Chapter 70: The World Where Stars Died (2)

It’s cold,

Soh Baekhyang thought.

While she lay buried in the white snow, the world was colorless, odorless, and soundless. She realized that the world was just a cold, blank sheet of paper.

It’s cold...

It felt cold in her flesh, bones, and blood.

My stomach hurts,

she thought.

Mom? My insides are filled with ice, Mom. It’s so cold here.

As her mind wandered on and on, her organs gradually froze. The cold soon reached her head where her thoughts were.

How long had it been since her mother had left her behind in this world of endless cold?

“...Oh.”

The silence was broken.

“Strange. How very strange.”

Then, the smells returned.

“It’s been ten days since it snowed here, and the snow is over five chis[1] deep. How are you still breathing?”

Finally, the world regained its color.

The young Soh Baekhyang looked at an old man standing over her. He had dug through the snowfield, creating noises. When he had grabbed her wrist, his scent had wafted toward her. The eyes the old man peered at her with were black.

“You aren’t ordinary, child. You survived ten days in the cold by eating snow.”

The old man was a master martial artist from the demonic cult.

“You were born with the Icesnow Body. The world’s cold is your qi. You possess the Ultimate Yin Body that I’ve only heard about in books! Child, what is your name?”

Soh Baekhyang opened her mouth. “I don’t know.”

She couldn’t remember her name.

“How old are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did you end up buried in the snow?”

“I don’t know.”

The old man kept asking questions, but she couldn’t remember anything. It was all cold and frozen. Her thoughts were frozen, freezing her mind where the memories were. The cold got to her heart and turned everything inside into hard ice.

“You poor thing. You’re young, but you already lost yourself in trance...” the old man bemoaned. “However, you have the perfect vessel for learning martial arts. If the princess of the North Sea Palace saw you, she would pay a fortune to take you. How lucky! But I wonder what kind of luck it would be. Are you lucky to be in the demonic cult? Or will the cult be lucky to have you? It’s very difficult for me to judge because of my old age.”

Soh Baek-hyang could barely understand what the old man was saying. His words were too difficult.

The old man patted her head. “Will you come with me, child? I’ll feed you and give you a place to sleep.”

That was something she could understand. Soh Baekhyang slowly nodded.

“You have no scent nor name,” the old man said. “Even your birthplace is unclear. It must be because you’re born from the snow and have the scent of snow. I’ll give you my last name, and I will call you Baekhyang.[2]”

The scent of snow.

“From now on, you’re Soh Baekhyang, a follower of the demonic cult.”

After staying silent for a moment, Soh Baekhyang asked, “Where will I go?”

“It’s a place where children like you gather.” The old martial artist smiled.

***

We left the snowfield and were now at the hot spring cave, the shelter of this world’s last survivors. The Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance's leader had been surprised to see other survivors, but they gladly welcomed us as guests.

“...Nonsense!” the Heavenly Demon said. “I never had a single direct disciple in my life. No matter how much a mess the world has become, my rules haven’t changed. My direct disciple? Ridiculous!”

Unfortunately, their welcome ended at hospitality. It seemed like she had no intention of accepting me as her direct disciple.

“Hey, Demon. Why are you being so petty?” The Murim Alliance's leader sat beside her chewing on a grain pill. “I think it’s commendable that the children from the outer

murim

survived. He even traveled across this harsh

gangho

to learn from you, so he deserves extra praise. Do you really need to be so strict like you were before?”

“Yes, he deserved praise.” The Heavenly Demon snorted. “Still, the rules for becoming master and disciple should be strict! My cult doesn’t take in just anybody. Only those children who were abandoned by their parents and the world can join the cult.”

“

Tsk, tsk.

They always call me and my faction geezers, but they’re even more picky than us when it comes to taking in followers.” The Murim Alliance's leader shook his head. “That’s what she says, child. Since it turned out like this, why don’t you just leave that crude cult wench alone and take me as your teacher? My name is Namgung Woon. I’m the Grand Patriarch of the Great Namgung Clan and leader of the Righteous Faction. If you become my disciple, I’ll shower you with grace—”

“Why can’t you accept me as your disciple, Lady Heavenly Demon?” I asked, ignoring the Murim Alliance's leader.

“Why...?” the Murim Alliance's leader shouted, shocked. “Is my name not known in outer

murim

...?”

I pitied him a little, but I had to leave him alone for the time being.

The Heavenly Demon frowned. “I just told you. Only the children abandoned by the world can join the cult.”

“The world has changed,” I said. “Because of the mysterious plague, people turned into

jiangshi

. All of the sects and clans in

murim

have crumbled. Whether we like it or not, the world has abandoned humans, which means we’ve all been abandoned by the world. Haven’t I already met the conditions for joining your cult?”

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The Heavenly Demon pursed her lip—probably because I was right. Above all else... I was a Hunter and an orphan who had abandoned the outside world and entered the Tower. It was a bit embarrassing to say that the world had abandoned me, but I could happily say that I had abandoned the world. That would more than satisfy the Heavenly Demon’s conditions.

“...Alright.” The Heavenly Demon stood up. “If you’re so confident, show me the Three Aspects Sword Arts.”

She stared down at me. “I’ll personally decide whether or not you’re worthy of receiving my cult’s teachings. I’m pretty sure you’re just all talk, though.”

I also stood up. “Thank you for giving me a chance.”

I exhaled deeply and drew my holy sword.

The sound of my sword leaving its sheath echoed through the wide cave. The Heavenly Demon and the others were watching me, quietly waiting for me to demonstrate some kind of swordplay. Of course, I had no intention of performing the Three Aspects Sword Arts.

[Activating the Skill

Demonic Heaven Arts.

]

I had acquired the Skill for this moment.

When the Skill was activated, I could envision countless movements in my head, each an exquisite and intricate trajectory. However, watching a road in front of me and driving on that road were two different matters. I hadn’t fully comprehended the Demonic Heaven Arts

yet,

so if I tried to use it right now, I would end up tripping over my own feet.

If I’m going to be broken, I should do it right.

Therefore, I reached for all the traumas I had watched so far. As I climbed the Tower, I heard screams which always stayed as raw and vivid as if I were hearing them right now. I pictured them one by one and dyed my heart with the screams in my mind.

I began to swing my sword as the arts told me.

“Save me.”

“Save me, please... I’m so hungry... Food... Please give me food... Anything...”

I remembered the voices of the children who had been trapped and tortured in the basement of a mansion.

“I don’t want to die.”

The children had been chained, so when the mansion had caught fire, they couldn’t escape. The fire was right before their eyes, but their only choice was to burn.

“I still wanted to play a little longer...”

I held the children’s screams in my heart as I swung my sword.

“D-Demon! That swordplay...”

I could faintly hear the Murim Alliance's leader panicking nearby, but I ignored it. What I needed to hold in my heart right now wasn’t his voice. I slowly swung my sword one stroke at a time, remembering what I had to recall.

“Burn it!”

“Burn down the witch’s nest!”

I remembered Preta, who tried to save the sick from the outskirts of a certain continent.

“Why...?”

“All of you are human.”

Her eyes had oozed black fluid as she had watched the small village burn to the ground. In the paradise she had built, humans had burned and been burned. The sight had been etched into her eyes.

“Why would you call them monsters? Did you burn them because they were? They also knew the beauty of life and how to shed tears. Was it not enough? Is that why you called them monsters and burned them without a second thought?”

“Are you the only ones who are humans?”

I held Preta’s scream in my heart.

I moved my sword faster and faster, performing the forms of the Demonic Heaven Arts

I had gained by dying. The traumas implanted in me through my deaths became my drive. I sometimes felt like I would lose my way on the road, but I drew up my aura each time to continue the forms.

—Look at you, you little rascal...

the Guardian murmured.

He had said that the demonic martial arts were made to claw at the world. However, I began to think a little differently as I practiced the Demonic Heaven Arts. It was closer to a scream or a cry, rather than a claw.

—Wow.

My sword continued on and on until it finally became a dance.

—

Now that I look at you, you would’ve definitely joined a demonic cult if you were born in murim.

My sword dance wasn’t beautiful at all. It was crude and clumsy. It didn’t smell anything like flowers, it gave off the smell of fire. If swordplay was a person, my swordplay would be screaming from the burn.

The principle of yin and yang may be marvelous, but the world born from it only held sorrow. Even though the lines of the Four Books and Three Classics contained insightful wisdom, they couldn’t end a single scream.

A swordplay that contained the world’s sorrow was sharper than the sword that moved based on the principle of yin and yang. A swing that followed a single scream was stronger than a swordplay based on exquisite principles. The deeper the sorrow and the louder the scream, the stronger the sword would become. That was why we were strong.

The survival of the strongest was the Heavenly Demon Cult’s doctrine.

“Say it.”

“Murim forgot its code of honor, and its code of honor has been lost in murim.”

“Say it. Then I’ll kill you as you wish.”

The Heavenly Demon was the highest heaven of her cult. She knew all about her followers’ screams, and knew how to release them through her sword. Each movement of her sword would scream at the world as proof that people cried out somewhere in this world.

“The world has no meaning.”

“These last decades couldn’t have been more meaningless.”

Even the highest heaven, the Heavenly Demon, had screamed at the last moment.

“Hahaha! Ha! Ha. Hahahahahaha!”

She had gone mad and burst into laughter. Holding her laughter in my heart, I swung my sword.

“...Stop.”

I continued.

“Stop it.”

I kept going with my sword.

“I told you to stop!”

My sword stopped. Not because I stopped, but because the Heavenly Demon was blocking my sword using a wooden stick that rippled with dark qi.

“You... How do you know my cult’s ultimate arts?” Her pitch black eyes bored into me. “You can’t fool my eyes! Your forms were messy and crude, but you were unmistakably using the Demonic Heaven Arts. Only demons can learn the arts, but I’ve never seen you before. Speak. How do you know it!”

Only then did I realize that I was more out of breath than I had thought. I was soaked in sweat, and the holy sword felt as heavy as a rock in my right hand. I looked around and saw the Murim Alliance's leader and the Hunters watching me with bated breaths. From the hole in the cave’s ceiling, I could see the starlight pouring down. Perhaps it had been much longer than I had thought.

I opened my mouth with difficulty. “Am I... Am I qualified? Am I qualified to be your disciple, Lady Heavenly Demon?”

The Heavenly Demon was silent for a long moment. Eventually, she turned and walked deep into the cave. It was obviously a rejection, so no one even considered following her. If I had just a little more energy, I might have gone after her...

“M-Mr. Death King?”

My legs gave out.

“Mr. Death King! Are you okay, Mr. Death King?”

My mind hazy, I thought to myself that I had used too much aura at once. I would probably be out all night once I lost consciousness. I tried to smile reassuringly at the Chemist, but even that was difficult. The world around me already felt dark.

—Tsk, tsk.

Just before I passed out, I heard the Guardian’s voice.

—Of course you’re half dead when you use martial arts way above your level, little sparrow. This is why I always say that people need to be solid with the basics first.

The Guardian sighed.

—But, well...you weren’t too bad, kid. You did well.

And then I fainted.

1. A traditional Chinese unit of measurement. About 1/3m. ☜

2. The raw is 백향(白香). 白 means snow white. 香 means scent. ☜