Chapter 82: The Rumors Were True (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 82: The Rumors Were True (1)
At the mention of the name Seobok, a sharp golden light flashed from the eyes hidden within the mist.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man with graying hair cheered inwardly. He had thrown the name out on a whim, but now he suspected his hunch might actually be true.
The middle-aged man’s name was Du Gong.
He was one of the Central Plains Eight Great Masters and a sage known as Man Bak-ja. True to his title, which implied vast knowledge, he was highly skilled in Qi Gate Formations. He had managed to lure this man—whom he had been tracking for a long time—into a trap by deploying a Qi Gate Eight Directions Formation.
However, lacking the strength to fully subdue him, Du Gong had been forced to hold him there for four days, constantly repairing the formation to keep him contained.
"I wondered when I heard the name Gun-bang, but it seems it really was you."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play innocent."
"......Seobok? That is a sudden and nonsensical thing to say."
"I have read the countenances of countless people, but yours is the first I have seen that deviates from the Heavenly Secret and does not exist in this world. Even the dead do not possess such a face."
At Du Gong's words, the being with the golden eyes clicked his tongue.
"To have such deep insight without having studied the occult arts... you truly are a sage."
"I merely learn as I go. Seobok."
Faced with Du Gong’s certain tone, the golden-eyed man spoke as if conceding.
".......To think there was still someone who remembered that name."
In truth, Du Gong had only learned the name Gun-bang by chance.
For the first two of the four days they had spent together, it had been a continuous struggle—one trying to escape and the other trying to hold him—without a single word exchanged. It was only when they grew exhausted that they began to trade a few words, which led to this discovery.
Du Gong asked curiously, "It is an honor to meet a legendary figure who seems stepped right out of the Records of the Grand Historian."
"The Records of the Grand Historian?"
He was referring to the ancient history books.
"Do you not know how famous you are among those who study Qi Gates and the Heavenly Secret?"
"How would I know?"
"If I ever met you in person, there was something I wanted to ask."
"Something you wanted to ask?"
"If you are still alive today, it means you truly found 'it.' Then why did Qin Shi Huang..."
The man cut Du Gong off.
"Enough. Being trapped for four days almost made me fall for your silver tongue."
Du Gong smacked his lips in disappointment. He had tried to lead the conversation naturally, but his opponent was not easily swayed.
"It seems you do not enjoy talking about yourself."
"It is a faint memory now. What is the point of listing past events and dead men one by one?"
His tone was incredibly dry. The detachment in his emotionless voice showed just how numb he had become to the passage of time.
Du Gong let out a soft sigh. He walked to another direction and picked up a stone, prompting the man inside the formation to ask a question.
"Why don't you stop this now?"
"I can let you go at any time, provided you tell me what you know about that man."
"You are truly persistent."
"I was about to say the same to you."
"There is no benefit to either of us if I remain here."
Du Gong smiled at his words.
"I have managed to trap even you in this formation. Why do you fear him so much? Are you not the only human to have achieved what all of humanity desires?"
"The only one, you say..."
A snort echoed from within the formation.
"It seems you cannot fathom that this might be a prison."
"A prison?"
"Even as a sage, how could you possibly know?"
"I do not. Since I have never lived through undying immortality, I have no way of knowing."
"Ignorance is bliss, as they say. You and that friend of yours are looking for trouble where there is none."
At that, Du Gong, who had been placing a stone on a small tower, stepped toward the front of the formation. He looked directly into the golden eyes and spoke.
"To get straight to the point, I will ask again. If he is someone you fear that much, he could reveal himself to the Murim at any time without having to plot from the shadows. Yet he has not. Instead, he merely watches from behind the scenes, inciting chaos."
"........"
"Is it truly so difficult to tell me about him?"
"......Why do you want to know so badly?"
"Because of that one-eyed man with golden eyes, my friend lost his wife, was exiled from his clan, and was practically branded a public enemy of the Murim."
"Are you saying you want revenge?"
"It might be revenge, but more than that, I want to restore my friend's honor. He is too great a man to rot away while being called a villain."
"You have a remarkable friend."
Du Gong sighed at the sarcastic remark. No matter how much he tried to persuade the man through conversation, the response remained the same. It was not easy to make him open his mouth. It seemed it would be difficult even if Moon Evil Sword Sama Chak were here.
Staring intently into the formation, Du Gong spoke again.
"If you will not speak, then I shall tell you what I have surmised."
"......."
"The reason such a meticulous and powerful man does not step forward and instead manipulates the landscape of the Murim from the shadows... is it not because there is something he fears?"
"......."
"Otherwise, it makes no sense for him to vanish so completely that not a single trace can be found."
The golden eyes within the formation narrowed at Du Gong's words. Sensing he was onto something, Du Gong continued.
"I believe that 'something' is you."
At those words, a burst of laughter erupted from within the formation.
"Hahahaha!"
".....Am I wrong?"
"You are barking up the wrong tree. He does not fear me."
"Then why is he looking for you? Could it be related to the fact that both of your eyes are golden..."
Du Gong stopped mid-sentence. He spun around urgently and thrust out his hand.
Thwack!
In that instant, he caught a long arrow in his hand. If he had been even a moment later, his body would have been pierced.
Vrrr!
The arrow trembled, slightly bent from the force of the remaining internal power.
'What kind of arrow is this?'
It was much longer and thicker than a normal arrow. Even an arrow meant for hunting tigers wouldn't be this large. Given its length, it seemed designed to be fired from a much greater distance than usual.
'I even laid out a perimeter around this area.'
Du Gong looked toward the direction the arrow had come from. Just then, the man inside the formation spoke.
"Trouble has finally arrived. Open the formation and run at once."
"What are you talking about?"
"If you don't want to get involved with him, then right now—"
Whoosh!
Thwack!
Du Gong spun his body and deflected another incoming arrow upward with his palm. But there wasn't just one arrow. The subsequent arrows were aimed not at him, but at one of the stone towers stacked in the cardinal directions.
Rumble!
The stone tower collapsed under the impact of the arrows.
'The Gate of Life!'
That stone tower was the Gate of Life of the Qi Gate Eight Directions Formation. While other towers could be rebuilt to maintain the formation, the Gate of Life was different. The moment the tower crumbled, the thick mist vanished instantly.
"No!"
Flash!
Immediately, the shadow inside the formation began to blur.
"Damn it!"
Du Gong sharpened his Qi sense, trying to track the direction the shadow was disappearing in. However, his concentration was broken by more arrows flying from a different position.
Thwack!
The speed and internal power behind the arrows were not something he could simply ignore. Furthermore, the number of arrows suddenly increased. They flew in such rapid succession that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it rapid-fire. Du Gong had no choice but to give up on catching them and deploy his Body Lightening Method.
Thud, thud, thud!
Arrows slammed into the ground one after another, right where his feet had been a split second before. The power of the arrows was nothing short of miraculous; they were buried so deep in the ground that only the fletching was visible.
'To think such an archer exists.'
The attacks were so fast and relentless, even with such large arrows, that it was dizzying. This was someone who had reached the pinnacle of archery—a true Divine Archer. As he dodged, Du Gong became certain of one thing.
'Are they trying to pin me down?'
It felt as if they were buying time so the man inside the formation could escape. At first glance, it looked like they were helping him, but the actual goal was...
'They are targeting him!'
He couldn't afford to be held back by these arrows. Just then, an arrow flew toward his chest at a speed incomparable to the ones before. But that wasn't all. Five more arrows followed, aimed at his vital pressure points.
'I can't dodge them all.'
If he blocked or dodged the most lethal arrow aimed at his chest, he wouldn't have enough momentum left to avoid all five of the following arrows. He would inevitably be hit by one or two. He braced himself, knowing he couldn't allow his chest to be pierced, but—
Thwack!!
Someone blocked the arrow aimed at his chest with their bare body.
'Seobok!'
It was the man he thought had fled. Thanks to him, Du Gong was able to dodge the remaining arrows aimed at his vital points.
"Why?"
As Du Gong looked on in confusion, Seobok pulled the arrow that had pierced through his forearm straight out and spoke in a meaningful voice.
"It seems escaping alone is out of the question."
It was hard to deny. Multiple presences were rapidly approaching their location.
Du Gong swallowed hard and circulated his internal power.
'Chak. You'd better hurry.'
A Half-Corpse.
Literally, a state of being half-dead.
I learned this while absorbing the Spirit Fragment of Wicked Heart Granny Cheol Su-ryeon. It seemed this state was created by applying the secret technique for making Jiangshi to a living human. If this state persisted for too long, a Half-Corpse would become almost indistinguishable from a Jiangshi. They would essentially become a cadaver.
'A-Song...'
I cut the threads that were holding A-Song's eyelids shut. Even if it was to control his five senses, what Cheol Su-ryeon had done to people and to A-Song was truly horrific. Although the stitch marks remained, he looked more like his old self once all the threads were removed.
The Lesser Conversation Sword remembered him too. Even though he had been with me for a long time as my mother's keepsake, that day was the first time we had actually spoken.
I forced A-Song's eyelids open. His pupils were vacant. Moreover, the color was quite cloudy, like the eyes of a dead person.
"If you stay in a Half-Corpse state for too long, you become no different from a Jiangshi."
Fortunately, A-Song hadn't been in this state for very long, so there might be hope.
"I have to use my internal power to reconnect his meridians and perform the secret technique in reverse."
In Cheol Su-ryeon's memories, there were many instances of creating Half-Corpses, but only one case where she had reversed it. I was lucky that single instance was in my memory. The problem was that Cheol Su-ryeon had caused the restriction seal to go berserk in an attempt to threaten me. I was afraid he might not return to normal.
"I have everything to lose. If I make a mistake, A-Song will live the rest of his life as a complete Half-Corpse, unable even to communicate."
I sat him up in a meditative posture. Then, I placed five fingers of my right hand on the five pressure points on his head and my palm on the Life Gate Point on his lower back.
'I will save you, no matter what.'
He was the one who had served my late mother and me until the very end. While I now had my maternal grandfather, my father, and my future wife Sama Yeong, before them, he and Yeong-yeong were my only family.
I simultaneously injected internal power into the five points on his head and the Life Gate Point. The key was to inject it with uniform force to reconnect the meridians and help the blood circulate properly.
I spent the entire night like that, for over ten hours. I had to control my internal power with extreme precision to ensure his meridians weren't damaged and were connected continuously. It was an incredibly difficult task.
As dawn broke, his face became clear.
The night of hard work had paid off. Color was returning to his once-pale face. His face, illuminated by the sunlight filtering through the bushes, was a sight to behold.
"Phew."
I had done everything I could. Now, I just had to take him back to the lodging and wait for him to wake up. Just as I was about to hoist him onto my shoulder...
"Aaaaah!"
Suddenly, A-Song screamed and began to struggle. I hurriedly set him down. A-Song scrambled backward on all fours with a terrified face, but when he saw my face, his eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"Ha!"
A sigh escaped me at the familiar sight. He was always a bit of a coward, and he always made that exact face whenever he was startled.
"A-Song."
"Y-Young Master?"