Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Fall of the Moon
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Witnessing that sight, Wang Qinglin was practically foaming at the mouth.
"You... you mad bastard!"
But Han Ibi, acting as if nothing had happened, calmly offered a flower each to the two women.
Wang Qinglin said,
"Are you so terrified that your brain's addled? Can't you see the jiangshi closing in?!"
Baek Mihu wore an equally worried expression.
"Young Master Jong, what on earth are you doing?"
Even as she spoke, the jiangshi were narrowing the distance.
Mun Wonbi said with an anxious look,
"We need to run now. With the wildfire blocking the way, we'll have to fight through the jiangshi to clear a path."
Then Han Ibi grinned and said,
"Truth is, I dozed off during lecture."
Unable to hold back any longer, Wang Qinglin shouted,
"What kinda bullshit is that?!"
"But... I did snap my eyes open once midway. Our instructor slammed the table—thwack!—emphasizing how important it was."
At that, Baek Mihu's eyes flashed sharply for a moment.
And with that, she suddenly plucked a petal from the wildflower and popped it into her mouth.
Seeing this, Wang Qinglin finally started foaming at the mouth for real.
"Mi... Mi-Mistress, are you... you mad too?!"
Baek Mihu said,
"Exactly. While slamming the table, he said this: 'Sight is the sense that receives the strongest stimuli in humans. The more intense the visual input, the more it overwhelms the other senses. But that very trait can make humans even easier to deceive, so if you suspect illusion, check your other senses.'"
Han Ibi nodded with a smile.
"Impressive as ever."
But Wang Qinglin and Mun Wonbi, unable to grasp the meaning, just frowned at each other.
Finally losing patience, Mun Wonbi asked,
"What does that mean, Lady Baek?"
"It's what we learned earlier."
"I know that much. But why bring it up now...?"
At that moment, Han Ibi was seen bellowing loudly at the horrifying jiangshi right in front of his nose.
"Hahaha! Having quite the fun time, are we? That's what you wanted to see—trainees trembling in panic!"
Wang Qinglin muttered,
"Wh-what the hell is he doing...?"
Then Baek Mihu, furrowing her right brow, said,
"But what now? Recognizing it and breaking it are two different things."
"According to our instructor..."
Han Ibi rolled his eyes upward, thinking for a moment before saying,
"...there must be some intense marker that numbs the senses."
Baek Mihu glanced around and said,
"But this place... it's just an utterly ordinary landscape."
Then one jiangshi closed to point-blank range and screeched.
"Kek!"
At the same time, Han Ibi casually tossed the Mysterious Frost Blade toward Mun Wonbi.
"Just in case, keep fighting with this."
Mun Wonbi, startled and reflexively catching it, didn't hesitate to use it to fend off the jiangshi's attack.
Han Ibi thought,
I need to figure it out fast... an intense marker dominating the senses.
Then, he suddenly looked up at the sky.
Han Ibi asked,
"What day is it today?"
Baek Mihu replied,
"The twenty-sixth."
Han Ibi crossed his fingers with a snap.
"Then the new moon should be out."
Both women's gazes locked onto the brilliantly shining full moon hanging in the sky.
A mass of intense light, yellowish to the point of tinged with faint red aura.
Han Ibi drew the single-joint sword from his back.
Wang Qinglin said,
"Wait... you carry two swords?"
Han Ibi replied,
"Different uses."
With that, Han Ibi spun around and kicked off powerfully.
Channeling internal energy into his legs to maximize his lightness skill, he shot straight up into the sky.
Wang Qinglin yelled,
"What... what now?!"
Han Ibi flipped in midair, spun around, and began swinging his sword at the full moon.
As Wang Qinglin was about to unleash a torrent of curses at the absurd scene,
the moon... the moon was being sliced.
Wang Qinglin's jaw dropped.
But it wasn't over.
The moon was falling.
Thud.
The moon crashed down, sending a massive boom echoing around.
Wang Qinglin muttered in a daze,
"Wh-what just happened...?"
Landing on the ground, Han Ibi grinned and said,
"Wow, you all must've had quite the ordeal."
At that instant, Mun Wonbi and Wang Qinglin, who had been wildly swinging the Mysterious Frost Blade, turned their gazes that way.
Shockingly, there stood Morning Sun Sect's instructor Na Shinsu, wearing a sly smile.
Wang Qinglin cried out,
"I-Instructor!"
She looked around in bewilderment.
Na Shinsu said,
"Should I call it brilliant? Or reckless? There are many ways to break an array, but... learning today that you can shatter a formation array like this... is new to me."
At that moment, Mun Wonbi also jolted in surprise and scanned her surroundings.
To her bewilderment, the landscape had completely transformed.
No longer a hill overlooking a lake like the sea,
but the ruins of a dilapidated temple!
Behind Wang Qinglin loomed the statue of Vairocana Buddha, shrouded in spiderwebs, clutching a thumb in its other hand.
Strange writings and drawings covered the ground here and there.
In front of Na Shinsu lay dozens of clay dolls.
Seeing this, Wang Qinglin finally realized and hurriedly looked behind.
Incense sticks blazing fiercely positioned to match the array points, water in bronze bowls.
Mun Wonbi muttered in realization,
"I... I've been fighting clay dolls this whole time...?"
Indeed.
These were the true forms of the objects hidden beneath the formation array's illusions.
Wang Qinglin said,
"Then the moon... what was that full moon really?"
Han Ibi smiled and pointed to the ground.
There rolled a lantern, sliced cleanly by the sharp blade.
The Anti-Demon Society instructors of the Murim Alliance would gather after lectures, once the trainees had gone to bed, to evaluate the day's training and plan ahead.
Today's meeting was no different.
Morning Sun Sect's Bang Yushon spoke first.
"This is truly... absurd."
Morning Sun Sect's Seon Jongmo agreed.
"Selecting the Hwapi Team as winners feels rather forced."
Na Shinsu said,
"But they did escape first. We never set any conditions beyond that."
"They destroyed precious Demonic Cult relics academically. That's not proper mechanism studies."
Na Shinsu said,
"Then what would you call proper?"
"Well..."
As Bang Yushon hesitated, Zhuge Clan's Zhuge Munryeon spoke up.
"That Qingcheng Sect punk passed the mechanisms in the most ridiculous way. He smashed them to bits. And he uncovered a secret chamber even we, who researched beforehand, didn't know about. It's collapsed thoroughly; we're excavating now. We must summon and interrogate him."
Then Heo Sondam, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
"Summoning a trainee for non-educational reasons is forbidden."
"But..."
"I'll handle the report. The Chairman will decide. Just focus on your duties."
Silence fell briefly.
Then Zhuge Ho spoke.
"When I visited the Grand Sunlight Hall for my report, I happened to see Jong Rimae. I know Qingcheng techniques somewhat, but those moves he used while trapped in the formation array were oddly peculiar."
Na Shinsu said,
"He's from the Zhongli Clan. Maybe a family technique?"
"Who knows. Hard to say."
Na Shinsu chuckled heartily.
"At any rate, that weirdo's joined the Society for sure."
Heo Sondam chimed in.
"I agree. I'll keep a close eye on him, so don't worry."
He still wore his affable smile.
From Han Ibi's perspective, he'd been incredibly lucky.
The reason he saw through the formation array was entirely thanks to the Mechanism Compendium gifted by the frog.
He'd activated Design Analysis to find an escape amid the fire, but the linear markers projected something entirely different.
The true form of the Grand Sunlight Hall.
That insight had let him unravel the array.
"Brother Jong. Man, we really thought we'd won first place and were thrilled."
Gil Sonnok from the Morning Sun Sect, his roommate, said glumly.
Han Ibi replied,
"Yeah. I thought your team would take it too."
But try a system quest sometime. Desperation changes a man.
Gil Sonnok asked,
"Have you studied mechanisms before?"
"Nope."
"Formation arrays?"
"Never. First time today."
"How'd you escape fastest then? In the Murim Alliance's genius-packed training hall, no less."
"Told you, luck. Anyway..."
Han Ibi looked around and continued,
"Where'd the other two go?"
"Brother Gwak Wonehoe stepped out on business... and Monk Hyeon, uh... went for a bath."
"A bath?"
"Yes."
"Why a bath in the dead of night all of a sudden?"
Gil Sonnok covered his mouth, chuckling.
"Monk Hyeon... fell into that stinking puddle..."
Han Ibi got it and burst out laughing.
"What?! That wasn't poison—just shit water?! Hahaha!"
Imagining Hyeon scrubbing furiously, face twisted, was hilarious.
Suddenly, Gil Sonnok turned serious.
"Brother Jong."
"Yeah?"
Gil Sonnok hesitated a bit before continuing,
"I overheard some senior brothers from our sect earlier."
"Ah, the instructors helping with training."
"Yes."
"What about them?"
(Continued in the next chapter)