Chapter 336

Chapter 336

My head hurts.

“Why did only you survive? If you had fought more actively……!”

“Kill me using the method I taught you? Greenhorn. Do you want to live that filthily?”

“…….”

At the sight of hallucinations rippling before his eyes, Seomun Cheok, who gasped for breath, quietly clutched his heart and sat down on the ground. Memories of battlefields flashing rapidly past.

“I only wanted to survive…….”

At age thirteen, he went to the battlefield to make a living.

He did anything to survive. He grabbed opponents’ pant legs and begged them to spare him, hid under corpses and covered his mouth. A wandering warrior sold for money, he didn’t hesitate to kill even when former comrades appeared as enemies.

He had to do that to survive. There were no doubts in that process. Even if time was turned back now, he would have done the same.

But did he truly properly face and overcome those wounds?

“You’re a murderer. A murderer who doesn’t know gratitude……!”

“I gave you various advice to entrust my back to you, but you didn’t protect my back just to save yourself alone.”

Enemy soldiers pouring out fierce anger. A comrade calmly reciting only facts.

“……Hoooo.”

Hah.

Seomun Cheok, who exhaled deeply, trembled slightly while lifting his iron spear. The coldness that should flow coolly along his forearm was nowhere to be found, and the sturdy sensation of the iron spear had also disappeared.

Growing younger.

“Hallucination…… it’s a hallucination.”

Seomun Cheok, who felt his body shrinking, gritted his teeth while gripping the wooden spear in his hand. And at that moment, a voice reached him.

“Idiot. What are you floundering about for?”

Whooooosh-!!!!!

“…….”

White flames blazing up in an instant.

Watching with strangely hollow eyes as the hallucinations he thought he needed to overcome crumbled instantly in the white tribulation fire, Seomun Cheok turned his head toward where the voice came from.

“……Baek Risan.”

“If you know it’s a hallucination, just roughly smash through and come out. What are you floundering for?”

“…….”

“I thought Seonwoo Gang would flounder the most, but I didn’t expect you to be the latest? Are you weaker-hearted than I thought?”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s simple. People who broke through this Monster Technique are going around waking up the people nearby.”

The Monster Technique’s function is hallucination. Just that one thing.

While this Monster Technique can be broken through without difficulty by those with firm mental fortitude who have overcome their wounds, the number of people in this world with such firm mental fortitude is fewer than expected. Didn’t even Seomun Cheok, who’s renowned for maintaining an immovable mind well, hesitate this deeply?

“……You broke through quickly.”

“Because the guy who was my life’s biggest worry is fighting up ahead.”

Baek Risan, who answered indifferently, shook his head.

“And I didn’t completely escape with just my own power either. If I had stayed like that, I was confident I could escape on my own strength but…… I got pushed from behind so I came out a bit faster.”

“Pushed from behind? By whom?”

“How many more could there be?”

“True enough.”

At the sight of Baek Risan showing the character righteousness embroidered on his back, Seomun Cheok, who wore a faint smile, shook his head.

“Where did the Sect Leader go?”

“Same as me. Going around saving people who fell into hallucinations.”

“What I need to do seems the same. Since you said I was slower than Seonwoo Gang, he must already be going around too.”

“Nice that you catch on quick.”

“What should I do?”

“Basically it’s the same as what I’m doing. Go around and if there are people still seeing hallucinations, push them from behind.”

“Basically?”

At Seomun Cheok’s question at Baek Risan’s words as if there was something else, Baek Risan sighed.

“……There are quite a few people who fell into Heart Demons than expected, so we’ll need to subdue those people. This hallucination seems to have more influence than expected.”

“Is that so?”

“Probably it’s influenced not just by hallucinations but also by the environment full of Monster Energy…… Anyway, don’t hold back. Heart Demons don’t pick and choose people before visiting.”

“I understand.”

“Then, I’ll go ahead.”

Fwooong!

Watching Baek Risan disappear while bursting white flames at the same time as speaking, Seomun Cheok, who exhaled deeply, looked at the spear in his hand. The sight of his beloved weapon that had returned from a wooden spear to an iron spear before he knew it.

“Heart Demon, is it?”

He couldn’t overcome it himself.

Unlike Seonwoo Gang or Baek Risan who succeeded in facing their wounds and completely overcoming them, he had gotten through situations by avoiding his wounds. That difference must be revealing itself now.

‘The difference in talent……isn’t it.’

Whether one properly faced their wounds or didn’t face them.

That’s the only difference. It’s a past that must be faced someday, but wouldn’t receiving others’ help to get through it now also be one path?

Chuckle.

“Since when was I such a sentimental personality?”

Useless sentimentality. Perhaps he became emotional due to the hallucination.

Seomun Cheok, who wore a bitter smile, gripped his iron spear and straightened his half-bent knees. And

“Then, I should also start moving…….”

The moment Seomun Cheok took a step to help others like Baek Risan who had left ahead.

──Kwaaaaang!!!

A massive shockwave burst forth.

“That direction is……?”

Clearly ahead.

Confirming the familiar energy bursting forth, Seomun Cheok frowned and unconsciously gripped his iron spear tightly. An intense shockwave that didn’t give the feeling he could possibly approach it.

“The Sect Leader?”

Come to think of it, did they say Heart Demons don’t discriminate by realm?

‘It’s not a battlefield for me to join.’

At the overwhelmingly bursting Ki wave, Seomun Cheok, who swallowed his saliva, quietly turned his body around.

There’s much to do.

***

What is the foundation of strategy?

It lies in forcing losses on the opponent while not suffering losses yourself.

Originally, war is a fight over who gains more advantage and minimizes losses. The side that invests little yet earns much profit is bound to have an unconditional advantage in war. For instance, didn’t the Jegal Family’s ancestor Zhuge Liang in the past send a few ships and obtain one hundred thousand arrows without losing anything?

Like that, if you can make the opponent accept losses without accepting your own losses, there’s no better strategy. There’s nothing better than good efficiency for the investment. And.

Looking at it from that perspective, Heukya’s strategy this time was undoubtedly an efficient strategy needless to say.

“……Amitabha, Buddha.”

That’s because among those who fell into Heart Demons caught by Heukya’s strategy, there was even one of the Sipcheon.

“Hoooooo…….”

Heavy.

Watching the opponent taking deep breaths, I lowered my sword and gripped it. A familiar face. However, the appearance of the opponent emanating an unfamiliar momentum.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

“…….”

“Bulgwae.”

Looking at Bulgwae, one of the Sipcheon’s seats, who was scattering killing intent while breathing deeply as if not hearing my words, I wore a bitter smile. No matter how I looked at it, his state didn’t seem normal.

‘Heart Demons don’t discriminate by realm.’

Originally, Heart Demons are like an illness of the mind.

Just as even those with robust bodies don’t have their possibility of getting sick eliminated but merely reduced, Heart Demons also don’t fail to visit just because one’s martial arts realm is lofty. Wasn’t the reason the former Sipcheon Sword King Namgung Hyeok stepped down from the Sipcheon because he fell into Heart Demons?

Having a lofty realm doesn’t mean one won’t fall into Heart Demons. Moreover, when someone with a lofty realm falls into Heart Demons, it’s naturally more troublesome than when someone with a low realm falls into Heart Demons because they’re difficult to subdue due to their lofty martial prowess.

Looking at it from that point, this situation could be called a very terrible situation. The one who fell into Heart Demons is none other than that Bulgwae.

“Amitabha…… I…… wasn’t wrong…….”

“What are you seeing?”

“Senior Brother…….”

Is he seeing memories of when he was expelled from Shaolin for continuously breaking the precepts?

As I was thinking about Bulgwae’s past history for a moment, the gaze of Bulgwae, who had been releasing momentum with half-opened eyes, turned toward me. And at the same time, a majestic voice burst forth.

“Demon Head bastard-!!!”

“……This kind of thing again?”

Last time he mistook me for the Sado Alliance Leader, now it’s Demon Head.

I raised my sword while giving a bitter smile. The solution was simple.

“Come to your senses, Bulgwae.”

“…….”

“This isn’t Shaolin, and I’m not the Demon Head.”

“……Ami, ta, bul.”

“Isn’t it the conviction you tried to protect even while breaking the precepts? Don’t waver at such trivial tricks. That’s an insult to yourself.”

I could tell why he fell into Heart Demons without seeing what Bulgwae’s hallucination was. He must be seeing whether the Demon Heads he killed were truly people who deserved to be killed.

Those who have kept their convictions believing without doubt that they are good people collapse when those convictions shatter. Bulgwae must also be that type of human.

The Heart Demons visiting must also be for that reason. They must have poked at the corner where Bulgwae felt anxious and showed it as a hallucination.

Of course, if reason remained properly, that wouldn’t be a problem. He would have deeply contemplated and reached answers about his own contradictions too. But now?

“Troublesome.”

Can’t be helped, can it?

Looking at Bulgwae’s eyes completely dyed red, I exhaled deeply, held my sword, and continued speaking.

“You know what, Bulgwae? What’s the most effective treatment for warriors who’ve entered Heart Demons?”

“…….”

“I searched through old documents, but there was only one thing that came out as a clear treatment.”

Beating them until they come to their senses. Historically, this was the answer.

“Don’t complain about your whole body aching when you wake up.”

“Kraaaaaah!”

He charges.

Watching Bulgwae, who lost his reason at my provocation and rushed at me, I held Uicheongeom and drew an arc. Though I spoke easily, he wasn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

‘Bulgwae’s martial learning touches Shaolin’s martial learning.’

Stillness, and robustness.

If the Sado Alliance Leader’s martial learning includes irregular and unpredictable techniques, Bulgwae’s martial learning is powerful arts that cannot be blocked even when known. The kind of martial arts that breaks mountains when mountains block and splits rivers when rivers block—that’s Bulgwae’s martial arts.

‘How should I deal with him?’

Softness overcoming hardness? Or poison overcoming poison?

Thoughts accelerate. Dozens of techniques disassemble and reassemble repeatedly in my mind. Generally, several techniques strong against powerful arts flash in my mind. However.

‘No.’

At Bulgwae’s level, compatibility means little. Though they say softness can overcome hardness, don’t they also say strength can sever softness?

‘Half-hearted responses are useless.’

A fist slowly pressing in.

Directly facing Bulgwae rushing in slowly through rapidly accelerated thoughts, I exhaled deeply and gripped my sword hilt tightly. When I think about it, isn’t it simple?

‘There’s no need to decide in advance what to deal with him using.’

My martial learning aims to reach the realm of will beyond technique.

While trying to create such martial learning, it makes no sense for me to be bound by any form or technique. There’s no more foolish act than creating limits yourself while trying not to place limits on the sword.

Finishing my judgment and watching Bulgwae’s fist that had arrived right before my nose, I slowly drew down my sword. And.

‘First.’

Just before Bulgwae’s fist and my sword touched.

‘Speed.’

Red-colored lightning dashed through the air.