Chapter 52 - Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture
The Four Emperors' Lianzhu, and the name left behind in the cave: Dan Ri-ye.
Jin Muhon somehow felt the two were the same person. Even if not, there had to be some connection.
Otherwise, why would the Sword of the Four Emperors have reacted to the cave?
Yet Dan Ri-ye's residual soul merely blinked in confusion, as if asking what nonsense that was.
[Four Emperors' Lianzhu? What's that? Never heard of it.]
"Hmm."
Of course.
If Dan Ri-ye had formed the Four Emperors Alliance later on, it was natural that this remnant before him wouldn't know of it.
This soul fragment had likely been implanted right after Dan Ri-ye emerged from Poison Dragon Valley.
The truth didn't matter much anyway.
Jin Muhon looked at the remnant and spoke.
"If you have something to say, spit it out."
[Ah, right. I do.]
Whether it was Dan Ri-ye's true nature or a trait of the remnant, he was scatterbrained to an extreme degree.
Even his eyes failed to focus properly.
[My master practiced the Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture. It's a technique that uses human souls like inner energy. Ever heard of it?]
Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture?
Jin Muhon shook his head.
"Never heard of it."
Dan Ri-ye tilted his chin up, smirking as if to say you don't even know that?
[Pulling out human souls and using them as inner energy. Surprised, right?]
"Impressive."
[Your eyes don't look impressed at all.]
"I don't show much expression."
In his current state of wielding the Four Souls, what was so shocking about using souls like inner energy?
Still, Jin Muhon played along for now.
[Tsk tsk. Beauties hate stoic men. Bright, healthy guys like me are the popular ones. Women must despise you. Ever heard of the Murim's Four Flowers?]
"......"
Conversing with Dan Ri-ye made Jin Muhon feel like he was turning into an idiot.
From then on, he clamped his mouth shut and simply observed.
Even without a response, Dan Ri-ye rambled on alone for quite a while.
Then, abruptly, he sealed his lips.
"......?"
[You okay?]
A question out of nowhere.
Jin Muhon cocked his head.
[You okay?]
"What do you mean?"
Jin Muhon finally answered.
Dan Ri-ye examined him up and down with unfocused eyes, like one observing a curious beast.
[Strange. So strange. You're a real odd one.]
Dan Ri-ye began circling slowly around Jin Muhon, muttering to himself.
[Practicing the Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture drives people mad. Naturally. How could anyone stay sane while harboring human souls like that? Even my terrifying master wasn't right in the head. I was the only one who stayed fine after learning it. Yes. Just me.]
He didn't look fine at all, but Jin Muhon listened quietly.
[Weird. I'm not even sure about the Ghost Flower myself. How are you still okay? Ah! I get it! You're a big ghost!]
"......"
[Why so quiet! You ghost bastard! If you can speak, then talk! You drove my master mad! My senior brother and junior sister died too! All your doing!]
Dan Ri-ye bulged his bloodshot eyes and bellowed.
His voice was so thunderous that the surrounding air rippled and twisted.
'Some kind of formation.'
Jin Muhon averted his gaze from the ranting Dan Ri-ye and scanned the area.
The moonlight fixed in the sky, and the people frozen like statues on their knees.
When Jin Muhon reached out, his fingertips wavered in the distortion.
Tzzzzz—
Jin Muhon summoned his Blood Mist.
The transparent formation began crumbling bit by bit as the Blood Mist eroded it.
[Huh? Wait! What are you doing! Stop!]
"Why?"
[Why?! I'll disappear!]
Dan Ri-ye gaped in disbelief.
Jin Muhon chuckled softly.
"If I'm the ghost you keep yapping about, shouldn't I make you vanish?"
[Hmm. Fair point.]
"Farewell."
Tzzzz—
[Wait! Ghost! I have something to say!]
The air had turned half-red.
Dan Ri-ye glanced anxiously at the Blood Mist-infested zone.
"You're a funny one. I've waited long enough. Out with it."
Dan Ri-ye pointed at Jin Muhon and shouted.
[You're not a big ghost!]
Jin Muhon frowned.
"Moody bastard."
[I sense souls in that smoke! A big ghost devours souls, it doesn't use them like that!]
Jin Muhon had dismissed it as mad ravings, but this insistence piqued his interest slightly.
"What's this ghost thing?"
[The big ghost! The one sealed inside my master! I killed him and set it free!]
His head began to throb.
So, a ghost had been sealed in the cave master's body, and Dan Ri-ye killing him released it. Something like that.
Jin Muhon narrowed his eyes at Dan Ri-ye.
"Don't tell me. You weren't waiting for the one who took the Ghost Flower, but for this big ghost or whatever?"
[Hoh! Sharp one! Right. That thing will definitely go after the Ghost Flower. It's a spirit vessel containing a hundred souls. If a ghost takes it, it gains a body.]
"The freed ghost wants a body?"
[Only hot flesh proves you're alive. Ever shared a night of passion? I haven't. Curious.]
"......"
Dan Ri-ye's unfocused gaze turned dreamy with whatever he was imagining.
Jin Muhon smacked his lips.
Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture, Dan Ri-ye, and this big ghost.
Interesting tale, but not enough to hold his full attention.
If it led to some opportunity, he'd pass it to Jin Hayeon—but no.
"You get a body and enjoy your nights. I'm leaving."
Tzzzzz—
The halted Blood Mist expanded again.
Dan Ri-ye's form began tinting red as well.
[Wait! Wait! Hear me out! This is weird! Something's off!]
"What?"
[The Ghost Flower bloomed, so why hasn't the big ghost shown? How are you fine after taking it?]
"Curious about everything. The ghost doesn't need it anymore, and it suits my constitution, I guess."
Dan Ri-ye blinked blankly.
[Doesn't... need the Ghost Flower? No way... Did the big ghost get a body? Without it?]
Dan Ri-ye's face hardened.
[Impossible. No way. That'd be like reviving the dead.]
Jin Muhon waited patiently for him to sort his thoughts.
Assuming he had any.
[You. Little ghost.]
Dan Ri-ye stared intently.
His perpetually hazy focus sharpened, oddly enough.
"What?"
[I need to confirm. If the big ghost got a body without the Ghost Flower... that's no small matter.]
Jin Muhon furrowed his brow.
"Explain properly. Make it clear."
[Idiot! Can't you get it even after I explain so nicely?! Humans belong in this world, ghosts in the next! If the big ghost got a body, what does that mean?! The gate between worlds has opened!]
"Close it again, then."
[Exactly.]
Jin Muhon replied nonchalantly.
Dan Ri-ye nodded right away.
[That's your job.]
"......?"
Jin Muhon laughed in absurdity.
"Why me?"
Dan Ri-ye offered no answer.
Instead, his crimson-tinged form began dissipating rapidly.
Soon, from the waist down gone, he stared straight at Jin Muhon.
[Our sect unleashed the big ghost on the world.]
"......?"
[Looks like I'm dead. Master, senior brother, junior sister—all gone. You're the only one left in the sect.]
"...What?"
Sect? Suddenly?
Was he fully mad now that he was fading, or mistaking him for someone else?
Tzzzzz—
Dan Ri-ye vanished, and in his place, a slender crimson thread fluttered toward Jin Muhon.
Just like when the Ghost Flower bloomed in the cave, the thread seeped into his forehead.
"......!"
Memories from the remnant began etching into Jin Muhon's mind, one by one.
The brutal master, the bonds forged in hellish trials with senior brothers, tender feelings for his junior sister, and the horrors his master had wrought to seal the big ghost.
"......"
And an unfamiliar yet somehow familiar incantation.
"This is... the Fate Soul Heaven Sacrificing Scripture."
It was Ma-seon's insight.
***
Half a month later.
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
A single oxcart climbed the rugged Sichuan mountain path.
Midsummer Sichuan sweltered with heat and humidity, enough to grate on the nerves without lifting a finger.
Two men lay in the cart, followed by a man and woman on horseback.
Clop. Clop. Clop.
"Family Head, the villagers helped us out big time. Those guys are much better now."
"Yeah."
The old woman who had given Jin Muhon the blood jade had invited his group to the village and tended to the three injured division leaders with utmost care.
Thanks to her, Yeon Jeokhwa could ride alone, and Jin Baek and Jin Jaryeong were fit for the long journey.
"We should send some repayment when we get home."
The word "home" slipped naturally from Yeon Jeokhwa's lips.
Jin Muhon gazed warmly at Go Seokchu's back as he drove the oxcart.
"Don't worry. I had this guy send plenty of what they need."
"Oh? Must've cost a fortune. You had that much on hand?"
"Put it on his tab."
"Aha!"
Go Seokchu stared straight ahead, not turning.
But his small frame trembled faintly.
Jin Baek snickered at the sight.
"Hey? Rat boy. Gotta pee? Why you shaking like that? Family Head! This punk's quivering!"
"You're all too much!"
Go Seokchu was already on edge from Sichuan's sweltering heat.
Now they poked his sore spot.
Unable to endure, he exploded.
"I helped Family Head out of loyalty! Drove this lone oxcart all the way through these hellish Yun-Nam roads! Even cleaned up after three grown men's shit and piss! And now you're sending enough supplies for the village to live off for ten years—without a single coin in return!"
"Whoa. Sounds impressive. Our Seokchu must be loaded."
Jin Baek clapped awkwardly with his injured arm.
A grotesque applause.
"I'm the Sichuan branch chief! Branch chief! One flick of my finger shakes all Sichuan! This ain't my station in life!"
Once started, he poured out like a flood.
Face flushed beet red, Go Seokchu spat as he vented a decade's grudges.
Jin Muhon scratched his ear impassively.
"Family Head! You listening? You'll really pay up, right?! If not, the sect leader'll kill me for real!"
"Don't worry. I'll pay on the way."
"On the way when?!"
"Know a guy on the Yangtze with money. I'll collect from him."
Go Seokchu's eyes bulged.
"Then you're dragging me to the Yangtze?!"
A glint entered Jin Muhon's eyes.
He'd tolerated the outburst for his past efforts, but this showed no sign of stopping.
"Dragging? I told you to go back for sure. You followed anyway."
"'Cause you won't pay—!"
Jin Muhon snapped his fingers.
Ping—
Blood trickled down Go Seokchu's cheek.
Boom!
Soon, an explosion rocked the distant woods.
- Aaaagh!
- Oof!
Screams followed.
"......"
Go Seokchu gaped, blinking.
Jin Muhon blew on his finger.
"Slightly off."
"My! You aimed for that from the start? Heard some thick screams."
"Two birds, one stone."
Go Seokchu swallowed hard.
After traveling together, he'd grown complacent to Jin Muhon's changed demeanor.
'Fuck. I'm insane. In front of the Sword Demon, that mad bastard...'
"F-Family Head. I mean... don't misunderstand. Heh heh heh."
Go Seokchu grinned obsequiously, rubbing his hands.
Then—
"Who the hell are you?! Who touched our boys?!"
A rough man's bellow erupted from the woods.