If there is something to be gained, then there is always something to be lost. (2)
There had been no plan to stake his life.
He had no intention of doing so, nor could he afford to. The task given to him right now was to buy time. Not to cut off Heavenly Executioner’s head.
But Chung Myung changed his mind at that moment.
‘I have to kill him.’
If not now, there might never be another chance.
Strictly speaking, what Heavenly Executioner lacked was not practical combat experience.
More precisely, it was the gap between mind and body. The fact that he had yet to overcome that disconnect.
But that gap was narrowing with every passing moment as he fought a real battle. There was no telling whether that weakness would remain the next time Chung Myung met Heavenly Executioner.
Then there would be no way to deal with him at all.
Even if there were a way, the sacrifices required to erase Heavenly Executioner’s very existence would increase beyond comparison with what was needed now. That much was obvious without even having to see it unfold.
So it had to be now. He had to kill him now. Even if Chung Myung had to stake his life on it.
A very brief silence descended. Yet at the same time it seemed as long as an eternity.
Even Chung Myung, trained to the utmost limits, could not see Heavenly Executioner’s attacks with his eyes and block them. The moment he perceived an attack, he would die. Heavenly Executioner had reached that level now.
Then what was he supposed to do?
‘Nothing in particular.’
There was no need to do anything.
It did not matter if the enemy’s attack was faster than his perception. Chung Myung’s body was faster than his ability to perceive as well.
Once everything reaches its ultimate extreme, the boundaries begin to crumble. To perceive without conscious recognition was faster, and to remain unguarded made the senses keener than deliberate vigilance ever could.
Simply hearing it put into words, it might sound absurd.
But absolute irrationality is, in fact, perfect rationality. The world called it immortality [선(仙) or divinity], and those who pursued immortality called it the Tao [도(道)].
Chung Myung’s feet moved of their own accord.
One step to the left. There was no imperative, no reason behind it. His body simply moved instinctively, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
And Heavenly Executioner tore through the spot Chung Myung had left like a flash of lightning.
Crack.
It was not perfect.
Instinct, experience, and enlightenment. The ‘Realm of Nature*’ forged by melting all of them together. The pinnacle of Taoist martial arts, which some regarded as the dream of a lifetime, while others dared not even dream of attaining it.
Even Chung Myung, who had reached this Realm of Nature, could do no more than preserve his life against Heavenly Executioner as he was now, accepting being injured in the process.
The energy that merely grazed past him seemed to twist his muscles and crack his bones.
Chung Myung spun his body and brought down a single sword strike with all his might.
His body, rather than his consciousness, realized first that evasion was impossible. In that instant, it instinctively carried out the most appropriate response.
Kwaaaaang!
Chung Myung was sent flying backward amid excruciating pain.
He gritted his teeth. It wasn’t that he was simply surrendering himself to his own body without a single thought. It was difficult to explain.
If he had to put it into words, it was mind, qi (internal energy), and body**.
The ‘self’ born from the complete unification [합일(合一)] of mind, body and qi was a higher form of existence than before. But that did not mean his mind itself had leapt to another plane of existence. The unified self might be exalted, but the mind ruling that exalted self was the same as before.
That was why Taoists sought to make the mind one with Nature. Nature, affirming the existence of a ‘self’ that was not ‘the’ self. Nature, that is, the universe [우주(宇宙)], was what oneself identified with.
Boooooom!
Thus, it was not his will that blocked this sword. It was simply the will of the world, acting of itself in accordance with its own nature***. But if, in the end, he was the world and the world was him [세상이 곧 나라면(物我一體)], why should this be anything other than himself?
‘Blah, blah, blah. So damn complicated. Shut up.’
Where he stood at this moment was none of his concern.
Chung Myung couldn’t have cared less whether this was the process of Yeonsin-hwanheo [연신환허(煉神還虛)] – refining the spirit [神] and returning to the Void [虛 – emptiness] – or, in other words, transcending the spirit within oneself and advancing towards the source of the world, the Void.
What mattered was that he was fighting now.
Enlightenment, realms, advancement… None of those things could be the goal. They were merely means to fight.
Kwaaaaang!
A fist flying towards his temple collided violently with the blade of his sword. The energy and blood throughout his entire body surged at once, followed by the sensation of his blood flowing backward. The sensation was less like being crushed and more akin to being erased, as it brought horrifyingly intense pain.
That was precisely why he felt it with excruciating clarity.
“Haha.”
The fact that he was still alive.
Bang! Clang!
Heavenly Executioner’s incoming fists and Chung Myung’s sword clashed again and again.
Crack.
His wrist broke.
Splat.
Unable to withstand the impact, his forearm burst open, muscles tearing and blood spraying out.
The body could not withstand this impact. But his mind alone was being honed to a chilling sharpness.
“Youuuuuuu bastaaaaaaard!”
Heavenly Executioner’s attacks grew harsher by the moment. Faster, even more violent.
No matter how strong one becomes, there are fundamental limits one cannot escape. No matter how vigilantly they guard themselves, in the end their blood will inevitably boil over. Such were the inescapable shackles of those who practiced demonic arts.
Chung Myung, who knew this better than anyone, was now standing before Heavenly Executioner.
Kwaaaaaang!
Chung Myung’s shoulder was crushed. Even in this slowed-down world, the speed was so tremendous that the attack could not be followed by the eye.
‘Not yet.’
But Chung Myung did not swing his sword.
He would only have one chance.
A halfhearted attack would not be enough to kill Heavenly Executioner. Just once. In a single instant, he had to stake everything.
Yes, everything.
Because it must be here. The Path [길(道)] – by which a human being can reach the divine.
“Youuuuuuu wretch!”
Heavenly Executioner’s single punch shattered the earth and made the heavens ring.
If one were to describe it purely in terms of destructive power, it was certainly enough to call the Heavenly Demon to mind.
But, put another way…
‘Even so, this is all it amounts to.’
The memories and experience of fighting the Heavenly Demon were engraved in Chung Myung’s soul. They were what allowed him to remain standing before this overwhelming might.
Kwaaaaaang!
Chung Myung was driven far backward.
At the same time, he swept his sword horizontally through the air. Countless petals blossomed along the trajectory of the sword he had drawn. This was a realm that transcended reason. Scattering countless streams of sword energy had become faster than drawing the sword through a single stroke. Within this realm, the wall of sword energies Chung Myung brought into bloom engulfed Heavenly Executioner.
When something stands in a demonic practitioner’s way, there is only one course they will ever choose.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The wall of plum blossoms Chung Myung had created was torn apart in an instant.
Through the opening, Heavenly Executioner, who had nearly lost his reason, shot forward. All to drive a single punch into Chung Myung’s heart.
This violent outburst forcibly dragged Heavenly Executioner into a realm of speed he had never reached before.
“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”
It was closer to a howl than a roar of fury. Amid a deafening sound that seemed to damage the very soul rather than merely ring in the ears, Heavenly Executioner’s punch came hurtling forward.
The demonic energy coiling around his fist whipped into a frenzy, and a massive vortex resembling a black dragon surged upward. The ominous black dragon devoured everything around it as it advanced towards Chung Myung with terrifying momentum.
At that moment, Chung Myung’s sword, which had been moving slowly, came to a complete stop.
It was not only his sword. Everything stopped. His sword, Heavenly Executioner’s fist force, even Heavenly Executioner himself.
With his eyes half-open, Chung Myung gazed upon a world where everything came to a halt.
The desolation of that frozen world rapidly seeped into Chung Myung.
Everything exists. And yet nothing exists.
He finally understood. ‘To exist’ was merely another expression for ‘to move [動].’ That a world in which even thought and action had ceased was, in the end, no different from a vast and perfect ‘Void [虛].’
The beginning, too, must have been no different from this.
Some called it the Origin(Source) [본원(本源)]. Others called it the Wuji [무극(無極)****]. In other words, the primordial beginning must have been no different from this. Everything existed, yet nothing existed.
Thus, Wuji is what comes before the beginning of all things.
But if so… what is a beginning?
Some say that Wuji divided into yin and yang, and the world began. Others say that karma [業] flows, as from emptiness [空] existence takes form [成], and that all things move in an endless cycle.
But in the end, no one can say what the beginning actually is.
‘There’s no need to say.’
A beginning is simply a beginning. It is meaningless to question why it is so.
What matters is the fact that everything has a beginning. The fact that, whatever form it takes, a beginning is simply ‘a blossoming.’
Chung Myung’s sword moved.
Alone, in the moment when everything had stopped.
And so, the sword drew a single, tiny plum blossom in the empty air.
It was as delicate as it was tiny. But it could not be called insignificant. The first flower to bloom in an empty world. It was a flower, an act of blossoming [개화(開花)], and an act of change [개변(改變)], while at the same time… a state of transition [전환(轉換)].
Before long, the fragrance flowing from that tiny flower quickly filled the entire world.
As though it existed, as though it did not. Simply, a subtle fragrance drifting through the air [暗香浮動].
⠀
Chung Myung silently looked down at his sword for a moment.
A fleeting trace of emptiness crossed his dazed face. After staring at his sword for a long while, Chung Myung let out a hollow chuckle.
“That thread…”
Chung Myung’s body slowly crumpled.
“…I caught it*****.”
Thud.
Having exhausted every last drop of his remaining strength, Chung Myung collapsed unconscious. His body lay limp, as though he were dead.
“…”
Heavenly Executioner stared blankly at the sight.
His face drained of color as though he had witnessed something impossible, Heavenly Executioner suddenly lowered his gaze to his own chest.
At that very moment, as if it had been waiting to happen.
Rip.
The front of his robe split open.
Craaack.
At the same time, his chest slowly began to split apart. A long slash stretched from his left shoulder to his right flank. A wound deeper than the scar once left by Maehwa Geomjon appeared over it, and in an instant, an enormous amount of blood came pouring out.
“Kheugh.”
Heavenly Executioner slumped down where he stood.
“Uweeeeeeeeeegh!”
He began vomiting blood without end in sight. Pouring out so much blood that it was difficult to believe a human body could contain that much, Heavenly Executioner clutched his wound. His hand was trembling violently.
‘Kill…….’
He had to kill him.
Even if his injuries were far more serious than they appeared, even if his demonic nature [마정(魔情) or essence] – something virtually equivalent to the source of a demonic cultivator – had been damaged.
He had to kill him now.
“Uuuuurrgh!”
After vomiting another mouthful of blood, he gritted his teeth and clawed at the ground as though trying to seize hold of it. Then he drew up every last bit of his remaining demonic energy and rose to his feet.
But at that moment, Heaven Executioner’s eyes flew wide open.
Gone.
Chung Myung, who had clearly been lying collapsed over there, had vanished. No matter how frantically he looked around, there was no trace of him anywhere.
Only after realizing this did Heavenly Executioner sense the lingering energy of someone else, left behind like an echo.
“Who is it!”
It had happened in an instant. In that fleeting moment, someone had grabbed Chung Myung and fled, taking advantage of the opening Heavenly Executioner had revealed.
“U.…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Like a howling beast, Heavenly Executioner threw his head back and unleashed a hideous scream. The immense hatred contained within it spread outward, engulfing the world like a raging typhoon.
Special Spinoff Chapter 61 >>>
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*自然之境 – Taoist concept of being one with nature, accepting the spontaneous and ‘natural’ flow if time/events. Can also be defined as ‘The State of Spontaneity’ (where the root of the concept implies that everything happens naturally, spontaneously, and of their own accord without external coercion). Example: water seeks the lowest places, benefits all things without competing, and wears down the hardest rock through pure persistence. The state of living in perfect harmony.
**심기체(心氣體). I wanted to find more about this concept, but I have no idea if Biga just invented this, or it’s a mistake, but all the roads lead to 심기체(心技體) – shingitai. Term used in traditional Japanese koryū (classical martial arts). Shingitai represents: mind(心) – mental fortitud; technique(技); body(體) – physical strength.
***Here the nature and acting of its own accord/because of its own nature – derives from the concept of 自然之境 mentioned above, specifically ziran (自然) is used in the sentence, a Taoist key concept meaning ‘of its own’.
****Wuji – (philosophy, Taoism, martial arts) – the primordial, infinite state of emptiness that existed before the emergence of duality. Yes!!! We are back to the enlightenment in the Chapter 1353. Wuji, the limitless, Chung Myung had seen before falling off the cliff.
*****The thread/clue Chung Myung was talking about in Chapter 1956.
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