Chapter 1
Throughout the long history of the Central Plains, there had been countless number-one men under heaven. They possessed earthshaking martial might and won the respect of untold multitudes.
Some used the sword. Some used the spear. Some used their fists.
Among them were those counted as the greatest of all time. Compared with the number-one men under heaven, their ranks were far fewer. So what, then, was the difference between a number-one man under heaven and the greatest of all time?
What set them apart was, without question, realm. Of those countless number-one men under heaven, many had reached the Transformation Realm. Yet among those called the greatest of all time, none remained at the Transformation Realm.
Those known as the greatest of all time were the ones who had transcended the human Transformation Realm and reached the Profound Realm.
Martial artists of the Profound Realm. They were the kind who could project the images in their minds onto the world itself. Any who were not of the Profound Realm, upon witnessing those mental visions manifest upon the earth, could do nothing but call it nothing less than supernatural monstrosity.
"They've turned a person into a monster."
I quietly closed the book. It was the Basic Manual of the Martial World I had read as a child. Well, the fellow who wrote it had never seen anyone who had reached the Profound Realm, so it was probably written in such absurd terms. Supernatural monstrosity, indeed. Not that impressive a power, really.
"Haaah. I'm worn out."
A breeze slipped in softly. It brushed lightly past my head where I lay on the bed. Perfect. Another uneventful day was the greatest pleasure life had to offer.
"Junior Brother! Where are you!?"
The wind had been gentle and the room quiet, so I had been about to take a nap. That is, if I hadn't heard that damn man's voice.
Bang!
My door flew open. Calling it "opened" was strange. It was more like someone had broken it down and come crashing in.
The one who appeared through the doorway was my senior brother and the head of the Baek Clan, Baek Cheonhwang. He wore the expression of a man ready to tear me apart and kill me on the spot. Yes, that was the face of a demon, not a human being.
"Junior Brother! Again you're wasting time in here like this?"
"No. Why would the clan head come to a shabby place like this?"
"Cut the nonsense and get up! Do you even understand what's happening right now?"
"What situation are you talking about? Is this not just a lazy afternoon?"
"Hah! You bastard, get up this instant! The martial world stands on the brink of destruction at the hands of a fiend. Are you still going to keep indulging in that hooligan's behavior of yours? I won't stand by and watch any longer!"
Strong internal force burst from Baek Cheonhwang's body and gouged out the floor. I looked at the excited man and let out a sigh.
"Senior Brother, no matter how much you do that, you know no one can threaten me. Please, calm down."
"Shut up! How can a righteous martial artist stand by while the martial world is overturned? If you won't move, then die by my hand instead!"
"Ah... exhausting. Seriously."
Baek Cheonhwang took a step closer and drew his internal force up even higher.
"A masked band led by people of unknown origin has subdued the Demonic Cult and the Blood Alliance, and they are now on the verge of toppling even the Martial Alliance to unite the Central Plains under one rule. The remaining righteous, unorthodox, and demonic figures are gathering at Shaolin for the final stand. And you, the so-called number-one man under heaven, are what exactly doing here?"
"Senior Brother, let's talk about this later."
"Shut up! Baek Mugeuk!"
Baek Cheonhwang threw a hard punch. I lifted a hand and lightly blocked it. He seemed unable to cool his anger, because he kept snorting hard through his nose.
"Baek Mugeuk! How did you become such a disgraceful wretch? Fine! Even if you don't go, everyone in the Baek Clan, myself included, will stake our lives on defending this martial world."
Baek Cheonhwang withdrew his fist and turned away. He flung the door open with force, then looked back over his shoulder.
"Even if we all die, do not grieve for us."
There was a resolve in Baek Cheonhwang's voice. But I still didn't get up. I merely crossed my thumb and middle finger and flicked them lightly.
Click.
In an instant, Baek Cheonhwang vanished, and the room returned to its peaceful state. The floor gouged out by his internal force was restored, and the Basic Manual of the Martial World I had been reading had also returned to the shelf.
"What a pain in the ass. Masked guys? What the hell are they doing to cause all this trouble?"
This was the fifteenth time Clan Head Baek Cheonhwang had come storming in.
"I can't keep putting it off any longer. This is really annoying."
Unfortunately, I was the number-one man under heaven. In my thirties, I had reached the Transformation Realm, and in my forties, the Profound Realm. Other people said they could train until they were half dead and still never reach the Transformation Realm, but for me it hadn't been all that difficult. If they said cut, I cut; if they said stab, I stabbed.
I had become the number-one man under heaven because I thought that once I did, I would be able to enjoy monotonous days without interruption. But after becoming that number-one man, my life only got more bothersome.
Whenever some major incident occurred, the Martial Alliance started looking for me, and the Baek Clan kept urging me to take action, talking about the clan's honor. Just when the thought crossed my mind that maybe if I destroyed the Martial Alliance, they would stop bothering me, I reached the Profound Realm.
The Profound Realm. Just as the martial manual said, it was the realm where one could project the images within the mind into the world. To be more precise, the Transformation Realm was the state of fully facing and shaping one's own mental image, while the Profound Realm was the realm in which that mental image could be projected into the world.
The vision I looked upon was laziness. And the ability born from that vision was turning back time.
"I thought that if I had this power, I could run away from anything."
Click.
I had used this power to avoid troublesome things. But this time, no matter what I did, I couldn't escape. Wherever I went, Baek Cheonhwang would find me with uncanny precision and drag me back.
"Since it has come to this, I'd better handle it quickly."
I slowly rose and pulled on my martial robes. Outside, I could see Baek Cheonhwang striding toward me with an excited expression.
"Junior Brother! Where are you!?"
"I'm here. You're making a racket, so stop it and let's go."
"Shut up! How can the number-one man under heaven possibly...? What did you say?"
Baek Cheonhwang looked baffled, as if he couldn't believe I was telling him to go so readily. He must have expected me to run away.
"You're being loud. Let's hurry and go kill them."
"......"
I passed the dazed-looking Baek Cheonhwang and stepped outside. He immediately stuck close behind me.
"Junior Brother. You've finally come to your senses! Yes, a number-one man under heaven should act that way! Since we're on the subject, if only you had trained a little more diligently and displayed the spirit of the righteous path, then..."
Even after hearing that I was going, Baek Cheonhwang still didn't stop his lecture. He went on and on about pointless things, from "If only you had been diligent, then the title of greatest of all time would already be yours" to "The age of the righteous faction would already have arrived."
"Hah... Shaolin, was it."
"You're listening to me, aren't you, Junior Brother?"
"This seems like a matter of urgency, so I'll go on ahead."
"What?"
I immediately pushed my light-footwork to the limit and shot forward. Baek Cheonhwang also gave chase using light-footwork, but at some point I no longer heard his voice.
"Shit. I don't know who you are, but you've bothered me this much, so don't expect to make it back alive."
* * *
I ran nonstop from Jiangxi, where the Baek Clan stood, to Henan, where Shaolin was located. Even for a martial artist, reaching it this fast should have been impossible, but for me, with internal force to spare, it wasn't that difficult.
Even before I reached Shaolin, houses were already burning from the outskirts of Henan, and cries of grief rang out from every direction. My expression twisted on its own.
These people were inflicting catastrophic damage not only on martial artists but on ordinary civilians as well. That was why I couldn't stop. As for martial artists killing one another, I didn't much care. But those who laid hands on the common people had already crossed the line by a mile.
As I drew near Shaolin, the clashing of weapons and the thick stench of blood hit me hard. I immediately flung myself into the center of the battlefield.
Thud!
As I dropped into the heart of the battle, every gaze on the field turned toward me. I immediately released my internal force and stamped the ground hard. The earth beneath my feet shattered at once, and the surrounding martial artists toppled over.
"Baek Mugeuk! It's the number-one man under heaven!"
A Shaolin monk recognized me and unleashed a thunderous Lion's Roar. Like the beat of a war drum, it spread across the battlefield in an instant.
"Men of the Central Plains! Rise! The number-one man under heaven has arrived. Victory is ours now!"
"That's right. Everyone, get up! We can win!"
Though their backgrounds were different, the martial artists of the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions once again threw themselves into the fight. Before they could move, I had already drawn my sword and started cutting down the enemies in front of me. Each pass of the blade took down ten heads.
The enemies wore the masks of the Twelve Zodiac Animals. In another situation, I might have mocked them for how ridiculous they looked, but now there was madness seething beneath those masks.
"This is strange..."
I kept cutting down the masked men in a trance. But soon a sense of disconnect began to creep in. The feeling of taking life with my own hand was unmistakably clear, yet even as they were cut down and life left them, they never once screamed.
No, the problem wasn't the screams. There was no hunger for life in their eyes. They simply let themselves be cut down and died.
What was more, the martial arts used by the masked men came from all manner of backgrounds. They were using techniques from the righteous schools, the unorthodox schools, and even the demonic cult.
"Haa... if I keep cutting like this, it'll never end."
I scattered sword energy around me and cut down the masked men in an instant. Then I drew up my internal force and sent out sword force in rapid succession.
The blue sword force riding along my blade surged outward, slaughtering the masked men as it went. Then I heard an explosion from the far end.
Bang!
"Are some halfway decent ones finally coming out?"
Swoosh!
Just as the smoke from the burst sword force began to thin, a vile flute sound reached my ears.
At that sound, the masked men began to pull back. Like trained soldiers, they formed neat rows and columns, opening a path through the center like water splitting apart.
From the corridor created by the masked men, three martial artists wearing golden masks stepped forward. Behind them came those carrying a huge palanquin made of gold.
"What a disgustingly strange taste that bastard has."
The one seated on the palanquin wore a red dragon robe and a golden tiger mask over his face.
"You? You're the one making all this trouble for me?"
"......"
"Get down here. I'm incredibly tired right now. I'll finish this quickly."
At my words, the three golden masks in front of the palanquin drew up their internal force with intensity. Each of them radiated deep, imposing power from the righteous, demonic, and unorthodox paths alike.
"And what are you people, a damn zoo? Rat mask, dragon mask, rabbit mask? You really went out of your way to gather them."
As soon as I finished speaking, Tiger Mask made a slight gesture.
At the same time, the three golden masks drew swords and blades and rushed me. Dragon Mask unleashed demonic arts, Rabbit Mask righteous arts, and Rat Mask unorthodox arts.
I moved quickly and received their blades. The more I blocked, the faster and fiercer their sword forms became.
"You bastards..."
The martial arts of these three men. I knew them.
They were the Martial Alliance Lord's Imperial Sword Form, the Heavenly Demon Sect's Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and the Blood Alliance Lord's God-Slaying Saber.
This was no mere imitation.
They were real. All three had reached the Transformation Realm. Not just that, but they had reached the very peak of the Transformation Realm. As far as I knew, there were only three martial artists in the current martial world who had achieved such a summit.
"Unless these bastards are insane..."
As if they had rehearsed together until now, they attacked without rest, covering one another's openings. Each and every move they made was a killing stroke, so I couldn't afford to relax for even an instant.
That is, if they had been ordinary martial artists.
The three killing moves brushed past the edge of my robes by a hair's breadth, but in the end they never quite touched me.
On the other hand, when I swung my sword through the air, the three of them walked straight into my blade strikes as if bewitched.
Transformation Realm and Profound Realm. Just a single paper-thin line divided them. Yet for a martial artist, that single sheet created a difference of the highest order.
Those people, who had displayed martial arts enough to shake heaven and earth and had become objects of awe to the whole martial world, were being suppressed as easily as children in front of me.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Their severed heads rolled to the ground one after another. I frowned. Even as their necks were cut away, not one of them reacted. More precisely, they showed no emotion toward the fear of death. Yes, it was as if they were lost souls.
"Dark sorcery?"
It was dark sorcery. They were definitely under some kind of sorcery. But sorcery that could manipulate martial artists who had reached the Transformation Realm? I'd never heard of such a thing. To begin with, I had never even imagined it could be possible.
"You. What the hell did you do?"
I raised my sword and pointed it at Tiger Mask. He slowly rose to his feet. An immense surge of internal force burst from his body.
My body trembled. I had never felt a presence like this in my life. This Tiger Mask bastard was on my level. No, perhaps he was even above me.
"Hey. Come down here and let's fight..."
It happened in an instant. I saw Tiger Mask rise and draw his sword, but the moment he lightly stamped his foot, he was suddenly right in front of me. Then he swung his sword at me. I reflexively twisted my body, but his blade still cut through my arm as it passed.
I tried to raise my other hand to counter, but in the blink of an eye his sword pierced my abdomen.
Click.
I opened my eyes. Three golden masks were rolling on the ground.
Looking at the sight, I furrowed my brow.
I just died.
But just before dying, I had instinctively flicked my fingers and turned back time.
I was exhilarated. I had never felt this way in my life. I had never once thought that the moment my life was threatened, my mental image would burst forth like this.
Once again I turned my body and looked at Tiger Mask. He was just rising to his feet.
"Hey! I don't know how you're hearing this, but right now you're the first thing in my life that's actually interesting."
"......"
This time I threw myself at Tiger Mask. But he appeared before my eyes in an instant and, no different from before, drove his sword into my body.
Click.
The fifth time I opened my eyes, I was even more excited. I had never met an equal in my life. But Tiger Mask wasn't merely beating me; he was overwhelming me. I was surprised to discover I had this much fighting spirit in me. This time, I managed to block Tiger Mask's attacks for seven exchanges. Yet not long after, his sword pierced my throat.
Click.
The seventy-fifth time I opened my eyes, I had blocked Tiger Mask's attacks up to thirty exchanges. Not only that, but for the first time, my sword brushed past his arm. I was gradually becoming accustomed to his movements. Through this battle, I was growing stronger and stronger. I flung myself forward again to cut Tiger Mask down. But my jaw was shattered by his elbow as he easily avoided my sword.
Click.
The one hundred and fiftieth time.
The excitement in me was gradually reaching its peak. It seemed clear my sword was taking effect on Tiger Mask. I really did think that if it were only a sheet of paper's difference, I could beat him. No, with a mental image that allowed me to turn back time, I could fight him forever. It was a battle I could not lose.
I scattered the internal force gathered in my dantian in bursts and shot it at Tiger Mask. Then I charged him and cut off his arm. Yet my neck was twisted by repeated blows of his fist energy.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The five hundred and sixty-second time.
When was it, again? Someone once told me something like that. Stop acting so proud, they said. No matter what, I was nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well. But I had always proven myself, laughing at them as I did. So they couldn't help but acknowledge it.
That I was the dragon in the well.
And yet, I wasn't a dragon. I was merely a frog pretending to be one. The only difference was that my well was a little bigger than most.
The more I crossed hands with Tiger Mask, the more painfully I felt that I had always been the frog.
Just one sheet. That one sheet needed to beat Tiger Mask seemed to grow along with my own strength. With each repetition, I grew stronger, but every time, I still lacked that one sheet.
It felt like I could catch him. But I couldn't. By then, I was no longer excited by the fight with Tiger Mask.
Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!
Click.
I kept turning back time. But the one thing I came to realize, no matter how many times I did it, was this.
I can't beat that bastard.
In the end, I judged that I couldn't defeat him by merely rewinding a short span of time.
I went back one month before Tiger Mask reached Shaolin, gathered the forces of the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic factions, and prepared everything to resist him.
Failure.
I rewound further. I tried to kill them before they could make their move.
Failure.
I scoured the Central Plains and began learning every martial art I could get my hands on from the righteous, unorthodox, and demonic paths.
The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style, Taiji Wisdom Sword, Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade, Myriad Heavens Flower Rain, Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms, God-Slaying Saber, Imperial Sword Form, Heavenly Demon Divine Art...
I prided myself on having gathered and trained in every martial art worth mentioning in the Central Plains.
And yet I was defeated again before long.
No matter what I tried, I could not kill Tiger Mask. So in the end, I ran. I fled while searching across the entire Central Plains for a way to stand against him. But whether I was there or not, the Central Plains still fell to Tiger Mask. Before I knew it, the martial artists of the whole Central Plains were the ones chasing me.
At some point, they all wore masks, and they no longer felt alive, like shells with their souls stripped away. As time passed, their movements became eerie and wrong. I slaughtered them and fled, but in the end no escape ever succeeded. Every road, it seemed, led me to Tiger Mask's front.
Click.
I opened my eyes again. Three golden masks were rolling on the ground. I couldn't even remember how many times I'd repeated this. Three thousand five hundred and twenty times? Something like that.
In the end, everything returned to how it had been at the beginning.
I slowly turned my head. There was Tiger Mask, walking toward me with his sword in hand. I tried not to move. But my body, having repeated battle with him so many times, reflexively began to block his sword and counterattack.
What was this feeling?
Yes. Despair was the word that fit best.
The despair of knowing that no matter how many times I turned back time, no matter what method I used, I could never beat Tiger Mask.
No matter how many times I went back, I couldn't beat that bastard. I had no idea how many exchanges had passed. At some point Tiger Mask's sword pierced my abdomen.
But this time I didn't flick my hand.
Even if I rewound time, defeating him would be impossible anyway.
My knees felt heavy. They struck the ground. Tiger Mask pulled out the sword lodged in my abdomen. Then, looking down at me as I crumpled, he slowly opened his mouth.
"You. This isn't the first time."
His words felt like someone had smashed a hammer into my skull. He knew I had been struggling? The thought crossed my mind. But what did it matter? I had no next chance.
My eyes slowly began to close. At that moment, a voice cut through the dark.
"Mugeuk! Just what are you doing!"
I forced my head to turn. I saw Senior Brother Baek Cheonhwang, who had arrived late. His clothes were soaked through with sweat, which meant he had poured every ounce of internal force he could wield into his light-footwork to get here. Baek Cheonhwang cut down the masked men blocking his way and rushed toward me.
Senior Brother. Why do you wear such a desperate expression? Don't come here. Run. Hurry and run. If you don't, everyone will die.
Through my drooping eyelids, I saw Tiger Mask turn his head toward Baek Cheonhwang. It happened in a flash. Tiger Mask's form vanished, and his sword cleanly took Baek Cheonhwang's head.
In that instant, it felt as if time itself had begun to slow. No, it felt as if time had stopped altogether. The faces of familiar people appeared before my eyes.
"Stop lazing around and work a little harder."
Senior Brother.
"How can the so-called number-one man under heaven be so lazy!"
Father.
"Don't you believe me? If you work hard enough, you'll become the greatest of all time!"
Someone I no longer even remembered.
The faces of people who had nagged me not to become arrogant appeared one after another. They looked at me with pained expressions.
"I should've listened properly. If I'd worked hard from the beginning, maybe I could have beaten that Tiger Mask."
"It's not your fault, Mugeuk. You tried hard enough."
Voices from countless people drifted to me. Their voices were strange, as though they had become one.
"I tried hard enough..."
Was the word effort even right for my life? I had turned back time countless times to defeat Tiger Mask. Yes. I had made an effort to beat him.
But had that really been effort?
No.
I hadn't made an effort. I had merely relied on the power of my mental image to try to beat Tiger Mask. There had been no effort in my life at all.
"From the very beginning of life, go back there..."
I felt the world shatter like broken glass in an instant. Time began to flow again. My eyes were closing little by little. Death was approaching. I forced every last bit of strength into my hand.
"I'll begin."
Before long, I could see nothing and hear nothing. Death was that utterly silent.
Click.
* * *
Bang!
"Hey, you bastard! Wake up!"
I could feel my backside shaking.
Just a moment ago everything had been still, and death should have been a state of nothingness, yet a strong impact struck my rear!
Baaang!
"Ah!"
Without thinking, I reflexively sat up at the force of the blow. Standing in front of me was a young man wearing a martial robe embroidered with plum blossoms.
"Feeling a bit clearer now?"
"Where is this?"
"You're still not fully awake."
"What do you mean...?"
Bang.
The young man brought the short rattan stick in his hand down hard on my head. I tried to move and avoid it, but my body wouldn't obey.
"This bastard is at it again, trying to skip training today. Do you still not recognize me?"
"......?"
That Taoist hat... the short beard... and the white martial robes with plum blossoms...?
"Mount Hwa Sect?"
"Of course. Where else would this be, you bastard?"
The young disciple of Mount Hwa Sect tried to strike my head again with the stick, but I twisted my body and dodged.
"Look at this guy. You dodged it? Are you really asking to die?"
I moved this way and that, avoiding the stick. Then I saw my own reflection in the bronze mirror.
I was young. Damnably young.
Had I really gone back into the past?
I hurled myself out the door. Then I broke into a run.
"Hey, you bastard! Where are you going? It's time for training!"
The young man from Mount Hwa Sect shouted furiously after me. I turned and yelled back at him.
"I'm leaving the mountain now! I don't think being a Taoist suits my temperament!"
"What!? What kind of bullshit is that? That isn't something you get to decide so easily!"
He kept shouting after me, but I didn't pay much attention. Once I had put enough distance between us, I turned back again and shouted.
"The senior brothers buried wine under the plum tree behind the training ground! Please take care of it as soon as possible!"
At my words, the young man's face turned red. More shouting followed, but I had already escaped Mount Hwa in a hurry.
I would return to the Baek Clan. This time would be different. This time, I would not lose. No, this time I would tear off Tiger Mask's mask and kill him for certain.
"In this life, I will not waste a single moment."