Chapter 90

We arrived in Luoyang on the sixth day after leaving Xi An.

Pushing through what felt like a sea of people, we headed to a district where you could see the Luo River at a glance.

Two of Luoyang’s three great pleasure houses were said to be here. We planned to stay at one of them.

‘Mount Song is close now.’

From Luoyang to Mount Song was a distance you could cover if you rode from morning till night without rest.

We had finally come right up to the doorstep of our destination.

Maybe that was why.

The Heavenly Demon’s expression had been stiff for a while now.

I didn’t know what he meant to do at Mount Song, but it was not going to be anything ordinary.

“What are you thinking about, Master?”

“I am recalling old memories.”

“Memories related to Mount Song?”

The Heavenly Demon looked at me steadily, as if to ask what nonsense I was talking about.

“This place is Luoyang.”

“Ah.”

I must have gotten ahead of myself.

I laughed awkwardly and tried again.

“What kind of memories? Did you have a good time in Luoyang?”

“I killed someone. A hypocrite of the Orthodox factions.”

“…I see.”

To recall the memory of spilling blood in a place this beautiful.

Give it to the Heavenly Demon to be so bleak.

I hadn’t expected that kind of answer.

I had thought it would at least be something like a place he visited, a person he met, or that he once drank some famous Luoyang wine.

We headed for the busiest street in Luoyang.

On both sides of the road, people in splendid silk clothes and fine carriages passed by, and relaxed laughter drifted up from here and there.

The finishing touch was the two luxurious pleasure houses flaunting their grandeur across the avenue from each other.

Falling Water House and Jade Moon Pavilion.

The two establishments were fiercely competing to draw in customers.

The waiter in front of Falling Water House on the left shouted.

“The finest view in Luoyang! A feast where you can take in the Luo River at a glance! Where else could you find such elegant pleasure?”

Not to be outdone, the waiter in front of Jade Moon Pavilion on the right called back,

“Even elegance must be enjoyed after a good sleep. Our house has brought in Western wool bedding where the price is whatever you dare name! Lie down for just a moment and ten years of travel fatigue will vanish!”

“Oh.”

I found myself a bit more tempted by Jade Moon Pavilion.

The view sounded nice, but the desire to try that wool bedding I had only heard about in rumors was stronger.

“Master, shall we go over there?”

I pointed toward Jade Moon Pavilion.

The Heavenly Demon answered immediately.

“That place will not do.”

“Why not?”

I asked nervously.

His voice had been so serious.

Did he have some bad memory tied to Jade Moon Pavilion?

‘Maybe that is where he killed that orthodox man.’

The Heavenly Demon said,

“The head chef has no talent.”

“Ah. Right…”

So much for that.

In the end, we took rooms at Falling Water House.

After unpacking in our room and soaking in hot bathwater, we went up to the top floor.

I discreetly slipped the waiter some money and he led us to a window seat.

We ordered expensive dishes and wine like we were born rich.

While we waited, I asked the Heavenly Demon,

“Master, isn’t it about time you told me?”

Tomorrow we would be at Mount Song.

I wanted to hear beforehand what was going to happen there.

“…”

The Heavenly Demon silently gazed down at the Luo River.

Just when I was wondering if he would say nothing to the bitter end, his lips parted.

“In Namman there is a place called Deadly Poison Pool. Have you heard of it?”

“Yes. It is where terrible venomous creatures live, right?”

“What about the Soul-Eroding Serpent.”

“I have never heard of that one.”

“The Soul-Eroding Serpent is a laughable creature. It cannot withstand its own poison, so ten days after it hatches its body melts away entirely.”

“That is… quite a bizarre snake.”

I answered, inwardly puzzled.

Why was he suddenly talking about a snake?

“There is only one way for a Soul-Eroding Serpent not to die. It must swallow a poison stronger than its own.”

“Then it survives?”

“No.”

His answer was firm.

“Inside its body the two poisons devour each other and are reborn as a toxin more vicious than before. Then that new poison, too, melts the Soul-Eroding Serpent’s body away within ten days.”

The unusually long story from the Heavenly Demon had me holding my breath and listening before I knew it.

“Don’t tell me it has to repeat that process until it dies?”

“Right. The life of a Soul-Eroding Serpent is to wander forever in search of a stronger poison, simply to survive its own.”

I was at a loss for words.

A life of living only so you do not die. A life of searching endlessly for a stronger poison.

Could there be a more desperate existence than that?

And yet, that desperation didn’t feel unfamiliar to me.

The image of struggling against a fate whose end was already set felt just like my own story.

And that was…

‘Maybe the Heavenly Demon in my previous life was the same.’

I had no proof, but somehow it felt like that might be true.

At the very least, the Heavenly Demon himself must have known he had ominous signs in him.

“Then wouldn’t the Soul-Eroding Serpent’s end be nothing but ruin? It cannot find poison stronger than its own forever.”

“One cannot know whether it is ruin or completion. It might swallow all the poisons of the world and reach the moment when it alone is the final poison. If so…”

“And if so?”

The Heavenly Demon turned his gaze toward me.

His eyes were extremely calm.

“Master, why did you tell me this story?”

“…”

The Heavenly Demon didn’t answer.

Until the meal ended, only silence lingered between us.

The next day, around dusk, we entered the foothills of Mount Song.

We could no longer ride, so we paid a nearby household to look after our horses.

From there I silently looked up at Mount Song.

‘Is this really the Mount Song I knew?’

In my previous life I had once visited Mount Song.

Back then I had thought the mountain’s lines were clear and pure, but today the air felt damp and heavy.

The Heavenly Demon and I walked into the mountain, where darkness had settled.

“Master, wasn’t Mount Song supposed to be a sacred mountain? It does not feel like that at all.”

“That is the way of the world. The stronger the light, the darker the shadow behind it.”

“It feels worse than that. I think I can even sense Demonic Qi.”

“Your instincts have sharpened.”

If my instincts had sharpened, that meant what I sensed really was demonic qi, right?

‘To think there was a place on Mount Song where Demonic Qi flowed.’

I was deeply astonished.

That astonishment slowly turned into shock.

The deeper we went, the thicker the Demonic Qi grew.

It was unlike any Demonic Qi I had encountered so far.

It was as if only filth and ominousness had been distilled together, prodding at a fundamental sense of revulsion.

I wondered how long we had walked like that.

We stood in a part of the mountain where it looked like no one had set foot for decades.

There, a single old mountain gate sat alone, unable to withstand the marks of time.

And in front of it stood a face I remembered.

An old man in monk’s robes, one hand clasping a wooden staff.

Compassion filled his face, a natural solemnity flowed from his whole body, and not a speck of dust seemed to taint the pure aura around him.

This man, who made you think of a vast lake, was Gak-myeong, one of the Ten Great Masters of the world and the Abbot of Shaolin Temple.

With a dozen or so martial monks lined up behind him, he spoke in a heavy voice.

“Amitabha. I had hoped it would end as needless worry, yet you have come after all.”

I didn’t know how, but it seemed he had expected the Heavenly Demon to come.

“I already know that you did the same in Mount Heng and Mount Hua. This old monk stands here to plead with the Cult Leader to stop.”

“Step aside.”

The Heavenly Demon’s reply was utterly flat.

“You are already stronger than anyone in this world. Is that not enough? Endless desire is like a bad dream. What lies beyond this gate is only a threshold that will lead you to ruin.”

I silently watched the two of them.

‘What in the world are they talking about?’

I couldn’t understand a single part of their exchange.

What could possibly lie beyond that gate for the Abbot of Shaolin to try to dissuade the Heavenly Demon like this?

“I will not say it thrice. Step aside.”

The Heavenly Demon’s voice was icy.

Gak-myeong let out a sigh so deep it sounded like the earth might fall away.

“So you truly intend to walk the path of the Demon God.”

Suddenly Gak-myeong’s aura changed completely.

In a grim voice he shouted,

“Eighteen Arhats, hear me. What is our duty?”

“To protect the Dharma!”

“Even if our bodies are burned away, we must prevent the birth of the Demon God. Do you understand?”

“With these lowly bodies we will block the Demon God’s birth!”

Their resolute shouts shook the whole mountain.

They dared to oppose the Heavenly Demon’s will.

No matter how strong the Eighteen Arhats were, their opponent was the Heavenly Demon.

He did nothing.

He didn’t release killing intent, nor did he unleash any explosive qi.

He simply stood there, yet the mountains and trees trembled.

The Eighteen Arhats’ faces twisted under the Heavenly Demon’s oppressive presence.

“Amitabha, Amitabha.”

Gak-myeong closed his eyes and chanted the Buddha’s name.

At first it was only a small murmur, but as the chant repeated, golden radiance began to rise from his entire body.

‘Buddha Light Mahayana Divine Art?’

It was one of the countless Shaolin supreme skills that ranked among the top ten.

It was said that once mastered, it manifested that kind of golden body-protecting qi. Apparently, that was true.

‘Just how much inner power has he accumulated?’

Body-Protecting Qi was usually formed to shield the caster.

It consumed so much internal energy to form and maintain that expecting anything more from it was unreasonable.

Yet what Gak-myeong had spread covered more than ten meters at least.

The golden radiance slowly pushed back the Demonic Qi.

When it wrapped around the Eighteen Arhats, their twisted faces visibly relaxed.

To them, that light was the safest place in the world.

They must have believed that Gak-myeong could withstand any external attack.

“Destroy the demon and set the Dharma straight!”

The Eighteen Arhats charged toward the Heavenly Demon as one.

The aura raised by the sixteen martial monks and the Dragon-Subduing Monk and Tiger-Taming Monk who led them was terrifying.

The pressure was like watching a massive mountain range move.

Even the me of my previous life would have struggled to meet that head on.

The Eighteen Arhats Formation was the strongest combined formation that Shaolin’s finest could deploy.

Even knowing the Heavenly Demon would not so much as blink, I couldn’t help but shout,

“Master!”

“Watch closely.”

The Heavenly Demon merely raised his hand.

From his fingertips, invisible waves of force rippled outward.

Formless True Qi.

A power where fierce qi had been condensed and condensed again until its form vanished and it seemed transparent.

That pure power, bearing extreme destructive force, collided with the onrushing Eighteen Arhats.

Pajijijik!

At the same time, countless cracks spread across the golden radiance that surrounded them.

Peo-eong!

Then the golden light scattered as if exploding, and unable to withstand the backlash, the Eighteen Arhats spewed blood in midair and were flung in all directions.

Gak-myeong, at the center of the formation, was no different.

He was already on his knees, fresh blood running from the corner of his mouth.

With a single move.

Shaolin’s best, Abbot included, had been completely neutralized in one move.

The Heavenly Demon looked down at them without a hint of emotion, then turned his head toward me.

He spoke.

“That is the realm you must reach.”

At those words, a shiver ran through my whole body.

I had to.

I had to set foot in that lofty realm I had failed to reach even in the final moments of my previous life.

That was the bare minimum starting line if I wanted to change the Heavenly Demon’s future.

“My, I am late.”

It was then.

A shadow appeared in midair.

When I lifted my head, I saw a Taoist who looked too young to be called middle-aged, yet too old to be called a youth.

As if stepping on invisible stairs, he walked down through the air at an easy pace.

‘Sky-Stepping!’

My mouth dropped open before I realized it.

It was the highest level of lightness skill that treated the sky like the ground.

There were only three or four people in all the Orthodox factions who could use it that naturally without a hint of strain.

So was this Taoist also one of the Ten Great Masters of the World?

‘No. He is too unfamiliar for that.’

I knew the traits of the Ten Great Masters.

I had even seen with my own eyes the miserable state they ended up in at the Heavenly Demon’s hands.

No matter how I racked my memory, no Taoist like this came to mind.

‘Haah. What is even going on here?’

It was not as if anyone had shouted the Heavenly Demon’s trip to Mount Song across the land.

Yet the Abbot of Shaolin had been waiting, and now some unknown top master of a Taoist had appeared.

‘And what is with that sack?’

My head throbbed.

The Taoist had a large sack slung over his back, and it wriggled while muffled “mmph mmph” sounds leaked out.

It seemed a person was stuffed in there.

“It has been a while, Dao-friend Seol. A year, has it?”

The Taoist gave the fallen Shaolin monks a brief glance, then smiled warmly at the Heavenly Demon.

“I told you not to call me Dao-friend.”

“There is nothing wrong with the title Tao-friend. In the beginning, the demonic and the Dao were one, you know.”

My surprise didn’t end there.

The Taoist and the Heavenly Demon knew each other? Enough that he allowed such familiarity?

Since coming to Mount Song, far too many things that defied common sense had been happening.

“You must be free. To stick your face into this place like this.”

“The heavenly signs told me. If I wished to meet Dao-friend Seol, I should go to the mountain gate at Taesil Peak.”

“…”

When the Heavenly Demon didn’t respond, the Taoist turned his gaze toward me.

“And you are?”

“I should be the one asking. Who are you?”

I had been going crazy with curiosity, so I shot the question right back.

The Taoist’s eyes went round.

“Hoho, an audacious one, are you.”

He ran his eyes up and down, looking me over.

He let out a sigh.

“You have uncommon material. A pity your face shows short life.”

“…!”

“No need to be shocked. It is just a poor little knack that lets me see more than others. Anyway…”

The Taoist spoke to Gak-myeong, who was bleeding.

“My good man, did I not tell you not to interfere with Dao-friend Seol’s affairs? Were you trying to bring Shaolin to an end in your generation?”

I was shocked yet again.

How in the world were positions divided that a young-looking Taoist could talk that casually to the Abbot of Shaolin?

Gak-myeong answered in a wavering voice.

“If the Cult Leader takes what lies beyond that gate, darkness will fall over all of Murim.”

“That is only your view. Rushing in like this only increases pointless sacrifice. You know as well as anyone that in all the world, the only one who can stand in Dao-friend Seol’s way is Dao-friend Seol himself.”

“Shaolin will, without fail, stop the birth of the Demon God.”

“Tsk tsk. How foolish. This is why I don’t get along with Shaolin monks. They copy none of the Buddha they are told to emulate and grow only their stubbornness.”

Clicking his tongue, the Taoist looked back at the Heavenly Demon.

“Soon the rest of Shaolin’s lot will be rushing here. I will guard the mountain gate. Daoist-friend Seol, go inside and do what you must. We can discuss the details afterward.”

The Heavenly Demon nodded.

Then he stepped past the fallen Shaolin monks and walked through the gate.

I hurriedly followed behind him.