Chapter 40. A First-Rate Warrior Stirring Up a New Wind (2)
I truly felt as though I was going to die.
Of essence, qi, and spirit, it felt as though my spirit would be extinguished.
Unlike most people, whose spirit was extinguished because their essence and qi were lacking, my essence and qi had somehow been kept moving through inner arts and spiritual medicines for restoring vital energy, so the part being worn down was my spirit.
But with the likes of Namgung Jin-myeong, the Peak Lord of Four Emperors Peak, and the chiefs of the Black Serpent Gang standing guard for me, who would dare say I wanted to rest a little?
Thanks to that, I did enjoy a luxury no one else in the murim world had ever enjoyed.
After all, I was likely the only person ever to have every expert of the Orthodox Path and the Black Path take turns stepping forward to stand guard and strike my acupoints.
Amid fatigue that felt as though my mind would vanish, I somehow moved my body again and entered the Soul-Destroying Formation, and in the end, disaster struck.
I had taken a few wrong steps.
Yet strangely, at that moment, a new path through the Soul-Destroying Formation came into view, and I walked on as though nothing had happened.
Normally, it was an impossible mistake, but in any case, I was the only one who could know about a mistake made inside the Soul-Destroying Formation.
When I quietly asked Yu Ji-ryang, he said that one method of studying formations was to first grasp the formation paths and embody the calculations.
Personally, however, I thought it might be an effect of the Taeul True Scripture.
As I began learning the Taeul True Scripture, a study for realizing the Dao of all phenomena, I had gained a new perspective on the information entering from my surroundings. With essence and qi separated and spirit objectified, perhaps I had grasped the subtlety of formations.
It was only a guess.
In any case, I had saved them all in the end.
Aside from those who had died after moving rashly inside, the injured, and those who had failed to endure the hunger and died, I saved everyone.
I heard that in the history of the murim, there had never been a case where a single person had saved so many people.
To be honest, it did bother me that the people inside were dying, but it was not something I would normally risk my life to this extent to save.
It was a situation where I could have made suitable deals, taken what I wanted, and saved them along the way.
I could have turned it into a situation that benefited Taeul Sect and myself as much as I wanted, but when I heard that Yong So-ah had fled to Wudang through the Murim Alliance, and that he had not properly conveyed information about the formation inside, I thought I had to save everyone inside even if it meant risking my life.
“Only then would the awe people felt toward Yong So-ah be thrown into the shit pit.”
The reason the Murim Alliance, the great mountain of the Orthodox Path sects, ultimately fell into Yong So-ah’s hands was, above all, because of his powerful martial arts and the backing of Wudang, the strongest sect in the Murim Alliance, which protected him.
Moreover, whenever fierce battles with the Demonic Cult broke out, other sects died helplessly, while Yong So-ah, with his uniquely inhuman abilities, had won victories against the Demonic Cult.
All of that had developed into awe, making people think that the Murim Alliance’s only hope was Yong So-ah.
“But that ends today.”
Across the Black and Orthodox camps, the people gathered in Yueyang had somehow become friends, sharing tables, drinking, and busy celebrating.
Disciples of Black Path sects expressed their thanks to experts of Orthodox Path sects, and conversely, experts of Orthodox Path sects expressed their gratitude to Black Path sects as well.
In the midst of it all, the common enemy had naturally become Yong So-ah, and at every drinking table, people chewed Yong So-ah out to their hearts’ content instead of chewing side dishes, fueling their anger toward him.
Yong So-ah had taken such a massive shit, and Wudang’s attempt to cover it by calling him back to Wudang Sect and hiding him away had instead become a terrible move.
Once survivors began coming out, supplies and volunteers started pouring in from across the murim, including the Murim Alliance, but Wudang was not among them.
“Things will get interesting from here.”
Even a sturdy reservoir collapses from a small hole.
It was fair to say that, as of today, a small hole had opened in Wudang, the strongest force in the Orthodox murim.
Of course, since it was only a small hole, they could block it as much as they pleased, but given the sorry conduct I had seen from them so far, would they truly do that?
I had my doubts.
Even now, there were strange rumors, mainly around the Beggars’ Sect, on the verge of spreading—rumors that perhaps the formation inside had not been that terrifying after all. But whenever anyone spoke such a rumor aloud, the people who had suffered at Demon Spirit Plateau beat that person to a pulp.
As a result, those absurd rumors quickly died down.
“Now I finally look somewhat human.”
After saving all the survivors, we withdrew both the command center and the field camp and moved to Yueyang.
They rented out thirty establishments in their entirety, including inns and lodging houses, and assigned them first to the injured and those exhausted from the rescue process. I received a separate annex among them and was able to rest comfortably.
When I woke from sleep, I called a waiter, shoved down a mountain of food, performed Qi Circulation and Breathing, and slept again.
When I grew hungry again in my sleep, I got up and repeated the process.
Only after doing that for three days did I feel my mind slowly returning and my body drawing close to normal.
After waking, the first thing I checked was my inner arts.
In the urgency of it all, I had not had time to confirm the effects of the Taeul True Scripture and had circulated my qi in a trance, so I had not realized it, but my inner arts had already reached Two cycles(120 years of internal energy).
“……Huh.”
It seemed likely that the Taeul True Scripture had swept through my entire body and gathered up all the remaining spiritual medicine energy sleeping within me.
The feeling of possessing inner arts I could freely use and completed martial arts through which I could pour out those inner arts was deeply unfamiliar.
“So there was a reason the experts of the murim and that bastard Yong So-ah were so confident.”
It was a sense of fulfillment I had never felt in my previous life or this one.
I felt confident enough to think I could resolve everything I had planned without difficulty.
Because I had spent three months at Demon Spirit Plateau, only three months remained now, and it was time to move with every moment counting.
“Still, it was time well spent.”
Celebrating that to myself, I visited Jang Do-won first.
“Heh heh, you really……”
After seeing the Mita Sacred Water, Jang Do-won let out a hollow laugh, his face stricken with astonishment.
“I thought it was enough to be grateful you came back alive……”
“It was all thanks to you, sir. This was quite helpful.”
I said, shaking the Flying Dragon Claw.
“I made it for nothing. If I had known you would bother me like this, I would have just made it halfheartedly.”
Jang Do-won said that, but the smile did not leave his lips.
In my previous life, Jang Do-won had once said something like that.
That the maker of an object felt joy merely from meeting an owner who used his creation well.
“Come back in three days.”
“It takes that long?”
“When it comes to Extreme Yin energy, this thing loses to nothing. Do you think handling it can be done in an instant?”
“Understood. How much money should I prepare?”
“Forget it. Even if I take that paltry money, I have nowhere to spend it.”
“Really?”
“Among the children you saved this time, a few were my customers. Consider that payment.”
“Huh? Then does the accounting not go the other way?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Right now, Orthodox Path sects and Black Path sects alike are saying they will repay me, so should you not give me at least one treasure?”
“You rotten bastard. I suppose you want to see me fail to handle even the Mita Sacred Water and lose it?”
Before he changed his mind, I quickly left his shop.
Jang Do-won even closed the shop door he had been using for business and began working.
***
It happened when I was about to return to the annex.
I had just seen a group of warriors wearing martial arts uniforms issued by the Murim Alliance and was about to step aside.
For some reason, the nearly twenty men stopped squarely in front of me.
“Are you Jin So-un of Taeul Sect?”
They even already knew who I was.
“I am.”
“You will have to come with us.”
With that, the Murim Alliance warriors tried to seize my arms from both sides.
I immediately shot both palms at them and forced them back.
The unexpected attack drove the warriors back a full three steps, and they, startled, were trying to draw their swords.
“Are you defying the Murim Alliance’s order?”
“You have yet to state who you are, where you came from, or why you came.”
In the past, I would have thought the correct answer was to quietly follow without causing a commotion, but not now.
“I am Gong Seok-chan, Branch Chief of the Murim Alliance Yueyang Branch. You know what I mean when I say the matter that occurred at Demon Spirit Plateau, do you not?”
I tilted my head.
“I do not.”
“You bastard! Your sect, Taeul Sect, also occupies one of the One Hundred Eight Peaks. Do you intend to ignore the Murim Alliance’s alliance law?”
“I told you clearly. I said I do not know what you mean. What wrong did I commit there in the first place?”
Gong Seok-chan signaled the Murim Alliance warriors with his eyes.
At that, four men tried to rush me at once.
Without even needing to draw my sword, I unleashed the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist.
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD—!
Engulfed by dozens of fist shadows that shot out in an instant, the Murim Alliance warriors were struck several times in vital points and gasped as if they could not breathe.
“You bastard! Do you have any idea what you have dared to do?”
“And what exactly are you plotting, Branch Chief, while putting alliance law before you?”
“What?”
“The lodgings where I am staying certainly have the Namgung Clan and the Maoshan Sect present. If you had gone through them, there would have been no need to mobilize force like this. Why are you using this method instead?”
“……”
“I do not know your reason, but if it is valid, I will follow you. If not, I will not go.”
What I had heard from Namgung Seon-hwa.
It was the Murim Alliance that had quietly watched even as Yong So-ah fled into Wudang.
Because of that conduct, a war had nearly broken out between the Namgung Clan and Wudang Sect.
Because of this matter, Namgung Jin-myeong had been furious to the tips of his hair, and afterward, they had completely excluded the Murim Alliance from the rescue operation.
In other words, there was no need for me to bow my head here just because they were the Murim Alliance.
“It is a suspicion that there may have been some kind of device in Demon Spirit Plateau’s formation from the start.”
I quietly listened to Gong Seok-chan’s words, but I still did not understand.
When I tilted my head, he explained in more detail.
“Can you prove that the formation deployed at Demon Spirit Plateau did not belong to Taeul Sect?”
“Pah.”
Yong So-ah could not break through it, and the Maoshan Sect could not break through it, but a disciple of Taeul Sect did, so was the formation not Taeul Sect’s to begin with?
That was their suspicion.
I was so dumbfounded that a laugh escaped me before I knew it.
“If our Taeul Sect had the ability to deploy a formation of that level, would we have had any reason to live under oppression at the bottom of the One Hundred Eight Peaks in the first place?”
“……We will know once we investigate.”
“Then please show me an official order from Mantongbu.”
“……What?”
“If this is such an important matter, you must have received Mantongbu’s approval. Or are you saying you intend to conduct an investigation based on your own suspicions, Branch Chief?”
“……”
Naturally, there was no way he had anything like an order.
An order for an important matter like this would require Jegal So-myeong’s approval.
He would never take this sort of conspiratorial suspicion seriously.
“……Your repeated evasions are beginning to seem more and more suspicious.”
Something suddenly came to mind regarding Gong Seok-chan’s illogical behavior, so I asked.
“By any chance, Branch Chief, are you from Wudang Sect?”
FLINCH.
Seeing his expression, which he could not properly hide, I finally understood.
“Ah, if you are from Wudang Sect, that explains it.”
The reason they had not properly stepped forward even though Yong So-ah, who had supposedly gone to request the Murim Alliance’s help, had gone to Wudang instead.
“This has nothing to do with my sect……”
The reason they had stood idly aside and hoped all the witnesses inside the Soul-Destroying Formation would disappear.
And even the reason they had rushed forward now that Yong So-ah’s name had fallen to the ground—all of it made sense.
“Bring me an order. Otherwise, I will not go.”
I ignored Gong Seok-chan like that and was just about to move away.
At last, as if he could endure no more, Gong Seok-chan made his move.
“Hmph.”
I tried to respond without delay with the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist.
I still did not know what level the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts were at, nor whether they could truly counter Wudang’s martial arts, but one thing was certain: my inner arts should be higher than his.
At that moment, a huge man appeared between the two of us and struck down at Gong Seok-chan with a great saber.
BANG—!
The huge man merely stood still after swinging his great saber, yet Gong Seok-chan flew away, rising a full two jang into the air.
“Gah, w-who are you?! How dare you attack a Branch Chief of the Murim Alliance!”
“Branch Chief?”
The huge man said, slinging the great saber over his shoulder.
“A mere Branch Chief dares persecute the benefactor of this Cha Seok-du of Four Emperors Peak? Little child. If you want to take this boy away, go bring that Alliance Leader of yours.”
At the declaration that he was Cha Seok-du, Peak Lord of Four Emperors Peak, one of the foremost martial forces of the Black Path murim, Gong Seok-chan’s face went pale.
Walking calmly out beside him was Namgung Jin-myeong of the Namgung Clan.
“I believe I clearly said this was not a matter for the Murim Alliance to interfere in.”
Not only Gong Seok-chan, but the Murim Alliance warriors as well looked as if they wanted to flee on the spot from the mere appearance of those two.
In the end, Gong Seok-chan gave a halfhearted clasped hands greeting and hurriedly left.
“So we finally get to see our benefactor’s face.”
“My friend, did I not tell you to inform our guards when you went out?”
Seeing these two giants of the Orthodox Path and Black Path, who could have bared their teeth at each other without it being strange, standing together like close friends, my head only grew complicated as I wondered how I was supposed to respond.
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