique.
Two Core Formation Grand Chiefs of the Northern Great Prairie who had lost their kin.
Cheongmun Jung-jin, who had lost Cheongmun Ryeong.
And the three rogue Core Formation cultivators with me.
Even after all the Core Formation cultivators had left, we remained there for a while and stared at the black castle.
Of those, two of the rogue cultivators soon calmed their anger and headed in different directions, but Gak-ui Bangrip, Won Rip, and Cheongmun Jung-jin stayed until sunset.
After staring at the black castle for a long time with eyes full of exhaustion, we only turned our heads when the moon reached its zenith.
“I’m leaving now. I need to recover Ling’s remains.”
“…I’ll go with you.”
The word “remains” finally snapped me out of my daze. I looked toward Byeokra Kingdom.
Cheongmun Jung-jin spoke to Gak-ui Bangrip.
“Noja-nim also has someone whose remains need recovering, don’t you? It’s meaningless to keep staring at the monster. Let’s go back and promise to meet again later.”
“…It doesn’t matter.”
Gak-ui Bangrip, Wol-ryang, ground his teeth and said,
“My great-grandson and great-granddaughter weren’t killed in this massacre. It was about ten years ago, and I’ve been roaming the entire continent searching for the monster ever since… But when I saw the curse the monster left behind in this massacre, I knew for sure that the monster who killed my great-grandson and great-granddaughter was Won Rip. I already recovered my great-grandson’s remains ten years ago, so you don’t need to worry. Go now.”
“…Understood.”
It seemed his descendant had been killed by Won Rip about ten years earlier, not during the Dabcheon Desert Massacre, and he had finally realized that the monster who murdered his descendant was Won Rip.
I read the resolve in his words and asked,
“Did you love your descendant a lot?”
He turned to look at me.
He seemed about to say something, but when he saw my empty eyes, he flinched and asked back.
“…Whom did you lose?”
“Lover, master, friend. And neighbors.”
“…I see. My descendant was… the one I cherished most. I may not know your feelings, and you may not know mine, but perhaps we feel the same.”
Thud, thud….
He shed bloody tears and ground his teeth.
“No matter how many hundreds of years it takes, I want to tear him apart and stuff him in a barrel of salted meat….”
He stared at the castle where Won Rip was sealed again and said,
“Go first and recover the precious ones who were lost this time. I’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll endure this anger and wait for the day when we’ll kill him together.”
Cheongmun Jung-jin and I watched him for a moment.
We left him and headed toward Byeokra Kingdom in silence.
Arriving back at Cheon-saek Castle was quick.
Whoosh—through the desert sandstorm, Cheon-saek Castle appeared in ruins.
“…”
“…”
Blood stained every corner of the castle, and holes had been torn into the walls in many places.
The gate was completely collapsed, but the walls still retained some shape, as if to remind everyone that this had once been a castle.
Inside the castle, it was still tragic.
The bones of countless civilians and cultivators were scattered everywhere.
Cheongmun Jung-jin and I went to where the others’ corpses lay.
Kim Young-hoon, neatly divided into eight pieces.
Buk Jung-ho, missing his neck and with a hole in his dantian.
Cheongmun Ryeong, with Blood Wood sprouting all over his body.
Buk Hyang-hwa, missing her lower body.
They had been exposed to the desert’s dry air for several days. Their bodies were half-rotted and had dried, yet somehow preserved.
Cheongmun Jung-jin approached Cheongmun Ryeong’s remains without a word and began removing the Blood Wood that had sprouted from inside his body.
I first went to Kim Young-hoon and recovered his remains, divided into eight pieces.
‘His dantian is gone…’
When I reassembled the body, I saw that Kim Young-hoon’s dantian also had a hole in it.
I searched the surroundings and found pieces that looked like Buk Jung-ho’s neck, but I could not find Buk Hyang-hwa’s lower body anywhere.
I had no choice but to place the neck pieces back on his body.
I then swept my eyes across the expressions of the other corpses.
Kim Young-hoon looked regretful.
Buk Jung-ho and Buk Hyang-hwa, however, looked strangely at peace, as if they had done everything they needed to.
“…I’ll go now.”
Cheongmun Jung-jin had already removed all the Blood Wood from Cheongmun Ryeong’s remains and recovered his body. He picked it up and said to me,
“If you want to attend Ling’s funeral, come to my home in a month. I know you were his companion, so I’ll welcome you.”
“…Understood.”
Cheongmun Jung-jin, with a pained expression, picked up Cheongmun Ryeong’s remains and flew away with his disciples.
I looked around.
Scattered bones and corpses everywhere.
Bloodstains that had already dried black.
And the corpses of those who had died emaciated.
Finally, Buk Hyang-hwa’s body, whose lower body had completely vanished.
Thud, thud… I clenched my teeth and trembled.
I extended my consciousness and searched for any remaining souls in this place.
Since everyone had died unjustly here, I thought they might have become vengeful ghosts.
But not a single one—civilian or cultivator—remained as a vengeful spirit.
There should have been grievances. Probably…
Sizzling— I looked up at the scorching sun of the desert.
The intense yang qi unique to Cheon-saek Castle could not withstand the sunlight, so perhaps even the remaining souls had been forced into ascension.
I stood there blankly in front of Buk Hyang-hwa’s body for a long time.
It still felt unreal.
If only someone would say this was just a horrible nightmare.
I stood there blankly, then slowly looked at Buk Hyang-hwa’s face.
Her face, withered and twisted, stared back at me.
“Ah…”
And only then did reality sink in.
“Ah, ah… ahah…”
This was reality.
I was standing in this horrific reality.
“Aaaah!”
I collapsed to the ground and crawled toward her half-broken body.
Trembling, I slowly reached out. I carefully lifted and hugged her corpse, afraid it might break.
Her body was light.
Light even before, but now even lighter because her lower body was gone and she had dried for days.
Truly, as light as a feather.
Tight hug… I wrapped my arms around her remaining body, supported her head with one hand, and pressed my forehead to hers.
Our foreheads touched.
Even a third-rate novel would not be this dramatic.
We never even said we loved each other.
No, what if the words were spoken just before everything shattered?
Like the forced tragic trope a third-rate author would force into a setting.
Everything felt forced, unnatural.
“What in the world…”
Tears streaming down my face, I looked at the sky.
“What is fate…!”
Why did it take everything from me!
“Why me!”
Why! Why! Why!!!
Sniff, sniff…. I pulled away from Buk Hyang-hwa’s body and pounded my chest.
Clang, clank! Bang! Bang!
When I hit my chest, a curse burst from my mouth.
Thud, thud…. Shiiii— I counted the number of curses rising around me.
Roughly three thousand. It already surpassed the creator’s level of controlling one hundred and eight curses.
Every martial art bore the intent of its creator.
By comprehending that intent, one could reach the ultimate of that martial art.
The same was true for soul techniques.
Now I finally understood the intent behind the Yin Soul Ghost Curse that its creator had carved in.
The intent of the Yin Soul Ghost Curse.
Human fate is suffering.
A person’s life is a curse.
This world is made of suffering.
I ground my teeth.
All emotions poured down like a waterfall.
First: rage and pain, despair and sorrow.
Next: regret and shame, self-hatred toward myself.
‘I’m sorry, you all.’
My former disciples who had been trapped by my arrogance and attachment floated to the surface.
The ‘anger’ planted in them was partly their own, but also from the Jin Clan Sect’s vengeful spirits amplified by law techniques.
That was why I had to stop them.
At that time I had no power, was foolish, and could do nothing.
That stupid arrogance had been the only thing I could do.
I couldn’t bear to watch the children I raised die senselessly.
But now I knew how foolish that arrogance had been.
‘I’m sorry…’
Perhaps some humans only had to move for revenge even if they died.
‘I stood in your way and now I make the same oath as you… I am pathetic.’
No, I had always been pathetic.
Every time I died.
Every time time regressed.
Pathetic and painful.
It was not simply that I had lost someone I loved.
I had sealed away the pain and wounds I had forgotten in the life I had lived because of Buk Hyang-hwa.
Only now, after losing her, did I face them properly.
I carefully hugged her body like a glass craftsmanship and whispered,
“I swear…”
The bloodstains scattered around had dried black.
The blood scent had scattered with the sand wind, but my consciousness had covered everything around me in crimson.
Blood fragrance drifted to my nose.
“I’ll catch that bastard… tear out his golden core and crush him, extract his original spirit and rip it apart…”
Spitting black curses from my mouth, I hugged Buk Hyang-hwa’s corpse in white robes tight among the blood consciousness and black curses.
“Tear off his limbs and scatter them to the four directions…”
My chest felt like it had a hole.
Pain filled the hole until I could no longer feel anything.
“Tear the remaining flesh to pieces and scatter it for the stray dogs…”
The sunset had begun to paint Cheon-saek Castle red.
The area around Cheon-saek Castle was already bathed in the red glow of evening, the entire surroundings crimson.
My shadow and hers stretched long toward the Dabcheon Desert.
“Leaving only the monster’s head… your…”
I looked at her, then looked around once more.
Buk Jung-ho, Kim Young-hoon.
Cheongmun Ryeong, who was not here.
And all the neighbors who had been massacred at Cheon-saek Castle.
The old woman at the paper shop, the owner of the flower shop, the guards of Cheon-saek Castle, lovers, children, women, young men…
“And… I will burn incense in the spirits’ presence of those whom that bastard trampled.”
I didn’t know if I was shouting at someone, but I swore to the sky in a rough voice.
“I swear… I will definitely do so…!”
Definitely.
Definitely…!
I felt tears of blood and black tears flowing down my face and swore revenge to the sky.
I staggered to my feet and slowly began recovering the remains of the others and burying them in Cheon-saek Castle.
Over several days, Cheon-saek Castle became a vast cemetery.
According to Buk Hyang-hwa’s last wishes, I made a tomb for Buk Jung-ho beside his wife’s grave and buried her upper body beneath her workshop.
I entered Buk Hyang-hwa’s workshop and began making glass craftsmanship with my clumsy refining skills.
I did not make awkward dolls or flowers that looked like the impossible.
I made what I was best at making. What I could confidently create.
Glass sword-shaped craftsmanship.
I melted the sand of the desert and created glass sword craftsmanship one by one.
I then inserted the glass swords as grave goods in front of the tombs of the people of Cheon-saek Castle.
Placing glass grave goods for the dead in Byeokra Kingdom was also a fitting funeral custom.
Several days later.
Thousands of glass swords were planted in the graves, and I finally made a knife tomb by inserting a glass knife in front of Kim Young-hoon’s grave.
Thud!
Now, in a month, the funeral for Cheongmun Ryeong would be held at the Cheongmun Clan.
Before attending Cheongmun Ryeong’s funeral, I sat in front of Buk Hyang-hwa’s grave.
She had not yet received any glass craftsmanship.
Behind me, thousands of glass swords were already planted.
I still could not accept that she was dead.
Later.
I would make the grave goods to offer to her after burning Won Rip’s head in their spirits’ presence, and place them on her grave.
I closed my eyes and pressed Buk Hyang-hwa’s jade bead to my chest.
Thud, drop….
Dark tears flowed down my face.
After silently praying in front of her for a while, I took out the wooden box she had left behind.
Inside the box was not a law treasure.
Only the design for a law treasure that could create law treasures.
I read the explanation of the law treasure.
Buk Hyang-hwa had created the design for a law treasure that followed all the conditions I had mentioned.
The name of the law treasure was Colorless Glass Sword.
The material was sand commonly found in the desert.
The circulation was simple.
It was the glass sword-shaped law treasure that she had practiced with me the most until now.