Chương 150: Chapter 1038: You'll Understand It Too (Part 3)
"Pl-please...."
Thud!
An indifferent foot crushed a person's head with no mercy, causing it to burst open. Danjagang, who had carelessly cut off a life, stepped on the blood and brain matter and moved forward. Then, he glanced back for a moment.
The place he had passed through was now littered with corpses. The imperial soldiers had already rushed in after assessing the situation. To ordinary people, they would be nothing but pure terror, and even the martial artists, including the tough imperial soldiers, were like a swarm of flies in front of Danjagang.
It seemed like a battlefield had swept through the place, leaving nothing but a hellish landscape behind. Of course, this hellish scene didn't impress Danjagang much. He was just erasing the beings that needed to be erased.
No room for pity or questions. He silently wiped away everything he saw.
Indeed, they were not human anymore.
Although they looked no different from the religious believers, they were nothing but scum who threw away the opportunity for faith given to them. The Heavenly Demon had already given them a chance. They had an opportunity to recognize the Heavenly Demon's presence and submit to it.
However, they had rejected that opportunity. They refused the arrival of the divine, leaving only death and eternal suffering as their fate.
'In the end, this was their choice.'
Danjagang, who had been casually gazing at the blood-soaked ground, turned his head just then. His gaze suddenly shifted to the side.
A faint cry of a child's voice had reached his ears. His eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Amid the dead and dying, he seemed to have missed a small presence that was hidden among them.
He moved his feet, thinking once again that he, too, did not have much experience with this kind of slaughter.
"Pl-please...."
Finally, he saw something unusual. Beneath a pile of mangled corpses, a woman was covering a child with her entire body. With one hand, she desperately covered the crying child's mouth, and the trembling woman caught Danjagang's attention.
"Pl-please...."
The woman must have sensed Danjagang's presence, as she suddenly shivered in fear. Their eyes met, and she began sobbing as if she had come face to face with a grim reaper.
"Pl-please...."
The words had not changed. Only the target of those words had clearly shifted. If the initial plea was directed towards the child, now it was directed at Danjagang.
"Please, just this child... Please!"
Danjagang continued to look at the woman and the child in his arms with his usual indifferent gaze.
Foolish. It's all foolish. Why didn't they understand that all of this was the result of their own choices? Danjagang was not the one to seek forgiveness from. Why did they not understand that?
Danjagang casually raised his hand. But at that moment, the child in the woman's arms burst into tears as if he were about to suffocate.
"Hak-ah... Hak-ah... Please, Hak-ah."
The woman hugged the child tightly against her chest, shutting her eyes tightly.
Danjagang, with his hand still raised, stared at the scene intently. Then, slowly, his hand descended.
Not out of sympathy. After all, everyone here would die sooner or later. There was no way for the weakened woman and child to survive in a place like this.
Their fate was sealed, and there was no need for Danjagang to dirty his hands with the blood of unbelievers. That was all it was.
Thud.
As he walked, stepping on the blood-soaked ground, a messenger quickly approached at an alarming speed.
"Reporting!"
The messenger, seemingly unfazed by the blood-soaked ground, prostrated, and was about to start reporting when he suddenly looked up. His eyes twisted viciously as if he felt something approaching from behind Danjagang.
"Listen as you report."
But the words that flowed from Danjagang's mouth in that moment made it impossible for the messenger to remain calm.
"Yes!"
In the end, the messenger silently stood up and followed behind Danjagang.
"Over ninety percent of the operation has been completed."
"Late."
"I apologize. It's because the city is still a city... There are too many who have hidden underground."
"Excuses are a convenient cover for incompetence, but they don't conceal a lack of faith."
Upon hearing those words, Jeokil's face turned ashen.
"By any means necessary, I will finish it within three days!"
"Two."
"..."
"Two days. Within that time, eradicate everything that exists here."
"Yes, Bishop!"
Jeokil deeply bowed his head. Whether it was possible or not didn't matter. What mattered was that he had received the Bishop's command. The Bishop's orders must be carried out, no matter what means were necessary. That was the law of the faith.
While Jeokil was firming up his determination, Danjagang's voice reached him.
"Jeokil."
"Yes, Bishop."
"I have one question for you."
Jeokil remained silent, bowing his head and waiting for the Bishop's words.
"Their deaths are merely the consequence of their sins."
"That is correct."
"They refused the merciful hand offered by the Divine Being. They knew of the existence of the Heavenly Demon but chose not to pledge allegiance to the faith, daring to oppose the Heavenly Demon."
"That is correct."
"Those who do not know of the existence of the Divine Being, who have not yet had the opportunity to choose, what should be done about their lives?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean it literally. Should lives that do not yet have awareness be subject to the same punishment? Should children who haven't been introduced to the faith also bear the weight of their sins?"
Jeokil's face contorted strangely.
"… … They may not have sinned, but isn't it natural for children to bear the sins of their parents?"
"Is that so?"
Danjagang nodded silently.
'...A choice.'
Could that really be called a choice?
Danjagang wiped his face silently. His rough lips brushed against his palm.
When living within the faith, there was no need for such doubts. They all believed in the same thing and shared the same thoughts. Anything that deviated was thoroughly excluded.
Simply believing was enough to find peace.
By accepting the sermons of the Bishops who spread the gospel of the Heavenly Demon without any doubt, they could experience infinite joy.
However...
Danjagang looked up at the cloudy sky.
The world he encountered was as vague as the sky itself. The spotless sky he had seen from within the faith did not exist here.
"I have one more question."
"Yes, Bishop."
"If we achieve all of this... and if the Divine Being does not answer our pleas... what will you do?"
"..."
"Will you return to the faith and wait for His arrival forever?"
"I... I don't know the answer."
"Is that so?"
"All I know is one thing. The joy of the faith lies in following and preserving His words. I believe that seeking pleasure by going against His words is no more than heresy."
Danjagang nodded as if he approved.
"That's a good answer. Your faith leaves no room for doubt."
"Thank you, Bishop."
"Finish things here."
"Yes."
"Oh, and..."
Jeokil paused at Danjagang's resolute voice.
"It seems that man is bothering you."
"Are you referring to what he said when he visited me earlier?"
"Yes. I can't remember his name."
Danjagang chuckled. There was no need to remember his name.
"He doesn't seem like someone who would give up so easily. He'll probably come after us again."
"Yes."
"It's just futile struggling, but there's no harm in being cautious. Check if anyone is approaching and prepare in advance."
"The disciples of the sect who were following me have just arrived. I'll have them on guard duty."
"Leave the method to them."
"Yes, Bishop!"
Jeokil quickly distanced himself, just as he had arrived earlier. Danjagang's casual steps didn't stop, but they seemed slightly slower than before.
'The doctrine is not perfect.'
Yes, that was only natural.
If the doctrine were perfect, unbelievers wouldn't exist. After all, the doctrine was not meant to distinguish between the foolish and the wise. It wa just a yardstick to differentiate between believers and non-believers.
So the doctrine should not be perfect. A doctrine without room for doubt cannot serve as a measure of true faith.
Is it true faith when there is room for doubt? So let there be doubt. Just believe.
But why is there such a difference between knowing and doing? Despite knowing that all these doubts have eaten away at him, once doubts emerge, there's no way to stop them.
'Perhaps I just want to confirm things.'
Danjagang's goal is not to see the bright world that He will open. It's just to confirm His existence with his own eyes.
Even if it means burning in hellfire for all eternity as the price for these deep-seated doubts, he'll be able to smile in the flames as long as he can confirm the existence of the Heavenly Demon.
So... so...
'Please answer.'
Please answer. Let all doubts and suspicions have been in vain.
And thus, please condemn those who lack faith.
Please do not abandon these dear and pitiful souls who, in this desolate land, revere only the Heavenly Demon.
Danjagang will become a spark.
His existence will become a spark, and his doubts will dissipate into certainty. And finally, eternal peace will come to this world.
With a face intertwined with delight and doubt, Danjagang let out a triumphant smile.
'I am full of contradictions.'
Doubt but belief, belief but doubt. Unable to believe without doubt, he fervently hopes that everything he knows is wrong.
How absurd it is.
"Forget it."
Now was the time to do what needed to be done.
As he was about to move his feet, which had suddenly stopped, Danjagang suddenly whipped his head back violently.
Northwest.
There was nothing visible to the eye. Nothing existed that his senses could detect.
But what was it? What did he sense a moment ago?
Danjagang slowly clenched and unclenched his fist.
"To the northwest..."
His eyes sank ominously.
"I might have to cross the river..."
With dark eyes, he gazed at the northwest for a while before resuming his slow pace.
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