Chapter 244. Yeop Bihwa (5)
"...Haa."
A single breath wasn't enough.
"Haa, haa."
Yeop Bihwa continued to steady her breathing, her hand still gripping the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle tightly.
The place where her Sword Aura should have been was, of course, empty.
The remnants of the light from just a moment ago shimmered in that empty space.
Yeop Bihwa's eyes cautiously lifted.
Kim Rae-won remained in the same stance, holding his jet-black sword.
Beyond him, everyone who had crowded near the main gate was frozen.
Jin Hagyeong had yet to lower his outstretched arms, and the Vast Heaven warriors lined up behind him were the same.
The members of the Hero's Sect gathered inside, all the way to the training ground beyond the wall -not a single person was moving.
Faces that had inhaled but couldn't seem to exhale were just standing there, surrounding both sides of the main gate in several layers.
Her eyes returned to Kim Rae-won.
Beyond his shoulder, where the sphere of light had been, the morning sun was already shining down, and in that sunlight, only a few specks of dust floated.
'Was it an illusion?'
To dismiss it as such, the sensation in the center of her chest, like a remnant of that light, was too vivid.
Her eyes lowered.
It was a gaze that Yeop Bihwa herself did not realize where it was directed.
It seemed she had meant to look at her chest, or perhaps the ground.
But there was a place where her gaze stopped.
Her own hand.
The hand gripping the hilt of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle.
The hand that had walked with her throughout her entire life.
Her fingers were trembling.
It wasn't a large tremor.
Her five fingers were just shaking minutely and individually on the leather-wrapped hilt.
Even when she strained her fingers to stop the trembling, it did not cease.
This time, she squeezed again with enough force to break the hilt.
Yet the trembling continued beneath that grip, as if a thin membrane was wedged between her hand and the hilt.
It was not something that could be suppressed with strength.
In her entire life, they had never trembled like this...
A drop of sweat trickled down from her forehead.
But the sensation of that single drop passing over her body had never felt so alien.
The tip of her sword was lowering.
It wasn't her lowering it.
Her wrist was still, her elbow and shoulder were still.
The sword, on its own, was slowly tilting downwards.
Even though she put strength into the hand gripping the hilt, the sword continued to descend.
The tip of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle finally pointed toward the ground.
Her head remained lifted.
Her chin was still, and her gaze was fixed forward.
But the sword had bowed first.
In the hierarchy of a swordsman, that was a matter heavier than bowing one's head... She had lost.
A complete and utter defeat.
She didn't know what it was, but that man, in terms of enlightenment as a swordsman, was someone who had already surpassed several walls she could never cross.
"...You are."
Though she felt she had to say something, her half-opened mouth neither closed nor opened further, frozen in place.
A gust of wind swept past the front gate.
A clump of dirt fell from a roof tile on the wall.
From somewhere far in the sky, a bird chirped briefly and flew past.
Even in that interval, not a single person moved.
Then, Kim Rae-won's head moved toward the sky.
What he was looking at, where in the sky his gaze was fixed, Yeop Bihwa could not tell.
That was all.
Without much change in his expression, his head returned to a level position.
Then, with a faint smile, he said.
"Thanks."
"Thanks... for what?"
"Thanks to you, I broke through a small wall."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I hope the same was true for you."
"...."
Yeop Bihwa's gaze finally turned toward herself.
The chest area of her martial robes was split open in a long line.
When she had pushed the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle all the way up, in that one moment when the condensation of the One Point Whittling Aura extended beyond the sword, the front of her robes must have been grazed by the sword's trajectory.
A single thin layer of her undergarment was exposed directly to the outside air.
Her hand slowly swept over the spot once.
She did not bother to fix it.
Kim Rae-won lowered his sword lightly.
"Shall we take a walk then?"
It was a tone more like he was dropping the words somewhere beside him rather than addressing Yeop Bihwa.
"...Where to?"
Yeop Bihwa's voice leaked out faintly.
Kim Rae-won shrugged his shoulders once.
"Anywhere."
That sentence felt familiar somewhere.
A point that had long resided somewhere inside her was gently prodded.
Kim Rae-won began to walk first.
A step, and then another, toward the outside of the Hero's Sect's main gate.
It was an unremarkable stride and an unremarkable speed.
However, he did not turn to call Yeop Bihwa or look back to see if she was following.
Yeop Bihwa began to walk after him, a step behind.
A gap of two or three steps.
The man's stride was larger than Yeop Bihwa's, and the weight of his body was different, yet their walking speed was strangely the same.
It was a speed where it was impossible to tell who was matching whom, or perhaps neither was matching the other.
Yeop Bihwa turned her head once.
The pillars of the Hero's Sect were there.
The members lined up inside the main gate, Jin Hagyeong, and the warriors of Vast Heaven.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were watching her back in silence.
Her gaze did not linger on any of those eyes.
It was more like she had swept over the scenery once.
She faced forward again.
The wind blew once more.
A leaf fell from a tree in front of the gate and lightly settled on Yeop Bihwa's shoulder.
It had no connection to the leaves that had just been woven into a green sword and then erased from the world; just a single leaf that had fallen from some random tree of this season.
She did not brush the leaf off.
The backs of the two people slowly grew distant outside the main gate.
...
Hwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii—
From some distant direction, a strange gust of wind reached this mountain path.
It was less a wind and more like the grain of the wind had curved once toward the south before returning to its place.
A horse standing at the rear of the group snorted briefly, and a few blades of grass by the road were swept southward once before standing straight again.
And a faint trace of energy carried on the tail of that wind swept over the bodies of the forty-odd shadows.
The old man, Unseok, an elder of the Sword Forest of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect, stopped walking.
He took one step but did not take a second.
The middle-aged man following beside him, the First Corps Leader of the Outer Hall, Chang Munjin, stopped as well.
While the group behind them stopped one by one following the halt in front, Unseok was still staring at a point in the empty southern sky.
"How odd."
The voice barely came out.
Chang Munjin dared not ask and waited.
Unseok placed a hand on his left chest.
It was a spot only those who have handled a sword for a long time possess.
A single grain had brushed past that spot.
It was too faint to be a tremor, too thin to be a vibration.
But it was definitely there.
Something had definitely passed by.
It was the Qi of a sword, or the grain of a sword.
"Did you feel it?"
"Yes."
Munjin had also just felt something brush past a Qi vein in his body.
The sensation of a massive concentration exploding from afar, sucking in the surrounding Qi once before releasing it and passing by.
And after that, there was another thread of a sword's grain that flowed.
Unseok's hand could not leave his chest.
"It feels like the Qi of an Immortal... What do you think?"
Chang Munjin looked back at Unseok.
"I hate to admit it, but from what I see... there seems to be no other possibility."
Neither of the two men continued speaking.
The southern horizon remained empty, and the grain that had just brushed past had already faded into the air.
But the hands of the two men gripping their swords clenched and unclenched once, each in their own way.
It was quite some time later that the group began to move south again.
However, right after they started moving again, Unseok's stride was much faster than before.
...
Swiiiiiiiiish-
A gust of air rushing from the west crossed the grassy field on the ridge and flowed eastward.
A few dewdrops fell in a line, and the tips of the grass blades all bowed to the east before standing straight again.
The morning sun was thinly slicing through the edge of the mountain ridge.
Beyond the ridge, three shadows were lying prostrate.
"Did... everyone feel that just now?"
Myo Jinheo, who was holding a folded fan to his chin, asked without turning his head.
With Dongmun Mutoe joining in, the gazes of the three simultaneously fell below the eastern ridge.
And there they froze.
The 'spectacle' they had been observing until just a moment ago had become far more serious.
About three li ahead, below a distant ocher hill, the marching formation arranged in rows had already begun to swell in size while the three had briefly turned their attention to the west.
"Are they... really the Dark Rakshasa Way?"
Myo Jinheo's voice lowered.
The spreading of his fan had also completely stopped.
"Probably."
Yan Bilyeong's reply was also quiet.
Her eyes were tracing the far end of the eastern horizon.
Behind the enemy's vanguard, a long line of low dust was rising.
The width of the dust cloud was several times wider than that of the vanguard in front.
"The main force... perhaps?"
There was almost no time lag.
The vanguard and the main force were practically moving south as a single mass, and that mass was now slowly pushing toward the River Capital.
"Just how many of them have come?"
Dongmun Mutoe muttered without taking his eyes off that direction.
His fingers unconsciously began to tap on his knee.
"Two hundred? No, looking over there, it seems to be over five hundred? Not quite eight hundred... No. Crazy!"
It was his habit when drawing up a formation.
"There are a hell of a lot more in the rear? At least... fifteen hundred!"
It meant it could be over two thousand.
But the real reason the three Trigram Masters' faces hardened was not simply due to the numbers.
A mass of Qi was embedded in the center of the main force.
It felt as if the weight of that single mass would exceed the combined weight of all the remaining troops; Qis of an entirely different stratum were being detected.
Myo Jinheo folded his fan.
"That... is."
It was the motion Myo Jinheo always showed when moving from observation to judgment.
But this time, even after judging, his voice couldn't come out.
Instead.
"That's not on the level of the Eight Rakshasas, is it?"
Yan Bilyeong continued.
Her tone had completely lost its usual sharpness.
"Is it the Upper Four Rakshasas...? No, it seems to be beyond that, too?"
"No, the Upper Four Rakshasas are definitely there. I don't know how many, but it's not just one. But there's more. Beyond the Upper Four Rakshasas, damn it."
Even Dongmun Mutoe spoke, stripped of his usual academic playfulness.
Indeed, as he said, deeper than the Upper Four Rakshasas, at the very back, was a separate Qi that he could not possibly measure.
A level that stood a step... no, several steps above the Qi of the Upper Four Rakshasas.
Dongmun Mutoe immediately took out a Thousand-Li Mirror from his pouch and checked the flag.
A single crimson banner erected at the far end of the main force.
"What does it say?"
"...Blood."
"Blood?"
Blood.
Myo Jinheo's folded fan made a sharp 'tak' sound in his hand.
"The Blood Rakshasa...?!"
The Left Guardian.
The position directly below the 17th leader of the Dark Rakshasa Way, the Dark Rakshasa Great Venerate.
A man who commanded all twelve Rakshasas and sat in a position where the direction of thousands of Rakshasa monks' blades changed with his single word.
Across all seven great demonic sects, it was hard to name more than three who were of the same stature as him.
In the past decade or so, the Left Guardian had never personally moved outside of Nirvanic Extinction Mountain.
Such a person had come here, to the mere backwater River Capital, and on an expedition accompanied by several of the Upper Four Rakshasas at that.
A Qi that suppressed the air for dozens of zhang in all directions just by appearing.
The air around that single person was so completely different from the air of the other troops that, even to the senses of the three Trigram Masters, the main force appeared to be divided into two layers.
One layer woven from the Qi of the troops, and another layer shouldered by the Left Guardian at its center.
In the days that had passed since the annihilation of the Rakshasa Monk Corps.
The three members of the reconnaissance team were now seeing with their own eyes the decision Nirvanic Extinction Mountain had made during those ten days.
The army of nearly two thousand was the sheer volume.
The several Upper Four Rakshasas were the variable.
And...
The Blood Rakshasa himself was the final answer to how Nirvanic Extinction Mountain had defined the Hero's Sect.
A Calamity.
The Dark Rakshasa Way had decided to neatly deal with this Calamity as their own.
-x-X-x-
Chapter 245: The Alliance (1)
Those who knew Kim Rae-won were divided into two types.
Those whose memories of the old Kim Rae-won remained frozen in time, and those who knew the old Kim Rae-won and now stood before this 'Kim Rae-won'.
Yeop Bihwa was clearly the latter.
Therefore, the reason for not killing her was simple.
The pros and cons of killing her.
The benefits and disadvantages of not killing her.
It was the result of an efficient judgment weighing the two.
In other words, as long as she was tied to 'Kim Rae-won', her sword was bound to be closer to a resource than an enemy.
Had he killed her, even though it was a battle like a martial contest, the Hero's Sect would have become an official enemy of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Furthermore, they could have become a public enemy of the entire Orthodox Faction.
This was by no means the picture Dong Bongsu wanted.
Weren't they planning to use this war as a stepping stone for the Hero's Sect's debut in the Jianghu anyway?
This was a shortcut to selling the Hero's Sect at the highest price, and it was the right thing to do to obtain the greatest 'faith' from the greatest number of people for the Hero's Sect.
Besides, didn't Yeop Bihwa have an unconventional relationship with the past Kim Rae-won?
It wasn't clear if they were exactly friends or lovers in the common sense, but it was certainly a relationship with plenty of value to exploit.
A new resource that didn't exist when he first decided to use Kim Rae-won's name, when he decided to use amnesia as a foundation.
Naturally, a new resource should be kept alive and nurtured as much as possible.
To be more precise, she should be tied down and used as a seed for 'faith' for a long time.
This much was a familiar calculation.
Dong Bongsu did not stop walking, with Yeop Bihwa following behind him.
In a corner of his vision, the item 『Faith Judgment quietly lit up once before returning to its original darkness.
He opened the item again as he walked.
『Faith Judgment (Faith Judgment) Lv.1』
[Advanced Magic] [Area of Effect] [Holy Attribute]
Mana Cost: 150 MP
Casting Time: 3 seconds
Cooldown: 300 seconds
Effect Range: 50m radius centered on the caster
Base Damage: 100 (+ Faith Bonus)
: Damage weight based on Trust +10~50% (Stacks): Additional Damage to Unorthodox Path Demonic type enemies × 200%: Casting interrupted upon being hit.
Looking back at what happened earlier, the skill that affected Yeop Bihwa was clearly not a normal 'judgment'.
As a result of the holy attribute light flowing into her empty Inner Core Root, the attack was converted into absorption instead of penetration.
It was purely the result of a series of coincidences.
Filtering out the coincidence and looking only at the pure power of the skill itself, it was still extremely weak.
It was naturally insufficient to resolve various situations, but....
However, the unexpected 'side effect' had to be considered a great gain.
The remnants of the skill's use were still faintly visible on her shoulder.
'A trace of light'.
A by-product of the flow after using the judgment, not the judgment itself.
This had intricately combined with a strand of morning sunlight against the light and the scattering of dust in the air in one spot, forming a circular halo.
It was not a scene that could be easily reproduced, but it didn't seem entirely impossible either.
If he stood in the same place, at the same time, facing the same direction, and used 『Faith Judgment in the same way, he could probably create a similar 'side effect'.
I should practice to manifest this in different terrains and at different times.
It would be up to those who saw the light directly to decide what to call it, but the reactions of everyone in the Hero's Sect, besides Yeop Bihwa, were spectacular.
They could call it a halo, call it Immortal Qi, or dismiss it as a hallucination.
Either way, it didn't matter.
The important thing was.
'It was like an atmosphere of welcoming a Buddha.'
The fact that this 'side effect' was very efficient.
Dong Bongsu's lips curved up at an angle no one could see.
Buddha attained enlightenment and founded Buddhism.
And.
It seemed he, too, had gained an enlightenment comparable to that.
That wasn't all.
The Black Hole.
A single strand extending from the tip of Yeop Bihwa's sword.
A scene where the spot it touched vanished without light, sound, or dust.
He pulled out scenes from the battle with Yeop Bihwa and replayed them in his mind.
Some scenes had to be replayed several times.
Only after what his eyes saw and his senses received were put together was a theory about the martial art established.
The phenomenon of space itself being erased by folding and cramming the emitted Sword Aura into a single point, countless times.
'Just like a black hole.'
He lightly opened his left palm.
A blade of grass lying on the roadside landed on it as he walked.
A single, common leaf, plentiful on the roadside.
Swish, swoosh, swoooosh-.
After folding the Super True Qi Field a few times, the leaf bent and was drawn toward the center of his palm.
In the middle of its veins curling into a single point, it was released just before crumbling.
It returned to a flat single leaf and was placed on his palm again.
He brought his palm forward and looked down at it once.
A mass of matter that had been a crumpled, crushed leaf, leaking green juice.
A grin.
Not bad for a first test.
Super Black Hole Aura.
Although much more research would be needed in the future, he had gained an enlightenment about a martial art beyond the Super Spinning Sword Aura.
Thud, thud.
Before he knew it, he had entered a country path on the outskirts of the River Capital.
Low hills lined both sides, and the light of past noon hung slightly behind the crown of his head.
From behind, the footsteps of one person followed at a distance of about two or three steps.
There was no sign of the gap narrowing or widening.
A strand of the Super True Qi Field was now bent backward, and that strand was scanning Yeop Bihwa's movements.
Her breathing was composed.
Her sense of defeat as a Sword Master didn't seem to be great.
However, the single leaf on her shoulder was a rather useful indicator of her emotions.
From the moment they started walking, the woman hadn't thought to remove the ordinary leaf resting there.
The long tear on the chest of her martial robes was also left as it was.
She had only placed her hand there once.
She didn't bother to fix it.
It was too early to be certain, but Kim Rae-won was undoubtedly a significant 'wound' or 'memory' for that woman.
For a peerless Sword Master, so cold as to earn the title of the Iron-Faced Lady, to show such emotional turmoil was in itself a very important reference signal.
"You are...."
It was then that Yeop Bihwa finally opened her mouth.
"Are you human?"
He stopped.
He stopped his feet a little late to make it look natural.
Without looking back.
"What is the standard for being human?"
Ggook, he could feel Yeop Bihwa tightening her grip on her sword and then releasing it.
Only then did Dong Bongsu lightly turn around.
Yeop Bihwa, as expected of a peerless master, was a peerless beauty despite her age.
"If you're asking what kind of animal I am, I'm clearly human-."
Of course, to Dong Bongsu, it was just one insignificant reference point.
"If you're asking whether I'm a person from this place or not...."
After consciously smiling, Dong Bongsu finished his answer.
"I think I'll have to answer no."
After a moment of silence.
Yeop Bihwa's lips slowly parted again.
"Who are you?"
"Kim Rae-won."
"...."
"Why? You don't think so? Should we go another round?"
Yeop Bihwa's sword moved briefly in her hand before becoming still again.
She had touched her sword unconsciously, but her hand didn't move further.
Because her body and mind already knew well that there was no answer she could get with her sword.
Rather, her lips twisted so faintly it was imperceptible.
A smile.
A good sign.
Soon, Yeop Bihwa's steps continued.
For the first time, she walked ahead.
"It was five or six years ago."
Yeop Bihwa's voice came out slowly and intermittently from ahead.
"He suddenly vanished. I tried to catch him, but I couldn't. He went north.... That was the last I saw of him."
"I told you, it's not 'he"
...Although you have Rae-won's scent, you are not him."
"Well, believe what you want to believe. If it makes you comfortable, then that's what's right."
Dong Bongsu widened his stride again and overtook her.
As he did, he casually let a word slip.
"It's a good day for a walk. Isn't it?"
A tone close to a monologue, as if he had just let a thought that came to mind slip out.
"..."
But the pace that connected Yeop Bihwa and him was misaligned once again.
Her footsteps paused for a moment and then resumed.
The five fingers gripping the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle trembled minutely on the hilt, and though the trembling was hidden by a clench, it did not disappear completely.
'As I thought.'
The line from the memory obtained through observation was effective.
That woman was violently wavering between whether he was Kim Rae-won or not.
The words just now had clearly added weight to one side of the scale
Appearance doesn't matter in a world like this anyway.
Although it still pressed down on the other side of the scale, the trembling in her fingers was clear evidence that the scale of her judgment was wavering back and forth.
Soon, Yeop Bihwa's voice continued again.
She was feigning composure, but her voice was lower than before, and the ends of her words were not neatly trimmed.
A tone she pulled out after composing herself a few times.
...Karma Root. Are you also one who bears a Karma Root?"
Karma Root.
It was confirmed again.
That woman clearly knows about the Karma Root Tribe.
She probably heard it from Kim Rae-won.
"Well, seems like it. I'm not sure, though."
Her lips, which had been following Dong Bongsu's back with a long gaze as he trailed off, quivered a few times before finally opening.
...I don't care if you are Kim Rae-won or not. But can you tell me where his body is?"
"The body is already gone."
He continued, finishing his answer.
"Because I am Kim Rae-won. The very Kim Rae-won you know."
Turning around again, he faced Yeop Bihwa.
...Is that so? Then that means it's meaningless."
Yeop Bihwa's voice dropped for a long moment.
However, it wasn't long before Yeop Bihwa looked straight at Dong Bongsu and spoke.
"What is your purpose for coming here?"
This question was different from the previous ones.
Are you human? Who are you? Are you Kim Rae-won? Where is the body?.
She must have judged all the previous questions to be useless.
If she can't find out anyway, is she just going to accept it as is?
"Well."
An interesting judgment and an interesting woman.
"Originally, it was a homecoming. Now...."
In that sense, Dong Bongsu paused to choose his answer, then soon revealed his white teeth.
"Cult Leader? No-."
"...."
"Maybe more like a Pope?"
-x-X-x-
Pope.
Those were two words spoken in Kim Rae-won's tone.
But they were Dong Bongsu's true feelings, borrowing Kim Rae-won's manner of speech.
He pulled up the System Window to a corner of his vision.
'Faith Arrow'
'Shield of Faith'
'Faith Judgment'
'Faith Weight'
'Faith Sight'
The items, each stamped with the two characters for 'Faith', lined up one after another.
Dong Bongsu slowly scanned the list.
As the specifications for the five items opened in order, one thing was included in every field without exception.
Faith Bonus.
Trustworthiness Weight.
The displayed words or formats were slightly different, but the nature of the variable was the same.
The bonus affected power, and the weight affected efficiency.
The variables determining power and efficiency were grouped under the same name.
'Faith'.
The strength of this Faith was clearly based on numbers.
Headcount was Faith, and Faith was power.
The Faith of What is Hero was by no means an abstract concept.
It was another name for headcount.
As the headcount increased, an arrow would strike farther, and a judgment would spread wider.
The five lines unanimously explained the input and output of that circuit.
On the other hand.
"Po...pe?"
The footsteps, which had been maintaining a distance of two or three steps, stopped for a moment.
Yeop Bihwa mulled over those words.
The Emperor of the Faith.
Looking at the characters alone, the meaning was clear.
But such a position existed nowhere in the Orthodox Factions of the Jianghu, nor among the Demonic Beings.
It was an expression that far surpassed the rank of a mere Cult Leader.
A title that referred not to the head of a single sect, but to the very pinnacle of the system of 'Faith' itself.
Such a title was not marked anywhere on the map of the Jianghu she had walked her entire life.
"Such a position does not exist anywhere in the Jianghu. And..."
After a moment of silence, Yeop Bihwa continued.
"Even if such a thing existed, it would not suit the Jianghu."
"Why do you think so?"
"Is it not a religion?"
"Don't monks fight? Like the Dark Rakshasa Way you are currently fighting. Though their direction is a bit problematic."
One corner of Dong Bongsu's mouth tilted up slightly.
"Anyway, 'Kim Rae-won's' dream is now to be the Pope."
...May I ask why?"
"It's the same reason you are a Martial Artist."
With a questioning look in her eyes, Yeop Bihwa blinked a few times.
...What do you mean?"
Dong Bongsu's white teeth showed for a moment.
"Because I have been growing stronger, I will continue to grow stronger, and ultimately, I don't want anyone standing above me."
"...."
"You're the same, aren't you? Just like any Martial Artist."
Yeop Bihwa stood still for a long moment before opening her mouth.
"I am not."
"....!"
"The sword is merely the path I pursue. I have never pursued strength for its own sake. I simply grew stronger while polishing my sword to wholly achieve the One Line. Furthermore, do your words not mean turning the sword into a religious order?"
Dong Bongsu paused, choosing his words.
"No. The Pope I speak of, the one I mean, is different."
"How so?"
"It will be a religious order of heroes to end all fights."
"The end of... all fights?!"
"Yes. A Righteous Hero of the Jianghu that no one dares challenge, yet one that anyone can dream of becoming. I will be the first to pave that path and become the 'Emperor' of the 'Faith."
...Isn't that just being the Number One Under Heaven?"
"No. If the Number One Under Heaven gave you an order, would you obey?"
"...."
"I will place the world under the feet of this Hero's Sect... this Hero's Religion. The Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Faction, and even those who walk the Demonic Path-all of them, under the name of the Pope whom none can defy."
"Audacious... such an incredibly audacious ambition."
Indeed, it was so.
Yeop Bihwa had never considered herself an ordinary person... but before this 'new' Kim Rae-won, she felt she couldn't help but be one.
His skill, his goal, his will.
Whether he was serious or not, the very fact that he could voice such a thing made him feel like a lofty, unsurpassable being.
A brief silence fell upon the path.
Just then, a part of his Super True Qi Field shifted from behind him to the front.
It was because he had detected a stream of True Qi approaching from ahead on the path at a frightening speed.
'Is it Myo Jinheo?'
Beyond a bend in the path, a trail of dust was rising.
At the end of that trail, a single person could be clearly detected.
The person holding a fan in one hand and deploying his Lightness Skill as if flying towards them was, without a doubt, Myo Jinheo.
Tap-.
Myo Jinheo stopped about ten steps away.
"Sect Leader."
Dong Bongsu's gaze fixed on him.
Yeop Bihwa's gaze also naturally shifted to Myo Jinheo.
"Huu... Huu..."
Myo Jinheo's breaths came out ragged, unlike usual.
Moreover, he was alone.
Neither Dongmun Mutoe nor Yan Bilyeong were with him.
The reason immediately followed.
"The Blood Rakshasa... the Blood Rakshasa has come to lead the attack himself."
"The Blood Rakshasa?"
"That is correct. I speak of the Left Guardian of the Dark Rakshasa Way."
Dong Bongsu's expression quickly sank into 'nothingness'.
"The scale?"
"The main force appeared to exceed two thousand, with several at the level of the Upper Four Rakshasas, and the Blood Rakshasa himself is coming here in person. They are twenty li beyond the eastern ridge of the River Capital... Whether they will stop to avoid provoking the authorities, or push forward regardless, this Trigram Master does not know."
The fan lowered for a moment, then rose again.
"However... the Dark Rakshasa Way has never cared for the authorities. Even if the authorities are close to you, they will likely have no choice but to step back, citing the principle of non-interference between the authorities and the Murim. They would not see a good outcome if they were to get needlessly involved in a large-scale Murim conflict."
At the end of that short pause, the final line fell.
"This is clearly... a Calamity, Sect Leader."
Dong Bongsu quietly mulled over the word 'Calamity' and then smiled.
"What about Dongmun Mutoe and Trigram Master Yan?"
"Trigram Master Dongmun and Trigram Master Yan are currently setting up Mountain, Lightning, and Illusion formations on the eastern ridge. However, time is short, so they can only manage the framework.."
"...Is that true? You said the Left Guardian of the Dark Rakshasa is personally bearing down on us?"
Myo Jinheo's fan stopped.
His gaze shifted from its original position to over Dong Bongsu's shoulder.
Vast Heaven martial robes.
A narrow, slender sword.
A beauty that held the air of both a peerless beauty and a peerless martial artist.
A title naturally formed in his mind.
"The Iron-Faced Lady?!"
The appearance of someone in their mid-twenties.
But her bearing far surpassed her looks.
An independent power directly under the Vast Heaven Sword Venerate.
One of the Three Monsters.
A title given to her by the Jianghu, derived from her unbending nature once she sets her mind on something.
Only then did he realize the identity of the energy that had cut through the gray mist on the ridge a short while ago.
Myo Jinheo immediately put away his fan.
"It is true."
He answered briefly and performed a fist-and-palm salute toward her.
"I am Myo Jinheo, a Trigram Master of the Formation Tower. A junior of the Jianghu greets Senior Yeop."
"I am not fond of such formalities. More importantly... were your words just now true?"
"This humble junior saw it with my own two eyes. Two other Trigram Masters of the Formation Tower were there as well. On the dark red flag behind the Dark Rakshasa Way's main force, the character for 'Blood' was clearly emblazoned."
Myo Jinheo's gaze returned to Dong Bongsu.
"Sect Leader."
He gripped the fan tightly in his palm.
"So, to urgently report this situation, this Trigram Master was on my way to the Hero's Sect... Huh? Where are you going?"
His words had not even finished.
Dong Bongsu had lightly passed by Myo Jinheo and was already moving east.
The hem of his clothes brushed past the tip of Myo Jinheo's fan.
Myo Jinheo's hand, holding the fan, froze in place, half-turning to follow Dong Bongsu's back.
"I have to go see."
Myo Jinheo's fan froze where it was.
"...?"
"You said a horde of enemies has come, right?"
As he spoke, Dong Bongsu glanced back at Yeop Bihwa.
The corner of his mouth quirked.
"You're coming with me, right? After all, you guys were already at war with them, weren't you?"
Yeop Bihwa met Dong Bongsu's gaze.
Then, her hand holding the sword briefly rose to the front of her martial robes before falling.
Her mouth half-opened as if to reply.
It was at that very moment.
Once again, from beyond the bend in the path ahead, another presence cut through the wind and glided toward them.
A lean figure in a white robe.
Loosely tied white hair.
An old man who appeared to be at least seventy, wearing an unmarked robe.
He exuded a strong aura of the Formation Tower, just like Myo Jinheo.
However, the True Qi detected from him felt a level higher than Myo Jinheo's.
As soon as he saw him, Myo Jinheo's neatly folded fan rose to his chest and then lowered.
"Elder Baek Hando!"
Soon, the hem of the white robe stopped about one Zhang away from Dong Bongsu.
The old man in the robe gave a light gesture to Myo Jinheo, then shifted his gaze to Dong Bongsu.
"We meet for the first time. This old one is called Baek, and I hold the humble position of an external affairs Elder in the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance."
Baek Hando performed a short fist-and-palm salute
"Hero's Sect Leader."
Dong Bongsu also responded with a light fist-and-palm salute.
'An external affairs Elder.!'
So, what was meant to happen has happened.
A figure from the Formation Tower, and one in charge of external affairs at that... It seemed highly likely that Dongmun Mutoe had succeeded in his task.
"A pleasure. I am Kim Rae-won, the Sect Leader of the Hero's Sect."
Baek Hando lowered his hands from the salute.
Then he slowly, yet thoroughly, scanned Dong Bongsu-once with his eyes, and again with his energy.
How are all Formation Masters so alike?
Their methods differ, but they are all similar.
The corner of Dong Bongsu's mouth lifted slightly, then relaxed.
"So, for what reason has the Formation Tower sought me out?"
"This old one.."
Baek Hando's tone grew heavy.
"I have come to see the Hero's Sect Leader in person, having been delegated the full authority of the Yin-Yang Guard."
"Full authority? What kind of full authority are you talking about?"
"You may not be aware, but the war between the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect and the Dark Rakshasa Way is currently showing signs of intensifying."
"And?"
"The Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance has received requests from both of them."
"Mm, and so."
At Dong Bongsu's lukewarm, immediate responses, Baek Hando's expression changed oddly.
"...Uh... Trigram Master Myo here is a member of the Formation Dao Alliance."
"Ah, is that so? I was not aware."
"...."
"So why are you telling me, the Hero's Sect Leader, that?"
"...Uh, well, it's not just Trigram Master Myo here, but also Trigram Master Dongmun and Trigram Master Yan, a total of three Trigram Masters, are at the Hero's Sect."
"Ah, is that so? I wasn't aware of that either."
"First, I must politely request that you send those three back to us, Sect Leader."
Dong Bongsu let out a short scoff.
"Look here, Trigram Master Myo."
Myo Jinheo, standing beside him, answered a beat late.
"...Ah, ah, yes. Sect Leader."
"Have I ever held you here against your will?"
"No... You have not."
"Then did I hire you with money?"
"Never."
"That's my point. I haven't paid any mind to whether you were eating the Hero's Sect's food or whatever else you were doing, so I don't know what the intentions are of the Formation Tower's external affairs Elder to speak to me like this upon our first meeting."
Baek Hando's white eyebrows furrowed and then relaxed.
A thick trace of bewilderment was embedded in that breath.
A brief flash of white showed from the corner of Dong Bongsu's mouth.
"Anyway, we are busy right now, so please continue this conversation among yourselves from the Formation Tower."
"...What? What do you mean by that?"
Dong Bongsu's feet turned east again.
"Didn't you say just now that those Dark Rakshasa bastards are invading?"
While the two figures from the Formation Tower stood frozen, Dong Bongsu's feet had already taken another step toward the east.
Yeop Bihwa's hand also settled firmly on the hilt of her sword.
"I will follow as well."
Dong Bongsu's hand swept through the empty air.
A jet-black sword now rested in his grasp.
Hwiiirrr-.
A fierce whirlwind kicked up, making Dong Bongsu's clothes flutter once.
Then, he vanished on the spot.
Yeop Bihwa's footsteps immediately followed.
And so, two long trails of dust were drawn ahead.
"...Ha. Ha. That's just like Sect Leader Kim."
"...."
Baek Hando stood frozen on the spot for a long while.
Where Myo Jinheo's dejected sigh had settled, Baek Hando's white robe, filled with his own dejection, fluttered briefly before settling down.
At the same time, the white strands of his hair, which gave him the air of an immortal, swayed lightly from side to side.
"Heh. Heh... Well, I'll be."
-x-X-x-
Black-Red.
The fields beyond the eastern ridge of the River Capital were covered in a color that seemed red yet black, black yet red.
A single color that seemed like two.
It was a scene created by countless people emitting the same type of True Qi.
However.
If one were to stand on the ridge and look down at the fields, the first thing to catch their eye would not be the blackish-red, but a single flag that cut through it and soared high.
A white staff.
Blackish-red cloth.
A single character embroidered in the center of the cloth.
Blood.
In this Jianghu, it was rare for a character on a flag to be just a simple character.
It was often a mark that summarized what its followers did, and this single character was precisely such a mark.
The group of those who refused to belong to any of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, or Demonic factions, and had followed only their own creed in a corner of Nirvanic Extinction Mountain, was the Dark Rakshasa Way, and the one character that condensed everything about that group was Blood.
However, this flag was not an ordinary flag of the Dark Rakshasa Way, but the flag of the Left Guardian.
Blood Rakshasa.
In the center of the shadow cast by the flag, which flew stiffly unfurled, stood a person.
The kasaya he wore was blood-red, and on his exposed head, not a single strand of hair existed.
A kind of stillness in motion, possessed only by those who carry killing intent without being swayed by it, was firmly established on his bald head.
"Junior Brother, did you feel it too?"
The Blood Rakshasa spoke to his side, his gaze fixed on the foot of the ridge.
A couple of steps away from him stood another person wearing the same blood-red kasaya.
It was one of the Upper Four Rakshasas, the Scent Rakshasa.
He shifted his gaze to the same spot.
"Yes, Senior Brother. It pierced deep into this Junior Brother's Dantian."
"Is it a miscellaneous Immortal, or another one of the descended beings?"
"...What do you mean, Senior Brother?"
"It is nothing. Pay it no mind."
The Blood Rakshasa's eyes swept over the eastern foot of the ridge once more.
"As expected, the money-grubbers of the Formation Tower were behind this."
"Yes. One path along the eastern ridge... two paths... Perhaps, it seems to be three paths of the Formation Dao."
"It is True Qi that calls mountains, calls thunder, and calls illusions. However, it seems they didn't have much time."
"Yes, Senior Brother. It seems so."
The Scent Rakshasa replied briefly.
At that, the Blood Rakshasa's hand slowly rolled one of the human bone prayer beads around his neck.
"Scent, listen."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
"You, pursue the owner of that energy from before."
"Yes, Senior Brother. I receive your command."
"Vajra. Mandala."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
Two people who had been sitting formally in the middle of the procession stood up at the same time.
"You two, stand at the head of the main force and break the formation"
One was a giant twice the size of the Blood Rakshasa.
A thick chain of human bones ran from his shoulder to the middle of his back, and on each shoulder rested a black Vajra.
He was the Vajra Rakshasa of the Upper Four Rakshasas.
The other was a woman of a similar build to the Blood Rakshasa, but with a length of cloth draped over her back.
On a black background, a five-colored mandala pattern filled the entire surface.
As she stood up, she casually rolled a string of human bone prayer beads in one hand.
She was the Mandala Rakshasa of the Upper Four Rakshasas.
The two answered at the same time.
"Yes, Senior Brother. We receive your command."
"Then, advance."
As the Blood Rakshasa's short command fell, the Scent Rakshasa disappeared to the east of the field path, while the Vajra Rakshasa and Mandala Rakshasa moved to the front.
Wuuuuuuh-.
The procession of the two-thousand-strong main force began to move, following the two.
The marching formation realigned on the blackish-red fields.
"Since this is the place where the Honored One himself became enraged."
The Blood Rakshasa himself also began to walk.
"Erase everything. Whether it be Vast Heaven, the Formation Tower or the new enemy "
The Blood Rakshasa's mouth added another word towards the great force that was instantly surging like blackish-red waves.
"..whether it be the Hero's Sect."
"Waaaaaaaah!"
••••
On the eastern slope of the ridge.
Another line of a Formation Style was carved into the earth.
It was the mark left after Dongmun Mutoe's finger drew a line in the dirt and infused a thread of Qi into it.
Beside him, Yan Bilyeong was holding a one-ja long Formation Eye Stone with both hands.
"Mutoe, are we really going to be able to set all of this up?"
Yan Bilyeong asked, hugging the stone she was holding closer to herself.
"We're short one Mountain Formation, short two strands of an Illusion Formation, and the Lightning Formation.... Ah, it seems this one is impossible due to the terrain, isn't it?"
Dongmun Mutoe muttered, squatting on the dirt ground and tapping his fingers.
"Hey."
Despite Yan Bilyeong's call, his fingertips were still carving another line of the Formation Style into the earth.
"Hey, you bastard!"
No reply.
...Ha. That hopeless bastard. When it comes to the Formation Dao, tsk."
Shaking her head like that, Yan Bilyeong, who was about to carve another formation, suddenly lifted her head.
Kugugugugugugu-.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
It was because the members of the Dark Rakshasa Way had begun their full-scale advance from the fields beyond the ridge.
"Hey, hey!"
"...."
Thwack.
In the end, Yan Bilyeong's foot landed squarely on the back of Dongmun Mutoe's head.
Only then did Dongmun Mutoe look at her and shout.
"What are you doing! You bitch!"
"Bitch or not, you bastard. Look over there."
At Yan Bilyeong's words, Dongmun Mutoe finally saw the movement of the Dark Rakshasa Way.
"Huh? They're already coming?"
"Already my ass. Hey, we've been here for more than half a day."
"..Have we?"
"Anyway, so what are we going to do now?"
"What do you mean, what are we going to do?"
Dongmun Mutoe tossed out the words and immediately started moving his hands again.
"We have to hurry up, finish what we were doing, and bounce."
"...Can't we just bounce?"
"Just a little more, and it should be roughly functional."
"Alright, I get it. You stubborn mule."
While another line of the Formation Style was laid by Dongmun Mutoe's hand, Yan Bilyeong also slammed the stone she was holding into its final position.
After the two moved busily at a speed incomparable to before, the Formation Dao they were laying was somewhat complete.
"Done. Let's get up."
The place where the two stood up was the top of the ridge.
After brushing the dirt from her knees, Yan Bilyeong shifted her gaze to the fields beyond the ridge.
"Hah."
The blackish-red procession had already reached the foot of the ridge.
Among them, two people at the head of the procession were a few steps ahead of the main force, and their appearances were unusual.
One was a giant monk, the other a giant bhikkhuni with a length of cloth on her back.
"Ugh, those must be the Upper Four Rakshasas, right?"
"Yeah. They look like it. They look damn strong."
While the two were having a short conversation, the head of the main force finally set foot on the slope of the ridge.
At that moment, the earth around the lower part of the ridge rippled as if an earthquake had occurred.
The Mountain Formation had been activated.
At the same time, the steps of the main Dark Rakshasa force's procession all became heavy.
The ground cracked open, tearing at the ground beneath their feet, and the marching formation was momentarily disrupted.
"Huh? They're in. They're in."
"Oh, it actually works?"
As Dongmun Mutoe's eyes singled out another line among the Formation Eye Stones, another cloud of dust rose over the fields and the lower ridge.
It was the Illusion Formation.
The vision of a part of the main force would be distorted by the dust for a while, and their direction of advance would be disrupted....
Huh?!
The Formation Dao that the two had worked so hard to lay had activated, but that was all.
Kuuuuuung-!
Of the two Upper Rakshasas, the giant one shifted the two Vajras from his shoulders to his palms and slammed them onto the ground, while the other swirled the mandala cloth on her back with her fingertip.
The source of the roar was the shockwave that erupted from beneath the giant's feet.
The two Vajras struck the dirt ground simultaneously, and two shockwaves starting from those two points spread out in a fan shape along the foot of the ridge.
Heavy Mountain Formation. Bewilderment Illusion
That formation, named by pairing the Mountain and Illusion Formations, took the shockwave.
But the earth that the Mountain Formation was pressing down on was violently shaken by the shockwave.
Starting with the nearest Formation Eye Stone, it shot up about a hand's breadth from its spot before slamming back down.
Then the next Formation Eye Stone.
And the next.
Dozens of Formation Eye Stones embedded in the ridge slope successively jolted from their places along the concentric circles of the shockwave, and the Formation Styles carved into the earth lost their light moment by moment.
At that, the heavy steps of the main force became lighter in succession.
"...."
Dongmun Mutoe's tapping fingers came to a stop.
Meanwhile, the mandala cloth fully unfurled from the fingertips of the female Upper Rakshasa.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue-as the five-colored patterns danced and shifted places on the cloth as if alive, the dust cloud created by the Illusion Formation began to get swept up and sucked into those colors.
The vision of the main force, which had been blocked by the dust cloud, returned in sequence, and the entire procession's feet once again found their direction towards the summit.
"Uh.... Hey, this. It's all breaking?"
Not long after the Heavy Mountain Bewilderment Illusion Formation had activated, it was already losing its form.
"Hey, we're screwed. Let's run."
Dongmun Mutoe hurriedly stood up from the dirt ground.
And Yan Bilyeong had actually been carefully examining the rear slope of the ridge for a while now.
"We can go down the rear slope. Since the enemies are coming up from the front, the rear is empty...."
But those words couldn't even be fully spoken.
It was because on the rear slope of the ridge, where the two were about to slide down, a group had already taken their position.
A blood-red kasaya.
Another one.
While the front of the main force was halted dealing with the formation, a scout party had bypassed the ridge and filled the rear slope.
At a glance, there seemed to be over a hundred people.
Moreover, every single one of them was a powerful, elite Rakshasa monk, each seemingly at the level of a first-rate master.
...Ah, seriously."
Yan Bilyeong's hand gripped the hilt of her sword tighter.
Dongmun Mutoe shook his head once and stopped in his tracks.
"We're fucked, damn it."
At the front of the main force, below the foot of the ridge.
The Vajra Rakshasa's two Vajras were raised once again above his rock-like head.
Since one side of the formation was broken by the first impact, he intended to completely crush the other side with the next one.
If possible, he planned to shatter the Trigram Masters who set up the Formation Dao as well.
Gooooooh-.
The two Vajras, filled with aura, simultaneously slammed straight down onto the dirt of the field, and the shockwave that started from those two points surged up the slope of the ridge like a wave.
Kwarurururu, Kwadeudeuk-!
Beside him, another length of the mandala cloth wrapped around the Mandala Rakshasa's fingertips.
As the five-colored patterns swirled and changed places on her finger, a green streak from among those colors shot out like a giant living finger and streaked up the slope of the ridge.
Chjujujujujuju, Kwajajak-!
The impact of the Vajras was to finish crushing the formation, and the Poisonous Hue of the Mandala Hue-Grasping Finger Art was intended to finish gathering the scattered dust and cover the ridge with poison at the same time.
The location both attacks were heading towards, naturally, overlapped exactly with where Dongmun Mutoe and Yan Bilyeong were standing.
And that wasn't all.
On the rear slope of the ridge, behind the two.
Thirty elite Rakshasa monks in blood-red kasayas were suddenly flying towards them like a blackish-red storm.
Papat-papat-papatpat-!
Each of the thirty held a curved saber in their hands, and they all kicked off the crest of the ridge, shooting towards the two.
"Ah, seriously!"
Just as Yan Bilyeong urgently drew her sword to swing it.
Dongmun Mutoe's fingers were poised, about to lift from the dirt.
Exactly at the same time.
The earth beneath the two cracked from the impact as the Vajra Rakshasa's aura soared up.
The Mandala's Poisonous Hue was closing in right before their noses.
Thirty curved sabers were being swung from a step behind the two.
In that very instant, just as all those attacks were about to reach the two in the blink of an eye.
Kwadeudeuk-!
A blood-red kasaya was split in two.
Ttaeng-geong-.
A curved saber, just like its owner, fell to the ground in two pieces, and its owner also split left and right and fell separately.
Another person next to him.
And another person next to that one.
Just like that, thirty Rakshasa monks in blood-red kasayas fell to the ground simultaneously.
Thirty people became thirty pairs, thirty curved sabers became thirty pairs, and the kasayas they wore also drastically increased to sixty pieces.
"...!"
Something else was happening beneath Dongmun Mutoe's and Yan Bilyeong's feet.
The aura that had shot up like a thunderbolt through the earth, cracked by the impact, died out just an inch from the tips of their feet, and the Mandala's Poisonous Hue evaporated on the spot, scattering into the air without a trace.
Chreureureureureung-.
A streak of a Sword's Cry belatedly flashed near the severed aura and Poisonous Hue.
Hwiryurururururu-.
With that, a fierce whirlwind raged over the ridge.
Two lines of dust were instantly drawn from the crest of the ridge to right behind the two people.
Just like that, one step behind the two.
A man wearing a robe with the large character for 'Enemy' embroidered on the back had appeared, as if he had been there from the beginning.
In his right hand was a jet-black sword.
Its tip was pointed towards the ground, dripping with warm, fresh blood.
Two or three steps behind that person was a peerless beauty with a cold face, dressed in the martial robes of Vast Heaven.
Chwaak, the man who flicked the blood off his sword in one go, Dong Bongsu, walked out past Dongmun Mutoe and Yan Bilyeong.
Then he lightly ruffled both their heads and stood at the edge of the slope, looking down.
"Quite a lot of guest bastards have flocked here, haven't they?"
Siiik-.
Tuk, he smiled as he dropped the head he was holding in his other hand, letting it roll down the ridge.
"So I even prepared a gift."
Degu-rururururu-.
The head soon reached the bottom of the slope, and only after it stopped was the identity of the 'gift' revealed.
The Scent Rakshasa.
"You'd better like it."
It was the severed head of the head of the Upper Four Rakshasas, who had left just a short while ago after receiving the Blood Rakshasa's order.
"Because if you don't, I'll give you more gifts. A lot, a whole lot more."
-x-X-x-
Even after rolling all the way down the slope, the head continued to roll for quite a while longer.
Only after hitting a stone as large as itself did it finally come to a stop.
Unclotted blood slowly trickled down the severed surface, staining a handful of soil dark red.
In the process of rolling, both eyeballs had popped out and were dangling loosely.
The skull was also crushed, with brain matter leaking out.
"..."
The war cries of the army ceased.
The magnificent power and morale with which the great army had shaken the field with their fierce momentum suddenly died down.
In the middle of that silence, a single head stared up at them with empty eyes.
Although time had been short, they, who could not be stopped even by the Formation Dao of two Trigram Masters of the Formation Tower, were now blocked by the most basic 'Formation' set by a single dead man.
The formation known as the head of the Scent Rakshasa.
"Namo Amitabha Buddha."
The Blood Rakshasa's expression flickered once before settling.
Neither the indignation of a Senior Brother nor the lament of one who had lost his Junior Brother appeared anywhere on his blood-red kasaya or face.
Only the bone prayer beads between his fingers rolled at a faster pace.
Other than that, no crack appeared in his Stillness in Motion.
"Scent, you have achieved enlightenment in such a wretchedly sublime way. Truly, all that remains is your Rebirth in Paradise. Guan Yin Bodhisattva."
With the end of his Buddhist invocation, the Blood Rakshasa's gaze left his junior brother's face and turned toward the top of the ridge.
There, two people stood, blocking the dark red field.
The man in a black robe with the character 'Enemy' embroidered on his back, Dong Bongsu.
Two or three steps behind him, the peerless beauty in Vast Heaven martial robes, Yeop Bihwa, stood side by side, looking down at them aloofly.
Whoosh.
He slowly seared the two of them into his pupils.
Thud.
Thump.
He deeply planted the flag he was holding into the middle of the field and stood up.
Beneath the Blood Rakshasa's feet, the dark red soil was pushed back a zhang in all directions.
Fwoooooosh.
His blood-red kasaya swelled with the True Qi surging from within and spread wide in all directions.
Growing to two, three times its original size, it began to flutter over the field.
The shadows extending from between the folds of the giant kasaya cast a long shadow over the two thousand members of the main force.
Under that shadow, the dark red field sank into an even deeper shade of blood.
It was a mighty energy, so powerful that every blade of grass on the field, every pebble on the soil, was drawn toward the tips of the Blood Rakshasa's feet, pulled by that bloody light.
The flag he had just planted fluttered grandly dozens of times as if responding to its master's dignity.
With each flutter, the character for Blood in the center of the dark red cloth became a living, bloody color, growing even deeper.
Only at the tips of his fingers did the beads of the bone prayer beads change places at an ever-increasing speed.
In response, the members of the main force dropped to their knees one by one.
Thousands of kasayas fluttered in the same direction at once, thousands of heads bowed in the same posture toward the same person, and all these movements spread across the field simultaneously like an epidemic.
It was as if the entire Great Plains East of the River Capital had lowered its posture toward the Blood Rakshasa.
"I shall... receive the Left Guardian's command."
When the Vajra Rakshasa spoke in a low voice, the same words rose from the entire main force, following his voice.
"I shall... receive the Left Guardian's command."
On the black-red plain, the chorus of "As You Command" spread far and wide.
"Our junior brother was spreading the Buddha's will and was benevolently embraced by that will first. You all shall continue our junior brother's path and let the Honored One's mercy reach those heretics who have not yet been brought to heel."
"We shall continue our junior brother's path and spread the Honored One's mercy."
The voices of the Vajra Rakshasa and the Mandala Rakshasa rang out simultaneously.
The energy of an offensive was already embedded in their movements as they kicked off the dirt ground and rose together.
Two black Vajras were successively held in the Vajra Rakshasa's hands, and next to him, the Mandala cloth hidden inside the Mandala Rakshasa's kasaya flowed out from between her fingers and fluttered long over the field.
It was the signal for a coordinated attack, where two senior and junior brothers of the greatest sect of the Dark Rakshasa Way joined in the same movement.
Thus, the two figures took their first step toward the ridge top.
In one of the Vajra Rakshasa's hands, a chain of human bones was unfurled with his steps and dragged across the field.
...
Meanwhile.
"Whew... I almost died."
"I know, right..."
Dongmun Mutoe and Yan Bilyeong caught their breath two or three steps behind.
The fact that thirty curved sabers on the rear slope of the ridge were about to touch their backs, and the fact that those sabers ultimately split left and right without reaching them.
Only after these two facts were sorted out in their minds did their shoulders finally relax slightly.
"Well, anyway, whatever... thank you. Sect Leader."
Yan Bilyeong awkwardly glanced at Dong Bongsu's back.
Her tone was strained with prickliness, but at the end of it flowed a clear gratitude uncharacteristic of her.
"Haha. I knew it. Our master... Sect Leader. I'll make a special exception and skip today's questions."
Dongmun Mutoe chimed in from the side.
"But who was that 'present' from?"
Dong Bongsu, his gaze still fixed on the field below the ridge, replied.
His eyes were precisely locked on the spot where the Scent Rakshasa's head had stopped.
"I picked it up on the way."
"As expected... just like our Sect Leader. Picking up a head off the street and then bestowing it as a gift to the enemy."
"Want me to shut that mouth for you, again?"
"...No, did I say something wrong... No, I didn't. Yes, yes. All hail our Sect Leader!"
"You two, stick close to Yeop Bihwa here. Put aside all that talk of formations and Formation Dao for a moment."
Dong Bongsu's voice was directed toward the end of the ridge.
"What? No, so you're just telling us to stay still? Two Trigram Masters of the Formation Tower..."
"Just think of it as a day out. Consider it a bit of sightseeing before you leave. And aren't there still some guys left back there?"
"Ah, I gratefully understand, Sect Leader. But..."
Dongmun Mutoe glanced back and whispered softly.
"Did you just say Yeop Bihwa?"
No answer came, but he exchanged a look with Yan Bilyeong, and the two of them slowly turned their heads back at the same time.
Yeop Bihwa.
She held a spiritual pill in her mouth.
The secret art of Vast Heaven quickly dissolved under her tongue and began to seep into her Inner Core Root.
With that, the Internal Energy she had exhausted in the previous duel was being hastily restored.
Soon after, a unique Hand Seal of Vast Heaven formed in her hands.
Chaaang.
From her fingertips, a flash of light shot straight up into the sky beyond the ridge.
At the point where it reached its zenith, the streak of light split as if drawn by a sword.
The Vast Heaven Sword Light.
It was a signaling system that only a sword master of Vast Heaven could engrave in the sky.
Somewhere in the northern part of the River Capital, there would be people of Vast Heaven who could read this trajectory.
At that moment, Dong Bongsu lightly flexed his feet at the edge of the ridge.
Both his hands clenched and unclenched in mid-air, and in his opened palms, two swords had taken their place.
In his left hand, the jet-black Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword, and in his right, the straighter, shorter Evil-Slaying Sword.
And then.
Hwaryururururururururu.
As the tremor of the Super True Qi Field and his Footwork played in concert, his form scattered as he kicked off the ground and cut through the air.
Spat.
Two lines of dust spread out in a long vortex along the ridge.
Thus, his figure shot down toward the middle of the slope, right in front of the two Upper Rakshasas who were rushing toward him like a storm.
Like an eagle snatching its prey.
The feet of the two Upper Rakshasas simultaneously kicked off the slope and retreated three zhang in an instant.
Their forms, which had been storming up the ridge, momentarily froze, and Dong Bongsu's figure plunged heavily into the dirt ground in the center.
Kooong.
The ground where his feet landed was deeply gouged in all directions, and the vibration of the impact flowed heavily down the entire slope.
The Mandala Rakshasa's pupils narrowed further, and a thick layer of blood-red True Qi rose over the Vajra Rakshasa's massive frame.
"..The Honored One's mercy."
The same sound flowed from both their mouths simultaneously.
It was the initiation of a true combined art, where the shared pulse of their sect gathered in the same pattern.
The bond that tied three senior and junior brothers of the Dark Rakshasa Way with the same will, known as the Rakshasa's United Heart Art.
Although there were only two of them now, it was a combined attack formation that few in the world could stand against.
Fwooooooooosh.
The Mandala Rakshasa's fingers moved first.
The Mandala cloth wrapped behind her back fluttered majestically, and among the five colors, a blue light flowed from the tip of her index finger like a beam.
Blue.
Tsssss.
The condensed blue light was released from her fingertip and poured down in a stream toward Dong Bongsu's feet.
The soil of the slope touched by the light instantly solidified into hard ice crystals, and more crystals shot up on top of them.
In an instant, the area of the slope transformed into a huge wall of ice, its height soaring well over five zhang, rising far above Dong Bongsu's head.
Ice Aura.
It was an aura of crystallization that sought to permanently fix everything it touched in place.
Kwajajak!
Simultaneously, the Vajra Rakshasa's massive body kicked off the slope's soil.
Kuuuuung.
The dirt ground sank a foot under the weight of his massive frame, and blood-red True Qi erupted from both his shoulders like an explosion.
That True Qi flowed into the two black Vajras in his hands and coated them thickly with a jet-black aura.
Another branch of the black-red aura shot out from his shoulder and wrapped around the entire length of the bone chain.
The chain was not wielded by hand.
The will of the massive man flowed directly from his shoulders into each link of the chain, causing the chain itself to come alive like a blood-red snake and whip toward Dong Bongsu's flank.
The extension of the body through aura.
The massive man's shoulders and hands, the two Vajras, and the chain released from his shoulder were all linked together, charging at Dong Bongsu.
Vajra Aura.
Chain Aura.
ال
Kwadeudeudeudeuk!
The Ice Aura at his feet, the Chain Aura at his flank, the Vajra Aura at his front.
It was a combined attack meant to freeze, break, crush, and burst everything in the narrow space of the midslope, with only Dong Bongsu's form pinned in the center.
...In the very center of that combined attack.
Dong Bongsu's two hands moved simultaneously.
Hwaryururururu.
The jet-black sword in his left hand was drawn diagonally toward the Mandala Rakshasa's Ice Aura.
The surface of the blade, just that single line.
From the drawn mark, the entire colossal ice wall, a zhang high, began to bend toward that sharp line.
It wasn't cut.
The great ice wall, in the very posture it was rising, and the ice wall that was about to strike down, in that very momentum, were sucked toward the body of the Nine Demon Annihilation Wheel Sword.
Even the grains of the crystals contracted toward that line and disappeared completely into the sword's body.
The soil of the slope, about to rise, lost the weight of the ice and staggered, collapsing on a large scale.
Kurururururu....
The stream of condensed blue light that was being released from the Mandala Rakshasa's fingertip was instantly cut off and scattered in all directions.
A deeper darkness settled over the jet-black sword.
So much so that not even light could escape from outside the sword.
It was as if the sword itself had become a sharp abyss embedded in the universe.
It was.
A manifestation that elevated the enlightenment Dong Bongsu had gained when he crushed and absorbed a single blade of grass into a point.
Super Black Hole Sword Aura.
— A single line devours all.
For the first time, the Mandala Rakshasa's pupils shook greatly.
For the first time in his life, the Vajra Rakshasa's massive body took a big step back.
In the spot that received that tremor and retreat head-on.
One corner of Dong Bongsu's mouth slanted slightly.
It was not the sly smile of Kim Rae-won, nor the dignity of the Sect Leader, but a smile that fell directly upon his true self.
His essence.
Predation.
Gluttony.
Dong Bongsu was more of a gourmet than anyone else.
Experiencing two Murims, he was satisfied for the first time.
A martial art that so perfectly matched his own nature.
"You... are good."
A low chuckle followed.
Keh, kehhehehehe.
That chilling laughter cut through the silence of the midslope and dug low and sharp into the ears of the two Upper Rakshasas.
There was no hero, no wandering hero there.
There was only a gourmet, starved for blood, slaughter, and strength.
And now, he held a sharp gift knife capable of slicing through everything.