Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 457

Lee Shin-woo realized what he had to do.

“I can’t do it.”

Lee Ro-woon’s voice.

“Because Master’s energy still remains.”

Listening to his tired voice, Lee Shin-woo approached Baek Jin, the sect leader of Hwasan.

“Please.”

“It’s a request from a guy who rarely asks for favors, so I have no choice but to grant it.”

Lee Shin-woo smiled and activated his core.

Gu-ung.

The blue light emanating from beneath his feet transformed into a warm energy, slowly enveloping the surroundings.

And the energy that had spread out.

Whirr-!

In an instant, it surged towards Baek Jin, binding him.

“Huu…!”

The sound that escaped his lips was too pathetic to be called a scream from Baek Jin, the sect leader of Hwasan, who commanded respect in Eun and Asia.

Whirr!

The blue power that had bound Baek Jin also reached out to Lee Ro-woon.

Lee Ro-woon’s energy naturally rose, trying to push away Lee Shin-woo’s power, but Lee Ro-woon soon controlled his energy and accepted the power.

Nod.

This was Lee Shin-woo’s consideration.

“You always talk as if you’re excluded from this.”

Lee Ro-woon believed that it was the players, not himself, who had to bring things to an end.

However, Lee Shin-woo thought differently.

“You’re a player too.”

You are also one of us.

You also have the right.

“If not you, then who will do it?”

Lee Shin-woo smiled.

“You’re stubborn.”

“It’s not me who’s being stubborn, it’s you.”

But in the end, Lee Ro-woon fully accepted Lee Shin-woo’s power.

Flutter.

The blue light surrounding Lee Ro-woon seemed to tremble.

This power was the power of the Gae Shin Library [a mystical library that stores and processes information], and the Gae Shin Library was like a living being, so it was terrified, realizing what had happened to it last time with Lee Ro-woon.

“It’s okay.”

At Lee Shin-woo’s soothing words, the Gae Shin Library slowly began to calm down.

“Then.”

Lee Shin-woo said, changing his gaze.

“Let’s begin.”

Kwaaaa-!

It was the moment Lee Shin-woo fully unleashed the power of awakening.

The blue light connecting Lee Shin-woo, Baek Jin, and Lee Ro-woon swirled, gradually increasing in size.

“Huu!”

A dense concentration of magical power that made it hard to even breathe.

And then, in the next moment.

Flash!

The world went dark for everyone.

Light slowly seeped in.

“Your name is….”

A voice began to be heard.

“Jin. Baek Jin.”

A warm and grateful voice.

Lee Shin-woo and Lee Ro-woon opened their eyes as they became the Baek Jin of the past.

* * *

The Gae Shin Library possessed an extraordinary power to store, process, and analyze information.

Moreover, the Gae Shin Library did not simply store and process information; it had the power to clearly and perfectly convey that information to the necessary target.

That was the power to become the subject of the information and experience it firsthand.

This was proof of the transcendent power of the Gae Shin Library.

It was as if one could possess another person.

The power to look back at the past.

“Hap!”

A young boy quickly swung a well-crafted wooden sword.

My name is.

“Baek Jin. That’s enough for today.”

Baek Jin.

Right now, he was just one of the young disciples of Hwasan [a martial arts sect].

“No, sir.”

The one who would later become the sect leader of Hwasan and lead the sect.

“I will train more.”

“Too much is as bad as too little.”

“It’s not too much for me yet.”

Exceptional martial talent and perception.

And even an excellent master.

Moreover, he was not lazy in his efforts.

“Haha, a dragon has appeared in Hwasan.”

The expectations for Baek Jin grew day by day.

It was then.

Zzzt-!

Red noise appeared in the world, and cracks began to form.

Zzzzzzt-!

Another crack appeared.

“Uwaaaaaaak!”

And what followed was a terribly sorrowful scream.

It was my voice.

“Ah… ahhhhh!”

A scream filled with sobs.

The reason was clearly emerging in my mind.

It was a sparring match.

Sharing swords with other disciples, deepening their understanding and training.

No.

-You must survive.

A test to compete and survive.

After the day the world was sealed and confined, Hwasan always had to endure difficult times.

There was little food to eat in the barren land, and the resources to share were severely lacking.

Even so.

-Hwasan must continue.

Hwasan did not give up and did not bend its will.

They had to endure and persevere, waiting for the day they would be connected to the world again.

A righteous sect that valued righteousness and chivalry.

At first, Hwasan was a place that perfectly fit such a sect.

A sect that tried to protect everything without giving up, steadfastly and silently.

But in the end, they had to choose.

‘People or the sect?’

When they realized they could not be responsible for everyone.

-Hwasan.

Hwasan chose.

-We will continue Hwasan.

It seemed cruel, but it wasn’t at first.

The generation that made this choice still had affection and responsibility for Hwasan.

Also, those who made such a choice.

-Make us into Jiangshi [a type of reanimated corpse].

They showed their will by becoming Jiangshi themselves and giving up their lives to reduce the imbalance of resources even a little.

However, as time passed, the situation changed.

As generations changed, those who had made such choices disappeared.

-The situation is not good.

Hwasan’s resources continued to dwindle.

Still, Hwasan had to continue.

Otherwise, all the efforts of the past, the efforts of the previous generations, would all be in vain.

That was why.

-Let’s do a selection.

To keep Hwasan as Hwasan.

To prevent the loss of its martial arts.

Hwasan made a cold-hearted choice.

-Selection.

Only those with exceptional martial talent and perception would survive.

It was a test under the guise of sparring.

-This, this is no different from the Demonic Cult!-Sect Leader! Reconsider!

A test where they had to kill each other to survive.

That day.

“Uwaaaaaaak!”

Hwasan changed.

And I, Baek Jin, was the most promising junior disciple in Hwasan, but that was the problem.

If the first selection test was truly a selection to compete in martial arts and find the most talented, now it was.

-I’m sorry.

-I’m sorry, Baek Jin.

Survival where they had to kill each other to live.

Because Baek Jin was strong, many would be eliminated.

So they joined forces.

Combined attacks were frowned upon in the righteous sects, but Hwasan, which had become hardened over the years, even condoned that.

And.

“Ugh…. Ugh….”

I, Baek Jin, lost an arm that day.

Of course, at the same time, all the fellow disciples and senior brothers who had attacked me lost their heads.

The despair of losing an arm.

The guilt of killing those who were like family with my own hands.

“Kuh…. Kuhuhu….”

That was Baek Jin’s childhood.

It was then.

Zzzt-!

Once again, a red crack began to form in the void.

Zzzzzzt!

A crack that was growing larger than before.

This time.

“What is that…?”

Baek Jin could also see it.

But that was all.

Stiff.

Baek Jin stopped crying and stopped moving.

Rustle.

The plum blossoms that had been scattering sadly stopped in the air and did not move.

Neither the scent that tickled the tip of the nose nor anything else flowed out.

Time.

Zzzzt!

Time stopped.

A completely split red crack.

What emerged from within was a handsome man as if carved from stone.

“Let’s stop with the unnecessary things here.”

At that moment, as he spoke to someone, a blue light emanated from Baek Jin’s body.

Baek Jin collapsed, and the blue light that emanated slowly took shape.

“Huu.”

The one who let out a deep breath was Lee Shin-woo.

The handsome man standing in front of him was Lee Ro-woon.

“I don’t want to peek at useless memories.”

What the Gae Shin Library was showing now were the events of the past.

The Gae Shin Library was said to have a will, but its subject was not itself.

It was to empathize with the opponent and fully show their intentions.

This was.

-Baek Jin.

It could be said that it was a scene imbued with Baek Jin’s will.

“I don’t know how long we have to watch this rationalization.”

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Lee Shin-woo was slowly regaining his senses.

“What happened in the past, what were the circumstances.”

Baek Jin was rationalizing himself.

So, by showing this past.

‘I couldn’t help it.’

He was rationalizing his own choices, his own mistakes.

“But it’s not bad.”

Lee Ro-woon’s voice.

“Rationalizing means that at least he realizes that it was wrong.”

“I guess so….”

Lee Shin-woo, who had been empathizing with Baek Jin, said, staggering.

“How can you be so unaffected?”

It couldn’t be said to be just a moment.

Although it was intermittent, both Lee Shin-woo and Lee Ro-woon had become Baek Jin, feeling everything he saw, heard, and thought.

This was the aftereffect.

“There have been worse things.”

Lee Ro-woon said.

“What I want to know is not this.”

What needed to be found by examining Baek Jin’s memories was not Baek Jin’s emotional appeal.

“Hand over the control. I’ll find it.”

What was needed was not the past, but the recent, current story.

And Lee Shin-woo had not yet fully mastered the Gae Shin Library.

The bond with the Gae Shin Library, they were not yet perfectly controlling each other.

That was why.

But.

Fzzzzzt!

Blue currents were rising from Lee Shin-woo’s entire body.

It was not Lee Shin-woo, but the Gae Shin Library.

“Ugh!”

Baek Jin, who was briefly connected to the Gae Shin Library, was resisting.

“It’s okay.”

Lee Shin-woo was desperately resisting that will.

“I’ll do it.”

Finding it, connecting it.

He would do it all himself.

And in the next moment.

Fwaaaak!

The red-gold light emanating from Lee Ro-woon overturned the world.

It was as if Hwasan was burning.

Flash!

The world changed once again.

* * *

Crack.

With the sound of skin tearing and bones breaking.

“Keok!”

A scream was heard.

When I opened my eyes, what I saw was a dark underground.

“Are you awake?”

A voice was heard.

“You, you are….”

Looking at the red eyes flickering in the darkness, I tried to quickly draw out my energy.

“……!”

But the inner energy that should have been felt was not felt.

The inner energy that had been with me my whole life, as if it were my own limbs.

Thud.

Footsteps approached.

And a gloomy voice, like that of a grim reaper, began to be heard.

“What I want to know is not what your circumstances are.”

I covered my ears at the thunderous voice.

“It’s not why you lost your arm, or how you recovered it.”

My head was ringing, and my heart was beating fast.

“It’s not why Hwasan became like that, why you kidnapped Cheong In-woo and set up the stakes.”

Thud.

Each footstep felt like an earthquake.

“Whether it was your greed, your ambition, or some noble purpose of your own.”

With the approaching footsteps, the red eyes grew larger.

“Keok!”

A fear that was constricting my heart.

“Huu! Huu!”

I was struggling to breathe, collapsing to the floor and trembling.

“What I want to know is not that past. The past cannot be changed, and no matter what the reason, I will not understand you.”

Finally.

“So, you just need to tell me what I want to know.”

He appeared before my eyes.

One person.

But one who could overturn and cover the world with his mere presence.

“Divine Demon….”

Lee Ro-woon.

“I can’t help but know, even if I don’t want to. Because.”

Lee Ro-woon whispered to Baek Jin.

“This is my inner world.”

A voice lingering in my ear.

“It will be more terrible than the hell you imagine.”

Kuaaaaaaa-!

The roar of a dragon was heard from somewhere.