Chapter 1413: If You Really Want It, You Should Take It. (2)

The mountain named ‘Qingcheng’ for its emblematic verdant greenery. That mountain was now dyed in a color that did not suit its name.

The green foliage and the antique pavilions were engulfed by red flames, and the ground where the fire dared not tread was covered in dark crimson blood more than flame.

It seemed as if the world had been entirely cloaked in scarlet malice.

Among them, Qingcheng Sect leader Byeok Hyun-Ja gasped for breath.

“Huff…”

Qingcheng was his lifelong home and everything to him. And now that Qingcheng was collapsing from an unthinkable assault.

“Cough!”

With the cough, dark red blood spurted from his mouth. From the holes in his abdomen and the deep wounds carved across his body, one could easily predict his fate.

But Byeok Hyun-Ja felt not an iota of pain. Compared to the agony of Qingcheng, more important than his life, the pain felt in this body was negligible.

“Cough! Cough!”

Spitting dark blood again, he forced his heavy drooping head up and looked ahead.

‘Ii Byeok…’

The sajae who had been with him all his life had already fallen as a cold corpse. Looking at the horribly mutilated body, Byeok Hyun-Ja’s heart was shaken by an indescribable grief and rage.

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Aaah! Sa—save me… Aaaaaaah!”

From afar came someone’s desperate scream.

The scream, striking like a blow against his ears, clawed at his chest. His disciples, precious beyond measure, were losing their lives beneath the cold blades of those wicked men.

But Byeok Hyun-Ja no longer had the strength to run and save his disciples.

No one escaped this catastrophe. The young disciples that he had somehow whisked away at the last moment might be fleeing desperately under Providence’s guidance, but there was no guarantee they could evade those fiends’ grasp.

It’s over.

Yes, it’s all over.

The illustrious Qingcheng, a prestigious clan of Sichuan with a long history, meets its end today, not at the hands of the Demonic Cult or the imperial palace, but at those lowly Evil Sect scoundrels.

‘How…’

How on earth did it come to this?

Why is Qingcheng burning?

Why have they shown up here?

He had thought he could merely watch the war on the Yangtze river from afar, but why did the Evil Sect’s blades fall upon this place?

“Huff… heh heh…”

Byeok Hyun-Ja groaned, somewhere between a laugh and a cry, and stared blankly.

The main gate of Blue Sky Palace, symbol of Qingcheng, burned in the flames. Not a gate to a pure Taoist hall, but like the gates of hell opened wide.

And through that burning gate, a man slowly emerged.

A man clad in a crimson robe that fluttered like the blood soaked across Qingcheng, fierce as the inferno engulfing it.

A man adorned from head to toe in gaudy ornaments that utterly clashed with the horrific scene.

Step.

A warped smile hung at the man’s lips.

The sight of this gaudily dressed figure entering through the burning gate was so overwhelming it seized even Byeok Hyun-Ja’s gaze, nearly dazed by grief and rage.

“Jang…”

Suddenly Byeok Hyun-Ja thought it all resembled a theatrical play.

All of this—the scene, the man wandering within it, even himself kneeling before him—felt like a scene from an opera, not reality; solemn and yet ludicrous.

“Jang… Ilso…”

Perhaps it truly was nothing more than a performance.

Wherever Jang Ilso set foot, only such things happened. He shattered the reality ordinary people conceived and only staged events as if from a play.

“Jang Ilsoooooooo!”

A beastly howl burst from Byeok Hyun-Ja’s mouth—filled with grief for the dead, despair at an unbearable reality, and hatred for the architect of it all.

But even hearing that gut-wrenching wail, Jang Ilso showed no notable reaction; he only deepened his smile.

“Now then, Jang…”

Byeok Hyun-Ja’s hand trembled.

The disaster standing before him rolled through his vision.

The flames consuming everything from behind, the disaster’s blood-red robe, the gaudy ornaments, even those blood-red lips.

Byeok Hyun-Ja looked into the eyes of the calamity, Jang Ilso.

Yet Jang Ilso’s pupils were calm and tranquil. Absent was the madness or thrill criminals often display when murdering; instead, they seemed almost sombre.

How was one to understand that the man who led this atrocious slaughter had the calmest gaze of all?

“Huuuu… huu…”

Moans like sobs escaped him continuously—anger, sorrow, fear, and pain intertwined.

Jang Ilso looked down at Byeok Hyun-Ja, who had collapsed wounded.

Surely sharp sneers or ridicule would pour out; otherwise, there was nothing left to share between them.

But, surprisingly, Jang Ilso’s response differed from what Byeok Hyun-Ja expected.

He… smiled brightly.

There was no malice. Perhaps one should call it casualness. With a cheerfully blank smile devoid of scorn, Jang Ilso spoke amiably.

“Now that I think about it… we’re acquainted, aren’t we, Sect leader? It’s been a while. So—how have you been?”

At the gentle, soft greeting, Byeok Hyun-Ja’s fingertips scraped the ground.

No mockery or reprimand in the world could wound so painfully. Even a poisoned blade piercing his lungs would not hurt this way—the blade at least could not ravage his soul.

“Why…”

Byeok Hyun-Ja released his clenched lower lip and spoke, blood trickling from the torn lip.

“Why… Why are you here? Why?”

“Hmm?”

“You should be on the Yangtze river! Why are you here? Why in Qingcheng of all places? Why! Why us! Why! Whyyyyyyyy!”

The beast-like cry rang through Qingcheng. Jang Ilso watched Byeok Hyun-Ja as if amused.

“Why…”

Muttering briefly, he chuckled.

“Who knows. Why might that be?”

“…”

“It’s a bit difficult to answer. There’s not really a reason. I just wanted to. Will that suffice as an answer?”

“Ugh…”

Blood-tinged tears flowed from Byeok Hyun-Ja’s eyes.

Is there any mockery more polite and affectionate than this? That demon showed no mercy even to the dying—only thorough derision.

“Now then, Jang Ilso… Jang Ilsoooooooo!”

“Oh dear, oh dear. You seem very angry. But truly, there’s not much of a reason.”

Jang Ilso stepped a little closer to Byeok Hyun-Ja.

“But if you absolutely must have a reason, there is at least one.”

“…What is that?”

Jang Ilso’s voice sank into Byeok Hyun-Ja’s ear like a knife.

“Because you’re weak.”

“…”

“Because you are the weakest. There’s no need to risk much to trample you. Like the tender nape of a lamb, a bite is enough to easily cut your breath off.”

“You, you bastard…”

“Do you need any other reason than that?”

Blood tears poured from Byeok Hyun-Ja’s eyes. With the flames wavering and even their shadows trembling, his face looked almost demonic.

The taoist teachings Byeok Hyun-Ja had guarded his whole life were meaningless at this moment.

All that remained was consuming hatred and rage.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

Byeok Hyun-Ja swung the sword he held with all his might—toward that demon’s pale throat.

Crack!

But before that, Jang Ilso’s hand pierced Byeok Hyun-Ja’s chest.

Eyes wide, Byeok Hyun-Ja slowly looked down at his chest. Red blood thickly ran down the white wrist embedded in his chest.

Jang Ilso spoke.

“You should have known.”

“…”

“That there is no longer any safe place in this Central Plains.”

Byeok Hyun-Ja’s body trembled like a trembling aspen.

“Of course I like it. Cowards like you. Those who leisurely enjoy the blood from behind while others bleed and fight. And those who show up late to take what was made by someone else’s blood while pretending to grieve—aren’t such people the truest humans?”

He is shattered.

Not only his body. Even his spirit is being utterly shattered at this moment.

“But they’re disgusting.”

“…”

“The complacency of believing the flames will spare only you even as the world burns disgusts me. When I see such people I want to burn them myself.”

Jang Ilso smiled brightly.

“That’s the only reason. How is it? Isn’t that sufficient after hearing it?”

Byeok Hyun-Ja, hands trembling violently, mustered strength to grab the hand of Jang Ilso lodged in his chest.

“W- a revenant…”

“Hmm?”

“Even if I become a revenant… I will curse… you… the curse… the grudge of Qingcheng…”

At those blood-choked words spat out with all his might, the corner of Jang Ilso’s mouth twitched.

“Ha… hahahahah! Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

And then he burst into a mad, roaring laugh.

“Why are the words of those who can’t even accomplish what they spit out always the same! Once you’re dead, it’s all over, isn’t it?”

Crunch!

Jang Ilso’s remaining hand grabbed Byeok Hyun-Ja by the hair.

“If you had the strength to become a revenant and curse, you should have bitten in life! If you wanted something, you should have fought for it, not waited! If you truly wanted it, you should get it!”

Watching Byeok Hyun-Ja’s light-dimming eyes, Jang Ilso twisted his face grotesquely and laughed.

“But now you have no such chance.”

Snap!

Jang Ilso’s hand was ripped out of his chest in one motion. The blood dragged out with it painted coarse strokes across the world like a canvas.

Byeok Hyun-Ja’s body slowly collapsed.

Thud.

Death came, yet he could not bring himself to close his eyes.

Qingcheng, one of the Nine Great Sects and a renowned house of Sichuan. It was an unworthy, utterly humble death unbefitting its Sect leader.

Crunch!

Jang Ilso stomped on Byeok Hyun-Ja’s head, crushing it half to death, then casually shook the blood from his hand.

“Hmm.”

He slowly looked around.

Everything burned.

The mountain, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the pavilions, the people.

The mountain that had been verdant when he ascended it was gone. The pavilions had lost their former glory and collapsed, and the ashen mountain would never regain its form.

A most satisfied smile bloomed at the corner of Jang Ilso’s mouth. In the night sky hung a crescent moon that seemed like his smile.

“Isn’t this rather splendid? Huh?”

The hem of his red robe fluttered madly, like a surging flame.

“Hahaha! Hahahahahah! Ahahahahahahahaha!”

A blaze that could burn the world shimmered.

It was a blood-red flame called Jang Ilso.