Chapter 230
Chapter 230
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: Because We Won't Back Down
The place I headed to with Daoist Hyunjin in tow was, naturally, the cave etched with the sword scars of the Taiji Beneficent Sword.
When I arrived, Mu Yeop was already there, waiting for me with his legs trembling faintly.
“Elder.”
“Oh, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting so impatiently…?”
Mu Yeop, who had turned his head brightly at my call, furrowed his brow upon spotting Daoist Hyunjin stumbling awkwardly behind me.
“What’s the meaning of this? Don’t tell me…?”
“Yes. I suspect it’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Y-Yes?”
Daoist Hyunjin, flustered as he struggled to follow our conversation.
Perhaps sensing something from his demeanor, Mu Yeop asked in surprise.
“…Your killing intent has noticeably diminished. What did you do?”
“Just had a little talk.”
“Hah, a conversation that overcame your heart demon? I’d love to hear the details.”
“Let’s save that for later. Don’t we have something more urgent right now?”
At my words, Mu Yeop glanced back and forth between Daoist Hyunjin and me before sighing and nodding.
“You’ve even conquered your heart demon, and now you’re the senior brother to the Wudang disciples. I’ve got no grounds to stand in your way. Fine, join in.”
“…What exactly are you talking about right now?”
Daoist Hyunjin asked in bewilderment, still unable to keep up.
I shrugged and gave him a brief rundown of the current situation.
The sword scars carved into the cave walls, Mu Yeop’s possession… and Yeonwon.
“So, you’re saying these traces here are an ancient lost Wudang sword technique, and you’re trying to restore it now?”
“You’ve got it. Let’s get started, then.”
Mu Yeop nodded at Daoist Hyunjin’s words and pushed the conversation forward eagerly.
I smirked wryly, thinking he must be quite worked up, when Daoist Hyunjin cautiously asked.
“B-But I don’t quite understand why I’m involved. I don’t think I’ll be of any help.”
“Oh, it’s fine. I didn’t bring you here to help.”
Daoist Hyunjin’s expression grew even more puzzled at my response.
“Then why exactly did you…?”
“You need the power to get revenge on that bastard club-wielder, right? I brought you to give you that power.”
“…!”
Daoist Hyunjin’s eyes widened in shock.
I gave a slight smile at his reaction, then stepped back a bit, faced him, and drew my sword.
“Then, since that ‘one person’ hasn’t arrived yet, let’s use the time to experience firsthand what you need to learn.”
“…….”
Daoist Hyunjin silently watched as I twirled my sword wrist this way and that, then asked in a low voice.
“…If I gain that power, will I be able to kill that tiger bastard?”
“Want the hopeful answer or the realistic one?”
“The realistic one, please.”
“It’ll be tough. Unless a miracle happens, it won’t be easy.”
“…….”
Daoist Hyunjin bowed his head with a gloomy look at my answer.
After watching him for a moment, I subtly added.
“Well, still…”
“…?”
“If you learn what I teach you, he won’t kill you easily. Master it well, and you’ll be able to hang on tenaciously until that miracle arrives.”
Upon hearing that, Daoist Hyunjin immediately lifted his head and answered by drawing his own sword.
“…Please, take good care of me.”
“Come on.”
And so, we faced each other with swords drawn.
Mu Yeop, who had unwittingly been stuck in the middle, scratched the back of his head.
“What is this? Do I have to judge the spar now?”
“No need. Watch closely, Elder. You need to learn it too.”
“Hah…?”
Mu Yeop’s face twisted in disbelief at the idea of learning from me.
I smiled faintly, anticipating how his reaction would change soon, and turned my gaze to Daoist Hyunjin before me.
He faced me with his sword raised, emanating a fairly sharp aura, then charged at me with a fierce shout that echoed through the cave.
“Haaap!”
Daoist Hyunjin rushed in, his cry resounding loudly inside the cave.
The moment he reached me, he thrust his sword fiercely.
-Screeech!
A thrust aimed at my right shoulder.
Seeing it, I smiled faintly and brought my sword tip to his blade’s flat, pushing it smoothly aside.
“Wh-What?!”
As a result, his sword’s trajectory twisted wildly, and Songmungogeom flew off in a completely wrong direction.
-Thud!
Caught off guard by the unexpected twist, Daoist Hyunjin lost his balance and rolled helplessly across the cave floor.
“Wh-What was that…?”
Sitting on the ground with a blank, dumbfounded expression.
I extended my left hand—the one not holding the sword—and helped him to his feet.
“Young Master Goon, what was that just now…?”
“How about it? Pretty surprising, huh…?”
“You! What exactly did you do?”
Mu Yeop cut me off and jumped in, excitedly pressing me with spittle flying.
Dodging the flying droplets by leaning back, I pushed his face away and explained the subtlety of the Flowing Sword.
Mu Yeop stroked his chin beard in awe as he listened.
“The soft sword, the Flowing Sword…! Indeed, that explains why I sensed two qualities in the sword scars!”
His gaze turned to the sword scars on the cave wall.
“Softness and intensity. A sword containing both qualities…! Truly astonishing. What martial knowledge did our ancestors possess?”
Mu Yeop’s admiration soon turned to lament.
“And why did all that knowledge vanish without a trace?”
“…….”
I fell silent at Mu Yeop’s regretful mutter.
The extermination of the murim during the Yuan Dynasty’s rule—a period spanning over a hundred years.
In an era where the average lifespan was around fifty, and most murim folk from Sword Forest Mountain died young without even reaching that—save for a rare few—that was the reality.
Thus, a hundred years was more than enough time for several generations to pass in the murim world, enough to forget even the fact that their accumulated martial arts had been lost to the Yuan.
“Whew….”
Mu Yeop’s regretful sigh echoed through the cave.
The atmosphere grew heavy on its own.
Daoist Hyunjin, who had been listening beside us, gave an awkward smile as if to lighten the mood.
“The Flowing Sword—truly astonishing. So that’s why you let me attack first.”
“Oh, you caught on?”
I joined in playfully, grinning at Daoist Hyunjin.
As he said, I’d pretended to graciously yield the first strike, but strictly speaking, I had no choice but to let him go first.
The Flowing Sword was a defensive sword.
A sword that countered the opponent’s attack to subdue them—a postemptive strike.
“Now, both of you need to learn the subtlety of this Flowing Sword.”
The Taiji Beneficent Sword was the pinnacle of the Flowing Sword, emphasizing softness.
In other words, without infusing the sword with the Flowing Sword’s subtlety, even was impossible.
Mu Yeop, now snapped out of his lament, frowned at my words.
“Even from that brief glimpse, it doesn’t look easy to master. It might take months.”
I shook my head firmly at that.
“That won’t do. We don’t have time. You two need to fully master the Flowing Sword’s subtlety by the end of today, at least.”
“In one day…? You think that’s possible?”
His incredulous question was understandable.
It truly was an absurd demand.
Telling someone who’d lived their whole life without knowing concepts like the Quick Sword or Heavy Sword to master the Flowing Sword in a single day—anyone would react like that.
But,
“There’s no other way. We don’t have time.”
A third party’s voice—not mine, Daoist Hyunjin’s, or Mu Yeop’s—rang out in the cave.
Our gazes turned instinctively.
At the end was a pair of golden eyes gleaming unusually bright in the dark cave.
“Miss Ye? What do you mean we don’t have time…?”
At Mu Yeop’s question, Ye So-ha dropped a bombshell that stunned the two men.
“Four days from now. If we don’t resolve this incident by then, Wudang is finished.”
*
Last night.
At an hour late enough for bed, Ye So-ha gathered everyone.
“What’s this about so late? Couldn’t it wait until morning?”
At my master’s words, glancing sideways at Seol-i who was dozing off beside him, Ye So-ha politely apologized.
“I’m sorry. It’s such an urgent matter that I thought informing you sooner was better.”
“Urgent matter? What is it?”
To Hwa-ryeon’s question, Ye So-ha replied with an uncharacteristically stiff expression.
“First off, sorry again. Our prediction was wrong.”
“Prediction was wrong?”
“Yes. We thought there’d be more time, but no. We fell for the Bloodwood Cult’s deception.”
Her detailed explanation followed.
The three from the Hao Clan, who had scouted the transformed Demon Realm of Wudang Mountain, had judged that the Bloodwood sapling needed at least ten days to fully mature.
“We judged too hastily based on the environmental pollution level. We never dreamed they’d slowed the pollution’s progress.”
Hong bowed his head apologetically, spouting something incomprehensible.
Qing seemed just as downcast, though he didn’t show it outwardly.
“So, how much time do we have left exactly?”
At my question, Ye So-ha hesitated slightly before answering heavily.
“Five days ahead. No, now it’s four.”
“…Hah.”
From ten days to four all of a sudden.
Half the time had vanished, leaving me with nothing but a hollow laugh.
The three flinched at my reaction, glancing nervously at me.
“But what happens when the sapling fully matures? I heard it’s what turned Wudang Mountain into this mess, but I haven’t heard what happens once it grows.”
A perfectly natural question.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Ye So-ha, who subtly averted her gaze.
“Uh, um…”
Gone was her usual enigmatic response or leisurely smile.
It seemed something tremendous would happen once the sapling fully grew.
“You have no choice but to tell us. Just spill it.”
“…Yes.”
The story we heard was truly shocking.
“What did you just say…?”
“We turn into monsters like those things?!”
Shocked cries erupted.
Seol-i’s eyes, now wide as saucers with sleepiness vanished, stared in disbelief.
According to Ye So-ha’s reluctant revelation, once the sapling fully matured, not only beasts but intelligent beings would twist and mutate.
In other words, everyone in Wudang—every human—would turn into monsters.
The immense shock swept over the entire group.
Ye So-ha glanced at our reactions before adding more.
“…And that’s not the end of it.”
“What else is there?”
“Well, once the sapling fully grows, its domain expands explosively.”
The domain expands.
I instantly grasped the implication and widened my eyes.
“No way…!”
“…Yes. Gyeonhyeon to the north of Wudang Mountain will fall into the Bloodwood domain in just one day. Meaning everyone there will…”
“…Do you know how many people live in Gyeonhyeon?”
“A little under a hundred thousand, I believe.”
A hundred thousand humans turning into a hundred thousand monsters in four days.
The surreal tale left everyone speechless.