Chapter 206 – Killing Buddha

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Corridors stretched out confusingly in all directions… up, down, left, and right. A sliding door might be right above his head, and one wrong step could lead to a fall through a wide-open window.

‘…This is not a space that exists in reality.’

Judging by the red lanterns hung haphazardly, it was clearly a pleasure house or a brothel, but…

‘It’s a twisted space.’

Ju-seong smacked his lips and murmured.

Just then…

-BOOM!

A sliding door nearby shattered, and a pale white hand lunged, clawing at the spot where Ju-seong had just stood.

“Whoa!”

[Hahaha…]

Then came a piercing laugh.

[Did you really think you could escape from here?]

“Damn it… Let’s fight fair and square in reality, you crazy witch.”

Ju-seong looked around at the dozens of arms squirming and lunging from the corridors in all directions.

“A battle in the mindscape… That’s an unusual experience.”

-BANG! BOOM! CRACK!

Heavenly Splendor Fairy’s hands, seemingly inflated hundreds of times, sharpened their nails and tried to claw or grab Ju-seong.

In the process, wooden doors and corridors were smashed to splinters, wood fragments scattering everywhere.

Ju-seong madly braced himself against the walls and ceiling as he deployed his qinggong.

‘If this is a mindscape, I should be able to summon the weapons I hold in my upper dantian.’

For he harbored the most dangerous demon in his upper dantian.

He ran down the corridor, found a staircase, and immediately leaped upward.

Countless hands pursued him, but even at their peak, they couldn’t catch up to the speed of his White Phoenix Nine Heavens Movement Technique.

No matter that it was a world within the mind, it didn’t mean reality’s abilities were not reflected.

Even if she controlled dozens of hands, and each hand possessed formidable power…

-STEP-STEP-STEP!

It was difficult to easily hunt down Ju-seong, who was proficient in qinggong and movement techniques.

“Whoops!”

Furthermore, Ju-seong, who possessed Celestial Hearing, could immediately sense and dodge the presence of a hand suddenly bursting through a corridor wall.

He ran down corridors and climbed stairs for a long time.

In the mindscape, the physical body does not tire. The flow of time was also strange.

One only had to be wary of the mind wearing down and collapsing.

After climbing madly for a full day and a half…

“…The roof?”

As soon as he realized there were no more stairs, Ju-seong leaped up and burst through the ceiling.

A desolate, greyish land.

And standing tall upon it, a tower as massive as Mount Tai.

It was a bizarre shape, as if hundreds or thousands of pavilions had been tangled together haphazardly.

From its peak, Ju-seong stared at the bright red cloud floating in the distance.

Ju-seong shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Come! The prey you’ve been trying to devour your whole life is here!”

The Heavenly Killing Star.

It was a star that devoured human fate.

If Ju-seong were consumed by his killing intent, the jianghu would face an unprecedented killing demon.

Naturally, it was an irresistible prey.

-RUMBLE…!

As if responding to Ju-seong’s shout, the cloud in the distance began to roar and lunge toward the tower.

[You, what trick are you trying to play!]

From countless windows on the side of the tower, hands with sharp nails burst out and targeted Ju-seong.

‘It’s truly like a battle between a monster and an immortal from an ancient tale.’

Though, of course, this was a virtual world within the mind.

“Ssshhhuuu.”

Ju-seong narrowed his eyes and drew up his Flame Crow Six Stage Art internal energy, then deployed the Flying Cotton Palm technique at its peak.

Deploying the Flying Cotton Palm at the super-peak level, it truly appeared like gunpowder exploding.

Perhaps because it was within the mental world, its power was absurdly magnified.

-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

Hundreds of palm shadows exploded outward from Ju-seong, striking back the lunging hands.

Of course, since Heavenly Splendor Fairy held the initiative here, the hands didn’t suffer direct harm, but…

“It’s here.”

It provided more than enough of a window for the cloud to reach this place and unleash a dangerous firebolt.

-KKWARRURURUNG!

Just before the scarlet firebolt struck, Ju-seong ducked back into the hole he’d burst through.

Then he madly descended the stairs, and when that wasn’t feasible, he simply smashed through the floor and jumped down repeatedly.

[…KYAAAAAA!]

Heavenly Splendor Fairy’s scream echoed through the entire tower.

This tower was apparently Heavenly Splendor Fairy’s mindscape itself.

Unconcerned by the tower’s scream, the lightning spread along the tower walls, targeting Ju-seong.

-THUD-THUD-THUD! CRACK!

The wooden walls were scorched in the shape of lightning, emitting a bright red glow.

Along that path, the lightning madly pursued Ju-seong.

Currently, Ju-seong’s mind was in an extremely vulnerable state.

This was because he couldn’t rely on the help of a sturdy physical body. From the perspective of the killing intent, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to completely swallow Ju-seong.

“Not a chance!”

Ju-seong roared and fled with spirit.

“In seven years of jianghu life, if there’s one thing I’ve mastered, it’s running away!”

Ju-seong was second to none when it came to making a getaway.

Even if it was lightning, it wasn’t real lightning but the manifestation of killing intent. It couldn’t easily catch up to Ju-seong’s dash.

Ju-seong took advantage of Heavenly Splendor Fairy’s unstable mind to call for new helpers.

Suddenly, three figures burst through the windows.

Three silhouettes shining with golden light. Every one of them took the form of Ju-seong during his childhood.

Wrapped in Buddhist light, they were Ju-seong’s Three Celestial Senses… Celestial Hearing, Celestial Nose, and Celestial Eye.

Even in his urgency, Ju-seong laughed.

“Whoa… Long time no see, guys.”

“We don’t have time for greetings, you pathetic bastard! Run!”

They immediately grabbed Ju-seong’s hands and ran.

One of them said to Ju-seong.

“Now seems like the perfect time to awaken your Buddha-nature.”

Ju-seong shook his head.

“But right now, my heart is sick with a thirst for revenge, so such a thing is difficult.”

The golden children urged him.

“The answer is already within you. What have you thought since you first stepped into jianghu? If poison can also be medicine…”

At those words, Ju-seong suddenly stopped and nodded.

“…Then killing can also be life-giving.”

“Right. That thing chasing you… is it an energy that is only inauspicious and evil?”

“Hmm?”

“Since when did ‘killing’ mean the same as ‘demonic’?”

Ju-seong thought as he ran.

Killing.

Wasn’t that a principle that came to humans even before the Way or the Buddha?

Using others as prey, making their flesh my flesh and their blood my blood to continue life.

That is the principle of life and an axis of the cycle.

But Ju-seong also had a question.

“But if killing intent is truly no different from a natural principle of nature, why did every Heavenly Killing Star in jianghu history become a killing demon?”

“It’s a matter of excess… if a single human receives the energy of the star that governs the very principle of ‘killing,’ how could they not go mad?”

“Then, only an enlightenment of equal magnitude could suppress that killing intent.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ve got it.”

Having said that, Ju-seong looked back at the red lightning that had chased him close enough to make the hairs on his neck stand on end.

Ultimately, that red lightning and the golden boys beside him were all part of his self.

Whether that self became a dangerous red or an auspicious gold depended on what Ju-seong did.

Ju-seong stared at the lightning and murmured.

“Inauspicious and toxic, yet neither demonic nor evil. Then, what are you?”

-KKWARRUREUNG!

The lightning lunged.

Ju-seong looked at his Three Celestial Senses clones beside him and said resolutely.

“Ah, I don’t know. Let’s start by offering you guys as sacrifices.”

“What?”

Before the three clones could even be horrified, Ju-seong grabbed them by their collars and flung them toward the lightning.

“Take this and get lost!”

The golden boys screamed with distorted faces.

“Ju-seong, you son of a bitch!”

“You are part of me after all. Why spit on your own face?”

Ju-seong replied calmly.

-ZAA-ZAA-ZAA-ZAA!

Lightning sparked, and within it, yellow Buddhist light also flashed madly. Now the surroundings were so filled with light it was hard to distinguish anything.

When Ju-seong extended his right hand, a white, straight sword flew into his hand and wrapped around it.

Li Bai’s Sword Energy. It was filled with the energy of warding off evil.

Holding it tight to his chest, Ju-seong threw himself into the lightning as well.

The Way within Li Bai’s Sword Energy. The Buddha within the Three Celestial Senses.

And the terrible… killing intent Ju-seong had possessed since birth.

Blue, red, and yellow lights tangled and crushed together, soon turning into a pure white light that bleached everything in all directions.

All color evaporated, and only a pure white aura flashed madly.

Heavenly Splendor Fairy, now appearing as an old crone, screamed.

“What on earth were you harboring in your upper dantian! This, this is practically…!”

-KWA-AAAAAANG!

Finally, an enormous amount of light exploded.

Heavenly Splendor Fairy looked up, jaw dropping, at the mysterious ‘thing’ floating in the air.

Every martial artist’s mindscape takes a form according to the martial arts they’ve learned and their life’s journey.

Ju-seong thought with his eyes closed in the pure white space.

‘Master was a crow.’

The Divine Physician had honestly taken the form of a red crow, exactly as the martial arts he’d learned.

Red Beggar would likely be the shape of a white dragon squirming messily like a drunkard.

Wouldn’t the Blood Flower Crone be the shape of a red spider?

In Heavenly Splendor Fairy’s case, it was the form of massively concentrated wooden buildings, as seen. She likely spent her childhood in such a place, and the memories of that time built that woman’s personality.

Born in a place that treated people like objects, she gained skill and became someone who treated others the same way.

Her Palace of Pleasure was not just about women’s beauty, but blood, flesh, life, and soul… all treated like objects…

‘It must have been like a giant brothel.’

That was why her mindscape took this form.

Until now, Ju-seong’s mindscape had been somewhat chaotic.

Flame Crow Six Stage Art was a fierce ox pulling a cart.

The Three Celestial Senses were three boys emitting golden light.

Above them, killing intent flashed in the form of red lightning within a thundercloud.

In other words…

‘It was a complete mess.’

That he had reached Three Flowers Gathering with such a shitty mental state was the result of greatly benefiting from tens of thousands of fortuitous encounters.

In any case, having failed to make rational judgments and pushing himself into a tiger’s den deep in Jiangxi…

‘The upper dantian itself was a mess indeed.’

But now it was time to shed a layer and take flight.

‘Let’s see… Shall I open my eyes?’

* * *

Hwang Yi-hyang, a dancer of the Palace of Pleasure, trembled her eyelids and lifted her head.

Being the youngest among the dancers, she had stood at the very rear when deploying the seduction art.

Thanks to that, she had only been mildly poisoned by the Zhen poison and had barely survived, regaining consciousness after losing it.

The toxic energy that had filled the surroundings had vanished.

Lifting her head, she saw two people standing facing each other on the ridge.

“Palace Master…?”

The Palace Master of Pleasure, and standing before her…

‘Poison Demon…!’

The person who had plunged the Jiangxi evil path into terror was standing there.

Both were standing straight with their eyes rolled back, as if by agreement.

Perhaps the Palace Master was performing some great technique.

‘The Palace Master’s secret arts rank among the best in jianghu. Once caught, there is no way out for him.’

Hwang Yi-hyang clenched her fists in relief.

Even the Poison Demon, who had emitted such terrible toxic energy, would have no choice but to be reduced to just another man before the mistress of the Palace of Pleasure, offering up his very liver and gallbladder.

Just then…

“Eek! Wh-what is that!”

In the dark night.

Above Ju-seong’s head, a massive figure suddenly appeared.

Shining with a purple-gold light, it had three heads and six arms like a demon, yet its ears were long like a Buddha’s.

Was it a Buddha, or a demon?

“…No, it’s not demonic.”

The deep, dark malice unique to demonic practitioners could not be felt. Only an elemental killing intent that tightened the soul and made the legs tremble was being purely emitted.

Seated gracefully in a cross-legged position, it lifted a straight sword held in one of its six arms.

“Killing Buddha…!”

When the Killing Buddha struck with its sword…

It was surely a mere phantom, but the Palace Master of Pleasure collapsed on the spot as if struck by a real sword.

“Huff, huff, huff…!”

Hwang Yi-hyang, witnessing a marvel she had never seen before, breathed heavily.

Beneath the moonlight, the massive seated Buddha statue floated loftily.

Soon, Ju-seong’s eyes, which had been rolled back white, returned to their place. He immediately turned his head and stared in the direction of the presence he sensed.

Hwang Yi-hyang had no choice but to meet Ju-seong’s eyes.

“…Was there a survivor?”

Ju-seong’s deep, hollow pupils.

Within them was ‘that existence’ she had just witnessed… bizarre, auspicious, dangerous, yet infinitely beautiful.

“…!”

During her short life, Hwang Yi-hyang had only learned how to enchant men at the Palace of Pleasure.

The training of the Palace’s residents was ultimately about taking everything from the foolish who fell into their traps and building upon it.

With no hardships to overcome and no stories written…

Their minds couldn’t possibly be sturdy.

Facing that terrifying thing in Ju-seong’s mindscape directly, pain followed as if her soft mind were being seared with fire.

“…GACK!”

The result could be nothing other than fainting with foam at the mouth.

Ju-seong looked at that sight in disbelief, then closed his eyes.

Then, in a quiet voice, he asked himself.

“Poison bestowed by heaven, can you become medicine?”