studiobondurri Chapter 80: The Scent of Snow (3)
Chapter 80: The Scent of Snow (3)
Chapter 80: The Scent of Snow (3)
Teacher couldn’t receive the surgery right away.
“I’m sorry. I-I need to rest for a little while...”
The Murim Alliance's leader’s surgery had finished only a moment ago, so both the Chemist and the Medicine King were exhausted. She collapsed and fell asleep right away, and he was blankly sitting in the hot spring, his mouth hanging open.
Teacher frowned and looked down at the Murim Alliance's leader. “I heard you lost your dantian, so I came here to see that in person, old man.”
“Nonsense right from the first visitor. Alright, look all you want.”
“How are you feeling?”
Lying on a mat, the Murim Alliance's leader giggled. “I feel as light as a feather. I feel like I’m going to transcend.”
“Too much crap is also an illness. You haven’t even gone through metamorphosis...”
The Murim Alliance's leader quietly laughed on. “You look lighthearted as well, demon. Have you decided to receive the surgery?”
“...Yes, I have.” Teacher sighed. “I just poured out a year’s worth of my qi to wield my sword as freely as I want for the last time in my life.”
“Wow!” The Murim Alliance's leader’s eyes sparkled. “It must’ve been a spectacular sight. It’s a shame I didn’t get to see that because I’m stuck in bed. So? What did you cut?”
“I tried to cut the winter, but I couldn’t. I’m far, far away from the Life and Death Tier.”
“Oh, what a pity. Well, don’t let it get to you. No one’s ever reached that level. If it were as easy as all that, the history of murim would have changed six times already.” The Murim Alliance's leader laughed heartily.
Teacher gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Namgung Woon, you...”
“I don’t regret it at all,” the Murim Alliance's leader firmly stated. “The world is a mess; it’s a wonder that we endured for three years. The wonderful doctors from outer murim came to treat us.
“I had thought the Righteous Faction was going to die out, but I took in a disciple. It’s wonderful! Wonders form a miracle, don’t they? I’m just grateful for the miracle I received. Hmm. The only regret I might have is that I didn’t get to end the Great War of Good and Evil with you, demon. But, well, there’s no such thing as a perfect life. I’m sure our disciples will finish it nicely.”
“Yes, I’m sure they will.” Teacher smiled slightly, but it was bittersweet. Still, when she turned to me I could see the faith in her gaze. “I can accept this ending.”
That wasn’t the face of a person who was happy—she was simply willing to accept her ending. No matter how sweet a candy was, it should be allowed to melt in the mouth before swallowing it. Perhaps Teacher was chewing over her coming end.
I nodded. “Teacher, I’m going to be away for a bit.”
“What are you talking about? Where would you go in this ruined world?”
“Your disciple is going to get some fresh air. Don’t worry.”
“...That makes me even more worried for some reason.” Teacher’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you trying to get involved in something dangerous?”
“Teacher, I’ll return before your surgery is over. I’ll make sure of it.” I gave her the bao quan salute. It was awkwardly executed, but I was confident that it had all of my heart in it. “Don’t worry about anything, Teacher. Your disciple will be waiting right by your side when you open your eyes after the surgery is over.”
Teacher accepted her ending. Now it was time for me to give her her life back.
***
I left the cave and crossed the snowfield. As I walked, I thought about how this world had looked before its fall. Would murim have been a thick, vast forest? Had gangho had rivers and lakes?[1]
Past what would have been part of a thick forest with rivers, Preta waited, kneeling.
“Master, I have completed your order.”
“You found them all?”
“Yes,” Preta answered with her head bowed. A dusting of snowflakes lay on her hair, showing how long she had been waiting. “I did as you ordered me, Master.”
I had given Preta an order before;
“There will be martial artist jiangshi sporadically scattered around the area.”
“Find them.”
“Find the demons in black training suits and the warriors in white.”
Many jiangshi were lost in snowstorms in the last three years of the Great War of Good and Evil.
“We’ve found a total of 917 missing jiangshi. 439 of them are those you called demons; 478 jiangshi are warriors in white.
“There were 560 demon jiangshi and 521 Righteous Path jiangshi gathered nearby.” Preta bowed her head deeper. “We’ve brought all of the 1998 jiangshi here.”
Behind her slender shoulders, jiangshi were lined up on the snowfield, my skeleton army holding down each of the jiangshi from both sides. It was morning, and jiangshi were weak to sunlight, so they wouldn’t move, but even if clouds covered the sun, the jiangshi wasn’t going to go out of control instantly.
“Okay. Good.” I nodded. “Bring the jiangshi to me one by one.”
“Yes, Master.”
The skeletons dragged one of the jiangshi in front of me. When it arrived, I had already drawn my holy sword. The winter was cold, but my slash across the winter air would be colder.
...Whish...
It felt good to see them as close as sisters. However, I couldn’t just stand around smiling.
“Hmm. Miss Chemist, is it okay for the two of them to move now?”
“Oh. Yes, yes! I scheduled the recovery period a little longer just in case. They can move around or exercise without any problems.”
Okay.
“Teacher; sir. Why don’t we go for a walk together?”
“A walk?” Teacher tilted her head. “I’m very happy to get some fresh air with my disciple... but why are you asking that old man too? Gong-Ja, even a pleasant walk will feel like trudging through a pig pen if you go with that old man.”
The Murim Alliance's leader scoffed. “I’d refuse a walk with an old demon and a young demon before you could even offer. Have a good time. You and your student’s dullness will be a great conversation topic during your stroll.”
Their reaction was as expected.
“No.” I shook my head quietly. “I need both of you to come with me.”
“Hmm...?”
Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader locked eyes. They seemed to have noticed that I wasn’t suggesting an ordinary walk. They looked like they didn’t have any idea what I could be up to but seemed intrigued nonetheless.
“Alright. It seems my disciple is up to something. Although I don’t feel like going for a walk with that old man, I’ll gladly play along.”
“Well, it’ll be trivial if it’s something that the young demon planned. I don’t expect much.”
We left the cave. It was cold; just like the first day we fell into the Heavenly Demon Chronicle, today was also winter. The only difference from that day was that neither Teacher nor the Murim Alliance's leader could use their qi. Never again.
I held Teacher’s hand with my right hand and the hand of the Murim Alliance's leader with my left. That way, I could use my aura to deliver warmth.
“Teacher,” I said.
“Yeah.”
“Sir.”
“Yup,” the Murim Alliance's leader answered.
“You two said that your only regret is that you couldn’t finish the Great War of Good and Evil. Instead, it is something that your disciples will have to finish...”
Relying on the warmth I delivered, we crossed the snowfield in the cold winter. Perhaps it felt awkward to come out for the first time after a week, or it could be that they weren’t used to having to walk without their qi. Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader walked a little awkwardly.
“But I don’t agree. The Great War of Good and Evil is your war. Even if I and the OJP Sect Master fight, it’s just a match, not a great war. You two are the ones who have protected the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Righteous Faction until now. Only your fight can be the Great War of Good and Evil.”
“Gong-Ja...?” Teacher gave me a confused look.
We arrived at the snowfield.
“Thank you for not giving up for three years.”
The shadowy forest of jiangshi was now just an empty snowfield without a single jiangshi.
“Thank you for finding and collecting the jiangshi every day. If the two of you had given up and treated them as mere corpses, leaving them to disappear, I would never have been able to get them back.”
I slowly opened my mouth to give them back the lives they lost and the sight they deserved to enjoy.
“Monster Legion Reincarnation.”
My shadow spread across the snowfield.
[Activating the Skill Monster Legion Reincarnation.]
One by one, snowman-like figures rose from my shadow. Some figures were wearing black martial arts training suits while several others had fluttering white sleeves. As they slowly took on the form of a human, the figures looked down at their hands, surprised.
But none of them would have been surprised as Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader were.
“Gong-Ja, what in the world is this...?”
“You can think of it as a dream or a side effect of losing your dantians. You could also imagine that I know a strange Taoist technique that can temporarily recreate the dead by bringing back their memories and bodies.” I squeezed their hands. “Lady Heavenly Demon, and Sir Righteous Faction Leader.”
The activation of Monster Legion Reincarnation was complete.
One thousand elite demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult stood on the snowfield. One thousand elite warriors of the Righteous Faction were facing the demons.
“The Heavenly Demon Cult’s rule isn’t over. Murim hasn’t forgotten its honor, and honor hasn’t been lost in murim. The Heavenly Demon Cult’s fate isn’t something that corpses can eat away, nor shall the Righteous Faction’s murim fall because of jiangshi.”
These two people’s wish was to have a true Great War of Good and Evil.
“When the Heavenly Demon Cult disappears, it should be by the Righteous Faction’s sword. If the Righteous Faction should end, it has to be brought down by the Heavenly Demon Cult’s hands.
“I beseech the heaven of the Demonic Cult and the leader of the Righteous Faction.” I smiled and offered them my bao quan salute. “Please decide the last ruler of murim.”
1. Gangho’s hanja: (江湖). Gangho means ‘a world’, but its hanja are a mix of rivers+lakes. ☜