Chapter 119
Chapter 119. Opening the Meeting (1)
"Flying Cloud."
"Yes, Mubon."
"Is today Awakening of Insects?"
"Yes. That is correct."
"Then today is that very day."
"Yes. That is correct."
The repeated identical answers informed him once again that 'that day' had come.
Mubon's presence pierced through the red curtain draped over the platform and spread chillingly throughout the hollow cave.
A secret conversation between Mubon and Flying Cloud was taking place in the Secret Cave of Mubon.
Though the world doesn't know, it's a grand conversation being held over the world.
"What about Gwang-un and Transformed Shadow?"
"They are moving as scheduled."
"I don't know about Gwang-un, but Transformed Shadow is hard to trust. Don't slacken surveillance."
"Yes. I understand."
Flying Cloud, who had been sitting with one knee on the floor below the platform, bowed his head again as he answered.
No sooner had his head been raised than Mubon's monstrous voice resounded again, shaking the entire hollow cave.
"How many True Shadows went to Zhengzhou?"
"Three."
"Including Gwang-un, there are four participants in total."
"Yes. That is correct."
"Four...... Adequate."
One insane cloud and three shadows.
Flying Cloud could clearly feel that Mubon's words "adequate" contained trust in Gwang-un.
Mubon's questions continued.
"What is the movement of the Nine Sects and One Society, the Four Great Families, Heavenly Demon Castle, and Hall of Gathering Evil?"
"First, if we separate Do Heo-ok and Namgung Hye, the two that Transformed Shadow split into, all of Three Stars, Five Phoenixes and Nine Dragons participated. In addition, each of the great sects also had one or two of their top-class rising stars participate. On the Heavenly Demon Castle side, it appears the Grand Prince along with the third and fourth disciples applied to participate."
"Appears? Are you saying you're not certain?"
"......I beg forgiveness. Recently, Heavenly Demon Castle detected something strange and culled a considerable number of Outer Shadows, so our eyes have greatly diminished."
"You're saying in Xinjiang, we're one step away from being exposed."
"......Yes, Mubon."
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, once we start the Second Stratagem, it was only a matter of time before Mubon's curtain was lifted. It's just been moved up a bit. It won't be any problem."
"It will be so."
From behind the blood-red curtain, Mubon's dry voice, indistinguishable between male and female, immediately continued.
"The fact that Heavenly Demon Castle's first, third, and fourth are participating seems to be the intention of Tianshan Divine Demon to decide the successor through this matter. Among them, the second must have already been eliminated."
"It appears so."
"What about Hall of Gathering Evil's Kong Na-chu?"
"That is...... quite strange. From Hall of Gathering Evil, only the Kill Shadow Group moved. Not only that, we cannot contact any of the shadows we'd planted in Hall of Gathering Evil."
"Are you saying all the eyes planted in Hall of Gathering Evil were cut out?"
"Though I'm ashamed...... yes."
With all eyes plucked out, it was self-evident that nothing could be seen.
"Heavenly Demon Castle couldn't cull all the shadows, but Hall of Gathering Evil filtered them all out?"
After a brief silence, the heavy Energy Curtain that had been subtly spread throughout the Secret Cave of Mubon quietly rippled. It was a phenomenon like ripples arising when a pebble enters a lake.
"Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity. I wondered where it was, and it was in Yunnan. This has become interesting."
"......"
"I don't know how Hall of Gathering Evil met and is moving with it, but without even looking...... that monster is Hall of Gathering Evil's representative."
At Mubon's words, Flying Cloud said nothing and merely quietly bowed his head. That was his duty and responsibility. He merely had to become Mubon's arms and legs and convey their will to the world.
"More big shots than expected have gathered at the board the Murim Alliance Leader set up. I don't know whether they're stupid or have other special intentions."
Having finished speaking to that point, Mubon's voice briefly subsided, and along with it, his massive presence and Energy Curtain gently settled to the floor of the hollow cave. However, only that dim movement still remained, swirling throughout the entire hollow cave.
Then at some moment.
"Flying Cloud."
"Yes, Mubon."
"You'll need to move again, taking Water Shadow and Gray Shadow with you."
"What should I do?"
"It's simple. Just go, look, and come back."
"......"
Difficult-to-understand words with the beginning and end cut off.
Flying Cloud didn't ask again and merely waited for Mubon's next words.
"Monster."
"......"
"I mean the monster chosen by Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity."
"Yes. I will receive your command."
"Flying Cloud."
Mubon called again just before Flying Cloud left the hollow cave.
"Yes, Mubon. Please speak."
"If by chance Gwang-un is defeated by that fellow, no matter what happens, don't fight and extract yourself."
"......Yes, Mubon. I will receive your command."
Same answer, different meaning.
Flying Cloud left the Secret Cave of Mubon as if scattering.
When he disappeared, the hollow cave became empty again. Since Mubon, who seemed to exist yet not exist, remained, it wasn't completely empty but......
"Could it be that the one who interfered with our actions during the Anhui Great Massacre was that monster......"
'Comrade', was it?
Something seemed strange to consider it that way.
If not that, then.......
"Has a non-human monster like Heavenly Demon descended upon the Central Plains again?"
Mubon's voice, impossible to tell who was being addressed, traversed here and there in the cave before disappearing.
***
[Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament!]
That day!
That day has come!
Today is finally that very day!
Not much time had passed since the Murim Grand Conference announcement and Murim missives were dispatched.
However, the ripple effect spread throughout the entire realm. It even reached as far as beyond the frontier, and quite many people who weren't from the Central Plains gathered at Henan, in Zhengzhou, to participate in the tournament.
Blue Cloud Dream.
An atmosphere struck the entire Martial World as if young people belonging to the Orthodox Martial World should naturally aim for victory in this tournament.
Young Martial World people responded to it. They gathered here in Zhengzhou carrying immense dreams, and finally met the day of its opening.
From early dawn before the sun had even fully risen, Martial World people dressed cleanly and gathered toward Cheongsin Mountain, toward the Murim Alliance.
And.
They all could witness a tremendous spectacle.
Arena.
Could this really be expressed with such a simple word as arena? Could it?
Probably in the entire history of the Martial World, there had never been such a large and magnificent arena.
The east-west width reached a full forty five meters, and the length dividing north and south was equally forty five meters. The height was comparatively low at only a few meters, but considering the arena's material was blue stone, it was tremendous.
More importantly.
The fact that three such arenas were installed!
One in the clearing outside Muhwa Gate, the entrance to the Murim Alliance.
One between Jibin Pavilion and Demon Subduing Hall on both sides of Central Great Road penetrating through the middle of the Murim Alliance.
One right in front of the Inner Court entrance leading to the core of the Murim Alliance.
Structures boldly blocking all core passages leading to the Murim Alliance.
Those were the arenas prepared for the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
"......!"
"What!? Isn't this huge?"
"Wooooah-!!!"
Mouths hung open.
The clearing outside Muhwa Gate or Central Great Road were spaces so vast their breadth was difficult to fully describe, but when those arenas were placed, they seemed filled to capacity.
"But why did they install three arenas?"
"Hey-. Can't you tell by looking? So many participants flocked that if they held preliminaries with just one arena, it would take too long."
It was a conversation between two unknown spectators, but it was the correct answer.
Since it was a tournament with the name 'Heavenly' in it, truly an enormous number of people put their names on the tournament applicant list. That's why they installed three such large arenas.
Nevertheless, since it seemed impossible to handle all the matches within the scheduled tournament period of seven days and nights, the hosting Murim Alliance created additional preliminary rules for smooth tournament progress.
Those were,
1. Applicants from major sects and Martial World families designated by the Murim Alliance automatically advance to the finals.
2. Anyone can ascend the arena first. That person is granted the right of first combat.
3. A person who consecutively defeats five challengers advances to the finals.
4. If no challenger appears for half an hour, an observer rings a bell, and the person remaining in the arena immediately advances to the finals.
5. Anyone who kills their opponent is immediately disqualified. One must absolutely show mercy.
6. Preliminaries only proceed for five days. In other words, people who don't ascend the arena for five days are automatically disqualified.
These six things.
The first rule seemed quite unfair, but participants' complaints weren't very great. If someone participated in the tournament after belonging to a great Martial World sect and going through fierce competition within it, one could infer that qualification to advance to the finals was warranted just from that.
Time quietly flowed and people increasingly flocked to the Murim Alliance.
So this is why the saying 'mountains of people, seas of people' was created. The Murim Alliance's current appearance was precisely that very spectacle itself—people forming mountains and people flocking like seawater.
Dong Bong-soo was also part of that crowd.
Yesterday he'd returned to Jibin Pavilion after a long time, reflected on the changes of the past few days, and made many parts of his enlightenment his own.
But.......
Another result of such enlightenment, or was it a side effect?
He wanted to fight.
Too much, too too much, very much wanted to fight.
It wasn't that he wanted to hunt.
Fight, and fight, and fight again,
He wanted to test this thing called martial arts he'd newly learned.
He wasn't flustered. He merely naturally observed his own change.
Soon he accepted even this strange and unfamiliar change as part of himself.
People commonly easily say one should live today and strive thinking there's no tomorrow, but fail to practice it.
Today is tomorrow. Tomorrow is today.
An abstract statement.
But to Dong Bong-soo, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow and effort is effort. And wanting to fight is just wanting to fight.
Effort and practice.
That's just...... whether it changes or stays as it changes, just accepting everything as it is. That kind of thing.
Dong Bong-soo is such an existence living that way.
A non-human gradually evolving thereby.