The lights of the campfire spread low.
Three bonfires.
More than half of the twenty new members were already collapsed in sleep.
The rest were motionless with their eyes closed.
Dong Bongsu sat at a distance from the fire.
The darkness behind him was deep.
Moonlight lay thinly upon the plain, and stars were scattered above the distant mountain ridge.
His gaze first turned to Seok Gyeong.
Lying down, he was slowly moving his feet.
His lips were twitching minutely.
Was he repeating the verses to himself?
'He's picking up speed as he starts to fill up on his own.
The luggage was placed right by his head.
A portion for two people.
He hadn't thrown it away in the end.
It must be a habit with rock-bottom efficiency.
It looked quite heavy.
However.
When an inefficient action is repeated, it becomes less a habit and more a conviction.
A human who moves by conviction is hard to break.
For him, that was enough.
Dong Bongsu's gaze shifted.
Hoae.
She was crouched by the bonfire, massaging the feet of two children in turn.
The children were already asleep, but Hoae's hands did not stop.
She had spent half the day practically running, chanting the verses, checking on all twenty individuals, and helping fallen members back to their feet.
And even in her spare time, she massaged another's feet.
Seeing the slight tremble in Hoae's fingertips, it was clear she was exhausted.
Her breathing had not yet evened out..
Since she was disseminating the footwork, she couldn't have used her own properly, so her stamina and internal energy consumption must have been far greater than the other members.
This type of human is the most troublesome.
A human who moves by efficiency is easy to predict.
They follow the path of profit.
A human who moves by emotion is also not difficult.
One just needs to grasp the type of emotion.
But.
The type that takes care of others even beyond their own limits is unpredictable.
Because their motivation is not profit or emotion, but something closer to 'instinct'.
Similar to Seok Gyeong, but a very subtly different kind.
And... A person who doesn't stop is dangerous because the very fact that they don't stop infects their surroundings.
The source of the contagion doesn't know it's a pathogen.
That is the core of this type.
This kind of person has the potential to evolve at any time, if only given a trigger.
Dong Bongsu stood up.
Thud.
One step.
He had intended to approach silently, but deliberately made a sound.
Hoae raised her head.
"Mister?"
Hah, Kim Rae-won smiled.
The mask smiled well, as it was meant to.
"Not sleeping yet?"
"The children's feet are a bit..."
"How is it?"
Hoae hesitated.
She lowered her head for a moment, then quietly withdrew her hands.
Kim Rae-won sat down in front of her.
The firelight fell on half of each of their faces.
"What is?"
"Do you think you're earning your keep?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"You're doing well."
"If you say so, then I guess I am?"
Kim Rae-won lightly ruffled her hair.
"Yes. However."
Hoae looked up at him.
"From now on, you'll need a different kind of resolve."
"What kind of resolve?"
"Because this is the Jianghu."
"In the Jianghu... how does one earn their keep well?"
Kim Rae-won stared at Hoae for a moment, then turned his gaze to the distance and said.
"You have to kill well."
Despite hearing such words, Hoae looked in the same direction as Kim Rae-won, unfazed, and spoke calmly.
"That... I'm prepared for it."
"I see."
"Yes. You said it before, didn't you?"
"What did I say?"
"Tsk. You don't even remember what you said?"
"It's because I'm a fool."
"A fool is that strong?"
"Fools are always strong. You fool."
"Then that's good, being a fool. That thing."
"..."
"Anyway, back then... You said as long as we don't walk an evil path, it's fine for us to go any way we want. You said that, Mister."
"Well, that's right. As long as you're not evil, as long as you don't turn away from goodness, in a dog-eat-dog world like this, you can be a wandering hero, a true hero."
"I don't know about such grand things. For me, it's enough not to turn my back on the people here now... my family."
Dong Bongsu smiled.
"That too is a hero. You don't have to be a hero to everyone."
"Still, you said it back then. You said it again, Mister."
"What did I say?"
"That if we walk an evil path... it would be a great experience for you."
"..."
"That, as much as you painstakingly raised us, as much as we grew, it would become a great experience for you."
"Did I say that?"
"Yes. I thought about it for a long time, and though I couldn't understand what it meant, it made me firmly resolve one thing."
"What?"
"Not to become evil."
"..."
"And to become a hero while I'm at it. Hehet."
Kim Rae-won looked at Hoae, who was laughing brightly like a child for the first time in a while, and smiled.
"Yes. Let's definitely become that. If..."
"?"
"If, by any chance, a day comes when you decide to become evil, make up your mind to be destructive enough to destroy the entire world. You have to become that evil at least-"
Kim Rae-won smiled even more brightly than Hoae.
It was a smile so clear, without a single speck of dust.
"To be able to survive."
"Nah, I won't do that."
Kim Rae-won ruffled Hoae's hair again and said.
"You never know what can happen in a person's life."
"..."
"Become strong. Strong enough to make the entire world your experience."
A moment of silence.
The bonfire crackled.
A spark flew up and immediately died.
Hoae bit her lip, then released it.
Her heartbeat quickened for a moment before steadying.
Resolve.
That one word was what Dong Bongsu read.
"Yep!"
Her head slowly came up.
"Good."
Dong Bongsu stood up.
No more words were necessary.
Click.
[Guild Quest - Threshold of Growth]
[Progress: 15%-16%]
[Remaining: 6 days 15 hours]
'1%.
It was still minuscule.
But from now on, it would change more rapidly.
Tomorrow, it will be twice as fast as today.
* * *
Day 2.
The pace doubled.
People began to collapse one after another, but Hoae ran at the front, demonstrating the form of the Spirit Step herself, while the children tirelessly helped the fallen members back to their feet from the rear.
Seok Gyeong, even while carrying the luggage of two people, held his ground in the middle of the formation.
All the while, his muttering of the verses never ceased.
Two complete dropouts.
The rest survived.
Click.
[Progress: 24%]
Day 3.
Punching and kicking were added to the running.
Before the morning march, Kim Rae-won had the formation line up and gave a short demonstration.
One form.
He thrust his left fist into the air.
That was all.
"Strike like this. While running."
At that one phrase, the twenty of them began running while punching the air.
Punching while running was harder than breathing while running.
The moment a fist was extended, the breath was cut off, and when the breath was cut off, the footwork crumbled.
Hoae immediately translated.
"Strike when you exhale! At the very moment Qi is about to pass through your Qihae acupoint, plant your left foot on the ground at the same time!"
To connect exhalation, foot movement, and strike into one.
A structure that placed the fist upon the circulation of the Spirit Step.
'She connected something I never taught her on her own.
Dong Bongsu's eyes narrowed slightly.
Hoae had instantly figured out that the timing of the exhalation in the Spirit Step verses was the optimal timing for a strike, without once messing up her footwork.
The seedling was planted well.
However, it had strayed slightly from the expected direction, and the predicted speed was also off by a small margin.
I've never liked things like this... but it was an unexpectedly interesting variable.
Click.
[Progress: 45%]
Afternoon of Day 4.
Instead of a horizon, a lake came into view.
Colorful Lake.
A place once called the Bandit Lake.
A lawless land where forty-six fortresses of mountain bandits, water bandits, and horse bandits swarmed.
It was empty now.
Because, of course, I had wiped it out.
'Are we about half a day faster than planned?"
It was the result of the members' growth rate increasing the marching speed.
Three days ago, those who would collapse after running properly for just two hours could now endure for four to six hours.
The circulation of the Spirit Step had fundamentally changed their stamina efficiency.
They made a base out of an empty mountain fortress on the north shore of Colorful Lake.
The walls were sturdy, and the roof remained.
The previous owner must have been a diligent mountain bandit.
The lake was vast.
The setting sun shattered on its surface, living up to its name.
Colorful.
The colors were literally scattered.
The members stared blankly at the lake.
With legs that had run for three and a half days, they shouldn't have had the leisure to appreciate the scenery, but still, their eyes stopped.
"From here on, things change."
Kim Rae-won stood before the formation.
"Until now, you ran. From tomorrow, you fight."
Tension spread among the members.
Hoae nodded without a word.
Seok Gyeong set down his luggage and clenched his fists.
* * *
From the 5th day, the intensity of the training changed in quality.
Right after waking up, a full-speed Spirit Step sprint.
A course around Colorful Lake.
Thirty li.
In the morning, basic punching and kicking.
A thousand punches, a thousand kicks.
In sync with the Spirit Step's breathing.
In the afternoon, sparring.
They paired up and traded blows.
Hoae took on the member who didn't have a partner, and Seok Gyeong, who was paired with a member smaller than himself, lost every time.
It was an obvious result, as he had no foundation in martial arts.
But Seok Gyeong learned by being hit.
An attack he had been hit with once, he would half-dodge the second time, and counter the third.
It seemed he had now moved beyond the luggage-carrier stage.
'A beast.
It suits him.
Dong Bongsu watched the sparring and made notes.
A learning curve that couldn't be captured by system stats.
Seok Gyeong's body was the type where his cells remembered a blow once received.
Night.
The Super True Qi Field caught a faint ripple from far to the north.
A remnant of Qi.
It was blurred, so its direction and scale were unclear.
It was still impossible to tell if it was just the wind or not.
Day 6.
Yan Bilyeong made her move.
The woman, who had until now been sitting with her eyes closed in the shade of a tree, suddenly appeared in the training ground and stood before Hoae.
Instantly, the air of the training ground changed.
Before the sound of the members' trading fists could even subside, the entire field was suppressed by the presence of a single footstep.
"Wanna have a go with me?"
Hoae looked up.
Yan Bilyeong.
A Trigram Master of the Formation Tower.
A peak master.
"...Yes."
The result was, of course, Hoae's crushing defeat.
She was sent flying three times in the first exchange.
But Yan Bilyeong requested a fourth.
And a fifth.
Only after being sent flying ten times did Yan Bilyeong sheathe her sword.
"Not bad."
She left with that one comment and returned.
Myo Jinheo was watching the scene from behind his fan.
The tip of his folded fan was trembling slightly.
'They're starting to be influenced.'
The corners of Dong Bongsu's mouth lifted.
His calculation that he could draw them in just by showing them was proving correct.
Click.
[Progress: 85%]
Day 7.
The last day.
During the morning sprint, Seok Gyeong ran without his luggage for the first time.
The boy, Ho, insisted on carrying it for him.
Seok Gyeong refused, but Ho had already shouldered it.
Seok Gyeong's feet without the burden were different.
The form of his footwork was rough, but the flow was alive.
As a result of repeating the Spirit Step verses for seven days, a tiny amount of internal energy, the size of a mosquito's eyeball, had finally begun to flow along the path created by his will.
He had carried the luggage.
He had run.
He had been hit.
Those three things were all he did, but after seven days, something other than luggage had started to be loaded onto him.
'If the will leads, the Qi will eventually follow.!
The seed from seven days ago had sprouted.
Morning sparring.
All sixteen members, excluding the four complete dropouts, participated.
The trajectory of their fists carried the breath of the Spirit Step, and the timing of their kicks was overlaid with the rhythm of the verses.
They had become completely different people from seven days ago.
Click.
[Progress: 97%]
'It will be over by afternoon.
Two hours remaining.
The quest's completion was in sight.
However... The Super True Qi Field reacted.
In the direction of the north shore of Colorful Lake.
A distance of 600 to 700 meters.
It was people.
And...
'Hundreds of them.
They weren't walking.
They were being dragged.
The irregular vibrations unique to those moving by will rather than by foot.
'Many injured. Their internal energy is a mess... and moreover.'
Dong Bongsu's eyes narrowed.
A familiar texture was mixed into the quality of their Qi.
A pure white, clear, yet sharp Qi.
'Is that Vast Heaven Qi?'
Qi of the same exact type as that of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect he had fought before was detected.
And not elites, but something like shattered fragments.
The Qi was uneven, fluctuating wildly.
Roughly between two to three hundred people.
It seemed quite a lot of guests had arrived without an invitation.
Dong Bongsu rose from his seat.
Just then, the wind blew, sweeping his hair northward.
Simultaneously, the corners of his mouth twitched lightly, unseen by anyone, by anyone in the world.
"Has it begun?"
A little earlier than expected, but.
Such predictions are always more enjoyable when they're wrong.
The sooner a bloody party starts, the better.
-x-X-x-
The wind was cold.
A thick morning mist lay over the mountain path.
Visibility was less than five zhang.
People walked through the mist.
No, to say they were walking would be an overstatement.
A man with only his right foot.
Men limping, supporting one another.
A man with vacant eyes, mechanically moving his feet.
Even those on two feet were more like they were being dragged along.
About two hundred men.
Not one in ten among them was whole.
The rest borrowed shoulders, were carried on backs, or used their swords as canes.
Their once-white robes were stained with blood and dirt, and many had broken scabbards, their blades half-exposed.
The Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
A pillar of the Orthodox Murim.
It was a procession unbefitting of that name.
The man at the front stopped walking.
He was in his mid-thirties.
His left arm was gone.
A blood-soaked bandage was wrapped tightly where it had been severed from the shoulder, and dark, bloody fluid was still seeping from its edge.
Jin Hagyeong.
The Manor Lord of the Heaven Reflecting Sword Manor, a branch of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Now, he was neither a Manor Lord nor anything else.
The Heaven Reflecting Sword Manor had vanished four days ago.
At dawn, the invaders had come, chanting the Buddha's name.
Madmen in black kasayas, twirling prayer beads of human bone, had slaughtered over a hundred members of the sect in less than two hours.
Jin Hagyeong had barely escaped with one arm and thirty of his men.
Of those thirty, ten had fallen during the escape, and though their numbers had swelled after joining with the defeated soldiers of other branch sects on the mountain path, they had dwindled again.
The pursuit by the Dark Rakshasa Way was relentless.
A small-group unit of the Rakshasa Monk Corps.
They relentlessly hunted us in the name of a Buddhist service.
Slowly, yet steadily, they were hunted.
Even when wounded from other branches and collateral families joined, swelling their numbers, they would quickly diminish again.
Because the enemy's 'Buddhist service seemed to have no end.
In the midst of it all, he had lost an arm.
Fortunately, he had cut down nine enemies.
It was a decent price for an arm.
Communication with the main sect had long been cut off.
If the rumors that the Branch Sword Corps had disappeared were true, it meant the entire defensive system for the branches of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect had collapsed.
There was nowhere to go.
So he walked south.
There was no reason.
The north had enemies, and the east had enemies.
The West was teeming with another Unorthodox Faction.
After eliminating all possible directions, only the south remained.
Having joined forces here and there, their numbers, once over five hundred, had fluctuated, and now barely exceeded two hundred.
The number of those who had died in their own sects without even putting up a proper fight was likely well over two thousand.
The only encouraging sign was that no one had been lost in the last two days.
'...Is there no more pursuit?'
Jin Hagyeong looked back.
The fishy, sticky aura he had constantly felt had vanished since the night before last.
Had they given up the chase?
Or had they gone after bigger prey?
Either way, it didn't matter now.
They were still alive.
"Manor Lord."
A low voice came from behind.
"I smell water."
Jin Hagyeong raised his head.
A sliver of silver faintly shone through the mist.
'A lake?'
"I believe it is Colorful Lake, Manor Lord."
"Colorful Lake?"
"Yes. I recall there being such a lake in this area."
"Anything of note?"
"...I heard it was originally a place where many mountain bandits were based."
"Mountain bandits?"
"Yes, Manor Lord."
"...Enough. This is no time to worry about mere mountain bandits."
Jin Hagyeong said forcefully, suppressing his pain.
4G
"Let's go. We will replenish our water. If we see any mountain bandits, cut them down without mercy."
A sigh of relief escaped from behind him.
It had been three days.
They had walked for three days without rest.
Those who could not walk were carried, and those who could not be carried... were left behind.
He hadn't forgotten.
Jin Hagyeong remembered the faces of all those he had left behind.
But he had to be able to walk on with those memories.
The luxury of stopping to remember was not for the survivors.
Each time, Jin Hagyeong gritted his teeth but did not look back.
To look back is to stop, and to stop is for everyone to die.
"Go and fetch some water first. Let the wounded drink first."
Jin Hagyeong ordered curtly.
Two men staggered down the mountain path toward the lake.
Just then.
Jin Hagyeong's ear twitched.
It was not the wind.
And it was the sound of quite a few people.
It came from somewhere beyond the mist, at the edge of the lake.
"Hup!"
"Haat!"
Shouts of exertion, followed by the dull sounds of impact.
Training.
That was the sound of martial artists training.
Jin Hagyeong's eye narrowed.
"Was there no information about a sect being here?"
"Not that I am aware of, at least."
'Then who... who are they? Have the mountain bandits really come out?"
In their current state, even mountain bandits posed a threat.
But still, mere bandits were manageable.
They could be driven off with a little show of force.
However.
Please, let them not be an Unorthodox Faction.....
If they were, encountering them in this state meant certain death.
Or, if they were an Orthodox Faction... could they ask for help?
Help.
The word was bitter in his mouth.
To ask for help in the name of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Until recently, that name was the law.
4G
With that name alone, mountain bandits would kneel, and government offices would clear the way.
Now, even after fleeing this far south, he couldn't be sure if that name would even serve as a shield.
What could be protected with a sword that was nothing but a hilt?
Even as a branch sect, a disciple of the strongest sword sect in the Orthodox Murim might have to bow his head to an unknown mountain force.
Pride tried to rear its head, but Jin Hagyeong looked back.
The blood-stained faces of two hundred men.
Among them, eyes that were still lucid were fixed on him.
Eyes waiting to see what their Manor Lord would do.
Ah, what is this pride?
Built upon the blood of my subordinates, is it just for this handful of pride?
Pride cannot save people.
"Halt."
Jin Hagyeong stopped the procession.
"Wait here. I will go and check first."
"Manor Lord, you can't go alone..."
"It's fine. I still have one arm, don't I?"
Jin Hagyeong gripped his sword tightly with his right hand and... walked into the mist.
Thump.
The procession of broken swords stood still on the mountain path, watching the precarious back of the man.
* * *
The mist began to lift.
As he left the mountain path and descended to the edge of the lake, his field of vision widened.
Sunlight shattered and sparkled on the water's surface.
And then.
He saw people.
Jin Hagyeong's feet stopped.
It wasn't just one or two.
In a wide clearing on the north shore of the lake, with an empty mountain fortress at its back, quite a number of martial artists were exchanging blows in pairs.
The source of the shouts he had heard earlier.
The way they were sparring was very systematic.
'They are not mountain bandits.'
Mountain bandits do not train like this.
Paired up, at regular intervals, even matching their shouts.
This was the training method of a sect.
However.
The skill levels of the members were uneven.
There were those whose fists carried internal energy in their trajectory, and those who were just punching the air.
Men whose footwork showed a foundation in martial arts were mixed with those who were just charging in with their bare bodies.
A new sect?
But why would a new sect be training all the way out here at such a remote lake?
Just then.
He felt something from behind the clearing.
At first, it was faint.
A subtle change, as if the direction of the wind had shifted.
But with each step he took, it became clearer.
The air was getting heavier.
More accurately, it wasn't that it became heavier, but that its density had changed.
It was as if he were stepping into water, his breathing growing heavier with each step.
It was Qi.
Someone's Qi was filling the area without any gaps.
It was not an imposing pressure.
It was certainly not killing intent.
It was just there.
Like water filling a river, like air filling the sky, that energy permeated the space as if it were only natum
Jin Hagyeong's gaze moved to find the source of the energy.
Under the shade of the mountain fortress.
A man was sitting there.
His back was against a tree, a sword lay across his lap, and he was looking down at the training grou
He was just sitting still.
And yet.
"..!"
Jin Hagyeong swallowed dryly.
Sweat beaded on his right hand gripping the sword, and his knees trembled slightly.
It wasn't just due to the exhaustion of the past few days.
As the Manor Lord of the Heaven Reflecting Sword Manor, he had met countless masters.
He had, of course, encountered the elders of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect's main headquarter and had met the leaders of the Branch Sword Corps countless times.
But that man was different.
They would project their Qi whenever necessary, deliberately revealing it.
That was something any master could do, whether from the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect or the Dark Rakshasa Way.
Projecting Qi, imposing pressure, sizing up the opponent.
That man was not projecting anything.
He was just sitting there, yet the entire space was his domain.
He could tell just by looking.
The shade of the mountain fortress, the wind from the lake, even the dust in the training ground, all revolved around that man.
'...What is that?'
He couldn't be categorized.
A Supreme Master?
The Transformation Realm?
The inability to gauge him might have been due to his own lack of attainment, but it was more that th
very 'texture' of that energy was the problem.
It was completely different from the Vast Heaven Qi.
It was also different from Evil Qi.
It resembled no kind of Qi that Jin Hagyeong had ever sensed in his life.
Immortal?
He had never met an immortal in person, but... it felt as clear and cold as a mountain spring, yet with depth that seemed endless.
Just then, the man's gaze turned towards him.
His hand gripping the sword instinctively tightened.
He barely managed to suppress the trembling.
He barely managed to not avert his eyes.
The man stood up.
Slowly.
As if there was no hurry.
Thump, thump.
With each step closer, the weight of the air changed.
It didn't get heavier.
On the contrary, it became lighter.
A strange sensation of calm, not pressure, came over him as the man approached.
That was even more frightening.
He could have defended against killing intent.
He would have faced imposition with his sword.
But this was like a drowning man unable to resist the water.
It was not something to be resisted in the first place.
The man stopped five zhang away, and... he met his eyes at close range.
They were deep.
Pupils that seemed to hold nothing, yet at the same time, seemed to hold everything.
No hostility, no goodwill, no wariness, nothing could be read from them.
He was just looking.
As if looking at the rain.
As if looking at the wind.
As if looking at something whose presence or absence made no difference.
Jin Hagyeong knew instinctively.
'To this man, I am not a threat.'
The Manor Lord of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, standing with his sword drawn and projectin
his energy, yet there was not a trace of wariness in the other's eyes.
It was not disrespect.
It was simply a fact, and for that reason, it stung even more.
Once, under the name of the Heaven Reflecting Sword Manorr's Lord, he had occupied a seat at the branch sect assembly and sat across from the elders of the main sect, drinking tea.
Even as a branch manor lord, as long as he had the name of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect beh him, people would make way wherever he went.
That name now had no meaning.
A manor lord with one arm, clad in a blood-stained robe and holding a broken sword, stands before someone he doesn't even know.
What could be protected with a sword that was nothing but a hilt?
The man spoke first.
"Where have you come from?"
His voice was calm.
Neither high nor low, a voice as level as the wind.
Jin Hagyeong bit his lip.
Should he state his name?
To an opponent he didn't even know was Orthodox or Unorthodox, would revealing himself as from th
Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect be advantageous or disadvantageous?
But he had no leeway to lie.
Nearly two hundred wounded men were waiting behind him.
His damn pride tried to rear its head again, but Jin Hagyeong deliberately killed it.
He repeated it to himself once more.
Pride cannot save people.
"...I am Jin Hagyeong, Manor Lord of the Heaven Reflecting Sword Manor, a branch of the Vast Heave Infinite Sword Sect."
The man's expression did not change.
He was not surprised, wary, or welcoming at the name of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
There was simply no reaction at all.
Weren't they the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, after all?
The calamities of war couldn't have reached this far south yet, so it was simply none of his business.
To that man, it meant nothing.
'...A frightening man.'
"Your injuries are severe."
It was not a question, but a diagnosis.
The severed left arm, the blood-soaked bandages, the unsteady footwork, the trembling tip of his sword.
His eyes must have already read it all.
"...They are."
Just the fact that he felt no hostility in the other's voice was a relief.
"There are about two hundred more wounded men behind me. Most of them can barely walk."
The man's eyes briefly glanced behind Jin Hagyeong, towards where the mist was clearing on the mountain path, before returning.
'Did he know?'
He couldn't be sure.
But it was clear that the man's gaze had pinpointed the exact location of the two hundred men.
Even with Jin Hagyeong's Qi Sense, it would be difficult to gauge the position of two hundred men fro this distance.
It meant that the man had read it from where he was sitting.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
"Were you attacked by the Dark Rakshasa Way?"
Jin Hagyeong's eyes widened.
"...You know of it?"
"I heard a war was imminent."
A short answer.
But Jin Hagyeong read much into it.
The fact that he 'heard news of the war' meant that this man and his followers were not just a simple mountain sect.
It meant they were reading the currents of the Jianghu.
He hesitated for a moment, his lips and head twitching, before finally bowing his head.
"...This lowly one dares to ask."
Jin Hagyeong turned his sword upside down and stuck the tip into the ground.
A gesture of sheathing his sword.
"Where is this place, and who are you?"
The man smiled.
A slight upturn of his lips, a subtle change that could hardly be called a smile.
But that smile was strangely reassuring.
Whether his instincts read the lack of hostility or the extremity of the past few days had dulled his judgment, he couldn't tell.
"We are the Hero's Sect."
The Hero's Sect.
It was a name he had never heard.
As the manor lord of a branch of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, he knew most of the large and small sects in the southwestern region, but the name Hero's Sect was nowhere among them.
"...I've never heard of this sect."
"Because we were founded recently."
It was stated calmly.
Not a boast, nor an excuse, but a statement of fact.
"And I am the Sect Leader of this sect, Kim Rae-won."
Kim Rae-won.
Jin Hagyeong's breath caught.
'Kim Rae-won...?'
-x-X-x-
High School Student Kim Rae-won.
There were a few Martial Artists who did not know that name.
At least, not among the generation of Jin Hagyeong, the Manor Lord of a branch of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Some twenty years ago, a lone boy, whose origins were unknown, appeared in the Jianghu and practiced Righteousness.
Without a Murim Sect or a master, he acted alone.
He was no one's disciple and belonged nowhere.
He became one of the Three Monsters.
For nearly a decade, the boy wandered the Jianghu, resolving matters great and small.
He cut down evil, saved the weak, and sought no reward.
He used Martial Arts taught by no sect in the world, and no one could uncover the origin of his skills.
Then one day, he vanished without a trace.
There were rumors that he had died, and rumors that he had gone into seclusion.
There was even a rather strange rumor that he had returned to wherever he came from.
Time passed, and the Jianghu had half-forgotten his name.
Many had asked why he practiced Righteousness.
None had received an answer.
However, among the elders of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, his name still came up from time to time.
Martial Arts of unknown origin, a Martial Artist of no affiliation.
To the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, which valued the principles of the Orthodox Murim, 'a powerhouse of unknown origin' was an object of caution.
"...Could it be?"
Jin Hagyeong looked at the man before him again.
The age didn't match.
If that Kim Rae-won had appeared in the Jianghu as a boy, he should be entering his forties by now.
The man before him looked to be in his mid-to-late twenties at most.
Was it someone with the same name?
He tried to think so.
But.
No affiliation.
Martial arts of unknown origin.
A master from an unknown place.
The texture of the aura he had just felt was different from the Vast Heaven Qi, from Evil Qi, and from any other martial art Jin Hagyeong had ever encountered in his life.
That Kim Rae-won's' martial arts were known to be exactly like that.
"...Kim Rae-won?"
The name escaped his lips on its own.
"High School Student Kim Rae-won.... Are you that Kim Rae-won?"
The man looked at Jin Hagyeong for a moment.
His expression did not change.
He was not surprised, nor did he deny or confirm it.
There was only a breath of silence.
"I have no memory."
He was calm.
"I do not know myself whether I am that person or not."
Jin Hagyeong narrowed his eyes.
No memory?
A rumor from early this year about an unidentified master appearing in the southern walled city of the River Capital and taking control of the entire area's factions.
He thought he had also vaguely heard that the master called himself 'Kim Rae-won.
At the time, he had dismissed it as insignificant.
The Jianghu was full of scoundrels who falsely used others' names.
But now, feeling this aura directly.
'It's not an impersonation.'
An impersonator can steal a name, but they cannot borrow a presence, can they?
The age mismatch was still a concern.
But was there any point in applying conventional standards to 'one who uses martial arts of unknown origin'?
Besides, in this Jianghu, there were skills and realms that made one younger or appear younger, such as age-reversal or Bone and Body Metamorphosis.
Of course, those who achieved such things were extremely rare.
Whether he was someone with the same name, the man himself, or his disciple.
It did not matter which.
At this moment, that was not what was important.
What was important was whether such a man would accept two hundred people.
"You said there were injured?"
Kim Rae-won said.
His tone made it impossible to tell if he had ignored the previous question or considered it finished.
"Bring them in. Whether it's two hundred or two thousand."
For a moment, Jin Hagyeong doubted his ears.
"...Are there conditions?"
"Come with your swords sheathed. That is all."
Jin Hagyeong looked up at the man.
Was he serious?
Knowing about the war between the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect and the Dark Rakshasa Way, he would accept two hundred defeated soldiers without any conditions?
He could risk drawing the pursuit of the Dark Rakshasa Way, couldn't he?
"Sect Leader. Accepting us could bring you misfortune. The Dark Rakshasa Way might be in pursuit."
It was a sort of final act of conscience.
To not hide the fact that the help he sought could become a disaster.
That was the duty of one who wielded a sword.
Kim Rae-won tilted his head slightly.
"I know."
Two words.
The weight contained in those two words was strange.
It did not take long to realize that 'I know' meant the same as 'It doesn't matter.
Why?
Why did it not matter?
For the sect leader of a newly established sect?
...No.
If this man was truly 'that Kim Rae-won.
If he were the man who, some twenty years ago, wandered the Jianghu alone without a sect or master, practicing Righteousness.
A decision of this magnitude was not so strange.
That man had always been like that.
At least, the 'Kim Rae-won' of the rumors was that kind of person.
Just then, there was movement from the direction of the Training Ground.
A young woman came running.
She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen.
The heat of sparring still lingered on her fists.
"Mister, are they guests?"
Kim Rae-won lightly ruffled the girl's hair.
"Yes. They say many of them are injured. Prepare some water."
"Yep!"
The girl turned and shouted towards the Training Ground.
"Everyone, stop! We have guests, and they're injured. Bring water and make space."
The members of the sect moved in unison.
There was no chaos.
At the girl's single command, they went to fetch water and began to lay out mats inside the mountain fortress.
Their skills still seemed lacking, but there was something different about these people.
There was no hesitation in their movements.
....They are not flustered. They are not fast, but they do not hesitate.
To Jin Hagyeong, who had seen only the ugly side of humanity for the past few days, that scene was strangely striking.
'Is that his sect?"
The Kim Rae-won of the rumors was always alone.
He wandered without a sect or companions.
Now, it was different.
He had sect members.
If Kim Rae-won had returned, and not alone, but by creating such things.
Perhaps what the twenty years had created was not a legend, but new roots.....
And.
From behind the Training Ground, two more people appeared.
A rarely seen beauty and a man with the air of a scholar.
The woman walked with a sword at her waist, while the man followed slowly with a folded fan in his hand.
Jin Hagyeong's breath caught.
"...Peak Realm. No, perhaps higher?'
Both of them were like that.
Two more unidentified masters had been added to the count.
And they did not feel like ordinary masters.
The aura emanating from the sword-wielding woman was close to raw killing intent, while the fan-wielding man exuded a depth of qi that seemed to have settled to the very bottom.
A sect leader who was a master beyond measure.
Below him, two others who were at the level of a Supreme Master, or perhaps higher, who seemed like and yet not like martial artists.
...This cannot be a new sect.
The man with the fan, who had been quietly observing Jin Hagyeong as he sized things up, spoke first.
"Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect..."
His voice was contemplative.
It was the tone of one weighing information, not confirming it.
The woman with the sword glanced at Jin Hagyeong and immediately retorted.
"My, has Vast Heaven been pushed back this far already?"
It was direct.
Not surprise at hearing the name Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, but a reaction that immediately grasped the state of the war.
Beyond the mindset of a martial artist seasoned on the battlefield, she was utterly unfazed by the prestigious name of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect and the fact that it had been mercilessly crushed.
That in itself was enough to startle Jin Hagyeong.
Because if the two newcomers were not in a position to react that way, or were not masters of such a level, their response could not have been so.
"...That is so."
"It's understandable that you'd be out of your wits."
Jin Hagyeong did not deny it.
Because he was indeed out of his mind.
The man with the fan looked at Kim Rae-won.
The folded fan folded once more.
"Sect Leader."
After the short title.
"Won't accepting them complicate things?"
"Do you know? The difference between a hero and an ordinary man."
"The difference between the two is not talent. It's whether or not you take one more step forward in a moment of fear. That is the only small difference."
"A curious thing to say."
The folded fan swayed once.
Then the scholarly man smiled faintly.
"But there is a point to it. In that case, it is as if a hero has come to the Hero's Sect."
"That's right. Since a hero has come to the Hero's Sect, shouldn't we at least give him a meal?"
He said it lightly.
A man who concluded the decision to take in two hundred defeated soldiers with the single word 'meal.
At that moment, Jin Hagyeong felt his knees buckle.
It was not just from exhaustion.
It was as if everything he had lost in the past few days came crashing down at once.
The things he had endured, gritting his teeth as the Manor Lord of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, the things he had tried not to look back on, the faces of those he had been forced to leave behind.
The moment he knelt, all of it flooded in like a broken dam.
Only the knee is permitted to the defeated soldier.
But if the manor lord's knee buckles first, the legs of the two hundred behind him will break as well.
That alone could not happen.
But he did not kneel.
He gritted his teeth and held on.
If the manor lord falls, the two hundred behind him will fall.
Not yet.
Jin Hagyeong gripped his broken sword upside down again and plunged it into the ground.
Using it as a staff to support his body, he bowed his head.
This time, unlike before, it was with sincerity.
"...Jin Hagyeong, Manor Lord of the Heaven Reflecting Sword Manor. I entrust the lives of the two hundred disciples of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect to you."
Before he had even finished speaking, Kim Rae-won turned around.
"Hoae."
"Yes!"
"There are people on the mountain path. Bring them here."
"Yep!"
The girl took three or four sect members and ran towards the mountain path.
A large man silently stuck by the girl's side and ran with her.
He had the build of a beast.
The woman with the sword looked up at the mountain path and muttered softly, but loud enough for Kim Rae-won to hear.
"Judging by their state, they might have a bunch of things trailing behind them."
Jin Hagyeong sighed at those words.
He wanted to deny it, but he couldn't.
He let out another deep sigh and looked up at Kim Rae-won again.
He had a mountain of questions to ask.
If he was truly 'that Kim Rae-won.'
What he meant by having no memory.
What had happened during the decade-long gap?
But the words that ultimately came out of his mouth were not of that nature.
"...I would like to ask one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Sect Leader... are you not afraid? Did I not say that the wrath of the Dark Rakshasa Way might befall you if you accept us?"
Kim Rae-won looked at Jin Hagyeong for a moment.
And smiled.
It was the same smile as before.
A slight upturn of the corners of his mouth, hardly even a smile.
But this time, the smile was slightly different.
Cold, yet warm.
No, cold pretending to be warm.
It was a smile whose true nature he could not fathom.
"Manor Lord Jin."
"..."
"What kind of host frightens his quests?"
Kim Rae-won approached Jin Hagyeong.
"Rest easy."
Then he suddenly vanished from the spot as if extinguished, leaving only a trail of his voice.
"And don't worry about the uninvited guests."
The woman with the sword looked in the direction Kim Rae-won had disappeared.
Then her hand went to the sword at her waist.
"Haa... right, right. In the end, he did it, he really did it."
The man with the fan called out softly from her side.
"Trigram Master Yan."
"I know, I know."
The two of them looked up the mountain path at the same time.
But after just one shake of their heads, they kicked off the ground.
Now, all that remained in that spot was.
"...Uninvited guests?"
Only Jin Hagyeong, standing there with his mouth agape, was completely dumbfounded.
-x-X-x-
Scent does not know lies.
People craft expressions, change their voices, and even disguise their gait to deceive.
But scent alone cannot be hidden.
Blood smells of blood, and fear smells of fear.
Anger is bitter, sorrow is sour, and lies are cold.
Scent Wolf had lived his entire life by his nose.
From the day he accepted the spirit of a wolf, the Central Plains became a world written not in sound and light, but in the language of scent and the nose.
When the wind blew, he could read a battlefield dozens of li away, and when he stepped on the earth, he could see footprints from two days ago.
The nose was the eyes.
The nose was the truth.
Walking among the pine trees that stretched along both sides of the mountain path, Scent Wolf constantly flared his nostrils.
On the surface, he was merely a common young man walking a mountain path, but the nose beneath his yellowish pupils was relentlessly reading the world.
Blood.
The scent of blood, old but strong.
It was not one or two people.
Dozens, no. The blood of at least a hundred people was tangled in the wind.
The scent of medicinal herbs was also detected.
Sanqi and Bletilla, used to stop bleeding.
Traces of hastily administered first aid remained in the scent.
'A group of injured people passed through this path.
Over a hundred men.
Seeing that the depth and type of wounds varied, it was not a uniform torture or raid.
The remnants of a unit pushed back from the battlefield.
They had to be the defeated soldiers of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Scent Wolf did not pay much attention to this scent, as it was unrelated to his original mission.
The remnant forces of the Vast Heaven Sect were destined to achieve Buddhahood eventually, no matter where they fled.
However.
He had to remember that there was something at the destination of the defeated soldiers.
The scent of water.
A lake.
Deep in the mountain, there was a rather large body of water.
Around it were the smells of cooking smoke, of forging metal, of carving wood.
It was a place where people lived together.
Two Scent Followers were silently following behind him.
Words were unnecessary between the three of them.
If Scent Wolf changed direction, they followed, and if Scent Wolf stopped, they stopped.
"South."
One word.
The two Scent Followers nodded simultaneously.
Scent Wolf quickened his pace but did not stop using his nose.
There was still no trace of the Patrol Sword Corps.
The scent that had been cut off at a point two hundred li north of the River Capital had not returned, even on this mountain.
The scene where thirty-one living beings had evaporated.
A place with no corpses, no smell of blood, and no lingering scent of metal.
The Great Venerate himself had given the order.
To read again from the place where the scent was cut off.
Scent Wolf read and read again.
He read the wind and the earth, he read and reread even the faint lingering scents on the moss and leaves.
After tracking for ten days like this, he had come to this mountain.
The direction the Patrol Sword Corps was heading.
The River Capital.
South, not far from the River Capital, the scent of people gathered on this mountain.
Perhaps there might be a clue here.
It was then.
Scent Wolf's feet stopped.
The tip of his nose twitched.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
His brow furrowed.
Strange... It was about halfway up the mountain.
A section where the scent of the defeated soldiers' blood still lingered strongly.
A place where the smells of water and smoke rose on the wind.
Amidst all those scents, there was an empty space.
A place with no scent.
As if someone had emptied the air itself, a circular domain was punching a hole in the map of scents.
'What is this...?'
A shiver ran down Scent Wolf's spine.
It was not a human's goosebumps.
It was the kind of thrill a wolf feels when it steps into the territory of a larger predator, the hair on the back of its neck standing on end.
Is it a formation?
No. Formations have a scent.
When Qi moves, a lingering scent of Qi is always left behind.
The formation of the Mountain Formation Division smells like a mixture of metal and earth, and the formation of the Thunder Formation Division has a fishy smell like air scorched by lightning.
No matter the formation, as long as it operates with Qi, it cannot be free from scent.
But this was different.
It was not that there was 'no' scent, but that the scent itself was being 'erased'.
At the boundary line of that area, all information was cut off.
It was not just the scent.
Even the flow of the wind was slightly refracted around it.
The air flowed slightly around it, like a stream with an invisible rock in it.
And that area was now moving.
This way.
Scent Wolf raised his right hand.
The two Scent Followers froze instantly.
"Re-."
Before that, one syllable could even finish.
Swish-.
The sound came from behind.
No. There was not even a sound.
Only the sensation of the air being split brushed against the hair on his back.
Thud.
One Scent Follower was slammed into a tree without a scream.
His body bounced once, then went limp.
He had not lost consciousness; his acupoints had been pressed before he could pass out.
Shwwiik-.
The moment the second Scent Follower reflexively tried to draw his sword, several strands of a Formation Qi Rope shot out from the empty air and wrapped around his limbs.
Restraint.
The threads of the formation, tightening tautly like metal rings, instantly forced his body to the ground.
Precise and merciless suppression.
It was the art of a Formation Master.
Scent Wolf lowered his body.
In a stance almost on all fours, he reflexively leaped backward.
The speed of a wolf that had learned martial arts.
The instinct of a beast erupted from a human body.
Papat-!
His nails momentarily lengthened, grabbing a branch to change his trajectory, and with a chain of lightness skills, his toes stepped on trunks, consecutively crossing three trees.
But.
The moment he kicked off the third tree to land.
The air changed.
Density.
The moment his feet touched the ground, what washed over his entire body was the resistance of the air.
His lungs grew heavy as if he had dived into water, and an invisible pressure settled evenly on his skin.
And.
His nose died.
His sense of smell, which until a moment ago could penetrate dozens of li, was completely cut off.
The scent of the wind, the scent of the grass, the scent of the earth, he could not even smell his own body odor.
"...! "
The world flattened and crumpled.
Depth, direction, distance.
Without his nose, he could read nothing.
The sense he had relied on his entire life had been torn out by the roots.
This was like blindness.
His heart pounded.
It was the first time since accepting the energy of the Path of Beasts that he felt such pure, bone-deep fear.
A beast knows.
When trapped in a predator's territory, one must first identify the enemy's location before trying to escape.
Scent Wolf raised his head.
His sight was alive.
His hearing, too.
But they were only half of what they should be.
In that half-complete vision, a man stood.
About ten paces ahead.
With a sword slung over his shoulder.
As naturally as if he had been there from the beginning.
A young man in his mid-twenties.
A face with a blank expression, devoid of any discernible emotion.
And from this man.
Came no scent at all.
As if he could not have smelled him even if his nose had been working.
There was no flow of Qi.
No ripple of internal energy, no heat of blood and qi, not even the lingering scent of life that every living human must exude.
Nothingness.
The nothingness of scent.
"..."
Scent Wolf's canines erupted through his gums.
His nails grew to their full length.
The form of a beast seeping out from within the human frame, a half-transformation unique to an embodiment of the Path of Beasts.
However, within this strange Qi Field, even the operation of Qi within his body was being disturbed.
When the energy of the Path of Beasts tried to extend, an invisible barrier suppressed it in real-time.
The transformation faltered.
Like trying to strike a water-soaked flint.
The man opened his mouth.
"This mountain is the territory of our Hero's Sect. For now, that is."
The first words were cold, but they soon transformed into a soft tone.
A tone that made it impossible to gauge his thoughts.
"An uninvited guest has come in the night, so as the master, I came out to see-."
The man's sword on his shoulder did not stir.
He had not yet lowered it.
It was as if he had not yet drawn it.
"A few dogs are running rampant, I see?"
But Scent Wolf knew.
This man was dangerous.
So dangerous that it was impossible to even gauge.
A scentless one is the most fearsome enemy for a wolf.
Because they cannot be read.
Because their next move cannot be predicted.
Rustle.
The sound of a fan opening was heard from behind him.
"You've arrived, guest."
A leisurely and contemplative voice.
Not the one who had knocked out the Scent Follower, but another person.
To his left, True Qi spread across the ground like a spiderweb.
True Qi of the same nature that had bound the Scent Follower's limbs earlier.
But its density was five times greater.
It was not at the level of branches to trap in an empty space, but at a level to erect a wall.
"Ah, are these the uninvited bastards? They weren't even human cubs."
This was the same direct and high-pitched voice as before.
It was three sides.
Front.
The scentless man.
Left.
The Formation Master.
Rear.
The man with the fan.
There was no escape route.
Scent Wolf did not run.
A cornered wolf bares its fangs.
That is the etiquette of a beast.
He planted his four limbs on the ground, lowering his stance until he was almost touching the earth.
A shift in center of gravity impossible for a human.
A thin breath escaped between his fangs.
The man tilted his head slightly.
"Certainly not human."
Scent Wolf's pupils contracted.
It was this Scent Wolf who tried to read, but it was also this Scent Wolf who was read.
And he read him perfectly, even without a nose.
Without scent or Qi Sense, this man read the energy of the Path of Beasts dwelling within his body.
This distorting field was not a simple defense.
It was also for detection.
A mirror that revealed the essence of everything that entered its domain.
Just as a beast that has fallen into water cannot hide the ripples no matter how it struggles, does even hidden energy reveal itself on its own within this man's field?
The corners of the man's mouth lifted slightly.
"This worked out well."
A single thread of a smile that bloomed from a blank expression.
There was no warmth.
It was a smile closer to biting frost than sunshine.
"I had a few things to ask."
Scent Wolf's mind raced.
The field spreading from under this man's feet.
That was the cause that killed his nose, suppressed his Qi, and even refracted the flow of the wind.
This was not internal energy or a formation, but a power of a completely different dimension.
If someone possessing such a thing was at the point two hundred li north of the River Capital.
Could it be that the thirty-one members of the Patrol Sword Corps disappeared without a trace....
The absence of corpses.
The absence of the smell of blood.
Perhaps no traces could be left near this man in the first place.
Scent Wolf's yellow eyes narrowed as if they would tear.
'...Did this man devour the Patrol Sword Corps, and that Sang Gwanhwi?"
It was not a certainty.
Just an instinct.
Because if this man were at the place where the scent was cut off, everything would fall into place.
Scent Wolf's nose had never been wrong in his entire life.
Where there is no scent, there is always one who erased the scent.
And now, the man standing right before his eyes was the most likely candidate.
I must report to the Great Venerate.
I must survive.
The remaining energy of the Path of Beasts in Scent Wolf's entire body gathered into one.
The man's strange field was suppressing it, but for a single moment, it would not be able to suppress
the explosive burst that a beast unleashes when it stakes its life.
I will bet everything on this one move.
Scent Wolf kicked off the ground.
Not in one of the three directions, but in the fourth.
Up.
Kwaat-!
Branches shattered as Scent Wolf's figure shot up vertically.
It was not a human's lightness skill.
It was the leap of a tree-climbing beast.
Kaang!
A sword strike came up.
The man's sword.
A horizontal slash inserted without sound or wind brushed past Scent Wolf's left side.
It was the back of the blade, not the edge, but the sensation of a couple of ribs cracking pierced his entire body.
'...Kkht!!
He gritted his teeth.
He did not stop.
He grabbed a branch, bent his trajectory, and made a second leap.
A third leap.
He could feel the sensation of breaking through the strange boundary.
At the tip of his nose, very faintly, the scent of pine began to return.
Just a little more.
Rustle.
The sound of the fan.
The fan of the person behind him opened in mid-air, and the atmosphere suddenly distorted.
Lightning.
Metallic sparks flew in the air.
Static electricity twisted and contorted all the muscles in his body.
'...Kk-eut!'
His muscles contracted sharply, and his joints locked.
His nerves misfired, and his limbs convulsed uncontrollably.
A Field-type Formation.
The trajectory of his leap collapsed.
The hand that was about to grab a branch clutched at empty air, and Scent Wolf's body plummeted toward the earth.
Kuuung-.
His back hit the ground first.
When his vision momentarily went white and then returned, he barely managed to open his eyes.
The man's sword was at his throat.
One chi.
A distance of exactly one chi.
There was no cold energy felt from the tip of the sword.
This man's sword carried neither killing intent nor Qi.
Only the physical property of steel was coldly touching the skin of his throat.
That was somehow even more terrifying.
"You don't have to answer."
The man's voice came from above.
"However."
The sword moved a fraction closer.
"You have to forget everything you smelled on this mountain before you leave. Isn't that right?"
Forget.
Scent Wolf did not answer.
A beast does not feign submission.
But his narrowed yellow pupils were clearly engraving the man's face.
This face.
The face of this scentless man.
I will convey it to the Great Venerate.
Whether alive or dead.
It was then.
The ground rumbled.
A faint but regular vibration.
The sound of many feet stepping on the ground in unison.
It was a disciplined movement, like an army on the march.
Scent Wolf's nose was still dead.
Within this man's field, he could smell nothing.
But his ears were alive.
A wolf's hearing could read the direction and scale of the vibration.
The eastern foot of the mountain..
Not dozens.
Over a hundred people were climbing the mountain.
And.
Na-mu-A-mi-ta-bul.
The sound of low, deep chanting, rising on the wind.
Scent Wolf's eyes widened.
There was no way he did not know this chant.
Had he not spent his entire life prostrated beneath that chant?
The Rakshasa Monk Corps.
It was the combat unit that had been wiping out the remnant factions of the Vast Heaven Sect under the command of the Blood Rakshasa.
Not some small prayer group, but actual combat troops.
They had followed the scent of the defeated soldiers' blood all the way here.
A force numbering over several hundred was pushing up this mountain.
The man's head turned to the east.
It was only for an instant, but Scent Wolf saw it.
His blank expression did not break.
But the sword resting on his shoulder moved very slightly, truly minutely.
"It's noisy."
The man with the fan muttered from behind.
"Sect Leader."
The woman on the left called out to the man.
For the first time, her voice was tinged with a bit of tension.
"They've come. Quite a lot of them."
That man, Dong Bongsu, did not look back.
The sword slowly retreated from Scent Wolf's throat.
One chi became one ja, and one ja became one pace.
Even in that moment, Scent Wolf did not run.
Because there was no longer a need to run.
Na-mu-A-mi-ta-bul.
The chanting was getting closer.
The song of a greatly merciful and compassionate sword, where hundreds of voices overlapped as one.
Dong Bongsu lowered the sword from his shoulder and held it in his right hand.
It was the first time.
"It's going to be an interesting night."
At those words, Scent Wolf was certain.
...That even in the face of the great army of the Dark Rakshasa Way, he was not afraid, but enjoying it.
A chill ran down Scent Wolf's spine.
What a beast fears most is not a predator stronger than itself.
It is the beast that hunts even when its belly is full.
And.
This man was such a beast.
A monster... whose depth he could never smell.
-x-X-x-
The mountain was moving.
Before the fog had lifted, a russet color began to flow down from beyond the eastern ridge.
At first, it was indistinguishable from the fog.
The russet band seeping into the deep gloom of the mountainside looked like a part of nature.
But fog makes no sound.
Shhk.
Shhhk.
The sound of stepping on fallen leaves continued steadily.
It was not a single pair of feet.
Hundreds of feet were treading the ground in the same rhythm.
Their strides were uniform, and even the height to which they raised their knees was orderly.
It was the march of an army.
Moreover, it was the walk of a discipline ingrained in their bodies through long training.
Russet monk robes.
Shaved heads.
At their waists, a Crescent Moon Saber or a long spear.
The line pouring down from the ridge was endless.
It was such a long column that when the vanguard reached the middle of the mountain, the rear had not yet left the foothills.
Not one line, but many layers.
The density of the monks descending, filling the gaps between the trees, was not one man every few trees, but one man per tree.
The column was not a straight line.
It was drawing a semicircle along the mountainside.
The ends of the column, which started from the east, extended to the southeast and northeast, forming a shape that intended to envelop the entire mountain.
As that arc narrowed, the space on the mountainside contracted like a pouch.
There was no Killing Intent on the monks' faces.
Neither anger, nor fear, nor excitement could be read.
Only their half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips were chanting the same sutra.
They were not the expressions of those heading to a battlefield, but the faces of ascetics going to offer a Buddhist service.
With those faces, they wore blades.
With those mouths, they prayed for slaughter.
Na-mu-A-mi-ta-bha.
The chanting ascended the mountain.
Hundreds of voices overlapped into a single wave, oppressing the atmosphere.
The collection of low, deep voices rising through the trees and rocks... was not a typical Buddhist chant.
It was a marching song.
In Dong Bongsu's hand, the sword vibrated faintly.
The sword itself was resonating with the approaching footsteps.
'The number...
The points of Qi detected by the Super True Qi Field were rapidly increasing.
Each one was insignificant.
Between the high-end of the second-rate and the low-end of the first-rate.
However, the first ones he detected numbered around two hundred.
Not the main force, but the vanguard.
The interval of the footsteps coming up from the base of the mountain was even and without gaps.
Not a patrol, but an infiltration.
It was the level of a reconnaissance team meant to mop up stragglers.
"...."
With a sharp shift of his gaze, Dong Bongsu shot forward.
Paaat!
A linear acceleration as he kicked off the ground.
Instead of piercing through the trees, he climbed onto them, stepping on branches, and stood atop the crowns of the trees.
He could see everything below him clearly.
The column in russet monk robes was crawling up the mountainside.
Ten men with Crescent Moon Sabers were in the lead, followed by five or six rows of men with long spears.
It was a force of about two hundred, as expected.
Did they sense something?
The Crescent Moon Saber of the leader trembled slightly.
But his eyes, looking up, couldn't find their target.
Swoosh.
Dong Bongsu dropped from the tree like a ghost.
Downward.
Kwaang!
His landing was his entry.
The Super True Qi Field expanded.
From detection to suppression.
It stretched beyond a fifty-step radius, enveloping the entire vanguard.
The air grew heavy and sank.
Three monks at the front reflexively raised their Crescent Moon Sabers, but before their swords could even swing once, the pressure of the Super True Qi Field crushed their Qi.
The flow in their Meridians reversed, and their joints locked up.
Naturally, the sword had no choice but to move on its own.
Swoosh.
A single line.
The three at the front fell without a scream.
Dong Bongsu continued his steps.
He charged into the center of the hundred men in a single breath.
Each time the sword moved, one fell, then two.
The Super True Qi Field first suppressed their Qi, and the sword finished the job.
It wasn't sequential, but simultaneous.
The moment the field touched them, the sword had already arrived.
A Crescent Moon Saber flew toward him.
It must have been thrown from outside the field.
A group meant to check him with a kind of long-range throw.
They were probably a unit prepared in advance to deal with high-level masters.
However.
Spat!
The sword rose and struck the Crescent Moon Saber away.
In the same motion, the sword descended, cleaving the shoulder of a Rakshasa monk in front of him.
The throwing continued.
The training level of the Rakshasa Monk Corps' Throwing Squad was quite impressive.
The rear ranks took turns throwing their Crescent Moon Sabers to check the vanguard's advance, while the long spear formation in the middle pushed forward-a textbook combination.
Of course.
"..."
It was useless against Dong Bongsu.
The moment they entered the Super True Qi Field, that combination collapsed.
The long spear formation approached.
Eight long spears thrust forward simultaneously.
The spacing and timing were precise.
Dong Bongsu did not retreat a single step.
The Internal Energy imbued in the spears scattered midway, and the tips lost their power.
It would be no different from throwing a punch underwater.
Their Qi melted away in the air.
The sword weaved through the gaps between the spears as if it were an empty field.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Shk!
Three shafts were cut, and two were broken.
The owners of the remaining three were already on the ground.
Shhk, Thud.
Dong Bongsu's sword quickened as he cut through the enemies who were falling like a grove of bamboo being felled.
Kaang!
Thwack!
Crack!
It took less than half a quarter of an hour to crush the two hundred men of the vanguard.
The russet monk robes covered the mountainside, but no one was left standing.
Dong Bongsu slung his sword over his shoulder and looked down the mountain.
The Super True Qi Field's detection was picking up new points.
Quite a lot.
About twice as many as before?
Na-mu-A-mi-ta-bha.
The chanting was rising again.
A much thicker, much heavier wave than that of the vanguard.
The vibration of four hundred voices joined as one shook the mountain.
'The main force.
Dong Bongsu's eyes narrowed.
"Sect Leader."
Yan Bilyeong, who had caught up at some point, called from behind.
She was already drawing her sword.
"How many of them are there?"
"About four hundred."
"Four hundred... What's their level?"
"First-rate. A few are first-rate masters."
Yan Bilyeong's brow furrowed, then quickly smoothed out.
Her lips twisted.
It was hard to tell if she was smiling or grimacing.
"Ah, seriously. What the hell am I even doing here?"
A short sigh melted into the wind.
Behind her, Myo Jinheo chuckled and folded his fan.
A signal that his observation was complete.
"Their approach formation is a horizontal line. They are coming up along the mountainside in a semicircle."
"Does that mean we're half-surrounded?"
'That's right. So, for now, it seems better to retreat."
Yan Bilyeong snorted.
"If the Sect Leader were the type to retreat, he would have done so already. What are you even saying?"
Dong Bongsu didn't look back.
But his lips twisted.
He himself probably didn't know if it was a smile or something else.
He had always done everything alone, but he was surprisingly finding that team play wasn't so bad.
He also judged that this was more natural for Kim Rae-won.
"Trigram Master Yan, you take the left. Trigram Master Myo, the rear."
"What?"
"It's simple. I'll take the front, and the two of you can pick up what I miss."
Yan Bilyeong's eyebrows drew a slight arc upward.
"Hee-ya, that's just like you, Sect Leader Kim. Just how many of those shaved heads are you planning to take on by yourself?"
"All of them, if possible."
"And Trigram Master Myo and I get to eat the leftovers?"
"If you don't like it, you can take the lead."
As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Bongsu pointed the tip of his sword at the ground.
The Super True Qi Field rapidly expanded.
The field, which had started at twenty steps, pushed past fifty and then to a hundred.
The air sank, and the leaves on the trees flipped over all at once.
Even the wind on the mountainside stopped.
It was enough to distort the sound of the chanting.
Na-mu-A...
The rhythm of the prayer faltered, and four hundred mouths stuttered at the same time.
At that instant, Dong Bongsu leaped again.
This time, along the ground.
A straight line piercing through the trees.
The four Rakshasa monks in front had their shoulders and arms split before they could even raise their Crescent Moon Sabers.
It was all too natural that his sword never knew rest.
He charged toward the center of the four hundred.
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shhk!
Five or six ascended to the heavens with a single slash, but they were distinctly different from the vanguard.
Before the main force's formation could collapse, it was reformed.
If the vanguard was breached, the middle ranks would open up to swallow the enemy, and if the middle ranks were split, the rear ranks would fill the gap and push forward-the rhythm of a grand formation warfare.
"..."
Dong Bongsu's response was simple.
He merely increased his sword speed.
Not one line, or two, but three lines were drawn simultaneously.
While the Super True Qi Field suppressed their Internal Energy, his sword cut through in three layers in all directions.
Still, they pushed forward.
His vision was filled with the tenacity of the Rakshasa monks, who filled the formation even as they died.
The vibration of the chanting was moving their bodies.
They were men who had lost their fear.
A madness that believed even death was salvation was embedded in their steps.
Piercing through that gap was Sword Qi that had flown in from the left.
Papat!
Yan Bilyeong.
Leaping off a rock on the mountainside, her sword slashed horizontally, cutting the knees of four Rakshasa monks in a single blow.
Not their backs, but their knees.
A precise sword strike that didn't kill but prevented them from standing again.
Shhk.
Dong Bongsu's sword cut the seam in front, and in the instant the formation opened, Yan Bilyeong slipped through.
Yan Bilyeong's feet landed where Dong Bongsu had passed, and Dong Bongsu stepped into the empty space left by those Yan Bilyeong had disabled to move to the next line.
There were no words, no glances.
Their bodies simply read where the other's sword would pass.
Over the screams of the monks with broken knees, Yan Bilyeong's voice fell.
"Wow, why are these guys so tough? I don't think you can eat them all by yourself if they're this chewy, you know?"
Her grumbling was interspersed between sword strikes.
But her feet did not stop.
Landing and leaping became a single motion as she charged into the next group.
Booom!
Lightning erupted from behind.
Myo Jinheo's Thunderclap Absolute Sealing Circle.
The moment his fan opened, static electricity spread throughout the entire rear rank of the Rakshasa Monk Corps.
The metal of their armor and weapons resonated, creating sparks.
Muscles contracted, joints locked, and dozens in the rear staggered simultaneously.
"I'll block the rear."
One sentence.
The fan folded and then opened again.
Booom!
A second bolt of Lightning.
The rear came to a complete halt.
The lightly armed monks who had been maintaining the chant collapsed first.
As they fell, the vibration of the chanting that had blanketed the entire Rakshasa Monk Corps was cut off.
When the prayers disappeared, all that remained were screams.
Attacked from three sides simultaneously, the formation of the Rakshasa Monk Corps rapidly crumbled.
From the front, the Super True Qi Field suppressed their Qi and the sword slashed; from the left, Yan Bilyeong's sword strikes tore at their flank; and from the rear, Myo Jinheo's Lightning blocked their retreat.
Three against four hundred, no, now less than three hundred.
All too naturally, the side being pushed back, no, being devoured, was the three hundred, no, the two hundred.
Just then.
The Super True Qi Field caught something different.
Behind the main force.
A point of Qi rising from a position that had not yet left the foothills.
Its density was on a different level from the hundreds of Rakshasa monks.
If the surrounding points were grains of sand, this was a lump of lead.
It wasn't just one.
Two.
Duuung.
A heavy mechanical sound rang in his head.
[Sub] Rakshasa of Slaughter [Sudden]:
[There are those who draw their blades in the name of Buddha.
Among them, two with particularly heavy steps are showing hostility towards you.
Be careful.
They don't seem to have ordinary fangs.]
[Repel the Rakshasa's high-ranking forces.
Target: 2
Progress: 0/2
Reward: Hero History +5, Fame +5]
Ssk.
A smile naturally formed on Dong Bongsu's lips.
Because the main dish, not the leftovers, was being served.