Chapter 94 :

Chapter 94. The Sharpest Blade in the Darkness (1)

“Why is it not here?”

Jin Taesan tilted his head as he searched through the oldest storage building in the Taeul Sect.

“What are you looking for?”

Hong Mungi poked his head inside.

“Ah, Sect Leader.”

Jin Taesan’s eyes trembled faintly as he looked at Hong Mungi.

The accomplishments of this man, who was nearing fifty, improved with every passing day, making him seem like a completely different person.

“Were you training?”

“A sect leader cannot be weaker than his disciples, can he?”

Jin Taesan himself was too busy organizing the assets transferred by the Changgung Merchant Guild to train properly.

However, Hong Mungi, the hall masters of the various halls, and the junior brothers were so engrossed in learning the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial scriptures that they neglected food and sleep.

“Then please return to your training. I can find it by myself.”

“How could I, as the sect leader, refuse to help when the hall master of the Outer Hall is having difficulty?”

He had clearly grown bored of training and was looking for an excuse to do something else.

Even as a child, he had never been able to focus patiently on a single task and was constantly scolded by his masters.

Jin Taesan had thought he had improved with age, but apparently that did not apply to training.

“I cannot find where the sect flag was placed.”

“Do you mean the Taeul Sect’s flag?”

“Yes.”

The reorganization of the merchant guild was nearly complete, and production at the iron ore mine was gradually increasing.

Once they found regular customers, they would also need to establish a stable distribution network.

Although the sect remained sealed, it was time to use the Taeul Sect’s name to expand the merchant guild’s influence.

As the guild grew, the Taeul Sect’s influence would grow with it.

“Someone else took it.”

“…What?”

Jin Taesan thought he had misheard.

A sect flag sometimes served as a moving nameplate representing the sect.

The Taeul Sect had been such an insignificant sect that it rarely had an opportunity to raise its flag.

Even so, a flag symbolizing the sect’s pride was not something that could simply be handed to anyone.

“Sowoon said he needed it, so I gave it to him.”

“Jin Sowoon? You mean my son?”

“Yes.”

Why did that damned brat’s name have to appear here again?

“…Why did you give it to him?”

“I do not know. He said he might need it and wanted to take it, so I allowed him.”

Jin Taesan now became tense whenever Jin Sowoon did anything.

“Do you need a sect flag? Should we make a new one while we are at it?”

“That will not be necessary. I will commission one.”

“Ahem. We cannot do that. A sect flag embodies the spirit of the sect. As the sect leader, I should pour my heart into sewing every stitch myself…”

“Go back to training. What sect leader these days sits around sewing a sect flag?”

Bang!

Feeling uneasy for no apparent reason, Jin Taesan slammed the storage-room door shut.

“From now on, we will travel along the official roads only during daylight.”

We decided to leave behind anyone who had been wounded, had difficulty moving, or was too exhausted to continue.

When told not to take even a single step outside the pleasure house, those remaining behind wore strange expressions, unable to hide their relief despite worrying about those who were leaving.

“The problem is the official road from Heze to Fuyang.”

If we rode the horses to exhaustion, we could reach Heze while the sun was still up.

However, there was no village within half a day’s travel on the road crossing the provincial border from Heze to Fuyang.

We would have to camp outdoors or travel at night.

“Once night falls, they will undoubtedly move.”

Fighting the Dark-Side Soul-Severing Corps in the darkness was no different from fighting water while submerged in it.

“What if we ride through the night…?”

I shook my head at Seong Moran’s suggestion.

The Dark-Side Soul-Severing Corps practiced the Heavenly Demon Descending Step.

In both destructive power and speed, it ranked among the ten greatest movement techniques under heaven.

They were not opponents one could escape from on mere horses.

“It would only result in meaningless casualties.”

“…”

Seong Moran tightly closed her mouth.

The terror inspired by those beings was enough to frighten even someone as bold as her.

Namgung Seonhwa tried to hide the trembling in her voice as she spoke.

“Then… what are we supposed to do?”

I looked at Eunho.

“This.”

Eunho spread out the cloth in his hands.

Seong Moran, who had appeared dejected, and Namgung Seonhwa, who had been trembling quietly, both widened their eyes like startled rabbits.

“A-Are you insane?”

“Even so, this is…”

The reactions of everyone who saw the Taeul Sect’s flag were not very different from those of the two women.

“What they fear most is having their identities exposed. We will hide among other people.”

“No, wait… Haa.”

“Young Master Jin, I do not think this is a good idea. If we raise that flag, everyone under heaven will come chasing after us.”

“That is exactly what I want.”

The two women sighed at the same time.

“Is this really the right decision?”

While riding toward An County, the first village on our route, Seong Moran asked Eunho, who was holding the flag.

“This is no different from wrapping ourselves in straw and jumping into a fire.”

We had left more than ten warriors behind at the pleasure house in Feng County.

The number of warriors remaining with us was now slowly approaching one hundred.

No matter how powerful an absolute expert might be, no one could defeat overwhelming numbers.

And we were not absolute experts.

Moreover, Jin Sowoon was raising the Taeul Sect’s flag and deliberately drawing enemies toward us.

“I do not know.”

Eunho shook his head, admitting that he did not understand either.

His response felt surprisingly fresh.

Eunho was the smartest and most eloquent of the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers.

Had he not always been the one to explain most of Jin Sowoon’s otherwise incomprehensible actions?

“Really?”

Even Eunho did not understand this time.

“Yes. Eldest Senior Brother sometimes does things that cannot be understood through common sense. No, actually, not sometimes. Quite often.”

“…Yet you are still working very hard.”

Eunho had personally found a bamboo pole and raised the flag high.

Holding a flag while riding was no easy task, yet he had refused to entrust it to anyone else.

“I do not understand, but I still trust Eldest Senior Brother.”

“Hmm?”

“Eldest Senior Brother’s choices are always made for us. Not once have they ever been made for himself. He is probably thinking of us before himself this time as well.”

For some reason, Seong Moran felt a heavy thud in her chest.

She remembered the short time they had spent traveling together.

Although he could have eaten warm meals while practicing sword forms with his junior brothers, he had remained with them instead.

Thanks to him, Gang Seopyo and Cho Mubin, who had to protect her and Namgung Seonhwa, had been able to pay more attention to the other warriors.

She could barely remember ever seeing him sleep.

Even when she had fallen asleep after having her acupoints pressed, he had remained awake.

Whenever she opened her eyes, he was already awake and searching for tinder.

“That is why I sometimes stop thinking for myself. When I try too hard to understand Eldest Senior Brother’s intentions, I become slow to act.”

“…You really like your Eldest Senior Brother.”

While holding the reins and carrying the flag, Eunho stuffed dried meat into his mouth.

He chewed for a moment, then grinned broadly.

“How could I not follow an Eldest Senior Brother like him?”

Seong Moran found herself nodding naturally.

“All right. Then I will stop thinking too.”

“That is a wise decision. Considering our schedule from this point onward, acting without thinking will be much easier.”

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

“When we left the village this morning, Eldest Senior Brother told Haomun to inform the examinees of our location. I cannot be certain, but we probably will not even have time to eat dried meat from now on.”

“Hey! You should have told me that sooner!”

Seong Moran hurriedly pulled a pouch of dried meat from her clothes.

We suffered no major losses before reaching An County.

We encountered several groups who appeared to be examinees, but they had not prepared for the absurd strategy of charging straight through without hesitation.

They did not become major obstacles.

The number of people changed drastically on the way from An County to Seongmu.

Examinees and warriors charged toward us from every direction after spotting the flag in the distance.

We did not form sword formations or defensive formations.

We simply charged.

If a horse was injured, its rider immediately took someone else’s horse and continued onward.

By the time we entered Seongmu, hundreds of examinees were trailing behind us in a long line.

From Seongmu onward, we began stopping at branches of the Changgung Merchant Guild again.

Hundreds of people had gathered around the guild branch in Seongmu and were watching it closely.

There was no need to visit a pleasure house that kept its lights burning throughout the night.

We suffered the greatest number of losses while traveling from Seongmu to Heze.

Some were wounded in battles against other examinees and could no longer continue.

Others fell victim to the Dark-Side Soul-Severing Corps.

We were ambushed by other examinees just before entering Heze, causing the sun to set.

The warriors who remained even briefly within the lightless darkness during the chaotic battle never returned.

Only eighty warriors remained.

Most of them were severely exhausted from the forced march.

“Now it truly begins.”

We raced madly from Heze with a long trail of pursuing examinees behind us.

However, by the time we crossed Shandong Province, the sun had begun sinking toward the horizon.

Behind us, hundreds of examinees began lighting torches one after another.

Ahead of us, the examinees waiting in ambush lit their own torches as though announcing their presence.

“How are we supposed to distinguish those things from the others?”

Jin Sowoon answered Seong Moran’s question as though it were obvious.

“If you sense no presence at all, pour sword energy into that location.”

“What?”

It was a completely absurd response.

“If you cannot sense any presence despite this many people surrounding us, then that is where those beings are.”

“…Understood.”

Torches began appearing in every direction.

Within the nearby forest.

Along the distant ridges.

And behind us, where clouds of dust rose into the air.

Some had heard Haomun’s information.

Others had received information from the Beggar Gang.

Some had seen the Taeul Sect’s flag.

Others had merely followed the movements of the other examinees.

Nearly one thousand people had gathered to steal our checkpoint plaques.

And even more terrifying beings were hiding among the darkness between them.

Recognizing the reality of the situation only increased their fear and dread.

They clung to a single thought.

“If there is no presence, cut. If there is no presence, cut.”

Only Dongryong’s voice, repeating Jin Sowoon’s words, spread among the people.

Shing, shing, shing!

Shing, shing, shing!

Shing, shing!

“I am counting on you.”

In the end, our group of eighty was blocked by a curtain of hundreds.

The horses we had ridden frequently collapsed or panicked and threw off their owners before fleeing.

Those who fell from their horses used the small torches as lamps and did not hesitate to swing their swords at their enemies.

“Go on.”

Gang Seopyo, who had insisted on coming despite the wound across his chest, grabbed my reins.

He immediately forced his horse forward, attempting to approach Namgung Seonhwa.

I separated from him and used the World-Solitary Divine Movement to move away from the battlefield.

Then I drew out the full power of the Taeul True Scripture and surveyed every presence around me.

I detected not only those with tremendous internal energy but even those participating in the battle with insignificant martial arts.

Then I began searching for the places among them where no presence could be sensed at all.

This was a method that would only be discovered after the outbreak of the Righteous-Demonic War, once the existence of the Dark-Side Soul-Severing Corps became known.

Because so many people had gathered, it was actually easier to locate the places where no presence existed.

I poured fist energy into the empty air.

Unless they were struck by an attack made of energy, even a blow would fail to harm them.

Crack.

A pair of startled, rabbit-like eyes suddenly appeared within the darkness where nothing should have existed.

“Surprised?”

The eyes quickly vanished back into the darkness.

I felt something coil around my arm.

I poured fist energy into the empty space, but this time I felt nothing.

“Your methods have not changed.”

I quickly turned my head.

Whoosh.

A pure-white bone sword sliced sharply through the spot where my head had been.

It was not impossible to fight them.

The method was simply extremely difficult and troublesome.

“That is how it is the first time. But this is not my first time seeing you bastards.”

I seized the bone sword of the enemy who was attempting to hide within the darkness.

Creak.

I applied enough force to break an ordinary human bone, but the sword remained intact.

Perhaps startled that I had avoided and caught the bone sword, the rabbit-like eyes appeared once again within the darkness.

“I am utterly sick of this thing.”

Holding the bone sword, I performed Lotus Flower in reverse.

When I applied force in the direction opposite to its natural rotational axis, the flesh supporting the bone sword could not withstand the pressure and burst apart.

Crack, crack.

Even more blood than before flowed down the bone sword.

Lotus Flower had damaged the enemy as well.

The bone sword that had emerged through its palm began withdrawing inside again, but—

“Not a chance.”

I immediately filled my right foot with true energy and stomped down upon the bone sword.

Crunch!

“Kyaaaak!”

The bone sword finally broke, causing the creature to scream.

“Even your screams sound like those of a beast.”

The creature’s eyes appeared once again.

They were now completely red, making it look like a true rabbit.

Who are you?

A voice that appeared to belong to the creature echoed inside my mind.

Its vocal cords had melted away during the Corpse-Fluid Bone Sword procedure.

That was why it used a special martial art known as the Heavenly Demon Heart Transmission Art.

“Do I have to tell you?”

The creature finally succeeded in pulling the broken bone sword back into its palm.

It then concealed its body within the darkness.

After a brief period of time, the torches held by the people throughout the area were extinguished simultaneously.

‘They are coming.’

Within the darkness, I relied on the memories of my previous life to predict the direction of their movements.

Since I could sense no presence from them, I moved first based solely on memory.

Whoosh!

Three bone swords pierced the illusion created by the Taeul Eight Myriad Divine Steps.

One pierced the head.

One pierced the heart.

And one pierced the dantian.

Two more of them had appeared in that brief instant.

Had I not moved according to my memories, that would have been my future.

Unwilling to repeat their comrade’s mistake, they quickly concealed themselves within the darkness.

I temporarily set aside the teachings of the Taeul True Scripture and drew upon the teachings of another martial scripture.

The Reverse Demon Scripture.

The Hell Demon Emperor, the Heavenly Demon of that era, had created the Reverse Demon Scripture while trapped inside the Infinite Eight Trigrams Soul-Severing Formation.

He had harbored resentment toward the cultists who had failed to rescue him.

It was a martial art created from a truly demonic practitioner’s state of mind, and its purpose ultimately lay in the brutal eradication of demons.

“To think the Heavenly Demon and I share the same intention. Is that not the kind of contradiction found only in literature? What do you think?”

Clink.

When I extended the Flying Dragon Claw to its full length, white light gathered along the Heavenly Silkworm Thread.

The light traveled along the thread, wrapping the thin Heavenly Silkworm Thread in a thick radiance before finally reaching the sharp claw at its end.

Like the Heavenly Demon Scripture left behind by the Hell Demon Emperor, the Reverse Demon Scripture contained only principles and possessed no fixed forms or patterns.

Therefore, the forms and patterns it manifested followed entirely from my enlightenment and my desires.

My most desperate desire for revenge had been shaped by the tens of thousands of nightmares I had endured in my previous life.

And the form through which that desire manifested was—

Demon-Severing Radiant Whip.

Slash!

The cruel whip that severed demons swept through the darkness.

It caught something in a space where nothing should have existed.

Then three pairs of startled, rabbit-like eyes abruptly appeared within the darkness.

A smile naturally formed on my lips.

“Finally, I caught you.”