Chapter 69. The World Where Constellations Died (1)
Chapter 69. The World Where Constellations Died (1)
1
One winter day.
So Baek-hyang (蕭白香) crossed the snowfield, following her mother.
The sky was overcast. Snow poured from the murky sky. In the pouring blizzard, a person was barely more than a shadow.
Her mother's back, too, was faint as a shadow.
So Baek-hyang raised her voice.
-Mom!
So Baek-hyang was suddenly afraid. The sound of the snow was too loud. Her voice was buried by the sound of the snow and could hardly ring out.
-Mom!
Her mother's shadow was still far away.
So Baek-hyang grew anxious.
To catch up to her mother, she had to walk faster. But the more she walked, the more out of breath she became. The more she walked, the smaller her voice became. What should she do?
-Ugh.......
Should she stop shouting and walk faster to catch up to her mother? Or should she stop walking altogether and shout with all her might?
The young Heavenly Demon (天魔) did not know.
While she did not know, the shadow grew a little farther away.
-Mom!
In the end, So Baek-hyang stopped.
-Mom!
Once she stopped walking, her voice did indeed carry a little more strength. Until now, her footsteps had been stealing the place where her voice could go. So Baek-hyang thought that now her mother would turn her head and look at her, and that the shadow would become that much clearer.
But what had happened?
The shadow grew a little farther away.
While So Baek-hyang was shouting, it grew farther away.
At last, her mother's shadow was buried in the blizzard and became indistinguishable from the snowfield.
-.......
Had her mother abandoned her?
Had she intended a natural farewell, using the crossing of the snowy path as an excuse?
Or had her mother truly lost her?
So Baek-hyang did not know.
She could not know.
2
[You have died.]
When I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them.
It was a space of endless darkness.
[Skill conditions are met through death.]
[Randomly copying a skill from So Baek-hyang.]
My hell.
[Forming a skill card.]
Cards rose before my eyes.
But my immediate concern was not the skill cards.
I caught my breath and spoke to the guardian spirit.
'Sword Emperor, did you memorize the documents?'
-Well, to some extent.
The guardian spirit scratched the back of his head.
The documents that the Pharmacist and Medicine King had desperately researched and recorded. Those were what mattered. Because the Heavenly Demon had fallen into qi deviation and run wild, I hadn't been able to calmly memorize the contents of the documents.
-If we combine what you memorized and what I memorized, the pieces should roughly fit together. We need to get back quickly before we forget, but.......
'Okay. Then let's pick the skill first, quickly.'
-Mm.
The guardian spirit moved through the air. Then he looked at the backs of the cards and recited them for me. The Heavenly Demon possessed quite a few skills, and among them, one caught our eye.
+
[Demonic Heavenly God Art (魔天神功)]
Rank: A+
Effect: The Demonic Cult. They hate the principles of heaven. They curse them. They did not stop at hatred and curses. They founded an order and ultimately forged a doctrine. The Demonic Heavenly God Art is a martial art containing the essence of that doctrine.
One who has awakened the Demonic Heavenly God Art can tear the heavens apart and crush Mount Tai! However, one must deeply understand the hatred and curses contained within the forms of this divine art.
The more you hate and curse the world, the more the heavens will lose their color. One who has mastered the ultimate meaning of the Demonic Heavenly God Art—that person is the one who will overturn the heavens, the Heavenly Demon (天魔).
※However, when the divine art is unleashed, it becomes difficult to maintain one's ego.
+
The Demonic Heavenly God Art.
It was an outrageously arrogant name, but I couldn't bring myself to mock it.
'...This is the martial art we saw earlier, right?'
Because it really was that powerful.
She had merely swung her sword from a distance, and Medicine King's head had fallen. Viper had died without lasting even three exchanges. Even I, who had prided myself on being fairly tempered by fighting the [Demon King of Fall Rain], had been unable to follow the Heavenly Demon's sword path (劍路) with my eyes.
Truly the supreme technique under heaven.
-Tch. A typical demonic art (魔功).
The guardian spirit frowned.
-In the end, whether it's martial arts or formations, it's all a question of how you deal with the world.
'Deal with the world?'
-Yes. If you try to accept the world generously, that's generally the orthodox path. If you try to claw at the world, that's the Demonic Cult. So orthodox murim warriors make their bodies into [vessels to accept the world], and Demonic Cult bastards make their bodies into [claws to scratch the world].......
Hmm, the guardian spirit crossed his arms.
-Let me give you the simplest example. A downward slash that brings the sword from above your head down. In some schools, they call it the sword strike of the Tiger Form (虎勢), because it resembles [the posture of a pouncing tiger].
Whoosh!
The guardian spirit took a stance and swung both arms.
'......!'
It was only for an instant, but I flinched. I truly felt the force of a wild beast lunging at me.
It was strong.
His way of speaking and his appearance were so pathetic that I sometimes forgot, but the guardian spirit before my eyes was the Sword Emperor—a martial artist who had wielded a single sword and nearly conquered the Tower.
-Well, honestly, whether it's a tiger or a bull, it doesn't matter. The forms differ endlessly depending on what enlightenment the founder of the martial art, the founding patriarch (開派祖師), attained. Anyway, the important thing is to [imitate] a tiger or a bull, even slightly.
To imitate. To mimic.
And thereby make something of the world one's own.
That was what the guardian spirit meant by [accepting the world].
-But demonic arts are different.
The guardian spirit took his stance again.
The exact same stance as when he had swung his arms a moment ago.
-In the Demonic Cult, when they teach the forms, they say this.
Hup, the guardian spirit planted his foot.
-Recall the rage of the moment when a bandit stabbed you in the gut.
The empty air split apart.
Facing that, I involuntarily stepped backward.
His face.
It was because of the guardian spirit's face, of all things.
Boundless, icy fury suffused his expressionless face.
As if he had become a completely different person.
-Recall the moment your little sister was dragged away by the county magistrate (縣令). Remember your own weakness, unable to do anything. Picture in your mind the face of your sister, who returned as a cold corpse at dawn, after you had waited blankly before the government office all night.
The guardian spirit performed a sword dance (劍舞).
Even though he held no sword, somehow I seemed to see the guardian spirit's sword. That sword was as pitch-black as the space we stood in.
-Recall again the sight of you burying your sister's corpse alone. Was it winter? Was the ground frozen and hard to dig? Did you dig into the ground that would not yield, with your fingertips, to the bitter end? Did your nails break? Did blood flow from your broken nails?
'.......'
-In the end, did you lay your sister's corpse in a pit you could not dig even one ja (尺) deep? Did you bury her feet first? Did you lay cold clods of earth upon your sister's body? Upon your sister's face, which you could not bury to the very end, did you scoop grains of soil with your own hands and scatter them, one handful at a time?
I couldn't breathe.
As the guardian spirit's sword dance continued, the endlessly vast space seemed to narrow by a handspan at a time. My head grew slightly dizzy. Though it should have been nothing more than movements of hands and arms, the resentment radiating from the guardian spirit seemed to vibrate through the air.
-Recall the feel of those grains of soil. Grip the sword with the hand that dug the earth. Swing the sword with the gesture that scattered soil over your sister. Lament your own powerlessness and resent the cruelty of the world.
I murmured as if groaning.
'Claws to scratch the world.......'
-Yes.
The guardian spirit withdrew his arms.
Only then did my blocked breath release.
-You could call it an inner cultivation method (心法) for circulating internal energy. Literally, it's a method of rousing and driving the mind. Whether you're a martial artist of the jianghu or a hunter, in the end, victory is decided by how well you use your internal energy or Aura.
The guardian spirit shrugged as if it were nothing.
-Simply put, it's a contest of momentum. Demonic arts just lay it on thicker.
'.......'
-Anyway, there's no need for you, a zombie, to learn it.
I silently stared at the silver skill card.
-No, there's no need for you to learn any other martial art at all. Who do you think I am? The Sword Emperor! The greatest murim warrior in the universe, that's who. You're already slowly learning my ultimate techniques! The Demonic Heavenly God Art is garbage compared with my martial arts.......
'I'll learn it.'
-...Huh?
The guardian spirit blinked.
'I said I'll learn it. This, the Demonic Heavenly God Art.'
-Uh, uhh... uhhh.......
Blink. Blink.
It was roughly three seconds later that the guardian spirit recovered his speech.
-Why?
'Because I want to learn it.'
-Compared to my martial arts, this is pathetic garbage, I'm telling you!
The guardian spirit began to rage.
-Zombie, did you get bewitched by that sword display that the Heavenly Demon or whatever that piece of trash put on earlier? Wow, shit. This is insane. That was just her pouring out true qi (眞氣) and briefly entering the Life-and-Death Realm! It's a true qi high, a true qi high! Zombie. A martial artist must never get drunk on a true qi high!
I let out a small laugh.
'Are you sulking right now because I'm trying to learn someone else's martial art besides yours?'
-Whaaat?
'Don't worry. Of course our Sword Emperor's martial arts are the strongest in the universe. Do you think I'd try to learn the Demonic Heavenly God Art without knowing that?'
-Hmm.......
The guardian spirit twitched his nose.
Still, it seemed his pride was satisfied since I'd flattered him a little. Honestly, this ghost really was easy to handle.
-Of course. I'm the strongest. ...But then why are you trying to learn the Demonic Cult's divine art?
'To perfectly clear this stage.'
In other words, to give this world a proper ending.
'Suppose a cure is made. Even then, at best, you save the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance Master, and that's it. As for the other humans, they've been dead for over two years... there's no way they'd come back fine just because you treat them. Right?'
-Mm.
The guardian spirit narrowed his brow.
-You're right about that.
'Then how would the ending turn out? In a reborn new world, the Murim Alliance Master and the Heavenly Demon [become Adam and Eve]? Sword Emperor, does that look like a good ending to you?'
-.......
The guardian spirit looked like he had bitten into shit.
He was probably imagining the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance Master becoming a married couple in his head.
-No, that's just wrong....... It's really wrong. I can't imagine the two of them becoming a lovey-dovey couple. It feels awful.......
'Right?'
I looked ahead.
[Please select a skill card.]
Shhk! Shhhk!
The cards flew about the empty air in disorder. But I had already marked one card. My gaze did not lose the silver card.
'Producing a cure is only the first condition needed to create a [good ending]. In the end, a wonderful ending depends on whether the characters in the work can truly be satisfied.......'
I reached out and snatched the card.
'I want to give the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance Master a perfectly satisfying ending.'
[Selection complete.]
[Copying skill.]
Of course, it didn't end there.
[Your current hunter rank is D-rank.]
[A penalty from the skill is being applied.]
The nightmare the Heavenly Demon possessed.
The resentment pooled in her heart.
Another hell I would have to cross.
[Reproducing the trauma of the enemy who killed you.]
[Penalty depth is medium.]
But this was neither the first hell I would cross. Nor would it be the last.
[It is the Hungry Ghost Realm.]
I will have a chance to calmly speak of the scenery of the hell I crossed.
3
After returning to one day before.
I killed myself eight more times.
It was to return to the 'first day' when we had fallen into the Apocalypse.
"...It's cold!"
Just like the previous run, Viper cried out in surprise. The Pharmacist and Medicine King also instinctively hugged their own bodies. A terrifying cold had descended upon our party.
Woooooo!
The blizzard howled and raged. Achoo! The Pharmacist was already starting to cough.
"Wh-why is it so cold? Wasn't this supposed to be the murim?"
"Eek. What's with this Siberian wasteland......."
It was a white snowfield.
A sight I had grown thoroughly accustomed to over the past ten days.
But the rest of the party floundered in confusion, and I silently took the Pharmacist's hand.
"Ah."
The Pharmacist carefully lowered her head.
"Th-thank you. Death King."
"......."
A memory from not long ago flashed through my mind.
「I still believe in you.」
The Pharmacist's upper body scattered across the snowfield. And the snowfield stained bright red rose up in succession. My heart lurched a little.
Without showing it, I spoke in a low voice.
"It's only natural. Heavenly Martial Sect Master, please look after Medicine King."
"Sure!"
"Also, I just caught a glimpse of a human shadow over there."
Unlike the previous run, this time I led the party. Before long, the blizzard died down, and before us spread a forest of human shadows (人影). No, a forest of corpses.
Viper looked bewildered.
"...What the hell are these? Why are all these humans frozen?"
"They look like zombies."
I touched the face of a corpse.
"Huh? Zombies?"
"Yes, look at this."
I pointed inside the zombie's mouth. More precisely, at its teeth.
"There's flesh caked all over the teeth. The people here might not have had the habit of brushing their teeth after eating, but even so, this is too much. It means they bit into something like beasts......."
"......."
At my words, the Pharmacist's expression changed.
She examined the inside of the corpse's mouth with considerably more serious eyes. A moment later, the Pharmacist's face turned surprised.
"...It's true. The DNA doesn't match. The corpse and the flesh in its mouth came from completely different people."
"D-did they eat human flesh?"
Medicine King was disgusted.
"Why? People in the old days ate human flesh too, you know. Not zombies, but......."
"The date of death is strange for that explanation."
The Pharmacist adjusted her glasses.
"The corpse's date of death is about three years ago. On the other hand, the owner of the flesh died two years ago. It would be impossible unless the corpse had lived and moved for a whole year. It's hard to imagine, but... yes, as Death King said, I suspect it may be a zombie-like creature."
"I-I absolutely can't stand monsters like the ones in horror movies! Do something about it!"
"Ugh, old man. What do you expect me to do about that......."
The Pharmacist wore a troubled expression.
'Okay.'
Things were moving much faster than in the previous run.
Even if the zombies started moving now, no one would panic like last time. Whether people knew what was coming or not—that alone completely changed how they reacted.
Above all.
"Mm."
I had the past few days' research results in my head.
"Boss, Medicine King."
"Yes?"
"Huh?"
"I have a strange skill. I can't tell you what skill it is, but according to my skill's analysis......."
I explained the research results step by step.
My memory was not perfect. There was no way I had memorized the documents in one go. But when I died to the Heavenly Demon and returned to 24 hours earlier, I had been able to take the time to carefully memorize the documents once more.
The guardian spirit had helped me memorize them, too.
"Hmmmm......."
Listening to my explanation, the Pharmacist sank into thought.
"...That's amazing. It's a perfect research method. There's nothing to criticize. It's exactly like something I would do... but the terminology used is completely different from mine. No, it's really, really amazing. Death King, you have an incredible skill......?"
The Pharmacist looked at me with admiring eyes.
From my perspective, though, the Pharmacist was praising herself.
So that was how it was. The boss thought of herself as a "really, really amazing" person. In this bleak world, maybe that confidence itself was what was truly amazing. At least, that was how I saw it.
"Hmm, isn't it a good thing that the research time is shortened?"
Medicine King took a much simpler view.
"Anyway, I want to get away from these zombies. Huh. If only there were somewhere warm to stay......."
At that moment.
"...Uhahaha!"
A laugh rang out.
In the previous run, I hadn't been able to tell who was laughing. But not this time. The Murim Alliance Master—the old man who was the Retired Clan Head of the Namgung Clan—was the one who had burst into laughter.
"The Demonic Dominion ends today!"
"Ha."
And then.
"A passing dog would roll over laughing at that."
The Heavenly Demon's voice, of course, rang out too.
"......."
I held my breath and approached the direction the voices came from. Crunch. Grains of snow were crushed beneath my shoes. The closer the voices came, the clearer the scene where the Heavenly Demon had once confessed her feelings became in my head.
「I am afraid.」
"As long as I remain unharmed, the Demonic Dominion stands firm."
「The world is this frightening.」
"Bu Wol-seon. You above all should bid farewell to the orthodox murim."
「Where is Namgung Un! Bring the Retired Clan Head of the Namgung Clan! Have the Murim Alliance Master attend!」
The strongest under heaven.
The most powerful person in this world.
And precisely because of that, the woman who had survived until the final moment.
In the saddest sense, a martial artist who had realized absolute supremacy over heaven and earth.
"Hoo."
That martial artist was still smiling.
Still showing a bold laugh, she stood in the middle of the snowfield, facing this world.
Like the single dot (一點) stamped alone upon a blank sheet of paper.
"The old monster's tongue is truly long. The Blood Ghosts merely left for the frontier for a time under my secret orders... Hm?"
I merely.
Hoped that that single dot would extend into a line.
"You people are......?"
The Heavenly Demon's eyes widened. She watched me walking toward her as if she couldn't believe it. That was only natural. From her perspective, I would be the first living person she had met in years.
"Uh, uhh. Am I seeing things right now? As if a living person were moving......."
"Heavenly Demon."
I arrived before the woman.
And slowly knelt.
The cold snowfield sank softly beneath my weight.
"Huh?"
"From far away in the frontier, I heard of your might, Heavenly Demon, and groped my way here. Since long ago, I have deeply admired you, hearing of your fame as the greatest of all time."
I did not know how much time it would take from now on.
But I was resolved, and I shouted toward the Heavenly Demon.
"Please accept me as your disciple, Heavenly Demon!"
"......."
The Heavenly Demon's mouth fell open as if she had seen a ghost.