Chapter 13 : Resolution
"Huck-! Huck-!"
Jeongpung, who had swung his sword like a madman for a long time to distance himself from the man in black, gasped for breath.
And at a little distance, the man in black, who was still unharmed, was looking at the panting Jeongpung with a very calm expression.
"Wh-who on earth are you!!"
"What's so important about who I am?"
"What grudge do you have to persecute a disciple of the great Qingcheng like this!! This is a very unreasonable act!!"
At those words, Jeongpung could feel the man in black's brow furrowing severely, although he couldn't see it.
"Persecution? Unreasonable? Ha! How ridiculous! How thick-skinned must you be for such words to come out of your mouth?"
"What…"
"It was a fight between children! Even if there were political issues of each sect entangled in the background, it was still just a dispute between brats who hadn't even passed the age of learning. What's so important about who wins or loses there? But what did you do? Just because the winning child was from a sect that had a little grudge with Qingcheng, you unilaterally persecuted him and slapped him!!"
"Th-that's…"
"Moreover, considering the age difference between that child and you, that child must have felt an even greater emotion than what you are feeling towards me right now. Yet you still spout such nonsense with that open mouth of yours!!"
"…So that's what it is?"
"What?"
"I see now. You came to take revenge as an ally of Mysterious Profound Sect! Grrrk! Don't think you can get away with touching a disciple of Qingcheng! I will report this matter to the Sect Leader and surely punish Mysterious Profound Sect… huck!!"
While speaking, Jeongpung was suddenly bound by a terrifying killing intent and was unable to resist, unable to even breathe properly.
"Keuk!? Ke-keuk… ugh!"
"Foolish, so foolish… I thought that since you were still a young brat, if I beat you up a little, your rock-hard head would open up a little, and you would repent your sins and come to your senses…"
The man in black slowly, very slowly, approached Jeongpung, who was struggling to breathe.
"I have a connection with the people of Qingcheng, so I deliberately didn't use my hands so harshly to bring the insolent disciple to his senses…"
Saying so, the man in black took a stance for the first time. And even while suffocating, Jeongpung felt that the ready stance the man in black was taking was somehow familiar.
To forget the pain of not being able to breathe properly, Jeongpung desperately dug through his dim past memories to recall what sword technique the old man's ready stance belonged to.
Then, what came to mind was a memory from his childhood, the memory of the day he first entered Qingcheng as a disciple.
'Why… why a memory from Qingcheng…'
A fleeting memory of the distant and nostalgic past that he could not return to now, which flashed through his mind for a moment. The day he first entered Qingcheng as a disciple, Gwang Ohjin, who had taken him in as a disciple, had held the young child of about seven years old and told him various difficult and boring Daoist stories.
Gwang Oh was trying to convey Daoist teachings to his first disciple with all his heart and soul, but what he had not thought of was that even if he was a body that had entered the Daoist path, the fact that a seven-year-old boy was a seven-year-old boy did not change. It was obvious that he was bored and couldn't even last for a quarter of an hour, so Gwang Ohjin had no choice but to notice his mistake.
Gwang Ohjin, who was contemplating how to win back the heart of his disciple, who was clearly completely uninterested, came up with a method.
Gwang Oh's action after coming up with a method was fast.
Leading his disciple, who was now even yawning, Gwang Ohjin headed to the training ground attached to the pavilion where he resided.
As soon as they arrived at the training ground, Gwang Oh, who showed a bitter smile at the sight of his disciple's eyes sparkling, said to his disciple.
'This is the pinnacle of Qingcheng's martial arts, the sword that you will have to pursue and hone for the rest of your life.'
The ready stance that Gwang Ohjin had taken while saying that…
'Yes, it's the same as what Master showed me back then…'
And the name of that sword technique was…
"Azure Cloud… Red Mist Sword…!"
For a moment, Jeongpung saw the image of a blue sky and a red sea in the man in black's ready stance. The blue clouds and the reddening sea. It was literally the image of 'dawn.'
With that as the last, Jeongpung's consciousness was cut off.
***
The man in black looked down at Jeongpung, who had lost consciousness after being hit by a single move of the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, for a moment without a word.
Then…
Crack! Creak!
A creepy sound of bones and flesh dislocating and fitting together came from the man in black's body, and soon the man in black's height shrank by nearly half a foot.
The man in black, who had stopped shrinking, roughly untied the black cloth covering his face, and what was revealed underneath was the face of a still-youthful boy, Jang Baekseo.
"Aww, damn it. My whole body is creaking…"
Jang Baekseo's whole body was currently aching because he had fought with his physique changed by the Bone Shrinking Art to hide his identity from Jeongpung.
It wasn't just changing the shape of his face, but the shape of his body, and it was a drastic change in the shape of his body to the extent of fundamentally increasing his physique.
Of course, just changing it put a considerable physical load on him, but he had even fought in that state, so not only were his movements restricted, but both moving quickly and moving strongly were followed by pain.
"Tsk, if it weren't for this, I could have beaten him up more satisfyingly…"
In addition, if it weren't for the Bone Shrinking Art, he wouldn't even have needed to use a high-level technique like the subtlety of the useless and the useful.
"And why is this guy so quick-witted?"
How surprised was he when he noticed that he had come for revenge after just a few words of conversation?
He had pretended to be a reclusive master who had come to teach a lesson to a junior of the martial world who was far behind him, angered by the injustice, but this guy, despite being a fool, was quick-witted, so he had to go to the trouble of using the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword so that this guy wouldn't even suspect him.
"Aww… my stomach is turning…"
Jang Baekseo, whose internal energy was boiling inside because he had forcibly used the advanced sword technique, the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, thought of just stomping on that annoying guy's head, but he soon took a breath and calmed his mind.
The Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword was one of the martial arts he had learned after becoming the Sword Demon before his regression.
By the time Jang Baekseo became the Sword Demon, Qingcheng Mountain had already burned down, and the sect called the Qingcheng Sect had long since collapsed. Of course, the martial arts of the Qingcheng Sect had also fallen into the hands of the Demonic Cult.
It was a natural consequence for the Sword Demon Jang Baekseo, who had reached the extreme of the sword, to examine the best sword technique of Qingcheng, the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, which had fallen into the hands of the Demonic Cult.
At that time, Jang Baekseo, who was in the middle of training for a higher level, had examined and learned the sword techniques of the Orthodox Faction that had come into the Demonic Cult as part of his training.
"I didn't know I would use what I learned back then like this…"
Of course, an ultra-advanced martial art like the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, which existed at the pinnacle of a prestigious sect, could only exert its true power when one had diligently learned and trained various martial arts to reach it and had adjusted one's body and energy accordingly. But what did it matter? A half-baked sword technique was enough against a brat like Jeongpung.
"Well, then shall we finish it?"
Saying so, Jang Baekseo took out the bottle of alcohol he had tied to his waist, opened the lid, and poured the contents directly onto Jeongpung's face.
It was a kind of preliminary work. Even if Jeongpung made a fuss about this later, if he reeked of alcohol like this, the people around him would not take it seriously, and even if they did, there was a high probability that they would think it was something that had happened because the drunk Jeongpung had made a mistake first.
"How dare you touch my precious junior brother!"
Before leaving, he kicked the thigh of Jeongpung, who was lying unconscious with a happy face for some reason after being beaten up, and then Jang Baekseo left.
Jang Baekseo, who was about to enter his quarters in a good mood after finishing everything, suddenly thought of the incident in the morning.
"Ah… what should I do about this…"
At the request of Geum Gadong, the master of the Geumjo Merchant Guild, Jang Baekseo and several transcendent masters had a secret meeting, but even the transcendent masters could not come up with a clear solution. Curious, Jang Baekseo got Geum Gadong's permission and took Geum Hyeonah's pulse while pretending to infuse his internal energy.
At first, like the other transcendent masters, he could not figure out the cause of Geum Hyeonah's illness at all.
But there was a clear difference between the other transcendent masters and Jang Baekseo.
The first was that they were 'only' at the transcendent realm, but Jang Baekseo, although it was before his regression, was an absolute master who had reached the transcendent realm beyond the peak!
And the second was…
After becoming the Sword Demon and gaining power, Jang Baekseo had used his power as the Sword Demon to collect medical books not only from the Central Plains but also from the Western Regions, Tibet, and other parts of the world.
It was because of his past regrets.
The miserable and terrible memory of losing his young junior sister because he was lacking and powerless. Because of his regret over that incident that had completely changed the person named Jang Baekseo, Jang Baekseo had collected and read medical books from all over the world. To Jang Baekseo, who had become the Sword Demon, medicine was almost his only interest besides martial arts.
Thanks to that, Jang Baekseo's knowledge of medicine had reached a level where he could be counted on a few fingers within the Central Plains.
For these two reasons, unlike the other transcendent masters who could not even find a clue, Jang Baekseo was able to find out the cause of Geum Hyeonah's illness.
That's why Jang Baekseo was now contemplating.
Should he cure Geum Hyeonah? Or should he just pretend he didn't know?
Jang Baekseo's master, Cheongmu, was planning to return to the sect tomorrow.
Although the condition that Geum Gadong had offered was tempting, there was no way to do anything right away, and in the first place, they had come with the premise of staying for one night. Cheongmu had no intention of extending his stay, blinded by greed.
If that happened, Jang Baekseo would naturally return to Mysterious Profound Sect with Cheongmu, and if that happened…
'That child will die…'
Of course, it wasn't that she would definitely die. Perhaps Geum Gadong would use his enormous wealth to summon the best physician in the Central Plains, the Divine Doctor, or a physician of his equal, and Geum Hyeonah would be cured like magic.
But Jang Baekseo knew. The probability of that was very low. That was because the medical book that had allowed Jang Baekseo to know the cause of the girl named Geum Hyeonah's illness was not from the Central Plains, but from Tibet.
In this era, that medical book would probably not have even entered the Central Plains, and there was even a possibility that it had not yet been written at all.
So that child named Geum Hyeonah would surely die.
Then can't he just cure her? one might think. But…
'If I do that, I don't know how the future will change…'
Jang Baekseo, who had regressed from the future, had a clear purpose. To strengthen the sect, to stop the Righteous-Demonic War, and…
'To save Sohyun!'
Of course, if he achieved this, the future would change. But paradoxically, to prevent this, he needed the experience and information from before his regression.
No matter how strong one's martial arts were, the torrents of the world could be created by one's strength, but they could not be stopped. That's why information was needed.
The future information and memories in this head, which had a value like a thousand pieces of gold…
But the accuracy of that important future information and memories would decrease the more the regressed him acted differently from the him before his regression.
The paradox of having to not change the future as much as possible to achieve the goal of changing the future!
Even to make the future he would change in the future turn out better for himself and Mysterious Profound Sect, there was no need for him to create such an uncertain variable with his own hands, the result of which he did not know.
'Too many things have already changed so far…'
It might seem trivial, but a considerable change must have already occurred in the future due to Jang Baekseo's regression.
First of all, the promising disciple of Mysterious Profound Sect had changed from the second junior brother Jang Yuhan to Jang Baekseo, and the growth of the third-generation disciples, whose martial arts cultivation would have been delayed by slacking off in the morning training, had been accelerated by Jang Baekseo's intervention.
In addition, because the regressed Jang Baekseo had talked to Cheong Yeonah, Jang Baekseo and his junior brothers, who would not have gone to the Geumjo Merchant Guild, had gone to the Geumjo Merchant Guild, and on the way, they had met the people of Qingcheng who were traveling incognito. And at the Geumjo Merchant Guild, a dispute had arisen with a young disciple of Qingcheng.
As a result, he had created a dispute between the three prestigious sects of Qingcheng, which would not have happened originally, and on top of that, he had just beaten up the foolish disciple of Qingcheng who was the cause of that dispute.
All of this had not happened before his regression, and although the former was not a big deal, it was difficult for Jang Baekseo to easily guess how much the future he knew would change due to the latter.
And now, if he even saved Geum Hyeonah, who should have died for sure…
'How much will the future change…'
Only after experiencing a series of incidents at the Geumjo Merchant Guild did Jang Baekseo have these thoughts, and he thought that he had to be careful and careful with his future actions.
Jang Baekseo was afraid.
That the future would change little by little due to his actions, and as a result, he would not be able to prevent the tragedies he had sworn to change.
That the future events to come would go beyond the scope of his memory and control.
Yet, Jang Baekseo was now contemplating.
Reason was speaking.
'She's a complete stranger. I have no reason or responsibility to save that child.'
It was true. In the world, people were dying for various reasons even now. But Jang Baekseo felt no responsibility or obligation to save them.
Because that was the way of the world.
Birth, old age, sickness, and death!
The most fair and natural law for all things in the world.
Why was there a need to try to save only that girl in front of him, when he neither pitied nor tried to save them?
Just because she was in front of him?
That was a foolish thing to say. Moreover, according to her original fate, this child was a child who would surely die. A child who was definitely destined to die from the beginning.
Why was there a need to make the future information, which had a value more important than a thousand pieces of gold to change the future, uncertain for a child who would surely die…
Jang Baekseo thought so. He tried to think so… but his feet would not move. And what came to mind was not Geum Hyeonah, but the image of her father, Geum Gadong.
A haggard and gaunt face, with no sign of life. Yet, his eyes had not lost their light, and he was holding onto the hope that there would be a way to save his precious daughter… that image…
'It's the same as my image before my regression.'
Five years from now, the him before his regression would have the same appearance. The image of himself wandering the world like a madman to save his young junior sister, in a mess, yet not giving up the hope that he could save Sohyun, and enduring with that hope as his only lamp…
In a year, or perhaps even less, Geum Gadong would bury his beloved daughter, Geum Hyeonah, in the ground.
And so that his daughter, who had died lonely and pitifully, would not be lonely, he would kill and bury the pathetic and trashy father, Geum Gadong, who could not even save his daughter, with her.
Just like the Jang Baekseo before his regression…
"…Tsk! If that guy changes like me after that and becomes the richest man in the world and goes on a rampage, saying 'I'll overturn the entire martial world that couldn't save my daughter!!', it will be troublesome… so I have no choice but to do it this time."
Jang Baekseo said it for no one else but himself to hear.
Of course, he decided to just pretend he didn't know the fact that in the future before his regression, the Geumjo Merchant Guild had gone bankrupt after Geum Gadong had poured out money to save his daughter.
Since he had decided to do it, there was no reason to hesitate.
Jang Baekseo took out the black cloth he had put in his bosom and wrapped it around his face again.
And he turned his steps in a completely different direction from the quarters where Cheongmu, Cheong Yeonah, and his junior brothers were staying.
After losing Sohyun, Jang Baekseo had hated the people of the Orthodox Faction who called themselves righteous but had no righteousness or chivalry. But the reason he had hated and been disappointed in them so much, the reason he had believed in the words 'righteousness' and 'chivalry' so much, was probably because Jang Baekseo, more than anyone else, had believed in and liked the words 'righteousness' and 'chivalry.'
(End of Chapter)