Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The story from before Paeng Jin entered Mujeong Hall.

—Jin-a. Do you know who the scariest person in the world is?

At the question from Paeng Geuk, his older brother and Small Family Head , Paeng Jin tilted his head.

—Isn’t it the Evil Path ? Brother.

—No. Evil Path bastards are cunning and base, but they’re not scary.

—Then the Demonic Cult .

—Those guys are the same. They’re vicious and cruel, but not scary. Should an Orthodox Path  person even have fear of Evil Path  or Demonic Path  scum in the first place?

—If it’s not those two either, well…… yokai ?

—Yokai aren’t human, are they?

At Paeng Geuk’s continued denials, Paeng Jin at the time shrugged his shoulders. If it’s not the Demonic Cult, Evil Path, or yokai, he had no guesses.

—I don’t know.

—If you don’t know, I’ll tell you. Engrave it clearly. The scariest thing in the world is a crazy bastard.

—……Crazy about swords?

—No, just a crazy bastard. A bastard who’s insane so you don’t know what he’ll do!

Paeng Geuk answered decisively and gripped Paeng Jin’s shoulders firmly, giving him a solemn warning.

—If you get involved with those kinds of people, your life becomes tiresome. There’s not a single benefit. So when you enter Mujeong Hall, you must absolutely not get entangled with those Baek Ri Family bastards. Understand?

—……Didn’t you just say to be careful of crazy bastards?

—Those guys are exactly the crazy bastards.

—Every single one of them. All of them!

Seeing Paeng Geuk earnestly warning him, Paeng Jin laughed. Even so, they’re the same Five Great Families , and he thought Paeng Geuk was exaggerating to tease him.

And now.

“I should have listened to brother back then. Damn it.”

Paeng Jin was regretting not listening to Paeng Geuk’s words then.

“Keuung.”

As he got up from lying down, the small pile of stones covering his body fell with a clatter and slid beneath him. Soon, a sharp pain washed over him.

“……I feel like I’m dying.”

How long had he been unconscious?

Having checked his body’s condition, Paeng Jin turned his stiff neck and smiled bitterly.

“The condition isn’t bad though.”

From the pain, it seems he suffered minor injuries, but there’s no hindrance to movement. Considering he fell when the ground collapsed, it could be called heavenly fortune .

‘The probability of it happening is low, so that’s why it’s called heavenly fortune. Thinking it happened by luck is too optimistic a way of thinking.’

This collapse was intended by Seonwoo Gang, or the Muryeon Hall trainees. If they could have buried them with this one collapse, they naturally would have done so. But the result wasn’t that.

Then it’s right to think this was originally meant to happen this way. And that wasn’t coincidence but inevitability.

“Utcha.”

Having finished his thoughts, Paeng Jin fully rose and looked around, frowning.

“No one’s here…… Hmm, they must have pulled something.”

If the ground collapsed, he should have fallen together with his comrades.

However, looking around, no one exists except Paeng Jin. His comrades wouldn’t have abandoned him and left first, nor would they have turned to dust, so naturally Muryeon Hall must have pulled some trick.

“This is a headache.”

To be honest, either way is troublesome. In any case, this is inside the Sword Tomb and the mechanical formations  and illusionary formations remain intact, isn’t it?

Either way, for Paeng Jin whose knowledge depth is shallow regarding these matters, it can be considered a bad situation. Mechanisms aside, if caught by an illusionary formation once, it takes considerable time to escape on one’s own.

First, he should go either way and rendezvous with fellow trainees, which would be the best plan.

“I should move first.”

Having checked his appearance again, Paeng Jin kicked his toes and drew up his internal energy to leave the passage. And.

“First, I’ll try going this way…….”

The moment Paeng Jin’s toes were about to kick off the ground.

Swaeeeeek!

“That won’t do.”

Paeng Jin hastily stepped back one step at the whip flying through the air, striking with force.

Kagagagak!

The whip that flew in like lightning dug deeply into the passage below, leaving traces. An attack with enough force that if he hadn’t stepped back, he would have been rendered unable to fight in one blow.

But he didn’t get hit. Having let out a sigh of relief, Paeng Jin raised his gaze to look at the shadow walking out from the darkness.

“If you guys rendezvous, the plan gets messed up, you know?”

“A whip…… Oh Ryeong?”

“Correct.”

Watching Oh Ryeong walk out from the darkness, Paeng Jin let out a chuckle. It was a welcome thing after all.

“You’ve improved a lot, Oh Ryeong. It’s hard to think of you as the old Oh Ryeong now. What on earth happened in those two months?”

“Well, a lot happened? At least enough that I won’t be pathetically defeated by you guys.”

“Is that so?”

Having answered lightly, Paeng Jin smiled deeply while gauging the attack from just before.

“But it doesn’t seem like you’ve improved enough to beat me. Are you really okay alone?”

“What?”

“I don’t know what you went through for two months to improve your skills this much, but isn’t that still too optimistic? To say you’ll handle me alone…….”

“That’s not it though? Who said I’m alone?”

“……What?”

“Am I stupid? Coming alone.”

Oh Ryeong responded with a laugh to Paeng Jin’s words and glanced to the side. And at the same time, Muryeon Hall trainees appeared one by one.

“Well, if it’s four against one, I think that’s enough?”

At Oh Ryeong’s deep smile, Paeng Jin fell silent. Four against one. A desperate situation.

Anyone would be intimidated and give up in this situation. There’s no solution when the power difference is this overwhelming. However, Paeng Jin is a martial artist .

A martial artist never gives up in any situation. Absolutely never.

That’s why Paeng Jin opened his mouth.

“H-how about a draw?”

“Bullshit.”

The whip flew in.

In the era when humans lived with stone, wood, and bronze, humans could not defeat yokai.

This is natural. A yokai’s claws were too sharp compared to stone, its hide too thick to pierce with wood, and its agile movements were also impossible for humans to follow.

They have different weight classes, different origins. Yokai are predators, humans are prey. That was the standardized story. To yokai of that era, humans were worse than bugs, merely food.

However, that structure soon changed.

As humans harbored not fear but anger.

Not submitting to the strong, but having the heart to ‘hunt’ the strong.

“Squad Three should be conquering Region Three about now.”

“Kkeulreok! Probably.”

Inside the dark cavern.

At Seomun Cheok’s words as he carried his spear on his back and spoke quietly, Seonwoo Gang spat out black blood after finishing detoxification and wiped his mouth. A refreshing feeling as if something stuffy had been cleared out.

“We used more time than expected.”

Even someone with abundant internal energy cannot avoid poisoning.

No matter how much internal energy you have, it doesn’t mean you won’t be affected by poison. It just becomes easier to expel it.

Even for Seonwoo Gang, who has the best internal energy among Muryeon Hall trainees, he inevitably falls short compared to Mujeong Hall trainees who grew up eating all sorts of elixirs  since childhood. Enduring poisoning is never an easy decision.

However, even so, Seonwoo Gang absolutely had to arrive at that place before the Mujeong Hall trainees passed in front of it.

Because beneath that collapsed passage, there was an illusionary formation.

A ‘Random Teleportation Formation .’

“I’m glad the terrain-moving illusionary formation remained as recorded. I was worried what if my guess was wrong.”

“Didn’t we say that since the path gets blocked midway during progression, the movement illusionary formation would remain?”

“Even if the probability is high, it’s still a guess. The illusionary artists could have arbitrarily changed it. Anyway, things worked out well.”

At Seomun Cheok’s words, Seonwoo Gang smiled bitterly and shook his head, continuing.

“The Random Teleportation Formation can move to a total of twelve locations. Ideally, if they each fell to one location and all twelve are separated…….”

“It’s hard to expect heavenly fortune.”

“Right.”

A Random Teleportation Formation randomly sends opponents away. That means in the worst case, all sixteen people could be simultaneously transported to one location.

Of course, it won’t be quite that bad, but considering bad luck, three or even four people could cluster in one location. To face such people, at least four need to move together.

“From here, we need to handle at least seven or eight.”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“No, it is possible. I’ll make it possible. If not, I won’t have the face to meet the Sect Master. Right?”

“That’s…… not wrong.”

A perfect plan.

—There’s no hope in a frontal confrontation. Then wouldn’t it be enough to win before fighting?

If the enemy is strong, make the enemy weak. If you can’t face sixteen with sixteen, just face eight with sixteen.

The execution is theirs, but the one who laid out the plan’s framework is Baek Riyun. If they lose after raising the odds of victory this perfectly, nothing would be more disgraceful.

“I won’t lose.”

The framework of the plan is simple. After all, the goal of this gate is to seize the secret manual before it ‘falls into enemy hands.’

But there are all sorts of traps on the path to the secret manual. Perhaps undead creatures  or demons might be guarding it. No matter how well you know the path, there’s no guarantee you can seize the secret manual before the Mujeong Hall trainees chase you down.

Then what if you think in reverse?

If there’s no enemy, the secret manual can’t be stolen, can it?

Kuguguung!

“Looks like they’ve completed the blockade.”

The ground rumbling again.

At the signal that they’ve blocked the path leading to the ‘secret manual,’ Seomun Cheok half-opened his eyes and gripped his spear tightly.

“Let’s move soon too. If we delay any longer, we won’t be able to properly occupy the region.”

“Right.”

At Seomun Cheok’s words, Seonwoo Gang nodded, quickly circulated his internal energy once, got up from his spot, and began walking.

“The other kids are working hard for us, so we should cut down at least one squad too. Right?”

“Three or more would be a bit tough.”

“It’s okay. Even if it’s three, as long as Namgung Hyeon, Cheonggyeong, Paeng Jin, or Baek Risan aren’t in one squad, we can definitely handle it. No matter how much training they’ve done in all sorts of things, we’re far more advantageous in a dark room.”

Training to hide presence. Training to detect killing intent. And bloody battles with yokai that find human presence like ghosts.

Each experience from Uicheonmun lives and breathes as bone and flesh inside Seonwoo Gang and Seomun Cheok. Fighting in a dark room like this will be far more advantageous.

“We’re almost there.”

“Let’s put out the fire first.”

Hook!

Having confirmed they arrived at the path where two passages merge, Seomun Cheok looked around and extinguished the fire on the lantern. Simultaneously, the cave becomes pitch black like darkness.

“Let’s communicate with hand signals from now on.”

[Good…… They’re coming.]

At Seonwoo Gang’s words, Seomun Cheok answered with hand signals and held his breath at the presence he suddenly felt. And.

“Cheonggyeong! Paeng Jin! Where are you!”

The moment they confirmed the owner of the footsteps.

[Namgung Hyeon. Alone.]

[Windfall.]

The same smile rose on both Seomun Cheok and Seonwoo Gang’s lips.