WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 70: A World Where Constellations Died (2)

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4.

‘It is cold.’

In the midst of a snowy field, So BaekHyang thought.

Buried in the white snowfield, the world became colorless, odorless, and silent.

The world was merely a cold blank page.

‘It’s cold...’

The flesh was cold. The bones were cold. Even the blood was cold.

So BaekHyang thought.

‘My stomach feels frozen.’

‘Mom?’

‘It feels like my internal organs are filled with ice.’

‘Mom.’

‘It’s too cold here.’

Thoughts piled upon thoughts. As they multiplied, the insides seemed to freeze more. Eventually, even the head that thought these thoughts turned cold.

A world that was cold and only cold.

The disappearing back of a mother.

How much time had passed?

-…Ahem.

The silence was broken.

-How peculiar indeed. Truly peculiar.

The odorlessness was next to break.

-It has already been ten days since the snow here stopped falling. The covering alone is five cheok thick. How does this child still draw breath?

Finally, the colorlessness also broke.

So BaekHyang looked ahead with a child's eyes. An elder stood there. The noise had come from the elder digging through the snow. The scent of age had washed over her when the elder took her wrist. The eyes watching her were black.

-You’re not an ordinary child.

The elder was an aged master of the Demonic Cult.

-Born with the Glacial Body. The cold of the world is your inner energy, your Ki. Peculiar, indeed peculiar. A child surviving more than ten days in a snowy field on snow alone, it's like the Extreme Yin Body mentioned only in texts!

-.......

-Child, what is your name?

So BaekHyang opened her lips.

-I don’t know.

She could not remember her name.

-How old are you?

-I don’t know.

-How did you end up buried in this snowfield?

-I don’t know.

-.......

She couldn’t remember anything.

It was cold. Her thoughts froze, and the mind that thought those thoughts froze. It seemed that every word held in her head and heart had frozen as well.

-Poor child. Buried in the Realm of Transformation at such a tender age...

The old master sighed.

-Yet you are a flawless vessel for learning martial arts. If the Palace Lord of the Northern Sea saw you, they would pay a fortune to take you in. What a strange stroke of fortune! But which way does this fortunate encounter run? Will our cult be your great opportunity, or will you be ours? These old eyes find it difficult to tell.

So BaekHyang did not understand. She could barely follow what the elder had been saying. The person before her used only difficult words.

The elder stroked So BaekHyang's head.

-Child, will you follow me?

-.......

-I will feed you and give you a place to sleep.

Those were easy words to understand.

When So BaekHyang slowly nodded, the elder spoke.

-You have no scent and no known origin; you must be a child born from the snow. I will give you my surname and call you BaekHyang, the fragrance of snow.

The fragrance of snow.

-From this day forward, you are So BaekHyang, a member of the Demonic Cult.

So BaekHyang was silent for a while.

Then she spoke.

-Where will I be taken?

The old master smiled.

-To a place where children like you gather.

5.

“---Impossible!”

The Heavenly Demon spoke.

"In my life, I have never taken a single disciple. Even though the world has degenerated to this state, the laws of our cult remain unchanged. A disciple? Preposterous!"

The Hot Spring Cave.

We had left the snowfield and reached the hidden refuge of this world's last survivors. The Heavenly Demon and the Head of the Martial Alliance marveled that [there were still other survivors...] and gladly welcomed us as guests.

But only as guests.

She had no intention of accepting us as disciples.

"Hey, Demon. Why be so stingy?"

The Head of the Martial Alliance chewed noisily on a grain-avoidance pill.

"It's admirable that these children from the Outside have survived. Not only did they survive, but they also made their way through this perilous martial world to seek your teachings. That's worth some praise and admiration. Why be so rigid like in the old days?"

"Admirable and cute, indeed."

The Heavenly Demon huffed.

"Nevertheless, the laws of master and disciple are strict! Our sect does not rashly accept anyone. Only those abandoned by their parents and the world can enter our Demonic Cult."

"Tsk tsk. They always call us old-fashioned, but they're even pickier than us."

The Head of the Martial Alliance shook his head.

"Child. So it is. Now that it has come to this, why not abandon that pretentious Demonic Cult and consider me as your master? I am Namgung Woon, the great head of the Namgung clan and the leader of the Orthodox Martial Realm. If you become my disciple, I'll shower you with love..."

"Why won't you accept me as a disciple, Lord Heavenly Demon?"

Ignoring the old man, I asked. The Head of the Martial Alliance seemed a bit shocked, 'Why! Has my name not spread in the Outside...!?' he exclaimed. It was a bit pitiful, but let's leave him alone.

The Heavenly Demon narrowed her eyes.

"Didn't I just say it? Only those abandoned by the world can enter."

"The world has changed."

I spoke.

“A mysterious disease turned people into gangsi. The martial sects and noble clans fell one after another. The world has abandoned humankind, so all of us have now been abandoned by the world, whether we like it or not.”

"Lord Heavenly Demon. Doesn't that automatically fulfill the condition for entry?"

The Heavenly Demon closed her lips.

Perhaps because my words were true.

Above all... I was a hunter. An orphan who abandoned the outside world to throw himself into the tower. It was a bit embarrassing to say I was abandoned by the world, but I could say that I had abandoned the world. The [entry condition] the Heavenly Demon spoke of should be sufficiently met.

"......Fine."

The Heavenly Demon stood up.

“If you are so confident, show me the Three Powers Sword Technique.”

She looked down at me intently.

"Whether you are worthy of inheriting our sect's teachings, I will discern with my own eyes. It's obvious you'll only spout fancy words."

"......."

I also stood up.

"Thank you for the opportunity."

I drew my holy sword. Swoosh! The sound of the sword echoed in the wide cave. People were looking at me, quietly waiting to see what swordsmanship I would demonstrate.

Of course, I had not the slightest intention of showing the Three Powers Sword Technique.

[Activating skill.]

Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven.

I had acquired this technique just for this moment.

"...Hoo."

As the divine technique activated, numerous movements unfolded in my mind.

Strange and miraculous Sword Paths.

But seeing the road before me and traveling it were completely different matters. I had not yet gained a deep understanding of the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven. If I tried to display its swordsmanship now, my body would only tear itself apart like a wren trying to keep pace with a stork.

'If I'm going to be torn apart anyway.'

Thus, I remembered.

'I should be properly torn apart.'

The [Trauma] landscapes I had experienced up to now.

I drew them one by one in my mind as I swung my sword.

To unfold the Demonic Art.

Throughout my ascent of the tower, I had witnessed, unintentionally, groans and screams. Groans and screams were always raw and vivid, as if I had just heard them. I remembered these groans and screams, staining my heart with their voices.

「"Please save me."」

「"Please, I'm so hungry. Something to eat, please."」

In the basement of a certain mansion.

I remembered the voices of the children who were tortured there.

「"I want to live."」

The children were bound in chains. When the mansion caught fire, they could only stare at the flames rising before them. Bound by their chains, they could not escape. They had no choice but to burn where they sat.

「I wanted to play a little longer.」

With the children's screams in my heart, I swung my sword.

“D-Demon! That sword technique...”

“......”

I faintly heard the Head of the Martial Alliance's startled voice nearby. I ignored it. His was not the voice I needed to hold in my mind.

Slowly, sluggishly, inch by inch.

I swung my sword as I recalled what I needed to recall.

「Burn it!」

「Burn the witch's nest to the ground!」

At the outskirts of a certain continent.

I remembered the voice of the Preta, who had tried to save the sick.

「Why?」

「You are human too.」

Black fluid ran from the Preta's eyes. Her paradise, the tiny village she had made, was burning. The sight of people burning other people, of people being burned by people, was seared into the Preta's eyes.

「You too are human and know how to shed tears, so why...」

「Why did you call us monsters? Did that let you burn us without hesitation?」

「Are you the only humans?」

With the Preta's anguished cries in my heart, I swung my sword.

“......”

“......”

My sword grew faster and faster. The Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven I acquired through death took form. The trauma transplanted into me through death pulsed with intent. Although I occasionally felt like I was losing my way, I drew upon my aura to forcibly connect my sword path.

-Look at this kid…

The Guardian Spirit said that demonic arts were like claws scraping the world.

But the more I executed the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven, the more my thoughts changed.

It was perhaps closer to screams and wails than to claws.

-Wow.

My sword path continued, eventually becoming a sword dance.

-Now that I see it, if you had been born in the Martial Realm, you would have joined the Demonic Cult without question.

My sword dance was never beautiful. It was immature. Clumsy. It didn’t carry the fragrance of flowers, only the smell of burning flames. If swordsmanship had a face, mine would be that of a person with severe burns.

Only screams.

No matter how wondrous the principles of yin and yang, the world born from them is just sorrowful.

No matter how profound the writings of the Four Books and Five Classics, they cannot surpass the wail of a lowly human.

A sword technique containing the world's sorrow is sharper than one containing the yin and yang.

A sword swung following a single scream is stronger than one moved by profound principles.

The deeper the sorrow, the more wretched the scream, the stronger the sword becomes.

That is why we are strong.

The strong survive.

That was the teaching of the Demonic Cult.

「"Speak."」

「"Martial arts have forgotten chivalry, and chivalry has lost martial arts."」

「"Say it and I will grant your wish to die."」

The Heavenly Demon was the heaven above that doctrine.

The highest sky.

The Heavenly Demon must know all the screams of the cult members and should be able to unfold them into a sword path. Every line of the Heavenly Demon's sword path must be a scream towards the world.

Thus proving that somewhere in this world, there were those who screamed and wailed.

「"The world has turned into emptiness."」

「"Decades of time, all in vain."」

Even such a sky.

Even the Heavenly Demon screamed in the last moment.

「"Ahaha. Huh, haha!"」

When she laughed madly.

「"Uhahahaha! Ha, ahahaha..."」

With that laughter in my heart, I swung my sword.

"Stop."

I swung my sword.

"Stop it."

I swung my sword.

"Didn’t I tell you to stop!"

Eventually, my sword came to a halt.

I had not stopped because I wanted to. A switch. The Heavenly Demon had raised a wooden rod and pressed my blade to a halt. Her dark internal energy roiled around the switch.

"You..."

The Heavenly Demon murmured softly.

"Where did you learn our secret techniques?"

Her eyes were pitch black.

"You can't fool my eyes! No matter how crude and immature it was, what you just used was undoubtedly the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven. The only ones who can master this art in this world are the demonic cultists, and I have never seen your face before."

"Speak. Where did you steal it!"

Only then did I realize I was more exhausted than I thought. I was out of breath. My whole body was drenched in sweat. The holy sword in my right hand felt as heavy as a rock.

I looked around. Not only the Head of the Martial Alliance but also our companions were silently watching me. Through the gaping hole in the cave ceiling, the stars of the night sky were pouring down. Maybe more time had passed than I had realized.

"So am I......."

I struggled to open my mouth.

“Am I qualified? Am I worthy of becoming your disciple, Heavenly Demon?”

"......"

The Heavenly Demon was silent.

After a long silence, the woman turned her back. She walked towards the far end of the cave. Her back was that of someone rejecting others, and no one could follow her.

If I had just a bit more energy left, maybe I would have chased after her...

"K-King of Death?"

Thud.

My knees gave out.

"King of Death! Are you alright, King of Death!?"

My consciousness was blurry. I thought, with a dazed mind, it was because I had used too much aura at once. I would probably faint for the whole night like this.

I tried to smile at the Apothecary to reassure her, but even that was difficult. My vision had already gone dark.

-Tsk tsk.

Just before I fainted. I heard the voice of the Guardian Spirit.

-Use a martial art above your level and of course you end up half-dead, you wren brat. This is why I keep telling you that people must build their foundations from the ground up.

Guardian Spirit sighed.

-Well, but still…

And then.

-You were not such a bad wren, though. You commendable bastard.

I lost consciousness.

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