Chapter 297: The Butterfly Dream
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 297: The Butterfly Dream
How the hell does it know?
That I wasn't originally a lizard, but a human from another world.
My heart hammered in my chest.
Does that mean the Thunder Bird has something to do with my reincarnation?
Forget the True Dragon, forget Al-Yu… was the Thunder Bird the final mastermind all along?
—Give me your body.
The Heart Demon, silent until now, spoke to me.
—I'll rip this bastard to shreds this instant.
A terrifying malice and killing intent. I could feel an aura far more sinister than the one it had unleashed against Qiongqi and Bixi.
“What, is Gomodo talking to you? Telling you to hand over your body?”
The Thunder Bird continued with a smile.
“He’s so simple. All that does is prove I’m telling the truth.”
He was right.
Why would Gomodo, who’d been silent all this time, suddenly speak to me?
To kill the Thunder Bird.
And more than that, to stop me from talking to him.
—You don't need to listen to him. Just quietly give me…
CRASH!
I slammed my head right into the ground.
“Heh, good. Looks like you're ready to listen to my story now.”
Because the Heart Demon's voice in my head was just too damn loud.
“I bet you're wondering how I know all this.”
Fine. I'll listen.
I need to hear it to decide my next move.
“The answer is simple. I was once an ally of Gomodo.”
An old comrade of the previous Gomodo.
And now he's under the True Dragon, which means he must have betrayed him.
“That's why I know exactly what he's like. And I know what contingencies he put in place.”
He continued, his voice tinged with madness.
“During the final war, Gomodo literally vanished into thin air.”
The war between Gomodo and the True Dragon. The world believes the True Dragon was victorious, but the fact that he's holed up in Kunlun and never comes out suggests the opposite was true.
“Did the True Dragon defeat Gomodo? No, he couldn't. Far from winning, the True Dragon was pushed to the brink of death. But then Gomodo disappeared. How could this have happened?”
He laughed, thoroughly amused.
“He was banished from this world! There's no other way to explain what happened!”
Banished from the world.
Could something like that really happen?
Then again, I, a human, was reincarnated as a lizard. What’s impossible?
“And Gomodo acted as if he knew it was coming. He'd made preparations, a way to ensure he could one day return even if he vanished.”
But what does that have to do with me?
“The True Dragon was terrified. Unable to confirm Gomodo's death, he was certain he would one day return.”
Just as the True Dragon feared, Gomodo returned.
Albeit trapped inside me.
“So I told him. That Gomodo would reappear by borrowing the body of one of his descendants.”
…So that's why Gomodo was filled with such killing intent and hostility.
It was a complete betrayal.
But how on earth does he know that?
“We eliminated every last one of his descendants. For an eternity you couldn't possibly imagine, we've killed every member of the dragon race who bore even the slightest resemblance to him.”
They must have killed countless spirit beasts, including the Red Dragon's parents.
All because Gomodo might one day return.
“I shattered that brilliant plan of Gomodo's with my own two hands. Hahaha! It felt so damn good!”
The Thunder Bird's vicious smirk vanished, his expression suddenly turning grim.
“And then… you showed up.”
The True Dragon, who planned to exterminate all of humanity and nearly succeeded, would not have been careless. He was so obsessed with this that he would use powerful spirit beasts like the Ice Dragon and the Thunder Bird as his minions, just to kill a single tiny gecko.
“How could this have happened? Was there a hole in our inescapable net? No. Impossible. I checked it myself, time and time again.”
Despite all that, a descendant of Gomodo appeared.
As my Heart Demon.
“Even if a descendant somehow survived, they should have lost all their power, becoming nothing more than a pathetic lizard. And yet, you appeared out of nowhere and grew this powerful.”
His voice was filled with anger, yet also a strange ecstasy.
“It's impossible. There was no vessel left to contain him, so how could he possibly return?”
His expression was a mixture of conflicting emotions as he continued, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.
“But he returned anyway. When I first heard the reports, I was baffled. But now, seeing you with my own eyes, I finally understand. If there's no vessel, what do you do? You create one!”
Create a vessel?
“That's right. You are the vessel created by the banished Gomodo.”
…A vessel created by Gomodo.
“Gomodo's descendants were wiped out. Even if someone with his blood survived, it would be so diluted as to be meaningless. So we reached a point where we no longer had to worry about it.”
Those who inherited Gomodo's blood do not exist in this world.
Except for me.
“Even if he made a vessel, it wouldn't be a problem. How could a vessel made by one who was already banished cross over to this place? That's why we stopped searching for Gomodo's descendants and prepared for the future.”
Their plans for the future.
Killing all humans and attaining eternal life—the one thing Gomodo had stopped them from doing.
“But… that was our mistake. A pathetic lizard laid an egg just before she died, and you slipped through the cracks and entered this world. Hahaha! What an unbelievably absurd coincidence!”
The last lizard who carried Gomodo's blood.
She was certainly killed.
But the one thing she left behind just before she died… was me.
“It's hilarious, isn't it? A single lizard, with its tail cut off and legs crippled, managed to escape all the way to the Central Plains, fool everyone, and lay an egg. I knew something was suspicious when a creature that had fought so desperately suddenly accepted its fate so quietly.”
What?
“Huh? What's with that look on your face?”
The Thunder Bird stared at me, then stuck its tongue out and added with a grin.
“Right, I suppose she was something of a mother to you. The one I killed…”
I lunged at him without a second thought.
CRRAAAAASH!
But in my current condition, I couldn't even defeat the Thunder Bird's human form.
CRUUUNCH….
He blocked my attack with effortless ease.
“What's this? Bwahaha! Are you actually getting angry?”
The Thunder Bird roared with laughter, clearly amused by my reaction.
Why am I feeling this rage?
She's just a lizard I've never even met.
Where is my anger coming from, and where is it going?
I don't know.
And I don't want to know.
CLAAAAANG!
I charged wildly, with no thought for the consequences.
My head was burning up. I felt like I'd pass out if I didn't.
It wasn't just simple anger.
It was, as the Ice Dragon had said, the doubt I'd always harbored about my own identity.
The confusion born from it.
A second life could be called a blessing, but a life as a lizard could only be called a curse.
CRASH!
I tried to be as optimistic and cheerful as I could.
I lived like a thoughtless lizard.
Life as a lizard isn't so bad, I'd tell myself.
I had to lie to myself.
Because with a human mind, there was no way I could endure this life and stay sane.
So I had to be optimistic. I had to act like I was living without a care in the world.
And living that way, I suppose it was bearable.
CRACK!
But there were times I couldn't stand it.
Humans are warm-blooded; lizards are cold-blooded.
No matter how much time passed, I could never get used to the feeling of my own cold blood.
Whenever the cold night wind blew, my mind would fill with all kinds of dark thoughts.
That's why I craved the warmth of others.
Because in their warm embrace, I could almost trick myself into believing I was human again.
RUMBLE-CRASH!
My body crumpled powerlessly under the Thunder Bird's attack.
Slammed against the rocks, I couldn't get up anymore.
My eyes began to close.
It feels like I've been in a long dream.
Who was I?
A human dreaming he was a lizard?
Or a lizard dreaming it was a human?
If I close my eyes now and open them again, I'll forget everything that happened in this dream.
Like the memory of a childhood fever.
It will all scatter and fade away.
….
Just before my eyes close, I see the silver thread around my neck.
The ornament, decorated with seashells and jewels.
A token bearing the marks of so many others, its original form now impossible to recall.
…….
Who am I?
A lizard dreaming it was a human?
Or a human who dreamed he was a lizard?
My memories as a human haven't faded, and my memories as a lizard are just as vivid.
What does it matter if I'm a lizard or a human?
What's the point in distinguishing between the two?
I was born a human, fell into a martial arts world, and lived as a lizard.
There are more happy memories than painful ones.
How can I see this as a curse?
I became an evolving lizard in a martial arts novel.
It's something others could never experience, and the memories I have are ones I can call happy.
How could this not be a blessing?
Besides, the Gaegaek faith doesn't distinguish between species.
It's simply a gathering of those from the very bottom, trying to seize the very top.
So what if I'm a lizard? So what if I'm human?
Vzzt.
My massive body began to shrink, dwindling down until I was about the same size as the Thunder Bird.
The creature, who had been strolling leisurely toward me, froze in his tracks.
“…What is that?”
My hard scales vanished, replaced by soft flesh.
Without a tail, it was difficult to keep my balance.
My sharp claws grew blunt, and a cumbersome black robe covered my body.
“Pfft! What do you think you can accomplish by turning into that now!”
The human body I had longed for so much.
Is it giving me back a human body now of all times?
But this isn't the form I need right now.
The human body is inherently weak; with a body like this, I can't protect the things precious to me.
….
Is that really true?
Can a human body truly not protect those who are precious?
No, that's not right.
Just because I have no claws, does that mean I cannot cut down my enemies?
Just because I have no scales, does that mean I cannot block them?
The body is not important. Just as my mother, a small lizard, protected me.
I slowly rose to my feet.
I saw the world through human eyes, not a lizard's.
[Using Dragon's Word.]
And I spoke with the power of a lizard, not a human.
“My body shall become a single sword.”
A single sword was forged.
Not from a severed tail, but from my entire body.
My flesh is the sword.
And the sword is my flesh.
The sword and I are one. This must be what they call the unity of self and sword.
The human dreaming of being a lizard is also me.
And the lizard dreaming of being a human is also me.
How could I ever have thought of them as separate?
It is the same with the Five Elements.
Wood, Fire, Metal, Earth, and Water.
They are called the Five Elements because all things in creation flow in a cycle.
There was never any need to separate the lizard from myself.
My mind grew infinitely clear.
All the power in my dantian fell into perfect harmony.
It was a sensation I had never felt before.
It was as if all the elixirs and inner cores I'd consumed were roaring to life.
I could hear their pleasant complaints, as if asking why it had taken me so long to finally use their power.
The vessel of my being, which had always felt so small, now seemed impossibly vast.
Yes, that's it.
This is the enlightenment my master spoke of.
This is the Realm of Harmony.
