Chapter 422: Chapter 422

"I have something to say to you."

Baek Suryong stared at the faces of his former trainees. Before leaving this dream, he wanted to take in the sight of each trainee.

He slowly called them out one by one.

Number One was the successor to the Unlimited Sword. Countless scars marked his face beneath sharp eyes, half of which he inflicted himself.

Number Two was the successor to the White Ice Divine Art. The little girl who used to hide under her blankets and sob every night had grown into a woman with an ice-cold expression.

Number Three was the successor to the Asura Blood Heaven Blade. Of the four, he harbored the densest killing intent. Even now, he tried to hide it by bowing his head, but his tightly clenched jaw revealed his irritation.

Number Four silently lowered his head. He was the successor to the Eighteen Strikes of the Viridian Forest and had become mute after an accident while sparring with his peers. Since he was a man of few words to begin with, it took Number 27 several days to realize his trainee had gone mute.

Furious, he had immediately demanded to know why Number Four hadn't disclosed his condition earlier, but the young man simply wrote on a piece of paper in crooked handwriting: It won't affect my training.

He was foolishly honest and obedient, so much so that he was the only one who had never defied his master even once in the last ten years.

Baek Suryong's gaze lingered on Number Four a little longer before he turned to look at the distant sky.

From afar, the world slowly crumbled, signaling that the Heaven-Defying Blood Circulation Art was nearing its end. When the world fell apart completely, he would return to reality.

Baek Suryong turned away from the crumbling world and looked at his trainees again. "What I'm about to say might sound strange, but I hope you'll just listen."

This wasn't something that had actually happened in his past life. Everything he was about to say might be nothing more than a fleeting monologue, an excuse for his own comfort. Baek Suryong knew that better than anyone, but still, he had to do this.

"In a few days, I'm going to escape the Blood Cult with the imprisoned masters."

"......" The trainees' expressionless faces changed slightly, but not because they were shocked by what Baek Suryong had said.

They were in disbelief. From the beginning, their master-disciple relationship had been warped, and now they distrusted and doubted anything their instructor said. As such, they watched him warily, wondering if this was yet another test of their loyalty.

Baek Suryong knew all to well what they were thinking. Still, he continued, "That plan will ultimately fail. You'll stand in my way, and I'll die with my masters. For you, it's a future that will soon unfold. For me, it's a past that can't be altered."

"What are you talking about?" Number One asked, narrowing his eyes sharply and releasing a menacing aura, as if he stood ready to draw his sword at any moment. "Even if this is a test, I can't let that remark slide. You know better than anyone that I could execute you on the spot for what you said."

He gave a signal with his eyes, and the trainees instantly surrounded Baek Suryong. They still couldn't believe their incomparably cunning master had allowed himself to be so vulnerable, but if their instructor had truly betrayed the Blood Cult, they would unleash their most lethal techniques without hesitation.

Baek Suryong smiled bitterly. "Even if I had asked you to escape with me, nothing would have changed, would it?"

Formidable killing intent erupted from the trainees' bodies.

Number One shouted, "I'll ask one last time! If you can't explain yourself properly...!"

Baek Suryong's eyes and hair turned red.

"T-The Heaven Defying Divine Art...!"

The trainees stared at their master in horror, their killing intent dissipating instantly. Their knees buckled reflexively, and instinct commanded them to kneel.

Baek Suryong quickly stopped them with telekinesis. "Don't do that. Just stay still, be quiet, and listen to me, okay?"

I know this world isn't real. It's a strange dream formed from the fusion of my previous life's memories and the Heaven Defying Divine Art. Even these kids' reactions may ultimately be nothing more than my wishful fantasy.

Since this was simply a product of his imagination, he didn't want to hear any answers here. He didn't want to be that cowardly.

Even now, he still didn't know what he wanted to say. He'd thought and worried a great deal, but he had yet to find the right words.

I'll just say whatever comes to mind, then.

Baek Suryong began, "I'm going to be reincarnated. No, I already have been."

""......"" The trainees' eyes widened in confusion, but no one spoke. They simply glared at their master as if he were an incomprehensible being.

"I have a family that I never had before. I've made friends and met new students."

His old trainees were quite similar to the Five Young Azure Dragons. For that reason, sometimes, when he saw the youthful faces laughing, crying, and chatting at the White Dragon Manor, he hallucinated these scarred faces stared at him vacantly.

"I still think of you often. In fact, I do it quite frequently." He chuckled awkwardly. "Over the past fifty years, how have you all changed? With your talents, you must have all grown stronger and taken up leadership positions within the Blood Cult. I wouldn't even be surprised if one of you became the next Blood Demon..."

Baek Suryong suddenly lifted his head and looked at the sky. The Blood Demon's lingering thoughts had turned to dust and vanished, yet the entire sky was still tinged with red, possibly because of the residue.

"But instead, I heard that you became the cult's Apostles. It seems I'm not the only one haunted by the ghost of the dead Blood Demon."

"After I found out you were alive, I asked a friend I made at the Azure Dragon Academy what he would do if he met a student whose life was ruined because of him. Do you want to know what that bastard said?"

Recalling Namgung Su's resolute expression, Baek Suryong chuckled to himself.

"He told me to teach you kids again. He said that if a student goes astray because of my mistake, I should take responsibility as their instructor and reeducate them. Isn't it funny? That son of a bitch doesn't know anything about what I did to you guys. Even so..."

Baek Suryong's voice trembled. There was still no visible emotion on his old trainees' faces, but he understood now. Their emotions hadn't been completely annihilated. They'd just become extremely skilled at hiding them, just as he himself had in the past.

"It's not a crime to imagine, is it?"

The time and space they were standing in shifted. The trainees, who had been young adults, shrank and became children again. At the same time, Baek Suryong transformed into Number 27.

"If I could go back to that day, then..."

Time rewound to the day they first arrived at the dormitory together. On that day, Number 27 had established discipline by cracking a whip, creating unforgettable scars on his trainees' bodies and minds.

This time, however, Number 27 picked up the instructor's pointer resting next to the whip. The four children looked at him with bright, shining eyes, and he smiled warmly at them.

"I'll teach you everything, starting with how to hold a weapon. We'll take things one step at a time, without rushing..."

The children, who had each picked up a weapon they liked, smiled happily. Instead of dangerous, sharpened steel weapons though, they each held wooden training weapons suitable for their age.

"That's good. With these, you won't get hurt even if you train to your heart's content."

The students swung their weapons clumsily, then began practicing martial arts excitedly, as if they had just received new toys. Cries of delight and laughter rang out as they joked around with each other. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novelꜰire.net

Baek Suryong took a few steps back and watched his students from a third-person perspective, a smile spreading across his face. Only, his smile was strained, as if he were forcing it.

"Sometimes, I imagine that this is how things went."

The children who had been happily laughing and chatting scattered like a mirage, replaced once again by young adults with lifeless expressions... No, they were aging rapidly. Gray hairs appeared, and wrinkles slowly formed on their faces. The passing decades weathered them.

A moment later, Baek Suryong stood before his trainees, who had grown old. He knew that this was merely an image of his aged students that he had conjured in his head, not their current appearances, but it would suffice for now.

Number One. Number Two. Number Three. Number Four.

The First Apostle. The Second Apostle. The Third Apostle. The Fourth Apostle.

The beings who had come to be called Apostles were still known by the numbers their old master had called them.

A thought suddenly occurred to Baek Suryong.

"Did you get names too?"

Could the Blood Demon have given them new names? Or maybe they came to be known by their aliases.

For some reason, though, he was certain that wasn't the case. His former trainees probably still referred to each other by their numbers, not feeling the need to have names.

A voice rang out from behind him. "Why don't you name them?"

Baek Suryong turned his head to see his masters standing side by side, looking at him. "Masters...?"

Master Maeng approached and slapped his disciple's back. "You brat! There's not much time left. Why are you still wasting time moping around?"

Baek Suryong was stupefied. The slap hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes.

This is a dream, how can it hurt so much?

"You finally meet your old students, and all you do is whine? If you're going to apologize, then apologize! If you're going to make a promise, then make it! If you're going to name them, then hurry up and do it!"

"Wait, how are you here, Masters?"

"We came out of the prison on our own because we were so frustrated at your stupidity! Ugh. Watching you act is infuriating. We couldn't just wait around."

Baek Suryong was the absolute ruler of this dream world, and he had never manipulated memories related to his masters.

So why are they, who should have been locked up in prison, here?

Suddenly, he recalled his final farewell with his masters in Moon Yul's dream.

"Kuhaha! Let's meet again next time!"

"Don't overdo it when you're alone."

"It was enjoyable being called here, even for a short while."

Baek Suryong stared at his masters in shock. "Since when..."

Before he could finish his question, though, they pushed their joint disciple's back in unison.

"Now, tell your students what you really want to say."

"There's no time, hurry up."

"Think of it as practice for the real thing."

"If you hesitate, be prepared for a serious scolding!"

Shoved from behind, Baek Suryong stood awkwardly in front of his trainees. He still couldn't see any emotion on their elderly faces. They were like exquisitely crafted dolls.

"I'll promise you one thing."

The world was collapsing faster than ever before. He truly didn't have much time left.

"Someday, I'll go see you."

The dream world scattered completely. Everyone turned to dust and vanished.

Just before the world returned to nothingness, Baek Suryong uttered the last words he wanted to tell his trainees.

"I want to give you real names!"

Right before his consciousness faded, he thought he heard his masters saying, "Well done."

The next thing he knew, he was in his own room.

"I had a strange dream."

[What kind of dream?]

"A dream about our old master. Everything was blurry, but strangely, his last words remain in my memory. He said that he would come to see us..."

[That's a strange dream indeed.]

The First Apostle touched the scars hidden beneath his black bamboo hat. The old wounds ached particularly intensely today.

"Regardless, it was just a dream."

He rose from where he was sitting. The screams and shouts from outside had ceased. It seemed that things had been taken care of while he was resting.

He watched as Moyong Clan Patriarch's head rolled across the floor, then walked out of the main hall.

A scene from hell unfolded before him—a hill of corpses surrounded by a sea of blood.

The First Apostle slowly walked down the path and left the Moyong Estate. Looking at the cultists waiting there quietly, he commanded, "Burn everything."