Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: Heavenly Escape (1)
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As the Peach Blossom Spring grew distant, and the humid air was gradually pushed away by the cold winds of the plains.
Ouyang Jue paused for a moment and looked at the Omniscient One.
The Omniscient One, who had been busy admiring the surroundings, calmly composed his expression.
As if unable to bear the tension of who would speak first, Dae-ung let out a cry.
“Kku-eoeo—!”
Was it Dae-ung's thoughtful way of telling them not to fight?
Ouyang Jue stroked Dae-ung's head once.
That wouldn't happen.
He had received far too much from the Omniscient One to feel betrayed now.
Even if more than half of it was from the Omniscient One of his past life, the debt of gratitude remained the same.
Ouyang Jue smiled faintly.
“Why so tense? Did you think I was going to kill you?”
“Considering what you usually do...?”
“Hah, you're not wrong.”
Ouyang Jue let out a light sigh.
“Look, Omniscient One. Just as with Nameless, there must have been a reason you didn't tell me. Am I wrong?”
“...”
“So I just waited. I have no intention of forcing you, of course. So, relax.”
“...I wanted to see for myself first.”
Unlike before, when he had been looking around and joking frequently, the Omniscient One's expression became exceedingly serious.
“How ripe the Heavenly Martial Peak was to face the Eight Evils, how much of a sense of justice the current successor possessed... and above all, how much potential you had.”
“And?”
“It was my greed.”
The Omniscient One continued in a self-deprecating tone.
“You are certainly strong. Among martial artists of your age, you could be called the absolute best. But if asked whether you can face monsters like the Eight Evils, the answer is no. More importantly, do you even have a reason to?”
“...”
“Nameless and I, whether we liked it or not, have suffered because of those shackles. In a way, it's what made us stronger. But no one can force you.”
At those words, Ouyang Jue carefully chose his response.
What the Omniscient One said was so correct it was infuriating.
He had not yet achieved the martial prowess to fight the Eight Evils, nor did he have a reason to fight them.
The words were so sharp that even Ouyang Jue was momentarily at a loss for words.
The Omniscient One's gaze seemed to say:
-I'm not telling you to run away. I cannot let you lose your life fighting the Eight Evils at such a young age. You can help later, when you've grown stronger.
Did the Omniscient One know how much that would grate on a martial artist's pride?
‘Or perhaps he knows and is saying it anyway.’
Ouyang Jue sneered with one side of his mouth.
Everything the Omniscient One said was right, but he still had something left to say.
“The Heavenly Escape Sword Arts were also part of the arrangement, weren't they?”
“...What?”
At those words, the Omniscient One's face hardened.
Seeing that, Ouyang Jue knew his guess was correct.
In history, the one who acquired the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts was Yeong Heo-ja, a Taoist of the Zhongnan Sect.
He was famous for having perfected the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts after immense effort in the cave left by Lü Dongbin.
But how had things changed in this life?
Yeong Heo-ja, who was 'destined' to master the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts, was instead severely injured and bedridden for ten days.
And Ouyang Jue, who should have had no connection to it, learned the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts and vaguely grasped its true meaning during his battle with the Black Dragon.
Ouyang Jue's lips parted slightly.
“I am the master of the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts.”
At those words, the Omniscient One was more shaken than ever before.
‘Did I just hear things?’
According to the fate read through celestial secrets, the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts were supposed to reappear at Mount Zhongnan.
In exactly five years.
A Taoist with 'Yeong' in his Taoist name was supposed to emerge into the martial world. That was the destiny foretold by the heavens.
‘But he claims to be the master of the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts?’
The Omniscient One's face hardened.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Seeing the Omniscient One's negative reaction, Ouyang Jue knew inwardly that he was right.
“Would it be easier if I showed you directly?”
Drawing Severing Manifestation, Ouyang Jue began to perform not the union with the Plum Blossom Sword Arts he had shown in his battle with the Black Dragon, but purely the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts.
Shing, fwoosh!
Severing Manifestation let out a chilling ring.
Simultaneously, a sharp sword energy filled the surroundings.
“Kku-eong!”
Rising on its hind legs, Dae-ung immediately shielded the Omniscient One.
Its animal instincts sensed danger.
Shhhk...
In an instant, the weeds around Ouyang Jue, the Omniscient One, and Dae-ung were sliced from left to right.
It was as if a sphere of sword energy, centered on Ouyang Jue, had swept across the entire plain.
The Omniscient One's shoulders trembled.
‘When did Ouyang Jue reach such a level?’
And the speed at which he performed the sword art.
Even Dae-ung, with its fur standing on end, couldn't react and was preoccupied with protecting the Omniscient One.
Thus, Ouyang Jue's swordsmanship was already approaching the profound skill of a master.
His encounter with Nameless had served as a great stepping stone for Ouyang Jue.
“...”
However, the Omniscient One's face showed not an ounce of surprise, only deep solemnity.
As someone who was not a martial artist, he had to open his eyes wide and observe carefully.
To see if the sword art Ouyang Jue was performing was truly the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts, if it contained the divine mystery that the Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin had prided himself on.
And so, the Omniscient One watched the sword dance unfolding from the tip of Ouyang Jue's blade, endlessly marveling.
At times, he also lamented.
‘If only there were ten more years, no, even just five!’
If he had the time to accumulate sufficient experience as a Sword Master, not even the Eight Evils would dare to act rashly.
But the stirring had already begun.
Therefore, there was no time to gain experience.
That was why he had planned to take Ouyang Jue around and spoon-feed him fortuitous encounters, however inadequate it might be.
‘To think that the owner of the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts would be Ouyang Jue... I never expected it.’
The Omniscient One gazed intently at Ouyang Jue, who had now stopped his sword dance.
“It really is the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts.”
Before Ouyang Jue could even reply, the Omniscient One's expression twisted into a mess.
‘Could it be that I was wrong?’
The moment Ouyang Jue's face hardened.
The Omniscient One, reflecting on hundreds of years, smiled brightly.
* * *
The secrets of heaven are never wrong.
The trajectory may be momentarily altered by human will, but the outcome is the same.
This was a maxim known to every Taoist who trained at Mount Mao.
It meant one thing.
Do not lose your life trying to stop the unstoppable.
Therefore, a full day after Lü Dongbin ascended to immortality, all the Taoists who trained at Mount Mao despaired.
The fate of the Eight Evils could not be stopped.
No matter how much they struggled, their destiny was to die at the hands of the Eight Evils.
The truth that saddened the Taoists even more was that the demonic beast to be released from Mount Mao in the future was none other than the Profound Dragon.
And who was the Profound Dragon?
Was it not the spiritual beast born here, raised with great care by the Taoists, who later left for Mount Yuntai to train?
The fact that such a child had been tainted by demonic energy and become the Black Dragon was enough to tear the Taoists' hearts apart.
As time passed, melancholy and sorrow ate away at the Taoists.
“This world is already finished... What is the point of living any longer?”
“There are eight demonic beasts that even the Sword Immortal could not stop. How can we possibly win?”
Most of the Taoists fled Mount Mao and went into hiding, and those who remained were little more than scoundrels who had come to learn a few spells.
But among them was one peculiar Taoist.
It was none other than the Omniscient One, who was said to have realized the heavenly principles before even reaching adulthood.
“Everyone is only thinking of dying, so who will inform future generations of the coming disaster of the Eight Evils!”
“...”
“I may be young, but the way you seniors are acting is cowardly. If all you do is run away because you can't stop it, what is the point of all the knowledge you've learned?”
An old man responded to those words in a gloomy voice.
“The Eight Evils are the demonic beasts we couldn't stop even when they first ran rampant. The Sword Immortal may have managed to stop them for now, but in a few hundred years, will their power have truly waned?”
Before the Omniscient One could even reply, the old man shook his head slightly.
“The experienced demonic beasts will disrupt the celestial order with even greater malice. By then, they might have already infiltrated deep into the world. Do you think a few Taoists stepping forward at that point will change anything?”
Rather than answering, the Omniscient One first examined the old man's complexion.
He was checking to see if the man had perhaps lost his sanity to madness from gazing into the celestial secrets.
But he soon had to take a step back.
The Omniscient One's lips trembled.
“You mean to say that even someone like you is trembling in despair?”
The Divine-Eyed One.
Famous for the rumor that he held the heavens in his eyes, he was, above all, the head of the Mount Mao Taoist lineage, a figure sought out by countless extraordinary people.
Rumors abounded that even high-ranking officials who came bearing gold were severely beaten.
And yet such a Taoist was cowering in fear?
All because of eight measly monsters?
The Omniscient One flared up and shouted.
“Are you not the successor versed in all the lineages of Mount Mao! How can the greatest in all of China be trembling before a greenhorn like me?”
“...”
The Divine-Eyed One remained silent.
More than anything, he seemed curious if the Omniscient One was being sincere.
“If you're going to be like this, then hand it all over to me! Your reputation as the Divine-Eyed One, the knowledge you possess—it's all a waste!”
The Omniscient One's fists trembled.
It wasn't that he was afraid.
Just as the Divine-Eyed One had said, there would likely be no way to stop the Eight Evils in the future either.
‘But, even so! I don't want to face death steeped in fear!’
Above all, with Lü Dongbin now ascended, there was no one who could live for hundreds of years, aside from the Taoists of Mount Mao.
In other words, it meant there would be no one to inform and warn future generations of the Eight Evils' existence.
‘Does that mean the people of the future must die in ignorance? Must they become puppets manipulated by the overwhelming existence of the Eight Evils?’
Kkadeuk.
The Omniscient One bit his lip with his canine. The metallic taste of blood seemed to gradually quell his fear.
“If you, a man renowned for your virtue, cannot find the answer! Then I, the Omniscient One, will stop them, even if it means using unjust methods!”
As he said this, the Omniscient One's eyes narrowed.
In a way, his words were tantamount to a declaration that he would go astray, a challenge to the head of the Mount Mao Taoist lineage.
Since unjust methods included human sacrifice, the Divine-Eyed One would normally have excommunicated and killed the Omniscient One on the spot.
But the Divine-Eyed One merely shook his head slightly, saying nothing harsh.
On the contrary, he seemed favorable.
“You speak words you do not mean.”
“...?!”
“I know, and the heavens know, that there is goodness deep in your heart. So how can you speak of overcoming the Eight Evils through unjust methods?”
The Divine-Eyed One forced a smile.
“I have succumbed to the Eight Evils because my eyes see too well. The fear that a single misstep on our part could cover the world in even greater suffering is what strangles me.”
Are you confident you will not do the same?
The Divine-Eyed One's gaze seemed to ask as much.
The profound mystery contained within it made the Omniscient One's head spin.
The Omniscient One's lips parted slightly.
“I will not succumb.”
“That is not enough.”
“I will prove that a human's struggles can overcome the heavens! I will leave behind the arrangements myself and shatter the Eight Evils!”
At those words, the Divine-Eyed One smiled faintly.
“Do you think that is possible within your lifespan?”
“At least I have no intention of trembling in fear until the moment I die.”
With a resolute expression, the Omniscient One declared his vow to eradicate the Eight Evils.