Chapter 1946 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1946. So It Was Still There. Within Me. (1)

Silence.

Everything was silent.

The Archbishop simply accepted that long silence that seemed as though it would stretch on forever.

Of course, that did not mean he welcomed it. He was one who had spent countless years in silence, regardless of his own will.

If silence means being unable to cry out, unable to scream, then perhaps he was the one in this world who hated silence the most.

It was agony. Agony greater than having one’s flesh torn apart, greater than having one’s soul burned away.

The Archbishop had spent most of his life together with that agony of silence.

But now? Was this silence painful as well?

No. It wasn’t. Rather, even though he was now being forced into a silence deeper than any he had ever endured before, it no longer caused him pain.

Because this silence was different from that accursed silence he had merely been forced to endure without end. The end of this silence already lay over there.

The Archbishop quietly gazed toward a single point.

There stood a figure, white as a white heron, motionlessly looking toward the distant sky.

The Heavenly Demon.

His god and their god. His everything and their everything.

That sacred being had stopped. Therefore, the Archbishop also stopped, harboring not the slightest question.

The Archbishop’s gaze remained fixed upon the Heavenly Demon.

Even the word ‘greatness’ was too irreverent to dare apply to Him. The being manifested before his eyes was beyond anything human language could describe. Such was the perfection of His existence.

Yet there was one regrettable truth. That sublime divinity was forced to dwell within nothing more than the body of a mere speck of dust called a human.

Thus, the one before his eyes was both an eternal, deathless existence, and at the same time, a human capable of bleeding.

‘A being mighty because He is a god, yet frail because He is human.’

That, above all else, was the truest description of the being before him, more so than any title the world presumptuously bestowed upon Him.

That was why He could not continue onward without rest. The soul of a god knew no limits. But the flesh of a human did.

‘But!’

The Archbishop’s gaze sank heavily.

The intervals between His rests were growing steadily shorter.

As light gradually returned to those vacant eyes, as the gaze that had wandered through empty air as though unable to find where it ought to go settled more and more upon a single point, as strength slowly filled the footsteps that had lurched forward like those of a wooden puppet.

The Heavenly Demon became more and more the Heavenly Demon.

Exactly the same as the Living God he had witnessed in the past.

[Hyeoninsin. 현인신(現人神). Literally “a god manifested as a human.” A being who possesses divine nature while existing in human form.]

His chest throbbed.

The mere thought of beholding that figure once more brought an unbearable mixture of ecstasy and terror surging through him.

No. No, that wasn’t all.

Surely, the Heavenly Demon would become far greater than He had been back then....

“The world.”

It was at that very moment.

The Heavenly Demon, who had been quietly gazing at the heavens for two shichen without moving, suddenly spoke with a clear, crystalline voice. [tl/n: equal to approximately four hours.]

The instant that sound, a voice that scarcely seemed human, reached his ears, The Archbishop reflexively slammed his forehead against the ground.

It was not a conscious act. Nor was it merely a movement born of habit.

Something dwelling within that voice itself had forced The Archbishop into an even lower posture.

The Archbishop’s breathing quickened on its own. Only after exhaling several ragged breaths did he regain his composure, forcing out a trembling voice.

“A-Ask Your question, O Great One.”

Yet no question came.

Only then did The Archbishop realize that the Heavenly Demon’s words, “The world.”, had themselves been the question. As though entranced, he opened his mouth.

“The world... the world of men has changed, yet it has also remained unchanged.”

“.....”

“Everything has changed, yet that change holds no meaning. The world is still ruled by filthy unbelievers, and their strongholds still stand firm. They continue to stain the earth with blasphemy, and they continue to spread the heavens of disbelief.”

The Archbishop spoke as though coughing up blood.

“Therefore, command us. Command us to trample them beneath our feet. Command us to exterminate them. These lowly and foolish servants once failed to carry out the Heavenly Demon’s command. But this time will be different. Our bodies have been tempered by the fierce northern winds untouched by the breath of unbelievers, and our souls have been forged by the bitter cold of lands never defiled beneath unbelievers’ feet. This time, we shall fulfill Your command with our very lives.”

It was a cry poured forth with his very soul.

But whether that cry had truly reached its destination, he could not know. As always, all he could do was cry out, hoping that the desperate longing carried within his voice would somehow be conveyed.

The Archbishop prostrated himself.

Without daring even to think of raising his head, he simply remained bowed, enduring a span of time that felt like eternity.

After a long, long while had passed, when at last his endurance reached its limit, the Archbishop cautiously lifted his head.

And the Archbishop saw it.

The gaze of that exalted being resting upon him.

“Ah....”

It wasn’t merely that he happened to stand where the Heavenly Demon’s gaze had fallen.

At this very moment, the Heavenly Demon was unmistakably looking directly at him.

Moisture gathered at the corners of the Archbishop’s wrinkled eyes, and his vision blurred.

To another, it might have seemed a sight of no consequence.

But the Archbishop knew. He knew how much that single gaze meant, and how astonishing a thing it truly was.

The mighty, the exalted, the emperor, and the god.

Those who receive mankind’s reverence look down upon the world.

They always remain in lofty places, gazing down upon humanity as though merely observing it.

But the Heavenly Demon was different.

The few who still remembered the Heavenly Demon as he once was would know. Unlike other oppressors, the Heavenly Demon’s gaze had always been directed toward the heavens.

Their god never looked upon mankind. He hated humanity too deeply to allow even his gaze to rest upon them.

Yet now, that Heavenly Demon was looking at him.

Even in ages past, only one or two. Even those who had served him from the highest ranks of the Cult had only been granted that glorious gaze near the very end of the war. And now, that gaze rested upon the Archbishop.

The Archbishop trembled with overwhelming emotion. That single gaze alone made it feel as though every moment of his long, agonizing years had finally been repaid.

“Is that so.”

An unfocused voice escaped from the Heavenly Demon’s lips.

Nothing could be discerned from that voice. Whether those words held anger, regret, or even hostility, he could not tell.

Then, once more, the Heavenly Demon slowly began to walk.

Thump. Thump.

The Archbishop hastily slammed his forehead back against the ground.

Only two brief utterances.

But they were enough. Those two utterances alone allowed him to dedicate an even deeper devotion to the devotion he already possessed.

But just as the Heavenly Demon was about to pass by him, a third utterance, one the Archbishop had never dared hope to hear, flowed from the Heavenly Demon.

“H-...”

The Heavenly Demon’s voice stopped.

At the same moment, his footsteps halted as well. His head slowly lifted. Soon, his gaze fixed itself upon the empty air once more, just as before, yet the movement was unmistakably different.

It was the same silence. And yet, within that silence lingered a strange sense of frustration. The sort of frustration one might feel while desperately trying to recall something that refused to come to mind.

“He...”

At the voice that finally left the Heavenly Demon’s lips, the Archbishop shuddered.

‘He?’

A chill crawled down his spine.

Had the Heavenly Demon ever referred to someone in such words? No, had he ever referred to a ‘person’ at all?

That was why the Archbishop could not answer. He could not even begin to guess who this ‘he’ the Heavenly Demon spoke of might be.

Yet that question, scarcely even worthy of being called a question, was answered almost at once. For after speaking those words, the Heavenly Demon raised a hand and touched his own neck. Slowly, from left to right, as though tracing across it, as though recalling a scar carved deep into the flesh.

In that instant, the image of one man surfaced in the Archbishop’s mind.

The hateful one who had dared commit the unimaginable sacrilege of severing the Heavenly Demon’s neck.

‘The Plum Blossom Sword Saint.’

Creak.

Digging his fingernails into the ground, the Archbishop answered in a trembling voice, unable to suppress the fury welling up within him.

“That wretch... that vile man drew his last breath on that very spot after the Heavenly Demon underwent Return to the Demonic State.”

[귀마(歸魔), Gwima. Literally “Return to Demon.” A sacred expression used by the Demonic Cult to describe the Heavenly Demon’s death or return to His original divine state, rather than treating it as ordinary death.]

“.....”

“Not only every one of that wretch’s fellow disciples, but even his entire sect was thoroughly crushed and made to pay the price. Not even a trace of him should remain upon that filthy land. Though I’ve heard there are those who now dare bear the name of that accursed Mount Hua, they couldn’t possibly have inherited anything from that vile bastard. O Heavenly Demon.”

The Heavenly Demon gave no reply.

He merely lingered there for a moment before beginning to walk once more.

Had the Archbishop’s words helped? Or had they not....

At that instant, the Archbishop clutched his own face tightly with one hand.

‘You blasphemous fool!’

Help?

How could he dare harbor such filthy thoughts?

The Heavenly Demon needed no one’s help. How could a god who required the aid of humans possibly exist?

‘Just because He bestowed His gaze upon me once, I’ve started thinking I’m something!’

He loathed himself. So deeply that, if only he could, he wished to shatter his own skull and atone for this blasphemy with his life.

Every word the Heavenly Demon spoke was never directed toward mankind. He merely happened to exist before Him. The Heavenly Demon was one who knew all things, and one who would accomplish all things.

And yet, how could nothing more than a wall, existing only where it was placed, dare possess a will of its own? A blasphemous will, no less.

Yes. It was blasphemy.

The Heavenly Demon was one who never placed humanity within His gaze.

But if that were so... Why had the Heavenly Demon spoken of ‘him’?

His thoughts went no further.

A dog could never understand a human. It merely believed it understood, in its own way. Thus, he too could never understand a god.

But in that fleeting instant, the Heavenly Demon’s fourth utterance, unmistakably different from all the others before it, reached his ears.

“... Sun was it.”

[tl/n: “......순인가.” sun-inga. The Heavenly Demon only utters 순 (sun) here. The original Korean intentionally leaves it incomplete and provides no Hanja or context, so it is impossible to determine whether it is a person’s name, part of a word, or the beginning of an unfinished thought.]

The Archbishop’s body trembled.

What had He just said? What words had the Heavenly Demon just spoken?

Blankly, the Archbishop turned his head.

All he could see was the Heavenly Demon’s back. Leaving him behind, the Heavenly Demon had already walked far into the distance. As the Archbishop kept his gaze fixed upon that retreating figure, he heard a faint voice. Something like a quiet murmur... A voice tinged with an emotion unlike any before.

“So it was still there. Within me.”

Rustle. Rustle.

The Heavenly Demon’s feet brushed softly through the grass. So gently and carefully.

He couldn’t understand the Heavenly Demon’s words.

But the Archbishop made no attempt to understand them. Nor was it because trying to understand would be blasphemous.

He must not understand. No, he must never understand.

Such an overwhelming premonition seized the Archbishop.

‘O Heavenly Demon.’

Once more, the Archbishop bowed his head to the ground.

Like a child shrinking in terror beneath the image of an Asura filling the heavens, the Archbishop merely shut his eyes and covered his ears.

‘What is it that You desire?’

Thinking that perhaps even the Heavenly Demon he knew had been nothing more than a mere fragment, the Archbishop swallowed the groan rising from deep within his throat.

And perhaps...

Perhaps it was because the Heavenly Demon’s back, the one he had just witnessed, had seemed infinitely, unmistakably human.

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