Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Farewell, and Enlightenment (3)
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"......"
When the explanation ended, no one opened their mouth.
I continued regardless.
"I didn't want to relive the past."
I thought that with this new chance, I could just avoid them and never cross paths again.
"Once was enough for memories of the world ending."
Besides, I didn't want to see something wearing my face slaughter the people I cared about.
Sruruk.
As I reached out, the Blood Dew Stone embedded in Sima Baek's body floated lightly into the air.
- Wuuungwuuungwuung.
But it no longer radiated the same eerie glow.
As I extended my hand, it seemed to fearfully dim away, like countless others before it.
"I found the Blood Dew Stone in the desert and tried so hard to avoid it."
Yet it seemed fate for me to get entangled with them in this life too.
I grumbled inwardly and let my shoulders slump.
"......"
Sima Baek, who had listened silently, opened his eyes only after a long while.
"So that's the reason."
Unlike his clear voice, Sima Baek's gaze had lost its focus.
Death had crept one step closer in that time.
Yet Sima Baek continued in his calm tone.
"I've been curious. Why someone who could rule the world would hide away, lowering yourself."
"I just wanted to live peacefully. Paradoxically, the world the Demise Society would create seemed more livable than one I'd destroy as a monster."
But now, I'm not so sure.
"Now that I've become a demon, it might already be too late."
Maybe it's set in stone.
The world's demise.
Sima Baek looked up at my musing.
"Allow this servant to speak."
"...Speak."
"Weeds in the garden grow back in the blink of an eye if neglected."
"The Demise Society isn't weeds."
"They multiply just the same when you look away. But what I'd say is, pulling weeds isn't the master's job."
"If not me, then who?"
"Just command those beneath you."
Don't fight alone.
Just give orders.
That's what Sima Baek was saying.
"It's dangerous."
"Replacing the master's burdens is why we servants exist."
"......"
"To this old man, it seems you're still trapped in your past life."
It would be dangerous and grueling.
Perhaps even fatal.
"But not one of us—not this servant, nor any Shadow Black Wind Envoy—would run from fear."
The worst case? The world ends?
"Don't mind it. If the world is doomed anyway, lead it to ruin yourself."
Just one request.
"On the final day of demise, don't let us die peacefully in our beds."
Let us die on the battlefield.
"Rather than relief in false peace, let our last breaths be amid mountains of corpses, seas of blood."
Thud thud.
Gathering his last strength, Sima Baek slammed his forehead to the ground and choked up.
"This servant will become a ghost if need be and follow you."
Don't just stand still—advance anywhere.
"Follow your heart! Charge ahead freely!"
This old man's final plea.
Thud thud.
At the old retainer’s desperate final plea, I sighed.
'This is why I hated it.'
It seemed my fate to never break the stubborn loyalty of retainers, not to the end—not in a lifetime.
"I'll try."
"Hohohol. That's enough reassurance."
Sima Baek, his face drained of color, smiled purely and turned his unfocused eyes to Sima Yul.
"Yul. I'm sorry I couldn't even look at you till the end."
"...Father."
"I'm sorry. For not being a good father."
Sima Baek's lips moved.
Sending his final words to his child.
Then, his now-cloudy, unfocused eyes turned back to his lord.
"My lord..."
No more life stirred in Sima Baek's voice.
"Be happy, please."
Thud.
Sima Baek's head dropped.
"Father!"
"Waaah—! Elder Sima!"
As Sima Yul and Dan-ya wailed, and I bit my lip.
The First Seat of the Shadow Black Wind Envoys, my first retainer.
The tragic figure who lived loyally through two lives: Sima Baek.
Known to some as Grandmaster Wang-u, he met his end within his lord's gaze.
Dan-ya's sobs ceased only after a long while.
"My lord—."
Dan-ya wiped her eyes with her bandages and flashed red eyes.
"You're really just going to sit still?"
No revenge?
"I just want to live peacefully."
"My lord...."
Disappointed by the answer, Dan-ya's bandages slackened limply.
"Uncle Sima never mentioned revenge till the end."
He only wished for my happiness.
"He told me to run freely, unbound by anything."
"...Even so."
All eyes turned to the one who had died smiling serenely in his seat.
Suddenly, my voice changed.
"But I might need to rethink how I live peacefully."
"......!"
"Thinking about it, I've been too passive."
"Buffeted like a scared dog—how can that be happiness?"
"A man who only runs and dodges is pathetic."
Grind. I gnashed my teeth and asked the cooling Sima Baek.
"You think so too, right, Uncle Sima?"
No answer came.
But at least, I felt I heard agreement from Sima Baek's still-smiling lips.
It was as if I'd finally awakened from a dream.
Whirling around, I bellowed murderous intent.
"Dan-ya!"
"Yes, my lord!"
"You handle Uncle Sima's remains. Until I return, don't let a single hair be touched by any bastard."
"My lord!"
"Yul! Go to Ma Gil-sang and kill the Eight Thousand Apostle. Revenge must be personal, right?"
"...My lord."
Snap!
Sima Yul dropped to one knee and nodded curtly.
"This servant, Sima Yul, receives your command!"
Then what of the lord?
As their gazes met mine, I said,
"I'm going to thrash the apostle hiding away."
Boom!
Before my words finished, amid a puff of dirt, my enraged body shot dozens of feet away.
A sheer cliff overlooking the battlefield.
The Wind Guest, who had watched the fight, clicked his tongue.
"Tch. Failed, huh?"
Amid soaring flames in the distance, the One-Eyed Swordsman plunged his blade into Jeok Mu-kyung's heart.
"Knew it from his reckless rampage."
He'd underestimated the martial world.
Still, it was unexpected.
The utter defeat of Jeok Yeom-dae and Jeok Mu-kyung.
"Lost the Awakening Stone for nothing."
Though a fellow apostle died, the Wind Guest showed no emotion.
"What now."
As he muttered, winds gathered around him.
His ability controlled the wind.
No overwhelming power like Jeok Mu-kyung's, but his wind-riding lightness skill was near sorcery.
"Gonna catch hell from the North Heaven Apostle."
As the grumbling Wind Guest floated up on the breeze.
Chill.
Killing intent raced down his spine; he flipped his body with full power and kicked off the ground.
Slash!
Seeing his pant hem sliced, he couldn't help but be shocked.
'Someone fooled my senses and closed in?'
More shocking was the intruder's identity.
A shabby uniform, sword dangling—a youthful figure with no trace of a master's dignity.
But the Wind Guest trusted instinct over eyes.
It saved his life.
Kwakakakakak!
Dozens of feet in the air, horrific sword strikes poured; he desperately rode winds to evade.
"Slippery as an eel, still."
Such a guy existed?
As he patted his chest and tried to gain more altitude.
Wham!
The youth reached out, and suddenly his limbs froze.
Not due to anything else.
"Th-this aura."
A crushing pressure like the sky collapsing entirely.
Grit. Grit.
How could he not know this youth wielded the force crushing his body through the air?
A master beyond words.
In decades roaming the jianghu, he'd never met such dominance.
Finally, he unleashed max Wind End to shake it off, mustering all his strength like a babe at the breast.
Not easy to escape.
As he swallowed fear under the chilling gaze.
"Wind Guest."
Shockingly, his identity slipped from the foe's mouth.
"You, who deny the Demise Society—why start human sacrifices?"
How did this one know him?
Even the apostles didn't know he despised the Demise Society.
"Don't scheme. I'm in a very bad mood right now."
"...Who are you?"
"Answer. You passed the stone to the Eight Thousand Apostle, right?"
"Y-yes."
Chill.
Amid piercing killing intent, the Wind Guest cried desperately.
"But building the altar and holding sacrifices—that wasn't me!"
"Then who?"
"N-North Heaven Apostle! He gave it to me himself."
"North Heaven Apostle?"
No such guy in memory.
The muttering foe left the Wind Guest dizzy.
How does he know conference secrets?
And deeply—even casual mutters shook his heart terribly.
"...Anyway, if not you, spill who the bastard is."
"The Six Thousand Apostle did it."
"Who the hell is the Six Thousand bastard?!"
Wham!
Under renewed crushing aura on his shoulders, the Wind Guest quickly replied.
"Even if you know, you can't do anything. Not someone one person handles."
"I'll judge that. Just tell me who I need to kill."
Tenacious and arrogant.
Though so thinking, the terrifying skill binding him with mere presence made it natural.
Maybe such a powerhouse could hit the other apostles hard.
Scheming, the Wind Guest spilled the secret readily.
"Don't be shocked. North Heaven's sky, the sixth apostle is..."
"The apostle?"
"The current Blood Cult Leader, Gu Il-so. He's the Six Thousand Apostle."