The Death God Approaches
“Young man, you’ve been coming around a lot lately, haven’t you?”
“Haha. Yeah, well. Just because.”
I mumbled awkwardly in reply to the innkeeper’s question.
“That young fellow’s been buying up food and everything else lately—he’s become a real regular at my place!”
The general store owner called out as he passed by.
My face flushed for no good reason. I hurriedly added,
“It’s not like I’m buying that often.”
“Whoa, aren’t you our shop’s best customer? How about that hammer and saw you borrowed last time when you bought stuff? Pretty useful, right?!”
At the lumber merchant’s words as he walked past, I sighed and gave up any further protest.
“So, still no one knows? I heard he’s lived a long time.”
The innkeeper scratched her head at my question.
“Yeah. He’s lived long, all right, but he didn’t grow up in the village from his youth. He lived out in some remote spot and only came down once in a blue moon when he needed daily necessities. His family’s all dead and gone now…. Honestly, we’re not well-off enough to go fretting over some old man living out in the sticks.”
“…I see.”
What I’d asked her about was the old man’s name.
Sometimes the old man was perfectly lucid; other times the dementia took hold and he couldn’t tell reality from delusion. But by now, the lucid moments were almost gone.
He knew his wife’s and children’s names, yet he didn’t know his own.
“Then, about him coming down to live in the village….”
“He refuses. You know that.”
“…Even so.”
All I could do was stockpile as much food and clothing as possible for him before I left, and repair the place where he lived. But I felt that wasn’t enough.
—Clink.
The innkeeper stared at the two bundles of money I’d placed in front of her.
“Wh-what’s this?”
“I have a favor to ask. The truth is, if I can’t find work even in Shaanxi, I’m thinking of going farther.”
I pulled out every last coin I had. Even if it meant gnawing on rat meat on the road, I scraped together every single copper.
“One of these bundles is payment for the trouble. If I ever come back, I’ll give you more. With this money—”
The innkeeper pushed the smaller money pouch back toward me.
“I’ll just do it. That place is right next to the water channel coming down from the Inhyeon Gorge dam anyway, so I’ve always been nervous every rainy season.”
As I stood there staring blankly, she tilted her head.
“Hm? You’re not asking me to break the old geezer’s stubbornness and look after him in a corner of the village, are you?”
“…That’s exactly it.”
She waved her hands.
“I said I’ll just do it. No need for payment.”
“You… don’t need the money?”
The innkeeper scowled and snapped in anger.
“Anyone can see a young man scraped together every last bit of money he has—travel funds and all—and you’re telling me I’d be the kind of person to take even that? I’m not that bad!”
“….”
“I’m human too. Put that pouch of mine away before I change my mind. If you really want to give something, come back later, see that he’s doing well, and pay whatever you’re satisfied with then.”
I had nothing left to say. I bowed my head in gratitude.
The innkeeper smiled softly.
“Go make a lot of money and come back.”
There were plenty of strong martial artists in the jianghu who spoke of righteousness and chivalry. But in my narrow view, the only ones who actually practiced it so far had been ordinary people, not sword-wielding warriors.
“Can you really carry all this?”
The clothing shop owner’s mouth hung open, eyes practically popping out of his head. A mountain of clothing bundles sat before me.
“The weather’s cold.”
I gripped the end of the bundle and heaved. Watching the enormous load settle onto my shoulder, the shop owner couldn’t help but marvel.
“A real world-class strongman, you are.”
“I’ve got one more stop. I ordered firewood.”
“You’re going to carry firewood on top of this?”
I glanced at the inside of my armband. The metal needle that marked Eun Seollyeong’s position still hadn’t moved from the very bottom; she hadn’t set out yet.
“This thing’s really something. I wonder if So Yeomgyo would explain it if I asked her later.”
I turned my wrist outward.
A blue thread marking the gorge entrance. A black thread marking the village entrance. Five red threads showing approach distances inside the village. None of them were broken.
“Did she really just leave?”
Eun Seollyeong had said that unless she was a complete madwoman, she wouldn’t attack in broad daylight in the village. If there was to be a decisive battle, it would be after leaving this village, at a distance of about two shichen toward Shaanxi.
Come to think of it, how is the Diancang Sect Guardian tracking me?
I recalled the question I’d asked Eun Seollyeong before she left. She had pointed to her own nose.
I can hardly believe it myself, but they say he follows the scent trail exactly. The longer you’ve stayed and the thicker the scent that’s soaked into a place, the easier it is to reverse-track.
…A person can do that?
Eun Seollyeong had answered firmly.
That is no longer a person.
Cold sweat beaded in my clenched fist. Still, I figured it would work out somehow.
“Carry it carefully.”
I hoisted the firewood onto my left shoulder. Compared to the special training Asura had put me through, keeping my balance with this much was easy.
I’d been rushing around since morning, and already the sun was setting. Winter was ending. The days were growing longer. The twilight stretched out unusually long.
Even on the massive dam that cut across the front of the village, shadows lengthened with the crimson sunset. The blood-red sky tangled with the lengthening dusk, shadows intertwining.
I reached the side of the village.
“Hoo.”
I looked up at the mountain I had to climb and drew a light breath.
“If I want to get things sorted before Eun Seollyeong arrives, I’d better hur—”
The black line was broken.
“….”
I blinked. I stood frozen, wrist raised, staring at the inside of my armband.
“When did this…?”
—Sssss… ssssss….
A faint sound blanketed the forest. The wind stilled. The clouds stilled. The air grew stagnant, as if deep underground.
—Wooooooong….
At first I thought it was a hallucination. Even Eun Seollyeong had said she couldn’t hear it. A low, resonating blast of a massive horn. It was close to a ghostly wail, the scream of a soul.
—Ssssssss….
The sound covering the entire forest grew faster and faster. My heart raced.
“That’s impossible.”
I checked the armband again. The black line for the village entrance was severed, yet the blue line for the gorge entrance remained intact. That meant only one thing.
“…He bypassed the gorge entrance and came over the cliffs? How did he even know?”
—Thud.
Something wriggling dropped onto my shoulder. A pale maggot. Flies began to multiply.
In the distance, a winter field covered in fallen leaves and melting snow came into view.
—Kuuung.
At the farthest edge of my hyper-alert senses, a faint tremor in the earth registered. The moment I felt it, I dropped into a crouch like lightning and shouted in a voice that nearly choked me.
“Mumyeong, I just need the location—max out the qi sense!”
[Understood!]
With a kuuung, inner energy equivalent to this entire gapja was sucked out at full power in an instant. Against the Blood Sect’s Heavenly Net Earthly Web, fine detail that could catch even a pebble had been crucial for reading the terrain. But if you abandoned that precision and focused purely on range, you could sense even farther.
—Wooong!
Mumyeong’s qi-sense range stretched to its absolute limit. For a moment I had the illusion of a translucent blue hemisphere expanding outward with me at the center.
Until the very end I wanted to believe it wasn’t true. I wanted to believe the black line had simply snagged on something.
[I…]
Mumyeong always spoke in that dry, emotionless tone. I had never heard his voice freeze over like this.
[What am I sensing right now?]
“What?”
[A being like this can’t be possible. How can such a nightmare exist in this world….]
Mumyeong’s voice trembled faintly. I bit my lip.
“Why—say it—!”
[Run.]
Mumyeong shouted like a thunderclap.
[You have to run! This is absolutely unbeatable!]
I had never heard Mumyeong cry out so frantically.
—Wooooooong….
Once more the bone-chilling horn blast echoed from afar. It was close to a ghostly wail.
[Good gods, we’re dead, we’re dead… the moment we’re noticed we’re finished for sure…! This is the Death God itself! Heaven’s luck. If you want to escape, right now—while it still hasn’t noticed our presence—is the only chance!]
Through his voice I could feel the extreme confusion and terror gripping him.
[Host, from now on we slowly back away. Don’t look back. Leave this village and rejoin Eun Seollyeong as fast as possible. This is a Guardian….]
The flies were receding. The sound of maggots was moving away from me. The crimson twilight and lengthening dusk tangled stickily around me.
[Host?]
“I’m… still here.”
I muttered in a dry voice, lying prone in the underbrush.
“Where’s that thing heading right now? It’s moving away, right?”
[Correct. This sensation is definitely turning back, but it’s clearly climbing higher. Why? Anyway, good. Our ultimate goal is survival. If we just keep that in mind….]
“Scent.”
My cracked lips moved. I recalled Eun Seollyeong’s words.
—The longer you’ve stayed and the thicker the scent that’s soaked into a place, the easier it is to reverse-track.
Since coming to Wareung-chon, there was only one place I had lingered the most.
“No.”
—Thud.
The pack slipped from my shoulder.
[Host, no! It’s danger—!]
Mumyeong violently protested. I sprinted out of the undergrowth. In my entire life I had never run so desperately.
Hurry, hurry…! If I can get him out before it arrives and then run…!
Even my footwork tangled. A metallic taste filled my mouth. My qi and blood twisted.
I can do it. I can do it! What have I endured all this hell for…!
I clenched my teeth.
What the hell have I endured that hell for until now!
I ran so hard I couldn’t even feel my feet hitting the ground. The stooped old man sat in his chair, dozing off. Waiting for me.
“H-hey, wake up!”
I couldn’t even raise my voice properly. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.
“Uh, huh? You’re here? Climbing up must’ve been hard….”
“We have to leave this place! Right now!”
The old man stared at me blankly.
“Why…?”
“Th-that is… that is!”
My words stuck in my throat. The dementia-stricken old man simply gazed at me stupidly. I waved my hands. I shook my head. I bit my lip.
“A terrifying murderer is coming right now. If he arrives, everyone dies. Everyone dies, I tell you. We have to run before he gets here! It’s all right. Your son’s still pretty fast on his feet. Climb on my back. Then everything will be fine!”
Whether he understood my heart or not, the old man only smiled faintly with vacant eyes.
“It’s fine…. There’s no one who’d kill a lonely old man living in these mountains….”
“No, you fucking—!”
My chest felt ready to burst. Tears welled at the corners of my eyes. I dropped to my knees and took the hands of the old man sitting in the chair.
“The Diancang Sect—no, a demon bastard is coming. At this rate even I’ll die. We’ll all die. Please? I’ll get on my knees and beg if I have to. Can’t you just run?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
The old man gripped the arms of the chair tightly with both hands. He had no intention of leaving. I bit my lip. This time was different. I spread my fingers. It wasn’t like the clumsy days of the Ju Clan, when I hadn’t even known how to seal acupoints.
—Ping.
One of the five red threads on the outer side of the white armband snapped. It was getting closer.
‘Kugh!’
I concentrated inner energy at my fingertips. I intended to seal his acupoints and take him by force if necessary.
“I’m sorry. This might sting a little.”
“I have nowhere else.”
I froze. The old man’s eyes, always hazy, were looking straight into mine.
“This place is my life. I met my wife here. I had my son here. I watched my son grow up. My wife died here first, and now my son’s gone too. In this world….”
“….”
Tears gathered at the corners of the old man’s eyes.
“If this place is gone, then I… my family….”
He panted as he spoke.
“My life will leave not even a trace.”
I couldn’t move my fingers.
“Sorry. I was just being a bit willful. Your back looks so much like his, you see. All this time you weren’t even my son…. Thank you for pretending to be my son.”
From the beginning, the old man had known. My trembling fingers curled shut. With that hand I clasped his.
In a voice thick with tears I choked out,
“I’m… shit. I’m scared as hell too. Do you know how monstrous the bastard coming this way is? You think I’m crazy enough to want to die? I want to turn around and run right this second.”
“….”
“We promised, didn’t we? That I’d stuff you full of meat and potatoes till you burst. So please, I’m begging you.”
I clenched my teeth and shouted in raw anguish.
“Please, even just for a little while, just get away from this place and hide—Father!!!”
“….”
The old man looked at me. He looked into my tear-filled eyes. His head gave the faintest nod.
At the same moment I hoisted him onto my back.
Possession Experience Synchronization
Extraction System Fully Deployed
1st-Class — Blood Sect Hyeol-yeong-mu-hwan-sin-sul
Both my eyes turned crimson as I hurtled madly down toward the lower village.
[Damn it! It’s chasing us! It noticed!]
Mumyeong screamed.
‘Still… there’s still distance!’
I glanced at the outer side of the white armband. The red threads that would snap one by one as it drew nearer still had four intact after the first had broken. There was still room.
I couldn’t just dump a frail old man somewhere. I would leave him with the innkeeper in the village and then get out of Wareung-chon at the absolute maximum speed I could manage. In lightness skill, at least, I was confident I could match anyone in the jianghu.
—Click.
The steel needle that marked Eun Seollyeong’s position began to move.
—Click, click, click.
It rose gradually, drawing closer.
‘Eun Seollyeong is coming too!’
If I left the village and ran toward her, the distance would shrink even more. After that, things would somehow work out.
—Kwaang!
I smashed through the door and burst into the inn.
“Uh… y-young man? Why are you—?”
“Auntie! Please!”
I practically threw the old man I was carrying into her arms. Four red threads remained on the armband.
“Wh-what’s going on all of a sudden!”
“There’s no time! I’m leaving right now! If I don’t leave fast, the scent will linger here too!”
The innkeeper looked completely bewildered. Four red threads.
“Sc… scent? What do you mean?”
“Please take care of him! Once this is over I’ll definitely come find you…!”
I shouted as if coughing up blood. Four red threads.
“Our father! Please take good care of—!”
—Chwarararak!
All four remaining red threads on the armband tore away at once.
[Ah.]
Mumyeong let out a single strangled cry.
“The red threads….”
The instant I stupidly muttered that—
—KWAAAAANG!!!
The wall collapsed, and at the same moment a massive cleaver came crashing down toward my neck.