SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Chapter 76: The Song of Light and Shadow (2)

She hadn’t acknowledged my efforts and had given up on me after briefly watching me swing my sword. She just turned around and left.

“There’s just no talking to you.”

“If you don’t even know this, how will you learn the Demonic Heaven Arts?”

The Heavenly Demon had tested me only to give up on herself. There was—no, there should be nothing more for her to expect from this world.

“Forget it. It’s my fault!”

That was what happened when I learned about hunger. However, she became completely different after I began to learn about thirst.

***

“Your sword is too simple,” the Heavenly Demon commented as she watched me fight the jiangshi.

I could feel the way she looked at me had gradually changed. Even when I sometimes swung my sword clumsily, the Heavenly Demon didn’t look away, although she would frown. She even gave me advice.

“I can’t find any applications or exquisite principles in your sword. It’s too honest, which gives it many vulnerabilities.”

The Heavenly Demon began to place her hopes on me.

“It seems your sword was made to fight the world, not people. Strangely, it’s closer to the sword of the Righteous Faction.”

At first, the martial artist zombie killed me in a single blow, but I could fight it better each time. It was only natural since the zombies Preta and the skeletons brought killed me every night. The more I experienced the trauma of those who died of thirst, the stronger my sword became.

When it was strong enough, the Heavenly Demon finally got into her lesson.

“I’ll teach you a simple method of mind practice.”

“What is ‘mind practice’?”

“...It means a secret or a tip. Talking to a child from outer murim is so much trouble.” The Heavenly Demon cleared her throat. “Think back to when you performed Starvation Death. What did you think about as you wielded your sword?”

“I thought about hunger.”

“Of course you did, but I’m sure that wasn’t all. Though you weren’t even aware of it, you discerned the nature of the demonic martial arts. That is what I’ll teach you now.”

We sat in the snowfield facing each other.

“Imagine an apple.”

“...Do you mean the fruit?”

“Yes, I do.”

I did as I was told.

“Are you imagining it?” the Heavenly Demon asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“How does it feel?”

“Pardon?” I found the Heavenly Demon’s question strange. What did an apple feel like? I didn’t have an actual apple in my hand, so how was I supposed to know?

Noting my bewildered expression, the Heavenly Demon asked. “Can you not tell?”

“If I force myself, I can imagine, but...”

“It’s okay if you don’t know; just say you don’t know.”

“Oh, yeah. I have no idea.”

“You’re honest.” The Heavenly Demon smiled delightedly. “Okay! Think of hunger.”

I thought of the farmer who worked his hoe against the barren land over and over. The feeling of the farmer hitting his children crossed my mind. A gang of children dug up the soft soil by the river and used that to make mud cookies.

“Are you thinking of it?” the Heavenly Demon whispered.

“Yes, I am.”

“What does hunger feel like?”

The children nibbled on the mud cookies, but they tasted dry.

“... It’s dry.”

“What does hunger smell like?”

“It’s the smell of soil.”

“Oh, what kind of soil is it? There are many types of soil. Some soils are used just for farming or pottery. Soil also has different colors like black and red, depending on the kind. I want to know what is the soil of hunger.”

“It’s mud,” I said with my eyes closed. “It can’t be any kind of mud. It should have as few pebbles as possible and no sand.”

“I see. What does hunger taste like?”

“...”

“Child,” the Heavenly Demon softly said. “I asked what hunger tastes like. Why are you quiet?”

“...It’s sad,” I said. “The children dry their mud cookies under the sunlight. While the cookies dry, they don’t really have anything to do, so they aimlessly hang around the mud cookies, waiting for them to dry...”

“It’s the children waiting for the sunlight.”

“...Yes.”

“Hunger is the children waiting for the sunlight,” the Heavenly Demon repeated.

Yes, it was.

“Child, that is the poetry of your life.” The Heavenly Demon’s voice was quiet like the gently falling snow. “When I asked you what an apple feels like, you said that you don’t know. How about when I asked you about hunger? You touched, smelled, and ate the mud! You saw a flowing river, so you must have heard the sound of its ripples.”

The old man had gone on his last voyage under the night sky. He had steered his boat alone so that he wouldn’t cause problems for the world, but his death ended up becoming one.

“An apple has a form, but hunger doesn’t. While an apple has a flavor, hunger is tasteless. Yet you speak of hunger so well! To you, hunger is mud, sunlight, the river, and children.

“Child, that is your gift,” the Heavenly Demon said. “Open your eyes now.”

I watched the Heavenly Demon move her hands as she sat on the ground.

“The reason why you don’t know what an apple feels like is simple: It’s because I didn’t jog your memory.” The Heavenly Demon smiled and moved her hands.

I could tell right away that the Heavenly Demon was pretending to cut an apple in half.

“You’ll know if you’ve ever eaten an apple, apples have soft skin. They’re shiny but also have tiny bumps on their skins. I usually prefer to eat an apple whole, but it’s different when I see a child with a cold. I’d cut an apple in half...”

It really felt like there was an apple in her hands.

“And I’ll scoop out the apple’s flesh using a spoon and feed it to the sick child one bite at a time. Have you ever eaten an apple like that when you were young?”

Yes, I had. A teacher at the orphanage had done it for me.

“What does the texture of the scooped-out apple feel like?”

“... It’s crunchy and mushy at the same time.”

“That’s right! An apple is crunchy, but it becomes a little mushy because the spoon grinds the inside. Is that all? Does the apple taste bad now?”

“I can feel its yellow juice filling my mouth.”

“Exactly! But that isn’t all! If you scoop out the inside until you reach the skin, it gets all wrinkled up. The hands of the mother who dug out the apple are also covered with juice. But then... then... which of these is an apple to you, child?”

I fell into thought, but the Heavenly Demon pressed me.

“Is it a whole apple? Or is it an apple cut in half? Can it be a spoonful of its juice? Could it be its skin? Or is it the mother’s hands? What is your apple?”

What was my apple?

“I once saw a mother who gave her child all of the inside of the apple and then ate just the skin. To me, an apple is the skin that the mother ate. It’s also the child down with a cold. A mother’s scoop of love is my apple, too.”

For some reason, I felt my heart warm even though I was sitting in the middle of a snowfield. Maybe it was the Heavenly Demon’s smile.

But the Heavenly Demon’s smile didn’t last long.

“... And I also think of children whose mothers never scooped out the inside of an apple for them. There are mothers who can’t buy apples, but some mothers didn’t buy apples even though they could. I also imagine a child who caught a cold but has no one to care for him—that child died because he didn’t receive care.”

The Heavenly Demon’s eyes were dark and venomous.

“Everything in this world has someone’s heart in it; therefore, nowhere is without sorrow!”

My skin stung.

“I said hunger is formless, tasteless, and scentless, but that is not true! Hunger is mud, the river, and children. Even a single apple. Child! Just as your hunger is mud, make it your thirst too! Feel the pain of thirst! Taste, smell, and eat it. Reach out for the source of water to slake your thirst! The demonic martial arts are about memory! That is my cult’s mind practice! Engrave the feeling of scooping up the mud and eating it into your mind. That is your hunger. That is the Demonic Heaven Arts!”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Even when the grassroots suffer injustice, what can they do? They can’t voice their resentment. It builds up in their mind and eventually piles up into a grudge. However, my cult’s martial artists are different!” The Heavenly Demon looked at me. “We wield our swords!”

I gripped my sword tightly without realizing.

“Just like how a bard sings and a scholar recites poetry, we wield our swords. How are those Green Gang thugs any different from my cult’s demons? They are moved by their swords, but we wield our swords! That is the only difference, but that is what makes us fundamentally different from those thugs.”

The training began.

“How can you call it life when you just live as it leads you? That is just death! You can’t call it swordplay when you just randomly swing your sword. That just makes you a beast. Do you want to die or become a beast?”

“No!” I clenched my teeth. “I am a living human!”

“Then feel the thirst already. Be thirsty like you were hungry!”

I had gathered 112 people who had starved to death. Among them were children who ate mud cookies. I bit into the grains of soil in my mouth.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

First Form:

Starvation Death.

“You have found the mud of hunger. Now is the time to find something of thirst. Your hunger is the children waiting for the sunlight, so what is thirst to you?”

Preta and the skeletons brought forty-eight people who had died from thirst. Of forty-eight people, there was an old woman who had kept drinking seawater. I drank salt water to pickle my organs.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Second Form:

Thirst Death.

“To you, hunger is mud, and thirst is the sea. But thirst isn’t the only kind of pain the sea can give you. There is also the pain of drowning in the sea or a river. Child, what is water to you?”

I brought together thirty-seven people who had drowned. That was how I saw the memory of a father who had given the last breath he had to his child. After diving into the water, I exchanged breaths with Preta.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Third Form:

Drowning Death.

“Hunger is soil, and dryness is a wave. Your suffocation is a father’s last breath! The land, the sea, and the air are already yours. What is winter to you, child?”

It was ninety-six people who had died in the winter this time. I watched the memory of a newborn baby clinging to his mother’s dead body until the very end. Therefore, I hugged a corpse tightly until I froze to death.

Demonic Heaven Arts,

Fourth Form:

Freezing Death.

The night brightened and became morning. The sun grew stronger, and it became noon. Half a day passed, while I had gone through 293 deaths.

The Heavenly Demon slowly opened her mouth. “Child, your sword...” She looked at me with many thoughts in her mind. “Your sword is ever-changing. So very varied. Everyone has different habits, and their martial arts reflect their lives. Those are habits that can’t be changed. That tendency is stronger in the Demonic Heaven Arts, but your life... is diverse.”

“Ah, I often hear that my charm shines through in all sorts of ways.”

The Heavenly Demon stared at me.

“I’m sorry. Was that too much nonsense?”

The Heavenly Demon shook her head. “No, it was worse than that. That was horseshit.”

“That’s a bit harsh.”

“To be honest, even a dog would call that horseshit.”

I see... Well, there is nothing I can do about it if even a dog thinks it’s horseshit, I thought.

“It’s hard for humans to know every kind of pain. Even if they do, it’s very difficult to experience all of the pain to the extreme. But when I see you perform the Demonic Heaven Arts, it’s like... Hmm?” the Heavenly Demon frowned and turned her head. “...Someone is coming.”

It was still broad daylight, so it couldn’t be zombies. Since this world was already doomed, it couldn’t be an intruder. It turned out that the Viper was carrying the Murim Alliance\'s leader on his back to us across the snowfield.

The Heavenly Demon scoffed. “What are you doing, old man? What is up with you? Hah—have you finally admitted that you’re a pathetic old man?”

“Be quiet,” the Murim Alliance\'s leader said. “I came here because I was worried about you, you wench. Tsk, tsk!”

“Worried? Worried about me? A passing jiangshi would burst into laughter if it heard you. You’re weaker than me, you decrepit old coot. You’re in no place to worry about me—”

“Demon, you haven’t even received the Nine Bows from him yet, have you?” The Murim Alliance\'s leader pointed at me.

The Heavenly Demon was silent.

“Tsk, tsk. I knew it! It was obvious. So obvious!”

The Heavenly Demon pursed her lip tightly.

By the way, what are the Nine Bows?

I asked, confused.

—It’s the ceremony for when two people become master and disciple in gangho, the Guardian informed me. The ceremony is slightly different depending on which sect that is. Some sects literally bow nine times. There are sects that bow three times... I don\'t know how they do it in this cult. It\'s a sacred and secret ceremony.

What was the ceremony like in your sect?

—My sect’s Nine Bows was to survive nine hits on my head from my teacher. I endured sixty-three times. It’s the highest record in the history of the sect. Isn\'t that awesome?

I realized why the Guardian was crazy. His madness had begun to bloom when he had first joined his sect.

“...Silence. I decide who and when I accept someone as my disciple,” the Heavenly Demon curtly replied. “It’s none of your business.”

“Don’t be absurd.” The Murim Alliance\'s leader got off the Viper’s back, glaring fiercely at the Heavenly Demon. “This is clearly my business since the reason why you won’t take him as your disciple is because you feel bad for me!”

“Huh? What in the world are you talking about...?”

“We’re the only two people left in murim. Coincidentally, you’re the only surviving demon, and I’m the lone survivor of the Righteous Path. If you take in a disciple, only the Heavenly Demon Cult’s heir will survive, which means that you’ll win the Great War of Good and Evil without a fight!

“You and I promised to end the war between just the two of us. That was our promise, so now you feel uncomfortable about breaking your promise. And that is why you can’t accept that boy as your disciple!”

...I guess that’s one reason, I agreed.

The Heavenly Demon and the Murim Alliance\'s leader were in the same sinking boat. It made sense that she would feel bad if she got to be the only one who got to raise a student.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You’re unnecessarily faithful! I knew you’d be like this, so I beat you to the punch.” The Murim Alliance\'s leader patted the Viper’s shoulder.

Smiling bitterly, the Viper scratched his cheek. “Well, it just happened.”

“O-old man...” The Heavenly Demon’s eyes widened. “You didn’t...”

“Yeah, I made him my direct disciple, starting today!”

“How can you do this to me!” The Heavenly Demon charged the Murim Alliance\'s leader. They fought each other like dogs, covering themselves with snow. “Do you have any idea what I’ve had to endure to avoid receiving the Nine Bows?! You made my sincerity meaningless—”

“Shut up! When you meet fate, you accept it with gratitude to the Jade Emperor! It’s just cruel for everyone if you keep trying to back out because you feel bad for me!”

“What about the Great War of Good and Evil?”

“It’s still the Great War of Good and Evil if our disciples fight in it! We don’t have to be the only ones fighting in it!” the Murim Alliance\'s leader immediately countered.

“I won’t accept anyone but you as my opponent!”

“Do you have to show that you’re a demon with your extreme way of thinking every time?”

“What did you say?!” The Heavenly Demon grabbed the Murim Alliance\'s leader by the collar.

Unwilling to back down, the Murim Alliance\'s leader grabbed her hair and glared at her. “Demon, you’re always like this! It’s always either this or that. If it’s not that, it’s this! You wench, you can’t just split the world in two!

“The world may be an ocean in your eyes, but all I see is a field of ice! Of course it’ll split!”

“Then melt it!”

“That’s why the fire called the Demonic Path and the firewood named demons exist! They exist to melt it!”

“Then add one more piece of firewood!”

“Buwolseon, I already know that you’re the hypocrite of the Righteous Path! You don’t have to nitpick over every word...!”

The Murim Alliance\'s leader and the Heavenly Demon argued. Every time they went back and forth, two different worlds collided with the crashing of metal. A world was something that could find its place even in a lowly dog fight.

I turned to the Viper, leaving the worlds to battle it out.

“This is a surprise.”

“What are you talking about?”

I couldn’t say that I was surprised that the real deal like him would take someone as a teacher, so I beat around the bush.

“You’re the OJP Sect’s Master. Is it okay for you to be someone else’s student?”

“Fuck. If my sword has to dance, it will dance. When I have something to learn from someone, I ask them to be my teacher. I’m not so stuck up that I’d give a shit about all that.” The Viper gave a manly smile. His distinct facial features stood out.

“Mr. Viper.”

“What?”

“You’ll regret it if you were pushed into taking the Murim Alliance\'s leader as your teacher or if you did that out of pity.”

The two worlds were still fighting, given the cacophony they were making. It was completely different from the time the Viper’s disciples and his pride had pushed him to head into the Heavenly Demon Chronicle. That kind of pity and half-assed determination was an unforgivable insult to those two worlds.

“... I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The Viper scratched his cheek and then glared at me with his one eye. “Fuck, you call yourself Death King, but you talk an awful lot. If you want to see something from me, find it with your sword. Just know it’s not going to be easy.”

The Viper raised his sword.

Actually, there was an easy way to see it, which was to open the Viper’s character window. That would make it crystal clear.

Instead, I quietly said, “Mr. Viper.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever been hungry?”

The Viper blinked his one eye. “What?”

I charged.