Can't Escape Without Undressing
"Ugh...!"
A bizarre sensation, like her entire body was paralyzed, washed over her. Hong Mi steadied her breathing and tried to regain her senses.
Suddenly, the space around her warped unnaturally, and everything changed. She realized she was standing inside some kind of room.
"What the hell? A hallucination?"
She had definitely been walking through Jibuk Mountain.
"What did that bandit scum do to me?"
She scanned her surroundings. She had no idea what had happened, but it was clear that rogue Taoist had pulled some trick.
"No way... a formation? That brute of a bandit using a formation? Is that even possible?"
Even specialized formation masters found them difficult. Unless you were from a renowned clan like the Zhuge family, no martial artist in the jianghu messed with formations lightly. Most just used cheap hallucinogenic incense and lied about it being a formation.
Hong Mi couldn't make sense of her current situation, but she couldn't just stand there. First things first: figure out where she was.
The room she was in was fairly spacious, about five zhang across in both directions. One wall had a plain door. Above it hung a small plaque with these words inscribed on it.
A room you cannot leave without meeting.
"A room you can't leave without meeting? What kind of weird crap is that?"
Hong Mi stared at it intently before turning her gaze to the door.
"Looks like a normal door for now. I could probably smash right through it."
She didn't even need her sword. Channeling internal energy into her fist, she punched toward the door with full force.
Crack!
As expected, the door shattered like tofu. No wooden door could withstand a martial artist's punch.
"Huh? Another room."
Beyond the door was yet another room. Identical in appearance to the previous one. Right in front, the exact same kind of door.
"Hmmm... no clue. This is..."
The plaque above the door was identical.
A room you cannot leave without meeting.
"What?"
Hong Mi smashed the door again with her fist. Beyond it, the same room again. Same door, same plaque.
"Huh? It feels a bit smaller."
The room seemed slightly smaller than the last. She smashed the next door. Sure enough, another identical room, a touch smaller still.
The first room had been about five zhang square; now it was around four.
"No way... are the rooms just getting smaller forever?"
It felt like she'd stumbled into a twisted world where common sense didn't apply. A hallmark of formations. She had no idea how that mountain bandit pulled it off, but this was definitely one. No cheap incense could replicate this level of realism.
"Tricky. Doesn't seem immediately threatening, though."
Smashing doors and pushing forward didn't seem to be the answer. At that moment, a man appeared out of thin air.
"Urgh...!"
The groaning man looked familiar. It was the young man she'd just rescued from Ban Se-gun's gang. Jongchil, if she remembered right.
"Where is this place?"
He glanced around just like she had upon arriving. Then, the door straight ahead swung open on its own.
"......So that's what 'you cannot leave without meeting' meant?"
"Huh? Ah! Lady Hong?"
As the man recognized her, Hong Mi removed her bamboo hat and bowed her head.
"Yes. I didn't expect to meet you again like this. Young hero Jong."
"I was definitely attacked by that rogue Taoist... Where the hell are we?"
"Probably inside a formation. Not sure of the details. But it's weird that a bandit like him could wield something like this."
"A f-formation!? Isn't that dangerous?"
"Formations vary. Fortunately, nothing dangerous so far. From what I've seen..."
Hong Mi pointed to the plaque above the open door and continued.
"It seems like following the plaque's instructions is the way out. Might be simpler than we think."
"A room you cannot leave without meeting... So, us meeting made the door open?"
"Exactly. That's probably it. I tried forcing my way through, but it just looped the same rooms. Let's head forward. Things might change."
Hong Mi and Jongchil moved to the next room together. As Hong Mi predicted, it was completely different.
The shape was the same, but in the center stood a life-sized straw dummy. Hong Mi first checked the plaque above the door to the next room. The inscription had changed.
A room you cannot leave without slicing.
"'Slice to leave.' That must mean this dummy, right?"
Hong Mi drew her sword. No need for internal energy against such a crude dummy. With a precise stroke, it split in two. The door slid open.
"Just as I thought."
Hong Mi nodded.
"Oh ho. This'll be easy then. I was worried about a formation, but it's nothing."
Hong Mi nodded at Jongchil's words.
"Doesn't seem too complex. Lucky for us."
The two pressed on together.
Jongchil and Hong Mi passed through several more rooms.
Rooms you couldn't leave without holding your breath. Without closing your eyes. Without making a sound. And so on—various puzzles appeared before them.
They solved them like riddles, the difficulty so low even a child could manage.
"How long will this go on?"
Hong Mi tilted her head and moved to the next room.
"What's this one?"
Jongchil looked up at the plaque and read it aloud.
A room you cannot leave without taking off your clothes.
Hong Mi's face flushed red at the words.
"Th-this...!"
Jongchil looked equally flustered and cried out. Hong Mi strode to the door and punched it hard.
Bam!
The door shattered.
"Fitting for a bandit's formation—pure filth! He's probably watching us from outside. Can't fall for his sleazy tricks!"
She stepped through the wreckage into the next room. But the same type of room appeared, slightly smaller than before.
"Ugh!"
You couldn't advance without meeting the room's demand. Realizing this, Hong Mi hung her head in defeat.
There were all kinds of formations in the world. Hong Mi, with her long career as a wild wanderer despite her age, had seen plenty while roaming the Central Plains. Most were crude works by hack formation masters—laughable to anyone from the Zhuge clan.
But this one? She'd never seen or even heard of anything like it.
Formations were typically for restraint or attack. Take the Zhuge clan's classics: the Soul-Losing Heavenly Net Formation and the Supreme Ultimate Deception Formation.
The Soul-Losing Heavenly Net trapped victims in a misty paradise, forcing them to find the true path amid disorienting mountains. Fail, and you wandered to death. Textbook restraint formation.
The Supreme Ultimate Deception, an attack type, hurled foes into a maze of nine dead ends and one path to life. Step wrong, and traps or demons killed you—most didn't last a ke.
This formation trapping Hong Mi seemed neither purely restraint nor attack. Closest to restraint, maybe.
But spelling out exactly how to proceed? That didn't fit restraint formations, which hid the path to trap you forever.
Of course, pigeonholing all formations into two types was foolish. Point was, this one defied logic.
Zhuge folks would love it. Shame she had zero ties to them.
"Haa...! Haa...!"
Hong Mi panted roughly. She'd already smashed three doors. Rooms shrinking—now barely ten zhang square. Plaque still read the same.
A room you cannot leave without taking off your clothes.
"Lady Hong, let's stay calm and think. You're getting too worked up."
Jongchil stopped Hong Mi as she raised her fist for another door. She lowered it sheepishly, realizing her emotions had taken over.
Escaping a formation required cool reason. They were logical constructs of nature's power. Irrational acts helped nothing.
"I got heated. Sorry you saw that. My apologies, young hero Jong."
Her experience kicked in; she regained composure quickly. But composure didn't reveal an escape.
Hong Mi ground her teeth, rechecking the plaque. No change, no matter how many times.
"Vulgar idea from a thieving bastard. Ugh!"
"But we've advanced by following the plaques so far. To get out, we probably have to follow this one."
Jongchil's analysis was sharp and spot-on. Hong Mi knew it too. The issue was doing it.
"Hmmm... problem."
No matter her jianghu toughness, she wasn't the type to strip naked before a strange man.
Jongchil glanced at her awkwardly, then spoke softly, lacking confidence.
"Then... should I go first and strip?"