Chapter 150

Chapter 150

“……A sword?”

Jang Il, who’d been watching the trembling sword blade, took a step back then stepped forward to look at the sword embedded in the ground. The appearance of the blade engraved with Uicheon.

‘This, from somewhere…….’

Jang Il, who’d been staring at the strangely familiar sword for a moment, shook his head. That wasn’t what was important right now.

“It seems he couldn’t come over himself.”

“Because the area is large.”

Seohwa replied lightly and nodded. She’d been thinking it would be difficult for Baek Riyun himself to come over.

From what Jang Il had briefly tested earlier, the formation’s recovery power was beyond imagination.

If trying to penetrate with the body directly, unless one achieved the Geumgangbulgwae Body, even with protective energy wrapped around, one’s entire body could be crushed. In a situation where he couldn’t be certain whether he could break through or not, Baek Riyun wouldn’t try to take such a risk.

“Anyway, a sword came over, but what can we do with just one sword?”

“Just a moment.”

Hearing Jang Il’s words, Seohwa unwrapped Baek Riyun’s robe wound around the Uicheongeom and narrowed her eyes at the red writing on the white lining. Writing densely written in red blood as if bitten from a finger.

Northeast, west-southwest, south-southeast. Cut the trees growing strangely sideways.

I entrust the Uicheongeom to you for a while.

Looking at the last written phrase, Seohwa unconsciously wore a bitter smile and gripped the robe tightly. She couldn’t not know what it meant to entrust the Uicheongeom.

“Is something written?”

“It’s speculation, but…… it seems like a way to break the formation. It says to cut trees growing sideways.”

“Trees growing sideways. Must be formation axes.”

“Formation axes?”

“Objects that become the axis of a formation are called that. Usually they attach talismans to stone towers or wooden poles to use as axes. But to use living trees as axes……?”

Even if you transplant and replant a tree entirely, it doesn’t immediately fuse with the ground in that spot. To become a formation axis, it must completely meld into that place, so at least several years of preparation.

“Breaking it won’t be easy. What are the directions of the formation axes to cut?”

“Northeast. West-southwest. South-southeast.”

“Northeast. That means this area.”

Should I cut one first?

Muttering softly, Jang Il raised his internal energy and scraped the ornamental sword’s blade with his finger while looking around. And the moment he discovered something, Jang Il swung his sword.

Kieeeek—!!!

“What did you just cut…….”

“A yokai. It was just about to materialize.”

Confirming something hazy being cut and falling, Jang Il signaled Seohwa to follow and moved.

“Let’s check first. Is that Sect Leader competent?”

“……What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“Formation axes are things that cause big trouble if destroyed incorrectly. If you destroy them based on wrong information, the inside of the formation could become a death trap instead.”

Spell-formations are sensitive because they contain human wishes and will. Since each formation axis contains different will, if destroyed incorrectly, one can’t even predict what phenomena will occur with spell-formations.

“Separate from whether he’s trustworthy, I need to see if he’s competent. This kind of insight isn’t easy to accumulate.”

“There’s no problem in that regard. Sect Leader-nim has tremendous experience with this.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. He’s a former Murim Alliance Muryeokdae Commander.”

“……Former Muryeokdae Commander.”

Then, that makes sense.

Jang Il, slowly nodding, suddenly stopped and turned his head to the side. The appearance of a bizarrely distorted tree visible in the distance.

“We’ve arrived. That’s it.”

“That’s…… the formation axis.”

Wicked.

The moment she saw the distorted tree, Seohwa, harboring such an impression, covered her mouth. The nausea welling up the closer she got to the formation axis.

“Disgustingly filthy will. What was contained in it?”

“What…… do you mean by contained?”

“Didn’t I say? Magic arts contain wishes and will. This kind of will isn’t easy for the caster himself to draw out. It must be borrowed from elsewhere.”

The will frequently used in the Orthodox Path as axes for formations separating inside and outside are protective will wishing to protect someone or unyielding stubbornness. But this formation was wicked enough to generate yokai.

“Probably the will of a madman with deep obsession was inserted. Objects frequently used by people tend to have that person’s will deeply embedded. It’s not unreasonable for you to find it disgusting.”

Anyone human would find it disgusting.

Jang Il, who chuckled, swung his ornamental sword once in the air to get a feel, then made eye contact with Seohwa.

“Then, may I cut it now?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Step back more. Who knows what might happen when the formation axis is released.”

He stopped breathing.

The shallow breathing that had continued restlessly from the moment they left the village stopped quietly. And the moment Jang Il casually extended his ornamental sword forward.

Seogeok—!

Without any warning, the tree three jang away split in half.

“……What did you just do?”

“It’s called Muhyeong Sword Qi.”

“Muhyeong Sword……?”

“Not Muhyeonggeom but Muhyeong Sword Qi. Unlike that absolute realm, it’s not that impressive. Just sword qi made to be hard to see and hard to sense.”

Perfect for an assassin.

Jang Il, who casually mentioned it, shook his head. A strange artifact visible in the gap of the tree that fell to the ground.

“A key. I can roughly guess what kind of will it is. Confinement…… or greed for wealth.”

Jang Il, who crushed the blackened key in his hand, casually dusted off his hands.

“Since we destroyed one formation axis, the yokai’s activity will intensify soon. What will you do?”

Strangely knowledgeable. At the same time, strangely powerful.

He was utterly unbelievable as someone who’d been caught and dragged by Seonwoo Gang and Baek Risan. Seohwa, narrowing her eyes at the martial arts level, shook her head. Even if she suspected Jang Il now, there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

“Let’s return for now and observe the situation. I also want to see what happens when a formation axis is destroyed.”

“Using the village as a base to move is more convenient too, right?”

“Yes.”

“Moving cautiously isn’t bad. Let’s be quiet now.”

Watching Jang Il bring his hand to his lips and release his internal energy again, Seohwa closed her mouth. Unlike before when she’d diverted her attention while conversing, she directly felt the yokai energy.

‘……There were this many?’

Seohwa’s qi sense was excellent, but not refined.

That was natural. Seohwa hadn’t even been in martial arts for a full year yet.

Though she’d realized how to operate attribute energy at her first competition, that was as far as it went. She was still at the stage of working through the basics and combinations of techniques, so spreading internal energy finely to expand qi sense was impossible.

But there was something even Seohwa’s unrefined qi sense could tell.

That everything passing by right now was filled with yokai power.

‘Just how many…….’

A few. A few dozen. A few hundred?

It wasn’t a level that could be expressed that way. At minimum one thousand. At most, an army of yokai numbering in the thousands.

The yokai banquet.

Realizing what those words meant, Seohwa gripped the Uicheongeom in her hand tightly. And at that moment, something approached from the side.

Sarararak!

‘Hup.’

At the cool yokai energy brushing her neck in the form of tree leaves, Seohwa involuntarily inhaled and, realizing her mistake, widened her eyes and looked to the side. A deformed eye meeting hers through the trees, split wide open.

‘I made a mistake……!’

She thought, but before the thought could finish, the eye looking at Seohwa split in two and fell. Then came Jang Il’s voice transmission.

—If it’s just one or two, it’s fine. I can cut them before we’re detected. Didn’t I say it’s not dangerous?

—Just maintain composure. They’re not looking at you. Even if we cross through the center, they won’t know.

Even if detected, it’s fine.

‘Other thoughts. Other thoughts.’

At Jang Il’s words, Seohwa inwardly sighed in relief and barely regained her composure, forcibly inserting other thoughts. She happened to have something to think about anyway.

‘……What should we do about the Divine Maiden?’

That girl who was Choil’s younger sister and the village’s Divine Maiden.

They hadn’t decided on her treatment since there were many urgent matters. It wasn’t a situation where they could easily decide either.

‘If the Divine Maiden really was protecting against yokai, we can’t deal with the Divine Maiden.’

Just from what she saw coming here, there were easily hundreds of yokai.

If the village’s defensive means disappeared, numerous yokai would all come seeking to be nourished by human fear. Of course, that fear would manifest in the form of slaughter.

‘So immediate disposal is out of the question, but…….’

No matter how much she protects the village, she’s ultimately a yokai. A yokai that kills people, devours them, and enjoys fear.

Wouldn’t she attack humans someday? Even if she hasn’t attacked humans yet, wouldn’t that happen?

……Was it right to kill someone who hadn’t attacked humans just because they were a yokai? Even if ninety-nine out of a hundred yokai were like that, was there a guarantee all yokai were?

‘……I don’t know.’

Seohwa, who’d been blankly looking at the moon thinking of the red-eyed girl, shook her head and bit her lip. It was the first yokai that didn’t attack humans, so she couldn’t make a judgment.

“We’re almost there.”

“What? Ah…….”

How long had they walked?

At Jang Il’s voice striking her ear while she walked lost in thought, Seohwa took in the towering wooden fence. The wooden fence in the same state as when they left.

‘It’s intact……’

Seohwa, who’d been worried something might have happened while they were away, stroked her chest and walked, then stopped at a strange sensation. An odd sense of dissonance.

“……There’s no one on the watchtower.”

“Hmm?”

“The watchtower. There’s no one there. We agreed to take turns guarding.”

The watchtower.

Though shabby in appearance, it was installed to check where yokai were coming from. Since even one passing through would cause catastrophe, it was an important facility that needed to be guarded seamlessly by taking turns. And yet.

No one was on that watchtower?

“Something…….”

Something must have happened. Either so many yokai gathered that the Gaecheon Gyoryongpa martial artist on the watchtower had to come down, or.

The village had suffered some calamity.

“Let’s go ahead.”

Jang Il, recognizing the seriousness of the situation, advanced with qinggong that seemed to disappear from sight, and Seohwa also raised her internal energy and kicked off the ground. Her clumsy qinggong not picking up much speed.

‘Please.’

Wangpal, Seonwoo Gang, Baek Risan, Seomun Cheok, and Jinwoong.

Though she hadn’t spent long with them, they were all good people. People who shouldn’t suffer calamity in a place like this where they were trapped because of her stubbornness.

Seohwa, biting her lip at the welling worry and anxiety, gripped Baek Riyun’s Uicheonpo draped over her shoulders and executed qinggong. And.

“What on earth happened……!”

Finally, the moment she entered inside the village.

Seohwa’s eyes filled with bewilderment at the white flames blazing up.

“Seohwa, you’re back?”

Baek Risan was crossing swords.

“You’re later than I thought.”

With none other than.

Wangpal.