Chapter 231
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 231
Chapter Title: Because We Won't Back Down
Four days later, not only Mount Wudang but even Geunhyeon would transform into a demonic realm.
And all the humans living there would turn into twisted monsters.
Even summing it up again, it sounded like a vicious joke.
I wished Ye So-ha would burst out laughing right then and say, "Ta-da, just kidding! Did I scare everyone?"
But the faces of Ye So-ha and the other two women from Haomen were deadly serious.
Serious enough that even a three-year-old child could tell it wasn't a joke.
In the naturally heavy atmosphere, Ye So-ha spoke up.
"So, with that said, how about you all head down the mountain right now?"
"Are you telling us to run away?"
"It's not running away—it's escaping the threat first. If things go wrong, you might..."
I didn't need to hear the rest to know what she meant.
You could end up as hideous monsters too.
And that would be the end of everything.
"......"
Having heard Ye So-ha's proposal, Hwa-ryeon fell silent.
Of course, Seol-yi and my master did the same.
It was too horrific an outcome if things went wrong to argue about abandoning the Wudang Sect and fleeing after coming this far.
As no one could bring themselves to speak,
"We won't run away."
Hwa-ryeon firmly voiced her refusal.
My master and Seol-yi turned to her with startled expressions.
"W-Wait a moment, miss...!"
"Young Lady, this doesn't seem like something to decide so hastily."
Though their words differed slightly, both were objecting to Hwa-ryeon's decision.
Hwa-ryeon ignored their reactions and looked straight at Ye So-ha.
Ye So-ha gently admonished her in a soft tone.
"Why not discuss it with your companions first? There's no need to decide so rashly..."
"No. I've already made up my mind."
"......"
Ye So-ha closed her mouth at Hwa-ryeon's sharp retort.
And then Hwa-ryeon's barrage of questions began.
"If we flee, what happens to the Wudang Sect and the people of Geunhyeon?"
"...Young Lady, I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. I'm not giving up on destroying the sapling. Once you're all in a safe zone, the three of us will handle it."
"Is it possible with just the three of you? Weren't you counting on our help—on Ja-seong's help?"
"That's..."
Ye So-ha started to respond.
But Hwa-ryeon cut her off first.
"So success isn't guaranteed. Even with us, you can't promise the Wudang Sect members and Geunhyeon's people won't turn into monsters."
"...Haah."
At Hwa-ryeon's words laced with conviction, Ye So-ha let out a deep sigh and nodded.
"No point in lying, huh? You're right. Time's running short, so our preparations are lacking too. We can't guarantee absolute success anymore."
"And yet you're telling us to back out?"
"Don't you have something you absolutely must do? I was trying to accommodate you in my own way."
She had a point.
We did—I did, and Hwa-ryeon did—have something we absolutely had to do.
Topple Tyrant Heaven Fortress.
Crush the ambitions of its lord, Joo Do-han, who sought to seize control of the martial world.
To that end, we needed to unite the power of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.
And the Wudang Sect was one of those Nine Great Sects.
"For that, we need the Wudang Sect's power too. And I have no intention of standing by while Geunhyeon's hundred thousand people turn into monsters."
"...So you're not leaving after all?"
"We're not backing down."
Ye So-ha frowned at Hwa-ryeon's stubborn words.
I shrugged and urged her to give up.
"You might as well call it quits. Even I can't break Hwa-ryeon's stubbornness."
"...Yeah, it looks that way. And Young Master Goon doesn't seem to think differently either."
Ye So-ha alternated glances between me and Hwa-ryeon with a displeased expression before turning to my master and Seol-yi.
"What about the two of you who opposed it?"
"If the Young Lady isn't going, how could I?"
"I'm not ditching her alone."
Though reluctant, the two said they'd follow Hwa-ryeon's will.
At that, Ye So-ha finally relaxed her expression and sighed.
"...I've got your intentions loud and clear. Should I thank you for choosing to fight alongside us?"
"No need. We're not doing this for Haomen."
Ye So-ha gave a wry smile at Hwa-ryeon's cold words.
Then, composing herself, she spoke.
"Then we'll scrap the original plan and figure out what to do next."
And so, having decided not to back down and stay to fight, we began discussing our future course of action.
"Once we realized our predictions were off, we naturally figured out why the monsters are invading Wudang every day."
"To tie us down?"
Ye So-ha nodded vigorously at Hwa-ryeon's words.
"Yes. With the sapling's full growth so close, they must be trying to control the one variable."
"In fact, we've spotted countless surveillance eyes all over Mount Wudang."
"Surveillance... eyes?"
Following Ye So-ha's explanation, Cheong paused at my question before giving a curt reply.
"Simply put, like Thousand-Mile Eyes. They were using something like sorcery to watch everywhere on the mountain. They probably saw all your battles too."
"...They were watching us? Since when...?"
"Hmm... Probably since we entered the mountain."
I clicked my tongue low at Cheong's answer.
There were two prime suspects likely orchestrating the current monster assaults.
The hoe brute and So-so.
And Cheong's words just now eliminated the hoe brute from the list.
No matter how clever for a beast, it couldn't wield sorcery.
That left only So-so as the candidate.
Meaning our presence had been exposed to that woman long ago.
"...At this point, no point hiding anymore."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
I turned from Ye So-ha, who tilted her head at my mutter, to look at Hwa-ryeon.
She nodded silently, as if she'd caught on ages ago.
So I turned back to Ye So-ha and told her about what had happened at the Zhuge family, which I'd been holding back.
"The truth is..."
At first, the three Haomen women looked baffled, but by the time I finished, their eyes were wide and mouths agape.
"Good lord, you shattered a Blood Crystal? With a sword?"
"Not a Blood Crystal—a Blood Jade..."
"That's just the name the Zhuge family slapped on it. The Bloodwood Cult calls it a Blood Crystal officially. It's the essence of blood qi formed in the bodies of those who've gorged on blood through Brutal Blood Gong."
"Putting that combined essence into a human body that can withstand it? So they haven't abandoned Brutal Blood Gong after all?"
Before long, the three were muttering gravely, lost in their own worlds.
With no sign of snapping out of it, I snapped my fingers in front of their eyes to forcibly pull them back.
"Focus, please. Time's short, isn't it?"
"A-Ahem. Sorry."
Ye So-ha cleared her throat awkwardly and summarized my story to shake off the embarrassment.
"...Anyway, to sum up: the mastermind controlling the monsters has met you all before, and she witnessed Young Master Goon destroy the Blood Crystal?"
"Yes. High chance of that."
At my answer, Ye So-ha sank back into thought.
Her eventual conclusion:
"If Young Master Goon destroyed the Blood Crystal and So-so saw it, she'll definitely see you as the biggest threat. Being able to destroy a Blood Crystal means you could destroy the sapling too."
Something only sword aura can destroy.
Just how tough is that tree?
"Maybe the monsters tying us down aren't targeting the Wudang Sect, but Young Master Goon specifically."
Hearing that, I immediately raised my hand and offered an idea.
"Then how about I lure the monsters? If that woman So-so is fixated on me, the surveillance will shift my way too. Meanwhile, the rest of you move in and destroy the sapling."
Hey, even hundreds of those monsters are no match for me.
I thought it was a solid plan, but the reactions were lukewarm.
"Uh... that probably won't work."
"Why?"
When Cheong hesitated unusually in answering, Ye So-ha cut in.
"I'll explain."
She suddenly spread her palm on the table and ignited a pure white flame atop it.
"Wow..."
Even after seeing it several times, Seol-yi gaped in wonder, eyes round.
"This is Sacred Flame. Complicated to explain, but simply: it's a force with extreme affinity against the energy the Bloodwood Cult uses."
I knew that well from what I'd seen so far.
From Chilji to the demonic realm's monsters.
Anything it touched withered and burned in an instant.
"Were you planning to incinerate the sapling with this Sacred Flame?"
"Yes. But there's a problem."
According to her follow-up explanation, the sapling planted on Mount Wudang was on the verge of full growth.
Compared to the one Ye So-ha had dealt with at Poyang Lake before, its energy was on another level.
"And naturally, the stronger the energy it holds, the greater its resistance to Sacred Flame. So we need to boost the flame's power to burn the sapling."
"Ah, so that's what you meant by insufficient preparations...?"
"Exactly. We were trying to amp up the Sacred Flame's power."
To reach the power needed to burn the sapling, it originally required seven days.
But that had shrunk to four, so they'd planned to pour in maxed-out power equivalent to four days' worth, come hell or high water.
"Success rate was pretty low, but looks like we found another way."
The Haomen trio's eyes sparkled as they looked at me.
Catching the meaning in those gazes, I let out a hollow laugh.
"You're saying I should smash it?"
"We don't know how you did it, but if you can destroy a Blood Crystal, it'll work on a fully grown sapling too. In this situation, way more reliable than Sacred Flame."
In the end, destroying the sapling fell to me, scrapping any plan of me luring the monsters.