WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 185: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (9)
──────
Yeon Sowol remembered clearly.
The moment he fell into this world.
“[Heaven-Killing Star.]”
“[The Heaven-Killing Star has appeared.]”
The ground beneath him vanishing endlessly.
The distant sky.
Though the wind battered him hard enough to hurt, his body would not rise even a little.
As he flailed in suffocating terror, chilling voices pierced his ears.
“[Starlight falling from a torn sky.]”
“[A foreign fate belonging to none of the Nine Heavens.]”
“[One who happened to overlap with a rift between Heaven and Earth.]”
“[Either terrible fortune or terrible misfortune.]”
“[Having passed through torn principles, one whose every touch brings an end to all things.]”
“[The Heaven-Killing Star.]”
That was why Yeon Sowol had never once doubted it until now.
That he was the Heaven-Killing Star.
But Chungdam True Man denied it.
“No. How could that be the Heaven-Killing Star?”
“But, Master. The ghosts...”
Yeon Sowol explained further.
Now that he had revealed the secret of the Heaven-Killing Star, what else was there to hesitate over?
He told him everything without holding back. That he had fallen here from another world, and that he had heard the ghosts speaking when it happened.
After hearing the entire story, Chungdam True Man dismissed it with a single remark.
“What would ghosts know?”
!!!
Chungdam True Man had not been surprised when Yeon Sowol said he came from another world.
Nor had the ghosts’ words, which described Yeon Sowol’s condition perfectly, shaken him in the slightest.
“Ghosts are not creatures that speak because they understand something. They simply speak of whatever happens to appear before them.”
Ghosts were renowned for their uncanny insight, yet Chungdam True Man dismissed them without concern.
Still, his words were so logical that they sank straight into Yeon Sowol’s heart.
“The Heaven-Killing Star is one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, the power of a star that exists in the heavens. Does that not already make the ghosts’ words contradictory? How could a foreign fate belonging to none of the Nine Heavens bear the Heaven-Killing Star, a star of our heavens?”
“Ah.”
That was true.
‘The Nine Heavens means nine skies, doesn’t it?’
Not the Nine Springs beneath the earth, but the Nine Heavens above it.
Then the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, including the Heaven-Killing Star, had to belong somewhere within those nine heavens. Stars were in the sky, after all.
‘But I don’t belong to any of them.’
He had come from an entirely different world, twenty-first-century South Korea.
He was a foreign fate that belonged to none of the Nine Heavens.
‘Then I can’t be the Heaven-Killing Star.’
How could something that did not belong to the heavens be a star?
He could not be the Heaven-Killing Star.
‘How did I never think of that...?’
Yeon Sowol looked at Chungdam True Man with admiration.
‘As expected of Master.’
The Daoist with the deepest Dao in the world today.
His lofty insight, which even placed ghosts beneath his notice.
It seemed telling Master everything instead of concealing his secrets had indeed been the right choice.
“Master, then what kind of power is this? Does it have any side effects? What should I do to handle it properly?”
Perhaps he had been thirsty for answers without realizing it.
Once the floodgates opened, questions poured from Yeon Sowol’s mouth one after another.
His voice was fervent.
But Chungdam True Man’s brow was furrowed.
“I do not know.”
Then his gaze suddenly settled on the space between them.
Wooooong!
He had only looked at it.
Yet the qi of Heaven and Earth moved and gathered on its own, forming sword qi in midair.
‘That’s... not sword qi?’
At first, Yeon Sowol thought it was sword qi.
But looking again, it was not.
Wooooong!
A blade formed in empty air, radiating brilliant light.
It seemed like qi, yet it was like essence. It seemed like essence, yet it was like qi.
It had color, sound, and the scent of burning incense. It made his skin prickle and left a numbing taste on his tongue.
Its presence was closer to matter than essence, yet it constantly created harmony all around it, making it impossible to call it anything but qi.
What in the world could such a thing fail to cut? What could it fail to burn?
Hmm... Wooooong... Hmm...
The blade floated in the air, sending out pulses in every direction.
The room, dim because all the doors were shut, softly brightened. Waves of power swept over Yeon Sowol’s skin and rippled through the entire room.
He could not take his eyes off the blade of light.
“Sword Qi Made Gang. This is what is called gang qi.”
Gang meant star.
It was the same gang as in the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits.
“The stars of heaven are made from purified essence. A sword was fashioned from something like that. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a blade hammered and tempered from a star.”
“Gang qi... Sword Qi Made Gang...”
As Yeon Sowol murmured as if entranced, Chungdam True Man gently pushed the star-like blade floating in the air toward him.
Wooooong!
“Ugh!”
The scorching heat, chilling sharpness, and waves of power that sliced across his skin made Yeon Sowol recoil.
But Chungdam True Man spoke in an even tone.
“Try that thing from before again.”
That thing?
The Heaven-Killing Star’s power?
“...Here?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Sowol swallowed.
The Heaven-Killing Star’s power... Though he had just learned it was not actually the Heaven-Killing Star, it was still a power that killed and destroyed everything.
At least, there had never been an exception so far.
But...
‘Will it work on this too?’
Hmm... Wooooong... Hmm...
The blade of light flickered faintly, vibrating through space.
Sword Qi Made Gang.
It was a more wondrous harmony than anything Yeon Sowol had ever seen.
Its presence was so overwhelming that his soul seemed to tremble.
Would touching something like that make his entire body burn and split apart?
“Go on. Try it.”
“...Yes.”
Tense from head to toe, Yeon Sowol slowly reached out.
Soon, the entire world appeared flat.
Threads rose from every direction.
At last, they rose from the sword gang before him as well.
Yeon Sowol brought his hand to it.
Snap!
And cut it.
“...”
“...”
The room, which had been softly illuminated, grew dim again.
The waves of power that had swept over his skin vanished as though washed away.
The numbing taste in his mouth.
The sound that had filled his ears.
The faint fragrance.
All of it was cut off together.
“...”
“...”
The master and disciple remained silent for quite a while.
Then Chungdam True Man spoke.
“Hah. Truly.”
He looked at Yeon Sowol with an indescribably complicated gaze.
“It is certain. This is not the Heaven-Killing Star. If I had to name it... if I absolutely had to, I would call it the power of Extinction of Principles.”
Principles referred to the totality of all things in creation, along with every phenomenon and event they caused.
Thus, Extinction of Principles meant the end of every being and principle, a power that could cut all of them away.
“What is this... What am I supposed to do with this...?”
Chungdam True Man silently ran his hand over the daybed.
The smooth wood grain had been worn polished through long care. He stroked it for a moment before descending from the daybed and walking to the incense burner.
He laid an incense mold over the neat sand, poured powdered incense into it, pressed it down firmly, shaped it, then lit it.
Ssssss...
Thin smoke rose.
A clear, tranquil scent of wood gradually filled the room.
“Whew.”
Only then did Chungdam True Man let out a sigh. Sitting across from Yeon Sowol again, he said,
“I heard the Flood Dragon faced you in Yuezhou, then withdrew. I wondered how such a thing had happened...”
He stared at Yeon Sowol.
“It seems the Flood Dragon, too, feared your power deep down.”
* * *
“...”
“...”
Master and disciple sat facing each other silently on the daybed.
Each stared into a corner of the room, lost in thought.
Only thin white smoke drifted gently between them.
“Sowol.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You fell here from another world. And you gained the power of Extinction of Principles.”
“Yes... I thought it was the Heaven-Killing Star until now. But that is the situation, in short.”
“Hmm.”
Why was he like this?
Yeon Sowol read the concern passing through Chungdam True Man’s eyes.
It seemed even deeper than when Yeon Sowol had told him about his heart demon.
“You said the ghosts and the Ghost King coveted that power?”
“Yes. They tried to take over my body, so I erased them with this power.”
“I see...”
Chungdam True Man’s gaze sank deeper and deeper. It was difficult to guess what it meant.
“Then, Sowol, I must ask.”
“Yes, Master. What is it?”
“The Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense.”
“Ah.”
“How did that come to be placed on you? Did it happen while you fought the Demonic Cult expert who stole the Cotton Palm Art from Wudang?”
Yeon Sowol shook his head.
A question appeared in Chungdam True Man’s eyes.
“No?”
“Yes. I acquired this when I first fell into this place.”
Yeon Sowol explained what had happened then.
The old Shaolin monk.
The skeletal old man called the Killing Demon.
The treasures found on their bodies.
He told Chungdam True Man everything without hiding a thing.
It was a kind of instinct.
Chungdam True Man. An instinctive feeling told him that revealing everything to this man would open some path before him.
Perhaps it was also the conduct expected of a martial artist, knowing when to withdraw and when to step forward, as Yi Yubaek had once taught him.
In any event, Yeon Sowol decided to hide nothing at this moment.
And then...
“Killing Demon... Gu Maun?”
A pained groan slipped through Chungdam True Man’s teeth.
“Do you know him?”
“Of course I do. He is the Fourth Elder of the Demonic Cult. So he killed Venerable Beopyeon of Shaolin. I heard Shaolin had been unsettled lately...”
Fourth Elder.
It sounded like a high position even at first hearing.
And Venerable Beopyeon.
Bringing up the monk’s story made Yeon Sowol think once more about Shaolin.
‘Someday, I’ll repay them.’
Even if it had been for survival, taking the Greater Rejuvenation Pill had been a form of theft, at least by the laws and common sense of twenty-first-century Korea.
Still, he did not brood over it.
A debt only needed to be repaid.
After cultivating his heart under Chungdam True Man, Yeon Sowol’s heart was no longer bound to any one thing.
“But.”
Chungdam True Man stared at him.
“How are you alive?”
The Fourth Elder of the Demonic Cult.
How had Yeon Sowol survived an encounter with Gu Maun, the Killing Demon?
It was a purely sincere question.
Yeon Sowol answered,
“I killed him.”
“...?”
“He grabbed me by the throat.”
“Ah.”
“So I cut him.”
Chungdam True Man’s jaw dropped slightly.
“...And he simply died?”
“Yes. He collapsed and died like a puppet.”
“...So it is that powerful.”
Chungdam True Man closed his mouth again.
“...”
As if lost in deep thought, he closed his eyes for a while.
Only after a considerable silence did he speak again.
“...The Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense must have gotten on you then.”
“Yes.”
“What should be done about this...?”
“I know. I heard this means the Demonic Cult will keep tracking me. In fact, I met the Demonic Cult expert who stole the Cotton Palm Art because of this scent.”
“That would be so... Once it is placed upon someone, it can never be washed away. The Demonic Cult will keep seeking you. You.”
Chungdam True Man’s face darkened.
Yeon Sowol swallowed a groan.
“Hmm.”
The more he learned, the more immense the Demonic Cult’s foundation and power seemed.
Gu Maun, the Killing Demon. The Fourth Elder of the Demonic Cult.
It was a high rank, but Fourth Elder meant there were three more elders above him.
And there would be the Demonic Cult Leader as well...
‘Even Master seemed wary of the Killing Demon. Then what kind of experts are above him...?’
The thought was terrifying.
What would he do if an enemy capable of contending with Chungdam True Man came attacking?
Yeon Sowol was not confident.
‘Earlier, I dispelled Master’s gang qi only because he held it calmly before me where I could touch it.’
What if a blade like that flew around at terrifying speed?
What if it detonated waves of qi before his eyes?
Before he could cut it with the Heaven-Killing Star’s power, he would be crushed into pulp and torn apart by that force.
Even now that he had reached the peak realm... No, having reached the peak realm and broadened his perspective, he felt even less capable of facing such an opponent.
Yet he had become the target of an organization with several masters at that level...
In the end, Yeon Sowol had no choice but to ask again.
“Master. Is there truly no way to wash off the Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense?”
Chungdam True Man looked at Yeon Sowol with complicated eyes.
Then he murmured,
“Celestial Worthy of Great Yin Transformation...”
He slowly closed and opened his eyes, then spoke firmly.
“There is none.”
Yeon Sowol bit his lip.
“You once called this a sword. Is that related to it?”
“It is.”
“How can a scent be a sword?”
“Sowol, what realm do you think I have reached?”
It was a sudden question, but Yeon Sowol answered without hesitation.
“I believe you are in the transcendent peak realm.”
“Yes. We broadly call it the transcendent peak realm. But just as first-rate is divided into stages such as Brave Flame Soars, Fierce Flame Pierces the Heavens, and Faint Fragrance Unfading, the transcendent peak realm is also divided into many stages.”
Beginning with Furnace Fire Turned Pure Blue, then Divine Qi Interconnection and Myriad Essences Transforming into Color, before reaching Ascending the Peak and Reaching Its Limit.
Realms Yeon Sowol, who had only just reached the peak realm, could not even dare to imagine.
“Ascending the Peak and Reaching Its Limit means arriving at the end of a mountain’s summit. Then what do you think the next realm means, after one has reached that end? The realm one ultimately reaches after transcending the transcendent peak realm.”
“I do not know.”
“Yes. I do not know either.”
“Pardon?”
“I have only just placed a single toe across that threshold.”
“Oh...”
“Still, I can explain the greater flow.”
Chungdam True Man’s low voice flowed alongside the thin incense smoke.
“The third-rate and second-rate realms are the stages where one first begins to handle essence. They may be called the first steps of Refining Essence.”
The stage of first heating essence and burning away the turbid qi within it.
“The first-rate and peak realms are the stages where one finally begins Refining Essence into Qi.”
The stage of melting essence with blazing True Flame and turning it into qi.
Yeon Sowol understood the flow.
“Then... is the transcendent peak realm the stage of Refining Qi into Spirit?”
If one melted essence to create qi, would the next step not be to boil qi and create spirit?
Chungdam True Man nodded.
“Correct. After refining qi comes transforming it into spirit. A state where all qi has been boiled into spirit. When one finally reaches that point, it is called Ascending the Peak and Reaching Its Limit.”
“I see...”
“But scattered spirit alone is insufficient. Like a silkworm emerging from its cocoon, it must be gathered again and made truly born. When one accomplishes all of that, it is called the Transformation Realm, because spirit has transformed.”
“The Transformation Realm...”
“As I said, I do not know the details. But I do know this. When someone reaches the Transformation Realm, they can cut this world and leave a permanent wound.”
“What?”
“If one cuts a waterfall, it will remain cut and cease flowing forever. If one cuts sunlight, light will never again reach that place.”
Yeon Sowol blinked.
It sounded absurd.
No matter how transcendent martial arts might be... What Chungdam True Man described sounded closer to divine power.
“How could that...?”
“You cannot believe it?”
“To be honest, I cannot.”
“Can you not believe it even after experiencing it yourself?”
Experienced it? Experienced what?
Chungdam True Man said,
“I called it a sword, but in the end, it refers to a mark permanently carved into this world. Do you still not understand?”
“...I do not quite... Huh?”
A thought suddenly came to him.
Goosebumps raced down Yeon Sowol’s neck.
His body shuddered.
“Do you understand now?”
“Could it be? The Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense...”
“Yes. A sword of the Transformation Realm. If one carved a scent with such a sword, that scent would never vanish, never wear away, and could be smelled anywhere.”
“...”
Yeon Sowol was speechless.
If that was true.
Then truly.
There was no way to wash away this scent...
“That is why I called it a sword rather than a scent. A master of the Transformation Realm cutting the world and leaving a permanent trace.”
Chungdam True Man said,
“The name of that sword is the Formless Sword.”
He quietly looked at Yeon Sowol.
“You have already been cut, so there is no escaping it. Of all things...”
He continued to look at him.
For a long time.
Yeon Sowol could not read the meaning within his eyes.
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