Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Shadow Senior
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Senior... Well, fine. This old man is indeed your distant senior, so I won't quibble over that. But! If you call me a Demonic Cultist to my face, I won't forgive you. Ever."
"I'll keep that in mind. I feel the same way, Senior."
"It's been ages since I met someone whose heart beats in sync with mine. In that spirit, how can we skip the drinks? You do drink, right?"
"I can't stop myself once I start."
"Exactly. The first thing you do after getting up from a sickbed is disinfect your insides with booze."
Hm. Total quack logic from some back-alley doctor, but somehow it rang true.
The old senior fetched a few bottles of bamboo leaf liquor from somewhere and poured it into bamboo cups without any snacks, then opened his mouth.
"Alright~ I'll tell you everything about how I've survived since then, holding nothing back from you."
"This junior will listen intently."
The senior's name was Shadow.
Like us, Shadow Senior had been thrown to the righteous sects as bait, miraculously survived, and had lived all these years solely to get revenge on the Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Demon.
To avenge himself, he needed to grow stronger, and to grow stronger, he shunned nothing.
He'd killed countless people without discrimination to obtain supreme martial arts, and now he was a wanted criminal throughout the martial world.
And even today, he'd been stealthily tailing the Heavenly Demon to kill him.
That's when he saw us juniors being used and discarded just like he had been, and his heart ached with blood tears.
All while cursing himself for failing to kill the Heavenly Demon after thirty long years.
Then he saw me, who'd escaped by some miracle, and decided he had to save me no matter what.
That part touched me a little.
"This lowly junior owes his life to Senior's grace. I am truly grateful. Senior, all I can offer is my bow..."
I forced my aching body up to offer proper thanks.
But it wouldn't obey, and I started tilting sideways.
Shadow Senior caught me and said,
"Tsk tsk tsk. With a body like that, don't push yourself... What good is a bow from you?"
Still, he didn't seem entirely displeased.
After that, he rambled on about his past.
His tales of fighting the Demonic Cult alone for thirty years could fill nights without end.
As dawn began to break, I asked Shadow Senior the question burning in my mind.
"So, has Shadow Senior ever crossed hands with the Heavenly Demon?"
"......"
His face darkened instantly at my question.
"I have."
"What happened?"
He stared silently at his empty left sleeve before speaking.
"What do you think? I ended up like this."
"S-Sorry."
"He's the greatest in the world. Just surviving is a win."
"......"
I pondered his words for a moment.
The Heavenly Demon, supreme under heaven.
'What if I faced him right now?'
The mere thought was absurd enough to make me laugh.
Even "one-move defeat" would be too generous.
Martial arts, internal energy, forces—nothing could even compare.
The sheer gap was pathetic and humiliating.
In modern terms, it was like a fresh grad versus a chaebol chairman.
How many years would true revenge take?
Maybe the old senior's fate was a glimpse of my own future.
Nothing said I wouldn't end up the same vengeful ghost.
On a full moon night.
I set out purified water and prayed for 102's soul to rest in peace.
With Shadow Senior's help, I even made a spirit tablet for him.
Demonic Cult assassins only earn a name in death.
Most have no family, so they write their desired name on their last will before missions.
But everyone said that jinxed you, so most left it blank. If you died that way, the cult asked close comrades to name you.
So I named 102.
And inscribed it on the tablet.
Baek Yi-ho
You're Baek from today on, 102.
Yi-ho suited him well too, so I'd keep calling him that.
For myself, I'd use my real name from before death.
"Hwang Tae-seong..."
Hearing my name from someone else felt strange and unfamiliar.
But after repeating it a few times, it grew warm and dear.
For the first time, I felt truly myself.
And with my name, I swore.
I would absolutely avenge myself on the Demonic Cult and Heavenly Demon.
"Cough! Cough!"
"Senior, are you alright?"
'Blood?'
"Hah... hah... Do I look alright to you?"
No, he didn't.
I shook my head silently.
"This is all... from five years ago, when I clashed with him... I didn't just lose my arm that day..."
Shadow Senior revealed a bruised palm print on his chest.
"Th-This is?"
"His Black Death Palm twists your qi and blood bit by bit until you die. I've been forcibly suppressing it with my internal energy all this time, but even that's reaching its limit."
"Senior, is there no way to cure it?"
"Think I'd just sit on it? Sadly, no. The Black Death Palm is absolute against inferiors but powerless against superiors. Meaning, only someone with stronger internal energy than the Heavenly Demon can save me..."
"......"
"So now it's your turn..."
"Pardon?"
"Kill the Heavenly Demon in my stead..."
"I'd rip him apart a hundred times over. But even someone like you couldn't—how could I...?"
"I'll give you everything I've prepared my whole life to kill the Heavenly Demon. In return, finish him off."
"I will!"
"You agree to kill him without even asking what it is?"
"This junior vows to kill him decisively! Give it to me quick!"
"You little punk. Fortunately, we both cultivate the same Reverse Blood Great Law, so I can transmit my energy to you. Before I go, I'll pass on all my Pure Origin Energy. Cough! Cough! And the arts I've mastered."
"Senior—no, Master from now on."
"Truth be told, 'senior' always chafed a bit. How many years apart are we?"
"I was wondering if I should call you Old Senior instead, Master."
"Yes, 'Master' sits better than 'Old Senior.' I'm lucky in my twilight years—a disciple at last? Cough!"
"Master, your body first."
"No. Time is short. First, the transmission of arts."
Master pulled two manuals from his bosom and held them out.
Dark Emperor Supreme Heaven Art
Eight Gates Eight Tracks Step
"These are the strongest martial art and movement technique I scoured the entire martial world for. Cough! I didn't hesitate to become a public enemy to obtain them. Still, they pale against the Heavenly Demon's Divine Art, but they're among the top five supreme arts under heaven..."
"I'll remember."
"Now, I'll recite the incantations. Commit them all to memory."
"Yes, Master."
As one of the world's finest, the incantations were vast. Mastering and memorizing them took over a month.
Master patiently repeated them for me, but by then, the agony of energy dispersal had begun.
Energy Dispersal.
Exactly as it sounded—internal energy scattering from the dantian.
The inevitable fate of those who walked the path of fiends.
"...Have you memorized all the incantations?"
"Yes, all of them."
"Now, the energy transmission. I can't hold it much longer. Cough!"
"Master..."
"As I pass my Pure Origin Energy, circulate the Reverse Blood Great Law to make it yours. Don't worry about me—absorb as much as you can. Understood?"
"......"
"Understood?"
"Yes, Master."
His words were tantamount to asking me to kill him myself.
But knowing his iron will, I resolved to receive it all perfectly.
I sat cross-legged.
"Begin! Hngh!"
Vast energy surged from Master's palms into me.
Like the Yellow River flooding a stream.
My meridians and dantian screamed.
But I endured.
This was Master's final lesson, traded for his life.
Thus, the隔體傳功 lasted five shichen—ten hours.
Shadow Master passed all his Pure Origin Energy to me and breathed his last.
I couldn't even mourn him properly.
Not if I wanted to honor the energy he'd given with his life.
I opened my eyes three days later.
"......"
Master's potent energy had purged impurities; the sweat I'd shed reeked foully.
Unable to face him in this filth, I bathed in the stream, then carefully prepared his remains.
I buried him in a sunny spot.
[The Late Shadow]
Before Master's tombstone, I bowed twice and prostrated, swearing,
"Your disciple will avenge you. Watch over me from heaven."
Shadow Master left a bamboo slip detailing how to kill the Heavenly Demon.
It was a messy record of his experiences pursuing that goal.
To face him, one needed at least 5 jia of internal energy.
His own 4 jia hadn't been nearly enough.
'Hm, even 4 jia wasn't remotely sufficient. Terrifying.'
Normally, half of transmitted energy returns to nature.
So my current energy was about 2 jia.
Plus what I'd had before, roughly 2.5 jia.
'I mustn't face the Heavenly Demon until I stack at least 2 more jia.'
There was also a note: "Secure as many as possible if you can!"
One was the Shaolin's Demon-Exterminating Six Ring Blade, said to pierce the Heavenly Demon's protective energy.
Second, the Tang Clan's Myriad Poison Command, source of their poisons.
Finally, the Murim Alliance Leader's treasure, the Yama Ghostface Armor.
All impossibly hard to obtain—I'd need to think hard.
Even Master couldn't secure a single one.
And lastly: at least a hundred first-rate warriors minimum.