#108. Avici Hell: The Great Journey (7)
Moyong Jaehwa took up the bow with a dazed expression on his face.
"H-Hyungnim, but how am I supposed to..."
"You don't know how to use a bow?"
"N-No, it's not that..."
I grabbed his fingers. There were thick calluses on his index, middle, and thumb fingers—places where a swordsman's hands wouldn't harden.
"What's the problem?"
"......"
Moyong Jaehwa glanced at the injured Baek Won-gak, then at the Moyong family warriors watching him.
"Did you make a promise not to use archery when you left the family?"
The Moyong family had been ashamed that their eldest son, Moyong Jaehwa, was more drawn to archery than the sword.
"......H-How did you...?"
"Right now, which is more important—that promise, or those people's lives?"
"Of course......"
"Then that's that."
And that had delayed the emergence of the One Bow Equals a Thousand, the Breaking Bow, by quite some time.
"......"
I tucked the quiver into the arms of the yearning Moyong Jaehwa.
"You can't save them with a sword. You can with a bow. What's there to agonize over?"
I had no need for the Breaking Bow that would appear after the Moyong family's downfall. After the tide of the Great War Between Good and Evil turned toward the Demonic Cult, there was no need for the Breaking Bow that had single-handedly held back their massive army.
"Forget that 'Breaking Sword' nonsense. When it comes to protecting the people you cherish, who cares if it's a sword or a bow? Just use what you're best at."
"......!"
Moyong Jaehwa's eyes shook fiercely.
"Any more agonizing?"
"......It's not that. I've never formally learned archery. I've only shot arrows alone for fun..."
I chuckled and said,
"Don't worry. I'll teach you what I learned."
The Breaking Bow that had stood alone against ten thousand Hellmouth Squad members at Guiju would now hold back the 12 Bongseong.
#
Moyong Jaehwa felt dazed. How did he know he enjoyed shooting arrows, and what did it mean to block the enemy with it?
From the start, he'd shot arrows just to clear his mind. When he was drawing the bow, the worries and concerns about the family and himself faded away.
But to block enemies with it? He had no idea how.
"Eekyaah!"
His body, gripped by Jin Sowoon, floated up, and the ground fell away in an instant. They landed atop the tree where the Guigungmun young master had been hiding.
"Among the things I know, there was a man who tried to hold back ten thousand enemies alone."
Jin Sowoon drew a single arrow.
"To buy time for millions to evacuate, he stepped forward without fear."
In the distance, signal flares launched by Guigungmun rose into the sky, and the 12 Bongseong members were charging madly toward them.
"Everyone thought it impossible. Something that only happens in myths."
Moyong Jaehwa, forgetting his dire situation, swallowed hard, engrossed in the tale.
"Wh-What happened?"
"He held them back."
"What?!"
"People call the sword the king of ten thousand weapons? Seeing that sight with my own eyes, I thought: maybe the sword is king of ten thousand, but the world's most fearsome weapon is the bow."
The 12 Bongseong raced down the wide official road without hesitation. Sweat beaded on Moyong Jaehwa's palms at their imminent approach.
"H-Hyungnim."
Jin Sowoon leisurely drew the bowstring.
"Watch closely. This is the archery he left behind."
Ping.
The arrow traced a clean arc toward the 12 Bongseong. But it was insufficient to stop them. One arrow against five hundred men was too few.
"Wha—?"
Moyong Jaehwa's eyes widened. The arrow Jin Sowoon had loosed began splitting into dozens.
Hiiiing.
The 12 Bongseong warriors and horses charging urgently halted in shock.
"H-How... Guigungmun's Phantom Vision..."
"It's not Guigungmun's."
"Huh?"
"What I learned is how to infuse my enlightenment into an arrow. And just now, I infused Tae-eul Gate's swordsmanship into it."
Then Jin Sowoon recited the key principles of the archery he'd just demonstrated.
"C-Can you really teach this to me?"
Having studied martial arts more deeply than anyone since childhood, he knew. What an advanced level of archery this was, how many years it must have taken to perfect.
"I was just holding onto it. Now I'm passing it to the one he most wanted to give it to."
"And that's me?"
"He believed he'd lost his family due to his own indecisiveness, and he hoped it would be a solution for someone facing the same dilemma later. I'm not the right fit, but you are the legitimate successor."
"......What's its name?"
"None. He wanted you to name it yourself."
"......Sky-Splitting. I'll call it the Sky-Splitting Divine Bow."
A strange smile played on Jin Sowoon's lips.
"Arrogant."
"No. It's a technique worthy of such a grand name."
"Then no more agonizing, right?"
"Yes. Just... buy me a moment. One moment."
He couldn't fully absorb the Sky-Splitting Divine Bow's essence in this short time. Jin Sowoon had cherry-picked the essentials and combined them with Heaven-Earth Splitting Sword Art.
Somehow, the complex principles that had seemed tangled unraveled perfectly when woven with Heaven-Earth Splitting Sword Art, offering clear, refreshing answers. Like finding their long-lost other half.
The 12 Bongseong, startled by Jin Sowoon's phantom visions, began peeking out again one by one.
Jin Sowoon loosed an arrow, and his companions below fired in tandem. The real arrows hidden in the phantoms pierced the 12 Bongseong warriors, forcing them to duck again.
This repeated a few times—hiding, peeking—until they bustled inside and began shielding their front with large shields.
Ping. Shu-shu-shu-shuk.
Arrows hidden in Jin Sowoon's phantoms rained down, but the shields blocked them all. Moreover, one of every two arrows was deflected by a flying sword.
The imperfect phantom vision had been countered.
The distance had closed to nearly eighty jang.
"Not ready yet?"
"Ah! S-Sorry. Heaven-Earth Splitting Sword Art fit so perfectly that I tried substituting Flash-Lightning Cloud Sword and got carried away..."
"Kid! Get it together. Captain Baek's life depends on you."
"Yes!"
Moyong Jaehwa nocked an arrow on the string. Even standing atop the tree, he didn't waver.
The moment he opened his eyes after closing them briefly.
Tung.
A deep, different tone from Jin Sowoon's rang out as a single arrow flew. Not in an arc, but straight.
Not dozens, but one shot.
The 12 Bongseong, sneering at the incoming arrow and lowering shields to swat it with swords—
Kwang!
It pierced the right shoulder of the warrior trying to deflect it, shoving him back two jang.
Tongmasi—an arrow piercing horse and armored rider atop it.
Astounded by its power, the 12 Bongseong tangled and retreated behind rocks.
Suddenly, no one was visible in Moyong Jaehwa's sightline—the path ahead was clear.
"You saved Captain Baek."
Those about to charge and slaughter Moyong Jaehwa's group fell utterly silent.
That sudden quiet thrilled him to his core.
###
The current Murim entrance exam was utter chaos. Nothing was predictable.
In the southeast sector, bandits and Japanese invaders joined forces, blocking passage and causing numerous failures. In the northwest, presumed envoys clashed with examinees, unintentionally producing masses of dropouts. In the northeast, the Mantongbu was investigating five hundred deaths and mysterious perpetrators.
Scores were as unpredictable as ever, with unexpected dropouts and rising stars aplenty.
In particular, Myeonghyeon of the Jeongdo Council, who had been monitoring the 12 Bongseong, summoned Jeongdo Council elders to the Elder Hall when they halted at Mt. Song.
"We never expected much from those fools anyway. Their real goal was recruiting Tae-eul Gate, wasn't it?"
"Still, they ended up clashing with each other. Isn't that good?"
"That's not the issue. Some of the 12 Bongseong lost their entry plaques."
The Jeongdo Council had sixteen members—over half of the thirty in the Elder Hall. Considering each could shake the world with a flick of the wrist, their gatherings carried immense weight, and they didn't hesitate to chide one another.
"Now, now, let's calm down. If the Jeongdo Council isn't united, how can we achieve our great cause?"
Myeonghyeon, the current Jeongdo Council leader, spoke solemnly, but more than a few clicked their tongues at his words.
His election promise to place the Mantongbu under Jeongdo Council had been endlessly delayed, fueling fundamental doubts about his qualifications from the start.
"Unity be damned—the Jeongdo Council's reputation is about to hit rock bottom. What if no Jeongdo Council member tops the Murim Academy entrance?"
"Then nothing to be done."
"What?! You call that talk?!"
Myeonghyeon lamented Jegal Somyeong's pressure thwarting his plan to plant a disciple in the Mantongbu, but he saw renewed opportunity thanks to Jin Sowoon still causing havoc.
"......Leader. Don't you realize Tae-eul Gate entering the academy could massively disrupt Murim Alliance order?"
Despite the grave question, Myeonghyeon leisurely stroked his beard.
"Haha, what disaster? The academy's purpose is to fairly select and train talent for Murim's peace. What's wrong with them proving their worth?"
"Hrm. Hm."
Who didn't know that? But purpose aside, the real world operated differently.
"Elder Cheon probably worries about Tae-eul Gate's Jin Sowoon taking top spot."
"Exactly! That's my point."
The academy was strictly merit-based in responsibilities and privileges. The top entrant set the tone for the cohort—great for student freedom, but for the Alliance's future, preempting chaos was paramount.
"I thought the 12 Bongseong might prove useful, but as expected. We'll have to move ourselves."
"What are you saying, Leader? Interfering privately in the exam—what do you think that'll bring?"
"Of course not privately. But Elder Gang—do you want to see a Tae-eul Gate disciple as top entrant?"
"......Hrm."
"And do you know? The frontrunner, Tae-eul Gate's Jin Sowoon, is the one the Chief Strategist handed an entry plaque to in the past."
"What? How's such a guy even taking the exam?"
"Why he's taking it or where the plaque went isn't important. The issue is he's someone Jegal Somyeong is watching."
"......"
"If Tae-eul Gate's Jin Sowoon ends up in the Mantongbu or even Simhyeongak—what then?"
"Haha."
"First academy graduate entering Mantongbu since Jegal the Chief Strategist took it over. And from Tae-eul Gate."
The Mantongbu moved the Murim Alliance. Controlling it meant wielding the Alliance freely. An academy grad with immense youthful authority—what chaos might he unleash?
"Tae-eul Gate was deemed unworthy of the 108 Peaks until recently. If a disciple from such a scorned sect gains power in the Mantongbu, will Alliance peace endure? He'll disrupt order in the name of 'reform' and 'progress'."
The elderly elders shuddered at the mere thought, closing eyes and sighing.
With focus now on Jin Sowoon and Tae-eul Gate, no one pressed Myeonghyeon on the Mantongbu issue.
After all, a nobody sharing their power was more terrifying than the Mantongbu falling to the Elder Hall.
"Well said. An unskilled hand wielding a sword spills innocent blood."
Even elders who had scorned Myeonghyeon began nodding.
So easy. Myeonghyeon felt grateful to Jin Sowoon, whom he'd once gnashed teeth over.
"We want to hear the Leader's wise counsel."
"We want to hear the Leader's wise counsel."
Their voices mixed deference and impatience. After letting the silence stoke their urgency, Myeonghyeon wet his lips and began to speak.