#112. Black Path Night Journey (2)
Sahaung Peak. Though the Black Path martial world had no single central power, it was a colossal sect that was inevitably named whenever anyone listed the representative factions of the Black Path.
Having smashed through the gates of Sahaung Peak—which was enjoying a respite due to the Murim Regular Examination—it was only natural that they received no warm welcome.
Dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang.
Even though the bells had only just begun tolling, hundreds of Black Path warriors were already charging toward the grand hall in perfect unison, swords drawn.
Chaeng-chaeng-chaeng-chaeng-chaeng-chaeng-chaeng.
Hundreds of blades formed a veritable sword forest, densely encircling every member of the group one by one.
And as for our group...
"Hek, hek, hek, hek, hek."
"Heuk, heuk, heuk, heuk, heuk, heuk."
"Heu-eok, heu-eok, heu-eok, heu-eok, heu-eok."
...we were sprawled on the ground, heaving for breath, utterly indifferent to it all.
They had steeled themselves, vowing not to abandon their liege to a Black Path sect alone, but they hadn't even managed to draw their swords before becoming preoccupied with catching their own breaths.
"Where do you filthy dogs think you are, daring to set foot here?"
The hundreds of warriors parted to either side as a burly man clad in black armor strode forward.
"Do you think the Murim Regular Examination will preserve your necks?"
Chaeng.
A massive sword was drawn from his waist. Only then did the group snap to their senses, paling as they took in the Black Path warriors surrounding them.
"You fools— all you had to do was give up on the exam, but you couldn't even manage that. It's your own fault. What are you waiting for? Cut off their heads and dump them outside the gates."
"""Yes, sir!!!"""
A thunderous roar shook the air, and a suffocating wave of murderous intent erupted from all directions.
"W-wait! Haa, haa. Just wait a moment."
I carefully set down Namgung Seonhwa, whom I'd been cradling in my arms.
"You dare enter Sahaung Peak at will and now think you can leave?"
"That's not it!"
"If you're just stalling for time, I'll chop off your hands and feet and toss you into the pigsty."
Black energy manifested visibly above the burly man's greatsword, rippling menacingly.
"Understood! Do that if you must. But just give me a moment! Just a brief moment..."
I quickly reached into my bosom.
Chik. Chik. Chik. Chik. Chik.
Five swords thrust toward my throat.
"I'm just... pulling something out."
"Let him be."
I slowly withdrew my hand from my bosom, revealing the object clutched within to the burly man.
Starting with the burly man, the eyes of those around us gradually widened in shock.
"H-how... How dare a White Path runt like you..."
Something trickled down my back. From behind, Namgung Seonhwa cried out.
"Young Master Jin! Blood!"
Ah, blood, huh. I thought it was sweat. No wonder my head felt so dizzy.
I steadied my mind and spoke.
"I wish to see the Lord of Sahaung Peak. I am Jin Sowoon of the Tae-eul Gate."
"Jin Sowoon?"
"Tae-eul Gate?"
"Isn't that the Black Flame Dragon?"
"Ho, so that's the Black Path's Holy Child, the Black Flame Dragon?"
Yeah, your Black Flame Dragon. I cursed them inwardly and closed my eyes.
#
"Ho, fascinating."
A gasp escaped Baek Su-sin-geom Hyeok Mu-gang's lips as he prodded the corpse's grotesquely wrinkled skin.
"Hm... There should be more corpses around here originally, but these are wounds inflicted after death, aren't they?"
Jegal Somyeong, who had examined the corpse first, nodded.
"Likely someone extracted them while inspecting on the way back to the Alliance."
"Hm... You think it was the Elder Hall's doing?"
"Who else? In any case, they're not the important part."
"Exactly. The procedure that shaped this body—is it the Demonic Cult's...?"
"Yes. I was delayed in reporting because I had to dig into the deepest archives of Simhyeongak."
Jegal Somyeong omitted mentioning that he'd halted Mantongbu operations entirely to ransack Simhyeongak.
"......"
Hyeok Mu-gang closed his eyes and slowly stroked his long white beard.
"But didn't we eradicate the Heavenly Divine Cult that emerged in the Heavenly Mountains a century ago?"
A hundred years prior, the Heavenly Divine Cult—claiming descent from the Demonic Cult—had appeared in the Heavenly Mountains, only to be utterly annihilated by the then-Alliance Leader, the Heaven-Soaring Great Emperor.
"Not their level."
"They were said to have created a hundred Iron Corpses as well."
"This procedure is different."
"It fundamentally trains a bizarre martial art that fuses stealth techniques and swordsmanship to the peak realm. Then, those peak masters undergo an absurd procedure called Fluid Bone Sword to become these monsters."
A horrific process requiring at least thirty peak experts to create a single monster.
"The reports said at least twenty of these monsters moved among the crowds."
"......"
Even Hyeok Mu-gang fell silent at the impossible odds and numbers.
"......A sect capable of grinding through at least six hundred peak experts..."
"There is none in the Central Plains martial world."
Peak was the final realm an ordinary warrior could aspire to—but only with a lifetime of effort and a supportive background.
The notion of an organization that could sacrifice three hundred such experts was terrifying to even imagine.
"In any event, the effects were undeniably potent. Without this corpse, we wouldn't have even traced their movements."
Peak experts assimilating into the darkness for ambushes—just the thought sent chills down the spine.
"Sigh... I don't know."
Hyeok Mu-gang's reaction was understandable. Even he, who saw the entire martial world like the palm of his hand, was at a loss.
"For now, start by assuming a hypothetical enemy."
"......Will the Elder Hall accept that?"
"......That's why we're keeping it among ourselves first. Fortunately, they haven't been active since the Boksuyang Plains incident."
"Come to think of it, Kunlun Sect hasn't said a word."
The Demonic Cult had once been based in the Heavenly Mountains. Kunlun Sect had been the vanguard blocking them, serving as the White Path sects' scouts.
Jegal Somyeong pursed his lips.
"They're busy with the Regular Examination."
This session was proving more tumultuous than any before.
"So that's why the Elder Hall's been quiet."
"......?"
"Jin Sowoon of Tae-eul Gate, was it?"
"!!"
Jegal Somyeong's eyes snapped wide.
With the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families wielding unprecedented influence, neither side could claim the Alliance Leadership. In the end, they'd elected Baek Su-sin-geom Hyeok Mu-gang, a lone powerhouse without a clan. Yet somehow, he seemed to have his own intelligence network.
"It's merely to assist with Alliance Leader duties. If the Chief Strategist desires, I can introduce them."
Jegal Somyeong shook his head after a moment's thought.
What did it matter if a man who could single-handedly face all the elders of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families had a faction or not?
"No need. I apologize for not preparing them sooner."
"Haha, still, it must be disappointing. I heard you'd marked that child, Jin Sowoon."
Jegal Somyeong clicked his tongue at Hyeok Mu-gang's words.
Without the Elder Hall's schemes, he could've placed the first Murim Academy graduate in Mantongbu.
"No helping it. He'll come for mandatory service anyway. I'll seat him then."
"Or how about this? I'll bring him to the Alliance Leader's residence first. Then, at the right time, hand him over to Mantongbu."
Jegal Somyeong eyed Hyeok Mu-gang with utter distrust.
"You know how swamped Mantongbu is, and you say that?!"
"Ah, well... just until he enters Mantongbu proper..."
"If that were the plan, I'd have brought him myself ages ago! Do you think I lack the means? It's all politics! Politics!"
"......Ahem. My apologies, Chief Strategist. I got ahead of myself."
"Never say it again. I've reserved him, and I won't let anyone take him."
Mengjuwon had poached the most talent destined for Mantongbu. Now they were eyeing even academy scholars— the Alliance Leader's love for talent was excessive.
'If you're like that, just found your own sect.'
Despite multiple offers to help establish a sect, he'd always refused—yet his greed for talent made little sense.
'Worried I'll steal him away again, huh.'
Vowing not to lose him this time, Jegal Somyeong headed to Mantongbu—only to click his tongue at the sight of someone sprinting frantically toward Mengjuwon.
"Tsk tsk. What the hell's in that fool's head?"
He bellowed toward Mengjuwon.
"You bastard! Do you not know where this is, that you're running like that?!"
"Chief Strategist, sir—it's a disaster!"
But seeing Maeng Ju-won's urgent, distraught face made his heart sink. The usually laid-back man's panic was all the more terrifying.
"Has the Heavenly Demon God already..."
"Our little Sowoon! He's been thrown into Sahaung Peak by the vicious schemes of the Nine Great Sects' bastards!"
"......"
"Aigoo, aigoo, it's all over—he'll never marry now. Aigoo, aigoo."
Watching the man wail as if he'd lost a parent, Jegal Somyeong rolled up his sleeves.
#
"They say a good beating cures the mad."
At Seong Moran's words, everyone's gazes turned to the fainted Jin Sowoon.
"He has to wake up first for a beating or whatever."
Thanks to the token of the Sahaung Peak Lord that Jin Sowoon had produced upon entering, their lives were spared for the moment—but the situation was far from good.
Setting aside how he'd obtained the Peak Lord's token, the fact that the bearer himself remained unconscious meant they couldn't even meet the lord and were now locked in this single room under the watch of a thousand Black Path warriors.
What frustrated them further was the physician's verdict after treating Jin Sowoon.
"He's already a dead man. Don't wait—save yourselves. How much did he abuse his body... Tsk tsk."
At those words, not only the gold-silver-bronze brothers but even Namgung Seonhwa remained out of it.
They'd followed at Jin Sowoon's words of "last chance," but with him still unconscious, every plan had crumbled.
Bang.
The door burst open, and a dozen Black Path warriors entered. All wore the black armor symbolic of Sahaung Peak.
Behind them lumbered a giant of a man.
"Still not awake?"
No one dared protest his rude demeanor.
Geopa Hwang Busik. Sahaung Peak's fourth-in-command and one of the Black Path's top experts.
The tale of thirty first-rate Point Creation Sect warriors clashing with him and ending up as corpses was proof enough of his strength.
"It's only been two days."
"If he doesn't wake within two days, he's as good as dead. And in this urgent situation, do we have the luxury to idly treat him?"
Seong Moran couldn't suppress her rising fury.
"We came bearing the Peak Lord's token. Show us some basic courtesy."
Hwang Busik snorted.
"It was the Black Flame Dragon Jin Sowoon who brought the Peak Lord's token. And since he won't wake, that token's value is spent."
"Let us meet the Peak Lord. I know his will."
Any remnant of a smile vanished from Hwang Busik's face.
"Hey, brat. Do you think the Peak Lord is someone a pup like you can meet?"
"......"
"Outside, the Nine Great Sects' disciples are clamoring to hand over Jin Sowoon's group. The Black Path doesn't meddle in the Murim Alliance's events to begin with. We've already exhausted the token's utility by giving you two days."
"No way..."
What had they risked their lives for to come here? In the end, they'd endangered the one person they could rely on most.
Seong Moran couldn't lift her head.
"Pack your things and leave. We'll at least handle the Black Flame Dragon's treatment."
"......"
"Be out of Sahaung Peak before sunset."
Regardless of Seong Moran and the group's despair, Hwang Busik turned to leave without hesitation.
"......Is Sahaung Peak afraid of the Nine Great Sects' disciples?"
"!!!"
Hwang Busik froze in place. Terrifying energy exploded from his body.
"Which brat dares..."
Regardless of his erupting aura, everyone turned to where they'd last seen the "madman."
"Young Master Jin!!!"
"Young Master Jin!!!"
"Eldest senior brother!"
There stood Jin Sowoon, unsteadily rising to his feet.
"Hmph! Black Flame Dragon, you've finally awakened?"
"Good thing it's not over two days. Will you guide me to the one who bestowed that damned nickname? Tell him Jin Sowoon has come to repay his debt."