Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Pursuit
"Huff... huff..."
Rough panting echoed through the treacherous winding paths of Wayok Mountain.
It was the sound of someone gasping for air, their breath ragged with exhaustion.
Cheong Yeon, her face drained of color, struggled up the steep mountain slope with great difficulty.
'I... I think I'm going to die...'
She cautiously turned her head to glance downward.
Whoosh—
A sheer cliff stretched below, so deep that if she fell, not even her corpse would remain intact.
Cold sweat trickled down her back involuntarily.
'Sniff... I should've listened to Master sooner.'
Cheong Yeon swallowed her regret as she tried to steady her trembling legs.
A conversation she had once had with Abbess Abbess Geumhwa flashed through her mind.
"Cheong Yeon, if you continue neglecting your training in the Lightfoot Technique, you will undoubtedly suffer greatly in real combat."
"Ah, Master! Even so, among the first-generation disciples, my speed in lightness techniques ranks within the top five!"
"Tsk tsk. Simply sprinting fast on flat ground is not true mastery of the Lightfoot Technique."
'Ahh... Master... Now I finally understand.'
Only now did she belatedly realize what her master had meant.
Walking on four legs was easier than walking on two.
On such steep, jagged mountain paths, she couldn't properly execute lightness techniques.
What her master had called the "true Lightfoot Technique" wasn't about speed—it was about perfectly maintaining one's balance in any terrain.
Had her mastery of the technique been greater, each step wouldn't have been this agonizing.
Suddenly, Cheong Yeon lifted her head and looked up.
'...Like those two right in front of me.'
Her gaze landed on the figures of a man and woman climbing the mountain path far ahead of her.
Unlike her, they moved swiftly and effortlessly.
But Cheong Yeon's eyes were fixed solely on Se-woon.
'Wait... How is Young Master Tang climbing such rugged terrain so easily?'
Tap! Tap-tap!
Especially since Se-woon moved at an inhuman speed.
To an outsider, he might have been mistaken for a wild monkey rather than a person.
What was even more astonishing was that despite Ha-young's internal energy being several times greater, her forehead and back were drenched in sweat—
Yet Se-woon ascended without breaking a single drop, as if he were merely out for a leisurely stroll.
'It's not just the Lightfoot Technique... It feels like something born from experience and years of refinement...'
Se-woon climbed using minimal qi, leveraging the terrain and natural features with perfect efficiency.
He moved like an herb gatherer who had grown up in the mountains.
Which, in a way, was puzzling.
As the young master of a prominent martial faction, his life should have been far removed from that of a mountain forager.
How did he know the mountains so well?
"Huff... huff... Y-you two... Wait a moment."
Finally unable to move another step, Cheong Yeon called out to the two figures ahead.
Swish—
Se-woon paused and glanced back.
After assessing her condition, he turned to Ha-young, who was catching her breath beside him.
"Hmm... It seems Disciple Cheong has reached her limit. It's not too late—perhaps it would be better for you and your junior to return to the main group."
'Oh!'
Cheong Yeon's eyes lit up at the welcome suggestion.
But Ha-young shook her head firmly.
"...No. I appreciate your concern, Young Master Tang, but she is also a disciple of Emei."
Pausing briefly, Ha-young turned her gaze toward Cheong Yeon.
Gulp.
Her icy stare bore into her.
"We are in the midst of a critical mission—tracking the Poison Demon. Surely she didn't call us to a halt for something as pathetic as exhaustion."
"—!"
"Isn't that right, junior?"
The words But that's exactly why I called you rose to Cheong Yeon's throat—
Shiver.
'S-scary...'
Ha-young's glare carried an unmistakable threat: If you disgrace Emei any further, I'll abandon you here.
A chill ran down Cheong Yeon's spine.
"Y-yes... O-of course. I-I just thought our direction might have been slightly off..."
"Hmph. I've been checking the tree rings periodically to ensure we're on the right path. There's no need to worry."
"O-oh... My apologies for the unnecessary concern."
"Good. Then let's continue."
"Understood."
"...Yes."
Swish!
With that, the two resumed their ascent.
'Ugh... I hate past me.'
Cheong Yeon, eyes brimming with tears, forced her leaden legs forward.
***
Having reached their destination deep in the mountains, the three split up to begin their search.
They agreed to scour different directions for traces of the Poison Demon or survivors before regrouping.
Finally freed from Ha-young's restraints, Se-woon immediately sprang into action.
'I need to check every possible trace of human activity.'
The foundation of pursuit techniques lay in keen observation—the ability to spot even the smallest clues.
A drop of blood left behind by the fleeing enemy.
Faint footprints on dry earth.
Even a single broken twig along the escape route could be a vital lead.
The scope was vast, but fortunately, Se-woon possessed an additional advantage—an expanded field of vision.
Rustle—
Golden threads of the Heavenly Net spread outward around him.
Countless strands of black silk slithered across the ground like living creatures, combing through every inch of terrain.
'These are animal tracks... These footprints belong to a commoner with no martial arts training...'
Se-woon executed pursuit techniques with practiced ease.
But that was only natural.
The art of tracking prey.
The art of evading pursuit.
The one who had taught him both was a master among masters.
A man who had successfully hidden from the relentless pursuit of the Martial Alliance for decades—
The very target of their current hunt: his former master, Poison Demon Yayul Seung.
'I knew he had completed Angsinru recently, but I never imagined he'd dare to scheme right under the main family's nose.'
Shockingly, Se-woon was even aware of the deadly poison Dokma was currently brewing.
Because of the third demonic weapon Se-woon had crafted for him—
The Mukrin Hwan (Ink-Scale Ring).
***
Before the regression.
"The poison arts and medical skills I'll teach you in return are beyond anything the Tang Family possesses. Angsinru—interested?"
Dokma had come to Se-woon, his arms grotesquely blackened and rotting.
It was their second meeting since their initial encounter in the depths of the Thunder Prison.
The man claimed his arms had been ruined by the side effects of Angsinru, a supreme poison he had completed years prior.
Having lost both arms, he had been demoted to the lowest rank among the Blood Cult's elders, treated as a washed-up relic.
But even if that hadn't been the case—
Se-woon had no intention of crafting a divine artifact for him.
"The Blood Demon cannot be killed by poison."
Angsinru—a legendary poison said to slay all living things.
But by then, the Blood Demon had already perfected his supreme technique, rendering him impervious to all toxins.
Had it been during their first encounter, before the Blood Demon's ascension, things might have been different.
But now? Even the most forbidden poisons were utterly useless against him.
Moreover, his would-be teacher was a monster who had committed atrocities beyond human comprehension—
A piece of trash Se-woon wanted nothing to do with, offering neither valuable skills nor worth aiding.
"You can't even detoxify your own poison. Why would I need your medical skills?"
"Kehehe... I knew you'd say that."
But what Se-woon had overlooked was—
The man's madness was very, very real.
"Before coming here, I poisoned your entire clan with Angsinru."
"...!"
"Kihihi... So hurry up and craft an artifact to neutralize this poison. Unless you want your kin to die horribly."
Defying even the Blood Demon's decree forbidding harm to the Demon Smith's bloodline—
Se-woon had no choice but to craft a divine artifact for this abomination.
It was none other than the Ink-Scale Bracelets.
A pair of divine artifacts in the form of wristbands that rendered the wearer impervious to all poisons.
A cursed weapon capable of expelling every toxin from the body and manipulating them in liquid form.
"Kuhahahaha! Yes! This is it! Exactly what I dreamed of!"
The image of that man laughing maniacally as he first clutched the Ink-Scale Bracelets was still vivid in Se-woon's mind.
Then, abruptly, the laughter ceased. The man turned his gaze—empty, sightless—toward Se-woon.
Though he was blind, incapable of seeing,
there was a solemnity in his expression, as if he had grasped the profound depths of existence itself.
"You must have realized it by now, haven't you?"
"......What are you talking about?"
"That my martial arts—my poison techniques and medicine—are perfectly suited for you. That mastering them is exhilarating beyond words. A sharp child like you couldn't possibly miss that, could you?"
"!!!"
"Kihihi! Your expression is truly priceless!"
The memory of Poison Demon Yayul Seung—laughing wildly even after losing a leg for defying the Blood Demon's orders—flashed before Se-woon's eyes.
In an instant, his pupils burned with murderous intent.
'If I'm going to kill him, it has to be now.'
Dokma had already reached the threshold of the Flower Realm.
A level comparable to Abbess Geumhwa, the abbess of the Emei Sect.
Under normal circumstances, he would be an opponent Se-woon couldn't even touch in a single exchange.
But there was still a chance.
Dokma was on the verge of attempting to forge the Angsinru—and failing would leave him severely weakened.
And right now, Se-woon possessed a weapon Dokma could never anticipate.
"That my martial arts—my poison techniques and medicine—are perfectly suited for you. That mastering them is exhilarating beyond words. A sharp child like you couldn't possibly miss that, could you?"
The man's words, spoken with a smirk, echoed once more in Se-woon's mind.
As much as he loathed to admit it,
the foundation of his current enlightenment was undeniably built upon Dokma's martial arts.
But precisely because of that—
'I will drive the Formless Dagger straight between his brows.'
—he had to kill Dokma and correct this path.
And then—
'I'll take the Angsinru—no, every last drop of poison that makes up his very soul.'
From now on, that bastard would never dare call himself the "Demon of Poison" in Se-woon's presence again.
Before he knew it, the sun had set, and night descended upon the mountains.
Ha-young arrived at the designated meeting spot precisely on time.
She immediately scanned her surroundings.
'Has he not arrived yet?'
Only Cheong Yeon was waiting at the rendezvous point.
"You're here, Physician Ha..."
Cheong Yeon's expression as she greeted Ha-young was unusually somber.
It didn't seem like mere physical exhaustion.
'If that's the case, then my suspicions must be correct.'
Ha-young's own face was equally stiff.
Cheong Yeon hesitated before speaking in a hushed voice.
"Physician, we found traces of survivors... but..."
"Huu... So it's the same for you too."
"Don't tell me... on your side as well?"
Cheong Yeon's eyes widened in shock.
Ha-young nodded grimly.
"Yes. The survivors' footprints vanished abruptly in the middle of their tracks."
"—!"
Both of them had discovered frantic traces of survivors fleeing Dokma during their respective searches.
But then, they noticed something strange.
The footprints simply... stopped.
'As if they suddenly shot up into the sky.'
There were no signs of anyone deliberately erasing them.
No marks on nearby trees or any other objects indicating someone had stepped on them.
"This must be..."
"Yes. Dokma's doing."
"That's impossible. Then does that mean Dokma really...?"
Cheong Yeon couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
Dokma had abducted the survivors without leaving a single trace of movement.
In the martial world, there was only one thing that could make such a feat possible.
"Grass Treading Flight..."
Grass Treading Flight.
One of the pinnacle techniques of lightness skill, allowing one to sprint across blades of grass without leaving a mark.
But the reason they were so despairing wasn't just because of the technique itself—but what it implied.
"Dokma couldn't possibly have reached the perfected stage of the Flower Realm..."
Because Grass Treading Flight was definitive proof that a martial artist had achieved the perfected stage of the Flower Realm.
Without undergoing the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown—a phenomenon exclusive to those who had surpassed the threshold and reached perfection—it was impossible to perform Grass Treading Flight.
The two women were crushed.
This helplessness—this utter inability to do anything—was something they had never experienced before.
"If Dokma has truly perfected the Flower Realm, we must send word to the main sect immediately and request the abbess'—"
"No."
"—!"
A firm voice cut through their conversation.
Se-woon emerged from the thicket, arriving late.
In one hand, he held the carcass of a wild animal—likely something he had hunted along the way.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Ha-young addressed him.
"Young Master Tang... What do you mean, 'no'?"
"Huh? You don't think Dokma has perfected the Flower Realm?"
"Correct. He hasn't."
"—!"
Se-woon answered without a shred of hesitation.
The two Emei disciples listened intently, their expressions deadly serious.
"Young Master Tang... Why do you think that?"
If Dokma had truly reached perfection, there would be no reason for him to raid the Martial Alliance's escort goods or abduct survivors.
But Se-woon couldn't explain that to them, so he offered another reason instead.
"Because Dokma killed the Divine Thief and stole his Wandering Shadow Step."
"?!"
The Divine Thief and the Wandering Shadow Step.
At the mention of these two completely unexpected names, Ha-young and Cheong Yeon's eyes bulged in shock.
The title of Divine Thief—bestowed only upon the greatest thief in the land—had been held by a single man for nearly fifty years.
Yet no one knew his true name.
He had never been caught, so his identity remained a mystery.
Over the decades, only a few details about the Divine Thief had surfaced.
One of them was the Wandering Shadow Step.
A divine movement technique crafted solely for the purpose of leaving no traces behind.
And as Se-woon had said, even without reaching the perfected stage of the Flower Realm, the Wandering Shadow Step could replicate the effects of Grass Treading Flight.
'If that's the case, then it makes sense...'
"But Young Master Tang, that's too much of a leap..."
Still, Ha-young and Cheong Yeon struggled to believe Se-woon's words.
And for good reason—the idea that the Divine Thief, who had never been caught in his entire life, had been captured by Dokma and robbed of his techniques sounded like pure fantasy.
Then—
Whoosh!
"!?"
"—!"
Se-woon suddenly tossed the animal carcass in front of them.
"Y-Young Master Tang?"
"......What?"
"Smell it."
They were utterly bewildered.
Being told to sniff a dead animal out of nowhere—
Had it been anyone else, they would have erupted in anger at such rudeness.
But the two women remained composed as they stared at Se-woon.
'Young Master Tang wouldn't say something like this without reason.'
Somehow, in their minds, Se-woon had already taken on the aura of a seasoned senior in the martial world.
"Huu..."
Ha-young slowly brought her face closer to the carcass and inhaled.
Cheong Yeon, seeing her senior act first, hesitantly followed suit.
And then—
They discovered something strange, and their reactions were immediate.
"—!"
"Huh? There's... no scent?"
It felt like lightning had struck their minds.
Another divine artifact associated with the Divine Thief surfaced in their memories.
"......Scent-Vanishing Water."
"Correct."
Se-woon nodded.
A divine artifact that, with just a few drops, erased all traces of one's scent.
The carcass Se-woon had brought was proof that Dokma had stolen the Divine Thief's power.
'Because I heard it directly from Dokma himself.'
Thankfully,
had he not possessed knowledge from before the regression, he would never have been able to track the bastard down.
Ha-young's expression grew graver than ever.
"But if Dokma used Scent-Vanishing Water to erase all traces, how can we possibly track him?"
"I can follow him."
"—!"
"My senses, enhanced by my family's martial arts, can detect even erased scents. I've already tested it on my way here. If we follow the trail, we'll find his hideout."
The two women were speechless.
They had only been able to detect the absence of scent by pressing the carcass directly to their noses.
But to track a vanished scent through a mountain saturated with countless others—
Was such a thing even humanly possible?
'Even the Spirit Hounds of the Beggar Sect wouldn't have senses this sharp...'
'Tang Se-woon... Just what are you...?'
With each new display of Se-woon's seemingly boundless abilities, the two Emei disciples were beginning to feel something akin to fear.