Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 78

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

#078

“The elder is the world’s greatest physician, Guiryeongseuui. He was someone who could see through even the true nature of my danjeon that no one else knew.”

I looked into the old man’s cloudy eyes.

“Does it make sense that you couldn’t distinguish whether the energy flowing through a patient’s body was demonic energy or righteous energy?”

“That… truly, honestly, even I find it bewildering enough to make ghosts weep.”

Leaf Huazi struck his chest as if frustrated.

It was the first burst of emotion that had erupted from him.

“Everyone asked the same thing. The martial artists of the Baekdo Alliance also interrogated me like that. They said there was no way such a skilled physician wouldn’t recognize a cult member. In the end, they accused me of deliberately treating a cult member and requesting their attack as payment in order to ambush them.”

Leaf Huazi let out a frustrated groan.

“But you, do you know my past? I’ve retired anyway, and everything is buried under unwritten rules, but this is a secret no one knows. It was more than twenty years ago when I was actively wandering the martial arts world in my prime.”

Leaf Huazi took a deep breath.

“Back then, I was so well-versed in cult members that I even treated Cheon Soyeah, the eldest daughter of the Sun and Moon Sect, who was called the strongest martial prodigy in all of martial arts history and was just a two-year-old baby at the time. Moreover, the danjeon I mentioned before that was similar to yours but on a different path was precisely hers.”

“…!”

“Would I, with such a past, now make excuses about not knowing he was a cult member this time? Because I’ve suddenly become attached to life? It doesn’t make sense. But the man I saw… that man.”

Leaf Huazi’s voice trembled faintly.

“Was completely different. He didn’t have the characteristic purple darkness or murkiness of demonic energy. Rather… he was too clear.”

“Clear, you say?”

“Yes. Like a newborn child, or like a spring deep in the mountains, he was transparent. His body being a rare heavenly martial constitution didn’t even catch my eye because his energy was truly that alien. The depths of it…”

Leaf Huazi’s body trembled.

“It was such deep and vast darkness, such pure pitch black that I forgot I was blind, evil itself. How could I consider that to be a cult member from a place like the Sun and Moon Sect? That would rather be ignorant talk from those who have never encountered the true nature of cult members.”

“…His name, or at least did you hear anything about his affiliation?”

“No. He disappeared like a ghost after that. You’ll never find him again. He said he had gained great enlightenment this time, and wouldn’t appear unless he succeeded in refining and absorbing it. He also said his real name and affiliation would no longer have meaning, so he wouldn’t tell me.”

I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes.

I erase unhelpful clues from my mind.

I must focus solely on solving the problem immediately before me.

Just like how I once forcibly twisted my consciousness that was being drawn to Hwasaengsimdan and fixed it on what was in front of me.

My master had said.

People encounter countless side branches in life, but there’s nothing more foolish than being distracted by those side branches and hitting your head on the large branch blocking your path.

“So in the end, that incident became the starting point for you being branded as someone who conspired with cult members. Now I understand why people are gathering at this hermitage too.”

“Those people are here because they insist on taking care of me even when I tell them to go down the mountain. Of course, they’ll scatter when this spring ends.”

Leaf Huazi shook his head.

“I’ll accept your advice to leave. Originally we planned to scatter when the weather completely warmed up, but I’ll move that timing up a bit. As you said, I can’t bear to watch people die because of this old man. Once your body has recovered to some degree, I’ll tell them we should leave and scatter whenever you’re ready.”

The old man sighed deeply.

“Could you leave now? My mind is troubled and my hands are unsteady while preparing medicine.”

“There’s one more thing left.”

Leaf Huazi’s hands stopped.

I hesitated for a moment.

The lantern flame flickered in front of me.

“Do you happen to know about the Material of a Thousand Kills?”

“…”

Leaf Huazi’s cloudy eyes trembled slightly.

“Before I fell into the Sleep Demon, I heard you muttering about it. I want to hear about that.”

A long silence flowed.

Leaf Huazi slowly opened his mouth.

“The Material of a Thousand Kills… Do you think you belong to that constitution?”

I took a deep breath.

“Yes.”

“What’s your basis for thinking so?”

“I heard someone point at me and say that.”

“That’s too flimsy a reason.”

“Setting that aside, didn’t you think of me that way too, elder?”

Leaf Huazi nodded.

“I thought so at first too.”

“…At first?”

“But through our conversation just now, I became even more certain.”

Leaf Huazi said decisively.

“You’re not the Material of a Thousand Kills.”

“I’m not?”

“I’m certain.”

The old man pointed to his own eyes.

“You don’t have blood-red eyes either-“

“I think that’s a matter of timing.”

“…”

Leaf Huazi fell into thought for a moment.

“Come to think of it, I should let that pass. Even if that’s the sequence in which it would appear, it would be postponed for quite a while thanks to the constitution adjustment I made this time. Anyway, that’s a secondary issue.”

“What’s your reason for being so certain I’m not the Material of a Thousand Kills?”

Leaf Huazi shook his head.

“I don’t sense the arrogance and evil that someone with that constitution would possess.”

“…What?”

“Rather, your heart is tender. You’re full of affection.”

Ha.

I let out a short hollow laugh.

“I’m also not one to readily tell secrets, but as you said, if I may add an unnecessary comment.”

I spoke with burning eyes.

“The past I’ve been through, the people I’ve killed are beyond counting. I may not be wiser than you, elder, but I can definitively say you’re wrong about what you just said.”

“No. I’m not wrong.”

I looked straight into the old man’s cloudy eyes.

“Then how should I prove it to you? Though it may be presumptuous, even now, if it were necessary for my purpose, I could cut your throat without a moment’s hesitation. That’s who I am.”

“But you won’t do that.”

I remained silent for a moment.

I looked at Leaf Huazi with a freezing gaze.

“…Really, do you truly believe I can’t do it?”

“No. I expressed myself wrong. Don’t misunderstand. I don’t want to die.”

“…”

Leaf Huazi spoke calmly.

“You ‘can do it.’ If necessary, you’ll definitely do it. I know your hellish will. It would be nonsense for me to assert you couldn’t do it.”

“Then I am the Material of a Thousand Kills.”

“But apart from execution, would you really sleep soundly with your feet stretched out?”

“…”

“This is separate from execution.”

Leaf Huazi continued slowly.

“In this world, there are those who commit shameful acts without recognizing them as shameful, calling themselves ordinary people. There are also those who mistake wielding force recklessly for exhilaration, and mistake acting arrogantly for chivalry. You at least know what pride is. You know what pain is, what reality is, and you know shame. You know what disgrace is.”

The old man raised his head.

“Awareness is separate from execution.”

“…”

“Though it hasn’t been long, from what I’ve observed of you.”

Leaf Huazi spoke quietly.

“At least he’s someone who knows how to feel sorry.”

I couldn’t answer.

After I remained silent for a long while, he said to me.

“I don’t think you’re the Heavenly Killing Constitution, but if you want to know about its origins anyway.”

Leaf Huazi paused for a moment.

“Go to Yeomhwasan.”

“…!”

I knew that name.

“Since I don’t even know if you have the Heavenly Killing Constitution, rather than carelessly telling you what I know and having it become poison, this would be better. If you go there, you’ll find out whether you really have that constitution or not. It’s certain that you have a special constitution.”

“Where is Yeomhwasan?”

“That’s not a place that can be explained with words. Because it moves.”

“It… moves?”

“Instead, I’ll tell you someone who might know about it. And I’ll write you a letter of recommendation too. If you present that, you should be able to meet them.”

“…Thank you.”

I bowed my head deeply.

“Then is our conversation finished now?”

Leaf Huazi picked up the medicinal herbs again.

“I need to prepare the herbs, so please excuse yourself.”

“Understood.”

I quietly stood up and tried to open the door and leave.

“Of course, there’s no way you’d be the Heavenly Killing Constitution.”

Leaf Huazi’s voice came from behind me.

“I really hope you’re not that. For the sake of this world too.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If you… if someone with such a nature as yours really is that one and only Heavenly Killing Constitution.”

Leaf Huazi looked at me.

“It means this martial arts world will face an unprecedented disaster with not even a single weakness.”

***

Right after leaving Leaf Huazi’s room, I stood on a hill looking at the twilight.

“This should be far enough.”

To prevent any misunderstandings I might receive, I confirmed there was no one around.

As instructed when I first left the Baekdo Alliance, I waved the messenger pigeon’s food tied to a leather string toward the sky in a specific pattern.

Then one of the Baekdo Alliance messenger pigeons that had been flying randomly around Samyeong Mountain came flying within an hour.

I wrote a small note and tied it to its leg.

A false report saying I found nothing, along with a fake location of where I currently was.

This should buy me a few more days.

Flutter.

As I sent the messenger pigeon away, my feelings became complicated.

Heavenly Killing Constitution or whatever, they say going to Yeomhwasan will solve it, but that only has meaning if I arrive there alive.

Right now, how to resolve this situation comes first.

But this can’t last long either.

False reports have their limits, and if I don’t show my face for a long time, suspicion will begin.

Baekdo Alliance.

Sword Master Seo Ganghyeok.

Ha Song.

I need to do something before they move, but if I’m caught before then?

If I’m witnessed together with Guiryeongseuui’s group who are branded as cult members, I’ll be treated as a cult member too.

No matter if I’m the Namgung Family’s Boatman, it won’t matter.

Even if the Baekdo Alliance can’t touch me for fear of friction with the Namgung Family, Sword Master Hwirong will kill me.

I’m certain of it.

I held my head in my hands.

“…Damn it. I laid plans worrying about the future, and now I’m about to die from my own plans before even reaching that future.”

I gritted my teeth.

For now, I have no choice but to restore my body as quickly as possible while praying that this place isn’t discovered by enemies in the meantime.

“Three days. I’ll settle this somehow within three days. Within three days, I’ll recover my body enough to at least move, and simultaneously persuade Leaf Huazi and the people to evacuate using the path we found. Then I’ll immediately return to the Baekdo Alliance.”

I gritted my teeth.

“I can do it. It’s just a repetition of what I’ve been doing anyway. If I just get over this hurdle, my body will be completely healed too, so yes, it’s worth getting motivated…!”

As soon as I finished my resolution, I ran back down to the village.

And that day too, the iron ball didn’t budge.

But I pulled.

Just as my life had been until now.

Even if no one was watching.

Even if no one expected anything.

“Huff… huff!”

At least I absolutely couldn’t give up on myself.

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