Book 9: Chapter 14: Judgment

A while ago.

The leadership of the uprising forces.

“…If so, what the Eldest Young Master is saying is that there is a possibility they will invade soon?”

“Probably.”

Yeon So-hyeon wore a bitter smile.

“I hope they do not. That is why I sent one of the Main Family's elders to them in advance, as a warning not to act rashly.”

Warning.

That was the intention behind Yeon So-hyeon sending Elder Yu of the Fourth Young Master's side in advance.

For now.

“But that warning could work in reverse instead.”

At the words of the righteous gentleman, Yeon So-hyeon nodded heavily.

“If their arrogance, if their greed, overflows.”

Then, there will definitely be someone on the Third Young Master's side who moves troops, whether large or small.

“…If that happens, how about we fight together as well?”

“Eldest Young Master. Although the laborers are exhausted, we still have enough strength.”

The righteous gentlemen stepped forward, pretending not to be tired.

However, Yeon So-hyeon could notice the deep fatigue that could not be hidden on their faces.

“It is fine.”

Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.

“Gather everyone and escape to the rear, that is, to the place furthest from the encampment of the Third Young Master's side.”

Because the siege completely surrounded the site, they could not escape, but it meant they should withdraw to a distance where they could at least avoid clashing.

“…Eldest Young Master.”

The one who stepped forward was the righteous gentleman in charge of the explosives.

“If we can at least lure the enemies to the proper locations, we can inflict major damage through the simultaneous explosions of the explosives.”

“That must not be done.”

Yeon So-hyeon shook his head immediately.

“Rather, you must also dismantle all the explosives previously installed in the expected areas of the enemy's infiltration.”

The leader of the poor laborers understood what Yeon So-hyeon was saying and agreed.

“…You mean the enemies could use that as a justification instead.”

“That is correct.”

“I have understood up to that point. But…”

The leader looked at Yeon So-hyeon with concerned eyes.

“But listening to what you have said so far, aren't you saying that you will hold out alone against an unknown number of warriors?”

At his words, Yeon So-hyeon chuckled.

“Holding out, you say…”

He brought the mask he was holding close to his face.

“Have you forgotten who I am?”

The white mask showed a bizarre movement as if it were liquid, sticking to his facial skin.

“……!”

At the chilling energy that surged as if exploding, the people in the crowd backed away all at once.

With the Dark Venerable Yeon So-hyeon at the center, frost began to form as if it had become midwinter.

“It is the enemies who will have to hold out, not me.”

He spoke, breathing out breath that smelled of sulfur.

“All those who dare to be swayed by desire, not knowing their place.”

The Dark Venerable declared.

“Will receive their judgment here today.”

* * *

“U-uwaahhh—!”

The young warrior's scream resonated through the wide space and outside the building, lightning struck down.

The inside of the building, which currently had only outer walls, lit up for an instant.

The corpses of the squad members hanging from the high ceiling were revealed so vividly in the white lightning light, though only for a brief moment.

Drip, drip, drip—.

The blood flowing from their corpses grew in volume, now falling as if streaming down.

Under that flowing blood, the entity with the white mask, the Dark Venerable, closed his eyes beneath his mask for a moment.

“……”

The thirst that felt like it would absolutely never disappear and the hunger that felt so terribly insatiable, subsided as if it were a lie, and a sense of fullness welled up.

However, it was only for a moment.

Since devouring an old demon on Mount Beimang his intestines and demonic qi, which had tasted 'flavor' once after a long starvation, surged up to his mind as if boiling.

“Devour them all!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Yeon So-hyeon shook his head violently, shaking off the temptation of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens once again.

As if retaliating against that formidable will, immense hunger and thirst rushed in again.

“G-guilty, of all things…”

His gaze turned toward the owner of the voice.

A young warrior.

The young warrior, who appeared to be in his late twenties, seemed to be a warrior of Hengshan, judging by the way he held his sword.

“This is a battlefield! It is a place where if I do not kill, the opponent will kill me!”

He shouted toward the Dark Venerable, pointing his sword.

“Guilty or innocent. Just who determines that by what standard?!”

Although he shouted quite proudly the tip of his sword was shaking uncontrollably, and his voice was the same.

“You harbor doubts and suspicion toward your own words.”

The mouth beneath the white mask moved.

“Was it really only your enemies that you cut down?”

At those words, the face of the poor laborer he had ultimately failed to cut down in the medical tent came to mind.

“You said it could not be helped, but have you yourself tried to understand their situation, which could not be helped?”

At those words, countless faces of those he had regarded as enemies came to mind.

Haggard eyes.

Emaciated faces, blackened without exception.

There was not a single sheen on their skin, and their bodies without a single muscle looked as if skin were hanging on bones.

“Warrior of the Sword Family.”

The Dark Venerable asked.

“Were they truly enemies fitting for the sword of Hengshan, of the Sword Family?”

The Dark Venerable's words pierced straight through his heart.

“Wasn't your reason paralyzed because you were blinded by this situation?”

Step, step.

The Dark Venerable approached him.

“Do not come close!”

Contrary to his shout, the tip of his sword shook even more greatly.

“Since you must have realized by now, I will ask you once more.”

Standing precisely at a distance where a sword could reach, the Dark Venerable asked again.

“So, are you guilty, or are you innocent?”

He did not approach any further.

He just put his hands behind his back and looked down at the young warrior.

“I, I…”

The faces of the enemies he had cut down.

Now, those devilish faces faded away, and their proper faces were visible.

They were the faces of commoners who could not overcome hunger.

They were not his enemies and he was not their enemy.

The enemy of those commoners was not the warriors, it was not the government, and it was not the Sword Family.

The enemy they wanted to fight was their hunger.

The sword he had dropped, and his own two hands, were submerged in that pool of blood.

“You have confessed your sin.”

The moment the Dark Venerable's words ended, the resentful souls lined up on his left and right wailed.

“Please kill that guy!”

“Avenge our resentment!”

“I was merely hungry!”

A resentful soul with nothing left but bones slit his own belly and pulled out his intestines.

Holding his drooping intestines before Yeon So-hyeon's eyes, the resentful soul showed that they were empty.

“Chosen one!”

“Dark Venerable!”

“The only thing that can fill our starving bellies is avenging our resentment!”

That was the price of becoming the chosen one of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens.

It was a constraint that bound Yeon So-hyeon from his very soul, and a restriction that forced his actions.

“Judgment!”

“Judgment! Judgment! Judgment!”

From the Dark Venerable's hand, with a chilling sound, long pitch-black claws sprang out.

“…Do you agree to the judgment?”

Only now becoming upright, the warrior raised his head and faced his destiny.

“…Yes.”

The Dark Venerable's claw aimed at his face.

If he slit that face, the sin filled inside it would spring out as if exploding.

That sin would be sweet.

It would soothe that endless thirst and hunger.

However slice—.

The sharp claw of the Dark Venerable drew a long line across the skin of the young warrior's face.

How sharp that claw was.

The area he did not even realize had been touched split long, and only after a stinging pain rushed did the young warrior realize he was still alive.

“…I am merely a judge, so I have no qualifications to forgive your sin. However.”

Looking down at the face of the young warrior looking up at him with a blank expression, the Dark Venerable no, Yeon So-hyeon spoke.

“I cannot stop you from atoning for your sins yourself.”

Bleeding hot blood from the wound traversing his left face up and down, the young warrior asked.

“…How should I atone?”

The Dark Venerable stepped back and disappeared as if melting into the darkness.

“Pondering that is the beginning of atonement.”

That voice remained for a moment, hovering in the air before scattering in the sound of rain.

“……”

Now, although the entity that bound him was no longer there the young warrior of Hengshan did not know how to stand up from where he knelt for a long time.

* * *

Running like a ghost on the rooftop, the Dark Venerable's eyes stretched long, scattering blue sparks.

In his mind, a voice resonated.

[What a foolish fellow.] that voice was familiar.

[Atonement, indeed.] the voice rebuked him.

[Because those around you hold you high as the Dark Venerable or whatever, do you think you have become some great existence?] it was the voice he had heard while imprisoned, before returning as the seventeen-year-old Yeon So-hyeon.

The voice that had made Yeon So-hyeon contract with the ancient demonic object called the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens.

According to what he heard later, they said it was not a voice made by the demonic object of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens.

[That hunger and thirst will only grow larger the more you endure it.] toward the mysterious voice, Yeon So-hyeon smiled coldly and replied in his mind.

'If I were to move because I could not overcome a mere reaction of the body, what difference would there be between me and those who are swayed by desire?'

[Foolish talk!] it was a scolding loud enough to send a tingling pain through his head.

[Don't you also know that the more you suppress it, the larger the backlash becomes?!] yeon So-hyeon answered as he ran, clenching his teeth.

“…Of course I know!”

'The more you suppress it by force, the larger the impulse it returns with later. I have already conducted all the tests. So I reject interference in my life.'

[Interference?] as Yeon So-hyeon raised the Dual Principles Divine Art to the limit, the voice drifted away.

[Do not expect that shallow Dual Principles Mind Art to protect your mind forever!] because the erosion of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens was continuing endlessly even at this moment.

'Didn't I say I know even if you don't tell me?'

[This wild youth…!] the efficacy of the Dual Principles Mind Art was gradually decreasing rapidly.

Yeon So-hyeon had repeatedly modified the Dual Principles Mind Art in the meantime to respond.

By now, even if the person who first created the Dual Principles Mind Art saw it, they would not be able to recognize it as such properly.

However, the power of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, which was an entity from the outer universe, was infinite.

[All the chosen ones who chose to fight the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens rather than devouring evil could not leave even a fragment of their souls.] in resisting that endless erosion, a limit was gradually being revealed.

[You will also lose your sanity and become a mere puppet—] the voice soon subsided, and Yeon So-hyeon's movement technique also stopped.

Because he had arrived at his destination.

“Do not worry.”

Yeon So-hyeon, the voice of the Dark Venerable answered the voice that could no longer be heard.

“Right now in this place, to the point where there would be no end even if I pick and devour them…”

From the highest rooftop in the vicinity, his gaze directed far away.

“…there is an overflow of evil people to devour.”

There, a group of warriors melted into the darkness was advancing at high speed.

They were entering an area where several pillars of white smoke were rising from chimneys.

* * *

[Stop!] at the scout's hand signal, the old man responsible for the right wing sent a telepathic message.

Before becoming a subordinate sect of the Luoyang Sword Family, the old man, who was the director of the Gansu White-Slaying Martial Hall Martial Arts Hall, lay flat on the roof.

[Has the identity of the white smoke been confirmed?] the scout's report returned.

[Yes, Director! We confirmed it by smell. As expected, it is smoke from cooking rice.]

[What about the guard?]

[Two or three people were observed at every two outposts with the naked eye, but the guard did not seem particularly thorough.] a person who specialized in training eye techniques reported additionally.

[Those standing guard also seemed distracted because they were busy eating rice.] at that report, fierce smiles hung on the mouths of the warriors nearby.

[It seems food was distributed after the battle earlier.]

[Now is the time, Director.] confirming that everyone had completed preparations, the Director shouted via telepathic message.

[Their eyes must have rolled back at the white rice.] the Director ordered the messenger to report to the Sect Leader of the Hengshan North Stream, who was responsible for the center.

[Everyone, draw swords.] dozens of warriors hiding nearby drew their non-reflective swords.

[There is no need to distinguish. Excluding our allies, regardless of age or gender, you must cut them all down.] the warriors nodded.

[Let's go! Make the meals of those insect-like fellows their funeral food!]