Absorb the Elders' Hall (2)
"What?"
"Is that really true?"
Suddenly, as Hyeon Yucheon stepped forward, the Demon Sword Sect group all turned to him in unison, flustered.
But then they quickly recalled one crucial fact.
"Ah! Right!"
"The Sect Leader inherited all of Master Cheon Baeksang's experiences and memories!"
Why hadn't they thought of this sooner?
Hyeon Yucheon had received not only the martial arts of the Demon Sword Ghost Elder but also all his memories and experiences.
In other words, he could fully discern the formation laid out by the Elders' Hall—who had spent much time with Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang and held him in deep respect.
Nod.
Hyeon Yucheon nodded and closed his eyes.
Through Cheon Baeksang's memories, he recalled a formation that the Elders' Hall masters and Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang had favored in the past.
A formation that pierced through feints with feints—one personally devised by Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang himself!
-Sect Leader, isn't this too simplistic?
When the Elders' Hall masters questioned the formation, Cheon Baeksang replied,
-That's precisely what makes it more bewildering.
Lowly third-rate warriors could break it easily, but the higher one's martial prowess, the more baffling it would be.
He said this with his characteristic mischievous grin.
Swoosh!
Hyeon Yucheon calmly extended his hand toward the formation.
A thick white mist of Baekcheon fog billowed from his palm, and he sensed the formation's presence.
"This formation is called the Three Talents Old Fool Formation… As the name suggests, it's an extremely simple one derived directly from the Three Talents Swordsmanship."
Hyeon Yucheon smiled and waved his hand this way and that.
The method to dismantle the Three Talents Old Fool Formation was ridiculously straightforward.
As he had just explained, since it stemmed from the Three Talents Swordsmanship, performing its three basic stances in sequence unraveled it.
The first: horizontal slash of the Three Talents Swordsmanship.
Whoosh!
The second: vertical slash!
Whoooosh!
The third: thrust!
Whish!
Hyeon Yucheon slowly executed them with his hand blade upright—and sure enough?
Shhhh!
The thick fog that had tormented the Demon Sword Sect group, along with the illusions that endlessly deceived them, dissolved instantly on the spot.
As proof, the entrance to Baekcheon Valley, previously invisible, now gleamed clearly right there on the main road.
It was the true entrance, revealed momentarily now that the formation was broken.
"A formation this simple exists?"
"Why didn't we realize it?"
Having dismantled it so effortlessly, Hyeon Yucheon left guide Jeong Inheon and many super peak masters breaking into cold sweats.
Far from merely easy, it was something even third-rate warriors could shatter.
"Didn't I just say? Because it's drawn straight from the overly basic Three Talents Swordsmanship, it felt familiar to the unskilled but utterly alien to experts. Master always loved striking at the void, after all."
Hyeon Yucheon was spot on.
In truth, the formation's very name—Three Talents Old Fool Formation—paired with Three Talents Swordsmanship and the term "old fool" implied it was crafted by a senile dotard fixated solely on that rudimentary sword art.
"Hahaha, I see."
"To think it was this easy once you know the answer."
Even after Hyeon Yucheon's explanation, the group still stared in bewilderment.
Without him, its sheer simplicity might have kept them wandering for days.
Shaaa!
While the group lingered, signs of the formation reactivating emerged as mist began billowing once more.
Seeing this, Hyeon Yucheon gestured.
"Come now, enter before it seals again."
* * *
"The formation… is broken!"
In the deepest heart of Baekcheon Valley, among the cluster of hoary old masters, the strongest—the former great demon Blood Moon Fist Demon Danlibyeok, who had collaborated with Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang for half a century—widened his eyes.
He could sense the breach for a simple reason.
He had personally erected the Three Talents Old Fool Formation.
"Broken, you say…"
"Unbelievable."
The elderly masters of Baekcheon Valley reacted in myriad ways to this intruder shattering their long peace.
Some gasped in shock, others refused to believe.
"Two possibilities. Either a genuine third-rate wanderer or novice hunter stumbled in… or some cunning fox pierced our feint-within-a-feint!"
Declaring this, Danlibyeok led the group toward the valley entrance.
This Baekcheon Valley was originally a haven for retired unorthodox giants.
When Blood Moon Fist Demon Danlibyeok and various Demon Sword Sect elders retired here together, the once-quiet valley instantly became their shelter.
Danlibyeok alone was daunting enough, but with a throng of comparable old monsters, even the reclusive demons who had caused havoc in their prime submitted as subordinates without rebellion.
"Regardless, our stance remains unchanged."
Danlibyeok barked firmly, unyieldingly.
"Drive them out!"
The Elders' Hall masters had no intention of returning to the martial world, no matter the reason.
Not even if Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang himself returned alive.
"They're coming."
The Demon Sword Sect group sensed the Elders' Hall arrivals too.
Their auras were so overwhelming, jaws dropped.
Each one rivals the King of Ronin in prowess!
That was why Hyeon Yucheon was stunned.
Who expected retired old warriors to be this formidable?
They teemed with figures like the Immortal Fighter Jeong Chilgyu, whom he'd faced recently—their seasoned cunning and experience beyond measure.
"Hm?!"
Finally, the two groups met in the valley's midst.
Locking eyes, mutual shock rippled again.
The Elders' Hall was stunned to see Jeong Inheon—the elder they'd long evaded—alongside Demon Sword Sect warriors.
Hyeon Yucheon's group marveled at their utter lack of frailty, years later.
"Greetings to the Elders' Hall of the Demon Sword Sect."
Amid them, the sole unflappable man—Hyeon Yucheon—cupped his fists with a composed voice.
This gesture carried layers of meaning.
You remain Demon Sword Sect, and we are no strangers.
Yet Danlibyeok and his cohort responded coldly.
"We've long left the Demon Sword Sect and retired from the martial world. Spare us the formalities."
Soon, Hyeon Yucheon and Danlibyeok sized each other up in a tense staredown.
An unfamiliar face.
So isolated from the martial world, cut off from worldly tales, neither Danlibyeok nor the others recognized Hyeon Yucheon.
"I am Mugeom Sword Young Master Hyeon Yucheon, Sect Leader of the Demon Sword Sect."
His introduction alone upended their composure.
"What did you say?"
"Demon Sword Sect Leader?"
"Hyeon Yucheon? Never heard the name."
They gasped in unison, feigned indifference crumbling as they scrutinized him anew.
Then, moments later—
"Oh! That's Ga Jinuk beside him!"
"Brilliant Light Demon Sword Ga Jinuk!"
"Why is the missing senior disciple here…!"
As eyes shifted to him, Ga Jinuk bowed his head low, unable to meet gazes, and cupped his fists politely.
He then detailed the full story: his ordeals, joining Hyeon Yucheon, and the circumstances.
"I see… so that's what happened."
"You've suffered greatly."
"Indeed, you're no traitor to the sect."
They say age brings righteousness?
The Elders' Hall veterans offered sympathetic words and glances to the beleaguered Ga Jinuk.
Swoosh!
But as their leader Danlibyeok shot a icy glare, they cowered and retreated.
"I've heard your tale. But… our position stands. Begone."
Danlibyeok remained ice-cold.
He too was glad for Ga Jinuk's survival, curious about the Demon Sword Sect's revival and this prodigy Hyeon Yucheon—but dismissed it as lingering attachment.
We are ghosts of the Demon Sword Sect, ghosts of Demon Sword Ghost Elder.
New wine demands new wineskins.
For the reborn Demon Sword Sect, they deemed themselves unnecessary relics.
"Seniors! Please hear us out!"
Unable to bear it, Jeong Inheon cried out fervently.
Though the eldest in the Demon Sword Sect, among these he was the youngest.
"Hmph! I erected formations to rebuff your pleas! Once more: the Elders' Hall will not aid the Demon Sword Sect. Leave!"
Danlibyeok's tone bordered on hurtful indifference.
Just then—
"It seems you're under some misconception."
This was Hyeon Yucheon's retort.
He scowled at the words "plea" and "aid."
"What?"
"Don't misunderstand. My Demon Sword Sect brothers and I came to the Elders' Hall seniors not to beg for help or favors."
What he revealed next stunned even his companions, pupils dilating.
"Then why are you here?"
Intrigued despite himself, Danlibyeok—who'd shunned sharing even a table—approached.
"To call you to account for your wrongs."
Ooooo!
Hyeon Yucheon's audacious declaration rocked all of Baekcheon Valley once more.
To interrogate the Elders' Hall elders before their patriarch—no, the right-hand of Demon Sword Ghost Elder, the era-defining great demon Blood Moon Fist Demon Danlibyeok himself? What madness was this?
"Did I… hear that right?"
At those words, bloody aura erupted from Danlibyeok in thick clouds.
Truth be told, age had mellowed him; in his prime, his fists never thirsted for enemy blood.
Despite not being a fiendish demon lord, he earned "great demon"—for one trait.
Once enraged, he burned uncontrollably to the end.
And an furious Blood Moon Fist Demon was beyond even Demon Sword Ghost Elder's restraint, or so the tales went.
"You heard correctly."
"Hahaha, intriguing."
His words said amusement, but ferocious energy surged from his frame.
Seeing it, Hyeon Yucheon recalled Demon Sword Ghost Elder's words.
-My right arm, Blood Moon Fist Demon, is flawless save one flaw: he flies into a berserk rage.
Even Cheon Baeksang found him headache-inducingly mighty and terrifying.
"Fine. What wrongs have I—and we of the Elders' Hall—committed? Failing to aid you in your hour of need?"
As Danlibyeok's eyes reddened with mania—
"Close, but not quite."
"Hm?"
Undeterred, Hyeon Yucheon spoke without hesitation.
His tongue was as fearsome as Formless Sword Gang.
"We've come to hold you accountable for sucking the Demon Sword Sect dry in its heyday, then fleeing the moment it fell."
He spared not even the elders.
Hyeon Yucheon always spoke his mind, anytime, anywhere.