Chapter 107 :

Chapter 107. The Grand Journey of Pandemonium (6)

“They have headed toward Taishi Peak.”

“Not Shaoshi Peak?”

Taishi Peak of Mount Song was famous for its treacherous terrain.

Unless someone was passing through to visit Shaolin, no one deliberately entered Taishi Peak.

“So he refuses to make the obvious choice every time?”

Whether it was coincidence or not, Jin Sowoon continued avoiding every course of action Cheol Sunjik predicted.

“He is incompatible with me. Moreover, he is foolish.”

An unexpected decision could refresh the situation, but relying on such decisions too often was unwise.

Someone who constantly depended on improvisation would eventually become trapped by his own schemes.

“Split the force into two. Join the Ghost Bow Sect and Bifung Sect on the road toward Shaoshi Peak, then block the exit from Taishi Peak.”

The route through Shaoshi Peak was faster than the route through Taishi Peak.

If they urged their horses forward, they could block both the front and rear of Jin Sowoon’s party before it finished crossing Taishi Peak.

“The rest of you will leave your horses behind and follow me.”

“Brother Cheol, I will take the lead.”

Nam Hwaseong rubbed his fists together as he spoke.

Cheol Sunjik nodded.

“Since ancient times, Taishi Peak has been so treacherous that many people have fallen to their deaths there, has it not?”

“Indeed. With twenty-four peaks, finding their bodies would be exceedingly difficult.”

Five hundred people continued along the official road toward Shaoshi Peak as planned.

Cheol Sunjik’s remaining force began moving toward Taishi Peak.

“They must have been in quite a hurry.”

After traveling for some time, they came across the strange steel carriages Jin Sowoon’s party had been pulling.

Had they truly believed carriages covered in crudely attached iron plates could enter this rugged path, where even horses could not proceed?

Excited by the thought that he would soon reduce Jin Sowoon’s face to pulp, Nam Hwaseong began increasing his speed.

The dangerous terrain made his advance precarious, but Cheol Sunjik did not strongly restrain him.

An encirclement operation became more effective the more anxious the enemy grew.

However—

“Why have they still not appeared?”

They were moving so quickly that it was difficult to believe they were crossing Taishi Peak.

Even so, a long time had passed since they found the steel carriages, yet there was still no sign of Jin Sowoon’s party.

“Could they be hiding?”

“There is nowhere for them to hide. Even if they had, one of us would have noticed.”

Their numbers had fallen considerably, but they still had around eighty people.

The enemy was not composed of professional assassins.

There was no possibility that they could erase every trace of themselves in such a short time.

Pop!

At that moment, a red signal flare rose from the west.

“B-Brother Cheol!”

“What?”

The flare had come from the direction of Shaoshi Peak.

A red signal flare meant that they were under attack.

“They went toward Shaoshi Peak?”

More shocking than the enemy’s unconventional plan was the question of whether such a thing was even possible.

A sheer and dizzying cliff stood between Taishi Peak in the east and Shaoshi Peak in the west.

Unless one was a supreme expert, the only way to travel from Taishi to Shaoshi was to cross all twenty-four peaks of Taishi and circle around.

“How in the world did they do it?”

Cheol Sunjik became so absorbed in contemplating their method that he did not even issue his next command.

Our group should originally have numbered two hundred and thirty.

At present, only seventy-eight remained.

Considering that they were elites of the Namgung Family, Moyong Family, and Iron Sword Sect, the fact that our numbers had fallen so drastically showed how brutal the journey had been.

Conversely, it also meant that the remaining seventy-eight were elites among elites.

They had endured the cruel journey without suffering injuries severe enough to force them out, and they had continued traveling with us.

Because of that, I could now carry out operations that I could never even have imagined attempting during my days in the Sojeong Unit.

“But we nearly died!”

Seong Moran screamed while climbing the cliff of Shaoshi Peak.

“Did I not save you?”

Admittedly, the plan had been slightly unreasonable.

When I suggested descending a sheer cliff nearly one hundred jang high, even Gang Seopyo had said, “You do this the moment we give you command authority?”

However, I jumped down first and used the Flying Dragon Claw to climb along the wall, carving footholds into the cliff at intervals.

The others somehow managed to descend using those footholds.

Whenever someone misplaced a foot and fell, I rescued them.

Fortunately, everyone crossed the cliff without dying.

“That is not the point. Do you not think the important part is that we faced death several times?”

“Warriors often gain enlightenment when facing death. Viewed that way, did I not provide you with an opportunity for a fortuitous encounter?”

I meant it as a joke, but flames seemed to ignite in Seong Moran’s eyes.

“Why did we end up in this situation? Would we be suffering like this if the Twelve Peaks Fortress had not placed the Ghost Bow Sect and Bifung Sect in position to trap us?”

Grit.

Crack!

The stone in Seong Moran’s hand shattered, causing her body to sway.

However, she quickly recovered her balance and continued climbing.

“The Twelve Peaks Fortress approached and targeted us because they considered us easy prey.”

She had never been treated this way in her life, so her anger grew even stronger.

I deliberately raised my voice.

“We must show them the true strength of the Namgung Family, Moyong Family, and Iron Sword Sect. Only then will they never dare look down upon us again.”

The speed at which everyone climbed the cliff doubled.

Those who had already reached the top of Shaoshi Peak threw vines downward and pulled up their companions.

In an instant, all eighty people had climbed onto the cliff.

They should have been exhausted after descending and climbing the cliffs, yet they immediately began rushing down the mountain.

Gang Seopyo, Cho Mubin, and Baek Wongak shouted at the same time.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

“Charge!”

One after another, they drew their swords.

They had spotted members of the Ghost Bow Sect waiting with their bowstrings drawn beside the official road on the opposite side.

“Attack!”

This was where the strength of the Five Great Families revealed itself.

Without showing the slightest difficulty, the warriors climbed the trees and began cutting down the Ghost Bow Sect’s archers.

“Aaargh!”

“They appeared behind us!”

“Where is the Bifung Sect? Where is the Bifung Sect?”

The ambushed Ghost Bow Sect archers fell from the trees like fruit.

They had not brought separate guards because they wished to fill their entire force of one hundred with archers.

The instant they lost their terrain advantage, they were no match for the warriors of the Moyong Family, Namgung Family, and Iron Sword Sect.

Whoosh!

I instinctively turned my head and avoided an arrow that passed across my cheek.

Without even having time to wipe away the blood running down my face, I examined my surroundings.

The Ghost Bow Sect had recovered from the surprise and begun its counterattack.

Twang!

Bowstrings sounded simultaneously from every direction.

The arrows filling the sky were so numerous that it was difficult to imagine they had been fired by only one hundred people.

“They are illusory arrows!”

The warriors carrying out the ambush quickly hid behind the trees.

Only a few dozen arrows had actually struck the ground.

Everyone knew that most of the arrow rain falling like the Myriad Heavens Flower Rain was false, yet no one could easily step forward.

Unlike an illusory sword, it was difficult to determine whether an illusory arrow was real or false while it was still flying toward you.

Moreover, the Ghost Bow Sect had trusted the other sects of the Twelve Peaks Fortress and filled all one hundred positions with archers because their strategy of firing simultaneously created a fatal weakness for swordsmen.

Twang!

Bowstrings rang out simultaneously once again.

This time, arrows came not from a single direction, but from three.

The archers had repositioned themselves before attacking.

“Guh!”

“Do not focus only on the arrows coming from the front! They have changed positions!”

“Damn it!”

A single storm of illusory arrows left eight of our people pierced by arrows.

More screams erupted among our warriors as they attempted to evade the arrow rain and prepare a counterattack.

“Ugh!”

“It is the Bifung Sect!”

“Evade them first!”

Once the storm of illusory arrows ended, the Bifung Sect attacked.

They maintained a shorter distance than the archers but stayed beyond the reach of our warriors while launching flying swords.

Whenever someone rushed toward a practitioner controlling a flying sword, an arrow fired from somewhere else pierced their arm or leg.

Their strength was undoubtedly worthy of the Twelve Peaks Fortress’s name.

“Jaehwa.”

I called Moyong Jaehwa, who was frantically dodging the flying swords.

“Yes, Elder Brother.”

“Where do you think the Ghost Bow Sect’s examinee is?”

“What?”

He stared at me in bewilderment, as though wondering why I would ask such a question during this desperate battle.

“If you were the one firing the bow, where would you hide?”

“I-I would……”

Jaehwa briefly poked his head out and examined the surrounding trees.

Then he pointed toward the second-tallest tree.

“That tree has denser foliage.”

“Understood.”

“What? What are you planning to do?”

“I am trusting you with my life.”

“What?”

I drew out my internal energy at full strength.

Pouring out all the internal energy I possessed, which exceeded two sixty-year cycles, I unleashed the World-Solitary Divine Movement.

Whoosh!

I avoided the flying swords by barely a jang and kicked off a tree, charging toward the location Moyong Jaehwa had indicated.

Sure enough—

As I approached, the tree began shaking violently.

‘As expected!’

He had concealed himself so well that I could sense his presence but could not see him.

I unleashed the Myriad Transformations Invincible Fist toward the tree.

Papapapapapapapapak!

Broken branches and leaves flew in every direction as the enormous tree shook violently.

A man in a blue-green martial uniform leaped from the tree while holding a bow.

“Found you!”

The man’s face turned deathly pale when he looked back at me.

At the same time, startled by my movements, the Bifung Sect warriors launched flying swords from every direction.

Jin Sowoon kicked off the ground and shot forward like a cannonball.

He had pushed off with such force that the earth scattered in every direction like a spray of water.

“Huh……”

Despite having longed for a moment like this, Moyong Jaehwa felt only emptiness.

‘I am still no help.’

He had come to help Elder Brother Sowoon, yet he was not helping at all.

Perhaps Elder Brother Sowoon even understood those feelings, because he had asked a question that did not need to be asked merely to encourage him.

‘You do not have to do that.’

Moyong Jaehwa had thought he had grown accustomed to this chronic sense of helplessness.

However, standing beside the person he admired and realizing he could not help him brought an even deeper despair.

—He is beyond saving.

—To think the eldest son of the Moyong Family is like that.

—It would have been better if he and Young Lady Seol had been born with their sexes reversed.

The worried and disappointed remarks of the family members weighed heavily upon his shoulders.

His father’s warmth had become another burden.

Knowing that his son lacked talent, his father had risked his life to obtain the fire tiger’s inner core for him.

The words of his martial arts instructors were another burden.

They insisted that he possessed as much talent as Moyong Seol and that, regardless of what anyone said, he was the person who would inherit the family.

That was why he had tried to run away.

He practiced the miscellaneous skills the family despised, skipped training, and attempted to avoid taking the Martial Academy examination altogether.

His grandfather was frightening, but he could simply endure the beatings.

After several years, would everyone’s expectations not eventually fade?

It had been nothing more than a childish tantrum.

However, he could not bring himself to tell his father that he would not take the Martial Academy examination when his father presented the fire tiger’s inner core, which he had risked his life to obtain.

His internal energy increased by thirty years, but the burden upon his shoulders did not feel any lighter.

Perhaps that was why he admired Elder Brother Sowoon.

Jin Sowoon carried a burden far heavier than his own.

He faced circumstances far worse than his.

Yet with a will far greater than his own, he continued breaking through every obstacle.

Perhaps that was why Moyong Jaehwa had come to admire him so deeply.

“Young Master!”

Papapapak!

Baek Wongak was struck in the arm by an arrow while trying to protect him.

“Captain!”

“I am fine. We only need to endure a little longer. The Young Ladies and the Azure Dome Corps are eliminating the Ghost Bow Sect archers one by one.”

“……”

Some distance away, the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers were struggling fiercely.

Geumpyo and Eunho joined their hands.

Dongryong ran toward them and stepped onto their palms.

At that moment, Geumpyo and Eunho used all their strength to launch Dongryong into the sky.

Papapapapak!

Since he had not climbed through his own strength, branches struck him repeatedly.

However, once Dongryong reached the archer, he immediately cut the bow apart and knocked the archer to the ground.

Baek Wongak, who had watched the scene with Moyong Jaehwa, spoke.

“Everyone has their own battle. If you step forward now, you may only interfere.”

“Interfere……”

Baek Wongak realized that he had misspoken.

However, the words had already escaped, and there was no way to take them back.

At that moment, Jin Sowoon’s voice thundered throughout the forest.

“Ghost Bow Sect! Bifung Sect! Your Young Masters are in my hands! If you wish to protect them, stop fighting!”

No matter what Jin Sowoon said, the battle did not stop.

“Aaargh!”

“Uwaaargh!”

However, after two distinct screams rang out, the fighting ceased.

“Jong Seogak of the Yellow Sword Sect refused to retreat and became a wandering ghost. Will you also refuse to withdraw until the same thing happens to you?”

An archer descended from one of the trees.

The nearby warriors flinched in surprise at his appearance, apparently having failed to realize he had been hiding there.

“How can we trust that you will spare them?”

“This is an examination. Do you think I am some blood-crazed murderer?”

“That is what you did on the Fuyang Plains.”

“That was not me!”

“……Fine. We will retreat. Release the Young Masters.”

“No!”

The young man in Jin Sowoon’s grasp shouted angrily.

The archer shook his head.

“Young Master, the examination is important, but your life is more important.”

He then looked at Jin Sowoon.

“Even if we release them, the other members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress will capture them again.”

“That is my problem. Could you hurry up and move?”

“Aaargh!”

“What do you want us to do?”

“Disarm yourselves and retreat.”

At Jin Sowoon’s command, the Ghost Bow Sect archers and Bifung Sect warriors began putting down their weapons.

Since they used bows and flying swords, their weapons quickly piled into a small mountain.

The Taeul Sect party looked somewhat appalled at the sheer number.

“I will keep this.”

“You do not even know what that item is!”

The young man shouted furiously upon seeing the bow in Jin Sowoon’s hand.

Jin Sowoon barely reacted.

“If you possessed an entrance plaque, I would have taken that instead. Since you have absolutely nothing, I am taking this as compensation, robber.”

“……”

After receiving their hostage, the archer did not forget to add one final warning as he descended Shaoshi Peak.

“We are leaving, but the other members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress will not give up.”

Looking around the area, I saw that our side had also suffered many injuries.

Several people were unable to move and required immediate treatment.

Baek Wongak’s face was particularly pale.

An arrow was embedded in his abdomen.

“Captain Baek!”

Gang Seopyo examined the wound and sighed.

“Fortunately, it missed the internal organs. Even so, without emergency treatment, he will be in serious danger.”

Baek Wongak shook his head.

“We should depart first.”

“What are you saying? You will die!”

“The great Moyong Family joined you to provide assistance. How could we hold you back in a place like this? I will gather the injured and find my own way back, so please depart first.”

“Captain Baek!”

Gang Seopyo, Cho Mubin, Namgung Seonhwa, and Seong Moran all looked toward Jin Sowoon.

Moyong Jaehwa also looked at him desperately.

“Fortunately, they are not coming by the path we used.”

Seong Moran quietly muttered, “What kind of lunatic would come that way……?”

“However, the forces that split apart are now heading toward Shaoshi Peak.”

They were still running out of time.

“Begin emergency treatment first.”

“I… am fine. This wound is nothing……”

Jin Sowoon did not answer Baek Wongak.

Instead, he looked toward Moyong Jaehwa, who was kneeling before him.

“Moyong Jaehwa.”

“Stand up. It is time for you to protect your people.”

“Me?”

“Yes. If you do not act now, you will harm not only Captain Baek but also the Namgung Family, the Iron Sword Sect, and me.”

“But how could I……”

Jin Sowoon held out the bow in his hand.

“It is time to recover your true self.”

“It is nothing serious. Please hurry and leave.”