bookrebus Chapter 277 : The Final Curtain of Infinity (1)
Chapter 277 : The Final Curtain of Infinity (1)
Chapter 277: The Final Curtain of Infinity (1)
Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province.
Once a symbol of the Orthodox Path and a peaceful city, this place had now been transformed into a hellish tableau, completely shrouded by the black shadow of the Blood Cult.
The entire city had been stained a dark crimson with blood, and the buildings had collapsed into skeletal ruins.
At the center of this horrific space, where only death remained, the Blood Palace—once situated at the core of the Blood Cult’s main headquarters—had astonishingly been relocated in its entirety through sorcery and now stood there.
And at the very heart of the Blood Palace, leaning back upon a massive throne, the Blood Demon sat with his eyes closed.
Caw! Caw!
Dozens of crows with blood-red eyes drifted through the air around him, not a single feather out of place.
‘So, that is how it was.’
Scenes transmitted by those dozens of crows flashed through the Blood Demon’s mind like lightning.
The crows, as though projecting his own will, were delivering real-time reports of the battlefield situations across the entire Central Plains.
The attempt to reclaim Henan had ended in complete failure, and in Gansu, Jin Mubek and Wi Tae-do had trampled the Gale Sands.
Everywhere the Blood Cult had once been gaining the upper hand, the signs of defeat were now growing unmistakable.
And at the center of all those upheavals, flags bearing the character “Overlord” fluttered in the wind.
They were the banners of the Paetcheon Association, led by Tang Sewoon.
Buuuk!
Pueong!!
At that moment, one of the crows suddenly swelled up and exploded grotesquely.
Piiiiii!
Along with a bizarre hissing sound, like air leaking out, the crow’s crimson eyes shattered into fragments.
Amidst it all, a single drop of black blood spilled from the crow and splashed onto the Blood Demon’s cheek, trickling down.
But the Blood Demon did not care.
No—rather.
“Kuahahahahaha!!”
For the first time, he revealed his emotions and burst into laughter.
It was a sinister laugh, mingled with ecstasy and madness.
So tremendous was the power unleashed by that simple action that even the gatekeepers standing guard outside suffered miserable deaths, blood pouring uncontrollably from every orifice of their bodies.
As their bodies collapsed limply onto the ground like blood-soaked rags—
-Look carefully, Blood Demon.
-Wait just a little longer. I will come to you soon.
Sewoon’s voice continued to echo in the Blood Demon’s ears like a lingering reverberation.
That was right. The crow that had burst apart was a sorcerous construct, one that had been observing Sewoon through Gu Eum Majon.
“Joyful.”
The Blood Demon heard everything Sewoon had said.
And for the first time since losing it across countless eons, he let out a laugh.
“It was an endless curse and shackle of infinity.”
Across innumerable eons, the Blood Demon had endlessly repeated death.
His life had been a ceaseless cycle of despair—starting over without ever achieving everything he desired.
Yet even after repeating that infinity, he had obtained nothing he truly wanted. Though he had lived countless lives across endless ages, all of it had ultimately ended in emptiness.
His mind had long since been worn down to nothing, and his emotions had hardened beyond recovery.
It had been a time of hopeless waiting that seemed as though it would never end.
It was a savage shackle and restraint that no living being could ever endure.
Infinite life had gnawed away at his sanity, rendering him unable to truly live.
In that instant, the Blood Demon’s eyes gleamed with terrifying light.
“But at last, I found it.”
And that reckoning had finally arrived today.
He now stood at the moment of crossing from ‘today’ into ‘tomorrow’.
The Blood Demon dissected the realm Sewoon had displayed while clashing with Gu Eum Majon.
‘To erase the afflictions of the Three Poisons and advance in a single instant. Astonishing progress.’
He recalled the time he had last seen him in Shaanxi.
Back then, it had clearly been only full maturity of the Life and Death Realm.
His enlightenment had been decisively lacking.
Yet when he eliminated Gu Eum Majon, that man had unmistakably crossed the wall.
“Something that existed even ‘before’ the death of the Sword Emperor. Clearly, some other factor was at work. Was it due to the Heavenly Demon’s legacy?”
A bizarre flash erupted from his eyes.
It was not mere light. It was a destructive force capable of collapsing the boundary between past, present, and future.
With a single gesture of his hand, the surrounding space twisted, and the very principles of the world were distorted.
The Blood Demon began rummaging through the memories within his mind.
Kwarururung!
The threads of causality were severed, and the foundation of existence itself trembled.
It was a mighty sorcery that only a transcendent being who had endured countless eons could wield.
Memories numbering thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of millions—no, close to infinity—were retraced at lightning speed.
Yet none of them resembled the Sewoon of the present.
“No. There were certainly beings who showed the possibility of obtaining the Heavenly Demon’s legacy. But this is different from then.”
That was precisely why Tang Sewoon was special to the Blood Demon.
Across countless eons, he was the ‘only’ being to produce the first true result.
“Yes. Now it is certain. Tang Sewoon, you are indeed the one I was searching for.”
The Blood Demon’s eyes gleamed with greed.
A bewitching smile crept across his face.
It was the expression of a beast that had discovered its prey.
To him, Sewoon was not merely a threat.
He was the sole existence the Blood Demon had sought throughout endless ages.
Step.
At that moment, the Blood Demon slowly rose from his Grand Preceptor Chair.
With that single, small motion, a wave erupted as though the laws of the world themselves had been twisted.
Kwarururung!
Kwagagagaga!
Ten thousand demons and aberrations rose simultaneously, surging beyond the chamber and engulfing the entire Blood Cult.
Kurururung!
A colossal wave burst outward like erupting magma.
Kwarururung!
The black walls of the Blood Palace that were struck by that wave crumbled into ash without resistance.
Pillars forged from solid materials shattered with horrific, bone-crushing sounds, and the massive palace was reduced to ruins in an instant.
What was revealed where the Blood Palace had vanished was an even more dreadful hellscape.
Rivers of blood wound their way through the land, and the blood-red clouds hanging in the sky deepened further in hue.
All things in the surroundings were warped and twisted by his wave.
Ten thousand demons and aberrations fell to their knees, screaming under his overwhelming pressure.
Their screams were nothing more than pleasant music to the Blood Demon’s ears.
“Now, however, none of it matters.”
The Blood Demon began to walk slowly out through the ruins.
Now was the time to go and meet him in person.
“Now, I will take what is mine.”
Blood-stained eyes flashed with a cold, chilling light.
The war in Shaanxi concluded with the victory of the Murim Alliance.
After returning, Sewoon swept away all enemies. The remnants were completely annihilated, and only Gui Yeongja escaped alone after offering his subordinates as sacrifices.
It was an overwhelming victory.
Moreover, for the first time, reports of victory were arriving from all corners of the battlefield.
In a situation where only defeat had repeated itself, the first signs of a reversal were finally appearing.
However, no one called this a victory of the Murim Alliance.
“The Paetcheon Association Leader accomplished what neither the Murim Alliance nor the White Path Union could!”
“Indeed! Only by centering ourselves around the Paetcheon Association and fighting that vile Blood Cult can we win!”
“He alone is our true savior!”
“Is this what a true hero looks like?!”
The one who executed Gu Eum Majon and led the Shaanxi battlefield to victory was Tang Sewoon.
His overwhelming power and strategic acumen exceeded everyone’s expectations, and as the Paetcheon Association continued to achieve victories throughout the Central Plains, martial artists of the Jianghu no longer called the Paetcheon Association an unorthodox path.
Tang Sewoon, who aided everyone without distinguishing between orthodox and unorthodox, without dividing between the White Path Union and the Murim Alliance, was praised by all within the Murim Alliance.
It was as though all past grievances had been completely forgotten.
People believed Sewoon to be the only hero capable of standing against the Blood Demon.
Even though the Sword Emperor had met his death and hope was exceedingly fragile, the difference between having a focal point and having none was like heaven and earth.
Thus, people no longer called Sewoon the Dark Heaven, nor did they call him a Death Venerable.
Azure Heaven Martial Emperor.
The Martial Emperor who would once again call forth a blue sky over the Jianghu.
Sewoon was now being called by that name of hope.
Mount Hua, from which the Blood Cult had vanished, was silent.
Only the sound of the wind passed eerily through the ruined buildings.
The traces of the Mount Hua Sect, once a pillar of the Central Plains, were nowhere to be found, and everything had been reduced to ashes by flames.
Yet even so, the majestic scenery of Mount Hua still remained.
The massive peaks rising like lotus blossoms stood silently, as if gazing down upon all this tragedy.
But it was no longer the same beauty as before.
Within that beauty now dwelled the resentment and sorrow of countless victims.
The atrocities and brutality committed by the Blood Cult remained everywhere in the landscape as unmistakable scars and traces.
At the summit of Lotus Peak, where the land below could be seen clearly—
There stood the Murim Alliance Leader and the one leading the Mount Emei Sect, the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician.
Her expression, always dignified, seemed especially sorrowful today.
“…Do you know this? Every time I come to Mount Hua, I like Lotus Peak the most, more than the other two peaks.”
Though she appeared to be alone, she suddenly spoke as if addressing someone.
Yet, surprisingly—
“May I ask the reason?”
Someone answered.
Within the thick mist, a man standing quietly at the center of all these upheavals revealed himself.
Sewoon looked at her with a solemn expression.
“While Immortal Peak and Fallen Goose Peak rise in solitary majesty, only Lotus Peak is supported by three smaller peaks—Cloud Terrace, Princess Peak, and Jade Maiden Peak. They uphold one another, helping each other to create an even more beautiful scene. Is that not more beautiful?”
The Subduing Tiger Divine Physician spoke thus and once again gazed out at the scenery.
Sewoon looked at her silently.
But he soon realized that she was not truly looking at the landscape.
She was looking at the past.
At the Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak who had left the world, at herself, and at the many close companions who had met their deaths at the hands of the Blood Demon.
“Now that you mention it, that is indeed true.”
Thus, Sewoon could only respond that way.
A brief silence followed.
Sewoon, too, sank into thought at her words.
In his mind surfaced the Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak’s final 모습.
The noble and desperate figure who had sacrificed everything to protect him.
And in this Shaanxi battle as well, countless martial artists had died.
Though hidden beneath the name of victory, those sacrifices were never light.
The bodies of countless nameless martial artists filled the battlefield, and their deaths remained as yet another heavy burden in Sewoon’s heart.
At that moment, the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician slowly turned her body and spoke with a small smile.
“So they are calling you the Azure Heaven Martial Emperor now. Your momentum truly exceeds even that name.”
“It is still a name far too heavy for me to bear.”
“No.”
The Divine Physician spoke firmly.
“Because it is you. Only you can bear such a name.”
“!!”
In her eyes, an unshakable trust in Sewoon had already taken root.