Chapter 265

I was certain—absolutely certain—that he had died.

Even if his breath had not completely left his body, I was convinced he could no longer be considered a living human being.

But…

Slither. Crack-crack!

It was a sight I couldn’t believe even while watching it happen.

The skin that had been burned black, so charred it looked ready to crumble at the slightest touch, was covered by pale new flesh. The bones that had jutted out disappeared as they slid back into place.

What the hell is this?

What should I even call it? Recovery? No. This was regeneration.

A regenerative ability beyond the limits of humanity—something more like a monster’s.

Cheongpung let out a strangled gasp at the horrifying sight.

“Ah, aah…”

By then, the final change was complete. The face, which had been stripped down to the muscle, rapidly regenerated.

Crack.

The Blood Lord rubbed his neck and flashed us a crooked grin.

“You should have crushed my head. Thoroughly.”

Jeok Cheongang, who had been frozen like a statue, finally managed to part his lips.

“How?”

The Blood Lord answered casually.

“For now, let’s just call it demonic martial arts. To orthodox faction types like you, isn’t it all the same anyway?”

“You… Cough!”

“Old Master!”

I was startled and hurried to support Jeok Cheongang. His face had gone pale, and a stream of red blood ran down his chin.

This is bad.

Jeok Cheongang had already exhausted all his strength.

Even the Dance of the Fire God and Demon, performed by gathering up every last bit of his power, had come to nothing. The man in my arms was no longer the Fire King, but merely an exhausted old man.

“R-Run…”

Jeok Cheongang could not finish speaking and lowered his head. I hurriedly checked his pulse. It was faint, but still beating.

He’s still all right.

But it was far too soon to sigh in relief.

“By the look of things, even the Fire King of all under heaven has reached his limit.”

The Blood Lord took a step forward, his face filled with delight.

“This was more entertaining than I expected. No, to be honest, it was even frightening. I never imagined things would reach this point.”

“You smell like shit. Shut your mouth.”

I stood, tightening my grip around White Flame, which I had briefly set down.

Jeok Cheongang was already out of the fight. If he expended any more strength here… then something truly irreversible would happen.

“You intend to stop me alone? What a commendable thought.”

“Did you trade one of your eyes for taffy? There are two of us.”

The Blood Lord shook his head.

“No. There’s only one. I don’t count terrified little rats as people.”

Terrified little rat?

I turned my head to the side. Cheongpung stood there, frozen.

His pupils were shaking uncontrollably. The hand gripping his sword hilt trembled violently.

Fear.

That was the only emotion I could sense from Cheongpung.

“To send a youngster who still reeks of milk out into the martial world. The Sword Saint spoiled his Disciple far too much.”

Step.

He was still more than fifty paces away. But when the Blood Lord took a single step, Cheongpung flinched and retreated as though he had been burned.

This is…

My heart sank.

I knew exactly what it meant.

The path I had experienced myself, the path so many others had walked, Cheongpung was walking it late.

Of all times, it had to happen now.

It was a growing pain every martial artist and Hunter had to experience, but for the genius standing before me, the timing was unbearably late.

The Blood Lord read the thought on my face and grinned.

“You know it too, don’t you? He’s already finished. The helplessness he feels for the first time, the fear of death… Once you’re caught by things like that, it’s not easy to escape.”

“…Jongni Chu.”

There was no doubt. It was because of his duel with Jongni Chu.

Jongni Chu was the one who had planted the seed of fear in Cheongpung. And that seed had sprouted after meeting another powerful figure—the Blood Lord.

“Exactly. I have no idea where that fellow came from, but he did quite a job. He drew the attention of the orthodox factions and even neatly disposed of the Sword Saint’s Disciple. Ha-ha!”

My mouth felt gritty, as if I were chewing sand.

Cheongpung was still terrified, while the Blood Lord leisurely closed the distance between us with every step.

Damn it.

Fortunately, I still had one final move left.

The problem was that it really was my final move.

Even if I succeeded, I could not guarantee the result. If I failed, death was all that remained.

But I have no choice.

I slowly drew up what little remained of my internal energy—not even ten percent.

One Annihilation—the only way was to pour every last bit of strength into one strike and crush his head.

I neatly folded up the thought Can I do it? and burned it away.

I have to do it. Somehow.

I had to move with conviction rather than doubt, and with desperate resolve rather than conviction. Only by staking my life on every tiny movement would even the faintest possibility appear.

“Young Hero Cheong.”

Click. Clack.

I knew what it was without looking.

The sound of Cheongpung’s teeth chattering.

I shouted with all my might.

“Cheongpung!”

Cheongpung let out a startled gasp and raised his head sharply.

“I won’t say this twice. Listen carefully and decide for yourself.”

“Y-Yes?”

“You have two choices. First, carry Old Master and run as far away as possible.”

“Benefactor!”

“I’m not finished. Second, stop trembling like a coward and fight that bastard with me using every last ounce of strength you have.”

“……!”

His breath trembled with agitation. Then the feet that had retreated several steps began moving forward again.

Step.

We stood side by side in front of the unconscious Jeok Cheongang.

“Your answer. I still haven’t heard it.”

“This is my answer.”

“Be honest.”

“I’m scared, Benefactor.”

“Fuck, you’re brutally honest.”

“But I really am scared. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

I kept my eyes fixed on the Blood Lord as he approached and asked,

“If you’re so scared, why don’t you run?”

“I don’t know either. I just feel like if I run away from here… I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

That regret.

I knew what it meant.

I glanced at Cheongpung. He was still terrified, his hands still trembling, but the feet he had planted forward were firm. He had rooted himself deeply and would not retreat.

Yes.

For now, this was enough.

It was at that moment that I gave a small nod.

“Regret? Run away?”

Twenty paces away, the Blood Lord stopped and laughed aloud as though he had just heard an incredible joke.

“Such audacious nonsense from a pair of fledglings. I’m the one who decides that. That is the right of the strong and the inevitability of the weak.”

“Well, part of that is true…”

I raised my spear and aimed it at him. White Flame’s transparent spearhead shattered the sunlight into countless fragments.

“But why is every single thing that comes out of your mouth such utter bullshit?”

“Truth is uncomfortable. Especially for the weak.”

“That won’t do. Open your mouth, patient. We’re starting your circumcision. It’ll hurt a little since I’m doing it with a spear and no anesthesia.”

“Pfft—ha-ha-ha!”

“You’re laughing? You think it won’t happen to you? But that’s how life goes. I should’ve realized something was up when Mom told me we were going out to eat something delicious.”

The smile around his mouth deepened.

“Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi. The more I see you, the more entertaining you become. Strange martial arts I can’t identify, and plenty of spirit… I like you.”

“If you like me, then?”

“Come under me. I might even spare the Fire King.”

“Why don’t you eat a dick, sir? After today, I’ll never have to deal with a bastard like you again.”

“Who was it that said this? Once is coincidence. Twice is a connection. A third meeting is destiny.”

“Listen to this son of a bitch, acting like he’s writing a romance novel.”

The Blood Lord shrugged.

“Perhaps. It isn’t a relationship between a man and a woman, but if we’ve crossed paths twice in this vast world, wouldn’t that make it a connection?”

“Twice?”

For a moment, I didn’t understand.

What the hell was he talking about?

“Have you ever seen me at the Star-Array Grand Banquet?”

“Of course I have.”

His voice continued, brimming with playfulness.

“At Eight Spring Gorge.”

“…What?”

“It was quite a spectacle. Corpses piled up into mountains and blood flowing like a river… Watching you take Jin Baekyang’s life was particularly memorable. That must have been when people started calling you the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi, wasn’t it?”

“What are you talking about…”

“Jin Baekyang, the Blade of Flowers. He was a useless bastard. At first, he acted as though he would hand over his liver and gallbladder, but as he grew older, perhaps he developed some ridiculous doubts and ruined everything. What incompetent bastard recruited such a half-assed fool? Tsk, tsk.”

I stared blankly at the Blood Lord as he clicked his tongue. Every word spilling from his mouth sounded hollow and alien.

“Oh, what about that Third Rate sect called the Mount Heng Sword Sect? Is it still around? I did hear from one of my subordinates that one of its Sect Leader’s sons had been killed. I lost interest after Eight Spring Gorge, so I haven’t paid much attention.”

“……!”

A shiver ran through my spine like a bolt of lightning had pierced me.

“Then, you were…”

“I told you.”

The Blood Lord’s eyes curved into crescents. His voice that followed was soft, completely at odds with his appearance.

“Once is coincidence. Twice is a connection. A third meeting is destiny. What do you think? Wouldn’t you say there’s a connection between us?”

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

The bastard standing before me was the one who had caused that war.

The Blood Lord saw my expression and guffawed.

“Why the long face? Things worked out smoothly thanks to me. The Jin Family of Taiyuan is the foremost family in Shanxi. You became the Fire King’s Disciple and even seized victory at the Star-Array Grand Banquet. Shouldn’t you thank me?”

I did not answer.

My mind was filled with one thought.

How many people died again?

I didn’t know.

A thousand? Two thousand?

Countless people had died in a great war that had been meaningless from beginning to end. There had been no complete victor or loser.

Martial artists who swung their weapons because they were ordered to, and commoners with no connection to the conflict, had died. Even more war orphans were left behind.

When Shanxi’s Murim reeled, the mounted bandits of Gaoyuan ran rampant. Not long after the war ended, the same history repeated itself.

And he expects me to thank him.

I licked my dry, cracked lips. My grip around the spear shaft tightened on its own.

An unknown strength filled my exhausted body.

A stat that did not appear in the System window.

Anger.

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“You know that bullshit about once being coincidence, twice making a connection, or whatever?”

I took a deep breath. Without it, I felt as though fireballs might pour from my mouth.

“You and I are a different case. Let’s skip straight to destiny.”

“Destiny?”

“Yeah. The destiny for one of us to die.”

Before I had even finished speaking, I kicked off the ground.

The distance vanished in an instant, revealing his smiling face.

One Annihilation.

Gooooong!

The spearhead cleaved through space.

Crack!

“Gaaaaah!”

His arm broke, and white bone burst through the skin.

The young man screamed at the unbearable agony unlike anything he had ever experienced. The blood spurting upward splattered across its owner’s face.

The foul smell of blood made nausea rise in his throat. As the young man bent over to gag, a thick leg slammed into his abdomen.

Thud. Boom!

“You pathetic fool. I feel sorry for the Sword Saint, having a half-wit like you as his Disciple.”

The young man was sent flying. Cheongpung struggled to roll his body over.

It hurt.

He wanted to collapse.

His entire body screamed with pain, while a deep sense of despair pressed heavily down on him.

My body… My body won’t listen to me.

In the end, he could not stand. He slumped down, and the vast sky spread across his field of vision.

The sky seen from Huashan’s Lotus Peak had always been clear and beautiful. Clouds shone during the day, stars glittered at night, and roe deer and rabbits bounded energetically across the mountain.

But…

Why is the sky here so red?

The sky here was different.

Red and bleak.

As Cheongpung blinked, he realized that the tiny blood vessels in his eyes had burst. It was the first time that had happened, but he was not surprised.

My bones have already broken for the first time, and I’ve lost so much blood.

Thinking about his condition made his breathing quicken without him realizing it.

As Cheongpung lay sprawled out and gasped for breath, a chilling sound pierced his ears.

Whoosh—crack!

“Urk!”

“You bastard!”

Cheongpung turned his head toward the sound. Two figures locked in a bloody battle appeared in his tilted field of vision.

No.

It could no longer be called a fight.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Hngh!”

“You’re still not dead? Even after this? Even after this?”

Bam-bam-bam! Crash!

His nose collapsed. His ankle broke, and his shoulder was wrenched out of place.

Once. Three times. Ten times…

But no matter what injuries he suffered, no matter how many times he fell, he rose again.

It would be the same even after a hundred times.

That was the kind of person the young man Cheongpung knew was.

Benefactor.

Reality was cold, unlike hope.

The outcome was decided almost immediately.

Cheongpung did not know what martial art it was, but Jin Taekyung’s strike had been overwhelmingly powerful. It had shattered the Blood Lord’s red saber, infused with Sword Force, and struck his body.

But in less than a moment, the Blood Lord’s body recovered, and he drove them into a corner.

“Madman… There’s no one else under heaven as tenacious as you.”

Everything was about to end.

The Blood Lord shook his head, looking thoroughly appalled. His entire body was drenched in blood as well.

Unlike before, however, he could no longer heal his wounds. His ever-present relaxed smile had vanished, and he breathed roughly as he pulled Jin Taekyung’s spear from where it had been driven deep into the ground.

“Huff, huff… Fine. I’ll kill you.”

Kill.

The moment Cheongpung heard the word, his palm pressed against the ground. The pain from his broken arm and leg, the smell of blood—everything seemed to fade.

Only a sensation of floating remained, dominating his entire body.

What is this?

He did not know.

At the end of his staggering steps stood the Blood Lord.

“Huh. What’s this now? Do you want to die too?”

When he met the Blood Lord’s feral gaze, his hands began to tremble.

But when he saw Jin Taekyung lying behind the Blood Lord, the trembling gradually subsided.

“Benefactor. Benefactor.”

“What a bunch of lunatics…”

The Blood Lord let out an incredulous, hollow laugh and swung the spear.

Slash!

Cheongpung twisted his body unsteadily, and blood spurted from the front of his chest.

It hurts.

But his steps did not stop.

He did not fall.

The sword hilt had long since slipped from his powerless grip.

“What the…”

The Blood Lord stared at him in disbelief before grabbing Cheongpung by the throat with one powerful hand.

“Ghk!”

“What’s wrong with you people? Why are you all making such a fuss as if you can’t bear to die first?”

His voice held genuine curiosity.

Cheongpung opened his mouth as his consciousness began to fade. His voice came out heavily suppressed.

“Because… I think I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I backed down.”

“That’s your reason? A cowardly bastard like you refuses to retreat for such a pathetic reason?”

His killing intent grew even more savage.

But something was strange.

For some reason, Cheongpung was not afraid at all.

As though he had returned to the days he spent on Lotus Peak, he unconsciously lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Hehe. Yes.”

The Blood Lord’s face twisted viciously.

Cheongpung had smiled.

He had smiled while standing before him.

It was impossible. It was something that should never have happened.

“I heard your last words loud and clear.”

He was about to drive the spearhead into Cheongpung’s chest when—

“You’ve broken free of your shell.”

A clear voice rang out.

A voice exactly like the blue sky over Huashan that Cheongpung remembered.

It was a voice he felt he finally recognized.