Chapter 64

The Demon's Selection (64)

"Hey, hold it!"

Akyeonggi hastily shouted, but by then, a chill as cold as ice had already enveloped the surroundings.

Squish.

With a chilling sound, the heads of his subordinates floated into the air.

A transparent ice blade, materialized from the frozen atmosphere, had severed the necks of the Zhangluo Fang members at Han Seol-hwa's will.

Deprived of their fighting spirit, they couldn't even put up a proper resistance.

None of the surviving Zhangluo Fang members remained. Only Akyeonggi stood there, his face blank with shock, drenched in the blood rain.

In just one breath.

That was the time it took for the Zhangluo Fang, which had boasted of dominating Shanxi, to be erased from the martial world.

Chao Ailiang asked Akyeonggi, who stood there with a dazed look, his eyes unfocused.

"Who told you the story of the Son of Righteousness?"

"......"

Akyeonggi didn't answer.

No, he couldn't. He was already out of his mind with fear and despair.

Chao Ailiang changed his question.

"Are you married?"

Akyeonggi, who had nodded absentmindedly, suddenly came to his senses at Chao Ailiang's next words.

"If so, you must have a family, right?"

Chao Ailiang's chilling voice pierced Akyeonggi's mind.

"Didn't they say that the sins of the father are carried by the children, a karmic retribution passed through blood?"

"......!"

Akyeonggi trembled as if struck by lightning.

"Isn't that the way of the martial world you spoke of?"

Akyeonggi, who had his own words thrown back at him, couldn't offer any rebuttal.

Thud.

Akyeonggi fell to his knees and shouted.

"Black Spot! Shanxi Branch!"

Chao Ailiang's eyebrows twitched.

Black Spot (黑店).

A black market group that traded anything and everything, from stolen goods to information, and even human lives.

Operating in a cell-like structure with a strict hierarchical system, almost nothing was known about the organization, including its leader, the innkeeper.

"Please, I beg you."

With those words, Akyeonggi closed his eyes.

Chao Ailiang nodded to Fan Jiawei, who had approached silently.

Snap.

Fan Jiawei's ruthless hand snapped Akyeonggi's neck.

It was then that Dan Aksun walked out of the hall. Looking around with a pained expression, Dan Aksun bit her lower lip tightly.

The valley, once filled with the fresh scent of flowers and herbs, was now permeated with the heavy smell of blood and the aura of death.

"Let's go inside, Palace Master."

Despite Neng Xiaomil's attempts to dissuade her, Dan Aksun shook her head.

"We can't just leave the bodies like this."

"I'll take care of it."

"Let's do it together. It happened because of me."

Seeing the deep shadow on Dan Aksun's face, Chao Ailiang sighed.

"It's not your fault."

"I know. But..."

Dan Aksun said with a sigh.

"Where did it all go wrong?"

Chao Ailiang looked at Dan Aksun with a sympathetic gaze.

"This isn't what I wanted."

Feeling a sense of regret, Dan Aksun's voice made everyone feel a complex mix of emotions. But no one dared to offer comfort rashly.

They just looked at Dan Aksun with pity.

"My parents were the same. They just saved people... but in the end, they had to hide here."

Dan Aksun wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Maybe I was too greedy."

"What do you mean by being greedy?"

In response to Chao Ailiang's question, Dan Aksun smiled bitterly.

"I imagined building a righteous community. A dream of saving people together. I thought we might even be able to leave this place and live in harmony with the world."

Only then did everyone realize that this place, the Demon Valley, was both a sanctuary and a prison for Dan Aksun.

Yet, Dan Aksun blamed herself for everything and felt guilty.

Her appearance deeply moved their hearts.

After a long time, Dan Aksun finally moved and began to gather the scattered bodies.

Despite Neng Xiaomil's repeated attempts to dissuade her, Dan Aksun insisted on her decision. Her face pale from the horrific scene, she didn't turn away from the grim reality.

A short while later, a large pit was dug at the bottom of a secluded cliff in the valley.

Dan Aksun didn't speak a single word until the bodies were moved and the burial was completed. She just silently did her best with the task at hand.

After cleaning up the hall with everyone, Dan Aksun looked at the large grave with a complex expression.

"Will I end up hurting people too if I learn martial arts?"

At her words, Chao Ailiang and the others looked worried.

They understood her current confused emotions, but there was an inexplicable sense of unease in Dan Aksun's voice.

"There's a saying in the Dharma Sutra."

Ignoring the two people who looked at him as if he were saying something absurd, Chao Ailiang continued.

"Rust, which comes from iron, eventually eats away at the iron."

Meeting Dan Aksun's gaze, Chao Ailiang said firmly.

"Don't be consumed by doubt and suspicion. Water can be medicine for a deer but poison for a snake. I believe you are different from those who are intoxicated by their martial arts and desires, oppressing the weak."

"Right! Our Doctor Dan would never do that!"

Fan Jiawei's confident voice made Dan Aksun nod.

"I understand. It must be confusing and scary."

After a moment, Chao Ailiang spoke again.

"Those who don't choose cannot move forward."

His voice was gentle but firm.

With a complex expression, Dan Aksun nodded.

"I'm sorry. I'll go inside first today."

With those words, Dan Aksun disappeared into the hall.

After that, Dan Aksun stayed inside the hall, not coming out.

Days passed. Fan Jiawei, who was restless, and Chao Ailiang and Han Seol-hwa, who were worried about Dan Aksun, took turns pacing outside the hall.

But the door of the hall never opened.

On the fourth day.

Neng Xiaomil, who had woken up early as usual, was startled when she looked around.

She saw a long shadow cast by a person at the entrance of the valley, where the sky was just beginning to lighten.

But she soon realized that the shadow belonged to Dan Aksun.

Normally, she would have approached with a smile and greeted her, but today she couldn't bring herself to speak.

It was because of the strange atmosphere surrounding Dan Aksun.

While Neng Xiaomil hesitated, the others also began to appear outside the hall.

"Why are you standing there? Like a dog that needs to go to the bathroom."

In response to Fan Jiawei's words, Neng Xiaomil pointed to the entrance of the valley with a puzzled expression.

Only then did Fan Jiawei notice Dan Aksun and hesitantly approached her.

Chao Ailiang and Han Seol-hwa followed behind.

"Doctor Dan, what are you doing? So early in the morning."

Dan Aksun turned her head to look at the three people who had approached.

"You're here."

Her hair and shoulders were soaked with the night dew, indicating how long she had been standing there.

"I was thinking about my parents."

Dan Aksun answered with a gaunt face, revealing how much she had suffered in the past few days.

"I used to feel very wronged when I watched my parents hiding here. It seemed unfair that they, who had dedicated their lives to saving people, had to hide from others."

Starting with this, Dan Aksun continued slowly.

"But now, I think it was because of me. No parent would want their child to be in danger."

Dan Aksun smiled bitterly, recalling a distant memory.

"But life here was not entirely happy. For them, it was like giving up their lives as doctors."

Dan Aksun fiddled with a stone in her hand, lost in thought.

Fan Jiawei, who had noticed the stone, was startled.

It was a particularly noticeable white stone that he recognized. Suddenly, his heart sank.

He realized where Dan Aksun was standing.

A pile of stones near the entrance.

Dan Aksun was standing right next to it.

"Doctor Dan! You don't mean to...?"

Fan Jiawei recalled a warning Dan Aksun had given him before.

She had said she could activate the array through those stones.

"Why are you making such a fuss?"

In response to Chao Ailiang's reprimand, Fan Jiawei raised his voice.

"Look at Doctor Dan's hands! That stone is the cornerstone that activates the array!"

"Array?"

Chao Ailiang, who had been making a dismissive expression, froze at Dan Aksun's next words.

"Yes. One of the legacies left by my parents. It's called the Hun Tian Mi Li Dark Array, a type of mystical array."

"......!"

Chao Ailiang, startled, asked urgently.

"You don't mean the Ghost Hand's?"

Ghost Hand was another name for Zhuo Yaoshen, a legendary figure in the martial world known as the Unfathomable. He was a genius of unparalleled talent, skilled in poetry,