Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Martial God
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To perform Treading Snow Without a Trace required at least three jiazi worth of internal energy.
It was a situation perfectly described as finding a needle in a desert. They had ample supplies, so food and rest weren't concerns, but Huangbo Se-woo grew anxious when they failed to find any sign of Ara and Black Wind.
"Still no traces?"
Huangbo Se-woo shouted irritably at the guide. It had been ten days since they entered the desert.
They had searched a vast area, but with no results, fatigue was setting in.
The guide remained silent.
"Do you not understand me...?"
"We found one!"
The guide suddenly yelled.
"Where?"
Huangbo Se-woo stepped forward.
"Right there."
The guide pointed to a slight indentation.
"You call that a trace?"
"Yes. It's a heel mark."
"A heel mark means they went that way."
Huangbo Se-woo pointed north.
"Yes."
"Lead the way."
"Understood."
The guide started running. The Warrior Vanguard's martial artists followed suit.
The guide ran, stopped, ran again, and stopped repeatedly, yet always progressed forward. The pursuit didn't halt even as night fell.
They chased the traces relentlessly.
After running for over a full day, the guide finally stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"Continuing this way leads to the Oran Fireflower Desert."
The guide replied.
"So what?"
"It means we're going deeper in."
"You're saying they're luring us?"
"I wouldn't know."
The guide shook his head. It wasn't for him to judge.
Huangbo Se-woo looked at his son, Huangbo Seung.
"They're still here. By now, they know we're pursuing."
"So they're luring us."
"Yes."
"Why would two people lure five hundred?"
"This is the desert. Deep inside, there's no water."
"What about the lakes we passed?"
"Those are all saltwater."
"Saltwater?"
"Yes. And pursuing further from here is dangerous."
They had only ten days' worth of food and water left. Factoring in the return trip, they had to stop the chase.
"I see."
Huangbo Se-woo nodded.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
One of the vanguard members screamed and collapsed.
"Urk!"
"Gasp!"
Those beside the fallen man paled.
"Over there."
A squad member pointed to a dune. Atop it stood a man and a woman.
"It's Black Wind."
Huangbo Seung groaned. Black hat, black sand-proof mask, black robe.
Black Wind's signature.
"Chase them!"
Huangbo Se-woo bellowed.
If they were farther, he might not have ordered pursuit, but they were barely a hundred zhang away. Even knowing it was a lure, they had no choice.
The Warrior Vanguard leaped forward in unison.
Yet their speed was slower than expected—due to the sand beneath their feet.
Lightness skills required firm ground to push off, but this was desert. Each step sank deeply, robbing them of rebound force.
Naturally, they were slower than usual.
The ones fleeing the pursuit were Ak Muyoo and Yao Feng. Ak Muyoo had brought Yao Feng along because she knew the terrain well—including where to find fresh water.
The two dashed north.
Yao Feng ran across the desert like flat ground, while Ak Muyoo unleashed Mad Thousand Blood Steps. Beside Ak Muyoo loped Zabujong.
Ak Muyoo occasionally halted mid-run to fire fake Dark Current Arrows at the enemy. Not a single shot missed.
"Run harder!"
As the hundred-zhang gap narrowed to fifty, Huangbo Se-woo shouted again. Five had fallen to Ak Muyoo's arrows, but they didn't look back.
"Flying Squad, flank them!"
Huangbo Seung roared.
The Flying Squad consisted of the Warrior Vanguard's swiftest in lightness skills.
"Yes, sir!"
Over a hundred squad members veered left and sprinted ahead. True to their name, their movements were swift. Unlike the others, they seemed adapted to the sand, running as if on solid ground.
"The ones coming from the left are fast."
Yao Feng said.
"What's east?"
"A hundred-year-old village."
"Water?"
"None above ground—only underground."
"Head there."
"Got it."
The two turned east immediately. From then on, Ak Muyoo stopped shooting. Keeping ahead while running was challenge enough. Ak Muyoo slowed them down; relying on physical strength, he couldn't match Yao Feng's pace.
"We need two shichen more. You okay?"
Yao Feng asked.
"No problem."
Ak Muyoo kept running.
Suddenly, sand began to rise around him. His speed increased.
'It's coming.'
Ak Muyoo could now sense the phenomenon himself.
New power surged through his muscles. It felt like he'd gained extra ones. He pushed his speed higher.
'It works.'
Sand whipped past beneath him.
He quickly overtook Yao Feng.
"Hey! What kind of power is that... huh?"
Yao Feng's eyes widened.
Ak Muyoo's most telling trait while running was his footprints. He stomped hard for propulsion, as did anyone without internal energy.
Deep prints were inevitable.
Yet now, no footprints trailed Ak Muyoo.
'No way it's Treading Snow Without a Trace.'
Yao Feng shook her head. The minimum internal energy required was three jiazi—one hundred eighty years. That realm enabled Illusionary Body Shifting, Arrow-like Speed, and sword beams.
Impossible for Ak Muyoo, utterly devoid of internal energy.
'But...'
Yao Feng couldn't hide her bewilderment.
Ak Muyoo continued footprint-free, leaping farther each time—from four to five chi before, now over a zhang.
Yet no prints.
'Monstrous bastard.'
She shook her head and accepted it. Ak Muyoo defied conventional wisdom. Better for sanity to take him as is.
'Alright, let's push.'
Yao Feng accelerated to run abreast. Ak Muyoo glanced back. The enemy gap had widened slightly.
He slowed. Yao Feng matched him, and the distance closed.
"He's tiring! Push!"
Huangbo Seung yelled as the gap shrank.
But it held at fifty zhang.
Even martial artists struggled to run a shichen without rest. After one, the Warrior Vanguard panted heavily. They desperately wanted to stop but couldn't.
Lungs burning, chests heaving, they pressed on.
They halted only after two full shichen.
"A village."
Yang Baek-mun, vanguard leader, announced.
"A village?"
"An abandoned one."
"And the enemy?"
"Entered the village."
"Didn't exit?"
"I crossed it—no exit traces."
"Guard the perimeter, search inside."
"Yes, sir."
Yang Baek-mun bowed. He deployed troops. The small village needed only a hundred for the outskirts.
The remaining four hundred combed the interior.
About a hundred ruined houses. Four hundred in teams scoured every one, but found no sign of Ak Muyoo or Yao Feng.
Dusk fell.
"If they didn't leave the village..."
Huangbo Seung murmured softly.
They had searched everywhere. No glimpse.
"Did those bastards fly to the sky or burrow into the earth?"
A squad member's grumble carried.
"What did you say?"
Huangbo Seung asked the man.
"N-nothing. Slip of the tongue."
The man shook his head.
"What did you just say?"
Huangbo Seung advanced menacingly.
"It was... fly to the sky or burrow into the..."
"That's it!"
Huangbo Seung shouted.
"What's that?"
Huangbo Se-woo asked his son.
"Underground."
"Underground?"
"Yes. Not above, didn't flee outside. Only one place left: underground."
Huangbo Seung stomped the sandy floor.
"They're underground."
"Yes. That's it."
Huangbo Seung said confidently.
"All squads, find the underground entrance!"
Huangbo Se-woo bellowed.
The Warrior Vanguard scattered, inspecting more meticulously than before—floors only, ignoring walls.
"Damn, where the hell is it?"
Yuk Man-seok grumbled, face twisted. He'd stomped around searching, but no entrance.
"Ow! Haven't drunk water, but gotta piss..."
Glancing around, Yuk Man-seok dashed to rubble from a collapsed wall.
The house he searched was village center—promising, yet empty.
At the rubble, he dropped his pants and urinated.
"Ahh, that'll do... huh?"
His eyes widened at where the urine fell. It should've pooled but vanished smoothly.
Unlike sand absorption.
"Below's hollow... Found it. Jackpot."
He hastily pulled up his pants, brushed the spot with his palm. A square, flat stone appeared, embedded in the floor.
He gathered internal energy and struck.
Thud!
With a dull sound, the stone cracked, revealing a descending passage.
"Found it! Underground passage!"
Yuk Man-seok yelled.
Squad members rushed over.
"Where?"
Huangbo Se-woo flew in, shouting.
"Here."
Yuk Man-seok pointed down.
"Finally. Good work."
Huangbo Se-woo patted his shoulder.
"Indeed..."
Huangbo Seung nodded.
"Enter!"
Huangbo Se-woo ordered immediately.
The Warrior Vanguard descended one by one. Soon, only Huangbo Se-woo and Huangbo Seung remained topside.
"We could just kill Adal, but this feels unnecessary."
"Father said Adal has separate uses."
"Uses?"
"To scheme big, we need solid funds, right?"
"So..."
"If we say presumed-dead General Cheon Yu lives, Adal can strut openly with his name. But you're not letting him go free. Why?"
"The dead can't inherit fortunes."
"Exactly."
"It leaves glory for our house."
"Yes, Father. Soon you'll be among Beijing's highest."
"I'm proud of you, Seung."
"Thanks to your backing, Father. Let's go in."
"Right."
Huangbo Se-woo entered first.
Huangbo Seung scanned the village once.
"I've wanted to rip that mouth since way back, Black Wind. That informal tongue of yours."
—"What the fuck are the Ten-Man Squads doing?"
—"Told you no cursing!"
—"Move faster. Can't have the leader spacing out? One more informal word, and you're dead!"
—"Anyway, that bastard never changes his speech. Thinks I hate him? ...Bastard, what has he ever done for my life..."
—"Fuckin' Ten-Man Squad, hurry."
—"Damn. Just say Eighteen Ten-Man Squad smooth. Always spacing it as Fuckin' Ten-Man Squad."
—"Next time, you're demoted, punk."
"Today, I really kill you, you dog."
Huangbo Seung said coldly, then descended.
"Gasp!"
Yuk Man-seok, first inside, froze like stone. In the nearby void floated two glass-like orbs. Like a beast's eyes encountered deep in pitch-black mountains at midnight—no moon, no stars.