Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Ways to Build Trust - 3
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The inside of the cave was dark. But even so, it wasn't difficult to navigate. Chaejin was a seasoned expert, and darkness like this couldn't hinder her vision.
"Ah. Watch out there."
I nearly tripped. Right. Chaejin might be a seasoned expert, but I'm not, so of course I'm not used to the dark.
"Shouldn't we use a glowstone or something...?"
"Yangmyeong might spot the light and prepare for us."
"True enough."
We had to keep our conversation to whispers. We were already stepping lightly using the footwork from the Subtle Taiji Fist to minimize our footsteps, so we might as well maintain secrecy as best we could.
If we got caught, there was nothing for it.
"Ah. The cave is widening out."
The downward path was broadening, and a faint light emanated from deeper inside. It wasn't firelight. Glowstones, maybe? They didn't look very expensive, judging by the murky glow.
"How long do you think it'll take to deal with Yangmyeong?"
"Hard to say... Even if it drags on, I'll take her down within a hundred seconds or so."
Chaejin laid out her assessment plainly, combining public knowledge about Yangmyeong with the intel we'd gotten from Hano earlier.
A hundred seconds or so.
"Think you can do it in eighty?"
I asked.
"You're Full Moon Pavilion's senior disciple, the Moonlight Sword, after all."
Pfft. A smile tugged at Chaejin's lips. Without erasing the gentle curve of her mouth, she fixed her dark eyes on me and replied calmly.
"Aren't you trusting me a bit too much? Fine. I'll wrap it up in eighty seconds."
"Good."
If Chaejin unleashed her Moonlight Sword Art, she could definitely capture Yangmyeong in eighty seconds. I nodded lightly and kept walking steadily.
And then...
We spotted them.
The Soul-Frozen thralls.
And in their midst, an old woman brewing some kind of potion in a massive cauldron.
She had a hideous face. Her nose was long, her eyes slanted and narrow, her back hunched. Her hands looked as gnarled as old tree roots, and her long, sharp nails were painted black.
She stirred the contents of the cauldron gravely with a long ladle, then let out a deep sigh.
She shook a bell, and one of the Soul-Frozen responded.
It was a young girl. Younger-looking than even Sayoon.
She beckoned the girl closer, then reached out and clawed a wound into her arm. Crimson blood trickled down, and the old woman licked it up with her long, slimy tongue.
At that moment, vitality bloomed across the hag's face.
"...Disgusting."
Well. Hags like her were all the same.
There were plenty of monsters out there who sustained their lives by stealing others' vitality. The silver lining was that this one, Yangmyeong, was among the weaker ones.
"Hm... The Soul-Frozen are the problem, though. Didn't expect there to be so many."
"I'll handle the Soul-Frozen. I have a way to deal with th—"
That was when it happened. Not satisfied with the girl's blood, perhaps? Yangmyeong hurled the ladle to the ground and let out a grotesque shriek, thrusting out her hand. At the same time, another girl shuffled forward—dressed a bit more cleanly than the first.
It was O Yuna, daughter of O Chil, the head of the Jinwon Party.
Yangmyeong yanked the dazed girl roughly toward her and bared her teeth. They gleamed wickedly in the glowstone light. She was probably about to bite into the girl's arm and drain more blood and life force.
Seeing that, I knew we couldn't wait any longer.
"No choice. Let's go."
-Shing!!
At my command, Chaejin asked no questions. True to her warrior spirit, she simply proved herself with action. The sword trapped in its sheath whipped out, its silver blade aura slicing straight for Yangmyeong's head.
"Kyaaak!!"
But as Chaejin had said, Yangmyeong was no pushover herself. She channeled black energy into her branch-like hand and swatted away the crescent blade aura, snarling at us.
"Who dares?!"
Her shrill cry echoed through the cavern. Chaejin, already charging forward, answered with another swing of her sword instead of words.
-Ting...!!
Chaejin's ambush threw Yangmyeong off balance. The hag quickly shook her bell, and the Soul-Frozen surged to surround and pressure Chaejin.
"Kekeke!! A wench from Full Moon Pavilion!! Come on, try killing me!!"
As the Soul-Frozen swarmed to block her, Chaejin gritted her teeth. She stomped once—thud—and her inner energy erupted, sending the approaching thralls flying back. But the delay blunted her assault, and the crafty veteran Yangmyeong didn't miss the opening.
She directed the Soul-Frozen to pin Chaejin down, then struck at the gap.
Like I'd let that happen.
-Whoosh!!
Thanks to steady training that had built up my inner energy, I'd managed to refine the Five Animals Frolic to a decent level.
Which meant I could manifest fire qi through the fire form, just like Sayoon had before.
"You mangy cur!!"
I could make Yangmyeong spit curses in rage.
The Soul-Frozen who'd been about to attack Chaejin turned on me instead, eyes rolled back in frenzy.
"So why the obsession with these failed experiments, the Soul-Frozen?"
I sneered at Yangmyeong as she gnashed her teeth.
Yes. Failed experiments.
The Soul-Frozen were exactly that—failures.
The Empire had poured resources into research to counter the Demonic Cult, one branch of which was soldiers devoid of fear.
Everyone feels fear. The Empire's research division theorized it stemmed from the soul's emotions.
What if they froze the soul to erase those emotions?
If they could create soldiers incapable of feeling, with blocked wills that obeyed orders alone, they'd have warriors who wouldn't falter against demonic arts.
The project started with ample backing but ended in failure.
They succeeded in dosing people with special drugs to block the flow of the five elements, freezing the soul, erasing fear, strengthening the body, and enforcing obedience.
But that was the problem.
Just as water flows downward and night follows day, humans naturally respond to the five elements.
They could suppress it with constant commands and the caster's focus, but when that failed, the Soul-Frozen reacted hypersensitively to the elements.
Due to this fatal flaw, the Soul-Frozen soldier program collapsed, and the Empire pivoted to other research.
But those who ran the project couldn't easily accept failure.
Especially not brilliant researchers with strong pride, backed by imperial funds.
Desperate to shed the label of failure, they pressed on and gradually fell into depravity.
It wasn't a failure.
It wasn't wrong.
They just lacked funding, test subjects, and the right method.
Deluding themselves, they continued their work.
But without imperial support, how?
They started abducting civilians for subjects and attacking innocents for rare ingredients.
In their delusion of great discovery, they crossed the line.
Problems mounted in the process, and in dealing with them, the martial world developed countermeasures against Soul-Frozen.
One was exploiting their instinctive reactions to the five elements.
Fire.
Scholars thought Soul-Frozen hated fire—perhaps because it could melt their frozen souls and "save" them?
Without orders, they swarmed toward flames like moths, as if facing mortal enemies.
I lured the frenzied Soul-Frozen charging at me, buying time. I glanced toward Chaejin.
Each flash of her silver moonlight blade aura forced Yangmyeong back with curses.
As expected, Yangmyeong couldn't beat Chaejin, not even enough spare focus to command her thralls.
One moment of concentration, and her head would roll.
So there was only one thing left to do.
"Kyaaaak!!"
A haggard middle-aged woman shrieked horrifically as she caught up to me and lunged.
Driven solely by instinct to snuff out my fire qi, her attack was pure beast. But I wasn't about to get hit by that.
If I did, Chaejin would double my training time.
Her thrusting fist held no profound technique, no dominance.
Not even emotion.
Just the instincts of a soul frozen and body enhanced in the process. Animalistic, nothing more.
I evaded several such simplistic strikes and extended my hand.
No need to block. It was just Taiji.
The punch ignoring her own defense spun in my left palm in an instant.
Her fist, aimed to crush my skull, lost direction and cleaved empty air. Off-balance, the woman staggered toward me.
Yet I didn't stop. Accepting her momentum fully, I pivoted on my right foot.
The moment her back met mine from facing me head-on, I lightly tensed.
Metal.
Scholars thought Soul-Frozen feared metal—worried it might wound their souls?
The Subtle Taiji Fist based on the Five Animals Frolic's metal form worked wonders.
A mere tap sent the middle-aged woman tumbling across the ground.
"Kraaaah!!"
As I blocked her, a girl with dark circles under her eyes leaped at me. She aimed to smother me with her whole body, but no need to take it head-on.
Just step back once.
Wood.
Scholars believed Soul-Frozen welcomed trees—the life energy within might awaken their frozen souls?
So they clung to wood like long-lost family.
I unleashed the wood form of the Five Animals Frolic. The falling girl accelerated toward me, drawn more to the wood qi than confused by the conflicting fire and wood energies.
I caught her plunging attack. My retreating foot anchored me, and I spun lightly.
Twirl.
No need for force. Just flow.
I redirected the girl backward. She staggered a few steps before collapsing.
"Kueeeong!"
"Kyaaaah!!"
Middle-aged woman and girl.
As I handled them, the rest swarmed to overwhelm with numbers. Watching, I stomped into a true stance.
-Boom!!
Earth.
Soul-Frozen avoid dirt. Ordinary people are buried upon death.
What about them?
With souls frozen by drugs, did they not consider themselves truly dead?
Without orders, they shied from even fragile earthen walls, desperately circumventing.
My earth-form stomp erupted soil into a wall. The charging Soul-Frozen halted, milling in confusion.
But.
Among Yangmyeong's creations, one had strength to vault it.
-Thwack!!
A woman in martial robes leaped off the heads of floundering Soul-Frozen, spun in midair, and thrust a lightning-fast fist.
A martial artist once? Maybe. Yangmyeong took anyone for subjects. In Celestial Moon, some Soul-Frozen captured by her had been martial folk.
There'd even been a linked event through that connection.
Faster and stronger than the others, I extended my hand.
My left—the yin hand—flicked her fist aside, then clamped her face.
Water.
Soul-Frozen reject water. Scholars thought its purifying power neutralized the dominating drug.
"Mmph!"
Through the water form, my modest inner energy drew ambient water qi to my left hand. Barely enough for a small jar, but sufficient.
Her face trapped, infused with water qi, she flailed wildly in resistance.
But her limbs barely grazed me. Instinctual swings, devoid of even basic skill.
I took a few hits, avoiding vitals—grinned and bore it.
...It actually hurt a bit.
But showing pain here? Nah.
Unable to endure the water qi, she went limp. I dropped her and peeked beyond the wall.
-Slash!!
While I lured and stalled the Soul-Frozen...
Chaejin's sword severed Yangmyeong's head.
"Took fifty seconds."
She spun the spotless blade before sheathing it, flashing a tired grin my way. I grinned back.
"Well done."
Chaejin leaped over, charging the Soul-Frozen. Watching her fists and feet batter them, I stepped out from the wall.
"Don't kill them. The Soul-Frozen state is treatable."
She giggled, then aimed at the approaching thralls.
"Got it. Stay back."
Damn, she's reliable.