Chapter 90
Chapter 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Surrounded by Enemies on All Sides (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The scent of death hung in the air.
Ordinary people couldn't detect it. But the moment a living being steps one foot onto the path to the afterlife, the icy chill of the underworld seeps into their body, releasing that sharp, acrid smell.
Anyone emitting this scent—without exception—dies.
Martial artists could sense it.
Sense it... yes. They couldn't smell it with their noses, but they could feel it intuitively.
To martial artists, this scent manifested as the complete dissipation of one's qi.
That's why it was called sensing. You couldn't sniff it out, but you could perceive the phenomenon of qi fading away.
When the phenomenon intensified, even regular folk caught on.
"It's his time."
"Any day now. Better get ready."
A person whose life force was spent gave off a palpable vibe.
They didn't actively convey it themselves. Others simply felt it instinctively.
What living beings fear most is death.
The severing of life, the eternal sleep from which there's no waking... So when danger or symptoms of it approach, they detect it immediately. The person themselves senses it, and so do those around them.
Four Thousand Four smelled it as such a symptom.
A life was flickering out. Heading down a path from which there was no return.
Four Thousand Four followed the scent.
"Ugh! Why's that old man hanging on when he's clearly on his last breath?"
"I told him to go peacefully, and you know what he did? His eyelids fluttered, and he swatted my hand away. Must've thought I was the grim reaper."
People murmured among themselves.
Four Thousand Four felt a threat.
They posed no danger. He was confident he could shake off dozens of them if they swarmed him. So where was this prickling menace emanating from, tingling through his entire body?
'Don't kill!'
His instincts screamed. Telling him to slip away quietly.
He didn't know who was inside, but... death was certainly coming. Just far too late. People thought the man would go today or tomorrow, latest the day after. No. Death wouldn't arrive for at least seven more days.
For those awaiting death, it was excruciating.
Torture for both the one clinging to their last breaths and those watching over them.
Subtract the predicted time from when death would actually strike, and you had four or five days. He intended to kill to hasten those four or five days.
Yet even that triggered a threat.
Four Thousand Four probed desperately to pinpoint the threat's source.
He couldn't grasp the entity emanating it.
"Heh."
Four Thousand Four let out a faint chuckle.
If he were only concerned with his own safety, there'd be no need to kill. The moment he harbored the notion of murder, his life had nothing to do with "peace."
Swoosh!
He glided silently behind the thatched hut.
Inside was only the soon-to-be-dead man. A couple of people might be at his bedside, but they couldn't watch constantly.
A person feels loneliest right before death.
He slipped through the open window into the room undetected.
"I want to live."
"You can't."
"I know that, but..."
"Then hurry up and go."
"Does anyone get to choose when they live or die? I want to go quick, but I just... won't."
"That's why I'm here to send you off."
"Spare me. I don't want to die."
"You just said you can't go even if you want to."
"Who in this world ever wants to die quick? Please, I beg you—let me live. No, just don't kill me. At least let me fulfill my allotted lifespan."
He conversed with the dying man.
The man was unconscious, of course. He couldn't speak. But Four Thousand Four read his facial expressions and carried on the dialogue. A lifetime of hardship etched on that face made his words predictable.
"Time to go."
Four Thousand Four slipped his hand behind the old man's head.
"No! Who the hell are you to tell me to go?!"
His fingers detected the neck bones.
Where the skull met the spine, in the hollow at the nape, lay the first vertebra called the atlas.
Crunch! Snap!
The atlas shattered.
A pointless murder.
Even in unconsciousness, the man had clung to life with fierce will. He'd thrashed to survive until his final rattling breath. That was what had kept him alive.
Yet it was agony for him too.
He knew he was dying. Even his dreams featured grim reapers coming to claim him. Waking from unconsciousness, he'd think, "I'm still alive. But I'm dying," and suffer.
It wasn't joy at being alive. It was torment because death loomed so near.
That's why Four Thousand Four had spoken to him. Guiding him into a state empty of thought.
The dying man even grew agitated, desperate not to die.
In that instant, to Four Thousand Four, the silent figure lying there wasn't unconscious. He was fully alive, vibrant and kicking fiercely.
One life let go of its thread.
The scent wafted again.
This one was thick. So dense even the dullest senses could feel the deathly aura.
Four Thousand Four moved on.
With death qi this strong, the person would close their eyes tonight.
No human could endure it. Only a final breath remained.
No reason to kill.
Yet he kept walking. To see... the person.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
A middle-aged woman gasped labored breaths, on the verge of breaking.
Her consciousness had already fled her body. Only flesh endured. If souls existed, perhaps that lingered too.
Again, Four Thousand Four waited for the room to empty.
Crowds gathered around those about to breathe their last. They insisted on being there for that momentous instant. But if it didn't come soon, they'd drift away.
The people left the room briefly.
Four Thousand Four acted instantly. He infiltrated and granted peace to the soul barely tethered to its weary flesh.
Only one or two hours until the end... yet he resorted to murder to ease those hours. An act condemned by many.
Tsk! Tsk tsk!
Finishing the kill and departing, his mind felt unsettled. Something lodged in his chest.
Just like with the old man, the threat prickled.
At last, Four Thousand Four grasped the clue to its origin.
'I see. Heh!'
He simply laughed.
The threat stemmed from the Heavenly Annihilation Division.
They knew him. And because they did, they'd track his murders.
The Zhuge family knew nothing of these killings. They saw him as a notorious murderer, but had no clue whom he targeted. So they'd miss these too.
The Heavenly Annihilation Division was different. They knew him precisely.
Even his capture in the Nineteen Hells had started with such murders. They'd hunted these kills and caught him.
They knew his death sentence seals.
His conviction-driven murders had given them the trail.
That was the threat's true nature.
'No helping it. Heh heh heh!'
Four Thousand Four laughed.
Vanguard sought out another nameless mountain shrine.
As always, incense had ceased long ago. Not even wild beasts frequented the place.
Four figures stood there.
'Four of them?'
Vanguard faltered briefly at the unexpected scene.
Meetings here always involved one person. Someone would appear, exchange a few curt words, and vanish.
This time, four waited.
Previously, he'd arrived first and waited for his contact. Now, they were ahead of him.
A far cry from before.
"It's Vanguard."
He cupped his fists in salute.
"You lost Four Thousand Four?"
A sharp interrogation flew at him immediately.
"Yes. We lost him."
"Or did you let him go?"
Another voice pressed.
"We did our utmost. Even under pressure from the Zhuge family, to kill Four Thousand Four..."
"Vanguard, do you still think you're useful?"
They didn't wait for him to finish. They interrupted with harsh words laced with killing intent, tossed out casually.
Vanguard swallowed dryly.
They were reapers from the underworld. Depending on his answer, they could end him on the spot. That's why four had come—to guard against any mishap, however unlikely.
"Useful... yes, I am."
Even to his own ears, it sounded odd.
Claiming his own usefulness.
They spoke.
"If we hand you Four Thousand Four, will you lose him again?"
"Pardon? You've found Four Thousand Four?"
"We've tracked his movement path. So speak. If we give him to you, will you lose him again?"
'Mad bastards!'
Vanguard nearly spat curses.
Tracking his movement path meant they'd pinpointed Four Thousand Four's direction.
How?
The murders. Four Thousand Four's kills had a signature. A killer's mark, unique and easily spotted.
Of course, only to those who knew it.
Those ignorant of his mark wouldn't recognize a fresh corpse right in front of them. But those in the know could deduce it from rumors ten li away.
Four Thousand Four, that lunatic, kept murdering.
Having escaped the Zhuge grip, he'd lay low—fool that he was. Strutting around killing, no wonder his tail was caught.
Vanguard frowned and said,
"I'll kill him for certain."
"You'd better. But on one condition."
"..."
"On Four Thousand Four's path lies the Dangha Escort Bureau. He'll kill the bureau chief. Then you kill Four Thousand Four."
Vanguard was speechless.
The Heavenly Annihilation Division hunted Four Thousand Four. Yet the quarry obeyed their orders?
"I... induce Four Thousand Four to kill the Dangha Bureau Chief?"
"We'll command Four Thousand Four ourselves. See that you don't fail this time!"
"Understood."
"Heh heh heh! Words aren't enough. Fulfill the order this time. No shallow tricks. Pretending to chase? Vanguard, if you don't strike decisively and kill him, we'll doubt your abilities."
"Understood."
Vanguard had nothing left but compliance.
'Dangha Bureau Chief...'
In the shrine, Vanguard pondered the target Four Thousand Four would kill.
Dangha wasn't a major bureau. Not worth the Heavenly Annihilation Division's involvement in murder. Far smaller than the previous merchant elder.
Why kill him? And why must Four Thousand Four do it?
Something gnawed at him—a plunge into deep mire.
Events unfolded beyond his knowledge. He and Four Thousand Four were mere leaves on the branch.
Anxiety gnawed further.
'I don't know what's happening, but... involving Four Thousand Four seems like a mistake.'
Vanguard feared the Heavenly Annihilation Division more than Four Thousand Four.