Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Saving Sang Gang-jo!
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*KRA-BOOM!*
*CRACK!*
*KREEE-AAANG!*
*CRUUUNCH!*
Loud noises erupted one after another from within the cluster of large and small boulders.
Although it was far from the village and the Dong-ro Branch, the sounds would have echoed faintly in the dead of night.
In the end, unable to contain my excitement, I smashed every last rock in sight before returning to the Dong-ro Branch, thoroughly satisfied.
* * *
I spent the entire night lost in thought.
Only as dawn broke did I reach a conclusion about the events of the previous night.
I couldn't remember what internal art I had practiced in the past, but I deduced the reason a bluish-white light gathered when I drew upon my power.
‘It must be deeply connected to the ten years I spent frozen solid at the bottom of that underground lake!’
That underground lake was no ordinary body of water. When I fell in, I couldn't move a single finger, and the moment my body sank to the bottom, the entire lake had instantly frozen white.
A lake where one couldn't move and which turned to ice the moment one fell in could not possibly be ordinary. It clearly possessed a very special power.
I was trapped in that icy lake for a full ten years, only managing to escape thanks to an earthquake.
That underground lake must have been formed by a convergence of Yin energy. That's why, during the ten years I lay dormant as ice, the Yin energy from the lake must have accumulated inside my body.
That would explain why Yin energy gathers when I channel my power, and why my target freezes when I unleash it.
For now, that was the only way I could understand it.
In any case, the fact that I had obtained such an incredible stroke of luck was a blessing.
* * *
After breakfast, I tried to channel my power into my palm in my room.
But far from a bluish-white light, there was no change at all.
I tried a dozen more times, but the result was the same. The bluish-white light that had gathered in my palm last night refused to appear.
After thinking hard, I focused on the fact that last night had been a full moon.
‘It seems the Yin energy of the full moon awakened the power in my dantian.’
Whether I was right or wrong, it was the only explanation I could come up with for now.
* * *
Branch Master An Do-pil led Team 1 and Team 2 out for a regular patrol of the prefecture.
Since the Ten Heavens of the Unorthodox Path and the Dong-ro Regional Branch of the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union also conducted regular patrols every three days, the Dong-ro Branch of the Martial Alliance couldn't afford to be absent.
Normally, the entire branch would go out, leaving only one member behind, but today, Team 3 was left behind.
This was, of course, to protect Sang Gang-jo.
* * *
I visited several bookstores in the prefecture and browsed through books about Yin energy.
I went to all five bookstores in Dong-ro Prefecture and read through more than twenty books related to the subject.
There was no need to buy the books. I could just stand there, read them cover to cover, and commit everything to memory, then simply place the books back on the shelf and leave.
On my way back to the Dong-ro Branch, I meticulously organized the information I had read.
The moment I willed it, the important contents of the various books were compiled and arranged in my mind.
According to what I had organized, the Yin energy drifting between heaven and earth gathers to become Extreme Yin Energy.
And when that Extreme Yin Energy accumulates for tens of thousands of years, it forms a lake called the Yin Essence Abyss.
Extreme Yin Energy is the ultimate state of Yin energy. When it gathers for millennia, all impurities are annihilated, leaving only the purest essence—the Yin Essence—which then forms the Yin Essence Abyss.
To put it another way, Extreme Yin is a thousand times more potent than Yin energy, and Yin Essence is a thousand times more potent than Extreme Yin. The lake formed by the accumulation of Yin Essence is the Yin Essence Abyss.
The underground lake I fell into was a Yin Essence Abyss, and I had frozen solid after falling in.
That was ten years ago. It meant my body had been steeped in an underground lake of Yin Essence—a thousand times more potent than Extreme Yin—for a full decade.
If you salt a fish, it will be cured in half a day. After a few months, it will be so thoroughly infused with salt that it becomes a preserved delicacy.
But I had been steeped in a Yin Essence Abyss for ten years. Just how deeply had I been marinated?
In Yin Essence, a thousand times stronger than Extreme Yin Energy.
And most importantly, I discovered the crucial reason why I was able to escape after being trapped at the bottom of the Yin Essence Abyss for ten years.
When all the Yin Essence pervading the abyss is depleted, it naturally collapses.
In other words, while I lay at the bottom of the Yin Essence Abyss, I had absorbed every last drop of its Yin Essence over ten long years.
The moment the final drop of Yin Essence was absorbed into my body, the abyss collapsed, triggering an earthquake.
That was how I returned to the world.
That's right! A tremendous amount of Yin Essence was accumulated in my dantian.
* * *
When I returned to the Dong-ro Branch, I heard clashing sounds from behind the Hall of Team 3. I went to check and saw Deung Bo and Yeon Cheon sparring with wooden swords, honing their swordsmanship.
A little farther away, Dam Geum-hu was practicing with his wooden sword against a training dummy.
I entered the Hall of Team 3 and walked to my room.
Inside the hall, the first room by the entrance was a lounge. After that were five rooms in a row: Deung Bo's, Dam Geum-hu's, Yeon Cheon's, Sang Gang-jo's, and finally mine at the end.
* * *
As I lay on my bed, lost in thought, I heard a sound from the next room.
*Thud!*
It was the sound of Sang Gang-jo opening his window.
I immediately focused my hearing and detected the sound of him slipping out the window, the swish of air, and the flutter of his clothes.
‘It works!’
The fact that my hearing could be enhanced was proof that my body would react instantly to anything happening around me.
The fact that my hearing had sharpened was more important to me than where Sang Gang-jo was going.
I quickly opened my palm and drew upon my power.
*Sssshhh…*
A bluish-white light gathered, and my palm became translucent.
‘This works too!’
It confirmed one thing. When my body reacted, I could also generate the bluish-white light.
Just then, I heard another sound.
*Flutter! Swish! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
It was the sound of several people rushing somewhere not far away, their clothes flapping as they cut through the air.
They were heading in the same direction Sang Gang-jo had gone just a moment ago.
I immediately understood what was happening.
Sang Gang-jo had sensed his pursuers were nearby and had fled to a different location.
His intention was likely to lure the pursuers away to avoid bringing harm to the Dong-ro Branch, while simultaneously finding a secret place to hide and shake them off.
Those pursuers were impressive, though. Sang Gang-jo must have been convinced he had completely lost them when he arrived at the Dong-ro Branch.
Moreover, even though he was disguised as a branch member, his pursuers had pinpointed his location as if by magic.
* * *
I left the Dong-ro Branch and surveyed the direction Sang Gang-jo and his pursuers had taken.
On the sandy bank of the Cheondang River, a mess of numerous footprints led upstream.
Judging by the tracks, there were about twenty pursuers, all at the level of first-rate masters.
I could estimate their martial prowess from the footprints because of their depth and spacing.
The footprints were only lightly pressed into the sand, and they were spaced two zhang apart, leading me to surmise they were first-rate masters.
Unless a supreme master were to use a high-level lightness art like wind-riding flight to soar through the sky, they would inevitably leave footprints when running on sand.
Back when I was a low-ranking warrior at the Martial Alliance Headquarters, I participated in battles more than two hundred and fifty days a year.
Though I was of low rank, I sometimes accompanied powerful, high-ranking figures, gaining a wealth of experience that I accumulated over time.
I'll say it again: I never forget anything I see or hear.
At first, I thought about just leaving Sang Gang-jo to his fate, whether he lived or died.
But on second thought, Sang Gang-jo was currently a member of Team 3 of the Dong-ro Branch.
What that meant was, if something happened to him, it was my responsibility. I was the Team Leader, and he was my team member, wasn't he?
Damn it! This is why you have to think things through carefully before making a decision.
* * *
The tracks led from the riverbank up into the adjacent mountain before disappearing.
The footprints on the sandy bank had made the trail easy to follow, but now that the pursuers had entered the mountain, the trail was lost. It was a predicament.
I paused for a moment, looking into the forest, and spotted some grass bent in one direction a short distance away.
“...!”
Not only that, but I also noticed a few other peculiarities in the area where the grass was bent.
A thin twig was broken, a few leaves were stuck to a tree, and the crushed grass and scattered leaves on the ground all came into view at once.
My mind suddenly cleared, and I took a few steps into the mountain.
Faint traces, just like the ones I had just seen, all leading in one direction, flooded my vision.
I also instantly understood the meaning behind the various insects buzzing about frantically and the mountain birds chirping loudly in the trees.
The pursuers had passed through, startling the insects and birds into flight.
The fact that I could discern these things meant I must have learned tracking skills.
Among the one hundred and eighty-nine martial arts manuals I took from the Martial Alliance's armory, there must have been a book on tracking.
Knowing my own personality, I would have definitely chosen a book on tracking.
‘Ak Bi-ryong! How impressive!’
I wanted to praise myself.
‘That way!’
*Taat!*
I kicked off the ground with all my might and shot off in the direction the tracks indicated.
*Shiiiik!*
As I sped through the dense forest, weaving between packed trees and rocks, I realized something and flinched.
‘Huh? I’m using a lightness art, aren’t I?’
Without even realizing it, I was running through the dense mountain at a speed that rivaled a galloping steed.
The lightness art I was currently using was not the low-grade technique from my days as a low-ranking warrior in the Martial Alliance.
Back then, it was less a lightness art and more just running like a madman on two feet.
But what I was using now was undoubtedly the dazzling lightness art of a first-rate master, which I had once admired.
During my three years and five months of training on Gwalchang Mountain, I must have naturally learned a lightness art as well. How could someone as thorough as me have overlooked it?
I didn't know what kind of lightness art I had learned, but it had shown up right when I needed it.
*Tatat! Shuuuk!*
This time, I lightly kicked off the dense trees in my path and soared diagonally into the air.
This was the very same advanced lightness art used by top-tier masters that I used to drool over with envy.
‘Whoa! This is amazing!’
I flew swiftly three zhang above the ground, lightly stepping and pushing off of branches.
Without anyone telling me, I knew I was currently using fifty percent of my total power to execute this lightness art.
‘Hehehe! And this is only at fifty percent!’
My heart pounded, and a grin stretched from ear to ear.
‘Hahahaha! Ak Bi-ryong! You're incredible!’
Even from this height, the tracks on the ground were clearly visible, allowing me to see exactly where the pursuers had gone.
I had clearly mastered tracking skills and an amazing lightness art.
As I moved southeast through the dense mountain, a red firework suddenly shot high into the sky a few hundred zhang ahead.
*Shuuuuu!*
It was a signal flare from the pursuers. They had found Sang Gang-jo and were calling for backup.
If the signal flare was visible, it meant reinforcements were not far away.