The Ghost Gate Opens
The Ghost Gate. At last, the Ghost Gate had opened. It came with a surge of evil qi so powerful that every martial artist gathered in Muan County felt it in their bones.
The opening was sudden. Even though it happened only a day after the Paeng Family’s people had arrived, the martial artists moved with cold precision. The gate’s location had already been confirmed under the command of the Yi Family patriarch, so the moment it tore open, the warriors streamed toward their assigned positions without hesitation. Namgung Woo ran with them, racing alongside the Yang brothers toward the sector they had drawn.
“Can’t we just smash the thing before it opens?”
“It’s possible, but…”
“We don’t have any sorcerers, do we?”
“Is it that hard with martial arts?”
“Possible, but…”
“Only for a tiny handful of true experts!”
A tiny handful of true experts. Namgung Woo turned the words over in his mind, wondering whether he could manage it if he unleashed his full strength.
While he pondered, Yang Jeong finally snapped at his brother, who kept cutting him off.
“Brother, stop interrupting me every other word!”
“You talk too damn much. We’re short on time. No signal yet?”
“None at all. We might be the first to make contact.”
“Tsk. I told them to post watchers at the gate ahead of time. But no, everyone got swept up in the Paeng Family’s reputation…”
Yang Kvae clicked his tongue in disgust.
“They said anything below blue, didn’t they? So of course they’ve grown complacent.”
“Below blue?” Namgung Woo asked.
“It’s the ranking system for Ghost Gates and the youkai that come out of them. They borrow the five colors of the rainbow.”
Namgung Woo was more familiar with the seven-color Western spectrum, but in the East the rainbow had long been divided into five hues: yellow, red, blue, black, and white. The scale measured both the intensity of the energy and the actual threat level, with yellow the weakest and white the most dangerous.
When Yang Jeong finished explaining, Yang Kvae tossed out another question.
“Doesn’t the Yo-pyeong Express teach you any of this?”
“Ah, I haven’t been with them very long.”
If one counted the time he had spent there as a guest, it came to about half a month, but today was only the third day since he and Pyeong Cho-yul had agreed to claim he was from the agency. Short by any measure.
“Really? Well, if it’s below blue then we’re looking at yellow or red. Nothing too terrifying. At yellow, even ordinary villagers with no martial training can hold them off somehow.”
“It’ll be red,” Yang Jeong corrected. “With five Peak Realm experts from the Paeng Family and the Yi Family head present, there shouldn’t be any real trouble.”
“Perfect chance to build some experience,” Yang Kvae added.
The color system seemed absolute enough that the Yang brothers had relaxed considerably, their conversation growing longer. Listening to them, Namgung Woo let his own tension ease and gave in to curiosity.
“Why use the colors of the rainbow, though? Isn’t a rainbow supposed to be an auspicious sign?”
“It was, once. Not entirely wrong. But nowadays it’s only seen as an ill omen.”
“And more than that, it’s because of what came out of the very first Ghost Gate.”
“The first one?”
“Yes. A colossal dragon emerged from the first gate to open. A massive beast covered in brilliant five-colored scales.”
“They call it the Rainbow Dragon. And the general consensus is that it is the progenitor of every youkai and demon that has followed.”
The idea that the first to appear should automatically be considered the origin struck Namgung Woo as slightly odd. Before he could voice the thought, Yang Jeong asked another question.
“Do you know of Nüwa?”
“The goddess from the myths who created humanity, right?”
“Exactly. She molded people from clay in her own likeness. Those she shaped directly became nobles. The ones created by scattering pieces of rope that had been dipped in mud became commoners.”
“Bullshit,” Yang Kvae muttered.
Ignoring his brother, Yang Jeong continued. “The Rainbow Dragon is similar. They say the youma were born from the flapping of its wings.”
“So judging their nests by the colors of the rainbow makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I see…”
Namgung Woo felt as though he had uncovered one more secret of this world. There was still so much he didn’t know—about the Murim, about history, about everything.
Once I reach Beijing, I should spend some serious time studying current affairs and historical basics.
That, of course, would come after the battle. Namgung Woo sensed an unfamiliar energy drawing near and spoke at once.
“I feel malevolent qi nearby. Looks like we’ll be the first to meet them.”
The brothers’ reactions were dramatic.
“What? You can sense it?”
“Now that you mention it, he was also the first to notice when the Paeng Family people arrived at the Yi Family manor…”
“Hey, little brother! You learn some special detection art or something?”
“Nothing like that. I just have good instincts.”
Namgung Woo brushed off the existence of his Changnyeongmanan as simple intuition and measured the distance to the alien presence ahead. At their current speed, they would meet in under ten minutes.
No—if they’re moving toward us too, it’ll be even sooner.
“They’re moving as well. We’ll meet them shortly.”
“So our little brother was hiding a card after all.”
“I’m starting to feel it too. Let’s get ready.”
The Yang brothers’ auras shifted. The fierce energy that rolled off them as they dropped from pure running into combat stance was enough to make any ordinary person think, So this is what martial artists are like. To Namgung Woo, however, it simply looked like they were leaking power because they couldn’t contain it properly.
His disappointment ran deeper. Their footwork was far below his expectations. Despite possessing pure and powerful internal energy, they weren’t using it efficiently. To someone cultivating the lightning-attributed Cheonloe Jewang Singong, their movement techniques looked crude. To think that with the fastest qi under heaven they could only manage this speed.
At first he had assumed they were conserving energy before battle, but observation proved that wasn’t the case. The gap was simply too wide to accept.
He saw the same flaw in their saber techniques.
Swish!
They finally met the youkai. The translucent body was carved apart by the brothers’ sabers. The blades, infused with the power of eogi chunggeom, ripped through the creature as if tearing cloth.
Yet for a single clean cut, their expressions were grim.
“Damn it! That one actually landed!”
“Wraith ghosts… Worst possible match.”
Irritation thick in their voices, the brothers adjusted their formation, stepping in front of Namgung Woo as if to shield him.
“Little brother, your senses are sharp. Focus on locating the enemy.”
“I’ll help too.”
Namgung Woo rested his hand on his sword hilt, ready to draw at any moment. He had deliberately held back because he wanted to see the brothers’ skill, but they seemed to have mistaken his patience for fear or inability to track the creatures.
Yang Jeong stopped him from stepping forward and explained.
“Those are called wraith ghosts. Their bodies are made entirely of qi, so ordinary attacks do no damage. You need to infuse your blade with internal energy using eogi chunggeom at the very least.”
Killing them was incredibly troublesome, and even when killed they left no valuable materials. For the wanderers who roamed in search of Ghost Gates, they were the most hated opponents.
“Normally you’d need geomgi sangin—manifested sword qi—to annihilate them completely. But our internal energy is special, so we can manage it.”
“Lucky us. Or maybe just cursed.”
Lightning had been believed since ancient times to carry the power to repel evil. It was no coincidence that lightning-struck jujube trees were called wall-warding wood and used to drive away youkai.
“If that’s the case, what about the wanderers without Paeng Family warriors or the Yi Family head?”
“…Nothing we can do. Just their bad luck, I suppose.”
“A harsh truth, but the right one. Our priority right now is to withdraw safely. As for closing the gate… we’ll have to leave that to the Paeng Family martial artists.”
Does it really have to be that way?
Namgung Woo wanted to see a Ghost Gate with his own eyes at least once. From what he had heard, these were not mere rifts in space-time but doors leading to entirely different worlds. Perhaps he could find a clue that would let him return to his original world. With his Changnyeongmanan, he was certain he could uncover something.
Shing—
The blade slid free with a clear ring. As Namgung Woo poured his energy into the fine sword the Yo-pyeong Express had given him in gratitude for saving Chae-ji, a resonant hum flowed from the steel. It was a deep, profound sound impossible to imagine coming from a mere second-class martial artist. The Yang brothers’ heads snapped toward him involuntarily.
“Little brother?”
“Young hero?”
Leaving their shock behind, Namgung Woo drew the oncoming wraith ghosts into his sword sphere. The moment one of the creatures thrust its hideous claws at the brothers—whose attention had wavered as they stared at him—Namgung Woo’s sword finally moved.
Kiiiing—!
Slice!
A light cut. Its aftermath was anything but. The platinum-colored energy clinging to the blade took form as a sword edge and shredded the wraith ghosts targeting the brothers’ backs. The cut was utterly different from the brothers’ tearing slashes; the cross-section left behind was as smooth as glass.
It was sword qi refined with supreme delicacy, on an entirely different level from the half-formed energy that first-class martial artists forced out. More than that, it was the pinnacle of bi geomgi—flying sword qi—launching the energy through the wind itself rather than merely coating the blade.
“What… the hell?”
“You weren’t hiding three-tenths. You were hiding nine-tenths.”
Yang Kvae stood completely stunned. Yang Jeong’s eyes trembled, yet he fought to keep his composure. Both brothers forgot that their lives had been on the line only seconds earlier and simply replayed the unbelievable strike in their minds.
“From now on, I’ll take the lead,” Namgung Woo said. “We’re heading straight for the Ghost Gate. If you’re coming, stay close and don’t fall behind.”
He walked past the brothers, who stood frozen like stone statues, and moved forward. His gaze fixed on the distance—on the Ghost Gate pouring out malevolent energy on a scale entirely different from the wraiths that had emerged from it.