Being Powerless Is a Sin
“What the hell kind of monster is that kid…!”
Muyeong-sintu fretted endlessly before the Dara Samiok, unable to sit still.
“It’s worse than I thought. This is absolutely stacked against that boy.”
He gnawed at his thumbnail without pause.
Through the Dara Samiok’s sphere, the city of Gwando was projected in full. And Gwando, as shown in the jade, was a living hell. Screams of countless people rang out without end. Smoke billowed from every direction. People lay crushed beneath the wreckage Moyong Bi’s body had overturned in his flight.
On one side of the Dara Samiok, Moyong Bi in black martial robes shoved aside a shattered table and forced himself upright.
—Drip… drip….
A shard of the broken Guardian Dharma Wheel was embedded in Moyong Bi’s forehead.
Hah… hah…!
His bangs clung to the blood welling scarlet over the wound. Through that curtain of red, his eyes burned with bloodshot veins far redder still than the blood streaking his brow. Crimson light seemed ready to erupt from them.
Blood pooled along his eyebrows; when Moyong Bi blinked, it drew a thick brushstroke straight down across his cheek.
And opposite him—
—Thud. Thud.
Jeokmaryeong strode straight toward him without hesitation, purple flames pouring from his form. The violet eyes of Jeokmaryeong and the crimson eyes of Moyong Bi locked and held.
“That boy in the black martial robes—that’s Moyong Bi?”
From beyond the sphere, an old man in deep-blue Daoist robes with a long pipe clenched in his teeth leaned in—Cheon Yeong-sangje, the Heavenly Heroic Emperor.
Muyeong-sintu did not bother answering, pouring every scrap of focus into operating the Dara Samiok.
Cheon Yeong-sangje puffed on his pipe and bent at the waist for a closer look.
“Well now. No wonder that battle maniac took him as a disciple. But good heavens—that shattered thing, is that really the Guardian Dharma Wheel? Looking like that means he’s already died once.”
Muyeong-sintu shot a glance back over his shoulder.
“Cheon Yeong-sangje. What free meal were you hoping to scrounge that you came all the way out here and started yapping?”
“Oh-ho. Listen to the way you talk to a rival who once contested the title of greatest thief with you. Does a man need a reason to visit a friend?”
Cheon Yeong-sangje packed fresh leaf into his spent pipe, a sly grin spreading over his plump cheeks.
“Then, O most noble friend of mine—”
At last tearing his gaze from the Dara Samiok, Muyeong-sintu snapped,
“Shut your mouth.”
The sharpness of it made Cheon Yeong-sangje flinch mid-fiddle with his pipe.
“Come now, Muyeong-sintu. Why so touchy? This isn’t like you.”
Muyeong-sintu sealed his lips and returned his eyes to the Dara Samiok. Storm clouds of dread blackened his face.
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. I miscalculated. He’s too strong…. Who knew that besides Moyong Bi there’d be another genius in this world driven by pure spite—the most terrifying kind there is. And right now Bi can’t even receive possession from the Great Heavenly Demon Emperor the way he did against Ilmanhyeolje.”
“Something wrong? You look terrible.”
Clutching the sphere in both hands, Muyeong-sintu pressed his face so close his eyes nearly sank into it, muttering in a frantic rush.
“Moyong Bi, just run. Mix Polar Night with the Three Great Movement Arts and sprint for the Cheonsubaekryeonsa borderlands for all you’re worth—there’s still a thread of a chance you’d live….”
In the Dara Samiok, Moyong Bi slowly surveyed his surroundings with blood-soaked eyes. He panted hard, taking it all in with deliberate care.
Haa…. Haa… haa….
At the end of that gaze lay Gwando, which until moments ago had been lost in festival revelry.
A small child shook his parents’ bodies. Beside them, a puppy that had been bounding brightly about lay crushed under a broken wall, wheezing out its last. A young man sat dazed before the corpse of an old woman who could only have been his mother. A couple who had been enjoying the festival with flowers in hand lay dead, still clasping each other’s hands.
From afar, bells tolled in mad alarm as government troops poured in.
Demonic cultivators! Demonic cultivators!!!
You inhuman bastards!
Every spear and blade turned toward Moyong Bi and Jeokmaryeong.
Haa… haa….
Moyong Bi slowly turned his head. He looked at the North Gate directly behind him.
….
He turned his head again. He looked at Jeokmaryeong.
—Crunch.
His teeth ground together. He pressed a violently trembling fist to the ground and clenched his jaw until it ached.
—Crack…. crack….
Blood vessels rose in his eyes until they outstripped even the crimson radiance blazing from them.
Jeokmaryeong stood with his arms folded, watching it all at his leisure. Still folded, he lifted one hand.
—Waggle, waggle.
He crooked a finger at Moyong Bi, beckoning.
Muyeong-sintu cried out in anguish.
“Bi! No! It’s a taunt! Don’t take the bait—run straight for the North Gate! In the state that boy’s body is in, five uses of Polar Night is the absolute limit…. At least use those to escape—!”
—Whoosh!
Moyong Bi tore off the tattered outer martial robe draped over him and flung it aside.
—Crack.
He drew a deep breath in and let it out. Rolled his wrists. Wiped the blood from his brow. Swept his bangs back and began to walk forward.
Jeokmaryeong unfolded his arms. A smile split his face as he murmured,
Killing intent sharp enough to make my whole body tingle. You really are….
Jeokmaryeong laughed.
Of every orthodox martial artist I’ve ever seen, you’re the one closest to a demonic cultivator—and somehow still the most orthodox of them all. Come on, then. Mad dog.
Muyeong-sintu hurled the Dara Samiok aside and shot to his feet.
“You—! You fucking idiot! This is exactly why I hate martial artists! How the hell do you decide to stand and fight there?!”
“Puhahaha!”
Cheon Yeong-sangje clapped and roared with laughter, clutching his belly as he pointed at the Dara Samiok.
“That brat’s lost his mind! That’s a straight-up suicide run! The fact that the Guardian Dharma Wheel shattered already means the opponent completely outclasses his current body—he could just run, and instead he’s that stupid….”
“Shut your damn mouth!”
Muyeong-sintu’s bellow made Cheon Yeong-sangje flinch. Foam flecked Muyeong-sintu’s lips.
“Say ‘stupid’ or ‘suicide’ or any other blasphemous garbage like that one more time and I will rip your mouth open! If you came to watch, then shut up and watch quietly!”
“Wh-what’s gotten into you? That boy isn’t your disciple or your family. Honestly, if he dies, what business is it of yours?”
Muyeong-sintu’s eyes bulged as he roared,
“That boy is now a disciple of me, Muyeong-sintu, as well! Don’t you dare badmouth my disciple, you son of a bitch!”
Cheon Yeong-sangje blinked.
“…You don’t mean—when you say disciple, did you actually transmit Polar Night to him? That single-lineage art?”
Muyeong-sintu did not answer. He only stared at the Dara Samiok and spoke with aching regret.
“That stubborn fool. He’s already treating death as a foregone conclusion…. He knows, by pure instinct, that right here and now there’s no one else who can stop that demonic cultivator but him.”
“Muyeong-sintu, you….”
Beyond the Dara Samiok, Jeokmaryeong charged without warning amid a burst of wild laughter. The two martial artists seized each other and tangled together. Everything around them began to shatter and give way.
Muyeong-sintu squeezed his eyes shut.
“From here on, the fate of Gwando and that boy’s life are known only to Heaven. If Heaven exists at all—please, I beg you…!”
—Craaaack…!
A hairline fracture split the massive wooden pillar—thick as a grown man’s waist—that held up the center of a three-story building.
—BOOM!
The crack widened.
—BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! BOOM!
With a continuous roar of colossal tremors the pillar burst apart, and I went tumbling, painted head to toe in blood.
“Gaaah!!!”
I rolled like a madman. My body would not stop. Still rolling, I drove my hand into the floor.
—KRRRRAAACK!!
Five gouges scored the ground as my body jerked upright. The instant I was on my feet I snatched up the oak table beside me. No time even to lift my head—I poured internal energy into it and thrust it forward as a shield.
—CRASH!
Jeokmaryeong’s side kick smashed through the table and drove into my jaw. Before it fully connected I snared the leg and twisted, slamming my full weight through my elbow into his knee.
—Whoosh!
Jeokmaryeong spun in midair, folding the knee and redirecting it so the blow from my elbow seemed simply to vanish into him. Using the impact against the back of his knee, his body shot rigidly upward—and his side kick cracked square into the center of my face a second time.
I bled the force off again and drove my own knee into his temple. Jeokmaryeong caught it on his palm. His fist flicked out as casually as brushing dust and exploded toward my face.
—CRACK!
My head snapped back. His hands blurred in a continuous storm.
—CLANG! CRACK! SNAP!
—Crunch!
The front teeth that emergency regeneration had been knitting back into place sheared clean off. My entire body locked rigid.
“Kh—!”
I threw both hands up to guard my face. Between palm and palm I saw Jeokmaryeong’s violet pupils. In the same instant his fist, packed with every ounce of his strength, buried itself in my philtrum.
“Gaaah!!!”
I felt my whole body fold backward as if my stomach were being turned inside out. I felt my nose break. My lips burst and a spray of blood seemed to scatter right before my eyes—
“Die!!”
“…!”
Jeokmaryeong’s form flickered to my flank and a full-powered kick whipped around my face like a lash.
—KRAAAANG!!
My body flew. The first wall shattered. Bile surged up. The second wall shattered. Blood erupted, drowning the bile. The third wall shattered. Fragments of organ and bone clawed up my throat, riding the blood, and sprayed free.
—BOOM! CRUNCH!
I smashed through a roaring kitchen hearth and ricocheted into the firewood piled on the far side. In that same violence one of the three cauldrons seated on the hearth crumpled and went crashing to the floor.
—Sploosh!
Noodles that had been boiling thickly dumped out with their broth across the boards.
—Crash! Tinkle-shatter!
Empty liquor bottles stacked in a corner of the kitchen toppled and exploded into shards.
“Wretch—!”
I vomited dead black blood straight up. Because I was facing the ceiling, the blood simply ran down over my mouth and throat and soaked the front of my robes.
“Heavens above! Somebody help!”
“Aaaaah!”
In one corner of my lurching vision the noodle-shop owner and the serving boy fled screaming.
“Is that all?”
Jeokmaryeong’s shout. I turned my head and faced him square.
“Is that everything you can show me?! Hahahaha!”
What filled my vision was Jeokmaryeong’s straight punch.
“Grrh!”
Black thunder erupted from my body as both my hands moved like lightning. I snared the fist and flipped him. My knee drove into his dipping face.
“Kh—!”
Jeokmaryeong’s pupils shook. I seized him by the hair and rammed my knee into him again and again, driving him back.
“Shut your mouth, you son of a bitch!!”
—BOOM!
I slammed the driven Jeokmaryeong into the kitchen wall. It burst; half his body punched through. He kicked me off. I went flying and buried myself in the opposite kitchen wall. The instant I stuck I kicked off it, grabbed him by the collar, and hurled him into the wall on the right. The second he hit I drove the edge of my foot into his Adam’s apple with everything I had. In that same violence one of the two remaining boiling cauldrons shattered as well.
I headbutted the rising Jeokmaryeong square in the face.
“Guh—!”
His head snapped back trailing blood. Still gripping his collar I rammed him again and again. I seized his throat and drove a knee into his solar plexus. He caught it and his palm shot up under my chin.
—Wobble.
My vision reeled. My legs went slack and I staggered—and in that instant Jeokmaryeong locked onto the back of my neck. Beside us sat a cauldron glowing cherry-red. With pure force he tried to jam my face straight into the boiling water.
—CRUNCH!
At the last possible moment I caught the cauldron’s rim.
“Nngh…!”
—Blub-blub-blub!
Scarlet steam thick with noodles filled my vision.
—GRAB!
Jeokmaryeong seized my hair and shoved down. My arms shook violently. I held on for dear life. Directly below, water boiled furiously with the noodles. Jeokmaryeong bore down with every scrap of strength.
“Kh… khh!!”
“Urrrgh!”
Blood vessels stood out along the muscles of my arms. I was being forced down by raw power. Jeokmaryeong shouted in my ear.
“No real progress since the Ami Sect war, huh, bastard son! Disappointing…! I can feel your body has advanced overall, but still—you!”
He wiped blood running from beneath his white mask on his shoulder, a smile of pure mania twisting his face.
“Against me with the Cult Leader’s seals released, you’re less than dirt under my toenail! I won’t even need Heaven and Earth Great Shift for the likes of you! Boil and die just like this…!”
The boiling water crept closer to my cheek.
“Khh…!”
“Do you know this?”
Jeokmaryeong panted as he roared.
“After I kill you I’m going to slaughter every last person in Gwando! Twice now—twice you’ve handed me humiliations I can never forget! Even if I boil you, carve you up, and eat you, even if I kill every last soul in this city, it still might not be enough to settle the score!”
“You… you dog-fucking bastard!”
Jeokmaryeong bellowed,
“This is justice! If it galls you, then gain power! Why—out of everyone in this world, you of all people should understand exactly how I feel! In a Jianghu crawling with those worthless hypocrites…!”
He crushed my head down again as he shouted,
“Being powerless is a sin! You understand?!”
—CRACKLE…!
Black thunder began to boil up through my body. Jeokmaryeong noticed the black lightning starting to course over me. His brows knit, just barely.
“What is this. This thing that’s been bothering me since earlier….”
“Fine. If in this worthless world the only crime is being weak, just like you said—!”
Feeling the tip of my nose begin to cook, I howled with raw despair.
“Then from this moment on I’ll make you commit that same crime…!!”
I roared in a voice clotted with blood.
When wisdom appears, great hypocrisy is born—!
Black thunder of an entirely different order began to course through my body. It was the black lightning whose density had deepened vastly after the Great Heavenly Demon Emperor’s possession.
“This flow of energy—don’t tell me.”
Jeokmaryeong muttered.
“The True Words of a Decisive Secret Art? And black thunderbolts on top of that…? I’ve definitely heard of this somewhere.”
—CRACKLE… CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!
“Kh… uwaaaaah!!”
The cauldron rim clenched in my hands began to crumple and warp. Jeokmaryeong, who had been bearing down with all his might, started to be forced back. Shock flooded his face.
“I—with every seal released—am being pushed back?! I, the Yama King of the Surayeomrang?! No. That isn’t even the real problem.”
When the six relations fall into discord, filial piety and compassion are spoken of—!
Jeokmaryeong’s eyes flew wide.
“This is unmistakably similar to my Heaven and Earth Great Shift—!”
I howled through a spray of blood.
Brilliant black thunder erupted as the sealed power detonated.
In a blaze of radiant black lightning my body wrenched free of the hands that had been crushing me. I spun.
—THUD.
In that violence Jeokmaryeong’s left hand was blasted away as if it had exploded. My fist shot out like a flash of light straight at his white mask.
Jeokmaryeong’s eyes bulged.
“Oh n—!”
—CRAAACK!
Right before my fist buried itself dead-center in Jeokmaryeong’s face, the white mask shattered into a thousand pieces.