Chapter 34 :

Second-Rate Warrior Searching for a Legend (6)

It was three days later that we each finished our preparations and met again.

The entrance to the cave where the Mita Divine Water was located existed beneath the river flowing between the valleys of Maling Plateau.

Because the river current was so strong, even those who had learned water arts could not easily approach it.

Moreover, if one forced an approach, one could be swept away by the current before even entering the cave and drift all the way down to Dongting Lake, so Haomun, which had eagerly sold the maps, agreed to divert the upstream waterway on a set date.

When the promised date came, Yueyang was on the verge of bursting from the crowds.

“When does it begin?”

“They said they would block the upstream current from the early-dawn hour.”

At Namgung Seonhwa’s question, the warrior who had confirmed the information answered.

She relayed the words to us.

“Let us move from the dawn hour.”

“How about moving a little more slowly?”

When I spoke, everyone’s gaze focused on me at once.

Perhaps it was because they disliked me stepping forward when I had only come alone, but it was only natural that the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect, who still held much resentment toward me, looked at me unkindly.

“Why is that?”

“The valley may be wide, but if this many people try to enter at once, there will definitely be a huge fight from the very beginning.”

According to a report that had gone up to the Intelligence Department of the Murim Alliance, roughly ten thousand people had walked up the narrow river path at the same time, and a melee had broken out from the start.

Because they could not properly deploy sword formations, even large groups suffered heavy casualties, and famous experts of the murim world also met absurd deaths.

“In any case, the paths inside the cave are so wide and complex that who enters first will not be important. Whether one enters first or not will not matter much.”

Namgung Seonhwa seemed to understand what I was saying, but thoughts and actions were very different things in reality.

“In that case, I feel it would be better to enter first instead.”

“…Understood.”

I did not step forward any further.

In any case, the representative of this group was practically Namgung Seonhwa.

Rather than forcing myself to persuade the other party, it would be better to do what I had to do.

“Here, please take one each.”

I handed one scroll I had made to Namgung Seonhwa, Seong Moran, and Yu Jiryang respectively.

“I wondered if it could really be true… This is astonishing.”

Yu Jiryang, who opened the scroll, was shocked.

“Did you prepare one for each of us?”

“We do not know what will happen once we enter. At the very least, as long as you do not get separated from your own group, you will not lose your way.”

Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran silently nodded as if passing the message to their warriors, and the warriors also nodded slightly without answering.

“There really are so many people.”

Although the dawn sun had not yet risen, the streets were filled with crowds heading toward Maling Plateau.

“Moreover, I can see dark faction groups that are famous just by name. Those are the Five Mad Dogs, right?”

Seong Moran looked around with a slightly appalled expression.

“It is probably because of the effects of the Mita Divine Water.”

“Pardon? Are the effects of the Mita Divine Water good for the dark faction?”

“Even with the same effect, it is different for the dark faction. Because disciples of righteous sects learn one line of internal cultivation method, their cores are pure and their bodies have no impurities. On the other hand, most internal cultivation methods learned by the dark faction have no proper foundation and focus on the quantity of internal energy, so the higher one rises, the more often their true qi wears down and their bodies become contaminated. If such people can undergo one transformation through the Mita Divine Water, it would be no different from being reborn.”

“Oh…”

“…!”

Not only Seong Moran, who answered, but also Namgung Seonhwa looked quite surprised.

“But why does Young Hero Jin dislike Great Hero Hyeoncheong so much?”

Hyeoncheong was Yong Soa’s Daoist name.

“I do not dislike him…”

“Do not lie. The gaze you gave Great Hero Hyeoncheong carried killing intent that could not even be compared to when you looked at my Orabeoni.”

When I glanced aside, the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect were glaring at me as if they wanted to kill me.

I wondered whether I should stop Seong Moran or not, then simply gave up and continued speaking.

“I disliked him because he spoke as if anyone would live as long as they followed him, without any plan.”

“But Great Hero Hyeoncheong is worthy of that, is he not?”

“Of course, if we speak only of martial skill, that may be true, but inside that place, no one knows what will happen or how it will happen.”

“…Even so, there is definitely an advantage.”

“Yes. However, I simply did not like his attitude, as if he could decide who lived and who died.”

“You really hate bowing to others in a terrifying way.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is nothing. The front is noisy.”

We passed a muddy road and entered a path where water rose to our ankles.

We had begun entering the valley of Maling Plateau.

The people in front were completely jammed, and movement began slowing.

Meanwhile, the people behind, who had been keeping some distance, began closing in more and more.

“Why is it so narrow?”

While Seong Moran complained, Namgung Seonhwa sensed something strange and ordered the warriors to be on guard.

“Prepare for combat.”

As the warriors of the Namgung Family began drawing their swords one by one, the steps of the people approaching from behind slowed a little, but because of the crowd stretching endlessly along the river path, they gradually pressed closer regardless of their own will.

“Young Lady Seong, I think it would be best to stay with the warriors.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“I hear screams from the front.”

“??”

While Seong Moran tilted her head, red dye began mixing into the water flowing past our ankles.

“!!”

Before Seong Moran could say anything, Namgung Seonhwa also entered among the warriors of the Namgung Family.

Yu Jiryang and the Maosan Sect’s art practitioners were already inside the group of Namgung Family warriors.

Aaargh!

Aaagh!

The screams that had been coming from far away now began sounding fairly close.

Furthermore, the bloodstains that had been faint, like dye mixed into the river, gradually increased until a river of blood was flowing.

The battle only continued to grow.

A third party watching the fight was pushed by the people surging from behind and was struck by a sword in someone else’s place, and the companions of the one who was struck joined the battle again.

A melee with no distinction between friend and foe had begun.

Because the proportion of dark faction members was overwhelmingly high, the battle spread like wildfire with no sign of stopping midway, and before long it had reached the place where the Namgung Family’s group stood.

“Deploy the Great Swallow Sword Formation!”

When a warrior shouted, the warriors of the Namgung Family all tried to create the minimum distance at once, but because the people behind were packed tightly, the sword formation did not deploy properly.

“It is too narrow!”

“Protect Young Lady Seonhwa as the top priority!”

“As you command!”

Before long, the warriors of the Namgung Family were forced into the battle, and soon after, the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect were also preparing for combat.

The cliffs on both sides were about thirty jang high and narrowed toward the top, so there was no proper space to avoid the chaos.

‘This will not work.’

I quickly drew the Flying Dragon Claw and embedded it into the cliff wall.

Like a spider riding the thread it had spun, I soared up the cliff.

“This is complete chaos.”

Upstream along the river path, dozens of people had already died, and new people were stepping on their corpses to enter the battle.

If things stayed this way, the damage to the Namgung Family and Iron Sword Sect would not be small either.

For now, we needed to avoid this meaningless battle.

“It is sturdy, but with sixty years of internal energy…”

After confirming that the Flying Dragon Claw was firmly embedded, I raised my power and strongly protected my right hand.

Then I began striking the wall with the Taeul Sect’s fist art, the Great Sun Fist.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Cracks slowly began forming in the cliff that had stood firm and unmoving.

When the martial artists raised their heads at the strange sound coming from above, their faces instantly turned pale.

“Wh-What is that bastard doing?”

Thud! Thud, thud!

Once a hole opened, dirt and stones that had broken away from it fell downward.

“A-Avoid it!”

“Hey, you crazy bastard! Stop!”

Regardless of what they shouted from below, I kept pounding the wall, and once I had secured a certain amount of space, I shot the Flying Dragon Claw toward Yu Jiryang and the people of the Maosan Sect.

“Grab the rope.”

The Maosan Sect art practitioners, who were bewildered among the Namgung Family warriors, grabbed the rope, and I withdrew my internal energy while pulling the rope.

At the same time, the three people kicked off the ground and were lightly pulled up, landing in the middle of the cliff.

“Please stay here for a moment.”

“…”

Yu Jiryang, having just experienced battle, looked briefly dazed.

I quickly clung to the wall right beside them and began breaking through another section of the wall. As soon as enough space was secured, I pulled up two injured warriors of the Iron Sword Sect and one person who had been protecting them.

“Dig into the wall so others can come.”

“…We have nothing right now.”

“Are you going to boil soup with your internal energy?”

I broke through another wall again, and this time I pulled up an injured warrior of the Namgung Family, who had been hurt while protecting the Maosan Sect art practitioners, along with an uninjured one.

“…”

By then, perhaps having understood my intention, the warriors of the Namgung Family silently began digging into the wall. Among those preparing for battle, those with deep knowledge of claw arts climbed the wall and began digging caves like me.

Thanks to that, the battle briefly calmed as people avoided the falling stones, but the flames of battle still continued spreading everywhere.

After I finally pulled up the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect, the warriors were left stunned by the melee unfolding below.

People were swinging blades everywhere without distinguishing friend from foe.

The faces of the warriors, who thought the events below had nothing to do with them, lost their color.

“It seems we should have come later, just as Young Hero Jin said.”

Namgung Seonhwa expressed guilt, saying she had not known things would turn out like this.

“Should we stay here and enter when the people thin out?”

Namgung Seonhwa, who had nearly put not only the Namgung Family warriors but also the Iron Sword Sect warriors in danger, no longer seemed to trust her own decisions.

“Since the fight has already begun, this will continue for quite some time. More and more people will also climb up the cliffs one by one.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We go to the entrance like this.”

“…How? We do not have such an item.”

“Is there anyone here who has learned claw arts?”

When I asked the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect and the Namgung Family, the warriors looked at one another, and one of them raised his hand.

He was a warrior of the Iron Sword Sect, the one who had glared at me as if he wanted to kill me every time I was near Seong Moran.

“I once learned the Soul-Rending Claw Art by chance.”

The killing intent he had directed at me had disappeared at some point, and he spoke as if reporting to a superior.

“Then if I create a small gap, can you make footholds around it that people can step on and grab?”

“…I think I can.”

“Then let us do this. I will make the path. Warriors with enough strength will each carry one of the Maosan Sect art practitioners on their back and follow the grooves made by this man to the entrance.”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

Once I had received definite answers from Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa as well, the preparations proceeded smoothly.

The warriors of the Namgung Family began carrying the Maosan Sect art practitioners on their backs one by one, and the remaining warriors decided to guard against surprise attacks from below just in case.

“I will begin.”

Ping.

I shot the Flying Dragon Claw and flew toward the opposite cliff.

Then I broke part of the wall with the Great Sun Fist and made a gap.

Then I shot the Flying Dragon Claw toward the opposite cliff again and flew across.

The Iron Sword Sect warrior who had learned the Soul-Rending Claw Art used the gap I made to hang from the wall and create grooves large enough for the next person to step on.

Unlike how lightly he had spoken of it, every time his hand dug into the wall, unlike when I broke it, the solid rock was carved away easily as if it had turned into mud.

As we flew between the cliffs and began heading toward the entrance like that, people began appearing one by one behind us to follow.

“Young Hero Jin! People are following from behind.”

“Leave them be. If they attack us anyway, they will no longer be able to continue either.”

By the time we had gotten quite close to the entrance,

Seong Moran pointed to one side and shouted.

“Over there!”

There, among a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, Yong Soa, Ha Minjung’s group, and the others were fighting a desperate bloody battle.

While Yong Soa and the Daoists of Wudang seemed fairly at ease, Ha Minjung and his group appeared to have suffered some casualties.

“We will reach the entrance soon. Focus.”

Near the entrance at the upper part of the valley, the atmosphere was actually quiet.

Most of those who would die had already died, and those who had survived had all entered the cave.

After landing on the ground, I swung the Small Heaven Sword Technique while avoiding the swords thrusting in from all directions.

“Aaargh!”

“Kugh!”

Fountains of blood scattered, and now, instead of water, blood began flowing down the valley.

Following behind me, the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect who landed on the ground rushed forward at once and cut down everyone blocking the entrance.

Before anyone else could interfere, we hurried into the cave.

Even after entering the cave, we avoided those who suddenly swung swords at us and passed through several forks in the path.

Only when we reached a place with no sign of people did we stop.

“Huff, huff, huff!”

“Hah! Haaah!”

Those who were frantically catching their breath only then realized that they had entered the cave without taking any damage.

“It is fortunate there were no casualties.”

“…Haa.”

“…Heo.”

Not only the warriors of the Namgung Family, but even the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect were looking at me with strange eyes.

“It is all thanks to Young Hero Jin. Without Young Hero Jin, several people would already have died.”

“Let us discuss merits and rewards later. Right now, we do not know when excited martial artists may rush in and start another bloody fight.”

“But because we entered in such a hurry, we had no time to check the map.”

“It is all right. I remember it.”

Even though I said that, Namgung Seonhwa stared blankly at me without moving.

“Young Hero Jin, may we ask you to lead the way?”

At Namgung Seonhwa’s words, I was about to say that the warriors of the Namgung Family and the Iron Sword Sect would oppose it.

But when I looked around, Seong Moran, the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect, and the warriors of the Namgung Family were all looking at me with tense expressions.

“Would that be all right?”

“Please.”

Only then did a faint look of relief appear on the faces of the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect and the Namgung Family.