novelraw Chapter 178 : Shouting “Down with the Heaven-Slaying Star”
Chapter 178 : Shouting “Down with the Heaven-Slaying Star”
Chapter 178: Shouting “Down with the Heaven-Slaying Star”
Even in the height of summer, a gentle and cool breeze flowed along the mountainside.
At the center of the clearing, Jo Harang was completely absorbed in training, fiercely swinging the Heroic Tiger Blade.
Watching her from the shade of a tree, Song Ryeong turned to me and spoke.
“Dan Young Master, do you know that the Purple Tenuity Star’s mortal enemy is the Heaven-Slaying Star?”
Her voice was calm, yet carried weight.
“Is that so? I’ve only heard about Evil Stars as old legends, so I’m not really sure……”
I replied casually as if I knew nothing, but inwardly I felt a jolt.
What a twisted situation this was. Of all people, she had asked that question to me—the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Had she noticed something?
‘Absolutely…… I must not get found out…….’
The red fingers trembling anxiously before me.
The moment my identity as the Heaven-Slaying Star was exposed, this place would cease to be a friendly home visit and turn into the heart of enemy territory.
For once, Salseongi and I were in perfect agreement.
“If the Purple Tenuity Star is the star that protects the peace of the Central Plains, then the Heaven-Slaying Star is the heavenly executioner who stains everything in blood. The two have shared a fated relationship—killing and being killed by each other throughout a long history.”
“…Ah, I see.”
Ironically, the current Heaven-Slaying Star and Purple Tenuity Star had become inseparable friends who would risk their lives for one another.
Of course, that relationship was only possible because Jo Harang didn’t know my true identity.
“And judging from the flow of heavenly fate, the time for this era’s Heaven-Slaying Star to reveal itself should be approaching.”
You can read things like that?
Song Ryeong quietly gazed up at the blue daytime sky where no stars could be seen.
“However, something strange has happened. That Evil Star seems to have lost its color—as if it has ceased its activity…….”
She murmured with a puzzled expression.
That was probably because someone like me had interfered. An existence completely foreign, someone who had forcibly halted the wheel of fate.
Just look at me now—befriending the Purple Tenuity Star and even visiting her home.
“Is it possible the Heaven-Slaying Star appeared… and then died?”
When I cautiously asked, Song Ryeong shook her head.
“That much is still unknown. Which is precisely why we must never lower our guard.”
If they relaxed and it suddenly appeared, then the entire Central Plains would be drenched in blood and corpses would pile up like mountains in a catastrophic blood calamity.
“If the Heaven-Slaying Star appears… is there no case where it simply comes to its senses and lives peacefully? In the stories I’ve heard, it always turns into something terrifying.”
It was like a plague. Once it swept through, the whole world groaned beneath a brutal slaughter calamity.
Stories of past Heaven-Slaying Stars painted them as wicked tyrants, like demon kings from fantasy novels.
Then the Purple Tenuity Star must be the righteous hero who opposes them.
“Well, there is a saying: Mount Tai crushing an egg. How could the will of a mere human defy the will of heaven pressing down from above?”
No matter how hard one struggled or resisted, eventually reason would be lost and a slaughter ritual would begin.
Just as Murong Cheongjin had once unleashed a lethal technique against Murong Cheonghye, the family member he cherished most.
The Heaven-Slaying Star always ended in blood.
“The will of heaven, huh.”
In the world I came from, that sounded like something cultists would say.
Why should people live according to fate? As someone who had come from another world, it made no sense to me.
Heaven controlling my life, and me obediently accepting it? Ridiculous.
I looked up at the clear sky and silently raised my middle finger.
‘…….’
At that moment, I felt Salseongi staring at me—even though it didn’t even have eyes yet.
As if both pitiful and exasperated. Like someone watching an egg about to smash itself against a rock.
Whoooosh—!
At that moment, Jo Harang’s Heroic Tiger Blade swept violently across the clearing.
The air tore apart with a shrill sound as a powerful blade flux flashed. She then gathered her internal energy and steadied her breathing.
The gust of wind slowly calmed as the lingering aura flowed from the tip of her blade.
Was it called the Soul-Annihilating Blade?
It seemed her daytime training had come to an end.
“Huff… huff.”
Her hair clung damply to her sweat-soaked face.
Jo Harang kept her eyes closed, as though still immersed in the lingering sensation of her martial arts.
Song Ryeong suddenly turned to me.
“I heard it was thanks to you.”
“…Pardon? What do you mean?”
“Harang’s achievements. When she reached the Peak Master Level, and when she reached Transcendence. She said you were by her side at every moment.”
There was a strange warmth in her voice. I glanced at Jo Harang and gave an awkward smile.
“I only said a few decent words and sparred with her a little. It’s all because she’s talented and figured it out herself.”
Jo Harang was the type to gain enlightenment from even a casual remark and immediately incorporate it into her martial arts.
As expected of the woman who bore the Purple Tenuity Star. Her martial talent and bones were extraordinary.
“The Purple Tenuity Star’s talent is indeed innate. But reaching Transcendence at this age is something even past Purple Tenuity Stars rarely achieved.”
Apparently, the fully blossomed talent of the Purple Tenuity Star had been possible thanks to my assistance.
‘…….’
I felt Salseongi staring at me again, as if digging into me.
The small crimson presence curled up and pressed against me with strange pressure.
“With the chances of defeating the Heaven-Slaying Star higher than ever, if we can just find it and eliminate it…… this era could enjoy long-lasting peace without fear.”
The Sect Leader of the Purple Mist Sect sighed with a regretful expression.
“Young Master, did you know? When I first discovered Harang, I thought it was fate.”
A sect that hunted evil criminals, demonic practitioners, the Demon Cult, the Blood Cult, and finally the greatest calamity—the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Meeting the very Evil Star that fit that purpose perfectly… it was hard not to call it destiny.
So from that moment onward, she trained Jo Harang relentlessly to oppose the Heaven-Slaying Star of this era.
“And yet the Heaven-Slaying Star still refuses to appear……”
Even after preparing everything, the enemy had yet to emerge.
Song Ryeong smiled faintly.
“Master, I still believe the Heaven-Slaying Star is alive somewhere. I have no proof… but the Purple Tenuity Star’s intuition tells me so.”
Jo Harang had approached without us noticing and slipped into the conversation.
She casually looked at me as she said the Heaven-Slaying Star must be hiding somewhere.
Gulp.
Salseongi and I swallowed together.
Jo Harang… that promise you made to overlook me no matter what…
You still remember it, right?
“So Master, please don’t worry. I’ll find it somehow and fulfill the sect’s long-cherished wish!”
All I could do was hope she remembered.
Watching the master and disciple passionately discussing the downfall of the Heaven-Slaying Star, I hurriedly changed the subject.
“A sect devoted to destroying evil and hunting the Heaven-Slaying Star… It sounds quite mysterious. May I ask who founded such a sect?”
A mysterious sect with a rather unusual purpose and origin.
Surely its founding ancestor must have been a famous chivalrous hero.
Song Ryeong shook her head and gave an unexpected answer.
“We don’t actually know.”
“…Pardon?”
I tilted my head.
A sect with an unclear origin?
Most sects treated such things as sacred and recorded them meticulously.
“Have you ever heard of beings from beyond heaven?”
“…Beyond heaven?”
It sounded like people who had transcended heaven itself.
“There are those who cultivate heaven and the stars. Even after comprehending the principles of all creation, they chose to remain on earth instead of ascending as immortals. From time to time, they grant blessings to people when a strange connection forms.”
They could save a master suffering from Inner Demons with a single sentence and create ultimate martial arts and cultivation methods never before seen in the world.
Truly mysterious beings worthy of the name “Beyond Heaven.”
“Our founding ancestor received grace from such beings and founded the Purple Mist Sect with a great purpose. That purpose has been passed down to us even now.”
Draw upon the power of heaven to destroy evil and uphold good.
Not pursuing the sect’s own profit, but throwing themselves into the Jianghu as chivalrous heroes to carry out that purpose.
“And in this era, that purpose has finally reached the Purple Tenuity Star.”
Song Ryeong’s voice carried deep emotion.
She said that everything felt as though it had been arranged by fate.
I see… so that was how it was.
A mysterious Daoist carrying the power of stars passed down martial arts, and that connection eventually reached even an Evil Star.
‘Wait… this sounds familiar.’
Suddenly I remembered the story of my Master, Hwang Geolgae.
He said a mysterious Daoist called Ilwol saved him from Inner Demons and passed down the ultimate art known as the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method, seemingly arranging my encounter with him.
Because of that, when he discovered the Heaven-Slaying Star on the streets, instead of killing me, he took me in as if it were fate.
‘Could Ilwol also be one of those beings beyond heaven?’
When coincidence repeats itself too many times, it becomes inevitability.
What was the intention behind letting such martial arts reach the Heaven-Slaying Star?
It was impossible for me to even guess.
Silently, I ignited the pure white energy of the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method at my fingertips.
“Mujin.”
Jo Harang wiped her messy hair with a handkerchief and spoke to me.
Whenever she looked at me, her eyes still sparkled like stars.
“As you heard earlier, my goal is to eliminate demonic practitioners who abandon human morality and protect the peace of the Central Plains.”
And of course, the Heaven-Slaying Star would be included among those targets.
I swallowed a bitter smile.
“And I want to continue doing that… together with you.”
“……”
She looked at me with absolute trust.
What an uncomfortable situation.
But at the same time, it reassured me.
She truly had no idea that I was the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Maybe it was thanks to Hwang Geolgae’s advice and all the good karma I’d been building.
“…Of course!”
I forced a cheerful reply.
Jo Harang’s face brightened.
“I knew it! I knew you’d say that, Mujin!”
Apparently she believed I was someone who wouldn’t fear even the Heaven-Slaying Star.
Under the thick maple tree, she raised her Heroic Tiger Blade high as if swearing an oath of brotherhood.
I drew my iron sword and struck it against her blade in response. A clear metallic ring echoed.
“Down with the Heaven-Slaying Star! If we fight back-to-back, there’s nothing in this world we can’t defeat!”
“Oh wow… of course!”
And so, at the stronghold of the Purple Mist Sect—the sect that raised the Purple Tenuity Star—
Jo Harang and I shouted together.
“Down with the Heaven-Slaying Star!”
‘…What an idiot.’
Perhaps because we had sworn to defeat the Heaven-Slaying Star together, I ended up training with Jo Harang under Song Ryeong’s guidance for a while.
Normally a sect’s martial arts were kept secret, and outsiders were not accepted so easily.
But Song Ryeong surprisingly welcomed me.
“Whenever I cross blades with you, it feels like something awakens! Maybe it’s heaven’s will that we keep helping each other like this.”
Jo Harang unknowingly accepted the clash of destiny as a pleasant stimulation.
For several days, I refined everything I had learned under the guidance of a master of the Returning to Simplicity Realm.
When the day of my departure approached, Song Ryeong suddenly spoke to me.
“Young Master Mujin, it may be rude to say this, but your martial arts feel like……”
“Yes?”
“…Like those of a wandering warrior hardened by countless battlefields. They’re rough, your blade carries killing intent, and you don’t hesitate to damage your own body.”
As expected of a master.
She had perfectly analyzed my training style.
“You did learn martial arts from a proper master, didn’t you?”
“No? I heard the chant formula a few times, then learned by getting beaten up.”
“……”
She looked somewhat bewildered, saying even the Demon Cult didn’t train people this crudely.
“To bloom such martial talent in such a harsh environment, and with good karma accumulated as well… it seems my judgment was correct.”
There was a strange heat in her gaze.
It felt almost like she was appraising something… no, more like she had marked me as a suitable son-in-law.
Feeling uneasy, I scratched the back of my neck.
“Young Master, I am bound by many grudges in the Jianghu and cannot easily leave this place. So I have one request.”
Grudges in the Jianghu were like sticky spiderwebs—impossible to cut easily.
Especially if she had been hunting evil criminals like Jo Harang’s elder sister.
“What is it?”
I nodded.
“Next time, don’t come here with just the two of you.”
“…?”
I looked at her in confusion.
Did she mean I should bring someone else?
“Next time, it would be better if the three of you came. Or… perhaps four. One person alone would be lonely on a chivalrous journey.”
She smiled calmly.
“……!”
Realizing her meaning, I shuddered.
What on earth was this master saying?
“Mujin, what does that mean? Four of us?”
The mountain girl still hadn’t understood and asked innocently.
I alone scratched my cheek awkwardly.
“Actually, five would also be fine.”
“Then we’ll be going now…!”
Before the number increased further, I hurriedly grabbed Jo Harang’s hand and rushed down Mount Song.
Anyway, it was finally time to return.