Chapter 39
Three spellcasters were dispatched from the Murim Alliance via the Yueyang Branch.
The people gathered at Spirit Plateau looked at them with expectant eyes but couldn’t help their disappointment.
Two greenhorns who had just lost their downy hair and one middle-aged man.
Moreover, knowing that these were personnel who managed formations, not those who installed the Murim Alliance’s formations, they were even more indignant.
“Are these all the personnel?”
Currently, the people gathered at Spirit Plateau were questioning the Murim Alliance’s Yueyang Branch Manager regardless of whether they were White Way or Black Way.
From the White Way’s perspective, the Black Way might be annoying, but under the common proposition of being a victims’ gathering, they no longer distinguished between friend and foe.
“First, we intend to grasp what kind of formation it is and dispatch additional personnel.”
“Then what about Yong So-ah? I heard he survived and left from here. Where is Yong So-ah?”
“Hyeon-cheong has returned to the main mountain for urgent business after reporting to the Murim Alliance.”
“What! Does that mean there is something more urgent than five thousand people dying!”
Namgung Jin-myeong’s fist trembled. How could those who could be called blood allies do such an act?
“Even if Hyeon-cheong came, he wouldn’t have been much help because he said he actually didn’t know what kind of formation it was.”
The Murim Alliance Yueyang Branch Manager tried desperately to save face, but those who knew knew everything.
The talent Wudang Sect cherishes most.
A divinity that will not appear again in the Wudang Sect.
They are trying to prevent such an existence from taking responsibility for leaving five thousand people behind and surviving alone.
“Among the personnel inside, there are members of the Mo Clan. I heard. If it were them, they surely would have been able to grasp what kind of formation it was, but?”
“…Hyeon-cheong said no such thing.”
A series of unresolved stories.
At this rate, they would only repeat the same story endlessly.
“Bring that guy Yong So-ah here immediately!”
“…….”
The Yueyang Branch Manager only rolled his eyes with his head bowed.
“Do you not know that if this matter eventually ends in a tragic conclusion, Hyeon-cheong, the Wudang Sect, and the Murim Alliance will also pay the price?”
“……That.”
At the repeated pressure, the Yueyang Branch Manager continued speaking despite fear.
“The Murim Alliance holds the view that they cannot take responsibility as it was not part of a mission initially. Sending spellcasters is strictly a courtesy to allies, and the responsibility lies with the people who entered inside……”
“What did you say!!”
“Furthermore, they said the Murim Alliance has no business interfering with the conduct regarding Hyeon-cheong and the Wudang Sect.”
“Where did that story come from? The Council of Elders? The Universal Affairs Bureau?”
“……It is the decision of the Murim Alliance.”
Namgung Jin-myeong felt even greater anger because he had never experienced such helplessness in his entire life as a member of the Namgung Clan.
Namgung Jin-myeong moved his body towards where the spellcasters of the Mo Clan gathered.
Hearing the news here, ten personnel came for support from the Mo Clan; they had arrived days ago and were researching the formation.
“How is it.”
“……The entrance is merely an ordinary natural formation. But seeing that five thousand people entered and cannot come out, perhaps this might be a high-level trap.”
“Can’t you dissolve it from this side?”
“The axis of the formation does not exist on this side. It is such a large formation that its size cannot even be gauged from the outside.”
“In the end, you mean there is no way to save them.”
“Yu Ji-ryang is a disciple with skills counting on one hand even within our sect. Seeing that that child cannot come out from inside……”
“They say Hyeon-cheong…… no, Yong So-ah came out from here. How did he come out?”
“……I think perhaps he utilized momentary destructive power.”
“Destructive power?”
“If where they were was close to the outside and they hadn’t fully entered the influence of the formation, they could open the formation’s door momentarily by causing brief destructive power. However, to have that much destructive power, one would need at least five cycles of internal power or a Thunder Crash Bomb.”
“So he had one of the two.”
“Isn’t five cycles of internal power a story appearing in legends?”
“I understand. Please try a little harder.”
“I am just sorry I cannot be of help.”
Namgung Jin-myeong ground his teeth.
It would be refreshing if he at least knew what happened inside, but Hyeon-cheong, who knew the news of the inside, had already fled to the Wudang Sect through the Murim Alliance.
Living the life of Jianghu, every warrior recognizes there are moments when life is in danger.
But that didn’t mean they could easily accept such absurd deaths.
“San.”
“Yes. Father.”
“Go to Wudang right now taking the Blue Sky Unit, Great Formation Unit, and Exploding Thunder Unit.”
“…….”
The Blue Sky Unit and Great Formation Unit are understandable, but the Exploding Thunder Unit is the Namgung Clan’s elite strike force. It means moving existences that should not cross the Namgung Clan’s wall unless the survival of the Namgung Clan is threatened.
At the order to move such existences, Namgung San’s face turned pale.
Does he intend to wage war with the Wudang Sect?
“If they do not hand over Yong So-ah, go through the Sword Dissolving Pond.”
The story of going without putting down swords at the Sword Dissolving Pond meant engaging in armed struggle.
“Right now, the only place in Jianghu that can demand the truth from Wudang is the Namgung Clan.”
“…….”
Wudang wasn’t the only problem in this incident.
Next, they would raise issues with the Beggar’s Gang and then with the Rogues’ Guild.
Even if the Rogues’ Guild is a sect moving between the White and Black Ways so it might not matter, the others are two sects of the Nine Sects One Gang.
This matter won’t end just with words.
‘In the worst case, the Murim Alliance will surely step in.’
Nevertheless, Namgung San couldn’t spit out the words lingering in his head.
Because his father Namgung Jin-myeong couldn’t be unaware of that.
Perhaps this was something already discussed with his grandfather, the Blue Emperor Divine Sword.
‘The situation is too bad.’
If it had ended just with Namgung Seon-hwa’s problem, they wouldn’t have gone this far. Added to that the matter of the collateral families, the anger grew two, three times larger.
“Are you afraid?”
“No!”
“……I am afraid.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know if I can forgive myself for letting the situation become like this.”
Namgung Jin-myeong was blaming himself more than others.
“Father…….”
“Thinking about what kind of situation that young child must have gone through inside there tears my heart apart.”
“I will definitely bring Yong So-ah.”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Namgung Jin-myeong looked at one wall of the cave where darkness lingered.
“Even if we bring that child, could we even save Seon-hwa…….”
A self-mocking question unknown to whom it was addressed.
Namgung San also looked at the same place as Namgung Jin-myeong instead of giving a rash answer.
At that moment.
“Huh?”
He wondered if he saw something wrong.
Inside the cave, dozens of torches were already brightening the inside like day.
But.
“Father, did you see?”
A black shadow was squirming.
“I, I saw!”
Simultaneously with Namgung Jin-myeong’s shout, the spellcasters of the Mo Clan researching the formation hurriedly retreated back.
They were afraid the formation might devour people.
However, the black shadow, instead of rushing at people, squirmed and suddenly retreated wide to both sides.
Then, from between those shadows, it spat out one skeleton-like person hard to be seen as human.
On that person’s back, a similarly gaunt woman was carried.
Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San shouted simultaneously.
“Seon-hwa!!”
“Namgung Seon-hwa!!”
Behind the person carrying Seon-hwa, a line of people emerged, each carrying someone in similarly poor condition.
Strangely, those walking while looking at the spot stepped on by the person standing at the very front kept their heads down even after entering the cave.
As Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San received Seon-hwa, the man standing at the very front spoke with a cracked voice.
“Wa, Water. F, Food…….”
Startled people quickly handed over food they had in their bosoms and hidden alcohol.
The man stuffed it into his mouth steadily without knowing who gave what, chewed it for a long time, and swallowed it down the throat at once.
“Puha, almost died.”
At that moment, screams erupted from all directions regardless of who was first.
Among the five thousand people thought dead, the first survivor appeared.
***
At Jin So-un’s appearance, the Murim Alliance’s Yueyang Branch Manager tried to investigate Jin So-un separately saying he would investigate what happened inside, but Namgung Jin-myeong and the masters of the Black Way did not stay still.
“You said the Murim Alliance has no responsibility!”
“B, But…….”
“Right now, I am barely maintaining my reason due to my daughter’s survival. Do not make me disappointed in the Murim Alliance any further.”
At Namgung Jin-myeong’s sharp threat, the people of the Murim Alliance couldn’t step forward rashly.
Although the first survivors appeared, the matter wasn’t over.
Thousands of people still remained inside.
“That is the Boundless Indestructible Soul Destroying Formation?”
As the legendary formation disappeared three hundred years ago reappeared, the spellcasters of the Mo Clan were shocked.
Furthermore, they couldn’t help but be surprised at the following words.
“You can find the path of the Boundless Indestructible Soul Destroying Formation?”
Hearing the story, the spellcasters of the Mo Clan couldn’t easily believe the story of Jin So-un who led the survivors.
“I confirmed it.”
Gaunt Yu Ji-ryang spoke from the side.
With Yu Ji-ryang’s words added, a situation where doubt was no longer possible.
“But how……”
“The spellcasters of the Mo Clan were calculating the paths of the formation from the beginning. In the meantime, because that bastard Yong So-ah interfered……”
Famous figures of the Murim transcending White and Black Ways were all gathered, but everyone resented Yong So-ah with a united heart.
“Then how did you escape in a situation where the path calculation wasn’t finished?”
To the Mo Clan spellcaster’s question, Jin So-un was answering while continuing to put porridge in his mouth.
It was porridge boiled with beef jerky at the campsite outside the cave. Jin So-un was eating the tenth bowl of that already.
“I calculated the rest alone inside there.”
A situation hard to believe easily even after hearing the story.
“You…… didn’t you say you are a disciple of the Taeeul Sect?”
Suddenly, as the Mo Clan spellcaster mentioned the Taeeul Sect, the Black Way masters listening around spat out a word each.
“Fuck! What does the Taeeul Sect matter here!”
“Idiots, are you nitpicking origins even here right now!”
“Right! If we can bring our disciples out from inside there right now, we should bring even Demonic Cultists, not just Taeeul Sect.”
Yu Ji-ryang spoke as if agreeing.
“Junior Uncle. There is no time for this. People are dying inside even now.”
“……R, Right. Ah, and I apologize.”
At the pressure of the Black Way masters, the Mo Clan spellcaster eventually took a step back and looked at Namgung Jin-myeong.
Namgung Jin-myeong asked Jin So-un again.
“Are there any precautions on the way out?”
“If you follow my steps precisely, you won’t lose your way inside the formation. However, if you take even one wrong step, you will be trapped in the formation.”
“It won’t be easy for the people inside there.”
“That is why I brought only the first ten people.”
“Up to how many people can you lead out?”
“The time one path is maintained is approximately fifteen minutes. It would be best to safely move up to twenty people back and forth.”
“The Namgung Clan will prepare warriors.”
“We will provide warriors from our Four Emperors Peak. They will be better than the White Way punks.”
“You must have heard the name of our Black Snake Gang.”
People wanted to send their warriors first.
“You must think carefully. If you take the wrong path even once, you can never be found again inside the formation. I went back and forth inside there several times, but I never met anyone who entered the formation first.”
At Jin So-un’s words, those stepping forward shut their mouths.
Eventually, Namgung Jin-myeong asked again.
“Then what would be best to do?”
“First, please accept the support of twenty peak warriors. Not different groups, but those who have matched moves usually. And when entering with me first, we enter carrying food, and when coming out, we bring out twenty patients first. Please prepare physicians on both sides of the cave so treatment is possible immediately upon exit. And prepare warriors to enter next time and continue rotating that.”
“That would be best.”
Listening to the story, Namgung Jin-myeong and the Black Way masters nodded.
“By the way, if that happens, don’t you have to keep entering? Are you okay?”
Picking the one in the most devastated condition among the survivors, Jin So-un was not left out.
Moreover, wondering how much blood he shed inside, the blue martial arts uniform was soaked in blood and turned black.
“From now on, it is a fight against time. To save even one more person, we must not delay even for a moment.”
“Understood.”
Simultaneously with those words, people began to move in perfect order.
***
Black Way masters went to Yueyang, forcibly woke up nearby physicians, and carried them to Spirit Plateau, while White Way masters stopped by inns and taverns in Yueyang, made food with all available ingredients, and pushed it to Spirit Plateau.
Starting with the Namgung Clan’s Exploding Thunder Unit, twenty personnel entered carrying food, and after a long time, they came out carrying one survivor each on their backs.
People treated regardless of Black or White Way as hands reached out and focused on recovery, and if a corpse came out, they took it to the headquarters to find those connected with it.
“Are you okay?”
Thanks to close to ten thousand masters moving all at once, there was no shortage of hands.
However, the biggest worry was Jin So-un.
Since leaving the Soul Destroying Formation, Jin So-un entered the Soul Destroying Formation most often, but since he went back and forth to the Soul Destroying Formation without sleeping a wink for three days already, his condition looked worse than when he first came out.
“I am fine. If I perform breathing exercises for a moment……”
It was like this. Filling insufficient sleep with brief breathing exercises.
But that appearance was pitiful in the eyes of the warriors.
Although peak masters say they can last a month easily without sleeping, is a disciple of the Taeeul Sect in the same situation as them?
Unable to watch, Namgung Jin-myeong took out a wooden case from his bosom.
“Eat this and perform breathing exercises.”
“What is this?”
“It is the Great Affinity Divine Pill.”
“Yes? How this precious thing……”
“Precious, it is nothing compared to you saving our clan person. I will pay the real price later. First, eat this and replenish your energy. I am sorry, but you are the only one who can save the people inside there right now.”
As Namgung Jin-myeong stepped forward like that, the Black Way masters couldn’t stay still either.
“The elixir of our Black Snake Gang doesn’t seem to fit the Taoist internal energy cultivation method you learned, so take this instead. It’s called Purple Flower Orchid. You know what Purple Flower Orchid is, right?”
“It would have been good if I could give the Four Emperors Pill of Four Emperors Peak, but it’s a pity. I have a Clear Heart Pill bought from the Black Shop just in case, so please accept it.”
“Have you heard of Manifesting Yang Water? Originally gathered to make elixirs in our sect, but……”
“Nine Leaf Spirit Herb……”
“Heaven and Earth Herb.”
Where did everyone hide elixirs so tightly? Before long, elixirs and spiritual pills piled up in front of Jin So-un’s eyes.
Although there was nothing great enough to compare with the Great Affinity Divine Pill, they were things sufficient to help recover vitality right now.
From then on, Jin So-un filled his stomach with elixirs instead of food and entered the formation.
Like that, four more days.
Around the time even the masters were getting tired in the days where day and night continued.
Finally, the last survivors appeared.
“This is the end.”
“Total personnel four thousand two hundred eighty people survived.”
As soon as the announcement of the headquarters ended, people hugged regardless of White and Black Ways and screamed loud enough to make the heavens leave.
“Waaaaaaaaaa!”
