I'll Go Alone
They had barely slipped out of Changsha and shaken off Wi Cheon-ryang, yet before long the three of them were laughing heartily and bantering as if nothing at all had happened, hurrying along the road toward the Demonic Cult.
Compared to the lavish journey they had enjoyed at Sugyeongru, the path was thoroughly shabby—yet their footsteps themselves were steeped in a strange, buoyant cheer.
“Wow… Nature really is endlessly changeable. I thought I’d already seen everything worth seeing on Mount Taesan, but I never imagined it could be this different.”
Yoo Eunhyeon, looking around him, could not hold back his admiration. Having reached a realm where he could read the flow of natural energy through his spar with Cho-yeong, he seemed to be drawing still more insight from this landscape where so many energies intermingled.
“Even so, Sugyeongru was way better than this place. …Ugh! A bug!”
A pine caterpillar had dropped onto Ho Won-jik’s arm without warning. He yelped and roughly shook it off. Watching him, Yoo Eunhyeon clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Tsk tsk. What a weakling. Looking at this fine nature and you still don’t grasp a thing?”
“Fine is fine—what’s there to grasp!”
Ho Won-jik still wore a look of pure disgust as he protested his innocence. Without a word Yoo Eunhyeon raised a hand and lightly rapped him on the crown of the head.
“Yow!”
“Heh. And you still call yourself a martial artist? Looking at this grand and ever-changing nature and feeling nothing… Just looking at it makes my internal energy rise!”
Yoo Eunhyeon flung both arms wide and declared it with triumphant flair. At that wildly exaggerated pose Ho Won-jik’s brow furrowed in pure exasperation; Ju Yu-ryeon, watching his reaction, also shook her head in resigned surrender.
“Leave him be. It’s not like he’s talking nonsense. There’s sense to it—that’s why masters hole up in caves for wall-facing training or closed-door cultivation, right? You have to be able to gain enlightenment just from blankly staring at rocks or water before you turn into monsters like that.”
She shrugged as if it were no great matter and strode to the front without hesitation. Leaving Yoo Eunhyeon still drunk on nature and gazing every which way behind them, Ho Won-jik followed close on her heels as though long accustomed to it.
Exchanging such frivolous jokes as they pressed onward, the three soon reached Sichuan—the gateway that led toward the Demonic Cult.
“So this is Sichuan?”
“Strictly speaking, Chengdu. I’ve only heard about it; this is my first time coming myself.”
Ju Yu-ryeon shrugged at Yoo Eunhyeon’s words.
Then Ho Won-jik, who had been listening from the side, carefully opened his mouth.
“I’ve been a few times. This is the largest city closest to the Demonic Cult.”
“Is that so? Are there no villages on the Demonic Cult side?”
“There are some, but… they’re small, and most of them sit under the Demonic Cult’s influence. This place is also within their sphere, but relatively less so.”
“Makes sense, with Heavenly Martial Alliance forces nearby.”
“Ah—the Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect?”
“Yeah. And the Dang Clan too.”
At the mention of the Dang Clan, Yoo Eunhyeon suddenly recalled Dang Jaseung, whom he had met at the gambling tables in Sugyeongru.
He ran off, so he should be fine, right? He didn’t look like he’d taken any internal injuries…
Thinking that far, Yoo Eunhyeon shook his head. It wasn’t something worth dwelling on. He brushed the thought aside and looked at Ju Yu-ryeon.
“How long from here to the Demonic Cult?”
“Hmm. At most around two shichen? But since it’s my first time on this road, I can’t say for sure.”
Saying so, Ju Yu-ryeon turned to Ho Won-jik. He knew the local situation better.
“As Big Sis said, if we go straight it’s not far. However…”
“However what?”
When Ju Yu-ryeon pressed him, Ho Won-jik hesitated a moment before finishing.
“The closer we get to the Demonic Cult past Sichuan, the tighter the security will be. It’s only natural—they never know when or where people of the Orthodox Path might try to slip in.”
“So we just have to be careful, right?”
“Big Sis, the other side is Demonic Path people! If they find anything suspicious, they cut your throat without a second thought!”
When Ho Won-jik made a sharp gesture of slashing a throat with his hand, Yoo Eunhyeon finally grasped the meaning.
With the Orthodox and Demonic Paths locked in confrontation, their vigilance toward each other would be sharper than ever. Crossing such a place without revealing their identities was little different from throwing their lives away.
“Still, I’d prefer to go quietly if possible. Is there another way?”
At Yoo Eunhyeon’s question Ho Won-jik pondered carefully, then suddenly snapped his fingers as if something had struck him.
“There is one. Actually, there’s a main road that leads to the Demonic Cult. Quite a few people come and go for logistics, so if we blend in we should be able to enter without drawing much suspicion.”
Yoo Eunhyeon’s eyes lit up at the unexpected idea. Given their current appearance, nothing could fit better than this method.
“Wouldn’t security be even tighter on that side?”
“They wouldn’t expect anyone to attempt a frontal breakthrough against the Demonic Cult. And even if they spotted someone suspicious, the Demonic Path people can’t just openly kill itinerant merchants who don’t even know martial arts. That would only hand the Orthodox Wulin or the Imperial Palace an excuse.”
At Ho Won-jik’s words Ju Yu-ryeon also nodded silently. As if there were no further need to argue, she casually supplied the answer at once.
“Then we just slip in through that gap.”
Though Yoo Eunhyeon had offered a workable solution, worry still clouded Ju Yu-ryeon’s face. When he looked at her as if asking why, she slowly spoke.
“Suppose we somehow disguise ourselves and manage to infiltrate. But what if something happens and we get exposed as martial artists? We can’t use martial arts right in the middle of the Demonic Cult.”
“Of course we have to hide our internal energy.”
Finishing his words, Yoo Eunhyeon gathered his internal energy—and the presence that had been enveloping him vanished in an instant. Confronted with a realm she was seeing for the first time, Ju Yu-ryeon’s eyes went wide.
“How did you do that?”
“The method is simple. You just need to understand the flow of internal energy. Internal energy isn’t hidden by forcing it down and packing it away. You lower your breath and cut the flow of energy. If you let it run like water it leaks outward, but if you make it seep into the earth, nothing shows on the surface.”
With those words Yoo Eunhyeon slowly drew a breath. In that moment even the faint presence that could still be felt completely subsided. It was as if an ordinary farmer stood there—no energy detectable at all. Ju Yu-ryeon’s eyes sharpened.
“Did you completely cut it off just now?”
“Not cut it off—concealed it.”
Yoo Eunhyeon answered casually.
“You sink your internal energy deep inside the body and keep your breathing steady. If you force it, it shows even more.”
Ho Won-jik went “Ooh” and nodded. Certainly, if they followed the method Yoo Eunhyeon had taught, they would be able to infiltrate the Demonic Cult without difficulty.
Watching what Yoo Eunhyeon was doing, Ho Won-jik began operating the flow of his internal energy according to the instructions he had been given.
At first it seemed quite plausible. The energy gathered in his dantian gradually sank and appeared to grow calm. His breathing also settled quietly. Outwardly it did not look much different from what Yoo Eunhyeon had just demonstrated.
But that calm did not last long.
Soon Ho Won-jik’s brows twitched minutely.
The sinking energy suddenly wavered in a subtle way, then began to spread in every direction like water that had been forced down and was now seeping out.
“Ugh…!”
Ho Won-jik’s shoulders trembled as a short groan escaped him. The energy he had forcibly suppressed all came loose at once, and he felt his insides twist.
His eyes snapped open as he gasped for breath.
He caught his breath for a moment, then shook his head with an awkward expression.
“Haha… It’s harder than I thought.”
It had looked simple from the outside, but when he actually tried it, the sensation of sinking the energy itself would not come to hand. The more he tried to suppress it, the more it seemed to thrash about. Watching this, Ju Yu-ryeon crossed her arms and snorted.
“That’s just like you. You think that happens overnight?”
Her tone was light, but her gaze had already turned toward Yoo Eunhyeon. The way he had so casually erased his presence a moment ago kept rising in her mind.
After a brief pause Ju Yu-ryeon jerked her chin.
“Move aside. Let me try once.”
She stepped forward one pace.
Ju Yu-ryeon slowly drew a breath, then closed her eyes. The energy gathered in her dantian gradually sank, and the presence enveloping her body also seemed to subside noticeably.
But that too was only for a moment.
The energy that had been seeping down suddenly lost its center as if wavering minutely, then spread outward in every direction like a dike that had lost its balance.
She gritted her teeth and tried to gather the energy again, but the internal energy that had once been disrupted would not easily return to place. Her breathing grew rougher, and a heavy pressure began to well up from deep in her dantian. After clenching her teeth and holding on for a while, Ju Yu-ryeon finally let out a long breath and released her power.
The energy enveloping her body scattered as if collapsing all at once.
For a time saying nothing, Ju Yu-ryeon clicked her tongue and muttered.
“…It’s a lot trickier than it looks.”
“Right? It looked simple from the outside, but when I tried, I couldn’t get a handle on the sensation at all.”
Their gazes naturally turned to Yoo Eunhyeon. The way he stood there calmly, as if nothing had happened, suddenly felt distant.
The scene of him concealing his presence as naturally as breathing a moment ago would not leave their minds.
A silence fell for a while. It was Ju Yu-ryeon who broke it first.
“In the end… that means we can’t use it right away.”
Her tone was bitter. Yoo Eunhyeon looked at the two for a moment as if thinking, then soon nodded.
“Hmm… Then there’s only one way.”
As if finished thinking, Yoo Eunhyeon raised his head, and Ju Yu-ryeon and Ho Won-jik’s gazes fixed on him at once.
Yoo Eunhyeon opened his mouth casually.
“You two stay here. I’ll go alone and come back.”