Defying Heaven (4)
─Thwack!
The ghastly sound of flesh being torn open echoed through the stone tomb.
My master’s sword sank deep into Bang Chunghyun’s left flank, and my own blade pierced straight through his right thigh.
It was the split second when Bang Chunghyun’s protective qi had thinned, occupied by fending off the blast of the Heaven-Shaking Lock. And in that sliver of blindness, while the flash of the explosion still veiled his sight, our joint strike latched onto the exact opening with merciless precision.
“Hngh……”
For the first time, a pained groan escaped Bang Chunghyun’s mouth.
His pale face twisted for an instant.
But that was all.
Kwaaaang!
A dark red shockwave burst from Bang Chunghyun’s body.
The murderous force in my grip on the sword was ripped away as if it would snap at any moment, and my master was thrown backward with a cry.
“Kuhk!”
My body slammed into the wall.
At the same time, a mouthful of blood surged up from deep in my throat.
It felt as though every bone in my body had been crushed to powder.
My master, too, was barely keeping himself upright on his sword, his breathing rough and ragged.
It was a single blow that had drained every last trace of the inner force my master and I had left.
What little I could make out through my Mind's Eye told me that my master no longer had even the strength to twitch a finger.
I was no different.
I had managed only to lever my upper body up by using my sword like a cane; my legs had already gone numb.
The smoke cleared, and Bang Chunghyun came into view.
Black-red blood streamed from his flank and thigh.
The wounds exposed beneath the torn hem of his robe were by no means shallow.
And yet he did not fall.
“…….”
Bang Chunghyun looked down at his injuries.
He watched the blood drip to the floor with utterly flat indifference, and then—
“Hahahahaha!”
He suddenly threw back his head and laughed.
“Kwahahahaha!”
It was wild laughter.
But it was not the laughter of a madman.
It was the laughter of someone who had discovered something fiercely satisfying, something strangely delightful.
“How astonishing.”
He stopped laughing and looked at my master.
“To think it was you of all people who came up with the idea of using Samryak as bait. Ah, to live long enough to see something this amusing.”
At Bang Chunghyun’s feet, only the remains of Samryak lay scattered about, blackened into char by the explosion.
He nudged the debris with the tip of his foot and went on.
“What possible change of heart could have led stubborn old you to throw away those useless pretenses of family duty and ancestral grievance?”
His gaze shifted to me.
“Is it because of that young swordsman over there, vomiting blood?”
There was a gleam of interest in his eyes.
“That crazy old fossil… and you still didn’t die, huh.”
A strained roar burst from my master’s mouth.
But Bang Chunghyun only wore a gentle, chilling smile as he cupped a hand over the blood flowing from his flank and said, “A walking corpse and a brat who has only just set foot at the threshold of First-rate both managed to wound me this badly. That alone means you’ve achieved a miracle beyond heaven’s favor.”
He pressed the blood points to stop the bleeding, then slowly turned his body.
“My lord! Are you all right?”
The subordinates waiting at the tomb entrance rushed in, startled out of their wits.
When they saw Bang Chunghyun’s injuries, their eyes filled with shock.
For the Heavenly Path Demon King himself to be wounded—such a thing was beyond imagination for them.
“Let’s go.”
Bang Chunghyun said it without a trace of emotion.
“Eh?”
“I came here to take Samryak. Now that Samryak is gone, there’s no reason to remain.”
Bang Chunghyun looked over my master and me one more time.
One of his subordinates cried out and dropped to his knees before him.
“B-but! These are traitors who dared wound Your Majesty! We should cut off their heads and restore the White Lotus Cult’s might!”
Crack.
Without even turning his head, Bang Chunghyun clenched a fist and twisted it shut.
“Urk!”
The neck of the subordinate who had objected bent grotesquely, and he died on the spot.
The surrounding subordinates turned ghost-white and flattened themselves to the floor.
“How dare you contradict my words.”
Bang Chunghyun’s voice was colder than a northern blizzard.
“It wasn’t us!”
The masked men all shouted at once, still sprawled flat on the ground.
Bang Chunghyun looked at them with the same empty stare one might give ants crawling along the floor, then spoke again. “The master has already had his dantian severed, and every trace of his inner force is leaking away. As for the disciple, his internal injuries have turned his organs to pulp. There is no need for me to lift a finger.”
Then he lifted his head and looked up at the ceiling of the stone tomb.
“This is where a sage lies asleep. Though I trespassed into his grave with malicious intent, I still respect him, so I have no desire to further defile his resting place.”
He clicked his fingers and issued his command to the masked men.
“We’re leaving. I won’t say it twice.”
“As you command!”
The subordinates trembled violently as they cleared the way.
Bang Chunghyun’s bloodstained robes billowing behind him, he walked toward the tomb’s exit.
A thick stench of blood and ominous demonic energy rippled and scattered in his wake.
Then, all at once, he stopped and turned back to look at me.
His gaze pierced deep into my pupils.
“Unnamed young swordsman.”
He curled the corner of his mouth into a smile.
It was a ghastly, uncanny expression, as though someone who had long forgotten how to smile were forcing one onto his face.
“If you survive today, come seek your revenge on me any time.”
He said it in the tone of someone offering a gift.
Then he turned soundlessly and headed out of the tomb.
The masked men hurried after him, retreating just as silently.
Within Zhang Zibang’s grave, only the lonely night wind remained, moving coldly through the darkness.
“Haaah……”
At the same time, a sigh burst from my lips.
It felt as though my soul had gone with it, and all the strength drained from my body at once.
“Disciple!”
Just as I was about to collapse to the floor, my master caught me with both hands.
I blinked weakly, trying to look at him somehow.
But my eyelids were so heavy.
If I let up even a little, they snapped shut like knives; and when I tried to force them open again, they were as heavy as if I were lifting a mountain.
My master seemed to understand.
“Is it hard to keep your eyes open?”
I didn’t even have the strength to nod.
My fingers merely twitched limply.
All strength had left my body, and a chill was circling within me.
Something cold clung to my spine.
I couldn’t even tell whether I was dreaming or awake.
So this is death.
Vague terror flooded over me.
But it was so vague that even the fear itself seemed to scatter, leaving only emptiness behind.
So this is how I die?
I’d protect my master’s short life, but in the end, I still couldn’t save my own.
It was an accomplishment that fell short by half.
More regret than relief or joy welled up inside me, and I realized that must be my lingering attachment.
“Don’t force yourself to move.”
I heard my master’s voice.
A gentle touch brushed my forehead. Warm.
“Close your eyes and listen to your master.”
But if I closed them now, it felt as if I would never open them again.
I had the strange sense that my head had been laid down against something warm and comforting.
Knees. Thighs.
My master was letting me rest my head in his lap.
As my consciousness grew dim, I heard his voice again.
“Your master will teach you a mental formula.”
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I opened my eyes to the sound of birds singing.
The moment my eyelids lifted, warm, blinding sunlight stabbed painfully into them.
“……?”
This wasn’t the cold stone chamber.
It was a cramped space that smelled of age, dust, and mildew, yet somehow felt cozy all the same.
My master’s hut, and my bed.
I carefully felt myself over.
I was fine. The clothes that should have been torn to rags had been neatly mended, without a single damaged spot.
What happened?
I lifted my clothes and checked my body.
The places where wounds and bruises should have been were spotless. If anything, my skin looked almost healthy, with a faint sheen to it.
Did I dream it all?
It had been far too vivid to be called a dream.
Bang Chunghyun’s suffocating killing intent,
the palm strike that couldn’t be blocked by a single sword,
and even the agony of having my organs pulped and my bones crushed.
As I recalled it all, gooseflesh rose over my entire body and I shuddered despite myself.
“You’re awake.”
Before I could even finish trembling in fear, a welcome voice reached me.
I turned toward it at once and saw my master seated at one side of a chair, quietly watching me.
“Get up. Didn’t your master give you an assignment?”
With those words, my master opened the hut door and stepped outside.
I sat on the bed for a long while with my mouth hanging open, utterly dazed.
So it really was all a dream?
I felt blank.
What an unreal dream that had been.
And my gooseflesh hadn’t even settled down yet.
But I shook my head and pushed the thought away.
There was less than a year left until the tutorial.
Given my master’s setup, it wouldn’t have been strange for me to lose my life to the demonic sect at any time, so I must have become unusually tense thinking about it lately.
I quickly straightened the bedding and got up.
As I tidied myself and fixed my clothes, my master’s words came back to me.
Come to think of it, I still haven’t made the wooden bird.
One of the two assignments my master had given me.
That task—making a wooden bird—came back to me clearly.
“What are you doing, not coming out already?”
My master’s voice drifted in from outside the hut.
Oh no.
If I delayed any longer, another flick to the forehead would come flying at me.
I quickly gathered the tools on the desk, stuffed them into a bundle, and hurried out the door.
Outside, my master stood in noble silence.
Sunlight brushed over his black hair, making it shine softly, and he was so beautiful he looked almost like a black crane.
“Let’s go. Your master and disciple should walk together for once after so long.”
[Where are we going?]
“We’ll go down to the village. I’ll teach you there.”
My master said that and began walking ahead.
I hurried after him.
This time, unusually, my master did not use lightness skill. Instead, he descended the mountain with calm, measured steps, as though taking a quiet walk downhill.
I could only follow him and suppress my own lightness skill as well.
And so, after a full half day, the descent that had begun in the early morning finally ended in the hour of the monkey, when the sun was high overhead, and we at last reached Mureung County.
The bustle of people, the noise of hooves and carts, and clouds of dust rising as everyone hurried along the road surrounded us.
Without the slightest delay, my master headed straight for Madam Wang’s tavern.
The moment his foot crossed the tavern’s gate, I saw Madam Wang, who had been carrying dishes to the customers, rush over to greet him.
“My goodness, Immortal! Welcome! What will it be today?”
Hearing that, my master quietly turned to look at me.
He gazed at me for a moment, then lifted one corner of his mouth in a faint smile and said, “Come to think of it, you and I have never once shared a drink together, have we?”
Had we not?
Ah, yes. We hadn’t.
From the beginning, my master hadn’t much liked alcohol, and neither had I; besides, I never brought up drinking carelessly, not wanting to harm his health.
So naturally, we would drink tea together, but never alcohol, and never even speak of it.
At my master’s words, I nodded back in a daze.
My master naturally took the nearest seat and ordered.
I followed his lead and sat down in seiza.
“A bottle of wine, if you please.”
“Oh my, the Immortal ordering liquor? Well, now, that’s a surprise!”
Madam Wang burst into a hearty laugh and continued, “Just a moment, then. The old wine we brewed before has aged beautifully. I’ll bring it right out!”
Then, just as quickly as when we had first entered the tavern, she hurried into the kitchen, and soon a kettle full of wine was placed on the table.
My master quietly lifted the wooden cup.
He turned it once in his hand, then smiled faintly and offered the cup to me.
“Come now, pour for me once.”
I nodded and filled my master’s cup to the brim with the old wine.
The cloudy liquor, tinted with a soft yellow hue, gave off a sweet scent with a faint tartness beneath it.
My master drank it all in one go, clicked his tongue once, and offered his thoughts. “Fragrant. Just as the tavern mistress said, this is good wine. At this rate, I think even you could enjoy it a fair bit.”
My master set the cup down and tipped his chin toward the bundle I had brought.
“Do you remember the assignment I gave you?”
At his words, I nodded and quickly pulled out a sheet of paper to write on.
[If you mean the assignment to make a wooden bird, disciple remembers it clearly.]
“Very well. Then make it now. Your master will instruct you from beside you.”
[Here, right now?]
“And why not?”
Making a wooden bird meant carving wood in the end.
In the process of carving, sawdust or wood chips would inevitably be produced.
I had only been asking out of concern for Madam Wang’s feelings, since it would be awkward to do that in a tavern—much less right in front of a dining table—but as it turned out, even after hearing my master’s words clearly, Madam Wang was too busy chatting with another customer to object at all.
In the end, I quietly untied my bundle.
Inside were a thick block of wood, a small saw, and several tiny chisels and carving knives.
My master merely folded his arms and gave a small nod, as if to say: go ahead.
I held the block of wood and the chisel in my hands and fell into thought for a moment.
My master said that if I wanted, I could even make a hawk or a phoenix, but...
Still, I had no desire for something that grand in scale.
My hesitation didn’t last long.
From the moment I heard the assignment, I had already roughly decided what I was going to make.
My master quietly watched as my hands moved busily.
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