Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 128
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 128. Winter Rain (3)
Drip.
There had been an unusual number of clouds, and now rain began to fall drop by drop, unseasonable for the time of year.
The high humidity made their breath more visible. At the same time, the smell of blood grew thicker.
Looking up at the sky, the moon and stars were still there.
But they were hazy.
The lanterns lit throughout Juru turned the humid world into a red and blue twilight.
“Cough!”
The coughing sound carried an old, weary hoarseness.
“…Where is this place?”
No answer came back.
Ho Geom Jin In, who had been gasping for breath several times, widened his eyes. Only now did he realize what had happened to him.
“You bastard, do you know what you’ve just done?”
His voice trembled.
Above anger and fear, a cold chill was disturbing his nerves.
Moyong Bi, who had been looking up at the sky from the cave entrance, removed his mask and spoke.
“Even winter rain is still rain, creating quite a dreamlike atmosphere.”
“This bastard…”
“Want to take a look too? It wouldn’t be bad as your last sight in this world.”
Ho Geom Jin In’s lips trembled violently.
“You’re going to kill me?”
“That’s right.”
The answer was so matter-of-fact that its sincerity came through even more firmly.
“How dare you say you’ll kill me? Me, an Elder of Wudang?!”
Moyong Bi once again looked down at the mountain below without a word.
The raindrops endlessly scratching down over the dreamlike world were impressive. The water mist writhing like smoke seemed chaotic at first glance, but the thin streams of rain were creating a certain regularity within the chaos.
The raindrops seemed to grow larger as if magnified.
The world within each raindrop was arranged peacefully.
The wet world again exhaled the fragrance of dreams, presenting a splendid song and dance. There were as many such worlds as there were raindrops.
As the rain fell, the number of worlds increased, and each time the rain soaked the ground, the number of worlds decreased.
Thus the world maintained a constant number.
“That’s how it all is.”
Each person saw one world, but because of that, there were also many worlds.
When a person dies, one world dies, and when a person is born, another world is born.
What kind of world is my world now?
“Even if we lament over worlds that break and scatter, other worlds covering them greedily shout to forget the past.”
Moyong Bi turned around.
“What about your world?”
“…”
“Is it dead? Is it still alive?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
Moyong Bi crossed his arms and leaned against the cave wall.
He looked tired somehow, yet his eyes alone emitted a clear radiance.
The human in the darkness with his back to the light looked like a formless ghost.
A pair of floating blue eyes arbitrarily squeezed Ho Geom Jin In’s heart.
“That bastard Young Geom was the worst. Even though he knew he was wrong, he couldn’t think to jump off the rolling carriage. He was scared. He was afraid to see his wrong self, afraid to face his ego that was sure to crumble, so that bastard just kept breaking down to the end.”
Below the pair of blue flames, ominous smoke flowed out.
It wasn’t human breath, but humid smoke created by blue fire.
“Even though the carriage was clearly heading for a cliff’s edge, that bastard didn’t stop. Even if his bones broke and his skin tore, if he had jumped off in the middle, he might have lived.”
“…!”
“Still, that bastard was lucky enough to get caught on a tree branch at the cliff’s edge and could live like a human for just a brief moment. Even if he wasn’t like a Taoist Priest, he could at least look back on himself, so he could face his approaching death without fear.”
He couldn’t understand what any of this meant.
But the more he listened, the colder his hands and feet became, and his heart rate rose exponentially.
“So what about you?”
“…?”
“If Young Geom was the worst, you’re just an idiot.”
“What, what did you say?!”
“There’s no one worse than someone who knows they’re wrong but ignores it and lives on. But you don’t even know that much. You’re a fool who doesn’t even know where the carriage you’re riding is heading, just sitting in a soft, comfortable chair repeatedly marveling at the scenery flashing by outside the window.”
“What, what are you trying to say!”
“That I expect nothing from you.”
“…?!”
“If there’s something I want, I can tear, break, pull out, crush, and grind it up. I’m that kind of human.”
Ho Geom Jin In trembled involuntarily.
The voice of a resentful ghost. At the words of a monster who didn’t put morality below profit, but could erase the very concept of morality depending on the situation, he felt terrible fear.
“But I won’t do that to you. Because you don’t even have the right to be destroyed by a ‘person.'”
“…!!”
“I don’t want anything else, and I’m not leisurely enough to do torture for entertainment.”
“This…!”
“You’ll just die unknown to anyone, unwatched by anyone, in this damp cave.”
“Wait! Wait!”
Shing.
Moyong Bi drew his sword.
An ordinary twin-handed long blade gleamed as it caught the blue light, revealing an eerie killing intent like a possessed blade.
Ho Geom Jin In shouted in a trembling voice.
“If you kill me, Wudang won’t stand for it!”
Moyong Bi walked forward step by step without a word.
Though his steps were slow, to Ho Geom Jin In’s eyes they seemed faster than running speed.
“Wait! Just wait a moment!”
“Farewell.”
Moyong Bi swung his sword indifferently.
“I’ll tell you everything!”
Whoosh!
The mercilessly descending sword stopped at Ho Geom Jin In’s crown.
Trickle.
Blood from the torn skin flowed down Ho Geom Jin In’s forehead and dangled from the tip of his nose.
Ho Geom Jin In fell into a state of panic.
He had hoped. He thought that no matter how crazy someone was, surely they wouldn’t kill an Elder of the Wudang Sect.
Young Geom? He was different from that kind of bastard from the start. Even with the same Elder position, they couldn’t be placed on the same level.
That’s what he thought. That’s what he believed.
And his thoughts and beliefs were thoroughly denied.
‘This, this bastard can really kill me!’
If he had been just a little slower to shout, his head would have been split in half.
Moyong Bi said indifferently.
“What are you going to say at this point?”
“I’ll do what you want!”
“Do you know what I want?”
“Isn’t it about Kang Won Gong!”
“Why are you being so confusing? Weren’t you someone who could die without hesitation for the Wudang Sect?”
Ho Geom Jin In involuntarily gritted his teeth.
That’s right. He thought he could do that.
But when he actually thought about dying by the sword in a place where no one was around, he was terrified. It was scary, but more than that, he hated it.
There were still so many things to enjoy in this world.
He had stayed away from alcohol because of martial arts, but there were so many other pleasures to enjoy in the world besides alcohol.
‘I won’t die like this! I can’t die!’
Ho Geom Jin In quickly opened his mouth.
“What do you want? If there’s something you want to hear, I’ll confess anything. Kang Won Gong? Or do you want to hear about the old evil deeds of our first disciples?”
“…”
“Anything is fine! Just spare my life!”
Once he broke his stubbornness, there was no stopping it.
As if hypnotized by his own words, Ho Geom Jin In’s desire for life grew exponentially.
Moyong Bi, who had been staring at him silently, shook his head.
“Forget it. There aren’t many people who would believe your words anyway, so why bother keeping you alive? If I kill you, at least I’ll feel better.”
“I’ll definitely acknowledge everything about Kang Won Gong!”
“What good does it do if only you acknowledge it?”
“I’ll tell you everything! If it weren’t for Jo Geom Sah Hyeong anyway, I wouldn’t have thought of using a half-baked immortal secret technique like Kang Won Gong on a person! In the end, both Young Geom and I were just moving according to Jo Geom Sah Hyeong’s will!”
“You said you didn’t know Yang Hyo Myeong well either?”
“How could I not know? I was the one who received reports from him until Young Geom was dispatched! I was the one who received moment-by-moment reports about the changes in your body!”
“Prove it.”
Ho Geom Jin In spoke as if possessed.
“When you first learned Kang Won Gong at fourteen, you must have lost your energy first! You had no choice but to do so since you sealed your own dantian and touched your innate qi!”
“…”
“Because Kang Won Gong is a secret art that constantly draws out innate qi, it damages the essence and mind connected to the primordial energy! Your temperament became eccentric and you occasionally suffered from madness just before turning fifteen, right? Am I right?!”
Moyong Bi’s face remained indifferent.
Ho Geom Jin In’s lips moved even faster.
“Yang Hyo Myeong must have given you medicine to replenish your vital energy while recommending alcohol! He recommended alcohol to deceive anyone who might be watching! Because if alcohol poison accumulated in your body, your vital energy would inevitably be damaged! The reason your internal organs were surprisingly intact despite all that accumulated alcohol poison was all thanks to Yang Hyo Myeong’s medicine! Isn’t that right?”
“You really did receive every report there was to receive.”
“That’s not all! Didn’t Yang Hyo Myeong give you a Myeongjin Entrance Token? With that, you sent your sister to Myeongjin Hall, and you eagerly stepped forward to learn Kang Won Gong! Without knowing you were becoming a test subject for a half-baked immortal secret technique!”
Moyong Bi tilted his head.
“The more I listen, the more pissed off I get?”
“Huh!”
“Well, since you had that much shamelessness on your face, that’s probably why Jeong Gal Ryun tried to get rid of you too.”
“…?!”
“Did you think I wouldn’t know? You were planning to frame the nearby demons as being in cahoots with Jeong Gal Ryun and kill them.”
“How, how did you…?!”
This time he was truly surprised.
“That’s what bastards like you always do. You were going to secure the divine weapons, drag things out for a few days, then fabricate evidence and bury it all, weren’t you?”
“I was… just for the sake of the martial arts sect…”
“Did you do it or not?”
Ho Geom Jin In hung his head.
“I, I did.”
“Hearing that, you guys really are irredeemable bastards.”
Ho Geom Jin In, who had been gritting his teeth silently, raised his head again.
“Yes, I acknowledge it! I acknowledge all of it! So please…!”
“…”
“…Please spare my life.”
Moyong Bi, who had been quietly looking down at him, slung his sword over his shoulder.
“Did you memorize every word of what he just said without missing a single syllable?”
“Of, of course! If you want, I can tell you everything Jo Geom Sah Hyeong did too…!”
“I wasn’t talking to you, so shut up.”
“…What?”
Moyong Bi turned his gaze toward outside the cave.
“Come out.”
Swish.
Three men revealed themselves.
Jeong Gal Ryun, Namgung Gwan, and an unknown man in his early thirties.
The man was wearing formal attire, and anyone well-versed in Jianghu martial arts would have immediately bowed their head upon seeing him.
Ho Geom Jin In’s mouth fell open.
“You…?!”
The man, Sama Jin Gung, deputy leader of the Martial Alliance’s Hubei branch, spoke with an expressionless face.
“Ho Geom Jin In.”
“…”
“Typically, entrapment investigations are recognized as coercive investigations, but due to the special nature of Jianghu martial arts, they can be sufficiently recognized as evidence depending on the circumstances.”
“Wait, wait!”
“Also, while alliance law prohibits private revenge between orthodox martial artists in principle, we do not intervene if both sides have agreed beforehand and this is certified. Especially when it’s revealed to be one side’s unilateral fault, depending on the legitimacy of the revenge, it may be dealt with by alliance law or end without incident.”
In the end, it was at the discretion of the alliance’s management.
Sama Jin Gung’s voice grew increasingly cold.
“This deputy leader does not wish to hold the Grand Young Master of the Moyong Family accountable for any crime.”
Ho Geom Jin In unconsciously let out a scream.
That scream, which didn’t show outwardly, was the wailing of a rotten soul.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
