Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Another Plum Blossom of Mount Hua
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Another plum blossom of Mount Hua? Was there such a thing…
Neung Un-bi tilted his head in confusion, but then his eyes widened.
Dokgo Seong simply stood with his eyes closed, holding the tree branch at a diagonal.
But at some point, his feet seemed to meld into the ground.
As if they had sprouted from the earth itself, they were planted so firmly it seemed they wouldn't budge even if pulled with all one's might.
Roo, roots?
Yes, roots. Like the trees around him, his feet began to take root, gripping the earth tightly.
Whoosh.
“……!”
A wind blew from somewhere, chillingly tickling the back of his neck as it passed.
Startled, Neung Un-bi's eyes widened as far as they could go, and he whipped his head around, scanning his surroundings.
“The wind…”
It wasn't coming from one direction. The wind, weaving through the trees that filled the area, was being drawn toward a single point.
“Th-This is?”
Neung Un-bi's head, which had been turning aimlessly, stopped at one spot.
The place where the wind was flowing.
Dokgo Seong…
Sarak.
The wide sleeves of his robe fluttered slightly.
But Dokgo Seong, standing without the slightest movement, simply surrendered himself to the wind with a faint smile.
Shwaaaa.
He was like a leaf swaying in the gentle breeze, like a blade of grass lying long on the ground.
“Huh? Elder?”
Soon, an unbelievable sight unfolded.
Dokgo Seong's figure blurred, as if melting into nature.
A startled Neung Un-bi rubbed his eyes, but his form only grew fainter.
Just as he was growing even more astonished by his presence vanishing without a trace.
Tok.
Something fell to the ground.
Like a stone thrown onto a calm surface of water creating ripples, the ground undulated, sending out concentric circles.
What in the world is…
Neung Un-bi drew upon his internal energy.
This strange illusion had to be the product of Dokgo Seong's aura. He had to see the true form. He had to see what he was using to create such a bizarre illusion…
The Eye of Insight.
Neung Un-bi's eyes, tainted with demonic energy, peeled back the illusion and approached the truth.
What had fallen was the tree branch Dokgo Seong had been holding.
The tip, held at a diagonal, was now touching the ground. And from that very tip, a sacred energy was continuously spreading out into the surroundings.
Soon, the wind carrying the sacred energy reached Neung Un-bi's body.
It entered his nostrils with each breath, filling his lungs.
But to Neung Un-bi, that refreshing clarity felt only heavy.
“Keuk.”
As the highly pure sacred energy settled into his body, trained in demonic arts, a groan escaped him at the sensation of his entire being being crushed.
Was it for nothing that sacred and demonic energies were opposites?
He could only endure because he had built up resistance by chanting demon-subduing mantras.
Moreover, if it weren't for the internal energy gained from the Demonic Spirit Divine Pill, he would never have been able to withstand the sacred energy emanating from a Taoist who had transcended the human realm.
And at that moment, the energy of the Demonic Spirit Divine Pill, spread throughout his energy channels, sensed the crisis and rose on its own, beginning to push out the sacred energy that had seeped into his body.
It fought tenaciously, clashing as if against a sudden invader.
Kuuung!
Was it because of this?
The collisions occurring throughout his body shook him to the core.
Meanwhile, the metallic taste of blood rose from his throat into his mouth.
“Damn it…”
He had wanted to see the true form, but it was no longer possible.
Fearing internal injuries if he endured any longer, Neung Un-bi used his raised demonic energy not for sight, but for defense.
As his will to defend solidified, the Demonic Spirit Divine Pill gained even more strength and fiercely pushed back the sacred energy.
“Huu…”
As the sacred energy that had penetrated his lungs was exhaled, the truth he had seen through his insight faded.
In the world of illusion that began anew, Dokgo Seong was no longer there.
Pajik.
“……?”
Along with an auditory hallucination that sparked curiosity, something shot up, breaking through the ground.
Its identity was a small, radiant sprout.
A stem emerged from between two cotyledons, grew in an instant, and soon became enormous, as if to obscure the sky.
Small buds sprouted from every drooping branch, and soon, as if an unseasonable spring had arrived, they began to burst into blossom.
“Plum, plum blossoms?”
Neung Un-bi exclaimed, his mouth agape.
Popping out from every branch and blooming magnificently were none other than plum blossoms.
And before he knew it, the tree had vanished, leaving only the fully bloomed flowers.
That was all he could see. The blossoming plum flowers filled the heavens and the earth.
The fully bloomed plum blossoms seemed to wilt, then began to drop their petals one by one.
As the wind wove through them, the cascading petals created a dizzying display of changes impossible to follow with the eye. The petals spread and flowed for ten thousand li, filling the world with the scent of plum blossoms.
As the fluttering blossoms finally settled on the ground, it soon became difficult to find even a place to stand.
Hwiiing!
And then, riding a sudden gust of wind, the petals swirled upward, dyeing the sky.
A purple sky created by petals, likely because it was imbued with the energy of the Purple Mist Divine Art.
“Ah!”
At the splendid banquet of petals, Neung Un-bi couldn't help but let out a cry of awe.
And the wind stopped.
The petals, which had been fluttering and drifting, paused as if frozen in mid-air, then poured down all at once.
Kwakwakwaka!
It was as if the entire sky was falling.
Beneath the petals pressing down with the weight of ancient monoliths, there was nowhere to escape.
Neung Un-bi could only stare blankly at the collapsing purple sky.
Then, in an instant, the illusion vanished as if it were a lie. It felt like seeing a mirage in the desert.
As Neung Un-bi awoke from the illusion, he saw Dokgo Seong.
Standing in the same spot as before, holding the branch at the same diagonal angle.
Still drunk on the afterglow, Neung Un-bi's eyes were hazy, as if he hadn't yet escaped the boundary between reality and illusion.
“Huu…”
Dokgo Seong exhaled a breath he'd been holding, his forehead beaded with sweat.
“Did you see?”
“……”
Dokgo Seong asked with a faint smile, but Neung Un-bi merely remained silent, a dazed look on his face.
He should have answered the question, but he didn't know what to say.
Could he say he had seen it?
How it was cut, how it was thrust, how it flowed?
No matter how much he thought, he didn't know. He had been lost in the illusion, seeing only plum blossoms, and had not seen a single trajectory of the sword.
As Neung Un-bi hesitated, unable to speak, Dokgo Seong, who had been waiting for an answer, nodded with a hint of disappointment.
“I must have gotten too carried away. It was the first time I've displayed it since my enlightenment, so I was too deeply immersed in the sword. It must have been too much for you to see yet.”
“……”
Hearing Dokgo Seong's words, Neung Un-bi nodded unconsciously.
It seemed so. He was still too lacking compared to him, which was why he couldn't see the enlightenment he had displayed with all his might.
“However… it was a wondrous sight.”
“Hmm?”
“It was incredibly beautiful, the plum blossoms of Mount Hua… If the petals that filled the world were swords, no one would have survived.”
“……!”
As Neung Un-bi murmured with hazy eyes, as if still lost in the illusion, Dokgo Seong's pupils trembled slightly.
“Y-You…? Don't tell me you saw the plum blossoms bloom?”
“I'm sorry to say I did. After you went to the trouble of showing me… I only saw an illusion of a plum blossom sprouting, growing into a tree, blooming, and then wilting in an instant.”
“……Wh-What?”
As Neung Un-bi, seemingly snapping out of it, made a sullen face, Dokgo Seong's eyes went wide.
An illusion?
It was a reaction he hadn't expected at all.
The Plum Blossom Sword, which pursues the pinnacle of illusion, flows ceaselessly and changes endlessly.
Thus, its beginning and end are ambiguous. This is because its inner meaning contains the flow of life's cycle.
A seed is planted in the ground, grows into a great tree, and blooms, then dies at the end of its life, becoming fertilizer to sprout new life once again.
Expressing this was the path that practitioners of the Plum Blossom Sword had to walk.
And yet, Neung Un-bi had seen that true meaning. By becoming one with the sword he was shown and experiencing it as an illusion.
“Ha! What an absurd thing…”
An empty laugh was all that came out.
How could such a thing be possible?
He had only intended to show him the sword forms, but he had glimpsed the enlightenment contained within?
If he were a disciple of Mount Hua, he would have praised him for his truly outstanding talent. Even if he were just a member of the Orthodox Faction, he would have nodded in acknowledgment.
But a member of the Demonic Cult. And Dam Un-cheon's disciple, of all people, had glimpsed the essence of the Plum Blossom Sword.
“I'm sorry. I should have watched properly.”
“……”
Dokgo Seong pouted, looking sulky.
“Yes, you should be sorry. You absolutely should be.”
“Pardon?”
“I've trained for nearly a hundred years, yet I can't help but feel envy and jealousy.”
“What do you mean by…?”
“What do you think I mean? I feel like my life's worth of insights has been snatched away.”
“Pardon?”
Finding Dokgo Seong's words baffling, Neung Un-bi just tilted his head.
What insights was he talking about him snatching?
And… why the sudden change in tone? His expression, too.
He'd expected an eccentric old man, but this was too much. He told me to watch, I watched, and I just honestly reported that all I saw was an illusion, so why is he so angry?
Back and forth… It's not like he's toying with me.
“Aigoo, that Dam Un-cheon is a lucky bastard. How on earth did he end up raising a guy like this?”
“…How on earth? A guy like this?”
He had tried to listen politely, but Dokgo Seong's tone grated on his nerves, and Neung Un-bi's rebellious streak slowly reared its head.
He didn't care anymore. No matter how eccentric he was, would he kill a guest who had come to Mount Hua? At worst, he'd just get hit a few times.
“What's with the way you're talking? It's ambiguous, like it's a compliment but not, and when I think about it, it sounds more like an insult.”
“Quiet, you cunning little demon!”
“……”
Having flared up only to be cursed at, Neung Un-bi pouted.
I should just go back up. What's the point of staying here if it's just going to be annoying?
“Anyway, did you remember what you saw?”
“I told you, I didn't see anything.”
“Didn't you say with your own mouth that you saw an illusion?”
“What about it?”
“Remember it well, and relay it to your master.”
“The illusion?”
“Yes. If you tell Dam Un-cheon exactly what you saw, he will understand.”
“You should also remember it well, and recall it later if you ever need it.”
“……What for?”
“Hey! When an elder tells you something, you should just quietly say yes. Why do you have so much to say?”
“……”
Now he's shouting again.
What kind of personality is so mercurial and selfish?
Does using a mercurial sword make one's personality follow suit?
My first impression was of a transcendent master from Mount Hua's previous generation, but now he's just a cranky old man.
This must be… a sign of senility.
Then again, if you live that long, it's understandable for your emotions to be all over the place.
“By the way, now that I've seen a guy like you, I have no choice but to intentionally stay at Mount Hua.”
“……”
“Now that I know that bastard Dam Un-cheon is raising someone like you, how could I possibly stay still?”
As his tone grew increasingly informal and disrespectful, Neung Un-bi scowled and grumbled.
“Good grief, why do you keep calling me 'this guy' and 'that guy'? For your information, I'm a representative of the Demonic Cult. If you keep this up, I'll file a formal complaint with the Orthodox Murim Alliance that Mount Hua is disrespecting the Demonic Cult.”
“Go ahead, then.”
“……”
Dokgo Seong started picking his ear, barely listening.
This damn old man…
“Let's go back up now.”
“……”
“It seems that child who tried to save you has followed us.”
At Dokgo Seong's words, Neung Un-bi turned his head with an annoyed expression.
“Third Young Master!”
Bursting through the forest and flying straight toward them was Hyang-i.
She clutched daggers in both hands, her eyes glaring with murderous intent…
“I'll kill you! You damn old geezer!”
“……”
As expected.
She had seen him fall from Dokgo Seong's attack with her own eyes, so it was natural for her to be angry.
But don't do it. I don't like this eccentric old man either, but he's the Sword Saint's master and the highest elder of Mount Hua.
If you slit his throat, it's war.
Not that you could, anyway.