#36. The Second-Rate Warrior Facing a Legend
"Everyone, stop!"
Namgung Seonhwa's voice echoed thunderously through the cavern, shaking the very air. Those locked in fierce combat began turning their heads one by one, and the battle quickly ground to a halt.
"Has someone secured the Mita Seongsu?"
She had assumed this brutal fight had erupted because the Mita Seongsu had fallen into someone's hands, but the response was unexpected.
"No. These bastards tried to steal our food," said a group from the right side, who looked relatively put-together, pointing at the ragged bunch on the left.
"Food?"
"That's right."
"If you're hungry, leave the cave. Do you really need to kill each other over scraps?"
"We'd leave if we could!"
The retort came from the left. A man in tattered clothes staggered forward, looking like he might collapse at any moment.
"We've been surviving on moss for a week already!"
"What are you talking about? The passage opened just this morning."
"Why wait for the passage to open? More people would flock in by then anyway."
The story was that they had swum through the water before Haomen opened the passage to reach this point.
"Then why haven't you gone back?"
"Like I said earlier, we'd have left if we could. This damn formation has us trapped."
"So no one has found the Mita Seongsu after all?"
"If you want to enter that formation on the opposite side, be my guest! Not sure if you'll come back alive, though."
Hundreds had already ventured inward, but none had returned alive.
Namgung Seonhwa recalled what Yu Ji-ryang had said the moment they arrived.
"We need more investigation to identify the formation."
Addressing the group again at Yu Ji-ryang's words, she declared, "We'll investigate now."
"Screw your investigation—I'm starving to death!"
"……."
Namgung Seonhwa glanced at the right-side group, but they all bristled with wariness, clearly unwilling to share their rations.
"The Namgung family will distribute food. But from now on, anyone causing trouble won't be forgiven."
"Miss!"
"We can't! What if we can't get out?"
"Enough! If we don't figure out this formation, none of us will escape."
At Namgung Seonhwa's sharp command, her clansmen fell silent. They pulled jerky and rice pills from their bundles and handed them out.
But with only thirty Namgung warriors against nearly two hundred on the left, even the Iron Sword Sect disciples contributed their jerky and rice pills.
Despite the sacrifices from Namgung and Iron Sword Sect, many grumbled at the meager portions, but no one dared step forward again. Breaking the formation itself would be better than fighting over food anyway.
Yu Ji-ryang explained the formation in detail.
"To be precise, parts of the original formation naturally collapsed over time, and the remnants formed a natural array."
Not just Namgung Seonhwa—even I couldn't follow. Formations crumbled if even a single stone was misplaced, disrupting the harmony. It was miraculous one had endured so long, let alone reformed into a natural array from its ruins.
"……It shouldn't be possible, but…… I'm confirming now."
Yu Ji-ryang glanced at the diviners studying the formation under Namgung protection from the opposite side. Their faces had all drained of color.
"I hoped it wasn't…… but it is."
"What do you mean?"
Both left- and right-side groups perked up at our conversation.
"Have you heard of the Muryangbulgolmokhonjin?"
Gulp.
The crowd swallowed hard instead of answering. Just the name painted a grim future in their minds.
"A terrifying formation that vanished three hundred years ago—one that shouldn't exist in this world."
"……."
Namgung Seonhwa's expression soured. I stepped forward instead.
"What makes it so terrifying?"
"Once you're inside, you can't get out."
"Is that even possible?"
Formations fundamentally built new worlds on the framework of life gates and death gates. Without them, no structure could stand—just like a building without foundations.
"Of course, this one has life and death gates too. But they're hidden in a way that's impossible to find, even if you know they're there."
Hiding gates was Formation basics, yet Yu Ji-ryang's tone was grim.
"It uses the Eight Trigrams as the core framework, the Twelve Earthly Branches for paths, creating routes for all Sixty Harmonics. Influenced by the Heavenly Stems, it generates 365 variations—seemingly infinite, hence Muryangbulgolmokhonjin, the Infinite Buddha's Indestructible Soul Formation."
"……."
Early arrivals, latecomers—everyone's faces darkened.
"……Th-then, destruction! What if we destroy it? Most here are experts from Namgung and elsewhere. We smash it and leave!"
A desperate plea. Yu Ji-ryang shook his head.
"That's why it vanished. Formations protect or capture foes. This one can't be dismantled or destroyed once set."
"……N-no way."
"Small ones might shatter under immense force, but this Muryangbulgolmokhonjin spans over thirty zhang at least. Even with the cave collapse damaging part, it holds form."
"Heavens……."
The left-siders slumped to the ground one by one.
I pointed to one corner of the cavern.
"Yu Ji-ryang, didn't someone emerge from there claiming to have seen the Mita Seongsu? How do you explain that?"
"……Probably sheer luck."
"Luck?"
"Yes. Amid infinite odds, life and death gates exist."
"Then if we calculate the formation, couldn't we find the life gate and escape?"
"But paths shift constantly. You can't recalculate every time. Lose your way mid-calculation, and you forfeit your anchor—trapped forever."
"What if we memorize every path?"
"Pardon?"
"Every route from the Eight Trigrams, Twelve Branches, Sixty Harmonics, and 365 changes?"
"……Even roughly, that's over two million."
Five times the documents I'd read in Murim Alliance's Mantongbu.
"Seems feasible. Calculate them all and tell me."
"……You're serious?"
"I like jokes, but not now."
Yu Ji-ryang pondered, then nodded firmly.
"It'll take time."
The listeners wore skeptical looks mixed with faint hope.
"Namgung Clan!!"
Then, from the exit formation, a group burst out: red-robed warriors and Seo Hyeonjae with his two companions. The red robes were halved; Seo Hyeonjae, Ma Gosan, and Sa Muin looked utterly haggard.
"Where are you, Namgung Clan?!"
Seo Hyeonjae scanned around, locked eyes with me talking to Yu Ji-ryang, and shot forward with Gungsi Tan-yeong.
"You bastard! You dared deceive me!"
As his sword targeted us, Namgung warriors intercepted.
"Argh! Namgung Clan! You're all the same!"
Not just Seo Hyeonjae—Ma Gosan and Sa Muin seethed with rage too.
"Stop!"
The left- and right-siders—who'd been at each other's throats—intervened.
"They're our only way out right now!"
"Not my problem! If you don't wanna die, scram!"
"You idiots!"
Three or four right-siders charged Seo Hyeonjae. Ma Gosan and Sa Muin joined, repelling them swiftly. Then the right-siders swarmed, igniting a new brawl.
Clang, clang, clang.
Outnumbered, Seo Hyeonjae's group pulled throat guards and popped explosive blood pills.
"Huff, huff, huff."
"Hah, hah!"
Vast energy surged from them instantly. Those pressing with numbers flinched.
Seo Hyeonjae's ice spear and Sa Muin's deer antler staff sprayed blood fountains, scattering foes.
"Who dares block us?!"
Bloodshot eyes, ragged breaths, doubled inner power—the Pogeukdan's effects were clear.
Nearly 1,500 from both sides recoiled at the trio's aura.
With no more challengers, they strode toward us. Our group, including Namgung Seonhwa, prepared to counter.
Then Namgung Seonhwa shouted behind them.
"Dragon Child Hero!"
Seo Hyeonjae's group halted abruptly and turned.
Yong So-a's group was emerging from the formation.
"What sorcery is this?"
They'd entered first, yet we exited first—baffling them.
"This is the formation's terror. One wrong step, and you're lost in timeless, spaceless void forever."
As Yong So-a approached, Seo Hyeonjae blocked.
"We come first!"
"Out of my way. I show no mercy to black path scum."
"You dog……."
Seo Hyeonjae's words cut off. His hand raising the ice spear and head fell to Yong So-a's unseen sword, spraying blood.
"Arghhh!"
Ma Gosan and Sa Muin shoved his corpse aside, screaming.
"You're the same scum."
"Don't come closer! Stay back! Unless you all wanna die!"
Ma Gosan pulled a thunderbolt bomb from Seo Hyeonjae's pack, threatening. Yong So-a paused.
"Think you'll live to detonate it?"
"Fuck! Twitch a finger, and we all die here."
His comrades encircled him like a final bastion. Yong So-a turned away indifferently.
"Explain."
To Namgung Seonhwa, she detailed events. Even Yong So-a flinched at Muryangbulgolmokhonjin.
"So you can break it?"
"Not break—Yu Ji-ryang Hero and Jin Gongja will calculate and guide via life gates."
"Over two million possibilities, plus new paths from damage. Wasting effort on nonsense."
"No other way."
"……."
# Two weeks later.
I memorized paths nonstop, day and night, as Yu Ji-ryang and diviners calculated. Two thousand more entered; two hundred died fighting, three hundred vanished probing the opposite formation.
Per Yu Ji-ryang, our entry was possible only because damage allowed cavern access. Once inside the thirty-zhang span, unknown paths meant eternal entrapment.
"Everyone's at their limit."
Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa looked withered like drought-struck plants—half their food shared initially, rationed to survive this long.
"How much longer?"
"……Five more days."
"……."
Warriors suffered hunger, but diviners fared worse—poor nutrition slowing calculations.
"……Pointless."
Yong So-a rose abruptly from his corner. Strongest here, even black path notables avoided clash due to his Wudang escorts.
"Rise."
He approached Ma Gosan's black path group.
"Hand over the thunderbolt bombs."
"What?!"
Yu Ji-ryang jumped up, realizing. "No, Hero! This formation can't be broken by thunderbolt bombs."
"Can't break, but can clear a path."
"……."
White and black pathers rose slowly—desperate to escape at any cost.
"But it could alter paths unpredictably. Trust us, please."
Yong So-a eyed us coldly.
"Believe a human can memorize two million paths?"
I retorted, "So you'll go alone?"
Now I understood why nearly five thousand had died here—and how Yong So-a survived the chaos, with no tales of him lingering after.
"Fetch Murim Alliance diviners."
"Didn't you hear? It's unbreakable."
"Alliance might dwarfs a single sect."
"Our only shot is memorizing paths here. Disrupt them, and these lives are forfeit? Don't care?"
"More keep entering. Delay means endless casualties."
Yong So-a extended a hand to Ma Gosan, who groveled with Sa Muin.
"We'll give them. Take us too."
"……Fine."
"U-us too……."
"Take us!"
Clang, crash!
As crowds surged, Yong So-a drew and slashed a line on the ground.
"Cross this, and die. I'll fetch help. Wait."
"Fuck! How can we trust you?!"
"You hypocrites ever keep promises?!"
Some sided with him; others hated him. Seventy percent black pathers feared abandonment by the Alliance's prodigy.
"Die!"
Swords drew; the once-quiet cavern filled with screams.
"Gah!"
"Kak!"
Dozens charged Yong So-a, but none lasted ten exchanges. Corpses piled around him and Wudang Taoists; their overwhelming might halted the rest.
"Dragon Child Hero. Enough."
Namgung Seonhwa and warriors intervened.
"Days left. Wait a bit more."
"Wasted time on you. No more delays."
"Not at three thousand lives' stake."
"Can you stop me?"
"……Prepare Changgung Geomjin."
"Deploy!"
"Deploy!"
As Namgung activated Spear Heaven Sword Formation, Wudang unfolded Taiji Sword Formation. Namgung Seonhwa and Yong So-a clashed outside, but she seemed a child before him.
Is this real……?
I couldn't help sighing at the sword aura blooming before his blade. Not yet thirty, wielding sword energy.
Namgung Seonhwa unleashed Imperial Swordsmanship, her ace, but faltered. Only I, knowing Wudang's Taiji Divine Sword Fragmentation Form, could counter.
"No. Dragon Child's different from Oppa."
Seong Moran blocked my advance.
"Step in now, or we die trapped. I have a plan—don't worry."
Leaving her, I fired Flying Dragon Claw into the wall and yanked the silk cord.
Whirrr.
The pulley spun, launching me arrow-like.
"Namgung Sojeo, duck!"
She bowed low; I swept Black Dragon Sword overhead.
Clang!
Yong So-a retreated two steps from the ambush but regained stance instantly. I charged with Taiji Divine Sword's Fragmentation Form.
Shraararara.
A flicker of surprise crossed Yong So-a's unchanging face since entry.
"What?"
He glanced between his sword and me. Denying thought, I unleashed Fragmentation again.
Boom! Boom! Kwaboom!
Sensing oddity, he surged power. Two-chi glow coated his blade.
Insane!
Short, but definite sword aura.
Boom! Boom!
Clashing, I desperately deflected; hammer-on-anvil shock jolted from palms to arms. Thankfully, Black Dragon Sword—forged in diamond indestructible steel—held without chipping.
"Tae-eul Gate has such swordsmanship?"
"……Should've scouted 108 Peaks' strengths sooner, huh?"
Mid-Fragmentation, I shifted via Flying Dragon Claw.
Won't last long.
Jeon Cheongi created Jeon Samsik for him from Taiji Divine Sword, but he never used Fragmentation—claimed it tarnished Wudang spirit. Yet he'd never lost, even to fellow Taoists using it. Once familiar, he'd counter.
"Sword to dismantle foe's arts……."
As expected, he grasped its essence. Unlike Namgung San switching from Changgung Dayeon to Imperial when one failed, he stubbornly stuck to Taiji Divine Sword—probing mine. His pauses shortened.
"You come with me."
"Planning to kill everyone here, eh."
"……."
No counters left. I shot Flying Dragon Claw skyward.
Draining dantian fully.
"Eat this!"
Tidal release. Radiant Heaven Divine Palm erupted to obliterate him.
Kwaboom!
His brows furrowed—a rare three-lined mark.
Got him.
Relief hit—then he deflected with desperate Four-Direction Thousand-Jun, leaped, and kicked.
Thud!
Scrounging power, I fired Flying Dragon Claw.
Ping.
Yong So-a's finger strike intercepted; it clattered harmlessly.
"Jin Gongja!!"
Seong Moran shrieked from afar.
Turning, I saw my body hurtling into Muryangbulgolmokhonjin.
"No!"
Too swift to react. Vision blurred into unknown void.