◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 514: Into the Darkness (9)
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As expected, ever since I discarded the [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual], the pressure from those pursuing us had noticeably eased.
One or two groups still followed us, but they were either fewer in number than us or nothing more than ragtag mobs.
They took one look at our force and turned back.
After passing through several caves, no one remained who was chasing us for the Sword Sovereign’s martial manual.
The people we encountered at each passage withdrew instead, wary of a clash. Thanks to that, we were able to move easily for a while.
Then, when we entered another cave, I slowly came to a stop.
“Are you tired?”
I shook my head at Dang Seohui’s question.
She sheathed her heavy saber and slipped both hands into her long sleeves.
It was the stance she used when preparing to use concealed weapons, her specialty.
‘She really is impressive.’
I had not said a word, yet she immediately understood that something was about to happen.
Bzzzzz.
Feeling the Red Phoenix Bangle on my wrist vibrate, I turned around.
After I stopped our group as I led it and approached them alone, the five Black Path martial artists reached for their weapons.
“What business do you have?”
“I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Have you seen any members of the Moyong Clan?”
“The Moyong Clan? Well, even if we have, I see no reason to tell you.”
A man with a long scar across his cheek sneered.
The twitching corner of his mouth irritated me.
“I don’t like that attitude.”
“What?”
[Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms]
[First Form]
[Extreme Swiftness]
Only after the Scarlet Radiance Sword I swung without warning had passed him did the scarred man realize something was wrong.
Screeeech!
By then, his head had already fallen to the ground.
“You crazy bastard…!”
“W-What the hell?!”
The remaining four Black Path martial artists hurriedly drew their swords and sabers, coating them in qi force.
Their turbulent internal energy erupted, filling the cave with suffocating pressure.
“W-Wait!”
The man with a ponytail, standing beside the scarred man’s severed body, hurriedly raised a hand.
It was a desperate attempt to stop us from approaching.
“W-What is this…?”
His voice trembled uncontrollably.
With a smile on my lips, I looked down at the scarred man’s head.
“Then he should not have sneered at me.”
“D-Don’t tell me you really killed him for that?”
“He should have answered when I asked.”
“You’re Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect, aren’t you?”
“So what?”
The ponytailed man stared at me as though he could not believe it.
“You have deep ties with the Black Alliance…! Yet this, this makes no sense…!”
“Why doesn’t it make sense?”
At my question, the man’s eyes went blank.
“I’m not part of the Black Alliance. Do you people from the Demonic Cult think I belong to the Black Path?”
Shock flickered across his face before disappearing.
“W-What are you talking about? The Demonic Cult?”
“No?”
“Absolutely not!”
Then why did the Red Phoenix Bangle keep vibrating, telling me they were demonic beings?
“Hmm. I see. So?”
“So…?”
“Is there a problem just because I didn’t like his attitude?”
“W-Wait, I’ll tell you where we saw the Moyong Clan…!”
“No need. I already heard where they are.”
“…You crazy bastard.”
He thrust out his long saber and aimed for one of my vital acupoints.
I scattered the Twin Heavens Sword Art to block his attack, then unleashed the Silent Sound Azure Water Hand.
Thud!
The Silent Sound Azure Water Hand threaded through the tangled illusion swords and saber arcs, striking his body.
The moment he sensed something was wrong, he hurriedly retreated.
His companions rushed in, but Yuseong and the others did not remain idle either.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Overwhelming martial force rained down on them. They resisted to the end, but eventually lost their lives.
The ponytailed man slowly froze as he watched his companions die one by one.
“This is insane. If the Black Alliance finds out…”
I approached him and whispered into his ear.
“You wanted the Martial Alliance and the Black Alliance to fight each other like mad, didn’t you? Just like what you people did here?”
“…Lunatic. You must be delusional, or completely insane…”
“But you know, things probably will not go the way you want here either. I intend to ruin your plans.”
I looked at his face and curled the corner of my mouth upward.
“Because I want to screw that Little Demon bastard over.”
“…!”
The ponytailed man’s eyes suddenly turned black.
I sensed murky demonic qi from his body, and the frost began to fade.
“If you’re going to act, see it through to the end, you idiot.”
I sent another Silent Sound Azure Water Hand into his head.
“Cough!”
The demonic qi and coldness that had barely maintained their balance became tangled. He spewed out a basinful of blood.
Whoooosh!
At the same time, the frost froze his body faster and with ever more intense cold.
As I turned away from his corpse, Ilgak approached me.
“Benefactor Jin… how did you identify them?”
He seemed amazed that I had exposed the identities of people who showed no outward signs.
I could not tell him the truth, so I gave him a rough explanation.
“Two of them wore Black Lion Society uniforms, but one had the insignia of the Demonic Path Sect. Even among the Black Path, some groups are bitter enemies, yet they were chatting like old friends.”
“Huh… I couldn’t tell at all.”
Avoiding Ilgak’s uncomfortably intent gaze, I searched through their belongings.
There was nothing that clearly marked them as Demonic Cult members.
“Let’s go.”
They were the people who had tormented me so much in my past life.
Now, I was the one following their trail.
‘Little Demon…’
The excitement of the hunt did not fade easily.
#
Do Gwangsu thought Jin Sowoon was insane.
After all, no martial artist, no, no person in their right mind would ever say they intended to burn the original [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual].
Part of him had felt relieved as well.
Destroying the original [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual] was a terrible waste, but he knew how much more favorable one’s chances of survival became when one did not cling to material value in a situation like this.
Besides, he had barely managed to memorize the entire [Primordial Mystery Sword Manual].
If the original disappeared, that could only benefit him.
Yet his relief did not last long.
“Attack.”
“???”
Jin Sowoon would suddenly ambush people who had been standing still and take their lives.
“Pass by.”
“???”
Then he would ignore hostile people and continue walking.
At times, he attacked larger groups, while at other times he ignored smaller ones.
He killed people who appeared to be from the White Path and gave some sort of pill to people who appeared to be from the Black Path.
“Great Hero Jin… what exactly are you giving them?”
What Jin Sowoon had handed over was so strange that Do Gwangsu could not help asking.
“Poisonous mist fills this Sword Tomb. It’s an antidote for that.”
“!!!”
Poison? How had he failed to notice it until now?
With someone from the Tang Clan beside Jin Sowoon, the claim sounded even more credible.
“W-Why aren’t you giving one to me?”
“You? I don’t know. You don’t need one.”
‘This crazy bastard…’
A curse slipped through Do Gwangsu’s mind at Jin Sowoon’s irresponsible behavior.
“You just cursed me in your head, didn’t you?”
“…H-How could I dare curse a great hero like you?”
Why was he so absurdly perceptive too?
Do Gwangsu could not relax for even a moment.
“C-Could I ask what criteria you use to decide whether to fight?”
“Hmm. Come here.”
Jin Sowoon beckoned while examining a corpse.
“Can you see this?”
“What? What do you… Gah!”
Do Gwangsu recoiled in horror as he looked at the corpse’s face.
Its eyes had turned black as ink, without a trace of white remaining.
“It’s one of those demonic beings.”
“D-Demonic beings…?”
It was clearly some sort of thing empowered by dark arts rooted in unorthodox methods.
But demonic beings?
“Could you mean the Demonic Cult?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah!”
Do Gwangsu let out a laugh before he could stop himself.
Seeing that Jin Sowoon’s expression had not changed, he felt awkward.
“Didn’t they disappear five hundred years ago?”
“They didn’t disappear. They went into hiding.”
“…”
Just as he was about to call it an absurd leap, a thought occurred to him.
‘…Come to think of it.’
He remembered the “monster” that had appeared when the group he belonged to was wiped out.
He had thought it was a demonic creature living within the massive maze called the Sword Tomb, but perhaps that was not the case.
“G-Great Hero…”
Do Gwangsu was about to explain what he had seen, but Jin Sowoon placed a finger over his lips.
At the same time, Ilgak and Dang Seohui took up combat stances.
Soon, around twenty people emerged from the cave.
The presence each one gave off was far from ordinary.
‘Please…’
He prayed desperately for Jin Sowoon to say, “Pass by.”
“Attack.”
With Jin Sowoon’s brief command, Do Gwangsu’s life was placed in danger once again.
#
‘Would you look at these bastards.’
The ones we had encountered on the way here had all tried their best to hide their true identities and deceive us.
Some only revealed themselves when they were about to die, while others died easily because they kept up the act to the end.
These people were different.
Rrrrrrrr!
The Red Phoenix Bangle’s violent vibration was enough to make it seem as though it might shatter.
More importantly, they had no intention of hiding themselves.
“Gasp!”
Nam Hwaseong let out an undignified yelp, while golden energy from the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic gathered around Ilgak’s clasped hands.
“…Everyone, be careful.”
Dang Seohui also issued a warning, having sensed that something was wrong.
Then.
Crunch!
I packed both legs with internal energy, kicked off the ground, and shot forward.
Bzzzzz.
The Twin Heavens Sword Art, imbued with condensed sword qi, unfolded.
Shhhhrk!
Illusion swords and Changing Swords left countless trails through the air, lighting up the dark cave.
Boom!
A grim aura burst from the demonic beings as well.
Their demonic qi was vicious enough to make my skin tingle.
The moment the energy of the Taeul True Scripture collided with their demonic qi.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A massive explosion erupted, and the shockwave spread in every direction.
As expected, they paid no heed to it and burst through the explosion.
[Three White Moon Heaven-Subduing Forms]
[First Form]
[Extreme Swiftness]
A line shot forward, cleaving through the space itself, saturated with the explosion’s aftermath and lingering sword qi.
Screeeech!
With the sound of air splitting apart, the demonic beings’ bodies were cut in two.
——–!
They scattered blood and collapsed to the ground with silent screams.
Even rougher demonic qi surged forth, making them even faster.
“Why, are you tired of acting already?”
“…”
A sword stabbed toward me without answering my taunt.
It was exactly that vicious, threatening, defiant sword I had felt in my past life.
Back then, the Lesser Heaven Sword Art had been my only sword art capable of answering that dangerous blade.
“Things are very different now.”
Whoosh!
The Sacred Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand erupted and pierced a demonic being’s chest.
“Cough!”
The demonic being convulsed in burning pain before collapsing. Flames rose as they consumed its body, brightly illuminating the dark cave.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Things like silver dust shot from Dang Seohui’s hands, and the demonic beings swinging their swords suddenly halted as though caught in a spiderweb.
Slice!
She moved her fingers as if plucking invisible strings in the air.
Creeeak!
The bodies of the demonic beings that had stopped began to separate one by one.
Slice!
Having carved people apart as if it were a magic trick, Dang Seohui did not retreat. Instead, she charged a step farther forward.
The demonic beings rushing at her while scattering demonic qi flinched and took up defensive positions.
The rest of Jin Sowoon’s companions were formidable as well.
Bzzzzz.
Golden palm force shot from Ilgak’s hands as he led the White Tiger Formation alongside Geumpyo.
Those unable to escape the massive palm force, like the palm of the Buddha, were crushed to death beneath its pressure in a brutal fashion.
Geumpyo raised their shield against the people spewing demonic qi, while Yayul Geuk and Nam Hwaseong slipped through the gaps to attack.
The only weakness was Do Gwangsu, but once the battle began, he had hidden himself in a corner. No one had the spare attention to worry about him.
Slice!
Another demonic being was struck by the Scarlet Radiance Sword and fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Heavenly Demon…”
Before he could finish, I grabbed him by the collar.
“Don’t go to the underworld yet. Wait a little, and I’ll soon send that so-called Heavenly Demon to join you.”
“…How dare you speak of our exalted…”
The demonic being could not finish speaking.
The Heaven-Ascending Sword cut across his throat, turning him into a wandering ghost.
Swish.
I flicked the Scarlet Radiance Sword and the Heaven-Ascending Sword, shaking off all the blood.
By the time I quietly sheathed them, the remaining demonic beings had all been dealt with.
“It feels like their attacks are getting fiercer.”
“They’ll get worse from here.”
They knew we were hunting demonic beings. They would not remain still.
It did not matter. If more came, we only had to kill more.
“Does it make you unhappy because it’s tiring?”
When I asked with a faint smile, Dang Seohui stared at my face for a moment before clenching her fist tightly.
“…Then you need to give us snack breaks more often.”
I stroked her head to show my agreement.
After dealing with twenty demonic beings, we started moving again.
According to what we had heard on the way, there was not much distance left to where the Moyong Clan was supposed to be…
Yet somehow, the path felt different from the information we had been given.
“Do Gwangsu.”
“Y-Yes?”
“You said you’ve been through this area before, didn’t you?”
I unfolded the treasure map.
“As I told you before, the treasure map is completely useless.”
“Then how are we supposed to get there?”
“What? Why are you asking me…?”
“If you can’t even help with this, why should I keep you around?”
“…!”
Do Gwangsu shuddered as though he had only just realized he had been tricked.
Still, he showed not the slightest complaint.
He only clutched his head, trying to come up with a solution.
He was not an idiot after all.
‘Good.’
Seeing this different side of him gave me a strange feeling.
“T-Then I’ll lead the way.”
“Yeah, that’s a good attitude.”
“B-But you have to protect me.”
“If you find the path properly.”
“…”
He had said that looking at the treasure map was meaningless, yet Do Gwangsu did not let go of it.
Instead, he seemed to be using it to regain his sense of direction, studying it even more carefully.
“Come to think of it, I’ve passed through here before. I’ll guide you.”
Once he found his bearings, his guidance went smoothly.
“I remember this place. This is where I first started touching the moss…”
There were certainly many places that differed from the treasure map’s information.
“Ah! I met some wicked and vile people here and nearly died…”
“Do Gwangsu. Do we look like we have time to listen to your adventure story?”
“…Ah, sorry. We’re almost there.”
Hearing Do Gwangsu say that we were almost there, a cold feeling settled over my heart.
Would we find corpses, just as Yong Soa had said? Or…
‘Are they still alive?’
I shook my head, letting the thought go.
No matter what awaited us, the important thing was that I could finally meet Moyong Seol here.
“Go through this cave… then turn right at this passage…”
Do Gwangsu’s distant voice became clear again.
“…Yes! It’s right here!”
Do Gwangsu stretched out his hand and pointed down the path to the right.
Following his hand, we turned our eyes that way.
“Uh…”
“Hmm…?”
With uneasy groans, we could not speak for a while.
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