Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 183

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 183. Two Principles , and Two Intentions (3)

“People often say this. If you cultivate yourself, you can achieve an unshakable mind and prevent your soul from being stained black. That’s why they say training the heart is important. That’s correct.”

Heo Joong Jin In’s voice was distant, as if coming from a far-off peak.

“But the Taoist priests of Mu Dang could not do so. Of course, we practiced diligently, but for us who breathed clean air and only read Taoist scriptures, war taught us that the cultivation we had built up was no better than a hut made of dead branches.”

Neung Hyeong, who would normally have been uncomfortable with his words, could not be so now.

He was genuinely curious.

“What do you mean by that?”

“There’s a saying in Taoism. The whiter the foundation, the easier it is to be stained with color.”

“Like ‘those who approach ink become black’?”

“Similar to that, but much worse.”

Heo Joong Jin In’s face was dark.

It was as if even his expression had been contaminated by the words he spoke.

“Moodang Mountain is the sacred mountain of Taoism. There are many sacred mountains in the Central Plains, but it would be hard to find a place filled with such clean nature and solemnity.”

“….”

“That doesn’t mean it’s only filled with immortal energy. Moodang Mountain is full of the energy of great nature, and nature is a place where yin and yang achieve harmony. Moodang Mountain was a harmonious mountain.”

Neung Hyeong hesitated as he was about to refute those words.

Heo Joong Jin In was speaking of the past. In other words, the current Moodang Mountain was not like that.

And Neung Hyeong was feeling that fact with his entire body.

“I don’t know when it started, but the number of Taoist priests coming to Moodang Mountain for cultivation increased explosively. It may not have been entirely because of them, but the spiritual energy of Moodang Mountain kept growing, making it hard to find a better place for those practicing Taoist martial arts.”

“Hmm.”

“I won’t say the harmony was broken because of them. Mountain energy can change at any time. Whatever the case, the Taoist priests of Mu Dang lived soaked in the mountain’s spiritual energy, and except for a few priests, they forgot the world.”

Forgetting the world didn’t mean being cut off from it.

However, in the distant past, the Taoist priests of Mu Dang, even if not actively, ventured into the world quite frequently.

To help the common people struggling with life, or to practice in the wider world.

But for decades, the Taoist priests of Mu Dang forgot the world for personal cultivation.

To achieve the Way, to become pure.

“Parents who only show good things to their children and block frustration and hardship will later witness with their own eyes that their children cannot adapt to the world. The Taoist priests of Mu Dang were similar.”

Neung Hyeong finally understood Heo Joong Jin In’s words.

“They knew sparring but not fighting, and they knew of the existence of malice but had never experienced it firsthand.”

“That’s right.”

Heo Joong Jin In sighed without realizing it.

“Even without ink, if many people handle white paper, it gets dirty and soiled. Even if you scribble ink on it, the paper may struggle but will be able to endure.”

“….”

“But paper that has never been stained will panic at the ink soaking into it and turn even whiter with fear. The longer the paper has been stored, the more it will be dyed, and no matter how carefully you write, the paper won’t be able to withstand the ink and will tear and be pierced.”

“Is that why the Taoist priests of Mu Dang went mad?”

“I didn’t know at first. Even I was like that at the time. But as the war with Seongheolgung continued, more and more children complained of strange symptoms.”

At that time, the Mu Dang Faction actively participated in the war.

Even if personal cultivation was important, with the world engulfed in flames of war, they, who were pillars of the orthodox Murim, could not help but step forward.

They fought more actively than anyone else, experiencing many victories and defeats.

Those who were defeated died, and those who won became stronger.

And as time passed, even those who were defeated didn’t die, and those who won became numb to the joy of victory and survival.

Victory or defeat was no longer important to them.

“Disciples who couldn’t overcome insomnia even with Mu Dang’s pure internal energy appeared one after another. It was an internal matter so I couldn’t tell the Alliance Leader at the time, but there was even an incident where several disciples addicted to killing intent died while fighting with swords.”

“….”

“That’s not all. Most of the disciples became extremely sensitive, and conflicts increased as they became jealous over trivial matters and hated each other.”

“…I see.”

“If Young Master Neung had seen those children at that time, you would never have thought they were disciples of Mu Dang. Those children were more ferocious than any ordinary black path evil sect members, and they were ready to point their swords at their fellow disciples at any time.”

The disciples who knew courtesy and law, but were good and innocent enough to make those things mere facades, had somehow become fierce Murim warriors ready to kill each other.

“Do you know what the really serious thing was? It means the disciples came to eagerly look forward to the next operation.”

“…?”

“Although there was no sword fighting due to the adults’ scolding and restraint, the disciples, united in dissatisfaction and evil, wanted to vent that resentment on the enemy.”

Neung Hyeong felt chills.

People being stained by evil was common, but the fact that good people, for whom even calling them fools would be insufficient, had become bloodthirsty killing demons just from war made him shudder.

The dizzying feeling that comes from an immense gap.

That’s why one shouldn’t use the expression “just” before the word war.

“A representative example would be the incident where twenty-eight Seven Star Swordsmen chased demons all the way to Honam. Their war swords were terrifyingly sharpened, they were just as confident, and they were addicted to fights where blood and flesh splattered.”

“…!”

“In the end, they were almost annihilated by two elders of Seongheolgung and demons waiting in Honam, but the Previous Alliance Leader came to rescue them with a single spear.”

Neung Hyeong also remembered that incident.

It had been a golden opportunity to greatly reduce the power of the Mu Dang Faction, which had been like a thorn in their side. It seemed too easy to lure them, making him wonder if it was a deception, but those idiots really had crawled all the way to Honam.

However, that operation failed due to the ghostly intrusion of their nemesis.

“At that time, the Seven Star Swordsmen were our senior disciples. They were talents who would become pillars of the Mu Dang Faction in the future, and their leader and several disciples even possessed martial power surpassing their senior brothers.”

It meant that even such strong warriors couldn’t escape the allure of slaughter.

Tears welled up in Heo Joong Jin In’s eyes.

“And that change wasn’t limited to just the senior disciples.”

* * *

“Heo Jeong too?!”

“That’s right.”

Heo Do Jin In didn’t shed tears. He had already poured out all his tears.

“At the end of the war, Heo Jeong led disciples to Zhejiang. Do you remember?”

“He moved on his own, saying there was a possibility of enemies infiltrating again.”

“The Alliance Leader scolded him but didn’t stop him.”

“That’s right. It was necessary work. I was planning to scold him when he returned for ignoring the chain of command.”

Moyong Bi sighed.

“In the end, I couldn’t even scold him.”

Heo Jeong and most of his disciples died in Zhejiang.

Moyong Bi, who had been feeling bitter, suddenly widened his eyes.

“Don’t tell me?”

“That’s right.”

Heo Do Jin In told the terrible story in a calm voice.

“It was known as a tragic incident where they stabbed each other to death, unable to distinguish friend from foe after being caught in Seongheolgung’s formation technique. I thought so too, but I learned later that Heo Jeong and his disciples weren’t caught in any formation technique.”

“…!!”

“Heo Jeong, who had fallen first among us, had gone with like-minded disciples to massacre the people of an isolated village.”

“Crazy…!”

“In the process, it seems several disciples who came to their senses tried to stop them. I heard this directly from a village survivor later.”

“….”

“In the end, realizing they had done wrong, they fell into Qi Deviation due to madness and killed each other.”

Moyong Bi sighed without realizing it.

War drives people mad.

People who only know war intellectually and have never experienced it would chatter that it’s a situation they could overcome even if it’s difficult for a while. They might even cite evidence that trained Murim warriors would have stronger mental fortitude.

What ridiculous nonsense.

A demon taking root in the human heart is not a matter of age or gender. Naturally, there’s no difference between trained people and ordinary people either.

Moreover, for pure Taoist priests who had never engaged in slaughter, war itself would inevitably be a much harder demon to handle than the demons of Seongheolgung.

“That demon came to me too.”

“….”

“Fortunately, I had been governing myself every moment with the Circle of Infinite Truth Scripture, and I was able to drive away almost all the demons of killing intent that covered my heart. But the other fellow disciples could not.”

“….”

“I directly transmitted the Circle of Infinite Truth Scripture, but there were no disciples who properly mastered it. Even that Heo Joong was the same.”

Moyong Bi sighed without realizing it.

Heo Do Jin In’s face was gradually becoming like an inanimate object.

“I couldn’t understand it at all. Even while being thoroughly soaked in the spiritual energy of Mu Dang Mountain that washes away killing intent and madness aura, I wondered why they couldn’t return to their original state, why they couldn’t master the Circle of Infinite Truth Scripture.”

“…It was excessive.”

“Exactly. The overflowing spiritual energy of Mu Dang Mountain, this abundant joy given by nature, instead awakened the demons in their hearts.”

They knew they were wrong, but at the same time couldn’t escape from the temptation it gave.

Alcoholics who seek drink every night would be like this, and vile drugs that give immediate pleasure without any action would be like this.

The demons were more serious than that.

Unable to shake off their past experiences, they used all their strength to suppress the demons that rose moment by moment, but the spiritual energy of Mu Dang Mountain instead gave them frustration.

The fact that even after doing this much, they couldn’t shake off the shadow of demons.

Demons called to demons, caused anguish, and ultimately led them all to destruction.

“Because they were such pure Taoist Priests, they couldn’t bear such versions of themselves.”

There’s a saying that good people are scarier when they get angry. When they’re consumed by rage, they’re swept up in madness they’ve never experienced before and can’t look around them.

And when they return to their right mind, the good person blames themselves.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Only the degree was different – the Alliance Leader and all the Alliance Members were stained with demons. And that’s natural. Who could maintain their sanity in a hell where people can’t see people as people?”

“…”

“Still, because you were the Alliance Leader, the Alliance Members under you didn’t self-destruct from madness. The Alliance Leader always showed them the way.”

“If I had succeeded, you could have succeeded too.”

Moyong Bi’s eyes deepened.

“Somehow.”

“Yes, I had to find a solution somehow. But this stupid horse’s head seemed to have its limits.”

“…”

“In the end, despite the efforts of myself and the disciples who were relatively intact, over several years, or as long as over ten years, the participating disciples took their own lives.”

“…!”

“And… the times changed.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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