novelraw Chapter 67
Chapter 67
Chapter 67
“Is your name Danmok Yeon, Senior? I feel like I want to curse you out, but I can't bring myself to do it.”
Watching Danmok Yeon's mouth fall open and his eyes widen, Cheon Ha-seong felt that his thoughts were likely correct.
“What were you trying to do to me by performing an illusion art? Were you trying to kill me that way?”
“How… did you get out?”
“Just answer what I asked.”
However, Danmok Yeon glared at Cheon Ha-seong as if he were being insolent, then whipped his head away.
Dumbfounded, Cheon Ha-seong let out a hollow laugh.
“You were the one who made the copies and distributed them to the candidates at the Martial Arts Academy, weren't you, Senior? Deliberately writing the mnemonic verses incorrectly. Why did you do that, knowing that if the candidates moved their internal energy according to the Heaven-Shattering Will Art's verses changed like that, they could fall into Qi Deviation? What did you gain by doing that? Isn't it just human nature to help the juniors of a later generation master what you yourself could not?”
Danmok Yeon had certainly thought he would have something to say. But the words that came one after another were all things he couldn't believe.
“How on earth do you…!”
He could only say such things with a foolish face.
“Cheon Ha-seong, how do you know all of that? Did the Cult Leader perhaps tell you? And how did the Cult Leader know that?”
He had many things he wanted to say, but he had forgotten them all. It was so strange that it seemed he had to solve that mystery first.
Cheon Ha-seong thought it was fascinating that everything Seo Hyo-eun had guessed had been correct.
“How is your current state any different from that of an old monster who has failed to die, Senior? What do you want to do by living like that? What do you want to do by becoming strong, even at the cost of killing the people of your own clan? Did you want to become the Cult Leader? And then what? What are you trying to do once you become the Cult Leader?”
“Sh…ut up!”
Danmok Yeon shouted in anger, but his voice did not carry enough force. He couldn't get properly angry because he couldn't believe the fact that Cheon Ha-seong knew so much about him.
“How do you know that! What are you, you bastard? What on earth are you, that you know such things!”
“What does it matter how I know? I am asking what you will do after you live for over a hundred years and master the Heaven-Shattering Will Art. Have you not even thought about that? What becomes of the Divine Cult if a Senior who did not even consider the lives of his own family members to be important reigns over countless people?”
“Shut your mouth! It is not something a bastard like you can say so arrogantly!”
“Is that so? It must be that you have an incredibly noble goal that I am unaware of. I certainly hope so. I hope there is a reason that I do not know. Please do not tell me that you endured for all that long time and sacrificed so many lives for no reason other than the thought of becoming stronger.”
Danmok Yeon could not stand Cheon Ha-seong's words. It was the first time he had felt such a sense of humiliation in his entire life. He could not forgive Cheon Ha-seong.
At that, a tremendous energy suddenly poured out from his body.
However, Cheon Ha-seong just stared at him coldly without even blinking an eye.
The energy released from Danmok Yeon's body was tinged with an immense killing intent, inciting a fear so great that one would think it better to just die.
Therefore, he should not have been able to stand there so nonchalantly, but Cheon Ha-seong was looking at Danmok Yeon as if he were not affected at all.
“You… Who on earth are you, you bastard!”
Danmok Yeon could not hide his confusion. Because so many incomprehensible things were happening in succession, he could not properly exert his strength.
He couldn't be certain what the problem was, whether it was Cheon Ha-seong's problem or his own.
Then, thinking it was absolutely impossible, Danmok Yeon asked.
“Cheon Ha-seong… could it be that you… you have it? You took the commentary… the Pattra Leaves on which the commentary of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art was written? And you've mastered the Heaven-Shattering Will Art…”
Even as he spoke, he thought it was an absurd thing to say. But hadn't he already seen Cheon Ha-seong execute the pinnacle of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art's lightness skill?
Cheon Ha-seong was a Head Instructor of the Martial Arts Academy. And when he had made them distribute the copies with the altered mnemonic verses to the candidates, the Cult Leader had quickly found out and retrieved the copies. At first, he had thought it was the Cult Leader's doing, but it seemed that too had been Cheon Ha-seong's work.
He thought that asking Cheon Ha-seong any further would be meaningless. He could know without even hearing the answer.
‘So that's it. This bastard has the commentary. And… and he has reached the pinnacle.’
As he had that thought, an uncontrollable emotion raged through him.
Danmok Yeon thought he was about to fall into Qi Deviation. The energy whirling through his meridians could not be controlled at all.
A desire so intense.
A commentary he had wanted to monopolize, even at the cost of killing his family and relatives.
And how despairing had he been when he realized he could not understand that commentary?
He had failed to obtain what he had wanted desperately, so desperately. But hadn't this bastard obtained it so simply?
He wanted to kill him. He wanted to tear him to shreds and kill him. A vicious killing intent instead overwhelmed him.
It felt as if the pores all over his body were opening and blood was bursting out. It felt as if every one of his meridians was tearing.
Thinking this must be his death, Danmok Yeon let out a monstrous scream.
He wanted to live. What had he done so wrong? He had seen a terribly strong martial art, and he had wanted to learn it. He had wanted to become stronger than anyone.
Was it something to be reprimanded for, to have such a desire after becoming a martial artist of the Divine Cult?
Blood poured endlessly from his open mouth.
It felt as if he would vomit up even his internal organs.
Danmok Yeon couldn't even accurately remember how long he had lived.
A hundred and several tens of years.
That was all he knew, and only vaguely.
That life was now about to end like this. It was a miserable end he had never imagined.
Then he, who felt as if he had been cast into a great abyss and was sinking endlessly, slowly opened his eyes.
Was it right to say he had opened his eyes? He didn't know if he was still closing them. But it was dazzling. It was as if his vision was blinded white by a sunlight that was too intense.
Danmok Yeon felt his body slowly rising. It was as if someone were pulling him up.
He shot up quickly from the suffocating deep sea. And he breathed urgently.
‘What is this…?’
He felt a warm and massive energy flowing in from his back.
Only Cheon Ha-seong and he were here. Therefore, the only person who could do such a thing was Cheon Ha-seong.
The energy that had been running wild and rampaging along his meridians slowly calmed down. The internal energy that Cheon Ha-seong had infused became a foothold for Danmok Yeon to stand on. His body, which had only been floundering and sinking, now firmly found its place again.
Cheon Ha-seong withdrew his energy when he thought that Danmok Yeon would now be able to resolve it on his own. From then on, it was a time of tedious waiting.
That time reached nearly two hours.
Finally, Danmok Yeon's tightly closed eyes opened. The light in his eyes shone coldly.
Cheon Ha-seong was sitting on the edge of the bed, eating dumplings. They were the dumplings he had received from Paeng Ga-jong. He had given them to the followers of the Divine Cult, but they hadn't eaten them and had brought them back, and had put one serving in his room.
Danmok Yeon was at a complete loss for words. He was dumbfounded, wondering who in the world could act like that if not for Cheon Ha-seong.
“Are you hungry? I would think you are. I've almost eaten them all, though.”
Saying that, Cheon Ha-seong opened the paper, checked what was inside, and spoke.
“There are two left. Would you like them?”
“…”
Danmok Yeon strode over, snatched the dumplings from Cheon Ha-seong's hand, and put them in his mouth.
Although they were large, he had thought he could chew a few times and then comfortably swallow, but that was a long shot.
After struggling with an awkwardness like his jaw was about to dislocate, he managed to swallow with difficulty, and tears even welled up in his eyes.
On that day, he was newly doing all sorts of things he had never once done in all his long years of life.
“Why did you save me?”
“Having received so much from the Divine Cult and committed so many sins, shouldn't you pay it back before you die? It was so unfair that I couldn't bear to see you die peacefully, Senior.”
“Die peacefully? And you can say that, even after seeing me on the verge of dying from Qi Deviation?”
“Shouldn't you die even more miserably, Senior? Are you daring to expect a peaceful death? Then will the people who died at your hands be able to rest peacefully in death?”
Danmok Yeon thought it would be better to give up on a verbal sparring match with this bastard.
He was the only one who suffered when they talked.
But the dumplings were delicious.
Cheon Ha-seong, knowing he was eyeing the dumplings, brought them over.
“I'll go get a pot of tea, so please stay here. It wouldn't do for you to die from choking after I went through the trouble of saving you, would it? Don't you dare die carelessly.”
Could there be another person so detestable!
And yet, Danmok Yeon ate the dumpling.
It was delicious.
So much so that a hollow laugh escaped.
Cheon Ha-seong returned to the room with a pot of tea and a plate of dumplings he had bought from that inn. However, those dumplings were not as delicious as the ones Paeng Ga-jong had made.
Since they weren't delicious, a sense of modesty naturally arose, and they both diligently refused to eat them.
“What do you plan to do now?”
When Danmok Yeon asked, Cheon Ha-seong spoke with a deeply troubled face.
“I am thinking about whether it would be best to take all of the Divine Cult followers in Qinghai to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.”
“Then who will proselytize?”
“But this is not a situation where proselytizing is even possible. They are desperate to live and their lives are in danger, yet you speak of proselytizing? If your meridians were melting, would you go and save another person?”
“I would not save another person even if I were in a comfortable state, let alone with my meridians melting.”
Cheon Ha-seong admitted he had used a bad example.
Danmok Yeon, while proud of having left Cheon Ha-seong speechless, also felt strange for some reason.
“If the Azure Sea Sect is the problem, how about starting a bloodbath there?”
Danmok Yeon said and glanced at Cheon Ha-seong. At that, Cheon Ha-seong just stared at Danmok Yeon with an unreadable expression.
Danmok Yeon, thinking he must have misspoken again this time, acted as if he had never said it.
“That sounds good.”
“...You want to?”
“Shouldn't we? Why should those who carelessly trample on the lives of others and sustain themselves by sucking their blood and sweat continue to live?”
“That sounds like the demonic path.”
“I must protect the followers who are here, so I'll leave the action to you, Senior.”
At that, Danmok Yeon looked at Cheon Ha-seong as if to say, 'Do I really have to?'
“Is it too difficult for you alone?”
It was the greatest crisis of Danmok Yeon's life.