Chapter 6 : Defying Heaven (1)

Snow is falling.

Soft, cotton like snow is falling heavily.

Snow has piled up on the wall. A wide expanse of white cotton has spread over the fields and paddies. Snow has also piled up on the tree in front of the house. The sky is gray, and the world is being dyed white.

“Haa!”

A faint breath continues, as if it will break off at any moment.

The sick person lying on the bed has his eyes open. But they lost their light long ago.

The Sect Master stares at the white snow through the wide open window with empty eyes.

“Haa!”

After a long time, another breath was exhaled.

The interval between breaths is quite long. The breath seems to have almost stopped, but then it pours out again. And then it stops again.

Beside the bed sits a woman with a benevolent appearance.

Her three grown sons, who inherited the Dragon Bone, stood behind the woman and watched the Sect Master’s final moments.

The woman held the Sect Master’s hand tightly.

It was a hand that had withered away to just bone, but she still held it tightly.

The middle aged wife said, “My dear, you’ve suffered so much. Thank you so much. You can rest now. Don’t worry about us and rest comfortably. I was so happy to have met you. Thank you.”

The Sect Master did not react to his wife’s words.

He blankly looks out the window with empty eyes. He watches the heavily falling snow endlessly.

“Haaaaa…!”

This time, he took a very deep breath.

It was not an inhaled breath, but an exhaled one. He gathered all the remaining air in his body and poured it out in one go.

The Sect Master gently closed his eyes.

“Father!”

“Father…! Sob!”

The three sons standing behind the middle aged wife all called out to the Sect Master at once. And they burst into tears.

The Sect Master who had dominated his era had died.

It had been almost six months since he had resided in the Hidden House. He had endured for quite a long time even after his body was taken over by illness. But in the end, he had surrendered. He had taken his last breath.

The middle aged wife held the Sect Master’s hand tightly and looked at the Sect Master who could no longer speak. She only looked at his face.

After a long time, the middle aged wife said, “Munseung!”

Her voice calling for her eldest son, Heo Munseung, trembled faintly.

“Yes.”

“Your father has passed away.”

“Yes. Yes. He… has passed away.”

“From now on, cry for exactly half a quarter of an hour. Cry your heart out, cry buckets. And after half a quarter of an hour, maintain your dignity as the Sect Master of the Sacred Sword Sect. Show your authority. And hold your father’s funeral. Prepare it to befit the greatest martial artist in the world, without any shortcomings.”

* * *

“The Sect Master has passed away.”

“…”

Heo Dogi was silent.

Heavy snow was falling, so he was painting a snow scene, a sumi e painting.

The hand holding the brush had stiffened.

“A message came from the Hidden House. It’s a message that the Sect Master has just passed away.”

“Just now…?”

“Yes. He just passed away.”

“Just now. Just now. He endured for six months even while suffering from an illness that made it impossible to circulate his energy?”

Heo Dogi muttered as he put down his brush.

“What was he so worried about in this world. The world is a playground for the living, the dead can do nothing…”

A dark shadow fell over Heo Dogi’s face.

The position of the Sacred Sword Sect Master should have been his. It was right that it should be given to him. If it weren’t for the specious justification of primogeniture, it was a position that would never have gone to his brother.

The price for losing the position of the Sacred Sword Sect Master was harsh. No, it was more than harsh. It was no different from living in hell.

He could not go out into the world. He had lived in a thatched hut at the foot of the back mountain, painting sumi e paintings. If this wasn’t a prison life, what was it? Is it only a prison if you’re locked behind iron bars?

That period was a full thirty years.

If he had been active and energetic instead of secluding himself, he would not have been able to build up any power. That was certain. A person wearing the uniform of the Sacred Sword Sect had to be transparent in all their actions.

If that had been the case, even at this moment when his brother had died, he would have been alone. No disciples, no subordinates, no organization. He would have just watched Heo Munseung become the Sect Master.

Thanks to living with bated breath for thirty years, he was now able to stretch his wings wide.

His brother had passed away.

He knew he would pass away, but he didn’t know it would be today. He knew this day would come, but now that the fateful day had arrived, he didn’t feel refreshed. Rather, his heart was heavy.

How should he describe his feelings?

It was both refreshing and sad. He felt like he could fly, but at the same time, he felt complicated.

Heo Dogi closed his eyes for a moment and prayed for his brother’s soul.

“…What happened to that rascal?”

Heo Dogi asked with his eyes closed.

“Who do you mean?”

“The one trapped in the square box.”

“Ah! Dongbak. The work is finished.”

Heo Dogi nodded.

“It’s time. Let him go. Make sure everything is in order.”

“Should I let him go today?”

“Let him go.”

“I understand.”

The one eyed martial artist called One Eye answered in a thick voice.

* * *

The square box is a Mongolian prison.

A box like a rice chest or a coffin is made of wood, and a person is imprisoned inside.

The problem is that the square box is very small. It’s so narrow that one person can barely fit inside. It’s so narrow that you can’t even stretch your legs. Not only that, as the name ‘square box’ suggests, there is no hole to see the world.

It is a completely sealed wooden coffin.

There is a space on the side of the wooden box where you can stick your head out.

You can receive food and water through there. But most of the time, you stick your head out to see the outside world.

Other than that hole, all sides are blocked.

Of course, there is no space to handle excrement. You have no choice but to relieve yourself in a sitting position inside the square box. Naturally, the inside of the rice chest is filled with a foul stench. The fact that all kinds of insects are crawling around is a bonus.

The moment you are imprisoned in the prison called the square box, the person disappears and only the beast remains. Like a chicken in a poultry farm, you can’t move at all and have to eat only the food the owner gives you.

Dongbak spent six months trapped in the square box.

At first, he thought his master would come to save him. But his master did not come. Not even a shadow was seen.

The Ten Lesser Swords gave him a sense of humiliation that made his teeth chatter.

They would urinate inside the square box, or throw cow dung at him as if it were breakfast.

Dongbak endured all kinds of humiliation.

In order to get even one meal, he had to abandon himself. He even abandoned his pride to get a sip of water.

When he abandoned everything and became a beast, his mind was at ease.

This is the power of the square box. A person who does not know the square box prison has no idea of its power. It is a place where you have no choice but to be tamed very well, as the owner wants.

No one has ever lasted a month in the square box.

Dongbak was no different. If Dongbak had stubbornly held on, he would have lost his life already.

Dongbak sometimes gets to breathe the outside air.

It was a freedom given only after his limbs were tied, but he got out of the square box once every three or four days and stretched his arms and legs. He would clean the filth he had smeared in the square box with water… and the size of the square box was also changed to one large enough to stretch his legs.

Of course, it was not a benefit that came for free.

In order to get a breath of outside air once, he had to faithfully perform the role of a beast. He would say the words they wanted to hear, and read their thoughts in advance and offer appropriate flattery.

He had no pride.

The strong spirit of a Single Instant martial artist was dead.

The moment he realized the cold reality that his master would not come to save him, he felt a severe sense of betrayal.

‘I have to live on my own, by myself!’

The disciples of the Single Instant Sect originally live alone. They train alone, and survive alone. They also awaken to the Single Instant Blade alone.

The world is a place where you live alone.

It was about three months after he was imprisoned in the square box. He met Heo Dogi, the master of the Ten Lesser Swords.

“If you can withstand these two moves, I will let you go.”

“Two moves?”

“Two moves. Withstanding them, countering them, both are useful. Evading them is also useful. Do as you please.”

“Kikikik…!”

Dongbak laughed.

His animalistic senses twitched. It seemed like he had been trapped in the square box for about three months… but still, the blood of a Single Instant martial artist was stirring. The invincible blade was breathing.

“Who are you?”

Dongbak licked the small blade in his hand with his tongue.

The metallic taste on his tongue was refreshing. Seeing that there was no taste of blood, it was a new blade.

“There’s no need to ask what’s useless to know. Ask after you’ve withstood the two moves.”

“Kikik!”

Dongbak took a ready stance.

He lowered his body, and gently wrapped his hand around the blade as if holding an egg. He was thinking of using it as a throwing knife if necessary.

“Shall I?”

“Come!”

At that moment, the sword really flashed. A flash of lightning shone in front of his eyes. A single streak of black light swept past.

“Ah!”

Dongbak couldn’t move a muscle from his ready stance.

Swoosh!

His chest was slightly cut, and red blood trickled down.

“How is it compared to your master?”

“…”

Dongbak couldn’t say anything.

In fact, Dongbak did not know his master’s martial arts. The Single Instant Blade was a blade of death, so it was not drawn unless it was a matter of life and death. It was not used under any circumstances.

He had learned martial arts from his master. Verbally.

There were also things he had taught him physically. He had explained the forms in detail quite often, so there was no way there were no demonstrations.

But it was at a very slow speed.

He couldn’t speak of his master’s martial arts because he hadn’t seen them… but his opponent’s martial arts were truly top notch. It was a sword so powerful that it could cut down all of the Ten Lesser Swords at once.

‘Can I surpass this person?’

He thought he could even surpass his master. Not to mention his senior brothers. Of course, those people would think that he could never surpass them, but Dongbak was confident in his own way.

For the first time, Dongbak saw a mountain that he could never overcome. For the first time, he felt despair.

After that, Dongbak’s will was sharply broken.

“Did you have a good dream last night?”

“Hehehe! It seems you had a good dream, big brother. Your face is bright. I always have bad dreams.”

“No? Can something like this happen without even dreaming? For this, you should have dreamed of eating three or four pigs.”

“Aigoo, what on earth is going on. I’m dying of curiosity. Please tell me quickly.”

Dongbak stuck his head out of the hole in the square box and looked up at One Eye.

“You rascal, you’re being released today.”

“Pardon?”

“I said you’re being released today!”

“Re, really? Am I really being released? Really?”

Dongbak’s face brightened.

“You’ve suffered a lot. Why did you have to commit murder in the Sacred Sword Sect. I won’t forgive you next time. I’m letting you live because of the Single Instant Sect Master’s face, so keep that in mind.”

“…”

Dongbak couldn’t say anything.

He had never once thought that he would be released. He thought he would be trapped like this and one day be killed by a blade. Because all those who had been trapped in the square box had died.

‘I’m getting out alive. From this hell…!’

Dongbak’s body trembled.

He couldn’t believe it. That he was getting out alive. That he was being released.

(End of Chapter)