A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 413

413. Before the Gate of Hell

The aura emanating from the former Jade Dragon was overwhelming. Neither the massive jade throne nor the towering pillars could overshadow his presence. It felt as if the entire space existed solely for him.

*Whooooong.*

A blue aura slowly rippled behind him. Wings of light, shaped like chilling reptilian wings, manifested the ‘Fragment of God.’ The message was clear: the former Jade Dragon, with his mocking smile, was none other than ‘Cheonma’ [a powerful demonic figure]. No one could deny it now.

“Hoo.”

Son Bin exhaled deeply. After a moment of stunned silence, he looked up.

“Is that… the Gate of Hell?”

His calm voice surprised Old General. The entire group looked up, equally astonished. Where the pillar from the distant ceiling had been severed, black mist flickered ominously, revealing the pale form of the Blood-Sealed Golden Thread Lotus.

“Yes.”

The former Jade Dragon readily confirmed.

“That is the Gate of Hell, opened by Cheonma.”

‘That is?’

Old General frowned. The ‘Gate of Hell,’ which he had only heard about, was before him, yet he felt no particular dread. It lacked the fear-inducing aura he had witnessed in the demons of Seojang, or in the Demon Gods. However, the slowly flickering dark mist, juxtaposed with the Lotus’s pallid appearance, created an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

“I see. As I thought…”

Son Bin sighed softly.

“But why is Miss Geum in that state? I don’t believe you would take her hostage…”

*Clack.* The former Jade Dragon opened his jade fan, obscuring his face. With one hand behind his back, he resembled a nobleman on a leisurely stroll.

“Of course not.”

The former Jade Dragon said casually.

“I don’t need hostages. If something is an eyesore, I simply remove it, as I attempted with you in the past.”

Son Bin smiled wryly, recalling the events on Snow Mountain, where the former Jade Dragon had tried to ‘remove’ him and Sa Soo-yeon for disrupting the martial arts contest with Saja Hyuk.

“Then why is she in that state?”

“Who knows? I don’t know either.”

The former Jade Dragon shrugged, feigning ignorance.

“She chose it herself.”

“She chose it?”

The conversation was strangely mundane, devoid of the tension one would expect near the Gate of Hell. But that didn’t last.

“Yes. She chose it.”

The former Jade Dragon said, looking directly at Son Bin.

“She threw herself in to stop the Gate of Hell that the old Cheonma opened.”

Son Bin’s expression instantly hardened.

“…Stop it? The Gate of Hell?”

“Yes.”

A sneer twisted the former Jade Dragon’s lips.

“That child is sacrificing herself to block the Gate of Hell. Enduring agonizing pain, she waits only for your arrival. She knows that the moment she gives up, the world will descend into hell.”

The former Jade Dragon’s voice was almost gleeful. Son Bin listened, his face a mask of concern.

“Well, it doesn’t look much different from hell to me now…”

At the former Jade Dragon’s quiet remark, Son Bin looked up, wondering if he had imagined the momentary desolation in his eyes.

“Why that child?”

Old General’s voice broke the spell. The former Jade Dragon turned.

“Why did it have to be her? She doesn’t have any abilities anymore.”

Son Bin had saved the Blood-Sealed Golden Thread Lotus’s life, healing the severed meridians [energy pathways] that had plagued her. Consequently, her ‘divine power’ – the ability to see people’s hearts – had vanished, but she had gained a future.

“That’s probably because of you.”

The former Jade Dragon’s eyes, visible above the fan, twinkled. He was looking at Son Bin.

“Son Bin, because of you.”

“Because of Bin?”

Old General also turned to Son Bin, who looked puzzled.

“You defeated the Blood Demon.”

Son Bin nodded, recalling his victory over the Blood Demon who had possessed Guigyonsura and shattered Blood Fang, his sword. But what did that have to do with the current situation?

“And the Blood Demon said it was because of your so-called ‘afterglow’ [residual power], not your martial arts or sword, right?”

The former Jade Dragon continued, his eyes gleaming with interest.

“Then what did you do before that? Before you annihilated the Blood Demon with your sword, when that ‘afterglow’ was at its strongest?”

‘Ah.’

Son Bin understood. He closed his eyes involuntarily.

The ‘afterglow’ had shattered Blood Fang and annihilated the Blood Demon. In the Imperial Palace and Seojang, it had instantly eradicated demonic energy. What had Son Bin done first with that ‘afterglow’? Before annihilating the Blood Demon, at its peak, what had he done?

“Didn’t you save that child?”

Son Bin opened his eyes. The former Jade Dragon’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

“So, Miss Blood-Sealed…”

“Yes.”

As if reading Son Bin’s mind, the former Jade Dragon said,

“The reason she can block the Gate of Hell is because a trace of your ‘afterglow’ remains on her. So, she is suffering because of you.”

“It’s not Young Master Son’s fault.”

*Sigh.*

A small, delicate voice spoke. It was Dang Wol-ah.

“It’s not Young Master Son’s fault that she is suffering, nor is it her fault for jumping in to block the Gate of Hell. She is suffering because of Cheonma, who opened the Gate of Hell.”

Dang Wol-ah’s eyes, shining behind her veil, were unwavering. The former Jade Dragon chuckled.

“Of course. But isn’t it also true that she is suffering because of the ‘afterglow’? You can’t say he has no responsibility.”

“If we’re talking about responsibility…”

Dang Wol-ah said, looking at the former Jade Dragon.

“Wouldn’t your responsibility be greater for recognizing her power and forcing her to accompany you?”

Everyone, including Old General, stiffened at her quiet remark.

“Come to think of it…”

Old General frowned and muttered. Saja Hyuk had wanted to go with Son Bin, but the former Jade Dragon had insisted on the Blood-Sealed Golden Thread Lotus from the start.

“Feeling responsible is important, but if you don’t clarify the weight of it, anger will be misdirected. Whose responsibility is this situation really? Who should be questioning whom?”

Dang Wol-ah spoke clearly. The former Jade Dragon, facing the group’s suspicious stares, chuckled.

“…The Fierce Tiger of the Dang Family has left behind a successor who is at least better than himself.”

“I…”

*Swish.*

Old General stopped Dang Wol-ah’s retort. She obediently yielded to his intention.

“You, did you know from the beginning?”

The former Jade Dragon calmly met Old General’s sharp gaze.

“Of course.”

He didn’t hesitate, answering as if it were obvious.

“Didn’t I say from the beginning that the world would end?”

He had indeed said that, and with apparent glee. Son Bin suddenly remembered the Blood-Sealed Golden Thread Lotus saying, ‘I think this is fate.’ Perhaps she had vaguely foreseen this possibility.

“So, did you come here with this in mind from the start? To take the divine seat of Cheonma?”

The former Jade Dragon shrugged.

“I don’t know either. People’s memories and true intentions are inevitably distorted and packaged for their own convenience, to the point of self-deception. What’s the point of asking now?”

The former Jade Dragon trusts no one, including himself.

For him, pursuing ‘true intentions’ is pointless.

“The Demon Gods…”

Son Bin asked quietly.

“…What happened to them?”

The former Jade Dragon chuckled.

“As expected of ‘Laja’ [a title of respect]. You even care about the Demon Gods who opposed you.”

Perhaps that was true, but having learned about their past, Son Bin could no longer dismiss them as mere ‘Demon Gods.’

“I abandoned them.”

The former Jade Dragon answered nonchalantly.

“I never intended to take them in. They had no reason to serve me. Besides, the way they knew of your existence and were so obsessed with you… Even though they were given the name ‘Demon God,’ they were completely immersed in this world. Well, that’s only natural after being here for so long.”

The former Jade Dragon’s eyes flashed with a different light.

“More importantly, you took all of their ‘fragments,’ right? I thought you might let a few of them live freely, but I guess human greed is inevitable, huh?”

The former Jade Dragon laughed, amused.

“Abandoned them?”

Old General, who had been frowning, interjected.

“Why did you abandon the Demon Gods? Weren’t they beings who served Cheonma?”

Not only the King of Demon Beasts, Sumashin, and Empress Sarasvati, but also the Sword Demon God, the Demon Dragon, Maeung, and the last black mist-like Demon God – all beings who transcended humanity. Old General couldn’t understand the former Jade Dragon’s actions.

“Because I don’t need them.”

The former Jade Dragon made an unpleasant face, as if his pleasant time had been disturbed.

“Why? Did you think that now that I’ve become Cheonma, I’m going to cover the world with the Demonic Cult? Why would I do such a ridiculous thing?”

Old General was speechless. The former Jade Dragon had no interest in such things. Even as Cheonma, he would remain the same.

“Then why the hell are you…”

“Who knows?”

*Clack.* The jade fan closed, revealing the former Jade Dragon’s smiling face.

“Maybe because it seems interesting?”

Old General didn’t believe him. The former Jade Dragon was capable of doing crazy things simply for amusement, but his reputation as the ‘Dragon’ in the clouds stemmed from something else.

“And it seems possible if I become Cheonma.”

He said with a charming smile.

“To burn this world to ashes.”

The ‘Dragon’ in the clouds is capricious, but his whims are always a ‘disaster’ for the people on earth – an unstoppable, irresistible catastrophe from the sky. Silence fell. No one dared speak in his presence – not Old General, Sa Soo-yeon, Dang Wol-ah, Seorin, Geomhee, or even Son Bin.

“If, if you burn this world all up…”

Hwang Bang-ju stammered.

“Wh, what are you going to do on the ashes? Th, there will be nothing to do?”

He didn’t question whether the former Jade Dragon *could* do it, because he believed he naturally could – a conviction without basis or logic. The others felt similarly.

“Hoo.”

The former Jade Dragon laughed.

“Well, isn’t that something to think about later? If it’s not fun then, I can just leave this world.”

“Leave this world?”

Old General retorted.

“What does that mean?”

The former Jade Dragon clicked his tongue, realizing his slip. He frowned, considering something.

“I guess not.”

After a moment, he shook his head.

“Even if the world is ending, I don’t want to show the ignorant the generosity of enlightening them.”

Old General’s face contorted.

“But.”

The former Jade Dragon looked at Son Bin again.

“You would understand, wouldn’t you? Seeing what you and Muje call the so-called ‘flow’ [the natural order of things].”

He said with a smile.

“The truth is, it’s an act of grasping the essence of the world and interfering with it.”

Son Bin didn’t answer. The former Jade Dragon continued.

“Seeing the flow is not just about seeing through the essence of the martial arts that the opponent unfolds. It means grasping the countless possibilities and their limits, and seeing through the energy that fills the universe beyond time and space, or rather, the essence of the world. Isn’t that right?”

“It’s not about seeing through it. It’s…”

Son Bin sighed and answered.

“It’s just a glimpse by chance.”

A vast flow that encompasses even the stars – the ‘essence of the world,’ as the former Jade Dragon called it. But could he claim to ‘see through’ it just because he had glimpsed it? Son Bin was merely a tiny current within it.

“‘Just, by chance’? Don’t you know that what you’re doing now is not humility but rather blasphemy?”

The former Jade Dragon laughed. Only they could truly understand their conversation. Even Old General could only vaguely guess, let alone the others. But the former Jade Dragon continued, unconcerned.

“Seeing the flow itself is already an act of interfering with the world. In Pawol Ilsik [a powerful sword technique], you even choose one of the countless flows to determine the future.”

Old General recalled Son Bin’s words: ‘Loading the sword with the flow of cause and effect.’ If the future was undecided, then Son Bin had chosen one of the countless possibilities and made it reality.

“Besides, what about Pawol Isik? It even creates a world and determines its fate. Isn’t that a terribly arrogant and extremely violent act?”

“But you.”

Son Bin said quietly.

“Didn’t you even break that Pawol Isik?”

“You remember.”

The former Jade Dragon laughed.

“Yes. My ‘Jade Dragon Ascension’ breaks that flow and returns it to nothing. But conversely, it also means that it took the power to destroy the world to break that one small flow that Muje created.”

Few could grasp their conversation. But Old General knew it was neither empty boasting nor exaggeration. Pawol Ilsik, which loaded the sword with the ‘flow of cause and effect,’ and Pawol Isik, which even he couldn’t comprehend, were understood only by Muje and Son Bin.

“But what does that matter?”

Old General asked, dismissing it.

“With you leaving the world or whatever.”

The former Jade Dragon laughed.

“There are many flows. And they are everywhere.”

He said clearly, his gaze fixed on Son Bin.

“It’s what Muje always said. You must have seen that sight too, right? The existence of countless flows everywhere.”

Son Bin nodded. The former Jade Dragon laughed.

“What if each of those flows actually means the possibility of many worlds?”

“What?”

Old General retorted. But the former Jade Dragon’s gaze remained on Son Bin.

“There is eternity even in an instant, and infinity even in an extremely small gap. If the flow you choose and create is the possibility of countless worlds, wouldn’t you feel the same way as me?”

A sweet voice flowed from his red lips like a secret temptation.

“The thought of burning this insignificant world and going to a new world.”

The former Jade Dragon’s smile was beautiful, yet fatal and destructive.

(Author’s words)

The return of Okryong (=Too Much Talker).