Chapter 172: Chapter 172
Seong Mo-ran, who was traveling with Cheol Sun-jik, did not say a word the entire time they moved.
The Bamboo String Gang, which occupied the Second Peak of the One Hundred Eight Peaks, and the Iron Sword Sect, which had acted as Hefei’s entrenched local power, had always regarded each other with contempt, so moving together could not have been more awkward.
‘That is not all.’
More than anything, what had happened during the Regular Exam made Seong Mo-ran feel uncomfortable dealing with Cheol Sun-jik.
From the perspective of the simple and straightforward Seong Mo-ran, Cheol Sun-jik, who seemed full of calculations and whose inner thoughts and outer face appeared different, was a fairly unsettling opponent.
“Hehehe. It seems you dislike me, Miss Seong.”
As if he had seen through Seong Mo-ran, Cheol Sun-jik did not seem particularly concerned by her attitude either.
“Pardon?”
Seong Mo-ran spoke as if she had no idea what he meant, but even that seemed amusing to Cheol Sun-jik, whose expression was completely relaxed.
How obnoxious.
“Or perhaps it seems you do not trust me, Miss Seong.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about…….”
“You have been following behind me the entire time, have you not? Does that not mean you distrust me so much that you do not even wish to show me your back?”
“…….”
Only then did Seong Mo-ran realize that she had continuously been taking position behind Cheol Sun-jik and the Twelve Peak Citadels, but she was not particularly flustered even though she had been caught.
“……My last memory of you was rather poor, you see.”
Cheol Sun-jik chuckled at Seong Mo-ran’s sharp words.
“Is it not an unwritten rule of the murim to leave what happened during the Regular Exam in the Regular Exam?”
“Forgetting the result while remembering the process is a martial artist’s instinct, is it not?”
“That is true.”
Cheol Sun-jik’s attitude seemed to say that he did not greatly care whether she trusted or suspected him, so Seong Mo-ran was eventually the first to open her mouth.
“What exactly are you plotting this time?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am asking why the Twelve Peak Citadels followed Young Master Jin.”
“As Academy students, is it not only natural for us to take an interest in the actions of the Academy Representative?”
At that shameless answer, Seong Mo-ran’s eyebrows rose.
“So that is why you planned to skip the Soul-Destroying Formation event and have someone investigate it for you instead?”
“…….”
For the first time, Cheol Sun-jik’s face stiffened.
“Did you think we would not know? The Righteous Path Association simply acted first. After that, the Orthodox Path Association and even the Twelve Peak Citadels were going to do the exact same thing, were they not?”
“So you knew.”
Cheol Sun-jik merely shrugged. His expression showed that he did not care.
Seong Mo-ran’s cheek trembled slightly.
“You people are truly…… shameless beyond belief.”
“It was unavoidable for us as well. If only the Righteous Path Association and the Orthodox Path Association found out about the Soul-Destroying Formation, the Twelve Peak Citadels would suffer great damage.”
Seong Mo-ran brought out the fundamental question.
“Can’t you follow Young Master Jin in the first place? The Twelve Peak Citadels are ultimately only one of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.”
Cheol Sun-jik smiled as if he were looking at a child and said,
“If the existing structure collapses, chaos will follow. And Young Master Jin is trying to collapse that structure.”
“It seems the Young Master Jin I have seen and the Young Master Jin you have seen are different people.”
Cheol Sun-jik shook his head as if to say they were not different.
“Is that not the case even now?”
“What is?”
“To save someone close to him, the Academy Representative has forgotten his proper duty and come to Sichuan. Moreover, he has even mobilized Victory Tiger Hall.”
“That is because there is a dangerous being.”
Cheol Sun-jik took a carrier pigeon letter from his robes and handed it to Seong Mo-ran.
“This is the information the Beggars’ Sect investigated regarding the events that occurred in Sichuan. The investigation clearly concluded that the mass death incident that happened during the Regular Exam occurred because they were attacked after already suffering severe injuries from the intense entrance exam process.”
Seong Mo-ran held the carrier pigeon letter and could not continue speaking.
“The Beggars’ Sect’s conclusion is that the opponent was not very strong. The Elder Council’s event also has only a grand name; in reality, it is little more than an excursion. In other words, the ‘danger’ Representative Jin spoke of does not actually exist.”
“…….”
Cheol Sun-jik smiled broadly.
That face was so hateful that Seong Mo-ran felt she would have no greater wish than to drive her fist into it at once.
“Whether he failed to conduct a proper investigation or made a fuss over a small matter, either way, he is unqualified to be Representative.”
Small laughter broke out among the Twelve Peak Citadels.
“That is why a structure is necessary. A person who stands outstanding on his own, whether capable or incapable, ultimately causes problems.”
“So you chased him all the way here to drag Young Master Jin down from the Representative position?”
“……Let us say I came to correct what is wrong.”
“As expected, you never had any intention of listening to Young Master Jin from the very beginning.”
“There is no reason to follow what is wrong.”
Seong Mo-ran turned her head as if there was no need to hear any more.
However, Cheol Sun-jik did not seem to want the conversation to end here.
“It seems you trust Representative Jin completely, Miss Seong. Do you know Representative Jin in such detail?”
“No.”
“Oh, that is somewhat unexpected……”
“It would be more accurate to say I do not know him very well. I do not know what his heart is like either.”
“Pardon?”
“But I do know that the moment he says something is ‘dangerous’ is truly a ‘dangerous’ moment.”
Seong Mo-ran continued speaking with an unwavering face.
“It was like that at the Demon Spirit Plateau, it was like that during the Regular Exam, and it was like that during the Soul-Destroying Formation. While I was with him, there were countless dangerous moments when our lives hung by a thread, but when he truly said something was ‘dangerous,’ a far greater danger on an entirely different level arrived.”
Seong Mo-ran looked at Cheol Sun-jik and the faces of the Twelve Peak Citadels members staring at her.
“That is why it is frustrating. No matter how much he says it is ‘dangerous,’ you people do not believe him properly. No, far from believing him, you suspect him even more and invite ‘danger’ upon yourselves.”
Cheol Sun-jik shook his head as if opposing Seong Mo-ran’s opinion.
“That is because he judges danger only from his own position. Just as the Bamboo String Gang and the Taeul Sect cannot be placed on the same line, even if something is ‘dangerous’ to him, there are many cases where it is not ‘dangerous’ to us.”
Seong Mo-ran moved her lips, then closed her mouth.
Trying to persuade him any further would only make her mouth hurt.
Right now, it was more urgent to confirm what the “danger” Jin So-un had spoken of was and stop the others.
Cheol Sun-jik did not stop and continued laying out his opinion.
“Representative Jin is a person bound completely by stubborn self-righteousness……”
“Be quiet!”
At Seong Mo-ran’s shout, he wore a triumphant expression.
The fact that the other party had unilaterally cut off the conversation was proof that his logic had won.
However, instead of the expression of a loser, Seong Mo-ran wore a grave face and pointed to one side.
“Look over there.”
It was because she saw an ominous shadow cast beneath the moonlight.
“…….”
“…….”
Not only Cheol Sun-jik, but even the movement arts of the Twelve Peak Citadels came to a stop.
Then each of them began taking out their weapons.
“Be on guard around us.”
After speaking to the Twelve Peak Citadels, Seong Mo-ran slowly approached.
An unpleasant smell pierced her nose.
‘Corpses…….’
Darkness covered every direction, so nothing could be seen.
Seong Mo-ran quickly took a flint from within her robes and struck it.
CLICK,
CLICK.
Each time a small spark fell, the surroundings briefly appeared and vanished.
And gasps escaped from the lips of the Twelve Peak Citadels.
“What is this…….”
“Are those not Academy students?”
“What on earth happened here…….”
Cheol Sun-jik approached near Seong Mo-ran.
Seong Mo-ran struck the flint again and showed him the corpses.
“They are disciples of Qingcheng Sect and disciples of Fragrant Camphor Sect, a lay-affiliated sect of Qingcheng.”
It was strange.
Originally, Group Two, which they were supposed to meet, was the group of Mount Hua Sect, Kongtong Sect, and their lay-affiliated sects.
Yet what they actually encountered was Group Three, Qingcheng Sect and its lay-affiliated sects.
She did not know how things had unfolded, but it was no different from saying that the current situation had gone severely wrong, to the point of exceeding Jin So-un’s expectations.
“Could something have been so urgent that they could not even recover the bodies?”
“…….”
Cheol Sun-jik asked Seong Mo-ran, who gave no answer.
“Miss Seong?”
Seong Mo-ran spoke as if murmuring.
“You said…… the Bamboo String Gang is stronger than the Taeul Sect, did you not?”
Seong Mo-ran pointed at the corpses scattered across the ground as she spoke.
“Then how does it compare to Qingcheng Sect and its lay-affiliated sects?”
“What do you mean by that?”
The Twelve Peak Citadels also continued their vigilance while checking the corpses.
“They are Academy students.”
“This one is a disciple of Blue Crown Sect.”
“There is also a disciple of Blue Leaf Gang.”
The identities of the corpses were revealed here and there.
“Is the ‘danger’ Young Master Jin spoke of still nothing to you, Young Master Cheol?”
“…….”
“I intend to search for other survivors as Young Master Jin said. What will you do, Young Master Cheol? Do you still not wish to listen to Young Master Jin?”
Instead of answering, Cheol Sun-jik looked again at the corpses with a bloodless face.
There was only one choice Cheol Sun-jik could make.
“……Please go ahead. I will follow.”
Jin So-un looked at the space darker than darkness and said,
“Do not break the lantern under any circumstances.”
“What?”
Before Nam Hwa-seong could answer, Jin So-un moved first.
Jin So-un, who shot out like a flash of lightning, disappeared straight into the darkness.
At the same time, intense metallic sounds began ringing from within the darkness.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG.
No sooner had the fierce sound of metal clashing against metal ended than thunderous booms of air bursting out began to ring.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
A golden radiance surged within the darkness, and it looked like clouds holding lightning within them churning just before a storm poured down.
“What on earth…….”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.
Enormous human shadows emerged from within the black clouds and mist.
The giant shadows repeated the process of fighting fiercely, falling, and clashing again.
ZIIIIING──────
At that moment, Nam Hwa-seong clutched his head from the agony that seemed to stab into his skull.
Nam Hwa-seong, who had sunk to the ground to offset the pain, was startled by the killing intent that suddenly swept over him and blasted Fist Qi toward the rear.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
When he felt impacts in the darkness where there should clearly have been nothing, a chill settled in one corner of his chest.
‘If I had been just a little late, I would have died.’
The sensation of a sharp sword filled with unmistakable killing intent.
An action filled with full-fledged murderous intent that he had never felt during martial duels for class.
Nam Hwa-seong raised his five senses to the limit and began searching for the unseen opponent in the space of darkness.
“Are you there!!!”
Nam Hwa-seong threw himself forward with a shout, as if deliberately trying to shake off his fear.
However, with a tremendous impact to his abdomen, he was sent flying rapidly backward.
“Keheuk, urgh.”
A clash of only a single exchange.
Even with just that, he could realize it.
The opponent in the darkness was absolutely no ordinary foe.
Nam Hwa-seong immediately prepared the Deer-Horn Radiance Fist, the final ultimate art of the Three Origins Sect.
Green radiance flashed from his two fists and illuminated the darkness, intermittently casting the human figure hidden within.
“Haaap!”
Nam Hwa-seong’s Deer-Horn Radiance Fist shot forward, leaving a green trajectory like the tail of a firefly, and the moment it reached a single point in the darkness, it spread green light in every direction and aimed for the opponent’s vital acupoints.
THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THWACK!
He drove out nearly thirty fist strikes in a single breath, but surprisingly, there was no sensation of flesh bursting beneath his blows.
As if he were swinging his fists underwater, his hands and feet felt more stifled than usual.
“UAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”
When he poured out all of his nearly fifty years of inner arts, the blazing light of the Deer-Horn Radiance Fist pushed back the darkness, and the opponent’s true form gradually appeared.
Nam Hwa-seong’s eyes trembled violently.
‘How many are there?!’
The group located where the darkness had cleared numbered at least one hundred people.
If the darkness were cleared away entirely, he could not even begin to guess how many more there might be.
During that brief instant when he was distracted, countless Sword Qi began pouring out from within the darkness.
“Damn it.”
He poured out Fist Qi like a storm, but not only was it impossible to block them all, it was also impossible to resist the Hidden Force concealed among them.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Nam Hwa-seong’s body, struck by the Hidden Force, flew as if it had been shot from a cannon.
CRUNCH.
A sound of something shattering rang out behind his back, but Nam Hwa-seong, who could not afford to pay attention to each thing, sprang upright and took a stance.
The opponent had once again hidden within the darkness and concealed their form.
“If you have confidence, come out! Let us fight fair and square!”
Was it a response to Nam Hwa-seong’s words?
The darkness slowly began to clear.
And through it, a moving shape entered his eyes.
SLITHER.
To confirm the true form of the being that appeared, Nam Hwa-seong had to raise his head straight upward.
“……!!!”
The moment he saw that “being,” every hair on his body stood on end.
“A-Azure-Scaled One-Horned Kui Dragon?”
A demonic beast called a dragon because its body was far too enormous and massive.
A giant snake difficult for an ordinary person, no, even a warrior crossing the entire murim, to see was flicking its tongue at him.
Nam Hwa-seong, who had been stepping backward out of instinctive fear, turned his head as if his neck would snap at another sound coming from behind him.
SKITTER, SKITTER, SKITTER.
A house-sized spider with eight legs.
“A-A Human-Faced Blood Spider?”
A horrific demonic beast with a face similar to a human’s and four fangs was tilting its head while looking at Nam Hwa-seong.
“U-Uuaaagh!”
The operation and the investigation into Jin So-un were not important issues right now.
‘I am dead! I am going to die!’
The moment Nam Hwa-seong unfolded the Deer-Horn Wind-Cloud Step and desperately tried to escape the area.
The Azure-Scaled One-Horned Kui Dragon moved its enormous body like a ghost and coiled around Nam Hwa-seong’s body at once.
“UAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”
When Nam Hwa-seong’s form was lifted into the air, all manner of demonic beasts in the space where he had thought only the Human-Faced Blood Spider existed began rushing at one another to taste Nam Hwa-seong’s flesh.
“Fuck, I have nothing but muscle, so I taste bad!”
He swung his fists and fired Fist Qi, but the bastards ignored it as if they did not even feel it, and opened their horrific maws wide toward him.
-Nam Hwa-seong!
Just then, a grand voice rang through his head.
-Burn the talisman.
It was a voice he usually hated hearing so much.
However, at that voice that seemed like salvation, Nam Hwa-seong burned the talisman he was holding in his hand.
WHOOSH.
With the talisman, which easily caught fire even from a small spark and vanished into ash, a sound like cloth tearing rang out in the air, and a figure holding a golden sword leapt through the gap in space.
“Lower your head, Nam Hwa-seong!”
“UAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”
The figure with the golden sword descended like a lightning bolt and cut the Azure-Scaled One-Horned Kui Dragon in half.
Nam Hwa-seong’s body, which had been floating in the air, dropped cleanly to the ground.
“Uaaaagh!”
Though the impact was considerable, Nam Hwa-seong sprang up from the ground and assumed a combat stance.
Jin So-un looked back at him and shouted.
“You damn bastard! I told you not to break the lantern!”
“I-I did not break it!”
“Then why did the Corpse-Blood Dead-Spirit Chaos Formation activate?”
“C-Corpse-Blood what?”
“It is an Illusion Formation! Have you ever learned Dispelling Evil and Spirit Suppression?”
“T-The Demon-Subduing True Mantra……”
“Those damn bastards treat the Demon-Subduing True Mantra like a family heirloom blade. I would like to see them try using that against the Demonic Cult too!”
Jin So-un spat out curses Nam Hwa-seong could not understand.
Nam Hwa-seong instinctively realized that something had gone wrong.
“Wh-What should I do?”
“What do you think? Your centered mind is not good enough to withstand this illusion.”
“Then I-I……”
Jin So-un adjusted his grip on his sword.
“……We tear our way out.”
At Jin So-un’s words, Nam Hwa-seong wore a blank expression.
They were going to escape from this place, where demonic beasts swarmed everywhere and he could not even tell where the exit or entrance was?
“……out of it, bastard!”
“H-Huh?”
At that moment, a slap flew in and struck Nam Hwa-seong’s cheek with a hot sting.
“Get a hold of yourself, you bastard! Do you want to die here?”
“……N-No!”
“On a battlefield, listen only to your commander’s voice. Do not trust that pathetic head of yours! Understand?”
“U-Understood…….”
Jin So-un took two Demon-Subduing Talismans from his robes and handed them to Nam Hwa-seong.
“You survived, so I will give you two. If you survive one more time, I will give you three.”
“Th-Thank you.”
“From now on, we are escaping their Illusion Formation. Do not turn your eyes anywhere else. Stick close to me and follow. Understand?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Let us go!”
Jin So-un immediately began running toward the demonic beasts blocking every direction.
A golden radiance had gathered on his sword, and at some point, a long golden cord had extended from his left hand.
When the giant Human-Faced Blood Spider opened its horrific maw and tried to swallow Jin So-un, Jin So-un swung his sword.
SLASH, SLASH.
When the cord emitting golden radiance poured out, that enormous demonic beast was bound tightly and could not move an inch, and when the golden sword was swung, that enormous demonic beast was cut into two and three pieces.
Jin So-un dealt with the demonic beasts at once, one after another, and advanced.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Scenes that did not feel real continued right before his eyes, but Nam Hwa-seong moved exactly as Jin So-un shouted.
“Fire your Fist Qi!”
“You bastard! What are you saving your inner arts for? Are you going to take them to hell after you die?”
“Is this all the Three Origins Sect’s ultimate arts can do?”
“Hit them, hit them! Illusion Formations have weak durability. If you hit them and keep hitting them, they will break in the end!”
Then, strangely, the energy squeezing them from every direction grew noticeably thinner.
Breathing gradually became easier, and somehow, even the demonic beasts seemed to be shrinking.
‘On a battlefield, listen only to your commander’s voice. On a battlefield, listen only to your commander’s voice.’
Nam Hwa-seong frantically memorized and repeated the words Jin So-un had said, moving his feet as if his life depended on it.
How long had they run like that?
At some point, Jin So-un disappeared along with the demonic beasts in every direction.
“J-Jin So-un! Jin So-un! Where did you go?!”
The moment Nam Hwa-seong called for Jin So-un like a chick searching for its mother.
Someone grabbed Nam Hwa-seong by the nape of his neck and began pulling him upward.
“H-Heup!”
When the terrified Nam Hwa-seong began struggling, a familiar voice struck his ear.
“It is me! Do not thrash! You are heavy!”
RIIIP.
With the sound of a large piece of cloth tearing, the space before his eyes changed in an instant, and clear moonlight appeared.
“Haaah, haaah, haaah. Wh-What is this?”
The sensation of soil beneath him, and the coldness he felt in the air.
He had escaped from the Illusion Formation Jin So-un had spoken of and returned to actual reality.
“J-Jin So-un…….”
Before the joy of having escaped the Illusion Formation, questions filled his head.
He belonged to the Twelve Peak Citadels, and he had come here to monitor Jin So-un.
‘And yet…….’
Jin So-un had saved him from that Illusion Formation.
“Th-Thank you, Jin So-un…….”
However, the answer was nothing but blunt.
“Shut up and get up. The main part starts now.”
“H-Huh?”
Jin So-un was already staring only ahead.
And in front of them, the blood-robed men he had seen inside the Illusion Formation stood arrayed in formation.