Chương 712: Spring Dream (春夢) (3)

'The flow' is absolute.

It is something that can never be changed, and to Seo Ran, the end of that flow feels like 'this evening'.

Seo Ran acknowledges this bitterly as she watches Kang Min-hee beat the emperor and shove him into the secret passage.

'... Even so, at least Min-hee Unnie... really stayed by my side until the very end.'

She didn't follow the 'flow' as Seo Ran had predicted. Instead, she stayed by her side.

'Of course, it's not that the flow isn't absolute... I think something between Min-hee Unnie and Mother influenced the flow.'

She thinks maybe her mother had the ability to interfere with the 'flow' itself.

But still...

Even if Kim Yeon did something, in the end, it is Kang Min-hee's own will that led her to stay by Seo Ran's side and follow her through everything.

Watching Kang Min-hee, Seo Ran feels like she understands what Kim Yeon meant now.

That for Seo Ran's sake, she would leave behind someone who would love her more than Kim Yeon herself.

She can feel it too.

Kang Min-hee's affection...

It truly runs deep and even deeper.

'That's why, I won't let Min-hee Unnie get caught up in this.'

She grips in both hands the pistol Min-hee gave her long ago and the pistol Kim Yeon had crafted for her, and she sits down, waiting for the evening.

'It's almost time... for everything to end.'

The evening glow slowly begins to cast its light over the imperial palace, elongating Seo Ran's shadow.

At the edge of that stretched shadow, Seo Ran sees a grotesque worm covered in black flowers all over its body appear.

It is a being she knows well—the worm with an old man's face on its head.

[I shall give you one last chance, Ran-ah. So... please say that you will not enter your mother's domain. If you do so, I shall manifest everything you desire in this world. Whatever future you wish... the ancient force is limitless, and with it, I can twist the world to create whatever reality you want. Ran-ah... please, choose me.]

"Hm... You ask me to choose you, and yet you show up in such a repulsive form?"

[... Repulsive form?]

"... Ah, I see."

And while looking at the worm-like form of the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, Seo Ran realizes something.

'That divine spirit didn't intentionally choose that form. It's just... I am seeing his true essence.'

Realizing this, she smiles faintly.

"You said you would give me the future I desire, right?"

[Indeed.]

"Then give me a future where I overcome you."

[...]

"I am... someone with a pretty strong rebellious streak who wants to overcome everyone that stands above me and tries to dictate my life, you see."

Seo Ran extends her hand as she makes that request to Sal Tree.

But this time, Sal Tree does not take her hand.

"Looks like you don't like that. In that case, never mind. Even if I die today..."

Cheok— Seo Ran stands up, pistols in both hands.

"... I want to take even a single step closer... to Mother and Father."

Rustle rustle— Glaring at her as she says this, the illusion of the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable scatters.

Immediately after, with a strangely unburdened expression, Seo Ran uses lightness skills and ascends the palace wall.

Standing atop the wall, she lets out a lion's roar.

[The last vassal of the current emperor, the strongest power of the Hyun Kingdom, I—Seo Ran—am here!] Kururung!

Those who hear Seo Ran's shout all turn to look at her.

Then, countless attacks begin to rain down on her.

Countless bullets fly toward her, and she briefly retreats from the palace wall, then starts running toward the outer wall of Jeongyeong City.

Immediately after, she makes a running start to the outer wall before jumping and lightening her body.

Tadat!

'I should've practiced air stepping a bit more. I focused too much on internal energy cultivation, trying to imitate Mother...'

Standing atop the outer wall, she unleashes a lion's roar toward the warlords stationed outside.

[I, Seo Ran, the strongest martial artist of Hyun Kingdom you all so desperately seek, am here! Stop firing on the innocent civilians!] Seeing her like that, warlords from all directions begin sending out their subordinates.

Numerous peak masters, and even several masters of Three Flowers Gather at the Summit, all begin scaling the outer wall at once, rushing toward her.

Seeing them, Seo Ran prepares to face her end.

And it is at that moment.

Kwaaang!

A massive shell comes flying toward her.

At that moment, a silhouette shrouded in black ghostly energy blocks the space between her and the shell in an instant.

Tukwang!

Immediately after, the black silhouette swings a ghost claw extending from their hand and twists the trajectory of the shell, sending it flying elsewhere.

Kugwagwang!

The shell crashes into the interior of the outer wall, right inside the palace from where she had just emerged, and explodes with a roar.

Seo Ran looks at the one who used the ghost claw.

It's Kang Min-hee.

"I decently educated the emperor and got him out. Then I rushed over, Ran-ah. No matter how I think about it, I just can't leave you alone."

"If someone saw you, they'd think Hee Unnie is my nanny, hoho..."

"Hmph, whatever... You, the reason you obediently followed all the emperor's orders was because of that, wasn't it? Your fate... has run out, hasn't it?"

"..."

At Kang Min-hee's question, Seo Ran slowly nods her head.

"Huuu... If that bastard Sal Tree hadn't eroded you, your natural lifespan would've been much longer... What even is this? Why do you have to die at such a young age...? I just don't get it."

Grumbling, Kang Min-hee blows away the peak masters rushing at them with her ghost claw.

For a while, the two women are wholly absorbed in fending off the subordinates of the warlords.

Kang Min-hee with her ghost claw, and Seo Ran with her twin pistols.

"... Seo Ran."

"You're swinging the ghost claw all wrong. Let me show you how it's done."

"Your mother... Kim Yeon... at the end, told you to be happy. Ran-ah, were you... happy?"

"... Who knows. But anyway..."

Seo Ran moves behind Kang Min-hee, grabs her arm, and swings it in her stead, teaching her how to systematically wield the ghost claw to kill the enemies.

That is a martial art in and of itself.

The evening glow fades.

And Seo Ran, embracing Kang Min-hee from behind, dances while fending off the many peak masters under the waning sunset.

"Seo Ran."

"Yes, Hee Unnie. Just use the ghost claw the way I showed you. I just came up with it, but... it should be pretty useful. Let's call it, hmm... the Ghost Hand Claw Method, maybe?"

"Seo Ran."

"... Yes?"

"Were you happy?"

"..."

Seo Ran looks up at the sky for a moment.

Now, the time of her death is near.

The warlords, realizing that not even peak masters can leave a single scratch on her, let alone capture her, are now preparing to fire all their cannons at once.

"What even is happiness, really?"

"... Well, they say it's doing what you want to do, eating what you want to eat... seeing the people you want to see... Those small things gather together to become happiness."

"... There are people I want to see."

"Who?"

"My mother and father."

At Seo Ran's words, Kang Min-hee pauses for a moment, seemingly in thought, then slowly raises her arm.

'She should be able to withstand this much. After all, she's reached Five Energies Converging to the Origin, and she is the child of Seo Eun-hyun and Kim Yeon. At least this much...'

She will be able to endure.

Her fingertip points beyond the outer wall, toward the Sword Peak Mountain where Seo Ran once lived long ago.

"... Do you know who the Mountain Spirit of Sword Peak Mountain is?"

"Hmm, who is it?"

"Seo Eun-hyun."

"... Pardon?"

"Seo Eun-hyun was the Mountain Spirit of Sword Peak Mountain. And your mother, Kim Yeon... was a powerful divine spirit comparable to him. You are the child of divine spirits, Seo Ran."

Wo-woong!

Is it because her words alone hold a certain level of [wisdom]? Seo Ran stands frozen on the spot, her body trembling with difficulty for a moment.

However...

More than the hardship, Seo Ran seems to feel a sense of lightness.

With just that one sentence, countless questions unravel.

She always thought they were extraordinary beings, but...

To think they were divine spirits!

"... Why didn't you tell me that until now?"

"Until now, your personality was unstable. If I said it recklessly, there was a risk of it collapsing entirely."

"... I see. Well... it's all my fault, then."

Seo Ran lowers her head for a moment, then mutters while looking at Sword Peak Mountain from the outer wall of Jeongyeong City.

"... If Sword Peak Mountain truly was my father's mountain and that's why I always felt so at peace there, Hee Unnie, if I die, please bury my bones in my father's embrace. Hoho... air stepping... I should've at least learned it properly."

The sun is setting.

Darkness slowly blankets all of Jeongyeong City, and in that darkness, Seo Ran looks up at the peak of Sword Peak Mountain.

At that moment, Kang Min-hee snaps her fingers.

Ttak!

Then, one of Kang Min-hee's strands of hair lengthens and becomes a blue thread stretching from the outer wall all the way to the summit of Sword Peak Mountain.

"This is..."

"... It's something similar to what your mother did."

Kang Min-hee turns her gaze away from Seo Ran, who is preparing for her end.

She simply cannot bring herself to look directly at her.

Kugugugugu!

Simultaneously, she draws out her innate authority, even at the cost of her life and a fatal wound to her main body.

[Bridle Creation].

Through her authority that creates laws, a law is added to the strand of hair stretching to the summit of Sword Peak Mountain.

'[As long as Seo Ran does not give up, the thread shall never break].'

Kiiiiiiing!

She neither possesses Entering Heavens Beyond the Path like Kim Yeon, nor holds any inherited legacy of her predecessors, so she cannot wield as powerful an authority as Kim Yeon.

Even at the cost of consuming her incarnation, this limited power is all she can reach.

But she is satisfied.

"I always said I would protect, but I never managed to protect anyone. Because I am weak, I couldn't even protect the person I liked, and I couldn't save those who liked me. So..."

Woo-woong!

Kang Min-hee plucks another strand of hair and mutters as she imbues it with another law.

"At least you, the most precious result of the people I love... I will protect you no matter what. Go, Seo Ran!"

In her eyes, every moment with Seo Ran flashes by.

When Seo Ran was still in Kim Yeon's womb.

When she was just born.

When Seo Ran gradually grew up, became her friend, and spent time together.

When she witnessed Seo Ran's pain from up close.

Following her, all the way to this moment...

Short from the eyes of a transcendent being, but unbearably long from a mortal's perspective.

Kang Min-hee, determined to protect that time at all costs, grinds down her own being and cries out.

"As long as I am using my authority... you will never die, so go!"

"... Yes. Hee Unnie."

Seo Ran looks at Kang Min-hee for a moment, then with a bright smile, steps onto the strand of Kang Min-hee's blue hair, making her way to Sword Peak Mountain.

A black shadow-like world.

There, a worm made of black flowers clicks its tongue while gazing toward somewhere.

[Right. I realized it from the moment she perceived my essence despite its concealment... So it was like that after all.] In the worm's eyes, a certain space of the Unruly Realm appears.

There, Seo Ran is shown walking toward Sword Peak Mountain by stepping on a thin thread.

However, the worm sees something more.

It is the very 'paper flowers' beginning to bloom inside Seo Ran's chest.

[Dangerous. She must be intercepted.] At the words carrying the will of the worm, the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, countless warlords begin to simultaneously aim their guns and cannons at Seo Ran.

At last, the sky over Jeongyeong City has become night.

The time when she is originally supposed to die is now here, and the fireworks marking her final moment begins.