“Ha!” Teacher laughed. “Haahahaha! Haha!”
Her broken nose dripped blood onto the snow. Teacher swung her fist. Her uppercut hit the Murim Alliance's leader square on the jaw, making him stumble. Teacher didn’t miss the opportunity and pounced on him, biting his ear off.
“Ugh! Gah...! Grr! Argh...! You bastard...!” The Murim Alliance's leader shoved Teacher away, but his ear was long gone. His quiet scream echoed across the snowfield.
Teacher spat his bloody ear into the snow. The corners of her mouth were stained bright red. She smiled out of satisfaction with the result of her hunt, looking like a real bloodthirsty demon. “Phew! that tastes filthy! Does the Namgung Clan’s lofty mind arts not help you improve the quality of your flesh?”
“You demon, do you even enjoy human flesh now? I already know you’re a demon; you don’t have to prove it again!”
“And you’ve got all the vigor of wilted spinach, old man. But you did make a good point.” Teacher wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “The Great War of Good and Evil should have ended on the first day, but both you and I retreated on that day. I thought I was fighting with everything I had, but I wasn’t. I didn’t put my life on the line! Today’s fight is the second chance that I would never have gotten.”
Teacher looked at me. Her dark eyes were filled with warm, gentle affection. “I can’t foolishly repeat the same mistake. Buwolseon, I’m going to put everything into this fight today.”
“...Are you trying to use your vital force?”
Vital force was the energy that everyone obtained at birth. In other words, it was vitality itself. Unlike qi, vital force couldn’t be accumulated artificially. There was no way to regain it after it had been used.
The ending of a martial artist was decided as soon as they used their vitality: they either died or stayed in bed for the rest of their lives. Tapping into their vital force was the last resort for martial artists, only done when they were fighting with their backs against the wall.
“...Demon, you and I are both weak now anyway,” the Murim Alliance's leader said. The loss of an ear, made his expression menacing. “Even if we use our vital force, we can only demonstrate low or intermediate skills since we don’t have any qi nor our dantians... Do you realize that?”
“Are you trying to draw out your vital force just so that you can be an intermediate-tier martial artist at best?”
“Yes, I am.” Teacher smiled. “Don’t get angry, Namgung Woon. I’m not trying to throw away my life. Not at all. My last day will arrive someday; I just hope that today will be the day.
“I couldn’t be happier to be alive right now. I’ll be forever grateful. I’m grateful to myself for surviving until today, and I want to express my gratitude for this fate that will allow me to die today.”
“You’re still grateful even though the world has perished?”
“Yes, I am. I’m grateful for all those people my destiny brought me.” Teacher slowly took her stance, placing her right hand forward and her left hand back. “Now that I look back, I believe I’m a truly happy warrior.”
A cold wind blew, but it wasn’t from the sky. Small vortices circled Teacher and spread outward as she released her vital force.
“...I see. So it’s come to this.” The Murim Alliance's leader felt the wind in his face. “In truth, I’ve also been longing for a day like today.”
Headwind pushed away the existing wind.
“Let’s die together, Heavenly Demon.”
The two charged toward each other.
I saw two lives flowing across the snowfield. Teacher struck away the hand of the Murim Alliance's leader. He knocked her foot out from under her. As their arms and their footwork crossed, they burned their vital energy, letting their life slip away.
Teacher hit the Murim Alliance's leader’s waist. The wind blew wherever the two struck, melting the snow beyond their fists. Their lives were melting the perpetual snow that even the sun had never beaten. The ground where their feet fell was slowly laid bare—the only part of the world freed from the snow.
And that wasn’t all. Little by little, things that weren’t white were growing around Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader battle. They were weeds and grass. The rest of the land was still frozen, but a new season started around their arena.
—They’re drinking up the vital force, the Guardian stated. The vital force of master martial artists like them is basically a feast. Even so, it’ll only last for a moment.
Even if it was only for a moment, their season was beautiful. The earth drank in the vital force they shed and briefly returned to how it had looked before the eternal winter.
It was now a forest of peach blossoms. Peach trees sprouted from the ground and grew tall as if time was sped up. Their branches reached out toward the sky like a hand grasping for something.
Flowers bloomed. Through the gaps between the red petals and the finger-like branches, I watched Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader kill each other. When the petals briefly covered some of their movements, their fight looked like a dance. With two lives riding on this fight, it was also the fight of life.
When petals decorated it, many things in the world became splendid, even their bloodlust and Teacher’s venomous spirit.
—... This is rare, the Guardian murmured.
Red peach blossoms fluttered across the snowfield.
— Maybe it’s because one of them was born with the Ultimate Yin Body, and the other with the Divine Martial Body. Yin and yang are in almost perfect harmony. The area around them is already a different world. ... Even I’ve never seen such an amazing sight.
The peach blossoms bloomed and fell. Spring arrived and then passed again.
“Heavenly Demon Descent Step.” Teacher took a step.
As a snowstorm blew, the peach blossom flowers scattered.
The Murim Alliance's leader grabbed her wrist and twisted it. The snowstorm stopped, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom again.
“Sky-Shattering Yellow Ax.”
The wind carried a petal onto my shoulder. Only then did I realize that these unusually red flowers were the blood of Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader. These flowers bloomed from the last blood they ever shed.
“... I hate you,” Teacher murmured.
The winter was bleeding.
“I hate the Righteous Faction, the Grandmasters, and the Five Clans. I loathe you all. While the grassroots scream, you’re all happy and noble. However, your happiness isn’t what I can’t forgive. It’s absolutely not true.”
As the peach blossoms bloomed and fell, the seasons came and passed. However, the blooming petals became fewer and fewer, and the seasons left sooner over time.
“Even people like you can feel pain, grimace, and say that your lives are painful. You also want to be comforted, and try to comfort, and act like humans. That is why I hate all of you.”
Teacher was dying, the blossoms were falling, and the season was leaving.
“Why would you continue to act like animals to others and only treat yourselves as humans?”
Countless peach blossoms hid the shadows of Teacher and the Murim Alliance's leader. The branches shriveled up, and no more new peach blossoms could bloom anymore. The wind blew and covered the earth with snow again. In the middle of the fallen petals, the two people stood tall.
Something a little redder than the flower field landed on the snow—the blood the Murim Alliance's leader coughed out. Teacher’s tightly clenched fist was against his chest. He staggered drunkenly and collapsed into the flowers. Red petals flew up as the blossoms embraced him.
“Teacher,” I called. I didn’t get a reply. “Teacher.”
I hurried to her to wrap my arms around her. She was as cold as ice.
“I won.” Teacher’s voice was clear, holding the warmth that her body had lost. But it was too light. Even her fingers—everything about her became too light, as if she had aged instantly.
“Yes, you won. You won.”
“I should have been able to pierce his chest and rip out his heart. I only managed to hit his chest, never mind pierce it. I’m ashamed to look you in the eyes, my disciple.”
“No, you shouldn’t be.” I shook my head.
“Yes, I think I look better than you at least. What is that expression you’re making?”
I carefully laid Master down, but didn’t remove my arms. I used my aura to hold her, but her body didn’t warm up at all. Even the hand she used to caress my cheek was as cold as ice.
“Don’t worry, my disciple. There are still two hours left before I die. Isn’t that enough time to say goodbye?”
I only had two hours left to hear her voice and her breath.
“...And yet you still look sad.” Teacher’s eyes filled with sorrow. “You’re a troublesome disciple. Well, actually, I troubled you first. I wanted to spend a long time teaching you everything, but I can’t do that because of my old stubbornness. I’m worried about what I left in your heart and what I’ll be to you.
“I’m afraid that I’ll be nothing to you,” she whispered. “If I could be remembered as a flower that bloomed evanescently, I would wish for nothing more...”
She coughed up blood.
The cry came from the Chemist. She and the other Hunters were running toward us. It looked like they had just learned that the Great War of Good and Evil on the snowfield.
“Mr. Death King, W-what happened...?”
“Hey! Teacher!” The Viper was surprised to find the Murim Alliance's leader on the ground. “Are you okay? Hey, Teacher! Hey! Open your eyes!”
“That old man is fine.” Teacher coughed. “My last punch was light. After all that talk about how the heavens are with him... His fate is to spend the rest of his life in bed.”
“R-rest of his life in bed?” The Chemist opened and closed her mouth several times before speaking. “I’ll never let that happen... A-anyway, there’s no time for this! You both need to get treatment!”
“I’m good. Take care of the old man.”
“I know my condition the best. There is nothing you can do about it,” Teacher said. “And I would like to spend my last moments with my one and only direct disciple. Child, can you give us a moment alone?”
The Chemist was both a pharmacist and a doctor. She approached us and felt Teacher’s pulse, activating her Skills to examine the patient. Her face soon darkened. “... I have some painkillers. Do you want them?”
“It’s okay.” Teacher smiled. “The winter wind is nice. It’s refreshing. I want to fully enjoy this wind before I head to the otherworld.”
The Chemist stood up and bowed to Teacher. The Medicine King waved the group away. Before long, they carried the Murim Alliance's leader back to the cave, being considerate of Teacher and me.
“Now...” Teacher grabbed my hand. “How shall we spend the remaining two hours? Do you want to know about my childhood? Would you like to hear how beautiful my cult’s headquarters mountain is?”
“I...” I squeezed Teacher’s small hand back.
Her life wasn’t complete yet. I still needed one more piece of the puzzle to create the best, most perfect ending which she could be completely satisfied with.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?” Teacher asked.
“Please accept my challenge.”
Teacher’s eyes widened. “This is unexpected. I admire your will to surpass your teacher, but as you can see, I can no longer move. Gong-Ja, what good would it do you if you defeated me right now?”
“We can have a fight where we don’t move.”
“I want to challenge you by a Verbal Match, Teacher.”
“A Verbal Match...” Teacher blankly repeated.
A Verbal Match was a fight of words. Each party would describe what kind of attacks they would make. When the other party verbally countered it, the first party made a counterattack. Therefore, there was no need to move their arms or legs, and the participants didn’t need their qi. They only used their expertise in martial arts, making it a perfect demonstration of their mastery of martial arts.
That was why Teacher quietly laughed. “My disciple seems to have become very arrogant. If we fight using our bodies, you will undoubtedly win, Gong-Ja. But you will surely lose in a Verbal Match. I’ll be free to use any kind of martial arts like I did in my prime, so how will you be able to fight me when all you have are a few forms of the Demonic Heaven Arts?”
“I...” I opened my mouth. “I don’t think that the fight you had earlier with the Murim Alliance's leader was your best. You said that you should have been able to pierce his chest and take his heart... Even if it is going to be a Verbal Match, Teacher, I want your last fight to be the most satisfying one you’ve ever had.”
The best fight without regrets was the dream of all martial artists.
“Are you saying that you can give me that kind of fight, Gong-Ja?”
“Yes, I am,” I answered.
Teacher seemed intrigued by my suggestion. Did she think I was asking because of my immaturity? She didn’t really seem to believe that I was going to be able to give her such a fight.
“Alright. But I don’t go easy even in Verbal Matches. I’ll let you make the first attack, but don’t hate me too much if I finish you with one blow.”
“Show your teacher the results of your training now.” Teacher smiled faintly. She smelled like peach blossoms. “After the match, I’ll tell you my old stories.”
I looked down at Teacher’s face, and then my eyes were slowly drawn to the man sitting across from me.
—Hmm. Is that finally my turn?
The Sword Emperor was someone who had risen to the top in another murim. Although he was now a ghost and couldn’t fight physically, he would be able to engage in a Verbal Match with my help.
Yes, it’s time for you to keep the promise we made after you lost the bet.
—Okay. The Guardian smiled. He sat on the snowfield with his arms crossed. I wanted to fight the leader of the demonic cult here anyway. I will give her the best match. Tell her that I will let her make three attacks first.
With me between them, the absolutes of the two murim faced each other.