Episode 176. Fragment. (1)
It seemed Murong Hui wanted something from me.
It was more bewildering than the world around me coming to a halt.
“A carp is talking…?”
The carp was speaking.
The way it pronounced words so clearly with its gaping mouth was unspeakably grotesque.
[You little wretch.]
And its mouth was filthy.
[If someone calls you, you ought to answer. How dare you be so ill-mannered after having lived so long.]
“Are you talking to me right now?”
[Then who else is here besides you?]
There were plenty of people; it was just that none of them were moving.
That wasn’t what was important right now.
“…What are you?”
[Can you not tell by looking?]
If one were to go by appearances, it was obvious.
It was a carp.
A white, precious carp that had lived for hundreds of years, called Shaolin’s treasure.
Had they called it Baek-a?
It was an impressive-sounding name.
As I made a bewildered expression, the carp continued, opening and closing its mouth.
[Your surprised face is truly a mess. To think the face of one born defying the cycle of reincarnation could be so fierce…]
“What on earth are you talking about?”
The situation being what it was, and here I was being personally attacked by a mere carp.
When I spat out that I had no idea what it was saying, the carp’s whiskers fluttered.
Its expression seemed to change slightly as well.
Perhaps it was something like a sneer.
[Sincheol, you little wretch. Do you wish to jest even in this situation?]
‘Sincheol.’
There was no need to wonder who the carp was referring to.
By Sincheol, it meant the Dao name of the old man sprawled out in my body without even paying rent.
‘The problem is why that carp sees me as Sin Noya.’
Could this sight, as if time had stopped, also be that carp’s doing?
‘They called it a precious object…’
It wasn’t even an object to begin with. What precious object? It was a demonic creature.
I spoke to the carp at once.
“You seem to be mistaken. I am not Sincheol.”
[You filthy little wretch. If anyone knows how little time remains, it is you. Why do you act this way?]
“It seems you have no intention of listening…?”
The moment I spoke in disbelief, the carp’s whisker stretched out long and caressed my cheek.
The slimy sensation was repulsive, and I tried to grab it, but the whisker evaded my grasp and withdrew.
Once withdrawn, it wriggled its whisker and spoke to me, holding back laughter.
[Your fleshly body alone is superbly crafted. Not only have you crossed the wall, but you have already begun laying the groundwork to reach Transcendence.]
“…”
At the carp’s words, cold sweat trickled down my back.
Because it was true.
I had been preparing in advance to reach the Transformation Realm from the Peak.
My martial realm had reached the Peak and crossed the wall, and my inner qi was gradually merging with my flesh, laying the cornerstone to reach Transcendence.
Just as crossing from First-Rate to Peak had once been called the graveyard of martial artists,
reaching the realm called the Transformation Realm from the Peak was even harder.
Even for me as I was now, it would take at least several years.
‘Did it see through all that at a glance?’
[That you could raise a mere lump of blood and flesh to such heights is the first proof that you are who you are. And the second was even greater.]
Splash.
A droplet of water splashed my cheek as the carp thrashed and leaped.
[Daring to jest with me despite carrying such a dense plum blossom fragrance. You damned wretch.]
Ah.
‘Is it because of the Dao Qi in my body?’
The Dao Qi that had come along with Sin Noya from Mount Hua’s precious object.
It was so dense that it had affected the fire energy of the Jiuyan Huolun Gong, even changing its color.
Sin Noya had said that the Dao Qi I possessed was denser than that of Yingfeng, the Plum Blossom Swordsman.
The problem was that merely sensing that was not reason enough to mistake me for Sin Noya.
Above all, Noya was a dead man.
[So let us end the jest here. I am glad things seem to have gone according to our hopes, but I do not have much time.]
“I’ll say it again. I am not that person….”
When I denied it once more, the carp snorted.
To think such a distinct expression could come from that vacant-looking face.
[Very well, if you insist. I had not intended to go this far.]
Was it going to do something?
Fearing an attack might come, I slightly raised my aura.
I wondered if I should be on guard against a carp, but since it was something like a demonic creature that had lived for hundreds of years, one could never tell.
Contrary to my heightened wariness, no attack came.
Far from attacking, the carp looked at me with a determined expression and began to speak.
[It was something from our youth. Surely you remember? When you were chasing after a child of the Murong clan…]
At the carp’s words, I felt a sudden welling up near my dantian.
It transformed into pain, forcing me to grimace involuntarily.
The feeling of something constricting tightly felt as if it were throwing a tantrum.
‘Could this be…?’
Was that monstrous thing that devoured all my energy about to run rampant again?
[After confessing for three days and nights, in the end your life into that bastard’s hands…]
Just as the carp was about to say something—
[You damned baldy…! Shut up!]
A familiar voice burst out inside my head.
“…Huh?”
[Hng?]
[Oh?]
A serene silence circulated for a moment.
Amid the continued silence, an old man with a rather foul-sounding voice spoke up.
[…So this works?]
Sin Noya murmured as if hollow.
Speaking of Huang’e Foying Tieying, he was the person renowned as having possessed the most outstanding martial might in Shaolin’s history.
A Buddhist who had reached the highest realm.
One of the five supreme experts who had survived the Bloody Tribulation of the Blood Demon.
Tieying was a figure who, it would be no exaggeration to say, had paved the way for the glorious Shaolin of today.
Such a person.
Gap, gap.
‘That carp?’
I looked at the white carp opening and closing its mouth with a blank expression.
Its swimming motions and snow-white scales looked noble and elegant, but
the uniquely stupid-looking face characteristic of a carp felt like a flaw.
I did not think it was a lie.
Since none other than Sin Noya had said so, it must be true.
Noya stared at the carp for a long while before speaking.
[Tieying, what in the world is that form of yours now?]
It was bewildering enough that the gentleman who had done nothing but sleep without a sound until now had suddenly jumped out,
and there was no time to ask what he was doing coming out now.
Sin Noya was busy conversing with that carp—to be precise, with Huang’e Foying.
[That is what I wish to ask, Sincheol.]
…
…..
The light-sounding voice from before disappeared.
An indescribable weight hung in the air.
[…Why are you in such a form?]
[For the same reason as you, no doubt.]
That carp was called Shaolin’s precious object.
Just as Sin Noya had been sleeping inside Mount Hua’s precious object, had Tieying also been slumbering within a precious object?
‘It has its own credibility.’
Since Sin Noya had done so, it was possible for Tieying as well, but
to believe that, one had to explain why a master of the past had his soul bound to a precious object.
Previously, Sin Noya had said he did not know the reason.
If it were Tieying, he might know.
‘Had Noya been expecting this?’
It was a possibility.
I recalled Sin Noya’s words telling me to make sure to find Shaolin if I went to Henan.
Had Noya perhaps been hoping for this situation?
As expected.
Sin Noya asked Tieying.
[Tieying, do you know the reason why I—why we—remain in this form in the modern era?]
The reason Noya was able to remain in this era.
And the cause of his remaining.
[…You. Why do you ask that?]
[Is it not obvious I ask because I do not know?]
[…]
[Tieying.]
Huang’e Foying, who had kept spitting out words until just now, chose silence for a moment.
It was silent.
Without even a breath to say the world had stopped, it was that silent.
Unable to endure the silence, Sin Noya urged Tieying on.
[Tieying, why do you not answer…?]
[Is that child not you?]
[What?]
[I mean to say, the lad I am looking at now is not you.]
It was a bizarre question.
Me, not Sin Noya?
Sin Noya, also not understanding, immediately asked back.
[What nonsense is that? Of course I am this child.]
To Noya’s question, Tieying remained silent.
He merely looked at me with his opening-and-closing mouth.
[Tieying.]
Perhaps sensing something strange, Noya kept calling that name.
Before long, a sigh was heard.
[…I see. So it truly did not work after all.]
[What in the world are you saying? You must explain so that I can understand.]
[Sincheol.]
[Speak.]
The slender, swaying whiskers sank deep below the water’s surface.
As if reflecting Tieying’s mood.
[Did you not say you have no memory?]
[Yes, I… I cannot remember anything. So you must tell me.]
From after the Blood Demon died—what had become of him, why he had to remain here wandering the living world as a spirit—Sin Noya could not remember.
Noya, who knew nothing unlike the recorded history, had dearly wished for Tieying to resolve this question, but—
[Do you know that reason?]
To Noya’s question, Tieying answered, his mouth gaping.
[I know. I know all too well.]
[If so.]
[But I cannot tell you.]
At Tieying’s words, Sin Noya flared up instantly.
[Are you jesting with me now?]
[I dearly wish I could tell you, but seeing you in such a form, I can say nothing.]
[What in the world do you mean by that…]
[For hundreds of years. After no short wait to meet you, the only thing I learned is that the cycle of reincarnation cannot be severed.]
Was it an illusion?
The carp’s beautiful scales seemed to lose some of their color.
Even as the two conversed, I simply kept my mouth shut and listened quietly.
Not only was there no room to interrupt, but Noya’s emotions were being felt all too keenly.
This was not something I could speak carelessly about.
[Will you keep spewing only strange words?]
[How far do you remember?]
To Tieying’s question, Sin Noya thought briefly before answering.
[Cheokma Mountain. The final battle with the Blood Demon. I remember that moment.]
At Sin Noya’s words, Tieying laughed hollowly.
[Then, it is true that you know nothing.]
As the incomprehensible answers continued, Sin Noya finally could not hold back and shouted.
[You damned baldy…! If you are going to answer, answer properly!]
Even at Noya’s shout, Tieying’s reaction was the same. Indifferent and blank.
From the moment Sin Noya appeared in spirit form, Tieying’s reaction had been one of collapse.
Unable to endure that reaction, Sin Noya clenched his teeth and brought up another matter.
[…Just one. Answer just one thing straight.]
Though Tieying’s answer was not heard, Sin Noya continued.
[Is the Blood Demon dead?]
In that instant, an illusion as if wind was blowing swept over at Noya’s question.
Though the surroundings were all stopped and it should not have been possible, for some reason that feeling brushed past.
Tieying, who had been twitching his whiskers, gave an answer this time.
[Fortunately, I can answer this. However, you seem to already know the answer. Am I wrong?]
[…]
At Tieying’s words, a tremor was felt near my dantian.
This meant Noya was shaken.
And then, at the words Tieying added—
[He is not dead.]
The Dao Qi that had been sleeping inside my dantian thrashed violently.
“Noya…!”
I tried hard to grab and calm the rampaging Dao Qi, but
Sin Noya, as if unable to hear, was continuously expressing his emotions.
In the midst of it, I too was shocked by Tieying’s words.
How could I not be shocked?
‘The Blood Demon did not die?’
Centuries ago, the Blood Demon who had sought to dye the Central Plains in blood.
It was said that the Great War of the Blood Demon had ended with five supreme experts killing the Blood Demon.
‘Such a figure did not die…?’
Tieying’s words were as if the Blood Demon were still alive even now.
All this time.
[Judging by your reaction, it seems you do not remember the final moment.]
[…Explain what happened properly.]
[Did you not hear the answer you wanted? The Blood Demon still lives on this land.]
[That cannot be, history clearly…]
[Do you still believe in history? Even after all you have suffered?]
At Tieying’s sharp words, Sin Noya swallowed a groan.
[Yes, you are not wrong. The Blood Demon certainly breathed his last in that battle.]
[Then…!]
[But he did not die.]
The wind felt at my back seemed to grow a little stronger.
Hot and viscous, ill-suited to the cold of winter.
It was a wind filled with heat.
[For even in death, he tethered himself to this land.]
[To put it simply…]
The white-scaled carp slowly swam this way.
As if to meet Noya’s eyes.
Then, a resolute voice flowed from its gaping mouth.
[The Blood Demon dreams of resurrection, Huashan Sword Immortal.]
At Tieying’s words, my dantian shook as if an earthquake had struck.