Chapter 279 : Jaseung, Sees a Vision
Chapter 279: Jaseung, Sees a Vision
It was a battlefield.
Piles of blood and corpses were stacked high, yet the scene felt unreal for some reason. Like a scene within a painting.
Lee Jaseung could feel it. He was seeing an illusion right now.
While reading Yim Sayeon's secret manual, he had at some point fallen into a state of selflessness. It was not a state where his mind was sharp and honed by infinite concentration. Rather, it was a languid and hazy feeling, as if he were conscious yet simultaneously dreaming.
Lee Jaseung looked around.
Endless stretches of corpses.
Rather than horror, he felt a sense of relief at the fact that he was standing in the middle of a battlefield. To feel such comfort in a place where an ordinary person would have been startled into closing their eyes at the gruesome sight.
Right then, Lee Jaseung turned his head as he felt someone's gaze.
The woman standing among the piles of corpses was none other than Baek Seolyoung.
She felt different than usual. A cold and sad feeling for some reason.
When Lee Jaseung's gaze reached her stomach, he was startled.
She was not heavily pregnant.
Had she already given birth?
If not?
Even though he recognized that this entire situation was his own illusion, an ominous feeling that this scene was an omen of something enveloped his entire body.
She looked around and spoke.
"Your world is like this huh."
"I'm sorry."
"There's no need to be sorry. It's your world after all."
It was a tone that felt distant for some reason.
"Let's go."
Lee Jaseung reached out his hand with the desire to escape this place first. Her hand, which he took, was very cold.
Lee Jaseung knew. The real Baek Seolyoung would not speak in this manner. If it were her, she would have hugged him warmly and comforted him. This was his trust and faith in her.
The woman before his eyes was not Baek Seolyoung, but himself.
Why was his subconscious creating her in this form?
The two moved their steps slowly.
Since they could not walk while avoiding the blood flowing around them, their feet and clothes were soon soaked in blood.
She said nothing, like someone who was angry. That made Lee Jaseung even more tense.
How long had they walked like that?
"Sob, sob, sob."
At the edge of the battlefield where it felt as if ghosts might pop out, the sound of people crying was heard. Lee Jaseung and Baek Seolyoung moved toward the place where the crying was heard.
Dozens of people were entangled among the corpses.
They were the villagers, including Gao Ying and Cho Somi. Everyone looked terrified, and some people were crying loudly.
Lee Jaseung asked Cho Somi.
"Why are you crying?"
With a face smeared with tears, Cho Somi raised her hand and pointed to a place.
Far away, a black mist was flying toward them at a rapid speed. Nothing remained in the wake of the mist. Animals were left as mere bones, and trees withered and dried up.
Truly, a mist of death was flying toward them.
"I'm scared, please save us!"
When Lee Jaseung took a step forward to block it, Baek Seolyoung spoke abruptly.
"Don't go."
Startled by the unexpected words, Lee Jaseung looked back at Baek Seolyoung.
"That thing could suddenly turn this way. Are you going to go save those people even with such a risk?"
Lee Jaseung stared quietly at Baek Seolyoung. If it were the real Baek Seolyoung, she would have stepped forward to block that cloud even at the risk of death.
The question deepened.
Just why was his subconscious saying such things through her mouth?
The black mist was drawing closer and closer.
"Save us!"
"Please save us!"
"I don't want to die!"
"Save at least our child!"
The people shouted desperately.
Even though it was nothing more than an illusion, his heart ached to ignore those mournful cries.
The black mist swept over them.
Without even being able to scream properly, the people collapsed, leaving only bones behind.
Even though it was a truly gruesome scene, Baek Seolyoung, no, his own heart coldly repeated what she said before.
"Even you cannot protect everyone."
Those words echoed in his head, and Lee Jaseung snapped his eyes open.
Yim Sayeon's secret manual lay on the writing desk before his eyes.
The manual was open to the final page.
After staring quietly at the manual, Lee Jaseung let out a light sigh and closed the final page.
Lee Jaseung looked deep into the depths of his own heart, which was as dark as an inner demon. He had sought to know the way to cut an opponent with the mind, but he felt as if he himself had been cut by his own mind.
Lee Jaseung took the manual in his hand.
Blaze.
The manual instantly flared up and disappeared into ash. He had burned the manual with the True Flame of Sammae.
He could not leave behind the manual that contained her life. Lee Jaseung had obtained everything he could learn and realize through the manual.
Because this manual was a special one created for him and for a single attempt.
Until he saw the final illusion, Lee Jaseung had indeed learned much. The various stories containing Yim Sayeon's insights were truly more valuable than ancient treasures.
He was clearly different before and after reading the manual. He felt that he had walked a few more steps forward within the realm he belonged to.
But unfortunately, he had not reached the Realm of the Mind Sword.
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
That the reason he could not reach the Realm of the Mind Sword might be hidden in the final illusion he saw.
Lee Jaseung rose from his seat and opened the door.
The figures of Yim Sayeon and Gao Ying were visible in the yard.
Yim Sayeon asked urgently.
"Did you attain it?"
Lee Jaseung answered lowly.
"I am sorry. I did not attain it."
Lee Jaseung came out of the room. He had not eaten or slept for ten days, but his physical condition was not too bad.
He performed a deep bow to Yim Sayeon in the yard.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I have gained much realization."
Yim Sayeon let out a sigh.
"I am sorry."
"No. It is all because I am lacking."
Yim Sayeon felt it was a great pity and regret, but she did not mention it further. It was already a thing of the past.
"You're hungry, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"I'll boil some porridge for you."
After Yim Sayeon went into the kitchen, Lee Jaseung spoke to Gao Ying.
"You've come?"
"I came because I was worried."
"I am sorry for not being able to inform you in advance."
"Nothing to be sorry about. You must have had your reasons."
Gao Ying guessed roughly what the situation was. The past ten days had been a very important time for Lee Jaseung, and unfortunately, it seemed he had not achieved what he intended. He felt sorry for visiting at such a time.
"Actually, I was planning to go say my farewells before leaving."
He had guessed that Lee Jaseung would not stay long. As the moment of parting came sooner than expected, Gao Ying felt a sense of regret.
"When do you leave?"
"I will leave soon, between today and tomorrow."
Gao Ying firmly took Lee Jaseung's hand with his thick, calloused hand.
"Come visit anytime."
Lee Jaseung had felt much from meeting Gao Ying. It was a teaching that could only be given by someone who doggedly walked a single path.
Before leaving, Lee Jaseung stopped by Cho Somi's house.
Elder Cho happened to be out, and only Cho Somi was swinging a wooden sword in the back yard.
Watching that sight from behind, Lee Jaseung spoke.
"Keep your waist straighter, and put strength into your lower body."
Cho Somi was startled.
"Ah! When did you come?"
"I just arrived."
At times, a child's intuition is faster than an adult's.
"You're leaving now, aren't you?"
Lee Jaseung nodded.
"If you practice the forms I taught you every day, you will be able to live while sufficiently protecting yourself."
Cho Somi's eyes welled with tears.
"Can't you take me with you?"
Of course, he could have taken her. He could have made it possible for her to live as a martial artist of the Righteous Chivalry Alliance.
But he wanted her to make that decision herself when she was a bit older.
"For now, you must protect your grandfather and your parents."
"Okay."
Cho Somi nodded.
"We will be able to meet again later."
"Really?"
Lee Jaseung nodded with a look full of certainty. He intended to check on how the child was growing. If he did so, the day to meet again would eventually come.
"So live your life well and diligently."
* * *
In the carriage returning to the Alliance, Lee Jaseung was lost in thought the entire time. It was because of that final illusion.
Yim Sayeon, who rode in the carriage with him, noticed Lee Jaseung's troubled state early on and did not interfere with his meditation, acting as if she didn't notice.
The time proposed by the Heavenly Demon Soul was now only about a month away.
That was also the reason why Yim Sayeon was going to the Murim Alliance with Lee Jaseung.
Soon, her son or more accurately, the Heavenly Demon Soul who dominated her son's body, would come to find Lee Jaseung.
If Lee Jaseung were to be killed by the Heavenly Demon Soul, she would step forward to fight. If Lee Jaseung lost, she would lose too, but she could not give up her final effort to reclaim her son.
Yim Sayeon glanced at Lee Jaseung.
He was looking out the carriage window without a word.
"Even you cannot protect everyone."
Those words kept coming back to him.
Lee Jaseung worried if he had fallen into a state of inner demons.
He had never normally set his mind to protecting everyone.
He only had the heart to achieve the unification of the world together with his subordinates of the Black Way Alliance.
Though he did not live wickedly like Jang Wonso or Yao Hong, he had not lived while strictly observing chivalry like a great hero either. He had ruled people using poison, and although they were evil people, he had sacrificed them for his objectives.
That was the kind of person he was.
He had never set his mind to protecting everyone in the Jianghu.
Then why had he said such words?
Perhaps after achieving the unification of the world, was he thinking such thoughts deep in his heart?
That he would protect everyone.
Had he truly started to harbor such greed?
Was the reason he could not reach the Realm of the Mind Sword perhaps because of that greed?
No matter how much he thought and thought, he could not tell.
Before long, the carriage began to slow down. Far away, the magnificent buildings of the Murim Alliance, newly renovated as the Righteous Chivalry Alliance, were visible.