Chapter 77: The Song of Light and Shadow (3)

I raised my sword as I ran toward the Viper and brought it down on him.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

First Form:

Starvation Death.

I was now a starving farmer, and my sword was a hoe. My strike plowed through the air as if it were dry mud, and the space parted until my sword was right above the Viper’s head.

“What...?” The Viper flinched, his one eye filled with shock. He moved his arms to block but quickly stopped and twisted his waist in an attempt to dodge instead.

Like how a farmer never missed with his hoe, my aim was precise, but the Viper pulled back fast enough to create a vacuum in his wake.

The air

boomed

, sending the snow whirling wildly around us. With the winter weather, every gust of wind blasted us with snowflakes. The extremely dry air clawed the inside of my nostrils.

“... Shit.” The Viper raised his sword. His single eye shone through the snow.

I charged with my sword raised to strike again.

Again, the Viper leaped backward instead of blocking my sword. “The fuck—”

The snow surged.

“Fucking hell...”

Every time I brandished my sword, the Viper dodged—he had no choice but to dodge.

“Fu—”

A whirlwind rose every time.

“Damn, the fuck?”

I stopped in the middle of my charge. Actually, I had to stop when I realized I hadn’t been breathing. The dry air rushed into my throat and charged down my lungs like a waterfall; it felt like all my organs were turned upside down. Every part of my body ached when I breathed. I could feel my body trembling, but I didn’t let go of the sword. The first round was over.

“Shit, I almost died...” The Viper looked at me, a cold sweat beading his skin. “...Death King, I thought all you had was your mouth, but your sword is pretty decent. What the fuck was all that? Your moves were like... the Iceworld Demon Sword.”

“That’s right, my disciple! His swordplay carried the spirit of a demon who would freeze and shatter the world! It was truly worthy of the name ‘Iceworld Demon Sword!’” the Murim Alliance's leader yelled in the middle of his fight with the Heavenly Demon.

There was an insurmountable, interdimensional gap between the Viper’s “Iceworld Demon Sword” and the Murim Alliance's leader’s. However, it was impossible to notice the difference unless one had the ability to read other people’s minds.

The Heavenly Demon clicked her tongue, but she didn’t notice either. “He’s pretty sharp for a man with just one eye.”

“You can say that again! He may be a bit old, but he’s a genius with a divine gift for seeing the truth! If not, there is no way I, Buwolseon, would have accepted him as my disciple,” the Murim Alliance's leader bragged before directing his eyes at me. “Hmm. But your disciple is also quite promising, wench. I’m pretty sure it hasn’t been long since you accepted him as your disciple, but his demonic martial arts are quite fearsome. Haha, he carries the seed to be more demonic than the Four Demon Kings!”

“I told you I haven’t accepted him as my disciple—”

“It’s about time you put your stubbornness to rest already!”

The Heavenly Demon closed her mouth.

As I clawed for breath, I thought about the purpose of this match. No, it wasn’t about beating the Viper, nor him beating me. It was to make the Heavenly Demon accept me. In that respect, my goal aligned with that of the Murim Alliance's leader. The Heavenly Demon was just waiting for the end, so we were going to give her a future.

The Murim Alliance's leader smirked. “My disciple!”

“Yeah, Teacher!” the Viper energetically answered.

“I’m going to give you advice now, so listen carefully!”

“What...?” The Heavenly Demon’s jaw dropped. “O-old man! What is the meaning of this!?”

“Why? Is there a problem? You said that you aren’t the teacher of that greenhorn demon, didn’t you?”

“T-that is true... What I mean is that you shouldn’t give advice in the middle of a match! Even in a game of

go

, it’s rude to give tips to the players. It’s even worse to do it in a match where two martial artists are fighting!”

“Two martial artists?” The Murim Alliance's leader laughed and stroked his beard. “All I see is a greenhorn demon and a promising young man from the Righteous Path. It’s also written in the Great Codes that you can band together to take down a demon. I see no problem.”

“Are you seriously going to do this, old man...?”

“Haha. My disciple!” the Murim Alliance's leader cheerfully shouted. “Each one of that greenhorn demon’s attacks is quite advanced, but he can’t keep that up! Never counterattack. Continue to dodge his attacks and wait until his stamina is depleted!”

“Oi, oi, Teacher! Are you serious?” The Viper sneered. “I figured that out a long time ago! Don’t you have more practical advice?”

“Why in the world does your disciple talk like that now!” The Heavenly Demon gritted her teeth, her eyes ablaze with various emotions. “Is this really the dignity of Grandmaster of the Righteous Faction that you were so desperate to cling to?”

“Why are you picking a fight over his way of speech now? Do you expect a child from outer

murim

to follow the Central Plains’ etiquette? Is it because your disciple... Oh, yeah. You said he wasn’t your disciple yet. Anyway, are you worried that my foul-mouthed disciple will crush the young demon over there?”

“You...”

“My disciple! Perform the Full Butterfly Sword using the Law of Life and Death! It’ll work like a charm!”

The Viper’s thick eyebrows twitched and enlightenment dawned on his face. “I see. The Full Butterfly Sword, and the Law of Life and Death.”

“Yes! If you add one more move to the attack, it’s to apply the principle of the Divine Martial Heaven. Can you do it?”

“Fuck yeah, Teacher! I’m the Viper, the OJP Sect Master!” The Viper blew the snot out of one of his nostrils and adjusted his grip on his sword.

Meanwhile, I was finally able to catch my breath and fix my posture.

The Viper smirked at me. “Death King.”

“Yes?”

“You asked earlier if I’ve ever been hungry, yeah?”

“Yes, I did, Mr. Viper.”

“Is that your martial arts?”

The Viper’s question was as sharp as his eye.

“That was the drive of my strike.”

“I thought so.” The Viper chuckled. His smile tilted along with his head. “I’ll ask you this first, Death King: what do you think martial arts are?”

The OJP Sect Master’s discussion of martial arts was like discussing gods with the Inquisitor, the Sword Star about the sword, or the Alchemist Master on medicine. In other words, it was something I had to sit up and pay attention to.

I would have done that if only I hadn’t met the Guardian and hadn’t learned the demonic martial arts from the Heavenly Demon. Above all, I had read what was going on in his mind.

“I’ll answer that for you!” The Viper bent forward slightly and held up his sword like a spiteful viper rearing its head up. “Take a step! Swing your arm! Throw your fist!”

And he moved—no,

flowed

as if he were a falling stream of water. The movement was smooth and elegant and closed the distance between us in one move.

“Martial arts are about kicking the ass of the guy in front of me!”

I narrowly blocked the Viper’s sword, showering us with sparks, but he immediately spun it back around and held it straight up as if he was going to pierce the sky. He flicked his wrist.

“That is all there is to it, kid!”

A shower of sword strikes rained down on me.

“Damn it,” I cursed.

As soon as I blocked one attack, I was threatened by the next.

“Ah.”

Yet another strike followed.

“Shit!” I shouted.

The barrage rained down on me without mercy, pressing down my sword to create an opening like a tenacious hound.

“Urgh.”

The Viper crept into my opening and cut out a bit of my cheeks using his sword. I managed to stagger back, my cheeks weeping blood—however, the Viper followed me like a venomous snake wrapping itself around me to sink its fangs into my neck.

“I’m not letting you go!”

He brought his sword down again. I groaned as I blocked it and was forced to endure a fresh shower of attacks.

“Damn it,” I cursed.

As expected, he was strong. He wasn’t considered a combat High Ranker for nothing!

“Oi, oi. Death King! Is that all you got? You had the audacity to attack me first, so you gotta do better than that!” the Viper mocked.

His taunting frustrated me, but someone else burst out in frustration.

“Damn it... You foolish child!”

It was the Heavenly Demon. She had been gnashing her teeth because the Murim Alliance's leader kept provoking her, and her frustration finally spilled over.

“What are you doing?” she shouted at the top of her lungs, her fists clenched. “It’s a shower! It’s water! His sword resembles rain! What is there to be afraid of? Drink the rain!”

She had acknowledged this match. This was a fight between the Heavenly Demon Cult and the Righteous Faction. The two of us were the representatives and successors of the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance's leader.

I laughed. “Understood!”

I stood up straight, holding my sword in reverse.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Second Form:

Thirst Death.

I stopped the Viper’s barrage of attacks before the downpour began. I redirected it to the path I wanted like I was going to drink it, but instead let it spill onto the ground.

“Oh.” The Viper blinked. His move was wasted entirely thanks to my action.

Our eyes locked just as two voices also began to vie for superiority.

“My disciple! It’s time for Dry Leaf Mold! Become mud—”

“Ha! Then make it into a puddle, child!”

The Viper crouched defensively.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Third Form:

Drowning Death.

I angled my sword slightly, launching a slanted slash.

I attacked the Viper again, timed with his inhale.

When he blinked, I unleashed another attack.

I struck him slightly off beat this time.

“Shit...!” The Viper eyed the cut on his waist and gnashed his teeth.

“He’s venomous!” the Murim Alliance's leader shouted. “Get away from him!”

“Get closer!” the Heavenly Demon shouted.

The Viper retreated as the Murim Alliance's leader had told him. On the other hand, I closed in on the Viper like the Heavenly Demon had instructed me.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Fourth Form:

Freezing Death.

“Freaking hell!” the Viper angrily shouted. “You really fight like a nasty motherfucker!”

“Right back at you, Mr. Viper!”

“It’s real shitty! Were you a shit in your previous life, Death King? How can you cling to me like dogshit stuck to my shoe?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Were you a dog in your previous life?”

Wondering about each other’s previous life, the Viper and I exchanged sword attacks. As the winter wind threw snow into the air, things in the peanut gallery were heating up.

“Play with him a moment and then back away as quickly as possible, my disciple!” the Murim Alliance's leader yelled.

“Attack him right now!”

“Don’t block it! Use the Lazy Donkey Rolling! It’ll give you a chance to dodge it! Then use the Ground Tumbling Fist—”

“Child, you shouldn’t block that one either! Dodge it!” the Heavenly Demon urgently warned me.

Wounds slowly covered my skin. The Viper and I bled and our flesh flew away. The cold wind froze our wounds into scars. Eventually, we were both covered in blood.

“Come on, you demon wench! You’re giving him advice too!” the Murim Alliance's leader criticized, laughing.

“Your head must be filled with snakes, old man,” the Heavenly Demon snapped back, but she was also laughing.

As the two people’s laughter echoed in the air, my sword clashed with the Viper’s. Neither I nor the Viper had any intention of killing each other, and no bloodlust could be found in the quarrel between the Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance's leader either. This fight wasn’t about killing the opponent, but that was definitely a killer fight for everyone.

I had become the Heavenly Demon’s sword. Due to the disease, she couldn’t fight with all her might anymore unless she used all her qi. I fought in her place with everything I had, showing her the sight she had lost.

The Viper was the sword of the Murim Alliance's leader. The leader couldn’t wield his ax without resorting to his vital force because of the disease. On his behalf, the Viper charged at me in full force, becoming the dream the Murim Alliance's leader had been forced to give up.

All sights fade away someday. No matter how radiant a dream was, it eventually lost its color. Humans declined.

At some point, the Heavenly Demon fell silent. The woman of

murim

, known as the strongest of all time, slowly covered her face.

“Horrible... You horrible people... I gave them all up. I gave them up ages ago, so why did they come back again...?”

In a genre and a world in decline, only people could abandon other people, and only people could not give up on other people.

“Why...?” the Heavenly Demon murmured.

After who knew how long, our match ended only once the Viper and I couldn’t even lift our swords. No one won, and there was absolutely no loser in this fight either.

I sheathed my sword and staggered across the snowfield, panting. I approached the Heavenly Demon, who was still covering her face, and bent my shaking knees.

“Lady Heavenly Demon.” I placed my hands on the snowfield. “I wish to become your disciple.”

I want to be your sight.

“I hope to serve you as my teacher.”

I want to be your unfading dream.

“My title is Death King.”

I hope that your sight, your dream, and your life will continue with mine.

“And my real name is Kim Gong-Ja.”

This is the generation where all seriousness is laughed upon. I want to be your pillar so that no one can laugh at you.

“Please accept me as your disciple.”

Please live on.

Sunset painted the sky with vivid colors as snow dusted the earth.

“I am Soh Baekhyang, the Heavenly Demon.”

The wind scattered the snowflakes far and wide. One among countless snowflakes drifted onto the Heavenly Demon’s black hair. The white snowflake melted and flowed down her black tresses.

The Heavenly Demon opened her mouth.

“Give me your Nine Bows. I will accept you as my last disciple.”