Chapter 40 :

First-Rate Warrior Stirring Up a New Wind (2)

I truly felt like I was going to die.

Among essence, energy, and spirit, it felt as though my spirit would disappear.

Unlike most people, whose spirit disappears because they lack essence and energy, my essence and energy were somehow kept moving through internal energy and elixirs for restoring vitality, so the thing being worn down was my spirit.

But while none other than Namgung Jinmyeong, the peak lord of Four Emperors Peak, and the leader of Black Snake Gang were standing guard over me, who would dare say they wanted to rest a little?

Thanks to that, I did enjoy a luxury no one in the murim world had ever enjoyed.

I was probably the only person for whom all the experts of both the righteous faction and the dark faction took turns standing guard and striking acupoints.

In that fatigue where it felt like my mind would disappear, I somehow moved my body again and entered the Soul-Extinguishing Formation, and in the end, something went wrong.

I had taken several wrong steps.

However, strangely, at that moment, a new route of the Soul-Extinguishing Formation appeared before me, and I walked the path again as if nothing had happened.

It was a mistake that should not have happened, but in any case, only I knew about mistakes inside the Soul-Extinguishing Formation.

When I quietly asked Yu Jiryang, he said that one method of studying formations was to first understand the route and then embody the calculation.

However, personally, I thought it might be an effect of the Taeul True Scripture.

As I began learning the Taeul True Scripture, a study that awakens one to the Way of all things, I gained a new perspective on the information entering my surroundings. With essence and energy separated, my spirit became objectified, and perhaps that was how I understood the mysteries of the formation.

That was only a guess.

In any case, I saved them all in the end.

Except for those who had rashly moved inside and died, those injured, and those who could not endure hunger and died, I saved everyone.

I heard that in the history of the murim world, no single person had ever saved so many people.

Honestly, the deaths of the people inside bothered me, but it was not something I had to risk my life to this extent to save.

It was a situation where I could have saved them while making suitable deals and taking what I needed.

I could have turned it into a situation that benefited both the Taeul Sect and myself as much as I wanted, but after hearing that Yong Soa had fled to Wudang through the Murim Alliance and that he had not properly conveyed information about the inner formation, I decided I had to save everyone inside even if I had to risk my life.

“Only then will the reverence for Yong Soa be thrown into a cesspit.”

The reason the Murim Alliance, the great mountain of the righteous murim world, eventually fell into Yong Soa’s hands was because of his overwhelmingly powerful martial arts and the background of Wudang, the strongest sect in the Murim Alliance, protecting him.

Moreover, whenever they clashed with the Demonic Cult, other sects were helplessly killed, while Yong Soa achieved victories against the Demonic Cult with his uniquely inhuman ability.

All of this developed into reverence, making people think that the only hope of the Murim Alliance was Yong Soa.

“But that ends today.”

The people who had gathered in Yueyang, crossing the boundary between the dark and righteous camps, seemed to have become friends before anyone realized it. They shared tables, drank together, and were busy celebrating.

Disciples of dark faction sects gave thanks to experts of righteous faction sects, and conversely, experts of righteous faction sects expressed gratitude to dark faction sects.

In the meantime, the common enemy was naturally elevated into Yong Soa, and at every drinking table, people chewed out Yong Soa instead of snacks, growing their anger toward him.

Because Yong Soa had made such a huge mess, and Wudang had brought him back to the Wudang Sect and hidden him away tightly in an attempt to cover it up, that became a bad move instead.

As survivors began appearing, support supplies and supporters poured in from the Murim Alliance and all over the murim world, but Wudang was not among them.

“Things will become interesting from now on.”

Even a solid reservoir collapses starting from a small hole.

It would not be wrong to say that Wudang, the strongest of the righteous murim world, had gained a small hole as of today.

Of course, because it was a small hole, they could block it as much as they wanted, but looking at the way they had acted until now, I had doubts whether they would do such a thing.

Even now, a strange rumor was about to spread, centered on Beggar Gang, suggesting that the formation inside had not been such a frightening formation after all. But every time someone mentioned such a rumor, they were beaten into pulp by the people who had suffered at Maling Plateau.

Because of that, such 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.

Thirty inns and lodging houses, including guesthouses, were rented out entirely and assigned first to injured people and those who had accumulated fatigue during the rescue process. Among them, I was given a separate annex and could rest comfortably.

When I woke from sleep, I called a waiter, stuffed myself with a mountain of food, performed breathing circulation, and slept again.

When I woke hungry again, I repeated the same actions.

Only after doing that for three days did I feel my mind gradually returning and my body approaching normal.

After waking, the first thing I checked was my internal energy.

Because I had been circulating energy in a state of selflessness amid the emergency without any time to check the effects of the Taeul True Scripture, I had not known, but my internal energy had already reached one hundred twenty years.

“…Huh.”

It was probably thanks to the Taeul True Scripture rushing through my whole body and sweeping up all the remaining elixir energy sleeping inside.

The feeling of having internal energy I could use freely and complete martial arts into which I could pour that internal energy was extremely unfamiliar.

“So there was a reason the experts of the murim world and that Yong Soa bastard were so confident.”

A sense of fulfillment I had never felt even once in my previous life or this life.

It was enough to make me feel confident that I could resolve all the things I had planned without much difficulty.

Because I had spent three months at Maling Plateau, only three months remained, and it was time to move urgently, with every moment precious.

“Still, it was time well spent.”

After celebrating that to myself, I first visited Jang Dowon.

“Heh, you really…”

Seeing the Mita Divine Water, Jang Dowon let out a hollow laugh with a shocked expression.

“I thought I should be grateful enough that you came back alive…”

“It is all thanks to you, elder. This helped quite a bit.”

I said, shaking the Flying Dragon Claw.

“I made it for nothing. If I knew you would bother me like this, I would have just made it roughly.”

Though he said that, Jang Dowon did not erase the smile from his lips.

In my previous life, Jang Dowon had once said something like that.

A maker of objects feels joy simply by meeting an owner who makes good use of his object.

“Come back in three days.”

“It will take that long?”

“This fellow is not inferior to anything when it comes to extreme yin energy. Do you think handling this can be done instantly?”

“Understood. How much money should I prepare?”

“No need. Even if I receive that little money, I have nowhere to spend it.”

“Really?”

“Among the children you saved this time, there were some of my customers. Let us say that paid for it.”

“Huh? Then the calculation does not match, does it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Right now, both righteous faction sects and dark faction sects are saying they will repay me, so should you not give me at least one treasure?”

“You rotten brat. Do you want to see me fail to process the Mita Divine Water and ruin it?”

Before he could change his mind, I quickly left his shop.

Jang Dowon even closed the door of the shop where he did business and began working.

#

It was when I was about to return to the annex.

I saw a group of warriors wearing martial uniforms issued by the Murim Alliance and was about to step aside to one side.

But for some reason, the group of about twenty people stopped right in front of me.

“Are you Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect?”

Moreover, they already knew who I was.

“That is correct.”

“You need to come with us.”

Then Murim Alliance warriors tried to grab my arms from both sides.

I immediately shot palm strikes at them and made them retreat.

The warriors, who had been forced back three steps by the unexpected attack, were startled and tried to draw their swords.

“Are you ignoring an order of the Murim Alliance?”

“You have not yet revealed who you are, where you came from, or why you came.”

In the past, I would have thought quietly following without causing a disturbance was the correct answer, but not now.

“I am Gong Seokchan, branch leader of the Murim Alliance’s Yueyang branch. If I say it is about what happened at Maling Plateau, you should understand.”

I tilted my head.

“I do not.”

“You bastard! Your sect, the Taeul Sect, also occupies one of the One Hundred Eight Peaks. Do you intend to ignore the laws of the Murim Alliance?”

“I clearly told you. I do not understand what you are talking about. Just what wrongdoing did I commit there?”

Gong Seokchan gave the Murim Alliance warriors a look.

Then four people tried to rush in at the same time.

Without even needing to draw my sword, I unleashed the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist.

Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-puk.

The Murim Alliance warriors, swept up in dozens of fist shadows that shot out in an instant, were struck several times in vital points and were gasping as if they could not breathe.

“You bastard! Do you know what you have just done?”

“Branch Leader, what exactly are you plotting by using the Alliance’s laws as your pretext?”

“What?”

“The lodging where I am staying clearly also has the Namgung Family and the Maosan Sect. If you went through them, there would have been no need to mobilize force like this. What is the reason you are using this method instead?”

“…”

“I do not know what your reason is, but if it is reasonable, I will follow you. Otherwise, I will not go.”

The story I heard from Namgung Seonhwa.

Even when Yong Soa fled into Wudang, it was the Murim Alliance that merely stood by and watched.

Because of that behavior, a war nearly broke out between the Namgung Family and the Wudang Sect.

Because of this matter, Namgung Jinmyeong’s anger had risen to the top of his head, and after that, he had completely excluded the Murim Alliance from the rescue operation.

In other words, there was no need for me to lower myself here simply because they were the Murim Alliance.

“From the beginning, this is a suspicion regarding whether there was some device in the formation at Maling Plateau.”

I quietly listened to Gong Seokchan’s words, but I still could not understand.

When I tilted my head, he explained in detail.

“Can you prove that the formation deployed at that Maling Plateau was not something of the Taeul Sect?”

“Paha.”

Since even Yong Soa could not break through it, and even the Maosan Sect could not break through it, but a disciple of the Taeul Sect did, was the formation not originally something of the Taeul Sect?

That was the question.

I was so dumbfounded that laughter burst out without me realizing it.

“If our Taeul Sect had the ability to deploy a formation of that level, would we have had any reason to live oppressed at the very 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 the Intelligence Department.”

“…What?”

“If this is such an important matter, you must have received approval from the Intelligence Department. Or are you saying that you, Branch Leader, intend to investigate based on suspicion alone?”

“…”

Naturally, there was no way an order like that existed.

If it were an order for such an important matter, it would require Jegal Somyeong’s approval.

There was no way he would take such a conspiratorial suspicion seriously.

“…The more you keep talking in circles, the stranger this becomes.”

Suddenly, something came to mind about Gong Seokchan’s illogical behavior, so I asked,

“By any chance, Branch Leader, are you from the Wudang Sect?”

Flinch.

Seeing that expression he could not properly hide, I finally understood.

“Ah, if you are from the Wudang Sect, then that makes sense.”

The reason they did not properly step forward even after Yong Soa, who had gone to ask the Murim Alliance for help, went to Wudang.

“This has nothing to do with my sect…”

The reason they had stood back blankly and hoped all the witnesses inside the Soul-Extinguishing Formation would disappear.

And even the reason they now hurriedly stepped forward after Yong Soa’s name had fallen into the dirt.

All of it made sense.

“Bring an order. Otherwise, I will not go.”

I ignored Gong Seokchan like that and was about to move away.

At that moment, as if he could no longer hold back, Gong Seokchan 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 deal with Wudang’s martial arts, but one thing was certain: my internal energy would be higher than his.

Just then, a huge man appeared between the two of us and brought his great blade down toward Gong Seokchan.

Pang.

The huge man had merely swung his great blade and stood still, yet Gong Seokchan was sent flying a full two jang into the air.

“Keurgh, wh-who are you! How dare you attack a branch leader of the Murim Alliance!”

“Branch leader?”

The huge man slung the great blade over his shoulder and said,

“A mere branch leader is oppressing the benefactor of this Four Emperors Peak’s Cha Seokdu? Kid. If you want to take this child away, go bring your Alliance Leader.”

At the words that he was Cha Seokdu, the peak lord of Four Emperors Peak, one of the most prominent armed groups of the dark murim world, Gong Seokchan’s face went pale.

Walking calmly beside him was Namgung Jinmyeong of the Namgung Family.

“I believe I clearly said this was not a matter for the Murim Alliance to interfere in.”

With the appearance of those two alone, not only Gong Seokchan but also the Murim Alliance warriors looked as though they wanted to flee from the spot immediately.

In the end, Gong Seokchan made a half-hearted fist-and-palm salute and hurriedly left.

“At last, I get to see our benefactor’s face.”

“Look here, did I not tell you to inform our guards when you go out?”

Seeing two great figures of the righteous and dark factions, who would not have seemed strange baring their teeth at each other, standing together as if they were friends, my head became complicated because I had no idea how to respond.