Chapter 372: Upheaval (6)

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I tore my eyes away from Gu Jinqing’s twitching body, which was pouring out blood, and looked up at the roof. The Blood Cultist was still smiling there. It was a reaction as if he had just watched an entertaining play.

“It seems you found it entertaining.”

“It was entertaining.”

I could neither feel nor see his qi.

I had seen only one case like this before: that he was an immortal who had transcended humanity.

He seemed to come from the Blood Cult, yet he was an immortal. I had never felt such qi even from the bunch they called the Nine Demons.

In other words, the identity of the bastard on that roof converged to a single conclusion.

“You are the Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult.”

“Quick on the uptake as expected.”

At my words, the elders of Zhongnan flinched. The Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult leisurely came down from the roof and landed on the ground.

“I wanted to see you once, and you were beyond my expectations.”

“Which part? My face?”

“Your joking skills are rather meager. Well, a person cannot have everything.”

“…….”

The Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult began by prodding at me from the start. Granted, it was nonsense uttered to catch my breath for a brief moment. I immediately entered a state of vigilance once more.

“Do not bare your fangs so. I have no intention of fighting right now, nor can I fight.”

“I do want to kill you right now, though.”

“Just as I cannot kill you, you cannot kill me either. You should know that better than anyone.”

I narrowed my eyes. Cannot kill, he said. That indeed seemed likely.

My current state could be considered having half-transcended humanity. It was bound to be difficult to defeat an immortal who had fully transcended.

Yet the Heavenly Demon claimed he could not kill me either. Of course, I had an inkling. The immortal of the imperial palace had also shown a bizarre reaction upon seeing me last time.

“It seems it is visible to you as well.”

“Since it has no physical form, it is not something visible. It is merely felt.”

“What do you feel?”

“The will of a god.”

I tilted my head. Not a god, but the will of a god. The Heavenly Demon smiled as if seeing right through my inner thoughts.

“A god does not favor humans. From the perspective of a god, a rat and a human are merely single lives no different from each other. Do not humans themselves right now consider the value of a rat’s life and a snake’s life to be equal?”

“Why are you suddenly bringing up that topic?”

“It means humans are not beings upon whom the will of a god is projected. Of course, a human favoring a particular animal can happen. Because they are emotional and imperfect beings. But a god cannot be so.”

“Is that so? That is slightly different from what I know.”

I could not quite understand. Did not the immortal who was the Great Ming emperor extinguish his very existence for the revival of Great Ming?

If so, were not immortals also beings who moved for their desires just like humans?

“Ah. You might not know. There are simply far too many fake immortals in this world.”

“Fake immortals?”

“If one has not transcended desire, it is merely a wicked residual thought. Of course, I am still at that stage as well. Because transcending desire is more difficult than transcending life.”

The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly. It was a moment when one more worry was added to my plate. It meant that even among immortals, there were beings who were only half-immortal.

“Those who stopped halfway to becoming immortals are dreadful things. Just as an imugi that failed to become a dragon is dreadful. Having transcended life, they do not view humans as fellow humans, yet their human desires remain intact. There cannot be such dreadful beings in this world.”

“Are you not one of them?”

“I shall ascend once I create the Demonic Realm Under Heaven. Without even looking back.”

“Who says you’re allowed to?”

“I am already capable of it. I am merely choosing not to do so intentionally. Unlike other cowards who refrain out of fear, I am thinking on a grand scale and sacrificing myself.”

Did it mean there were many who could ascend yet chose not to? The Heavenly Demon was thankfully teaching me many things.

“The reason I am telling you is that you will come to know anyway. After all, you too are now half-stepping out of humanity.”

The Heavenly Demon’s words pricked me. Before I could even respond, the Heavenly Demon continued speaking.

“At any rate, I do not know which god’s protection you are receiving, but seeing it for the first time was quite fascinating.”

I thought about asking why he was trying to create the Demonic Realm Under Heaven, but decided against it. Persuading him was impossible anyway. Just as Gu Jinqing and I were different people, there was no way I could understand the Heavenly Demon.

“Meeting you was entertaining. I wonder how you will have changed next time.”

The Heavenly Demon was self-righteous to the very end. Without even waiting for my answer, he abruptly vanished.

Imugis that had transcended life yet failed to transcend desire.

The result of that was Mount Hua soaked in blood. In a way, people including Gu Jinqing were merely puppets. It could be seen that they were sacrificed to the desires of bastards like the immortals of the imperial palace and the Heavenly Demon. Of course, stabbing his fellow orthodox brethren in the back had been Gu Jinqing’s own choice.

Whose fault was it? I thought about it, but soon realized such thoughts were useless. If we were to determine right and wrong, it should have been done before Mount Hua was drenched in blood.

I looked inside the halls of Mount Hua. It seemed the remaining Mount Hua disciples of Gu Jinqing’s faction still lingered. However, I did not feel like killing them as well.

I simply turned my head and descended Mount Hua.

All I could do was pray for the repose of the deceased.

* * *

Mae Su-il looked up at the blood-soaked crossbeams of Mount Hua. The scent of blood was thick in the halls of Mount Hua, which were filled with darkness.

The end of a martial artist had always been like this. Just as the imperial palace did not hold martial artists accountable for murders, they did not take responsibility for the dead either.

That was why Mae Su-il had returned to Mount Hua after Muk Hui-yeong left, burying all of his fellow martial brethren.

Among the surviving disciples, some fled down Mount Hua, while a few helped Mae Su-il, silently digging pits and burying their martial brothers.

“The traitor of Mount Hua begs forgiveness from the ancestral masters. Please do not forgive me.”

Mae Su-il slowly bowed. Including Mae Su-il, there were only four remaining disciples beside him. It was excessively shabby to be called the end of Mount Hua, which had enjoyed the flourishing prosperity of the Nine Great Sects. Having completed nine deep bows, they bowed their heads.

Among the buried, there were even people Mae Su-il had killed with his own hands.

Naturally, Mae Su-il had not wanted to kill his beloved martial brethren either. However, while dealing with Gu Jinqing roaring from behind and martial brothers whose eyes had turned wild upon seeing blood, he had cut down several of them.

At this point, it felt as though it would have been more comfortable to simply be struck by a flying blade and die.

“Senior Brother. What should we do?”

A junior brother asked. Coincidentally, the remaining ones were all Mae Su-il’s junior brothers. Mae Su-il had to decide their course of action.

“What do you all wish to do?”

“I do not know. I truly do not know.”

Someone suddenly burst into tears out of nowhere. It was a wail as if belatedly realizing what he had done.

“…….”

Mae Su-il could not tell his junior brother to stop. It was because tears would not worsen the current situation. The situation could not possibly become worse than this.

“Are you all prepared to follow my decision?”

Once the junior brother’s crying subsided to some degree, Mae Su-il spoke. He had organized his thoughts while listening to the weeping.

“Yes, Senior Brother.”

The junior brothers bowed their heads. Mae Su-il nodded.

“As people of the Mount Hua Sect, let us abide by Mount Hua’s precepts.”

“By precepts, you mean.”

“Is there not a precept regarding intentionally killing someone of the same sect?”

The junior brothers’ faces turned ashen. Naturally, they knew. Because it was a simple precept.

The punishment for intentionally killing someone of the same sect was death.

“……Senior Brother. We did this to survive. What meaning is there in dying here?”

One of the junior brothers spoke cautiously. Mae Su-il glared at the junior brother who had spoken.

“Even if our sins cannot be forgiven, should we not bear responsibility?”

“If we die, Mount Hua’s lineage will be severed as well.”

“Even if we, the traitors of Mount Hua, carry on the lineage, what meaning would there be? Since secret manuals including the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms still remain, the revival of Mount Hua will be the task of one with fated ties.”

Mae Su-il was resolute. The junior brother spoke with difficulty in a trembling voice.

“I, I still do not wish to die.”

Mae Su-il nodded. And he immediately struck a palm toward the junior brother’s dantian. The junior brother vomited blood, flew back, and crashed into a tree.

“I have crippled your dantian. From now on, you are no longer a disciple of Mount Hua, so go down. You bear no responsibility.”

Mae Su-il spoke coldly. Even while smearing blood around his mouth, the junior brother bowed his head to Mae Su-il.

“……Thank you, Senior Brother.”

“I am not your Senior Brother. You too are no longer a person of Mount Hua, so leave Mount Hua immediately.”

“I understand.”

The junior brother trudged down Mount Hua. Mae Su-il looked at the remaining two junior brothers. The two junior brothers lowered their heads. The junior brother who had been crying also stopped completely and was looking at Mae Su-il.

Mae Su-il felt it from the eyes of those junior brothers. Aside from harboring guilt, these junior brothers wished to live.

He thought it could not be helped. Mae Su-il was not a person cruel enough to kill someone who said they did not want to die.

“Do you two also wish to live?”

At Mae Su-il’s words, the two junior brothers dropped their heads. That alone served as an answer.

Mae Su-il placed a hand on the dantian region of each of the two junior brothers and released force. It was the moment their two dantians were crippled.

“Go down.”

“……We are sorry, Senior Brother.”

The junior brothers looked at Mae Su-il with apologetic gazes and descended. Now, the only person left on Mount Hua was Mae Su-il alone.

Mae Su-il calmly tied a rope to a crossbeam and fashioned a noose.

“…….”

Mae Su-il’s hands, which had been holding the knot motionlessly, began to tremble. He had tried to act as calm as possible, but he could endure it no longer. The terror of dying began to assault him.

Naturally, Mae Su-il did not want to die either. No one in the world wanted to die. Even those who ended their own lives were people who had wanted to live properly more than anyone else until the very end.

His mind, which he had forcefully calmed, stirred waves of upheaval. Being alone, tears poured from Mae Su-il’s eyes. They were tears he had forcefully held back before his junior brothers.

Regret over what he had done and terror of death assaulted Mae Su-il simultaneously.

“You don’t want to die, do you?”

At that moment, someone asked in a laughter-laced voice. Startled, Mae Su-il looked toward the direction of the voice. Someone was walking out from the darkness where there had certainly been no one.

“……You bastard.”

Mae Su-il ground his teeth. He was the expert the imperial palace had sent at Gu Jinqing’s request.

When eavesdropping on the conversation with Muk Hui-yeong, he had belatedly realized he was the Heavenly Demon. That was also one of Mae Su-il’s guilts. It was not merely killing his martial brothers; it was no different from joining hands with the Demonic Cult to kill them.

“Had I known you were of the Demonic Cult, I would not have harmed my martial brethren.”

Mae Su-il growled. The Heavenly Demon shook his head.

“Such excuses only make you more unsightly. Just be honest. You are simply a weak person who wants to live, aren’t you?”

At the Heavenly Demon’s words, Mae Su-il was at a loss for words. Those words were correct. The ones that had cut down his martial brethren were his own hands and sword. He could blame no one.

“However, I like people like you. Are you not more human than anyone else? What does it mean to be human? In the end, is it not the will to live? Even after casting aside your conscience and committing the atrocity of killing your martial brothers, you still want to live.”

It was confusing whether the Heavenly Demon’s words were mockery or not. Mae Su-il quietly stared at the Heavenly Demon.

“Follow me. I shall grant you an opportunity to atone.”

“Are you telling me to even throw myself into the Demonic Cult? I am of the prestigious orthodox Mount Hua Sect…….”

Mae Su-il could not finish his sentence. Because his conscience pricked him far too much to finish the words. The Heavenly Demon smiled faintly while looking at Mae Su-il.

“……What do you mean by granting an opportunity to atone?”

“What else could it mean? Revenge against the one who stirred the waves. You were merely swept away by the waves, were you not?”

The Heavenly Demon’s sweet words echoed in Mae Su-il’s ears.

“The one who stirred the waves? Are you speaking of the New Justice Association Master?”

“Is that not naturally so? If not for the New Justice Association Master, the martial world would not have been divided like this, nor would the Mount Hua Sect have met such a tragedy.”

At the Heavenly Demon’s words, Mae Su-il was at a loss for words. It was a hasty shifting of blame unbecoming of an orthodox martial artist. In truth, Mae Su-il had no feelings toward Muk Hui-yeong at all. However, it was an undeniable fact that those words were exceedingly sweet.

“……How could I possibly take revenge against him? Even my Martial Uncle, one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven, could not defeat him.”

“That is why I said I would give you the opportunity.”

The Heavenly Demon smiled and extended his hand.

“Follow me. I shall show you a new world.”

Mae Su-il’s eyes shook violently.