Chapter 299

Chapter 299

That was dangerous.

“This is no joke.”

Jeokyeol frowned at the tingling sensation piercing through his left shoulder and lightly shook his arm. The fact that the man had introduced himself as the Sect Leader of Spear Window Sect seemed to be true, given that his mastery of swift swordplay had reached its peak.

“If I hadn’t blocked it before he fully deployed it, I might have been the one taken down.”

Striking second to arrive first—normally, a master would yield the first move to a weaker opponent, but it seemed impossible to do so against this man.

Having quickly assessed the situation, Jeokyeol tilted his head and looked directly at Gakpyeong, who was trembling while hiding behind the fallen Sobaek. Whether judging by the traces left at the hideout or the current situation, it was clear that this child was the one Sugak had hidden away.

“What’s your name?”

“G-Gakpyeong…”

“Gakpyeong, is it? Do you know Sugak?”

“Uncle…”

“Blood relation?”

“No.”

“So you’re not related.”

Well, hadn’t he said this wasn’t someone who would be caught up in personal grudges? If he said to save him, there must have been a definite reason to save him.

Why did Sugak insist on saving this child?

Rustle!

While stroking his chin and looking at Gakpyeong with contemplative eyes, Jeokyeol turned his gaze at the sudden presence he sensed. Soon after, Seohwa emerged from beyond the bushes.

“Did you find him?”

“I did.”

“If you found him, you should have told me right away, why so late… Huh?”

Coming out while grumbling, Seohwa looked at the fallen Sobaek and the crouching Gakpyeong with a blank expression before turning her gaze toward Jeokyeol. A question followed.

“What did you do?”

“That guy blocked my way, so I knocked him down.”

“Did you kill him…”

“I just knocked him out. He insisted he wasn’t a yokai.”

Though suspicious, since there was a possibility he wasn’t a yokai, he settled for just knocking him unconscious. And seeing that no reinforcements arrived even after some time had passed since knocking Sobaek out, his claim of not being a yokai must have been true.

“Who is he?”

“The Sect Leader of Spear Window Sect.”

“…What? Then isn’t this a big problem?”

“For whom? Me?”

“…”

“Would anyone in their right mind think of threatening Chilryun?”

A sect leader of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

Of course, it was a position of high prestige, but in terms of distribution of power and reputation in the martial world, it couldn’t compare to Chilryun, which was equivalent to Sipcheon.

Just in terms of seniority alone, Jeokyeol was of the same generation as the previous Sect Leader of Spear Window Sect, who was Sobaek’s master, and wasn’t he a core figure of the Demonic Cult? No matter how much of a misunderstanding led to knocking him out, it couldn’t develop into a major incident.

“I didn’t know. I won’t do it again.”

“…”

“When he wakes up, just say something like that and it’ll be fine. Can’t catch any flak for it.”

“You really are remarkably certain about things like that.”

“Not leaving behind future troubles is a virtue of an assassin.”

At Jeokyeol’s grinning response, Seohwa sighed, shook her head, and approached Gakpyeong. Gakpyeong tightly gripped Sobaek’s collar with a wary expression.

“What’s your name?”

“…Gakpyeong.”

“Pyeong, is it? Pyeong-ah. We’re people sent by Uncle Sugak.”

“…Uncle’s friends?”

“You could say that. Did uncle tell you anything? Like what to do?”

“…”

At Seohwa’s gentle yet harmless gestures, Gakpyeong seemed to hesitate for a moment before carefully releasing Sobaek’s collar and answering.

“He told me to hide… that if I waited, friends would come to help…”

“What about before that?”

“…Even if I see faceless people, don’t mention it out loud…”

“Faceless people?”

This is it.

Seohwa reflexively looked back at Jeokyeol, saw his frighteningly hardened expression, nodded, and asked another question.

“What do you mean by faceless?”

“…Well, one day suddenly their face disappears. It’s there, but it’s not.”

“Do you perhaps see something like their hidden appearance? The face itself doesn’t completely disappear, right?”

“Yes…”

“So someone you originally knew suddenly changes into a faceless person?”

“Yes.”

“…It seems Pyeong can distinguish Muhyeong’s true nature.”

“Muhyeong?”

“The faceless people you mentioned.”

What makes the Great Yokai Muhyeong truly terrifying? Overwhelming force? Or perhaps his unpredictable whereabouts?

Of course, those factors exist, but what’s truly most frightening is that you can’t distinguish who Muhyeong is. Since he can use the memories and bodies of the humans he’s consumed as his own, it’s extremely difficult to tell them apart.

If they’re gathered in a group, you could distinguish them to some degree by their uniform breathing patterns, but if they scatter as individuals, it’s fair to say there’s virtually no way to identify them. Unless you kill every visible target—whether it’s Jeokyeol, Ilryun, the Sword Saint, or Taeak who comes—you cannot subjugate Muhyeong.

But what if it were possible to see through that essence?

‘We could gain an incredibly advantageous position.’

Our side could recognize the enemy, but the enemy wouldn’t know that we’d noticed their identity.

In that case, using tactics of deception and misdirection, we could actually gain the upper hand. Even if not that, when we held the advantage in strength, we could definitely secure the situation.

“I think we need to take him alive.”

“That would be best.”

“Can we take him with us?”

“We’ll have to try to know, but well, I’m not sure. The forest has been noisy since earlier.”

“…”

“It’s certain that the Young Master’s identity has been exposed. Muhyeong will probably release all his resources to try to overcome the current situation.”

A head-on confrontation would be certain defeat.

He wasn’t called one of the Seven Great Yokai for nothing.

Though Muhyeong wasn’t said to be a yokai specialized in combat, even with just what he currently possessed, Muhyeong had the capability to engage in battle with the other Seven Great Yokai and survive.

Considering that the minimum capability of the Seven Great Yokai was comparable to a Transcender, that would mean Muhyeong’s military strength was overwhelming compared to their group.

‘What should we do…’

After appearing to contemplate for a moment, Seohwa quietly exhaled. And then came her words.

“We need to devise an escape plan.”

“In this situation?”

“Precisely because it’s this situation.”

Flee in a straight line all the way to Daeri?

At first glance, it seemed like a good method, but in reality, it was impossible. With the unconscious Sect Leader of Spear Window Sect and a young child who knew not even a handful of martial arts—how far could they run while carrying them on their backs?

“What about creating a hideout?”

When she asked the question toward Baek Riseon, who had quietly appeared in midair, Baek Riseon gently fanned himself and answered matter-of-factly.

“It would be possible. But it would be breached quickly. Since we couldn’t erase the traces.”

“Disguising false traces would also…”

“Again, that would require time.”

This was a situation where every second counted. There would be no time to disguise traces or erase them.

“Either way, we need to buy time.”

“Time…”

What should they do?

After thinking for a moment, Seohwa turned her gaze toward Jeokyeol and swallowed. And then came her answer.

“Please draw their attention.”

“…I understand what you’re thinking, but I can’t hold them off for long alone. It’ll be hard to buy much time…”

“It’s okay. You just need to buy a little. All we need is to plant the perception in the enemy that we’re buying time.”

“Don’t tell me.”

“Yes.”

In a situation where they’d be suspicious if the trail was cut off, and there wasn’t enough time to disguise traces.

Then wouldn’t it work to just create new traces?

Seohwa glanced at Gakpyeong beside the unconscious Sobaek and nodded.

“Baek Riseon-nim, Sinui-nim, and Disciple Cheok, please remain here and hide.”

“…”

“Wangpal and I will head to Daeri.”

A decoy operation. That was the solution Seohwa proposed.

“Let’s start right away. We don’t have time.”

***

It became detached.

—Having no physical body is really troublesome at times like this.

Sensing the connection of souls felt from afar, I crossed my arms and observed the situation. Muhyeong’s presence spreading throughout the forest, and the group seemingly devising some plan in response.

‘As expected of Seohwa. She chose the most certain move.’

Rather than everyone remaining, she chose to have a couple of people become decoys to lure the enemy. This way, even if the decoys’ safety was uncertain, the safety of those being protected could be definitely secured.

A good move. Though I didn’t know how Muhyeong, the truly important factor, would respond, it was a move with an extremely high probability of success.

‘I can only hope Jeokyeol does well.’

So then, what do I do now?

—Hmm.

Is there a way I can help?

‘Doesn’t seem like there is.’

No matter how much I retained the energy sensitivity I had when alive, my level of sensing presence was similar to Jeokyeol’s. Even if I joined the group, I wouldn’t be able to properly fulfill a role.

That said, could I fight? No. Could I devise a clever strategy? No to that as well. The method Seohwa chose was already a proper strategy, so there was no need to go beyond that, was there?

‘It’ll be difficult even to buy time.’

Muhyeong already knew I was a soul.

Since I couldn’t exert physical force, I couldn’t leave false traces, and I couldn’t buy time by attacking the enemy either. If they were ordinary people or weak martial artists, I could restrict their movements by projecting killing intent, but Muhyeong’s level wasn’t at that level, was it?

‘Should I just watch?’

Well, wouldn’t that be fine?

The terror of the Great Yokai Muhyeong lay in approaching disguised as an ally, not as anyone else. But in this situation, they would maintain proper vigilance and suspect everyone, so it wouldn’t particularly be a problem.

They’ll handle it well on their own.

There’s no need to tell them everything like this. If there’s no way to help, isn’t it also a teacher’s duty to simply watch until they can do well?

‘Jeokyeol will handle things well on his own, so I should follow Seohwa’s direction.’

Slowly.

Moving my feet, which had become hazy as a ghost, I stepped toward where Seohwa and Wangpal had disappeared. Just in case, to help by at least distracting the enemy’s attention. And.

Finally, the moment I completely turned my back on Muhyeong’s direction and stepped toward where Seohwa had headed.

“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”

A tingling sensation brushed the back of my neck.

“…”

An overwhelming presence.

While suffering from the sensation that my head would burst the moment I took a step, I quietly turned around. Entering my turned vision was the figure of a woman wearing rags and with bandages wrapped around her fists.

“You don’t have feet… Ah. So you’re the ‘ghost’ that cowardly bastard Muhyeong mentioned?”

—You are.

“You know, right? Muhyeong.”

—You seem to have free will, so I don’t think you’re Muhyeong himself.

“Well, that’s because I’m a bit too strong for that guy to completely devour.”

Lightning flashed.

With a smirk, the woman took a step forward, and her fist tore through the air and stopped right in front of my nose. The sound arrived belatedly.

Paaaaang—!!!

“You, you just died once.”

Humming lightly and shrugging her shoulders, the woman passed through me and walked backward as she continued.

“My name is Hayul. My alias is… Fist Spirit, or perhaps Yokai Slaughterer? Either one is fine.”

—…

“Just because I have a grudge against yokai and have free will, it would be best not to make the mistake of thinking I’m on your side. Even if I look like this, I’m still in a position where I follow orders.”

One moment.

“I’ll give you one moment. That’s the maximum time I can give. Try running away in that time.”

The moment you’re caught, you die.

Looking at the woman who sat down with a smile, I swallowed and quickly launched my body toward where Seohwa had headed. The strike from just before came to mind.

‘I must escape somehow.’

If we stay here, everyone dies. Because.

The Fist Spirit I just saw was.

‘A Transcender.’

A monster that couldn’t be stopped by someone at mine or Jeokyeol’s level of skill.

Without a doubt, a monster.