Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Filling the Heart (5)
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Why did he start singing?
"Oa oa."
He didn't know.
When he came to his senses, thinking everything was over, it was flowing from his throat like a sigh.
A terribly parched and cracked voice.
It was the wail of a man who had struggled desperately through a lifetime.
"Why is my life nothing but muck?"
The cry resembled the lament of an old man crushed by the years, a farmer's dirge, a breadwinner's howl.
Life is suffering.
Ya Hul-cheok felt this truth more deeply than anyone.
The world he had realized as his head was about to split open had been endlessly cruel.
"They say the earth hardens after rain, so why does my life stay nothing but mud?"
There had been times when he clutched his starving belly and clung to hope.
"I prepared the seeds waiting for the ground to harden, so why does the rain keep falling without end?"
He should have abandoned hope long ago.
He should never have anticipated warm days or sunrises.
'Why did I harbor such foolish hope and invite disappointment?'
"Even whimpering in agony before the winter winds..."
Yet he was always the one abandoned by the harsh world.
"No one in the world understands my pain."
What difference was there between surviving alone and struggling on?
"Beneath the lonely moon spat forth by the mountains..."
"Unable to hold back the yesterday that abandoned me from slipping away..."
"Filling today once more with sorrow and worry."
The Hao Gate's entrance song.
The moment he uttered the poignant final notes, Ya Hul-cheok realized the truth he had desperately ignored.
'Was I still harboring hope?'
What vaguely surfaced in his mind was the figure of a man pressing down a black bamboo hat.
'Did I pin a sliver of hope on that vain dream of founding a sect for just the two of us?'
A snicker escaped him.
Laughter leaked out.
'Me, who thought myself more heartless than anyone, clinging to hope.'
No expectations meant no disappointment.
No hope meant no despair.
'I thought constant disappointment and despair had made me accustomed to giving up.'
That was why he had strictly observed favors and grudges.
Repay kindness twofold.
Repay enmity tenfold.
It was his own effort to depart the world unburdened at any moment.
'And yet.'
Why had he harbored hope again?
One memory came to mind.
- Great men like that don't need lifting when they weep and despair—they sing songs of hope on their own.
'Forgive me, Dark Venerable.'
I'm not the sort who can sing songs of hope.
"No one in the world understands my pain..."
But he would pour out his song to the very end.
Even if it was a mournful elegy.
'This is the only way I can repay the debt I owe you.'
But the song soon halted.
"Shut your trap!"
Thwack!
"Guh!"
The impact to his head made him bite his tongue hard.
"Cough. Cough."
In his blurring vision, bloody spittle trailed long from his mouth, soaking the floor.
Strength drained from his bound limbs once more, and his mind grew faint.
'What a pathetic state.'
"Still got the breath to yap?"
"Cough. Cough."
As he vomited blood, a rough hand seized his hair.
"Die quietly."
"...Cough."
"Wriggle and die like the worm you are."
No anger stirred at the mockery ringing in his ears.
'Couldn't even be the pillar of the sect—now can't even finish a song.'
Sorry, Dark Venerable.
As he silently felt his strength ebbing and prepared to surrender,
beyond the crowd of fearful gazes,
a youthful voice began drifting in plaintively from somewhere.
"Oa oa, don't hide and whimper from the winter winds."
Who was it?
"Better to lie in the mud, gaze at the heavens, and laugh."
'A familiar voice...'
"You said no one in the world understands your pain?"
'It's the smithy's boy.'
"Then beneath the moon spat by the mountains, just the two of us—let's improvise a duet."
The boy muttered on without pause, his voice thick with fear.
"Don't despair. Born alone, but aren't you clad in a rag?"
As murmurs rippled through the crowd, the Green Nether Sect disciples and Thousand Swordsmen began bellowing.
"Shut it! Can't you be quiet?"
"Drag him out!"
"Waaah! Oppa!"
A girl clung wailing to the boy as he was hauled out roughly, only to tumble from brutal hands.
"Gwan-a!"
A nearby one-armed elder rose, only to crumple from a Thousand Swordsman's kick.
'So it was the boy who helped me after all.'
The pale-faced child dragged out by the hair was the very one he had been seeking.
Something hot suddenly surged in his chest.
"The heretic singer—cut out his tongue and gouge his ears!"
"Yes!"
The boy was forced to his knees, a razor-sharp blade hovering over his neck.
Yet the boy did not stop singing.
"The ten thousand li road must be lonely."
"Shut your hole!"
"But solitude isn't always suffering."
Beyond the Green Nether disciples raising their swords, the melody continued.
"Because solitude leaves the door ajar, awaiting guests."
"Stop! I said stop!"
"Who's still singing?!"
The Thousand Swordsmen drew blades and shoved through the crowd, roaring, but the song spread like a plague.
"Lonely ones, fling open your gates."
Sometimes from an aged fabric shop clerk.
"And prepare a cup for the weary traveler."
Sometimes from a streetwalker rolling in the dirt.
"Wh-what the hell?"
"When thunder and gales lash the bamboo grove all night."
"The lonely wanderer will hear your cry first."
"The lonely wanderer will seek you out first."
Ere long, the song was no mere hum but a mighty chorus.
"The lonely wanderer will seek you out first."
"Heh heh heh."
Seeing the flustered Thousand and Hundred Swordsmen, Ya Hul-cheok couldn't help but chuckle.
"So this is what it meant?"
The original Hao Gate entrance song had no such verses.
Only the mingled laments of the lowly.
But the boy and the people had woven in lines that transformed the dirge of despair into a hymn of hope.
'Never knew a mere song could move hearts.'
Just a few added phrases, and the mood had shifted.
'What is it you desire, Dark Venerable?'
Now he simply wanted to witness it.
A sect for just the two of them.
As if in answer to his thoughts,
"The lonely wanderer will hear your cry first."
the final muttered refrain, chanted like a mantra,
"The Dark Venerable will seek you out first."
"The Dark Venerable will seek you out first."
"The Dark Venerable will seek you out first."
shook the hall like a colossal prayer piercing the heavens.
It was then.
"Heh heh. Were you calling for me?"
As though summoned by the collective wish.
The Dark Venerable appeared atop the pavilion overlooking the hall.
At the sight of the unscathed Dark Venerable, Deputy Gate Lord An Jin-baek shot glares at the Hao Gate disciples.
"You said you fed him Gentlemen Powder... Far from losing his qi, he's bursting with vigor."
Jo Hyu stepped forward, blocking the trembling Hao Gate disciples.
"It's fine, Deputy Lord. Things are proceeding exactly as we planned."
It was true.
His brazen arrival on foot was unexpected, but it presented the perfect chance to kill him.
"We even have the hostages in hand. We can shatter his momentum."
The Reckless Dragon Sword Gwan Ak, veins bulging at his neck, strode forward.
"You bastard! Dark Venerable!"
He pointed at the Dark Venerable leaping down from the roof.
"I don't know what possessed you to come here, but you'd best halt."
"And who might you be?"
"The Blood Dragon guarding the Twin Dragons. I am the Reckless Dragon Sword Gwan Ak!"
"First Yi Mu-gi, now a baby serpent."
Gwan Ak bellowed again, eyes blazing murder.
"I'll grant you a chance. Surrender, and I'll spare your life."
"Heh heh. You think I'd believe that?"
"Refusing the cup of mercy for the cup of poison? Not a bad choice."
At his gesture, the Thousand Swordsmen and Hundred Swordsmen smartly leveled their blades beneath the hostages' necks.
"Eek!"
"P-please, spare me!"
Hearing the wails erupt everywhere, Gwan Ak inwardly cheered.
"Refuse to surrender, and I'll make examples of them one by one."
"Hostages?"
"One false move, and they all die."
As he menacingly raised a finger, the blades at their throats snapped to perpendicular, slicing into flesh.
"Ughhh!"
"Hic... sob..."
Gwan Ak sneered at the intensified wailing.
"Last chance. No thought of surrendering?"
"......"
In truth, Gwan Ak hadn't expected the Dark Venerable to yield.
Facing him directly felt profoundly ominous.
The black hat obscured his face, but his very presence screamed danger.
'Disrupt his poise.'
In clashes between masters, composure decided victory or defeat.
'If people die because of him, even he'll falter.'
But the response was utterly unforeseen.
"Heh heh. Why should I care if these die?"
"...What? But surely you..."
Aren't a good man?
He had been certain upon hearing the rumors: saving people, liberating Fujian Province from the Twin Dragons.
Yet the Dark Venerable's tone dripped utter indifference.
"Well, people dying because of me might make for uneasy sleep."
"Haha. As expected, a righteous..."
"So as recompense for my discomfort, allow me a proposal."
"......"
Ignoring the hostages entirely, the Dark Venerable strode straight for the dais.
"Some faces among them are familiar. Fitting to avenge them and call it even, no?"
'Avenge...?'
"For every one you kill, I'll kill three of yours. Ah, I'm magnanimous like that."
It sounded like a jest, but there was no hesitation in his steps.
"Just so you know, I'm quite gifted at killing. Faster and surer than anyone—I promise."
"You... bluffing fiend..."
As he moved to gesture for an example killing,
Pfft. Pfft pfft.
"Gahk!"
"Guk!"
"Uhk!"
A red mist flickered, and sword qi from the Dark Venerable toppled three Green Nether disciples.
'Incredible technique.'
The moment crimson sword qi danced, the heads of three dazed disciples flew.
'He might be an even greater master than anticipated.'
Before he could steel himself against this novel foe, the Dark Venerable's voice rang out again.
"What? Still not begun? My apologies—I'm rather hasty."
"...You..."
"I've killed three. Hurry and kill one."
What manner of lunatic was this?
Gwan Ak couldn't shake the sense that the situation was veering disastrously off course.
"Deputy Lord. Lingering like this will only play into his hands."
"What do you propose?"
He tried to withdraw and regroup, but the Dark Venerable allowed no such opening.
"Think I can't see through your..."
Before the words landed, the Dark Venerable had launched himself airborne.
He bounded lightly and swiftly over the shoulders of the kneeling hostages, then swung wildly at the nearby Green Nether disciples.
"Kyaaak!"
"Kehok!"
This time, eleven Green Nether warriors collapsed, spraying blood.
"Fourteen? Damn. Counting's a hassle."
He grumbled in a low, heavy mutter.
"Since it's come to this, we'll settle later. I'll kill your lot first—keep count, then kill hostages."
With that, he plunged into the Green Nether disciples without restraint.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter.
"Forty-one! Forty-seven!"
As a corner of the Green Nether Sect crumbled, An Jin-baek shrieked from the dais like a banshee.
"Kill him!"