Fragment. (4)
Crack—! Rattle!
The long, fine cracks finally broke apart, and fragments came tumbling down around me.
“Young Master Gu?”
At the voice from behind, I turned to find Murong Huia looking at me with a puzzled expression.
I shook my head, trying to dispel the sensation that I was floating.
I could feel the wind.
I could smell the grass that surrounded us.
Time, which had stopped, began to flow once more.
‘…Had time really stopped?’
From what I had seen, I didn’t think that was the case.
Since I was staggering and my mind felt dazed, perhaps it had been part of an Illusory Art.
Leaving Murong Huia’s sky-blue eyes behind, I examined the lake.
There, the Baegaui-eo, which had been speaking in place of Cheolyeong, was quietly staring at me.
‘Its color has returned.’
The carp’s scales, which had been dull in the frozen world—
Had returned to white before I knew it.
The Baegaui-eo silently gazed at me with its mouth opening and closing, but soon swam away and disappeared somewhere into the lake.
“Benefactor, is something the matter?”
At Huiyeong’s question, I shook my head.
“…No. I was just a little dizzy….”
I stopped speaking and stared at Huiyeong.
Huiyeong seemed puzzled by the way I was looking at him.
But I watched him for a moment.
‘What is this?’
It was strange.
It was a subtle sensation, as though another world had unfolded before me.
[Why do you look like that?]
Old Man Shin’s voice reached me.
Fortunately, it was proof that what had just happened had not been merely an illusion.
“Benefactor?”
At Huiyeong’s call, I hurriedly composed my expression.
“It’s nothing… Nothing at all. Where shall we go next?”
Perhaps because of what had just happened—
It seemed that something within me had changed.
I was beginning to see things that I had never been able to see before.
******************
Huiyeong’s guidance continued after that.
The halls and beautiful buildings that appeared after we passed the lake—
They made it possible to see how brightly Shaolin had shone throughout history.
The beautifully maintained scenery—
It was practically like a painting.
As we walked through those streets, Murong Huia suddenly spoke to me.
“It’s really beautiful.”
It was nearly the first time since entering Shaolin that she had spoken to me first.
Looking at her, I said,
“Is this your first time visiting Shaolin?”
“No. I’ve been here a few times for work.”
That made sense. Was there really anyone born into a prestigious family who had never visited Shaolin?
“What do you think, Young Master?”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It is pretty. I have eyes, too, you know.”
A well-maintained environment was naturally pretty.
Our clan did not particularly concern itself with maintaining such things.
It was kept clean and orderly enough, but that was all.
“I don’t really like things like this.”
At Murong Huia’s words, I glanced at her.
She didn’t like things like this.
I already knew that.
I knew she didn’t particularly care for beautiful scenery such as this.
Especially in the depths of winter.
“I see.”
“Yes. I know it’s pretty, but it isn’t something I can particularly relate to.”
After saying that, she subtly moved closer to my side.
I thought she was simply drawing near, but when I recalled my previous life, it was difficult to understand.
I remembered how she would shudder at the mere thought of coming near me.
Just as I was about to ask Murong Huia why she kept sticking so close—
[…There’s another woman now.]
At Old Man Shin’s interruption, I closed my mouth.
It was a strangely familiar remark, and one I had not heard in a long time.
‘I was wondering why you hadn’t said that.’
[What kind of person keeps adding more women even though he knows it?]
‘When have I ever added anyone…?’
[Of course you didn’t add her. She simply increased in number on her own. Isn’t that right?]
There was certainly some truth in Old Man Shin’s words, so I had nothing to say in rebuttal.
‘…Why don’t you tell me why you slept for so long?’
Ignoring Old Man Shin’s petty nitpicking, I asked him about it first.
By my reckoning, around seven days and nights had passed.
But I didn’t think I had suffered an injury serious enough to leave me unconscious for that long.
‘Did something happen?’
Old Man Shin answered my question in a bored voice.
[Why ask? I went through every hardship imaginable before I came back.]
‘Hardship?’
What kind of hardship was he talking about?
Had he not simply been asleep?
As though reacting to my simplistic thoughts, Old Man Shin spoke with a shudder.
[…You have no idea how violently the thing inside your body rampaged.]
‘It rampaged?’
[Yes. It kept snarling and roaring. It only quieted down recently, but I couldn’t come out.]
If he meant recently, was it because I had drained energy from that Nyo Dragon fellow and Jang Seon-yeon?
‘A beast….’
During my final duel, Dokgo Jun had called the thing inside my body the Lord of the Abyss.
Why did he know about the thing inside me?
Even I didn’t know what it was.
More importantly—
‘Dokgo Jun.’
Hwang A-bulyeong had said that the Blood Demon’s name was Dokgo Jun.
The master of this unknowable energy rolling around inside my body was Dokgo Jun.
And Dokgo Jun appeared to have some connection with the Martial Alliance.
Was he truly the Blood Demon?
‘Old Man Shin.’
[Yes. Don’t worry too much. It held out better than I expected—]
‘I have something to ask you about Dokgo Jun.’
[…What?]
The moment I brought up Dokgo Jun, Old Man Shin’s voice changed drastically.
As calmly as possible, I explained to him what had happened in recent days.
Namgung Cheonjun’s energy.
My duel with Jang Seon-yeon, and Dokgo Jun’s appearance.
Throughout my explanation of this lengthy series of events, Old Man Shin said nothing.
He merely listened in silence until I had finished speaking.
[Haah….]
Then he let out a small sigh.
‘What do you think?’
[It is strange.]
It wasn’t a matter of whether it was true or false.
Strange?
‘What do you mean by strange?’
[His name and the circumstances clearly point to him. Yet the problem is that it does not seem to be entirely so.]
I needed a more detailed explanation.
[If it were the man I knew, he would not use a method like this….]
‘Are you saying he isn’t the Blood Demon?’
[No.]
Old Man Shin answered my question firmly.
[The man you saw is certainly the Blood Demon.]
His voice was exceedingly calm as he said this.
But I could feel it.
The heat contained within that calmness was scorching hot—ready to explode at any moment.
[It seems Cheolyeong’s anxiety was justified. The man had already put down roots in this land.]
Cheolyeong had said that the Blood Demon’s body and power had shattered into fragments and scattered throughout the world.
He had said that the Blood Demon now dreamed of resurrection.
But the truth was that the Blood Demon had already been resurrected.
[However, doesn’t it seem strange to view it that way?]
Old Man Shin continued.
[Given his personality, he would have no reason to hide his existence like this.]
‘What do you mean?’
[How powerful do you think the martial artists of the present day are?]
Following Old Man Shin’s words, I thought of the people who had risen to the pinnacle of the Central Plains one by one.
The Three Supremes, of course, as well as the five experts of the unorthodox path known as the Four Devils and Five Emperors.
Every single one of them was a martial artist who had reached the summit.
[All of them died in the end.]
At the hands of the Heavenly Demon.
[Even to you, doesn’t that seem like an utterly unreasonable level of strength?]
The Heavenly Demon had killed all three of the Heavenly Trio and either placed the Four Devils and Five Emperors beneath his feet or killed them.
It was certainly an absurd level of power. Far too great to consider him the same kind of human.
[The Blood Demon was the same.]
A being who had fought all five people who had reached the Absolute realm in that era and still could not be killed.
That was the Blood Demon.
[His martial prowess was overwhelming. Even if we consider the Heavenly Demon who will appear in this era of the future, I can say with certainty that the Blood Demon was not inferior to him.]
If anything, he may have surpassed him.
‘…He was that powerful?’
If the Blood Demon was truly so extraordinary that he could be compared to the Heavenly Demon—
Then Old Man Shin meant that it was strange for him to be hiding now, even after resurrecting.
[Therefore, it seems he still has not properly recovered his strength.]
Old Man Shin believed that if the Blood Demon had regained his strength, he would never have left the world as it was.
He had apparently shattered himself into fragments and scattered them throughout the world.
There was no way he could resurrect easily after that.
But the problem, in the end, was that the Blood Demon was connected to the Alliance.
‘Considering that I only learned of this after regressing, either he has hidden himself extremely well, or something is wrong.’
And there was one more thing.
‘Could the Heavenly Demon really not have known about this?’
I didn’t think so.
There was no way that absurd existence could have been unaware of it.
‘Could the reason the Heavenly Demon tried to attack the Alliance also be connected to this?’
Old Man Shin had said it once.
He had said that the Blood Demon seemed similar to the Heavenly Demon.
Now, I had begun to suspect that there might be a connection between the two.
[To learn more about this, we will ultimately have to find that bald monk’s man, just as the bald monk said. Only then will we learn anything more.]
‘Even so, you said we don’t even know where he is.’
How was I supposed to find him when I didn’t even know his location?
At my words, Old Man Shin spoke with a mocking laugh.
[It’s obvious that sly bastard is buried somewhere in a spirit object. We can start by looking for that. Your bride, not to mention that clan head, is in your hands, so it shouldn’t be difficult.]
‘…Bride….’
[Don’t flinch like that. You look pathetic.]
Since Old Man Shin spoke as though the word disgusted him, I covered it up with a few coughs.
The Namgung Clan’s spirit object….
Could the Thunder Heaven One Sword truly be there?
[Even if it isn’t, we’ll find it somehow.]
Perhaps because he had met Cheolyeong and heard what he had to say, Old Man Shin seemed even more fired up than usual.
Sensing something ominous, I immediately asked him,
‘You don’t mean I have to find it, do you?’
[Then shall I find it?]
At his shamelessly confident reply, I let out a hollow laugh.
This is driving me insane….
Strangely enough, the reason I didn’t protest despite everything being dragged into this was—
I had a feeling that none of these matters were entirely unrelated to me.
The things Dokgo Jun had said to me.
The fact that his energy resembled that of Wi Seol-ah, who would later be known as the Divine Sword.
There were more than a few things that seemed suspicious.
“…ng Master.”
‘Then, first, we’ll return to the clan and—’
“Young Master Gu!”
Lost in thought, I heard a loud voice and whipped my head to the side.
Poke!
The moment I turned, something prodded me in the cheek.
I looked to see what it was and found Murong Huia’s finger.
“You’re finally looking this way.”
She seemed to be speaking in a rather bright tone.
But because of her uniquely alluring air and coldness, it did not suit her at all.
“…What are you doing?”
I spoke to her with an utterly incredulous expression.
But Murong Huia merely curved the corners of her eyes and continued to smile faintly.
“I kept calling you, but you wouldn’t look over here.”
“Then you should have tapped me on the shoulder.”
“That would have been a little rude.”
And poking someone else’s cheek was fine…?
Perhaps she didn’t notice my stiff expression, because Murong Huia continued speaking.
“You must have something important to attend to. You’ve been walking around blankly for a while now.”
“Something came up.”
“Are you finished with your business in Shaolin?”
I nodded at Murong Huia’s question.
In the first place, I had come to Shaolin because of Old Man Shin’s request.
Meeting Cheolyeong might have been Old Man Shin’s wish, but—
For the moment, it seemed my business here was finished.
However—
“I thought I had more or less finished one thing.”
I looked at the little novice monk in front of us, who was staring blankly ahead while yawning.
“But another matter has come up.”
I withdrew my gaze after watching him for a moment and spoke to Murong Huia.
“Miss Murong.”
“Yes?”
“Do you have some business with me?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was far too confident.
Well, after making it so obvious, how could I possibly not know?
“What business is that? It couldn’t be that you’re interested in me.”
“Why do you think that? I might be interested in you.”
Murong Huia was interested in me?
Even if the sun rose from the ground instead of the west, I didn’t think something like that would happen.
[…Damn you.]
Old Man Shin whispered quietly.
Perhaps he was lamenting that this was what he had to see the moment he woke up.
‘Ah, Moyong….’
In that instant, I remembered what Cheolyeong had said.
Had Old Man Shin said he used to follow a woman from the Moyong Clan?
But then the woman had been snatched away by the Noecheon Ilgeom….
“Urk…!”
A faint groan escaped me as pain squeezed my dantian tight.
This shameless old man, seriously…!
[…It would be best if you forgot that lying bald monk.]
‘Why should I forget it when you say it was a lie…? Noya, was it really Moyong….’
[Will you shut your mouth right now!?]
I could not see Old Man Shin’s face, but for some reason, I could tell that even his face had turned red.
It must have.
“Young Master? Are you hurting anywhere?”
“…No. I guess something I ate earlier didn’t agree with me.”
I forced my hunched back upright. Then I continued the conversation from earlier.
“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like you’re interested in me, Miss.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you don’t have that kind of look in your eyes.”
At my firm answer, Moyong Hui-a’s eyes widened slightly.
Perhaps it was a little much to make such a judgment based on her eyes.
But I knew Moyong Hui-a fairly well, in my own way.
“I don’t know what you want, but if you have business with me, it would be better to just tell me plainly. I don’t really like this sort of thing.”
Since I knew what she was really like, it was very uncomfortable to have her put on airs in front of me like this.
I spoke as clearly as possible, drawing a firm line between us, but Moyong Hui-a gave no answer.
‘What in the world is this?’
She looked as though she had shrunk slightly.
If I had to compare it to something, she looked like a cat drenched by the rain.
But even that might have been an act.
Without waiting for an answer, I turned and began walking.
After I had taken a few steps, I sensed Moyong Hui-a following me.
After walking a little farther behind Huiyeong, we arrived at the entrance through which we had first come in.
Huiyeong pressed his palms together as though seeing us off and bid us farewell.
“I hope that the meaning of Buddhism has reached you both, if only a little.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“If you intend to look around a bit more, please feel free to do so. Then.”
After saying that, Huiyeong turned around.
I watched the little novice monk’s back for a moment, then started down the stairs.
Moyong Hui-a also slowly followed me down.
I asked her,
“Is another attendant waiting below?”
Perhaps because I had spoken to her so suddenly, Moyong Hui-a’s answer came somewhat late.
“…Oh, yes. My attendant should be waiting.”
When I turned around and glanced at Moyong Hui-a, her ears were red.
She was probably sensitive to the cold to begin with. Why had she followed me?
‘And without even telling me why.’
I had no idea what business she had with me, but if she was unwilling to say, I had no intention of prying.
I looked at her with an awkward expression, then casually spoke.
“Could you give me your hand for a moment?”
“Pardon?”
Moyong Hui-a held out her hand with a puzzled expression.
I remembered how Namgung Bi-ah’s hands and ears had turned red from the cold before.
‘Tsk.’
I took her hand and infused it with warmth.
“You’re extremely sensitive to the cold, so I don’t know why you’re doing something like this. Don’t put yourself through needless hardship. It inconveniences other people, too.”
I knew a little about her constitution.
I knew that the heat of the Fire Art would not truly be of any help to her.
But—
“When I’m beside you, I feel a little less cold, at least.”
Because that useless memory came back to me, I meddled more than I should have.
Perhaps because of the warmth she felt in her hand, Moyong Hui-a’s body flinched.
I knew her insides would not grow warm anyway.
How many seconds had I held her hand?
When I felt I had given her an adequate amount of warmth, I immediately let go of her hand.
“Please go on ahead. I left something behind at Shaolin, so I think I’ll have to go back for a moment before leaving.”
“Ah…! Wait!”
Moyong Hui-a hurriedly tried to say something to me, but I ignored her and ran back up toward Shaolin.
Because of that—
“As I thought….”
I did not hear Moyong Hui-a’s whispered words.
******************
Huiyeong was a young novice monk.
He had been picked up by a Shaolin martial artist at birth and had lived as a Buddhist disciple ever since.
With a gentle nature and no small talent for martial arts, he was a child loved by many in Shaolin.
He was also good at guiding visitors, and Huiyeong himself enjoyed dealing with people, so he always put his heart into it.
He did it so well that some people even sought him out whenever they came up to Shaolin.
Immediately after finishing his guide duty, Huiyeong picked up a broom and moved on.
He had to sweep the floors and then go practice martial arts.
Rustle.
As he walked through the forest inside Shaolin with the broom in hand, a sound came from behind, and Huiyeong turned around.
“Oh? Benefactor.”
Standing there was Gu Yangcheon, whom he had guided around Shaolin that day.
Huiyeong had seen him off, so he had thought the man had gone down already.
It seemed he had come back up because he still had some business left.
Huiyeong looked at Gu Yangcheon and spoke with a slight smile.
“Have you perhaps left something—”
“Hey.”
Gu Yangcheon’s voice cut him off, and Huiyeong flinched.
That was only natural. Gu Yangcheon’s voice was far too frightening for young Huiyeong to endure.
The murderous intent clinging thickly to that voice made Huiyeong’s legs tremble instinctively.
“B-Benefactor…?”
“Where did you put it?”
“What are you talking about… Cough!”
As Huiyeong tried to ask in a trembling voice, Gu Yangcheon darted forward like lightning and seized him by the neck.
“Khk…. Cough, cough…!”
Squeeze—!
Huiyeong coughed and choked under the pressure on his throat, but Gu Yangcheon merely glared at him with blazing eyes.
“B… Benefactor… *gurgle*…. Save… me….”
Huiyeong was terrified and begged for his life, but—
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
At Gu Yangcheon’s words, his trembling body went still.
At the same time, Huiyeong’s scream, which had been spilling out along with drool, ceased.
“You saw me before, didn’t you? Right.”
A few months ago, at the Gu Clan.
At Gu Yangcheon’s words, spoken with certainty, the terror on Huiyeong’s face instantly changed into an expressionless mask.
Soon, Huiyeong’s small face began to writhe and change.
A grotesque appearance overlaid his features, but the thing that had been Huiyeong spoke to Gu Yangcheon.
“How did you know?”
Crack—!
At those words, Gu Yangcheon did not hesitate. He twisted the thing’s neck with force and broke it.