Chapter 233
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: By the Power of Taiji
Staring up at the ceiling of Shangqing Palace, lost in a sigh, Master Muheo belatedly sensed the heavy atmosphere and wore an apologetic expression.
“Sorry about that. I’ve soured the mood for no reason.”
I shook my head at his apology.
“It’s fine. Besides, the rest of the story isn’t exactly uplifting either.”
Master Muheo blinked at my response.
“The rest of the story…? You mean there’s more bad news?”
I nodded at his question and proceeded to inform him of the current situation at Wudang Mountain.
That a bloodwood sapling planted somewhere on Wudang Mountain was the root cause of all this.
And that its growth would soon reach completion.
“If we don’t destroy the sapling planted by the Bloodwood Cult bastards within the next four days, not only will we be transformed into hideous monsters, but so will all one hundred thousand residents of Gyunhyeon.”
“…It sounds absurd, but after everything we’ve been through, I can’t exactly dismiss it.”
Master Muheo’s face hardened at my words.
In the meantime, Mujin-ja, who had been showing clear signs of impatience, cut in.
“That’s why we were talking about it earlier but stopped. You said you had a good plan—what exactly do you intend to do?”
At Mujin-ja’s words, Ye So-ha stepped forward.
“I’ll explain that part.”
Ye So-ha recounted the same details she had shared with us, and Master Muheo responded in a dubious tone.
“It doesn’t seem like something that can be resolved so simply.”
“…Yes. There’s one issue we need to discuss with all of you.”
Ye So-ha continued her explanation with a slightly tense expression.
And as the story progressed, the faces of the Wudang Sect members began to stiffen.
“If we directly attack the mind of the Bloodwood Cultist guarding the sapling, we can destroy all their watchful eyes. However, that leads to one problem.”
“What is it?”
“The hordes of monsters that have been attacking Wudang Sect almost daily are also linked to that individual’s mind.”
“Linked to the mind… You don’t mean…?”
Ye So-ha nodded at Master Muheo’s murmur, as if he had realized something.
“Yes. If we attack the Bloodwood Cultist’s mind, there’s a very high chance the monsters will break free of control and go berserk. And they’ll target the nearest human settlement first.”
The nearest human settlement.
Everyone present knew that meant Wudang Sect.
“In other words, the moment we attack the demonic cultist’s mind, Wudang Sect will come under attack as well?”
“On a scale incomparable to anything so far.”
As I recalled Cheong’s words from last night upon hearing Ye So-ha’s response.
-We’ve already confirmed a large horde of monsters surrounding Wudang Sect. Their numbers seem to be around a thousand.
A horde numbering in the four digits.
The monsters that had invaded Wudang over the past few days had numbered about three hundred.
Roughly a hundred or so had come each day, but now ten times that number would surge over Wudang Sect’s walls all at once.
“Lord of Primordial Heaven….”
Master Muheo let out a low lament upon hearing this.
Seizing the moment, Muyup-ja pressed Ye So-ha.
“Are you seriously calling that a good idea? A thousand monsters—if they all come pouring in at once, Wudang is finished!”
Mujin-ja, standing beside Muyup-ja, looked at him with bewildered eyes.
A look that said what’s gotten into this guy.
Pretending not to notice that glance, I opened my mouth.
“Yes. So for the next three days, we must prepare for a large-scale monster assault.”
This time, bewilderment flashed in Muyup-ja’s eyes.
“What can we possibly do in just three days?”
“We keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
“What we’ve been doing… keep doing it?”
Muyup-ja repeated my words, then suddenly widened his eyes as their meaning dawned on him.
“You don’t mean… use the restored Taiji to fend off the monsters?”
“Not entirely, but yes.”
Muyup-ja stared blankly at me as I nodded calmly, then frantically glanced at his senior brothers.
Receiving that look, Mujin-ja smiled awkwardly and spoke.
“Hah, hahaha… Young Hero Goon. Why say such things when you know better? How much help could an incompletely restored martial art possibly be?”
“And if it’s been restored?”
“…What?”
At Mujin-ja’s retort, I repeated myself.
“What if the martial art has already been restored?”
“I-Is that true!?”
The most intense reaction came unexpectedly from Master Muheo, not Muyup-ja.
He widened his eyes as if they might tear, even abruptly rising to his feet.
Of course, being an invalid, he couldn’t hold out and soon slumped back down.
“Aigoo, Senior Brother. Please calm down…!”
Mujin-ja supported his senior brother’s body while half-pleading, but it was as if the words didn’t reach Master Muheo’s ears—he just kept staring at me endlessly.
“Tell me. Have you truly, truly restored Taiji?”
Stunned by his unusual reaction, I nodded hesitantly.
“Yes. If you’d like, I can demonstrate it right—”
-Boom!
“E-Elder!”
At that very moment, the doors to Shangqing Palace burst open with a deafening crash, and a Taoist rushed in.
Seeing Master Muheo seated at the head, he widened his eyes.
“S-Sect Leader…! You’ve regained consciousness….”
“What’s with all the commotion?”
Mujin-ja directed the question at the flustered Taoist.
Snapping to attention, the Taoist shouted urgently.
“It’s an attack! The monsters have crossed Wudang Sect’s mountain gate again!”
“…!”
*
“A second attack in one day—this is a first…!”
“They must have taken it easy on us this morning since we handled it so smoothly. Probably decided to ramp up the pressure.”
As we raced toward Wudang Sect’s entrance without properly greeting the sect leader upon hearing of the monsters’ renewed assault, Ye So-ha replied emotionlessly to Seol-i’s mutter.
“At least they’re sending them tailored to our level. Makes me want to go straight there and kill them all.”
Grumbling irritably at those words, we soon arrived at the entrance.
-Kieeeek-!
“Argh!”
The dissonant cacophony of the monsters’ shrieks and the Wudang Taoists’ screams grated unpleasantly in our ears.
A battle that had begun far too suddenly, without warning.
With our group and Muyup-ja’s group absent from the front lines, several Taoists had already become cold corpses.
“Jin-so! Jin-hwa…! You bastards!”
-Whoosh!
Muyup-ja, recognizing the faces of some of the fallen Taoists, drew his sword in fury.
We followed suit, unsheathing our blades and charging straight at the monster horde.
While rescuing the Wudang Taoists facing crises, we took their places and began clashing with the monsters.
-Kyaaak!
A small rabbit-like monster flew toward a Wudang Taoist, jaws gaping wide as if to swallow his head whole.
“U-Uwaaah?!”
The Taoist, who had dropped his sword while fighting another monster, screamed and collapsed. I slipped into the gap and cleaved the rabbit monster in two.
-Splatter!
Blood sprayed as the monster flew far off.
“T-Thank…!”
I vaguely heard a voice thanking me from behind, but the situation was too urgent to acknowledge it as I pressed on, slashing other monsters.
We saved as many injured and near-death Wudang Taoists as possible, but the real problem lay elsewhere.
“Isn’t this way more than usual?!”
Indeed.
As Seol-i shouted, the number of monsters crossing Wudang’s mountain gate was noticeably higher than normal.
Roughly double.
Some two hundred monsters began targeting the Wudang Taoists who had fallen back, exploiting our openings.
-Kiek!
-Splatter!
Darting here and there with Foresight of Heaven’s Secrets, I cut down such monsters while surveying the battlefield.
Despite our group and Muyup-ja’s valiant efforts, injuries were mounting as the monsters exploited the gaps.
At this rate, more deaths seemed inevitable. Grimacing, I leaped straight into the midst of the monster horde.
“J-Ja-seong!?”
Hwaryeon’s shocked cry rang out upon seeing me.
She must have been startled, thinking I was diving into the horde like a man desperate to die.
As if I would.
-Thud!
As I landed heavily in the center of the pack, every monster around turned its gaze toward me.
I twisted my lips at their gleaming eyes, as if they’d stumbled upon a windfall.
Last night.
After hearing from Ye So-ha that we had only four days left, I headed to the cave inscribed with the Taiji Beneficent Sword’s sword traces instead of sleeping.
Inside the cave, I spent the entire night imprinting the sword traces in my eyes and swinging my sword along them.
Yet the contrasting qualities of softness and ferocity still refused to harmonize, playing separately. In the end, I gained nothing even as the sky outside began to brighten.
-Hoo….
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I remembered the impending monster attack and had no choice but to leave the cave.
As I turned to depart the cavern, I glanced back at the sword traces one last time.
At a glance, they appeared indistinct and chaotic.
To an ignorant onlooker, they’d look no different from a cave wall hacked apart by a sword.
In that moment, a question arose.
Why had they been carved so chaotically?
To hide that they were traces of a martial art?
Would someone go to such lengths—making it so convoluted that even Muyup-ja couldn’t grasp the form after years of study—just for that?
Without the mechanism, even I probably wouldn’t have learned the form so easily.
No matter how profound the martial art, if its complexity deterred everyone from mastering it, what use was it?
There had to be another reason for carving the traces that way.
Trusting that intuition, I stared piercingly at the sword traces for a long while.
Nothing came to mind, and I was biting my lip in frustration when suddenly, descriptions of Wudang martial arts from wuxia novels I’d read flashed through my mind.
Especially those of the Taiji Sword and Taiji Beneficent Sword.
-…Ah.
Juxtaposing the description of the Taiji Beneficent Sword with the sword traces before me, I instantly realized why they appeared so chaotic.
And now,
-Kuaaaak!
-Kieee-!
The monsters, shrieking with mindless savagery, charged at me all at once.
A situation that looked like certain death at first glance.
“Ja-seong!”
Far off, Hwaryeon’s desperate figure rushed toward me.
Oops, I’ve worried her too much.
I gave a reassuring smile to Hwaryeon’s pale face, then swung my sword in a wide arc, drawing a circle.
The world twisted around me,
-Kek!?
-Keek!
And the claws and fangs of the monsters attacking me embedded themselves into each other’s bodies.