Chapter 91: The Moon Evil Sword’s Past (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 91: The Moon Evil Sword’s Past (1)
The campfire flickered.
Shadows danced as if fluttering in the wind.
Between the blackened, burning pieces of wood, sparks popped and crackled.
It had been two days of relentless travel southwest since leaving Shaolin.
Only after reaching a deserted hermitage hidden deep within a secluded mountain valley could we finally stop and rest.
I was roasting skewered pheasant meat over the fire. Sama Yeong, who hadn't eaten properly for a while, couldn't take her eyes off the sizzling flesh.
"You’ve been through a lot."
My father-in-law, who had been silent for the past two days, finally spoke.
Upon leaving Shaolin, he had mentioned needing to head somewhere urgently, and that place turned out to be this hermitage.
In truth, to find this place—which looked like an ordinary hermitage—one had to pass through formations set up in various directions. My father-in-law navigated them as if he were reading a map.
However, upon arriving and finding the hermitage empty, he couldn't hide his disappointment.
I was just beginning to wonder why.
"This is a safe house that Du Gong and I kept hidden."
"Du Gong?"
Du Gong referred to Man Bak-ja, one of the Eight Great Masters.
Come to think of it, despite his title as a villain, my father-in-law was said to share a friendship with him.
"But why here?"
"I was supposed to meet Du Gong here."
"With Master Man Bak-ja?"
"Yes."
My father-in-law let out a faint sigh and stared into the burning campfire.
Then, he turned his head to look at Sama Yeong.
His gaze was profoundly bitter.
Why did he look at his daughter that way after mentioning a meeting with Master Man Bak-ja?
After watching her silently for a moment, he spoke again.
"I have finally found that man."
At those words, Sama Yeong gasped and looked at him.
Her pupils shook as if an earthquake were occurring within them.
"Is... is that true?"
"Yes."
That man?
Who was he talking about?
As I wondered, my father-in-law turned his gaze toward me.
"…I intended to reveal everything only after resolving it all, but since Yeong-ie and you might be in danger because of me, I should tell you now."
"Father-in-law…"
He was the same man who had come to Shaolin Temple due to his injuries.
Who wouldn't be wary of an entity powerful enough to wound a man ranked among the top five masters in the entire Central Plains?
"If it is difficult to speak of, then later…"
"Since you have become my son-in-law, you are as good as family."
He had finally fully accepted me.
A lump formed in my throat.
My father-in-law tossed more dry branches into the fire and continued.
"…Around the time Yeong-ie had her first birthday, I was the promising successor to the Sama Clan."
This was a fairly famous story.
It was the fundamental incident that led to my father-in-law being called one of the Four Great Villains, though he was now known as one of the Five Great Villains.
The cause was the eightieth birthday celebration of the Sama Clan’s Grand Family Head.
On that day, hundreds of people from prestigious Orthodox sects who had visited the Sama Clan were slaughtered.
The few survivors unanimously pointed to Sama Chak, the successor of the Sama Clan, as the culprit.
Enraged, the Orthodox martial world demanded accountability from the Sama Clan.
Sama Jong, the Family Head at the time, declared he would pay for the crime with the life of the Young Family Head and officially struck my father-in-law’s name from the family register.
"…And so, I was hunted by the Sama Clan and countless other martial artists."
Up to this point, the story matched what I knew.
If the events followed the history I was aware of, my father-in-law would go on to massacre the pursuers from the Sama Clan and the Orthodox sects, earning his title as a villain.
I wondered what the hidden story behind it was.
Then, Sama Yeong bit her lip hard and spoke with a flushed face.
"In the first place, Father, you had gone to find a skilled physician because I had a severe cold on the day of the birthday feast."
"…Yes."
He wasn't even there?
Then there was a real culprit?
My father-in-law continued his story.
"As the Heaven’s Net tightened around us, seeing my wife and Yeong-ie growing exhausted, I made a decision. I waited for my father, the Family Head."
The Sama Clan had been at the forefront of the pursuit to clear the stigma cast upon them.
Thus, they were able to arrive faster than anyone else.
"I reached an agreement with my father. If I could not find the true culprit within fifteen days, I would take my own life to wash away the family’s disgrace."
"Ah…"
He had tried to take responsibility until the very end.
"And I received his promise. That no matter the outcome, my wife and Yeong-ie would not be cast out from the family."
At those words, tears streamed down Sama Yeong’s cheeks.
She seemed overwhelmed by the fact that he had tried to protect her and her mother by sacrificing himself.
"I went to Hanjeong Lake Full Moon Manor, the site of the incident, and examined the scene. I tried to find the true culprit by retracing everything that happened there and examining the wounds on the dead."
However, despite his efforts, the culprit was meticulous.
Everyone who was related to or had even the slightest contact with Full Moon Manor had already been killed, and even the bodies of all the victims from that day had already been cremated.
Not a shred of evidence remained.
"In the end… I prepared to give my life for my wife and Yeong-ie."
After fifteen days of no progress, my father-in-law returned to the pursuit party that had cast the Heaven’s Net, only to witness a shocking sight.
Every single martial artist in the pursuit party had been slaughtered.
Furthermore, Sama Jong, the Family Head of the Sama Clan and his own father, had been killed, his limbs severed.
It was said that my father-in-law wailed at the death of his biological father.
But even as he wept, only two people came to his mind.
"…I felt I had to find Yeong-ie and my wife."
My father-in-law searched through the corpses of the hundreds of martial artists.
Most of the bodies were so badly mutilated that he had to examine them one by one.
While examining the bodies, he encountered the rear guard of the pursuit party that arrived late, and he was misunderstood by them.
"No matter how much I denied it, they did not believe me."
The wounds left on the corpses were all caused by the sword techniques of the Sama Clan.
Moreover, they were perfect sword marks, comparable to those made by himself, who was called the greatest swordsman in the history of the Sama Clan.
The martial artists attempted to capture him.
"But I could not be caught. I could not throw my life away until I confirmed the deaths of Yeong-ie and my wife."
It was said that my father-in-law fought the pursuit party for two days and nights.
However, he never killed them.
He believed that if he killed them, he would be playing right into the hands of whoever had framed him.
Knocking them unconscious, he wandered the mountain valleys around the pursuit party’s camp, desperately trying to find any trace of his wife and Yeong-ie.
As if heaven were helping, he heard a woman’s scream from the lower reaches of a valley about three li away.
Grit!
My father-in-law ground his teeth, interrupting his story.
His eyes, more than just flushed, were rimmed with red, radiating sorrow and rage.
After remaining still like that for a long time, he continued.
"When I went down to the lower valley… I found a group of martial artists by the water."
There, he witnessed a sight he could never erase for the rest of his life.
That group of martial artists was violating his wife.
Seeing this, my father-in-law was consumed by uncontrollable rage and slaughtered every single one of them on the spot.
Drip, drip!
Blood dripped from the palm of my father-in-law’s clenched fist.
Sama Yeong was sobbing uncontrollably.
Thump! Thump!
She, too, was drenched in sorrow and rage, repeatedly striking the ground with her fist.
Perhaps influenced by their deep resentment and grief, my heart grew heavy, and my nose tingled.
"My wife, who had suffered such disgrace… her body was so cold."
And her entire body was swollen, her palms shriveled.
At the lower reaches of the valley, there was a side path where the water flowed into a cave. It was said that his mother-in-law had stayed in the water for two days and nights, holding the infant Sama Yeong above her head to protect her.
She had protected Sama Yeong’s heart meridian with her internal energy, but with her vitality nearly exhausted, she had dragged her weary body out, only to encounter the pursuit party.
"Ugh… Mother…"
In the end, Sama Yeong could not stop her wailing.
When I gripped her hand tightly, she buried herself in my arms and cried loudly.
At the sight of her, a single tear rolled down my father-in-law’s cheek.
‘Ah…’
It was a tear of blood.
I had only heard rumors that tears of blood fall from the eyes of the truly enraged.
But this was the first time I had actually seen it.
After shedding that single tear of blood, my father-in-law continued.
"My wife, who had exhausted all her vitality to save Yeong-ie, was dying. I tried to save her even if it meant depleting all my True Qi."
But it was already too late.
She had endured two days and nights in the cold water of the valley cave.
Since even her vitality was spent, there was no hope.
"Eventually… my wife breathed her last."
Having lost his wife, my father-in-law wept as if the world were ending.
Having lost his father and then his wife, he said he lost even the will to live.
"I wanted to end my life right then and there."
At that moment, the infant Sama Yeong cried.
Seeing her cry, my father-in-law held the child close and wept with her.
He felt that if he didn't cry, he would lose his mind.
As he was weeping, the Orthodox martial artists appeared, having heard the sound.
Even as they saw the weeping man and the child, they viewed it as an opportunity and launched a combined attack.
"That was when I thought: if this is what they want, then I shall become the villain they desire."
My father-in-law killed them all.
Then, he hunted down every single pursuer and killed them.
After killing all the pursuers, he visited their respective sects one by one and annihilated them.
‘Ah…’
This was how he had become a villain.
My heart felt heavy throughout the story.
If I had been in his position, I would have wanted to overturn the entire world as well.
Could the world really call such a man a villain?
"Father…"
Sama Yeong, who had been in my arms, went to her father and embraced him.
Stroking her hair, he said, "There is something I haven't told you."
"Pardon?"
"Before your mother passed away, she told me. That a man with one golden eye had attacked the camp alone."
!!!
A man with one golden eye.
It was the Jonju.
‘…Is it that man again?’
Just how many things had this person done?
In the end, wasn't that man the reason my father-in-law was called a villain?
My father-in-law continued speaking to Sama Yeong.
"Your grandfather released your mother and you, allowing you to escape. I didn't know how your mother survived back then, but now I think I know."
"What do you mean?"
"For some reason, that man seemed to avoid water."
‘Ah!’
As expected, my father-in-law seemed to have met him.
Otherwise, there was no way he would know the weakness of the Jonju, who had undergone the procedure for the Golden Imperial Body.
I asked my father-in-law, "Then, have you been searching for the true culprit all this time?"
"…Yes."
He was a man who had lost everything because of that person.
Naturally, he would want to catch the Jonju.
‘Golden Emperor…’
For the first time, I felt regret.
Would it have been better to kill him back then, regardless of what the future held?
If I had, would Sama Yeong not have lost her mother?
But I couldn't be sure.
I was personally experiencing how even a small event could lead to countless changes in the future.
"Just how did you find him?"
The Jonju is cautious in everything he does.
Therefore, he rarely reveals himself unless it's a sure thing.
Unless there was something to draw him out…
"I discovered a man whose eyes—not just one, but both—were golden. I believed he must be related to that man."
"Ah! The man who appeared in Bongnim Valley."
Sama Yeong remembered him and spoke.
Come to think of it, she had said her father was surprised to see him and chased after him.
So, the reason he had been absent all this time was that he was following that man’s trail.
What was the true identity of the man with two golden eyes?
He even held an official position beside the Golden Emperor, yet his purpose remained unknown.
"Du Gong called him Seobok."
"Seobok?"
I frowned.
Could it be the Seobok I knew?
—Who is that?
He is a figure mentioned occasionally in several historical records, like the Records of the Grand Historian.
Mentioned in passing.
His courtesy name was Gunbang.
He was a famous fangshi of the time.
He is known as the man who, under the orders of Qin Shi Huang, took thousands of young men and women to find the secret to immortality and disappeared.
"Did he really say Seobok?"
"Seeing as that man also calls himself that, it might really be Seobok."
My father-in-law sounded half-skeptical.
But I wasn't.
If it really was Seobok, it meant this man had been alive since the fallen Qin Dynasty.
In the mindscape of the Heavenly Secret I saw through the Blood Demon Sword, that man had asked the master blacksmith Gu Yaja to forge five demon swords.
Gu Yaja was a man who lived from the Warring States period until the unification by Qin.
The timing was almost identical.
Does that mean Seobok really found the method for immortality?
‘Immortality… Ah!’
Come to think of it, the Golden Emperor also desired immortality.
At the time I encountered him, he was strong, but he didn't seem to have undergone the Golden Imperial Body procedure.
After all, both his eyes were fine.
Then, did Seobok perform that procedure on the Golden Emperor?
—If that’s the case, it’s incredible. It means he finally got what he wanted.
It was as the Lesser Conversation Sword said.
Seeing that those associated with the Golden Emperor lived far beyond a normal lifespan, it seemed they had learned the method from Seobok.
But why was Seobok imprisoned in Bongnim Valley?
Even though he was the one who brought eternal life to him.
That was the mystery.
"Did that man named Seobok say anything about the man with one golden eye?"
"Nothing. Only to escape into the valley water."
If he told my father-in-law that, it meant Seobok knew the weakness of the Golden Imperial Body procedure.
Was he imprisoned in Bongnim Valley because of that?
When I saw him then, Seobok served the Golden Emperor.
Not only did he hold an official post, but he also gave him the eternal life he so desired, so the mystery of why remained unsolved.
For now, I needed to hear what my father-in-law had experienced.
"Then, did you get injured while fighting that man?"
At my question, my father-in-law’s expression hardened grimly.
He was a man who had broken through the wall.
As such, he would be able to judge more accurately than anyone else what level the current Golden Emperor had reached.
"Yes."
"That man injured you, Father?"
Sama Yeong asked back as if she couldn't understand.
To her, her father was as good as the best in the world.
The fact that such a man had lost to someone would be hard to accept.
But then, shocking words came from my father-in-law’s mouth.
"He was stronger than me. He possessed a monstrous level of martial prowess, such that Du Gong and Seobok could only barely face him with their help."
Even my father-in-law was no match for him.
As expected, that man hadn't wasted his time.
He must have grown stronger to avenge the humiliation he suffered at my hands.
Still, he was lucky to have survived against such a man.
"It was as if he knew every martial art in the world, and he possessed an absurd amount of internal energy that defied common sense."
I’m sure he did.
Even back then, he was a superhuman who had surpassed the wall.
On top of that strength, he had added centuries of experience and the power of eternal life.
Furthermore, with his golden eye, he could even read his opponent’s energy, so there could be no greater monster.
"…Then, Father. Did you jump into the valley water to escape while fighting him?"
At that question, my father-in-law sighed and said, "No. Seobok said that if we could somehow lure him into the valley water, we might be able to kill him. So we lured him toward the valley."
They hadn't jumped into the water to escape.
Then again, he was the enemy he had waited a lifetime for.
No matter how strong he was, would he want to run away?
"So what happened?"
"We lured him to the cliff in front of the valley, but he spoke as if he had come there knowing everything."
"Knowing?"
"Yes. Instead, he provoked me."
"What did he say?"
My father-in-law, looking displeased, recounted exactly what the man had said as if reminiscing.
"…'Moon Evil Sword. Because of me, you were able to be reborn as the greatest villain. Do you not wish to take revenge on the martial world that made you this way? If you wish, take my hand. Then I shall give you bloody revenge along with eternal life'… is what he said."
"Ha!"
Sama Yeong was flabbergasted by those words.
The culprit who caused her mother’s death had said such a thing; she couldn't help but be enraged.
"To kill him, I collapsed the cliff. When he tried to escape by lightly dodging, Seobok grabbed him even as his body was torn in half."
—Ugh…
With that man’s common-sense-defying regenerative ability, it was possible.
Hadn't even his missing arm grown back in an instant?
"Thinking we couldn't miss this opportunity, Du Gong and I grabbed him along with Seobok and jumped into the valley."
"And then?"
Sama Yeong pressed, curious.
My father-in-law let out a long breath, like a sigh.
"Did something go wrong?"
"At that time…"
Before my father-in-law could answer, I spoke first.
"Did a silver-haired woman appear?"
At those words, my father-in-law frowned and looked at me with surprised eyes.
"How did you know that?"
"Because of the cold energy that has penetrated even into your bone marrow."
As expected, she was also alive.
Seol Baek of the North Sea Ice Palace, who was called one of the Twelve Peaks of the World at the time.
In the current martial world, there was no martial art that dealt with that level of cold energy.
Perhaps wondering how I knew this, my father-in-law stared at me intently before continuing.
"Before we were swept away by the valley’s torrent, that woman appeared and struck my back with a palm. I immediately counterattacked and pushed the silver-haired woman away, but the moment I fell into the water, I lost the golden-eyed man due to the cold energy burrowing into my body."
"What about the others?"
At Sama Yeong’s question, my father-in-law shook his head bitterly.
"I barely managed to escape the rapids and tried to find everyone, but due to the internal injuries from fighting him and the cold energy invading my body, I had no choice but to focus on energy circulation and breath control."
And so, my father-in-law had tried to recover as quickly as possible.
However, the cold energy had already penetrated his internal organs and even his bone marrow.
In the midst of that, masked men presumed to be that man’s subordinates attacked, and he said he had no choice but to flee.
"I barely managed to deal with them, but as my vitality continued to drain, after much deliberation, I…"
"You went to Shaolin Temple."
"Yes."
Shaolin Temple was part of the Orthodox faction, but it was a place disconnected from the secular world.
And it was the only place that would treat even a villain like my father-in-law.
He had made that choice to preserve his life.
Sama Yeong said through her tears, "While you were suffering like that alone, Father, I didn't even know…"
"Just knowing that you are safe has lifted a great burden from my heart."
"But…"
"I told you it’s alright."
My father-in-law wiped away Sama Yeong’s tears with his sleeve.
Then, he turned his gaze toward me and said, "I didn't ask so I could finish the story, but that female master is someone I have never seen in my life. How do you know of her?"
At that question, Sama Yeong also looked at me curiously.
I took a deep breath and let it out.
Since even my father-in-law was so deeply involved, it was right to reveal some of the truth.
"…That woman’s name is Seol Baek. She was one of the Twelve Peaks of the World three hundred years ago, a title no different from the current Eight Great Masters or Four Great Villains."
At those words, my father-in-law’s eyes narrowed.
I continued speaking.
“She hails from the North Sea Ice Palace and serves the one-eyed man with the Golden Eye—the very man you were trying to capture, Father-in-law. To be honest, even I didn’t expect her to still be alive.”
“...You speak as if you’ve actually met this master from three centuries ago.”
I answered his question truthfully.
“I have.”
“What?”
I couldn’t bring myself to explain exactly what had happened during that encounter, so I changed the subject.
“The one-eyed man with the Golden Eye, the one you seek vengeance against... he is known as the Jonju. Three hundred years ago, he was the one who sought to persecute and annihilate the martial world.”
“Could it be...?”
“Yes. He is the Golden Emperor, the most heinous tyrant in history.”
!!!
Upon hearing his true identity, both my father-in-law and Sama-yeong were unable to hide their shock. Who could have possibly imagined it? That the man with the Golden Eye was the Emperor from three centuries past.
After a moment of stunned silence, my father-in-law asked, his voice laced with confusion.
“...How on earth do you know such a thing?”
I hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell him the truth.
“Because three hundred years ago, I was the one who defeated him.”
!?
At that, both my father-in-law and Sama-yeong stared at me, their expressions screaming that they had no idea what I was talking about.