The Heaven-Slaying Sword - Chapter 1

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 1: Prologue - Bloody Affair

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Thud.

At the center of an enormous hall, the dull sound of a man's head striking the ground announced one thing.

The Blood History that had stained the martial world red for the past five years had finally come to an end.

"Brother!"

A middle-aged man dressed like a beggar rushed forward.

Before him stood an old man whose robes, once surely pure white, were soaked in blood.

The old man looked perilously close to death.

The sword in his hand trembled, his gaze was unfocused, and blood poured from his abdomen.

It would not have been strange if he dropped dead at any moment.

Yet the old man's expression was peaceful.

"...Yes. It is over."

"That isn't what's important! Your bleeding..."

"That alone is what matters."

The middle-aged beggar looked up in frustration.

The old man answered with a bright smile.

"Did I not cut down the Blood Demon?"

Seeing the old man smile so cheerfully, the beggar let out a helpless laugh.

"...Heh, you're right. You did it, Brother. Mok Seon-o, the Sword Star, has judged the evil deeds of the Blood Heaven Cult and the Blood Demon, Dan Cheon-hwa."

There had been a Blood History.

More blood had flowed than the waters of the Yangtze, and even more screams had been carved into its pages.

Some had said this martial world could never return to what it once was.

That the age of evil spirits had arrived, and all people would suffer.

But look.

The bloody history unleashed by those vile fiends known as the Blood Heaven Cult had been brought to an end by countless heroes of the orthodox martial world, led by this old chivalrous warrior.

The middle-aged beggar.

No, Ma Il-seok, the leader of the Beggars’ Sect, the Beggar King, and one of the Ten Great Masters of the orthodox martial world, finally felt that truth sink in.

"You have suffered greatly. It's all over now! You saved the martial world, Brother! Do you have any idea how worried I was that something might happen to you? From all the way over there..."

Released from the tension at last, Ma Il-seok poured out his words in a rush.

The old man he called brother, Mok Seon-o, the Sword Star, answered with a smile and cast his gaze into the distance.

There was a small side door there.

'He was trying to protect that place.'

Having fought the Blood Demon directly, he knew something.

The Blood Demon could have fled, yet he had not.

As though he could not surrender whatever lay behind him, he had drawn up his demonic qi and struggled desperately.

That was why Mok Seon-o had been able to defeat him.

The Sword Star narrowed his eyes.

What could possibly be in there to make the Blood Demon act that way? Curiosity welled up within him.

Squish.

When the Sword Star stepped into the blood pooling on the floor, Ma Il-seok asked, "Brother? Where are you going?"

"I will look around for a moment."

"Hm? Then I'll come with you. This younger brother will personally attend you."

"How reassuring."

Mok Seon-o answered teasingly, and Ma Il-seok burst into hearty laughter as he followed behind him.

They crossed the hall stained with the Blood Demon's blood and reached the side door.

The Sword Star raised his sword and cut the door apart.

Boom!

Only then did they see what lay inside.

Mok Seon-o's expression hardened.

"...A child."

Behind the side door lay a newborn, wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed atop an altar.

Perhaps the child had not awakened even amid all that chaos, for the infant slept peacefully.

'The Blood Demon's child?'

It was the first thought that came to mind.

Even a fiend who committed such atrocities might treasure his own child. But the thought soon faded.

'...No. What parent would place their own child on an altar?'

This was clearly an altar.

And the scent hanging heavy in the air was unmistakably the scent of blood.

It was not difficult for the Sword Star to guess the altar's purpose.

'Evil sorcery.'

They had likely intended to use this child in some vile sorcery.

Mok Seon-o was enraged.

He approached the altar to save the child.

The instant he reached it and gathered the infant into his arms, Mok Seon-o jerked.

"Brother?"

Ma Il-seok, who had followed behind, called to him.

Then he saw the child, and his expression hardened as well.

"The eyes..."

There was only one reason for their reaction.

The infant, who had opened his eyes at some point, had irises as red as blood.

Ma Il-seok murmured softly.

"The Heavenly Slaughter Star..."

In the Central Plains, blood-red eyes signified only one thing.

The Heavenly Slaughter Star.

The star of a killing fiend that cast the world into calamity simply by living and breathing.

The child bore that fate.

"Let us kill the child."

Ma Il-seok spoke because he was the one who compiled all information throughout the Central Plains martial world.

"This child may grow into another Blood Demon. We must kill the child while still a newborn."

The Beggar King knew.

He knew what disasters those born beneath the star of the killing fiend had wrought upon the martial world.

Yi Mu-baek, the Third Heavenly Demon beyond distant Xinjiang, had stained the western martial world with blood.

Seo Woo-jin, the Sword Ghost, had once been nothing more than a wandering martial artist, yet he unified the southern martial world and established the unorthodox martial alliance known as the Black Evil Alliance.

And what of Oh Chun, the Demon Sword? Born in the renowned Oh Clan Manor, his life's achievement had been the sinful slaughter of one hundred thousand common people.

"Brother, we must kill the child now."

Mok Seon-o furrowed his brow at Ma Il-seok's urging.

He fully agreed with Ma Il-seok. Yet the child in his arms was still only a newborn, and that made him hesitate.

"...Such a tiny child."

"Brother..."

"Look. The child has not even been weaned yet, but does not so much as fuss."

"You must not be swayed. This is a killing fiend!"

"Before that, this is a child."

Ma Il-seok's expression hardened.

Even then, Mok Seon-o looked at the child with sorrowful eyes.

"...Is this not a child who has yet to become anything at all?"

"The child will bring bloodshed."

"Has there ever been a day when blood did not flow in the martial world?"

"It may not be the blood of martial artists!"

"Could it not be the blood of fiends?"

"Brother! That child may slaughter thousands of innocent people!"

"Or perhaps cut down tens of thousands of evildoers."

Their disagreement could not be resolved.

Mok Seon-o simply pitied the child who had yet to become anything, while Ma Il-seok pressed him, warning of the calamity to come.

At this rate, they might come to blows.

"Beggar."

"..."

"What did we come here for?"

Ma Il-seok clenched both fists as he answered.

"...We came to slay the Blood Demon. And we did."

"What did we do it for?"

"What for? Isn't that obvious? Peace! We came here for chivalry!"

"Then let me ask you."

Mok Seon-o's gaze remained fixed on the child.

"Is it chivalry to cut down a child who has yet to become anything, only because the child might be dangerous?"

Ma Il-seok froze.

His eyes widened, then crumpled in anguish.

"Was that why we took up our swords? Peace is the goal. This is the path. But if we cannot hold our heads high as we walk that path merely to achieve the goal, can we call it chivalry?"

It was sophistry.

For the sake of peace, it was only natural to make sacrifices such as this.

Yet Ma Il-seok could not refute him.

There was no other reason.

The one standing before him and spouting those righteous words was none other than Mok Seon-o, the Sword Star.

That name belonged to the man seated first among the Four Stars and Six Kings, the Ten Great Masters of the orthodox martial world.

A man who could not overlook injustice, who always pondered chivalry and righteousness, and who never retreated before danger. Since it was the brother he revered saying such things, the Beggar King could not bring himself to argue.

"Beggar, I cannot do it."

The child, who had watched only Mok Seon-o even as their voices rose, met his eyes and began to giggle.

When Mok Seon-o held out a hand, tiny fingers curled tightly around his index finger.

Ma Il-seok watched them.

His face held worry, and grief as well.

After a long time spent in thought, he finally let his shoulders droop and spoke.

"...Brother, you are truly cowardly."

The words came with dry laughter, but their meaning was an unmistakable surrender.

Mok Seon-o smiled softly.

"Thank you for indulging my stubbornness."

"What do you intend to do?"

"I will raise the child."

"You, Brother?"

"Yes. I insisted on saving this child, so should I not raise the child with these hands?"

The infant still held Mok Seon-o's finger.

Then he brought it to his mouth and began sucking on it noisily.

"...I will teach this child chivalry. I will raise the child to resist that fate and live such a life."

"Honestly, there is no stopping you, Brother."

Ma Il-seok shook his head.

His tone was brusque, but it did not mean he was displeased.

Quite the opposite.

He felt relieved.

Seeing Mok Seon-o look upon even a child fated to become a killing fiend with such hope, Ma Il-seok remembered once again why he had come to revere him as an elder brother.

'For someone who only says the right things, you always find a way to keep your word.'

The weight carried by the Sword Star's name in the Central Plains martial world was the weight of all the chivalrous deeds he had performed.

That was why Ma Il-seok could not help but hope.

Perhaps.

Just perhaps, Mok Seon-o might raise that child not into a killing fiend, but into a chivalrous hero.

"Mok Ri-won."

"Pardon?"

"That would be a good name for the child. The surname Mok, after mine. Ri, meaning to govern, and Won, meaning origin. It is a wish for the child to grow into someone who can govern the origin within and control himself."

A splendid smile spread across Mok Seon-o's face as he continued.

"What do you think?"

Ma Il-seok looked at the child.

A fair infant with eyes red as blood.

The redness in those eyes would gradually fade as the child grew. Unless the child became intoxicated by blood, it would never appear again.

If the child grew as the name wished, those eyes would never again show a trace of red.

"...It seems like a good name."

"Does it not?"

"But."

"Hm?"

"But, Brother, I have no choice but to follow because I trust you..."

Ma Il-seok gestured with his chin toward the door.

"How do you plan to persuade those outside?"

He meant the other masters in the hall beyond the door.

Mok Seon-o answered with a troubled smile.

"I can only hope they understand."

"Those people? I think that will be absolutely impossible. I do not know about the others, but the Poison King will never allow it. The Tang Clan suffered too many losses in this war."

"That is not a sin to lay upon this child."

"At least, he will not see it that way."

The atmosphere sharpened once more.

Mok Seon-o's worry deepened, and Ma Il-seok silently waited.

When Mok Seon-o finally answered, it was the same as before.

"Then it would be right to ask their permission as well."

"Brother..."

"I cannot deceive them for the sake of my own desire."

Mok Seon-o smiled as he stepped down from the altar.

Now, there was a child in his arms.

"Let us go."

Mok Seon-o stepped outside.