Dongbak returned to the barren mountain valley.
It was a very deep mountain.
The nearest village was about thirty li away, so it was no exaggeration to say that it was a place untouched by human feet.
However, it was not a dense forest.
It was full of low trees, so much so that if a person stood there, you could clearly see where they were.
So even though it was deep in the mountains, it was very secluded.
There was a hunter’s hut, roughly built of wood and earth.
Only one house stood alone in the mountains.
“Kikik!”
Dongbak laughed.
He never thought he would come back here, but somehow he had returned.
When he left, everything was green. Now it was white.
Snow had piled up all over the mountain.
Originally, when it snowed this much, all human traffic would be completely cut off. Not to mention outsiders, even the people from the nearby villages could not set foot in this land.
Could they enter if it didn’t snow? They could enter, but they couldn’t guarantee they would leave alive.
The mountain was teeming with all kinds of poisonous creatures.
A great python, over ten zhang long, had skin so thick that swords and blades could not penetrate it. It could swallow a person in one bite, and if it coiled around a water buffalo, its bones would be crushed.
The forest was also a paradise for spiders.
More than thirty species of poisonous spiders that were harmful to humans lived there.
Besides that, wolves, bears, tigers… all kinds of fierce beasts were rampant, so if you didn’t have considerable courage, you couldn’t even look at them.
There was a good reason why the nearest village was thirty li away.
Dongbak had passed through a land that could not be entered.
His body was as nimble as a leopard, as fast as a squirrel, as strong as a bear, and as light as a bird.
Only such people could break through the snow covered mountains and enter.
The land of the Single Instant Sect, where they trained in the Single Instant Blade.
Joljoljol!
As he rounded a bend in the mountain, he heard the sound of a stream flowing.
It was the stream that his master used for drinking water, and seeing that the sound of the water was clear, it seemed that the ice had been broken not long ago. If the ice was thick, the sound of the water would not be heard.
In the distance… he saw his master.
His master came out and stretched long.
“Kukuku!”
Dongbak glared at his master.
His master had taken him to hell. And he had abandoned him there.
He had told him not to fight, not to meet people, and it was wrong to have broken his promise several times and even killed someone. But his master had abandoned his disciple.
If he had his way, he would have launched a surprise attack. He wanted to put a blade to his master’s neck and ask him why he had abandoned him. But Dongbak acted completely differently from his thoughts.
“Master!”
Dongbak shouted so loudly that the whole mountain seemed to shake, as if he were very happy.
* * *
His master’s wife was always gentle whenever he saw her.
An old man close to seventy, a master’s wife in her mid forties, and a daughter who was just five years old.
It was a truly abnormal family.
It was said that his master’s wife had been with his master for only seven or eight years, which meant that a woman who had just entered middle age had fallen for an old man, but did that make sense?
His master’s wife was not a lacking person. No, she was very beautiful, virtuous, and noble.
Why was such a woman living with his master?
He guessed that his master’s wife had some unavoidable circumstances. What was clear was that it was unlikely that his master’s wife had become a couple with his master because she liked him. Because she wasn’t blind.
“There’s nothing to eat in the winter. Eat this at least.”
His master’s wife brought steamed sweet potatoes.
‘These damn sweet potatoes!’
Life in the Single Instant Sect was very hard. He was always hungry. Cold, and lonely. To be honest, it seemed worse than a beggar.
His master did not store food.
When winter approached, it was right to prepare winter provisions, but he even forbade that.
Life is a battle.
You must be able to fight the enemy right here, right now. You must fight, endure, and survive anytime, anywhere. To do that, you must be able to find food immediately anywhere.
It was very hard. But he was told to endure it because that was the path of a disciple of the Single Instant Sect.
“Where’s Bia?”
“She’s sleeping. She went out to play all day because it was snowing, and she was so tired that she fell asleep in the early evening.”
His master’s wife pursed her lips and said in a whisper.
“Ah, yes.”
Dongbak ate the sweet potato.
Unlike his master’s daughter, Bia was very cute. Pretty and adorable.
At that time, his master said, “You’ve suffered. Go and rest now.”
“Pardon?”
Dongbak asked again, wondering if he had heard correctly.
His master said nothing more. He cast his eyes to the gray sky that had deepened with darkness.
His master said again, “You’ve suffered a lot. Go and rest well. Such suffering will be helpful someday, so consider it a good study.”
It was a truly cold thing to say.
The disciples of the Single Instant Sect did not live together. They lived scattered here and there in the mountains.
For Dongbak to go to his own residence, he had to cross a mountain peak.
On a day like today, a day when snow had piled up, after all that suffering, he was told to cross the mountain and go to his residence.
Dongbak blinked and looked at his master.
His master said nothing. He just dropped his shoulders helplessly and looked at the winter sky with a deeply worried face.
He could have stayed for one night, but he had no intention of offering him a place.
“…Then I’ll be going.”
Dongbak’s eyes hardened coldly and he stood up.
* * *
The old man went outside and bowed towards the east.
One bow, one bow.
After finishing the two bows, he stood silently and only looked at the eastern sky. Vacantly… like a stone Buddha that had hardened forever, he only looked at the gray sky.
The middle aged wife came out and gently held the old man’s hand.
Still, the old man remained expressionless and only looked at the gray sky. He did not show any emotion. No, in fact, he was recalling hundreds, thousands of emotions.
Emptiness, anger…
The emotions that the old man was expressing were too many and complex. So they could not be expressed in one way.
When all emotions are mixed together, one becomes expressionless.
There would be no one as angry as the old man now. There would be no one who felt the transience of life as keenly as the old man.
All the worst emotions swirled at once.
The middle aged wife did not say anything because she knew the old man’s emotions.
She knew that no words could be a comfort. She could only offer a light comfort of holding his hand, but compared to the old man’s emotions, even that felt extravagant.
The Sacred Sword Sect Master had died.
To the old man, the Sacred Sword Sect Master was not just a friend. The Sacred Sword Sect Master was his younger brother. His flesh and blood. They were not brothers who had mixed their blood, but they had mixed a will thicker than blood. They were the people who understood each other best in the world.
The two had a twenty year age difference, but they had befriended each other with a bond stronger than that of real brothers.
Such a person had died.
The fact that Dongbak had returned meant that the Sacred Sword Sect Master had died.
There was only one reason why Heo Dogi had released Dongbak: to catch the Single Instant Sect Master.
Dongbak was a guide to lead Heo Dogi to the Single Instant Sect Master.
In other words, the fact that Dongbak had returned meant that Heo Dogi would soon attack.
He might not attack like a surprise attack.
A surprise attack was meaningless to someone like the Single Instant Sect Master. There was no difference between a formal challenge and a surprise attack. Because he was always ready to fight.
Seeing that only Dongbak had come and no one else was in sight, it seemed that he had at least not launched a surprise attack.
What if the Single Instant Sect Master slipped away?
He didn’t worry about that either. The Single Instant Sect did not avoid challenges. They gladly accepted even challenges that were overwhelming. The sect that pursued the strongest blade in the world was the Single Instant Sect. They were happy to die at the hands of someone stronger than them.
Anyway, by now, the location of the Single Instant Sect would have been passed on to Heo Dogi.
The old man had guessed this would happen. He had planted Dongbak in the Sacred Sword Sect, even considering that the location of the Single Instant Sect would be exposed to the outside world.
“Don’t just endure it, just say it.”
“…Hahaha!”
The old man just laughed.
He wanted to speak, but his throat was so choked up that the words wouldn’t come out. That was how sad he was. That was how empty he felt.
His friend’s three sons would have died.
His friend’s wife had also died.
The poisonous snake had taken out its hidden fangs, so how could they have survived? The moment his friend died, their deaths were decided.
No point could be tolerated.
“How long has it been since I used a blade?”
The old man said indifferently.
“It’s been a long time. It seems like it’s been almost twenty years?”
“Has it been that long?”
“There was no one strong enough for you to step in.”
The Single Instant Sect aimed to be the strongest in the world.
The Sacred Sword Sect Master was said to be the best in the world, but even he had taken a step back from the Single Instant Sect Master.
That was how strong the Single Instant Sect Master was.
Heo Dogi was also strong, but if the Single Instant Sect Master got angry, he could not handle it.
Heo Dogi had tested the Single Instant Sect Master in the past. He had set a trap to assassinate his brother, and he had also tried to deal with the Single Instant Sect Master, who was a thorn in his side.
That was when he did not know the Single Instant Sect Master well.
In front of the Single Instant Sect Master, the demons fell like leaves in the autumn wind. He had unleashed an absolute blade that Heo Dogi could not even step in, and he had leisurely broken through the trap and brought out Heo Dogang.
With such an experience, would he act rashly again?
Conversely… when he acted, it meant that he had also prepared a countermeasure against the Single Instant Sect Master.
If he only took control of the Sacred Sword Sect and left the Single Instant Sect Master alone, he would not be able to sleep with both feet stretched out.
So the attack would surely begin.
The fact that the Single Instant Sect Master had left Dongbak in the Sacred Sword Sect was a clear warning.
It was a firm rebuke not to act rashly because he was by the Sacred Sword Sect Master’s side.
Dongbak would be harassed, but his life would not be in danger.
The first and second disciples had already obtained the Single Instant Blade. They had absolute blades in their hands. So he had not taken them.
A person who has obtained the Single Instant Blade is very dangerous.
The Single Instant Blade is never captured under any circumstances. The blade may break, and their life may be cut short, but they will not be captured. So if he took the first and second disciples, it would be considered a full scale attack, not a warning.
So he had taken the third disciple, who had not yet obtained the Single Instant Blade.
He had already expected that Dongbak would be captured. But Dongbak should not have returned like this. Dongbak should not have walked back on his own two feet and explained in detail what kind of hardships he had suffered.
Someone from the Sacred Sword Sect should have escorted Dongbak.
The martial artist who had escorted him should have said it. What Dongbak had done in the Sacred Sword Sect. That the handling of Dongbak would be left to the Single Instant Sect Master, and how he would handle it.
This was the proper way.
If things had proceeded like this, it would have meant that Heo Dogi had not revealed his rebellious intentions.
He had even thought of staying by the Sect Master’s side and protecting the Sacred Sword Sect. If he held Heo Dogi’s leash, there would be no bloody wind. It was also the most effective way to protect the Sect Master’s family.
But that was not what the Sect Master wanted.
His wife and son would surely die, and the Single Instant Sect Master had offered to help him himself, so why did he refuse? Was he not bothered that his sons would die?
The Sacred Sword Sect Master, Heo Dogang, was famous for his cool headed situation judgment and analysis of the situation, even more so than his martial arts. It was even said that he was a person who could maintain his composure like a Zen master even when surrounded by thousands of demons.
Such a person had made a judgment.
I will take care of those children myself.
The bedridden Sect Master had no countermeasures. But the reason he had refused the favor, which was no different from the only solution, was… that he had judged that Heo Dogi had surpassed the Single Instant Sect Master.
The Single Instant Sect Master could not accept it, but that was the Sect Master’s judgment.
So he had thrown everything away and planned for the future.
The Sect Master and Hyeonjeong would have closed their eyes in peace with the relief that they had at least saved their youngest son.
“I need to sharpen my blade. I wonder if it’s rusted…”
The wife said, squeezing the old man’s hand tightly.
“Shall I sharpen it for you?”
“No. I have to sharpen this one. I have to sharpen it myself.”
The Single Instant Sect Master muttered weakly.
(End of Chapter)