Chapter 119: Radiant Heroic Sword Ghost
Chapter 119: Radiant Heroic Sword Ghost
The moment Seonwoo Jin entered through the crack in the stone wall, he felt a dizziness as if the world had flipped inside out.
It was like stepping into a completely different world.
And as he immediately looked around, Seonwoo Jin realized that it had not been an illusion.
He muttered in a daze.
"What in the world...."
Dang Yeo-eun, who had entered holding his hand, was the same.
She looked around with a blank expression and asked as if entranced.
"What is this?"
All around them stretched a forest.
An endless, vast forest, no less.
But up to that point, it felt like something he could somehow comprehend.
There could be a wide clearing inside the cave, after all.
Yet the sky that spread above their heads was utterly impossible to understand.
They had clearly passed through the inside of the stone wall, but the two now stood in the middle of a forest beneath a gray sky.
Seonwoo Jin muttered.
"This is impossible."
If the direction of the stone gate they had entered had been toward the outside of the circular passage, they might have thought this was the forest on the other side of the cave.
But the direction of the stone gate was toward the inside of the circular passage—the deeper center of the mountain.
So having entered inside, a forest with an open sky unfolding was an absolute impossibility.
That was when it happened.
More people came rushing in from behind them.
Two of them, in fact.
"You bastards!"
The first was none other than Mak Woo-jeon.
Upon hearing his voice, Seonwoo Jin hastily pulled Dang Yeo-eun back with him as he retreated.
Then, spotting them the moment he entered, Mak Woo-jeon shouted with a fierce expression.
"Cheonghong Ssanggeom! I've finally caught you!"
And right behind him came Ga Yoo-ak, chasing after.
He then shouted toward Mak Woo-jeon.
"Vice-leader!"
At that, Mak Woo-jeon also shouted joyfully upon seeing him.
"Oh, vice-leader! Excellent timing! We must kill these bastards!"
Seonwoo Jin's gaze, watching the scene, was filling with confusion.
'What the hell is going on?'
He simply could not understand this situation.
Those two, just moments before, had been raving in madness and acting like beasts....
But those same two had suddenly come back to their senses.
'Could it be that coming in here dispels the madness?'
The thought crossed his mind, but it was still strange.
Even now, Seonwoo Jin could feel the energy inside him that was blocked by the wall of the Great Calm Mind Technique, unable to penetrate.
The feeling was at a similar level as before—no, to be precise, it felt even stronger than before.
So coming here was no reason for the madness to be cured.
Moreover, the eyes of Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak, though not as intense as before, still held a red tinge, did they not?
That meant they had not yet escaped the madness state.
But there was no leisure to ponder this in detail.
Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak were exuding killing intent and were about to pounce at any moment.
'Tch!'
After circulating his energy once to check his condition, Seonwoo Jin sent a telepathic transmission to Dang Yeo-eun.
- Sojeo, we have to fight. We must fight and look for a chance to flee.
- Yes, I understand!
Upon checking, his internal injuries seemed to have recovered to some extent.
Besides, if their madness was cured, then their martial prowess should have returned to normal, meaning it seemed they weren't entirely without a chance of winning.
Just then, Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak lunged first.
"Try running one more time! Haaap!"
"Die!"
Whoosh!
As Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak lunged, Seonwoo Jin swept his gaze over them sharply and immediately formulated a response.
'First, confuse them with Heavenly Wind Flower Petals, then follow with Illusion Sword Boundary into Emptiness is Form...!'
That was when it happened.
Kwaaaaang!
With a loud crash, the two who had been lunging toward Seonwoo Jin were sent flying backwards.
It was because they had been struck by something that suddenly appeared.
"Ack!"
"Wha, what?!"
As they staggered back, having been knocked away, Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun were staring at the entity that had just appeared and knocked them back—frozen stiff, with terror-stricken eyes.
And it was the same for Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak, who had just been sent flying backwards.
They barely managed to regain their balance and land on the ground.
But the moment they looked at that entity with furious eyes, they too froze on the spot.
He opened his mouth.
"Who dares commit outrages on this lord's domain?"
A low voice bored into their ears.
It was a voice that carried a soul-shaking power.
Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak could not help but tremble involuntarily.
He was a middle-aged man with sharp eyes.
A middle-aged man with an average build, wearing a common gray martial robe.
But to those looking at him, he did not appear ordinary in the slightest.
Gulp!
Seonwoo Jin swallowed dryly without realizing it.
It felt as if a mountain range stretching up past the clouds stood before him. A mountain of such overwhelming presence that its peak seemed to touch the sky, with its height unfathomable.
That presence did not seem to fall short at all compared to Yeoryeong Saekma Son Eun-sang or the Blood Demon of Four Seas Jeon Mu-gwang, who had previously felt as if they stood above the clouds.
No, rather, the killing intent stretching out cold and sharp like a blade felt far more dangerous than even theirs.
He was like a demon king who had descended into the mortal world.
Barely enduring the killing intent crushing his body, Seonwoo Jin asked with difficulty.
"You are... who are you?"
At that, the demon king turned his eyes to look at Seonwoo Jin and answered.
"This lord is none other than Jeong Myeong-gang, the one who made this place."
"!"
Jeong Myeong-gang?
What?!
The moment they realized who that name signified, all four were struck with a shock as if they had been bashed over the head.
It was absolutely absurd.
Jeong Myeong-gang was the name of the Gwanghyeopgeomgoe, known to have died at least thirty or forty years ago.
And yet here he stood, alive in perfect shape....
Of course, it was possible the man was lying.
But the overwhelming presence he was exuding right now was telling them.
This was absolute truth.
Mak Woo-jeon stammered with a face frozen in terror.
"S-Senior, you were... in good health after all. We, we juniors, unaware of that, went and...."
At that, Jeong Myeong-gang shook his head once with an expressionless face and said.
"No, this lord is already dead."
"...Excuse me?"
It was a bizarre answer.
Standing perfectly alive before them, he had answered as if it were only natural that he was dead.
Everyone who heard those words had no idea how to take them.
Seonwoo Jin carefully asked again.
"Senior, what did you just...?"
Then he answered again in a tone as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"This lord is already dead. This place is a space I created before I died, somewhere halfway between dream and reality. That is how I can exist here."
"Ah!"
Only then could Seonwoo Jin understand the current situation.
Situations like entering the inside of a cave and finding a forest with an open sky, or the reappearance of the Gwanggeom, known to have died decades ago.
Mak Woo-jeon, his expression now showing faint relief, carefully asked Jeong Myeong-gang.
"Then... you are saying you exist within a dream, Senior. Not in reality."
He seemed greatly relieved by the fact that Jeong Myeong-gang, who exuded the killing intent and presence of a demon king, was not real.
And it was the same for Seonwoo Jin.
Because the feeling of standing before Jeong Myeong-gang right now felt precarious, like being a hair's breadth away from being pushed off a thousand-foot cliff.
It felt as if a mere flick of his finger could snuff out his life like an ant.
But the relief that he was not real lasted only a moment.
To Mak Woo-jeon's question of whether he existed in a dream, Jeong Myeong-gang once again shook his head.
"No, not in a dream. To be precise, it is halfway between dream and reality. Therefore, if I kill you here, you will die in reality as well."
"...Excuse me?"
At his words, the four of them froze on the spot.
Because his statement that dying here meant dying in reality sounded like a declaration he intended to kill them all right here.
And in the next moment, Gwanggeom's killing intent, already immense, began to pour out like a raging storm.
Hwaaaak!
The four of them could not help but cry out in pain at that sudden surge of energy.
"Khk!"
"Augh!"
"Krk!"
"Kuk!"
They realized that the killing intent they had felt until just moments ago had been nothing more than an aura naturally flowing from him.
The instant Gwanggeom unleashed his killing intent in earnest, that formless killing intent had transformed into something tangible, lifting the four of them into the air and beginning to strangle them.
"Krrrk!"
Jeong Myeong-gwang simply stood there watching, while the four of them flailed in midair like insects, dying.
It was a pressure where they grasped at nothing, yet could not move a single finger as they wished.
It was a feeling of utter helplessness, the likes of which they had never experienced.
Then, a moment later, when their vision began to yellow from lack of breath, Jeong Myeong-gwang's killing intent returned to an intangible form.
At that, the four of them collapsed to the ground.
Thud!
"Kek! Kek!"
"Kollok! Kollok!"
"Huh-uck, huh-uck!"
It felt as though they had journeyed to the very gates of the underworld and back.
The four of them had to spend a long while coughing and catching their breath.
It was then that Jeong Myeong-gwang, his face expressionless, asked again.
"Do you still think this place is but a dream?"
At that, a startled Mak Woo-jeon frantically shook his head and shouted.
"No! Nothing could be further from the truth!"
Gwanggeom Jeong Myeong-gwang nodded slowly.
Then he spoke again.
"Good. Then let us speak properly now. You are those who have passed the first stage, the Mad Soul Gate, to inherit my Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance. And you have entered the second stage, the Two Person Gate. Is there, by any chance, anyone here who has no interest in my martial arts and simply stumbled in by mistake?"
At his question, the four of them furtively glanced at one another and then carefully shook their heads.
Mak Woo-jeon, naturally, wanted to obtain Gwanggeom's legacy, and Seonwoo Jin could not allow him to do so.
Thus, none of them could afford to back out now.
Of course, Mak Woo-jeon wanted to emphasize that Seonwoo Jin was an intruder who had forced his way in uninvited, and Seonwoo Jin wanted to point out that Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak had not properly passed the so-called Mad Soul Gate.
After all, both of them had lost their minds and gone mad.
But neither side dared to speak recklessly.
This was because they could not predict how Gwanggeom would react, or when he might suddenly turn on them and kill them.
So as both parties quietly nodded, Jeong Myeong-gwang, his face still expressionless, spoke once more.
"Good. I shall give a fair chance to both sides who have passed the first gate. However, keep well in mind that only two may pass through this second gate. Only two among you will survive."
Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun, Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak glared at each other with tense eyes.
Only two out of the four would survive, meaning only one side could live.
Therefore, whatever the content of this second gate was, they had to pass through it before their opponents did.
Gwanggeom spoke again.
"Then I shall now move you each to your respective second gates."
And the moment he snapped his fingers—ddak!—Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun realized that the space around them had changed in an instant.
They were no longer in the forest, but atop a hill overlooking a rural village.
A cozy mountain village beneath a red evening glow.
Seonwoo Jin, Dang Yeo-eun, and Gwanggeom Jeong Myeong-gwang stood on that peaceful hill overlooking the scene.
Dang Yeo-eun whispered quietly.
"Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak have disappeared."
Seonwoo Jin nodded slightly in response.
"It appears we have been separated and are each facing the second gate."
At that moment, Jeong Myeong-gwang, gazing down at the village, spoke.
"This is the village where I once lived. It is also the place where my greatest regret remains."
As he spoke, a storm-like killing intent began to surge ever more violently from his body.
Even though it did not seem as though he was intentionally trying to harm them, it was difficult just to remain standing properly.
"Kreuuk!"
"Hup!"
Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun had to grit their teeth to keep from collapsing.
But paying no heed whatsoever to their condition, Gwanggeom continued speaking.
"When I lived down there, I had two friends who had trained in martial arts with me since childhood. They were like brothers to me, and so I used to share everything I had with them."
Seonwoo Jin felt a strange pang of sentiment.
It was somehow surreal that even this man, who seemed like a demon king of hell, had such times and such friends.
Yet strangely, even as he spoke, his killing intent only grew more vicious.
He continued on.
"So it was the same when I happened to obtain the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance. I wanted to share it with those bastards."
He had tried to share the secret manual with his close friends.
Seonwoo Jin felt he could somehow guess what story would follow.
And why Jeong Myeong-gwang was radiating such killing intent as he told it.
His story went on.
"But one of those bastards wanted to monopolize it. So he ambushed me, trying to kill me."
It was exactly as expected.
Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun could not help but feel a deep sense of pity.
"But the bastard failed. He had underestimated my skill, for I had already mastered one move of the Moon Night Illusion Sword Dance. I should have killed him then. But like a fool, my heart was weak, and I hesitated. The bastard did not miss that opening, and struck down my other friend before fleeing. I could not chase him, for I had to save my injured friend."
By now, his killing intent had fully transformed into something physical, constricting their bodies.
They felt a pain as if their entire bodies were being crushed.
"Kreuuk!"
"Auuuugh!"
But paying no mind to the two groaning in pain, Jeong Myeong-gwang kept on speaking.
"That was not all. When I finally managed to treat my friend and returned to the village, the bastard had already done that to it."
It was then.
The moment his words ended, the once peaceful village was engulfed in flames in an instant.
Hwareureureuk!
The beautiful village, which until moments ago seemed straight out of a painting, was now consumed by a fire demon, collapsing in ruin.
The villagers, trapped within the blaze, were crying out from all directions, begging for their lives.
As the two looked on with pity at the sight, Gwanggeom's voice continued.
"It was to obstruct my pursuit. The bastard, for the sole reason that he feared me chasing him, turned the village he had lived in his whole life into that. And... indeed, he succeeded in stopping my pursuit. Because I, like a fool, had to save the villagers and let him get away."
Until now, while he had radiated the killing intent of a demon king, his tone and expression, at least, had always been as expressionless as a bronze statue.
But not in this moment.
From his expression, twisted like a vengeful ghost, and his enraged voice, a fury boiling like lava could be felt.
That rage and killing intent took physical form, constricting Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun. At that, they had to cry out in agony that felt as if their whole bodies would shatter to pieces.
"Krrrruuuuk!"
"Aaaaaaagh!"
But Jeong Myeong-gwang kept spitting out his words in that enraged tone.
"So do you know what happened in the end?! The rumors the bastard spread drew in countless martial artists! And so, in the end, all the villagers I had saved were all slaughtered! My parents, my wife, even my children! I had to wait in patience and hatred for ten whole years to repay all that blood debt!"
Then, a moment later, as if a storm had passed, his killing intent subsided once more.
Only now could Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeo-eun barely breathe.
"Hooo."
"Haah, haah."
At that, Gwanggeom, his face having returned to its previous expressionlessness, looked at them and said.
"This is the second gate. What will you do? Will you save the village, or will you catch the bastard? Resolve the regret of my lifetime."
Having finished speaking, Gwanggeom vanished from that spot.
All that remained were Seonwoo Jin, Dang Yeo-eun, and the village below the hill, which had become a scene of living hell.