A Sudden Gale
"What in the world are those?"
It was the dead of night, the moon hanging at the very zenith of the sky, when a foul, prickling sensation roused Ryeong from her rest. She got to her feet and moved toward the iron bars of her cell. It offered the only vantage point to the outside world, narrow though it was.
The sight greeting her was utterly unnatural. Things that were decidedly not human hovered and drifted through the empty air.
"Ghosts?"
She could see them clearly, yet the patrolling sentries appeared completely blind to their presence. Given the circumstances, concluding they were spirits was only natural. Curious as she was about what was unfolding, there was no reason to shout to the guards and ask if they were blind. She had no desire to look like a lunatic out of misplaced concern for her captors.
Why am I the only one who can see them?
The entities she presumed to be ghosts were moving with frantic purpose. Ryeong watched their maneuvers in silence. Her restricted field of view made it impossible to grasp the full scope of their actions, but one thing was abundantly clear.
Those aren't ordinary wandering spirits. Someone is controlling them.
Their movements were far too deliberate. They moved in precise, orderly patterns, almost as if they were tracing something upon the earth. When she shifted her gaze toward the ground, her suspicions deepened.
Is that... ghostly energy?
The spectral energy shed by the entities was connecting into intricate lines. Only then did Ryeong realize they were drawing a formation. To think someone dared cast such vile sorcery directly under the nose of the Murim Alliance investigation team's headquarters. Unless this was some novel method of suicide, who would command ghosts to lay down a suspicious formation here?
"I have a bad feeling about this."
It was deeply unsettling. The mere thought of being manipulated by inhuman beings stirred an instinctive revulsion within her. After debating whether to sound the alarm, Ryeong ultimately chose silence. She could break out and flee whenever she wished, after all. She figured she might as well see what this formation would unleash.
At the time, she had no inkling that an incident she could have averted would soon usher in an absolute catastrophe.
The following day, Cheongsu issued a summons for questioning to both the Mount Hua Sect and the Jongnam Sect. Though termed an inquiry, it was practically an order to appear for Jongnam, while Mount Hua's summons was a mere formality. To any onlooker, the chief investigator clearly held a bitter grudge against Jongnam, but Taecheong Jin'in chose not to provoke him today. It was all due to the mess Jinyeong had caused with Cheongsu; keeping a low profile was the wisest course of action for now.
Ryeong caught the commotion signaling Jongnam's arrival. Just as she thought the guards would arrive shortly to fetch her, reviewing her escape plans one last time—
Rustle.
The ghosts that had traced the formation for two consecutive nights and vanished showed themselves once more. Sensing something amiss, Ryeong pushed herself up.
All at once, the specters channeled their energy into the array inscribed upon the earth. The energy condensed to an astonishing density, wrapping entirely around the investigation headquarters like a suffocating shroud.
And then—
"What is this...!"
"Sect Leader! My internal energy has become unstable!"
"Adjutant! Find out what is happening and assemble our forces immediately!"
Taecheong Jin'in and the elders of Jongnam, along with Cheongsu and the Murim Alliance martial artists under his command, all detected a disturbance in the flow of their inner qi. It was not as though their lower dantians were suddenly emptied; rather, their internal energy refused to obey their will, trapped and unable to circulate outward.
Taecheong Jin'in and Cheongsu exchanged sharp glances in an instant. No matter how much bad blood lay between them, an unspoken pact formed to cooperate. This was no natural phenomenon. Someone had undoubtedly wielded wicked sorcery with the deliberate intent to strike.
"Aaargh!"
"Vice Division Head! It seems we have intruders! I shall take the lead!"
"Understood! Please secure the front gate! We will head for the rear!"
Screams erupted from all directions, followed by the clashing din of cold steel. Taecheong Jin'in and the Jongnam elders hastily rushed out of the interrogation chamber and bolted toward the main gates.
"Ready your weapons and fall in behind me!"
The assailants were clad in black. Fully prepared, they were systematically slaughtering the Murim Alliance investigation team. Despite the turbulence in his internal energy, Taecheong Jin'in stood at the very vanguard to bolster morale. Seeing him, the men in black ceased their butcher's work and converged into formation.
A figure who appeared to be their leader stepped forward.
"Taecheong Jin'in, Sect Leader of Jongnam. In your current state, you cannot hope to face us."
"Silence! Even if my inner qi does not answer as I wish...!"
"Do not fret. Our objective is merely to pin down Shaanxi's primary martial forces here, including yourself."
Taecheong Jin'in stiffened. To pin down Shaanxi's main forces could only mean one thing.
They are not the main host!
This was a diversion long prepared in secret. Their true target was Jongnam—and perhaps Mount Hua as well.
There are only two elders remaining at Mount Jongnam right now...!
Aside from them, the sect was defended only by first- through third-generation disciples. Jongnam's Thirty-Six Swords were away on a critical assignment, entirely out of reach. Though the turbulence in his inner qi prevented him from gauging the black-clad leader's exact realm, the danger was unmistakable.
"Hear me, all of you! We must cut down these villains by any means necessary and rush to Jongnam and Mount Hua! Do you understand?!"
"Yes, Sect Leader!"
"Understood!"
Taecheong Jin'in's roar brought realization to the Jongnam elders and the Alliance martial artists alike. The assassins before them were bait. The true strike force was already marching elsewhere.
"Whether we kill you or let you live matters little to us," the leader in black remarked coldly. "However, if you insist on drinking the cup of punishment..."
Ch-ch-chring.
He shook his wrist, letting the chain of a sickle uncoil with a sharp metallic clatter. A chain-sickle was an exotic weapon that even professional assassins struggled to master, proving the man was a formidable expert. Had their inner qi been whole, they could have overwhelmed him with raw martial force, but in this crippled state, victory was far from guaranteed.
"Forming a sword array will only put us at a disadvantage! Rely on your individual prowess to strike down these killers!"
Issuing the command, Taecheong Jin'in stamped the ground with a mighty step. Ordinarily, the earth-shaking step of an expert in the Transcendent Realm would create the illusion of warping gravity itself. Yet with his inner energy disrupted, the strike barely carried the weight of a first-rate martial artist. The men in black sneered, scattering in all directions.
"Hold them back. Kill them if they prove dangerous."
"As if I would let you!"
Taecheong Jin'in lunged forward, thrusting his blade toward the enemy leader.
"Annihilate the intruders!"
With that roar, the joint battle between Jongnam and the Alliance forces commenced.
Meanwhile, at the Jongnam Sect...
"What in the world is—gark!"
"Are you mad—?! Aargh!"
A host clad in crimson robes arrived before the grand gates of Jongnam. They dispatched the two gatekeeping disciples without breaking stride, and then—
KABOOM!
"Who goes there?!"
"Capture as many alive as possible and round them up."
"Understood!"
Kicking the shattered gates aside, they marched into the grounds of the Jongnam Sect. Disciples undergoing morning training rushed forward in a desperate bid to repel the invaders, but the intruders were operating on an entirely different level.
"Insolent fiends! Where do you think you have dared trespass?!"
"One of the two remaining elders. Kill him."
"What?!"
The advance of the crimson robes was relentless. Forcing down every disciple who rushed out to defend their home, they pressed forward with mechanical precision. Step by relentless step, they marched.
"Aaargh!"
"Cough! Urgh..."
"You bastards! Die—! Guh!"
Scores of Jongnam disciples were maimed or slain in the onslaught. The count of young lives sacrificed to protect their sect mounted by the second. Blood splattered across flagstones. Promising young buds were snapped and crushed into the dirt, their crimson essence staining the ground beneath broken branches.
"Advance."
The command from the man at the vanguard was absolute. Following him like zealots, the crimson-robed cultists met the charging disciples with ruthless brutality.
"Go, die with them."
BOOM! BOOM!
They even resorted to suicidal blasts of inner power. Those caught directly in the detonations perished on the spot; those who survived had their blood points sealed and their limbs bound in chains. The crimson horde showed no sign of slowing. This was the catastrophic price of having the majority of their elders depart for the summons—the consequence of leaving behind only a token defense simply because the distance seemed short.
"Cough! Urgh..."
Drenched in blood from head to toe, an elder beat a desperate retreat toward Face-Wall Cave. His body was on the verge of giving out from deep lacerations and piercing wounds. Elder Hwang Gu, one of the two elders left behind to guard Mount Jongnam, had ignited even his innate pure qi to keep moving.
Crash!
"Jinyeong!"
"Elder? What has happened?"
"Listen to me carefully! On the stone monument directly opposite Face-Wall Cave, strike it with your fist and a secret passage will open!"
"Pardon?"
Jinyeong, who had been meditating inside Face-Wall Cave, asked in bewilderment. The cavern was isolated far from the sect's central courtyard where the attack had begun, keeping him oblivious to the disaster unfolding outside.
"Flee through that passage! Get as far away as you can!"
"Elder? Why are you speaking like this all of a sudden?"
"Jongnam has been attacked! So please...! Even if it is just you—"
Squelch!
Hwang Gu's voice was violently cut short mid-sentence. Jinyeong's heart dropped into his stomach. If his senses were not playing tricks on him, that wet, tearing sound was unmistakably the sound of blood spurting.
"Is someone in there?"
"...!"
Goosebumps erupted across Jinyeong's entire body. It was merely a voice, yet the malice radiating from it was suffocating.
I will die!
Jinyeong snatched his sword in frantic haste and bolted toward the far side of Face-Wall Cave. Every instinct screamed at him to break through the entrance, but—
RUMBLE!
The mysterious killer who had just slaughtered Elder Hwang Gu brought down the cavern entrance in a single blow. With that minimal barrier gone, an unimaginable killing intent bore down upon Jinyeong's back like needles of ice.
Yet the intruder did not advance.
"Did he truly burn his life away just to save a wretch like this?"
The traces of cultivation etched into the cavern walls were plain to see. Anyone could tell they belonged to a green fledgling who had yet to overcome even the simplest martial bottleneck. His interest instantly evaporating, the assailant turned on his heel and rejoined the crimson-robed horde.
All the while, Jinyeong sprinted desperately in the opposite direction.
"Damn it... damn it all!!"
Cursing his own pitiful weakness with every breath.