Returning to the Dark Moon

Chapter 1 : Returning to the Dark Moon

Chapter 1: Returning to the Dark Moon

What is martial arts?

No matter how much one dresses it up with various words, the fact remains that it is ultimately nothing more than a tool for killing people.

Dying and killing.

Killing and dying.

Wielding a sword to accumulate the Dao and ascending to immortality as a celestial?

That is madness. If that were the goal, one should not hold a blade meant for killing but should instead hold a book and discuss the Dao.

The sight of someone killing people and then discussing the Dao is an idea that could only come from someone whose head has been smashed in. Do such people truly have the right to lead the world?

They can cry out about being "Righteous" or "White" and claim they are clean, but the blood stained upon their bodies will never be washed away.

The only truly clean people in this world are the commoners who struggle to survive for the sake of their wives and children.

The people of the Jianghu are the same.

Originally, the term Jianghu referred to the Yangtze River, the largest river in the Central Plains, and Dongting Lake, the largest lake.

In other words, the word Jianghu means the entire world.

Yet, how can mere ruffians with swords dare to claim they are the world?

Naturally, those who call themselves people of the Jianghu each have their own goals.

For some, it is revenge.

For some, it is love.

The noble "chivalrous heroes" claim it is justice.

As if that were true.

If so, why has the world been so overflowed with the sounds of screaming?

What is this "chivalry" that those loathsome hypocrites cry out about?

If they were truly right, then there should never have been a reason for my father to die so pointlessly.

The world is wrong.

“And so, I decided to exterminate that world.”

* * *

It was a rather sentimental thing to say for a madman who had plunged the world into the abyss.

Baek Cheon, the Lord of the Dark Heaven Society.

It was a long-standing ill fate. He was the very person with whom I had crossed swords for fifteen years following the outbreak of the Great Shadow Moon War, caused by those unprecedented scoundrels of the Dark Heaven Society.

The name “The Zenith of Beggar Gods” had long since faded like that heartless moonlight, and only the name “The Zenith, Lord of the Dark Heaven Society" decorated the thick night sky.

In the short span of fifteen years, the world was ruined.

By this man and the Dark Heaven Society.

It was a laughable thing.

The Nine Sect Alliance, who were called celestials walking above the clouds, and the Eight Great Clans, who boasted absolute authority in their territories, entrusted the safety of the world to a lowly beggar like me.

Meanwhile, a man named Baek Cheon, born as the son of a mere farmer, burned this vast world to the ground.

I absentmindedly looked around.

The surroundings were as gaunt as a land struck by famine. It was because of our fight that lasted for three days and three nights.

“Beggar, the world you wanted to protect so badly has turned to ashes. What did you protect? What kind of thoughts are you lost in that you look so pensive?”

When I lifted my heavy head at the voice heard from a distance, I saw him already standing before my face. I thought to myself once again that even from a man's perspective, he was insanely handsome.

From his pitch-black hair and his nose as high as a divine sword to his sharp jawline.

How could this be fair to someone who was born as a beggar like me? With a self-deprecating hollow laugh, I looked up at him.

“Who knows. I might be thinking of a secret technique to take your head.”

“If that were possible, by now the world would be singing of grief and despair as it always has.”

Baek Cheon, the Lord of the Dark Heaven Society, scoffed and flicked his blood-stained black sword.

The Sword of Heaven's Reliance.

A unique weapon symbolizing the Lord of the Dark Heaven Society, paired with the Blade of Eternal Memory and together called the Black Sword and Azure Blade.

The pure white eerie sword sprawled on the ground let out a spine-chilling sword cry, Kieeeek, as if to comfort me.

It was my beloved blade, the Soul Sword.

Listening to the cry of the Soul Sword, I stroked the blade with my fingers. Since ancient times, a sword was something so precious to the mad people of the Jianghu that it was called one's first wife.

The Lord’s gaze made my skin tingle. Within those ink-colored pupils whose intentions I could not fathom, I instinctively measured the end of this weary fight.

I habitually lifted my head and looked at the sky. A night sky that had turned purely black, without stars or a moon, due to the Lord’s martial arts.

It was not a very good sight. The sky had been that way throughout the entire war. From the moment the war began, the concept of daytime did not exist in the world.

The only thing I could do was hang a full moon and stars in the dark night sky. When I wrapped the power of my unique martial art, the Sun-Drenched Moonlight, around my body, the night sky became worth looking at.

My entire body was little more than a wreck, but I still had to fight. To collapse here, there were too many deaths burdened upon my shoulders.

Sigh.

I quietly muttered along with a breath let out like a sigh.

— You damn sword-maniac bastard.

With the sensation of a cool breeze ruffling my hair, I immediately took a step forward.

Whoosh!

I was instantly in front of the Lord’s face. I thrust my sword forward while roughly trampling the cracked earth.

However, the Lord blocked my strike by lightly wielding the Sword of Heaven's Reliance.

In a span of time close to an instant, a long silence hung between me and Baek Cheon. Soon, an immeasurable amount of great force was felt from his sword.

Baek Cheon wore a smile mixed with his characteristic mockery. Could that very slight lifting of the corners of his mouth even be called a smile? It was merely a small movement of his lips.

The absolute being who plunged the world into grief. The undisputed greatest in the world, and paradoxically, the only one who fully understood me, began to move slowly.

A world that had turned dark and somber. In a world where everything had vanished, the only thing intact was the round full moon.

The heartless moonlight, cold to the bone, shone upon the two of us.

The sword of the Lord of the Dark Heaven Society began to fall slowly.

“Darkness of Heaven and Earth.”

And then.

The darkness of the world poured down upon me.

“…….”

It felt as if a very long time had passed. Various thoughts swirled through my head for a moment. Ah, is this a revolving lantern of memories?

A beggar like me has no need for such a thing. To begin with, I had very few happy memories. Therefore, this revolving lantern was of no use to me at all.

‘Where does this son of a bitch think he’s playing tricks? He should have just cut my life-thread quickly.’

I slowly opened my eyes along with these trivial thoughts. After cursing the heavens a bit, I felt quite refreshed.

Within my cleared vision, the Lord appeared once again. He felt even stronger than before.

Separated by a single step, the Lord and I quietly looked at each other.

Of all things, to have such a gloomy bastard guarding my final moments. If it had been a woman, I would have accepted the sword with a glad heart.

With a laugh mixed with bloody phlegm, I clearly felt my breath fading. I laboriously reached out a hand toward the Lord and let out words that were close to a mumble.

“Hey, Lord. Do you have any Nu'er Hong? It is my last moment.”

By nature, if a man is to die, he should at least die after drinking some alcohol. If I were to drink and stagger like this, it would be the Drunken Fist of the Beggar Sect.

A moment of silence occurred. Baek Cheon looked at me with a look of absurdity. Did he not expect me to look for alcohol in this situation?

Soon, the Lord silently reached his hand toward the air. For a moment, space seemed to shimmer, and a red liquor bottle flew at lightning speed and wrapped into his hand.

It was the technique of Telekinesis. His ability to manipulate True Qi surpassed common logic. There was no way alcohol would be nearby. From how far away did he pull it?

Seeing as I was having these thoughts right before death, I suppose I am a person of the Jianghu to the core.

“Lord, you dumbass. There is no one left in the world but you and me, so what is the point of killing me? Now there will be no one to look at you when you are old and senile.”

Stab!

“Silence.”

The Lord, who shoved the Nu'er Hong into my pitiful mouth, spoke roughly. Is this what they mean by even an ill fate being a connection? I didn't particularly feel a burning hatred.

The alcohol just seeped into my ruined body. You bastard, this is the cheap stuff, isn't it?

To think this is the final thought of the former Zenith.

I let out a deep sigh and blinked my eyes quietly. In my fading vision, I saw a golden mandala—no, a Golden Wheel—rotating like crazy.

What on earth was that? Within a mysterious phenomenon for which I knew no reason, I entrusted my body to the lethargy called death.

.

.

.

I saw nothing.

It was just a dark sky.

* * *

The warm sunlight comes down in a blur. As I raised my body while clutching my groggy head, leaves tickled my ankles.

How long had it been since I saw such greenery? Could it be that I died and came to paradise or heaven?

I calmly shook my head. I, Wang Cho, the God of the Beggars, am a person destined to fall into hell. I knew that well myself.

Barely pulling myself together, I looked around, and liquor bottles caught my eye. Even at a glance, there were over ten bottles.

I clutched my dizzy head. When I shook my head at the shimmering black figure, someone began to be seen clearly.

The black robes of the Dark Heaven. A face like a divine sword, and a blunt expression.

It was Baek Cheon. His appearance, which it would be right to say manifested suddenly. With a hollow laugh, I met the Lord’s eyes.

“Did you die too?”

At the light question, Baek Cheon, who slightly lifted the corners of his mouth, grabbed the hilt of the Sword of Heaven's Reliance. It was a sign not to talk nonsense.

“It is a rather funny sight. You were like that even when the world was ruined.”

The Lord seemed to find this situation enjoyable. Accordingly, the morning sky darkened for a moment and then returned.

It changed according to the emotions of the absolute being, Baek Cheon. During the Great Shadow Moon War, the sky was always somber. The world had lost the day for fifteen years.

I lifted my head and looked at the sky. A landscape where clouds moved slowly and busily.

“The sky is blue.”

There are clouds. The sun has revealed itself. The world was clear and bright.

I brought my gaze back to the Lord. Even in this weakened situation, I could not take my eyes off him.

The Lord and I continued to lock eyes. Like children often do in a staring contest in the marketplace. When I looked at him with wide eyes, the Lord frowned.

The silence continued again. This is what happens when Baek Cheon and I, who do not match at all, are together. This is why people who are too serious are scary.

“How does it feel to have returned to the past.”

However, Baek Cheon asked me something else. To have returned to the past? It was not an unbelievable story. Masters like me and Baek Cheon could perform any miracle.

Though only to a certain extent.

Ultimately, all I could do was continue to look into Baek Cheon. But I still could not fathom his intentions.

The Lord said no more. As I quietly felt the wind, a familiar voice was heard from between the trees.

“Aigo, where did this man go? Seeing as the smell of alcohol is terrible, this must be the place……?”

When I turned my body, a man whose face was full of scars was smiling while wearing rags. It was Eungsam, with whom I had formed a junior-senior relationship as a child. Even hearing it now, it was a truly beggar-like name.

‘He’s just as ugly as ever.’

Had I truly returned to the past? Hanging from the waist of his grimy rags were four knots. It was the symbol representing a Four-Knot Beggar of the Beggar Sect, one of the Nine Sect Alliance.

I absentmindedly touched my waist and, feeling eight knots, my expression hardened.

‘I really returned? Is such a thing possible? Is this some strange illusion of the Lord? This damn bastard.’

I shook my head with repeated sighs. The Baek Cheon I knew was at least not someone who used illusions.

From one knot to nine knots. It was the hierarchy of the Beggar Sect, the sect of beggars. Eight knots represented the Successor of the Beggar Sect.

Eungsam, who met my eyes, scurried over to me and asked.

“Hey, why did you drink so much? You ran out saying you were quitting gambling and vanished.. I thought you might have been eaten by some Supernatural Entities.”

The scar stretched along his mouth moved incessantly. I looked at his long-unseen appearance with fresh eyes and then suddenly turned my head.

Baek Cheon had already vanished.

What was I supposed to do about the man named Baek Cheon? If he is a regressor, is there a reason for him to burn the world? Everything would be useless if one returns to the past anyway.

After repeating various trivial thoughts for a moment..

“…Great Senior, can you hear me? Elder Hwa told me to bring you so he could cut off your hands.”

I snapped out of my thoughts at Eungsam’s hand tapping my shoulder.

“Who? Elder Hwa? Hey, do you know how long it’s been since that bastard died?”

“Pardon?”

Come to think of it, he said I returned to the past. If so, it is not strange for Elder Hwa to be alive.

An old man who was incompetent and greedy, ruining the Beggar Sect. He was also a member of the Dark Heaven Society.

Anew, I have been given the opportunity to change that miserable past.

I looked at the night sky that had turned dark for a moment and stroked Eungsam’s head.

“Does that bastard have no respect for his seniors? By whose heart does he tell a Successor to come and go. Does he think he’s the Sect Leader?”

“Still, the Elder is eighty years old..”

“In the Beggar Sect, the only ones who can call me at will are the Sect Leader or the Grand Elder. Everyone else is below me.”

Now was a time when the inside of the Beggar Sect was a bit chaotic.

Ultimately, the Beggar Sect is the sect I belonged to. I decided on returning the pitiful Beggar Sect to normal as my primary goal.

“Eungsam, shall we go to the training ground?”

“What about Elder Hwa?”

“If he needs me, he’ll come himself. I told you I’m higher in rank, didn't I?”

“Well, if Senior says so..”

I looked at the sky in the area that had turned completely somber for a moment. What kind of thoughts did a person live with to create such martial arts?

With what kind of twisted mind does he look at the world?

I did not know. And so, I intended to find out.

“So you returned, beggar bastard.”

At the heavy voice of the Lord that absentmindedly brushed past my ears on the wind, I bared my teeth and laughed.

“I have returned, you Lord bastard.”

The boundary where day and night were intertwined due to Baek Cheon’s martial arts.

I took a single step toward that hazy sky.

This footstep was the beginning of my journey of regression.