Talks Too Much
Among the Three Teachings that have spread far and wide across the Central Plains, Buddhism holds the precept against killing as its foremost commandment, forbidding the taking of life with the strictest severity.
This stems from the belief that good and evil deeds return as corresponding retribution, and that one may fall into hell as a result.
Yet even such Buddhists sometimes steel themselves to break their vows and commit the sin of killing.
When the sinner before them is about to commit a greater crime, they choose to stop him out of a righteous heart—even if it means they themselves will fall into hell.
This was the logic of expedient violation spoken of in the Mahayana Bodhisattva Precepts: holding the precept while allowing exceptions when necessary.
It was the same reason the monk-soldiers of old Joseon discarded their vows and took lives out of compassion, to stop the enemy's slaughter, and yet were never branded as fallen monks.
I laid this logic before Hwang Geolgae, spinning out every exhaustive reason why I had had no choice but to kill.
"This bastard's spouting more of his bullshit again."
Of course it didn't go over well. This old man had a fundamental tendency to treat every word out of my mouth as pure nonsense.
No matter how justified, no matter how plausible the grounds, he swung his fists first and asked questions later.
He reminded me of a certain orphanage director who always scolded first and looked into things second.
"All that long-winded sophistry, and it still comes down to you stabbing people—and even cutting throats—with the sword techniques I taught you, doesn't it?"
His blunt words felt like they were driving a spike straight into my chest.
"...Well, if you only look at the results, yeah."
But this killing hadn't been for myself alone. I had risked my life like a discarded straw, stalling for time to save everyone, and it had been an unavoidable occurrence.
There was a tiny bit of intentionality mixed in at the end, when the guy tried to expose my identity—but fundamentally it had been a devotion that sprang from a good heart.
"Long ago, when the court was in turmoil, the Thirteen Staff Monks of Shaolin broke the precept against killing at the Son of Heaven's request and suppressed rebellions across the land—that's how Shaolin Temple stands as it does today, isn't it? There are always situations in this world where you have no choice."
So I too had been forced to kill people to save my comrades. It absolutely was not the nature of my Heavenly Killing Star coming out.
I explained as much to Hwang Geolgae, who was staring at me with a sullen, fixed look.
"Anyway, that mouth of yours never stops... There's no way a punk like you would know such lofty discourse. Who told you?"
When plausible words poured from my mouth, Hwang Geolgae snorted and asked for the source of the information.
Truth was, I hadn't originally known any of this. On the way here, Ilhong had whispered it to me after hearing my situation, telling me to take a few less beatings.
"I knew it. That Ilhong brat taught you, didn't he?"
"...No, he didn't."
This guy's instincts really were sharp. The downside was that they only kicked in when he was doubting or scolding me.
"But you little shit, no matter how you dress it up, it still means you deliberately killed people, doesn't it? And with that stick of yours, you killed a few more Ming Cult bastards too, I hear?"
Hwang Geolgae tapped my black staff—which had clearly used the Dog Beating Staff Technique—with a tok and asked what the deal was.
"It's not a stick. It's the Hell Horse-Slaying Staff."
Thwack!
The base of his gourd flask slammed into my forehead for that flimsy excuse.
I'd thought I was used to it by now, but he must have put some internal energy into it, because tears pricked at the corners of both eyes.
"And this is the Hell Gourd Flask. Answer me before you get hit some more."
Hwang Geolgae's expression said not to talk nonsense.
"...Before that, let me ask a question of my own. I haven't properly explained what happened there yet. How do you know all the details?"
I'd deliberately avoided mentioning it, but Master seemed to know my every move from the Ming Cult.
I'd originally planned to use his ignorance of what had happened there to spin the most advantageous explanation possible.
"Jo Harang. That kid's completely different from you—very honest. Doesn't even lie to her master."
What? At this unbelievable news I whipped around toward Jo Harang, who was training by vigorously swinging her greatsword.
She flinched and quietly averted her purple eyes from me.
"S-sorry. I was just bragging about how amazing you were there and..."
Apparently she'd been going on about how heroic and chivalrous I'd been in that cave, only to get completely played by Hwang Geolgae's leading questions.
"So, you little shit."
He gulped down wine from his gourd flask, then cast a thin qi membrane around us.
With a grave expression, Hwang Geolgae continued his questions.
"Are you really fine? After killing people like that?"
It was a question he didn't ask of the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden or the Purple Micro Star, who had cut down countless villains—but he threw it at me.
"It was self-defense. An unavoidable choice to save everyone."
Even at my answer, he narrowed his eyes.
"Hmph. Dress it up however you like, you still sliced through flesh and ended a life, didn't you?"
"...You could put it that way."
When I tried to flee from guilt, Hwang Geolgae immediately grabbed hold and blocked my escape.
"And yet nothing's changed? No killing intent surging up, no craving for blood rising?"
He kept probing whether the Heavenly Killing Star rooted in my soul had awakened from the killing, whether its energy was heading toward a rampage.
"The influence of the baleful star did grow a little stronger... but I suppressed it by accumulating corresponding good deeds."
To buy time and save everyone, I had chosen to face a Transcendent Realm master alone in that cave.
It was a self-sacrificing act completely at odds with my usual personality. So of course the baleful star had been cowed.
"Hmm. You're saying there was truly no effect at all? That the Heavenly Killing Star killed people and showed no symptoms whatsoever?"
Even when I thumped my chest with confidence that there was no problem, his eyes remained half-lidded.
He clearly still half-believed, half-doubted me inside.
"Yes. I believe it's thanks to Master's teachings to accumulate good deeds, the peerless divine art, and the efficacy of the Seongun Simbeop."
I watched his expression carefully and explained as if nothing were wrong.
Of course, claiming there had been no aftermath at all was one of the lies I'd been telling for a while now.
'Not even a twitch of the eyebrow while lying. This one's rotten to the core. Tsk tsk.'
"..."
Pomegranate-red lips muttered mockingly right beside me.
A hand had formed, and connected to it an arm and shoulder, a long white neck and slender chin, and there the hazy outline of a woman's lips.
'Trying to cover a small lie, and now the lies chase each other's tails. Foolish thing.'
"..."
It had been much easier to deal with when she just scrawled red letters.
And back then, my relationship with Hwang Geolgae hadn't been that good, so there was no guarantee he wouldn't take my head off.
It had been a desperate measure to survive, okay?
'Always ignoring this lady's words, living high on your own greatness. Looking real good now.'
What I had ignored or suppressed with the Seongun Simbeop until now had finally found its voice and was grating on my nerves in real time.
As if determined to pour out all the resentment of her long oppression, she kept at it all damn day.
And she kept getting on my case for ignoring her words—so what, was I supposed to take her suggestion and kill people?
'In the Ming Cult, across the whole world. No one ever dared ignore this lady's words.'
She had once been a Holy Maiden exalted by the Ming Cult, and once one of the strongest who had contended with the entire realm.
So of course being dismissed like a shadow or an invisible person was a first for her.
'But that time of humiliation is over. This lady shall watch your fall from right beside you.'
I'd imagined something mystical when I heard she was a former Holy Maiden of the Ming Cult.
But the previous Heavenly Killing Star, now with a voice, turned out to have a fouler personality than expected—and above all, she talked way too much.
When she was just scribbling red letters, I could simply close my eyes. But this sank straight into my ears and rattled around in my skull whether I sat still or not. There was no way to dodge or ignore it.
It felt like endless nagging. She'd been chattering noisily the whole way back to Beijing, and by now I was on the verge of losing my mind.
'Hmph. Closing your eyes to ignore this lady again? But unlike writing, a voice shakes your head through your ears. Your ignoring won't work any—'
"Aargh, shut the fuck up already!"
I finally couldn't take it and roared at her to shut up.
But Salsung's form was visible only to me, and her voice was audible only to me, the host of the Heavenly Killing Star.
"You crazy bastard—have you truly lost it?"
Hwang Geolgae, who had been mid-lecture right across from me, couldn't help but go wide-eyed.
A face full of disbelief, exasperation, and peak absurdity.
It had all been advice for my own good, and now I'd suddenly yelled at him to shut up. His expression flushed redder and redder with rising anger.
"...Master, it's all a misunderstanding."
I immediately waved both hands, desperately trying to clear it up.
I'd been disrespectful plenty of times before, but telling my master to shut up in front of everyone was crossing a line.
"Go on then. What misunderstanding?"
He pulled out not a knuckle-rap or the gourd flask, but the real deal—the Dog Beating Staff, a sacred treasure of the Beggar Sect.
His mouth offered a chance to explain, but his face already looked ready to half-kill me.
But thinking about it, to clear up the misunderstanding I'd have to reveal Salsung's existence, which I'd been hiding all this time, wouldn't I?
Then the fact that I'd been lying for so long would also come out.
Only then did I realize my situation.
"Oh... I'm fucked."
I'd fallen into a dilemma with no way out.
'Pfft...'
Someone's giggling voice. Obviously Salsung.
She was definitely laughing, shoulders shaking with schadenfreude, her hazy form trembling.
"You little shit, I said speak. Why's that mouth of yours still shut?"
Hwang Geolgae asked with a murderous face, thumping the Dog Beating Staff against his shoulder.
That expression and presence already belonged to a back-alley boss who'd just confirmed a traitor.
"Looks like you've got nothing to say. As I thought—the influence of the killing has driven you into madness."
When I couldn't say anything, he reached his own conclusion and strode toward me one step at a time.
His presence was so ferocious that I instinctively backed up two steps and shouted for him to stop.
"But don't worry. This old man will kindly calm that madness for you."
"...No violence! Let's have a civilized conversation between intelligent people!"
I demanded he recover his reason, but Hwang Geolgae merely grinned as if to say he was being perfectly rational right now.
"This isn't violence, you idiot."
"Then what is it...?"
Brilliant staff qi rippled and bloomed along Hwang Geolgae's Dog Beating Staff.
"Martial arts training—!"
Taat!
The enraged Dragon Head Sect Leader of the Beggar Sect shot toward me at lightning speed.
Some time later.
As evening fell and the "martial arts training" that had started that morning finally ended, I stopped by the merchant group to report the results from Shaanxi, and while I was there I made my way to the office where my sworn older sister would be working.
"Oh my, Mujin. You've already been to see Old Master Hwang, I see?"
The moment I opened the door, my sworn sister looked up from the documents she was reviewing and spoke to me, taking in my rag-like, tattered appearance.
"Yes... You can tell at a glance..."
She didn't even bother asking in surprise what had happened anymore.
She tapped the corner of her mouth with the tip of her fan and smirked.
"Would you take care of this for me?"
I carefully took out a piece of paper issued by the Eunseong Merchant Group branch in Shaanxi.
It was a voucher converting all the gold and silver pieces I'd received in Shaanxi into a bill of exchange.
Shaanxi and Beijing were a long way apart, so hauling around heavy chests that risked robbery was out of the question.
"Wow, little brother. Your earnings are no joke..."
Her eyes widened at a voucher amount that somewhat exceeded expectations.
Eun Hwaran then whipped her gaze toward me.
"What on earth happened out there?"
What happened, huh.
"A whole lot of things..."
The Ming Cult affair was still a secret limited to influential figures of the Orthodox Murim.
No need to stir up anxiety in advance about a possible war.
"What do you plan to do with this much money you've saved up?"
Eun Hwaran asked curiously after checking the savings I'd entrusted to the Eunseong Merchant Group.
"You know my goal."
"Ah, that dream of yours about becoming a fat-cat and living large without a care? Heehee."
She chuckled at my thoroughly unheroic, honest goal of becoming a nouveau riche and living large without money worries.
"Mujin, you're not bound to any place, so you might actually pull it off."
She herself had already amassed considerable wealth, but as the chief of one of the Ten Great Merchant Groups of the realm, she had endless responsibilities and was always busy.
"Want me to help you out some?"
I asked, glancing at the documents piled high on her desk.
"Hm? No, it's fine. Ilhong's been coming by to help every day lately."
But Eun Hwaran the merchant chief suddenly brought up the name of my subordinate from the detective agency.
I tilted my head.
"Ilhong comes here every day? Why...?"
And the one who answered my puzzled question was none other than—
"You really don't know why you're asking?"
Bam! The office door burst open to reveal the handsome young man with the ponytail—Ilhong.