Chapter 370: Chapter 370

The night deepened, and the moon took on a more vivid color.

Looking at the landscape using that blue light, which illuminated the mountains swallowed by darkness, as a lantern, it felt like looking at a painting.

Namgung So-hye realized.

Why spending this time on such a late night, without even lighting a single campfire, made her mind feel so comfortable.

Since it felt as if darkness embraced everything, that strange air and atmosphere even gave her a feeling of being in another world.

Of course, if only one person kept quiet.

“Uhaha! So I bared that fellow’s buttocks and slapped them slap-slap, did I not?”

Cheon Mu-gwang, who was drinking alcohol, looked in an extremely good mood. It was impossible for him to get drunk, yet it was by no means an illusion that he looked drunk.

Dan Woo-hyun was accepting all of those stories without rest. Although Cheon Mu-gwang, who had been talking non-stop for several hours already, was surprising, Dan Woo-hyun, who accepted it casually, was also remarkable.

Namgung So-hye shook her head.

“Anyway, to think a day would come when we could drink alcohol and talk like this… I did not think of it.”

Cheon Mu-gwang gulped down a cup and let out a sigh with a ‘huu’. All kinds of thoughts brushed past his head, and the afterimages of the past rushed in like waves.

“Didn’t we have times like this in the past too? Brother and me, and that girl gathered together, sharing warm conversations.”

“You spoke alone just like now…”

“Uhaha! I am disappointed. Still, did you not speak a word or two?”

“It was not me, but Ju-ryeon who did. Telling you to stop flapping your mouth.”

Cheon Mu-gwang burst into a loud laugh.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have heard stories of being talkative without rest. Then he had also fought majorly with Nam Ju-ryeon and was cursed to death by that fellow Tae Gong-jin.

Cheon Mu-gwang, who had been laughing for a while like that, lost the smile on his mouth.

Soon, swallowing a cup of alcohol, he set down the cup.

His gaze was already directed toward Dan Woo-hyun.

“Come to think of it…”

“What is it?”

“How did you get out?”

A strange current flowed between their locked eyes.

A tremendous sense of pressure, like a tight tug-of-war between the two, was felt.

Namgung So-hye dripped with cold sweat.

Soon, Dan Woo-hyun opened his mouth.

“That…”

“Well, do not say you do not know and please tell me. Ah… it really makes me curious.”

Cheon Mu-gwang let out a dry cough and frowned. Showing a somewhat crooked expression, he soon spoke slowly.

‘Cannot hear it?’

Yet, Namgung So-hye could not hear any talk. Cheon Mu-gwang was definitely saying something, but she could not hear any word at all.

That situation was so surprising that she was left speechless.

“No, think about it. That seal was done by all of the Eight Immortals rushing in. Just in weaving the formula and injecting power, those fellows wasted nearly seventy percent of their strength.”

“…….”

“Therefore, we three made all kinds of efforts to break that seal, but it would not break, and in the end, we thought that Brother would lose his strength and die there.”

Not to mention Cheon Mu-gwang, even the Eight Immortals of that time and the current Eight Immortals did not think that seal would break. No, in the first place, the Martial God Dan Woo-hyun should have already died inside it several hundred years ago.

The formula was woven that way, and a significant amount of power was consumed in weaving the formula and sealing him. Therefore, the Eight Immortals of that time, whose power did not recover, were pushed back by the current Eight Immortals, causing the system to change.

Yet, he survived for a thousand years inside that seal?

Even more, Dan Woo-hyun seemed to have not received any influence at all.

Even if he survived, since he had been alone for a thousand years, it was proper for his heart or mind to collapse, but on the contrary, it was also strange that Dan Woo-hyun looked rather better than in the past, never worse.

Just what kind of man could make such things possible?

Cheon Mu-gwang was most curious about that.

“It is mental strength.”

“Stop playing around.”

At the heard answer, Cheon Mu-gwang frowned and replied.

He was saying nonsense.

No matter how strong a mental strength one possessed, no one would endure in such a situation. Enduring for a thousand years inside cold ice solely with mental strength?

Even the Eight Immortals, let alone Cheon Mu-gwang who was present here, would not be able to endure properly for even ten years.

At that moment, Dan Woo-hyun let out a chuckle and spoke.

“I did not try to think of anything, did not try to feel anything, and did not try to see anything.”

“…Is that possible?”

“Doing so, there were things that gradually became visible and felt.”

“…….”

Cheon Mu-gwang widened his eyes.

Did not the single statement Dan Woo-hyun just spat out mean he had literally crossed the wall? He was already a man who had no rival under heaven, but if he had crossed even that wall, who could match him?

Cheon Mu-gwang clutched his fists while the corners of his mouth trembled.

It looked as if he was burning with a competitive spirit while looking at a wall that could never be crossed.

Even knowing that, Dan Woo-hyun rather brushed it off casually.

As if he knew that no matter what Cheon Mu-gwang did, he could not surpass him, it was the gaze of an absolute being looking down from above the sky above skies.

“So you crossed the wall? Without even ascending to the Immortal Realm?”

“If that can be called crossing the wall, then so be it, or it might just be such an enlightenment.”

“I am not trying to have a Zen conversation here, though…?”

Cheon Mu-gwang grumbled and frowned. Although his words were all unbelievable things, he thought that perhaps if it was Dan Woo-hyun, he might accomplish it.

Thinking up to that point, he soon trembled the corners of his mouth again.

‘There is no way it is possible, right? A thousand years of time would not be child’s play, but no matter how much he realized and crossed, could he break that and come out?’

Even if he obtained countless enlightenments and crossed the wall, escaping was impossible unless he broke that ice the Eight Immortals had made.

In that case, did Dan Woo-hyun even find a way to dismantle it?

No matter how much he thought, he could not understand.

At that moment, the gazes of Dan Woo-hyun and Cheon Mu-gwang turned simultaneously.

Rustle, rustle!

Namgung So-hye did not seem to know anything, but the two realized a strange sound coming from a very far distance and stood up from their spots.

“They are here.”

“Yes?”

Namgung So-hye, who was just standing blankly, wore a startled expression at the sudden words. Soon she turned her head toward where they were looking, but she did not feel as if anything was approaching.

“What are you doing? Block them.”

“Yes?”

Cheon Mu-gwang muttered.

Namgung So-hye tilted her head, unable to understand the meaning.

Block?

What?

The moment she tilted her head at the incomprehensible words.

Whoosh!

Something revealed itself in the area.

It looked like a blue doll wearing a long robe. No, could it be called a doll itself? They were fellows made of woodcarving from their faces to their visible arms and legs.

Just by what was visible, there were twenty.

However, considering the sound that kept being heard, the number seemed like it would continue to increase.

Namgung So-hye dripped with cold sweat.

“What is this?”

“Don’t you see if you look? It is a doll.”

Dan Woo-hyun answered with a smile.

However, Namgung So-hye also knew that much. That no matter where or how one looked at it, it was a doll. Yet, how could a doll move that freely?

“By Ryu Hwa-gun’s side, there is always a subordinate who follows him like a shadow. A fellow who makes dolls to fight on his behalf.”

“…Is such a thing possible?”

“Don’t you see if you look?”

Namgung So-hye let out an awkward smile.

She was asking because she could not believe it even while looking with her eyes. What was in front of her eyes surely looked like a doll, but looking only at its movements, it was no different from a human.

“Is he Young Master Dan’s friend? There are only strange people.”

“Just like you.”

“…….”

Namgung So-hye looked at Dan Woo-hyun with a dumbfounded expression.

No matter where or how one looked at it, Dan Woo-hyun’s side knew more strange people. Just looking at Cheon Mu-gwang over there, did he not act as if his brain was slightly empty?

Let out a sigh with a ‘huu’, she slowly drew her sword.

“You mean for me to face these things, right?”

“Yes.”

“Young Master Dan, you are going elsewhere, right?”

“Yes.”

“Even if I die, you will still go, right?”

“Yes.”

“Haa… I understand.”

As if the answer was decided anyway, Namgung So-hye cleanly resigned herself and nodded. Since she followed him, she had to work.

Also, since Dan Woo-hyun ordered it, there must be a reason.

Namgung So-hye was test her limits once again.

“Then I will handle this place. Go wherever you want.”

“I intend to.”

Dan Woo-hyun and Cheon Mu-gwang slowly turned their backs.

Even though facing those many dolls alone as a woman would never be an easy task, Dan Woo-hyun’s actions were without hesitation.

Watching that, Cheon Mu-gwang whistled and spoke.

“Will she be alright? That girl might die, though?”

“She is not a child who would die from that level.”

“Heeh… you know such things too?”

“Yes.”

At Dan Woo-hyun’s single word, Cheon Mu-gwang looked quite surprised. Since he was a person who had not trusted anyone until now, he could hardly believe every single word he spat out.

Also, the words Dan Woo-hyun spat out entered Namgung So-hye’s ears as well.

‘You trust me, right? Correct?’

Although she did not show it, he definitely trusted her.

Because he thought she would not die, he entrusted it to her.

If so, it meant she could accomplish this task. Because Dan Woo-hyun, and no one else, guaranteed it.

She gripped the hilt firmly and raised her momentum.

“Now! No one will pass through here anymore!”

Releasing her momentum, she firmed her resolve.

Cheon Mu-gwang, who was walking slowly, heard the sound coming from behind. As the sharp shout of the resolved woman pierced in, he burst into laughter despite himself.

“She is simple.”

“Indeed… that’s why there is fun in teasing her.”

“Did you tease her?”

“…….”

When Dan Woo-hyun did not say anything, Cheon Mu-gwang shrugged his shoulders. Soon, the two stopped tall in their spots and turned their heads in different directions.

“Since you won’t want to see that girl die, am I this way?”

“Then am I that way?”

“Whichever way doesn’t matter, but… this way seems easier… and in the first place, you have no intention of yielding either, do you?”

“True.”

Dan Woo-hyun and Cheon Mu-gwang looked at each other and nodded. Stiff opposite directions, one was where the puppeteer was, and the other was where Ryu Hwa-gun was.

Although it was still faint, because his presence was felt, they would never miss him.

At that moment when the two, who had been looking elsewhere leisurely, let out grins, the figures of the two vanished in an instant.

What remained in that spot was only a light breeze.

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