Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Inside Sado Alliance.

‘It’s gradually intensifying.’

Western King Ju Tae, who counted the number of people being expelled from the formation after being eliminated from the Gate Opening Ceremony, crossed his arms. And beside him, a young girl looking around with sparkling eyes.

“Uicheonmun hasn’t come out yet, right? They haven’t, right? Father…… Your Majesty.”

“Stay still. Didn’t you say you’d be quiet?”

“That was only until we came in. Hmph.”

Not yet eliminated.

Ju Yeon, the young girl who stuck out her tongue, smiled broadly as she assessed the situation inside the Gate Opening Ceremony that wasn’t visible. As expected, not a single Uicheonmun member had been eliminated.

‘Uicheonmun people are competent.’

Seohwa. Wang Pal. Seonwoo Gang. Seomun Cheok.

The Uicheonmun disciples she saw when she accompanied them disguised as Johyeon were all outstanding in their abilities. It wasn’t a matter of the martial arts they possessed, but rather their ability to grasp situations and solve problems was superior to others.

They were rarely swept up in emotions and were cold-headed, but not heartless. If there were characters that popped out of a martial arts novel, it would be the Uicheonmun disciples.

‘If an obscure small-to-medium sect survives long, it can leave a deep impression.’

The less famous they were, the greater the shock and expectation when they performed well.

If Uicheonmun continued to survive and successfully ranked high, she could also advise her father to value Uicheonmun highly.

“When will they come out…….”

Ju Yeon, who stomped her feet while looking toward the formation, reached that conclusion. And watching her, Ju Tae wore a small smile.

“It seems you made good connections during your brief outing.”

“Yes.”

“Who was it?”

“No way.”

“Mm?”

“If I tell you already, you’ll look at them with tinted glasses. More strictly.”

Not an incorrect statement. He wasn’t the type to treat someone specially just because they were connected to relatives.

“Ahem.”

Ju Tae, unable to find words to refute Ju Yeon’s statement, didn’t continue speaking and turned his gaze to check on the person sitting beside him. The appearance of someone sitting as Sado Alliance Leader’s proxy.

“You said Taeak…… right? How is the situation progressing now?”

“Taeak is a title. My name is Ah Jin, Your Majesty.”

“Is that so? My apologies.”

“Not at all.”

Taeak, who answered heavily, looked down and assessed the faces of those who had been eliminated. Members of major sects falling out without distinguishing between orthodox and unorthodox.

“It seems the core members have barely fallen out.”

“Is that so?”

“The core of the Orthodox Path is the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families. The core of the Unorthodox Path is the Seven Gates and Two Families. They account for about thirty percent of the Gate Opening Ceremony participants—about nine hundred people. But the number of core members visible now doesn’t even reach one hundred. Even though more than half have fallen out.”

The Gate Opening Ceremony was held to demonstrate Sado Alliance’s power to the world.

However, what was revealed in this Gate Opening Ceremony wasn’t simply Sado Alliance’s power. The power of hidden extraordinary people. The power of the Orthodox Path. And the power of the Unorthodox Path. You could say this Gate Opening Ceremony gave a rough sense of the balance of these powers.

“They’re balanced, but for now, our alliance side is slightly superior.”

“Does that mean Sado Alliance has superior skills?”

“Not quite. Black Path martial artists are strong in such chaotic battles because they don’t care about means and methods. If it actually came to fighting with lives on the line, it would be evenly matched…… or we’d be pushed back.”

That alone was sufficient.

Sado Alliance Leader had said before entering. The Orthodox Path, which had continued for a thousand years, tended to look down on the Unorthodox Path. No matter how much the Black Path united, they thought they could win when it came to important moments.

But what was the current situation?

“Black Path and White Path are performing equally. White Path will now have no choice but to regard Black Path as a worthy opponent.”

“Matching eye levels.”

“That’s right.”

While waging long wars with Sado Alliance, White Path looked down on Black Path. They thought Black Path was thriving because of the command of the outstanding figure called Sado Alliance Leader, but judged that White Path still had superior overall strength.

But it would change after this Gate Opening Ceremony.

“To make a deal, you need to match eye levels. Whether it’s the imperial palace, the Murim Alliance, or Sado Alliance, that’s the same.”

“Once the work of matching eye levels equally is finished, we must move on to the main topic.”

“By main topic, you mean…….”

“Temporary unification of the Central Plains. Immediately followed by eliminating external threats.”

Complete unification was impossible. Even if they completely unified, they would split and divide before long due to mutual interests anyway.

But if there was a common purpose, couldn’t they join hands temporarily?

“This will be the groundwork for that.”

“Hmm.”

‘What does that mean?’

While Ju Tae let out a groan, Ju Yeon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation beside him, tilted her head then turned her gaze. An old man staring blankly at the formation from beyond the great formation covering the Gate Opening Ceremony.

“Ah Jin Gong. Who is that person? The person beyond the formation.”

“Beyond the formation, you say…….”

Taeak, who briefly expanded his vision following Ju Yeon’s line of sight, identified the person in Ju Yeon’s view and spoke casually.

“That’s Seo Noya, who is in charge of maintaining this formation.”

“Seo Noya?”

“He’s someone who stands at the pinnacle of illusion arts practitioners. He’s so outstanding that even Hwansin cannot determine superiority with him. Usually he hides in deep mountains and valleys, obsessed only with his own cultivation, but it seems the Alliance Leader used some trick to bring him this time.”

“Ah…….”

So he was such a great figure.

Looking at the aged and shabby appearance of Seo Noya, Ju Yeon nodded. But she frowned at the strange sense of dissonance. Despite the Gate Opening Ceremony proceeding smoothly, Seo Noya had despairing eyes as if in despair over something.

He looked too anxious and despairing. Could there be some flaw in the formation?

‘No way.’

They wouldn’t have failed to verify before holding such a large event.

It was probably just that he wasn’t used to large events. Ju Yeon, who dismissed it as nothing, turned her gaze back inside the formation, which showed nothing.

Hoping the Uicheonmun disciples hadn’t come out yet from inside there.

For martial artists, tension is poison.

It steals breath and steals moments. A deeply tense martial artist moves half a step less or more than usual, and that small difference often returns as enormous results.

Jeongnyuha, who had been at the forefront several times in battles with the White Path Martial World, knew this fact all too well. No matter how skilled people were, how much beginners tense up in the first battle, why young martial artists had difficulty defeating older martial artists.

If you’re young, it’s hard to accumulate experience. If it’s hard to accumulate experience, it’s hard to exert strength in actual combat.

There were differences in speed of adaptation, but that wasn’t wrong. Jeongnyuha was someone who had deeply experienced this more than anyone.

Yes.

That should have been the case.

“Fire!”

Kwadeudeudeuk!

“Kuaaaaaaak!”

At the screams echoing around her, Jeongnyuha snapped to attention and hurriedly turned her gaze to look at the fire beside her. The candlelight barely maintaining its flame in a half-burned state.

“Pull yourself together, Junior Martial Sister. The candle almost went out.”

“……Hmph. I’ll handle it myself.”

Though she snorted at Seonwoo Gang’s cold voice, Jeongnyuha slowly approached the candle and formed a defensive formation. She looked around. The situation wasn’t very good.

‘It seems once a candle goes out, it can’t be used again.’

When they first received the ambush and extinguished the candle, Seonwoo Gang, who checked the candle’s condition after repelling the attackers, said so. The wick that had been in the candle had completely disappeared.

No matter how much they tried to light it with a fire striker, it wouldn’t relight. A candle that had been extinguished once had exhausted its efficacy and couldn’t be used again, and since they had no spare candles, they had no choice but to steal other candles.

That’s how they reached the current situation.

Just three people surrounded by about a dozen people in this situation.

“Hahaha. Benefactors. That candle is ours.”

“Hey, let’s share it a bit.”

Watching the opponent who wore a slick smile while gripping his sword hilt tightly, Paeng Jin smiled broadly and swung his great sword in big circles. The great sword cutting through the air threateningly.

“Isn’t Yeomwangjeon rumored to be wealthy? Looking at it, that bag seems to have quite a few candles too—wouldn’t it be fine to yield this much?”

“While it’s true our hall is fairly wealthy…… unfortunately, worldly wealth doesn’t seem to work in this place. There aren’t many candles in this bag. That means we absolutely need that candle.”

At Paeng Jin’s words, the monk who wore a kind smile paused briefly then spread both hands. The proposal that followed.

“How about this, benefactors? Let’s share the candle.”

“The candle’s lifespan doesn’t decrease just because more people gather. We have no intention of yielding the candle, but we’re willing to lend you space. If we can end this without fighting, wouldn’t that be good for both sides?”

“Hmm.”

It wasn’t wrong. If it went in that direction, everyone could enjoy the candlelight’s benefits without anyone shedding blood.

“You’ll make us lower our guard, approach to secure the candle, then take our heads?”

As long as you believed Yeomwangjeon’s words, that is.

“Hey, monks. I hope you won’t think we’ll fall for all your tricks just because we’re young. This guy and I have rolled around quite a bit.”

“……Is that so? What an unfortunate thing. To think you won’t accept our goodwill honestly.”

“Yeomwang is the one who rules the underworld, isn’t he? When you say Yeomwangjeon’s goodwill, doesn’t that mean you’ll send us to the underworld?”

Don’t try your tricks, Paeng Jin’s appearance seemed to say as he tapped his great sword, and the Yeomwangjeon monk shook his head and raised his sword. The answer that followed.

“To stubbornly choose the punitive cup over the offered cup of grace—how unfortunate.”

The moment he finished speaking, the Yeomwangjeon monks’ momentum rose fiercely, and everyone inside the ruined palace swallowed their groans and drew up their internal energy. And at that moment, a voice was heard.

“I’m back.”

Ttudududeuk!

At the sensation felt behind him simultaneously with the words, the monk’s eyes widened and he looked at his shoulder. Small fine needles densely embedded above his clothes.

“Th-this……!”

Hidden weapons.

“It’s the Tang Family!”

At the monk’s cry as he squeezed out his stiffening neck, some of Yeomwangjeon turned their backs to prepare for hidden weapons. But the reinforcements didn’t end.

Azure Vault Limitless Sword

Blue Sky Formless

The wave of sword energy that approached soundlessly struck the Yeomwangjeon monks. An overwhelming projection of internal energy. A delicate sword path that didn’t waste even a speck of that internal energy.

“Namgung Hyeon!”

Paeng Jin gave a thumbs up at the sight of the reinforcements instantly taking down the Yeomwangjeon monks.