“If there’s no path, then I’ll make one.”
Kuguguguk!
Fwoooosh-!
The surging flames showed no sign of stopping as they reduced everything around them to a wasteland.
As though following the rhythm of the man’s gestures, the flames whipped about without pause.
Amidst it all, the man silently continued walking.
The mist covering the mountain range could not hinder his steps in the slightest.
If anything, it was being pushed back and extinguished by the flames.
Thus, the flames that had swept through their surroundings like a raging storm—
Boom!
Suddenly stopped, as though blocked by something.
Seeing this, the man, Gu Cheorun, halted his steps.
The martial artists of the One Sword Unit following behind Gu Cheorun also stopped in place along with him.
“It’s a formation.”
Those were Gu Cheorun’s words.
He could tell just by giving it a brief glance.
Indeed, he had summoned the flames in order to find it.
“I’ll inspect it.”
The one who stepped forward as he spoke was the deputy commander of the One Sword Unit.
He was fairly well-versed in formations.
He was also the one who usually handled matters related to formations during the One Sword Unit’s operations.
“There’s no need.”
This time, Gu Cheorun stopped him.
There was no need to go to such lengths.
Especially not in a situation like this.
Sssss….
Flames ignited around Gu Cheorun as though encircling him, while the wheel of the Nine-Flame Wheel Technique swelled as if expanding.
Then, Gu Cheorun’s black hair gradually turned red.
Whoooosh!
The wind rippling around them was drawn toward Gu Cheorun in an instant.
A small sphere gradually formed atop his palm, covered in calluses.
The vast amount of energy contained within that little sphere made it seem as though the space around it was warping.
-Clench!
Gu Cheorun gripped the blazing sphere in his hand and spoke.
“All I have to do is break it.”
And then.
The mountain range shook at Gu Cheorun’s gesture.
**********
Kuuung-!
The sky rippled with a tremendous boom.
Rather than the sky itself truly shaking, it would be more accurate to say that the formation spread out like a barrier was shaking in its entirety.
‘…Even so, isn’t Father charging in a little too brutally?’
Watching that, I could not help but let out a cry of dismay.
I had thought Father would arrive soon.
But I had never imagined that he would try to destroy the entire formation like this.
I had not expected him to alter even the sky itself on his way here.
I looked up at the sky, dyed a deep red.
‘He’s still as vigorous as ever.’
That red sky was proof that the Gu Clan’s martial arts had nearly reached the pinnacle.
I did not know whether Father had truly reached the pinnacle, but there was no doubt that his power was comparable to it.
Some people claimed that Father had passed his prime and was merely remaining within the clan.
But having seen Father’s actions and strength immediately after the Demonic Cult appeared, I knew just how absurd that claim was.
Father’s prime had not ended.
If anything, he was probably far stronger now than he had been in his youth, when he had been most active.
As I silently watched the sky, Namgung Bia asked me,
“Is this… your father…?”
“That’s right, my father… What?”
I flinched at Namgung Bia’s question from beside me.
Something about the way she addressed him had sounded strange.
“What did you just say?”
I asked in confusion, but Namgung Bia only stared at the sky and did not answer.
Since it was not important, I decided to let it pass.
Boom!
Another tremendous crash rang out, following the one before.
It seemed he truly intended to break the formation.
[You’re using the exact same method as someone else.]
“…”
[You really are alike.]
Old Man Shin, who had kept his mouth firmly shut ever since we spoke about Murong, appeared once again and struck up a conversation as though he had been waiting for this moment.
It was incredibly irritating, but I had no words with which to refute him.
The method really was far too similar to the one I had used in my previous life.
-Move!
-It’s to the east! The Flame Ghost has appeared!
Perhaps because the formation had been struck by one tremendous impact after another, the members of the Black Night Palace finally began appearing in large numbers.
‘The Palace Lord?’
I did not need to make any special effort to find the Palace Lord.
Beneath the reddened sky, I could see black mist moving through the air as though flying.
‘Is he heading toward Father?’
I had naturally assumed he would head toward the hostages.
For some reason, however, the Palace Lord seemed to be going toward Father.
‘That’s even better.’
Yes, it would be better if the Palace Lord left the palace.
I did not think Father would lose if he confronted the Palace Lord directly.
I did not know how strong Sima Oje, the Black Night Palace Lord, was.
But if the Palace Lord was inferior to the Three Venerables under Heaven—
There was no way Father would lose.
After confirming that much, I rose from where I had been suppressing my presence.
‘It seems the others haven’t arrived yet.’
Immediately after setting out, I had sent a letter not only to Father, but also to the Hao Sect along our route.
The letter had been sent to Do Unchu, the master of the branch.
But it seemed they had not arrived yet.
Were they verifying whether the information in the letter was genuine?
‘I don’t know whether the Hao Sect Lord is truly in the main palace, but it’s a fact that this is the main palace.’
Even if they did not come, it was fine.
They were not an essential fighting force.
Originally, I had considered sending word to the Murim Alliance under the name of Namgung Jin, the head of the Namgung Clan.
But the Alliance was dangerous in many ways.
It was called the Murim Alliance, but not only was it unclear whether it truly consisted entirely of the Alliance’s people—
‘The Alliance itself can’t be trusted.’
The fact that I thought it would be better to trust the unorthodox Hao Sect instead was a truly miserable state of affairs.
-…What… are we going to do?
When I rose, Namgung Bia asked through telepathy.
To think she had reached the pinnacle and immediately begun using telepathy….
The more I saw of Namgung Bia, the more astonishing her talent seemed.
Had someone taught her? There was no one who could have.
Though I found that mysterious, I had to focus on something else for now.
-We go inside.
-How…?
-I made a hole earlier, didn’t I?
The wall ahead had a hole punched through it.
Moreover, there were fewer guards than before, making this the perfect opportunity.
Of course, even now there were people inspecting the wall.
‘Four. Three are at the Second-Class level, and one is First-Class.’
They were not particularly impressive.
Srrng.
Before I could say anything, Namgung Bia had already drawn her sword, as though she had understood my intentions.
Lightning energy wrapped around the razor-sharp blade.
Watching this, I calmly sent Namgung Bia a telepathic message.
This was to give her the signal.
-On three, we attack together…! Hey!
The moment I said three, Namgung Bia shot forward.
Realizing my mistake, I immediately sprang after her.
“…!”
The Black Night Palace martial artist stationed by the wall spotted Namgung Bia and hurriedly opened his mouth.
But before he could speak—
Shhk-!
Namgung Bia’s sword struck first.
Her blade severed the martial artist’s neck at the speed of a flash, then she unleashed lightning energy and crushed everyone around her.
Every time Namgung Bia’s sword left a trace in the air,
A martial artist fell, bleeding.
There was no need to look any further. They were instantaneously killed.
Despite following after her immediately, by the time I arrived, everything had already been settled.
In other words, four martial artists had died at Namgung Bia’s hands without even being able to properly react.
Namgung Bia shook the blood from her sword.
I stared at her in disbelief.
Perhaps noticing my gaze, Namgung Bia looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“…Is this not right?”
“…”
I could not say anything in response to Namgung Bia.
Putting that aside, we could not linger here, so I entered the palace with Namgung Bia.
******************
The inside of the palace was far larger than it appeared from the outside.
Since we had to conceal our presence and move in hiding, I could not properly assess it.
But it was at least larger than the Gu Clan’s estate. Quite a bit larger, at that.
‘How in the world did they hide a building this enormous?’
Formations were not omnipotent.
Naturally, the larger something was, the more difficult it was to conceal it with a formation.
Moreover, hiding it so thoroughly that the palace could not be seen from outside was nearly impossible.
‘I acknowledge that Taejeolgwi is an extraordinary man.’
As far as constructing and assembling mechanisms went, I had never seen anyone more skilled than that old man.
I acknowledged his craftsmanship.
But these aspects were still difficult to understand.
It was almost as though, rather than building a palace within a formation, they had built it in another dimension.
‘…Where could Gu Hee-bi be?’
Whatever the case,
The most important thing right now was finding where Gu Hee-bi was.
Because I had used the Heavenly Path Orb earlier, I could not use it again until its light returned.
The scarlet glow that the orb had shown me, as though indicating the way, merely told me that the target lay in a straight line.
It had not shown me the path itself, so I had to search for her directly.
‘Judging by appearances, she seems to be underground.’
Since the light was pointing lower than before, Gu Hee-bi seemed to be below ground.
Swish!
As I was speaking, sword energy grazed past the side of my face.
Then blood sprayed from ahead, and someone crumpled to the ground.
-Person. Focus.
-…Thanks.
Namgung Bia had eliminated the person approaching from the front before I could notice him.
‘How did she do that?’
No matter how distracted I was by my thoughts, there was no way my senses were inferior to Namgung Bia’s.
Yet Namgung Bia had sensed the enemy before I did.
‘Is it a difference in our senses?’
Was that the reason she had found the gap in the formation earlier, and noticed the enemy before me?
It felt too vague to dismiss it as merely that.
“Intruders…!”
Crack.
“Gurgle…!”
The man who had tried to shout upon seeing me fell to the ground with his neck twisted.
Even while thinking, my hands continued to move.
No matter how much their attention had been drawn outside, there was no way the palace would be empty.
In that regard, Namgung Bia was doing far better than I had honestly expected.
‘She doesn’t hesitate.’
There was not the slightest hesitation in Namgung Bia’s sword as it killed her opponents.
This had to be her first time killing another person.
Yet Namgung Bia showed no reluctance.
Normally, that was impossible.
‘Even I…’
When I thought of the first time I killed someone in this life—
My young body had been unable to adapt to taking a life, and I had trembled uncontrollably.
In my previous life….
‘Was I sick for a while?’
I thought I had agonized over it for at least several days.
But Namgung Bia seemed completely unaffected by it.
“Gaaaah…!”
Once again, someone was swept up in Namgung Bia’s lightning energy and breathed their last.
‘She’s skilled at handling lightning energy, too.’
She was adept at using the lightning energy wrapped around her sword and body.
Strangely so.
-…Above.
At Namgung Bia’s telepathic warning, I released a burst of flames.
This time, I had noticed it in advance as well.
Fwoooosh! The blazing flames surged toward the ceiling.
“Guaaah!”
Those whose bodies had caught fire fell to the floor.
They had been attempting an ambush.
When I knocked them down, Namgung Bia swung her sword and finished them off.
‘It feels like we’re working together too well.’
We had never practiced fighting together, yet Namgung Bia and I coordinated far too perfectly.
‘Come to think of it, we did always match well in this regard.’
When I recalled how terribly I had coordinated with the Demon Sword Empress, despite her being a disaster in every other way—
When it came to battle, the two of us had always managed to match each other without needing words.
Back then, both of us had been at a higher realm than we were now, so it had felt as though we could simply act according to our instincts.
But this was different from then.
This had to be because our rhythms simply matched well.
We continued breaking through the palace’s interior.
Then—
“…!”
A flash of light streaked toward my eyes.
I hurriedly turned my head and avoided the sword.
At the same time, Namgung Bia, who had been behind me, swung her sword and fired sword energy at our opponent.
The sword energy mixed with lightning was sharp.
But—
Bang!
At the touch of the opponent’s hand, it shattered in midair.
I raised my inner energy and looked ahead.
A voice rang out.
“I was wondering what kinds of sneaky little rats were scurrying around like this. So it was you.”
Cackle, cackle.
His voice grated as though thick with phlegm.
My eyes narrowed as I looked at him.
He was a man dressed in black martial robes, holding his lowered sword in reverse grip.
‘This is bad.’
I did not recognize his face, but judging by his presence, he was certainly no weakling.
The fact that I could not properly gauge his realm was proof enough.
‘Has he surpassed the Manifestation Realm?’
I could not be certain.
But there was no doubt that he was a powerful expert.
“You’re younger than I expected. You brats, just who are you…?”
Before the old man could finish speaking,
Namgung Bia launched the first attack.
The sword wrapped in lightning energy carved a vicious trail through the air as it traced a semicircle.
Sensing that the energy contained within the sword was anything but light, the man raised his own sword.
Kwaang!
The sound was far too violent to be merely the clash of two swords.
“…You…!”
Perhaps because it was stronger than expected, the man who had been pushed back a step widened his eyes.
It seemed he had roughly gauged Namgung Bia’s level from that exchange.
As she faced an opponent whose realm was certainly no lower than his own, Namgung Bia stepped forward without hesitation.
The sword path she traced through the air was slightly different from the one I had seen from Namgung Bia before.
Not only was it faster and sharper.
‘Something’s changed.’
I wasn’t a swordsman, so I couldn’t properly explain it.
But there was no doubt that something had changed.
[…Ho.]
Old Master Shin expressed his admiration as he watched Namgung Bia’s movements.
[Indeed, that child truly is the Namgung family’s miracle.]
He offered what was practically unstinting praise, then added something in a pleased tone.
But I wished he would hold back a little in a situation like this.
As the man deflected Namgung Bia’s sword and tried to move.
This time, I plunged toward him.
“…You bastard!”
The man’s eyes turned toward me, as though he would not make the same mistake twice.
Whoosh.
The body wrapped in blue flames through the use of blood energy was faster than he had anticipated.
“...!”
The sword that had been about to attack swiftly changed into a defensive stance in response to my movement.
The fist I had thrust toward the blade met it head-on.
Boom—!
A shockwave rang out as my fist struck the sword wrapped in sword aura.
The man was sent flying backward.
He rolled across the floor as he landed, but quickly regained his stance.
He had probably suffered almost no damage.
My attack had been meant to push him back in the first place.
“You bastards…! How dare you…?”
The man seemed enraged as he raised his fighting spirit.
But his expression twisted when he saw the flames wrapped around my hand.
“What in the world are you trying to do…!”
He seemed to have realized why I was gathering the flames.
I swiftly pulled Namgung Bia toward me and detonated the mass of flames in my hand.
The man swung his sword to block it.
But Namgung Bia drew out another wave of sword qi toward him, checking his movements.
Thanks to that, I was able to detonate the flames.
Boom—!
Krrrraaaack—!
The walls collapsed as the blast swept through the ceiling and floor.
The fragments that came crashing down formed yet another wall.
“…Phew.”
I retrieved my internal energy and let out a sigh.
The recoil from drawing out the blue flames struck my body with excruciating pain, but I had to endure it for the moment.
[Move quickly. It will not hold for long.]
‘I know.’
This was nothing more than a delaying tactic.
I had realized it from that exchange.
The opponent was clearly a martial artist of the Hwagyeong realm.
Even with Namgung Bia and me joining forces, I doubted whether we could bring him down.
And it was obvious that the others would find us during that time.
‘…They must have noticed us because of that noise anyway.’
All the more reason not to engage him and keep moving.
I spoke to Namgung Bia, who was looking at the wall with an unconcealed expression of regret.
“We’re going down.”
“Hm?”
Namgung Bia looked around at my words.
But there were no stairs nearby that we could use to descend.
For this, I intended to borrow briefly from the experience of my previous life.
‘…I didn’t want to use such a crude method.’
But with the enemy about to come rushing in because of what had just happened, there was no other way.
I raised my internal energy and wrapped my hand in flames.
The recoil had not yet subsided.
Moreover, I had drawn out more internal energy than necessary all at once, causing my dantian to tremble.
But this was no situation in which I could afford to worry about such things, so I ignored it.
‘If there’s no path, I’ll make one.’
Breaking and bringing things down was my specialty.
Without hesitation, I thrust my hand toward the floor.
The flames erupted, and the ground sank beneath us.