Chapter 82. The Shabbiest in the World (2)
Chapter 82. The Shabbiest in the World (2)
"Aha!"
My master laughed.
"Uhahaha! Hahat!"
Her nose bone was broken and blood flowed. Spilling her blood onto the white snowfield, hoo-ah! My master swung her bare fist.
"Hup!"
The fist struck the Murim Alliance Master's jaw precisely. The moment he staggered and lost his footing, my master did not miss it. She leaped. She lunged.
She bit.
"Ugh!"
Crunch!
"Kuh-uk, hup! Kheu-eu-euk......! You, bastard......!"
The Murim Alliance Master hastily shoved my master away, but his ear was already soaked in blood. With a ripping sound, flesh was torn off. "Kheu-heup!" A low scream drifted across the snowfield.
"Ptui!"
My master spat the blood-soaked ear onto the snow. Her lips were stained red as well. She was smiling with her eyes, as if satisfied with the fruits of her hunt.
A demon.
She had the bearing of a ghost starved for blood.
"Ptoo! What a foul taste! Has the Namgung clan’s noble inner cultivation method no use for improving the quality of one’s flesh!"
"You demonic hag, kuh. As expected of a heretic of the demonic path, now you even relish human flesh!"
"You are an old man like spinach left to wilt. But what you said earlier was not without merit."
My master wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
"The Orthodox-Demonic War should have ended on the first day. Both I and you retreated. We told ourselves we were staking everything, but in truth we did not. We did not truly stake our lives!"
"......."
"Today's battle is a second chance that should never have been given."
My master looked at me.
In her ink-dark eyes was a warm and gentle affection.
"I cannot foolishly repeat the same mistake. Bu Wol-seon, today I will pour out everything."
"...You intend to shatter your true qi."
"That is so."
Innate true qi.
The energy everyone is born with. In other words, life force itself. Unlike internal energy, true qi cannot be artificially accumulated. Once used, it is gone. And the end of a martial artist who draws upon their 'life' is already decided.
Death. Or becoming a cripple.
To a person of the jianghu, true qi was truly the last resort. No different from burning the boats.
"...Demonic hag, both you and I are already weakened."
The Murim Alliance Master spoke. Perhaps because he had lost one ear, he was scowling fiercely.
"Even if you draw upon true qi now, you'll only manage the skill of a middling or low-level martial artist, let alone a master. You have no internal energy, and not even a dantian. Displaying divine might is impossible. ...Do you know that?"
"I know."
"You intend to shatter your true qi just to show off the martial prowess of a middling fighter at best!"
"Of course."
My master smiled.
"Do not be angry, Namgung Un. I am not trying to throw away my life. Never. I merely hope that my end, which would come someday, will be today."
"......."
"I feel the joy of being alive more than ever right now. I am grateful, and grateful again. I thank myself for surviving until today, and I thank this fate that allows me to die today."
"Even though the world has been destroyed?"
"Yes. I am grateful for every connection I have met up to this moment."
My master slowly took her stance.
Right hand forward. Left hand back.
"Looking back, I am truly a happy martial artist."
Whoosh!
A snow wind gusted. It was not snow falling from the sky. A small vortex swirled around my master. Innate true qi was flowing out. Wind spread outward from her as the center.
"...So, it has come to that."
The Murim Alliance Master received her wind with a bare face.
"Good. I, too, have desperately awaited a day like today."
The wind reversed.
"Let us die together, Heavenly Demon."
The two of them ran toward each other.
And I watched the scene of two lives flowing across the snowfield.
My master struck away the Murim Alliance Master's hand. The Murim Alliance Master hooked my master's foot. As arms crossed and footwork intertwined, true qi flowed ceaselessly from their bodies. It was a leak of life.
The eternal snow that the sun could not melt melted beneath two lives.
My master struck the Murim Alliance Master's waist. Wind blew. Snow slid down in the direction her fingertips pointed, along the path the wind had flowed.
In a world covered by snowfield, only the paths where the two people's hands and feet had passed slowly revealed bare ground.
"......."
That was not all.
Around where my master and the Murim Alliance Master fought, little by little, quickly, things that were not white were growing. Weeds. Undergrowth. Though the rest of the ground was still frozen under snow, seasons bloomed along the two people's path of battle.
-They're growing by feeding on the true qi.
The guardian spirit remarked flatly.
-With true qi from masters of that caliber, it's no different from a feast. Though it'll only last a moment.
Even if only for an instant, the two people's season was beautiful.
The earth drank the true qi the two had shed. And so heaven and earth briefly returned to how they had been before being locked in eternal winter.
That place was a forest of peach blossoms.
As if time had accelerated, peach trees grew and thickened. Peach trees resembled human fingers. The branches crawling up from the ground stretched toward the sky like hands trying to grasp something.
Flowers bloomed.
Between petals dappled pink, through the gaps of finger-like branches, my master and the Murim Alliance Master dueled.
Gestures of hand and foot meant to kill each other.
But when briefly veiled by petals, it was like a single turn of dance, a duel of dance, and because the lives the two had lived were at stake, it was a duel of lives. When veiled by petals, many things in the world became brilliant. Even killing intent. Even my master's, your venom.
-...This is a rather rare occurrence.
The white snowfield.
Red peach blossom petals scattered.
-Perhaps because one was born with an extreme yin constitution and the other with the Heaven-Martial Body (天武之體). Yin and yang have meshed almost perfectly. The area around those two is already a separate world. ...Even I have never seen such a wondrous sight.
Peach blossoms bloomed and fell.
Spring lingered, then passed.
"Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step."
My master stepped forward. A blizzard raged and peach blossoms scattered.
"Golden Battle-Axe Shatters Heaven."
The Murim Alliance Master seized her wrist and twisted. The snow wind stopped, and the peach blossoms bloomed full again.
"......."
A single petal rode the wind and settled on my shoulder.
Only then did I understand.
Those red flowers were my master's blood. The Murim Alliance Master's blood.
They were petals that had bloomed by drinking the blood the two shed at the end.
"...I hate you."
Winter was bleeding.
"I hate you people."
Master.
"I hate the orthodox faction. I hate great heroes. I hate the Nine Sects. I loathe the Five Great Clans. While the common folk scream, you are happy. You are lofty. But what I cannot forgive is not your happiness. It never was."
Master.
"That wretches like you also feel pain,"
The peach blossoms bloomed and fell, and the seasons lingered and passed, but the petals that bloomed grew fewer and fewer, and the seasons that lingered grew shorter and shorter.
"That wretches like you also say life is painful, make pained expressions, say hurtful things, seek comfort, give comfort, and thereby pretend to be human."
My master was dying.
"I loathe it."
The flowers were falling.
"How is it,"
The season was fading.
"that you are endless beasts to others, yet endlessly human only to yourselves?"
Countless peach blossoms veiled the two people's shadows.
Looking back, it was a dream like an instant, a duel lasting no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
The branches withered. Peach blossoms could no longer bloom. Wind blew and snow covered the bare ground again. In the middle of the fallen petals, my master and the Murim Alliance Master stood tall.
"......."
Stagger.
"...Kuh, eu-heup! Pteu, heu-eup......!"
Something even redder was vomited onto the field of red flowers.
It was the blood the Murim Alliance Master shed.
My master's clenched fist was pressed against the Murim Alliance Master's chest. The old man staggered like a mirage. Then he collapsed lightly. Flump, red flowers stirred as they received the old man's body.
My master stood still.
"Master."
No answer came when I called.
"Master."
I moved my feet. I hurried. I ran and embraced my master's body, standing motionless.
She was cold.
Her body was cold as ice.
"Master......."
"You won."
My master's voice was clear. The warmth that had vanished from her body still lingered in her voice. But it was too light. Her fingers, her frame, had become light as if she had aged in an instant.
"Yes, I won. You won."
"Originally, I should have pierced his chest with my fist and seized his heart. Far from piercing, I only managed to strike. I have no face to show my disciple."
"No, not at all."
"Still, my face is better than yours right now. What kind of expression is that?"
I carefully laid my master in my arms. I wrapped her body in aura. Yet she did not grow the slightest bit warmer. Even the fingertips stroking my cheek were cold as icicles.
"Do not worry, my disciple. I still have one shichen left before I draw my last breath."
Two hours.
"Is that not enough time to say our farewells?"
The time I could hear this person's voice and breathing was now only two hours.
"...And yet you make such a long face."
My master wore a sad expression.
"You are a disciple who troubles his master. Though I suppose I have already troubled my disciple. I wanted to spend a long time passing on everything, but because of this old woman's stubbornness, even that became impossible. I worry about what I will remain as, what I will have left, in your heart."
"I’m afraid I’ll become nothing to you," my master whispered, then coughed up blood.
"If I am remembered as a single flower that briefly bloomed and faded, I could ask for nothing more......."
"Death King!"
An urgent shout rang out.
It was the Pharmacist’s voice. As if she had only now learned that the Orthodox-Demonic War had broken out on the snowfield, the Pharmacist and the rest of the Tower party were running over in a fluster.
"Death King, wh-what is going on......."
"Hey! Master?"
Viper spotted the Murim Alliance Master and was startled.
"Are you okay? Hey, Master! Look here! Open your eyes!"
"That old fool is fine."
My master let out a small cough.
"The final punch was shallow. It went in shallow. He was boasting about whether heaven's fortune was with him today or not... Living the rest of his life as a cripple is that fool's heaven's fortune."
"A cr-cripple?"
The Pharmacist gaped.
"I absolutely won't leave him like that... Ah, anyway, there's no time for this! Both of you need treatment right away!"
"I am done. Tend to the old man."
"But......!"
"I know my own body best. It is already nearly finished."
My master said, "And."
"I wish to spend my final hours with my one and only disciple."
"......."
"Child, will you give us the consideration of being alone?"
The Pharmacist was both a pharmacist and a physician. She came over and firmly pressed my master’s pulse. She had activated a skill to examine the patient’s condition.
A shadow fell over the Pharmacist’s face.
"...I have painkillers. Shall I administer one?"
"It is fine."
My master smiled.
"The winter wind is gentle. My chest feels clear, and that is good. When I go to the far shore, I want to go feeling this wind fully."
"......."
The Pharmacist stood. With a bow, she silently lowered her head toward my master. The Medicine King, who had been standing wordlessly, gestured and gathered the party. Before long, they carried the Murim Alliance Master on their backs and returned to the cave.
They had been considerate of my master and me.
"...Master."
"Now then."
My master took my hand.
"How shall we pass the remaining shichen? Are you curious about my childhood stories? Would you like to hear how beautiful the main mountain of our cult is?"
"I have a request."
I, too, squeezed my master's hand tightly.
There was still time.
Her life was not yet complete. To enjoy the ending she could be fully satisfied with, the greatest moment, one more puzzle piece was still needed.
"I have a request."
"What is it?"
"Please duel with me."
My master's eyes widened.
"How unexpected. The will of a disciple to surpass his master is admirable, but as you can see, I can no longer move. Gong-ja, what satisfaction would there be in defeating me when I cannot even stir?"
"Then it doesn't have to be a duel of moving bodies."
"Hm?"
"I want to contend with you in a duel of words."
"A duel of words."
A duel of words.
A duel exchanged with the mouth, not the body.
One states what technique one will use and how one will attack. When the opponent responds, one states the counter to that response.
Thus there is no need to move one's limbs. No internal energy is needed.
A fight waged purely through insight into martial arts.
A contest of martial learning.
"Heh."
And so my master smiled softly.
"Our disciple has grown quite proud. If we contended with our bodies, Gong-ja, your victory would be certain, but in a duel of words, your defeat is certain. I will freely deploy techniques as if I had returned to my prime—how could you, who has only grasped a few strands of the Demonic Heavenly God Art, possibly fight me!"
"I......."
I spoke.
"I don't think the duel you just fought with the Murim Alliance Master was your best. You said so yourself. That originally you would have pierced his chest and seized his heart. ...Even if it's a fight exchanged in words, I want you to achieve the most satisfying duel as your last."
The greatest fight, leaving no regrets.
Because that would be the wish of every martial artist.
"And you are saying you can show me that, Gong-ja?"
"Yes."
"Hmm......."
My master seemed to find my proposal amusing. Perhaps she thought it was the childish whim of a young disciple. I saw no expectation that I would truly gift her such a duel.
"Very well. But I will not go easy even in a duel of words. I will yield the first move, but do not resent me too much if I end it in a single blow."
"Yes."
"When the duel is over, I will tell you stories of my old days! Now then, show this master the results of your training."
My master smiled brightly.
It was a smile that carried the fragrance of peach blossoms.
I looked down at my master's face, then slowly looked at the man sitting across from me. A martial artist who had reached the summit not in this world, but in another.
-Hm.
Sword Emperor (劍帝).
-Is it finally my turn?
A being who had risen to the position of the greatest of all time in another jianghu.
Though he was a ghost and could not fight with his body, if he borrowed my mouth, a duel of words was possible.
'Yes, please honor the [promise] you lost in our bet.'
-Very well.
The guardian spirit grinned.
-I've been wanting to have a bout with the leader of the demonic cult here anyway.
He crossed his arms and sat on the snow.
-I'll give you the greatest duel. Tell her I'll yield three moves.
With me between them, the absolute masters of two jianghu faced each other.