Chapter 270: Profound Realm (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 270: Profound Realm (2)
Let’s say there are two empires: J (the Righteous Faction) and S (the Evil Sect), each acting as a coalition of various kingdoms.
Currently, J and S have entered a state of lull after a period of fierce warfare.
By no means have they made peace. There is an unbridgeable ideological chasm between J and S.
In such a tense situation, the Grand Master of Kingdom N, which belongs to Empire J, suddenly speaks up:
‘Ah, you know Kingdom B over in Empire S? The king there is a friend of mine, so how about we leave them alone?’
In this scenario, choose the most appropriate reaction from the core figures of each country seated in the same meeting room as the Grand Master of Kingdom N.
* * *
"Oh, is that so? I didn't know that. Then let's leave the Ice Palace out of this."
Those were the Emperor's words.
"Even if the Ice Palace isn't exactly an ally, if they've agreed not to interfere in the war... then I suppose the next best target is the Heaven-Breaking Je Clan."
Those were the words of Hwangbo Ryung, the leader of the Hwangbo Clan.
"No, wait! How can we trust those Ice Palace bastards?! I don't trust anyone from the Black Lotus Union!"
Those were the words of Peng Geuk-jin, the leader of the Hebei Peng Clan.
‘Is there something wrong with my common sense...?’
Jegal Tong felt a profound sense of vertigo at the current situation. Not a single person here was questioning the fact that the Grand Master of the Namgung Clan was close friends with the Master of the North Sea Ice Palace.
Sure, the leader of the Hebei Peng Clan didn't trust the Ice Palace and argued they should strike them first, but that was a separate issue entirely. He didn't seem to have any particular thoughts regarding the fact that the Grand Master of Namgung and the Ice Palace Master were bound by friendship in the first place.
‘What is actually going on?’
Amidst the dizzying collapse of his common sense, Jegal Tong found himself speaking without realizing it.
"E-Excuse me, for a moment..."
His small voice rang out in the noisy meeting room. However, the people gathered here were martial artists of the Transcendent Realm.
There was no way they could miss it. In an instant, the heavy gazes of four Transcendents converged on Jegal Tong.
‘Ah...!’
The moment he felt the weight of those stares, Jegal Tong decided to simply accept his reality.
‘My common sense was the problem!’
Perhaps there wasn't actually that much of a gap between the Righteous and Evil factions after all?
If you really thought about it, it almost made sense. Weren't they just neighbors from the next town over who happened to have slightly different ideologies? It was only natural for neighbors to have the occasional spat when they couldn't see eye to eye.
Forcing a faint smile, Jegal Tong asked, "Then, has the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord received a firm assurance from the Ice Palace Master that they will not involve themselves in the war... or something of that nature?"
"Well, I didn't actually ask."
"Pardon?"
"It's certain that the Ice Palace has no interest in the war. The Palace Master over there has a bit of a cleaning hobby, you see."
"I beg your pardon...?"
"Last time I dropped by for a drink, I helped her clean up, and we ended up promising that she'd come as a guest to my upcoming wedding."
"Pardon?"
While Jegal Tong stood there blankly repeating the same word like a broken record, the Emperor cut in with a smirk.
"Then that's that. Someone who's planning to attend as a wedding guest isn't going to go and jump into a war."
Hwangbo Ryung was the one to pick up the thread.
"But if the Ice Palace Master attends the wedding of the Namgung Clan's Grand Master, won't the Nine Great Sects make a fuss? Those fellows playing at being Taoists probably won't take kindly to it."
The Emperor cackled and pounded the table.
"What are they going to do if they don't like it? And besides, what was it, Ryung-sy?"
"...Don't you start using that ridiculous nickname too, Emperor."
"No, anyway. First of all, the Nine Great Sects aren't 'playing' at being Taoists—they are Taoists."
"So what's your point?"
"Just saying."
Peng Geuk-jin, who had been listening to the conversation while shaking his leg restlessly, slammed the table.
"Enough! So what are we going to do?!"
Jegal Tong felt like he was losing his mind.
Anyone would feel the same if they realized that these people, currently bickering like neighborhood thugs, were the supreme masters of the world. They were undoubtedly great figures, each possessing a weight and presence that defied imagination, and yet...
"Ah, hold on a second."
At that moment, the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord stepped forward.
Jegal Tong felt a flicker of hope. With a desperate look, he watched the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord, harboring a final shred of hope based on common sense that he wouldn't be the only one finding this situation bizarre.
"But why are we suddenly talking about invading the Black Lotus Union?"
"Ah..."
"Hmm?"
"N-no, it's nothing."
Jegal Tong quietly gave up.
* * *
During his visit to the North Sea Ice Palace and his growing friendship with Baek Seol-hyang, Seo-jun had felt a certain nagging doubt.
‘Who is the target of my revenge?’
It wasn't that he had suddenly become skeptical about the concept of revenge itself. He couldn't empathize in the slightest with flowery sayings like "revenge only leaves emptiness" or "forgive rather than avenge."
Completing revenge left one with a refreshed and lightened heart, and someone who forgave their family's murderer was a fool, not a saint.
‘Even so...’
Seo-jun's intent to uproot the Black Lotus Union was for the sake of avenging Namgung Jin-cheon.
However, he had met Baek Seol-hyang. The Master of the North Sea Ice Palace, who held a pillar of the Seven Evil Black Sect.
Was she a target of his revenge?
‘No.’
Seo-jun could say that for certain. Even though he was used to being called a madman, he had absolutely no desire to kill Baek Seol-hyang.
Kill that pitiful woman? Why on earth? She was just a lonely oddball who was suspiciously fond of cleaning.
But it was an undeniable fact that Baek Seol-hyang was a member of the Black Lotus Union, and a high-ranking one at that. So, it was only natural for doubt to arise.
Was it truly right to kill every single person in the Black Lotus Union?
‘The targets of my revenge.’
The direct targets were already all dead. The Giryeon Sect Leader, the head of the Heaven-Breaking Je Clan, the Sword Sect Leader, and the martial arts commander directly under the Black Lotus Union.
Namgung Jin-cheon had killed three of them himself, and Seo-jun had finished off the Giryeon Sect Leader.
Who else was left?
Sama Hyeon, the Chief Strategist of the Black Lotus Union who had devised the plan, the strategists under him who had assisted, and...
‘No.’
The premise was wrong to begin with.
The Black Lotus Union and the Murim Alliance were at war. Direct resentment wasn't necessary to kill an enemy. Simply because failing to kill them might mean losing what was his, he had to kill even total strangers without hesitation.
How much weight does a human life hold?
How can one distinguish between those who must be killed and those who must not?
Can an exact standard for such a thing even exist?
If the standard shifts according to one's subjectivity, does it even have meaning?
Seo-jun's anger had not yet cooled. Whenever he thought of Namgung Jin-cheon, a dizzying rage surged within him. The only saving grace was that the man had reunited with his wife and reached the Celestial Realm.
Because of that, Seo-jun had gained the rationality to think it over once more, and he thought:
‘This is giving me a headache.’
So he simply gave up on thinking and asked.
"But why are we suddenly talking about invading the Black Lotus Union?"
Jegal Tong showed a strange reaction, but Seo-jun ignored him. Instead, he listened to the Emperor's voice as he replied with a smirk.
"Because it looks like fun?"
This time, he looked at Hwangbo Ryung.
"I had no particular intention of invading."
Finally, he looked at Peng Geuk-jin.
"We have to pay them back for what they took from us! Isn't that obvious?!"
Each gave a completely different answer. Yet, there wasn't a single speck of hesitation in their eyes.
They were martial artists of the Transcendent Realm. They were old monsters who had found their own answers over the long years they had lived. Compared to them, the three years Seo-jun had spent living in the Murim were pitifully short.
The absolute value of time. Seo-jun had transcended it, yet he had not completely placed it beneath his feet.
The young martial artist, who had not even lived thirty years, didn't exactly feel... confused about his own path.
"Aha."
He reached a conclusion.
* * *
After the meeting concluded roughly, Seo-jun caught hold of the Emperor.
"Hey."
"Hmm? Oho, this is a surprise. To think you'd seek me out first."
Seo-jun got straight to the point with the smirking Emperor.
"Do you know anything about the Murim Alliance Leader?"
"The Alliance Leader?"
The Emperor's expression became strangely uncomfortable.
Seo-jun's eyebrow twitched at that reaction. It was surprising. To think this guy could make such a face.
"I know a bit. Just a bit."
"Do you know where I can find him?"
"He'd be at the Alliance Leader's Hall, wouldn't he?"
"The Alliance Leader's Hall?"
"Right over there."
The Emperor gestured with his chin.
Inside the vast Murim Alliance, there was one building that was exceptionally massive.
"Wait, that was there?"
Seo-jun stared blankly at the building. He hadn't even noticed it until the Emperor pointed it out.
"It looks like no one's inside?"
When Seo-jun asked, the Emperor shook his head.
"Don't try to sense him with your Qi. The Alliance Leader is... well, you'll see for yourself when you experience it."
The expression on the Emperor's face as he shook his head was profound. It wasn't so much an emotion like fear or awe... but rather as if he were trying to explain something utterly incomprehensible.
"Just what kind of person is he?"
"A person?"
The Emperor let out a short laugh.
"I don't know about anything else, but keep one thing in mind. The Alliance Leader isn't human. Well, you and I have drifted a few steps away from being human ourselves, but..."
The Emperor's pale golden eyes took on a serious air. Those eyes looked straight at Seo-jun. With a strangely stiff expression, the Emperor continued.
"That thing is a literal god."
* * *
Since the response to the Black Lotus Union had been decided to some extent in the meeting, the four Transcendents scattered to go about their own business. They planned to gather again once a specific date was set in the future.
‘Four Transcendents invading the Black Lotus Union...’
Just hearing it was dizzying.
Of course, they wouldn't go anywhere near the Black Lotus Union's headquarters where the Union Leader was said to be, but just imagine four Transcendents suddenly charging at the Namgung Clan. Even if they somehow managed to fend them off, the Namgung Clan would undoubtedly be turned into a shambles.
Naturally, if they weren't careful, those four Transcendents could end up dying in vain, so they would be cautious on their end as well...
But with the Black Lotus Union already faltering, the arrival of four Transcendents from the Righteous Faction could only be described as a catastrophe.
‘They're going to have a rough time.’
Of course, it was no concern of Seo-jun's. He clicked his tongue and looked up at the building before him.
The Alliance Leader's Hall.
The Alliance Leader might be here, or he might not. It sounded like a Zen riddle, but there was no other way to put it.
A literal Schrödinger's Alliance Leader.
Right now, Seo-jun's Qi sensing told him that nothing existed in that place. It wasn't an unnatural void, but rather the sheer presence of an empty building.
Seo-jun trusted his Qi sensing more than his five senses. His Qi sensing saw more than his eyes and heard more than his ears. However, the Emperor had told him not to try and perceive the Alliance Leader through Qi sensing...
‘Is he just a weakling?’
Seo-jun scratched his chin and knocked on the main gate of the Alliance Leader's Hall.
"Is anyone there?"
There was no particular response. He reached out and pushed the door. Creeeak— the door swung open as if it hadn't even been locked.
Seo-jun entered the Hall and headed toward the single building situated inside.
As he stepped through the threshold, a mysterious sensation brushed against his entire body. He maintained a moderate level of tension as he wandered through the building. Long corridors intertwined like a maze. He was moving forward, turning at a fork in the road based purely on intuition, when it happened.
‘Hmm.’
A strange sensation. When he realized it, the main gate of the Alliance Leader's Hall was right back in front of his eyes.
He had clearly been wandering deep inside the building. His position had shifted, like a sudden cut in a film reel. No, perhaps it was space itself that had shifted.
‘It's not an illusion or a formation.’
Whether it was a god or whatever, if it was a technique using Qi, there was no way Seo-jun wouldn't have noticed.
Just then—
— I sense the presence of Divine Blood.
The sentence embedded itself directly into his mind. It wasn't a voice. At some point, that sentence simply surfaced in Seo-jun's consciousness.
Seo-jun made a strange face.
"What do you mean by that?"
— When the concentration of blood becomes too thick, the boundary between the Mortal Realm and the Celestial Realm is bound to be disrupted.
Seo-jun looked at the Hall in silence. His eyebrows twitched.
As he stood there silently for a long time, he felt a sensation as if something were peering deep into him.
— How peculiar. Despite being human, the presence of your soul is faint. Is it Qi that composes your physical body?
With a dizzying sensation, Seo-jun's vision shifted entirely. Before he knew it, he was standing inside a massive room.
The surroundings were pitch dark. A Transcendent's vision pierced through the darkness easily enough—it was an empty room. And yet, there was a place where something felt distinctly out of place.
Seo-jun tilted his head.
"More importantly, what are you saying you'll do about the Divine Blood?"
— If possible, I must remove it.
The sentence was engraved in his mind. There was no room for misunderstanding. This was not speech. It was the direct transmission of will. The Alliance Leader conveyed his intent, and it was Seo-jun himself who formed the sentence in his own mind.
"Well, now."
Seo-jun raised his hand. Above his palm, a massive wave of Qi surged violently into existence.
"Are you out of your mind? You've got no damn manners."