episode_0120

A dark, moonless night.

I am walking through a wide meadow right now.

The drunk who had touched me ended up resisting the coffin and was stabbed with a spear and a knife at the scene, dying. He wasn’t the one who started the fire, but he was the one who was running wild the most, so that’s why.

Above all, the area surrounding the castle walls was not simply charred, but the heat caused the walls to deform and collapse in parts.

We need someone to blame.

Isn’t that right?

And his death turned out differently than I expected.

He thought he could run away with the gold, denying his crimes. At least, since he was physically stronger, he figured he could run longer than others.

And as more and more people are caught, and the last ones to be caught, more attention is drawn to them.

What if you have unique hair and skin color?

It’s an easy target.

If that’s an outright villain, it’s easy to make the mistake of hasty generalization.

This is especially true in an era where the amount of information being exchanged is small. In addition, if rumors spread that someone has gold, the rate of spread will be even faster.

Step step step

As I walked along with that thought, the already dark night sky turned completely black. I would have walked if I could at least see the stars, but the weather was cloudy and there wasn’t a single ray of light in the sky.

Because the world is not that civilized, the roads are literally just dirt exposed to the ground, and there are no streetlights or anything like that.

When I looked earlier, there was only grassland ahead, so there was no place to rest. At that moment, I was contemplating whether to just sit on the ground and rest.

I see a light in the distance.

Not the light in the sky, but the light on the earth.

I headed there because I thought that if it was a place where people lived, there would be a place to stay.

It was so dark that I stumbled a few times, but I somehow got there.

An old man is holding a small lantern.

“Hey, where are you going in the middle of the night?”

He asked in a very thick and gravelly voice. His voice was very unique. Since he asked the question, I answered.

“Kunlun Mountain.”

“Oh my, are you on your way to find a Taoist priest? Looking at your appearance, it looks like something has gone wrong.”

At those words, I looked down at my body. I had stumbled a few times on my way here, and my clothes were covered in dirt and dust.

“I have business with the original Heavenly Lord.”

When I finish speaking, the old man stares at me. But I can’t read his expression. He’s making some kind of expression, but his memory is giving me an unintelligible signal.

There is light on the body. It is about the size of Hwangbocheon.

In short, that’s it.

“Hehehe, even the Primordial Heavenly Lord won’t be able to save you!”

His face contorts into a smile, and his body elongates as he approaches me to devour me.

Yes, it is not human.

When you think about the people, it’s hard to believe that they are the only strange creatures. And actually, if you look at the memories of the leader of the Tongcheon sect, there are many different types of monsters and immortals in this world.

Daegon accepted them indiscriminately and then fought them at Kunlun Mountain. However, he was ultimately defeated.

In other words, it means a common, indigenous creature of this world.

It came up to me and bit me, cutting the meat and tearing the bone.

So?

I held the light and sucked in the warmth.

“Ah, ah, ah, ahh? Ahhhh? It’s, it’s cold.”

Even monsters can no longer maintain their physical form, and their entire bodies start bubbling as if bubbles are rising, and parts of their bodies that shouldn’t be there, such as arms, legs, eyes, and ears, start popping out.

“What, why are you so cold? You’re not human, are you? Huh? Huh? Huh? You’re not human, are you?”

Come to think of it, I’ve never done anything else to someone who stole my warmth like this. Luckily, there’s nothing around.

And then there’s this one poor native creature, shivering and screaming in the cold, his whole body twisted.

I got a chance to experiment.

I grabbed the monster and forced myself into the black, pressed light before regenerating my body. If I could control Daegon, shouldn’t this be possible?

Suddenly.

But unlike Daegon, the light simply turned to dust and disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

And the monster stopped completely.

My body was boiling nonstop, repeating the cycle of regeneration and collapse, and I had completely lost consciousness.

It’s useless.

No, it might still be useful.

The light wasn’t something that came out as a tool, but something that the monster created by transforming its own body. According to the information obtained from the light, it was originally born as a monster that eats people.

If that’s the case, then I guess it’s okay to say that it was born for the purpose of shining light?

Let’s take only the parts we need.

I grabbed the opponent’s body, which was almost spherical, and crushed reality to make it into a light. Of course, I also treated Cho-seol’s body while I was at it.

Kkwaduk.

With a loud noise, the body compressed into a portable lantern. At first, it looked like a lantern, but now it resembles a gas lamp.

Is it because my memories are mixed up?

hmm!

It’s quite bright.

It doesn’t seem to be heated by fire, but rather has a self-luminous function. It would be convenient to carry it around like this.

So I pick it up and start walking back the way I came.

Behind me, in the pitch-black darkness, there is a small crack that glows faintly. Judging by the size of the crack, I think it was the act of cracking a glass bottle that turned the opponent’s back.

This is the size of the crack that appears when treating a serious wound.

Good is good.

I walk towards Kunlun Mountain, carrying a lantern to brighten the dark night.

The road is clearly visible.

If I had this, I could walk safely even on a starless night.

***

As time passes, the dark sky begins to glow faintly, and the sun rises beyond the horizon.

As the morning sun rises, I can see the light I’m holding. It looks like a black gas lamp, but instead of fire inside, there’s a strange liquid sloshing around, and light comes out of it.

And the body of the gas lamp, which I thought was similar to steel, is actually made of a material similar to leather rather than iron.

The handle part felt quite soft when I held it, so I thought it might have been lined with leather, but it was just the body.

If you think of it as something similar to a treasure, there won’t be a problem.

If you can write, that’s fine. If you can write, that’s fine.

As I continued walking, wide rice fields appeared on both sides. Perhaps because it was still spring, most of them were dry.

And beyond the farmland, a large city began to appear.

At least in this city, I hope they don’t block the streets.

I headed toward the entrance of the city with that thought in mind. Maybe I should make some gold and give it to him? I don’t want to waste too much time.

Huh?

It was surprisingly easy to get in. I wondered why they had blocked me in the previous city, but they just let me in without any particular blockage.

I have no use for the gold pieces I made just in case.

Before I went inside and headed straight across the city to Kunlun, I found a place to stay. I could force myself to turn around, but what if the glass bottle breaks before I reach Kunlun Mountain?

The body of the first snow is a human body.

Even if it’s me inside, I need to rest.

Actually, I was planning to take a break in the city last time… … .

It took more time because I couldn’t rest and kept going around in circles. It took up my time, so I made you pay the price.

In reality, it wasn’t that big of a deal, it was just a small commotion and that was it.

Remember your failed choices and work towards your goals step by step.

Current goal: Rest.

I chose a nice place to stay after consulting the memory of a Taoist priest who had visited the area, and then checked in.

And at the entrance, they ordered one night’s accommodation and two days’ worth of food, threw a gold bar, and said there was no need for a deposit.

The person at the accommodation will support you with a big smile.

I can see the desire in their eyes, but unfortunately, it is not a desire that crosses the line to the point of killing and stealing people.

It’s a very healthy feeling to want to look good to this person and get something in return.

I followed him to the room upstairs. The interior was as clean as I remembered. Unlike the places that usually come to mind when I think of hotels or motels in my faded memories, the room was a bit smaller. Of course, there was no place to wash inside.

Still, it’s a pretty good place for the price around here.

After unpacking, I asked the person who gave me the gold nugget earlier where I could wash up. He seemed to have been waiting for me and guided me to that place.

There was only hot water and towels, but that was enough for me.

So when I came out, the area around my clothes had changed a bit since I went into the washroom. Anyway, since there was nothing that could be stolen even if they searched inside, I felt relieved and put on my clothes.

The only thing that could be stolen was a lantern made of a monster, but they left it there, probably because they thought it was an item from the inn.

I was about to pass by when I noticed a strangely bright light flickering, so I looked closely.

In the place where the light is coming from, there is what looks like a man’s face that wasn’t there before, and it is slowly melting away.

aha.

It’s funny. I kind of figured out what was going on. But I pretended not to know and went back to my room.

As soon as I entered my room, the man who had given me gold earlier smiled and asked if I liked the bathroom, then brought me food.

When I praised him and said it was good, he smiled brightly and left.

Honestly, I thought it was most likely this guy came in to steal.

hmm.

No, it wasn’t. I think someone who saw me giving gold earlier snuck in and became the fuel.

Good is good.

I had a proper meal for the first time in a long time and got some good rest at my accommodation.

Take a good rest and sort out the current situation.

Unlike me who was walking steadily, Won Hougong of the Hwasan faction, Cheon Baek of the Taesan faction, and Sima Baek of the Sungsan faction were using the law to head towards their own factions at incredible speeds.

I didn’t think much of them being martial artists, but I think it would be faster to get to the sect than to hear the rumors.

As I expected, I expected to fight with people from the Murim Alliance or Taoist priests on my way to the sect.

If I were a little smarter, I wouldn’t have made this mistake…

Then creating an easy target in the previous village wouldn’t be very effective.

anyway.

Here, the distances between Hwasan, Taesan, and Sungsan are similar, so the arrival times are not that different.

A faded memory faintly glows as I ask why Kunlun Mountain is in the middle of the mountain and not at the western end, and why this is not the martial arts world I know.

It’s been a while since you’ve shined.

Whenever I recall such memories, I think about it, but the geography is completely different from the ancient China in my faded memories. So it’s meaningless to think based on those memories, but why is it so bright?

While watching the three of them arrive at their respective destinations, I took a deep breath of relief.

Once you enter Kunlun, there will be no more time to rest.