Heavenly Killing Star.
Given the nature of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art, which forces me to emit thick killing intent, this is a suspicion that always follows me around.
That's why I looked into it separately, and I know quite a bit about the Heavenly Killing Star.
The Heavenly Killing Star is… a concept slightly different from a constitution or natural disposition.
Tang So-wol's Poison Spirit Constitution, Seol Ri-hyang's Pure Yin Constitution, and so on. All kinds of special constitutions are, strictly speaking, a type of disability.
Whether it's blood and energy twisting to accumulate poison in the body, or Yin Energy clumping together—either way, isn't it practically a heavenly punishment for ordinary folk?
Outstanding talent is nothing more than the desperate struggle of a body that did its best to survive under such adverse conditions.
But the reason such constitutions are regarded as a highly valued blessing today is simple.
It's because countless people have struggled to cure these heavenly punishments over the ages.
Those with the Poison Spirit Constitution learned the poison art, gaining the ability to control the poison accumulating in their bodies, and no longer died from being poisoned by their own venom.
Those whose constitutions gathered excess Yin or Yang Energy found martial arts that could handle it, easing the side effects and saving their lives from the death-bringing blocked meridians.
And countless other constitutions were explored by the geniuses born with them, each arriving at their own answer.
At last, constitutions became talents rather than heavenly punishments.
…All except one. The Heavenly Killing Star.
The Heavenly Killing Star cannot be cured. Countless attempts have been made, but every result was the same.
It is said that once a person is swallowed by the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent, they can never return to their right mind.
They lose their reason, become obsessed solely with slaughter, and to indulge that obsession, they blossom a talent rivaling the Heavenly Martial Body.
The Heavenly Killing Star—incurable, and if left alone, splattering the blood of everyone around rather than their own—was at some point designated as a kind of Martial World Criminal.
If the Heavenly Killing Star is confirmed, then before it grows further, before it awakens its Killing Heart, it must be killed.
That is the unwritten law of the martial world, written in blood.
The reason my Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art, even if it dispels suspicion, ultimately earns me the words that I am not a Heavenly Killing Star is of a similar vein.
Unlike the Heavenly Killing Star, which is swept away by intense and blind killing intent, I, in any case, am handling my killing intent.
But then, the news that Gakjeong took a Heavenly Killing Star as a disciple…
"So you intended to sever the fate of the Heavenly Killing Star."
"The Sect Leader is correct. The place where my master found his disciple was a place called Salcheon Sect."
"Salcheon Sect…? What kind of place is that?"
"They are heretics who claim that, since the world is in chaos, all martial artists who bring chaos to the world should be killed."
"Isn't that the Demonic Cult?"
Frowning unconsciously at the familiar-sounding explanation, Jeonghyeon let out a hearty laugh and shook his head.
"At a glance, it may sound similar, but there is a great difference between the two. That is, whether they are sincere or not."
"Sincerity, you say?"
"That's right. Setting aside the rights and wrongs of the Demonic Cult, they are always sincere. They genuinely believe that martial artists, and the martial arts that create them, must vanish from this world—and they act accordingly."
"That's correct. Among them, there are even some who, having learned martial arts themselves, say they will take their own lives once everything is over."
"Come to think of it, there is no rising talent as entangled with the Demonic Cult by ill fate as you, benefactor."
Jeonghyeon nodded. Only after he paused to catch his breath did he continue speaking.
"The reason the Demonic Cult maintains such pure sincerity, setting aside their direction, is simple. It is because they are the victims. …But the Salcheon Cult was the opposite."
"If it's the opposite, are you saying they were the perpetrators?"
"They are those who exploit the victims, so calling them perpetrators is not wrong either."
The conflict between the righteous and evil sects grew ever more intense. The common people who had lost their families and loved ones in battles between martial artists.
"The Salcheon Cult used them, whispering the words they wanted to hear."
Martial artists who rampaged without distinguishing heaven from earth were soon to die, regardless of whether they belonged to the righteous or evil sects.
The Heavenly Killing Star is a living heavenly punishment sent down from the heavens to punish martial artists who disturb the order of the world.
…We are currently raising that Heavenly Killing Star, but since he is such an extraordinary person, it costs quite a bit of money—could you help us out?
Something like that. The Salcheon Cult was apparently a pseudo-religious group that squeezed money out of victims with this kind of scheme.
"Wait, are you saying they were actually raising a child born with the Heavenly Killing Star in a place like that?"
"Surprisingly, it's true. They say he planned this whole fraud after discovering the Heavenly Killing Star by chance in the first place."
"Hah… They've got some nerve, risking their own lives like that."
"It was because they didn't truly understand the Heavenly Killing Star and underestimated it. They even had a plan to bind it tightly before it grew stronger than them, hand it over to the Murim Alliance, and receive a reward in return."
"Even to their final lament? They're either properly insane or, as the Abbot said, utterly ignorant. If it ever became known that they secretly raised a Heavenly Killing Star and handed it over, they might have lost their lives at the hands of the Murim Alliance."
"It wouldn't have even gone that far. Long before that, rumors of the Blood Heaven Cult had already reached the ears of the Murim Alliance, and I, my master, and many of the Alliance's top martial artists went to strike down the Blood Heaven Cult."
The Blood Heaven Cult was not as threatening an organization as the Murim Alliance had feared.
At best, they bled the common folk dry and occasionally brought in a low-quality third-rate martial artist to hold a mock execution to keep the public's favor—that was all they were.
The Blood Heaven Cult was wiped out in the blink of an eye, and the martial artists of the Murim Alliance moved to kill the Heavenly Killing Star that was supposedly inside.
In the basement, a small child, sobbing, was forcibly dismembering a corpse that had died not long ago, piece by piece.
The moment that child saw a person from the Murim Alliance rather than the Blood Heaven Cult, he burst into tears and spoke.
He said he didn't want to kill anyone anymore.
"That was the first meeting between master and disciple."
Those born with the Heavenly Killing Star do not go around killing people from childhood.
At first, they are merely somewhat cruel, somewhat quick to anger, and occasionally exude a vicious killing intent… It is only after that gradually worsens and they are completely consumed by the Killing Heart that they awaken as a Heavenly Killing Star.
How terrifying could a child of only six or seven years truly be?
Yet the reason he looked like a picture-perfect Heavenly Killing Star was simple.
"That is what the Blood Heaven Cult taught. They said, 'You are the Heavenly Killing Star, so you must act this way.' Even though the disciple hated it, they forced a sword into his hands."
I understood the reason. They needed to show the believers the inhuman image of the Heavenly Killing Star so they would be fanatical and offer up their money.
But to force a sword into the hands of a child who still knows nothing, and make him kill and cut people apart…
"That is too cruel."
"My master thought so as well. And my master believed that everyone deserves a single chance."
Gakjeong was resolute enough to be called a fierce wolf, yet he always carried the compassion of a Buddhist disciple in a corner of his heart.
That was why, no matter who the opponent was or what crime they had committed, he would give them a single chance to reform.
Even the Heavenly Killing Star—if it was a child weeping that he did not want to kill—could not be killed without mercy.
"So my master decided to take in the young disciple. The other Murim Alliance masters who accompanied him objected, but he secured their concession with one promise."
"A promise, you say…"
"I promised that I would teach him to suppress and control the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent through Buddhist study, but if my disciple failed to overcome the Heavenly Killing Star and ran amok, I would kill him with my own hands."
"…"
The moment I heard that much, a rough picture formed in my mind.
Gakjeong had taken the Heavenly Killing Star as his disciple and must have taught him with all his heart.
Perhaps Jeonghyeon had also secretly cherished such a master.
But then again, the Heavenly Killing Star was the Heavenly Killing Star for a reason.
In the end, Gakjeong must have had no choice but to kill his disciple, who had begun to run wild, with his own hands.
Whether he was deeply heartbroken in that process or had some other reason, Gakjeong decided to cripple his own Dantian.
And so, the great martial artist who had once been the abbot of Shaolin set down everything and became a scholar monk studying the Buddhist scriptures.
As I let out a short sigh, the companions who had heard the story nodded their heads.
"…Good heavens. I thought he was just an odd monk, but there was such a story behind it."
"So that's why Cheon Hwi could break through everything with his bare body even when he was tied up and buried under a pile of heavy luggage."
"This one did not know that much. At least, I do not recall it ever being spoken of as a rumor."
"It is only natural that no rumor spread. When he first brought his disciple here, he deliberately kept the disciple's existence a secret so that no word would get out that Shaolin Temple had taken in the Heavenly Killing Star, and he even disguised the death as an accident."
Indeed. There was no good reason to make it known.
Still, there was one thing that remained somewhat difficult to understand.
"Thanks to the Venerable Monk's explanation, I understand the general situation. But what business did the Great Monk Gakjeong have wandering outside? I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but you truly came close to danger this time."
I know well from personal experience that he is strong even without internal energy.
But his body is so aged that at best he could hold his own against a first-rate martial artist.
Considering that merely being first-rate is enough to walk around with your head held high anywhere, that's no small strength… but.
Still, it's also true that if he ran into a Peak Realm martial artist by bad luck like a few days ago, he would be hard-pressed to survive.
Jeonghyeon heard my words and gave a bitter smile before speaking.
"You still have lingering attachments, don't you?"
"Pardon?"
"After I buried my junior brother, my master passed the abbacy to me and began delving even deeper into the Heavenly Killing Star, which he had been researching all along."
"Ah, so that's why you call yourself a scholar monk?"
"It's one of the reasons."
Jeonghyeon let out a soft laugh and continued.
"It's simply lingering attachment. If I had done things differently back then, if I had known a little more, perhaps I could have suppressed my junior brother's killing intent… Perhaps I wouldn't have had to kill him. That's the regret I carry."
After all, Gakjeong had once served as the abbot of Shaolin Temple. There was no way he didn't know that such lingering attachment and regret were merely obsessions that gnawed at oneself.
I didn't know much about Buddhist teachings, but I did know the lesson that clinging to what cannot be changed only brings suffering.
And so, I had often heard—even if I couldn't fully understand it—that one must let go, let things flow past, and accept them.
Gakjeong, too, must have known everything yet been unable to stop himself.
That is the nature of the human heart. It clings stubbornly when it cannot let go, yet gives away so easily when the time comes to surrender it.
"My master intended to compile everything about the Heavenly Killing Star—using what he had organized while teaching his disciples to ensure no one like himself would ever appear again, along with all the records left in Shaolin Temple. …Then, claiming he had suddenly realized something, he ignored my pleas and packed his bags."
"What was it that he realized?"
"He said the appearance of the Heavenly Killing Star follows a pattern, and that the time for its cycle to return was drawing near."
"What?"
"So he said he would go and bring back this generation's Heavenly Killing Star himself, and slipped away without my knowledge. …Whether such a pattern truly exists, I wonder."
"…"
I could not bring myself to answer Jeonghyeon's words.
Before the regression. Around the time I had passed the age of twenty.
In Yunnan, the Heavenly Killing Star had appeared and turned the Diancang Sect into a wasteland.
There was only a few years' margin of error—Gakjeong had truly uncovered part of the Heavenly Killing Star's secret.
It was something no one in the history of the martial world had ever accomplished.