Sniff… sniff…
In a space so dark that not even an inch ahead could be seen, a girl twitched her nose.
Tears were about to brim over from her eyes.
“Uncle…?”
Unable to speak, all the girl could do was think.
Her eyes remained tightly shut, unable to open, robbing her of sight.
Her body was as stiff as stone, incapable of even the slightest movement, not even a flicker.
The only thing the girl could sense was the ‘smell’.
“Uncle…? Where have you gone?”
But recently, that ‘smell’ had vanished.
The scent of the man she admired more than anyone, the man she pleaded to stay with her.
“Where have you gone…? Leaving me…?”
That scent of the person she yearned for, obsessing over, was gone.
Sniff… sniff…
“No, it can’t be… It can’t be… You didn’t leave me… did you…??”
In her haste, the girl kept twitching her nose.
Praying that she could sense the man, not just his trace, but his presence.
Though her eyes remained closed and her hands couldn’t move, the girl was deeply engrossed in prayer.
For the future where he leaves her was too terrifying to even imagine now.
“Uncle…”
Thus, how much time had passed?
A cold breeze grazed her nose.
The same cold air she had smelled once before when the man disappeared.
“Uncle? Uncle! Uncle!”
The girl, Gayoung Jin, screamed with all her might.
Had the Supreme Deity answered her prayer?
Sniff… sniff… Twitch…
With the familiar scent making its return, Jin Gayoung’s breathing shook.
It was undoubtedly, ‘Uncle’s’ scent.
Still, it was different from usual.
Not the usual… faded yet warm, impenetrable yet gentle smell.
“Uncle…?”
In the scent she now detected…
“Why… does it smell of blood…?”
A strong aroma of blood was clearly present, impossible to ignore.
*
Step.
Whoosh.
The moment they had just stepped outside, a soft layer of snowflakes already rested upon the figures of Byul Rak and Jade Flower.
“Alright, we’re out as you wished. What do you plan to do now?”
Byul Rak asked in a curt tone.
Enduring the strange sensation of his whole body being pierced through words alone, Jade Flower replied.
“There’s no need for conversation.”
Swish.
Holding the sword edge upwards in the moonlight where it eerily shone…
“Exterminate Evil, Kill Demons. The steadfast principles of the Daoist path you’ve watched for so long, you more than anyone should understand them best.”
“Haha…”
Byul Rak let out a weak chuckle.
“I know, I truly know.”
There was a deep sense of resignation in his words.
“With how long I’ve watched you, longer than the time you’ve known me, I could perhaps boast that I know you better than yourself.”
Buried under the monumental sense of betrayal, though not outwardly visible…
“Flower, there’s one thing I’d like to ask you.”
“What is it? Though I’m in no mood to answer questions from someone about to die, I’ll humor you this once for old times’ sake.”
“Honestly, do you truly believe you can defeat me?”
As the question was asked, Byul Rak stared intensely at Jade Flower.
Under the eerie gaze that seemed to pierce straight through her soul, Jade Flower pressed her lips together, intending to answer.
“Absolutely…”
“Surely, you don’t think that.”
As Byul Rak interrupted her answer and responded instead, she was left with no choice but to shut her mouth.
“How could you not know, having watched me longer than anyone else. That no martial artist from the Central Plains could defeat me?”
Despite Jade Flower’s hostile glare, Byul Rak continued speaking in a murmur.
“Still, you’ve come here overcoming your fear. To follow your belief of Exterminate Evil, Kill Demons, or however you phrase it, even at the cost of your own life to protect justice, such paradoxical reasons I suppose.”
“Who says who will defeat who!”
“But… no matter how important justice is, one must surely distinguish between friend and foe. To me, your image is nothing more than that of a blind swordsman swinging their blade.”
Slush.
Byul Rak took a single step forward toward Jade Flower.
It was a step that seemed threatening.
“I am not evil. The evil ones are the world and you.”
“…”
“Before engaging in this physical ‘conversation’ with you, I would at least like to see some proof.”
Jade Flower raised her sword, its sharp tip ready to slice through the air at any moment as it stared at Byul Rak.
Regardless, Byul Rak made no move to acknowledge it, only taking another step forward.
“Not only troublesome, but I would also like to bring it to your attention. The realization of how self-satisfying your so-called ‘noble sacrifice’ truly is, how barbaric you’ve acted and committed evils under the guise of justice. I want you to come to understand this yourself.”
Swoosh.
Byul Rak extended his hand.
Against the advancing hand, Jade Flower resisted fiercely.
Tock.
Crack!
With an effortless gesture as if subduing a child, Byul Rak caught her wrist.
As a result, Jade Flower’s sword was flung away, crawling into the snow.
“Three Harmonious Fingers.”
“!!”
The hand that had been captured by Byul Rak was slowly brought to his abdomen.
Precisely to his lower abdomen.
“I don’t seem likely to regret this choice.”
Plop.
“Y-you…! What trick are you trying to pull now!”
Her cold palm touched Byul Rak’s lower abdomen.
If she injected internal energy, she could easily damage Byul Rak’s dantian. It was a perilous action akin to placing one’s heart in the opponent’s hand.
“Do you think I’m pulling a trick right now?”
“Then what is this behavior of yours?”
“Not a trick, merely my struggle to awaken you to the truth and face reality.”
Wooom!
Simultaneously with the words, Byul Rak resonated his dantian.
A clear resonant sound echoed in all directions.
The dark night sky slowly got covered by dark clouds.
The face of Jade Flower at the center of it was gradually turning into one of astonishment.
Woooom!
“…”
The power emanating from Byul Rak’s dantian…
“This is strange. According to your logic, you are the virtuous one, and I the evil one. Yet, my internal energy is purer than yours.”
Because it was more refined than the martial arts of Kunlun that Jade Flower practiced.
“H-hallucination techniques, is that it?”
“I did learn them, but I haven’t used them in this life. That’s true right now too.”
“How… How is this possible…? What magic are you using? Confess at once!”
“A hundred questions are worth less than one observation. I offered you the trouble to avoid a tired jaw. What nonsense is this? There’s not even a speck of malevolent energy in my dantian. Investigate thoroughly with your own hands.”
“Unthinkable..! T-this… It has to be a trick!”
Swiftly, Jade Flower began frantically feeling Byul Rak’s abdomen, bewildered.
Lifting up his clothes, she pressed her cold palms against his bare skin.
However, all she could feel were the rough scars of naked flesh and infinitely pure internal energy. Not a speck of malevolent or bloody energy existed.
“How…?”
A groan escaped Jade Flower’s lips.
And to her, who was awkwardly hunched over as she probed his abdomen, Byul Rak offered a faint smile through the distorted curve of his lips.
It was a chilling smirk to those who beheld it.
“Fortunate, that you possess the courage to see the truth.”
“What…?”
With a meaningful statement, Jade Flower hesitantly raised her head, baffled.
“If you had turned away from the truth out of fear of your own craving for conviction, if even after confirming the innocence of my internal energy, you’d struck my dantian to forget that fact.”
The gentle face of hers began to gradually distort as Byul Rak continued.
“I would have been disappointed in you once again. For someone who’s already disappointed me to the core, you leave me only with despair.”
At his words that defined her as evil.
And the image of evil within herself that gradually surfaced from the subconscious.
“Cease your tricks!”
“Hmm?”
“If I knew how you cleared the malevolent energy, once an evil person, always an evil person. Once a demon, always a demon. A person cannot change.”
“Ah, if I had said that before a sage, we’d have debated all day.”
“Be quiet! You filthy demon!”
Startled, Jade Flower grabbed the sword stuck in her eye, wrenching it free from the snowy ground.
“Y-you… D-demon!”
Though her eyes beheld him as repulsive,
Paradoxically, it wasn’t Byul Rak she found repelling,
But herself.
“A demon in your heart resides. The monstrous demon that requires evil’s existence.”
“Th-that’s enough! Don’t come any closer! Stop it, I say!”
“Cease meaningless resistance. For I’m holding back my immediate urge to unleash fury, enlightening you with the reality.”
“Don’t… don’t come any closer…! St-stop!”
“Should I slay you without awakening you to any reality, in death, you’d still justify yourself, rationalizing ‘He was evil after all.’ Imagining that image makes me want to vomit. I endure this urge by forcing it down my throat, thus heed my words.”
And while speaking thus, Byul Rak cast a disdainful glance at the baffled Jade Flower.
“…Trembling so, like a frightened mouse.”
“!”
Her words were indeed true. Jade Flower stood there, having proclaimed her intent to kill surely, yet now cowered as if scared of Byul Rak.
Her shoulders were slumped, her body leaning backward.
Though the truth was that she feared confronting her ‘ugly inner self’ which Byul Rak’s words and actions were leading her to.
“O-out of my way! Do not approach!”
“Ah, Jade Flower, old friend. How have you fallen so? How could you turn good into evil for the sake of your absurd righteousness?”
“Silence! End your deception of shaking an enlightened mind!”
“Your mind is wicked, obstructing you from recognizing your own mistake. Your shallow mind blocks you from repenting, regretting, and advancing.”
“!”
At Byul Rak’s reproachful words, Jade Flower’s mind recalled the Sage.
Precisely, it was the Sage’s words of the past that she had casually mentioned.
‘Do you always re-examine whether what you deem righteous is truly so?’
‘The line between justice and evil is as thin as paper. It’s easy to step off track in a moment. Always bear this in mind and be cautious.’
It was terrifying.
Facing the truths.
Her righteous beliefs collapsing.
So, once again, Jade Flower turned her eyes away.
In order to not see.
In order to live, covering her eyes and playing blind, remaining in a false world.
However, there was one thing she overlooked.
“I shan’t step aside or respect you as usual. My mood isn’t so great.”
Unlike the usual Sword Sage who would leave things to your own accord.
The present Sword Sage was currently in a state of wanting to unleash anger anywhere and everywhere.
“I shall point out the wrong as unequivocally wrong.”
“St-stop approaching! Just accept defeat in an honorable sword fight!”
“Even if you turn away your eyes, I shall grab your head and face the truth, and I shall be your guide. I cannot stand watching you comfort yourself and die peacefully.”
Whoosh! Whoom!
Jade Flower swung her arm wildly as if possessed.
Due to the countless hours of practice, even amidst losing her mind, she naturally unfolded the Kunlun’s sword techniques.
Still, not a single blow could reach Byul Rak.
Even though Byul Rak was standing still with his hands behind his back.
“Why hesitate? Strike if you must, but it’ll only serve to further prove how hideous you’re becoming.”
“Guh…!”
Swishh! Swishhh!
The sharp hum of the sword continued to echo. In moments, her sword technique had surpassed both the Taihu Tulong Sword and Hanmei Sword, reaching the late stages of the Two-Principle Sword Technique.
Yet, none of the strikes touched Byul Rak.
“Even your conscience seems to prick you.”
“You… Sh-shut up…! Close that mouth… You’ve been talking too much…!”
“At least you have some conscience, which is fortunate. However, it’s smaller than the scales on a mudskipper, refusing to admit your mistake. Pitiful.”
During this, Byul Rak took another slow step forward until he stood right before her.
“…”
“…”
Arriving right in front of Jade Flower, Byul Rak simply gazed at her without adding any unnecessary phrases.
As if observing how she would react.
“Ugh… Urgh…”
Under that irresistible pressure, Jade Flower stepped back as if running away.
Puff.
“??”
Until she felt something prickly against her back, and she couldn’t move anymore.
Turning around, a tree obstructed her way behind.
As if to not allow her any further escape.
Only then did Jade Flower realize Byul Rak had intentionally led her here.
To a precipice where she could not run away anymore, forcing her to face the truth.
“St-stop…!”
Her mind was in chaos.
He was evil, she was righteous.
The truth she had never doubted… Occasionally doubted, but still considered absolute truth…
“I… I am… I…”
Interwoven with scattered memories and the inexpressible pressure emitted by Byul Rak, it felt…
Definitely, as terrible as when she witnessed the atrocities done to her parents.
The feeling of being invalidated.
Her life invalidated, her existence proven wrong by witnessing such in front of her.
“I’m not wrong. I’m not.”
Her mind was rejecting it even as her head gradually realized it.
Eventually, she was fleeing again.
Because fleeing was all she did best.
Maybe even better than training in martial arts, better than exterminating evil.
As a child, she fled from evil. As an adult, she fled from logic.
During the war, she would propose discussions with the Sage first. When she sensed her own mistakes, she came up with excuses and fled.
Such shameful memories intruded more and more into her mind.
“I’m right. You’re wrong. That’s the truth.”
Her actions, trying to hold herself together to prevent everything from collapsing, forcefully pushing herself into her compulsion, overlapped…
“You remind me so much of my past self.”
Byul Rak saw his old self in her, though the nature of it was different.
“However… far uglier than I.”
Byul Rak muttered with a self-deprecating face.
“Will your obstinate nature not be corrected even by exposing your dantian? Are you giving up like this?”
A bitter expression.
“Grgh… What a wicked tongue indeed…!”
She took backward steps into the darkness with her own feet.
Byul Rak slowly began to accept an unpleasant reality.
Though unpleasant, what could he do?
Since Jade Flower wouldn’t change.
“Seems people really don’t change after all. I trusted in the Sage’s words.”
At the moment Byul Rak quietly muttered these words filled with slight irritation, enormous anger, a little sorrow, a trace of grief, immense disappointment, and rising disillusionment.
Ha. There’s no way I can stand watching this woman’s ways.
“Master? You said you were resting!”
– But now I can’t rest seeing her ways that could bring on diseases from nowhere. I could go mad from the irritation.
“What am I to do?”
Such annoyed words of Woo-yong Jin seeped into Byul Rak’s chest.
– I didn’t want to do this, but I have no choice. At this rate, blood pressure could rise where I perish first.
“…What is Master planning to do?”
– Even if I might lose all my yang qi and vanish, I cannot rest until I see her repentant face.
“…Master?”
– I’ll just set up the groundwork. The aftermath is up to you.
With emotional words, Woo-yong Jin slipped out of Byul Rak’s body.
Leaving the legs connected to Byul Rak’s body, he thrust his spiritual head towards Jade Flower’s head.
The spiritual head of Woo-yong Jin overlapped with the physical head of Jade Flower.
Soon, a peculiar old and irritable voice Jade Flower had never heard before began to echo inside her mind.
– Can you hear me, can you?
“…W-who’s there! Reveal your identity! Intruding into the enlightened mind of Tao without permission, what kind of sorcery is this?”
– Let’s skip formalities and introductions. We won’t see each other again anyway, so let’s get straight to the point.
“H-H-how… Grghhhhhh!!!”
A silent scream filled with anguish echoed inside Jade Flower’s mind.
Her brain felt as if it were being pressed down, due to the process of transferring “memory.”
– Ah, it’s working. I wasn’t sure if it would actually work since it’s my first time doing this… Grk, grk! Damn, it’s really draining my qi.
Though Woo-yong Jin muttered incomprehensible nonsense, Jade Flower couldn’t hear it.
Even if she could, she wouldn’t have paid any attention.
“…Wha… what…”
Bewildered muttering matched the absurdity of the memory being transmitted into her mind right now.
Inside the flooding memories,
“…Isn’t this…?”
Yes, it was just a young man.
“…The Sword… Sage…?”
It was a short memory.
It was a mere two days, or about twenty-four shichen, a fragment of memory.
A red-haired woman dressed in a crimson cloak clutched her stomach and was fighting with a man with silver-long hair flying in the wind.
The background was winter, just like now.
The bright-red blood was staining the white paper of this land.
The startling duel which repeatedly overturned the dark sky and the white and red land.
That was the content of the memory.
“…”
However, why?
“Se…”
Certainly, it’s the first time she’s viewing this scene. It’s a scene unknown to her.
“Ma…”
Still, she knew it. No, she knows it. The essence of that scene.
“…That…day?”
That was the day Sword Sage visited her.
Spewing out all sorts of venomous and demonic energies, making an absurd excuse to seek treatment at the Kunlun Mountain imbued with immortal energy.
“Ah…”
The essence of the memory was exactly as Sword Sage had spoken.
“Ah… Ahhh…”
To Jade Flower, it was the tragic event that triggered the great upheaval.
