Chapter 172 :

The Black Flame Dragon Who Swallows the Sea of Blood (2)

Seong Moran, accompanying Cheol Sunjik, didn't say a word the entire journey.

The Jukhyeon Gang, which held the second peak of the Hundred and Eight Peaks, and the Iron Sword Sect, which had long lorded over Hefei, had always looked down on each other. Moving together felt unbearably awkward.

"That's not all, either."

More than anything, what had happened during the exam made Seong Moran uncomfortable around Cheol Sunjik.

To Seong Moran, who was straightforward and clear-minded, Cheol Sunjik was a deeply unsettling person: someone who calculated everything and seemed different inside and out.

"Heh heh. It seems Young Lady Seong dislikes me."

As though he'd seen right through her, Cheol Sunjik didn't seem particularly bothered by Seong Moran's attitude.

"What?"

Seong Moran replied as if she had no idea what he meant, but Cheol Sunjik only looked more amused.

What a pain.

"Or perhaps you don't trust me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"You've been following behind me the whole time. Do you distrust me so much that you're afraid to turn your back on me?"

Only then did Seong Moran realize she had been keeping behind Cheol Sunjik and the Twelve Peaks Fortress. But she wasn't particularly flustered to have been found out.

"...My last impression of you wasn't a good one."

At Seong Moran's sharp remark, Cheol Sunjik chuckled.

"Isn't it an unwritten rule of the murim world to leave the exam where it happened?"

"A martial artist's instinct is to forget the outcome but remember how it happened."

"That's true."

His attitude seemed to say that it made little difference to him whether she trusted or suspected him. In the end, Seong Moran was the first to speak.

"What are you plotting this time?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did the Twelve Peaks Fortress follow Young Master Jin?"

"Isn't it only natural for an academy student to take an interest in the academy representative's actions?"

At that brazen answer, Seong Moran raised her eyebrows.

"So you skipped the Soul-Destroying Formation demonstration and sent someone to investigate in your place?"

For the first time, Cheol Sunjik's expression hardened.

"Did you think we wouldn't find out? The Righteous Path Association moved first, but after that the White Path Association and the Twelve Peaks Fortress were going to do the same thing, weren't they?"

"You knew about that."

Cheol Sunjik merely shrugged, looking unconcerned.

Seong Moran's cheek twitched.

"You people really are shameless."

"We had no choice. If only the Righteous Path Association and the White Path Association learned about the Soul-Destroying Formation, the Twelve Peaks Fortress would suffer greatly."

Seong Moran brought up the fundamental question.

"Why can't you just follow Young Master Jin? The Twelve Peaks Fortress is only one of the Hundred and Eight Peaks, after all."

Cheol Sunjik smiled at her as if she were a child.

"When the existing system collapses, chaos follows. And Young Master Jin is trying to bring that system down."

"The Young Master Jin I know and the one you know seem to be different people."

Cheol Sunjik shook his head as if to say they weren't different.

"Isn't that obvious, even now?"

"What is?"

"To save someone close to him, the academy representative has forgotten his duty and come to Sichuan. He even brought in Shenghu Hall."

"Because there's a dangerous threat here."

Cheol Sunjik took a letter from inside his robe and handed it to Seong Moran.

"This is the Beggar Gang's report on what happened in Sichuan. Their investigation clearly concluded that the mass deaths during the exam happened because the students were attacked after suffering serious injuries in the intense entrance examination."

Holding the letter, Seong Moran couldn't find the words to respond.

"The Beggar Gang's conclusion is that the enemy wasn't particularly strong. The elders' gathering was grand in name only; in practice, it was little more than an excursion. The 'danger' Representative Jin spoke of doesn't exist."

"..."

Cheol Sunjik wore a broad smile.

His face was so irritating that Seong Moran felt she'd be satisfied just to punch him.

"Whether he failed to investigate properly or made a fuss over a trivial matter, either way, he's unfit to be the representative."

A few of the Twelve Peaks Fortress members laughed quietly.

"That's why a system is necessary. Exceptionally talented people cause problems in the end, whether they're capable or incompetent."

"So you followed Young Master Jin all the way here to remove him as representative?"

"...Let's say I came to set things right."

"So you never intended to listen to Young Master Jin in the first place."

"There's no reason to follow what's wrong."

Seong Moran turned away as if she'd heard enough.

But Cheol Sunjik didn't seem ready to end the conversation.

"You seem to trust Representative Jin completely, Young Lady Seong. Do you know him that well?"

"No."

"Oh? That's a little surprising—"

"If anything, I'd say I don't know him very well. I don't even know what he's thinking."

"What?"

"But I do know that when he says something is 'dangerous,' it really is dangerous."

Seong Moran continued without wavering.

"It was the same at the Maling Plateau, during the exam, and at the Soul-Destroying Formation demonstration. I've been with him through countless moments when our lives were on the line, but whenever he truly says 'danger,' the threat is on another level."

Seong Moran looked over the faces of Cheol Sunjik and the members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress.

"That's what frustrates me. No matter how many times he says it's 'dangerous,' you don't believe him. Worse, you doubt him even more and bring the danger upon yourselves."

Cheol Sunjik shook his head as if he disagreed.

"That's because he judges danger only from his own position. Just as you can't put the Jukhyeon Gang and the Taeul Sect on the same level, something that's 'dangerous' to him often isn't dangerous to us."

Seong Moran parted her lips, then closed them again.

There was no point trying to persuade him further.

Right now, as Jin Sowoon had said, it was more urgent to find out what the "danger" was and stop the others.

Cheol Sunjik continued, undeterred.

"Representative Jin is a man full of stubbornness—"

"Be quiet!"

At Seong Moran's shout, he looked triumphant.

He took her abrupt end to the conversation as proof that his argument had won.

But instead of looking defeated, Seong Moran wore a grave expression and pointed to one side.

"Look over there."

An ominous shadow had appeared beneath the moonlight.

Cheol Sunjik and the members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress stopped in their tracks. One by one, they drew their weapons.

"Watch your surroundings," Seong Moran told them before slowly approaching.

An unpleasant stench stung her nose.

"Corpses..."

Darkness shrouded the area, making it impossible to see anything.

Seong Moran quickly took flint from her robe and struck it.

Click.

Click.

Each time the small flint sparked, the surroundings briefly came into view, then vanished again.

A sigh escaped the members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress.

"What is this...?"

"Are these academy students?"

"What happened here...?"

Cheol Sunjik came over to Seong Moran.

She struck the flint again, lighting up the corpses.

"They're disciples of the Qingcheng Sect and the Hyangjang Sect, an affiliated sect of Qingcheng."

It was strange. The group they were supposed to meet was Group Two: disciples of Mount Hua, the Kongtong Sect, and their affiliated sects.

But the people they'd found were from Group Three: the Qingcheng Sect and its affiliated sects.

Whatever was happening, things had gone so badly wrong that they'd even exceeded Jin Sowoon's expectations.

"Did something happen that left them no time to collect the bodies?"

"..."

Cheol Sunjik asked Seong Moran, who had fallen silent.

"Young Lady Seong?"

As if thinking aloud, Seong Moran said,

"You said the Jukhyeon Gang was stronger than the Taeul Sect, right?"

Pointing to the corpses scattered on the ground, she continued,

"Then how would you compare yourselves to the Qingcheng Sect and its affiliated sects?"

"What does that have to do with—?"

The members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress kept watch as they examined the bodies.

"They're academy students."

"This one's a disciple of the Cheonggwan Sect."

"There's a disciple of the Cheongyeop Gang, too."

One by one, the dead were identified.

"Is the 'danger' Young Master Jin spoke of nothing to you, Young Master Cheol?"

"..."

"I'm going to look for the other survivors, just as Young Master Jin said. What will you do, Young Master Cheol? Are you still unwilling to listen to him?"

Instead of answering, Cheol Sunjik looked at the corpses again, his face drained of color.

There was only one choice left to him.

"...Go ahead. I'll follow."

Looking into the darkness, a place darker than the night itself, Jin Sowoon said,

"Don't break the lantern."

"What?"

Before Nam Hwaseong could answer, Jin Sowoon moved.

He shot forward like lightning and disappeared into the darkness.

At the same time, a fierce clash of metal rang out from within.

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!

Before the sound of metal striking metal had even faded, a boom erupted as the air itself burst apart.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Golden light surged through the darkness, like clouds rumbling with lightning before a storm broke.

"What the hell is...?"

Rumble!

The enormous shadow of a person emerged from the black mist.

The giants fought fiercely, fell, then clashed again and again.

Ziiiiing—

At that moment, pain stabbed through Nam Hwaseong's head. He clutched it with both hands.

He had crouched down to suppress the pain when killing intent suddenly swept over him. Startled, he blasted fist energy behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

He felt his strike hit something in the darkness where nothing should have been. A chill crept into his chest.

"If I'd been a little slower, I'd be dead."

A sharp sword carried unmistakable killing intent.

This was no sparring match for a lesson. The attack had been filled with real murderous intent.

Nam Hwaseong pushed his senses to their limits, searching the dark space for an opponent he couldn't see.

"There!"

As if trying to shake off his fear, Nam Hwaseong shouted and launched himself forward.

But a tremendous blow struck his abdomen, sending him flying backward.

"Ugh! Cough!"

One exchange was all it took.

He understood at once.

The opponent in the darkness was no ordinary fighter.

Nam Hwaseong immediately prepared the Samwon Sect's final ultimate technique, the Deer-Horn Radiant Fist.

A green glow flashed from both his fists, illuminating the darkness and revealing glimpses of the figure hidden within.

"Haah!"

Leaving a green trail like a firefly's tail, Nam Hwaseong's Deer-Horn Radiant Fist shot forward.

The instant it struck a point in the darkness, green light spread in every direction, targeting the opponent's vital points.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

He unleashed nearly thirty punches in a single breath, but astonishingly, he felt no blood spatter.

It felt as though he were punching underwater. His arms and legs moved with more resistance than usual.

"Aaaaaaah!"

He poured out all fifty years' worth of internal energy. The glare of the Deer-Horn Radiant Fist drove back the darkness, gradually revealing the opponent's true form.

Nam Hwaseong's eyes trembled violently.

"How many of them are there?!"

The group revealed as the darkness lifted numbered at least a hundred.

He couldn't even guess how many more were hidden beyond them.

For a fraction of a moment, his attention wandered. Then countless sword energies poured out of the darkness.

"Damn it."

He unleashed fist energy like a storm, but he couldn't stop them all. And he couldn't defend against the hidden strikes lurking among them, either.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Struck by the hidden attacks, Nam Hwaseong flew through the air as if he'd been shot from a cannon.

Crack!

Something shattered against his back, but Nam Hwaseong couldn't worry about it. He sprang to his feet and assumed a fighting stance.

His opponent had hidden in the darkness again, concealing their figure.

"If you're confident, come out! Fight me fair and square!"

Had the darkness responded to Nam Hwaseong's challenge?

It slowly began to lift.

A moving shape came into view.

Slither.

To see what had appeared, Nam Hwaseong had to tilt his head all the way back.

"...!"

The moment he saw the creature, the hair on his body stood on end.

"A-Azure-Scaled One-Horned Wyrm?"

It was a demonic beast so enormous and heavy that it was called a dragon.

Even an ordinary person—or a martial artist who had traveled the entire murim world—would rarely see a serpent this enormous. It flicked its tongue at him.

Nam Hwaseong instinctively backed away in fear. Then another sound came from behind him, and he turned so quickly it nearly felt as though his neck would break.

Skritch. Skritch. Skritch.

A spider the size of a house, with eight legs.

"A human-faced blood spider?!"

The hideous demonic beast, with a face like a person's and four fangs, tilted its head as it stared at Nam Hwaseong.

"Ugh... Aaaah!"

The operation and the investigation into Jin Sowoon didn't matter anymore.

"I'm going to die! I'm dead!"

Nam Hwaseong used the Deer-Horn Wind-Cloud Steps to flee the area with all his might.

But the Azure-Scaled One-Horned Wyrm moved its enormous body with uncanny speed and coiled around him in an instant.

"Aaaaaaah!"

As Nam Hwaseong was lifted into the air, other demonic beasts—who had been hidden in the space he'd thought held only the human-faced blood spider—rushed forward, eager to taste his flesh.

"Damn it! I'm all muscle! I taste awful!"

He swung his fists and fired fist energy, but the beasts ignored him as if they hadn't felt a thing. They opened their horrifying jaws wide and lunged at him.

"Nam Hwaseong!"

A deep, powerful voice suddenly echoed through his mind.

"Burn the talisman."

It was the voice he'd always hated hearing.

But now, that voice sounded like salvation. Nam Hwaseong burned the talisman in his hand.

Fwoosh.

The talisman caught fire from even the tiniest spark and crumbled to ash.

The sound of fabric tearing rang through the air, and a figure wielding a golden sword leapt through a gap in space.

"Duck, Nam Hwaseong!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The golden-sword wielder dropped like a bolt of lightning and sliced the Azure-Scaled One-Horned Wyrm in half.

Nam Hwaseong, who had been suspended in midair, dropped straight to the ground.

"Aaaagh!"

Despite the heavy impact, Nam Hwaseong sprang to his feet and took up a fighting stance.

Jin Sowoon turned to him and shouted,

"You damn idiot! I told you not to break the lantern!"

"I-I didn't break it!"

"Then why did the Blood-Drinking Spirit-Chaos Formation activate?"

"B-Blood-what?"

"It's an illusion formation! Have you ever learned how to ward off evil or exorcise spirits?"

"I-I know the Demon-Subduing True-Word Chant..."

"Damn it! You idiots think that chant can solve everything. Why don't you try using it against the Demonic Cult?"

Jin Sowoon swore at him, though Nam Hwaseong couldn't make sense of what he was saying.

Nam Hwaseong instinctively realized something had gone wrong.

"W-what do I do?"

"What do you mean, what do you do? Your mind isn't strong enough to withstand this sorcery."

"Then what am I supposed to...?"

Jin Sowoon adjusted his grip on his sword.

"...We cut our way out."

Nam Hwaseong stared blankly at him.

They were surrounded by demonic beasts. He couldn't tell where the exit or the entrance was. How were they supposed to escape?

"...Get it together, you idiot!"

"Huh?"

A stinging slap struck Nam Hwaseong across the cheek.

"Snap out of it, you bastard! Do you want to die here?"

"...N-no!"

"On a battlefield, listen only to the commander's voice. Don't trust that puny brain of yours! Got it?"

"Y-yes..."

Jin Sowoon pulled two Demon-Subduing Talismans from inside his robe and shoved them into Nam Hwaseong's hand.

"You survived, so I'll give you two. Survive one more time and I'll give you three."

"Th-thank you."

"From here on, we're escaping their illusion formation. Don't look anywhere else. Stay right behind me and follow. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's go!"

Jin Sowoon charged without hesitation at the demonic beasts blocking their way on all sides.

A golden glow clung to his sword, and a long golden vine had appeared in his left hand.

A massive human-faced blood spider opened its hideous jaws and tried to swallow Jin Sowoon whole.

Jin Sowoon swung his sword.

Slash! Slash!

When the golden, glowing vine shot out, it bound the enormous beast so tightly it couldn't move.

When the golden sword swung, the beast was cut into two, then three pieces.

Jin Sowoon killed one demonic beast after another and pressed forward.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The scene unfolding before him didn't feel real, but Nam Hwaseong did as Jin Sowoon commanded.

"Fire your fist energy!"

"You idiot! What are you saving your internal energy for? Are you going to take it to hell after you die?"

"Is that all the Samwon Sect's ultimate techniques can do?"

"Hit them! Keep hitting them! The illusion formation isn't very durable. If you hit it again and again, it'll eventually break!"

Strangely, the force pressing in on them from all sides began to weaken.

It became a little easier to breathe, and the demonic beasts seemed to be shrinking.

"On a battlefield, trust only the commander's voice. On a battlefield, trust only the commander's voice."

Nam Hwaseong repeated Jin Sowoon's words over and over in his head as he desperately kept moving.

How long had they been running?

At some point, Jin Sowoon disappeared along with the demonic beasts around them.

"J-Jin Sowoon! Jin Sowoon! Where are you?"

Just as Nam Hwaseong began calling for him like a chick searching for its mother, someone grabbed him by the nape and started hauling him up.

"Gah!"

Nam Hwaseong panicked and struggled, but a familiar voice pierced his ear.

"It's me! Stop thrashing around! You're heavy!"

Riiip!

With the sound of a great sheet of fabric tearing, the space before his eyes changed in an instant, revealing the clear moonlight.

"Hah... hah... What... what was that?"

He felt the dirt beneath his feet and the chill in the air.

He had escaped the illusion formation Jin Sowoon had described and returned to the real world.

"J-Jin Sowoon..."

Before he could feel the joy of escaping the illusion formation, questions filled his mind.

He belonged to the Twelve Peaks Fortress and had come here to watch Jin Sowoon.

"And yet..."

Jin Sowoon had saved him from that illusion formation.

"T-thank you, Jin Sowoon..."

But the reply he received was curt.

"Shut up and get up. The real fight starts now."

"Huh?"

Jin Sowoon was already watching what lay ahead.

The blood-robed men they'd seen inside the illusion formation were lined up in front of them.