Chapter 163
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Essence of the Death Decree (3)
Chirp! Tweet! Chirp! Cheep!
The cries of the mountain birds rang out like thunder.
It had been ages since he'd heard the sound of mountain birds. It was a sound you could only hear if your mind was at ease.
The old man walked on.
Four Thousand Four followed behind.
The two had long forgotten how to speak. They'd even forgotten they were walking together. They simply walked, gazing at the grass, the trees, sometimes stroking a rock.
The old man stopped before a babbling brook.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"I haven't felt it."
And that was the truth. While walking with the old man, he'd completely forgotten words like hostility, killing intent, grudge, revenge. He'd forgotten hunger, pain, sorrow too.
"Even so, take a sip."
The old man plucked a leaf and scooped up some water for him.
Four Thousand Four accepted it and drank.
Water was before him, so he drank. It didn't matter if the old man had scooped it or if a leper had. It was just water, so he drank.
"Refreshing?"
"It is."
"Heh heh!"
The old man grinned, baring his yellowed teeth.
"Half the day has passed."
"Thank you."
Four Thousand Four politely bowed at the waist.
"Thank you? For what? For walking with you?"
"What do you call this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've learned much while strolling through the mountains."
"So what? What did you learn?"
"……"
Four Thousand Four couldn't answer.
He'd clearly received profound teachings, yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly what he'd learned.
"Heh heh! Since you know the Death Decree, let me seek your counsel. No nonsense this time—just give me a straight answer... Come on, ask away. I have half a day left. What should I do in that half day? I don't know what to do so I don't end up as a resentful ghost after death. Tell me."
"This is enough."
"Enough how?"
"Peace, tranquility, rest... I want for nothing more. If anything remains..."
Four Thousand Four trailed off.
"If you're going to say it, finish. What remains is physical rest, a peaceful death."
"Yes."
Four Thousand Four answered without hesitation.
He didn't know what the old man meant by his remaining time. He didn't know what would happen after a day. What the old man sought was the perspective of the Death Decree's successor.
The Death Decree presupposed death.
It involved thinking and acting for those facing death.
That was the meaning behind the old man, with one day left, asking what he should do.
"Kekeke! Nonsense... Boy, you live when alive, die when dead—what's this about physical rest? Can any creature find peace before the monster called death?"
"You're speaking of warmth."
"Where'd you hear that term?"
"Do you know of the Demon Horn Seal?"
"You undid it?"
Four Thousand Four's eyes gleamed.
As he'd suspected, the old man knew of the Demon Horn Seal. He knew the Death Decree too. And what he'd just said... it meant that if someone faced death from the opposite stance of the Death Decree, just smile and let them.
"I don't know how. It's unraveling bit by bit."
"Unravel it. Undo the seal or whatever... Then wield sword or spear as you please. So, you're saying to idle away the remaining half day?"
"Yes."
"Idling away isn't for a martial artist. Sit. Let's circulate qi."
The old man sat cross-legged first.
Swooooosh! Tsssss...
Qi flowed leisurely. It coursed smoothly through his meridians, following his intent.
Circulating qi was the best way to find tranquility.
If Four Thousand Four had only half a day left, what would he do?
Nothing special. Just live as he had until now.
Doing something different—like meeting someone he longed for or eating fine food—was foolish. Chasing desires would leave regrets even squeezing out every last second till death.
Circulating qi—good.
Doing it with the old man—better.
The old man had mastered warmth.
He hadn't said it outright, but Four Thousand Four sensed it instinctively. The old man's aura, speech, actions... warmth emanated naturally from all.
If he just held their hands, the dying would feel lighter-hearted.
The Death Decree mentioned 'warmth' too. That's why he'd dreamed of it while poisoned by the mild toxin.
A sacred energy that made one forget fighting and think only of harmony!
Circulating qi like this could only be gentle. Warm, comfortable, stable. In this state, even an hour felt like mere moments. Then,
Tssss!
Suddenly, his intent began to shift.
'Huh!'
Four Thousand Four startled and tried to control the circulation. He tried to stabilize the qi rampaging on its own. But the qi completely ignored him, swirling freely.
Tststst!
It didn't follow the meridians he usually guided it through. It began flowing into strange paths.
'Ugh!'
Four Thousand Four panicked for a moment.
Qi escaping intent, escaping control... obvious what came next. Deviation into madness. Where had it gone wrong?
A dire situation.
But honestly... Four Thousand Four didn't feel much tension. Normally, cold sweat would pour down his back, but now he wasn't worried at all.
It was due to the old man's harmonizing aura.
There was another reason.
Observing the rampaging qi, it began circling a fixed circuit.
It was moving through routes he'd never used.
A new circulation method. A new martial art.
'Is this also hidden in the Demon Horn Seal? Strange. For a new circulation, the mental formula should come to mind first.'
No name, no circulation path, no mental formula for this new qi circulation came to him. He was just circulating.
Four Thousand Four let the qi flow as it would.
Normally, qi followed intent—but here, qi led, and intent chased after.
One full circuit, two... In a state of egoless immersion, Four Thousand Four surrendered to the qi flow.
"One hour left. What now?"
"As your disciple in body only, I can't formally bow as a student. Instead, I'll brew you some tea."
"Tea. Fine."
"Thank you."
"I'm worried it might confuse you... How is it? All right?"
"……"
Four Thousand Four hesitated to reply.
The qi guidance during circulation wasn't from the Demon Horn Seal. The old man had directly led it. His own qi had swirled according to the old man's intent.
It was warmth.
Four Thousand Four realized the old man's intervention only as the circulation ended.
Abundant energy flooded in through his Gate of Life acupoint.
He hadn't noticed the intruding foreign qi because it was of harmonious nature. If it had carried killing intent, rigidity, or sharpness, he'd have detected it instantly—but this un-martial-like energy slipped in unnoticed.
In the process, his own qi softened too.
His qi began to align with the old man's.
Only then did he sense it. Foreign qi entering. Being guided through special meridians.
The old man's qi guidance was utterly different from the Death Decree's. Completely opposite. Different circulation, different meridian use, different qi nature.
Yet, there was something mystical.
This opposing guidance... strangely fit all the martial arts Four Thousand Four had cultivated.
He could unfold Shadowless Steps with Death Decree guidance. Or with the old man's.
Of course, the forms would differ greatly.
He hadn't actually deployed any arts yet, so he didn't know the exact form, but they were surely vastly different.
As Four Thousand Four struggled for words, the old man chuckled softly.
"It's fine, boy. Think I'd eat you? It's all for your benefit... Oh! When you meet that fool Noksa, give him a hug. Not prattle like with me—just hug him. Got it?"
"What relation do you have with my master?"
"Ask that fool Noksa. Heh heh heh!"
The old man laughed hollowly.
Hug Noksa when they meet.
Four Thousand Four understood. That's why he wondered if he could.
The old man instructed him to circulate as taught today. To embrace his master with the warm aura he'd manifested. In other words, to embrace the Death Decree with warmth.
From Noksa's view, it was betrayal.
His disciple learning his arch-enemy's art and using it on him—reason enough to rage.
Did the old man not know? Hardly! He knew and commanded it. Because it didn't matter if Noksa knew. It wasn't the massive betrayal Four Thousand Four imagined.
Four Thousand Four understood this too.
He hadn't known before learning the circulation from the old man, but now he did.
Death Decree circulation and the old man's were completely different. No similarities. Yet they connected at the root. Two branches from one trunk. Same origin.
That's why he could use Death Decree arts with the old man's circulation.
One more realization.
The nature of White Frost Horse's and Blood Demon's essences perfectly matched his new circulation.
It wasn't just that their essences strengthened muscles and bones—though they did. When combined with his circulation, they amplified exponentially. Like fire meeting oil, blazing fiercely. Righteous Heaven Annihilation too.
Four Thousand Four fastened a sword belt around his waist.
He'd never used one before, but today he belted it like a master of darts and flying swords. He packed it full of flying swords.
Twenty flying swords per belt.
He wore identical belts diagonally from right waist across to left.
The old man's "day" was time till death approached.
He didn't know what death, but who was he? Successor to the Death Decree. A killer who guarded and felt death closest.
He sensed death's aura from the old man.
The old man's arts were extraordinary. He couldn't win at full power. If anything, like that woman Blood Thorn from the cave.
Yet death's aura flowed.
Whoever could kill the old man... Four Thousand Four couldn't face him. But he'd give his all. He'd learned this nameless circulation... and instinctively sensed they shared a lineage, unspoken.
He couldn't let the old man die.
Two belts, two swords at the waist, two daggers hidden behind the neck... Weapons were foreign to him, but today he prepared thoroughly.
'Now, to hide.'
He melted into the shadows.
The circulation from the old man was incredibly effective. Especially for hiding now. It softly harmonized surroundings, so no tension flowed where he hid. No sharp killing intent emerged, no vigilance triggered.
He watched the room the old man entered.
After receiving tea, the old man went in. And as usual, practiced calligraphy.
Even as the time he spoke of fully passed.