Chapter 137: Those Who Eye the Troubled Times
Read more at Nineheavens.org
A short while later.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH-
The sound of rapidly trampling through the piled leaves gradually grew louder.
Evidence that the owner of the presence was increasing movement speed toward the destination.
As the wanderer standing on the cliff kept his gaze fixed on the forest behind him, a figure appeared at some distance away.
A hairy man in his forties with a short frame of about five chi, a solid build like a log, and a fairly large, dark mole on his left cheek.
Before long, he approached the cliff and bowed his waist as low as possible, showing respectful courtesy.
The wanderer gestured with his chin and called his name.
“Welcome, Nak Nyeong.”
At that, the man called Nak Nyeong repeatedly bowed his waist in utmost respect as he gave his greeting.
“Yes, Sir Warrior. Have you been well?”
The wanderer who had nodded immediately extended his hand.
Meaning to hand over what he had secretly brought here.
“Ah, yes. Here…”
Nak Nyeong quickly pulled out a slightly large object he had been keeping in the bundle on one shoulder.
An inkstone in the shape of a yellow toad.
A so-called Yellow Toad Inkstone, specially crafted using the precious treasure Yellow Auspicious Jade.
“As you know, this is an item obtained by risking my life to rob an ancient imperial tomb… Please do keep my involvement a secret.”
“Of course.”
The wanderer who had answered briefly then handed over a folded sheet of paper while saying.
“This is what you wanted.”
“Ah…!”
Joy filled the eyes of Nak Nyeong as he received the paper.
“Sir Warrior, then do I now head to the Shiwan Mountains where my family is hiding?”
“Yes. I’ve written everything there. The location and the time.”
The wanderer handed him one more small, flat wooden token.
“Take this with you.”
On the surface of the oak token, there was nothing – no inscription, no pattern – just a single red line drawn across it.
“What is this?”
“A proof of identity.”
“Ah, so I should show this token when I meet him…?”
The wanderer nodded slightly once more.
“With his help, you’ll be able to cure your pitiful son’s body completely.”
Nak Nyeong blinked back tears and spoke in a moved voice.
“Thank you! I will never forget this grace until I die!”
“Go and live a new life.”
“Yes, yes! If we meet again someday… I’ll treat you to fine wine.”
With that, Nak Nyeong bowed his waist several more times before vanishing like the wind into the dense forest to the side.
Immediately after.
The wanderer looked at the Yellow Toad Inkstone in his hand.
‘From the moment one realizes that parts of stories passed down like myths are real, the legendary gods cease to be mysterious beings and become subjects of investigation. Furthermore…’
Turning his body, he took in the open scenery toward the cliff with his eyes while quietly storing the Yellow Toad Inkstone away.
‘…One can no longer empathize with the mindset of a worshipper, and comes to believe that, as a ruler, one can capably ascend to the divine throne. Just like this body.’
Right then.
SWISH.
Not far behind, two people draped in pitch-black robes from head to toe quietly appeared.
Their movement was exquisite, as if they had been standing there from the start.
A difference in status?
The clothing visible through the black robe of the left figure was neat, but the one on the right wore rags practically like tatters.
Standing with their backs to the wanderer with about ten paces between them, both robed figures held iron swords about four chi in length in their hands.
Indeed.
All three gathered here carried identical iron swords.
The robed figure on the left moved lips deep in shadow.
“Have you obtained it?”
The wanderer replied without even turning around.
“Of course.”
“Congratulations.”
“Restrain yourself.”
Meaning it was still too early to celebrate.
The robed figure flinched and quickly bowed his head.
“Apologies. I got a bit excited for a moment…”
The wanderer continued speaking in a low voice, still looking into the distance without concern.
“As they commonly say, a martial world upheaval comes in cycles of roughly two hundred years. We are living in that era.”
The two robed figures remained silently standing behind him, listening attentively.
“Where there is chaos, heroes emerge… When the world is in disorder, talents that had been hidden spring up everywhere. When great crisis strikes, people feel desperation, and that draws out potential beyond limits that couldn’t be unleashed in peaceful times. That’s what makes the martial world so fearsome. The countless hidden dragons of this land will stretch and rise, each raising the banner of heroism. However…”
The wanderer then placed his hand on the end of his sword hilt.
“For one who has prepared by putting in effort over a long time, heroes are useless. The key to unlock the power of gods, which no one knows of, is already in my hands. With this, the scales of fate have tipped.”
At that, the robed figure nodded and carefully added.
“That’s right. We finished preparing to face the troubled times long ago.”
“They say the chaos decreed by heaven cannot be stopped. If so, I need only lead that chaos myself.”
“Yes, those are wise words.”
“With the Divine Martial Sword, which I considered an obstacle, now destroyed, the remaining nine of the Ten Heavenly Weapons, whoever their owners may be, are existences I need not pay attention to… Even so, I cannot completely disregard them.”
The wanderer finally turned his head to look at the two people in pitch-black robes.
Suddenly.
FLINCH.
The two suddenly stepped back a few paces as if startled by something.
‘…!’
The atmosphere around the cliff area had transformed.
A space that had lost its vitality.
A death-like silence flowed as if submerged in an invisible deep, deep darkness, making their flesh crawl.
No bird songs could be heard.
Even the sounds of insects stopped as if by lies.
Moreover.
Even the wind that had been brushing past the hems of all three’s robes vanished.
It was a phenomenon as if the whisper of nature had been completely swallowed before an incomprehensible power.
A stillness unfitting the green scenery in their vision covered the cliff top, making it feel as if time in this world had stopped.
One might even think this place was made of illusions all around, if not for the sunlight streaming straight in…
The cause was the wanderer’s energy.
By just a fistful of inner power, the surroundings had completely lost their vitality.
The two robed figures trembled slightly as if their breath was cut off.
Indeed.
The way their lips were quickly quivering looked exactly like that.
Soon, when the wanderer stored his energy away, the two robed figures exhaled rough breaths without either being first.
Amid the whispers of nature, which had briefly stopped, reaching their ears.
“How is it?”
At the wanderer’s quiet question, the robed figure on the left barely steadied his breath and answered.
“HAAH… HAAH… T-tre… mendous.”
“But I am still not satisfied.”
“…!”
“Do you think this power is the end?”
“……”
“No. True limits are set by oneself. Until truly reaching the end, one must maintain that mindset.”
With those words, the wanderer turned his head again.
“Do not rejoice in small things. Walk the path I have paved, but show no wavering before reaching its end.”
The robed figure answered in a solemn gaze.
“I will engrave this in my mind, and engrave it again. When everything is achieved… Only then will I rejoice to my heart’s content.”
“Now we let the martial world play on the board I have set, and we continue operating as we always have – existing yet not existing.”
Having heard the wanderer’s words, the robed figure adjusted the cloth covering his head and cast a chilling gaze.
“The first arrangement will serve as the signal for this era of chaos. And the martial artists of all factions, knowing nothing, will swarm like moths.”
“Indeed, fated to be drawn to the light and burn to nothing.”
The wanderer stepped close to the cliff’s edge and continued.
“Nak Nyeong came with a tail. I sense presence far away. As expected, of course.”
Immediately after, the robed figure on the right, who had said nothing from start to finish, reacted with a light movement of his head.
He knew that handling this was his task.
“First confirm them, and if you find tails, clean them up completely. However…”
“……”
“If you judge your strength insufficient, remember my teachings and act with swift decision. The likelihood is low, but even if you can’t handle it here, they will naturally set foot in the arranged place later anyway…”
“……”
The robed figure was silent.
Instead, he responded with body language.
Though the wanderer, facing forward, didn’t even give him a glance.
SWISH.
When the wanderer raised one hand, the robed figure on the right moved like a ghost and disappeared into the forest.
The remaining robed figure carefully gauged his reaction and asked.
“Will you head directly to that place?”
“Yes.”
“Understood. Then I will escort you to the temporary lodging. I’ve prepared new clothes there as well.”
“Let’s go.”
As the wanderer threw out an indifferent voice and headed toward the cliff’s edge, the robed figure also operated internal energy and floated gracefully down following behind.
* * *
SWISH, SWOOSH, SWISH-
Jeon Kwae, pushing through the underbrush and advancing rapidly, suddenly looked back and spoke in a whisper-like low voice.
“Heonrin, what do you think? This seems like the right path?”
“I’m certain.”
No sooner had Namgung Heon-rin finished speaking than he stopped moving.
‘Oh!’
Because he detected a presence rapidly approaching from far ahead.
Jeon Kwae was the same.
SHING, SHING-
The two exchanged glances and drew their swords.
At that moment.
The presence vanished as if by a lie.
‘…!’
In the instant Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae found this strange.
FLUTTER!
A robed figure in pitch-black had somehow stepped on a tree branch overhead and was dropping through the air.
Terrifying speed.
SHWAAAK-!
A vertical sword attack targeting both at once.
CRASH-!
With a thunderous explosion, a large amount of dirt scattered in all directions.
Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae had moved in opposite directions and narrowly avoided the attack.
<Kwae, he’s a master!>
<I’ll take left, you take right!>
The two exchanged sound transmissions and immediately approached from the opponent’s left and right, executing a combined attack.
CLANG, CLANG- CLANG- WHOONG- WHOONG-!
In an instant, about a dozen combined strikes were exchanged, but the robed figure perfectly executed defense and evasion with ghost-like movements.
CLANG- CLANG- CHANG- CHANG CHANG, CHANG- KING KING, KING KING KING, KING-!
Metallic sounds echoed through the forest.
Suddenly.
SLIT-!
The sound of cutting flesh rang out.
The sound produced by the robed figure’s concise sword stroke, its extreme speed.
“Urgh!”
Jeon Kwae groaned and his large body retreated.
Because his left forearm had been sliced by that attack.
‘Kuk, strong!’
The robed figure leaped in the blink of an eye and descended toward Jeon Kwae, projecting a vertical sword energy.
KA-BOOM-!
Namgung Heon-rin blocked it in front of him and deflected the sword energy, but his internal energy pathways received a shock.
Because of the robed figure’s heavy peak power.
‘This can’t be!’
The opponent’s sword tip enlarged in Namgung Heon-rin’s eyes, now filled with disbelief.
SHING-!
A blade rushing like a ray of light.
Incomprehensible speed with incomprehensible power, a fierce sword.
Namgung Heon-rin, gritting his teeth, reflexively thrust out his sword imbued with peak power, while Jeon Kwae beside him also shot sword energy with maximum strength.
Sword strikes colliding head-on.
CRASH-!
Amid the roar and tremor shaking the surroundings.
“Urgh.”
“Ugh.”
Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae briefly groaned and their bodies slid back about a dozen paces before THUD, slamming their backs into large trees.
Soon the robed figure, remaining in place, swept his right hand’s sword horizontally, and sword energy like the fangs of a huge beast was projected with tremendous force.
SHUAAAAAA-!
At that moment, a certain person’s shadow suddenly appeared in front and slashed straight down.
CRASH-!
With an explosion striking their ears, the robed figure’s massive sword energy shattered like powder and dissipated thinly into the air.
Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae gazed at the back of the figure standing close in front and expressed their question.
‘Wh-who…?’
The robed figure also seemed surprised by the uninvited guest’s appearance, as he didn’t move.
No, perhaps he was more surprised that his sword energy had been so futilely blocked than by that unfamiliar existence.
At the spot where three people’s gazes focused, the identity of the figure standing there alone was none other than Cheol Ryu-heun.
Immediately after.
SWISH.
Turning his head, Cheol Ryu-heun asked indifferently.
“You guys – what’s your relationship with the Chief Magistrate of Wuyang?”