Chapter 80. Scent of Snow (3)
Chapter 80. Scent of Snow (3)
5
Master couldn't undergo the procedure right away.
"I'm sorry. I need to rest just a little bit......"
The Murim Alliance Master’s procedure had just finished. The Pharmacist and Medicine King were both exhausted from performing the surgeries. The Pharmacist had collapsed and passed out, and Medicine King had gone into the hot spring and simply sat there with his mouth hanging open, silent.
"......"
Master frowned as she looked down at the Murim Alliance Master.
"Old man. I heard you lost your dantian, so I came all this way to see you myself."
"A fine first visitor for a sickbed. Go on, feast your eyes all you want."
"How do you feel?"
The Murim Alliance Master lay on a straw mat and cackled.
"Light. I feel like I could ascend to heaven on a crane's back."
"Your madness runs deep. A man who couldn't even achieve a full-body transformation, talking about ascending to heaven......"
The Murim Alliance Master chuckled.
"And you? Your face has gotten lighter. Demon, have you made up your mind to undergo the procedure too?"
"...Yes."
Master let out a sigh.
"I just poured out a year's worth of internal energy and swung my sword to my heart's content. For the last time in my life, I frolicked with my inner power."
"Oh-ho!"
The Murim Alliance Master's eyes lit up.
"That must have been a magnificent sight. My only regret is that I couldn't watch it from this sickbed. So? What did you cut?"
"I tried to cut winter itself, but I could not. The Life-and-Death Realm is still far, far away."
"Ah, what a shame. Well, cheer up. Isn’t it a realm no one has ever reached before? If it were as easy as talk, the history of the jianghu would have been overturned six times by now."
The Murim Alliance Master laughed heartily.
Looking down at the old man’s laughter, Master spoke.
"Namgung Un, you......"
"I have no regrets at all."
The Murim Alliance Master cut her off firmly.
"With the world ruined like this, holding out for three years was a stroke of fortune. The physicians from beyond the border treating me was a stroke of fortune. Taking in a disciple in my twilight years, so that the lineage of the orthodox martial world—which I thought would surely be severed—continues on, that too is a stroke of fortune! When fortunes pile up, isn't that a miracle? I am simply grateful for the miracle."
"......"
"Hmm. If there is one thing I regret, it's that I never settled the Orthodox-Demonic War with you, Demon. Well, no life is perfect. Our disciples will handle the finishing touches on their own."
"Yes, they will."
Master gave a small smile. It was a lonely smile. But when she turned to look at me, her eyes held strong faith.
"If this is the ending my life has reached, I shall accept it."
It wasn't a face that accepted it gladly. It was closer to accepting it willingly.
No matter how sweet the candy, you have to melt it and swallow it many times.
Wasn’t Master chewing over the ending of her life, bit by bit?
"Mm."
I nodded.
"Master, I'm going to step out for a bit."
"Hm? Where in the world is there to go now?"
"Just think of it as your disciple getting some fresh air. Don't worry."
"...Telling me not to worry only makes me worry more."
Master quietly lowered her brows.
"You're not about to stick your foot into something quite dangerous, are you?"
"I will return before your procedure is finished, without fail."
I clasped my hands in a martial salute.
My hand movements were still awkward, but I was confident the sentiment was fully conveyed.
"Rest easy through the procedure, Master. When you open your eyes again, your unworthy disciple will be waiting."
Master had accepted her ending.
Now it was my turn to give her back her life.
6
I left the cave and crossed the snowfield.
As I crossed the snowfield, I recalled what this world had looked like before its destruction. Murim (武林)—the martial forest. Had it once been thick with trees? Jianghu (江湖)—rivers and lakes. Had water flowed there?
"My lord."
On the far side of the snowfield.
"Your command has been carried out."
There, where trees had once grown thick and rivers had once flowed, in the middle of the snowfield, Agwi knelt on one knee.
"Did you find them all?"
"Yes."
Agwi answered with her head bowed. White snowflakes were scattered in her hair. The few snowflakes proved how long she had been prostrating there.
"As my lord commanded."
There was something I had ordered Agwi to do earlier.
「There will be jiangshi using martial arts scattered around the area, with no pattern to their numbers.」
「Find them.」
「Find the demonic practitioners in black robes. Find the chivalrous warriors in white robes.」
The three years since the Orthodox-Demonic War began.
During that time, many jiangshi had gone "missing."
The corpses of the murim had been pushed by snow-winds and swept away by blizzards.
"The jiangshi my lord called demon followers: 439. The jiangshi my lord called white followers: 478. A total of 917 missing."
That wasn't all.
"The demon-follower jiangshi that had not gone missing but were gathered nearby: 560. The white-follower jiangshi likewise gathered nearby: 521. Combined, 1,998. All of them."
Agwi bowed her head a little lower.
Beyond her slender shoulders.
"They await you here."
The jiangshi were arrayed across the snowfield.
My skeleton legion held the jiangshi in place on both sides. It was morning. The jiangshi, weak to sunlight, wouldn't move, but even if the sun happened to be covered by clouds, the formation wouldn't collapse in an instant.
"Good. Well done."
I nodded.
"From now on, bring the jiangshi to me one at a time."
"Yes, as you command."
A skeleton dragged a corpse over. By the time the corpse reached me, I had already drawn the Holy Sword. Winter was cold. But my blade, gliding through the winter air, would be colder still.
...Baraya.......
Wind blew from somewhere. Just as rain pools in a lake when it falls, the wind blew and swept into the valley. Pooling in the valley, the world's wind seemed to take on a human voice.
...Baraya.......
From afar. The wind chanted a sutra.
When sounds fall downward, they all come to resemble human voices.
I eavesdropped on the sound of the wind tumbling down, and swung my sword.
...Agabaraya.......
One stroke, two halves.
The jiangshi's head split open.
"Hoo."
I cut and cut the things that had become corpses.
Without rest.
The jiangshi's head burst, scattering fragments.
"Next!"
"Yes!"
The skeleton quickly brought the next corpse. Agwi coordinated the legion of bones. When I found my rhythm, Agwi swiftly presented the corpses, and when she sensed I was tiring, she slowed the pace a little.
"Faster! I'll finish them all before sunset today!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Our execution ceremony flowed like the wind.
A total of 1,998 corpses.
No matter how still and unresisting they were, cutting through them with a single sword was never easy.
"Huff, hoo... hoo......!"
I had been thinking all this time.
'How can I reach a perfect ending?'
What ending would completely satisfy Master?
'How must a person's life turn out to be complete?'
I wanted that without a single speck of falsehood.
And so I was able to reach a conclusion.
'Simply becoming his disciple isn't enough.'
Master going mad and rampaging was a bad ending. A definitively bad ending. But then again, was my [Becoming a Disciple] really a happy ending?
Literally speaking, would Master be happy and satisfied with this ending?
'No.'
A normal ending.
[Becoming a Disciple] can never be called a complete ending. It barely satisfies the criteria for an ending.
Even if I declared this to be the end, the Great Library Director would probably accept it, and Floor 22 would be cleared just like this......
"Hup! Hoo......!"
But I could never be satisfied.
"My lord, just a little more strength! Only half remain now!"
[Sparkle cheers for the Hero's struggle with all her might!]
Before I knew it, the sun had set.
The sky was dyed red, and the snowfield was tinted purple.
"Hoo, hoo......! Hoo......!"
I don't know how much time had passed. Seven hours? Eight hours? Something like that. Anyway, I swung my sword without rest. My clothes were soaked with sweat and scraps of flesh.
"The last ten! My lord!"
Ten.
I looked ahead. Indeed, only five demon followers and five white followers remained. Gasping for breath, I gripped the sword hilt tight.
Just a little more.
"Five!"
Just a little more.
"The last one! Truly the very last one!"
I crushed the head of a Demonic Cult member in black robes. The jiangshi’s frozen brain shattered like ice. Right after cutting down the 1,998th jiangshi, the strength left my knees and I collapsed onto the snow.
"Hah, haa......! Hup, hoooo......"
"You've worked hard, my lord! Truly, you have endured so much!"
Agwi rejoiced as if she might start hopping around. She had worked just as hard for over half a day.
Ever since she had been taken into my shadow, Agwi had always been stoic. This was the first time I'd seen her so openly happy.
"Why? What's making you so happy?"
I caught my breath and asked. Agwi then realized her expression had briefly softened, and quickly returned to her stoic face.
"...I thought of the sight my lord will show, and my heart grew full on its own. I have never met the one who is my lord's master in person. But I believe he will surely be happy. Not simply happy... truly, very much."
"Right."
I smiled, sprawled out on the snow.
"I hope he's very happy."
The cure had been developed.
I had been acknowledged as Master's disciple.
And finally, I had obtained the guardian spirit’s permission.
The road here had never been easy.
At last... I was ready to see this world's ending.
7
A week passed.
"Hmm, with my dantian ruined, I do feel quite empty."
For a week, Master recuperated alongside the Murim Alliance Master. Fortunately, there was no need to find a separate place to recover. This cave with its open-air hot spring was the finest resort there was.
"Even when I enter breathing exercises, not a single grain of internal energy accumulates. Without internal energy, I grow anxious for no reason. Ah, so this is how the crippled who cannot use martial arts must feel......"
"I'm actually more at ease now. Honestly, all this time I haven't felt alive even while living! All day I had to block the acupoints in my neck, keep my heart moving. Aigo, aigo."
The Murim Alliance Master soaked in the hot spring and sighed.
"Now I can breathe without a single thought, so I finally feel like I'm living! It's all thanks to the children from beyond the border."
"G-good work......"
The Pharmacist fidgeted as she finished Master’s examination.
"Today's checkup is done. Both of you are perfectly fine. At this point, you can consider yourselves fully cured. E-even if you get bitten by jiangshi again, you won't be reinfected......"
"Thank you."
Master raised her hand and patted the Pharmacist’s head. Flinch. The Pharmacist’s shoulders briefly hunched.
"That old man and I owe you our lives. It isn't easy to help a complete stranger."
"O-oh, no...... I just did what anyone would do......"
"Thinking of what is natural as natural is a great thing. Acting naturally on what you think is natural is even greater. Child, you are remarkable for your young age."
"Eek. I mean, no, that's......"
The Pharmacist couldn’t move and simply accepted Master’s patting. She was shy, but she didn’t seem to dislike it. They looked just like a close pair of sisters, and watching them warmed my heart.
"Mm."
But I couldn't just keep feeling warm and fuzzy.
"Boss, so both of them are okay to move around now?"
"Ah. Y-yes! I set the recovery period a bit long just in case. Moving around and exercising won't cause any problems."
Okay.
"Master, Alliance Master. Let's take a short walk with me."
"A walk?"
Master tilted her head.
"Taking in the outside air with my disciple is a joy, but... why invite the old man? Gong-ja, even a pleasant stroll becomes a shitty path if you walk it with that old fossil."
"Well, well. If it's a walk with an old demon and a young demon together, I'll pass. Go enjoy yourselves, you dull-witted master and disciple."
The reactions were exactly as I expected.
"No."
I quietly shook my head.
"It has to be both of you."
"Hmm......?"
Master and the Murim Alliance Master exchanged glances. They seemed to have noticed that I wasn't proposing an ordinary walk. The two of them wore expressions that said they didn't know what it was, but it would be fun.
"Very well. Our disciple must have something up his sleeve. Walking with the old fossil isn't my preference, but I'll gladly let my foolish disciple fool me."
"Well, whatever the young demon has cooked up, it'll be trivial. I'm not expecting anything."
We left the cave.
It was cold. Just like the first day I had fallen into the [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon], today was winter as well.
The difference from that day was that neither Master nor the Murim Alliance Master could use internal energy. Could never use it again.
I held Master's hand with my right hand. I took the Murim Alliance Master's hand with my left. That way, I could use aura to share warmth.
"Master."
"Yes."
"Alliance Master."
"Yes."
"You both said it. That the only regret was not being able to finish the Orthodox-Demonic War. That it was regrettable, but it was a matter for us disciples to carry on and resolve from now on......"
The two of them leaned on my warmth as they crossed the cold winter road.
"But I think differently."
Was it strange to be outside for the first time in a week? Or were their own bodies, forced to walk without internal energy, still unfamiliar? Master's and the Murim Alliance Master's steps were a little clumsy.
"The Orthodox-Demonic War is a ritual that belongs to the two of you. Even if the Heavenly Martial Sect Master and I were to fight, it would be nothing more than an ordinary sparring match. It could never become a great war. Only a match between the two of you can be the Orthodox-Demonic War. Because the two of you are the ones who have protected the demonic cult and the orthodox faction all this time."
"Disciple......?"
"Thank you."
We arrived at the snowfield.
"Thank you for not giving up for three years."
The place where corpses had once spread like a forest. The forest of human shadows. Now this place was nothing more than a clean snowfield without a single corpse.
"Thank you for coming out every morning to find the jiangshi and gather them again. If the two of you had given up, if you had treated the jiangshi as mere corpses and let them go missing, we would never have recovered them."
The lives you lost.
The sights you should have enjoyed.
To give those back, I slowly began to speak.
"Hundred Ghost Reincarnation (百鬼還生)."
My shadow spread across the snowfield.
[Activating skill.]
From the shade, figures like snowmen rose up one by one. Some shadows wore black robes. Some shadows fluttered white sleeves. They gradually took on human form, and looked down at their own hands in astonishment.
"Disciple, what in the world is this......"
But none of them could have been as astonished as Master and the Murim Alliance Master.
"You may think it's a dream. You may dismiss it as an aftereffect of losing your dantian. You may believe that I have learned some strange Taoist art, and that I can summon the memories and bodies of the dead for a time, recreating them exactly as they were in life."
"......"
"Master, Alliance Master."
The Hundred Ghost Reincarnation was complete.
"The Demonic Dominion is not yet over."
The elite followers of the demonic cult. One thousand.
"The martial still have not forgotten the chivalrous, and the chivalrous have not lost the martial."
The elite warriors of the orthodox faction. One thousand.
"The fate of the demonic cult does not end at the hands of mere jiangshi, and the orthodox martial world is not devoured by corpses."
A true Orthodox-Demonic War.
That was the wish of the two of them.
"If the demonic cult is to vanish from this world, it must be only by the blade of the orthodox faction. And if the orthodox faction is truly to perish, it must be only by the fingertips of the demonic cult."
"......"
"I beseech the master of the demonic cult, and I entreat the leader of the martial alliance."
I smiled.
And raised my clasped hands in salute.
"Contend for who shall be the final master of the jianghu."