Book 29 Chapter 1

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-Seven black stars in a blue sky

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It's dusk, as the sun moves into the western mountains and a reddish sunset begins to set.

A single flame rose vertically across the red sunset with a white tail.

Boom!

When it reached a certain height, the flame burst into a black bloom.

Pi-yoo, pi-yoo, pi-yoo!

As if to follow the lead, six more sparks flew in quick succession.

Poof! Poof! Poof! Pow! Pow! POP!

As the seven flames burst their buds one after another, seven black stars appeared in the sky above Hubei, even though it was still light.

That was the beginning.

Another seven flames shot out at a certain distance, followed by seven black stars.

Like a bonfire, to announce something, to call someone.

One after another, as if summoning something, the seven stars began to rise in the Hubei sky, one after another, slowly rising northward.

A rocky mountainside that has a name, but most people won't remember it.

After passing through a lush forest with large trees that seem to have no end in sight, you will come to a stone path. If you don't look closely, you can't see it, but if you follow the stone path upwards, you'll have the misfortune of seeing a naked scene of natural destruction, with beautiful trees falling in strange shapes along the way.

I didn't just break it, I didn't cut it with a knife. They weren't even sawed. Twisted and bent, as if by some great force, the trees were crying out to the killer that they had been killed in a very specific way.

This wasn't the only place where natural disasters were happening.

A short distance up the road from this point is a peak with a folding screen of huge boulders and a thick growth of pine trees, and the stone pillars that rise up from it are scarred with large, long gouges. Some had already collapsed, reduced to rubble. If this was the work of a stonemason, it was poor workmanship.

The weapons used in this act of natural destruction were left out for anyone to find.

Around the scarred and crumbling stone statue were hundreds of broken prayer beads, lying around as if to say hello. It was as if they had been blown apart from the inside out. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a genocidal scene. They were both weapons and victims.

The end of the escarpment at a distance from the site.

In the best vantage point, where you could see all the way to the horizon, a small silk flower shoe lay haphazardly against the sheer cliff face.

It wasn't just one pair of shoes: next to it, facing the same direction, were a pair of leather shoes that appeared to belong to a man, and two more pairs of silk flower shoes.

Which one of these four is a nature vandal?

A man couldn't handle the grueling training, went berserk, destroyed his surroundings, and then committed suicide along with three women?

But the culprit was alive and well.

Not only that, but he had the audacity to stand at the site of the destruction, on a silk mat, in front of a six-tiered chanterelle, surrounded by three gorgeous court beauties.

Dressed in lavish court robes and heavily made-up, the three women were clearly high-class courtesans. If people knew that these three beauties were the most famous courtesans in Hubei Province, the "Jia Ha Sam Qi," they would be stunned and would be ready to kill the man at the center of it all.

Seated as if surrounded by Jahasamghi, the man was dressed in purple, with a face that appeared to be quite compliant. The man's eyes were unusually red with a hint of gold whenever the sunlight penetrated them, as if they were embracing the evening sunset.

Beyond the three pairs of silk flower shoes and one pair of leather boots, a red sunset was spreading across the plains beyond the rocky mountains.

Ding, ding, ding.

The first of the three, Seolhye, plucked the strings of the pipa with her porcelain white fingers and began to produce beautiful notes.

"The sky is colored by the sunset, and the earth leans into the 'setting sun'; the heart of the wind is in……."

Feng Hye, who was said to have the most sensual body of the three, recited an improvised poem in a sweet voice to the sound of the zither, and poured clear liquor into the man's cup. Then, leaning gently against him, she whispered in a flowing voice, "I love you.

"How would Mr. Confucius like to conclude this?"

Raising the cup he was holding, the man called Ha Confucius followed.

"I'm just getting drunk on the sunset in the glass!"

He followed suit, and with a small smile on his face, slowly sipped his sunset-soaked drink with glee.

'Isn't this guy a moron? If a woman shows her feelings in a subtle way, she's supposed to reciprocate, not come out of nowhere and say, "I'm sorry, did…… really not get it?"'

Pung-hye made a pouty face and grumbled inwardly. As if on cue, the third, Woo-hye, who was said to be the most angular of the three, stepped forward.

"Oops, my glass is empty, I'll have to refill it quickly."

When Woo-hye picked up the bottle, the hem of her skirt somehow got caught in the garment, and her skirt slid up along with it, revealing her long, white legs, bare and shapely.

"Oh, did you see that?"

Wu Hye asked in a sultry tone as she held the bottle in her right hand and shyly covered her exposed thigh with her left hand through the hem of her skirt. Despite the covering, she could still see every inch of it through the flounce of her skirt.

"Hahaha, of course! What a brilliantly colored and fragrant liquor, it is indeed worthy of being called silk."

When Woo-hye saw the man's eyes fixated on her like a nail on a drinking glass, she practically tripped over her own skirt.

He'd been drinking for so long that his reasoning had become clouded, but the more empty bottles he piled on top of each other, the more his eyes gleamed like stars.

He didn't seem to desire their bodies; he just wanted a companion to share a drink with and enjoy the winds.

'You bastard, you still have to react when a beautiful woman walks up next to you and pours you a drink, react! Do you think it's easy for us jahasamgis to laugh and take turns pouring drinks like this?!!'

Laughing as she held the bottle, Woo-hye vented her anger inwardly, and Pung-hye, who had been leaning against the man's arm as she poured herself a drink in competition with him, was equally unhappy.

In particular, Seol-hye, who is considered to be the best of the Jahasamgi, conveyed her feelings subtly through her pipa playing and her eyes, but her pride was almost bruised when she saw him staring at her drink with clear, bright eyes.

'What the hell is this guy saying, that if he had his ears pierced properly, he'd be intoxicated by the sound of my beautiful pipa, and his earholes are for decoration?'

The three beauties don't show it, but the more they think about it, the hotter they get.

"It's not about the game anymore! It's about the pride of our Jia Hassangi!

Jahasamgi (紫霞三妓).

They were idolized by the jahawans, the three finest giru in Hubei, and their fame spread throughout the entire province.

He was so famous and popular that they didn't even look at him unless he had a fortune. Of course, only a few special men with ten thousand gold could earn their favor. So when they first saw this man, they didn't even look at him. He was compliant, but nothing special enough to catch their eye.

But he never stuck his neck out to get a glimpse of their "jahasamgi" like the other men did; he just laughed and drank with a few true friends. He had a good wit and there was always laughter at his table.

Then one day. The Jia Hao Yuan began to sell a new bottle of "sausage liquor," a first-class liquor, and offered to give away a vase with three full-length portraits of the three Jia Hao Samgis if you bought three bottles. The fame of the Zaha Samghi was so great that people flocked to it like clouds, and the man in purple was among those who ordered the sausage wine.

Seolhye laughed out loud at the sight.

"So, yeah, you're a man after all, and you've been acting like it.

She'd been noticing the purple-robed man strangely lately, but she lost interest in him completely when she heard his voice ordering twenty bottles at once. Just as she was about to turn away, her head snapped back.

"What did that guy just say?

The clerk running the event was also asking again if she thought she had misheard.

"Sir, you're going to have to take the vase!"

"I don't need it."

"But it's Jahasamgi's. I mean, it belongs to the best and brightest beauties in Hubei. You can't pay for it."

Then the man of the house said, without any hesitation.

"Okay."

The tone was one of nonchalance.

"If it's twenty bottles, that's ten pots. Ten! I could sell these and make a lot of money."

"Is that so? Then I'll call it a gift, so keep it. Instead, from now on, I'll call it a concubine. Such. things. as. concubines. Please. give. it. generously."

Then, leaving behind a clerk who folded his waist in half, he wandered away, pushing his way through a crowd of people chanting, "Give me, give me!

Seol-hye, watching the scene, found herself clutching at the pus on her clothes.

"How dare you!

A few days later, he asked for the man, and even his pride wouldn't let him pass.

But it was rejected.

It was a lame excuse that I had no reason to meet with him if I wasn't paying him, and I didn't want to spend money on him.

"Are you saying I'm worse than a side dish of seolhye?!

Seolhye shuddered, unable to overcome her shame.

"Ho-ho-ho-ho, you're a funny guy, you don't even flirt with your sister, oh-ho-ho-ho-ho. I'll do it this time, I'm Pung-hye!"

Pung-hye, who had been accusing Seol-hye of failing, approached the man, saying that Seol-hye's days were numbered. She was not as good as Seol-hye at playing the pipa, but she was a master at singing, and she had the most sensual body of the three. But…….

"Nice rejection, nice to see, pooh-pooh."

Woo-hye smiled as she turned to Feng-hye, who had returned with a reddened face.

'Who likes a woman whose only skill is physical aggression? Let me be the intellectual one this time, while my sisters watch from the sidelines.'

Woo-hye, the youngest of the Samgis, came out with a long diatribe and seemed to think that her straight, angular features and intelligent speech would win over any man. But…….

"I guess the intelligent third was too much? Ohhhhhhhh."

Pung-hye giggled at the sight of Woo-hye, who had returned to the land of the living.

"You're both failing, and you're growling at me."

Seolhye chimed in.

"Get off your high horse and don't think you'll always be number one!"

Woohye, the loudest of the three, shouted.

"What, are you done talking, do you want to give it a try?"

"Anything!"

Digging, digging, digging!

Now that all three had failed, sparks had begun to fly between them. Pride would not allow this to continue.

"I knew that one day I'd have to compete with my sisters."

"Good thing, too, because I was just thinking I needed to punch you in your smug little nose."

"Good! Let's make the first one to take him down the winner, because if he's just going to be ignored, we're not going to be called Zahasamgi."

For some reason, Seolhye also got involved.

"Whoever wins will be the best of the House and the new head of the Three Kingdoms. What do you say, sisters?"

"Great!"

"Great!"

That's how the bet began.

The three decided to take an aggressive approach that they would not normally have taken. They went directly to the company's home base.

Their weapons were their bodies and their skills, which they had cultivated so steadily, and they were confident that no man could defeat them, so they could not retreat. And the time had come.

Within a few days of buying twenty bottles, the man came to visit again. This time, she refused, saying she didn't need the vinegar. That's when Seolhye stepped in.

"Congratulations, Confucius."

"What do you mean, celebrate?"

He didn't seem too fazed by the fact that she was speaking directly to him, the most popular member of the Zaha Samghi.

"You've just been recognized as an outstanding customer in our House of Representatives."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, that's why we've arranged to have twenty bottles of Mizu delivered to your place. Our 'Jahasamgi' is direct."

Seolhye said with a bright smile.

"You don't have to do that, do you?"

Even though Jahasamgi was going to be there in person, the boss was not interested at all.

"……Uh-huh. Also, I thought we were supposed to give our most distinguished customers a bottle of Zaha's finest 'Zaha Okro' upon delivery?"

Suddenly, the man's eyes lit up.

"Isn't it a folklore that when you take a sip of Zaha'ochro, you seem to see a hundred and eighty young men marching across the steppes in a sunset that turns the vast steppes red?"

"Yes, that's right, you're right."

She had to hold back the urge to scream, "You like that imaginary beauty better than the one in front of you!

"But… my place is a bit far away. I know it's a hassle, but……?"

The man added, looking suddenly troubled. That was a good sign. That made me want to go even more.

"I don't care!"

The three shouted at the same time.

"It's a little high……."

"I don't care about that either!"

The three answered in unison again.

"If you insist on coming, I can't dissuade you any further, and I'm sure you'd like to try some jaja olor, so here you go."

He held out a yellow card in front of Seol-hye.

"Safe transportation, good hospitality. Pleasure gates?"

I had never heard of it before.

"I'm sure you are, it's the newest sect of the Murim, so it's not like it's the first time you've heard of it."

The three of them were stunned: this man was a martial artist?

"We're transporting luxury goods, so we have to be careful."

Once again, I had to resist the urge to scream, "Booze is more important than three beautiful women!

The big day arrived quickly.

The next day.

Sam Ki quickly sent a man to the gate.

Soon, three yellow "express" taxi cabs arrived, carried by two men.

Not a carriage, but a wagon?

Turning to the anxious women, the one who appeared to be the leader inclined his head sternly and said.

"Don't worry, the 'Jia Ha Jiao Lo' will be transported safely, never breaking."

He must have made some kind of pre-arranged comment, and it really bothered me.

Zahayokro was placed in a special box filled with fluffy cotton and cloth on all sides. Their handling of the bottle could not have been more exquisite. It was as if they were serving the empress.

"Get in."

In comparison, their demeanor was polite, but not particularly awesome.

Anxiously, Zahasamgi entered the kiln.

The kiln was running as fast as a horse, with only two craftsmen turning it off, and suddenly it tilted to the left and right, and began to shake violently up and down.

By the time I heard the words, "Hold on tight," I had already gripped the handle so hard that my hands turned pale. It was the first time the three high-nosed beauties had ever felt so close to death.

The three beauties arrived at the man's house alive, and as soon as they stepped out of the kiln, they threw up everything inside. A severe case of motion sickness.

"So I told him not to come, and he said……."

Tears welled up in Zahasamgi's eyes at the man's mutterings.

What a disgrace to the goal!

Seeing their distress, a man approached and patted them on the back. I wanted to slap him, to tell him how dare he touch them, but I couldn't.

Warmth flowed from his hands like a river, calming their churning insides.

"Welcome to my house, on the edge of a cliff with a view of the sunset."

When the motion sickness finally subsided enough for them to look around, their jaws dropped.

The three of them landed on the side of a cliff at the top of an unnamed rocky mountain.

How in the world did those potters get them here?

It was like having a dream.

The initiative had already been taken from them, and they could only meekly follow him, unable to compete. Sure, they laid out fancy mats and set up a six-piece banquet with delicious food, but his attention was focused solely on the liquor they had brought.

"Oh, this is the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces, the masterpiece of masterpieces."

The man's kind, innocent, slightly glassy eyes, when placed in front of the tulle, cleared and sparkled like stars.

The kind of eyes that take your breath away just by looking into them. They were a mixture of mystery and sharpness that could suck your soul out in an instant.

Seolhye, who was mesmerized by the man for a moment, quickly regained her composure and shook her head. As the most beautiful women in Hubei, they don't sell their bodies. They only sell their skills, not their hearts.

Two of the other three were already slowly shifting their tactics away from kung fu and toward a more subtle physical attack.

'I know it's a competition, but I can't believe those snotty little bastards are taking such a proactive approach…….'

It was impossible to have a heart at all. He seemed to be willing to do it all night long if it was done right, but he hadn't yet been able to take down that 'Ha' Confucius. It was like an impregnable fortress around him.

'The battle is not yet over, it's almost night, night is our front yard, the battlefield of our maidens!

Darkness covers human reason and peels back the veil of hidden desires.

"The game is on!

That was it.

Peeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A signal bird flew out of the red sunset with a long tail and a black flower!

There was more than one signal.

It was followed by six more signal flares, each bursting into flames. From a distance, it looked like the Big Dipper in the middle of the day.

"Hey, what's that? There's this black flame in the sky…… so ominous."

The women shuddered in instinctive fear and leaned involuntarily toward the man.

"That's……."

The first sharp flash of foreknowledge flashed through the eyes of the man, who was casually sipping his drink as he watched the sun set over the rocks.

"The Big Dipper in black ……!"

A quiet but heavy word escaped the man's lips as he stopped drinking.

"Do you, by any chance, know what those ominous flames are?"

Seolhye asked, startled by the low, heavy voice in his sharp eyes.

"That can only mean one thing, and that's……."

The man smirked, as if to say, "When did that happen?

"The bad news is that this boring life might be coming to an end today."

He raised his glass to the black stars for a moment, then downed it in one swift gulp. Was it a nod of approval? A bitter smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"What do you mean, do you like being boring, Ha Confucius?"

Feng Hye narrowed her eyes and asked.

"Of course. Without this dull peace, how could I sit in such a scenic spot with such beauties as yourself and sip a glass of mulled wine?"

"Well, is that so?"

Wu Hye shook her head in disbelief. Boredom and tedium were evils in her line of work. The number one enemy to be defeated and eliminated.

"They're the ones who thrive on a diet of boring peace. Alas, when they're not playing and eating, they're practicing and ruining your grand plans for resuscitation, those black stars."

He glares at the black flames in the sky, not sure if he's joking or serious, and clicks his tongue in disbelief.

Seol-hye had seen a lot of men by now, and by her standards, a man like this could never keep quiet.

They say the eyes are the mirror of the mind.

Sometimes, when I looked into those eyes, sharp as the flash of a blade, I had a premonition that the world would not let him stand still, even if he tried. People who don't have something big on their minds don't have that look in their eyes.

"Ho-ho-ho, shouldn't a big boss like Confucius have a dream of becoming a mogul?"

Feng Hye, next to me, leaned over and asked.

"Do you mean, like, a new name, a rich movie, or world domination?"

He didn't sound too happy about it.

"Well, they're girly girls, I don't know, but Mr. Ha is a martial artist, isn't he?"

Before Pung-hye could open her mouth again, Seol-hye jumped in and asked.

"For now, yes."

He didn't deny it.

"So what are all those broken wooden swords over there? Aren't they the marks of Confucius' training? If he worked that hard, it means he was trying to accomplish something……."

Seol-hye trailed off, and the man replied.

"I broke it on purpose."

"On purpose?"

"So you don't look like you're trying too hard?"

Instead of a speechless Seol-hye, a shrewd Woo-hye interjected.

"Well, what about all those beautiful trees over there, broken and fallen?"

"It rained a lot a few days ago."

"Well, what about that pile of shattered stones over there? Isn't that Confucius's mu wei?"

"Oh, that's from the earthquake not too long ago?"

She didn't know if he was joking or serious. Feng Hye looked at Seol Hye and Woo Hye in amazement and asked again.

"So what is it that you can do, Confucius Ha, you don't want to do anything wild like unify the martial arts or take over the world?"

"Hahaha, like it or not, I've already decided not to do it."

"When you say you've decided not to do ……, do you mean you used to want to do that?"

Seolhye asked again, and the man smirked.

"Well, I'll leave that to the sage's imagination, because it's more fun that way."

But Pung Hye asked if she had any intention of quitting.

"Hmm, Confucius is so enigmatic, why don't you tell me why you quit?"

The man, who had been silent for a moment with his hand on his chin, replied briefly.

"Me, second."

The words were so light as to be transparent, but somehow she could say no more. It was as if an infinitely thin, transparent razor had been slashed across the cold divide between him and them.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep!

Pulling a short flute from his bosom out of nowhere, Mr. Boone smiled wryly at the women, as if the conversation that had just taken place had never happened.

"I think that's it for today's outing, I've sung the 'long-distance petition tax' and we'll be caught."

True to his word, a few moments later, three yellow palanquins drawn by elderly men dressed in yellow rolled through the grass as if they were flying. It was as if they were waiting at just the right distance, ready to come back whenever they were called.

"Three wagons of 'Rapid Transit,' called and delivered."

"Well, you're here sooner than I thought."

"No, Mr. Confucius. Whose command is it that we dare to neglect, and we will take you wherever you call."

As the three renowned maidens of Zahawon entered the fiery yellow calling kiln, they looked toward the men as if they had made a promise. Their eyes were filled with deep regret.

But the man only bowed slightly, his face impassive. After the kiln door was closed, the six elders bowed to the man and then flew down the mountain, carrying the yellow kiln with them.

"Hmph, you mean to tell me that the Ten Thousand Demons have begun to move without the owner of the Black Lion Plaque?"

The man smiled an ambiguous smile that I couldn't tell if it was bitter or amused, and his eyes twinkled.

"Then I, your lazy master, will have to make an appearance."

And just then, a black hawk flew toward a mountain peak that was so deeply sunset that the entire horizon seemed to be engulfed in flames. As it flew toward him, a sharp light flashed in his eyes as he saw a black cord tied to the hawk's leg.

Flipping through the tome, he was silent for a moment, then muttered in a low voice.

"Night is coming."

I knew it might happen someday, but I never thought it would come this way.

His one and only brother was the dawn, so he decided to be the setting sun.

So he backed off.

His third sister disagreed, but he wished for a world that needed only him forever, partly because he was so fond of him, but also because right now, Kang Ho needed someone as bright and bountiful as the all-encompassing midday sun. He was nothing more than a pair of blades in a time of war, a time when the earth would turn as red as the evening sun, and the world would be stained with blood.

Instead, he was happy to be able to do what he wanted to do, because he had the "leisure" to do it, and he was able to enjoy the day.

How could he dislike this peace, even this provisionally sanctioned "runaway," since he was not given anything to cut.

"That young lady's pipa was worth listening to, even if it wasn't as good as the sixth sister's……."

Muttering something unintelligible, he reached out, and two twin swords that had been lying in the distance swooped down and caught his hand.

The wonders of vaporware.

However, anyone who knows the actual weight of this pair of swords will not be surprised to learn this without doing a double take.

Are you saying goodbye to rocky mountains?

He whirled toward the rocky pillar rising behind him and waved his hands lightly.

Ironclad.

Something shimmered around the man, and his twin swords clattered softly. It was as if they had just slipped out of their scabbards, unseen, and slid back in.

"Is it still unfinished after all……. I thought I'd see the end soon……."

He shrugged, as if dissatisfied, and walked forward without looking back.

Kurrrrrrrr!

Blah, blah, blah, blah!

A spiderweb of radiation cracked the massive stone pillar behind him, and the stones crumbled from the inside out. The stone pillar soon crumbled into a pile of gravel.

But the man still didn't look back, as if he didn't care, and moved forward.

As if these unfinished works weren't worth looking at.

"…… but you can't wait much longer, can you, because I haven't seen 'it' yet."

He mumbled, as if someone were right there with him.

He really missed it.

Really strong.

The real Mu.

It was akin to something you get closer to and the closer you get, the further away it gets.

He began to walk toward the ever-darkening evening sunset.

A black lion-shaped paddle swung from his waistband.

His name was Galjoongha, the one with the same name as that crimson sunset.