Episode 335. Listen, Mother. (1)
“What the….”
[If you ask the reason, it is simply that there was no other way. Because the child was crying sorrowfully. Because this old tree could do nothing more than that. If I were to seek a reason, nothing else comes to mind.]
“ ”
[To travel against the current of time to the past is no different from bearing karma upon your soul.]
A frown furrowed my brow.
Because that was a story that resonated clearly with me as well.
[The child chose, but a deed ordained by the principles of the world cannot be transgressed.]
‘That means….
[However, that child must have accomplished something. Is that not so, Apostle? Is it not why you are able to face me now?]
Just as the World Tree said, Yeonilcheon succeeded in sealing the Blood Demon.
The meaning that sealing was all he could manage to do—could probably be understood from this.
And.
In time, the Blood Demon would be resurrected.
And it also meant that a thing such as the world would not make the same mistake twice.
‘In the end, the apocalypse will come.’
Those were the words Yeonilcheon once told me.
No matter how hard one tries, the end will come. Whether it be the Blood Demon.
Or something else entirely.
‘Is this “world” the World Tree speaks of… an existence akin to a god?’
A god that Wudang and Shaolin hold in such reverence.
Could it be such an existence?
‘That would be strange as well.’
If the World Tree’s existence has been erased and it no longer remains in the world.
It means it once existed.
What form did Daoism take in that world?
With such a vast existence already serving as its master, could one have believed in a god?
‘Now isn’t the time to worry about such things.’
I shook my head, erasing the thought. There was much else I needed to know.
This was no time to be agonizing over trivial worries.
“…Then… ha.”
A sigh slipped out as I spoke.
The current situation was too much to bear.
So in the end, this whole situation was because of the mess our ancestor made.
Was it right to say I was cleaning it up?
Though strictly speaking, that might not be the case.
To me, it looked that way.
‘Where do I even start…’
Just what should I ask first?
There was so much that it was hard to recall.
Fuck….
My head was a mess.
How did things end up like this?
What should I ask first?
Should I ask what the seed is?
Should I ask what the Heavenly Demon is?
Should I ask what this place is?
Should I start by asking what the hell my regression even is?
Or.
If not that….
[Apostle.]
“…!”
While I was forcibly rummaging through my chaotic thoughts.
The World Tree’s voice reached me.
[You seem quite exhausted, Apostle.]
….
!
.
“…Not particularly.”
It was a lie.
I already knew myself.
That it was burdensome and heavy.
That it was hard because of that.
“You said my regression wasn’t your doing.”
[Yes, your act of defying time was not done by me.]
Indeed, it had said it didn’t even have the strength left for that.
Could those words be true?
Or could it be a lie….
Smack—!
My head snapped from a punch I swung at myself.
I had hit myself to come to my senses.
Investigating the truth of matters one by one.
Determining whether something is false or true is an old habit of mine.
Unable to trust anyone.
Because I had experienced situations where everyone was an enemy.
The few who stayed by my side in such situations.
Their appearances as they died for me were etched into my memory.
It was a habit I had created in trying to survive no matter what.
“…That’s all fine. It’s all fine, but…”
I clasped my exhausted head.
I pushed aside the thoughts I had been pondering earlier for now.
The things I wanted to hear and ask upon seeing this World Tree.
The truth of how the world turned.
And the secrets hidden within it.
Were not.
“What do you want from me?”
What I should do.
What I should do from now on.
In this damned situation. What these unknown things expected of me.
I wanted so badly to know that.
[Apostle.]
“…You told me before.”
That I was the flame that would burn all karma.
The World Tree I met in my previous life said that to me.
Did it say that purely because I could ignite flames?
No matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t it.
[Did I say such words to you?]
“Yes, but I don’t know how to do such a thing. All I know how to burn are people.”
Words about burning karma.
Why were those words said to me?
I couldn’t know anything.
So I had to ask more desperately.
“What should I do, and where do I start?”
Just what was I supposed to do?
Those staying by my side were increasing one by one.
Foolishly, I had been feeling them to be precious.
Even so, the Blood Tribulation approached.
The story I thought would end if I stopped the Heavenly Demon.
Had concealed a truth far greater behind it.
To protect them, I needed to know.
Not for me.
For them.
“You said I could burn it.”
[…Apostle.]
I said I would do it.
Whether it be stopping the Blood Demon or the Heavenly Demon.
If I had to live, if they had to live, I said I would try.
So I was begging, please tell me.
“Apostle, yes. Was Yeonilcheon also an Apostle? One who received your stigma.”
Seeing as you call me Apostle.
Did that mean Yeonilcheon was the same kind of Apostle as me?
[…Yes, that child was also an Apostle.]
“Yeonilcheon called me a calamity. He said I would destroy the world.”
The Blood Demon failed.
But the calamity would not simply stop; it would blow again.
As the World Tree said, by the laws of principle, it would be so.
I thought that referred to the Heavenly Demon.
[Are you saying you met that child?]
“Yes. He had left behind a residual consciousness.”
It wasn’t a particularly good memory, but I did meet him.
[That child left a residual consciousness…]
The World Tree seemed lost in thought, beginning to speak.
But I wasn’t in a state to wait for that.
“What do you want? For what purpose…”
As I spoke, a thought suddenly came to mind.
“Don’t tell me… the reason I fell here in my previous life. Was it because you called me?”
[That is not so. It was so then, and it is merely coincidence that I face you now as well.]
That was a relief, at least.
The dimensional shift itself was caused by the Demonic Realm Gate that Cheoljiseon tore out.
If the truth was that the World Tree had intervened there.
It would have been a horrifying tale.
“Then, for heaven’s sake, tell me what it is you expect of me.”
Saying I can burn karma.
Bestowing a stigma upon me.
It was the World Tree before me that told me how to escape this world.
To be precise, the World Tree I met in my previous life.
“…Do you wish for me to pull you out of here and return you to your original world?”
At my question, the World Tree held a slight smile.
[That is an impossible tale.]
“Then what do you want that made you choose me?”
[I… merely wish for the children to live on.]
The world where the World Tree originally existed.
To be exact, the people of the world where I now live.
To continue living.
The World Tree was saying it wished for that.
“So you’re saying you chose me for that?”
How could that be? How was that possible?
It was not something I could understand.
“…Why me of all people?”
I was a being without such power.
[No, Apostle. You can.]
“Why in the world do you think so…”
The moment I was about to ask how it could be so certain.
[Before I speak of that, there is a story you must hear first.]
“A story?”
The World Tree cut me off.
[Do you know what exists within your body?]
“…!”
I swallowed dryly at the World Tree’s words.
The existence it spoke of.
Was the beast that had taken root in my body.
“How do you… know about this thing….”
[To explain that, first—]
The surprising thing wasn’t limited to this.
The World Tree immediately continued.
It brought up a fact I had momentarily forgotten.
[I must speak to you of your mother.]
The distant past.
It was a story about my vanished mother.
Taptaptap!
Cheoljiseon quickly moved his feet, stamping the ground.
His breathing was ragged, his legs numb, but Cheoljiseon did not stop.
‘What is that…!’
Even so, his gaze was fixed on the sky.
Because the sky, which had been gradually darkening, was growing deeper.
‘No… that’s not the sky.’
Yes, it wasn’t the sky.
Clearly, it was closer to a barrier.
Gradually, it began to envelop the surroundings like a formation, with a black veil.
The range was no small matter either.
Covering two mountains, reaching all the way to the Divine Dragon Academy a short distance away.
‘What in the world is happening…!’
Cheoljiseon gritted his teeth and moved his feet.
This was far from a peaceful situation.
Cheoljiseon thought even as he ran.
‘I… where am I going right now?’
He had moved his legs first in urgent haste.
But he had no idea where he should go.
‘What about the instructors?’
If he wasn’t the only one seeing this situation.
The instructors would surely have seen it too.
The surroundings were quiet.
Terrifyingly so.
Then.
Shwick—!
Sensing something nearby, Cheoljiseon quickly twisted his body.
It was a movement left to instinct, but—
Thud!
“Kuhk!”
Whether he was too late, pain from being pierced by something erupted.
Perhaps mixed with internal energy, a sonic boom rang out as his body was thrown back.
Soon, Cheoljiseon’s body rolled limply across the ground.
“Haa… haa!”
He wondered where he was wounded.
It seemed his thigh had been pierced.
Embedded in it was a dagger.
“…Kuh…!”
As Cheoljiseon began gritting his teeth against the pain.
“What are you doing? I almost killed him.”
A human voice was heard from ahead.
Cheoljiseon looked ahead through the pain.
Someone clad in black-dyed martial attire was approaching with a drawn sword.
‘Who…’
“You were told to check the face before killing. Do you want to die by Taeju’s hand?”
“One or two should be fine.”
A voice was heard from behind as well.
This seemed to be the one who threw the dagger.
“Anyway, the Four Great Families only have daughters as bloodline. The rest can be killed as we please, you said.”
“That probably applies to the instructors. I’m saying be careful if you don’t want to cause trouble.”
The man who heard another’s scolding clicked his tongue and grabbed Cheoljiseon’s hair, lifting him straight up.
“Kahk!”
“Is this a known face?”
At the man’s words, another approached and stared quietly at Cheoljiseon’s face.
Grabbing Cheoljiseon’s jaw and turning it this way and that.
“Damn.”
He frowned as if something was wrong.
“Why?”
“Look at the dot’s position and his clothes. He’s one of the ones Taeju said not to touch.”
“…Ah, was he?”
“What are you going to do!”
“What do you mean what. We just leave.”
The man cackled.
Though Cheoljiseon was terrified by the unexpected ambush.
Even so, his eyes were moving quickly.
‘One has an opening at the chest, the other at the left wrist… Both are wide open.’
He was assessing their appearances with his eyes.
“Sorry about this. I wanted to taste blood after so long, so I was a bit hasty.”
The one who threw the dagger at Cheoljiseon.
With an expression that wasn’t sorry at all, tapped Cheoljiseon’s cheek.
Then immediately straightened up.
He really seemed to have no intention of killing.
‘If they won’t kill me… what about the others?’
He recalled their words.
—“Anyway, the Four Great Families only have daughters as bloodline. The rest can be killed as we please.”
In other words.
Everyone except the important ones would be killed.
‘The reason the instructors aren’t appearing is…’
Either the instructors were related to this matter.
Or quite a lot of people like them had come.
…A planned attack?
‘No way.’
Only then did Cheoljiseon recall that he had been told not to worry about the part where the Sacred Academy attacks Guyangcheon.
Could this matter be related to the Sacred Academy?
“His leg… well, if he stops the bleeding properly, he’ll be fine. Didn’t coat it with poison.”
The man smiled and tried to move.
He seemed to be trying to catch others, not him.
He couldn’t be left like that.
Cheoljiseon moved his fingertips.
Because it hadn’t been long since he opened the Demonic Realm Gate.
He might not be able to open a gate like that one.
But he couldn’t let them leave like that.
He tried to find the sensation with his fingertips.
But the sensation he wanted wouldn’t take hold.
‘Please…’
The power he had so wished to disappear.
And yet at a time like this, it refused to respond.
Just as Cheoljiseon desperately tried to move his fingertips.
“Let’s try the other way….”
The man who straightened up froze mid-sentence.
Finding that reaction strange, Cheoljiseon unwittingly moved his gaze to follow.
Thud.
Something fell before Cheoljiseon’s eyes.
“Huh… hwaah!”
Seeing it, Cheoljiseon let out a scream unwittingly.
What had suddenly fallen was a human head.
The head of the man who had been checking Cheoljiseon’s face.
“Which bastard…!”
The next moment, the man tried to raise his internal energy but—
Shrrrk—!
With a horrifying sound of something being cut.
Thud.
That man’s head also fell before Cheoljiseon’s eyes.
Seeing that, Cheoljiseon couldn’t even scream, clutching his trembling heart.
Could it be an instructor?
The auras of the two martial artists were no joke.
If there was someone who could behead such people like this….
“…Where are you?”
Just as Cheoljiseon felt slight relief thinking it must be an instructor.
Another voice was heard from directly above.
It was a voice he had heard before.
Not often, but a voice heard several times.
Normally, it would be languid and drowsy-sounding.
Yet it was a beautiful tone that sounded captivating somewhere.
But now it was cold, as if angry.
Moreover, the frigid emotion contained in the voice.
Made Cheoljiseon tremble uncontrollably, incomparable to before.
Cheoljiseon raised his trembling head to survey the owner of the voice.
The first thing he saw was bluish-white hair close to white.
“…That person.”
The second was beautiful blue pupils.
“Where is he?”
Swish—!
While shaking blood off her sword.
Namgung Bia was looking down at Cheoljiseon.