Chapter 806 – Side Story – Like Great Master Beom-heo, This Nation Too

Heavenly Soaring Guest Wan Hui.

Though he had definitely gouged out his own eyes, only the whites were faintly healing. It must have been the White Path martial arts’ final recovery ability.

He might actually be better off than Great Master Beom-heo, whose eyeballs had been cleanly gouged out.

Jeong Yeon-shin raised his head toward the white clouds. He didn’t particularly want to see Wan Hui. He just asked the Literary Star.

“While the Martial Star worked as the Southern Emperor’s spy, did he frequently go back and forth to the Ming Dynasty?”

—Yes, being strong at short decisive battles also means his movements are quick. His Eye Technique and Heavenly Ear Technique’s achievement is high, his leaping distance is tremendous… His hobby was even touring Mount Everest.

“Spy work with a Demon Clan body?”

—If you don’t get caught, aren’t you a good spy?

“…That business of making and eating human jerky. When did it become a problem? I know the Fighting God didn’t keep embracing him continuously.”

—Right now. It becomes a problem today.

The Literary Star’s voice was calm. Only Jeong Yeon-shin asked back with a slightly raised tone.

“Why so suddenly?”

—Why are the Gates, Gates? Because the barbaric and uneducated minority started eating people instead of farming.

“I know.”

—Instead of farmland. Literally. If a person is poor, they should naturally conserve even the smallest amount of food.

“But.”

—Who would use meat that suits their taste and grows on its own like slash-and-burn fields only once and discard it? Moreover, if the eater is a cannibal madman with tremendous lightness skill mobility… it’s even more unlikely. He’ll nibble. Bit by bit while they’re alive.

“What?”

Jeong Yeon-shin lowered his head. Two people appeared in the hazy dust: the Martial Star’s large shadow and the swordsman’s silhouette collapsed limply.

The Literary Star’s mental transmission continued calmly.

—Many people lost family in the chaos. Common people who lost wives, husbands, and children terribly are numerous.

“…I can see that.”

—Heaven Soaring Guest Wan Hui is a martial artist who once deeply perfected Orthodox martial arts. Would such a person become the Unorthodox First Sword from just one unfortunate accident? Without any particular fortune? Such things aren’t accomplished overnight.

An Orthodox martial arts master’s breathing must also be very pure. It’s difficult to pursue power while departing from human morality because clear vital energy enters and exits with each breath.

Jeong Yeon-shin furrowed his brow.

“What drove someone without proper elixirs to the peerless realm was just persistent misfortune? That was his fortune?”

The answer came from the Martial Star on the ground.

“My spy work is completely finished now. They’re telling me to come up since they’re raising troops. I secretly snacked on delicacies like Tang candy for a very long time… When I overate a bit, I always had trouble keeping them alive right before leaving.”

Haa… Haaa…

Wan Hui’s breathing was rough. It wasn’t breathing created in an instant. Not only had the Orthodox martial arts’ solemn flow vanished, but it was the breath of someone who had suffered lifelong nightmares while already cultivating the Unorthodox path for what seemed like eons.

He had been mad for a long time.

Steadily, like learning Orthodox martial arts, close to slow maturation.

“Once it was so delicious. I was restless worrying if I’d die from chewing deeply into his veins. It was one of my few pleasures. Of course, it became rare after you started wandering around with your wife in your pack seeking Transcendence… but I just couldn’t stay away.”

Did the Martial Star call himself a chatterbox because he ate the wife of someone who called himself that? The Martial Star rambled as if he had become a chatterbox himself.

“Anyway, even before that, you took such good care of feeding your wife. It was really nice to see. You even tracked down divine physicians sometimes. Anyway, your companion, maybe because she learned martial arts for self-defense, even her muscles were deliciously well-built, right? So I couldn’t hold back this time. I said I’m sorry many times….”

Craaack! Craaack!

The void itself rubbed and warped, drawing bent lines. Colorless sparks flickered as if bursting from a blade.

Was the complete achievement of spatial absolute techniques accomplished in such a manner?

The Martial Star muttered. “This is a bit scary.”

From the start, Wan Hui must have become strong enough at some point that even the Martial Star would have to risk his life. Spatial sword techniques might have appeared sporadically mixed in with sword strikes.

[What happened.]

It was right after the Southern Emperor sent the Literary Star beyond the gorge, a restraint measure in case Great Master Beom-heo’s group returned. Then the Southern Emperor himself approached the Martial Star.

His lightness skill glided the same way.

Even after deploying the Southern Facing Capable Emperor, he didn’t seem very tired, befitting a Demon Clan who sought completion in both martial and mystical arts.

“Well….”

It was when the Martial Star was about to say something.

The rippling reached its peak. Space momentarily warped like lightning, and soon the Central Plains swordsman was nowhere to be seen.

Whoosh!

Hazy backwind. Swirling dust.

Jeong Yeon-shin looked down at where Wan Hui had disappeared and muttered.

“He couldn’t control the absolute technique he just obtained.”

—Not only that. He didn’t reach it by walking the Orthodox path like Emperor Qian-ling and Great Master Beom-heo, did he? According to Yu Ling’s information, he appeared in all kinds of places. Much more varied than when he traveled to avoid misfortune with his wife…

“The north held onto someone like the Martial Star for a long time.”

—There are times when a nation must be like a person. The moment when it must pursue transformation through shedding skin like a Divine Monk. The north succeeded in its own way.

“Even for examples of transformation, why specifically Master Beom-heo? When there’s someone right in front of you who accomplished it twice.”

—The Martial Star is expelled from this day. The awakening of spatial absolute techniques by a Han person isn’t an ordinary matter, so the Southern Emperor activated his upper dantian study to the limit and interrogated the Martial Star. Only the Northern Blade opposed the Martial Star’s banishment from the Black Capital Old Palace and continued private exchanges.

“For that, it seemed the Six Star Lords often joined together. In large battles several times.”

—That was also the Northern Blade’s doing. If they occasionally received help from the Martial Star’s martial arts… he hoped our leadership might change their minds.

But even during the Shaolin fight, the Martial Star was consistent because he only bit off a little flesh from the Demon Clan monk Yuan-wu Master, whom he had pushed to the brink of death. The words the Martial Star babbled to Jeong Yeon-shin were also something.

—Just one bite of the dantian…!

‘Crazy bastard.’

Jeong Yeon-shin stayed still until the Southern Emperor sent the Literary Star down the slope. Dawn had already broken. The Literary Star’s mental transmission rang out.

—He tormented the Heavenly Soaring Guest family like a ghost for so long. Because of this, customs looking down on Demon Clans still remain in that land, since the truth was revealed, however belatedly.

“How could it be just there? It’s work Emperor Black Return must resolve.”

—I want to help. It won’t work with jianghu people’s methods. It’s time to listen in all directions and take up the brush.

The flow eventually leading to the Literary Star’s resignation.

The two men’s metropolitan examination.

Jeong Yeon-shin saw the first answer.

‘Remnants of long conflict.’

Ashes like himself. What remains after burning.

As it was for Jeong Yeon-shin, a problem for worldly affairs to solve. Those who wield brushes like swords must approach with upright hearts, while carefully examining the people’s livelihood in every corner.

Jeong Yeon-shin’s mouth opened.

“This alone resonates with my heart.”

—There’s more. The metropolitan examination’s answers were several to begin with.

His vision blurred because the Literary Star had hastened the years this time. Many scenes passed like book pages.

“Mm.”

Jeong Yeon-shin felt refreshed. Short decisive battles were right even for appreciating things. Connoisseurs who engaged in discussions should also make brevity their key point.

‘Who would sit through watching all this?’

—Stop. I’ll turn the page.

It was when he lowered his hand at the Literary Star’s words.

Many scenes passed.

The Literary Star learning governance from the Southern Emperor; the Fighting God silently hearing about the Martial Star and tilting his wine cup to the northwest; the Northern Blade, who challenged in opposition to the Fighting God’s consent and lost a horse; the rice Emperor Qian-ling occasionally sent; the famine nevertheless becoming extreme; the Heavenly Steel Light Armor gradually being completed…

—Literary Star, yours is suitable for vanguard. The name Spreading Annihilation would be good. It means broadly annihilating.

—Does the Southern Emperor also believe?

—Believe what?

—The rumor that the Heavenly Steel Light Armor’s form follows the owner’s character… My reputation is the problem. To be praised even by cannibals of the anti-Fighting God faction as a scholar.

—Serve as both strategist and great general.

—Why change the subject…?

Whoosh!

The situation changed rapidly.

The Southern Emperor issued a proclamation in the Fighting God’s name.

[Rather than eat people, die with dignity.]

The nation split.

Even the Six Star Lords became half distant. More than half the Northern Kings turned to the anti-Fighting God faction. Whether they ate people or not, countless defections occurred from the Southern Emperor’s faction.

Whoosh!

The next moment, a palace covered with octagonal roofs sat far below.

The Black Capital Old Palace. The atmosphere was serious.

—Is the one telling the clan to commit suicide truly this land’s god? Fighting God, answer! Was throwing the North Palace family, who only advocated freedom, to the Lava Castle Lord part of conquest, or was it to maintain inadequate order!

—Someday we’ll be able to fill our bellies with rice. I will destroy the Forbidden City.

—Will one who suffered consecutive defeats to the Ming Emperor babble such things? Looking back, that person is not a god! The words of one who repeated defeat are no more than the hollow prayers of Shaolin’s cripple, so our clan returns. You can continue imitating Central Plains people and sink in the Black Capital.

—When the Forbidden City breaks, return.

—Dream talk!

Groups were leaving the Black Capital Old Palace.

Jeong Yeon-shin clearly sensed inside the palace with his energy sense. The Literary Star was asking the Fighting God and the Southern Emperor, “Should we chase and admonish them?”

The Southern Emperor didn’t react, and the Fighting God shook his head.

The Fighting God said.

“This land must shed its skin.”

This time the Literary Star shook his head. Was it because he was a newly appointed military officer? His face was shadowed, and it was difficult to find leisure.

“Land or whatever, everything is torn apart like those Southern Tyrannical Alliance’s enemies. Shouldn’t we somehow stitch it together?”

“Mm.”

“Like this, we can’t block the south’s northern expedition!”

“I just need to defeat Qian-ling.”

“The food the Ming occasionally sends is just like candy to pacify crying children. They clearly see us as future trouble and will come to eliminate us in advance. The Gate forces must return to the past before issuing the proclamation.”

“True shedding skin means pushing through one’s own time. Even if you inadequately pursue the past, former skills won’t return.”

To Jeong Yeon-shin, the Fighting God’s words sounded like distant prophecy because he seemed to discuss not only nations but people.

The contemporary Literary Star’s mental transmission rang out.

—Land where people couldn’t eat humanely. It was the Gates because inhumane customs ran rampant. The Fighting God’s proclamation caused tremendous ripples in a bad direction. Even the Integrity Star had to leave to look after his territory.

Jeong Yeon-shin answered briefly.

“All three look pathetic.”

—The saying that the north lost to the Divine Sword Group Leaders because the Fighting God lost half the north. That’s connoisseurs’ nonsense. We fell into darkness just from wanting our clan to have dignity. It was pitch black before our eyes. We were blind, just like Great Master Beom-heo who became blind.

“If you had possessed more than half the north, it would have ended with our defeat.”

—It wasn’t losing half, but an effort to illuminate at least half from nothingness where there was nothing.

“……”

—Around this time, no, from when I became a military officer, my subject was Great Master Beom-heo. The Punishing Heaven Asura’s martial god who killed two Northern Kings with his arms… In terms of both his martial arts and great intention. I was scared that as karma for pushing away the Great Master’s goodwill, we’d wander in darkness forever.

His words continued calmly.

—This nation too, like Great Master Beom-heo.

“…I understand. If I’d had to recruit the Thirteen Evil Sects, it would have been pitch black before my eyes too.”

The Literary Star’s mental transmission became serious.

—Don’t compare them with such trash. The recruited Northern Kings didn’t cannibalize. The process was just very… very arduous.

“I misspoke.”

—Anyway, each time we recruited a Northern King family, I stacked stones in the palace’s back garden. It was a mind of offering. Hoping this nation’s future would brighten like Great Master Beom-heo’s sarira…

A desolate backyard.

The Literary Star threw a large rock.

Thud.

Originally, it was a rough stone. The Literary Star just polished it with his bare hands like marble.

That was the first.

His vision blurred again, and in the rapidly flowing time, throwing rocks repeated, one Northern King per rock. Jeong Yeon-shin questioned aloud.

“Shouldn’t stone pagodas for prayer be difficult to stack?”

—You gave the example of recruiting the Thirteen Evil Sects. Like you said, persuading the Gates was difficult as if in pitch darkness. But half the north had to brighten, so the world could see us, without being swallowed by darkness…

The contemporary Literary Star’s mental transmission vibrated.

—If that had happened, it wouldn’t be half but all would be visible, so I was very scared. Scared this nation might sink into darkness like Great Master Beom-heo. If that had truly happened, the Fortress Lord would have refused the Southern Emperor’s great cause too, because you wouldn’t have pitied this land.

Thud, thud.

The Literary Star gained one more wound each time he threw a rock. The Fighting God, the Southern Emperor, and the faction they led pursued the Gates’ transformation: the Fighting God creating the Shame Extreme King and invincible protective energy; the Southern Emperor discussing the world with the Great King Vajra; the Literary Star receiving praise for scholarship from Lu Ban’s successor…

Along with stubborn doubt.

Could they overcome the era? Would these blind people who don’t see dignity truly open their eyes? Only after the stone pagoda rose to the Literary Star’s chest level did the doubt fade.

Through long years.

Finally, transformation.

It even happened in multiple instances. Jeong Yeon-shin’s eyes widened.

“……!”

Was it because it was a world the Literary Star wanted to convey clearly? Jeong Yeon-shin sensed the world’s upheavals through the vast all creation. This point, this moment. The brilliant wills and transformations of the same era that happened right now.

—Attempting unification with me…?

Emperor Qian-ling, lying in his bedroom, tore off the tree branches wrapped around his body.

[Heavenly Sword Sea.]

The blade holder in the conical hat stepped on a translucent sea of swords spread like clouds.

—Namu Amitabha.

Great Master Beom-heo, in Mount Song’s wall-facing cave, achieved all Six Divine Powers and opened a single eye in his empty socket.

The test the Literary Star volunteered for seemed to be his second answer. His mental transmission also rumbled.

—Please give me one more chance to brighten the nation.

“I said I understand.”