Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: The Missing People
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War Sword King Chapter 55
The place Mo Yong-ak led them to was a dead end deep inside the cave. Sunlight reached there, revealing a sight they hadn't seen the night before.
It was over a dozen corpses frozen solid. Every one of them was a sturdy man dressed in shaggy reindeer hide clothing.
Their eyebrows were thick, their features bold overall, giving them an exotic look from somewhere far away.
Seeing these dozen corpses—not bleached bones, but preserved in their living state, some with eyes still open—sent a chill creeping down their spines.
"What happened?"
Heuk Do-san asked.
"When I woke up this morning, I saw footprints in the bat guano. I followed them, but there was no sign of Dol-jung, just these things. I have no idea what's going on."
Gong Cheon-ak said.
"We were sleeping right next to these ghosts without a clue. Just thinking about it makes my legs shake."
Yeom Jin-sang said.
"That's why I told you to check the cave thoroughly. What? You poked around every inch and found nothing?"
Gong Cheon-ak snapped in anger.
"They definitely weren't there last night..."
"Shut up. You're utterly useless."
"Do you know who these people are? They look completely different from us."
Mo Yong-ak asked Heuk Do-san.
She had been utterly cold to Dang Yak-ran, but for some reason, she treated Heuk Do-san just as she always had. If anything, she seemed a bit warmer.
"They're from the Xiongnu tribe."
"How do you know?"
"There was a Xiongnu mercenary with us. He was a monster who rode horses like they were part of him and could spot a wolf ten li away with the naked eye from a mountaintop. These corpses look just like him."
The Xiongnu were nomadic horsemen who roamed the Dalan plains as their main stage. Rumor had it some Xiongnu clans raised tiger cubs alongside their children in their tents.
The fierce-tempered Qin Shi Huang, terrified of their cold blood, built the Great Wall to protect the Central Plains.
Everyone present had heard of the Xiongnu's infamous reputation at least once. They also knew the extent of their territory.
"So this means we're in Dalan?"
"Looks like it."
"Hah."
Low groans escaped from various spots, led by Mo Yong-ak.
For the first time since their drift began, they had clear evidence of their location.
Now that they knew where they were, all that remained was returning to the Central Plains.
The mystery of how over a dozen people had been transported to Dalan overnight lingered, but at least they could return home. That was something.
"No reason to celebrate. Even if it's Dalan, it's thousands of li to the northern or southern borders. Plus, they just look similar—there are many branches of Xiongnu, and their territory is vast, so we can't pinpoint our exact spot yet."
"Still, it's a relief we're not in Arasa or the North Sea. I was worried we'd ended up at the edge of the world."
"That's strange."
"Something's off."
"We've had more than a few weird things on the way here. Dalan—truly a relief."
"That's not what I mean. The Xiongnu are horsemen who race across the grasslands. They don't climb snow-covered mountains like this unless something major forces them."
"I heard the Xiongnu move between summer and winter camps for hunting and herding. Maybe a family crossed the mountains searching for grass and froze in the cold?"
"First, Xiongnu never freeze to death. Second, there'd be tents and horses if so. They couldn't climb a snow peak dragging those anyway. Third, all these dead are warriors."
"How do you know they're warriors?"
Heuk Do-san approached and yanked off the crescent-curved scabbard hanging from a corpse's side.
Only then did everyone realize every corpse carried a large blade. They'd been too shocked by the sudden appearance of the dozen corpses to notice.
"It's a recurved saber. Xiongnu boys at fifteen are abandoned alone on the plains with a single blade where wolves prowl. Only those who return alive become warriors—they eat first from the tribe's hunt and carry that plains blade for life."
Heuk Do-san then asked Hong Gongtak, who had been crouched examining the corpses.
"How long ago do you think they died?"
"Time of death can only be gauged by lingering body heat or decay. Once frozen solid like this, there's no way to tell."
"Autopsy?"
"I checked briefly—no poison or external wounds. Looks like they froze, but can't say for sure."
"They could die without wounds?"
"Not sure if it fits here, but if struck by Internal Heavy Hand Method and killed instantly before freezing, no external traces might show."
"Internal Heavy Hand Method?"
"But no internal expert lives in a place like this, so probably not."
The Internal Heavy Hand Method was a technique that infused hidden energy into the opponent's abdomen to explode internally, shredding organs.
"Cutting open the belly would reveal the true cause?"
"Have to, to know."
"Not the time to be slicing frozen bellies. Dol-jung and Bing-seol's footprints vanished here suddenly. Internal Heavy Hand Method my ass."
Gong Cheon-ak exploded in rage.
"You're sure it's theirs?"
"I'm a martial artist too. Think I can't tell? There's still moisture on the prints. Melted snow from their shoes, clearly."
"But why three sets of footprints?"
"What?"
At Heuk Do-san's words, everyone examined the ground.
Amid the messy prints from what seemed Xiongnu warriors, three relatively fresh sets were visible.
A cold silence fell briefly.
Heuk Do-san felt a chill and turned. Gone. No matter where he looked, she wasn't there. He hurriedly asked Gong Cheon-ak.
"When did you last see Dang Yak-ran?"
"When I woke this morning, she was gone. I assumed she was with you."
"Damn it!"
His mind went blank.
Heuk Do-san tried to calm his pounding heart. Experience told him to stay composed now. Panic led to mistakes, which could endanger Dang Yak-ran's life.
'Recall from the start.'
That morning, he'd woken to see her asleep against the wall. He'd scouted the snowy plain outside with Seop Dae-gang for barely half a shichen.
In that time, Dang Yak-ran had vanished. As if the cave had swallowed her.
"Did they sink into the earth or fly to the sky? Where the hell did they go? This is driving me insane."
Gong Cheon-ak sighed.
Then it happened.
Suddenly, thousands of lights flickered on the cave ceiling. The bats from last night had all opened their eyes at once.
The bat swarm flapped their black wings, dropping from the ceiling and flying toward the people.
As everyone panicked, the bats veered left. This revealed a corner previously hidden by the rock wall.
The bats rounded the corner and vanished into the rock wall—in a narrow crevice between stones.
But something astonishing occurred.
The crevice, barely wide enough for one person, began emitting faint, unknown light from within.
"What the hell is this?"
Gong Cheon-ak clutched his throat.
"Luminescent stone. There's a vein inside the widened crack in the wall. The bats' eyes provide the light, and it's reflecting off the stone."
Heuk Do-san said.
Luminescent stone literally glowed in darkness. But even it needed some dim light to gather and reflect, illuminating the surroundings.
The group approached the rock wall where the bats had vanished.
The crevice sloped steeply downward endlessly. Though narrow at the entrance, it was a cave—clearly bored toward the snow peak's center.
"Ever seen anything like this before?"
Gong Cheon-ak asked.
"If you mean an unidentified gem cave inside a high, freezing snow peak cave at the summit, no."
Heuk Do-san said.
"Any guesses?"
"..."
"I mean, heard of unknown monsters hiding in summit gem caves? Like dragons or..."
"..."
"Forget it."
"I think I know why the Xiongnu warriors came here. For some reason, they tried entering that cave. But they failed for unknown reasons and froze."
Heuk Do-san paused, then added.
"There's something inside."
The group glanced back into the cave.
The bats clung to a wall not far from the entrance, refusing to leave.
As if guiding the humans.
Whether intentional or not, the brilliant light from the luminescent stone reflected in the bats' eyes allowed vision deep inside.
Some veins twisted like snakes, others twinkled like morning stars.
The sight was breathtakingly beautiful.
Was heaven like this?
Heuk Do-san lost himself in the dreamlike starry realm. Then Seop Dae-gang's voice shattered the air.
"Everyone, snap out of it!"
His heart dropped at the single-breath shout infused with profound Taoist inner energy. Heuk Do-san jolted awake, then paled in horror.
Unknowingly, they had been heading into the cave. Looking around, everyone except Seop Dae-gang was doing the same.
'Strange Gate Formation!'
"Everyone, cut your palms and bleed!"
Heuk Do-san shouted.
No time to hesitate. He drew his dagger and slashed his own palm without mercy. Then he did the same to the still-dazed Gong Cheon-ak and Yeom Jin-sang.
The sudden shock straightened their disrupted blood flow—a form of bloodletting technique.
Moments later, their minds cleared.
Realizing they'd unwittingly tried entering the cave, they all stared in shock.
"Now I know why Hyeon-gak, Bing-seol, and Dang Yak-ran vanished without a word."
Heuk Do-san said.
He drew his dagger and axe from his belt, turned to Seop Dae-gang, and said.
"Face the sun and look right—you'll see a valley shadowed by the ridge. It's shaded, so the snowpack is firmer. Safer to descend that way. Good luck."
With that, Heuk Do-san leaped into the cave. Gong Cheon-ak snatched a recurved saber from amid the corpses and followed.
Yeom Jin-sang paced indecisively for a while.
Following Heuk Do-san and Gong Cheon-ak into the cave felt dangerous somehow, but staying meant being torn apart by that brute Hong Gongtak.
'Dying to the killer ghost is now; dying following those lunatics is later. Damn it, whatever.'
Yeom Jin-sang grabbed a recurved saber and followed.
* * *
The cave—whether a cliff fissure or gorge cracked open by a massive boulder—twisted like a snake for a long stretch.
The bats flew and paused exactly ten zhang ahead of the group.
First the Strange Gate Formation at the entrance, now bat guides. Clearly man-made and trained.
'Whatever monster it is, I won't let it live.'
How far had they gone?
Suddenly, the bats flapped ahead like arrows. Wingbeats without resistance.
In response, flapping sounds echoed from all sides—another flock.
The ominous noise revealed countless bluish eyes glowing in the dark.
Luminescent veins began shining everywhere—not just sides, but the ceiling above.
Yet the light was distant.
Soon, the world filled with hazy glow. Astonishingly, they'd entered a vast cavern large enough for several tiled houses.
And the sight in the light was shocking. Easily a thousand corpses littered the floor haphazardly.
Unlike outside, these were all women—from young girls to women in their early twenties. Not just Xiongnu, but all sorts of Dalan's ethnic migrants in varied attire.
"Wh-what the hell?"
"Damn it, what happened here?"
Yeom Jin-sang and Gong Cheon-ak groaned.
Heuk Do-san couldn't hide his shock.
He'd seen countless corpses during the Righteous-Demonic Great War, but never anything as bizarre and unreal as this mass death.
A thousand young women and girls frozen vividly in their living forms.
"Gong Cheon-ak, autopsy."
Heuk Do-san said.
"Got it."
Gong Cheon-ak knelt on one knee and roughly yanked the fur hide from a nearby prone corpse.
Frozen solid, perhaps?
The body didn't flip; only the hide tore off with a snap. On the corpse's pale frozen back appeared five distinct finger marks from a palm strike.
Yet the color was blood-red on dead flesh, as if blood had been sucked out at once and frozen.
Even with his limited knowledge of martial lore, it was Heuk Do-san's first time seeing such palm marks.
But Gong Cheon-ak recognized them. His voice trembled like aspen leaves.
"Blood Hand Seal...!"