Episode 375. The Man Running Through the Night.

There was an implicit rule in sparring with Eldest Brother. Not to seriously injure each other. That was why we had to control the force of our strikes like this, and even stop mid-fight to exchange opinions.

Anyway, with only the internal energy of a wooden sword, I couldn't face Eldest Brother.

Just as Eldest Brother and I were facing off, the workers stopped working and ran out to watch us. Watching a fight is an unavoidable instinct, so I let them be.

Eldest Brother displayed movements that were solely offensive, wielding the Dugu Heavy Sword. Unfortunately, I too knew the principles of the Dugu Heavy Sword. I could predict most attacks and variations without difficulty. But that didn't mean I could easily find Eldest Brother's flaws. In the end, we gradually raised our internal energy to the point where the wooden swords couldn't endure it.

As often as our swords clashed, Eldest Brother and I exchanged glances. Now, even without speaking, we understood each other as if holding a conversation.

‘A little more…’

After confirming each other’s gazes, we drew up more internal energy. Now that fighting spirit manifested from Eldest Brother’s body as well, his aura grew fiercer, and I too entered the combat realm and swung my wooden sword.

Whether the spar would end first.

Or the wooden sword would break first—at this ambiguous moment……

The sword trajectory (劍路) of Eldest Brother, which had been attacking my shoulder, curved sharply and fell toward the right nape of my neck.

I thrust my wooden sword into Eldest Brother’s chest while simultaneously using the Zhongzhi Tanzhi Gong with my left hand to precisely strike away Eldest Brother’s wooden sword.

Crack!

The moment Eldest Brother’s wooden sword shattered, my wooden sword had already reached his chest.

But Eldest Brother immediately caught it again with his index and middle fingers, then twisted his wrist and snapped the wooden sword in two.

We glanced once at the handles of the broken wooden swords and nodded.

Eldest Brother asked me.

“How in the world did you flick it away?”

“Zhongzhi Tanzhi Gong. Did Eldest Brother also catch it with his fingers on purpose?”

He must have thought it was a real blade, for it looked like he caught the blade with his fingers. At that moment, the workers who had been watching suddenly shouted and applauded.

“Waaah!”

Did we look like remarkable people in the workers’ eyes?

I sat back down on the wooden platform with Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother asked, looking curious.

“Can you shatter that with Tanzhi Gong?”

“I mixed external and internal energy, exploding it at a single point (一點) in an instant. Because I watched the trajectory until the very end, I could strike it accurately. Well, it wasn’t difficult to hit because it was a wooden sword.”

We looked at each other with calm expressions, then took knives in our hands again and began carving wooden swords.

With a rare look of satisfaction, Eldest Brother moved the knife and peeled away the wood grain. He must have enjoyed the spar somehow. I too focused on making the wooden sword.

After completing one new wooden sword each, we took a rest.

My breathing gradually grew easier.

Before I knew it, the sun was setting, as if an ordinary day was ending.

The workers hired by the Demonic Cult continued building the barracks while keeping lights burning, and the workers of the Jaha Guesthouse stopped working, gathered in the vacant lot, and began preparing dinner. Since they always made food for Eldest Brother and me too, if I wasted time like this, I would soon hear them call me to eat.

Anyway, it was a relief that I hadn’t ended up feeding Eldest Brother the food I made.

I sat on the edge of the wooden platform and watched the sunset from beginning to end with Eldest Brother.

Moments of peace weren’t common for me, but today was quite tranquil. Moreover, knowing that Eldest Brother’s heart was also at peace, my breathing felt especially comfortable.

I felt as if something was peeling away from my chest, so I let out a dry cough.

“Hmm……”

Eldest Brother looked at me and asked.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

Then, I felt as if a thin shell or membrane was peeling away layer by layer from my head, so I straightened my posture and sat upright. It was a sensation I had never felt in my life, so I was considerably surprised inwardly.

‘What is this?’

When I sat cross-legged after sitting upright, Eldest Brother stared at me from the side.

Eldest Brother looked at my expression and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“My senses feel strange. It’s not a bad feeling.”

“Do you need to circulate your qi?”

“I’ll meditate for a moment.”

“Go ahead. With a comfortable mind.”

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing.

Something was happening in my body, but it was a phenomenon I had never experienced, so I was bewildered.

When I calmed my mind and examined the inside of my body, I felt the same phenomenon. The membrane that had been wrapping around my chest peeled away once, and another layer of something unknown peeled away from my head as well. Each time this phenomenon repeated, my breathing became slightly easier, and my chest felt lighter.

It seemed like meditation wasn’t particularly necessary……

So I opened my eyes again.

Eldest Brother was looking at me from the side, and the surroundings had grown dark. When I looked up at the sky, it was densely packed with stars. As expected, the lights lit by the people building the barracks at a slight distance were very visible.

Somehow, all the surrounding lights looked distinctly clear.

It felt as if the thin membrane on my eyelids had peeled away too. Above all, when I focused my hearing, I could faintly hear the voices of the people building the barracks.

Only then did I realize that my five senses had expanded somewhat.

Eldest Brother guessed my state and spoke.

“It doesn’t seem like qi deviation.”

I nodded.

“Suddenly, the level of my five senses has risen slightly.”

“And?”

I revealed to Eldest Brother the changes that had occurred in my body.

“My chest feels a bit refreshed. My head also feels a bit clearer. My eyesight has improved too; things feel clearer than before.”

“Let me see.”

“Okay.”

Eldest Brother stood up, received a torch from the workers, brought it over, and examined my face closely.

“How is your breathing?”

“My breathing is comfortable too.”

“Tell me how your mental state is compared to yesterday or before.”

“My mental state? What’s so different about it? It’s the same.”

“If you feel something stirring in your dantian or sense any changes in your body, prepare to circulate your qi immediately. I will stand guard, so don’t worry. But this wooden platform is a bit unstable, so go inside.”

“Hmm. It’s nothing serious, but let’s go inside first then.”

I got up from the wooden platform and headed toward where the workers were. The workers looked at us and said.

“The meal will be ready soon. Please come this way.”

Eldest Brother handed the torch to the worker and replied.

“Please eat first.”

“Yes.”

I suddenly stopped walking and took in the sight of Zaha Inn under construction. Only its framework had just barely gone up, with foundation stones set here and there and pillars rising from the ground. To one side, I could see the banners of the Murim Alliance, the Jecheon Alliance, Black Cat, Nam-myeong, and Unhyang. With a touch of imagination, the completed Zaha Inn appeared before me as if in a dream.

“……”

I realized that even if Zaha Inn were to be engulfed in flames again, I would no longer regret it, rage over it, grieve for it, or be swept away by hatred. I was simply ready to accept whatever outcome came.

Only after looking at Zaha Inn……

did I realize that one layer of the madness that had been constricting my entire heart had peeled away.

It was slightly absurd.

Not only in my past life, but even in this one.

No, even until the very moment before I had been crossing hands with Eldest Brother.

I realized that I had not been normal even once.

It seemed I had been mad all along.

How could a person be like that? I was mad when my eyes were open, and I was mad even when my eyes were closed in sleep. It was not something to be newly surprised by, but today felt quite different. The only person beside me whom I could ask was Eldest Brother.

“Eldest Brother.”

“Hm?”

“Have I been that much of a madman all this time?”

At times like this, Eldest Brother answered honestly.

“You were not moderately mad, no. You were always walking a precarious tightrope between an inner demon and a calm mind.”

“What about now?”

Eldest Brother looked at me and replied.

“It is something happening within your heart, so I cannot know. How is it?”

I met Eldest Brother’s gaze and answered.

“Not bad.”

Hearing me, Eldest Brother smiled with a pleased expression.

“Then that is enough. What more could men like us ask for? If it is not bad, then that will do. Just in case, sit in the lotus position and circulate your qi. I will stand guard.”

I sat down in front of the Zaha Inn under construction, closed my eyes, and asked Eldest Brother.

“What do you call this phenomenon? There must be a term for this sort of situation. But I cannot think of it.”

With my eyes closed, I heard Eldest Brother’s voice.

“I do not think there is a term in the martial learning of the White Path or the orthodox sects that explains your current state.”

“Then?”

“There is one in the Demonic Path.”

“What is it?”

I calmed my mind and waited for Eldest Brother’s answer. His voice struck my ears.

“It is likely the phenomenon of Talma—shedding the demon.”

To think it would be this ridiculous.

Talma?

I let out a short sigh, then sank into meditation.

Did that mean the path I had been walking all this time was the Demonic Path?

It would be laughable to stubbornly insist otherwise.

After all, the entire time I had been learning martial arts, I had suffered from qi deviation and entering demonhood. It had been true in my past life, and it was true in this one. Moreover, the Zaha Divine Art had manifested in the process of qi deviation and entering demonhood.

In other words, the state immediately before the Zaha Divine Art manifested was qi deviation.

The state in which I unleashed the Zaha Divine Art was entering demonhood.

That must be why I had not been able to use it at will.

In truth, some of the actions I had taken were close to the Demonic Path, for I had been seized by madness and slaughtered people of the jianghu.

Let us admit it. If this is not the Demonic Path, then what is?

After being mad all my life……

Only once my mind returned to normal did I realize that I had been gravely insane. This realization was somewhat different from my usual awareness that I was a madman.

It sounds a bit absurd, but……

It meant there had been few times when I was normal.

Several memories flashed past like a revolving lantern.

The memory of smashing the head of the already dead Black Fan Fortress Lord, the memory of splitting the vice leader of the Unuhoe with an axe, the state of mind I had been in when I killed the assassins from Saryugok by the lakeside, the memory of grabbing Lady Gyo-yeong by the collar on the peak and throwing her down the cliff, the memory of using the Sun Moon Light Heaven and unleashing the Zaha Divine Art, the moments when I fell asleep in a body that felt as if it would collapse at any time, and even the feelings I had when I danced in the rain after killing the Four Heavenly Kings……

This is qi deviation and entering demonhood, and this is the Demonic Path.

If this is not the Demonic Path, then nothing in the world is.

Just how far had I gone around before escaping the Demonic Path?

...I saved Moyong Baek, dragged Cha Seongtae around with me, came to understand Im Sobak, and tried to make the Sword Demon smile even a little more. I came within a hair’s breadth of killing the Ghost Demon before giving it up, and though I tormented the Lust Demon, in the end I did not drive him away.

Because, in the end, I knew there was not much about me that was better than them.

Watching the manly senior who regretted his past made me recall my own faults.

From the Beggars’ Sect Leader, whom I could not imitate even if I were reborn again, I felt the caliber of the heart.

From Cheon-ak, who had always trained harder than me, I felt awe.

As for that White-Clad Scholar bastard, I am not sure.

In any case, what I had tried so hard to change was the fate of many people.

In the end, it seemed those people had healed my inner demon little by little. I had been running down a dark road all along, but it seemed these people had slowly turned me back toward the light.

I came to know the combination of extreme yin and extreme yang.

I came to know the combination of external arts and internal energy.

But when it comes to relationships between people, I am still immature. After all, casting off an inner demon was neither a skill nor internal energy, nor some peerless divine art.

At the moment some nameless regret seeped deep into my chest and was exhaled as a sigh……

I felt as though the embankment surrounding my Cheon-ok, or perhaps my dantian, had collapsed.

Was something surging in?

How on earth was I supposed to accept this?

I recalled the great sea I had looked upon with the Mad Monk.

Had he hoped that one day I would take in this immense current? All manner of regrets and the faults of days gone by were swept up in the surging waves and spread throughout my body. To accept and endure this, I had no choice but to force my narrow heart to widen.

The words Master Giseongja had left in his book, and the things the Mad Monk had said while occasionally smacking me on the head……

The heart behind them must have been the same.

Disciples often hear only the words they wish to hear, and I am no different.

In a space that might have been a dream or imagination, I saw the Mad Demon of my past life running down a dark night road, pursued by the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult.

Why had I lived like that?

Watching myself flee all night, I felt grief.

Where on earth are you running to?

The Mad Demon kept running down the dark night road. Even in the midst of that, the sight of him claiming he did not fear death seemed laughable. If he truly did not fear death, he would never have run down that night road in the first place. Though he himself was one of the maddest monkeys in the world, he hated other mad monkeys and wandered through the night.

I followed the Mad Demon.

I saw the expression on my face as I gazed at the Zaha Guesthouse engulfed in flames. Before I knew it, it was no longer the Mad Demon, but the errand boy of Ilyang County glaring at Zaha Guesthouse with a furious expression. In those helpless eyes, unable to do anything at all, the flames of the burning Zaha Guesthouse were now reflected. The moment Lee Zaha transformed into the Mad Demon, he ran into the darkness, muttering like a madman.

It was an oath that he would return and beat them all to death.

As I ran along the night road, I was suddenly swept up in pitch-black waves and floundered. Amid the surging, boundless sea, I heard Eldest Brother’s voice.

“……Focus. Third Brother.”

After shaking off my thoughts, I began circulating my qi and regulating my breath to accept the stream of Heavenly Jade.