The symbol colour of the Cheonma Sect was always different from every generation. In the distant past, red was their colour, but in the Gal Hyuk-jun era, he used black as his symbol, and Seol Jungyeon, the former Cheonma, preferred red, but she threw away the red robes and changed it into pink.
Baek So-hwi, who loved Seol Jungyeon, chose the colour red to follow her master. But now, she decided not to use that colour any more since she had been excommunicated from the sect.
Baek So-hwi decided to use white as her current symbol colour. There was no reason behind her choice, but If she really had to give it a reason, maybe it was because white was a colour which didn’t suit her even though her name also means white.
Her life had always been covered with black stains, and it was safe to say it was still like that until today. She felt her current life was the loneliest and most painful than it had ever been. Even more so after she realized it was she herself who was responsible for it.
How could she possibly apologize? Was an apology even possible? If she was in Seol Jungyeon’s position, would she be able to forgive the person who tried to harm her beloved ones?
It was already close to a miracle that Seol Jungyeon forgave her and only excommunicated her from the sect without killing her. Had she been the one in Seol Jungyeon’s shoes, she would have never forgiven her, ripped her limbs to shreds, and tossed her as prey for wild dogs.
‘At the end of the day, I’m leaving after being taken care of by my Master until the very end.’
She was so devastated by the fact that she couldn’t repay her master for every favour she had given her.
Why the hell was I born? What is the reason for my existence? Was I born just to live this kind of life? One that was miserable till the end? In that case, wouldn’t it have been better not to be born? Just why do I exist in this cursed world?
Even if she tried to act fine, she couldn’t do it.
As she walked through the quiet forest with such negative thoughts in her mind, 3 or 4 families were walking behind her.
Although her messy hair, dark circle under her eyes and tattered uniform made her look like a beggar, those who could feel how strong she was were still following her at a reasonable distance for their own safety.
Baek So-hwi didn’t care about what they did and left them alone. Occasionally, when she caught the pregnant woman in the group sweating and struggling, Baek So-hwi would sit down by the roadside and rest. There was no meaning behind her stop, she just rested because she wanted to rest. Then they would follow her example from a distance of about 20 steps from her.
“Excuse me… You can have this…” A little boy cautiously approached her and handed her a water and rice cake piled up on top of a leaf. As Baek So-hwi silently stared at it, the kid opened his eyes and hurriedly approached her. Before he could get closer though, his parents immediately ran out and snatched the little boy on his neck.
“For…forgive us!”
“….”
Just like that, three days passed.
Swoooshhh!!
In a sudden shower, Baek So-hwi leaned against a pavilion on the side of the road. With its roof intact, the pavilion was a perfect place to hide from the rain. However, because the group was so afraid of her, they didn’t come and were directly hit by the rain.
Looking at them, Baek So-hwi got up and spoke to them before heading to the corner. “Come on in, a pregnant lady should take good care of herself…”
No matter how frightening warriors of Murim were, they too were born from a womb. A pregnant woman could affect her baby’s health if she keeps standing under the rain.
And when they entered the pavilion, all of them rested in silence while looking at Baek So-hwi’s face from time to time. And after a few minutes passed, an old man, who became frustrated with the silence, broke the silence and tried his luck.
“…Excuse me. Are you a warrior of Murim?”
Baek So-hwi turned her head to meet his eyes as she heard his question. Then, without speaking even a word, she nodded.
“As expected! Your martial arts skills are no joke!”
Such blatant flattery was not good at all in the ear of Baek So-hwi, so she asked a question without even answering.
“……This road is dangerous because of bandits. For what reason do you cross this place?”
“That, that…”
The man hesitated for a moment.
“Our village has been attacked by bandits, and we don’t have anywhere to go.”
Baek So-hwi nodded. Now she understood why more than one family was following her.
‘Was I like them in the past?’
Baek So-hwi vaguely recalled her parents. Probably, their situation was the same as her and her parents.
She could still remember it, in the night where lightning struck without stopping. Her father suddenly woke her up from her sleep and pushed her through the back door while telling her to run towards the west.
Without knowing English language, she ran through the road and saw a burning village on her back.
Those people were people who killed others for fun. They didn’t hesitate to commit atrocities to the point it was hard to believe they were human just like her.
As the scoundrels gathered the women in the centre of the village and stabbed them with their swords, and crushed their heads, their immobile husbands could only scream in agony. They use that scream as a snack for drinking alcohol, and violating virgins. There were no words that could explain that sight except hell.
Baek So-hwi only managed to escape thanks to other children and wives who were unluckily caught.
And her parents? She knew how her parents would end up, but she decided not to think about it.
“…give the name of your village.”
“Yes? Yes… the name is ‘Green Forest’…”
It wasn’t a very helpful answer. There were so many villages using such common names, they wouldn’t even be written on the map.
“Tell me the location.”
“It’s a village a week walking distance to the west of here. You can find the village after crossing through 3 peaks and 1 valley. But, why…”
Now that she had heard the answer, she stopped talking to the old man.
Baek So-hwi was aware that what she was about to do was really meaningless. It’s not worth it, and it’s just a matter of venting her anger. No matter how many bandits she catches and burns, she wouldn’t be able to get rid of all of them, so it won’t do much to the world…
‘But if I don’t do this, I won’t find any reason to live anymore.’
And so,
Baek So-hwi decided to draw her sword, just like what she normally did.
* * *
“Please… Please spare my life… I won’t show myself in front of the warriors of Murim ever again!”
Most of the bandits she had killed said the same things just before her sword reaped their life. Even though she could not speak any advanced vocabulary, Baek So-hwi found their words to be very boring.
“You bandits really have no pride. Tell me where your boss is.”
“Th…then, i…if I tell you…”
“I’ll kill you painlessly.”
Naturally, she had no choice but to return similar answers to their similar words. By the time she felt déjà vu creeping in, Baek So-hwi realized the bandit’s eyes were gazing not on her but to a different place.
He’s waiting for someone.
‘Let’s she who’s the bastard is.’
Thinking that it could save her from the trouble of visiting the man in person, Baek So-hwi decided to wait.
Then suddenly, with a rumble, the forest parted. A group of hundreds of bandits appeared from within. Among them, one giant man who was almost 3m tall walked towards Baek So-hwi with an earth-shaking gait and stood in front of her. On his shoulder was an enormous ax which should be too heavy for even 3 adults to carry.
“Are you the head of these filthy bastards?”
“…a cheeky bitch blabbering her snout. I’m the lord of these guys, Mount Tae Severing Axe, Do Jung-hyeok, a member of the seventy-two clans of Nokrim.”
“Lord” Baek So-hwi let out a soft smile. He dares to use the term ‘Lord’ in front of someone who used to be Lord of Cheonma sect? Arrogant!
The greatest axe to cut a mountain. It’s not a baseless confidence. Afterall, people who belonged to seventy-two clans of Nokrim which were also called the elite in the Green Forest, are known for their strong martial arts which rivalled even a Peak-Rank Expert. So, what about their heads? At the very least, he should be at the level of High-Peak Rank Expert.
(T/N Nokrim~ Tell me on discord guys, I’ll change it if anyone knows about it.)
It wouldn’t be enough to make his name widely known in the vast Murim, but it would have been difficult for him to find a suitable match.
However,
Swooosh!!
“Keeaaaaaaaaak!”
His rank wasn’t uncommon in Murim. And not recognizing the strong when he was clearly the weak one is a serious sin.
“Kuuuuhhh…”
As the entirety of his right arm was cut off in an instant, Do Jung-hyeok looked at Baek So-hwi with trembling eyes. Her pure white sword looks ordinary, he thought he could simply cut it off with his axe.
‘Why is it so hard…!’
His heavy axe was strong enough to tear through many weapons. However, when he struck that thin sword, he couldn’t even move as if he had struck some kind of diamond.
Unbelievable supernatural power and the strength of the sword… After thinking that far, Do Jung-hyeok finally realized the woman in front of him was a higher rank Expert than himself.
‘It can’t be…’
Murim is a wide world and there are so many Experts scattered throughout the continent, but how can the woman in front of him, who looks only in her twenties, be more advanced than himself? He couldn’t believe it, but it was real.
“The strength of that axe isn’t suitable for carrying such a grand title. Where did the axe that cuts even Mount Tai go?”
“This bitch! You dare…”
Even so, something was odd.
‘…why doesn’t the secret technique work?’
His inner strength contained a unique power obtained through a special divine object. It was a very powerful force that elicited negative emotions, especially despair, from his opponent.
With that power, he was able to overcome any strong man he had ever encountered. Even an Expert would be easily engulfed in despair and would be powerless against his axe.
However, before his question even got resolved. Baek So-hwi pushed Do Jung-hyeok aside and cut his knee off, ripped his ear, and gouged his eyeball. His subordinates had long fled at the horrific sight, as if they were retreating to avenge him in the future.
“Keukk….”
Seeing Do Jung-hyeok falling to the ground as he bled, Baek So-hwi raised her sword with indifferent eyes. Afterall, killing a bandit was meaningless, the vacancy of the head seat after the guy’s death would certainly be filled within a week.
The moment when she struck Do Jung-hyeok on the head.
Woonngg!!
Do Jong-hyeok’s flesh and skin began to twist. A ‘mouth’ appeared on his body, biting Baek So-hwi’s sword.
‘What is that?’
As she quickly pulled out the sword because of the creeping uneasiness, Do Jung-hyeok’s body began to clump together like clay.
“Ahhh, Ahhh! No, no! stop! Aaaaaaah!!”
His intestines protrude and cover his entire skin. His bones shattered to pieces before forming a different shape. Eventually, his body became something resembling a ‘face’. It looked so disgusting that even Baek So-hwi, who was immune to gory things, frowned.
“What a wonderful human being! You have no feelings!”
“What is your identity?”
“I asked first! Answer me!”
“What a waste of breath.”
Baek So-hwi pushed her sword towards the face, and then she slashed it with all his might.
Human’s fragile skin wouldn’t dare to take her sword, and so it split into two before returning to its original shape in less than 3 seconds.
“What a foolish human! You are dangerous!”
Then, it slowly inflated its own body. 3m…5m… In the end, it grew close to 20m and looked down at Baek So-hwi.
Now that Baek So-hwi took a closer look at it, it wasn’t made of just a single corpse. Dozens or perhaps hundreds of corpses were mashed together in there.
“…I don’t know what you are, but I know you are a mysterious creature that shouldn’t exist in this world. It would be better to kill you now.”
“Puahahahahaha! That’s impossible! You can’t kill me! I am a being made of human emotions! Are you capable of killing emotions?”
When the creature’s voice resounded, all the roots of the nearby trees were uprooted and flew away. The mountains were peeled off and the rocks were cracked, but in the midst of them, Baek So-hwi was alone and still felt peaceful.
“There is nothing in this world that cannot be killed.”
Cheonma’s heart law. (T/N Cheonma Singong.)
Cheonma’s Sword of Destruction
White Plum Blossom
A thunderbolt that once split the sky in two was unfolding at the tip of Baek So-hwi’s fingers. The thunder, burning even the cloud, rose into the shape of flowers reminiscent of white plum blossoms.
It was a technique which could make any onlooker shudder because of its beauty…
[No one has survived after seeing this technique.]
‘What is that?’
Suddenly, Baek So-hwi felt a sense of discomfort. She could feel some kind of unknown energy was surrounding her. But since she was using her secret technique, she didn’t have time to pay attention to it.
Baek So-hwi took a deep breath as the white plum blossom lightning shattered the creatures, covering the whole world with pure white colour.
However, something is strange. The reason was unknown, but a strong sense of incongruity covered Baek So-hwi’s mind.
“Didn’t I tell you? You can’t kill me!”
The creatures which were hit directly by her lightning were revived and began to regenerate in a form that was no different from before.
Baek So-hwi found herself in a pinch. White Plum Blossom was a technique that burns her inner strength rapidly, so even Baek So-hwi would be exhausted after using it once. However, the creature before her didn’t even blink an eye after being hit by the technique.
“…what is your identity?”
“Despair!”
“Despair?”
“Yes! I am your despair! Have you ever cut through despair? That is just impossible!” Saying that, the creature slammed its fist.
Rumble!!!
The ground caved with just one punch. A crater with a diameter of 50 m was created, and a massive landslide, which swept away all the wild plants under the mountain peak, occurred.
Baek So-hwi broke out in a cold sweat.
‘I can’t win.’
It was the first time she felt this way after meeting Seol Jungyeon. There were always weaknesses and gaps in any opponent. However, there was no gap in ‘emotion’.
Reluctantly, Baek So-hwi used her footwork to widen the distance between her and the creature.
Responding to her, the creature bent down like a monkey and instantly moved tens of meters to catch her with a single leap.
Thud! Rumble!!
The creature ripped off a cliff and wielded it like a sword. pulled a peak out of the mountain and threw it like a javelin. It also hurled a tree just like shooting an arrow.
Baek So-Hwi realized she couldn’t fight it. Her only option was running away.
Tuk!
“Ugh!”
Then, suddenly the place she set her feet on collapsed, throwing Baek So-hwi into a huge cave underneath.
On top of the cave, the creature stood with a smirk plastered on its face.
“Hahaha! stop running away and just give up! [Because, there are already dozens of ‘demons’ like me in this world! This world now belongs to us demons!]”
“What did you say?”
Even her, a Hwakyung Expert, was helpless against it. But there are a dozen more creatures like this in this world? It was an unbelievable piece of news. However, without despairing, Baek So-hwi grinded her teeth.
“Hmm! [But you are special! Why don’t you despair when you see me?] Oh, I can feel the energy of other demons. It’s finally starting!”
The creature spit those words out. It didn’t seem to even care about what it had said, but Baek So-hwi couldn’t stand the awful sense of incongruity she had felt before.
It was an energy which felt like she was being artificially manipulated by someone. She was forced to move according to the world’s will.
A certain ‘fate’ kept using this reality at will.
‘How!’
Tuk!
Then, as she reached out her hand, she could feel she had grabbed something heavy. Taking a peek, it was a box. Without thinking much, Baek So-hwi popped it open, and on the inside, an old sword, a technique book, and finally, a brown pill. In other words, it was an ‘elixir’.
It was then Baek So-hwi became aware of the identity behind her sense of incongruity. She didn’t know who it was, but ‘something’ was certainly helping her.
Baek So-hwi scowled as she was thankful yet resentful at that fact. ‘I don’t need any help’, she wanted to shout that, but without the help of this ‘something’ she wouldn’t be able to defeat the monster in front of her. And if there were dozens of such beings… Murim would never be safe.
Baek So-hwi gritted her teeth and held her sword once again. She could see the monster eyeing her.
“[Wa…wait! That’s a soul-cleaving sword? How did she…]”
Judging from what she heard from the monster, It looks like the sword in her hand was something special.
[Ha, unless she completely abandoned her emotions, she could never use it!]
“So that’s the requirement? It fits me just fine, then.”
Kuuooooooooo!!
Then, in the distance, the figures of ‘demons’ began to howl.
When Baek So-hwi turned her head towards them, she could see numerous shadow-like creatures. There was one which resembled a giant, then a creature with dozens of eyes, and there’s a goblin-like creature with clouds and stars hanging from its eyes.
As the cheeky monster in front of him had said, it was true that there were dozens of monsters, not just him, in this world.
She tightly grabbed the sword. Just like what the creature in front of her said, only those who had abandoned their emotions could wield it.
Whose intention was this to come into her hands? Why is it helping her?
Right now, it doesn’t really matter.
She had something more important to do.
It was to cut the creature in front of her.