Chapter 332: Silver Flower Pavilion (4) |
What does a person live for?
This ancient question, to put it nicely, is a heated topic that has never ceased to spark debate, compelling countless scholars to pour out their own answers.
To put it a little less kindly, it could be called a shallow question one naturally encounters while studying the classics…
But for martial artists who had no ties to the brush in the first place, no matter how one phrased it, it was an unfamiliar question.
Instead, a slightly different question would feel more familiar to them.
What can a person die for?
Some for their sect and clan.
Some for revenge that burns even themselves to ash.
Some for heart-wrenching love.
Some for lofty ambition.
Some to see the very end of martial arts.
And some willingly lay down their lives to console the souls of those who departed before them.
In that sense, it was rather simple to guess why the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon would head toward death even while foreseeing his own end.
“Guilt. And affection you couldn’t erase.”
“Why are you suddenly changing the topic? Well… I suppose it’s embarrassing to be mistaken like that. To think you’d interpret the energy I leaked while focusing on Body-Cleansing and Marrow-Washing in such a way. How lewd.”
“Just because I haven’t drawn my sword yet doesn’t mean I won’t draw it later.”
Only then did the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon quiet down.
Needless to say, he too was a Flowering Stage warrior and the head of a small organization.
His pride could not have been small. Yet there was a simple reason he listened to me so obediently.
If he fought me here, regardless of victory or defeat, Dan Yul would either die or suffer a fatal injury.
If she had reached the Sub-Perfection level like Twin-Ghost Killing Sword / Gu Gwan-hae, then even if two Flowering Stage masters clashed, escaping the aftermath would be simple.
But Dan Yul was, at best, second-rate. Her level was only slightly above basic self-defense or physical training.
In other words, even at this very moment, the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon was lowering his pride for Dan Yul’s sake.
Well… before my regression, he had knowingly stepped into a place of death. Compared to that, this was nothing.
If I wanted to make the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon fight against the Demonic Cult, what should I do?
As I had first guessed, I would have to take Dan Yul—the Devouring Ghost Demon—as a hostage.
The problem came after that.
Whether the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon regarded Dan Yul as his own child, or overlapped her with the former lover who died because of him, I did not know.
But Dan Yul saw him as her enemy and was determined to lead him to death, even if she had to fabricate a tender relationship to do so.
Now that Dan Yul realized he knew she was a spy—and even knew whose child she was—controlling her would become more difficult.
After all, she no longer needed to be careful not to be discovered.
And if she realized that the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon valued her life more than his own…
Since Dan Yul valued revenge more than her own life, it was obvious where her thinking would lead.
“How troublesome.”
If both sides had something more precious than their own lives, what should be done?
After thinking briefly, I opened my mouth.
“Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon. You know this well, don’t you? For a spy who’s already been discovered to survive, the only path is to take you to the Demonic Cult.”
“That’s right. That’s why I kept silent all this time.”
“But I’ll prevent you from going to the Demonic Cult. It’s hard to explain in detail, but if you go, a new master will be born there.”
“No matter what, I doubt I’d fall for something like soul-manipulation techniques.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying there’s someone who will grow through your death.”
Now that I had reached the Flowering Stage, a Sub-Perfection master did not seem like much. But in ordinary battles, they were core forces.
Since I only had one body, it would take considerable time to stop Dan Yul—once awakened as the Devouring Ghost Demon—from rampaging somewhere and cutting down warriors of the Orthodox and Unorthodox Alliance.
Moreover, she had somewhat overcome the greatest flaws of the Devouring Inner Energy Art—qi deviation and the destruction of the meridians.
As for qi deviation, she had been half-mad from the start, so that was one thing.
But those strangely sturdy meridians… I now thought I understood why.
It must have been due to the Body-Cleansing and Marrow-Washing she received from the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon.
Body-Cleansing and Marrow-Washing itself was nothing remarkable—children of prestigious families all received it.
The issue was that Dan Yul had received it after growing older.
The impurities accumulated in her meridians would have been incomparable to those of a child. Simply clearing them would strain the meridians.
Thus, unless one had a special opportunity, one could not expect dramatic effects from Body-Cleansing and Marrow-Washing after reaching a certain age.
However, if there was a method to strengthen the meridians beforehand, the story changed.
The Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon was a master of Seduction Techniques, stealing others’ internal energy and making it his own.
Though not on the level of the Devouring Inner Energy Art, he would be unparalleled in refining turbid energy and strengthening meridians.
If Dan Yul had consistently received his Body-Cleansing and Marrow-Washing over a long time, the Devouring Ghost Demon’s peculiar constitution made sense.
In other words, if it came to it, it would be better to kill her here.
Though if I did that, the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon would never fight on the side of the Orthodox and Unorthodox Alliance.
“Isn’t this a troublesome arrangement? If everyone simply valued their own life the most, how convenient that would be.”
“So you could resolve everything with force? How did someone like you end up as an orthodox warrior…”
His tone was thorny, but I had no intention of rebuking him.
“Well. People call what they value more than life a belief. And those who seek to protect their beliefs are called orthodox warriors. I am certainly orthodox… and you could become so as well.”
“Wait. What do you mean? Are you telling me to convert to the orthodox faction?”
“No. That wouldn’t be bad, but what I mean is this—don’t let your current resolve waver until the end.”
“What are you—”
“I intend to poison Dan Yul.”
“You’re insane! It would be better to fight here and let Yul escape, even if the chances are slim!”
“And I’ll give the antidote to you, Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon.”
“…What?”
“She only needs to take it once a month. Ah, of course, it won’t be given freely.”
“The condition?”
“There is none. There is only a time limit—until the war with the Demonic Cult ends.”
“What in the world does that mean… Ah, so if I don’t follow your orders, you won’t give the antidote?”
“No. Didn’t I say I’d give the antidote without any price? If necessary, I could even use a poison that naturally decomposes after a few years. Well… if you go somewhere beyond my reach, there would be no way to deliver the antidote. For example, to the Demonic Cult.”
As I said that and looked toward Tang Sowol, she seemed to ponder briefly before nodding.
“Yes. That much wouldn’t be difficult at all.”
“So she says. Whether you believe it or not is another matter.”
I tilted my chin as if to ask what he would do. The Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon spoke with a bewildered expression.
“What are you plotting?”
“Still don’t understand? It’s simple.”
Even if his own life were in danger, the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon wanted to save Dan Yul.
That meant he would desperately prevent her from going to the Demonic Cult and would not flee to some remote region like the Outer Martial World.
In the end, whether orthodox or unorthodox, he would have no choice but to remain somewhere within the Central Plains’ martial world.
And Dan Yul would prioritize revenge against him over her own life.
But if bringing him to the Demonic Cult became impossible, and fleeing there was no longer an option, then there was only one method left for her.
“If you’re from the Demonic Cult, you know better than anyone how monstrous the Heavenly Demon is.”
“…That much?”
“That much.”
Unable to trap him in the massive snare called the Demonic Cult, and unable to deal with him by her own strength, Dan Yul’s path would be set.
“She would tell you to fight against the Demonic Cult alongside the martial world of the Central Plains. She might even head to the battlefield first herself. Either way, what matters is making you and the Heavenly Demon clash.”
“…Ah.”
The Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon was a Flowering Stage warrior. Only another Flowering Stage warrior could defeat him.
But under my watch, any who might act independently from the Orthodox and Unorthodox Alliance—or side with the Demonic Cult at a critical moment—would be dealt with.
In the end, there would be no one in the Central Plains capable of killing the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon.
Except for the Heavenly Demon who would one day invade.
“To save each other or to kill each other, you’ll have no choice but to remain close and live together. Just like now.”
At my words, the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon stared blankly at Dan Yul lying behind him.
After a long time, he turned toward me—and bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“From the beginning, it was a relationship with a predetermined ending. I would die one day, and Yul—whether sane or half-mad—would eventually die fighting the Central Plains’ martial world.”
“That may be so. Or it may not.”
I said that, but it was true.
The Devouring Ghost Demon had survived until the moment I died before my regression…
But who could say she would survive to the very end?
Above all, she had already fallen into qi deviation and repeatedly absorbed others’ internal energy, releasing it as if it were her own.
Even if she survived somehow, what would remain?
Only a shattered mind, unable to distinguish what was hers and what belonged to others.
“White Moon Sword Lord. You had an easier, faster, and more certain method. As you said at first—take Yul away and imprison her. If you let us meet occasionally… that alone would have made me move as you wished.”
“Ha! That’s inefficient. It would cost time, money, and manpower to hold Dan Yul captive. And even if I sent you to the battlefield that way, you wouldn’t fight wholeheartedly.”
“That’s true. I would have merely pretended to fight while focusing on surviving… But now, it will be different.”
The Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon lifted his head.
“If what you say is true, Yul will make me fight actively. By dangling bait I cannot refuse.”
“For example?”
“What I could not give her. And the time she could not enjoy. The first thing that comes to mind… Yes. Perhaps choosing clothes together.”
A faint smile rested on his lips as he gazed into the air, as if imagining it.
He wished for Dan Yul to live even if it endangered his own life.
And Dan Yul cared little for her own life, wishing instead to kill him.
Until now, they had both pretended not to know this. By burying it, they had been slowly sliding toward their end.
Now they both knew everything. And yet, as before, they would have to share the same space and the same time.
I did not know what result this small difference would bring… but personally, I hoped it would differ from before my regression.
Rather than a conclusion stained by guilt and vengeance where neither found happiness, would it not be better to scrape by and live on, even with a twisted affection?
As long as the past held their ankles, neither could become happy.
But neither had to die.
Both would be unhappy—it was obvious. But perhaps, just a little less so.
“By preventing a new master from being born in the Demonic Cult and making a Flowering Stage warrior step forward of his own will, this is quite the profitable deal.”
“Brother Cheon really is something. You could just honestly say you were worried about their circumstances.”
“That’s not it.”
Well… sometimes resolving things peacefully wasn’t bad.
It absolutely wasn’t because I felt uncomfortable directly clashing with the Brahma Heavenly Lust Demon’s Seduction Techniques after being called someone with talent for perversion.
Absolutely not.
***
A few days later.
I sliced the dazzling golden mansion of Golden Ghost Wolf King, Do Geumjin in half.
Beneath the slanted sky, I opened my mouth in a low voice.
“So? How much is your life worth?”
I truly wanted to resolve this peacefully.
Really.