On the Road to Shu Dao Pass (4)
A ground-shaking explosion rocked the forest.
Soon after, a pitch-black mushroom cloud billowed high into the sky, visible far above the treetops.
The donkeys, which hadn't even flinched at the sight of the revenant horde, now snorted wildly and pawed the earth.
"What the hell is that?"
Wang Yi Sam let out a groan of shock before turning to Seo Baek.
"You got any guesses?"
"I have an idea, but it's not certain yet."
"Well, what is it?"
Wang Yi Sam pressed, but Seo Baek deflected instead of answering directly.
"Let's catch up to the carriages ahead first."
"What? Didn't the Sichuan Tang Clan say to mind our own business and ignore the others?"
"I know. But right now, knowing what's happened is more important."
"……."
Wang Yi Sam had no choice but to agree.
An explosion in this quiet forest out of nowhere—it was stranger than the revenants appearing, in a way!
Seo Baek's judgments had never been wrong so far. Wang Yi Sam decided to follow his lead.
"All right, let's do it."
"Hurry."
Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam gripped their donkey reins and set off again.
The mushroom cloud, which had pierced the heavens, began to dissipate only after the time it took to eat a meal.
That was how massive the blast had been.
About half a shichen later, they finally spotted a cluster of carriages in the distance.
There were six martial artists from three groups who had left before Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam.
Three carriages.
Six warriors with sharp, gleaming eyes.
Seo Baek thought as he looked at them.
'With Senior Wang and me pulling two carriages, that makes them the sixth, seventh, and eighth in departure order.'
Which meant the explosion had come from the fifth carriage ahead.
'Or maybe not just one.'
Judging by the scale, at least two carriages must have been caught in the blast at once.
'Then it was the fourth and fifth.'
Wang Yi Sam approached the martial artists and asked,
"What the hell happened?"
One of them, a man with red tattoos etched on both cheeks, jerked his chin toward the front.
"Why ask? If you've got eyes, go see for yourself."
With his fierce looks and rude tone, he clearly wasn't from the orthodox sects—a Sapa man.
Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam parked their carriages and moved ahead.
But as they passed the martial artists, both men fell silent in shock.
The entire forest was gone.
"No way……."
Wang Yi Sam groaned.
The narrow forest path, barely wide enough for two carriages, had vanished. Midway along the winding trail, there was suddenly an open clearing.
No, not a clearing—a crater.
The center had sunk down in a perfect round bowl shape.
It resembled a massive rice bowl turned upside down.
Seo Baek leaned forward to peer into the pit's depths.
No trace of the carriages remained.
'Just as I thought.'
With an explosion that big, the carriages—and the martial artists aboard—had been pulverized into black smoke.
The problem was the remaining carriages.
The crater was large and deep, but a first-rate martial artist with decent lightness skill could leap across it easily.
Even without good lightness skill, climbing down and up the other side wouldn't be too hard.
'But the carriages are the issue.'
Two donkeys couldn't descend into the pit and climb back up. And without ropes, pulling the carriages from the other side was impossible.
Moreover, the crater's edge was a scorched wasteland.
'Trouble on top of trouble.'
Charred tree stumps clogged the rim, leaving no gap for a carriage to pass.
It was no wonder the martial artists were stuck here.
"What do you call this? Right, a dilemma! No advance, no retreat! Hahaha!"
The Sapa man's grating laugh.
But he was right.
With their carriages—five in total, including Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam's—they were all trapped in a bind.
"Two carriages, but only two people. Where are the other two?"
The Sapa man asked, and Seo Baek replied,
"Killed by revenants."
"Revenants? We didn't see any when we passed."
"This forest is crawling with them. The blood from the living drew them back to life."
The martial artists jumped at Seo Baek's words.
But the Sapa man didn't look surprised—instead, he smirked.
"Knew it. The Sichuan Tang Clan doesn't hand out two Silver Swallow Badges for nothing."
He eyed Seo Baek and Wang Yi Sam up and down.
"Survived the revenant field by luck, but you two don't look useful."
Outright insulted in front of them, Wang Yi Sam bristled.
"What'd you say? You Sapa trash, watch your mouth!"
"A dirty rag thinks it's clean? Trash is better."
"What? You little……."
That was when Seo Baek, who had been staring at the ground, strode forward, picked something up, and spoke.
"I've found proof of what caused the carriage explosion."
"……!"
Everyone snapped to attention.
The martial artists gathered around Seo Baek in a circle. Even Wang Yi Sam and the Sapa man, about to throw down, moved to his side.
"This is the evidence."
What Seo Baek held was a charred chunk of wood, black as coal.
"What? Just a burnt log?"
"Exactly."
"A fire happened, so burnt wood is proof? Even a three-year-old could guess that!"
As the Sapa man sneered, Seo Baek tilted the chunk slightly. A ray of sunlight reflected off it, flashing into the Sapa man's eyes.
"Ugh, what're you doing?"
"There's a sword blade embedded here."
Looking again, the martial artists saw a broken sword blade lodged in the wood, just as Seo Baek said. He'd reflected the light off it.
"This isn't just any log. It's debris from the exploded carriage."
"Carriage debris? Then why's there a sword blade……."
"It snapped fighting revenants."
"……!"
Seo Baek's explanation grew more astonishing with every word.
A forest path swarming with revenants popping up everywhere. Wasn't the road to Shu Dao Pass basically straight through hell?
As the shocked martial artists fell silent, murmuring, Seo Baek stared into the crater like a man entranced.
'Just as I suspected.'
Seo Baek pieced together the whole sequence of events.
It unfolded before his eyes like a painting by a master artist—the vivid scene of the explosion.
'The Sichuan Tang Clan knew something like this could happen.'
And yet they'd planned the Shu Dao Pass caravan anyway.
These twenty martial artists weren't just shackled—they'd marched into hell of their own accord!
"What's with you? Spit it out already—what happened?"
Wang Yi Sam couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
"All this happened because of the Sichuan Tang Clan."
Seo Baek pointed at the carriages.
"What we're transporting is explosives."
"What? Explosives?"
"Yes."
Wang Yi Sam and the others gasped in surprise.
A few martial artists nodded slowly, as if they'd suspected as much.
"On the road to Shu Dao Pass, through these remote mountains and forests, what else could explode like that? The blast came from our carriages. They're loaded with explosives."
Seo Baek laid out his reasoning.
Then, a pale-faced young man in light blue robes raised a question.
"That makes sense. But why did the explosives go off?"
"A spark must have ignited them."
Seo Baek drew the sword from his back and lifted the black cloth covering a crate.
"When the caravan set out, the Sichuan Tang Clan gave three precautions. Because they feared the explosives might detonate."
"……!"
The martial artists' eyes widened again.
Now that Seo Baek mentioned it, it clicked.
The Tang Clan's precautions: Don't remove the black cloth. Don't light any fires. All things strictly forbidden around explosives, right?
"This black cloth is waterproofed to keep moisture from the explosives. But it has another effect: blocking sparks."
"……."
"No fires, no smoking—do I need to explain why they warned us?"
"Then telling us not to worry about the other carriages?"
The young man asked, and Seo Baek nodded.
"To prevent a chain reaction. If the carriages got too close, one exploding could set off the rest."
"……!"
Even these battle-hardened martial artists swallowed hard.
Explosives powerful enough to obliterate carriages without a trace.
The Tang Clan had anticipated massive damage if they went off. That's why they'd hammered those bizarre rules.
A scheme that accounted for losing one or two carriages!
As the martial artists groaned, the Sapa man cackled.
"Why so shocked? The Tang bastards made sure not all of us die even if a couple go up. Real considerate, huh? Thanks a bunch!"
As faces twisted at the Sapa man's sarcasm, Seo Baek continued his deduction.
"One carriage—maybe two—ran into revenants here. The martial artists drew their swords and fought. As you know, revenants don't die easily even if you sever limbs or heads. In a frenzy, swinging wildly……."
Seo Baek held up the charred log.
"……they tore the black cloth and split the explosives crate. This blade broke then."
"Explosives spilled out?"
"Yes. Exposed to air, it detonated."
The martial artists nodded unconsciously. Seo Baek's logic was airtight, fitting every piece perfectly—no room for doubt.
But deducing all that from a burnt log…….
Now they looked at Seo Baek differently.
'That kid who doesn't even look twenty is impressive.'
And come to think of it, wasn't Seo Baek one of the twenty selected by the Sichuan Tang Clan?
Meaning his swordsmanship was top-notch too.
"No carriage can pass this road now."
An obvious statement anyone could see.
Yet from Seo Baek's mouth, it sounded like a profound revelation. The martial artists nodded instinctively.
"So where do we go now?"
Wang Yi Sam asked, but Seo Baek shook his head.
"No idea."
Then the young man in blue robes stepped forward.
"There's another path. A fork in the forest—take it, and it leads to Shu Dao Pass."
"……!"
The dejected martial artists perked up.
Seo Baek pondered for a moment before asking,
"You mean the beast trail back in the forest, about the time for a cup of tea?"
"Right. How'd you know?"
"Saw it on the way and made a note."
Beast trails form where animals trample the underbrush.
No one else had paid it any mind—it wasn't a human path.
But Seo Baek had spotted and remembered it.
"I'll take that path. Mind guiding us?"
"Sure."
The young man nodded at Seo Baek's request.
"They say there's always a hole in the sky even if it falls! You saved us all!"
Wang Yi Sam laughed heartily and thanked the young man.
But the young man gave a subtle smile.
"Save the thanks for later."
He wasn't joking.
Moments later, Wang Yi Sam and the others gaped in horror at the path the young man had led them to.