Chapter 266: Talent (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 266: Talent (4)
Lately, an unprecedented number of Transcendent Realm masters had died.
A substantial number of them had been killed directly by the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord, Lee Seo-jun.
The list was staggering: Corpse-Blood Filling Heaven, the Giryeon Sect Leader Hyeok Mun-yak, the former Sword Sect Leader Geom-hyeon, and the God-Destroying Association’s Baek Yun, Neung Wol, and Geom-gwang.
Six Transcendent Realm masters had met their end at the hands of a single man.
It was entirely unprecedented. Even in the long, blood-soaked history of the Murim, it was rare for so many masters of that caliber to perish in a single era, let alone by one person's blade.
Furthermore, the blood on Lee Seo-jun’s hands didn't stop there.
If one counted the countless martial artists of the Black Lotus Union and the various enemies he had slaughtered across the Central Plains, his body count would easily reach five digits.
He was the very definition of a deranged serial killer. Had he racked up such a slaughterous record back on Earth, his name would have been permanently etched into the history books.
Of course, things weren't much different here in the Central Plains. The title of "Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord" was already infamous.
His martial fame had spread across every faction—Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic alike. The martial artists of the Black Lotus Union trembled at the mere mention of the word "Evil" in his title.
Right now, that ruthless serial killer, Lee Seo-jun, found himself deep in thought.
‘Is the concept of "killing karma" actually real?’
If it were, then every single martial artist in the world would surely plummet straight to hell upon death.
However, he remembered the stories of the Underworld he had heard from his fiancée, Namgung Su-ah.
When Yama, the god of the Underworld, judged the world’s strongest man, Namgung Jin-cheon, and his wife, Yeon So-hee, he hadn't even mentioned their acts of killing.
If such a concept truly existed—whether it was called killing karma, karma, or retribution—that omission would have been impossible.
One might ask:
‘Perhaps he didn't mention it because they had committed sins even graver than murder?’
It wasn't a very convincing argument, but let’s assume it was true for a moment.
Then, another question reared its head.
‘How much does a human life weigh?’
Was there a difference in weight between the life of a human and that of a beast? If so, why?
The modern idea of "inalienable human rights" was nonsense here. Heaven had never bestowed such rights upon mankind.
Ultimately, if there was a difference between the lives of humans and beasts, it had to be due to a difference in their "level." Otherwise, there was no reason for the weight of their lives to differ.
Though it was nothing more than human-centric thinking, considering that humans dominated the Central Plains, one could argue that humans existed on a higher level than other life forms. That would align with the logic of those who claimed human life was incomparably heavy.
But then, another question arose.
As a human practiced martial arts, the level of their soul gradually rose.
They reached the pinnacle of the Super Peak Realm, broke through to the Transcendent Realm, and shed their mortality to become superhumans.
In that case—was a Transcendent Realm master killing an ordinary person really any different from a human slaughtering livestock?
* * *
Seo-jun watched blankly as Chun-bong trained Bi-yeon.
Lately, his daily routine had been rather simple.
He had intended to hunt down the bastards of the God-Destroying Association. However, they must have realized that Baek Yun, Neung Wol, and Geom-gwang had been taken out, because no one answered when he tried to contact them through the crystal ball.
In the end, all he had left to do was watch Chun-bong and Bi-yeon’s chaotic training sessions, spend time eating and relaxing with his two fiancées, and ponder blankly about his Inner Demon…
That was pretty much it.
Right now, he was in the middle of "pondering blankly about his Inner Demon."
The topic Seo-jun was obsessed with lately was talent. His thoughts on the weight of human life and the level of the soul were merely an extension of that.
Could the level of a human be categorized by talent? Or was the level of the soul one had already achieved the only valid standard?
In the first place, if karma was something determined by the Heavens, why would this so-called "Heaven" consider humans special?
“And?”
At Namgung Su-ah’s prompt, Seo-jun shrugged.
“Well… maybe there’s no such thing as killing karma? Killing is just killing. If there’s anything even close to it, it’s probably just a curse from a dead soul.”
“Hmm… So you’re saying you don’t think your current Inner Demon is related to killing karma?”
“Yeah. I’m starting to think it’s something I’ve had since the moment I was born.”
He had tried to find himself by contemplating his own flaws, engaging in deep reflection in the hopes that discovering the root of his Inner Demon would lead to a solution.
The result: absolutely nothing.
The Inner Demon hadn't particularly worsened, but it hadn't improved either.
So, Seo-jun simply gave up.
“Huh? You’re giving up?”
Namgung Su-ah looked flustered, but Seo-jun remained nonchalant.
“Yeah. Can’t I just get used to it?”
For starters, not using the power of Primordial Unity wasn't an option.
It wasn't for any grand reason; he just found the whole situation annoying.
‘Who does it think it is, interfering when I’m trying to use my own power?’
Seo-jun looked at the long-bodied thing coiled at the root of his mental imagery. Perhaps because it had recently been beaten up by Giant Chun-bong and Namgung Su-ah, it had calmed down a bit. At the very least, he no longer vomited blood just from making eye contact with it.
‘Just you wait.’
Seo-jun clicked his tongue and rolled the energy of Primordial Unity around in his palm. Namgung Su-ah watched him with concern, but Seo-jun remained perfectly calm.
He pondered Primordial Unity once more.
Wuji and Primordial Unity. The more he contemplated the two concepts, the more he felt that distinguishing between them was meaningless.
Wuji was the unstarted void and infinite possibility, while Primordial Unity was the primordial state where all things were mixed into one.
Primordial Unity, the cradle of all things, encompassed Wuji.
Did that mean Primordial Unity was a higher concept than Wuji?
To say so would ignore the fact that Wuji could also become Primordial Unity. Wuji was what held that very possibility.
In the end, they were just different names based on existence and non-existence—being and non-being.
If so, then all things in the world, and perhaps even everyone around him…
“Ugh…!”
After coughing up a refreshing spray of blood, Seo-jun patted his chest.
“Phew, I think I’m actually getting used to this after doing it a few times.”
“Are you sure that’s something you should be getting used to…?”
A horrified Namgung Su-ah wiped the blood from Seo-jun’s lips.
“It’s fine. I won’t die.”
“Are you really okay?”
“Well, probably?”
Seo-jun gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, then hopped up and headed toward Chun-bong. Namgung Su-ah followed him with a deep sigh.
“Oh, welcome, brother.”
Chun-bong greeted Seo-jun with a bright smile. Bi-yeon’s expression wasn't dark, either.
“What’s up? Did you make some progress?” Seo-jun asked.
Chun-bong nodded.
“Yep. I think we’ve moved forward by about a hundredth of an ant’s eyelash.”
“Chun-bong, dear… We don’t call that 'moving forward.'”
“Why not? Progress is progress,” Chun-bong asserted, her face beaming.
“At this rate, I think it’ll take about sixty years?”
“To reach the Peak Realm?”
“No? To reach First-rate.”
“Ah.”
Looking closer, Chun-bong's face wasn't bright; she had simply reached a state of nirvana. And Bi-yeon’s expression wasn't "not dark"; she had simply gone hollow…
‘Sixty years to reach First-rate.’
By then, there was a high chance that revenge—or anything else, for that matter—would be meaningless. The targets of her revenge had to actually be alive for it to matter, after all.
Unorthodox martial artists usually had short lifespans, so after that much time, their bodies would likely already be rotting in the dirt.
The only alternative was to discover some unknown talent Bi-yeon might possess and have her learn a corresponding martial art. But since Bi-yeon herself stubbornly insisted on learning the martial arts of the Yangrok Sect, that path was firmly closed.
Because of that, they were currently trying to master the basics of the sword. However, both Chun-bong and Bi-yeon knew this was a dead end.
“Right?”
“Yes…”
Chun-bong pouted. She held a certain pride as a teacher, having "raised" Lee Seo-jun in her own way.
However, over the past few days, reality had set in.
In truth, Lee Seo-jun would have done just fine even without a teacher…
“Hmph…”
“Wait.”
Chun-bong’s whining struck Seo-jun's mind like a thunderous shock.
His brilliant, white-hot insight gathered his fragmented inspirations, presenting a perfect solution centered on the very dilemma he had been pondering.
In the end, Seo-jun the Miracle Worker performed his usual stunt, spouting absolute nonsense to the dejected Chun-bong.
“If she doesn't have talent, we can just make it.”
“…What?”
* * *
Seo-jun said: If there is no talent, make it.
Chun-bong said:
“Don’t talk nonsense, you brat!”
Chun-bong, having completely lost her mind, shrieked at him. But Seo-jun was dead serious.
“What is talent?”
“It’s the conditions you’re born with.”
“Exactly. If her frame is small, we can grow it. If her limbs are short, we can stretch them.”
No matter how she looked at it, it sounded like pure nonsense, but Chun-bong played along for now.
“Then what about her insight? It’s not like she’s struggling just because of her arms or legs right now.”
“If her insight is lacking, we can just replace it with something else.”
The teachings of the Yellow Cloud Divine Art were based on the principle that Wuji is Taiji. Wuji was the sea, and Taiji was the wave. Even if waves rose in the sea, the fundamental essence of the sea did not change.
Wuji was, in essence, Nothingness.
Bi-yeon’s body, which was like a completely blank sheet of paper, could be considered Wuji itself.
“…I don’t think that’s how it works.”
Ignoring Chun-bong’s voice, Seo-jun pointed at Bi-yeon.
“Hey, kid. What do you think can replace talent?”
Bi-yeon’s eyes darted around before she managed to answer.
“Is it… effort?”
“It’s a cliché, but yes.”
Ultimately, Bi-yeon could reach the First-rate level if she put in the effort for sixty years.
But sixty years was by no means a short time.
Why should Bi-yeon have to walk for sixty years on a path that took others one year (though that was a bit of an outlier), ten years, or twenty years?
It was because she lacked the natural talent to lead her toward the correct path, the insight to grasp techniques and make them her own, and a body strong enough to simply overpower the technicalities of swordplay.
Looking at it this way, it seemed she had absolutely nothing.
Regardless, Seo-jun could give Bi-yeon something to replace that thing called insight.
“And what you need to do is replace talent with effort.”
Effort to replace talent. And something else to replace insight.
When those two things achieved harmony, Bi-yeon would finally be able to stand on the same starting line as everyone else.
Feeling Seo-jun’s intense gaze fixed on her, Bi-yeon asked instinctively. It wasn't that she expected a specific answer, but rather that she spoke out of unresolved anxiety.
“Um, is there a reason you’re going this far for me…? I have nothing to give you in return…”
At those words, Seo-jun smirked.
“A reason to go this far for you? Of course there isn't.”
Bi-yeon’s face flushed with confusion.
“Th-then why…”
“Because Chun-bong wants it.”
“Pardon…?”
“So, be good to Chun-bong.”
Seo-jun roughly ruffled Bi-yeon’s hair.
“If you make Chun-bong cry, you’re dead.”
Bi-yeon’s body froze stiff.