#6. The Third-Rate Martial Artist Gathering Spiritual Elixirs (4)
After the Gye-ryong Merchant Group had the Frost Plum Pill stolen from them, all traces of the Soul-Stealing Guest vanished cleanly.
It wasn't surprising that bandits like them operated under multiple identities, but the real mystery was that no one who seemed to have consumed the Frost Plum Pill ever appeared.
This wasn't just any treasure—it was a spirit pill, something you couldn't buy even for money. Even if they sold it, there should have been some rising master showing signs of having taken it.
The Frost Plum Pill and the Soul-Stealing Guest had disappeared without a trace, just like that.
"Doesn't make sense."
While sifting through the mission reports in the archive hall, two names caught his eye.
Gu Il-mu of the Jeomchang Five Swords.
Jang Han-gi of the Jeomchang Five Swords.
The Jeomchang Five Swords, who originally moved as a group of five, had gradually split into groups of three and two for missions, and the completion rate for Gu Il-mu and Jang Han-gi's missions was far higher than the other three.
"So this is where the tragedy of the Jeomchang Twin Swords began."
This was the start of the incident that would later split Jeomchang into two factions, leading to their self-destruction.
'The one who assigned missions to Hebi was also from Jeomchang Sect. They've been planning this for a very long time.'
Now that he'd grasped the inside story of the incident, the problem was how to steal it back.
No matter how well he knew Jeomchang Sect's martial arts, including even Jeogal Samsik's, he couldn't take on two of the Jeomchang Five Swords alone.
That's why he'd come up with a trap.
No matter how skilled a warrior, it wasn't easy to fight while watching every step underfoot.
"You idiots. You think we're that easy to take down?"
Jang Han-gi's foot lifted high into the air.
Chaesangbi, one of the supreme lightness skills.
Indeed, with Chaesangbi, the trap might not trigger.
But.
"What warrior in the world can fight while using Chaesangbi? Have you already made the list of the Hundred Great Masters of the World?"
Without needing any forms, he poured his full inner energy into the Samjae Sword Technique and struck. Jang Han-gi, unable to move his feet recklessly, twisted his body in a bizarre fashion to regain his balance.
"You... you know who we are."
"Yeah, I know you pretty well."
"Aren't you afraid of the vengeance from Great Jeomchang and the Murim Alliance?"
"You think the Jeomchang Five Swords, caught red-handed robbing, are gonna report it to another robber they ran into?"
"......"
Gu Il-mu finally shattered the trap and spoke.
"Only this guy knows where the traps are. Han-gi, fire your arrows and flip the area upside down."
"Yes, sa-hyung."
With those words, the two locked eyes, nodded, and leaped up simultaneously.
Thud thud thud thud.
Clank. Clank. Clank.
The ground's surface churned violently under the relentless Nakyeong Palm, revealing the ankle-targeting traps in ruins.
Leaves and branches tangled wildly from the Nakyeong Palm, completely altering the area's appearance.
"Now even he won't know where the traps are."
Sword strikes from the Sail Sword Technique poured from the hands of the two as they leaped over the broken traps.
I had no intention of countering the Sail Sword Technique directly and retreated several steps.
"How?!"
They couldn't hide their shock at the fact that I'd retreated several steps without stepping on a single trap.
"The spots he stepped on—only step there!"
"Yes!"
After messing up the surroundings, follow only in the opponent's footsteps.
They were indeed sharp enough to earn a place among the Jeomchang Five Swords.
"Argh!"
This time, Jang Han-gi screamed as he forcibly broke a trap that had dug into his ankle.
"Didn't think a single footprint's difference would trigger the trap?"
Even stepping on the same spots, I was one person, and they were two. Naturally, one of them had to hit a trap.
"You bastard! Reveal your identity, and I'll tear your entire clan apart!"
"If you can get out of here alive."
Gu Il-mu began unleashing the Sail Sword Technique at full power.
He clearly didn't care about traps anymore, so I met it head-on with the Crushing Form of the Sail Sword Technique.
Clang clang clang clang clang.
In an instant, after six clashes.
Gu Il-mu's face twisted as he stared at his sword.
"What the..."
The Crushing Form wasn't just a defensive technique to block the opponent's martial art.
It blocked the path of their technique and twisted their energy, making it impossible for them to exert force.
Naturally, clashing with the Crushing Form would make their qi falter and their body refuse to obey.
Normally, they might push through with sheer grit and inner strength, but now, with deadly traps buried who-knows-where...
"You got time to space out like that?"
Pushed back by the Crushing Form, Gu Il-mu's opposite foot stepped on a trap.
"Arrrgh!"
"Gu sa-hyung!"
As Jang Han-gi charged in with the Baekgeum Sword Technique, I threw a stone at the trap where his foot would land, triggering it. His foot tangled unnaturally.
"Kuh!"
"Don't take your eyes off me."
And as if waiting, I thrust my sword in.
The Piercing Form of the Socheon Sword Technique.
Inferior to the Sail Sword Technique, but the speed of the Socheon Sword Technique, based on quick-draw principles, wasn't something to dodge easily in a panicked state.
Squish.
Stab.
"Guh."
Red blood spurted from Jang Han-gi's mouth, and he collapsed, eyes bloodshot and bulging.
"Han-gi!"
Shocked by Jang Han-gi's death, Gu Il-mu trembled violently.
After a moment to regain his composure, he threw the neck protector and manual he'd stashed in his robes to the ground.
"If you let me go now, I'll forget everything that happened here."
"Fine. I'll let you go."
I nodded readily and pretended to pick up the neck protector. At that moment, Gu Il-mu unleashed Formless Fist and Seven Joints Hand.
My sword, as if waiting, sliced through the forms of fist and hand, leaving a deep gash on Gu Il-mu's throat.
"H-how..."
"I've dealt with you bastards breaking promises plenty in my past life."
Gu Il-mu collapsed onto the cold ground with a look of utter confusion.
"Hah, hah."
My breathing finally slowed, and I stared at Jang Han-gi and Gu Il-mu for a long while.
Their wretched, dead forms.
"I won..."
It was a gruesome scene of death, one that would be etched in my memory forever now that I'd seen it. But I didn't want to turn away.
This was the first time I'd seen chosen ones like them—not third-rate warriors like me—die.
I didn't even think to grab the Frost Plum Pill or the manual. Instead, I spent time etching this scene even more vividly into my memory.
#
"Tae-eul Gate of Hebi?"
Jegal Somyeong, wondering if such a sect even existed, soon nodded with an "Ah!"
"Isn't it one of the 108 Peaks?"
"Hebi has many powerful sects already. It's time to replace them with some new peaks."
A sect expanding its influence in Hebi... That would be the Iron Sword Sect, and he'd heard Namgung Taewon was backing them lately. Must be for that reason.
Jegal Somyeong eyed the elder, who was sipping tea with feigned aloofness.
"Has Tae-eul Gate done something wrong?"
By principle, once a sect was listed among the 108 Peaks, it wasn't replaced unless it committed a grave offense.
That was the meaning of a blood alliance.
"Wrong... Isn't stagnating and declining day by day a great offense for a blood ally of the Murim Alliance?"
Jegal Somyeong sipped his tea without responding to Namgung Taewon's words.
An elder of the Murim Alliance—one of only thirty seats in the decision-making body—meant not just ability, but formidable backing.
Jegal Somyeong wouldn't lose in martial prowess or background, but to rebuff an elder's tantrum required justification.
Having sorted his thoughts, Jegal Somyeong spoke.
"If the 108 Peaks are declining, that's the Murim Alliance's failing too. Hm, then right now, the Murim Alliance... no, I must be doing something wrong."
Namgung Taewon's face twitched slightly.
"That's not what I meant."
Exposing his true intentions so quickly.
Watching this, Jegal Somyeong couldn't help but question.
'Why did Taeha entrust this guy with an elder seat?'
A position that should have gone to Namgung Taeha, head of the Namgung family.
Namgung Taewon was collateral blood, not someone who could easily sit there.
"I'm aware many of the 108 Peaks are waning. But the 108 Peaks weren't created to rank sects in the Murim Alliance. They were made to carry forward the bond of those who fought together in the most dangerous, grueling times of the past."
"Ugh..."
Namgung Taewon, thinking he'd already won, smacked his lips before speaking.
"Still, if the 108 Peaks remain stagnant in stable positions, won't they rot away?"
"That's why we manage them irregularly, even if it's not constant."
"Hm... Understood. But I've heard Tae-eul Gate is profiting off 'special admission' rights."
"......"
An old issue persisting for ages.
No major side effects, and for the duty-laden 108 Peaks, such perks were few and far between— so they'd let it slide.
"Ah, just mentioning it. Not like I want to shoehorn anyone into the 108 Peaks."
"Hm. Is your business done?"
"The Iron Sword Sect lord in Hebi is turning sixty, holding a feast. Since it's his sixtieth, how about the Chief Strategist attends? Here's the invitation."
"Heh. Heh."
Was the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist such a leisurely position?
"Of course, I know you're busy. But even you need rest, Chief Strategist. You'll fall ill at this rate. How about investigating that 'special admission' corruption I mentioned on the way to Iron Sword Sect?"
How much had the Iron Sword Sect fed Namgung Taewon to snag an invitation for the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist?
This was his goal from the start, no doubt.
He could conjure a hundred reasons to refuse, but dropped it.
No point talking to this guy.
Deal with the one who placed him instead.
"Hm, not a bad idea. When's the sixtieth?"
#
The Orthodox-Demonic Great War was hell itself.
Monstrous demonic cultists, one and all, and low-grade warriors charging at them, endlessly shredded.
No countermeasures or strategies.
The Murim Alliance used its absolute dominance over the martial world to gather warriors, then shoved them onto the battlefield.
Low-grade warriors, pushed into the fray with vague hopes of earning merit and rising in the Alliance, watched their swords shatter futilely and realized their naivety—but it was far too late.
Compensation for those ground to dust? None.
At best, those already registered with the Alliance got a death notice sent home.
But even that was early in the war.
Soon, registered members vanished without a trace of where they died.
And the Murim Alliance, to be held accountable, had fled to the North Sea.
The Jeomchang Five Swords would hold 5th or 6th-grade status in the Alliance.
Their disappearance would be taken seriously, prompting Alliance members to scour all of Hebi for traces.
So, not far from where the Soul-Stealing Guest was buried, he dug a deep hole, interred the Jeomchang Five Swords, then tossed in a beast caught from the mountains on top and tamped down the earth.
At least the corpse stench wouldn't reveal their bodies.
To recover from the fatigue of battling the Jeomchang Five Swords and absorb the Frost Plum Pill, he rented an inn room and holed up for days.
Each time he came down to the restaurant for meals, people buzzed about the Frost Plum Pill lost by the Gye-ryong Merchant Group.
Just like in his past life, the Gye-ryong Merchant Group leader and Gye Cheolyeong wailed, while Huashan experts dumped blame on Gye Yeonseok and returned to their sect.
Speculation on where the vanished Frost Plum Pill went made for prime drinking gossip.
Who wouldn't be intrigued by such a priceless treasure vanishing ownerless, even if they couldn't have it?
They just couldn't imagine someone upstairs, sweating over absorbing that very pill while they drank.
"Hoo."
When he quietly opened his eyes, deep darkness blanketed the room.
His adapted eyes could even spot dust piled in the corner of the pitch-black chamber, and moving his arms and legs produced no muscle friction sounds.
After days immersed in meditation, his stomach was empty, but he felt no hunger.
'A bit over half a gakja, roughly.'
The inner energy in his dantian had grown from finger-width size to two fingers' worth.
The level he'd accumulated over a lifetime in his past life.
Gathered rapidly, but from precious spirit medicines and pills, refined with the pure Tae-eul Heart Technique, much of his body's impurities had been purged.
"Ugh. The smell."
Pushing his skin with a finger squeezed out black grime, startling him into heading straight for the bathhouse.
"You've come out?"
The young errand boy, who'd guarded the restaurant all night and been dozing, snapped awake and shook his head.
"You didn't come down for days; I thought something happened."
Having prepaid the room and tipped generously to avoid interruptions during pill absorption, the boy's service was impeccable.
"Anything edible now?"
"Thin noodles and dumplings are possible."
"That'll do."
Soon, steaming thin noodles and dumplings were set before him.
"But is the restaurant usually this empty at this hour?"
The place was utterly deserted.
"No. Just a few days ago, with the Gye-ryong Merchant Group suddenly canceling their feast, it was even busier than usual."
"Ah..."
"You know what happened, right?"
"Heard they lost something."
"Yes. Whoever did it is incredible. Stole the spirit pill right under everyone's noses in that crowd. The Alliance sent an investigation team, but the trail went cold fast; couldn't find the culprit."
"Really? That's too bad."
"Right? Thought we'd recover some lost customers thanks to that, but now Iron Sword Sect's throwing a feast."
"Iron Sword Sect?"
"Yes. Their sect lord's turning sixty, so they'll feast all Seven Days Night, with events drawing drinkers from nearby villages straight to Hebi."
"Ah, it's already that time?"
"You didn't know?"
How could he not?
Iron Sword Sect lord's sixtieth birthday feast.
In the throng of people, he and his father had knelt and begged forgiveness from the Iron Sword Sect lord.