Chapter 77 Silent Strides (1)

-Swoosh!

A faint haze rose along with sweat from the muscles of Mok Yu-cheon’s bare upper body.

As energy circulated through his exhausted muscles and internal organs from the long-overdue energy circulation and breath refinement, the fatigue gradually subsided.

Now that the restriction was lifted, he realized even more the preciousness of internal energy.

‘I think I’ll live.’

The difference between circulating energy and not was stark.

Simply sleeping could alleviate the tiredness, but by circulating energy, the accumulated fatigue throughout the body was also released.

-Sting! Sting!

As he circulated energy, his fingers started to ache.

After doing a few small revolutions, he opened his eyes and saw his messed up hands.

Broken nails and bruises covered his fingers, back of the hands, and palms, with not a single spot unscathed.

‘……..’

Seeing this, Mok Yu-cheon had a strange thought.

Although he wasn’t very old, had he ever worked this hard to fiercely survive since he was born?

No. It was the first time.

It was his first real battle and his first time killing someone.

Not long ago, all he did was train alone in the martial arts hall, sweating.

But now, it felt like he had fallen into an abyss in an instant.

-Clench!

Mok Yu-cheon clenched his hands full of wounds.

No matter what, he would somehow survive this place.

The only one he could trust was himself.

‘Mok Gyeong-un…….’

He decided not to have any more false hopes about that guy.

He didn’t know what made that guy change so much, but that guy didn’t care about him, and he had no reason to either.

The fact that they were half-brothers was meaningless.

‘Survival of the fittest.’

This was such a place.

He still couldn’t understand why he, who had entered as a hostage, had to struggle and risk his life like this against them, but to survive, he had to become stronger.

‘The world was vast.’

Once the energy point was unblocked, he believed there would be no one among the boys who could defeat him.

However, he couldn’t hide his inner surprise at the energy stimulating his senses here and there.

He thought that among his peers, besides himself, only the later-generation disciples from major sects would have reached the pinnacle stage.

But that was a misconception.

-Tap!

Mok Yu-cheon got up from his seat.

Then, glancing at Ma-sang who was circulating energy on the bed, he quietly assumed the basic stance of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

The human psyche was truly peculiar.

Even in this extreme situation where one could die at any moment, a strong competitive spirit arose instead.

Seeing this, he thought that he might be a martial artist to the bone.

‘I need to become stronger.’

To do that, training was the only answer.

Anyway, even if he gathered internal energy through energy circulation and breath refinement for a day or two, it wouldn’t have a significant impact.

It was enough to just recover his body.

The rest of the time, it was important to gain insight through training.

-Pak!

Mok Yu-cheon slowly unfolded the basic stances of the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

This slow-paced martial arts practice, less than half the original speed, was one of the training methods called Flying Consecutive Kick Technique, aimed at improving the precision of the stances.

It was to train as much as possible without disrupting Ma-sang’s energy circulation, as they were sharing the same room.

-Papak!

Even with slow movements, sounds spread from where the fists landed.

Mok Yu-cheon had trained in the Flying Consecutive Kick Technique method for a long time, so he could fully exert strength even when slowly unfolding the stances.

It was at that moment when he was concentrating on training.

“I thought it might be, but it really was the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

‘!?’

Startled by this voice, Mok Yu-cheon stopped and turned his head.

The owner of the voice was Ma-sang.

The boy with whom he had shared life and death from the beginning to the end of the second gateway.

Although they clashed briefly at the end, they understood each other’s feelings, so they decided not to blame each other and share a room.

Although he was from the evil faction, he was a guy with loyalty and seemed decent, so he was a friend Mok Yu-cheon felt somewhat close to.

However,

“…….How do you know that?”

“How I know isn’t important. Why is someone from the righteous faction in Corpse Blood Valley?”

“Th-that’s……”

Mok Yu-cheon was momentarily at a loss for words.

No matter the reason, him being here was no different from a disgrace as a member of the righteous faction.

That’s why he couldn’t speak.

To him, Ma-sang said,

“Did the Yeon Mok Sword Manor betray the righteous faction?”

“What are you talking about!”

In an instant, Mok Yu-cheon raised his voice as if he was upset.

He might not know other things, but he had not yet lost his pride as a member of the righteous faction.

It was because the Manor Master, his father, had also chosen to seal the sect not to surrender but to save everyone.

“The Yeon Mok Sword Manor is…..the Yeon Mok Sword Manor is forever a part of the righteous faction.”

At Mok Yu-cheon’s words, Ma-sang scoffed and said as if it was ridiculous.

“Don’t say such nonsense. A guy who has come all the way to Corpse Blood Valley says he hasn’t betrayed the righteous faction? Aren’t you here to become a direct disciple of the Heaven and Earth Society’s executives in the end?”

“What?”

At Ma-sang’s words, Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes trembled.

What is this about?

Becoming a direct disciple of the Heaven and Earth Society’s executives?

He couldn’t understand.

At Mok Yu-cheon’s reaction of incomprehension, Ma-sang’s eyes narrowed.

“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”

At that question, Mok Yu-cheon had a perplexed expression for a while before opening his mouth.

“I don’t know. I was just dragged here without any notice and didn’t know anything. Really.”

“You didn’t know anything?”

“…….Yeah.”

At these words, Ma-sang spoke with a suspicious look.

“That’s absurd. To enter Corpse Blood Valley without knowing anything.”

“I told you it’s true.”

“Would you believe it if you were me?”

“what the .... is this place? Why is everyone risking their lives and causing this chaos?”

He couldn’t understand it from the beginning.

Those warriors in red belts who didn’t care even as so many of them died, and the boys who risked their lives to carry out the gateways they ordered.

Not a single thing was within the realm of understanding.

“Why are we risking our lives, you ask? Corpse Blood Valley is the shortest path to becoming a direct disciple of the Heaven and Earth Society’s executives. Why do you think everyone is risking their lives? If you overcome that risk, you get a chance to be chosen by the eight executives of the Heaven and Earth Society and become their direct disciple. Even if you don’t become one, the more gateways you pass, the more benefits you get to become a team leader or division leader. Do you think opportunities like this come easily?”

‘The Heaven and Earth Society…..a chance to become a direct disciple of the eight executives?’

Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes trembled severely.

Now he seemed to understand why they were risking their lives to such an extent to carry out the gateways.

Becoming a disciple of the eight executives, known as the top masters of the Heaven and Earth Society that dominated the martial arts world, was an opportunity to rise to a status that could control the martial arts world in the future.

For them, it was worth risking their lives.

But he was different.

‘shit.’

Mok Yu-cheon bit his lip tightly.

Then, all this time, his struggling to survive meant he had been striving to become a direct disciple of the Heaven and Earth Society, which could be called the archenemy of the righteous faction.

‘what the .... am I doing?’

If that really happened……

‘Ah………’

The Yeon Mok Sword Manor would not be sending hostages but sending their children to the Heaven and Earth Society’s talent nurturing center.

Doing something to survive was poisonous to the Yeon Mok Sword Manor.

Mok Yu-cheon was genuinely confused.

What should he do?

Was it a trap that the Heaven and Earth Society had sent him here?

It was at that moment when he was dumbfounded.

“You……it seems you really didn’t come here of your own will.”

Ma-sang’s tone suddenly became quite serious, unlike before.

At this, Mok Yu-cheon couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“How did you come here?”

At that question, Mok Yu-cheon hesitated.

He had learned that his entry into Corpse Blood Valley was no different from a trap, and he thought it was dangerous to say anything to people under the Heaven and Earth Society, who were practically enemies.

While he was doing that, Ma-sang poked at the wound again.

“It is betrayal, isn’t it?”

At those words, Mok Yu-cheon’s face flushed with anger.

If it weren’t for this situation, he would have wanted to slap Ma-sang’s face, but he barely held back.

Then, he eventually revealed the truth.

“It’s not betrayal. I was just taken as a hostage.”

“Hostage?”

“Yeah.”

“Nonsense. Why would they send a hostage to Corpse Blood Valley?”

“I don’t know either! I thought they would just keep me nicely. Like you said, I didn’t know Corpse Blood Valley was a place like this.”

“You didn’t know?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have struggled like this…..I would have rather tried to escape somehow.”

“Escape? Can you say that to me?”

“……..I don’t know. Right now, I don’t even know what I should do. The more I put in effort to survive here, the more likely it is that the Yeon Mok Sword Manor will be branded as having betrayed the righteous faction. If that’s the case…..”

For the honor and family as a member of the righteous faction, committing suicide might be the right thing to do.

Escaping from here was virtually impossible anyway.

He clearly realized that as soon as the energy point was unblocked.

‘Monster.’

The man wearing the demon mask was a master beyond imagination.

He couldn’t do anything at his level.

‘Suicide……’

If this was the only answer, it was frightening.

He had only lived for sixteen years, and it was a scary thing to end his life for the sake of his family.

As he became aware of death, Mok Yu-cheon involuntarily shivered.

Ma-sang, who had been staring intently at him like that, suddenly got up from the bed, closed the window, checked outside the door, then closed the door and locked it.

Then, he approached Mok Yu-cheon and spoke in a whisper with a serious face.

“You really didn’t betray, did you?”

“……I told you I didn’t.”

“Shh. Keep your voice down.”

At his words, Mok Yu-cheon furrowed his brows.

Why was he suddenly doing this?

While he was puzzled, Ma-sang spoke again in a whisper.

“I’m sorry for not believing you from the beginning. Even though the Yeon Mok Sword Manor has been a renowned righteous faction for a long time, I couldn’t help but consider the possibility.”

“What are you talking about now…..”

“Listen quietly. I’m a spy sent by the Righteous Alliance.”

‘!?’

At his words, Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes widened.

A spy sent by the Righteous Alliance?

While he was amazed, Ma-sang continued,

“Have you heard of Silent Strides?”

“Ah, Silent Strides?”

He had heard of it before.

The Righteous Alliance boasted four main organizations.

One of them was the Silent Strides.

It was a secret organization known to exist as the dagger of the Righteous Alliance in the shadows and darkness, not in visible places.

As a secret organization, it was literally an organization that should not be known.

However, due to a certain incident, the existence of this Silent Strides was revealed.

Although the name of the organization became known, the Righteous Alliance strongly denied the existence of this organization, so opinions were divided among people about its existence.

But Ma-sang was saying he was from that Silent Strides?

“The Silent Strides might not be a real organization…..”

“It’s real. The Righteous Alliance, which pursues righteousness, denied it only because they couldn’t acknowledge the existence of an organization in charge of intelligence and assassinations.”

“…….Ha.”

So the Silent Strides really existed.

It was truly surprising.

“Really…..to think the Silent Strides existed……but is it okay to reveal your identity like this…..?”

Mok Yu-cheon spoke to him in a respectful manner.

Then, Ma-sang shook his head and replied,

“Just speak normally.”

“Still…..”

“It will only raise suspicion.”

“…….I understand. But is it okay to reveal your identity to me?”

“Actually, in most cases, we’re not allowed to reveal our identities even to people from the same righteous faction.”

“But why?”

“The first reason is to identify allies and enemies.”

“Identify?”

“Since the gateways of Corpse Blood Valley often require us to kill each other and everyone around us is an enemy, we need to make you aware that we are allies.”

“Ah…….”

Is that why he revealed his identity?

But revealing it just for that seemed a bit too casual for a secret organization.

Come to think of it, didn’t he say ‘we’ just now?

Does that mean there are more people from Silent Strides besides Ma-sang?

While Mok Yu-cheon was puzzled, Ma-sang said,

“The second reason is that, unlike our objective, too many of our infiltrated personnel have died.”

“Infiltrated personnel?”

As expected, it seemed there were more people from Silent Strides besides Ma-sang.

“Then there are more besides you?”

“That’s right. Originally, about fifty people had infiltrated.”

“Fifty people?”

Mok Yu-cheon’s eyes widened.

They infiltrated with that many people without getting caught by the Heaven and Earth Society?

While he was thinking that, Ma-sang said,

“But 70% of them were filtered out by the Heaven and Earth Society’s information network and were blocked or killed in advance.”

“Ah……”

“The number of people who successfully entered Corpse Blood Valley is fifteen.”

As a result, it meant that among the approximately 800 challengers of Corpse Blood Valley, 15 were spies from the Righteous Alliance’s Silent Strides.

Mok Yu-cheon, who didn’t know the nature of an intelligence organization, couldn’t judge whether this was a large or small number.

However, judging from Ma-sang’s tone, it sounded like even having this many people enter was quite successful.

However,

“But a problem arose.”

“What problem?”

“In the first gateway, all fifteen passed, but in the second gateway, eleven died.”

If eleven died, that meant only four survived.

Considering there were still gateways remaining, the probability of failure had become extremely high.

He seemed to know why Ma-sang revealed his identity.

“Could it be…….”

“That’s right. It’s to ask for your help, Mok Yu-cheon.”

“……….”

At his words, Mok Yu-cheon shut his mouth.

It was because he was at a loss for how to react.

Who would have imagined a situation where a member of the Righteous Alliance’s shadow organization, Silent Strides, would reveal their identity and ask him for help?

“I think it’s hard for you to accept. But there was no other way.”

“……..”

“Based on the experience and information from past failed infiltrations, we only sent personnel capable of fighting against others with external techniques even without internal energy, but even we didn’t know this situation would happen.”

He seemed to know.

That monster, the wolf-shaped creature that made pig-like cries.