Chapter 152
Translator: uly
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: There's No Way You're Jumu Yu
Two camels approached the lake as darkness fell. The camels headed toward the lake. But they didn't drink the water. It seemed they instinctively knew it wasn't water fit for drinking.
'Nothing.'
Hweong's eyes widened. He had held his breath and waited as the camels approached. But there was no one on the camels. Not even any luggage.
'Did they catch on?'
He muttered to himself inwardly.
'No. They might have just sent the camels ahead because something felt off.'
All he could do in this situation was wait. He waited patiently. But even after a long time, Ak Muyoo didn't appear.
He turned his gaze to the left while staring straight ahead. The three of them were hidden now, with Zhuque to the left of Hweong and Hyunmu to the right.
They were each about ten zhang apart.
—Zhuque.
He sent a transmission.
—Yes.
Zhuque turned his head to look at Hweong.
—Go up to the dune and check.
—Understood.
Zhuque immediately leaped into action. He ran across the sand, but no footprints were left behind.
It was the Peak Phantom Lightness Skill.
The dune was about thirty zhang high. He raced up to the top of the dune.
On flat ground, no footprints were left, but the dune was different. Even with his feet barely touching, sand trickled down.
Moments later, Zhuque reached the top of the dune.
He scanned ahead from there. But nothing was visible. He kept watching. An incense stick's time passed, but the situation remained the same.
—He's hiding.
He sent a transmission to Hweong below the dune.
—Can't tell where?
—Not yet.
—He's just a soldier with no internal energy.
It meant he wasn't a martial artist.
—We'll wait until he moves.
—Hyunmu.
Hweong sent a transmission to Hyunmu, who was lying prone to the right.
—Yes.
—Go to the base of the dune and find him.
—Understood.
Hyunmu leaped into action right away. He also used the Peak Phantom Lightness Skill, leaving no footprints on the ground.
Moments later, he reached the side of the dune. From there, the entire rear of the dune was visible.
He lay prone there, watching the front and the top of the dune.
Darkness comes quickly in the desert.
Twilight had just settled when the darkness swiftly encroached. Soon, everything turned pitch black. Stars began appearing one by one, embedded in the sky like jewels.
No wind blew, no bird calls sounded. Occasionally, the faint sound of sand crumbling could be heard—it was lizards or scorpions native to the desert moving in search of food.
Definitely not a human sound.
The temperature plummeted, and chill set in. The three assassins still didn't move. They stared into the darkness without twitching. Their bodies remained still, but their eyes darted left and right ceaselessly. They were searching for any terrain different from what they'd seen before.
Hyunmu swallowed dryly.
His mouth was parched from extreme thirst; no saliva came anymore.
'Ugh!'
Even without anything to swallow, pain like his throat tearing ripped through him.
'It's the saltwater.'
His throat must have ended up like this from gulping down that salty water. He knew saltwater was deadly for thirst. But he never dreamed that water would be salty.
No, anyone would have done the same in that situation.
'Please move. Please.'
As the thirst worsened, impatience grew. He desperately wanted to catch the target quickly and drink some water.
He turned his head to look at the dune.
Finding a comrade at night was simple. By shifting the angle of his gaze, he picked one star and moved his head slightly. At a certain point, the starlight would vanish. If starlight was blocked in empty space, something was obstructing it.
That was someone using concealment.
He scanned the dune that way, but no sign of the target. That meant he'd burrowed into the sand.
Soon he found where the starlight was blocked.
Gulp!
He swallowed nothing again.
—Zhuque.
Then he sent a transmission to Zhuque.
—Speak.
—I'm going to move.
—The target has arrows.
—To make him move, we need to provoke him. In our current state, suffering from thirst, we're far more disadvantaged.
Hyunmu's resolve to take the risk stemmed from the water. It was obvious they'd be at a growing disadvantage as time passed.
—If we last until morning like this, we might die without even fighting.
—We're assassins. He's just a soldier without internal energy. Let's wait a bit longer.
—......Understood.
Hyunmu stared ahead and waited.
An hour passed.
—I can't wait anymore.
Hyunmu rose while sending a transmission to Zhuque.
—Got it. I'll prepare too.
—I'm going now.
Hyunmu headed for the dune. To avoid signaling a lure, he fully channeled his energy into the Peak Phantom Lightness Skill.
Srrrr!
Even so, sand trickled down with each step.
—Look left!
Yopung sent a transmission to Ak Muyoo.
—I see it.
Ak Muyoo's eyes gleamed with gray light. He was watching the ground where sand trickled down bit by bit. The intervals between the trickles were just under two chi. The stride of an assassin walking cautiously.
'With a body atop the footprints...'
Ak Muyoo nocked a Dark Current Arrow and slowly drew it back. He was still prone on the ground. The Heaven God Sun Bow bent into a full curve.
Again, sand trickled down into view.
Twang!
He released the string.
'Got you!'
Paat!
Zhuque immediately launched himself.
This time, he didn't use the Peak Phantom Lightness Skill. The technique he unleashed in an instant was the Bow God Bullet Form—a movement as swift as a fully drawn bowstring snapping forward.
Thud!
Ak Muyoo's Dark Current Arrow burrowed into Hyunmu's body.
'Urk!'
Hyunmu let out a scream like a blue dragon.
In that moment, his concealment broke, revealing his form.
Whoosh!
Ak Muyoo, buried in the sand, sprang up and charged Hyunmu while firing another Dark Current Arrow.
'Huh!'
Hyunmu groaned and spread his legs wide. His upper body collapsed forward.
He didn't realize spreading and collapsing like that was a mistake.
Swaak!
At that instant, sharp energy approached Ak Muyoo's neck. It was Zhuque's sword, who had rushed in while concealed.
Long ago, Zhuque had used a conical weapon like the others—a awl. But upon becoming nameless, he switched to a sword. It felt like a symbol of success.
Ak Muyoo ignored Zhuque's sword.
Blocking it would mean missing the revealed Hyunmu.
He ducked his head like a turtle and fired two Dark Current Arrows in succession.
'Huh!'
Hyunmu's face paled.
Unable to move his legs, he was helpless. He leaned his upper body back. It was his last resort.
Puaak!
One Dark Current Arrow grazed past his nose.
Paat!
Blood sprayed from his nose.
'Dodged...'
Thud!
The moment he felt relief, excruciating pain surged from his dantian. The Dark Current Arrow had pierced into his leaned-back dantian, ravaged his insides, and exited through the back of his neck.
'Kuhk!'
A scream burst from Hyunmu's mouth. Blood gushed from his gaping mouth.
'I, I...'
Hyunmu face-planted into the sand.
Thud!
Then a dull sound came from behind Ak Muyoo. Zhuque's sword striking his back.
'Ugh!'
Zhuque let out a short groan.
Swinging with his sword felt like striking a solid log.
'G-Golden Bell Iron Cloth?'
Zhuque shouted unwittingly.
Unless it was the Golden Bell Iron Body, no one could deflect his sword like that.
'K-Killing intent?'
Zhuque hastily retreated behind.
Clack!
Something grabbed the hand holding his sword. It was Ak Muyoo's hand.
'Huh!'
Puk!
The moment he tried to shake it off, a gruesome sound came from his dantian.
'Urk!'
Zhuque looked down.
A woman looked up with a grin. It was Yopung. She had slipped between Ak Muyoo's legs and thrust her sword into Zhuque's dantian.
Yopung twisted and pulled out the sword she had stabbed in.
'Damn it!'
With a curse, Zhuque collapsed.
'You okay?'
Yopung, now standing, glanced at Ak Muyoo's back and asked. Her clothes were intact.
'Yeah.'
Ak Muyoo nodded.
'Feels like it's getting harder.'
'It withstood a sword before too.'
'Before?'
'When I fought Adalta.'
'You fought Adalta?'
'I didn't tell you?'
'You only said you gave the Heaven-Earth Sun Command to Adalta's brother Ageukta. Not that you fought Adalta.'
'Didn't I mention it to Dong Pung's group?'
'Where?'
'At the old Baekrang clan site during the gathering.'
'I must have been in the bathroom.'
'Probably.'
'Where did you meet?'
'At the old Absolute Flesh Heaven ruins.'
Ak Muyoo said as he moved downward.
'So what happened fighting Adalta?'
'I'm still alive.'
'My god.'
Yopung stared at Ak Muyoo blankly.
She knew he was strong, but she never imagined he'd beat Adalta.
'I nearly died from getting beaten half to death with that iron staff.'
'But you won in the end.'
'I've killed plenty.'
'Who else?'
'Parap.'
'You don't mean Black Wind Death Venerable Parap, right?'
'Yeah.'
'......'
'Lucky.'
'Is Parap the end?'
'Jeok Yeom-cheon and Jeok Ri-ha.'
'I'm going insane.'
'Now let's catch that guy.'
Ak Muyoo gathered his luggage and headed to the lakeside. Hweong had already fled.
'You can bet my head he won't make it to the Yellow River.'
'He drank that water too, right?'
Yopung pointed at the lake.
'No choice but to drink.'
One major trait of thirst is that half-hearted sips make it worse.
After days of thirst, drinking water feels quenching at first but isn't complete. The body still craves more. Only filling it fully truly quenches.
But Hweong had gulped it hastily then dashed into the desert. With his throat eased, he must have thought he could last two or three days.
He'd suffered worse thirst before, so upon seeing water, he dove in without checking and drank deeply.
He probably realized it was saltwater and stopped, but too late—he'd consumed plenty.
Saltwater doubles the thirst.
'We can take it slow.'
Ak Muyoo loaded the luggage on the camel and mounted. Moments later, the two pursued Hweong.
Ak Muyoo truly didn't hurry.
He drove the camel leisurely. Hweong left no traces. He'd probably used the Peak Phantom Lightness Skill.
'Using internal energy speeds up reaching the limit.'
Yopung said.
'But without it, he'd die from not drinking fast enough, so he has no choice.'
'A real dilemma.'
'Something like that.'
They found Hweong's footprints at dawn.
'His energy's depleted.'
Yopung said.
'Yeah. He's crawling now.'
The two drove the camels again. They found Hweong just an hour short of the Yellow River. He was dying of thirst.
'Just one more hour...'
Ak Muyoo said, looking at Hweong.
'W-water, please.'
'I can give you some. But first, answer my questions.'
Ak Muyoo said as he pulled out a waterskin.
'I-I'll talk.'
'I want to know about Heaven.'
'Heaven?'
'The one who commissioned the monk thirty-two years ago.'
'Huh! H-how do you...'
Even on the brink of death, Hweong was shocked.
'Even a dying man like you is surprised, so he must be someone great.'
'How do you know about Heaven?'
'Because I'm the child stabbed by the monk's Heaven Death Awl that day.'
'N-no way.'
'What doesn't make sense?'
'Jumu Yu is living well in Beijing. There's no way you could be Jumu Yu.'