Chapter 235: Eyes Watching
This was all because the current Heaven-Slaying Star had not appeared.
That single remark from Jo Harang dyed the air inside the room in silence.
Amidst it all, her violet-glimring eyes. It sounded as though she had casually thrown the words out, but I felt cold sweat trickle down my spine.
“Miss Jo Harang, what do you an by that? That the chaos of the Central Plains is because the Heaven-Slaying Star hasn’t appeared?”
Ilhong leaned in with her tiny face and cut into the conversation.
She wore an expression that said she couldn’t understand, as if wondering whether it wasn’t a good thing that the Heaven-Slaying Star hadn’t appeared.
“It’s not that simple.”
At Ilhong’s question, Jo Harang scratched her cheek and continued.
“The Heaven-Slaying Star is a mad demon driven by slaughter that the heavens send down when the evil karma accumulated by humans reaches its peak.”
As the Purple Tenuity Star, it seed she had heard quite a lot from Song Ryeong during her training.
It wasn’t rely soone who had gone mad under the influence of the stars, but rather an existence like a proxy of divine punishnt carrying the will of heaven—that was how she explained it.
“Once the Heaven-Slaying Star appears, it begins slaughtering everything without distinguishing between the Orthodox and Unorthodox, or even the Demonic Path. As if it intends to wipe out all life.”
In other words, whether one was good or evil, strong or weak, high-born or low-born, all would be swept away equally.
As if a massive bomb called death had been dropped in the very center of the Murim of the Central Plains.
“It’s truly indiscriminate slaughter. And in the process of the Central Plains being soaked in blood, the forces that throw the world into chaos get swept away as well.”
So because such a cleansing process hadn’t occurred for nearly a hundred years, evil had begun to run rampant in the world once more.
It sounded like she was describing a great flood that sweeps away villages but leaves the land fertile, or a typhoon that circulates air and water resources, bringing benefits to nature.
“Wow, the Heaven-Slaying Star is that extre? A single person being on the level of a natural disaster….”
Ilhong muttered with a face full of disbelief.
She seed relieved that such a horrific era had not co to pass—but if she knew the very subject of this story was sitting right beside her, would she faint in shock?
“Yeah, it’s that bad. He’s insane—he kills everything without distinction. And the longer it takes to put him down, the stronger he becos, to the point he can’t be handled. That’s why, during those tis, all factions sotis unite to eliminate him.”
Jo Harang nodded as she continued. Even factions that had been hostile toward one another would join forces in the face of a natural disaster for the sake of survival.
Right. In a way, sothing that surpassed even the Blood Cult Leader or the Heavenly Demon of the Demon Cult—the true public enemy of the Murim.
That was .
A bitter smile lingered on my lips.
“About a hundred years ago, there was also a massive blood calamity. I heard that even the founding ancestor of our Purple Mist Sect was caught up in that disaster.”
In other words, Song Ryeong’s master had also suffered due to the appearance of the previous Heaven-Slaying Star.
‘…….’
At Jo Harang’s words, my crimson fingers twitched as if recalling sothing.
“As for those kinds of events, they say they happen once every hundred years at the shortest, or several hundred years at the longest.”
According to oral tradition, sotis the Heaven-Slaying Star was eliminated early and the disaster remained minor, while at other tis it escalated into a massive blood calamity.
“It was unimaginably horrific at the ti, but afterward, a strange coexistence and peace would follow.”
Like the saying, rain makes the ground firr—the Central Plains would be united as one afterward.
Like an old storyteller reciting ancient legends, she unraveled the history of the Heaven-Slaying Star before .
But soon, she stroked her smooth chin and narrowed her brows.
“But even though the Heavenly Secrets foretold the appearance of the Heaven-Slaying Star, the Evil Star losing its light like now is an extrely rare phenonon.”
Her violet eyes pierced through the blue sky outside the window, filled with curiosity.
“Mujin, what do you think the reason is? Why hasn’t the Heaven-Slaying Star even appeared, contrary to the will of heaven?”
Her voice was gentle, but the innocent question made my heart pound violently.
Even the Salseongi flinched, its fingers trembling.
“I don’t know… I don’t know anything about Heaven-Slaying Stars or Evil Stars.”
“……Hmm, really?”
Jo Harang’s lips curved subtly. Why did she look like she knew sothing?
That playful smile alone made grow deeply uneasy.
‘Purple Tenuity Star… nesis… elimination….’
Thin fingers scribbled rapidly—essentially a mad suggestion telling to kill Jo Harang right here and now.
As expected of the previous Heaven-Slaying Star—always clamoring for blood whenever there’s a chance.
But that was the fastest way to awaken the Evil Star I had barely suppressed. No chance. I suppressed it with the Starfall Heart Cultivation thod.
‘Kkieeek.’
The fingers writhed in pain, as if letting out a scream.
“Then the Heaven-Slaying Star has its own reason for existing, right?”
Ilhong asked with curious eyes.
She said she had thought it was just so demon king from old stories, but now she realized there was more to it.
Listening quietly, I decided this was the mont and threw a question at Jo Harang. When else would I get such a natural chance?
“Harang… if, just hypothetically, soone really close to you awakened as the Heaven-Slaying Star… what would you do?”
She seed to ponder seriously. Her long eyelashes lowered briefly, then her violet eyes rose again.
“If a close friend beca that against their will… my heart would break. I don’t think I could even stay sane from the grief.”
“……Oh, really?”
For a mont, I saw a glimr of hope in her sorrowful expression.
But she imdiately added firmly:
“Still, I’d have to kill them. If it’s too late, the damage will snowball.”
“…….”
I was left speechless at her matter-of-fact conclusion.
Even though she seed simple at tis, she was a woman with a firm core.
Whether that was good for or not—I wasn’t sure.
‘Fool….’
For so reason, Salseongi’s insult pierced deeply today.
O my fate, like sailing through raging storms—please, at the very least, let that situation never co to pass.
“Harang.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
She turned toward , her long black hair swaying. Bathed in sunlight by the window, her silhouette shone beautifully.
“You’re on my side… right?”
I’d asked sothing like this before. But this ti, it felt different.
Jo Harang grinned as if taking it as a reaffirmation of friendship and lightly punched my chest.
“What’s with you? I’ve said it before—I’m always on your side. ‘Your side.’”
Even if the whole world turned against because of sothing I’d done, she said she would stand by at least once.
In her eyes, filled with boundless trust, I felt a complicated mix of emotions—joy tangled with unease.
“Leader! too, too!”
Not to be outdone, Ilhong thrust her hand forward and shouted.
The successor of the Hao Sect, emphasizing that she was on my side as well.
At this rate, I really needed to make sure they never found out I was the Heaven-Slaying Star.
“Yeah… thank you.”
The reception room of the Eunseong Trading Company was filled with lavish decorations and a subtle scent of wood.
Hwang Geolgae, who had entered with Pak Chil, stared silently at the luxurious dishes and bottles of liquor laid out before him.
Though Eun Hwaran had prepared everything with care, he couldn’t bring himself to reach out.
“So, a new Heavenly Demon has been born….”
Hwang Geolgae muttered in a low voice.
“Yes, Sect Leader. That is what we presu.”
The ultimate existence of the Demonic Path, the sovereign of all demons.
The news that the demonic practitioners of the Ten-Thousand Great Mountains had welcod a new Heavenly Demon was a variable that could shake the Central Plains. Hwang Geolgae let out a low groan.
The birth of a Heavenly Demon had always brought a storm of blood to the Central Plains, whether small or great.
If this were true, then the fragile peace of the Central Plains now stood on the brink.
“And now these tireso worries co flooding in again. That’s why this old man wished to lay down his burden and cross the wall….”
Loneliness lingered on his wrinkled face.
Signs had begun to appear that the future of the Central Plains would be dyed in blood—it had reached a point where it could no longer be ignored.
At the sa ti, the words of that insolent disciple crossed his mind.
Perhaps it wasn’t the surroundings that had beco disordered, but his own heart.
That shaless tone strangely pierced his chest.
“Are you telling this old man to shoulder once more the responsibility I laid down? Such arrogance from a re brat.”
He spread out his calloused palm. Upon it, faint energy of the stars swirled.
“Perhaps true enlightennt does not co from discarding, but from accepting.”
He set down the liquor bottle he always carried, claiming he would one day et the Primordial Heavenly Lord. As if casting aside the burden in his heart along with it, his shoulders felt strangely lighter.
“Hah… so that was it….”
His voice was low, yet carried deep resonance.
As he beca entangled once more with the mortal world he had abandoned, he gained a deep insight and a small realization.
Because of that, he realized that the distant Profound Realm had now co absurdly close.
Standing right at the boundary between two realms, Hwang Geolgae.
“To shake this old man’s heart with just a few words… no matter how I think about it, that brat is truly outrageous. Don’t you think so, Pak Chil?”
At that question, Pak Chil’s face brightened instantly.
His eyes shone as he asked eagerly,
“Then, Sect Leader… will you now lead the Beggars’ Union again…?”
At the question of whether he would stop wandering and return, Hwang Geolgae nodded slightly.
“Yes, you persistent fool. All of you are desperate to make this old man work again.”
“……Ahh!”
Hearing that the long-vacant position of the Beggars’ Union’s leader would finally be filled again, Pak Chil jumped up and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Quiet, you brat.”
Yet, perhaps not entirely pleased at having to work again, Hwang Geolgae frowned and dug at his ear.
“Then I’ll inform the main branch of your return as the Dragon Head Sect Leader, and formally proclaim Dan Mujin as the successor beggar to the entire Central Plains!”
Pak Chil’s face was filled with excitent, as if he had finally accomplished sothing.
But Hwang Geolgae waved his hand dismissively.
“No, that won’t do.”
“Pardon? Why…?”
Picking up so of the dishes before him, he spoke calmly.
“You said the Demon Cult is on the rise? Seeing how they’ve been killing Beggars’ Union mbers, they must be wary of us. To them, the Beggars’ Union must still appear leaderless, chaotic, and divided.”
In other words, they needed to engage in a kind of intelligence warfare.
Just as a martial artist hides thirty percent of their strength in preparation for unforeseen circumstances, the Beggars’ Union must also bide its ti for a grand plan.
At that farsighted advice, Pak Chil’s mouth fell open.
“Ah… indeed!”
He nodded repeatedly in admiration.
Rather than focusing on imdiate prestige, it seed the Dragon Head Sect Leader was already making moves against a distant, unseen enemy.
“Dragon Head Sect Leader, your wisdom is truly—!”
“Stop with the useless flattery.”
“…Yes.”
Hwang Geolgae hated noise. He waved his hand to cut him off.
“But then, is making Dan Mujin the successor also being postponed?”
Pak Chil, who had long taken an interest in Dan Mujin and grown close to him, was one of those deeply invested in his rise.
Along with Ilhogae, who had also tried to curry favor with him.
“Yes, it’ll be postponed.”
“Could it be… that he has displeased you sohow…?”
Pak Chil asked cautiously. Watching the two of them bicker so fiercely, he sotis wondered if they were even on good terms.
And so, worried about his own future prospects, he asked.
Hwang Geolgae burst into laughter.
“No? That brat suits my taste perfectly. He’s tenacious, has guts, doesn’t bow even before royalty, and cares for the weak—he has all the qualities of a Beggar Hero!”
Though he beat him up every ti he caused trouble as a form of “training,” he held genuine affection for him.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken him as a disciple in the first place.
“…Then, Sect Leader, why?”
At that, Hwang Geolgae gazed out the window at the sky and muttered.
“As a disciple, he’s excellent—but the fate surrounding him is anything but ordinary.”
For now, it was fine that he was informally regarded as the successor among the Beggars’ Union.
But if they publicly declared him as one of theirs to the entire world—and the Heaven-Slaying Star were to go berserk—its repercussions would spread to tens of thousands of Beggars’ Union mbers.
That was why Hwang Geolgae had intended to bear it alone as a wandering Mysterious Daoist… but just where this fate of his disciple was heading, he could not tell.
“Still, he declared he would overco his destiny. As his master, I must watch over him.”
He rose and walked toward the window. The setting sun had dyed the sky red, casting a long shadow behind him.
The boy had not only grown properly, but had even reached the point of giving him a small enlightennt.
So no matter how it all ended, he intended to watch until the very end.
With that resolve, Hwang Geolgae uncorked one of the liquor bottles Eun Hwaran had prepared.
“Sect Leader, now that you’ve returned, shouldn’t you stop drinking…?”
“Not a chance.”
With a faint smirk, Hwang Geolgae tilted the bottle and gulped it down.
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