Turmoil at Shu Dao Pass (4)
The Guandi Temple clung to the cliffside at the edge of the plain.
It was astonishing that such a place even had a Guandi Temple.
When Shu Dao Pass was built, the nearby residents must have been relocated. Yet the temple, serving as the entrance to a secret passage, had been left intact.
As a result, the temple stood alone, vigilantly facing Shu Dao Pass.
In the distant darkness, the revenant horde came into view. The revenants staggered toward Shu Dao Pass.
They were swarming like wild beasts drawn by the scent of blood!
Seo Baek held up three fingers and spoke.
"There are three rules to avoid revenants. You already know them, senior brother..."
Unexpectedly, Yu So Un answered before Seo Baek could finish.
"Suppress your breathing, avoid spilling blood, and erase all emotions from your face. Is that right?"
"Exactly. You know them well."
Wang Yi Sam chimed in with a teasing tone.
"Kid, the Central Plains are vast. You're not the only one with knowledge of revenants, y'know?"
"Fair enough."
Yu So Un scratched the side of his cheek with a finger.
"I didn't figure it out myself. I was taught."
"By that person you mentioned last time? The one in Yunnan you went to visit."
"You remember. Trouble is, I have no idea where they've gone off to now."
Wang Yi Sam shot Seo Baek a sly glance at those words—a look that said, what can you expect from someone with no sense of direction?
Seo Baek let out a faint smile.
But he quickly wiped it away. It was time to execute the plan.
Seo Baek located the spot marked on the map by Jeong Su Sa Tae.
The place to position their cart was near the cliff on the left side of the road, as seen from Shu Dao Pass.
Seo Baek scrutinized the cliff wall blocking the left side of the road like a folding screen, and soon found the spot.
There it is.
A massive boulder protruded prominently, with a deep depression beneath it—not quite a cave, but a sunken space.
It matched Jeong Su Sa Tae's description perfectly.
Seo Baek pointed at it with his index finger.
"I've found the blast site."
"Can't see it well."
Wang Yi Sam grumbled, his eyesight dimmed by age, but Yu So Un added an explanation.
"It's the spot under the big boulder with the hollow space."
"Right, I'm gettin' old and my eyes ain't what they used to be."
"Let's go."
The three pulled the cart up to the blast position.
The cliff was steeply sloped, and the ground rough.
Seo Baek and Yu So Un lifted the cart from either side whenever a wheel caught on a rock. Their ascent was inevitably slow.
As they climbed higher, the majestic silhouette of Shu Dao Pass gleamed under the starlight.
By contrast, the sight of tens of thousands of revenants shuffling toward the fortress walls sent chills down their spines.
Some revenants had already reached the walls. They licked at the bloodstains with blood thread worms protruding from their mouths, clawing their way up.
It was like gazing upon a tower of corpses piled from the depths of hell.
The three finally reached the blast site.
Seo Baek and Yu So Un shoved the cart into the space beneath the boulder.
"If we leave it here, the boulder will collapse."
It was the perfect position. When the cart exploded, the boulder would tumble, and the shockwave would bring down the entire surrounding cliff.
Just as Jeong Su Sa Tae had planned!
"Then let's head back to Shu Dao Pass."
Seo Baek pondered what to do with the donkeys.
Donkeys or horses could turn into beast revenants if bitten. The problem was that revenants prioritized living humans if any were nearby.
In other words, the donkeys would draw the revenants straight to them—and only endanger the people.
They'd had no choice while transporting the Sichuan Tang Clan's cart, but now there was no need to take the risk.
"We'll release the donkeys here."
"You sure?"
"Whether raised as livestock or wild, it'll be the same for them."
Seo Baek sliced the reins and ropes with his sword.
His worries were unfounded. The donkeys lingered near the cart for a moment before vanishing into the darkness.
But as they passed, one donkey bumped the cart.
The jolt shook the fuse device secured atop the crate.
Clatter.
Seo Baek, turning to leave, froze in his tracks.
Something's off.
The Ami faction disciples had securely bound the fuse device to the crate with ropes. Inside, the fuses were densely coiled in a spiral, leaving no spare space.
So why the clattering sound?
Wang Yi Sam noticed Seo Baek wasn't following.
"What's up?"
"Did you hear that sound just now?"
"What sound?"
Wang Yi Sam tilted his head, but Yu So Un, who had heard it, replied.
"I did. Sounded like something moving inside the device."
"The fuses should be packed tight."
"What does it matter? Let's get back before the horde arrives."
Wang Yi Sam urged them on, but Seo Baek shook his head.
"Something's wrong. I need to check it."
Seo Baek untied the device from the crate and opened the lid.
Wang Yi Sam and Yu So Un peered over his shoulder.
"See, I told you? It's just like what we saw in the tent..."
Wang Yi Sam trailed off mid-sentence.
As Seo Baek lifted the end, a long strand of fuse unspooled out.
But in the center of the device, a coiled portion was burning—already lit. The fuse had been severed in the middle.
The cut section amounted to about two-thirds of the total length.
That meant the expected explosion time had been reduced to one-third!
"Someone cut the fuse."
"It won't blow right away. We have plenty of time to get back."
Yu So Un spoke calmly. Seo Baek nodded.
"Let's hurry back."
The three turned and hastily descended the cliff.
"Why cut the fuse shorter when the cliff's gonna blow anyway?"
"What else? Some bastard wanted to bury us with the cliff!"
Seo Baek shook his head as he interjected into Yu So Un and Wang Yi Sam's conversation.
"No."
"No? Then what?"
"Unless the horde blocks our path, we could sip tea and still make it back to Shu Dao Pass. To kill us, they'd have cut it even shorter."
"Then?"
"To ruin this mission."
"But we positioned the cart perfectly under the boulder."
"..."
Seo Baek had no answer for that.
Senior Brother Wang is right.
A crime has three elements.
The target of the crime. The gain from the crime.
But this crime's target and gain were unclear, as Wang Yi Sam said. Cutting two-thirds of the fuse wouldn't eliminate them or stop the cliff demolition.
Then...
Of the three elements, only one remained.
The perpetrator.
Suddenly, Seo Baek recalled his master's words.
The Central Plains is a place of schemes and deceptions.
Remember this: The deceiver isn't wicked—it's the deceived who are fools! That's the law of the murim world.
If the schemer had employed some trick...
In that instant, Seo Baek grasped the full truth.
So that's it!
Lightning seemed to course through his body.
That's why that happened back then...
Seo Baek realized he had known the answer long ago. He'd merely overlooked the truth right in front of him.
If my guess is right, no more carts are coming.
Seo Baek turned to the opposite cliff.
The cliff on the right side of the road, as seen from Shu Dao Pass.
Where six murim warriors were to place their two carts.
But nothing was visible on the cliff. They'd seen the Guandi Temple, but no carts emerged from its entrance.
By now, the murim warriors and Cheongsong faction should have brought out their carts.
My guess was correct.
Wang Yi Sam spoke as Seo Baek stood silently.
"What's wrong? Something happen...?"
"Everyone, run to Shu Dao Pass. Right now."
Seo Baek spat the words coldly and leaped downward.
"Junior brother, what's going on?"
Wang Yi Sam asked in bewilderment, but Seo Baek was already racing away like the wind.
Yu So Un swiftly followed. Wang Yi Sam, clueless but compelled, chased after them frantically.
Wang Yi Sam whispered hoarsely.
"What if the revenants spot us?"
"Doesn't matter."
Seo Baek replied without lowering his voice.
Getting spotted by revenants isn't the issue anymore.
The real problem was about to erupt.
Seo Baek descended the cliff like the wind and dashed straight into the Guandi Temple. Yu So Un and Wang Yi Sam lagged behind, unable to match his lightness skill.
Inside the temple, Seo Baek bit his lip.
As expected.
Not a single cart had arrived.
No—or rather, per his prediction, they never would.
Seo Baek circled the altar and plunged into the underground passage. He activated the Shika Heart Method and shot forward like an arrow.
His eyes pierced every dark corner of the dim tunnel.
Yet even after running far, no cart wheels rumbled.
The only sound was his own footsteps.
Where are the carts?
Seo Baek halted abruptly. An inexplicable instinct had seized his feet.
He slowly turned his head from where he stood.
In the shadows of a side path off the main tunnel, a cart loomed.
So that's it.
Seo Baek rushed to the cart and pried open the lid of the fuse device on top.
As expected. Two-thirds of the fuse was severed, with only one-third burning away. No—even that was too generous; it was nearly consumed, just a stub remaining!
Then Wang Yi Sam and Yu So Un caught up, panting.
"That one's cut too? We gotta put out the fire..."
Wang Yi Sam exclaimed in shock, but Yu So Un swiftly drew his dagger and sliced the fuse's end.
Snip.
Seo Baek shook his head.
"This isn't over. We need to run."
"Why? If we cut the fuses on the other carts..."
"The underground passages branch endlessly. With four carts scattered in them, how long to find them all?"
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam and Yu So Un finally understood, swallowing hard.
There was no time to search. The fuse they'd just severed had been almost gone...
The other carts exploding was only a matter of time!
The three bolted from the side path, racing madly through the underground tunnel.
Along the way, they spotted a fallen figure in green robes midway.
A middle-aged man who had haughtily held his nose high.
It was none other than Mu Heo Ja, the Cheongsong faction's deputy leader.
"Isn't that Mu Heo Ja?"
"Of course it is."
"You killed the Cheongsong faction's deputy leader? Don't tell me it was the Ami faction..."
Few at Shu Dao Pass could match Mu Heo Ja's skills. Wang Yi Sam suspected Jeong Su Sa Tae, the Ami faction leader.
Seo Baek denied it.
"Not Jeong Su Sa Tae."
"What? Then who...?"
"Explanations later. Let's go."
The three ran on.
They passed more bodies—Cheongsong faction disciples and other murim warriors—but didn't stop.
How long had they sprinted in a frenzy? At last, the tunnel ended.
But the crisis wasn't over.
The two Ami faction disciples guarding the exit lay dead like the murim warriors.
"Even the Ami faction disciples...!"
Wang Yi Sam and Yu So Un gaped in shock, but Seo Baek's eyes turned icy cold.
Everything's as I suspected.
The trio climbed the spiraling slope.
Soon, they emerged into the courtyard of Shu Dao Pass's fortress.
Jeong Su Sa Tae...
Fortunately, she was there, leading her Ami faction disciples as they monitored the operation from the walls.
Seo Baek raced to her side.
"Jeong Su Sa Tae, it's bad."
She turned, about to speak, but fell silent. Her sharp judgment told her from Seo Baek's expression that disaster had struck.
"We need to evacuate now. Shu Dao Pass is about to..."
Before Seo Baek could finish.
Suddenly, the ground lurched beneath them, the earth itself upheaving.
Ruuuuumble.
"What in the world happened?"
Jeong Su Sa Tae asked in alarm. Seo Baek answered.
"Shu Dao Pass is about to explode and collapse."