Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 188

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 188: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (12)

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The mountain path continued for quite a while beyond the Palace of Supreme Harmony, all the way to Purple Firmament Palace.

The Palace of Supreme Harmony stood at the foot of Celestial Pillar Peak, while Purple Firmament Palace lay halfway up its slopes.

Chungdam True Man did not hurry in the slightest, and Yeon Sowol silently followed behind him.

As they walked, all manner of thoughts bloomed and faded in his mind.

Then, at some point, one thought refused to disappear and kept clinging to him.

‘A demon will come after me...’

The words he had heard from Chungdam True Man kept replaying in his head.

‘Then how am I supposed to live from now on...?’

When he had first fallen into this world, Yeon Sowol had not despaired.

Or rather, he had tried not to.

As though life itself had decided to mock him, it had denied everything about his old life and dropped him somewhere utterly strange.

Still, he had comforted himself by thinking that this was better than dying in a bus accident.

So he had made up his mind. He would become a martial artist.

Even in a world like this, he would live well enough to show everyone.

But then.

And yet.

‘Do I have to spend the rest of my life running from demons?’

If he had to, he would.

Still, was that not a little lonely?

A life lived solely to survive.

Since he was going to live anyway, he had hoped there would be things to enjoy. Things that were fun. He had hoped that when he grew older, life might become a little more peaceful.

It was while he was wrestling with those thoughts that Purple Firmament Palace came into view.

Its buildings were painted red like the sunset, their roofs a crystal-like green.

If the Palace of Supreme Harmony was a temple for outside incense pilgrims, Purple Firmament Palace was a temple for Wudang disciples.

Unlike the bustling Palace of Supreme Harmony, this place was quiet.

Here, Wudang’s Daoists paid their respects to the Daoist deities enshrined in each hall, prayed, and cultivated their hearts.

At the Palace of Supreme Harmony, they cultivated Clear Heart amid bustle.

At Purple Firmament Palace, they pursued Loss of Self through meditation and prayer.

This was also where one became a mountain-guarding disciple of Wudang, severed one’s ties to the secular world, and received a Daoist name.

“This is nice.”

Yeon Sowol liked Purple Firmament Palace.

The Palace of Supreme Harmony was larger and more magnificent, but it could not compare to this place in elegance and tidiness.

Wudang’s buildings had been constructed without cutting away the mountain, fitted naturally to its terrain. In Purple Firmament Palace especially, the spatial arrangement possessed an exquisite quality that drew the eye.

The buildings rode, flowed along, and clung naturally to the bizarre landscape, where the ground curved, rose, dipped, and suddenly gave way to cliffs.

With every step, nature and human craftsmanship wound together and formed paths through his mind.

A place that made one forget oneself without even trying.

He liked its atmosphere.

And above all else...

“So this is... Purple Agarwood Incense.”

The incense said to be burned only at Purple Firmament Palace suited Yeon Sowol perfectly.

Whenever he seemed to catch its scent, it faded, and whenever it seemed to fade, it made its presence known again.

At times it smelled like grass or flowers, then like honey or milk, before suddenly taking on the scent of charcoal.

Wudang truly had money.

These splendid, impressive buildings, and incense that surely cost a fortune.

“I thought all of Wudang lived simply because Master does.”

“My circumstances are different.”

“Are they?”

“Yes. There has to be some pleasure like this, or disciples will get tired of cultivating the Dao and run away. As for me, it is too late to run.”

“Ha ha.”

It was a joke, but Yeon Sowol could understand it.

He knew well enough how difficult it was to cultivate the Dao.

Then an odd thought occurred to him.

“Ah. But when I was training, why did you not show any consideration to keep me from running away...?”

“Clay is kneaded by hand, while a lump of iron is hammered. Is that not how it works?”

His tone said that Yeon Sowol had been beaten because he deserved it.

Yet Yeon Sowol did not protest. He merely lowered his head.

“Of course... You must have suffered terribly while hammering something so stubborn. Your hands must hurt. I feel newly apologetic.”

Chungdam True Man stared at him in disbelief.

“You little... If you had maintained Loss of Self, you would not be flattering me like this.”

“Still, is it not all right?”

“It is not bad.”

Chungdam True Man chuckled as he entered a large building off to one side of Purple Firmament Palace.

“This is Patriarchs’ Hall.”

The hall was lined with the spirit tablets and portraits of Wudang’s successive patriarchs.

From Zhang Sanfeng, the founding patriarch, to the sixty-seventh patriarch, said to have been Chungdam True Man’s senior brother.

“Chungdam, the sixty-eighth patriarch, takes a disciple for the first time and offers greetings to his teachers. Yeon Sowol of Shinheung County in Guangdong may be a child of the secular world, but he will properly carry on our sect’s teachings.”

Chungdam’s words were simple.

No lengthy explanation. Just a single assessment.

Then he burned incense before each spirit tablet.

Having received instruction beforehand, Yeon Sowol followed him and lit incense one stick at a time.

After they had finished paying their respects and left Patriarchs’ Hall, Yeon Sowol suddenly asked,

“Master, what does it mean to enshrine the patriarchs like this?”

Offering rites to one’s ancestors.

By the standards of the twenty-first century, it felt a little like an outdated tradition.

Even considering what he had learned since coming to Wudang, it seemed slightly strange.

Clear Heart. Loss of Self. Nonaction.

What meaning did venerating past masters hold on a path of cultivation that pursued such things?

This was a world where ghosts truly existed, so did the spirits of the old patriarchs actually come here and watch over them?

‘But I cannot sense anything in particular with my qi sense.’

In short, did it help one’s cultivation?

Or was it simply empty ceremony?

Normally, even if such thoughts crossed his mind, he would not have asked.

But Yeon Sowol asked without hesitation.

Chungdam True Man answered just as readily.

“Sowol. There is only one reason we enshrine the patriarchs. Because we are afraid.”

Yeon Sowol blankly stared at Chungdam True Man’s back.

‘Afraid?’

Could Chungdam True Man, an unparalleled master said to have attained Nonaction, still have something to fear?

“How could we not be afraid? In the Daoist tradition, demons are many, while the Dao is scarce. They say that when the Dao grows one foot, demons grow ten.”

“Ah.”

“I am the same. If I stray even one step from the Dao, that place becomes demonic. How could I not be afraid? That is why we pay respects to the patriarchs.”

Chungdam True Man suddenly stopped.

He turned, met Yeon Sowol’s eyes, and spoke.

“Before me, there were others who fought difficult battles like this.”

“...”

“I was not the first. Nor will I be the last. This pain. This joy. This hardship. This hope.”

“...”

“Whenever I come to Patriarchs’ Hall, I remind myself of that.”

“...”

“Sowol. It is the same for everyone. You will not be the first either.”

“...Will I not?”

Yeon Sowol quietly looked up at the sky.

Had there been another person who tore through that sky and fell into this world? Someone besides himself?

“At the very least, there must have been people who were just as lonely, just as miserable, yet still moved forward.”

“...”

“Yes. Even so, they all lived on, and it carried on like this.”

Chungdam True Man looked down the long corridor of Patriarchs’ Hall, stretching to the sixty-seventh patriarch.

Yeon Sowol lowered his head.

Purple Agarwood Incense filled the air with a subtle fragrance, present yet almost imperceptible.

The scent of Wudang brushed past the stinging tip of his nose.

* * *

They left Purple Firmament Palace.

The last destination, the Palace of the Dark Heavens, stood atop Celestial Pillar Peak.

The Palace of the Dark Heavens was a place for the True Martial Great Emperor.

The stairs leading to the summit were especially steep, perilous, and seemingly endless.

They passed through the First Heavenly Gate.

Then the Second Heavenly Gate.

Then the Third Heavenly Gate.

A path that left the human world behind and advanced into the realm of gods.

When they seemed to have passed through the mist and turned back, clouds lay thickly on both sides of the stairs and beneath their feet.

Chungdam True Man, walking ahead, looked around and murmured,

“A ladder of clouds stretching ten thousand steps.”

It was as if a cloud-like ladder extended through ten thousand tiers.

Hearing that, Yeon Sowol naturally thought of Cloud Ladder.

A Movement Art that let one rise by climbing a ladder of clouds.

Perhaps it had been inevitable that Wudang’s Daoists, who climbed and descended such endless stairs, would create that kind of lightness art.

After passing through that road of clouds, they arrived at the Palace of the Dark Heavens.

The place was beyond quiet. There was no one in sight.

Buildings erected with every formality, their walls surrounding the grounds on all sides as though this were a palace where an emperor lived.

Stone statues and paintings of snakes and turtles filled the place.

Everything was immaculate and grand, yet there was no sign of human presence. It gave him a peculiar feeling.

A place offered wholly to a god.

‘What kind of being is this True Martial Great Emperor?’

What sort of existence was worthy of Wudang’s worship and the respect of an unparalleled master like Chungdam True Man?

He gathered up his naturally arising thoughts and kept walking.

They passed the Palace of the Dark Heavens’ many halls and finally reached Celestial Pillar Peak’s narrow summit.

There stood the Golden Hall.

A golden building made from ninety-nine thousand catties of copper and nine hundred ninety-nine catties of gold.

“This place is said to be the highest point in the human realm and the lowest point in the heavenly realm. It was built in imitation of the Golden Palace, which symbolizes the order of heaven. That is this Golden Hall.”

It was not as large as he had expected.

It was merely a shrine of moderate size.

Yet because it had been fashioned from solid metal, it possessed an unusual gleam.

Atop Celestial Pillar Peak, with clouds spread below, the sight of that shining building made this place feel detached from the human world.

Inside the Golden Hall stood a statue of the True Martial Great Emperor.

It stood atop a turtle and a snake, holding a sword, its face glaring down fearsomely.

It was not as extraordinary as Yeon Sowol had expected. It only reminded him of the statues of the Four Heavenly Kings he had seen in twenty-first-century temples.

After looking around several times and extending his qi sense to confirm that there was nothing unusual, he asked,

“Master, does the True Martial Great Emperor really exist?”

In a world that had ghosts and dragons, honestly, it seemed possible that he did.

Yeon Sowol had quietly prepared himself for something special to happen if they prayed here.

But this place was simply silent.

“Well. Perhaps he does not.”

“What?”

Without thinking, Yeon Sowol glanced up at the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor.

He did not exist?

‘Then why does Wudang...?’

No, before that.

Could the sixty-eighth patriarch really say something like this?

It was nearly like the Pope saying that God did not exist.

“He may exist, of course. But I do not know.”

“Then why...?”

“Because people hope that a god like the True Martial Great Emperor exists.”

“Well... I suppose they do?”

“So I come here, pray, and burn incense, only to reflect those feelings within my own heart.”

Chungdam True Man clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the statue.

A chant-like murmur flowed from his lips.

“O Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy.”

O Celestial Worthy of the North, who helps all things go well.

“O Celestial Worthy, Incarnation of the Golden Palace Who Subdues Demons.”

O Celestial Worthy, incarnation of heaven’s Golden Palace, who sweeps away demons.

“O Celestial Worthy Who Commands All Spirits Through Awe.”

O Celestial Worthy, who makes every spirit submit through majesty.

“O Celestial Worthy of Benevolence and Severity.”

O Celestial Worthy, who possesses both benevolence and sternness.

“O Celestial Worthy of Boundless Merit.”

O Celestial Worthy, who possesses vast and endless merit.

They were all words directed toward the True Martial Great Emperor.

Please help us.

Drive back the demons.

Rule over all ghosts.

Watch over us with benevolence.

But judge us with severity.

Bestow vast and endless merit.

In this wretched world.

Within this absurd fate.

They were feelings imagined by helpless people reaching out with their hands.

Chungdam True Man suddenly gave a hollow laugh and turned to Yeon Sowol.

“Did I not tell you earlier? You are neither the first nor the last.”

People, each of them lonely and miserable.

“What do these feelings mean to you?”

At that question, standing before the shrine atop the high mountain, Yeon Sowol found himself remembering without meaning to.

Moyong Ha’s cold cheek as she rose above Dongting Lake.

Eun-yeong’s voice fading behind his back.

The stiffness he felt as he closed Jeon Taegwang’s wide-open eyes.

This Jianghu.

This world.

Why was everyone so...

...like that?

What could he possibly say?

Only,

“I hope things turn out well.”

For everyone.

Chungdam True Man nodded.

“I see.”

He reached out and lit the incense.

“So do I.”

He closed his eyes and quietly offered a prayer.

Yeon Sowol watched him for a while, then burned incense beside him and prayed as well.

* * *

After burning incense and praying, they passed through the clouds again on their way down.

Chungdam True Man turned onto a different path from the one they had taken up.

“This is...?”

As they descended rough stone steps, a cave appeared, cold dampness rushing out from within with a whoosh!

“This is Beneath the Dark Heavens. A place where demons are suppressed beneath the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heavens.”

The Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heavens was another name for the True Martial Great Emperor.

Yeon Sowol tilted his head and asked,

“When you say demons are suppressed here...”

“Like that ugly stone of yours.”

“Ah.”

Yeon Sowol took the fragment of the wish-granting pearl from his clothes.

A red bead the size of his fist.

“Carry it and follow me.”

The instant he stepped out of Celestial Pillar Peak’s sunlight and into the cave’s shadows, a heavy chill passed over his entire body, as though he had plunged underwater.

‘My qi sense... It feels smothered.’

For some reason, extending his qi sense within the cave was difficult.

Like he had gone blind, he could not tell what was inside.

He could not even properly read the presence of Chungdam True Man directly in front of him.

“Ordinarily, when something dangerous like that wish-granting pearl comes in, we leave it at Purple Firmament Palace and offer prayers and rites for ten years, even a hundred. After enough time passes, the souls bound within it are released.”

“Ah.”

Yeon Sowol looked down at the fragment of the wish-granting pearl in his hand.

The sight of red, transparent human hands and feet suddenly bursting out along Dongting Lake’s shore remained vivid in his mind.

‘This... must have been an object made from people.’

Then human souls must be bound inside it.

“But when it seems that even a hundred years will not be enough, we place it here, Beneath the Dark Heavens. It can never leave this place until it disappears or changes under the True Martial Great Emperor’s suppression. Even after a thousand years.”

Chungdam True Man quietly studied the red fragment of the wish-granting pearl.

“Then the spirits inside it will suffer for all that time. Again and again. Endlessly.”

That was when it happened.

Twitch!

Yeon Sowol felt the wish-granting pearl in his hand pulse.

“Master?”

Twitch! Twitch!

The pulsing grew stronger.

It intensified until tiny limbs seemed ready to tear through the glittering glass surface and burst out. Dark red veins spread between them.

It was exactly like the wish-granting pearl the Flood Dragon had wielded before, only smaller.

Until now, it had been quiet as a glass bead. Why was it suddenly doing this?

“Master, this is...”

“This is Beneath the Dark Heavens. Among the demons Wudang Mountain has captured over a thousand years, this is where the most vicious are suppressed. In a place like this, even sleeping demons will become active again. They are affected by other demonic qi.”

“Ah.”

“Sowol.”

Chungdam True Man faced Yeon Sowol directly.

The fragment of the wish-granting pearl writhed in Yeon Sowol’s hand. Suffering limbs struggled across its glass surface.

“With the power of your Extinction of Principles, you could erase it easily. But if you did, those pitiful souls would vanish completely, with no chance for redress and no chance to enter reincarnation again.”

“...”

“But if we simply suppress it here, that too would be hell for those souls.”

Chungdam True Man asked,

“What will you do?”

“...”

Yeon Sowol was silent for a moment before asking in return,

“You are asking because there is another path, neither erasing it nor suppressing it. Is that right?”

Chungdam True Man smiled.

“Would you like to try it together?”

Carefully clasping the writhing fragment of the wish-granting pearl in both hands, Yeon Sowol answered,

“Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy...”

Chungdam True Man let out a breath through his nose, as if holding back laughter.