Between Peace and Turmoil (2)
The Night Castle shook violently.
BOOM! RUMBLE!
The Tangma Army soldiers scattered throughout the fortress smashed every weapon and pillar they could find. Though individually their martial arts could not compare to Moyong Woo's, their combined assault reduced the inner buildings to rubble in moments.
They had to move quickly. They needed to stop the destruction and reach the Hwasan-dae-yeon hidden within the Night Governance Labyrinth, trigger the mechanism, and slaughter every high-ranking official in Guangdong.
Yet Yayul Jeok could not move easily.
His eyes locked onto Moyong Woo.
Standing with his back to the flames, the swordsman pointing his greatsword at him looked like a perfectly honed divine blade.
This man…
Yayul Jeok felt his fists clench involuntarily.
This man is strong.
Before dawn, in the dark morning light, even with flames behind him, Moyong Woo's piercing gaze remained vivid. That gaze looked unshakable, as though it would never waver even if heaven and earth reversed.
The formless sword qi pouring from him could slice through steel, yet his presence was heavy and calm. From his eyes to his posture, there was not a single tremor.
It is not a matter of realm. This man…
…would never fail.
He was different from Yeon Hojeong, that monster. Where Yeon Hojeong radiated a terrifyingly cold and indifferent light beneath his radical and unconventional presence, Moyong Woo was like the surface of a windless lake—serene, yet concealing the pressure of an erupting volcano beneath.
Whatever he was, he was extraordinary. He carried the scent of a true powerhouse who produced results beyond his own abilities.
He is more dangerous than that Shaolin monk.
The nameless monk had demonstrated the greatness of Shaolin martial arts through his supreme palm technique. In raw power and majestic aura, the monk seemed a step above Moyong Woo.
Yet Yayul Jeok did not shift his gaze to the monk. If the Shaolin disciple was a not-yet-fully-grown tiger, then Moyong Woo before him was a wolf larger than any tiger, with wings upon his back.
"So it was true."
At Moyong Woo's cold voice, Yayul Jeok felt a chill run down his spine.
"I heard you are both a pawn of the Saeum Sect and the current Shadow God revered as the god of the Central Plains assassination world. I wondered if it could be real, but seeing that strange presence of yours, I believe it now."
"……"
"Do not even think of running."
Yayul Jeok's lips curled upward.
"How dare you speak such nonsense with such lacking skill."
Moyong Woo's presence was truly impressive.
However, the fundamental gap in ability was difficult to bridge. Though he had not yet recovered his original strength or fully healed his internal and external injuries, Yayul Jeok was still the Shadow God and an elite master of the Saeum Sect.
He had to display at least this much confidence.
Moyong Woo stared at Yayul Jeok without replying, then turned his eyes to the fallen soldiers.
……
Moyong Woo's gaze remained unchanged.
Even as he looked upon the corpses of his subordinates, his eyes stayed firm and clear—identical to the gaze he had directed at Yayul Jeok.
Yet Yayul Jeok's keen senses caught it.
A massive flame swirled within Moyong Woo's chest. He was suppressing a terrifying, burning rage with cold reason and absolute purpose.
Shff.
Yayul Jeok slowly lifted his foot.
In that instant, a blue energy surged from the tip of Moyong Woo's sword.
BANG!
The sword qi shot forward like lightning and exploded a hair's breadth in front of Yayul Jeok's left foot. Had he not pulled back, his foot would have been severed.
Moyong Woo was still looking at the corpses of his fallen men.
Even so, his sword force reacted instantly. It proved that his combat ability, experience, and senses were as outstanding as his skill as a swordsman.
Yayul Jeok spoke.
"Do you intend to maintain this standoff?"
Moyong Woo did not answer again.
There was a reason Yayul Jeok called it a standoff. The positions of Yayul Jeok, Moyong Woo, and Beom-oh were exquisitely balanced—whichever one moved first would be attacked.
Of course, the one attacked would be Yayul Jeok. Yet even in his imperfect condition, his presence did not yield to the combined auras of the two men.
In other words, whoever moved would bleed. The terrain, their presences, and the clash of formless killing intent proved it.
Yayul Jeok continued.
"If that is what you want, then so be it. Time is on our side anyway. Once the sun rises and these flames are extinguished, you will be thoroughly trampled beneath the blades of the nine hundred elite experts of this Night Castle."
Beom-oh's eyes trembled slightly.
It was clearly a provocation. Moreover, it did not sound like an empty threat.
"Commander Moyong."
Moyong Woo did not respond even to Beom-oh.
Yayul Jeok spoke once more.
"I will speak honestly. I have no intention of showing weakness, but we are also pressed for time. Given enough time, victory would surely be ours, but that is not the best outcome."
"……"
"I will let you leave alive. Even now, lead your men and depart. I, as the Shadow God rather than a Saeum Sect disciple, promise this. I will not touch you as you retreat."
Beom-oh shouted angrily.
"Do not speak such nonsense! How dare a pawn of foreign powers trying to plunge the Central Plains into the abyss of war lecture us with honeyed words!"
Even after casting aside arrogance, his fiery temperament remained. Beom-oh's sharp rebuke became another lion's roar that shook Yayul Jeok's insides.
Yayul Jeok did not reveal the turmoil within. Though he reacted strangely to the monk's lion's roar, now was not the time to appear weak.
"Decide. If not now, you will surely……"
"There were ten of them."
"What?"
Shff.
Moyong Woo, who had been staring fixedly at the corpses of his subordinates, turned his head toward Yayul Jeok.
In that moment, Yayul Jeok felt an impulse to tightly shut his eyes.
Damn it……!
The gaze was still straightforward and strong.
Yet why? That unchanging gaze was gradually becoming burdensome.
It was the first time in Yayul Jeok's life he had experienced such a thing. Yeon Hojeong was an exception—he was a monster whose enlightenment surpassed even Yayul Jeok's own, so it was understandable. But Moyong Woo was different.
The enlightenment Moyong Woo possessed perfectly matched the realm he had achieved. Considering his age, it was an astonishing level, yet there was no reason for Yayul Jeok to feel intimidated.
Nevertheless, Yayul Jeok had to exert all his strength just to meet Moyong Woo's gaze directly.
"Destroying this place now was to observe your reaction. We had already finished deciding how and where to destroy it. From the beginning, we never intended to leave this place you call the Night Castle untouched."
"……!"
"It went exactly as I expected. The assassins outside the gates were merely bait. I knew someone would appear from an unexpected place. And that someone was most likely the one who ruled this Night Castle."
Moyong Woo smiled faintly.
At that chilling smile, Yayul Jeok's presence wavered.
"It was you. You moved exactly as we anticipated."
"……"
"Even if you received help from various places, the fact that you built a kingdom of this scale in just over ten years shows your extraordinary ability. However, if you fell into a scheme inferior to your own, it seems you were thoroughly outplayed by our great lord."
"……"
"How pitiful. Even as I look at you now—cornered again and again, unable to even read your opponent's scheme—I cannot bring myself to laugh. My own situation is truly pitiful."
ZZZZZZZZING!
The Tangma Greatsword resonated violently.
It was not the sword cry Yeon Hojeong had shown. The Geon-gon-pal-geuk-jin-gi that resonated according to Moyong Woo's emotions was transforming into killing intent and infusing the sword.
"I did not anticipate this place. I never expected there would be a passage here. If I had known, I would never have stationed new recruits in this location."
Indeed. The ten soldiers whose heads Yayul Jeok had personally severed were new recruits of the Tangma Army who had replaced those lost in previous battles.
In other words, this had been their first deployment. And they had died so meaninglessly.
"Death is inherently meaningless. My subordinates knew it. They understood that the first deployment is the most dangerous. They had deeply accepted that a single minor mistake could lead to death, and that even without a mistake, death could still come."
WHOOSH!
Sky-blue true qi blazed like flames from Moyong Woo's body.
OOOOOOOM!
Beast King Death Qi rose from Yayul Jeok's body.
This was not the time for such things. He needed to disturb his opponent somehow, create an opening, and immediately activate the concealment arts of Yin Cold and Yin Flame to vanish from sight. He had no time for this.
Yet Yayul Jeok faced Moyong Woo while emitting Beast King Death Qi instead of Shadow God Qi.
It was compulsion.
Even though he could have avoided it, even while aware of it, Yayul Jeok was receiving tremendous stimulation from Moyong Woo's presence.
Like a drug.
His mind knew this should not happen, but the powerful force of Moyong Woo's steadily rising energy wildly provoked the instincts of the beast-like struggle that had made Yayul Jeok famous during his Saeum Sect days.
"The deaths of my subordinates are my responsibility as their commander. I do not know what you are plotting, but escaping before me while bearing the weight of lives will not be easy."
"Shut up!"
Yayul Jeok shouted without realizing it. Then he was startled by the roughness of his own voice.
What?
Something was wrong. Reactions different from reason kept surfacing.
After mastering Shadow God Qi, I escaped my past. Had I not completely shed the life of a beast that knew only instinct?
On the contrary, with a composure more rational than anyone else's, he had completely seized control of Guangdong Province.
Why now, after all this time, am I reverting to that state again!!
Killing intent flashed in Moyong Woo's strong eyes.
"You will not die cleanly, pawn of Saeum."
WHOOSH!
In an instant, Moyong Woo's sword qi surged and struck toward Yayul Jeok's forehead like lightning.
Almost simultaneously, Yayul Jeok lowered his posture and kicked off the ground. The launched sword qi grazed past his hair.
It was a hair's breadth. And that difference was an absolute limit Moyong Woo could not bridge in his current state.
Moyong Woo knew this as well.
ROOOOOOAR!!
In the blink of an eye, as Yayul Jeok entered Moyong Woo's range and swung his fist, his body stiffened from the terrifying lion's roar erupting from the left rear.
It was Beom-oh's lion's roar. The lion's roar, which was the natural enemy of demonic qi, shook Yayul Jeok's composure and twisted his demonic energy.
Moyong Woo's eyes gleamed.
SLASH!
Yayul Jeok staggered backward.
A long diagonal sword wound had appeared across his chest. It was the trace left by Moyong Woo's Tangma Greatsword.
In that moment, Yayul Jeok's eyes flashed.
Damn it!
Allowing even one sword strike made his mind feel cold again.
BANG!
Without looking back, Yayul Jeok dashed toward the stairs over ten jang away.
At that moment—
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Countless fire arrows were fired, turning the stairs Yayul Jeok had tried to break through into a sea of flames. They had been thoroughly soaked in oil as well.
Of course, a master of this level could break through flames. However, it could make him hesitate for an instant, and Moyong Woo and Beom-oh did not miss that moment.
THUD!
Beom-oh's fist struck Yayul Jeok's shoulder.
As Yayul Jeok staggered, Moyong Woo's Tangma Greatsword swung from behind him at an absurd speed.
THUD!
The massive blade embedded itself directly into Yayul Jeok's abdomen.
From Moyong Woo's mouth came a voice boiling with killing intent.
"You will not die cleanly."