Chapter 247: Blood Rain Three Elders-1
Chapter 247: Blood Rain Three Elders-1
Whoooosh!
Jin So-eun stared up at the sky with a dazed, vacant expression.
The iron net that blanketed the entire sky and came crashing down — it seemed likely to be the final sight she would ever see.
But then it happened.
A voice reached her ears.
- Jump straight up!
A voice that rang out with perfect clarity. Earlier, in her hazy state of mind, she had been uncertain, but this time she knew for sure.
It was Seonwoo Jin's telepathic transmission.
Immediately, Jin So-eun gritted her teeth and leapt upward toward the net.
It was tantamount to hurling herself straight into a net packed with explosive bombs, but she did not hesitate for even a moment.
"Eeek!"
And then it happened.
The net that had been bearing down upon her head split apart as if by magic.
Shrrrrrip!
Jin So-eun saw the net tear open to the left and right, and through the gap, the blue sky revealed itself.
It was a sight that felt like something out of a dream.
Suddenly, Jin So-eun felt vitality surging through her entire body.
It was not simply because she had escaped the crisis of death.
It was because she had heard his voice — Seonwoo Jin's voice.
Jin So-eun's heart filled with exultation.
'Just as I thought! He hadn't abandoned me after all! He was watching over me the whole time!'
Not only had he not abandoned her, but he had apparently been keeping watch and secretly helping her every time danger arose.
In an instant, a wave of emotion crashed over her heart.
It was an astonishing experience, as if the sense of betrayal she had felt just moments before had transformed into overwhelming gratitude in the blink of an eye.
Jin So-eun looked around with her spirits soaring sky-high.
Somehow, she felt as though she could accomplish anything.
Whoooosh!
Just then, she saw clouds of dirt billowing upward from below, kicked up by the explosions.
Brown clouds of dust that looked, for some reason, like soft, churning thunderheads.
Staring at the dust clouds that seemed ready to engulf her body entirely in a few moments, Jin So-eun suddenly thought to herself.
'Can I do it?'
And then she thought again.
'I'll find out if I try, won't I?'
Having thought that far, Jin So-eun hesitated no further and lightly stepped onto the surging cloud of dust.
Tung!
And in the next moment, an astonishing sight unfolded.
Jin So-eun, having stepped on the dust cloud, soared lightly forward.
'It worked!'
It was a breathtaking experience.
Of course, it had been possible only because she had stepped onto a powerful updraft, but the fact that she could tread upon air and dust and launch herself skyward was nothing short of proof that Jin So-eun had once again broken through her own shell.
Her body drifted airily through the sky, and the moment she reached the position directly above the Blood Rain Union assassins who had flung throwing weapons at her, she suddenly plunged downward like a hawk diving for its prey.
Shweeeeeek!
"!"
"!"
It was an astonishing feat of movement technique — she had made her body as light as a feather, then in a single instant deployed the Thousand Catty Drop to make herself crushingly heavy.
The assassins of the Blood Rain Union could only recoil in shock at her incredible movement technique.
They frantically hurled their throwing weapons and explosive bombs.
All of it aimed at Jin So-eun, who was hurtling straight down at them.
Shwaaaak! Hwiriririk!
But Jin So-eun's heightened emotions no longer feared even that.
As she plummeted toward them, she swung her staff lightly.
And once again, something astonishing happened.
Ting ting ting! Tutuk! Ting ting ting!
The throwing weapons bounced helplessly off Jin So-eun's staff as she swept it forward in a simple flourish.
Seeing even the explosive bombs deflect without detonating, it seemed she had adjusted the force of each impact individually in that split second to receive them one by one.
Horror dawned on the faces of the assassins who witnessed that incredible display of skill.
And in that moment, Jin So-eun crashed down upon them.
"Haaaaap!"
Kwaaaaaaang!
Jin So-eun's staff slammed ferociously into the ground.
The surrounding earth surged upward instantly, spreading outward toward the assassins like a fan-shaped tsunami.
It was a single strike that tore enemies apart with a tidal wave of earth — the Yakma River Ambush, one of the ultimate techniques of the Mad Demon Eighteen Staff passed down in the Jin Clan.
"Urgh!"
"Keugh!"
Caught in the earthen wave, the assassins let out faint groans as their bodies were torn apart and they died.
In a single attack, no fewer than six assassins had been slain.
And Jin So-eun did not stop there.
As if determined not to let a single assassin who had entered her range escape, she fiercely threw herself among them and swung her staff.
Boooooong!
Peopeopeopuk!
The assassins began to be utterly devastated in the blink of an eye.
Accustomed to the Jin So-eun of just moments before who had been passively defending against their attacks, they could not adapt to her sudden, beast-like transformation and were falling one after another.
Shweeeeeek!
Throwing weapons desperately launched by the assassins came flying from all directions.
Kwaaaang!
The explosive bombs she had deflected struck the ground and detonated.
Peoeok!
From a head shattered by her staff, a crimson spray burst forth, blanketing her vision.
It was chaos.
A situation of utter, senseless pandemonium.
But amidst that scene of carnage, Jin So-eun felt as though she alone remained in perfect stillness.
Every sight around her entered her vision with absolute clarity.
The sound of throwing weapons cutting through the air, the sound of explosive bombs detonating — they filled every direction, yet to Jin So-eun's ears, it all felt eerily silent, as if sound itself had vanished.
It was a strange sensation.
In this moment, she felt as though she could accomplish anything she desired.
And indeed, everything she attempted was coming to pass.
The Yakma River Ambush of the Mad Demon Eighteen Staff, which she had never learned before. The high-level movement techniques she would normally never have dared to attempt. Even the act of individually sorting and handling the dense barrage of throwing weapons and explosive bombs flying at her from all directions — all of it was possible.
And perhaps that was why she could sense it.
The presence of a dagger hurtling toward her back at a terrifying speed.
Naturally, the staff she swung behind her back struck away the dagger that had been flying like a beam of light.
Ting!
Shweeeeeek!
It was so fast that the sound of its flight only reached her ears afterward.
Jin So-eun stopped chasing the assassins and turned her head to look at the one who had thrown the projectile at her.
It was only after she had instinctively blocked it that she realized just how enormously threatening that throwing weapon had been.
And then she saw them — two old men slowly approaching her.
The distance was ten jang away, considerably far.
She swallowed unconsciously.
'From that distance?'
The projectile from moments before had flown at a speed so terrifying that even after deflecting it, she wondered whether she could do it again.
And yet the place it had come from was a full ten jang — roughly thirty meters — away.
This could only be a master of throwing weapons the likes of which she had never encountered in her life.
But it seemed the old man was just as surprised. The elder who had thrown the projectile spoke to her in a voice filled with admiration.
"Astonishing. I prided myself that those who could block my throws even from the front could be counted on one hand. I never imagined you would block one thrown at your back. A remarkable child. Was that the Natural Staff?"
Jin So-eun did not answer the question, instead leveling her staff toward them.
It was a posture as natural as a tree that had taken root.
The old man — Gok Mussang, the throwing weapons master among the Three Elders of the Blood Rain Union — gazed at her stance with admiration.
It was a realm of attainment he had never imagined a young woman barely in her twenties could display.
"Huh, I had been half in doubt about the Alliance Leader's command, but it seems he was right to summon us after all."
He suddenly turned to look at the old man beside him — Nusantu, the master of the Poison Art — and asked.
"Third Elder, would you entrust her to me?"
At his request, Nusantu silently halted in his tracks.
Then Gok Mussang spoke to Jin So-eun again.
"From now on, I will approach you one jang — about three meters — at a time, and throw my projectiles. I am very curious to see how far you can withstand them."
Jin So-eun made no reply to his words.
She simply focused on him with a serene expression.
At that, Gok Mussang walked one jang toward her, stopped, and spoke.
"Here I come."
His tone was exceedingly slow and drawling.
But his throwing weapon was anything but.
The moment the final syllable left his lips, his hand lashed out like lightning, and a beam of light shot toward Jin So-eun.
Ting!
The instant she registered the projectile's flight, she saw it ricochet off her staff, and Jin So-eun swallowed hard once more.
She had barely managed to block it, but it had not been by sight.
'That was luck.'
Jin So-eun's mouth began to go bone-dry.
How to describe it.
The projectile just now — it had felt as though it came and struck her staff of its own accord.
More than her blocking it, it felt as though her opponent had simply thrown it poorly and it had happened to hit her staff.
It might truly have been intentional.
At that, the old man again exclaimed in admiration and smiled.
"Ho-oh! You blocked it. Well then, how about this?"
Having said that, the old man stepped one more jang closer.
Jin So-eun's heart grew urgent.
Because at a closer distance, she had no confidence in blocking the throwing weapons.
But getting any closer than this or running away was also impossible.
If she drew closer, she had no confidence in withstanding the throwing weapons, and the moment she tried to flee, they seemed certain to strike her in the back.
'What do I do?'
Just as Jin So-eun was thinking urgently, the old man who had closed the distance by one jang opened his mouth.
"Here I go."
Once again, the moment the final syllable dropped, his hand was swung.
Jin So-eun's eyes instantly widened enormously.
Ting!
'Huh? Blocked again?!'
"Ho-oh!"
Jin So-eun was bewildered.
Because the throwing weapon had flown in and struck her staff of its own accord again.
Judging by her opponent's astonished expression, it didn't seem he had done it intentionally either, but it was far too strange an occurrence.
"Truly impressive."
Gok Mussang, one of the Blood Rain Three Elders, now felt his pride wounded beyond mere admiration for the girl.
A throwing weapon he had thought could never possibly be blocked was being received far too easily by that young girl.
And with that blank expression on her face, no less.
This time, Gok Mussang walked two jang at once, closing in on Jin So-eun.
Now the distance between the two was about six jang.
This time, he intended to finish it for good.
Gok Mussang looked at Jin So-eun with a hardened face and said,
"This time, you absolutely will not be able to block it."
Even as he spoke, Gok Mussang suddenly felt as if his face were reddening.
He was ashamed of himself for letting his pride be provoked by such a child.
But in truth, he had no need to be ashamed.
Because his words were not entering Jin So-eun's ears at all.
While Gok Mussang approached, she was currently sunk deep in thought.
'How did I block it?'
At first, she thought it was coincidence.
But after thinking about it briefly, she could realize something was a bit odd to dismiss as mere coincidence.
Whether blocking the throwing weapon that flew from behind her at the start, or the two thrown weapons just moments ago, her staff had been positioned as if it knew in advance where they would come.
As proof, the positions where she blocked the weapons had all been different each of the three times.
'The staff moved on its own?'
When one reached the realm of the Natural Staff, it did appear as though the staff moved as if alive on its own.
But Jin So-eun, who personally used the Natural Staff, knew better than anyone that this wasn't truly the case.
The staff was ultimately moved by Jin So-eun's body and mind.
Because they were almost fully integrated, to others it looked as if it moved by itself, but in reality, her staff could never display skill beyond her own ability.
Which meant that blocking the throwing weapons was also her own skill.
Though she hadn't recognized it herself, she had blocked it with her own ability.
But it was strange.
Because earlier, Jin So-eun had not been able to visually track the trajectories of the throwing weapons at all.
'Didn't catch it with my eyes, yet blocked it? Then....'
At that moment, Gok Mussang, who had closed to within six jang, spoke to her.
"It's over!"
Hwaaak!
It was the moment he swung his arm.
Jin So-eun abruptly closed her eyes and tried it.
'If I couldn't see it with my eyes, then perhaps....'
Ting!
As the throwing weapon struck the staff and ricocheted away, Jin So-eun gained an enlightenment that felt as if the world before her eyes were suddenly brightening.
'It was the Mind's Eye! Even though my eyes couldn't see, my Mind's Eye was grasping the trajectory of the throwing weapons!'
It was an astonishing experience.
With her eyes closed, her surroundings were being perceived even more clearly than when her eyes were open.
Though it had only been a few days since she began learning the Mind's Eye from Seonwoo Jin, it seemed that fighting life-and-death battles against assassins for a full day and night, tempering herself to the limit in real combat, had elevated the Mind's Eye to mastery.
The thought even crossed her mind that perhaps Seonwoo Jin had anticipated this much and left her alone on purpose.
"Wh-What!"
Gok Mussang now let out a flustered cry.
Because Jin So-eun, with her eyes closed, had blocked his attack in the most composed posture yet.
Now, beyond wounded pride, he was even beginning to feel a sense of crisis.
"Hmm."
Gok Mussang hesitated to close the distance any further.
The problem was that the current distance to her was roughly about six jang (about eighteen meters).
If he moved closer from here, the power of his throwing weapons would of course increase further.
But the problem was, it could also give his opponent room to counterattack.
Because to a peak-level master, closing a distance of about three or four jang was a matter of a mere instant.
So if he approached further and attacked, should he fail, it meant he would have to face her close-quarters assault next.
But Gok Mussang, who had tread the path of the transcendent peak yet honed only his throwing weapon arts, had absolutely no confidence in close combat.
For that reason, Gok Mussang was hesitating to approach Jin So-eun any closer.
It was then that one person, who saw right through his heart, began to move.
It was Chakhwaseup, the First Elder of the Blood Rain Three Elders and a master of stealth techniques.
'Tch, this old man's firmly set on making a fool of himself today.'
The sight of someone who was nominally the highest expert of the Blood Rain Union, one of the Three Elders, utterly helpless against a mere child like that was the height of pitifulness.
So Chakhwaseup made up his mind to deal with her himself.
Having shown such a disgraceful display, Gok Mussang couldn't exactly get angry at him for stealing his prey, could he?
Chakhwaseup emerged from the shade of the tree where he had been concealing himself and began to slowly move toward Jin So-eun.
On the surface, it was a stealthy movement that could not be perceived at all, giving off not even the slightest presence.
Chakhwaseup prided himself that his stealth technique had already surpassed that of the Amhyeolhyang.
Thus, Jin So-eun would never be able to detect him until the moment she died.
He was thinking such thoughts while slowly moving between the shadows.
Then, suddenly, a single sword thrust up from beneath him.
Puuk!
'Urgh?!'
Chakhwaseup was horrified at the sword blade that had pierced through his chest.
He absolutely could not believe the fact that someone had been concealed evading his eyes, nor the fact that his own stealth had been detected by another.
But nothing changed simply because he didn't believe it.
A short while later, only his corpse, breath ceased, lay collapsed under the shade of the tree as if it had been there from the start.
It was far too hollow a death for the first seat of the Blood Rain Three Elders, the Blood Rain Union's greatest military power.
Seonwoo Jin, who had easily killed Chakhwaseup in a battle of stealth techniques, continued moving while remaining concealed, and thought.
'No matter how excellent one's stealth technique, it's utterly useless if the opponent can detect it.'
Chakhwaseup's stealth technique was undoubtedly superb.
But even so, it was not to the extent of being able to deceive Seonwoo Jin's senses, which had been enhanced by the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
Also, while his own senses had been quite excellent, in the end, he had failed to detect Seonwoo Jin's stealth.
These two facts had decided the contest just now exceedingly simply.
***
At the same time.
There was one more person moving for the sake of the flustered Gok Mussang.
It was Nusantu, the Third Elder of the Blood Rain Three Elders, who had walked in together with Gok Mussang but had fallen back at his request.
He was a master of poison arts.
In particular, his venomous poison technique, which allowed him to secretly scatter poison on his opponent, had reached a state of mastery.
He could shoot poison carried on finger wind, and could read a single thread of irregular wind path to precisely carry poison to wherever he desired.
Such a Nusantu now began to lightly move his steps.
He could fire poison carried on finger wind, but if the child had senses enough to block Gok Mussang's throwing weapons, she would likely be able to block that too.
'The wind direction is favorable, so I shall send it carried by the wind.'
He read the irregularly flowing wind paths around him and found a single thread of wind that headed toward Jin So-eun.
And he slowly approached that spot.
'If I use a lethal poison and kill her, this old man might take it to heart, so shall I simply use a qi-dispersing poison?'
It was just as he was thinking that and slowly reaching his hand into his poison pouch.
Tap-tap!
Suddenly, someone tapped him on the back.
Simultaneously, his body stiffened rigidly.
"!"
Nusantu was appalled.
He had been subjected to acupoint sealing before he could even perceive it.
If it was stealth at this level, it had to be Chakhwaseup's doing.
'But why would he do this to me?!'
It was then, while Nusantu was thrown into confusion.
His body softly seeped into the shadows.
He had been forcibly drawn into stealth by his opponent.
And he was beginning to be dragged away to a secret location.