What determines value?
Whether it be an object, a person, or a martial art, it makes no difference. What is the standard by which value is measured?
Back when I was still called Blood Wolf. I only knew how to swing a sword, and didn't even know how to read—it was Seomun Hwa-rin who posed this question to me.
She said that if I gave a satisfactory answer, she'd procure some Spiritual Medicine for me, even if it was low-grade, so I thought long and hard before replying.
My answer back then was desire.
No matter how rare a gemstone, if people don't want it, it's no different from a pebble. A stunning beauty doesn't appeal to those of the same sex, and even a divine martial art is nothing but empty words to the common folk.
Therefore, what matters is how much one desires it. In other words, desire is the root of all value.
This thought had not changed to this day.
And now. The Blood Buddha had thrown me a similar, yet slightly different, question.
How much value would a world where every desire is fulfilled hold?
***
While I was briefly lost in memories of the past, a soft voice reached my ears.
Jingle—
"Oh my? So you were here, Sword Demon. I've been looking everywhere for you."
"…I thought I was in a fairly conspicuous spot."
"That's true. The veranda is the first thing you see when you leave the room. But even that brief moment it took me to reach your side, Sword Demon, felt like a thousand days to me. So yes, I was searching for quite a while."
Tang So-wol said this with a bright smile and sat down beside me.
The sun had long since set, and in the darkened sky, the moon and stars were shining.
Ever since I saw Tang So-wol, in her days as the Poison Lady, settle into the Iron Blood Faction, I had been constantly pondering how this illusion worked. Before I knew it, the time had slipped away like this.
Thanks to that, just as I was about to finish my immediate tasks and catch my breath, Tang So-wol came looking for me.
A distance neither too close nor too far. Yet close enough to confirm each other's presence.
Tang So-wol raised her head to follow the sky I had been blankly staring at, and opened her mouth.
"Was I perhaps in the way?"
"That's not it. I have never once thought of you, Tang So-wol, as an obstacle."
"Heh heh. That is quite a sweet thing to say. For the Sword Demon to speak such flattering words, so out of character—now I can speak my mind freely."
"What is it you wish to say?"
Jingle—
"What else? It's about the hall you mentioned the other day. I've found a suitable site. Would you care to look at it together sometime?"
"…"
Tang So-wol shrugged her shoulders. Following the motion, a few strands of her hair, which had already turned white, slipped down.
Before I knew it, my eyes followed the movement, and Tang So-wol's brows curved into a beautiful arc.
"You remember, don't you? The hall with a good view of the moon that you spoke of when you proposed to me. You said that once it was completed, you would come live with me at the Tang Clan along with the other two."
"…Yes. I did say that."
Tang So-wol, who had not been subjected to Clan Extermination, mentioning the last promise she made with me with her hair already turned completely white.
I gave her a bitter smile and nodded.
Surprisingly, in this world, not only did the Poison Lady stay at the Iron Blood Faction, but she had also promised to marry me along with Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin.
What a convenient dream.
Seomun Hwa-rin, having not announced her defection to the Orthodox Sects, was still the Baekbal Nachal and the Iron Blood Faction Leader.
And Seol Ri-hyang was making a name for herself as a master of the Unorthodox Sects under the alias Ghost Sound Witch.
No matter how soft Tang Jincheon was toward Tang So-wol, and no matter that he had once promised to prioritize her own wishes above all when it came to marriage.
Even taking that into account, there was no way he would permit Tang So-wol to hold a wedding ceremony with two women of the Unorthodox Sects and with me—the Sword Demon, a mere Unorthodox Sects nobody.
Well. If I were to nitpick every fine detail, I would have to start by pointing out that Tang So-wol, Seol Ri-hyang, and Seomun Hwa-rin were all together in the first place.
Each of them was of course taking the form they had before the regression, not their present selves, and regardless of their actual age difference, they all maintained the appearance they had right before their deaths.
On top of that, there was a problem with the titles they used.
Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin called me Blood Wolf, but didn't Tang So-wol call me Sword Demon?
Considering that after the deaths of Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, I had danced a sword dance and piled up Karmic Sin of Killing until my alias changed from Blood Wolf to Sword Demon—this was a truly contradictory situation.
Yet, it was what was actually happening right before my eyes.
A dream that showed me only what I wanted to see, without any proper cause or consequence.
I knew what this place was. But I still didn't know how to escape it.
Just as my mind was about to grow complicated again, Tang So-wol, who had been keeping a moderate distance, suddenly pressed close.
Jingle—
Warmth wrapped around one of my arms. Her breath tickled my face as she whispered.
"Sword Demon. I'm certain that even someone like me could find happiness with you. Do you feel the same?"
"Obviously."
At my answer, Tang So-wol slowly lifted her head. Seeing her face offered up so obediently, as if urging me on, my hand moved on its own.
I lifted the bangs that covered half her face and traced the melted scar beneath them.
This was the most powerful and certain expression of affection between me and Tang So-wol.
We were each the piece the other needed most.
Without you, I am nothing; without me, you would only slowly rot.
Thus, we are people who are only complete when we are together.
…That was how it had been.
But now, for a moment, just a brief moment, I want to close my eyes to everything.
Because I have not yet had enough time to prepare my heart.
Because I still wasn't certain of the method I had thought of.
***
After staying in this dream for a few more days, I learned something.
The artificiality of this world didn't end with people I thought I'd never see again gathering in one place.
No matter what I did, everything flowed in a positive direction. If I needed something, no matter how things turned out, it would eventually fall into my hands.
For example, there was a time when I bought dumplings at the market without thinking and, finding the change troublesome, told them to keep it.
And then, because of the silver I'd paid, the innkeeper said he could finally cover his mother's medicine costs, weeping and bowing deeply to me, and all the villagers suddenly sang praises of my good deed.
As a bonus, a woman so beautiful it was strange to call her the innkeeper's daughter subtly tried to seduce me, saying she'd repay me with her body and whatnot.
Jingle—
…I don't remember it clearly, but she must be a woman I'd passed by at least once across both my past and present lives.
After all, everyone who appears in this place seems to be someone I remember, whether consciously or unconsciously.
A good deed repaid a hundredfold. And the beauty who follows along as if it's only natural.
It was a truly childish, one-dimensional fantasy, but even I, who scoffed at it, couldn't completely deny the pleasure lying at its foundation.
Though the degree may differ, how many men are there who don't like wealth, fame, power, martial might, or women?
Regardless of my values and experiences, it's a pleasure etched into instinct.
And besides that, when I wanted to hole up at home, rain would suddenly fall, and when I wanted to go out, the weather would clear up again.
Out of curiosity, I tested it, and found that beyond the weather, even the seasons changed according to my wishes.
Moreover, while Seol Ri-hyang is stronger now than before the regression, Tang So-wol and Seomun Hwa-rin are stronger in my memories.
I've even requested sparring matches to use this as a starting point for training…
But the moment I focused even slightly to find an opening, they'd make ridiculous mistakes and leave themselves wide open.
There was no point to the training, but Tang So-wol and Seomun Hwa-rin, fawning over me with exaggerated fuss, were a little cute.
Aside from these trivial matters, everything in the world flows smoothly in my favor.
The Heavenly Demon, whom I had feared so much, perished alongside the Imperial Court in mutual destruction, and Tang So-wol suddenly gained the support of the entire Tang Clan and was chosen as the next clan head.
As for Seol Ri-hyang, who had suffered from all sorts of side effects due to not properly mastering the Yin-Cold Energy Cultivation, all side effects except for the ones I liked disappeared.
For instance, the effects of Yin Energy—heightened libido, a better figure—remained, while the problems of shortened lifespan and inability to bear heirs were resolved.
On top of that, Seomun Hwa-rin apparently picked up some Spiritual Medicine called Pungyu-hwan or something from somewhere in the Western Regions, and her chest even grew larger.
Even so, she still couldn't match Tang So-wol or Seol Ri-hyang. Perhaps my subconscious was putting the brakes on, insisting that this wasn't Seomun Hwa-rin.
It's absurd, but that's how this world works.
Jingle—
A dream where everything is endlessly generous and kind to me.
Nothing is lacking, nothing is painful. A life where all I have to do is enjoy myself.
I don't know how much time will pass in reality, but at least in this dream, even if I live out a lifetime several times over and start again, I never wake up. And so, this is also an eternal dream.
…Unless I wake up on my own.
Even as I familiarized myself with this world and learned its ins and outs, time continued to flow.
Before I knew it, the first night of marriage had arrived, with three beautifully dressed women.
"Heh heh. Well, since I'm the legal wife, shouldn't I be the one to take the lead here?"
"What nonsense is that, Sister Dang? I should be the one to demonstrate for the two who have no experience yet."
"Go! Don't you know the proper order of precedence? Here, by age, this lady should go first…"
Tang So-wol loosened her white hair, which had been neatly pinned up with a hairpin, and shrugged her shoulders. As if reenacting the continuation of a promise never fulfilled.
Seol Ri-hyang flushed her pale complexion red and loosened her clothes. Though he had seen it countless times, it was the same sight that always made his heart race.
Seomun Hwa-rin, who had grown remarkably compared to before but still fell short of the other two in chest size, straightened her back and barked out a rebuke.
The three of them bickered playfully, occasionally casting subtle glances my way.
Perhaps this was the most ideal future I could have wished for.
No longer needing to fear the Heavenly Demon, ruling the Central Plains—now that the Imperial Court had vanished and the Tang Clan had become the greatest family in the world—and spending joyful days with women who looked only at me.
That alone would be happiness, but if a child were born, a different kind of happiness would await.
How beautiful would a life be, spent in the same place with those I love, painting the same future together?
How precious would a family be, finally obtained by one who had never managed to build a proper home?
I gave a faint smile toward the three women staring intently at me, as if hanging on my every move.
"Everyone. I have something to say."
"What is it? If it's the Sword Demon speaking, I will always lend my ear."
"You're not about to ask something strange, are you? A, a little bit is fine, but…"
"I know the Blood Wolf dislikes hearing this, but this one considers this very moment a happiness beyond her station. Say whatever you wish. Even if it's very strange, it's fine."
The three spoke with smiles like moonlight that had already seeped into my heart, with tones that would never surrender their pride, with the expressions of a benevolent teacher and a beloved woman.
I looked at each of their faces slowly, as if carving them into my memory.
After long deliberation, the answer to the question the Blood Buddha had thrown at me was decided.
A world where all desires are fulfilled is, in the end, a world where only my desires exist. In it, there is no one but me.
Thanks to Seol Ri-hyang, I learned that I was capable of loving someone, and thanks to Seomun Hwa-rin, I learned that I could become a better person.
And so, when I came to hold Tang So-wol in my heart, I finally began to wish for happiness.
What value could a world where I exist alone possibly hold for someone like me?
"I do not care for this hollow dream."
A fleeting yet beautiful dream. A dream that must never come true.
A dream different from reality… a dream that must be different.
And so, an inverted dream.
The way to wake from a dream is simple. Deny everything within it.
Jingle- jingle- jingle- jingle-
The bell's ringing echoed loudly, blanketing heaven and earth. As if trying to dissuade me from what I was about to do.
But I had already made up my mind to open the eyes I had shut.
Shrrk.
An alien metallic sound cutting through the hundreds, the thousands of bells.
The sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath.
"I'm sorry, but die for me."
My vision blazed. The smell of burning and blood that brushed past my nose after so long sharpened my mind.
Yes. This was what the life I had stepped into was always like.
I covered the paradise that the bell had conjured with my own hell.