Author's Note: Before starting the chapter, I wanted to note that I changed many names in the Murim due to previous name similarities, the first of them being the leader of Mount Hua Sect and the leader of the Fist Clan. Also, Lucian's real name is (Leonhart). I mentioned this before, and you will find me switching the name within the lines.
____________________________
The next day after that night, the elder and the leader of Mount Hua Sect sat in a closed room. Discomfort and anger were evident on the leader's face (Xiao Hui).
Xiao: Elder Bai-Yi, how did you allow this to happen?
Elder Bai had a distant look dominating his face. He replied with a strange calm: That young man… he does not belong to Jianghu at all.
Xiao: What do you mean?
The elder continued: What he did yesterday was the best choice. He came alone to end the matter with our sect completely. This person possesses a special authority.
The leader was slightly surprised: What do you mean by all this, and what justifies making our disciples die in this manner?
Elder Bai raised his gaze: This young man is exceptional… He executed them while closing his eyes. It wasn't boasting; it was his desire not to see their deaths.
The leader's voice rose as he asked in anger: Has senility afflicted you at the end of your life?
The elder interrupted before he could finish: Do you know why he spared the remaining two?
The leader asked: Why?
Bai Yi: He asked them… Do you have families? Those who did survived. Those who didn't died.
A long silence fell as the leader looked at the elder in astonishment. Later, the elder explained his observations about that small session in detail, detailing every word and every movement the young man made.
Later, in the council meeting hall, they gathered unexpectedly.
Bai Rion: So what did you do, Twelfth?
Jin glanced at him briefly. The young man's facial features were dimmed, his expression cold, yet feelings of sadness and doubt emanated from him.
He spoke in a tone so cold it was provocative: I went, then killed those who committed the killing. The matter is over.
The entire council felt provoked by this reply—except for Bai Rion and Rao Ming, who understood his mindset in a special way. Rion was puzzled at that moment; he didn't understand how things were, and he was also surprised by the young man's state. Rion asked himself: Why does he continue with us if he rejects all this?
Rion: Why did you go alone?
Jin raised his eyes, which seemed detached from reality, and answered coldly: If I had taken anyone with me, that would mean I would face an army, not just a clan.
The entire council became irritated by his words—words that displayed unbelievable arrogance, a style they had never grown accustomed to from him. The question was clear: Was this truly arrogance? Or was it an awareness of the lack of importance of seriousness amid the nonsense.
A long silence prevailed. The young man looked for a long time: It seems… there is no benefit from this meeting.
The young man left and left the meeting behind him. He stood for a moment looking at the ground. He did not move. He did not look around. He simply stared at the ground, thinking about what he had done, and asked himself: Is this right? Am I correct? Am I forced into all of this?
After a long while, in Burin's workshop.
Burin with annoyance: Hey you, didn't I tell you to come tomorrow? How many days have passed?
Lucian provocatively: Today is not twenty-four hours—it's one hundred and twenty-eight. I came tomorrow hahahahaha.
Burin got slightly angry, but he eventually calmed down and held his pipe: So be it then? You will find your sword in that room on the lower floor. Search for it hahahahaha.
Lucian went willingly, opened the room, found no lighting, but instead a wide room full of forgotten junk and things, dust choking the place. Yuan asked in annoyance: And why did you put it here, old man?
Burin replied sarcastically: It's your luck, young man. You'll find it, don't worry.
After a short while, Burin was still on his chair, and Lucian was searching the room below.
The workshop door opened quietly. Burin raised his gaze, then his eyes widened in shock.
Jin entered the place. It was the same appearance Burin was used to seeing when the young man was in his deepest stages of worry and distress: simple wide clothes, his sword in his left hand.
The young man sat on the opposite chair with extreme calm. Burin spoke: What happened?
The young man replied coldly: I don't know if a lot happened? Or is it little and much in meaning.
Burin asked: Don't you feel anything around us?
The young man replied with extreme dimness: I don't know. I found a medicine that numbs the senses. I feel like I'm a slightly ordinary person.
Sadness reflected on the old man's face as he looked at him. This was a new stage he had never seen before.
The old man did not reply for a moment. He held the communication device of the Tower and asked Jimi to bring two cups of coffee.
Jimi arrived after a few minutes, placed the coffee, and left quietly.
Burin: So… what happened this time?
Jin remained silent for a long time before telling him what happened that night.
Meanwhile, Lucian was sitting on the stairs of the lower floor listening. He wondered: Why would someone need a numbing agent for their senses? No problem, this is an opportunity to learn the truth about this person.
Jin finished recounting what happened and remained silent for another period.
Burin, who had become distracted and didn't know how to respond, asked: Is that why you numbed your senses?
Jin smiled with sad sarcasm: Despite that power, I was defeated with a single move. It was Yuan who came with me before—one single move.
Burin was completely shocked and his questions poured onto the young man. He didn't know that the young man he had seen only once would overcome Jin's instincts with a single move!
At that moment Leonhart was stunned. He almost stood up from the stairs in shock: What is this? Are you kidding me? First me and Volt, then this young man and another person of the same age? Is it possible that there are four with the same abnormality in the same generation!?
Jin continued: Calm down, old man, no need for all that shock. My question was only what is the use of those damned instincts—nothing more. And you have indeed lived through a group with the same strangeness in the past.
Burin asked him: What do you mean, young man?
Jin was silent for a moment then said: A team in the same age stage—Chunma, Virgil, Kalion, and… Valerion.
The old man's eyes widened as he listened. Decades of memories flooded his mind. He asked: How… how did you know this?
Jin: Not through some grand incident. The Supreme Guardian told me that story. It's not strange for you to see this type of abnormality, so why the surprise?
Burin was silent for a moment. Indescribable worry reflected on his face. He looked at the ground and replied: Why?… Because I do not want to see the same journey again.
Jin looked at him with focus as the old man continued: They were just ambitious youths in the past, but… power imposes a painful toll. Questions drag many times more in every moment. I don't want to see the same path.
The young man finished his cup of coffee and spoke in a trembling voice: Is… is everything I do truly worth justifying?
Burin raised his gaze in astonishment, feeling that the coming question would not be light at all.
The young man continued as tears fell from his eyes: Is it really… is it… finding her worth extinguishing all those lives? Is there truly no way other than this? The young man said it with torment. This alone was enough to paralyze the old man in his place from shock.
Burin asked: What do you mean? Do you realize what you're saying?
The young man slammed his hand on the table and asked with anger born from sorrow: Should I stop searching for my little sister? Is it really worth the death of everyone I killed with my own hands?
Burin was silent for a moment then looked at the ground. Dimness truly took over his face.
Burin: Even if you gave up on her… you will continue in that vortex. You will not be able to escape. So do not sacrifice your only goal. At least achieve your goal amid all of this.
Jin: Does what you're saying have anything to do with the previous time cycle? What are the stories deleted from history, old man? I'm tired of all this. I want answers that comfort me, I… and the young man's tears fell to the ground. I can no longer bear this nonsense… What is my sin?
The old man remained silent. He could not reply—his reply would only increase the questions.