Chapter 181: Chapter 181
TWANG, SWISH──
A sharp arrow cut across the open sky.
But far from reaching its intended destination, it even veered off course, fell powerlessly to the ground, and exploded.
POP!
The arrowhead burst apart and scattered in every direction, but no one was harmed by it.
“Are you playing around right now?”
Beside him, Jin So-un’s voice turned rough as he stood with his arms crossed.
Murong Jae-hwa, who had fired the arrow, was sweating cold sweat in streams.
“You didn’t reach two hundred zhang, you bastard! You didn’t even reach one hundred fifty!”
From Murong Jae-hwa’s perspective, this was an unbearably unfair situation.
To begin with, an arrow was already considered impressive if it reached one hundred zhang.
Yet just now, it had gone beyond one hundred zhang and flown all the way to one hundred twenty zhang.
Even an archery teacher spending the break period at the Murim Academy would have clicked his tongue in astonishment at that level, yet Jin So-un was clicking his tongue as though it was nowhere near enough.
“Brother…… no matter how I look at it, this is beyond common sense. No archer can shoot one hundred fifty zhang, much less……”
“Then are you saying I’m lying right now?”
“No, that is not……”
“Ah! Then did I take some strange medicine and see hallucinations?”
“……No, Brother, that is not it.”
“Or did I take the medicine I was supposed to take and see hallucinations?”
“……”
Jin So-un’s brows tilted crookedly as he made a face full of dissatisfaction.
Of course, he was someone who always kept the words he once spoke, and he had never said anything wrong, but still, what was impossible was impossible.
‘What kind of human shoots an enemy beyond two hundred zhang……?’
Even Lord Sword-Breaker under heaven was not this irrational about the realm of martial arts.
Yet Jin So-un was going beyond irrationality and speaking of something unrealistic as though it were only natural, so from Murong Jae-hwa’s perspective, it was enough to drive him mad.
“Th-then, Brother, please show me once.”
“I can’t show you.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I can’t show you.”
“……”
No, why are you saying that so confidently, too……
Sometimes, Geum-pyo and Eun-ho would say that they wanted to give Jin So-un a startled beating.
Back then, Murong Jae-hwa had been unable to understand why they would harbor such irreverent thoughts toward such an excellent Brother.
……Now he understood.
‘Oh, come on! Seriously!’
Jin So-un shook his head as though Murong Jae-hwa was pathetic and said,
“Shoot again……”
“Could I…… circulate my qi a little before I shoot?”
Jin So-un asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“You already used up all those inner arts?”
“……I do not have that much……”
“didn’t you eat the Fire Monkey’s Inner Core? And yet you are saying your inner arts are lacking?”
“……”
“On top of that, you must have spent your days lazing around inside the Murong Clan, eating Spiritual Medicine like tonic medicine at every meal. And yet your inner arts are lacking?”
“……B-Brother.”
“Furthermore, Lord Sword-Breaker must have performed Marrow-Cleansing and Hair-Shedding on you when you were young. And yet your inner arts are lacking?”
“……”
Ah…… if only I could hit him just once……
Even when Murong Jae-hwa packed his inner arts into the arrow with all his strength and fired it, the most it could do was fly a distance of one hundred twenty zhang.
Yet Jin So-un was not satisfied with that.
So Murong Jae-hwa had no choice but to load nearly twice, even three times more inner arts into it than usual.
No matter how abundant one’s inner arts were, there was probably no one in the world who could endure this manner of operating martial arts.
“That person didn’t eat the Fire Monkey’s Inner Core either, but he fired Thunderbolt Arrows again and again at enemies three hundred zhang away. The enemies couldn’t even estimate his position, and they didn’t dare think of approaching him.”
“No…… so who exactly is that person?”
“……Are you rebelling right now?”
When Jin So-un glared at Murong Jae-hwa with a rough expression, Murong Jae-hwa quickly tucked his tail and lowered his head.
Murong Jae-hwa could not understand how Jin So-un was, in terms of scariness, even scarier than his grandfather, Lord Sword-Breaker.
“If you shoot from a distance of one hundred zhang, they will eventually discover where you are shooting from. If you are discovered quickly, you will have no choice but to keep changing positions.”
Jin So-un continued as though recalling the past.
“Then the enemy will no longer be afraid to face you as a target. They will think everything is over if they send a pursuit party and capture only you.”
“……”
“Are you confident you can flee through the enemy camp alone like that every time? Moreover, this time the enemy is an Iron Corpse Puppet.”
“……No.”
“That is why you must shoot from far away. Moreover, you do not even need to be accurate, do you? This is not a task more difficult than an ordinary archer’s duty, so why can’t you do it?! Is it because you still have not suffered enough?”
By this point, Murong Jae-hwa desperately missed Eun-ho.
‘I’m sorry for misunderstanding you all this time……’
Jin So-un’s mouth did not stop.
“If you had been able to shoot opponents two hundred zhang away, or even three hundred zhang away, do you think those blood-robed men would have dared think of releasing the Iron Corpse Puppets?”
“……”
“You make approach itself impossible. You cause confusion and make them tremble in fear. What else would heavenly punishment falling from the sky be, if not that? Under such heavenly punishment, what could the enemies do?”
“……Run away.”
“Exactly! That is it! You don’t need to deal with one person persistently. Another expert can do that. What you need to do is face the many. As long as you stop them from approaching, that means success.”
By this point, Murong Jae-hwa’s stubbornness began to surge up as well.
When he had become powerless before the Iron Corpse Puppets just as Jin So-un said, how deeply had he wished for strength?
Murong Jae-hwa sank into thought more deeply than at any other moment in his life.
‘No matter how much inner arts I pour in, I cannot shoot beyond one hundred twenty zhang. Then what must I do to shoot two hundred zhang, three hundred zhang, just as Brother said?’
This was a matter of surpassing the physical limits set by nature.
It was the same principle as humans being unable to fly through the sky or breathe underwater.
As Murong Jae-hwa sank into a state of self-oblivion, Jin So-un’s calm voice seeped into his ears.
“Do not set limits. Humans have always broken free of the limits they placed on themselves. Humans cannot face tigers with their own abilities alone, and they cannot run faster than deer. They cannot be harder than steel either. But are these not all things humans have already overcome?”
Humans could not fly through the sky.
That was why they had developed Movement Arts and flying arts that allowed them to remain aloft in the air for a long time.
Humans could not breathe underwater.
That was why they had created Water Arts that allowed them to hold their breath underwater for a long time.
‘It cannot reach with inner arts alone…… In that case……’
Murong Jae-hwa opened his eyes and drew the string of the Steel Bow.
He did not draw it as hard as he had before, hard enough to break the Steel Bow.
Nor did he lower the bow’s angle as he had a moment ago.
He merely raised it high, as though shooting at the sky.
And then.
TWANG. SWISH──
The moment the arrow was fired with a light twang.
BOOM.
An explosion rang out from behind the arrow, and the arrow vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
“……”
Murong Jae-hwa lowered the bow and sharpened his eyesight to find the arrow he had fired.
Fifty zhang……
One hundred zhang……
Even after it passed one hundred twenty zhang, there was no sign that the arrow’s speed was slowing.
One hundred thirty zhang……
One hundred fifty zhang……
One hundred eighty zhang……
And finally.
Two hundred zhang……
POP──
The falling arrow exploded with a small burst of elasticity.
The distance was too great for the screams to be heard properly, but he could see the blood-robed men emerging from inside the tents in pain.
It was a success.
“Huh……”
“See? It is possible, is it not?”
Jin So-un was looking at Murong Jae-hwa with a triumphant expression.
More than the arrow he had shot into the sky, Murong Jae-hwa was astonished by the man before his eyes.
“Brother!”
“You need to choose the explosion range at the moment of firing carefully. That is the only way the direction will not be thrown off.”
As Murong Jae-hwa listened to him, he suddenly felt something was strange.
“……Could it be that you knew from the beginning, Brother?”
If inner arts would not work, use martial arts.
He had placed the force of the Heaven-Earth Wave-Splitting Sword, which he had originally contained in the arrowhead, into the end of the arrow as well.
Was Jin So-un saying he had already known this absurd method of operating martial arts?
Jin So-un’s relaxed voice dug into his ears.
“When have I ever lied?”
“……”
It was certainly amazing, but when he actually saw that smiling face, he also felt somewhat wronged.
“Then…… if you had told me earlier……”
I would not have had to suffer that pointless scolding……
As though asking what nonsense he was talking about, Jin So-un said curtly,
“If I had done that, you would not have reached enlightenment on your own. Considering that you must develop on your own even when I am not around in the future, these small experiences will gather and become a great foundation for you.”
“……”
That was true……
It was certainly true.
It was definitely the right thing to say, but……
“I even thought ahead to your future so that you could develop on your own. You think it was a tremendous fortune to meet a Brother like me, don’t you? Mwahahahaha.”
“……”
Why was the sight of him spreading his shoulders wide and laughing so irritating?
Murong Jae-hwa once again understood the feelings of Geum-pyo and Eun-ho, who respected So-un immensely yet practiced Sword Formations like their lives depended on it because they wanted to hit So-un at least once.
He truly understood.
Murong Jae-hwa began to wonder why his anger would not subside.
‘Eun-ho…… I am sorry once again.’
Murong Jae-hwa thought that when he met Eun-ho, he would have to apologize sincerely.
After being attacked by Murong Jae-hwa, the Blood Cult bastards busily reorganized their unit once again and moved its position farther back.
Murong Jae-hwa and I moved covertly, brought the unit back within Murong Jae-hwa’s range once more, and then.
I descended from the peak alone.
I waited for the moment when the moonlight was covered by clouds, and when the darkness deepened further, I quietly raised the Unrivaled under Heaven Movement Art and slowly approached the unit.
Because they had withdrawn in a hurry, the Blood Cult’s unit was extremely busy even in the middle of the night.
Even in the midst of that, perhaps because they were afraid of Murong Jae-hwa’s arrows, no fires had been lit.
“Raise the tents quickly!”
“Shields! Bring out every shield!”
“Assemble the search parties! We find him!”
Because hundreds of people were moving, even though no fires were lit, I could see the bastards clearly.
I tried to enter the bastards’ unit before they stood guard.
‘Huh?’
As I covertly approached the unit, I was stopped by something unexpected.
‘What is this?’
The Illusion Formation that had unfolded when Nam Hwa-seong accidentally broke the lantern.
Something similar was now spread around the unit.
My, they are disgustingly quick to react.
If there was one limit to Mystic Gate Formations or Mechanism Formations, it was that once they were installed in one place, they could not easily be moved elsewhere.
On the other hand, although I did not know how the bastards had done it, they seemed to have changed an Illusion Formation, something Spell Practitioners normally needed to carefully unfold, into this kind of simple Mystic Gate Formation.
‘This is…… a bit enviable.’
To be able to unfold an Illusion Formation like a Mystic Gate Formation anywhere.
That meant one could seize an enormous advantage in combat or war.
No, putting that aside, considering that the most frightening time for Escorts or martial artists who had to endure long journeys was after they fell asleep, it was obvious that even if they stood guard in the same way, the degree of tension would differ depending on whether or not there was an Illusion Formation.
‘Should I kidnap one Spell Practitioner?’
As I thought that, I soon shook my head.
Right now, I was busy enough just trying to seize one Blood Sea Jade.
Even considering that I would have to flee with Murong Jae-hwa if things went wrong, if I delayed even a little, everything might fall apart.
“Still, it is a shame. Once the Murim Alliance carries out its subjugation, the Blood Cult’s Spell Practitioners will all be wiped out to the last seed.”
What could not be helped could not be helped, no matter how regrettable it was.
I quickly abandoned my lingering attachment.
I carefully approached the Illusion Formation.
GLOOP──
With that sensation, a chilling feeling dug into my entire body.
Once I entered the Illusion Formation, all the voices of the Blood Cult members that I had heard a moment ago disappeared.
And then.
The Blood Cult’s unit that should have been before my eyes was nowhere to be seen.
No matter how much I raised my Sensory Perception, I could not sense anything.
If I had not actually seen the Blood Cult from afar, I was certain I would not have even thought that the Blood Cult remained here.
RIIING──.
A short while later, a strange, piercing sound stabbed into my head, and I hurriedly drew up the Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power to protect my Upper Qi Center, Middle Qi Center, and Lower Qi Center.
AWOOO──
GRRRAH──
The cries of wild animals ringing in my ears disappeared, and the inside of the Illusion Formation came clearly into view.
I advanced forward as carefully as possible so as not to touch the Gate of Death.
How long had passed?
“Here! Wounded! There is a wounded man!”
“Save the Spell Practitioners first!”
“Has the search party still not found the assailant?!”
“There is still no signal.”
The busy voices of the Blood Cult members were heard once again.
‘Where are you……?’
While hiding myself in the darkness, I searched for the place where the Blood Sea Jade might be, amid the hundreds of Blood Cult members coming and going.
A moment later, one tent with the exact same shape as the records I had seen in the book archive entered my sight.
A smile slipped out of me without realizing it.
“So there you are. ‘My’ Red Radiance Sword.”
I stepped with the Ghost-Breathing Step and hid myself among the people.