studiobondurri Chapter 75: The Song of Light and Shadow (1)
Chapter 75: The Song of Light and Shadow (1)
Chapter 75: The Song of Light and Shadow (1)
“There are nine sword forms in the Demonic Heaven Arts. Starvation Death is the first form, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“I am.”
“Next is Thirst Death.”
“Thirst Death...”
“Yes, child from outer murim. You’ve done a decent job of demonstrating Starvation Death. So if you devote yourself to training, you’ll be a good—”
“Hold on.” I raised my hand. “Wait a minute, please.”
I felt bad about cutting her off, but I really had to. She just sat there and tried to act like nothing had happened, but I couldn’t let her gloss over something this big.
“... What?”
“What did you just say? A decent job?”
The Heavenly Demon pursed her lips.
“Huh, that’s strange. I thought I did pretty well, but that was just decent to you...? Ah! I’m sorry, my pride and confidence suddenly disappeared. I feel so discouraged.”
“You...” The Heavenly Demon’s eyebrows twitched. “...Okay, I’ll admit it. You performed Starvation Death quite well. Just don’t go around and arrogantly say that you mastered the Demonic Heaven Arts.”
“What? ‘Quite well’?”
“Are you trying to ridicule me!?” the Heavenly Demon shouted. “It seems you’ll only be satisfied if I give you the Nine Bows. You really don’t know what a limit is, do you. Fine! You can be the teacher! I’ll be your disciple.”
I had her hook, line, and sinker. Now I had to gently reel her in.
“Oh, so you’re saying that you accept me as your disciple, right?” I asked, nonchalantly. “I’m not an outer disciple but an inner disciple. Your authentic, direct, inner disciple, right?”
The Heavenly Demon couldn’t answer. One second. Two seconds. After a slight pause, she said, “Refrain from chit-chatting, child. I’m going to start my lesson, so focus.”
So I’m right, I thought.
The Heavenly Demon had forced herself to ignore what I said. She was stubborn, but it was rooted in her sincerity. I could see why she was actually hesitating.
She’ll never say that she’s going to make me her disciple.
The Heavenly Demon already considered me her disciple in her heart, but she never said it out loud. Though I never really felt it from the Guardian because I always bickered with him, it seemed that becoming master and disciple was a very serious matter to the Heavenly Demon and the people of gangho.
A serious relationship could sometimes be a frightening thing.
That was why the woman of the Heavenly Demon Cult didn’t declare that she was my teacher. She hadn’t even met me before this, and I wasn’t even from the Central Plains. She wasn’t sure if she could really open up to a person like me—she wasn’t sure if she could bring a little hope back into her life.
Soh Baekhyang, the leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, was at a crossroads.
“Listen carefully. If you’re able to use Starvation Death to that level, you should be able to get something out of what I’m about to tell you. But...”
Show me the character window.
Name: Soh Baekhyang
Affection: 51
Liked genre: Murim
Disliked genre: Classics, legends, history, fairy tales
Liked characters: Grassroots, rivals
Disliked characters: Oppressors, hypocrites, bums
Liked plot points: Full power fight
Disliked plot points: Fleeing, oblivion, meaningless death
State of mind: My disciple? It’s time to choose... N-no! That’s wrong! I should be satisfied with getting to fight Namgung Woon. I’m near the end of my life, so taking in a disciple is too greedy. I should act my age and refrain from this unsightly greed.
Her heart was the complete opposite of her calm appearance.
I suppressed a smile. Yes, please agonize.
I got my green light.
Please be more conflicted.
I was the one who showed her the crossroads. Was she going to continue the hopeless Great War of Good and Evil with the Murim Alliance's leader? Or would she take in a disciple and ensure that the Heavenly Demon Cult’s doctrines were passed down to the next generation? What choice would allow her to avoid a meaningless death?
Please don’t give up your life like this.
Words carried no weight. They could only be used to take care of people who carried no burdens. No, they were no different from refusing to take responsibility.
—Wait...
“Right?” I smiled, the very picture of a saint.
—Wait, that was ages ago—
“Unless my memory is failing me, it took me ninety-seven deaths. And ninety-seven is closer to ninety-nine than one hundred if my math isn’t wrong. Right?”
—...
“Mr. Sword Emperor.”
—Why do you keep doing this to me...
“Do me a favor.”
—Okay, you bastard. Shoot me. Bite me. Do whatever you want with me. The Guardian looked like he was about to cry.
I had received an undeniable surrender.
***
The Heavenly Demon returned. She had been alone when she went into the snowfield, but she came back with company. A zombie was dangling off of her back. Just like the Palm Wind zombie, this zombie was wearing a black training suit.
“My cult has a group of elites called the Blood Demon Unit. They’re my best assassins and exist only to carry out my orders.”
In other words, fighting this zombie was going to be my second duel.
I held my holy sword and took a stance. “It was a promising Peak-Tier master last time, and it’s your best assassin now? The difficulty level certainly jumped.”
“Don’t worry. I brought you an opponent who’s at the right level for you.”
She must have scoured the snowfield and examined hundreds of zombies one by one. It would have taken a lot of work and was a deeply considerate thing to do. I gratefully accepted it as her way of complimenting me.
“What you have to demonstrate is no different from what you did this morning. Fight the jiangshi soldier...”
“...And only thirst and the pain of thirst should be on my mind,” I finished.
The Heavenly Demon smiled. “Precisely. I forbid any other emotion or thought to be on your mind!”
“Understood!” I charged forward. “I’ll show you this time too—”
[You have died.]
[Rewinding twenty-four hours.]
“...It’s fucking strong! Damn it!”
I did show her the quickest death in the universe. Fuck.
“Miss Chemist and Mr. Medicine King, why don’t you proceed with the research of the zombie virus cure like...”
“Wow! It’s just like my research! No, it’s like my research was decorated so beautifully that it’s practically royalty!”
“What is this? You... Death King or whatever. Are you from Silicon Valley too? This looks exactly like how I would organize something...”
First, I updated the cure research as always.
“Monster Legion Reincarnation!” I decided to seclude myself and train in the snow again. Just like before, I summoned Preta and the skeletons to collect the dead. Although I told them to find thirsty corpses instead of starving ones this time, the order wasn’t really that different from before.
“Go. Go and gather the thirsty corpses.”
“Yes, Master,” Preta answered.
This was where it was different from before.
“I have one more job for you all.”
Preta tilted her head. “One more job? You mean...”
“There will be martial artist jiangshi scattered around the area.”
I wasn’t talking about the forest of corpses I had witnessed when I had first fallen into this world. For the past three years, the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance's leader had been the only ones who fought in the Great War of Right and Evil. During the war, they had lost their subordinates’ bodies one by one. With every raging blizzard or long nights, the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Righteous Faction’s force dwindled little by little.
These missing bodies were the jiangshi I was talking about right now.
“Find the demons in black training suits and the warriors in white,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re a hundred or three hundred meters away, send out the skeletons and find the jiangshi. No, actually, make a map and mark their locations.”
Preta looked puzzled. “Why are you trying to save those people, Master...?”
“Two people are still fighting in a doomed world, and they want a proper ending to their battle. Unfortunately, it’s just a pretend war in my eyes.” I looked up at the night sky where the moon hung. “Since they want a proper ending, I should give them a real war.”
“A real war?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t suppress my smile. I felt like Santa Claus getting Christmas presents ready. “I’m going to prepare a proper Great War of Good and Evil.”