Chapter 310: Field of Vision |
“Graaaagh!”
Seol Lihyang, the weakest among us, let out a fierce roar. Nothing was in her line of sight—no one could stop her.
“Come here, now!”
“But I’m already here.”
Binding my limbs with hers as if enveloping me with her whole body using the Golden Silk Bind, Seol Lihyang wasn't satisfied until she sank her teeth into my nape.
She was, in every sense, a top-tier predator. Even if she was technically the weakest.
After returning to the Beast Palace, it felt like we had worked hard, given all that had happened with the Demon Physician. But most people probably thought we had just gone out to admire the moon or something.
That’s what we told the gatekeeper on the way out, after all. It’s not like we went shouting through the neighborhood that we were hunting down the Demon Physician. And in the end, we didn’t even let him live. It was, in hindsight, the right decision.
Well—except for the one issue: we hadn’t returned before Seol Lihyang woke up.
Snap!
Seo Mun-Hwarin quickly turned her head when their eyes met—but it was already too late.
“Sister Seorin, come here too!”
“S-Stop! This One can explain everything! So please just listen for a moment—wait, when did you move like that?!”
Seo Mun-Hwarin was aghast as Seol Lihyang swiftly subdued her limbs as if she were some kind of octopus.
Of course, if we truly wanted to resist, Seo Mun-Hwarin and I could have fought back.
But we didn’t, knowing full well Seol Lihyang would genuinely pout if we did. This was just one of our usual staged scuffles.
Still... her movements really were no joke.
Though Seol Lihyang specialized in sound and ice arts, I was well aware that she could resort to orthodox or unorthodox martial arts when needed.
That’s why she sparred more often with Seo Mun-Hwarin than with me... Her talent for sound arts was so overwhelming that it overshadowed her skill in orthodox martial arts, but clearly, she was gifted in that area as well.
In any case, after leaving some decent bite marks on Seo Mun-Hwarin, Seol Lihyang finally released her limbs.
“Ugh... I'm soaked...”
Leaving the drooling and limp Seo Mun-Hwarin behind, Seol Lihyang headed toward Tang Sowol.
Receiving her gaze, Tang Sowol seemed to steel herself and spread her arms wide, eyes closed.
And then—
“Hmmph.”
With an oddly anticlimactic scoff, Seol Lihyang plopped down with her back resting against Tang Sowol.
“Huh... Hyang?”
“Unnie gets a pass.”
Tang Sowol instinctively wrapped her arms around her in an embrace from behind, blinking in confusion as Seol Lihyang slowly lifted her head.
“There must’ve been a reason, right? A reason you couldn’t take me with you.”
“Mm. Yes, there was. I feel bad about what happened, but it really was a misunderstanding...”
“I believe you.”
“...Huh?”
“If it’s you, I believe it.”
Shrugging nonchalantly as if she hadn't just bitten two people like a wild animal, Seol Lihyang’s demeanor now was oddly refined.
Her demeanor was so different from how she acted with Seo Mun-Hwarin and me that I was left speechless for a moment. But as a wave of frustration bubbled up, I finally spoke.
“Hold on. Why is Tang Sowol getting special treatment?”
“Come on. Isn’t it obvious?”
Seol Lihyang, burying the back of her head deep into Tang Sowol’s chest, gave a little jerk of her chin.
“Cheon Hwi. You like me.”
“...What?”
“Even if I bite you without listening to your side of the story, you’ll still like me. You might even like it more. Same goes for me.”
“Don’t emphasize the weird parts.”
It was an outrageously bold declaration in many ways. But the conviction in Seol Lihyang’s eyes made it clear that she hadn’t said it on a whim.
She looked like someone who had seen definitive proof with her own eyes—utterly unshakable.
I could guess what memory she might’ve seen in the past shown by Yoryeong, but... just how much did she see?
Or more importantly—was it only Seol Lihyang who saw it? Did the others see it too?
I barely had time to sigh inwardly before Seol Lihyang pointed directly at Seo Mun-Hwarin.
“And you, Sister Seorin.”
“W-What is it?!”
“I bit you just because. You were all soft and squishy—it felt nice.”
Seo Mun-Hwarin collapsed in shock, treated like a plaything (?). Unfazed, Seol Lihyang looked up at Tang Sowol and added,
“And you’re always good to me, so I’ll let it go.”
“Hyang...!”
“More importantly, I need to stay on your good side if I want to be your second-in-command. Being the second or third wife isn’t about the number—it’s about whether or not you’re the bottom.”
“...Hyang?”
Tang Sowol, who had briefly thought Seol Lihyang’s warmth came from affection, froze as she realized it had all been a cold, calculated move.
Seol Lihyang, having subdued all three of us in an instant, giggled and poked my thigh with her toes.
“Anyway, we’re good now. So explain this ‘situation’ you mentioned.”
“I told you to stop emphasizing weird things...”
Shaking my head, I began explaining everything in detail—from the moment I decided to seek out the Demon Physician to the moment I chose to let him live.
Seol Lihyang, listening silently, finally smiled softly after a brief pause.
“You did good.”
“Huh?”
“You did good.”
“But...”
“Saving people is better than killing them, right? And besides, the Demon Physician turned over a new leaf, didn’t he? You even cut down all the incomplete Zombie techniques he had implanted, just in case. How did you manage that, by the way?”
Tilting her head as if baffled by her own question, Seol Lihyang truly seemed to believe I had done well, and I felt a weight lift from my chest.
I must’ve been unsure whether my decision had been the right one without realizing it.
I had never spared enemies before—especially those from the Demonic Cult.
Most of them deserved death, and even if I had shown mercy, they’d have returned as enemies eventually.
But not all of them.
Sama Suryeon and the Azure Cold Serpent came to mind.
Sama Suryeon had tried to kill Tang Sowol and me under orders from the Demonic Cult, yet she had felt guilt and doubt about her actions.
Maybe things could’ve turned out differently. I might’ve helped Sama Suryeon and Sama Yuryeon reform the Sama Clan, or sent them to Seorin so the Black Lotus Sect, not the Demonic Cult, could overthrow it.
The Azure Cold Serpent was similar. Its conflict with the Ice Palace had stemmed from territorial overlap and long-held grudges.
The Ice Palace had suffered because the Azure Cold Serpent and its offspring indiscriminately absorbed natural energy, disrupting local yin qi and making martial training harder.
But the serpent, too, had lost its parents and home to the founder of the Ice Palace and had merely been living quietly in a remote area when they intruded upon it again.
Their fight was between them—it wasn’t my fight.
Yet I had decided on the serpent’s annihilation far too easily, just to build friendly ties with the Ice Palace.
Because in the end, they were beasts who couldn’t speak.
If it’s between people and beasts, you side with the ones who can talk.
And I believed there was no way for beasts and humans to coexist.
But that too had changed, after what I saw and heard in the Beast Palace.
Beasts and humans could live together.
The world wasn’t just black and white—not just enemies and allies.
What mattered wasn’t the situation, but my will.
I didn’t regret the path I’d taken. No matter how narrow or treacherous, it led me to who I was now.
But I couldn’t keep walking the same way.
Because now I knew.
And once you know, you can’t repeat the same mistakes.
It was then that I sensed something—something that had always eluded me—slip past my fingertips. Something I had brushed up against ever since confronting the curse the Azure Cold Serpent had left behind.
I immediately sat cross-legged and turned inward in meditation.
“Cheon Hwi? What are you suddenly—?”
Seol Lihyang’s startled voice reached me, but I let it pass in one ear and out the other.
My consciousness sank swiftly, as if bewitched. And deep within, I saw it—the lingering stream of killing intent that no longer defined me, but still existed.
Within the dark crimson current, a massive snake raised its head proudly, glaring at me—the lingering will of the Azure Cold Serpent.
I looked up at it—and slowly bowed my head.
“I’m sorry.”
“I couldn’t think of another way.”
Shiiiii...
For the first time, a sound emerged from the Azure Cold Serpent’s form that had only ever glared silently.
A unique cry—like the wind slipping through a crack, but not as soft as one would expect.
“But I can’t die as you wish. I still have too much to do.”
Shaaa!
A threatening hiss, as if to say the same applied to it.
This was what remained of a beast that had reached the Flowering Stage. Not the beast itself, but a trace of its spirit must have lingered.
“I can’t die for you... but I won’t erase you either.”
I had secretly glimpsed a portion of the Beast Palace’s secret arts that Tang Sowol received for treating the Beast Palace Lord.
Though I didn’t fully understand it, nor could I commune with beasts like the warriors of the Beast Palace, I’d picked up a few tricks.
Right now, I believed I could sever the lingering will of the Azure Cold Serpent that had attached itself to my killing intent.
Or maybe I could find a use for it after more research.
But I decided to let both go. Hadn’t I already been cruel enough to the Azure Cold Serpent?
The secret Beast Palace arts I had stolen—I would only use them to convey my will.
“So just stay there. When the day comes that I draw my last breath, watch my end from the closest place possible.”
“This is the most sincere requiem I can offer you.”
The Azure Cold Serpent said nothing, simply staring. Then, after what felt like a long contemplation, it slowly lowered its head.
That proud neck, seemingly unyielding, bent low and reached toward me.
Still submerged in the dark crimson current of killing intent, only its head emerged.
I reached out toward it.
Its scales, now partially freed from the malice and regaining their original color—white and blue—gleamed under my hand.
As soon as I touched them—
Paaaat—
The Azure Cold Serpent’s last lingering thought unraveled in fine strands.
Not red with killing intent, but the original white-blue hue, like its scales.
Becoming threads of light, they began to blend—not with the air, but with my inner energy.
There was a faint sense of dissonance—but it quickly faded, as if it had always been a part of me.
Intent was formed by will and thought.
Most of the Azure Cold Serpent’s will had been consumed by my killing intent and vanished.
What remained had let go of itself after hearing my story.
It was natural that it would now be absorbed into me.
After consolidating my energy for a long while, I slowly opened my eyes.
The scenery was much the same—but one thing had changed.
“This is...”
Something faint, a shimmering presence overlaid on my vision.
It didn’t take long to realize it was the flow of qi.
“I see.”
I instinctively understood—this was the world as seen through the Azure Cold Serpent’s eyes.
A creature that had reached the Flowering Stage through instinct, not martial arts, perceiving qi in a wholly different way.
But perhaps because this wasn’t my own enlightenment or ability, just maintaining this sight consumed significant spiritual energy.
Having already exhausted much dealing with the Demon Physician, it felt burdensome.
Blinking a few times and releasing the tension in my eyes, I gradually returned to normal vision.
As I sighed from the slight strain in my eyes—
“Wow... I saw that. Unnie, Sister Seorin? I think biting me gives people enlightenment now?”
“Hmm. This One feels differently. Perhaps it was being poked in the thigh with toes.”
“Shh! Quiet, everyone. Young Lord Cheon just opened his eyes.”
With Tang Sowol’s final word, the three women looked at me with bright, innocent eyes as if nothing had happened.
I gave them a gentle smile and nodded.
“I heard everything.”
“Th-that, you see, Cheon Hwi...”
“Enlightenment can come from anywhere, right? So there’s no need to be embarrassed.”
“Exactly! What matters is that you achieved something, right?”
Seeing them scramble to justify themselves, my smile deepened.
“You’re all absolutely right.”
Relieved, the women sighed and relaxed—until I added one more thing.
“So let’s share that enlightenment, shall we?”
“Eek!”
Seol Lihyang, catching on first, trembled—but it changed nothing.
Afterward, I bit them all thoroughly.
Unfortunately, no one else attained enlightenment.