The Emotionless Smiling Demon (5)
Seong Mu-ryeong, disciple of the Baekhyeon Sect.
He had fled into the deep mountains with a woman — the sect leader's illegitimate daughter.
There, just the two of them, they provided for themselves and shared days of quiet, unassuming happiness.
They no longer enjoyed the abundance of cultivation resources they had received as members of the Baekhyeon Sect.
Even so, training beside the woman he loved in mountains of clear water and clean air was a time more precious than anything else in the world.
But.
Those days did not last even a single year.
It was the day the mountain birds, always so noisily singing, suddenly fell silent.
As darkness settled in, a black shadow came flying in.
It was the Phantom-Winged Immortal Bat, Jang Si-woo.
He had been hired by the Baekhyeon Sect to hunt the pair down.
The sect's reputation had been left in tatters by the lovers' flight. An illegitimate daughter who ran off with another man could no longer be used in a political marriage.
And if such a humiliation were simply brushed aside, the standing of the Baekhyeon Sect itself would crumble.
So they had set out to find the two — but when their own efforts failed, they decided to borrow outside hands.
They turned to Jang Si-woo, the Phantom-Winged Immortal Bat, with whom they had long traded in secret.
Jang Si-woo located the pair within days — the same two the Baekhyeon Sect had failed to find after months of searching — and came in person.
He had heard rumors that the sect leader's illegitimate daughter was a rare beauty, and had been coveting her for some time.
At the time, Jang Si-woo was not yet one of the Thirteen Venerables, nor had he even reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
But for two mere Foundation Establishment cultivators, he was far beyond anything they could oppose.
Seong Mu-ryeong had his limbs torn off in an instant and left writhing on the ground.
And then he was forced to watch as the woman he loved was trampled beneath Jang Si-woo, screaming.
Jang Si-woo did not defile her, it is true.
He had long since castrated himself — removed his own manhood entirely — for the sake of his cultivation.
The problem was what had grown in its place: a twisted desire.
To kill beautiful female cultivators in exquisite cruelty and collect their skulls... that was Jang Si-woo's hobby.
Before Seong Mu-ryeong's howling, anguished eyes, Jang Si-woo began carving into her flesh.
She tried to end her own life, but even that was denied her.
As she sobbed and begged him to kill her quickly, Jang Si-woo only cackled — and Seong Mu-ryeong, able to do nothing at all, could only watch every moment of it.
In the end, she died in agony beyond measure.
Jang Si-woo flayed the skin from her face.
It had been promised to the sect leader of the Baekhyeon Sect.
Then, out of long habit, he claimed her skull as well.
And approaching Seong Mu-ryeong... he flayed the skin from his living face, then burst his heart.
"That was a fine time. I'll be going."
With those parting words, Jang Si-woo flew away without a backward glance.
But.
Seong Mu-ryeong did not die.
The reason he could survive with a burst heart was that he had already delegated part of the heart's functions to his lower dantian.
He had been rehearsing in advance for an attempt on the Core Formation Realm, which he believed was not far off.
Shifting the heart's burden to the dantian had been part of that rehearsal.
It was possible only because of Seong Mu-ryeong's innate genius — the kind of man who could achieve breakthroughs from hearsay alone.
Had Jang Si-woo burst his head instead of his heart, he would have died on the spot.
But Jang Si-woo was, by nature, a creature who preferred letting his victims die slowly rather than killing them in one clean stroke.
And so Seong Mu-ryeong clung to life even with his heart destroyed.
Of course, that was all he had saved — his life and nothing more.
Limbs severed, heart burst, the skin of his face flayed away — had he simply lain still, he would have died then and there.
Weeping tears of blood, Seong Mu-ryeong crawled across the ground like a worm.
He licked up the woman's spilled blood to replenish what strength he could.
After that, he crawled to his hiding place and swallowed the pills he had stashed away.
Once his body had recovered, Seong Mu-ryeong gathered the remains of the woman he loved and buried them in a warm, sunlit clearing.
Then, vowing vengeance, he descended the mountain.
His destination was the Blood World Mara Sect.
To take revenge on the Baekhyeon Sect — a righteous orthodox sect — and on Jang Si-woo, a man of the dark sects, he had judged that entering the demonic path was his best path forward.
Admitted to the Blood World Mara Sect, Seong Mu-ryeong was assigned to the White Face Pavilion, where the Pavilion Master of the time took notice of him and accepted him as a disciple.
But the Pavilion Master disapproved of Seong Mu-ryeong, who thought of nothing but revenge.
"Tsk. To achieve your revenge at your current level is impossible anyway. It will take centuries — and a man who thinks of nothing but revenge will never endure that long."
"I want to devote myself to my training with nothing in my heart but revenge, Pavilion Master."
"Foolish child. What do you take this for — some martial art to be practiced? Fill your head with nothing but that thought and it will harden like stone. Your vision narrows until you can no longer see the wide world around you."
"But..."
"The world is vast. And it is rich beyond imagining. That is the first thing you must learn."
The White Face Pavilion Master took Seong Mu-ryeong with him across every corner of the continent, teaching him how to savor the world.
Seong Mu-ryeong understood his master's intent and followed obediently.
By the time some three hundred years had passed and he reached the Nascent Soul Realm, Seong Mu-ryeong had transformed into a man who savored the elegant pleasures of life as his master did.
"It is time I pass the seat of White Face Pavilion Master to you."
"Pavilion Master, surely you cannot mean—"
"My span of life is nearly spent. Before it ends, I intend to name you my successor."
"..."
The lifespan of the Nascent Soul Realm is one thousand years.
Those who fail to step into the Soul Formation Realm must meet their death.
Unable to overcome the limit of the Nascent Soul Realm, the White Face Pavilion Master intended to hand over the Pavilion before his end arrived.
"One last question. Three hundred years have passed. Do you still cling to your vengeance?"
"Pavilion Master, I..."
"Speak honestly. There is no harm in it."
Despite three hundred years spent roaming the continent at his master's side, indulging in every pleasure the world had to offer —
Seong Mu-ryeong had not been able to let go of his hatred.
"I am sorry, Pavilion Master."
"No. It's quite all right."
Yet the White Face Pavilion Master showed no hint of disappointment.
He removed the mask he had always worn, and with a face full of wrinkles, smiled.
"In truth, this old woman is glad of it."
"...?"
He never explained what he meant.
He handed his mask over to Seong Mu-ryeong, then vanished alone without a trace.
He surely meant to meet his end quietly, by himself, in some place where no one would ever find him.
Seong Mu-ryeong wanted to follow and keep vigil at his master's deathbed — but in the end, he let the old man go.
The only master of his lifetime, the only person who had ever truly taught him.
He wanted to honor that final wish.
And so Seong Mu-ryeong inherited the seat of White Face Pavilion Master.
With his master's mask kept close against his chest, he crafted a mask of his own, set it upon his face, and set out on his first act as Pavilion Master.
He attacked the Baekhyeon Sect — his first enemy.
As it happened, the sect leader of the Baekhyeon Sect was still alive.
When he learned that the disciple he had once tried to kill had returned as an executive of the demonic path, the man's face turned deathly pale.
He babbled every excuse he could think of, begging for his life — but there was no reason to listen to any of it.
Beneath a mask painted with a smiling face.
Seong Mu-ryeong killed him using the most agonizing method of murder his master had ever taught him.
From the day his first vengeance was achieved.
Seong Mu-ryeong came to be known as the Heartless Smiling Demon.
"Phantom-Winged Immortal Bat...!"
The Heartless Smiling Demon threw off all reason and hurled himself at Jang Si-woo.
Kill the enemy before your eyes. Governed by that single thought alone, he drew out every last ounce of his strength.
But in that very moment—
A sinister wave of resonant bone-sound erupts from the scattered skulls.
The dozens of skulls Jang Si-woo had just scattered across the ground.
From them, a grotesque wave of sound came pouring out.
"Ugh...!"
Sssssshaaaaaa...
The instant the wave crashed over him, the Heartless Smiling Demon was seized by vertigo beyond bearing.
It was no mere dizziness. Every one of his senses slipped out of alignment, and he could not gather his mind at all.
He forced his spiritual power to surge and tried to unleash a wild, indiscriminate attack.
But even that came to nothing.
The sound-wave pouring from the skulls was interfering with his arts, blocking every attempt to unfold his techniques.
"Kukukuku, you fool. Fifty years ago or today, you haven't changed one bit."
KWAA-KWA-KWA!
An attacking art from Jang Si-woo tore clean through the Heartless Smiling Demon's body.
Unable to muster even a scrap of defense, he vomited blood and collapsed where he stood.
"You pose as the cold-blooded demonic cultivator behind a mask, but in truth you are no different from that fledgling who had eyes for one woman and nothing else."
"Ghhk...!"
"That is your weakness, Heartless Smiling Demon."
Fifty years ago.
The Heartless Smiling Demon had attacked Jang Si-woo to claim his second vengeance.
But in the years between, Jang Si-woo had also cultivated his strength, becoming a far greater existence than he had once been.
Worse, upon hearing of the Baekhyeon Sect's destruction, he had even deduced the Heartless Smiling Demon's true identity.
Jang Si-woo met him in a state of complete preparation, seized the upper hand through psychological warfare, and handed him a crushing, humiliating defeat.
But even then, his life had been spared.
Because Soehon Hyeolma of the Blood Soul Pavilion, who had been watching from the rear on orders from above, had intervened and pulled the Heartless Smiling Demon out.
"Damn it all..."
The Heartless Smiling Demon groaned, drowning in vertigo.
This time, I must not get caught up in a battle of the mind, he had thought.
I must stay cold and bring down the Phantom-Winged Immortal Bat Jang Si-woo with a clear head, he had thought.
But it was useless.
Mask over his face or not — however hard he tried to become the unfeeling demonic cultivator —
he was, in the end, still captive to the heart of that distant time.
Four hundred years had passed, and yet the mere thought of her still made his chest ache.
The feelings he had held for the first person he had ever loved in this life still lived, vivid and unburied, in his heart.
"Why... why am I, why am I still so—"
Sssssshaaaaaa...
The sound-wave of the Phantom Night Yin Bone Wave was devouring his consciousness.
At this rate, he would not even be able to escape into his Nascent Soul.
Feeling his awareness fade by slow degrees, the Heartless Smiling Demon wept beneath his mask.
If I had known it would come to this, I should simply have brainwashed myself—
If I had become a demonic cultivator without blood or tears,
If I could have dismissed my feelings for her as nothing more than a memory of the past,
I would not be losing like this. At the very least, not like this.
"Master..."
Why did you never do that for me?
You once brainwashed your own subordinates, turning them into demonic beasts without blood or tears.
So why not me — your final disciple...?
"No, Heartless Smiling Demon. You are wrong."
At that very moment—
From within his fading consciousness, Cheon Woo-jin's voice reached him.
"It is precisely because you entered the demonic path yet never discarded your humanity that you are worth something."
"Cheon... Woo-jin...?"
"Your master wished the same thing — that you would never lose who you are."
"What... are you saying..."
He could feel Cheon Woo-jin, who had been waiting in the rear, moving forward.
The Heartless Smiling Demon wanted to stop him.
From the beginning, the plan had been for the Heartless Smiling Demon to face Jang Si-woo alone.
Cheon Woo-jin was still only Core Formation — no match at all for Jang Si-woo of the Nascent Soul Realm. If he threw himself into this fight, he would simply die like a dog.
But his body would not move at all.
His faculties had degraded to the point where even speaking was a struggle; there was nothing he could do.
"And who might you be? Core Formation?"
As Cheon Woo-jin stepped forward in the Heartless Smiling Demon's place, Jang Si-woo sneered.
"What a joke. A mere Core Formation wretch, against this body that has reached the Great Completion of the Nascent Soul—"
"Don't lie, Phantom-Winged Immortal Bat."
But Cheon Woo-jin's voice was perfectly calm.
Maintaining a composure so frigid it turned the blood cold, he drove his words in like blades.
"You failed to ascend to the Great Completion of the Nascent Soul Realm."
"...!"
The entire space seemed to freeze solid.
"If you had truly reached the Great Completion of the Nascent Soul, you would never have bothered with this pathetic pantomime of psychological warfare against the Heartless Smiling Demon. You would have simply crushed him with raw power."
"You — how do you—"
To the wavering Jang Si-woo, Cheon Woo-jin spoke without a moment's hesitation.
"To fail twice in a row and still be breathing — you are astonishingly lucky. But the price must have been steep."
"You—!"
"How much strength did that second failure cost you? It will take time to recover, and you'll need to find a new Nascent Soul Spiritual Material on top of that... which means, I expect, you will meet the end of your lifespan without ever crossing into the next stage."
"...!"
The Heartless Smiling Demon was on the very edge of unconsciousness.
Even so, he could tell that Jang Si-woo — struck to the quick — had lost his composure entirely.
Just as Jang Si-woo had used psychological warfare to strike at the most vulnerable part of the Heartless Smiling Demon,
Cheon Woo-jin was now piercing the spot where Jang Si-woo was most certain to flinch.
At the sight of it, the Heartless Smiling Demon felt a shiver run through him.
A man colder and more ruthless than the demonic path itself. Colder than the dark sects.
That was Cheon Woo-jin.
"Watch your mouth, you Core Formation gutter trash...!"
Whump!
Jang Si-woo roared and spread his bat wings wide.
At the same instant, a savage wave of force burst forth — and yet, for some reason, it trembled, quivering as if on the verge of shaking apart.
"Heartless Smiling Demon."
As if Jang Si-woo were not worth a flicker of fear.
Cheon Woo-jin addressed the Heartless Smiling Demon behind him.
"Leave what comes after to me."
At the very moment the Heartless Smiling Demon's consciousness gave out—
A vast surge of power erupted from Cheon Woo-jin.
It was a force carrying a conviction that would bow to nothing — his own, and his alone.