Chapter 129. Five Dragons Fight for a Pearl (25)

The Forbidden Divine Art and the Gentle Celestial Art were everything to Woo-Moon. Seeing his energy act like this, almost as if his own cultivation art had abandoned him, was virtually world-shattering.

His blurred gaze suddenly turned to his two swords.

Shing!

When he drew them from his scabbard, both Lightflash and Inkblade were still covered in blood.

‘Just how many lives have been slain with these swords?’

At the same time, Woo-Moon began to understand

why his

energy was reacting in this way.

‘I see. It’s angry because I’ve killed too many. It was an act against the Dao. It makes sense. The Forbidden Divine Art is a qi cultivation method akin to the foundation of Daoist arts.’

Although he had found the reason as to why his qi wasn’t increasing, there was no way that he would be happy.

Woo-Moon sat there in a daze, unable to sleep but not fully awake either.

***

The Palm Martial Emperor Sang-Woon thought that he was close to finding Martial Heaven’s base. As if to prove his suspicions, the enemy’s attacks were becoming stronger.

Finding himself in a place where he couldn’t exactly determine where he was, the Palm Martial Emperor looked to see a human barrier blocking his path.

“If that’s how you want to die, then who am I to deny you!”

With each swing of his palm, dozens or even hundreds of warriors lost their lives.

No matter how mysterious Martial Heaven was, they weren’t so mysterious that they could stop

the

Palm Martial Emperor.

Blood flowed like a river, and corpses piled up like a mountain. Sang-Woon advanced further and further, showing off his tremendous martial skills.

“You won’t get any further, Palm Martial Emperor!”

This time, a hundred experts wearing black armor stood blocking his path.

Each and every one of them seemed strong enough to be considered Peak Class—no, even Transcendent Class martial artists unrivaled in the

gangho.

Every single one of them was holding a gigantic guandao.

They were the Black Bone Battalion, a notorious battalion that had taken the

gangho

by storm about forty years ago.

They were a genuinely ruthless lot. Just because of a minor scuffle between one of their members and a member of the Yoo Clan, a famed family renowned through the

gangho

at that time, they attacked the Yoo Clan Manor and slaughtered them all—every last elder, child, and woman, impaling them on skewers. The battalion walked around the corpses as if they were showing off. And this wasn’t just a one-off, either. The Sword Gate, a prestigious school, had also been attacked and destroyed for trivial reasons.

However, these people who spilled blood wherever they passed suddenly disappeared as if swallowed by the ground itself. They were gone for decades, only to appear again here before Sang-Woon.

Looking at them, Sang-Woon was once again amazed by Martial Heaven's terrifying power. Moreover, at the same time, he thought to himself that it might be difficult for him to move any further.

He suddenly remembered something his adorable little grandson had said to him.

—Please be careful, and if things get dangerous, please run away.

At that time, he had just chuckled. However, the more he investigated this matter and the closer he got to the truth, the more he became painfully aware of how strong and vicious Martial Heaven was.

‘Run away, huh... However, that’s not an option. I am the Palm Martial Emperor!’

Sang-Woon gathered aura into his palms and collided head-on with the Black Bone Battalion.

***

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Woo-Moon weird.”

Woo-Moon was shaken out of his thoughts by Ma-Ra’s words.

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing.”

Forcing himself to smile, Woo-Moon continued walking toward Commander Ho Mu-Bok, answering his call. The Justice Coalition was currently making a strategic retreat behind their defensive lines.

With the arrival of the Lust Emperor and the increase in their enemies, the Justice Coalition forces had also requested reinforcements from their headquarters. Thus, they were retreating to buy time until the reinforcements drawn from each faction’s bases were to arrive.

On his way to meet the Commander, Woo-Moon ran into Lee Chung again, as if by chance.

However, Woo-Moon didn’t feel anything even after seeing that geezer. Although Lee Chung called out to him, he couldn’t find any energy to answer, either. Lee Chung shouted in an angry tone from behind him. However, not even those angry comments reached Woo-Moon’s ears.

Just thinking about the Forbidden Divine Art was enough to cause his head to spin.

When he arrived at the commander's tent, he listened intently to the conversation. Of course, there was a new mission. The enemy was pursuing them, so the mission was to engage in guerrilla warfare on their retreat path and slow down the enemy’s advance as much as possible.

When asked to join the mission with the Wind Sword Battalion, Woo-Moon answered blankly, his mind still foggy as he left the tent. After delivering the orders to his subordinates, Woo-Moon said nothing else and returned to his quarters, sitting cross-legged on his bed.

As he tried to circulate his qi once again, his shock grew even further.

His cultivation of the Forbidden Divine Art, which had reached approximately the seventh stage, had somehow dropped down to the sixth.[ref]This is the first time any level has been mentioned with regard to the Forbidden Divine Art.

‘How could this be? To think it’s falling in level, too... Does it really hate me that much? Was spilling so much blood really...’

Someone came to Woo-Moon as he was lost in thought and informed him that it was time for them to start the mission.

With a dazed mind, Woo-Moon went onto the mission route without any energy and hid himself in the bushes. Seeing his strange appearance, several of the Wind Sword Battalion members came and asked him if he was okay. However, he would only respond half-heartedly that he was okay.

As time passed, the enemy’s small detachment finally passed their ambush point.

“We have to attack right now,” one of the Wind Sword Battalion members said.

Although another member called out to him again, Woo-Moon didn’t respond, leaving Peng Tianhao to start the battle eventually.

Led by the others, Woo-Moon also stepped forward and slashed forward. However, just before his sword beheaded his opponent, he hesitated, his arms shaking.

‘Will my cultivation completely disappear if I kill this person?’

In his hesitation, the opponent stabbed at him with a spear.

When Woo-Moon cut through the spear’s shaft and blocked the attack, one of the Twenty-Four Ghost Generals leading the enemy detachment ran up and attacked Woo-Moon, cursing out loud.

Clang!

As he blocked and deflected the enemy’s saber, Woo-Moon moved instinctively and thrust his sword right at the Ghost General’s heart.

Twitch!

However, because of his hesitation, he was unable to stab the man properly.

“You bastard!”

Another of the Twenty-Four Ghost Generals standing next to him attacked, forcing Woo-Moon to dodge and swing his sword.

This time, he tried only to cut off an arm. However, he couldn’t even do that, and his blade ground to a halt again. This was his second time making the same mistake, and this time, it was one severe enough to put him in dire straits—a spear was coming right for his heart.

Clang!

Seeing him in danger, Ma-Ra dropped from the sky, deflected the spear, and moved in succession to cut down the two Ghost Generals at once.

“Woo-Moon. Will die.”

She glared at him with a faint sense of anger. He was going to end up getting himself killed.

Woo-Moon just pointed at the person Ma-Ra had killed without any hesitation.

“How could you kill someone so easily without any feeling or emotion? You don’t feel guilty?”

Ma-Ra tilted her head, seemingly confused.

“Guilty? Why?”

Just two words.

Yet when he heard these words, his tumultuous mind, filled with deep and conflicting thoughts, suddenly emptied completely. Ma-Ra had just answered without any special or profound meaning. However, that simple and natural answer felt world-changing to Woo-Moon.

It was like the same word and concept were different depending on the viewpoint of each person saying and hearing it. That thing, that concept, was exactly what Woo-Moon was conflicted about.

Ma-Ra’s response when asked if she felt guilt...

What exactly was guilt? Why did it exist?

Was guilt a concept given to humanity by the very nature that Daoism told people they had to emulate?

Anything that harmed life was evil, and anyone who committed evil had to feel guilt. Moreover, that guilt must be unbearable.

Right?

Wasn’t that a natural feeling?

But Ma-Ra did not understand guilt. It wasn’t just that she didn’t

feel

guilt, but rather, she simply had no concept of guilt.

No one had taught her during her childhood that she should feel guilty if she committed murder. Thus, she simply did what she wanted to do and did not feel the slightest remorse.

Then, was it really true that guilt was something that appeared naturally?

If it really was something natural, then why did Ma-Ra, who was in a most natural state, feel no guilt?

Wasn’t she a part of nature?

Weren’t humans part of nature?

No.

No, all of this was wrong.

Guilt wasn’t a concept given to humanity by nature. It was something people imbued other people with.

That was why Ma-Ra, who had never learned about guilt, didn’t ever have that feeling.

It was different from her emotions: joy, sadness, anger. All these emotions, she naturally had as a child; all these emotions, she had lost due to her father’s oppression.

Natural feelings and emotions arose without anyone saying anything about them, and often

in spite

of what people said.

Guilt, on the other hand, was a feeling that needed to be taught.

Did animals feel guilt when they killed other animals?

No.

In order to survive in order to plunder, wasps slaughtered hundreds to thousands of bees and filled their stomachs with larvae, honey, and pupae.

Ants caught aphids and raised them like slaves, even eating them for the rest of their lives.

Then, were wasps and ants evil?

Muhwi jayeon

was the most fundamental teaching of Daoism.

Then, was the current view of Daoism really correct?

Why did the Daoists preach that people should follow a misguided nature?

Why did they preach not a Dao determined by nature's way but a path determined by artificiality and human intervention?

Why did they make everyone follow the Dao they had created and define it as the righteous path?

No.

One’s Dao couldn’t be achieved by following a path set by others.

When his thoughts reached this point, Woo-Moon again remembered the last words the old Daoist had left him.

—We call it ‘the Dao,’ but it is not just one path. The Dao makes no distinction between good and evil. That's why there are immortals and devil immortals, wine immortals, evil immortals and sword immortals in this world. Regardless of what others say, do not look at the Dao in the same way that everyone else does. Follow your own path, realize your own truth.

All of those thoughts flashed through Woo-Moon’s mind, appearing and disappearing in the span it took Ma-Ra to blink.

“Whew.”

Woo-Moon laughed with a low sigh. Not only had his eyes returned to being as clear as they used to be, but they were, in fact, even shining even more deeply than before.

After finally reaching his final conclusion, he made a promise to himself in his heart.

I will go my way. I have my own nature, I am my own. There’s nothing that oppresses me and nothing that can restrict me. By cutting down an evil person, I’ll save a good person.

I won’t feel the slightest hesitation or guilt in killing someone who I have defined as an evildoer. It would be an insult to the good people who died at their hands.

I will follow the path I think is right and do what my heart tells me to do.

“This is my way. This is my path to becoming a Sword Immortal.”

At the same time, his oppressed cultivation was suddenly released, and in an instant, all of his qi reserves overflowed. His entire body began to exude an aura at the same intensity as before—no, even stronger.

It wasn’t guilt caused by murder that was slowly killing his cultivation.

No, it was guilt that Woo-Moon had brought upon himself!

Woo-Moon was weighed down by his guilt, and he had been ruining his cultivation himself without even realizing it. At some point, the free-spirited Woo-Moon had burdened himself and weighed his own heart down, a weight that the Forbidden Divine Art couldn’t bear.

Ma-Ra had just simply answered his question without knowing what any of his concerns were or what answer he was searching for. However, her answer had become a key for Woo-Moon.

Now, Woo-Moon was free from the burden of his guilt and had even created a foundation for his future.

Finally, he had earned the qualifications to overcome the final wall to the Absolute realm.

“My path is the Dao.”

道