Chapter 309: The Demon Physician (2) |
"But at the end of it all... something entirely different awaited."
The Demon Physician, his eyes glimmering with clear brilliance, looked up at the sky. Then, he slowly opened his mouth.
"It pained me to witness it as I ascended each step. Most of the news was about how you interfered with the plans of the Demonic Cult and myself… but your actions—I held them in high regard. People naturally admire those who walk paths they themselves could not tread."
That was why he had sighed.
Though precarious, he had always chosen the right path. But in the end, he had crossed the line.
He had gone far beyond the boundary between good and evil and walked the path of the demonic alongside him. That was why he had hastened his steps with both relief and regret.
"The higher you climbed, the more ghastly the scenes became. You raged for the sake of rage, harbored killing intent just to release it—each trace of you pushing yourself to the brink grew increasingly blatant."
It was true.
At the time, he had deliberately tried to fall into deviation from the heart. Already half-mad, he had struggled to completely lose himself—how horrific it must have looked.
The Demon Physician shrugged lightly, as if joking. But when the mood didn’t ease, he gave a bitter smile and lowered his gaze toward him.
A dark and unstable world where even the ground beneath his feet was barely visible. The Demon Physician’s faintly starlit gaze was fixed sharply at a single point, as if piercing through something.
Though his eyes were pointed at him, he wasn’t truly looking at him. It was the gaze of someone envisioning something that wasn’t here—yet undeniably existed.
"But the moment I looked up… the moment I saw the sword marks you etched, White Moon Sword Lord… the moment I beheld the mindscape embedded in them… my narrow vision crumbled, and the fog of delusion scattered in every direction. If that isn’t enlightenment, then what is?"
The Demon Physician smiled—not a formal smile, not a bitter one, but a smile of pure admiration.
"I’ve lived a hellish life. But while this old man still crawled upon the ground, you raised nobility from the depths. Thankfully, I wasn’t so dull that I couldn’t feel anything when I saw it."
Now his gaze, fully focused on him rather than something beyond, settled.
"The clouds I see through the hole in the roof, they drift by no differently than before. And yet… why do I continue to let the years pass, unable to forget the one who has drifted away?"
It sounded like something said to him, and yet also like something the Demon Physician was saying to himself.
"At the end of resentment, there is only emptiness. Unless one truly wishes for a world where nothing exists beyond killing and being killed—or desires to fill the world with people like me—then this cycle must be broken somewhere."
With that, the Demon Physician spread his arms defenselessly. As if inviting him to strike.
"White Moon Sword Lord. I understand your unease. I’ve held the lives of many in my hands, ignoring right and wrong. If I so choose, I could still pull their strings… or perhaps I might even lose to some unreasonable powerhouse, like the current Lord of the Demonic Cult, and be forced to pull them unwillingly."
Though he had no such intention, he spoke of the worst-case scenario. It wasn’t hard to understand what the Demon Physician truly hoped for.
"I’m a fool who only realized after seeing the answer key. But now I know with certainty. What I truly longed for wasn’t revenge. I just… missed them. If I could’ve seen them just once more, held them in my arms just one more time, that would’ve been enough."
Humans aren’t so honest—not even with themselves. After all, if they lie to themselves, what need is there to say more?
He had cherished the desire to protect, and yet what he had shown was killing intent.
The Demon Physician had cherished longing, but it had manifested in twisted ways like vengeance and zombie arts.
Once he had reached his lowest point and realized his true nature, he could no longer live as he had before.
Just as he had broken free from obsession with killing intent, the Demon Physician had shed the madness that had long accompanied him—and now reached the Flowering Stage.
Though it had taken him long to return, he had attained clear enlightenment. With that resolve, the Demon Physician spoke in a steady voice.
"If necessary, strike me down. What remains of my life is meant to be lived as a physician, and that requires no power. I only ask—may your sword hold not vengeance against the Cult Leader… but chivalry."
The Demon Physician was offering to die by his hand.
He had finally laid down his heavy burden of hatred after a long struggle, but if that death would save more lives, he would willingly stop here.
Killing the Demon Physician would be simple. He wasn’t resisting. A single strike would suffice.
But… was that truly the right thing to do? Was it something he wanted to do? What was the reason to kill the Demon Physician in the first place?
Those questions kept his hand still, making him merely fidget with the sword hilt.
He had thought about it before. Just as he had experienced the miracle of regression and let go of his heart demon, perhaps others too could find enlightenment and release their hatred.
That was why he had come to find the Demon Physician.
And now, the man before him was entirely different from the one he had known before his regression.
Even more—the change was because of him.
Because he had changed, the future had shifted, and in that altered future, the Demon Physician had achieved a realization that would’ve been impossible before.
The monk Kakjeong had once said: there are things in the world that change, and things that do not—and the two intertwine to create a vast current, making the future unpredictable.
Killing the Demon Physician would reduce the variables. The world would deliver to him a more familiar future.
But that mustn’t happen. The future most familiar to him was the one where he had failed to overcome the Heavenly Demon.
And more than anything, he didn’t want to kill the Demon Physician—someone so much like himself, who had wandered for far longer—just because the future was uncertain.
At least until now, the Demon Physician had never crossed the line. He remained a victim, not yet a perpetrator.
Therefore, he was not the one he needed to cut down.
After a long deliberation—long or short, depending on how you saw it—he drew his sword.
Paaah!
A pale white aura rose from the ink-colored blade. Like a moon in a moonless sky, it illuminated the Demon Physician’s face—his perfectly serene expression.
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me. But I don’t think I can let go of my hatred for the Heavenly Demon."
"Is that so?"
"Still… I’ll do my best."
"That is enough."
The Demon Physician closed his eyes peacefully. With his sword pointed at him, he gathered his concentration.
He recalled the sensation of severing the link between the Blood Flame and the Demon Bell.
To cut something formless, one must first wield a formless sword.
Uwoong—
A translucent shape of a blade shimmered over the sword, dyed white. As the two swords overlapped, a clear sword cry rang out.
Remember—his sword was one that cut what could not be cut, one that reached where nothing else could.
The slash he released now only contained a small part of his mindscape. But in this moment, he poured out everything.
"Kgh!"
His inner energy surged, his meridians burning like fire, his willpower wrung out so hard it made his head throb like it was being pierced with a blade.
At the same time, his will—focused to the limit—distorted space around the sword.
Slice.
It connected.
The sword strike that cut through darkness grazed the Demon Physician’s heart.
The Demon Physician collapsed limply, a satisfied smile on his face. But on his chest, there was no blood, not even a torn collar.
"Young Lord Cheon? Just now… was that…?"
"No way. How…? But if it’s Hwi…"
Tang Sowol tilted her head in confusion, while Seo Mun-Hwarin, who realized what had happened, widened her eyes and muttered to herself repeatedly.
Exhausted from using too much willpower, he returned his sword—now back to its original color—to his waist with heavy movements.
"I’ll explain later. For now… mind helping me up? I can barely stand."
He had done everything he could.
Now, all that remained was to leave it to the heavens.
The warm morning sun tickled his skin, and the Demon Physician opened his eyes.
"Am I alive…?"
Touching his chest with a dazed expression.
He had clearly been struck—by Cheon Hwi’s sword, no less, one that radiated a terrifying presence.
It wasn’t an ordinary sword. It had been condensed with pure will, reaching its extreme.
No one could survive a direct hit from that—not someone like him, whose level was at least half a step below Cheon Hwi.
"Ah…"
Even so, the Demon Physician was a martial artist at the Flowering Stage. As soon as he rose, he instinctively examined his body—and finally realized what had been cut.
His sins. The seeds of madness he had implanted in the innocent at the whim of his frenzy. The countless minor sorceries that had never even reached the level of zombie arts—all the connections tying him to them were gone.
No—that sword had traveled along those connections and severed the core sorcery embedded in his former patients.
From now on, no one would be able to trigger a rampage in those treated by the Demon Physician. The seeds had vanished.
Whether it was him or someone else, no matter how much they tried to water it—nothing would grow.
"I’ve been shown great mercy."
Muttering to himself, the Demon Physician looked toward the direction of the Beast Palace. Then he looked up at the sun, which he had thought he’d never see again.
A clear sky—just looking at it refreshed the spirit.
"Then someday… I must repay it."
If hatred could birth more hatred and continue the chain—then surely, gratitude should as well.
He would repay others with even more than he had received. That way, perhaps someone else would live a life of giving, just like him.
The Demon Physician decided how he would live until the day came when Cheon Hwi needed help.
A smile bloomed on his face as he took his steps.
He didn’t know where he was going. He simply walked wherever his feet carried him, healing people within reach.
As a physician—just as he had once dreamed, and as the one he loved had once wished.
Perhaps because he had pushed his willpower to its limits to sever the Demon Physician’s connections, it took a long time to recover.
By the time he returned, the sun had fully risen, and Seol Lihyang was waiting at the Beast Palace.
"So you all spent the night somewhere without me."
"Well…"
"Sowol and Hwarin have stars in their eyes, and you look absolutely wrecked."
"There’s a reason for that."
"Yeah. I’m sure. I bet there is."
Following her flawless (not) deduction, Seol Lihyang arrived at a truth she didn’t want to know (which wasn’t true at all), and her eyes flipped.
"Cheon Hwi!"
"It’s a misunderstanding."
"Come here, you!"
It was summer.