Chapter 216: The Sky Where Flowers Do Not Bloom (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 216: The Sky Where Flowers Do Not Bloom (3)
A broken sword.
In its stead, he grasped the heavens and forged them into his blade.
Namgung Jin-cheon leveled his sword at Je Cheon-hyeok.
Je Cheon-hyeok stared back. The man stood on the absolute verge of collapse.
Behind him lay the unconscious Namgung Yeon. The surrounding landscape was utterly devastated. Only the space around her remained perfectly untouched, creating a jarring sense of isolation amidst the ruin.
"Is protecting a single blood relative truly that important?"
"She is family, so it is only natural..."
"I do not understand. You do not strike me as a man who would be shackled by mere bonds of blood."
"I am not such a great man... I am but a fool who still cannot let go of his sword... nothing more than a cowardly mortal..."
Namgung Jin-cheon swung his sword. Even as his life flickered on the edge of extinction, his blade remained chillingly sharp.
Swish—!
Je Cheon-hyeok leaned back to dodge, then lunged forward with a massive stride. Simultaneously, his leading fist ignited with a blazing white flame.
Heaven-Breaking (破天).
In truth, Je Cheon-hyeok’s domain did not possess any grand, mystical utility. It simply allowed him to see his opponent in absolute detail.
The things the world spoke of—the annihilation of existence and the like—were merely the raw power dwelling within Je Cheon-hyeok’s fist.
His domain, rather, peered minutely through his opponent. It read their movements, their physical state, and even the actions they were about to take.
He is definitely on the verge of death.
Je Cheon-hyeok saw Namgung Jin-cheon clearly through his domain. The man’s lifeforce was about to extinguish, and his movements lacked their former strength.
But what on earth is this feeling...?
Sensing an inexplicable surge of danger, Je Cheon-hyeok hurriedly threw himself aside.
Crr-ack—!
The space before his eyes split open, revealing a black void. Sensing the lethal peril, Je Cheon-hyeok retreated a great distance and punched the empty air.
Thud, thud, thud—!
Namgung Jin-cheon’s body shook violently from the shockwaves of the fist strikes tearing through the air. Blood leaked endlessly from the gaping hole in his chest.
The destructive power of Je Cheon-hyeok’s fist was gnawing away at his very existence.
Yet, Namgung Jin-cheon still wore a faint smile.
"I do not wish to lose anyone else and live in regret... I cannot endure the pain of loss. The fear of it is simply too much to bear..."
*
Namgung Jin-cheon’s heart had first been captured by a country girl’s cooking.
No matter what delicacies he ate afterward, he could never forget that taste.
In the end, even after leaving the village where she lived, his feet would inevitably find their way back just a few days later.
One year passed, then two, then three.
Time flowed on.
There were no particularly dramatic moments. Her presence simply seeped into his heart, natural as breathing.
Then, at a certain point, Namgung Jin-cheon realized: he could no longer live without this woman by his side.
She was overjoyed by his proposal. She entered the Namgung Clan with her family, and they began their life as newlyweds.
The trouble started after the birth of their first child, Su-ah.
Having become a mother, she began to speak in a slightly more mature tone than before.
'It’s alright. I’ve always been a bit frail.'
'Nothing is more important than your health, my lady. Set everything else aside and focus on your recovery.'
However, as soon as her condition improved even slightly, she kept herself busy. No matter how great the Namgung Clan was, people were bound to gossip about a country girl with no lineage becoming the matriarch.
No one dared to voice their complaints directly to her face, but his wife, naturally perceptive as she was, could not have failed to notice the atmosphere.
For the sake of her husband and her newborn child, she tirelessly fulfilled her duties as the matriarch despite her ailing body.
Namgung Jin-cheon could not stop her. He simply loved seeing her so full of life.
He was dull. He was an utter fool. Namgung Jin-cheon still loathed his past self to the point of madness.
If he truly loved her lively spirit, he should have used any means necessary to protect it.
He should have silenced everyone in the clan so that his wife could live at ease.
But the man who had spent his entire life holding nothing but a sword was immature and stupid. He was horrifyingly thoughtless.
Even if he strangled his past self to death a thousand times in his dreams, the time that had passed would never return.
He was a moron blinded by the intense emotion of love. In the blooming flower garden that filled his head, there was no room to imagine a tragic future.
He had laughed foolishly when his wife assured him she was fine, and they continued to share their love.
Finally, with the birth of their second child, Myeong-i, the catastrophe arrived.
'My husband, you have too much affection. What will you do without me...'
His wife’s body, which had seemed to be recovering, began to fail rapidly after giving birth.
Her chronic illness worsened, and her depleted strength could not overcome the disease.
Even while bedridden, his wife worried more about her immature husband than her own well-being.
'In the future, if I am gone and you become too lonely, please treat my sword as if it were me. Even if my soul must dwell within the blade, I will stay by your side.'
'...Do not say such things, my lady. Nothing will happen to you.'
He denied it.
Yet his reason, honed to the absolute heights of martial arts, screamed at him incessantly.
It told him that it was already too late. That it was irreversible.
A sword that failed to protect the one he wanted to save most was merely a tool for killing. Such a blood-stained blade could not save a single loved one.
He belatedly immersed himself in the Life Sword (活劍), but with his meager talent in that path, he could not comprehend it in time.
'My husband, I am fine. Do not be too sad. I will get better soon. We promised to go on a picnic with Su-ah... and Myeong-i.'
His wife comforted Namgung Jin-cheon until her very last breath.
'My husband... My husband... I, I can’t... breathe...'
In her final moments, she shed tears, terrified of the death looming before her. She grasped Namgung Jin-cheon’s hand with trembling fingers and pleaded.
She said she wanted to live. She wanted to be with him just a little longer.
Namgung Jin-cheon could do nothing for her.
He only realized it then with agonizing clarity.
His mistakes had killed his wife.
He had killed his wife.
The loathsome murderer wept shamelessly before the ruined half of his own soul.
"I regret it, and I regret it again..."
He had lost his other half. The void left in his heart still refused to be filled.
He took up the sword again out of a lingering attachment he couldn't erase, but he could not turn back time.
"Now that even the children have found their own paths, what need is there for me to cling to this stubborn life..."
Fwoosh...
The heavens he grasped began to scatter. He no longer had the strength to maintain his domain.
His wife’s sword, broken in half, lay buried in the desert sand.
Namgung Jin-cheon looked at Je Cheon-hyeok with blurred eyes.
BOOOOOOM────────!!
The faint sound of an explosion reached his ears. A joyful smile touched Namgung Jin-cheon’s lips.
Is it my son-in-law...?
The other half his daughter had found after all her wanderings—the daughter who resembled his wife so much.
He did not want his daughter to experience the same pain he had.
"Damn it."
Je Cheon-hyeok grew impatient. He had to kill Namgung Jin-cheon before the Righteous Faction’s reinforcements arrived.
How are reinforcements here already...?
Even if the aftermath of their battle was extreme, they should have been far from the Righteous Faction’s territory.
But he didn't have time to ponder.
Je Cheon-hyeok clenched his fist.
Namgung Jin-cheon raised a trembling hand. It was empty. Yet, he gripped the air as if holding a sword.
This is my final sword, son-in-law...
Even if it was a sword that failed to find its true meaning until the very last moment, if it could be of help to his son-in-law, that was enough.
His heart, now much lighter, finally let go of its regrets. Whether it was a mere illusion or if she had truly been waiting for him all this time, the image of his wife reached out her hand from afar.
Namgung Jin-cheon smiled and reached out his hand in return.
With every step closer to death, her image became clearer.
'In a Murim without you, no flowers would bloom...'
Je Cheon-hyeok’s eyes snapped wide. His heart suddenly constricted. He immediately threw a punch.
Thwack—!
Namgung Jin-cheon’s one remaining arm was shattered. Even so, the chilling sensation did not vanish.
Je Cheon-hyeok's domain incessantly foretold his own death.
"What is this...!"
Je Cheon-hyeok punched again. He intended to smash Namgung Jin-cheon’s body into pieces.
But no strength entered his strike. He had already been cut. He hadn't even noticed.
SHAAAAA─────────!!
Life Sword (活劍).
The final sword unleashed by the strongest man under heaven.
It was a sword meant to save, yet until the very end, his blade only knew how to kill.
"Ha..."
Je Cheon-hyeok looked at the sky. The space that had been ravaged by the battle between Transcendent Realm masters was rapidly restoring itself.
It was not the laws of nature resetting, but a miracle achieved by a single man.
"Azure Heaven... Sword Venerable..."
With those final words, Je Cheon-hyeok’s body collapsed, burying itself in the desert sand.
Fwoosh—!
Flowers bloomed around his corpse. The sky that had been pouring rain cleared into a brilliant azure blue, and the silent desert was suddenly adorned with all manner of vibrant flowers.
"Father-in-law...!"
He could no longer see. Namgung Jin-cheon smiled faintly at the voice he heard dimly in the distance.
"Son-in-law..."
"This, no...! How...!"
"It is a shame I will not be able to see the engagement ceremony..."
Instead of a reply, a deluge of natural Qi poured into him. Namgung Jin-cheon shook his head at his son-in-law’s desperate efforts.
"Do not do that... I must move forward now as well..."
"If you want to move forward, you have to fix your body first...!"
"No... My path does not lie here..."
His vision darkened completely. A path even darker than the void stretched deep into the abyss before him.
"Son-in-law..."
"...Yes."
"Be careful... for I have not yet brought this to an end..."
Namgung Jin-cheon chuckled softly and straightened his back. The wind blew, and the phantom sword wailed.
"Of course, I believe you will do well..."
With those final words, Namgung Jin-cheon’s consciousness fell into the abyss.
At the far end of the infinitely deep passage, he saw the figure of a woman waving her hand slightly.
'I am sorry for being so late.'
Namgung Jin-cheon smiled and took a step forward.
The Spirit (神) that had left the flesh headed toward the Underworld.
The greatest star of the Righteous Faction had fallen.
*
[Sinner Namgung Jin-cheon, listen...!]
*
"Father-in-law..."
Seo-jun looked at the flowers blooming in the desert. He saw the unconscious Namgung Yeon, and he saw Namgung Jin-cheon, who had died while standing tall.
Loss.
It was something he had already known, yet had constantly averted his eyes from.
The image of his father’s back as he died from a sword wound overlapped with the back of his father-in-law, standing firm and unmoving even in death.
A fierce ripple rose in his heart. The emotions he had tried so hard to suppress crashed over him without mercy.
The moment he finally faced the emotions he had been evading, Seo-jun’s Spirit (神) crossed the boundary.
"Ugh..."
From the corpse of the Giryeon Sect Leader, a single straw doll crawled out.
"Somehow, I survived."
When Namgung Jin-cheon had noticed the soul transfer, he thought he was surely dead, but in the end, he had survived.
"I’m lucky."
The straw doll shifted its shape, rapidly taking on a human form.
The Giryeon Sect Leader, Hyeok Mun-yak, looked at Namgung Jin-cheon’s body with glowing eyes.
"We meet again."
He turned and spoke to Seo-jun.
"Take that unconscious Namgung brat and go back. If you withdraw quietly, I won’t stop you."
"......."
Seo-jun looked at him with bloodshot eyes.
His domain unfolded silently, blanketing the entire area.