Chapter 218: Who Could It Be

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The clamor of the shadows in the darkness subsided and then stopped abruptly.

Following that.

SEUK.

The middle-aged man wrapped in black clothes quietly turned and moved his steps.

Yet.

His presence was subtle.

There wasn’t even the small sound of stepping on grass blades.

A ghost-like gait.

Because his long garment hem even covered his feet, it felt like he was sliding across the ground.

And following his steps, countless figures swiftly parted.

SASASASA-T, SASASASA-T…

They were making their way.

Thus, the numerous shadows that had gathered pitch-black behind him slowly crept along again.

As if a pack of beasts was following their leader.

How far had he walked?

The middle-aged man, having arrived at a certain place in the forest, stopped his movement and spoke in a quiet voice.

“You can stop hiding now.”

Immediately after, a figure emerged from the thick brush on the side.

RUSTLE.

A hairy man in his forties with a sturdy body resembling a log and a conspicuously large mole on his left cheek.

Nak Nyeong.

That’s right.

It was the very person who had been Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae’s pursuit target.

“Is it… over?”

When Nak Nyeong approached and asked, the middle-aged man curved up the corners of his mouth.

“HUT. Of course.”

Was it because of the height difference between the two?

The middle-aged man, standing straight, looked tremendously tall, almost like a nine-foot giant.

“What happened?”

“I killed them all. The last two fell off the cliff.”

“EUH! Th-then they might have survived luckily…”

“There’s no such possibility. That place is notorious as an extremely treacherous spot within the Shiwan Mountains.”

“AH…!”

“Even I find it difficult to set foot there recklessly. According to legendary tales, there’s a hot swamp below, and just brushing against the heat haze makes your entire body melt and perish.”

“EUEUM, a frightening place just to hear about. But without confirming it with my own two eyes…”

“Records exist.”

“…!”

“From the only person who went below that cliff in the distant past and survived.”

At the middle-aged man’s spoken words, Nak Nyeong nodded.

“Well, if there are even records… Anyway, is my family doing well?”

“Certainly. The token?”

“Here.”

Nak Nyeong produced a small, flat wooden tag.

It was an object received from the wanderer.

The tag, made from oak, had only a red line drawn on it, with no characters or patterns whatsoever.

The middle-aged man, having received his, smiled quietly.

Nak Nyeong, who had been surreptitiously observing that appearance, felt his legs go weak.

‘Up close, he has a bizarre appearance.’

A smooth chin without a beard, sharp features, a pair of pupils dyed hazy gray-white, and snow-white skin with not a hint of healthy color.

There was no vitality of a living person.

Somehow, it felt like facing a walking corpse.

At that moment, the middle-aged man asked with a strange smile.

“Do I look like a jiangshi to you?”

Jiangshi refers to a corpse that moves without a soul.

In other words, it meant a forbidden human weapon made using wicked sorcery and the bodies of the dead.

Nak Nyeong, having flinched, waved his hands dismissively.

“N-NO. What are you…”

“HU, I don’t mind. Thoughts are free.”

“I just thought your air was unusual. Please don’t misunderstand.”

Having said that, Nak Nyeong murmured inwardly.

‘Right. There’s no way he’s a jiangshi. With such self-awareness…’

Yet the middle-aged man suddenly crushed the wooden tag.

WAJAJAK-

In a flash, a sense of foreboding assaulted Nak Nyeong’s mind.

‘EUM! WHAT IS THIS?’

The middle-aged man, having smiled coldly, let out a quiet voice.

“KEUK… Now you need to see your family, don’t you?”

Nak Nyeong struggled to manage his expression as he spoke.

“I want to see them quickly. Where should I go…”

PUPUPUPUPUK-!

Suddenly, a chilling sound burst out.

“AAAK!”

Nak Nyeong, having emitted a sharp scream, staggered.

Long objects were deeply thrust into his left side.

It was precisely the middle-aged man’s fingernails.

JURUREUK.

Crimson blood that soaked his clothes.

The pitch-black fingernails had rapidly extended in the blink of an eye and stabbed him.

At that moment.

PIPIPIPIPI-T.

The five fingernails that had deeply penetrated his flesh rapidly shortened again.

Nak Nyeong, backing away step by step, shouted.

“KEUHEUK… WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

“Giving your wife and daughter what they need.”

No sooner had the middle-aged man’s words ended.

“KIAK, KIAAAK!”

“KIHAAK!”

The countless figures crouching in the darkness behind him let out shrieks and thrashed wildly.

They all seemed to be in a frenzy the moment they smelled blood.

All of a sudden.

SEUSEUK.

Two shadows, one large and one small, came walking out, making eerie movements.

Nak Nyeong’s eyes rippled greatly like waves when he confirmed the faces of the two, lit by moonlight.

‘NO WAY…!’

The identities of the two shadows were his wife and daughter.

Yet.

Their appearances were strange.

Like the middle-aged man, their skin was snow-white pale, and their pupils were hazy gray-white.

“D-DARLING! Are you alright? Jin-ah! It’s father!”

But his wife and daughter gave no reply.

“KEUREUK…”

“KEUREUREUK…”

They just revealed pointed fangs like hungry beasts and only kept producing blood-curdling sounds.

The middle-aged man licked the blood on his fingernails with his tongue and instructed.

“No words will reach their ears. They are mere puppets that have lost their reason… KEUKKEUK.”

“GAL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE…!”

“Made them into slaves of the great blood clan that rules the night. Now, go ahead and rip and drink to your hearts’ content.”

When the middle-aged man, having spoken thus, gestured.

“KAK!”

“KIHAAK!”

The mother and daughter, enveloped in madness, ferociously attacked Nak Nyeong.

“AH… NO! PLEASE!”

Unable to bring himself to strike his family, he ultimately became a lump of mangled flesh at their hands.

WOODEUEUK, WOODEUK, PUUUOUK, PUK…!

The mother and daughter thrust their fangs into the blood-soaked body of Nak Nyeong, who had collapsed on the ground, drinking blood in excitement.

The middle-aged man, watching that, wore a satisfied look.

‘HUHUT. Now just a little longer and the door for the return of the Absolute God will be fully opened…’

Then he quietly stepped away while muttering to himself.

“The time is near to execute the plan using the Divine Martial Sword. Let’s all enjoy ourselves.”

Simultaneously, the numerous shadows around thrashed fiercely and let out terrifying shrieks.

“KAHAK!”

“KAHAAK!”

* * *

TAK-

Cheol Ryu-heun, seated at the study desk lit by reddish fire, set down his brush and dug at his ear.

“Someone must be talking about me.”

Following that, he blew on his finger ‘HU’ and stretched lengthily.

Before him, two thick booklets lay visible.

They were martial arts manuals of some kind that he had just finished writing.

Soon, he rose and stepped out into the moonlit courtyard.

He planned to enjoy the night breeze for a while before going to bed.

As he gazed up at the night sky in stillness.

‘…!’

Suddenly, an unfamiliar scene flashed through his mind.

Under soft moonlight, a woman leaning against a large tree, wiping away tears.

The moment Cheol Ryu-heun’s expression hardened, that scene vanished like lightning.

‘THIS IS…’

It seemed to have something to do with a dream he once had.

Could it be a fragment of latent memory?

However, it was a scene that had absolutely nothing to do with Cheol Ryu-heun before he became a vegetable.

Nor was it a memory from his Divine Martial Sword era, for that matter…

An incomprehensible phenomenon.

Cheol Ryu-heun, having slightly furrowed his brow, recalled the dream from before again.

The mysterious woman who wore sensual gauze and danced.

The moonlight in the dream had also been this beautiful.

The woman’s laughter imbued in her dancing movements was also beautiful.

Though he couldn’t see her face because of the veil covering it.

-You came.

Those were the words the woman had said while approaching after finishing her dance.

Coming close and holding the veil with both hands to lift it up, at that moment he awoke from the dream upon hearing a short voice.

-It’s me.

Cheol Ryu-heun was certain.

That everything was connected as one.

-So you finally became a sword. Wanting it so desperately…

Starting from that faint voice in the dream that he had first thought strange, the dancing movements he had later encountered through dreams, and the figure who had just flashed through his mind – they were all certainly the same woman.

‘There’s something.’

Cheol Ryu-heun stared absently at the moon hanging bright, then soon moved his steps toward his room.

‘If someone else’s memory has been implanted in my mind… I’ll try finding out through the great technique that fellow left behind. It’ll be a bit risky, though.’

* * *

“HEOK, HEOK… EUEUK… T-That was close.”

Namgung Heon-rin, having fallen deep into a pond in the marshland and swum out, twisted his face while letting out ragged breaths.

Because his entire battered body ached from falling rapidly and taking a big impact.

Jeon Kwae beside him also contorted his expression.

“KEUHEUK… I thought I was going to die.”

At that moment, an amazing phenomenon entered their view.

SEUREUREUREREU, SEUREUREUREREU, SEUREUREUREREU…

The pond disappeared as if by magic and soon transformed into a muddy field with standing water.

Seeing that, Namgung Heon-rin and Jeon Kwae’s gazes turned blank.

“Kwae… Just now… What is it? Am I seeing things?”

“NO… I-I Saw it too…?”

“A pond appearing and disappearing? What the hell is going on…”

Namgung Heon-rin, having spoken, turned his head as if surveying the surroundings.

However, there was nothing visible except thick fog.

“According to Sect Leader Cheol’s writing, it was supposed to be a mysterious marshland shrouded in fog… We seem to have found it correctly.”

Jeon Kwae, having nodded, received his words.

“Yes, it’s a mysterious marshland. Just looking at that phenomenon… EUEUK!”

“Are u alright?”

“DAMN IT!… The wound from that crazy monster is pretty deep.”

As he said, several small holes were punctured through Jeon Kwae’s left arm.

Penetrating wounds.

Namgung Heon-rin got to his feet and approached his side.

“Here, let me support you.”

“Thanks. HUU… What is that thing’s identity?”

“Who knows. But the attire didn’t seem to be of the Snake Sect.”

“I’ve never seen that before. Fingernails just extending and all.”

“The Shiwan Mountains really are dangerous.”

“We already came prepared for that. But…”

Jeon Kwae’s expression, having trailed off, darkened.

It was because his subordinates had died in battle.

All of them were dead.

Due to the violent attack of the bizarre middle-aged man and the beast-like shadow horde…

Namgung Heon-rin, having guessed the swallowed words, also became somber.

Yet he soon steeled his heart and firmly gripped the hand supporting Jeon Kwae.

“WE MUST SURVIVE AND GET OUT! AND REPAY THIS DEBT!”

“ABSOLUTELY…!”

The moment Jeon Kwae nodded, Namgung Heon-rin flashed his eyes and spoke.

“Let’s search. The place Sect Leader Cheol told us about… The hidden location where the Sword Emperor arranged a fortuitous encounter in the past.”