Chapter 670
“Entry denied.”
China has rejected Park Jinseong’s entry.
“According to Article 21 of the revised Entry and Exit Administration Law of China, we inform you that your entry is not permitted.”
And that was said officially.
“Hmm.”
Jinseong briefly stroked his chin as the notification came to him.
“I really haven’t done anything in China this life, have I?”
It wasn’t surprising that China denied his entry.
Even before his return, he hadn’t been able to officially enter China.
No, it wasn’t just that he couldn’t enter; he had made it onto a blacklist.
This wasn’t something he couldn’t understand.
How many times had he clashed with China regarding magic?
Jinseong was displeased with how China furiously excavated ruins, and China, in turn, wasn’t fond of Jinseong, who interfered with their national interests. Thus, the relationship between them was unexpectedly poor.
Heck, those digging up the ruins would attack him without hesitation upon seeing him.
So, if it were the past, a denial of entry wouldn’t be too strange…
However, denying him now was a bit peculiar.
“Is it because of what happened in North Korea?”
Recently, he had undergone a coming-of-age ceremony in North Korea and cast away defilement.
Some foolish individuals had made a beeline for China with that defilement, which had been read astronomically…
Could it be that they pinpointed Park Jinseong as the culprit?
“Or is it because of the agents who infiltrated the building?”
It could also be due to the Chinese agents who had trespassed into the building.
Those who had entered and gotten caught, then changed their careers to providing nutrients for elixirs.
“Surely, they wouldn’t blacklist someone over just that….”
Yet, even so, it was hard to understand.
Jinseong remembered China as a country that used people like disposable goods.
Even objectively, they had made use of quite handy individuals.
Scholars, capable individuals, artisans, too.
China had utilized countless people without hesitation, seeming to replace them from nowhere. Thus, amidst the madness of World War III, they still had made a noteworthy presence.
Perhaps equal to the madness other countries possessed… or even displaying overwhelming levels of madness in some aspects.
Yeah.
Would such a country really blacklist someone just because a few warriors went missing?
“That couldn’t be right. Haha.”
Then what could be the reason they barred him entry?
Jinseong began to move to resolve that curiosity.
—
Defilement.
Defilement.
It’s all defilement.
On the sea, those whose breaths are cut off are the nine spirits of the celestial dragon.
Those who touch and handle the off-spirited corpses!
The sound of lamentation echoed like the Milky Way, the off-spirit! White butterflies floating on the top of the head are the white butterfly apparitions!
The off-spirits seen at the hour of fate, the off-spirits seen every time!
The off-spirits seen at the time of passing, the off-spirits seen during last rites!
The off-spirits seen at the time of entering the coffin—!
Hahaha!
On the path of defilement above, below is the defilement of release.
Water defilement, fire defilement, cast them all away!
Water defilement, fire defilement, cast them all away!
“Heh, hehh….”
I hear a sound.
A clinking sound of metal colliding.
The sound of a bell ringing from afar.
A funeral bier adorned with flowers sways up and down, while a rotten coffin, spewing black smoke, struggles to escape from between the half-broken bier.
Have they performed rites?
Is that truly a human form, rotting and festering?
From the coffin, that sound goes clankity-clank.
Is it shaking due to the movement of the bier or struggling to come out of the coffin?
It desperately tries to emerge from the coffin.
Scraping the coffin with its shredded nails and rotten extremities, the sound chills me to the bone.
Clink-clank.
Is it coins clashing together?
Or the sound of a rusted, deformed bell unable to fulfill its purpose?
The sound grows closer.
The bier isn’t moving forward at all.
It merely sways up and down, swaying and rocking as if it’s dancing on the waves, while gently dropping an invisible anchor underwater, the bier dances well, swaying up and down.
Ri-Sha-O—
What escapes while dancing is a name.
The name of the person watching them.
Ri-Sha-O—
It grins, revealing its decayed teeth.
Showing the collapsed gums and the mouth devoid of a rotting tongue.
It squishes its face into the gaps of the coffin, trying to barely reveal its face while opening its mouth, calling out the name against the backdrop of the bell’s ring.
Ri-Sha-O—
And in response, mouths appear everywhere, starting to echo that name.
Ri-Sha-O—
Ri-Sha-O—
That floral bier wasn’t a flower at all, was it?
The petals transformed into human fingers, into human teeth.
The stems morphed into blood vessels and skin, changing into grotesque forms.
As if crafting the shape of a flower from human bodies, they transformed that way.
Numerous human hands stitched together to form the shape of a flower, and in the midst of them, a human mouth suddenly protrudes to call out.
Ri.
Sha.
O.
Even while teeth clatter and blood drips, it opens its mouth to speak. Although its teeth strike against each other making a hard sound, it still calls out her name.
Ri.
Sha.
O.
Defilement, defilement, defilement.
Ah. Ri-Sha-O, in that moment, opened her mouth to shout.
Defilement, get out!
Defilement, daring to touch the continent, get out!
Leaving only the items behind, get out!
Washed in the moldy saltwater, grasped by the sunlight of defilement, rubbed into the ground, defilement will shatter and get washed away by the waves!
Oh, that shout is terrifying beyond measure.
Defilement, defilement, the defilement that cannot touch the shore.
The defilement that sinks in the waters shouts loudly for her name here.
Ri-Sha-O.
Li-Sha-O.
“I-I don’t want to….”
[ The defilement is here. ]
[ We are always here. ]
[ We. ]
[ Wait for you. ]
[ Here. ]
Ha—
Hahahahaha!
Hahahaha!
“I don’t… I don’t want to!”
The defilement screams her name.
In the depths of the bier cloaked in darkness, as if flailing about.
Like a drowning person struggling, its arms made of black smoke flail clumsily.
Yet, with its hollow eyes, it meets hers, and it speaks.
[ …! ]
Here we wait.
Where you first saw me long ago.
On the submarine, where we faced each other for the first time.
There, we wait for you.
[ Oh…! ]
Zhong Mingzhao is different from you.
Just because Zhong Mingzhao shines doesn’t mean you shine.
Even if the sunlight makes the glass sparkle, it still cannot shine on its own.
Ri-Sha-O, Ri-Sha-O.
Oh, pitiful one. Silly child who cannot bear the heavy name of Fairy Lady.
To you, so young and still so young, I would like to ask.
[ Shao…! ]
Ri-Sha-O—
What value, pray tell, do you have without Zhong Mingzhao?
[ Shao! ]
You possess no self-learned abilities.
You are not outstanding in your studies.
You do not even have the skills to feed yourself for life.
How could you dare to utter resolution?
Would you dare not to encroach upon the great land of China?
Hahahaha!
We are here.
Neither retreating nor breaking, we are here.
Come here.
If your words are true, then prove it.
Underwater.
Waiting.
[ Shao-Shao! ]
We shall be.
—
[ Shao-Shao! ]
The senses of the body return.
At the voice calling her name, her consciousness awakens, and her eyes open.
Her eyes… her eyes.
“Sh-Shinjo…?”
[ Yes. Shao-Shao, are you awake? ]
“Yes, yes….”
Yes.
This isn’t a dream.
This is reality.
Before her now stands the transcendent being she made a contract with, Zhong Mingzhao.
Not the creepy bier adorned with flowers shaped from human bodies, but the transcendent being, Zhong Mingzhao, who always stays by her side and protects her…
“Shinjo… I-I had another nightmare… a nightmare….”
[ Yes. I know. You were moaning in your sleep. ]
Ri-Sha-O repeatedly uttered the affectionate name for Zhong Mingzhao as she nestled into the embrace of Zhong Mingzhao. Then, she closed her eyes tightly as if trying to shake off the fear she felt from the nightmare while being cradled by the radiant feathers.
[ Was it that dream again? ]
“Yes. That misfortune… that misfortune came out again…”
[ Oh dear…. ]
Zhong Mingzhao, while stroking the Ri-Sha-O cradled in her arms, sighed.
[ Shao-Shao. The defilement from that time sank down there in the sea. It sank there, unable to affect you at all. You have overcome that defilement and protected the continent. So, there’s no reason for you to worry about it at all. ]
“That’s right. I overcame that misfortune.”
She did overcome it… but…
“Then why does that defilement keep appearing in my dreams? Why does it persistently torment me in my dreams? Why can’t I fight back against the torment of that defilement…?”
