Chapter 744: Ruined World (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 744: Ruined World (2)
"This is Mount Hua."
My thoughts came to a screeching halt at his words.
What is he talking about?
What in the world did he mean? How could this place possibly be Mount Hua?
I looked around, but all I could see was a world of pitch black. It had been that way from the moment I arrived, and it remained the same now.
Splash!
With every step, the ink on the ground rippled. It was a hollow world where nothing could be felt. How could this be Mount Hua?
“That’s not much of an explanation,” I said to the old man, my tone conveying my utter confusion. “It’s not like I’ve never seen Mount Hua before. How can you claim this is it?”
Was it a metaphor? Perhaps. After all, this wasn’t the real world.
As the thought crossed my mind, I looked at the old man. But seeing his eyes, I had to narrow my own. It didn't seem like a metaphor at all.
[This is Mount Hua. The flowers have withered and the sky has fallen, but this is, without a doubt, Mount Hua.]
“This place…?”
[Yes.]
“I don’t understand.”
Where did my understanding fail? It was the part about failing to stop the Blood Demon. That was the root of the problem.
“What do you mean, you couldn’t seal the Blood Demon?”
Forget the nature of this space for a moment—they failed to stop the Blood Demon? What was going on?
“…Are you saying you came from another world?”
[Perhaps.]
The old man gave a bitter smile at my question.
[That might be the case. At the very least, this is not the place I know.]
“…Huh?”
This old man was not the Elder Shin I knew. Was this why I had felt so certain of that fact, for some unknown reason?
As that thought took hold…
Another world…?
I was faced with an unexpected truth. Another world. The old man was Shincheol, but what if he wasn't the Shincheol of this world? As thoughts overlapped, the lines began to tangle in my head.
Is that even possible?
If what he said was true, how could it be? Another world could exist—I had experienced it before, after all.
‘…Countless worlds are created and destroyed until the desired outcome is achieved.’
It was a despairing thought, but a truth I had known for a long time. I was struggling despite knowing this, yet the old man before me was from another world. In other words, if he was the Shincheol from a world that failed to stop the Blood Demon…
“Then how in the world are you here?”
How was he able to come here? That had to be the first question. It was impossible. The very idea of two Elder Shins existing was nonsensical from the start.
To that question, the old man replied.
[For a moment, I dreamt of hope.]
His calm, weary voice continued.
[I dreamt, my heart swelling with the thought that a miracle might have occurred. But it was nothing more than a delusion.]
“What does that…?”
[You asked why I am here.]
“Yes.”
[I do not know. The last thing I saw was this place. And it was the end of the world.]
A world painted black. The ink that filled the ground and the scenery, its form unrecognizable. Was this truly the end of the world the old man had witnessed?
[All I could do was wait for the world to slowly reach its end. I watched for a long, long time.]
“…Here?”
[Yes. The plum blossoms no longer bloom, but even so, my place was at Mount Hua.]
The end. The end of a world that failed to stop the Blood Demon. Was this the grotesque and tragic sight of it?
I can’t see anything.
It was a space where nothing could be felt. The splashing ink was merely unpleasant, and the endless darkness was filled with an unknowable silence. Nothingness. There was truly nothing here, except for the giant rock the old man was sitting on.
[As I was waiting for the end like that…]
I listened intently as he continued.
[I briefly closed my eyes and opened them. That was all. When I opened them again, I was here.]
“Here, as in…”
[It was unfamiliar, yet for some reason, I knew. I knew it was the cave in Shaanxi.]
“...”
A world that was slowly collapsing. And the old man who was watching it was suddenly transported to a cave in Shaanxi? His words were bizarre beyond measure. How did that suddenly happen? The absurd statement only deepened my confusion.
[I could not believe it. It was an impossible situation.]
It seemed the old man felt the same way. Anyone would have found it unbelievable. However…
[Still, I had to believe.]
The old man perceived the situation not as an anomaly, but as a glimmer of hope.
“Why…? Wouldn’t you have found it strange?”
The world had met its end because they failed to stop the Blood Demon. If he had watched the entire process and was reaching the end, it would be natural to feel that a sudden change was strange. Why did he try to believe it instead?
Even as I asked, I already knew the answer.
[I thought it was a miracle.]
I, who had turned back time, knew it as well. Even if it’s unbelievable and makes no sense, you want to believe if it’s a miracle. That was human nature.
[Even if it was impossible, I believed that perhaps a god had taken pity on me and given me a chance.]
At the brink of the apocalypse, a fleeting miracle had been granted. And so…
[Even though the end had come, a miracle occurred and the Central Plains survived. And I, too, remained in this land as a spirit. I must have been given this chance because I still had work to do.]
“...”
A familiar emotion made me clench my fists.
[That delusion blinded me. How pathetic. To think that I, Shincheol, would entertain such a thought. Hahaha.]
He was no different from me. If there was a difference, it would have been the conviction he held. If what he said was true, then it must be so. Just as I was thinking that…
[I would have rather wished for time to be turned back... but something like that is impossible... so instead, this too….]
“…Wait a minute.”
I abruptly cut the old man off. He looked puzzled by my interruption, but I had to stop him. There was something strange about what he had just said.
…Impossible for a regression to happen?
That turning back time was impossible. The old man’s words bothered me. It was an obvious statement to anyone else—turning back time was an absurd notion.
But…
Should he be that certain?
For this old man, it should have been a little different. Because…
“May I ask you one thing?”
[Go ahead.]
“Do you… know Yeon Il-Cheon’s secret?”
[Hmm?]
He should have known that Yeon Il-Cheon was a regressor. If he had someone by his side who had already turned back time, he shouldn't have reacted so definitively about regression. Of course, since it was an unbelievable event, such a reaction might be possible. But for some reason, it bothered me. That’s why I mentioned Yeon Il-Cheon.
[What are you talking about? A secret?]
“...”
A chill ran down my spine at the old man’s reaction.
Oh, fuck. This…
This old man didn't seem to know that Yeon Il-Cheon had regressed. No, maybe he knew and was just pretending not to. But what if the old man truly didn't know about Yeon Il-Cheon's regression?
And taking it a step further…
What if it wasn't that he didn't know about Yeon Il-Cheon's regression… but that Yeon Il-Cheon had never regressed at all?
And so…
The old man’s claim that they failed to stop the Blood Demon.
If the reason was that this was before Yeon Il-Cheon regressed.
“...”
Swoosh.
I wiped my face with a trembling hand. My breathing grew shallow. I tried to calm myself, but it wasn't easy.
[Child. What is wrong?]
“…Just, just a moment.”
My head throbbed. Ignoring the persistent, stabbing headache, I tried to organize my thoughts.
…A world where Yeon Il-Cheon failed to regress.
He had said that worlds are endlessly created and destroyed until they reach their desired conclusion. And I think he said that this happened when they stopped the Blood Demon in the past.
…So something like this was left over?
The world before Yeon Il-Cheon’s regression. If that world still existed, then perhaps a world that failed to stop the Blood Demon meant just that.
Which meant…
My regression… maybe it wasn't turning back time.
Was it more accurate to see it as moving to another world? If that was true, then…
Then what about the world I was originally in?
The world where the Celestial Sword defeated the Heavenly Demon and protected the peace? What happened to it?
He said it repeats endlessly until the desired outcome is reached.
If I came to another world, what happened to that one? So what happened to the Celestial Sword?
Cold sweat trickled down my face. I clutched my chest.
…Then, who was the Celestial Sword I met?
The Celestial Sword I met through Wi Seol-Ah’s body. I didn't want to let her go, so I had absorbed her soul with the Demonic Absorption. My mother had told me to do so back then. And I was trying to meet my mother to learn about the Celestial Sword I had absorbed.
Things can’t go this way.
If I had left that world that had achieved peace and met the Celestial Sword, what had happened to that world in the first place?
[Child. Are you alright?]
“…No, yes… I’m fine.”
The world had shifted, and the original world had vanished. Did that mean the countless beings that had existed there also disappeared? To be honest, I didn't care about that. Whether hundreds of people died, or thousands—even if tens of thousands of people died, none of that mattered to me.
Only one thing was important.
The Celestial Sword.
The possibility that she, whom I had tried to protect even if it meant abandoning everything, had ultimately met her end. To me, one Celestial Sword was more important than tens of thousands of humans.
[What did you mean by Yeon Il-Cheon’s secret?]
“…It’s nothing. I was just trying to test you. Please don’t mind me.”
[…Hmph?]
The old man’s reaction showed he didn't quite believe me, but I couldn't help it. Our conversation had just raised another question.
Let’s assume the old man’s world was one where Yeon Il-Cheon failed to regress.
Let’s assume such a world remained and eventually met its end. But…
Then how did that old man remain here?
The reason that old man remained in the cave in Shaanxi. For how long, and since when, I had no idea. This created a problem.
This was never discovered in my past life.
Of course, in my past life, there was no record of the Divine Sword of Mount Hua's secret vault ever being found. And I had never heard that Yung Pung had inherited his will. It was possible that Mount Hua had found it and kept it a secret. I had thought this was a difference created by my actions.
But now, things were a little different.
Is this really just a difference I created?
The fact that there were two Shincheols. The fact that this spirit was in the secret vault at this specific time. Could all of that be attributed to differences I had made?
That wasn't the important thing to consider here. What was important was…
…Who… and why… brought that old man here?
The possibility that the old man appeared in this world as a spirit through some miracle? There was no way. I knew.
There are no miracles in this world.
My own regression, which I was once grateful for, and all the events happening now could not be dismissed as mere miracles. I remembered what Yeon Il-Cheon had said.
—Does your regression truly seem like a miracle to you?
“...”
I had dismissed it as bullshit back then, but as I lived on, I came to realize it. There were no such things as miracles in this goddamn world. Everything was the result of someone’s hand and desire.
So, let’s think and suspect.
That old man is no coincidence.
This was someone’s intention. Who could it be? And what was their intention?
Just what kind of bastard… is creating this fucking situation?
Grind.
I clenched my teeth and scowled.
I don’t know.
Nothing came to mind. So, what should I do? Fortunately, the answer was already decided.
I’ll have to find someone who might know and ask them.
It was the simplest and most direct answer. Someone who might know even a little about this situation. I would find him and ask.
Two figures immediately came to mind.
One was the Thunderous Sword, Namgung Myung, who was likely hiding with Woo Hyuk. He was the one who told me to come find him in Xinjiang, so he might have some information about this situation. He could be a suitable candidate. The problem was, it was uncertain if I could even find him, so he wasn't the optimal choice.
So, the second one…
This one seems more likely to be accurate…
There were ways to find him if I tried. He would have more precise information. A being clearly involved in this matter.
That would be…
…The Blood Demon.
The being called a Calamity. It seemed that to solve this mystery… I would have to meet him in person.
* * *
In a basement filled with a biting chill.
“Ughm.”
A figure sitting there slowly opened his eyes. As his crimson eyes were revealed, illuminating the surroundings, the figure felt the chill and let out a slow sigh.
“Hooooo….”
The figure exhaled a frosty breath. His condition was far from good. His left arm was not only torn off but also covered in burn marks. The burns continued, vast enough to cover the left side of his face. His lower body was completely burned away, leaving only his torso barely intact.
Despite being in a state where he should have been dead, the figure opened his eyes and smiled faintly.
“I can feel it.”
It was a welcome sensation. Saying so, the figure laughed out loud. The feeling that a welcome guest would arrive soon. At that clear sensation, the figure whispered.
“I should prepare some tea.”
I should prepare some very expensive and fine tea.
Muttering this, the Blood Demon, Dok Gojun, closed his eyes once more. For now, an overwhelming drowsiness made it impossible to resist.