The Heartless Smiling Demon (4)

The mask the Heartless Smiling Demon had given him.

It was no mere covering for the face.

So long as Cheon Woo-jin wore it, he would be treated as an ally of the Heartless Smiling Demon and a member of the White Face Pavilion.

Just as possessing a Dharma treasure of the Yin Soul Ghost Bone Palace had nullified the authority of the Guardian Golden Dragon Divine Lord, anyone wearing the mask was excluded from the demon's attacks. That was precisely why the Heartless Smiling Demon had ordered Cheon Woo-jin to put it on — so he wouldn't be caught up in the demon's indiscriminate assault.

Shrrk.

A faint sound rang out.

The wistful sound of petals drifting down from a flowering tree — and as it layered and multiplied, it conjured the illusion of innumerable petals falling at once.

But what spread out before his eyes was nothing so romantic.

Blade fragments small as flower petals. Tiny edged blades, too fine to see clearly, materialized in their thousands and descended upon the bats swarming through the air.

"……!"

Dan U-seong's Night Rat Corpse Art — the technique that had produced the bats — was itself a considerably high-grade spell. It carried a nature similar to the Blood Soul Curse Summoning Art of the Blood Soul Horn, so no matter how many bats were slain, their remains would gather again and become new bats. Holding off an endless swarm flying in from every direction was grueling, exhausting work.

That was why Dan U-seong had believed he could buy more than enough time against the Heartless Smiling Demon.

But that belief had been a colossal mistake.

The Heartless Smiling Demon had already mastered the Hundred Flowers, Thousand Leaves.

The Hundred Flowers, Thousand Leaves is, at this point in time, the most demanding technique the Heartless Smiling Demon can wield.

The Heaven-Filling White Blades the demon had shown him before had also been a spell that deployed countless blades at once — but each of those blades was large enough to parry or evade, so a sufficiently skilled fighter could respond to it. Gwan Hwang, the Black Spirit Blade Emperor, for instance, could have swatted every single one of the Heaven-Filling White Blades out of the air with his own blade.

But this Hundred Flowers, Thousand Leaves could not be parried — not even by the Black Spirit Blade Emperor himself.

How, after all, does one deflect tiny petals that ripple and swirl through the air on a sword's edge?

"Aaagh……!"

White blade fragments fluttered like petals.

That whirling storm of steel mauled the jet-black bats.

The bats, minced fine by the blades, tried to clump together and take the shape of bats once more — but the fragments danced faster than the bats could regenerate. At some point, the scattered pieces could no longer gather into one place and simply dispersed, drifting apart into nothing.

And then……

"Ugh……"

Dan U-seong fared no better.

He wore a defensive Dharma treasure shaped like a suit of armor, but it was useless. The treasure was reduced to powder in an instant, and Dan U-seong's body was slashed to ribbons from head to toe, left looking like minced meat.

He had once been a Core Formation Great Completion powerhouse in his own right.

Yet he met a miserable death without even managing a final word.

This was the power of the Heartless Smiling Demon, a Late Nascent Soul cultivator.

Terrifying.

Cheon Woo-jin, meanwhile, was unharmed.

Thanks to the white mask he'd received from the Heartless Smiling Demon, he had been spared the Hundred Flowers, Thousand Leaves entirely. The petal-like blades had swirled around him too, but not so much as a hem of his clothing had been grazed.

"You weren't hurt, were you?"

The Heartless Smiling Demon called out in a gentle voice.

"Once it activates, it's difficult to fine-tune the spell. The formation is built so that only those wearing the mask are excluded from the attack range."

"And what happens if you unleash the spell while you yourself aren't wearing a mask?"

"That's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a secret."

The Heartless Smiling Demon played coy, pressing a finger to where the mouth of his mask would be.

Watching him, Cheon Woo-jin said, "Still, I take it this isn't its full power?"

"Haha. Who's to say."

He had turned a Core Formation Great Completion expert into minced meat in an instant — but even that was the result of restraint. Had the Heartless Smiling Demon unleashed the Hundred Flowers, Thousand Leaves ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at full force, the entire surrounding area would have collapsed into rubble.

"I don't think this is a situation for us to be preening. He seemed to be buying time — the Illusion Wing Immortal Bat may be preparing something deeper inside."

"Mm. Fair point."

"He might even be attempting a breakthrough to Nascent Soul Great Completion with a Nascent Soul spiritual material he obtained from the Northern Outer Sea."

"……"

The Heartless Smiling Demon fell silent for a moment.

"The Illusion Wing Immortal Bat has already attempted the Nascent Soul Great Completion breakthrough once, and failed."

"Then shouldn't he have died to the heavenly tribulation?"

"Some survive by sheer luck now and then. Though they lose a great deal of their power in the process."

"Then he must have worked hard to recover his strength all this time."

Cheon Woo-jin spoke as though he knew nothing at all.

"Wouldn't he have returned to the continent precisely because his harvest in the Northern Outer Sea bore fruit?"

"……"

Even so, the Heartless Smiling Demon did not back down.

"Even if the Illusion Wing Immortal Bat has already reached Nascent Soul Great Completion, I have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no intention of retreating."

"Why not?"

Cheon Woo-jin asked again.

"Why would the master of the White Face Pavilion of the Blood World Mara Sect attempt such a dangerous crossing?"

"Didn't I tell you? I hold a grudge against the Illusion Wing Immortal Bat."

"However ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deep a grudge, isn't this too dangerous?"

When a Late Core Formation cultivator picked a fight with a Great Completion Core Formation one, most people would consider it possible. Even if the cultivator's level of Core Formation attainment was lower, combat ability could still favor the Late-stage fighter.

But for a Late Nascent Soul cultivator to challenge a Great Completion Nascent Soul was a matter of preparing oneself for death. A Great Completion Nascent Soul had overcome countless restrictions and stood at the very threshold of Soul Formation.

"In the end, aren't we all walking the path of cultivation for the sake of living long? Why would you press your head into the jaws of death?"

"……"

Without answering, the Heartless Smiling Demon walked on ahead, stepping over Dan U-seong's corpse and taking the passage deeper inside.

"To be honest, fellow Daoist Cheon, you're right."

As they passed through the dark corridor, the Heartless Smiling Demon spoke in a low voice.

"Everyone struggles in this cultivation world to reach a higher realm and taste eternal life. Those cultivators who fell by our hands just now stepped into this fight because they hoped that if they earned merit here, they would be rewarded later and could advance their realms."

Of course, such hopes were hollow ones. The cultivation world was, by its very nature, a structure in which those above thoroughly exploited those below. And still everyone marched into dangerous battles clutching the sweet expectation that if they simply did as they were told, a splendid reward would follow.

But the Heartless Smiling Demon was different.

No one had ordered him to fight an enemy who might well stand on a higher plane than himself. Nor would he gain anything substantial from this battle. Even if he felled the Illusion Wing Immortal Bat, Jang Si-woo, the Heartless Smiling Demon would find it difficult to profit at all.

"I am heading into a dangerous fight for purely personal feelings, right here and now. That's something outside the common sense of the cultivation world."

Having said that, the Heartless Smiling Demon glanced sideways at Cheon Woo-jin through his mask.

"Do I look foolish to you, fellow Daoist Cheon?"

"Not at all."

Cheon Woo-jin shook his head.

"If anything, it's a fine sight — a man who hasn't lost his humanity."

"His humanity?"

"Many people lose their humanity along the path of cultivation."

He said it while recalling a conversation he'd once had with Jo Hyu, the landlord of the eastern quarter, back on the first layer of Ghost Head City.

"We cultivate in order to climb to higher realms. But pursue power by any and all means, and you end up casting aside even the things your former self once held dear."

"……"

"And if, after living hundreds or thousands of years that way, you've become a being utterly different from the person you once were — is that truly eternal life?"

The me of now. The me of a thousand years hence.

If there existed a gulf between the personalities of those two beings, could the me of now and the me of a thousand years hence still be called the same person?

Was it not, rather, some separate individual — someone who was not me — living out a future a thousand years away?

This was a question Cheon Woo-jin himself had turned over many times.

"That's why I don't consider acting on human emotion to be foolish."

"……"

"If anything, I find myself wanting to watch a little longer — to see whether you can keep holding onto that humanity."

The mask made it impossible to read the Heartless Smiling Demon's expression.

But even from his breathing alone, Cheon Woo-jin could tell the man had sunk deep into thought. Believing it right to give him time to think, Cheon Woo-jin walked on shoulder to shoulder with the Heartless Smiling Demon.

What a remarkable man.

Walking the dark corridor, the Heartless Smiling Demon sank into thought.

He looks less than half my age — no, far younger than that — and yet there's a ripeness about him, as though he's mastered every sorrow and joy, every parting and reunion this cultivation world has to offer.

Could he be a Soul Formation Daoist concealing his power? The thought had actually crossed his mind — that was how deeply Cheon Woo-jin's words had resonated with the Heartless Smiling Demon.

And what of the me of now?

The Heartless Smiling Demon put the question to himself.

Am I, the Heartless Smiling Demon, still the same person Seong Mu-ryeong once was?

Some four hundred years ago, there had been a handyman disciple named Seong Mu-ryeong at the Baekhyeon Sect in the south of Weijin Country.

Within the Baekhyeon Sect, handyman disciples were, for all practical purposes, slaves.

Seong Mu-ryeong had been assigned to the spirit fields, where he was forced to break his back tilling the soil day after day without ever being taught a single proper cultivation method.

But one inner-sect disciple, having noticed occasional flashes of cleverness in him, took Seong Mu-ryeong in as his personal errand boy.

Under the inner-sect disciple too, Seong Mu-ryeong was made to work like a slave — yet as the old saying goes, the ears soak in what they hear daily and the eyes what they see. Watching the disciples practice, overhearing their discussions, he found before long that he had come to understand a great deal.

Having attained insight purely through eavesdropping, Seong Mu-ryeong achieved astonishing results in the promotion examination and rose to inner-sect disciple in one leap.

Now, at last, I can truly walk the path of cultivation.

Seong Mu-ryeong harbored great hopes.

But the Baekhyeon Sect assigned him a strange duty: he was to attach himself to a certain woman and serve as her bodyguard warrior.

It turned out she was the sect master's daughter — though born of a woman who was not his wife, an illegitimate child whom the Baekhyeon Sect could not formally acknowledge. That was why they had dispatched Seong Mu-ryeong to guard her in secret.

At first he chafed at the assignment, but it proved unexpectedly agreeable. She too possessed a spiritual root, and she was cultivating a technique the sect master had secretly passed down to her. Keeping company with her, Seong Mu-ryeong gained many insights, and through her consideration he was granted a share of her cultivation resources, growing all the way to Foundation Establishment Great Completion.

In time, love took root between Seong Mu-ryeong and the woman.

The two swore to become Dao companions, and resolved to report the matter to the Baekhyeon Sect as well.

But that had been far too naive.

Even as they barred him from so much as setting foot inside the sect's grounds, the Baekhyeon Sect was intending to use her as a pawn in a political marriage. The match was the second son of a family renowned for alchemy — a man much older than she, and worse, she would not even be his wife but merely a concubine.

Watching her grieve over her circumstances, Seong Mu-ryeong resolved to take her and flee.

By a stroke of fortune he shook off the Baekhyeon Sect's pursuit, and he and she began living together in the quiet depths of the mountains.

Those days — those very days —

were the most beautiful of Seong Mu-ryeong's life.

"Ugh……"

Recalling the past, the Heartless Smiling Demon felt an ache in his chest.

It was more painful than the sensation of his body being pierced through by an enemy's spell.

With pain like this, he could not focus on the fight.

The Heartless Smiling Demon decided to empty his mind for the moment.

Think about it later. Right now……

A ferocious aura was radiating from up ahead.

Surveying that aura — more monstrous now than it had been fifty years ago — the Heartless Smiling Demon bit his lip.

Now is the time to be cold. To kill that demon.

Erasing the koan Cheon Woo-jin had tossed him from his mind, the Heartless Smiling Demon strode boldly forward.

And there he found a man sitting cross-legged atop a floor inscribed with intricate patterns.

A monstrous figure, his entire body shrouded in jet-black fur, a pair of enormous bat wings folded against his back.

The Illusion Wing Immortal Bat, Jang Si-woo.

"Illusion Wing Immortal Bat."

"……"

Crushing down the emotions surging within him, the Heartless Smiling Demon called out the name of his sworn enemy.

"I have come."

At that, the man slowly opened his eyes.

Holding his cross-legged posture, he fixed his yellow eyes on the Heartless Smiling Demon.

"It's been a long time, Heartless Smiling Demon."

The moment he heard that voice, the Heartless Smiling Demon felt his heart ache all over again.

This won't do.

Against that creature, he had to keep his composure. He could not repeat the mistake of fifty years ago.

Just as the Heartless Smiling Demon steadied his breathing —

"Have you come to reclaim your wife again this time, too? What astonishing devotion."

came the sneering voice.

"Very well, I shall return your wife to you. I've kept her for four hundred years now; it's about time I gave her back, wouldn't you say?"

"You……"

"But now, what am I to do?"

Flutter.

The bat monster spread wide the wings he had kept folded.

Fastened along the insides of those jet-black wings hung dozens upon dozens of human skulls — skulls stained dark red beneath the eye sockets, like the traces of tears of blood.

Crash!

Dropping them all to the floor at once, the monster laughed heartily.

"I can't remember which one was your wife. Take whichever you like."

Against that monster, one had to remain as cold as possible.

He had known that better than anyone.

And still the Heartless Smiling Demon could not cast off his humanity.

"Uwaaaaaagh……!"

Knowing full well this was Jang Si-woo's trap, the Heartless Smiling Demon hurled himself forward with a roar.

Hot tears of blood streaming from beneath the white mask.