Chapter 39: Death Plum Blossom (4)
“……”
Chui recalled the events of the past.
Even during that time, Oh Ja-woon groaned and tossed and turned.
Crackle- crackle-
The campfire was dying out.
Chui split dry firewood with his hands and threw it into the flames.
The surroundings grew a bit warmer, and only then did Oh Ja-woon’s expression relax slightly.
Chui was curious.
Originally a promising junior of Mount Hua.
How did a genius so outstanding that he was selected as the youngest Plum Blossom Swordsman in the history of the Mount Hua Sect become a public enemy of the martial world overnight?
According to what Chui had seen in his past life, Oh Ja-woon was absolutely not the kind of man to rape and murder his junior sister and flee to join the Demonic Cult.
At that time.
“……”
The very person who would resolve Chui’s doubts opened his eyes.
The Death Plum Blossom, Oh Ja-woon, had regained consciousness.
* * *
“Your cooking skills are terrible.”
Oh Ja-woon said as he slurped down the meat soup in the bamboo container.
Pheasant meat and pieces of organs floated in the thin broth.
Chui also gulped down the broth.
Because it was boiled without a single grain of salt, it was fishy and had a strong odor, but they were in no position to be picky.
“For what reason are you being pursued?”
When Chui asked, Oh Ja-woon slightly furrowed his brow.
“You already know. They say I raped and killed my junior sister.”
“But there’s no way that’s true.”
“……?”
At Chui’s firm reply, Oh Ja-woon raised one eyebrow.
Soon, he continued to speak with a complex expression.
“Even those I spent decades with call me a heinous lust demon, yet a stranger I met for the first time today believes me, so I have no words.”
“……”
Chui silently chewed the pheasant organs.
A brief silence flowed.
Soon, Oh Ja-woon’s eyes were bathed in the red light of the fire.
“There was a young man.”
Oh Ja-woon began his story.
It was a truth that even Chui of his past life had never heard, and one that no one in this era wished to listen to.
“He was strong, handsome, and had a very strong sense of chivalry. Since his grandfather was a secular disciple of the Mount Hua Sect, his family was also quite wealthy.”
“……”
Chui silently poked at the campfire.
Although no response returned particularly, Oh Ja-woon continued speaking.
“Was it one day, while traveling the world to broaden his horizons, the young man participated in a martial arts tournament. It was hosted by a small local sect, and they said the winner would be given a chance to marry the sect leader’s daughter.”
The custom of marrying the host’s daughter upon winning a martial arts tournament was common.
Sects facing a major battle usually recruited experts in this manner, mobilising them into war under the pretext that a son-in-law could hardly ignore the crisis faced by his father-in-law’s family.
“The young man valiantly entered the tournament and won. And he welcomed the precious daughter of that sect as his bride. She was a peerless beauty.”
Kang-ah. That was her name.
Oh Ja-woon dropped his gaze downward, recalling the face of his past lover.
“Since he had obtained a beautiful bride, it was only natural to help with his father-in-law’s difficulties. Holding a single sword, the young man repelled all the enemies targeting his father-in-law’s sect. They were all wicked villains of the evil heterodox.”
“……”
“The young man’s reputation shook the surrounding area. Since he was young, had a dignified build, was handsome, possessed high martial arts, and even came from a wealthy family, he was given the embarrassing alias of ‘Jade Dragon Young Master’…… and so on.”
Chui scratched his cheek with his finger.
To think that the Oh Ja-woon of the past had such a history, it was truly surprising.
Oh Ja-woon continued speaking.
“As the young man’s reputation grew day by day, those above also showed interest. That was precisely the Mount Hua Sect. Since his grandfather happened to have ties with Mount Hua, it was a natural flow. The young man was summoned by Mount Hua to become a Daoist, and before he knew it, he was bestowed a sword engraved with plum blossoms.”
Chui also knew of the events after that.
Not long after joining the Mount Hua Sect, Oh Ja-woon displayed immense genius, shattering every record for the youngest in Mount Hua’s history.
“Everything was perfect. They were dreamlike days. The young man was respected by his sect brothers and doted on by his masters, becoming a Plum Blossom Swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect. Of course, the most beautiful wife in this world also blessed this.”
However, from this point, Oh Ja-woon’s expression began to darken.
“That young man had a close junior sister. She was a woman named ‘Wol Maeng Yeong.’ Since she was also beautiful and possessed extraordinary talent, she was often talked about by others along with the young man. Dilettantes referred to the young man and her together as the Spring and Autumn of Wu and Yue of Mount Hua.”
“……”
Chui listened silently.
Oh Ja-woon seemed to be vomiting the resentment rotting inside his lungs rather than talking to Chui.
“One day, the young man called his junior sister and asked what kind of gifts women liked.”
“……”
“The young man simply wished to buy a gift for his wife. He had no other intentions. Not in the slightest.”
“……”
“But it seemed the junior sister’s thoughts were slightly different. She thought the young man was circuitously confessing his affection for her, and she carefully mentioned a hairpin she had wanted to have.”
Chui, who had little connection with women, did not understand Oh Ja-woon’s words well, but for now, he just nodded vaguely.
Oh Ja-woon continued.
“The young man bought the hairpin. But naturally, that hairpin belonged to his wife.”
“……”
“From that day on, the junior sister did not speak with the young man. She refused joint training and avoided sharing a dining table.”
“……”
“The young man was only puzzled by his junior sister’s change. So one day, on a mountain peak where plum blossoms bloomed profusely, he asked. Why on earth was she avoiding him?”
The events after that were a development that even a mere Chui could predict.
“The junior sister confessed her feelings for the young man. She said she had adored him ever since they first met at the Mount Hua Sect long ago. She said that feeling grew deeper day by day as they did hard training and external activities together. She said she didn’t care if she was a concubine or anything now, so she begged him to look at her. She said she would be satisfied with just that.”
“……”
“But this time, the young man’s attitude changed.”
Following Oh Ja-woon’s voice, the campfire blazed.
Black smoke was gradually thickening.
“Thereafter, the young man did not spare even a glance for his junior sister. He distanced himself from her far more coldly and thoroughly than she had done to him. He even went to the Sect Leader to say he would leave the mountain, so his resolution was extraordinarily firm.”
Recalling the past, Oh Ja-woon’s expression was sorrowful.
“It was one night. A very deep and dark night when not even the moon rose. The young man was preparing to bid farewell to the place he had grown attached to while swinging his sword in the training ground. But someone came to find the young man. As you might guess, it was the junior sister. And soon, a surprising thing happened.”
“……”
“That noble and haughty junior sister prostrated herself at the young man’s feet and implored. She begged him not to leave Mount Hua, not to abandon her. She said it would be enough for her to just watch him from afar, so she pleaded, saying if he disappeared forever like this, she would fall lovesick, waste away, and die……”
“……”
“But the young man ruthlessly left the spot. A big part of it was that he was too shocked to know what to say. But the young man thought. He believed that leaving as soon as possible was the way to maintain loyalty to his wife, while simultaneously helping his junior sister.”
Oh Ja-woon paused for a moment.
And after clearing his blocked throat with a blood-stained cough, he continued speaking.
“It was around that time.”
“……?”
“That my wife was poisoned to death.”
“……!”
The young man’s wife, Kang-ah, suddenly died.
Traces of poisoning, clear to anyone’s eyes, remained on her mouth and neck.
“While observing the three-year mourning period, the young man sought to find the enemy who killed his wife. On some days, he roamed day and night for revenge, and on other days, he took shelter from the wind and rain in a grass hut built in front of her grave. It was one such day.”
“……”
“Someone came to the grass hut where the young man lay. It was junior sister Maeng Yeong.”
“……”
“She said, weeping, to forget the dead now, and shouldn’t the living live on? She wailed while caressing the young man’s sunken cheeks.”
Probably, the young man’s appearance at that time was not very different from the wretched state Chui was looking at now.
Staring at a handsome man, who was once called the Jade Dragon Young Master, having become so emaciated, even Chui, a man, could not help but feel pity, so how must the women who desperately adored him have felt?
Oh Ja-woon said.
“But the young man was still firm. Because during the three-year mourning period, he had resolved not just to cease eating, but to cut off all connections in this world. That was how much the young man loved his wife.”
“……”
“The young man kicked open the grass hut where his junior sister was collapsed crying, and went down the mountain to expose himself to the night dew.”
The campfire died down.
As Chui remained still, Oh Ja-woon threw firewood into the fire this time.
“The next day, the young man was arrested by the Daoists of the Mount Hua Sect and escorted back to Mount Hua.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. Suddenly. Without knowing any reason.”
At Oh Ja-woon’s words, Chui frowned.
Soon, Oh Ja-woon continued his explanation.
“Only after being dragged to the Mount Hua Sect did the young man learn. That junior sister Maeng Yeong, who had visited his grass hut last night, had been raped and murdered by someone.”
Maeng Yeong died that day.
Right in Oh Ja-woon’s grass hut.
Thereafter, Chui could easily guess the flow of the situation.
Oh Ja-woon glanced down at his left arm.
“The young man did anything to prove his innocence. Starting from the most minor fault, he confessed every single point of shame, and as if that weren’t enough, he even severed his own left arm himself. But the false accusation was not cleared. Just like that, I became the villain who raped and murdered my junior sister.”
The young man had eventually become Oh Ja-woon.
And Oh Ja-woon had eventually become a demon of vengeance.
He raised his head with bloodshot eyes.
“I heard that a sword wound in the shape of a plum blossom remained on the chest of the deceased junior sister Maeng Yeong. The culprit is a Plum Blossom Swordsman like me.”
“……”
Chui stroked his chin.
This was a matter worth thinking about a bit more in the future.
Oh Ja-woon also knew this, so he merely expressed his suspicion.
“Afterward, my lot became wretched. At first, I even contemplated going to seek shelter with the Heterodox Alliance. But those bastards of the Heterodox Alliance tried to sell me out to the Martial Alliance instead. The orthodox and the heterodox are all the same. They act like bitter enemies normally, but behind the scenes, they hang out like brothers as if they never did. Aren’t officials all like that too?”
“Did you decide the demonic path is better instead, then?”
“Indeed. Since I am already framed for colluding with the Demonic Cult, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to make it a reality.”
That was why Oh Ja-woon was currently heading to the Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang where the Demonic Cult was located.
Chui listened to all of Oh Ja-woon’s words.
And he spoke aloud what he had thought even before hearing his words.
“I will pave the way for you to reach the headquarters of the Demonic Cult.”
“What? Why you?”
Oh Ja-woon. No, he who had transformed into the Death Plum Blossom in the blink of an eye, revealed sharp wariness.
But Chui did not consider the Death Plum Blossom’s feelings in the slightest.
Just as he had done to him in his past life.
“If you cannot follow, from that point on, just go your own way.”
He merely spoke dryly and bluntly.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost