Chapter 332
The demons could only have breached the Martial Alliance’s ironclad defenses because they had someone helping them from within.
It was obvious now that the collaborator was Hocheon Unit Lord Myung Jincheon.
Myung Jincheon had used the demons’ invasion as an excuse to break the taboo against opening the training chamber, thereby dispelling Cheol Gun-ak’s suspicions.
Even the metallic clatter he had made while taking a weapon from the rack had not been carelessness. He had deliberately used the noise to conceal the sound of drawing his blade.
Rage at the betrayal surged through Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak. His fingers tightened around Myung Jincheon’s throat.
“Hmph! My heart may be wounded, but I still have more than enough time to send a wicked woman like you to hell. So stop worrying about me and reveal who you are.”
“Do you truly believe I am the one feeling pain right now, Martial Supreme Venerable?”
“...!”
Myung Jincheon’s face had gone nearly purple from the pressure on his throat, yet there was not the slightest trace of pain in his voice.
Then he even began to laugh.
“Ho ho ho ho!”
That coy, feminine laughter coming from a man’s voice was grotesque beyond words.
“Enough of that vile laughter!”
Cheol Gun-ak roared, his gaze turning icy.
“It seems you somehow crawled into Unit Lord Myung’s body with a Soul-Separation Spirit-Borrowing Art. But don’t think I’m unaware that leaving your host is no simple matter.”
“To think you are so well versed even in great evil arts. You truly deserve to be Martial Alliance Leader. Then I suppose you also know that if the vessel imprisoning me is broken, I will naturally be released?”
At that question, Cheol Gun-ak had no choice but to slowly loosen his grip.
Color gradually returned to Myung Jincheon’s darkened face.
“Thank you for showing mercy, Martial Supreme Venerable. It may be someone else’s body, but I would feel rather guilty if it were ruined because of me. Besides, I still have many uses for Unit Lord Myung.”
Cheol Gun-ak forced down the rage boiling inside him.
“So that is why, even after accomplishing your purpose, you remained inside Unit Lord Myung’s body to prattle at me.”
“That’s right. I was worried you might lose your temper and immediately destroy this precious vessel. Though it seems my concern was unnecessary.”
“Why unnecessary?”
“Because you have already let go of him, haven’t you?”
“...!”
“Of course, you may change your mind and kill Unit Lord Myung even now. That is entirely up to you. I have already done everything I could for him in return for borrowing his body.”
Red energy began to seep slowly from Myung Jincheon.
“I cannot reveal my identity or origins because of a prohibition imposed by my order. I hope you will understand.”
Realizing that the wicked woman was preparing to leave Myung Jincheon’s body, Cheol Gun-ak hurriedly said,
“A Soul-Separation Spirit-Borrowing Art, and now talk of some prohibition... Your order must be the Blood Heresy Cult.”
“Ho ho ho! You must be terribly pressed for time, Martial Supreme Venerable. You’ve even resorted to throwing out guesses to test me.”
“...”
“My order is an orthodox faith with a thousand-year history. We are nothing like those corrupt secret ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) sects. And no matter how far back you search through the history of the Central Plains martial world, you will find no clue about us. My order has never once revealed itself there.”
The red energy flowing from Myung Jincheon thickened and gradually began to take shape.
“Ah. I suppose there was one exception. More than ten years ago, I revealed myself on Mount Wudang much as I have today.”
Cheol Gun-ak stiffened.
“...!”
He suddenly remembered the Wudang Sword Sovereign, who was said to have been rushing from place to place trying to resolve some strange calamity that had occurred on Mount Wudang.
So that calamity on Mount Wudang was this wicked woman’s doing!
“In any case, I should be going now. Unit Lord Myung begged me to leave him enough time to speak with you alone. I could hardly use up what little remains of your life, could I?”
Cheol Gun-ak could feel his body gradually stiffening as his blood cooled.
Even pouring his immense inner power and true qi through his body could only do so much to keep his blood circulating in place of a heart that had already stopped.
SSSSSS...
The crimson shape grew denser until it became the figure of a woman.
Her entire body was as red as blood, a sight so unnatural and grotesque that words could scarcely describe it.
WHOOOM...
The instant the red woman fully appeared, her form scattered like smoke.
Then she vanished.
*****
“Brother Kwak, why did you suddenly stop?”
Hu Gae asked, fighting to catch his breath.
The full moon had disappeared completely behind the western rocky peaks, and just as they had expected, the Wind-and-Sand Formation had activated.
At the same moment, an enormous storm of loess and sand had risen behind them and begun pursuing them, forcing the group to run for their lives.
They had to escape the formation’s range somehow before they could continue toward the Martial Alliance.
So when Kwak Yeon, who had been running ahead of him, abruptly stopped, Hu Gae could hardly keep from asking why.
“Brother Cheongmu!”
Instead of answering, Kwak Yeon spun around and called for Taoist Cheongmu.
Hu Gae turned as well.
“Huh? Taoist Cheongmu, what...?”
Taoist Cheongmu stood frozen roughly three zhang behind them.
Worse, his face had gone deathly pale, and his entire body was trembling.
A powerful sense of déjà vu struck Hu Gae.
Don’t tell me he saw another ghost.
Taoist Cheongmu had suffered a similar fit inside the caverns of the Great Demon Prison.
WHOOSH!
Kwak Yeon shot back like the wind and wrapped his arms around Taoist Cheongmu.
“It’s all right! You’re all right! Nothing is going to happen.”
“...Little Martial Uncle! That woman ghost is back.”
“I know. I’ll stop her from coming near you. That’s why I came running over here.”
Just as he had in the cavern, Kwak Yeon activated the Honwonmusang Technique and kept patting Cheongmu reassuringly.
This time, however, Cheongmu’s trembling did not subside so easily.
WHOOOOOSH!
Meanwhile, the loess sandstorm had nearly caught up to them.
“Brother, please find somewhere we can shelter for a moment.”
“Got it!”
Hu Gae hurriedly scanned the surrounding terrain for anything that might shield them from the storm.
“Brother Kwak! That pile of rocks three zhang to the right should do.”
Kwak Yeon helped Taoist Cheongmu over to the rocks.
The sandstorm engulfed them just as they arrived.
RATATATAT!
Grains of sand the size of seeds began pelting all three of them like hail.
“Brother Cheongmu, you should lie down for a while.”
“Little Martial Uncle, don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t move an inch. And since you’re lying down anyway, get some sleep.”
Kwak Yeon settled Taoist Cheongmu into a gap between the rocks and pressed his sleep point.
Then he removed his long robe and draped it over the sleeping Cheongmu.
“Use this too.”
Hu Gae took off his own long robe and held it out.
“...?”
“Taoist Cheongmu is built like a mountain. Your robe alone won’t cover half of him.”
“...”
Kwak Yeon silently accepted the robe and spread it over Cheongmu’s body.
“I still don’t understand what in the world is happening.”
Hu Gae pulled his outer garment up and tucked his head inside as he continued.
“Seeing the same ghost twice is strange enough. But in two completely different places?”
“...”
“Has Taoist Cheongmu ever done this before?”
Kwak Yeon shook his head.
“No.”
“Huh. Then is there really some ghost haunting the area around the Great Demon Prison? If so, why can’t anyone else see it...?”
Hu Gae tilted his head, then abruptly asked,
“Wait. How did you realize something was wrong with Taoist Cheongmu so quickly?”
Hu Gae had been running directly ahead of Cheongmu and had not even noticed when the Taoist stopped.
Yet Kwak Yeon, who had been far ahead of both of them, had stopped first.
More than that, he had immediately rushed back to Cheongmu.
It was impossible not to find that strange.
“I could simply feel it.”
“Hm? You just... felt it?”
Kwak Yeon could hardly tell him that the Honwonmusang Technique had made him feel Cheongmu’s fear at the same instant.
“Perhaps it’s because Taoist Cheongmu and I have spent so much time together.”
“Two hearts understanding each other without words, is that it?”
Hu Gae narrowed his eyes at Kwak Yeon.
His expression plainly said, You expect me to believe a lie that obvious?
Kwak Yeon thought for a moment before speaking, his eyes dark.
“I think Taoist Cheongmu may possess a special ability.”
“Hm? What kind of special ability?”
“The ability to sense evil energy.”
It sounded completely out of nowhere, but Kwak Yeon’s expression was serious enough that Hu Gae asked calmly,
“You mean the evil energy hanging over the world right now?”
“Yes.”
Kwak Yeon nodded.
“When Taoist Cheongmu first said he saw a ghost in the cavern, I wasn’t sure what to think.”
At the time, Kwak Yeon had wondered whether some memory of the incident Cheongmu had experienced on Mount Wudang had been so deeply engraved in him that the cavern had simply caused it to resurface.
“But now that he has seen the same ghost a second time, I no longer think we can dismiss it as coincidence.”
Hu Gae pulled his head back out from inside his coat.
“Tell me exactly what you’re thinking.”
“I think that whenever that evil energy appears somewhere under heaven, Taoist Cheongmu senses it and becomes afraid. And that fear takes the form of a ghost before his eyes.”
“...”
Hu Gae stared at him in disbelief.
Kwak Yeon continued.
“I cannot explain the details, but I am certain Taoist Cheongmu once experienced something connected to that evil energy.”
“You’re saying the woman ghost he sees is the true form of the evil energy?”
“I think that may be the case. Taoist Cheongmu said that before he lost his memories of the past, he had seen a female ghost as red as blood.”
Hu Gae pondered his answer for a moment.
“It sounds absurd. But considering Taoist Cheongmu passed through the Great Demon Prison’s spiritual formation as though it were nothing, I can’t simply dismiss the possibility either.”
He nodded slowly.
Then his body suddenly stiffened.
“Then... are you saying that the evil energy that has been hiding all this time has finally begun to stir in earnest?”
Kwak Yeon nodded.
“It has appeared twice in quick succession, so it is clearly doing something. But I cannot say for certain that it has begun moving openly in earnest.”
“Then doesn’t that mean something terrible may be happening in the martial world right now?”
“...”
Hu Gae watched Kwak Yeon’s gaze grow even darker.
Only then did he realize that Kwak Yeon had been worrying about precisely that ever since they stopped.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
They were in the middle of the Gobi Desert, more than three thousand li from the Central Plains, with the Wind-and-Sand Formation itself holding them back.
All Hu Gae had accomplished was to make Kwak Yeon more anxious.
“No.”
Kwak Yeon shook his head calmly.
“Worrying about it won’t change anything.”
“Well, that’s true, but...”
Kwak Yeon raised his head toward the sky.
His words had been calm, but he could do nothing about the unease tightening around his chest.
ROOOOAR!
As the surroundings brightened, the sandstorm grew even fiercer, obscuring the sky almost completely.
WHOOOOSH!
A tornado suddenly tore through the storm, and for a brief moment the sand subsided.
Even a supreme formation could not contend against the forces of nature.
Thanks to that, a patch of clear sky appeared overhead.
Darkness was fleeing before the dawn, and the sky had already taken on a distinct blue cast.
Even so, a few stars stubbornly continued to shine.
As though competing to see which could withstand the sunlight the longest.
So even the heavens have their own martial world.
A bitter smile touched Kwak Yeon’s lips.
Then—
FLASH!
A meteor blazed with brilliant light as it streaked across the center of the heavens and vanished.
A falling star.
And with it, the remaining stubborn stars quietly faded from sight.
A powerful premonition seized Kwak Yeon.
He sprang to his feet.
“Brother, we need to leave.”
The brief sleep should have calmed Taoist Cheongmu by now.
And Kwak Yeon had figured out how to break through the Wind-and-Sand Formation.
There was no reason to linger another moment.