Luoyang: Splendor and Shattered Memories
Luoyang in Henan Province—though its territory has expanded greatly nowadays—the original Central Plains referred to the Henan area. From the Yellow River civilization to the Song Dynasty, every hegemon of this land had set their capital there. And in truth, it was an incredibly livable place. However, during this era of the Yuan Dynasty, the capital was in Hebei Province. Even the Ming Dynasty initially placed its capital in Henan before later moving it to Beijing in Hebei. …All stories I'd heard from my master. For a martial artist, he had an unusually vast knowledge. What on earth had he done in life? His nickname was a bit peculiar, though... Anyway, I had my reasons for dredging up these old memories. Rather than heading straight to Shaanxi Province where the Murim Alliance HQ was located, we'd decided to linger in Henan for a while.
How could I pass by when Hong Yeonhwa was looking forward to it so much? We'd rested plenty, and I'd even gained an unexpected enlightenment like a gift from the heavens, so it was about time to get moving. A few days of brisk travel with her brimming with anticipation. I'd been on guard for bandits or any Sapa demons lurking nearby, but nothing happened at all. We arrived in Luoyang safely, without even a chance to test my perfected sword qi.
"Oh! Ohhh…!"
While lining up to enter Luoyang, Hong Yeonhwa's pink eyes sparkled as she yanked frantically at my sleeve.
"You there. You there. Behold that!"
"What is it?"
"A colossal city gate, indeed!"
"Yeah, it is."
It looked impressive enough up close, but seeing her make such a fuss made me want to play it cool on purpose. Perhaps displeased by my nonchalant reaction, she started tapping Paeng Soso's arm next.
"Soso! Look! The walls stretch on forever, you see!"
"Y-Yeah! They're walls, all right!"
Paeng Soso, from a prestigious family accustomed to grandeur, responded awkwardly but supportively… though it was too awkward. Even Paeng Soso's subtle reaction seemed to disappoint her, and Hong Yeonhwa drooped dejectedly, scuffing the ground with her toes. I poked her soft, squishy cheeks to cheer her up and shared some uplifting news.
"Remember those foods from the book you saw before?"
"Is there a problem with them?"
"You can eat most of them here."
"Gasp!"
Hong Yeonhwa jolted like a platypus sensing prey through electric currents from its bill.
"I-Is that true?"
"Of course."
"Young master Jin is right. Pretty much everything should be available here."
With Paeng Soso chiming in, Hong Yeonhwa swallowed hard and stared blankly into space.
"Heh…."
Her lips crept upward in a sly grin. Guessing what she was imagining wasn't hard.
"You there. You there."
"Yeah?"
"Do you know? Luoyang has this Shui Xi cuisine—a feast of twenty-four soup dishes that never stops coming…."
Yeah, that's what she wants. From Luoyang specialties to unheard-of delicacies, she chattered endlessly. Before long, we passed the inspection and entered the city.
Just beyond the gate lay a wide-open boulevard, bustling with hurried pedestrians. Ordinary farmers, merchants hauling wagons, porters eyeing them enviously, warriors with weapons at their waists or backs, leisurely officials sightseeing, and sharp-eyed imperial guards watching everyone. Even at the entrance, it teemed with far more people than that Podaejin town we'd visited before. The distant buildings loomed larger and more ornate.
Hong Yeonhwa's mouth gaped as she took it all in. She'd been thrilled before even entering—was it that great? But what escaped her lips was a voice laced with indescribable complexity.
"So this is it. So this is what it was originally like."
"Hong-unnie?"
Paeng Soso called out puzzled by the sudden shift, but Hong Yeonhwa slowly shook her head.
"Tis nothing, indeed. Merely old memories surfacing."
"Old stories… from the Murim where you lived?"
"Aye. The sun sets soon, so I'll speak as we walk."
A glance upward confirmed the sky now draped in sunset red, just as she said. Weaving through the noisy crowds, Hong Yeonhwa unfurled a barrier of qi around us—a feat that would astonish any warrior. She smirked at wide-eyed Paeng Soso and led the way, speaking.
"First, in this lady's world, there were no proper city walls to speak of."
"Huh? Then what if invaders attacked?"
"If they seemed winnable, fight. Otherwise, just yield."
"What kind of… oh."
Paeng Soso nodded late in realization.
"You said the Great Ming Empire had already fallen."
Mighty sects and clans ruled regions like kings, but the Central Plains are vast. Lands beyond their reach weren't few. With no one protecting them, borders crumbled under constant invasions.
"Even inland cities far from borders had their walls torn down by local overlords."
"Not destroyed in fights with rival factions?"
"The Five Great Clans and Nine Great Sects—no, even the Sapa rabble didn't see each other as enemies."
They focused more on exploiting unarmed commoners than fighting among themselves, cooperating instead. Of course, even in such times, some cried out for justice—sometimes even warriors among them. To solidify their rule, they formed the Murim Alliance. Unlike this world's, born to oppose Sama Lian, its origins differed fundamentally.
"The Alliance's first act upon formation was razing city walls."
Walls aid against stronger foes. Fearing rebellion, warriors toppled even intact ones. After all, in fair fights, they held the edge. Surviving Sapa remnants posed as righteous lackeys, profiting as middlemen.
"Thus, the Luoyang this lady saw during the Righteous-Demonic Great War was utterly unlike this."
Crumbled walls, shuttered shops, corpses littering corners, people whose spirits died before their bodies. Shaolin warrior-monks from Mount Song had ruled Luoyang then. Amid chaos and suffering, they built a paradise of gluttony and lust for themselves alone, under the absurd pretext of creating Pure Land in this defiled world.
"Gorging on meat, raping women by force, killing for sport—how laughable they looked wielding mercy-based Buddhist arts. You must see it to believe."
"……."
"……."
She seemed to joke, but Paeng Soso and I couldn't laugh. Hong Yeonhwa had shared bits of her world's tales before, but never in such detail.
Noticing our reactions, she reverted to her usual soft, cheery tone.
"Ahh! No need for such grave faces, indeed. Did I not say?"
Whoosh. She shadowboxed the air and continued.
"This lady smashed them all."
"…Well, I got cocky after winning and took a backstab from hidden remnants."
I shrugged to lighten the mood, and Hong Yeonhwa headbutted my arm playfully.
"Twas a minor wound, but I slew them all—thus, this lady's victory, indeed! And without that ambush, you and I might never have met. …Surely you don't wish that?"
She halted, gazing up with sparkling pink eyes. Her recent surge of cutesy antics was growing. And damn, it was actually cute. Out of petty defiance, I stretched her cheeks.
"Eek! Where'd you learn this?!"
"Kyaa! It hurts, indeed! If you like it, just say so—why always pinch this lady's cheeks?!"
I hadn't pinched hard, yet she flailed dramatically. No trace of her earlier gravity remained. As we bickered, Paeng Soso, who'd been pondering quietly, spoke up softly.
"But Hong-unnie. If you toppled the Murim Alliance and cleared the remnants like you said, isn't there no real reason to go back?"
"Eh?"
Hong Yeonhwa slipped from my grasp on her own and shook her head. …Had she let me pinch her deliberately?
"Nay."
"May I ask why?"
"Because this lady is the Heavenly Demon."
If she couldn't find a way back, fine—but if possible, she must return to her followers, whom she bore responsibility for. That was her duty as Heavenly Demon.
"Tis not all bad, indeed. If no issues arose, the Divine Cult should have unified the realm into a new empire by now."
"Huh…? Then?"
Paeng Soso tilted her head, then looked intrigued. Wealth and glory were unavoidable, after all.