“Hmmmm….”
A black-haired girl with emerald eyes was gazing up at the night sky.
Her name was Tang Sobaek.
In the martial world, she was known as one of the Seven Flowers, the Poison Flower, and was the forbidden treasure of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
“That white-robed traveler I saw the day before yesterday… he was undoubtedly the Sword Sage.”
She recalled the Sword Sage she had seen five years ago.
Though the hair color differed from the white-robed traveler, she remembered the distinctively green eyes clearly.
Even though his facial features had somewhat changed, they were roughly similar.
“The star of the Sword Sage trembles.”
Tang Sobaek’s gaze was fixed on the star in the southeast of the night sky.
This star, which was supposed to be the brightest, shone and trembled wildly as if going mad, just as her words had foretold.
It was a sign that something big was about to happen.
It didn’t take long for Tang Sobaek to deduce what the major event might be.
“…So that was why the Grim Reaper was so busy.”
With a faint smile, Tang Sobaek chuckled softly.
The icy chill of the winter night air seeped through her clothing. Thinking of it as a welcome for the impending dead made her feel even more chilled.
“The killer, no doubt, is the Sword Sage… but who might the victim be?”
Although she had several people in mind, she couldn’t confirm with certainty who it might be.
Naturally, this was pleasing to Tang Sobaek.
She had been reading the Heavenly Qi all through the night, which led to her eyes becoming blurry. Yet, the arrival of this new puzzle delighted her deeply.
Tang Sobaek concluded that this day would truly be a joyous one.
Ku-dang-tang-tang!
“Ah, Daddy?”
Until the head of the Tang family, Poison Lord, burst into the balcony in a fluster.
“Why is this? Is something wrong? Why are you so excited?”
Kwa-ak!
“Ah, Daddy! Why are you suddenly…! Uh-uh!”
As sweat dripped down his face, Poison Lord cornered Tang Sobaek and tightly embraced her.
It was as if he was trying to protect her from something.
The drenched sweat seeped through his clothes onto hers as Tang Sobaek expressed her discomfort.
“Guh… Daddy… I can’t breathe…! Please… calm down!”
Nevertheless, Poison Lord continued to hold her tightly against him without loosening his grip.
At the same time, he muttered repeatedly, entranced.
“Monster… There’s a monster…”
“Ke-uh! It hurts! Please, relax your grip!”
“Ah, it’s out of the question! After losing your mother, I can’t lose you too!”
“Ait…! Why are you suddenly acting this way? What monster?!”
Tang Sobaek, a peak-level martial artist, did not realize what was happening. However, Poison Lord, a super peak-level martial artist, was keenly aware.
At this very moment, somewhere in the Wu Dang Sect, there was an unstoppable monster filled with cold fury.
Beneath the rumbling thunder, Byul Rak’s voice began questioning with icy disdain.
The contempt, hatred, anger, and betrayal that he had harbored in his heart kept surging upwards.
These emotions continued to flow out of his mouth, wave after wave.
“Can you grant righteousness to your lives?”
The overwhelming killing intent sensed through every inch of their skin rendered Bai Hua and Jian Long speechless.
“Is it conceivable that I redeemed wretches like you?”
As if reflecting on their lives before a death sentence, each word Byul Rak spoke drove them closer to the edge of a precipice.
“Please, provide an answer that bears righteousness. For instance…”
With every word Byul Rak spoke, Bai Hua and Jian Long felt as if they were being pierced at the tip of their swords.
It was like standing on the edge of a steep cliff, being continually pushed forward by a sharp spear at their backs.
It was as if, with just a twist of temper, Byul Rak could easily end their lives.
“The reason you sold your martial arts to amass private wealth was perhaps to honor your aging parents with filial piety?”
No words could escape their lips.
How could they possibly flaunt their vulgar motives before someone who was judging their lives like Yama of the underworld?
But as Byul Rak’s words continued,
Any freedom of speech was completely shackled.
“Look me straight in the eyes.”
Their eyes met Byul Rak’s piercing green gaze.
Whoosh-!
“…”
“…”
Almost immediately, Byul Rak’s shimmering green eyes delved into Jian Long’s mind.
Images of Jian Long’s life unfolded in Byul Rak’s view.
Such a vast disparity in ‘class’ made this supernatural feat possible.
Of course, Byul Rak didn’t enjoy performing such actions.
Each person held private embarrassments, and peering into another’s privacy was an improper act.
However, in the case of the thing before him,
“Hmph.”
It seemed there was no necessity to observe formalities.
Regardless, he still carried a lingering hope to find within the memories.
“Using the money obtained by selling your sect’s martial arts, every day you visited brothels embracing a courtesan named Fragrant Plum…”
“…”
“Took unauthorized elixirs, received public funds from the Shaanxi black sect while being a monk tasked with annihilating evil…”
“That… has its own circumstances…”
“The ‘circumstances’ are indeed ejaculation, as you repeatedly scattered your bodily fluids among women and covered up your tracks with money.”
“Gr-grk…”
The cold voice reached Bai Hua now.
She trembled under the piercing gaze that had earlier shaken Jian Long.
“You…”
“W-waugh…”
In the same manner he treated Jian Long, Byul Rak invaded Bai Hua’s innermost thoughts.
Every memory revealed things far from virtuous.
“Useless.”
As he read the memories, Byul Rak closed his eyes and spoke.
“A hollow hope lingered that learning the Dugu Swordsman technique by selling your body was for the sake of upholding justice.”
“…”
“But alas, once again…”
Perhaps, if each chapter of the Regression had been filled with zeal akin to its early stages, such a martial world wouldn’t have existed.
Where righteousness and chivalry existed, a true martial world where all martial artists followed benevolence and upheld integrity might have been possible.
“Such ideals are nowhere to be found.”
A fleeting, meaningless attachment passed through his mind.
“Once, you pushed a fellow adept with greater talent over a cliff, killing him.”
“!”
A ghostly whisper of a voice crawled into Bai Hua’s ears.
It was coarse, low, quiet,
And thus, all the more terrifying, the kind one would want to avoid.
“You disgraced a hundredth degree adept, Bai Sabaek, by luring him into a cave on Mount Hua and murdering him with the Dugu Swordsman technique.”
“! That, that was…!”
“That?”
“That… was…”
Bai Hua could not utter an excuse. After all, it was a shameful act even to her own eyes.
A life of a swordsman should be free from guilt, something distant from her own actions.
Thus, shameful memories she wished to forget and had tried to suppress were now being revealed word by word by Byul Rak.
“Each time you descended from the mountain, you collected bribes from the black sects and… You’re nothing more than a parasite, utterly revolting. How can you be a monk who claims to protect the common people while enriching yourself this way?”
“Everyone does it! Why pick on me alone when everyone else does the same!”
“Everyone?”
“Yeah! That senior, that sister Xue Hua of Ami Sect too! They secretly collect bribes! I didn’t take that much, so why are you yelling at me?”
“Ah, so this is how you justify it.”
“Shit! The problem is this screwed-up world! Why vent your wrath on me? I just wanted to live!”
When Byul Rak slightly loosened the seal on his lips, Bai Hua screamed her hardest.
“Trying to live… that’s it, isn’t it?”
“Living isn’t a crime! What do you expect me to do about this screwed-up world?”
“Now you’re blaming the world. Listen well, the problem is you. The martial world has become like this because of human vermin like you, gathering one by one.”
“How can you spout such nonsense!”
“And…”
Slowly, Byul Rak advanced towards Bai Hua.
With a weight like Mount Tai, Bai Hua toppled over under his crushing momentum.
“Living like you is worse than not living at all.”
Hwock!
Mounting Bai Hua and Jian Long, Byul Rak held each down with his knees pressed hard.
There were ways to seal their pressure points, but since those could potentially unravel, he didn’t opt for that.
“So, what… what exactly are you trying to do? Ah, no… What… what are you doing…”
“White-robed Wanderer! Stop now! I said stop it… Kuhk!”
Kwa-ak!
Byul Rak’s thumb entered the open, yelling mouth of Jian Long.
Regardless of whether Jian Long was choking on the discomfort in his throat, Byul Rak firmly pressed his rigid finger inside.
The soft tofu-like sensation of his finger pressing through was unmistakable.
Kuuu-.
“! Ugh, ughh…!! Kkerrr…!!”
The sensation of a circle as large as a shield pressing against his throat was immense.
It surpassed any pain Jian Long had ever felt in his life.
Even more so than when his leg had fractured earlier.
Kkuuuuk-.
“Ughh…? Uh… uuuugh…!! Uuuaaah!!!”
The flesh overlapped, pressed, and transformed into mucus.
Skin, inner skin, blood vessels were forcibly blended and mixed with red blood.
Though only the size of his thumb, it was an unbearable pain.
Duck.
The thick finger pulled away from Jian Long’s gaping mouth.
Even as it departed, Jian Long’s mouth remained agape because he had fainted from the agony.
“….”
With an expression cold as frost, Byul Rak silently readied his hand for the next victim.
Whishh.
Gripping Jian Long’s wrist, he coldly positioned it on the ground, a task that went smoothly since Jian Long was unconscious.
“? ”
Watching this process filled with fear and curiosity, Bai Hua could only gasp in shock.
Byul Rak had placed his hand atop Jian Long’s, signaling ominous intentions.
And then.
Ku-u-u-uk.
Kkrrt-krrt-krrt.
True to Bai Hua’s fears, Byul Rak’s palm descended mercilessly.
“AAAAAAHHH!!!”
The unendurable pain from his hand not just being crushed but flattened into cloth woke Jian Long from his faint.
His bloodshot eyes screamed in vain, for there was none to aid him.
Kaa-drrrt.
Each sensation – the skin, the flesh, the muscles, the bones, the blood vessels – blended into one overwhelming agony, vastly different from the throat-compressing pain he had endured earlier.
Whereas before the sensation was akin to being crushed, now it felt like his hand was being roasted in hellfire.
Turning his head in pain to see his right hand, Jian Long beheld the horrifying sight of flesh reduced to a thin cloth of fat, interspersed with bone fragments.
“Aaaarh…! Ahhhh…!!!”
Beyond the pain, Jian Long felt genuine fear.
The fear that the man before him might actually kill him.
To wit, might dismember him part by part as he had done to his hand.
Begging for mercy was impossible, for his punctured throat could emit no normal sound but the escape of air.
Facing this merciless reality, panic overwhelmed him entirely.
“Aaa… please! Have mercy…”
“Are you asking for mercy?”
Jian Long frantically shook his head from side to side in sheer desperation.
Naturally, such actions would not sway Byul Rak, who was consumed by maximum fury.
“Even the members of Blood Cult would by this point have accepted fate and humbly awaited death… How utterly nauseating.”
Moving his hand to the next location, Byul Rak muttered his thoughts aloud.
“Thinking back, there was a technique among Blood Demon’s skills that somewhat resembles this. Blood Heaven Palm…”
Kuhrrrt-krrt-krrt.
“Crushing dozens of people with Blood Heaven Palm turns them into one lump — a wretched skill indeed. Modeled after Buddha’s Palm of the Immortal Monk…”
With his eyes closed and lost in unpleasant old memories, Byul Rak focused purely on exacting punishment.
Shoulder, chest, abdomen, elbow, ribs, pelvis, sternum.
Each area was methodically and slowly pressed down by his unwavering hands.
Kaa-drrrt!
“Uuh…! Kuhh…!!”
Each time, the mass of Jian Long’s body and his screams grew weaker.
Through the cycle of fainting and regaining consciousness from the unbearable pain, Jian Long’s spirit slowly crumbled.
Kuhrrt-krrt-krrt.
“Unnghh…! Uuhh…!!”
Be it bone-heavy areas, bone-light zones, regions with organs or blood vessels, or parts with intense versus less painful sensations — Byul Rak left no spot untouched as he relentlessly administered the torture-execution method.
Under the knee pressing his chest, Bai Hua, patiently waiting for her turn, could only tremble and gawk in horror.
Prrht.
Prr-drrt.
Daaah-.
The blood and mucus sprayed everywhere.
What had splattered mixed with the rain, creating an unsettling, formless fluid.
The stifled breaths of someone and the groans of another filled the space.
Although so faint they were nearly drowned out by the raging rainfall.
“Even with your body shattered, your breath lingers—truly, a martial artist remains a martial artist.”
“!”
“Although you’ll die soon if left be, I can’t let scum like you perish easily.”
The large firm hands of Byul Rak pressed down on Jian Long’s face.
Kah-drrrt!
In a moment, his palm sank in, soft as mud, reaching the ground.
Without uttering even his final shriek, Jian Long, once the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua, met his end not as a sphere but a circle.
Unworthy as a finale for his status, yet perfectly fitting for his deeds, Byul Rak gave a slight wry smile. Then turning his head to Bai Hua,
As expected, Bai Hua, having witnessed the entire process, was frozen stiff.
Her face paler than the stormy skies, her breath so faint it could scarcely be detected if not for close inspection.
Essentially, she resembled an open-eyed corpse. Byul Rak, however, addressed her casually.
“Are you afraid of dying?”
“…”
“Am I asking if you’re afraid to die?”
In response to this grim query that sounded like the call of the Grim Reaper, Bai Hua’s breathing grew increasingly frantic.
“Huuhk, Huuhk….”
Byul Rak waited patiently for her labored breathing to settle, genuinely curious about her answer.
“…Of course, I’m afraid…!”
“So, you are.”
“P-please let me live…! I’ll do anything… M-my body… you can have it… Anything, please just spare my life…”
“Being afraid of death… indeed, such a blessing pertains only to me.”
Byul Rak posed his next question.
A question he had harbored throughout while examining Bai Hua’s fiercely lived life.
“So to you, what is life?”
“Eh, eh? W-what is life?”
“Yes, life. Life is hell to me. Is life also hell to you?”
“Of course life is hell! It’s the same for anyone who’s not an emperor, isn’t it…!”
“If life is hell anyway, why do you strive so fiercely? Why not just hang yourself and die? What reason is there to live so ugly and base by selling your body?”
“…”
The words “ugly” and “base” made Bai Hua’s shoulders tremble.
Facing this death incarnate in front of her,
As the memories of her life flashed before her eyes, she couldn’t help but feel these words might be the most fitting description.
Still, no regrets lingered.
“…For a better life… Everyone does it… To live better, to reach a higher position, it’s natural to fight desperately…!”
Thus, Bai Hua fervently justified her life, not for Byul Rak but for herself.
To prove that her chosen path of life was not wrong.
However,
“An absurd excuse.”
The following words from Byul Rak shattered her beliefs.
“Nobody in this world, except for you, claws their way up by grabbing others’ scalps.”
“!!”
“Though, there are indeed such beings… Members of the Blood Cult. They kill others and consume their nutrients to rise.”
Suddenly, Byul Rak recalled a certain monk who currently served as the Discipline Master of Shaolin.
Once a member of the Blood Cult, he cast aside that title, cultivated under the holy monk for a long time, and transformed into a righteous martial artist.
In stark contrast, the repulsive being in front of him,
“Masked blood cultists, that pairs quite well, doesn’t it?”
The term “hypocrite” seemed inadequate.
After all, it was a label for “someone wearing a mask.”
Byul Rak does not see blood cultists as human.
“What credentials do you have to say that when you don’t know anything about how I’ve lived?!
“I know very well. I just saw it. Born as the child of a medium-scale merchant, entering Mount Hua through connections, using natural talent and parents’ wealth to gather elixirs quickly, while reaching a high level, killing more than a dozen, using money when there’s something to gain, and using your body when money doesn’t work… Such a blessed life—full of thankless and indulgent greed, it’s despicable beyond measure… Fuck.”
Brrr!
Byul Rak’s teeth ground fiercely.
Byul Rak’s hands began moving toward Bai Hua, slowly and gently.
“Hnnn?”
Considering the effort he spent torturing Bai Hua, it would have to be twice as long as Jian Long’s suffering, but Byul Rak didn’t mind.
After all, he believed such beings didn’t deserve a comfortable death.
Especially compared to the broken forms of Yu So-eun and Jade Flower.
“Why… Why do creatures like you even breathe?”
“Why does the martial world I saved end up like this?! If it was to be like this… If only… If only…”
Right before Bai Hua’s body turned into cloth like Jian Long’s and her breath ceased,
Instead of lowering his voice, Byul Rak, who had contemplated quieting down, raised it even louder.
“Such a martial world like this! It would’ve been better to let it perish!”
“Kwa-rreng-!”
Although Byul Rak briefly remembered the people who might be sleeping in nearby parts of Mount Wu Dang,
He wanted his voice to be clearly heard by them too.
In the rain and thunder, a hunched echo rippled through the surroundings.
Beneath the rumble of thunder, Byul Rak gazed coldly at two overlaid pieces of paper.
What were originally humans were now something unrecognizable, no longer deserving to be called corpses.
“Even in life, you’d lie on top of each other, and now in death, you remain the same. A fitting pair, indeed.”
Byul Rak paused as he was about to leave, remembering a passage from the Analects of Confucius that he used to read extensively in his youth.
“In the ‘Yong Ye’ chapter, Confucius said ‘Guh buh guh guh zai guh zai’…”
“Meaning, if a goblet no longer retains its form, how can it be called a goblet…”
“Confucius used this to express ‘Jun Jun Chen Chen’—the roles between ruler and subject…”
For some reason, Byul Rak felt this could also apply to people rather than just politics.
No, it most certainly could.
At least, based on what he had just witnessed and felt, it definitely could.
“Ren buh Ren Ren zai Ren zai.”
To the two human-material cloths, Byul Rak declared firmly.
“If a person ceases to act like a person, can we still call them a person?”
Even though there was no one within ten paces,
With leaded feet, Byul Rak moved slowly, remembering the call of Dokgo Gupae.
The path stained with crimson blood and splatters of flesh color amidst the white canvas.
It wasn’t an easy path to walk.
—
