Chapter 355: Bound Beast (3)
It was definitely the Hwan Seong I knew.
I quickly pulled my foot back and approached him.
“Do you remember me, Senior Brother?”
It was a question I asked with a slightly choked-up heart.
Hwan Seong smiled faintly and shook his head.
“No, this is my first time seeing you.”
“…What?”
“At least, the ‘me right now’ is seeing you for the first time.”
Hwan Seong pointed to his golden-glowing eyes.
“Thanks to these eyes, I could tell you were my junior.”
“Ah.”
The Dragon Eyes that Hwan Seong was born with.
Since I still didn’t fully understand their abilities, there might be something I was unaware of.
“Anyway, it’s a relief. If you had accepted that bastard’s offer, something truly terrible could have happened.”
“I’m not that foolish. If I had released that thing, who knows what kind of disaster it would have brought upon the world….”
“No, I mean not just the world, but to you, my junior.”
“…What?”
Hwan Seong pointed to my chest, the area around my heart, and curved his lips into a smile.
“The fragments of our master that are sleeping and fusing within you. Do you really think that bastard didn’t notice them?”
“…!”
Something I had completely overlooked in my urgency to save Yura.
Hwan Seong reminded me of that fact.
“Once it broke free from the seal it promised to wait in, it probably would’ve tried to devour you first. If it had reclaimed the fragments of our master within you…”
Hnnng.
Hwan Seong let out a slight nasal sound before continuing.
“Well, a true Demonic Immortal might have been reborn in the world.”
“……”
“And then it would start recovering the scattered fragments of our master spread across the world, eventually clashing with the resurrected Heavenly Evil….”
Hwan Seong shrugged lightly.
“By then, the people of the Central Plains would’ve nearly been wiped out, so there’s no need to dwell on the possibility, is there?”
“S-Senior Brother….”
I looked at Hwan Seong with some unease.
I had thought he was exactly the same as the Hwan Seong I knew—but I was mistaken.
He had become far more cynical than I had imagined.
“Well, if things had gone wrong, that’s how it would’ve turned out.”
Hwan Seong let out a soft chuckle and patted my shoulder.
“My dear junior came all this way without letting me down. And with the Sword of the Ten Heavenly Records, no less.”
Hwan Seong recognized the Ten Heavenly Record Immortal Sword immediately.
“That sword must have been guarded by Junior Martial Sister Ma. Did you see her?”
“…Yes.”
“How was she?”
“……”
Hwan Seong, turning his gaze from my silent face, muttered softly.
“She was full of regret, wasn’t she?”
I still didn’t answer.
Hwan Seong let out a small sigh and continued.
“In the latter years of my life, I passed on the clan to my son and met Eldest Senior Brother who had settled in the south.”
– You filthy scum! How dare you chat while the true body is right here?!
The fragment of the Demonic Immortal ahead growled and tried to lunge at us, but…
“Silence. This is my first reunion with my junior, so keep it down.”
– Thud!
The moment Hwan Seong finished speaking, the chains binding the black wolf’s entire body tightened, slamming the creature’s form down into the ground.
– You… Hwan Seong… How dare you treat the true body like th—urk!
“……”
Unlike the overwhelming force that had swept the area just moments ago, the thing now looked like nothing more than a puppy with a leash around its neck.
Silencing the opponent in an instant, Hwan Seong smiled gently.
“Now that it’s quiet enough, shall we continue our conversation?”
“Yes.”
I calmly waited for the words of the Senior Brother who was like the sky to me.
---
“You’ve probably figured it out by now, but that thing is one of the greatest headaches our master left behind on earth.”
“It certainly seems that way.”
“Originally, the Evil Refining Sect wasn’t this corrupt. They were just fanatics who followed the Sun and Moon Divine Sect’s doctrines a bit too fervently.”
‘…Isn’t that what people usually call corruption?’
I swallowed the words without voicing them.
“Well, anyway. Back then, they were still pure. With their help, we fought that thing far away from the Central Plains, in this place.”
Hwan Seong’s expression slightly darkened.
“Now it’s quiet, bound by a leash, but at the time, it was incredibly difficult. Eldest Senior Brother and I couldn’t handle it alone, so we even borrowed the strength of Junior So, with whom our relationship wasn’t completely terrible.”
‘Not completely terrible.’
Hearing that, I felt a faint ache in my chest.
That one phrase was enough to imagine how the future relationships among the senior disciples had broken down.
“Somehow, we managed to separate it from our master, and with time, weakened it with divine sorcery. And then…”
Hwan Seong quietly reminisced as he finished his story.
“Not long after, we entered eternal rest. That’s the story.”
That felt too abrupt.
For some reason, Hwan Seong didn’t seem inclined to tell me the details of what happened back then.
Or rather, maybe he just didn’t want to stir up the past.
‘Still, that’s it in a weakened state?’
Then just how strong had Eldest Senior Brother and Hwan Seong been in their final years?
“Anyway, how did you end up here, Junior?”
“Ah, that’s…”
I explained to Hwan Seong how I had come to this place.
“I see, so coincidence called forth inevitability? Cause and effect really are amusing. Heheh…”
Letting out a soft chuckle, Hwan Seong patted me on the back in praise.
“To face the demonic nature of the Divine Demonic Vessel clinging to your wife without avoiding it—that’s deep love. I’m envious. Truly envious!”
“Is there… any way to resolve it?”
I hoped with all my heart that Hwan Seong’s next words would reveal a way.
However.
“It’s not there!”
“……!”
In that instant, a disappointment so intense it was close to despair dropped like a stone onto my chest.
Hwan Seong looked at my face and spoke seriously.
“Separating that origin entwined with a soul is, in truth, a nearly impossible feat. Let alone interfering with matters of innate talent—that’s practically the domain of gods.”
“Th-That…”
The disappointment weighed so heavily I could hardly form words.
But then—
“Still, don’t be too disheartened.”
Hwan Seong suddenly grinned slyly.
“If it can’t be separated, then we just have to deal with it another way, don’t we?”
“Another way?”
“Obviously, we help you overcome the demonic nature yourself. In your master’s case, with that kind of thing embedded inside him, it’s impossible. But others who’ve only inherited fragments of fragments—well, their case is a bit different.”
“Please, tell me. I’m prepared to do whatever it takes.”
“Well, that can be explained slowly. For now…”
Suddenly—
Hwan Seong stretched his hand toward the bound fragment of the Demonic Immortal.
“How about you take that thing for yourself?”
“…Pardon?”
“If you can take it in, it’ll greatly aid your future path.”
Take that fragment of the Demonic Immortal… myself?
Hwan Seong continued.
“Those born with the Divine Demonic Vessel always possess some degree of demonic nature, large or small. But for some reason, I don’t see any of that in you.”
“Hmm…”
“To be blunt, your very nature is far from that of a demon who’s trained in demonic arts.”
That couldn’t be helped.
This wasn’t my first life.
“But despite that nature, you seem to have been born with a vast vessel capable of containing both divine and demonic.”
Hwan Seong looked me over from head to toe with curious eyes.
“If it’s you, the one holding the eldest senior brother’s sword, with just a little help from me, you should be able to extinguish that thing. It’s already grown weak enough by now.”
—You wretched thing…
The fragment of the Demonic Immortal growled low upon hearing those words, but it posed no threat.
“What happens if I’m devoured by it?”
Hwan Seong replied as if wondering why I’d even ask.
“What else? It’s over.”
“……”
“But if you can suppress it, again, it’ll be a great help. It could even help your wife suppress her own demonic nature.”
“What must I do?”
“I like that eager attitude of yours.”
Hwan Seong chuckled, then pulled a long pipe from his robes and lit it.
“What you have to do is simple. Defeat it in a more primal realm—at the level of origin. Strip away all constraints of the physical body and inner energy, and have it out.”
“Can I really win against it with all its restraints removed?”
“Of course. Even if its restraints are gone, its power, steadily diminished over a thousand years, isn’t suddenly returning. And more importantly…”
For the first time, I saw a flicker of slyness on Senior Brother Hwan Seong’s face.
“That’s just the base condition. There are countless ways to cheat.”
“……”
Just what had happened to my once-naïve senior brother over the past thousand years?
“If it unsettles you, you can just destroy it. But I only suggested it because I hoped you might gain one more true weapon to face the stormy future ahead.”
Stormy…
I half-closed my eyes bitterly.
I believed everything had been resolved when I became the Demonic Faction Lord.
Yet many claimed that the Heavens’ time was approaching.
And that Heavenly Evil was resurrecting.
I’d cleared away countless obstacles, and yet… the path before me remained a treacherous thorn-covered trail.
If I could gain a strong weapon to carve through it—
“I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
Hwan Seong nodded in satisfaction.
***
Hwan Seong immediately began forming seals and chanting incantations.
‘What an incredible spell.’
Not even Hwan Pyeong or Hwan Yul could compare to this overwhelming force.
It was surely a kind of divine sorcery I didn’t know about.
“Soon, you’ll find yourself in an unfamiliar place. Don’t panic. It’s a kind of arena.”
Just as he said, soon a radiant light enveloped my entire body.
And as the light faded, I found myself in a completely different place.
‘This place…’
If where I’d just been was a land of death, then this was a land devoid of all things—an inorganic void.
And yet, this place felt oddly familiar.
‘I’ve been here before… Is this within the Mirror of Karma’s boundary!’
No, the Mirror of Karma hadn’t actually activated. It must be a place modeled after that realm!
At that moment—
“How absurd.”
A sharp, biting voice echoed from afar.
“To dare request a duel of subjugation against me. You’ve got some nerve, haven’t you?”
“…Hmm?”
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, I turned my head.
And though I didn’t show it on the outside, I was quietly shocked.
A beautiful woman with long flowing black hair and sharp features was staring at me.
“Weren’t you just an old man a moment ago?”
At my words, she let out a dry chuckle.
“That was merely a false body crafted to deceive you. It’s nothing to disguise one’s appearance.”
“Then what is this form now?”
She—no, it—replied without resistance.
“I am the yin aspect of the Demonic Immortal. This form follows that principle and is closer to my true self.”
“…Let’s go with that.”
We were going to fight anyway. What did outward appearance matter?
‘Is this an illusion… or am I seeing clearly?’
In the transformed female face of that thing, I could faintly see the features of Yura.
Was it just my imagination?
At that moment, Hwan Seong’s voice echoed within me.
—Ah, can you hear me, junior?
‘Yes, I hear you.’
—Where you’re standing now is a type of Spirit-Imprint Domain. It’s a manifestation through sorcery of one of the abilities of the Mirror of Karma. In the world of spellcraft, it’s considered a pretty high-grade divine sorcery.
I could hear the subtle pride in Hwan Seong’s voice.
—From here on, I’ll secretly adjust the balance between your power and that thing’s. So just—
‘That won’t be necessary.’
—…Hm?
Clenching my fist, I smirked as I stared at the fragment of the Demonic Immortal radiating its battle aura.
‘I don’t know why, but I feel like I can win without that.’