Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: The Pursuer and the Pursued
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The rear garden of the Heavenly Demon Palace was backed by sheer cliffs and so quiet that in the old days, it had served as the residence of the Heavenly Demon and the Holy Lords.
In other words, it was a forbidden zone accessible only to the Dragon Bloods. Thanks to that, the pavilions and gardens were arranged in utmost luxury.
But even that had long since turned into ruins, with fires having broken out everywhere.
Heuk Do-san tracked Seop Dae-gang along the paths winding through the ruins. Fortunately, he was confident that no one could surpass him in pursuit techniques.
Moreover, he had plenty of experience coming and going in the Heavenly Demon Palace's rear garden from long ago.
Footprints, scents, swaying branches—all of them were clues to the trail. But the most important among them was the psychology of the pursued.
What was the bastard thinking right now?
Why had he chosen the rear garden as his escape route instead of the training grounds teeming with over a thousand subordinates?
Had he just happened to land there? Or had his injured body prevented him from scaling the walls?
Of course not.
Seop Dae-gang was no such pushover.
'He's luring me in.'
The bastard was drawing him deep into the innermost parts of the Heavenly Demon Palace to buy time.
He planned to corner him in a dead-end alley and then surround him with the Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade like an iron wall.
Sure enough, the heavily armored Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade was pouring into the rear garden in droves.
They had blocked off all possible escape routes and were combing every corner with torches lit, like fishermen casting a net.
Meanwhile, figures in black uniforms were leaping across the roofs of half-collapsed pavilions like birds.
'Night Birds too.'
Night Birds were the specialists in scouting within combat units. Masters of stealth and infiltration who missed no trace, no matter how small, they were all experts in lightness skills.
Everything was proceeding in perfect order.
'A Heavenly Net and Earthly Web has been cast.'
The situation was extremely unfavorable.
Chasing Seop Dae-gang deep into the Heavenly Demon Palace was bad enough, but having a thousand-strong force of the Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade hot on his heels made it worse.
Yet he couldn't just turn back now. In a situation where he was already exposed, retreating would make locating Geum Oh-do even more hopeless.
Just then, at the corner of a half-burned pavilion in the distance, a tree branch swayed slightly. It was an unnatural movement, not caused by the wind.
'Seop Dae-gang.'
Heuk Do-san shot forward like an arrow. Rounding the pavilion's corner revealed an alley.
Flanked by two pavilions of unknown purpose, the alley stretched north-south for about fifty paces. The air was thick with the scent of sweat.
'He just passed through.'
He plunged into the alley without hesitation. At the same moment, a chilling energy prickled from behind.
Screeeee!
With a screech that pierced the eardrums, a single arrow flew straight for the back of his head. He whipped around like a gale and snatched it mid-air. The hefty impact was no joke.
'Iron Arrow!'
Five times heavier than a normal arrow, to infuse an Iron Arrow with such force required a considerable inner expert.
But this one wasn't just destructive—it had precisely targeted the Mute Gate acupoint.
'No ordinary Night Bird!'
Heuk Do-san poured his qi into the arrow and hurled it back toward its origin.
Boom!
Slicing through the air, the arrow shattered the grotesque mask at the ridgepole's end precisely.
Crash!
Fragments exploded outward as a dark shadow leaped up. In the blink of an eye, the shadow scaled the opposite pavilion's roof and fired a flare into the air.
Fwoosh! Bang!
The flare burst exactly thirty paces above Heuk Do-san's head. For an instant, the surroundings lit up like midday, revealing the shadow on the roof clearly.
Unlike the heavily armored Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade, she wore light garb with a fox-fur vest and held a longbow in one hand.
Judging by her voluptuous waist that even thick clothes couldn't hide, she was probably late twenties at most. But the backlight obscured her face.
'A fearsome woman.'
"Over there!"
"It's toward the Spear Dragon Hall!"
Sharp shouts rang out as the Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade swarmed like a pack of dogs.
The Night Bird didn't wait for reinforcements. She dashed across the roofs with lightness skills, unleashing Iron Arrows at Heuk Do-san one after another.
With whistling sounds, the ferocious Iron Arrows hurtled toward him, threatening to pierce his skull.
'Damn it!'
Heuk Do-san broke into a run. The Night Bird had already caught up on the left roof and was now firing down from directly overhead.
Each time, he zigzagged to evade the Iron Arrows. They narrowly missed and embedded into the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A moment later, as he reached the alley's midpoint, the moon slipped behind thick clouds again.
The alley was pitch black, and Heuk Do-san slipped into the even darker shadow of the wall while running.
It was basic infiltration technique.
The Night Bird continued racing across the roofs but couldn't fire anymore. With her target vanished, how could she?
Around then, the alley suddenly split into three paths. The even blue stone slabs made footprints impossible to track, and the wind from the alleys had scattered the scent.
Time was running out.
If he didn't find Seop Dae-gang before the Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade arrived, it would all be for naught.
'I need to think.'
The first principle of tracking was to think from the pursued's perspective. Faced with three paths, the pursued would naturally choose one.
It offered a 2/3 chance of shaking the pursuer—a golden opportunity.
The pursuer, carried by momentum, would likewise pick one of the three paths.
That was the trap.
Amusingly, the first principle of stealth was to think from the pursuer's perspective.
Seop Dae-gang must have figured he would choose one of the three paths.
In other words, choosing none would shake him off perfectly.
The problem was that he had seen through it. It was like a ten-year fox toying with a century-old one.
'He's hiding nearby.'
He scanned the surroundings.
Ruined pavilions dotted the area around the fork.
Some had roofs completely caved in, leaving no trace, while others retained their shape despite a corner collapsed.
The second principle of stealth: a spot that hides you while letting you detect the enemy's approach easily. Even better if it allowed for ambush.
'There.'
Heuk Do-san concealed his presence and leaped over the wall of a red pavilion in the distance.
The pavilion, with its small courtyard and garden trees, was deathly still. Heightening his inner sight, he stealthily surveyed the area and faintly spotted fresh bloodstains in the courtyard's center.
'He's suffered internal injuries.'
The blood trail led through the corridor to a secluded room in the corner. Somewhere in that room, the bastard was glaring with wide eyes, waiting for him.
"Rats hiding somewhere. Where'd you go?"
Heuk Do-san muttered softly and leaped back over the wall to the outside.
He then dashed silently for ten paces, circled behind the pavilion, and suddenly soared onto the roof.
Of course, he employed advanced lightness technique, silent as falling leaves.
A moment later, he peered through a vent at the ridgepole's edge.
By then, the moon had emerged from the clouds, and moonlight filtering through the torn windows faintly illuminated the room.
A wounded beast panted raggedly, vigilantly watching the outside.
He gripped a longsword in one hand, having seized the perfect spot for an ambush.
"Waiting for me?"
Boom!
Heuk Do-san shot down like lightning. Seop Dae-gang wildly swung his sword at the terrifying speed.
If their weapons clashed now, the ear-splitting metallic clang would reveal their position to the pursuing Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade.
In that critical moment, Heuk Do-san snapped his head back sharply.
Seop Dae-gang's sword, risen with what seemed his last strength at tremendous speed, barely grazed his nose tip.
By then, the tip of Heuk Do-san's iron bamboo staff was precisely striking the bastard's solar plexus.
Thwack!
"Gahk!"
Seop Dae-gang, breath choked off, toppled over.
Already internally injured from their earlier clash at the Heavenly Tower, the blow to his solar plexus left him senseless.
His gurgling breaths seemed ready to give out any second, and blood mixed with saliva dripped from his slack jaw.
Around then, the sounds of the Mukhon Ghost Armored Brigade arriving at the alley's mouth and searching everywhere reached them.
"It's definitely here?"
"The flare burst right here."
"But where'd the guy go?"
"Fire more flares!"
"He couldn't have gone far. Search every inch nearby!"
Dozens of flares shot into the sky and burst with bangs. The world outside the window lit up like day before plunging back into darkness, over and over.
Heuk Do-san aimed the tip of his iron bamboo staff at Seop Dae-gang's temple and said.
"Don't test me."
It meant he'd smash his skull if he dared shout. Fox-like, Seop Dae-gang got it immediately.
"What... kind of demonic art... did you learn?"
Heuk Do-san wanted to ask the same. What happened to the manual he had taken from the Snowy Mountains three years ago, believing it to be the Ten Myriads Great Heaven Chapter?
But he couldn't ask. He was the only one who had seen it besides the mad Mo Yong-ak and the already dead Hong Gong-tak.
Asking now would blow his cover.
The bastard had learned something too. During their clash at the Heavenly Tower earlier, he had distinctly sensed demonic qi hidden within the flashy Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.
"You seemed to have learned a demonic art yourself?"
"......!"
"Don't play dumb. There was definitely demonic qi mixed in your Plum Blossom Swordsmanship."
"Impressive eyesight."
"Like recognizes like."
"So what now?"
"Does the Huashan Sect know?"
"Are you threatening me?"
"That wouldn't be bad either."
"Hah, it's like a mud-soaked wretch scolding one dusted with dirt. Aren't you curious what Shaolin Temple would do if they knew you've become a demonic disciple?"
The Four Great Vajras would march out. Shaolin spared renegade monks but not disciples turned demonic.
Seop Dae-gang still mistook him for Hyeon-gak. That's why the threat worked. Heuk Do-san couldn't toy further with Hyeon-gak's life on the line.
"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul you learned a demonic art. As you saw, I'm in no position to."
"......"
"Anyway, what exactly did you learn?"
"Why do you care?"
"How could I not? We both learned demonic arts, yet I'm a monster now, while you're just a bit stronger."
"Just a bit stronger... Heh heh heh."
Seop Dae-gang suddenly burst into mad laughter.
Fearing he might shout, Heuk Do-san pressed the staff tip to his philtrum and wagged it threateningly. Shout, and it'd crush it.
"I staked everything on a demonic art, and 'just a bit stronger' is all I get... Heh heh heh. I never dreamed I'd hear such words from the likes of you."
"No one knows the future."
"That's what I want to say. Don't get arrogant over today's minor gains. When I achieve great completion, scum like you now won't even be fit to look up at me."
What the hell did this punk have to back up such bravado?
"You'll need to survive first, right? Now, to the main point. You'd better answer my questions carefully from here on. As you know, I've got plenty of grudges against you."
"......"
"Where's Geum Oh-do?"