Chapter 64
Translator: uly
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: The Seven Valleys County's Heavenly Killing Saint - 7
The Cheongsa faction bastards didn't just drag any random slum resident here to extort money.
Most of the people dragged here were residents living at the entrance of the slum.
The slum entrance was relatively close to the bustling area, a place where slum dwellers who had at least some access to money lived.
They probably thought those living there were worth fleecing.
“This house. It's all empty, so go in and lie down.”
Supported by the person who brought me to the slum entrance, I entered the empty house and lay down on the straw mattress.
It hadn't been long since someone left this room.
The room I looked around was clean, and the straw was fluffy and well-dried, making it comfortable.
“Thank you.”
The slum residents, all leaning on each other, reached the outskirts of the slum and went their separate ways to their own homes.
Fortunately, a man who was in decent condition volunteered to support me all the way and move me to this room.
If this were modern times, they would have parted with bitter faces and immediately rushed to the police station.
But in this world, they could only think today was unlucky and drag their aching bodies home.
“I should be thanking you. I'll leave some water and a little food. Get some rest today and eat tomorrow to pull yourself together. I'll come check on your condition tomorrow.”
The man said that, then rubbed his sore spots and returned to his own house.
‘I can't fall asleep like this.’
I don't know what might happen tonight. Even though we walked quite a distance, for a martial artist, it's nothing.
If the Heavenly Killing Saint's massacre happens tonight, falling asleep like this is a bad move.
I want to go to the inn, but in my current state, it's impossible. The sun has already set, and the inn I'm staying at is a long walk even after leaving the slum.
I can't drag this body, which can't even sit comfortably let alone walk, to the inn.
It would have been nice to head to the inn from the start, but I should be grateful they brought me here, unable to move on my own.
‘I need to recover and prepare to run.’
I need to stay awake all night with my ears open and flee immediately if screams are heard. But my body is a wreck. I can't run with this body.
If not through sleep, I need to recover quickly by other means.
‘Tunap-sul.’
I barely mustered strength into my aching arm, raised my upper body, and with great effort, assumed a cross-legged sitting posture.
If I use Tunap-sul, it will take time, but I should be able to recover to a state where I can barely walk.
Based on long experience, it's better to sleep through the night after being beaten and perform Tunap-sul upon waking, but now I need to recover like this.
‘Please. Let my worries be unfounded.’
Hoping she would return as Cheon So-hee, I sat in place and began using Tunap-sul.
They are just trivial prey.
The Heavenly Killing Saint thought as she looked at the flesh fragments that could hardly even be called corpses.
As she spread her senses wide, she could hear the sobs of those holding their breath in fear, terrified.
That violence would not descend upon them today. That the misfortune that visits every time would come tomorrow. That the sorrow forcing them to stifle their sobs would not arrive. Clutching the parts of their bodies with chronic illnesses, hoping there would be work tomorrow.
Helpless, helpless, helpless.
The powerlessness that cannot be resisted yet cannot be accepted. Lives lived because they cannot die. Herbivorous animals living day by day, barely making ends meet. They were closing their doors, holding their breath, hiding from the sound of snakes being hunted.
[Why do they live?]
Such pitiful lives.
Enough to make you want to kill them.
[Kill.]
She wanted to give them a gift. She wanted to share death with those living wretched lives. After crushing their legs, breaking their arms, and slashing their bellies, she would gift them death.
When giving a gift, shouldn't you receive compensation of that level? Only after enjoying their screams, cries, groans, rage, and pain, then giving the gift, would the balance be right.
[That's not enough.]
Yes, it's not enough. Going house to house to give gifts, who knows when this burning thirst will be quenched. It's an act of trying to quench a thirst that feels like burning with the morning dew on a leaf.
I must find him after all.
The man who will quench this burning thirst.
[I can't sense him.]
Did he run far away in the meantime? Or did he go inside some house? The Heavenly Killing Saint couldn't catch the scent of his blood.
Should I give up searching? Should I quench my thirst with morning dew? But the Heavenly Killing Saint had a way.
[I sensed a strange smell in the blood.]
If the Heavenly Killing Saint were in her right mind, she would have known it was the aura of the Thousand-League Tracking Incense, but she had already lost that level of situational judgment.
[That way.]
The Heavenly Killing Saint began slowly walking towards where the scent was coming from.
------
Is this how a butterfly feels drunk on the scent of flowers?
As the scent of his blood grew closer, the Heavenly Killing Saint gradually became immersed in ecstasy.
“Wh-what!”
“What crazy woman.”
“Young Lady. Are you hurt somewhere?”
“She has a sword. Run!”
“She's covered in blood!”
Led by the intoxicating scent of blood. The Heavenly Killing Saint encountered a few people along the way but ignored them and continued walking in one direction.
Anyone who knew the true nature of the Heavenly Killing Saint would have been astonished by her actions. The Heavenly Killing Saint, steeped in blood and consumed by killing intent, not killing?
She thought their blood was too trivial to fill her ravenous hunger.
She was going to commit the most delicious murder right now. She couldn't fill her belly with such things. Each time she felt the thirst for murder, she took a deep breath.
[Ecstatic.]
So ecstatic. How can there be such a wonderful scent of blood?
How would it feel to kill him?
How should I kill him? Killing him at once would be too boring. Let's cut his ankles first. The sight of him crawling on the ground, howling in pain, would be funnier than anything.
What if he laughs and runs away?
Let's stab the sword into his calf. Let's slowly savor the feeling of tearing from the skin surface through the calf muscle, piercing the ground.
Once he can't move, let's twist and pull out his fingers one by one. A melody more delightful than any performance will emerge.
What should I do next? Should I cut off his arms? Slash his belly? There's so much I can do.
The Heavenly Killing Saint pondered how to torture and kill Kang Yun-ho most enjoyably, like a chef contemplating what dish to make with a whole cow.
[The scent of blood is close.]
The Heavenly Killing Saint had now found the house where he was. At the edge of her vision. He is in that house.
[I can quench my thirst.]
She could burst through the door and enter in one leap. But that would be against dining etiquette. To savor it slowly, she must observe proper manners.
The Heavenly Killing Saint marched towards the house visible at the edge of her vision with a solemn and ecstatic demeanor, like a bride entering a wedding hall.
[If I open that door, he'll be there.]
The Heavenly Killing Saint took a deep breath. In all the world, only the scent of his blood. Other smells do not enter her mind. Drenching herself in this blood would make her head tingle with happiness.
How will you cry? Will you beg for mercy? Or will you accept my gift?
[What expression will you make?]
What face will you make before you die?
[His expression is….]
She suddenly stopped in her tracks.
It feels like something is coming to mind.
She suddenly grabbed her head with both hands.
[His face…’
Her face contorted with indescribable agony.
‘…. What did he look like?’
A single doubt tore through her killing-intent-consumed thoughts.
She couldn't remember.
Who is he?
Why can't I remember? Why was I going to him? Who was he? He's not in my memory. No, he is. No, he was. Forgetting a memory once is enough. You who I can't remember. Who are you? You're frustrating. It hurts.
Why does my chest ache whenever I think of you?
Who are you.
Why don't I know you.
Why do you pretend to know me.
In front of the door, dizziness struck momentarily. Her legs momentarily lost strength, and she leaned against the door, supporting herself.
‘It doesn't come up.’
Didn't I promise never to forget again? Didn't I promise to remember? Why can't I remember?
What did he look like? That face that warms my chest. Forgetting once is enough. Remember. Something precious. Didn't I want to reclaim it? Why are you trying to lose it?
‘The face that smiles affectionately at me.’
She barely rummaged through the fog of memory, but only his smile surfaced. What kind of face was it?
It's not enough.
His smile is not enough.
She felt a burning thirst.
Not a thirst for murder. A thirst for someone.
There is only one way to quench this thirst.
With burning thirst, she opened the door.
“Ah.”
There, sitting, was the spring that would quench her thirst. In a precarious state, on the verge of collapse, enduring pain.
Yes. That's what he looked like.
The man who always smiles affectionately for me. The man who always worries about me. The man who tries to protect me despite being weak.
The man who makes me feel like a younger sister when beside him, not an assassin or a martial artist.
[Let's kill him.]
“Shut up!”
[Kill him.]
“I will be by his side.”
She spat out words of resolute will.
That day. I promised him.
“……. I said I would be by his side.”
Words that spewed out all the regret, sorrow, resentment, and longing. But there was no killing intent in them.
The voice was no longer heard.
She threw away the sword she was gripping tightly in her hand.
‘The killing intent is gone.’
Cheon So-hee thought as she looked at her blood-soaked hands.
‘How?’
This wasn't the first time she had been consumed by killing intent. Only after the killing intent devoured everything around her could she barely grasp the edge of reason and return.
Even after returning to her senses, the killing intent wasn't resolved.
Even when she returned after killing to her heart's content, grasping the edge of reason, she had to struggle to control the killing intent that complained of unquenched thirst.
But now.
‘It's peaceful.’
Not a single shred of killing intent remains in her heart. Just in case, she sniffed the scent of blood on her hand, but the killing intent didn't stir at all; only the foul smell of blood rose.
‘The start was the same.’
She held back from killing for a long time. Carelessly killed many people. Became intoxicated with murder, and the killing intent burst forth from within. The killing intent dominated her body. There was just one difference….
‘Yun-ho. Is it you?’
Cheon So-hee looked at the man who was performing Energy Circulation Breathing, still unaware of her presence.
She didn't know why he was performing Energy Circulation Breathing when he hadn't learned martial arts, but it was clear everything was his influence.
‘How?’
The Heavenly Killing Saint's killing intent makes her cut down even the most precious person. If the Heavenly Killing Saint's killing intent disappeared just by seeing a precious person's face, the killing sprees wouldn't happen every hundred years.
The same goes for the internal energy method he's using. There's no way the Heavenly Killing Saint's killing intent could be suppressed just because someone used an internal energy method for personal training.
Suddenly, a fundamental question arose in her mind.
‘When I was beside Yun-ho, did the killing intent ever surge?’
Every time my peace of mind was shattered because of Yun-ho, did the killing intent ever surge even once?
‘No. Not once did the killing intent arise while I was beside him.’
Days when my peace of mind was shattered every day.
Gratitude, regret, warmth. Countless emotions I hadn't been able to feel for so long rose up, breaking my peace of mind, but there was no killing intent among them.
Even though I worried I might kill him and asked to be tied up every night, I never once felt killing intent and asked to be tied up because of it.
Not once did the killing intent surge when I was beside him.
‘How is that possible?’
一 Someday, you will meet a noble person.
The words Cheon Gija once said suddenly flashed in Cheon So-hee's mind.
The futile search I thought was a waste of effort.
一 One who defies heaven's fate. One who completed his heavenly mandate and returned from death. One who can even change another's fate. The day will come when you meet such a person.
A being as vague, difficult, and elusive as any fortune-teller's words.
一 If you realize he is the noble person, then stay by his side. Something even heaven couldn't predict will surely happen.
“Yun-ho.”
She looked at the man she almost lost because of herself and asked.
一 Where is that person?
“Are you my noble person?”