Chapter 71 - The World Where the Constellations Died (3)

6

Winter.

So Baekhyang entered the mountain.

She was eleven years old.

"Child."

"No one will force you to do anything."

The Demonic Cult's main headquarters.

The place the old man brought her to was like heaven. Food appeared morning and evening even if she did nothing. She was given warm bedding. There were not even any local government clerks to whip her.

"Eat when you wish to eat. Sleep when you wish to sleep. Play when you wish to play."

"..."

"Baekhyang, simply live as you wish to live."

So Baekhyang was bewildered.

Perhaps this was the Peach Blossom Paradise she had heard of in legends.

"All the grown-ups here are nice!"

The children her age beamed.

"They don't make us do anything."

"Are they raising us to be slaves?"

"You dummy! I've been here a year, and nothing like that's happened."

There were many other orphans in heaven besides her. Very, very many. Even a rough count put their number above two thousand. One or two more children joined the Cult every day. In one year of crop failure, dozens had arrived in a single day.

Were there really so many orphans in the world?

"... You all."

So Baekhyang parted her lips.

"How did you all end up here?"

Silence.

The children stared at her.

Then, all at once, they opened their mouths.

"They said the crops were really bad!"

"My mom worked in a brothel..."

"I don't want to talk about it. Why should I tell you?"

"Well, thieves with swords tore through our village at night!"

"Suddenly, everyone in the village got sick, and..."

"They kept hitting me. So I ran away."

Hunger. Despised occupations. Illegitimate birth. Bandits. Plague. Abuse.

Every time the children opened their mouths, poison flowed out.

"..."

So Baekhyang felt dizzy. Poison reduced by hunger burned. Poison steeped in resentment over a despised occupation stung. Poison born of illegitimacy was biting. Poison slashed by bandits' blades was chilling. Poison bred in plague was foul. Poison pickled in abuse and beatings was rotten.

"You all..."

How could there be such a multitude of poisons under heaven? Had all the world's burning and stinging, its bite, its chill, its foulness and rotten stench gathered here? If so, what was this place? Could this place be heaven?

So Baekhyang thought of something.

"Are you happy now?"

A jar for brewing gu poison.

"Are you all right now?"

Into a jar go toads, venomous snakes, poisonous spiders, centipedes, fire ants, hornets—every kind of venomous creature. Then the lid is sealed. The snakes bite the toads, the toads devour the spiders, and the venomous creatures gnaw away at one another until, at last, only one remains alive.

They are reduced.

To create a single ultimate poison.

"Yes!"

The children smiled brightly.

"Because I get to eat every day."

"And I don't have to work in Mom's place."

"I'm always fine."

"Yes. There aren't any thieves here, are there?"

"Even if I get sick, the doctor makes me better."

"Nobody hits me. I like it."

Toads. Venomous snakes. Poisonous spiders. Centipedes. Fire ants. Hornets.

The children opened their mouths and laughed, but to So Baekhyang, her friends looked like nothing more than poisonous beasts and venomous insects. Yes. This place was no heaven. It was merely a jar for cultivating one human gu poison.

"..."

So Baekhyang quietly placed a hand on her chest.

It was cold.

Something that neither warm morning porridge nor evening broth nor thick blankets could warm. Before she knew it, a piece of ice that would never thaw had lodged itself in the center of her chest. That was her heart.

Her mother was leaving.

Snow was falling.

Her mother never stopped leaving.

And so the snow never stopped falling.

"..."

From that day on, So Baekhyang stopped spending time with the children her age.

「Eat when you wish to eat.」

She reduced the food she ate every morning and evening.

「Sleep when you wish to sleep.」

She went to bed early and rose earlier still.

「Play when you wish to play.」

She did not play. While the children roamed the hills laughing, while their laughter neutralized their poison, So Baekhyang did not join them.

The children whispered among themselves.

"Baekhyang is weird..."

"She only ever plays with the farmers!"

"She's weird."

"Yes. She even skips meals on purpose."

"Why does she hang around the farmers?"

"I don't know."

She ignored them.

「Simply live as you wish to live.」

Time passed.

One day, the old man came to see her. He was the elderly Demonic Cult master who had brought her here. Quite some time had passed, but he was unchanged from that winter day.

"It has been a long time, Baekhyang."

"Yes, it has been a long time."

"I came because I have something to ask you."

TAP, TAP.

The old master tapped the ground with his staff.

"I hear you do not spend time with the children your age."

"Yes."

"I hear you help the farmers, growing and harvesting your own food."

"Yes."

"I hear you even make all the clothes you wear and the bedding you use yourself."

"Yes."

"Why?"

The old man tilted his head.

"If you wished, you could live comfortably here, if not extravagantly. This is a Peach Blossom Paradise. The adults farm and pick fruit for you children. You too are only a young child. Why do you work for yourself?"

So Baekhyang parted her lips.

"The Mo family farming at the foot of the mountain lost two daughters to the county magistrate."

"Hmm?"

"Mr. Choe, who works in the orchard, lost his second son after the boy was called up to build the city walls. He reported this injustice to the government office, but his eldest son died under interrogation too. After burying both sons in their hometown, Mr. Choe and his wife sought refuge here."

"..."

So Baekhyang recounted each story.

Every farmer who brought food to the orphans had been wounded by the world. Not one lacked a tale of injustice. Not a single one.

"This place isn't heaven."

After reciting the farmers' circumstances one by one, So Baekhyang spoke.

"They don't feed and clothe us for free because they're fools."

"Then?"

The old man asked in return.

"Why do you think you receive food and shelter for free?"

"Because they want us to take revenge for them."

"..."

"Because they've suffered injustice upon injustice. Because they can't forgive the magistrates and clerks who ruined their lives. Because they want revenge, but haven't the strength to take it."

So Baekhyang spoke.

"I've heard you have to learn and practice martial arts from a very young age to achieve greatness. Those farmers, the people who feed and clothe us, are already too old to master martial arts."

But.

"But they can farm for [children who can learn martial arts]."

"..."

"Our food and shelter aren't free."

That was the true nature of this paradise.

"We're here to take revenge on the world in their place."

It was the Demonic Cult's main headquarters.

The old man fell silent.

After a long silence, the old master asked,

"Baekhyang."

"Yes."

"Have you anything to say to the world?"

So Baekhyang nodded.

"Yes."

About the cold.

About a blizzard one winter. About a mother who crossed the snowfield that day, making her child follow her. About a mother who quickened her steps despite hearing her child's screams. About the child left behind. About the cold.

About someone's heart.

"I do."

About hunger. About a child born in a brothel. About children born out of wedlock. About a child who lost their family to bandits. About a child whose village vanished in a plague. About a child subjected to abuse and beatings.

About their poison.

"I have a lot to say."

The world was vast.

"So very much."

And there was no end to what needed to be said.

The old master quietly closed his eyes.

"Is that so... Yes, I suppose it is."

All was quiet.

"Then the world must hear your words."

The old man opened his eyes.

"I am the Demonic Buddha, one of our Cult's Seven Elders."

"Is there a Buddha even in hell?"

"What use would a Buddha be if he were not in hell?"

Though So Baekhyang had called this place hell, the old master did not rebuke her. Instead, he answered as though it were only natural. Only then did So Baekhyang know that she had set foot on the right path.

"Baekhyang, you have passed the test to enter the Cult. Neither abundant food nor a cozy bed has clouded you. Your poison must surely remain distinct. Take me as your master, and address me as Master."

Master.

"From now on, your blade will cry out in place of countless screams."

The old man raised his staff and laid it on the young Heavenly Demon's shoulder.

"Perform the Rite of Nine Bows, my disciple."

That day, So Baekhyang entered the Cult.

She was thirteen years old.

7

"Get up."

It was early dawn when I awoke.

A voice seemed to whisper in my ear.

When I opened my eyes, the Heavenly Demon's face was right in front of my nose.

"Come now, will you not get up?"

"..."

It really was right in front of my nose. She was so close I could see every eyelash. Whenever she blinked, her lashes softly opened and closed like black curtains.

I was lying on the floor, and the Heavenly Demon was staring down at me.

"Um, Heavenly Demon."

Perhaps because I had just woken up, my mouth felt stale.

"If you stay there, I can't get up even if I want to. I think our heads would collide."

"Hmm. Judging by how smoothly you speak the moment you wake, your body is perfectly well."

The Heavenly Demon straightened.

"Enter the hot spring and purify yourself. Wash your body and mind with the utmost care."

"What?"

"I shall wait at the cave entrance."

The Heavenly Demon turned sharply and walked away before I could say anything. Her small back disappeared into the distance.

All that remained in the cave were me, standing there blankly, and my sleeping companions.

"Mmm, mnyaaah..."

"Ahem, mmm..."

"Heh..."

Had they stayed up late engrossed in researching the virus? Tools lay scattered in disarray around the soundly sleeping Apothecary and Medicine King. Viper had his arms folded, wearing a broad smile as though enjoying a pleasant dream.

What were they dreaming about to sleep so sweetly?

I brought up all three of their psychology windows.

「Yes, I'm right. No, why do I even have to explain something this simple? You won't understand even if I do. Anyway, I'm right, so please just do as you're told. This is driving me absolutely insane. These imbeciles with the brains of water fleas... Ah, no, everyone, um, that isn't what I meant to say... If you'd just use your fucking heads a little more—no, use your brains—you'd understand this simple principle right away, so why can't you fucking get it, ughhh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...」

「Whew. With this, I have won my hundredth victory, Markus... And as a bonus, I've won my 999,999th victory over that little brat called the Apothecary or whatever. Ah, is there truly no one who can bar Sean McAllister's road to victory? In the saddest possible sense, I have achieved 'Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am supreme'...」

「Mwooheehehehe! Puhihihi, cackle-cackle, mhooheeheehee!」

Hmm.

'I'd better not wake them.'

Especially that last one. I probably shouldn't touch him at all.

I carefully washed myself and came out. Sparkle and the attendant spirit stayed silent the whole time too. A white sky, mingling dawn light with snowy winds, looked down upon us...

8

When I left the cave, a snow-covered world awaited me.

The Heavenly Demon stood in the middle of the snowfield. With her arms folded, she looked me over from head to toe.

"Did you scrub every last corner?"

"Yes. I feel clean, as though I've washed away even the grime on my heart."

"I dislike smooth talkers."

The woman knitted her brows in displeasure.

"And you speak far too smoothly. Such a glib tongue, so glib. You have more of a swindler's temperament than a true man's, and my worries are mountainous."

"Uh."

Did I?

I had never felt particularly talented at speaking. But the Witch, ranked second, also took every opportunity to chide me, saying, ["You certainly know how to talk."] Had I been born with a talent I didn't even know about?

As I pondered this, the Heavenly Demon frowned even more deeply, displeased by something.

I brought up her psychology window too.

「For all his crafty tongue, his face is so vacant that he looks utterly harmless. He is the very picture of a future Lowly Sect leader.」

What was a Lowly Sect leader?

"Follow me."

I followed the Heavenly Demon along the snowy path.

As we crossed the snowfield, she spoke.

"Ordinarily, one must pass many tests to wear the Demonic Cult's robes. Though you have proved yourself qualified, that does not mean you have passed the tests. Our Cult's first test is..."

"The [Trial of Comfort], right?"

"..."

THUD.

Perhaps I imagined it, but the Heavenly Demon seemed to stumble slightly.

"You feed, clothe, and house them for free. Children who are content to settle for that are called the outer household and raised as farmers, artisans, and armed escorts."

They handled all the Demonic Cult's everyday affairs.

"But things are different if they pass the [Trial of Comfort]. They're recognized as disciples of the inner household. Only inner-household disciples formally study demonic arts. That's when they're finally said to have entered the Demonic Cult."

"... And how do you know that?"

Because you killed me in the previous run, and I saw it in your trauma.

I couldn't very well say that, so I merely grinned.

"I know quite a lot."

"Ah, how heartless the heavens are! To bring me such a sly fellow as my final destined encounter. Must I truly accept a good-for-nothing like some Lowly Sect member as a disciple of our Cult...?"

The attendant spirit nodded beside me.

"Yep. This Zombie really is a good-for-nothing straight out of the Lowly Sect! Guess being the Heavenly Demon gives her a decent eye for people."

'What are you even talking about...?'

"If he were a complete good-for-nothing, you could just stop caring. But strangely enough, when it matters, he actually tries, so you can't quite ignore him. That makes him even worse!"

Was that praise? An insult? When I couldn't tell whether someone was praising or insulting me, I preferred to interpret it as praise.

These were bleak times. People had grown stingy with compliments. Shouldn't I, at least, take their words kindly? Yes, even if the speaker was a cranky, bizarre ghost who was negative about absolutely everything, like the attendant spirit...

"That right there is exactly what makes you a good-for-nothing! You little Zombie-twerp bastard!"

I had no idea what he meant. Really.

"... This should do."

A pit had been dug at the place the Heavenly Demon led me to. An enormous pit. Its center was sunken like a colosseum, and dawn's sunlight could not reach it, leaving it dark as midnight.

"Rejoice."

The Heavenly Demon turned to look at me.

"I intend to accept you as my disciple. Demonic rule over the world! So long as one is sufficiently qualified, Heaven does not turn away a member of the Cult."

"Ah! Then..."

"However, I cannot yet accept you as a formal disciple."

Ack.

"Heavenly Demon, that's too much! I came all the way from beyond the borders to become your disciple. I even showed you I'm sufficiently qualified. Yet now you say I'm still not ready to become a formal disciple? What do you mean?"

"... For a start, your words are deeply suspect."

The Heavenly Demon stared at my face.

"I doubt whether you truly came from beyond the borders. I doubt whether you truly admired me for so long. My instincts tell me it is all lies... But your nature does not seem excessively wicked, so I am simply letting it be."

Seriously.

Why did this martial artist have such good instincts?

"Frankly, judging by your disposition alone, you even seem good-hearted, which is strange. Yes, you are a truly strange fellow. Whether you will be a fortuitous encounter for me, or I for you, is difficult to judge just yet."

"... What's the test?"

"There."

The Heavenly Demon pointed to the bottom of the pit.

"I tossed one living-corpse soldier down there. A promising young talent of our Cult, a supreme master who made quite a name in the martial world. Defeat that living corpse. Then I shall accept you as an inner-household disciple. On one condition."

Arms folded, the Heavenly Demon added her condition.

"Fight while feeling hunger."

"Pardon?"

"Exactly as I said. Fight the living-corpse soldier, but your heart must hold only hunger. Only the pain of hunger. No other emotion or thought may enter your mental image."

The Heavenly Demon's voice rang out.

"Can you do it?"

"..."

And I realized.

She already considered me her [disciple].

All her talk of my not yet being a formal disciple, of not being an inner-household disciple, was nothing but empty words. In the Heavenly Demon's heart, I was a disciple who would receive the Demonic Cult's teachings. An heir who would inherit the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven.

"Every stroke of your blade must be a gesture born of starvation."

The Heavenly Demon spoke.

"Recall the voices and groans of the starving, their arm movements, their footsteps, everything. Recall it and plant it in your heart. Make it your single guiding intent. Based on that intent, swing your blade through starvation alone."

"..."

"Only then does the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven reveal its true power."

I looked down into the pit.

"Graaaargh!"

At the very bottom, a zombie was howling. Black martial robes. Old, worn, and tattered though they were, the zombie was unmistakably dressed in the Demonic Cult's clothing.

A pit resembling hell.

Perhaps I could call that zombie my senior fellow disciple.

"If..."

I opened my mouth.

"If I can swing my sword through starvation alone, what happens?"

"You can cut down anyone who has never gone hungry in a single blow."

The Heavenly Demon spoke matter-of-factly.

"Thus, half the martial artists of the orthodox factions become foes you can defeat in one move."

And so they were called:

Claws that rake the world.

"First, learn the Form of Death by Starvation. Next is the Form of Death by Thirst. You must learn to swing your blade through thirst alone, and thus cut down in a single blow those who have never withered from thirst. Next is the Form of Death by Drowning. You will learn nine swords in all, and the nine sword paths you learn will be enough to blanket the world."

I gripped my sword hilt tightly.

"That..."

My heart pounded.

"That sounds pretty appealing."

"Mm."

The Heavenly Demon lifted the corners of her mouth.

It seemed to be the first smile I had seen from her in this life.

Perhaps my fighting spirit pleased her.

"Then why do you hesitate? Hurry up and fall into hell."

And then, I leaped into the zombie pit.