Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: A Night to Get Drunk Under the Moon.
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“You... you're drunk. What on earth are you talking about?”
“I'm telling you how I avenged her.”
The Poison Emperor tilted his head, studying Mujin closely.
Mujin, paying him no mind, continued his story as he tipped back his cup.
“A woman who lived so diligently died so easily. Over nothing. All because of a good-for-nothing from a prestigious family I’d put in his place once after a petty squabble. That bastard's name was Namgung Cheon-yong.”
!!!
At the mention of Namgung Cheon-yong, the Poison Emperor’s eyes widened in disbelief.
A name erased from the Central Plains.
Namgung Cheon-yong.
A name expunged even from the Namgung Family's own records, it was practically a taboo among the martial artists of the previous generation.
“H-how do you know that name...?”
“Who would ever forget the name of their enemy?”
So stunned was the Poison Emperor that he didn't even notice Mujin had begun speaking to him informally.
“...”
The Poison Emperor was so shocked he was at a loss for words, simply staring at Mujin.
Ignoring his gaze, Mujin drained his cup and continued speaking calmly.
“She lost her life to that bastard's pathetic revenge, so I cut off his head. In the process, I also cut off the heads of about twenty swordsmen from the Azure Sky Sword Unit. Then I sent those heads to the Namgung Family with a letter. I told them to reflect on raising their son like a dog. In response, they came at me with a horde of warriors.”
“...”
“I suppose I was naive. I didn't expect those righteous bastards to come swarming for revenge without any justification, even if they weren't going to reflect on their actions. When her only relatives, her two children, died in the fight against them, I truly saw red.”
As he spoke those words and emptied his cup, the Poison Emperor silently took another bottle of wine from his sleeve.
“That’s when it began. The 15-year war against the Nine Great Sects. I roamed the Central Plains, hunting down and killing anyone associated with the Namgung Family. In the process, I showed no mercy to the countless righteous faction bastards who stood in my way. Before long, they gave me an interesting moniker.”
“The Divine Demon...”
“Yes. Do you know what I thought when I saw them calling me the Divine Demon?”
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, the Poison Emperor shook his head and asked.
“What did you think?”
“Alright! I'll show you what a true demon is! And so it went for 15 years. I also cut down the pathetic Taoist masters who tried to mediate with their useless interventions, and I killed many of the nuns who told me to stop the bloodshed, saying it was all futile.”
Though the Poison Emperor didn't believe Mujin's tale, he found himself increasingly engrossed.
He had always dismissed the Calamity of the Divine Demon's Mutual Destruction as a tragedy caused by the appearance of an absolute demon. But hearing it from the perspective of that very demon, he couldn't help but be captivated.
Whether it was the creeping intoxication, the sentimentality of the full moon night, or the strange aura beginning to emanate from Mujin, the Poison Emperor found himself unconsciously waiting for the next part of the story as he habitually refilled Mujin’s cup.
“In the final year, when I reached Anhui, they said the elites of the Nine Great Sects were all gathered, waiting for me on Mount Huang. So I went up Mount Huang and became the Divine Demon they wanted me to be.”
“You...”
Seeing the Poison Emperor at a loss for words, Mujin simply drained his cup.
He must have drunk at least three bottles by now.
The Poison Emperor took out another bottle of wine, finally managing to speak.
“Your madness... it's not completely cured, is it?”
“Madness, you say. Perhaps if a martial artist known as the Divine Demon had never existed in this world, and if the events I just described had never happened. If that were the case, then I might truly be mad. But my memory aligns perfectly with the events of the past.”
“...”
The Poison Emperor looked at Mujin with a grave expression.
He had thought of him as a rare, truly masculine martial artist.
He had taken a liking to Mujin, seeing in him a resemblance to the Flame Emperor who had inspired him and given him the resolve to rise again.
He had even resolved to make him his son-in-law and form an alliance with the Yeomhwa Family.
But to find out that such a man was a patient whose madness was not yet fully cured...
“Believe what you will. Come to think of it, you had the same expression when I first saw you. Was it when I was just starting out? We crossed paths in Guizhou while you were seated with the heads of the Four Great Families, minus the Namgung Family.”
!
The Poison Emperor’s shoulders flinched as Mujin brought up a deeply buried secret he had never spoken of to anyone.
“That too was an ill-fated encounter. To commemorate my first steps into the martial world, I happened to want a drink at that very tavern, and you all had booked the entire place. It was the bravado of my youth. I firmly believed my master when he said no one in the Central Plains could stand against me. That’s what led to the petty squabble.”
“D-D-Divine Demon!”
The Poison Emperor’s voice rose, unbeknownst to him.
“I don't remember the others' faces well. But I can't forget the expression on the face of a young pup who was about my age. The look on his face then, as if the sky had fallen, was one of utter disbelief...”
“E-enough! I believe you! I believe you, so please stop!”
Respectful language suddenly slipped from the Poison Emperor's lips.
The heads and successors of the Four Great Families who had been at the tavern in Guizhou that day had never once spoken of what had happened.
How could they go around admitting they had been humiliated by a young warrior who didn't even look forty, without being able to land a single proper blow?
The Poison Emperor could still not forget the sight of the Divine Demon shattering his father’s, the then Tang Clan Head's, Poison Butterfly's Secret Flight as if it were child's play.
“H-how... How is this possible... Then, d-do you mean you were reincarnated into that body with the memories of your past life?!”
The Poison Emperor was even stuttering.
There were few days in his life when he had been this flustered.
Especially after earning the title of Poison Emperor, he had never been so emotionally shaken.
“I don't think so. I don't know for sure either. There’s no way to know what kind of strange event it was. I simply killed all the bastards I had to kill on Mount Huang and closed my eyes to enter eternal rest. When I opened them, I was in this body.”
“...What does that mean?”
“How would I know the exact circumstances if you ask me? It just happened that way.”
The Poison Emperor nodded.
Hearing it, he understood Mujin's position.
How bewildered must he have been?
The Poison Emperor took a moment to sort out his complicated thoughts and emotions.
Once he decided to accept the unbelievably fantastical story, all the questions he’d had were resolved.
How a man so famous for his severe madness that he was nicknamed the Mad Duke could be completely cured overnight, as if he had become a different person.
How someone who couldn't even inherit his family's secret arts due to his madness could suddenly appear like a comet with such incredible swordsmanship.
As all his questions were answered, the Poison Emperor's gaze grew deep and heavy.
“Let me ask you one thing. Are you now of the Righteous Path? Or the Demonic Path?”
Mujin held out his empty cup and looked the Poison Emperor in the eye.
After a brief hesitation, the Poison Emperor filled the cup.
“You look like you'd kill me if I said the Demonic Path.”
The Poison Emperor did not answer Mujin’s words.
Without drinking the wine the Poison Emperor had poured, Mujin continued.
“Then let me ask you something. What is the Demonic Path, and what is the Righteous Path?”
“Those who build their martial prowess through heretical and demonic ways. Those who forsake the righteous path to walk the demonic path. All are of the Demonic Path.”
“Then if one learns righteous arts, does that make them all righteous?”
“Even if you learn righteous arts, if you don't walk the righteous path, you are heretical and demonic.”
Mujin smiled.
“Then the Nine Great Sects, who fought a long war with me for 15 years, 30 years ago. Were they righteous? Heretical? Or demonic?”
“...”
The Poison Emperor could not answer.
The Calamity of the Divine Demon's Mutual Destruction was a war without justification that left a deep scar on the Orthodox Factions of the Central Plains, but also taught them a lesson.
It was an event that served as a lesson on what happens when righteous martial artists lose their justification and stray from the righteous path, and why they must walk it.
As Mujin brought up the incident again, the Poison Emperor finally managed to speak.
“That incident was 30 years ago.”
“For you all, maybe. But for me, it was just the blink of an eye.”
“...”
Seeing the Poison Emperor speechless again, Mujin spoke.
“Whether it’s the Righteous Path or the Demonic Path, does it really matter? The righteous live by their ways, and the demonic live by theirs. Just because we're different doesn't mean we have to shed blood. And right now, I'm getting used to the ways of the Righteous Path. I want to raise the only relatives of this body, the two children, well.”
At Mujin’s words, the Poison Emperor let out a sigh of relief.
“Hoo. That’s a relief. A true relief.”
The Central Plains could not afford the birth of another Divine Demon. One such tragedy was more than enough.
“If I had said I would walk the path of a demon, would you have really tried to kill me?”
“I don't know if it would have been possible, but as a man of the Righteous Path, I would have tried.”
The Poison Emperor no longer saw the young martial artist before him as his subordinate.
He was now the only martial artist in the world who had directly experienced the divine presence of the Divine Demon and survived.
Therefore, he knew all too well that the Divine Demon could not be judged by appearance or aura alone.
“You called me a friend, yet you would have tried to kill me. That’s disappointing.”
With those words, Mujin drained his cup.
“If you and I had fought to the death tonight, what do you think my chances of survival would have been?”
“Hmm. I’d say it's over ninety percent, wouldn't you?”
“Is that true? Have I truly become that strong?”
The Poison Emperor, already considered one of the top four in the Central Plains, wanted validation of his strength from Mujin.
But Mujin shattered his expectations beautifully.
“It's not that you've gotten stronger, but that I've gotten weaker. As I said, this body is a Heavenly Martial Body. Demonic arts are impossible for it.”
“Ah! But how did you learn the Nine Swords of Dugu?”
“He was a friend of my master. The creator. The disciple he took in his later years left the mountain without permission and died away from home. After that, he refused all food and drink, and left the Nine Swords of Dugu with my master, asking him to ensure the lineage of his school would not be broken. He passed away not long after. I should have found a successor and passed it on, but I was busy.”
He was Jeongcheon, the Divine Demon who had fought a grueling war with the Orthodox Factions for 15 years. He had no time to pass on the martial arts of his master's dead friend to someone else.
“I see.”
“More importantly, you can speak comfortably.”
“Ah, right. The whole situation was so strange that I forgot myself.”
As the Poison Emperor took a new bottle of Bamboo Leaf Green from his sleeve, Mujin smiled.
“I find that sleeve of yours more fascinating. This is the ninth bottle already. Just how many ceramic wine bottles are hidden in there?”
As he took out the bottle, the Poison Emperor smiled at Mujin's words.
“It's a secret art. If you found out, I might really have to kill you. Are you curious?”
Mujin shook his head at the now-joking Poison Emperor.
“I'm good.”
-Trickle.
The two men filled their cups again and shared a drink.
“May I ask one more thing?”
“Anything.”
“If you were in your body from your past life, what would be the chances of me winning against you?”
Mujin looked into the Poison Emperor's eyes.
Even as an old man with a face full of wrinkles, his eyes were filled with the fighting spirit of a martial artist.
“If you haven't surpassed the state of wielding poison aura, you wouldn't stand a chance. Not even a sliver of one. But if you have stepped into a realm beyond that... then it might be a fight worth having.”
“S-surpassing the state of aura?! Such a realm...”
“It exists. Because I've been there. Beyond the state of aura, where one can temper their energy to its absolute peak.”
“...Coming from the Divine Demon, I can't just not believe it.”
The Poison Emperor said as he downed his cup.
Mujin also drank his cup with him.
“I'm not the Divine Demon anymore. I've decided to discard both the name Jeongcheon and the title Divine Demon. From now on, I am the Hidden Dragon of Sichuan.”
“I see. But in that body, how long do you think it will take to reach that realm again?”
Mujin glanced up at the moon for a moment before answering.
“Well. My internal energy is severely lacking. Still, wouldn't it take at least five years?”
“J-just five years?”
“This body is naturally gifted when it comes to righteous arts. It's quick to absorb and accumulate internal energy through breathing techniques. If I had enough internal energy, I might be able to do it in a year or two, perhaps.”
At Mujin's words that he could do it quickly with enough internal energy, the Poison Emperor swallowed dryly.
The drinking session that had started in the middle of the night with the Poison Emperor continued until the sun rose the next day.
Once the sun was up, the Poison Emperor took his two granddaughters and returned to his main estate.
Having learned that Mujin's true identity was the Divine Demon, he could no longer urge him to marry.
This was a man who had made an enemy of the Central Plains' Nine Great Sects for the sake of one woman he loved.
The Poison Emperor did not have the confidence to break the devotion of a man who, unable to forget that woman, intended to live his entire new life alone.
After the Poison Emperor left, time in the Yeomhwa Family flowed quickly.
The basic training for the newly recruited warriors finally ended, and they were at last able to begin their initiation into Jang So-san's Heart-Severing Sword Style.
At dawn, the groans of the Four Demons filled the estate; after that, the groans of the instructors echoed; and once the sun rose, the spirited shouts of the warriors resounded until evening.
Dojin and Soyeon's training also began to get on track.
As children with a solid foundation, they had no trouble learning the insights of the Drifting Snow Cloud Palm and the Hundred-Pace Divine Fist.
“That's it! Yes! That's the one!”
Myeol-ryeong had never seen her master, Abbess Jinhwa, so excited.
The image Jinhwa, known as the Cold-Blooded Sword Maiden, showed her disciples on Mount Emei was never different from her moniker.
But the way she was while teaching Soyeon was so unfamiliar it was hard to describe.
‘I can see why Master is so excited.’
Even to Myeol-ryeong, Soyeon's talent was nothing short of brilliant.
Her innate understanding, allowing her to instantly internalize the profound principles of a technique once shown, and her extraordinary mind that sought ways to apply it, were enough to make even an observer like her feel jealous.
Furthermore, her flexible body, even for a child, was astonishing at times.
The very way she extended her palm was twice as versatile as that of an ordinary martial artist; how could her master not be excited?
“Then what if I do it like this?”
-Swish! Whoosh!
Watching Soyeon immediately apply the move she had just learned, Abbess Jinhwa's eyes shone with an expression of pure adoration.
A bold application of a technique that introduced changes in tempo to deceive the opponent, within the Drifting Snow Cloud Palm, which held rapid palm strikes as its ultimate principle.
“How did you ever think of that?”
“I had a match with a child from the Baek Clan once, and he used a fast sword style. But his attacking rhythm was always constant and predictable, so if I just read the path of his sword, I could dodge in advance. I learned that being fast isn't always the best.”
Abbess Jinhwa clapped her hands at Soyeon's articulate explanation.
“Exactly! To have realized that already, I'm so proud of you! So proud!”
“Hehe.”
“So, did you win the match against that child from the Baek Clan?”
“I lost, but I won.”
“You lost, but you won?”
Abbess Jinhwa tilted her head.
“His wooden sword broke, but I attacked him anyway.”
“Oh my. You lost by foul play. That’s why you must pay close attention to the flying pouch at the Young Dragon Ascension Tournament.”
“I knew, but I attacked anyway.”
Myeol-ryeong was startled by Soyeon's audacious words.
She was on pins and needles, worried that her master would erupt in anger at any moment.
Knowing her master's character, which did not tolerate even the smallest injustice, she was filled with concern.
“Why did you attack?”
“I didn't think I could win if he changed his weapon. I was going to lose either way, so I figured I might as well land one hit before I lost.”
As Soyeon finished speaking, wrinkles formed on Abbess Jinhwa’s face.
They were wrinkles from a wide smile, and Myeol-ryeong stared at her with a look of disbelief.
“You audacious little thing!”
Abbess Jinhwa playfully pinched Soyeon's cheek.
“Still, choosing the practical option was a good decision. For a martial artist, that kind of flexibility is sometimes more necessary than rigid integrity. But let's keep this story our little secret. There are many in the Orthodox Faction who wouldn't look kindly on such methods. From now on, just say it was a mistake.”
“Yes!”
Watching Soyeon answer with a bright smile and the Abbess stroking the child's head, Myeol-ryeong shook her head.
If she hadn't heard it with her own ears, she would never have believed such words could come from the mouth of Jinhwa, the Cold-Blooded Sword Maiden.
‘Master...’