Chapter 389: Love (2)
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In truth, even as I flew toward the Hebei Peng Clan, I could not understand my current existence. Strangely, when it came to Myeong-gyeong, Master, and Peng Chae-hyang, the attachments I held when I was human still existed intact.
If I stood between human and god right now, I wondered where I was positioned, and whether I was closer to a god or closer to a human.
Even having become one with the universe through the Greater Self, I could not resolve this seemingly simple curiosity. Perhaps it was the most complex problem among all those I possessed.
From the Forbidden City, the Hebei Peng Clan was not very far. In the first place, the Hebei Peng Clan was a prominent clan in the jianghu, but it was also a martial household serving the military.
The Hebei Peng Clan was a place where I had once stayed briefly in the past. There was no chance of confusing its location. The manor of the Hebei Peng Clan gradually began to come into view. And the scent of blood began to brush past my heightened senses.
The crisis of the Hebei Peng Clan that the Heavenly Demon had spoken of had indeed been real.
Looking down from the sky, someone possessing an energy I had never witnessed before was wreaking havoc inside the Hebei Peng Clan. The martial artists of the Hebei Peng Clan rushed in, and he dispatched them all with emotionless gestures of his hand.
The peculiar aspect was that whatever his hands touched blew apart as if exploding. That was why the Hebei Peng Clan’s manor was currently smeared in the minced flesh of shattered corpses.
It was the first time that being able to see great distances through the Heavenly Eye felt so frustrating. Innocent people were continuously dying over there, yet I was still too far away. The feeling of the distance refusing to close no matter how fast I flew.
For some reason, the bastard enveloped in black flames seemed to be targeting Peng Chae-hyang directly. Even at a glance, it did not appear as though he was targeting her by his own judgment, but rather that he had likely received such directives beforehand.
Lastly, Peng Gyeong-seung stepped in to block him, but the black flame easily swallowed even Peng Gyeong-seung, one of the Three Great Saberists Under Heaven. Then, it approached Peng Chae-hyang emotionlessly.
“Chae-hyang!”
In the end, by drawing upon the power of nature to the absolute limit, I arrived before Peng Chae-hyang. Just before the grasp of the black flame could seize Peng Chae-hyang’s neck, I barely managed to land in front of her.
It was by a hair’s breadth. That I failed to save Peng Gyeong-seung, yet was able to save Peng Chae-hyang.
“…Gege.”
From behind, Peng Chae-hyang’s choked voice was heard, but confronted with the black flame before me, I could not bring myself to look back just yet.
Immediately, I gathered all the water sources in the surrounding ground and caused them to erupt. With Daoist power capable of utilizing natural energy, anything was possible.
Soon, cracks appeared in the ground before me and water surged fiercely upward. Surging with tremendous momentum, the water engulfed the black flame directly.
When the flames and water collided, dense smoke erupted alongside the sound of an explosion.
Even with my Heavenly Eye, I could not see through that smoke. That was likely due to the characteristics of the black flame.
Peng Chae-hyang and Peng Gyeong-seung likely had not noticed, but that black flame was a substance that did not exist in this world. All things in creation must operate within yin-yang and the Five Elements.
However, that which formed those flames belonged neither to yin-yang nor to the Five Elements. It was truly a substance nonexistent in this world. That did not mean it did not exist, either. For in reality, it existed and was even displaying a burning form. Rather than matter, I felt it was more accurate to call it antimatter.
From the scabbard at my waist, my sword slid out smoothly and floated beside me. And that sword pointed toward the black flame.
“Just what are you?”
I asked. That person was letting out only the groans of a monster.
I knew. That thing had not been formed naturally. Someone had unmistakably created it with some malicious intent. Furthermore, the fact that they excluded the Five Elements in its creation proved they were someone with profound enlightenment regarding the Five Elements.
“Answer me, just who created a monster like you?”
I asked once more, but the black flame showed no intention of answering.
Without a word, the black flame charged at me and scattered its flames. Erecting a qi barrier around Peng Chae-hyang, I swung my sword.
In the Five Elements, each possesses a mutual overcoming relationship. Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood.
Yet the Five Elements do not contain only mutual overcoming relationships. Because there are mutual generation relationships, the Five Elements generate and overcome one another. Mutual generation and mutual overcoming are normal, and are part of the natural cycle.
However, that black flame could not be explained by mutual generation or overcoming. Rather, it had to be explained by mutual overacting, an abnormal condition in the Five Elements.
Mutual overacting refers to a restraining energy being so overwhelmingly strong that it destroys the opposing element. For example, if Metal overcoming Wood is cutting down wood with iron to make it useful, Metal overacting on Wood is relentlessly battering the wood with iron until it is pulverized into ugly fragments.
That black flame generated nothing in the Five Elements, nor did it overcome anything. Considering that overcoming was ultimately part of the Five Elements, when that thing touched the Five Elements, nothing remained but destruction.
Thinking about what lunatic could have created such a thing, the answer was rather obvious. It was highly likely the Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult, who had informed me of this danger.
The insane idea of exiling a human being outside the Five Elements was something hard for anyone other than the Heavenly Demon of the Blood Cult to conceive.
Kwakwakwang!
When my sword collided with the black flame, an explosion erupted as expected. My sword trembled, but it did not shatter.
To avoid being consumed by the anti-Five Elements, there was only one method. It was to turn mutual overacting into counter-restraint.
Counter-restraint refers to an opposing energy growing too weak to properly restrain the other. No matter how much Water overcomes Fire, it was the same principle as a small amount of water failing to extinguish a massive fire.
I drew up all the surrounding energies as much as possible. In an instant, all energies flourished, and an immense aura enveloped the surroundings.
The cracked earth and broken trees suddenly grew moist, flowers bloomed, and grass sprouted, while the surrounding atmosphere was filled with the warmth of sunlight. Had only one element flourished, it would have birthed an imbalance, but with all energies of the Five Elements flourishing together, they harmonized to circulate an immense vitality.
“…Ah.”
Peng Chae-hyang let out an exclamation of awe from behind. Filled with flourishing energy, this place was truly worthy of being called the Peach Blossom Spring.
And Peng Gyeong-seung’s corpse and blood were swiftly absorbed into the earth. With all energies flourishing, the decay of the corpse also accelerated.
Yet no rotting stench arose. The dense floral fragrance around us covered it completely. Flowers bloomed swiftly, withered, and bloomed once more. Thus, in an instant, the place where we stood became a field of flowers. Flowers covered even Peng Gyeong-seung’s headless corpse. The corpse dissolved swiftly and became part of the earth.
I wondered if I had robbed Peng Chae-hyang of the time to say a final farewell to her father, but returning him quickly to the earth was far better for her than looking upon such a brutally mangled corpse once again.
Even as the surroundings turned into a world of flowers, not a single blade of grass sprouted around the black flame. My deduction that it was composed of properties contrary to the Five Elements had proven correct.
“Krrrrrrgh!”
Just as I anticipated, the black flame suffered in agony as the surroundings flourished with the Five Elements. It twisted its body, scattering flames even further in all directions.
The black flame exploded its surroundings, but flowers continued to bloom in those very spots. It was a battle between flames that continuously exploded and flowers that continuously bloomed.
“Kraaaaaaaargh!”
Screaming, the black flame slammed its fist into the ground. In an instant, piercing through the fissures in the earth, a pillar of black flame erupted upward.
The black pillar of flame surged so fiercely that it seemed to touch the sky. The sky touched by the pillar of flame turned black, obscuring the sun. The surroundings began to darken into pitch-black night.
“Gege!”
From behind, Peng Chae-hyang’s urgent voice was heard. The pillar of flame curved in an arc, soon lashing out toward me like a whip.
Imbuing my sword to the brim with the energy of the Five Elements, I dropped it to the earth. The sword did not stab into the ground, but sank leaving ripples as if entering a lake.
Soon, the earth shook violently as if an earthquake had struck, and between the fissures, a brilliant white light began to flash. Then, transparent water emerged, surging into the sky.
Truly, the sky right now was a magnificent spectacle. A state where a black pillar of flame and a white water vortex coexisted.
Likely everyone in Hebei was watching this. Seeing this spectacle, there would surely be those who considered it the end of the world. I had no desire to drag this fight out.
Just before the black pillar of flame could reach me, the white water vortex surged again with me at the center. As the black flame and white water vortex merged, they became a massive cyclone. Sweeping through the surroundings, the cyclone generated massive explosions in rapid succession.
Taking Peng Chae-hyang, whom I had protected with a qi barrier, I brought her into my embrace. Because against explosive power of this degree, even my qi barrier might not hold.
“…Chae-hyang.”
Holding Peng Chae-hyang in my arms, I could hardly bear to look at her face.
Because in the end, I had failed to save Peng Gyeong-seung. What must she feel after watching her father’s life cruelly extinguished before her very eyes? Though I had now half departed from humanity, for some reason, my heart ached with empathy for that single emotion.
“Gege. Please do not worry about me. Please do what you must do.”
Peng Chae-hyang spoke with a voice far more resolute than expected. Whether out of consideration for me or because Peng Chae-hyang was stronger than I thought, it was something to be grateful for.
“Alright.”
I held Peng Chae-hyang in my arms. I felt Peng Chae-hyang’s small frame trembling slightly within my embrace.
Through the gaps in the raging cyclone, I looked at the black flame. The black flame dared not approach the water vortex. It too could intuit it instinctively. That the moment it approached that vortex, its own power would vanish.
Fundamentally, that black flame was flawed. In the end, it was an artificial creation. And among artificial creations, there was nothing that was perfect. Because humans were imperfect beings.
Even taking the form of black flames was proof of that. To completely oppose the Five Elements, it should not have possessed any form or color whatsoever. That was merely something close to a bizarre counterfeit imitating the anti-Five Elements.
That was the key. Therefore, I caused the Five Elements to flourish as much as possible, and among them, strongly drew up the water qi. In the end, that which could suppress flames—fire qi—was the energy of water.
“Reveal your true form!”
Gathering all the white water vortexes into one, I slammed them down upon the black flame like a sword.
The water struck the black flame and exploded, shattering into pieces. A massive amount of water burst across the Peng Clan manor. Enough to wash away the blood and fragments of internal organs piled across the Hebei Peng Clan’s grounds.
Once the smoke cleared, lying prone in that spot was not a black flame, but an ordinary, frail man. The frail man was trembling on the ground, still alive.
Leaving Peng Chae-hyang, I slowly walked toward him. Sensing that his power had been completely extinguished, there was nothing to be cautious of.
When I grabbed the scruff of his neck and lifted him, he surprisingly had quite a familiar face. Seeing that I could not immediately recall who he was, he was not someone particularly close.
“…Mae Su-il?”
The one who recognized the man before I did was Peng Chae-hyang.
Along with her words, my memories were revived as well.
The true identity of the black flame was the disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, Mae Su-il.