Chapter 397
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 397
Chapter Title: It Wasn't Visible
Boom!
A deafening crash echoed once more.
It was the sound of Ha Mu-baek suddenly appearing and slamming into a shield.
In a normal training session,
the cadets would have reacted instantly.
Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun had drilled that response into them through endless practice.
But not this time.
"Eek!"
The cadet whose shield took the brunt of Ha Mu-baek's strike let out a bizarre squeak.
The rest of his squad was no different.
They had been overwhelmed by the sinister, chilling, utterly repulsive aura pouring from Ha Mu-baek.
They froze solid.
Like mice cornered by a beast.
Unable to do a thing.
"What are you standing around for? Snap out of it and move!"
Boom!
Another deafening crash rang out.
Ha Mu-baek striking a shield again.
Only then did the cadets start to move, their motions creaking like rusty hinges.
But their movements were clumsy beyond belief.
As if they'd forgotten every bit of training up to now.
They couldn't execute properly.
The formation was a total mess.
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brow.
"Do you want to head into the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest and die right away? If you freeze up like this at something this minor, what are you going to do?"
Ha Mu-baek's roars kept exploding forth.
They tried to move under his razor-sharp bellows,
but the instant they faced his aura, their bodies locked up again.
It wasn't some overwhelming pressure from raw energy or murderous intent.
It was eerie, Gloomy, sinister, spine-chilling.
A nauseating unease.
Like the full-body freeze when you first spot a snake.
Or when you see a repulsive venomous bug and your body seizes up.
It was something like that.
A primal human instinct—no way to counter it on first exposure.
The only cure was repeated exposure until familiarity set in.
That's why Ha Mu-baek pushed the cadets mercilessly.
Half an hour passed for Squad Seven, just like the others.
Thud! Thwack!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Ha Mu-baek's fists pelted the cadets.
They tumbled across the ground.
Ha Mu-baek's form vanished once more.
When he reappeared, the same scene repeated.
And so,
the first- and second-year cadets of the Fierce Dragon Corps—177 in total,
thirty-nine squads—were all laid low.
One hour and two quarters.
The time it took Ha Mu-baek to take on the entire Fierce Dragon Corps.
Long enough for the first ones downed to dust themselves off and fully recover.
Yet Squad Seven's cadets still stared at Ha Mu-baek with terrified faces.
"It's even worse, right?"
Dang Jin-san's whisper was soft.
Everyone nodded.
Other cadets might not know, but they had gone to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest themselves and fought jiangshi.
They'd experienced and adapted to the aura those jiangshi exuded.
Without a doubt, Ha Mu-baek's current aura was far more vicious and loathsome.
That's why even they, who faced him first, had been thrown off.
"It's weird enough that a person's emitting jiangshi aura... but this intense?"
Joo Woo-myeong muttered, still incredulous.
"What kind of jiangshi is that? Dark Iron Jiangshi level?"
Dan Mok Un-roe stared at Ha Mu-baek and murmured.
"No idea. If Dark Iron Jiangshi are that bad, how awful are the even worse ones?"
Baek Ri-pyeong muttered, face pale.
"Not Dark Iron. At least Bloodshadow Jiangshi or some other monster-tier."
Yeon Ha-min said quietly.
The cadets' eyes turned to her.
"From Deadwood to Venom Jiangshi, Venom to Blood Jiangshi—the gaps in their auras... The jump from those to what Instructor's putting out is huge. Can't be Dark Iron."
Yeon Ha-min's soft speculation, based on experience.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Yeon Ha-min gazed steadily at Ha Mu-baek as he handled the final squad.
'It wasn't visible.'
When she channeled her insight from the Moonlit Dew Sword Dance into her foresight,
her focus was at its peak.
In other words, her foresight was active.
Yet she saw nothing of Ha Mu-baek's attack.
Her own foresight had been utterly useless.
'What level is he at... to block even my innate ability?'
And even more shocking:
Ha Mu-baek was handling them with ease right now.
Before, when he'd matched their level, she'd at least glimpsed something faint and fast.
Now? Nothing.
She'd gained new techniques and reached higher realms herself, yet the gap with Ha Mu-baek had only widened.
How incredible their instructor was.
Or rather, what a monster.
Yeon Ha-min was deeply realizing it.
"Attention!"
Having floored the last squad, Ha Mu-baek mounted the platform and bellowed with infused qi.
"This instructor is disappointed in you today."
The cadets bowed their heads at his rebuke.
"I thought I'd trained you to react reflexively in any situation. But you forget how to move and freeze at that level of aura? Looks like the training wasn't enough. From now on, after harsher basics, we'll do the practical drill I prepared. Dismissed."
The schedule changed.
They'd planned practicals after basics.
Now it was endless basic drills.
And so,
the cadets rolled until their mouths tasted of blood.
To move reflexively in any situation.
To form patterns matching any scenario.
The training continued until sunset, into the deep night.
Utterly brutal.
"We'll repeat basics until tomorrow, then test again the day after. If it's the same as today, basics continue."
Ha Mu-baek left those words and vanished.
The baggage cart sat alone in the grand training hall.
Yet
no one dared approach it.
Even with the coachman's seat empty.
The ominous aura from the cart forbade any cadet's approach.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul stared at the freshly arrived official document with a troubled expression.
It was only yesterday he'd reported that Ha Mu-baek had brought a jiangshi into the Dragon Training Pavilion.
Now this was from headquarters.
'Elder Yeon... what on earth is he thinking? Tch.'
With field training scheduled for Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon cadets in the latter half of the year, they requested advancing the Eastern Tournament by at least a fortnight.
In short, extend the break period.
Pang Do-yul eyed the document for a long while.
Not too hard, not too easy.
But squarely under his authority.
He could refuse, but he could already see the fallout.
How Yeon Ja-kyeong would hound him to get his way.
The pressures from all sides were vivid in his mind.
He hated bending to such coercion.
If he knew Yeon Ja-kyeong's exact intent, he could decide.
But the man was an enigma.
"Hidden Dragon Corps Leader to see you."
A servant's call broke the silence.
Pang Do-yul gave a wry smile.
He saw the Hidden Dragon Corps Leader every seven or eight days, but their last meeting was just two days ago.
For him to show up so soon after the document...
'The pressure's already starting?'
The Hidden Dragon Leader was clearly his subordinate, but his sect was Huashan.
A White Path Alliance member under Yeon Ja-kyeong's influence.
"Send him in."
The door opened, and Hidden Dragon Corps Leader Neung U-dam entered.
"Greetings, Pavilion Lord."
"Come in. We meet often lately."
Neung U-dam smiled brightly at Pang Do-yul's words.
"What's the matter?"
Straight to business.
"I've come about the field training we're pushing with headquarters."
As expected.
"What about it?"
"First time out, there might be trial and error. Cadets may need time to adjust."
"And?"
"How about advancing the Eastern Tournament and the break accordingly?"
Pang Do-yul smiled thinly, eyeing Neung U-dam steadily.
Neung U-dam met his gaze calmly.
Pang Do-yul's smile deepened.
"Have you spoken with the Wa Dragon Leader? It's not just Hidden Dragon going out."
"Yes."
Neung U-dam nodded.
If Pang Do-yul refused now, Wa Dragon Leader would follow.
White Path Alliance and New Eight Gates.
They checked each other, but when interests aligned, they moved in sync.
No direct gain here, so Yeon Ja-kyeong must have promised something.
Which made it all the more baffling.
Why go this far for cadet field training?
Pang Clan was White Path too, despite seclusion.
Pressures would come through channels.
"Tch."
Pang Do-yul clicked his tongue lightly.
"I'll consider it."
"Understood."
No outright refusal, so Neung U-dam bowed and withdrew.
Pang Do-yul stared at the empty spot.
"Hoo."
A sigh escaped.
"Elder Yeon. What are you really thinking...?"
Hubei Yeon Clan had never meddled in Dragon Training Pavilion affairs before.
Their sudden interest felt deeply suspicious.
Kongtong Sect Leader Cheon Gi-buk reread the letter from his disciple in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
"Hmm. A variant Venom Jiangshi..."
Cheon Gi-buk pondered.
A sudden new entity.
What variable would it bring?
Not just claw poison—the jiangshi breathed, and its breath was toxic too.
As vicious as the claws.
Range of about a zhang wide—tricky to fight.
Right move: Alert Righteous Heaven Alliance, discuss countermeasures.
But Cheon Gi-buk mulled alone.
His disciples had reported privately to him only.
Meaning: Up to him whether to inform the Alliance.
"Should report it, at least."
Cheon Gi-buk pocketed the letter and stood.
He headed to Yeon Ja-kyeong's office.
"Elder Cheon. What brings you?"
Cheon Gi-buk pulled out the letter at Yeon Ja-kyeong's question.
"Something strange in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest."
Yeon Ja-kyeong frowned after reading it carefully.
He hadn't known.
'Those bastards...'
Secretly creating such things.
"What should we do?"
Yeon Ja-kyeong paused in thought.
"I hear the Grand Elder plans field training for Dragon Training Pavilion cadets. Might this interfere?"
More concern for Yeon Ja-kyeong's project than alerting headquarters.
Cheon Gi-buk was Yeon Ja-kyeong's confidant.
They shared gains.
Not knowing Yeon Ja-kyeong's motive for the training, Cheon Gi-buk did what he could.
Unlike Cheon Gi-buk's worry, Yeon Ja-kyeong welcomed the variant.
The forest had grown deadlier.
The Blood Cult hiding it irked him, though.
He'd never fully trusted them anyway.
Just aligned interests in a deal.
Delay telling the Alliance.
Until after cadet training.
That way, more cadet sacrifices.
"Better investigate veracity first. One report isn't solid evidence."
Cheon Gi-buk nodded at Yeon Ja-kyeong's words.
"That's what worried me too, so I came."
The two smiled at each other.
Cheon Gi-buk wanted Fierce Dragon Corps sacrifices.
The more, the fewer losses for Demon-Sealing Corps.
Meat shields were for shielding.
Kept other noises down.
Demon-Sealing Corps fully under Kongtong influence, managing the forest.
Kongtong's power would grow.
Gains from the forest were no small thing.
Herbs, toxic plants self-growing there.
Jiangshi inner pellets' uses were immense.
The method Yeo Hong-gi of Heavenly Venom Valley discovered—known only to Yeon Ja-kyeong's inner circle.
Much flowed to Kongtong and Hubei Yeon via Demon-Sealing Corps.
Some to White Path, scraps to Alliance.
Especially pellets—none to Alliance.
So headquarters didn't grasp the forest's true value.
Not even Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong.
How could they know every detail from distant Luoyang?
To protect these gains, Fierce Dragon sacrifices were essential.
Forest stays as-is for ongoing profits.
Fierce Dragon bleeds to keep it so.
Yeon Ja-kyeong and Cheon Gi-buk.
Similar thoughts, but each with their own angles.