Chapter 79 - The Scent of Snow (2)

3

Only after a long while were the Heavenly Demon and I able to return to the others.

"..."

"..."

We were both solemn.

As we walked through the cave, the Heavenly Demon said only, "... It is quite dark underfoot. Watch your step." All I said in reply was, "Yes." That was the end of our conversation. When I stole a sideways glance at her face, it was clouded with worry.

The Heavenly Demon—no.

What was Master thinking?

'Character window.'

There was a saying that a disciple should not even tread on their master's shadow, but I could hardly contain my curiosity. Had showing her my weakness made Master more cautious around me? That wasn't what I wanted.

+

Name: So Baekhyang

Affinity: 85

Preferred Genres: [Martial Arts Fiction]

Disliked Genres: [Classics], [Myths], [History], [Fairy Tales]

Preferred Characters: [Common People], [Rivals], [Disciples]

Disliked Characters: [Oppressors], [Deceivers], [Idlers]

Preferred Plots: [Contests Fought with All One's Might]

Disliked Plots: [Escape], [Oblivion], [Meaningless Death]

Mental State: 'Let me see. Judging by my remaining power... if I use it with the utmost care, I could live another year and six months. A year and a half! Ah, what a difficult task! I must pass everything I have on to my disciple within a year and a half...'

+

Hmm...

Hmm.

My face prickled. I felt guilty for peeking into Master's mind without permission... but that wasn't all. Embarrassment. A little emotion. I didn't know exactly what it was, but my face had grown terribly hot.

Ah, was I really this vulnerable to people's kindness?

"Heh! Zombie! Today's the day! What a stroke of luck!"

Of course, that tender feeling didn't last long.

The ghostly bastard, who wasn't even human, had ruined it all.

"Well! I guess martial-world bastards have the same brains no matter what world they're in. It wasn't all that different from our Murim. Still, reading martial arts manuals for the first time in ages really lifts the spirits. Ahh! Oh, right. Did your Rite of Nine Bows go well?"

"..."

"Huh? What's with that nasty look? It makes your already ugly face even uglier, Zombie. You ought to take better care of your looks."

If I had an affinity score on display, it would have just dropped by about ten points.

Ghosts really didn't understand the human heart.

[Sparkle finally stops sobbing and gazes up at the hero.]

Sparkle, who had been trembling all this time, finally stopped.

Constellations were the ones who understood the human heart, after all.

My affinity toward Sparkle rose by 30.

"Oh, you're back?"

Viper addressed us. His lone eye soon turned toward me.

"Finished the Rite of Nine Bows?"

"Yes. I'm officially a disciple of the Demonic Cult now."

"Good. Congratulations."

"So, Viper, how did you end up becoming the Murim Alliance Leader's disciple?"

Viper chuckled and folded his arms.

"Well, it just happened."

"That's what you said last time, too."

"What, you want the whole story?"

"If possible."

Viper made a show of folding his arms. Then, with a broad smile that left no room for so much as a needle, he shook his head.

"Sorry, but that's impossible."

He continued nonchalantly.

"I just asked him to teach me. Nothing really happened."

Hmm.

Now that our sparring match was over, I opened Viper's psychology window.

'Tch. That dying old man... No. He's my master now.'

'Anyway, he told me he didn't have long left and wanted to give the Heavenly Demon a reason to live. He even bowed all the way to the ground. How could I refuse that? And how could I tell anyone?'

'Especially when he's so much more skilled than me...'

I stared at Viper, feeling as though I'd been struck over the head.

Viper.

He was a "real man."

'Whew~ Maybe it's because I lied, but the memories are all coming back.'

'The Murim Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon spar now and then. Watching them, I'd already been thinking those two were pretty impressive.'

'So, while the two of them were sitting together, I talked with them about martial arts.'

'Then the Murim Alliance Leader suddenly freaked out. ["Kyaa! Hey, hey, you! Is that really true?! A once-in-a-millennium prodigy like you! How blessed are the lands beyond the borders?!"] That's what he said.'

'I scratched the back of my head, thinking, Hmm, all this fuss over something so small...'

'Then that old geezer Medicine King butted in, like he couldn't see why anyone would make such a fuss.'

'["Ah, yes. This fellow, the Heavenly Martial Sect's leader, may not look it, but he's a precious [comrade] of ours. You could say it's only natural that he should possess such skill, character, and good looks."] That's what he told them.'

'The Apothecary blushed demurely, too.'

'["Yes... Th-the Heavenly Martial Sect's dear big broth... er... Oh, no! I-I-I didn't say anything! Anyway, the Heavenly Martial Sect's leader is a top-ranked hunter in our world... Y-you could call him an idol everyone in our world looks up to... Ahaha, ha, eep! I-I said something so embarrassing!"] Then she cupped both cheeks in her hands.'

'With that unexpected feast of facts raining down on me, all I could do was gaze off at the distant mountains.'

'Then the Murim Alliance Leader nodded as though everything made sense.'

'["Hey, hey, I'm begging you! You once-in-a-millennium prodigy! Please become my final personally taught disciple!"]'

'Hah~ What a predicament.'

'All I want is to live quietly. Honestly, why is there never a calm day in my life...?'

Right.

Let's stop looking.

Viper.

He really was a "real man."

"Death King. And Madam Demonic Cult Leader."

The greatest "real man" of our age shrugged.

"I've got one piece of good news and one piece of bad news for you."

"What is it?"

"I succeeded."

It wasn't Viper who answered my question. The voice was much fainter. It belonged to the Apothecary, who was walking toward us wearing her thick-lensed glasses.

"The cure. I've succeeded in developing it, Death King."

"..."

It wasn't because I was moved by her announcement that I couldn't answer right away.

The Apothecary was a genius. My faith that she would eventually develop a cure was so absolute that it was only a matter of how long it would take.

I'd spent a great deal of time learning the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven. With the Medicine King's help, it was about time she developed the cure.

"What? You have made the medicine?"

Master looked astonished.

"Is that truly so? If you are lying, confess it now. I am the sort to overlook a single lie."

"... Yes, it's true," the Apothecary said.

"Actually, I developed it yesterday. I waited another day because I needed to observe the clinical trial."

"Clinical trial? What is that?"

"It's testing whether the cure works as it should. The specimen you and the Alliance Leader donated... I'm sorry. I monitored the body of the man who was the leader of Wudang for a full day."

The Apothecary seemed to be making an effort to keep her face expressionless.

"He'd been dead far too long to be revived, but I confirmed that the zombie virus... the plague was cured, and he returned to being an ordinary corpse. Yes, there's nothing wrong with the cure."

"If that is true, is it not tremendous news?!"

Master brightened.

"Remarkable! Every physician and Taoist in the martial world worked on this strange disease, yet all surrendered in defeat. For just two people to discover the answer—you possess no ordinary talent!"

"No, it was only thanks to the data Death King provided..."

"Enough modesty. Treat that old Axe Immortal at once!"

Master seized both of the Apothecary's hands. Her delight was vividly apparent in every gesture and movement.

"He puts on every show of strength and superiority, but in truth, he has few days left to endure. He knows it himself. That must be why he took a child from beyond the borders as his disciple. That the medicine was developed before the old man passed away is truly the care of the Heavenly Sovereign!"

"Yes... Of course we'll treat him. That's why I came here..."

Then I spoke.

"There's a problem with the cure, isn't there?"

"..."

"Isn't that right, boss?"

The Apothecary lowered her head. Her complexion was as faint as her voice. Ever since she'd said she had succeeded in developing the cure, she had kept avoiding my eyes. I'd felt uneasy from that moment on.

"No, there's nothing wrong with the cure... I made it, after all. It's perfect. But..."

But.

"But what?"

"It seems we must destroy our dantians."

TAP.

A light footstep sounded.

"You demon, I also witnessed that long-nosed Taoist's corpse return to normal. We brought in another two or three living-corpse soldiers to test, just to be sure, but the results were the same. There is no doubting the efficacy of this young lady's medicine."

The Murim Alliance Leader, the Axe Immortal.

The old man in white Taoist robes slowly approached us.

"But you must know this, too. The two of us are already half corpses. We have been forcibly keeping bodies that died long ago alive."

"..."

Master's expression had hardened.

The Murim Alliance Leader stroked his beard with an easy air.

"It's a marvel that we've survived this long in defiance of heaven's laws. We ought to pay the price."

"... For both of you, it's been far too long since you were infected with the living-corpse disease."

The Apothecary spoke.

"For someone who hasn't been infected yet, or someone only recently infected, a single vaccine shot is enough for both treatment and prevention. But for you two..."

With her head bowed low, the Apothecary spoke rapidly.

"There's nothing abnormal above the cervical point. Once you take the cure, that will return to normal, as it was before you were infected. But below the cervical point, what you call internal energy is completely indistinguishable from the pathogen... from the turbid energy, I mean."

The lower dantian was in especially serious condition, she said.

"The channels your internal energy moves through are the same channels the turbid energy has spread through. To put it simply, we need to clean a hallway. But the cure isn't a delicate pair of tweezers. It's a blunt broom. When you sweep a hallway with a broom, you can't remove the dust separately from the grains of sand. Too much dust has accumulated in your hallways. In particular, your lower dantians are in terrible condition..."

The dantian was where internal energy accumulated.

To a martial artist, it was as precious as life itself.

"We have to remove all of it."

"... When you say remove..."

Master spoke.

"What do you mean by remove?"

"We have to get rid of it."

The Apothecary forced out her voice.

"We'll perform surgery."

"... Do you mean to remove a tumor attached to the dantian? That much is acceptable. We would lose some power, but at our level, we could recover it quickly."

"No. We'll excise the entire part."

"..."

"You don't have to worry about whether the surgery will succeed. We've already performed a clinical operation. I'm not a surgical specialist, but the Medicine King is skilled. I-I can assist him, too. So..."

"His skill in the procedure was extraordinary," the Murim Alliance Leader remarked.

"Whatever else may be true, it seems we ought to seek physicians beyond the borders, not in the martial world. Watching from beside him was quite a wonder. You demon, you should observe it yourself when you have the chance."

"Namgung Un."

"I..."

The Murim Alliance Leader coughed.

"I will undergo the procedure."

"..."

"The internal energy I stand to lose is only a handful anyway. Nothing to lament. Nothing to regret. I'm glad I took a disciple in my old age. Even with my dantian destroyed, I'll still have the wits to teach him. And the boy is a once-in-a-millennium prodigy who understands ten things when you tell him one."

The Murim Alliance Leader looked at his longtime rival.

"We are martial artists. Martial arts are the heart. If the heart remains, so do the martial arts. Wouldn't you agree, Baekhyang?"

Master could not answer.

The Murim Alliance Leader underwent the procedure throughout the night. Around dawn, the Apothecary and Medicine King informed us that the operation was over.

The surgery was a success.

4

At dawn, the snowfield held the color of shadows.

"Master."

"..."

Master stood alone at the cave entrance, looking down upon a world turned to shadow. Her long black sleeves fluttered in the wind.

The landscape was distant.

Her back seemed a little more distant still.

"Master."

"... Have the results of the procedure come?"

"Yes."

"How did it go?"

"There were no complications."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"So that is how it turned out."

Master's gaze was fixed on empty space.

"My disciple."

"Yes."

"I wished to cut away all the cold beneath heaven," Master said.

"I have felt that way since childhood. I resented winter. I hated the snow that fell in winter. I wondered why the world had seasons, why among those seasons there was winter, and why, whenever the season waned, human lives had to wane with it."

A world frozen forever into winter.

Born with both an Ice-and-Snow Constitution and an Extreme Yin Constitution, she hated the season that most resembled her.

"Even if a single sword could not cut away all the cold beneath heaven, I was confident I could execute those who made the world freeze. I remember when I first entered the martial world. It was the depths of winter then, too."

I noticed something had changed in Master's appearance.

A sword.

Master held a sword in her right hand. It had no guard. There was only a hilt and a blade. Unlike other swords, clear as mirrors, Master's sword was pitch-black, the color of ink.

A blade that refused to become clear.

Though this was my first time seeing it, I could guess what it was.

"The Blood-Annihilating Demonic Sword..."

"Yes," Master murmured.

"There was something I tried when I first appeared in the martial world. It was youthful folly. Taking the cold beneath heaven literally as a thing of this world, I sought to cut down a snowy mountain."

Master breathed.

The breath she released at dawn was white.

In the sky touched by that whiteness, a towering mountain peak rose.

"Back then, I could not even cut through its foot..."

Master raised her sword.

"I wonder how I shall fare now."

The blade swung.

It was a slow gesture.

Master's sleeves were long, and they had to flutter for some time to follow her hand. As the black sleeves swayed in the air, the world's time seemed to pause. In that stilled space, her sleeves swam freely.

"Baraya."

A sword dance.

"Baraya."

A sword shaman.

"I, Baraya."

The priestess of the sword burned away in the sword's dance.

"My heart is a candle flame."

And.

"I shall burn this place."

The snowy mountain was cut.

The snow-covered peak, harboring no trees and exposing no rock, with no meaning beyond the fact that it stood there, was cut.

The snow-laden mountain's scream resembled thunder. A spray of pure white blood burst forth along with its echoing cry. The snowy mountain crumbled from its peak, raising waves of snow, and the waves raced down in layer upon layer. It collapsed and collapsed. A blizzard made not by heaven but by a human engulfed the dawn.

"..."

Master let out a breath.

"In the end, I cut only the peak. I cut the mountain with my heart, yet could not cut it away. 'The heart itself is the killing' remains far beyond my reach. This, then, is my final realm."

"..."

"My disciple."

Master turned to me.

A great mountain was breaking apart in white.

"I will undergo the procedure."