Chapter 513
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 513
Chapter Title: So That's Why?
“W-Why is that girl here?”
Jegal Nam-cheon was startled by the sudden appearance of Jegal So-rin.
Considering how far this place was from the clan and its location, it should have been impossible for Jegal So-rin to show up here, no matter how talented she was.
Even if that monster Ha Mu-baek had caused a massive explosion.
Unless she had already been deep in Yungjung Mountain and sensed the blast Ha Mu-baek unleashed.
But that wasn't the case.
'What the hell are these guys doing...'
He rained curses down on the men who had been monitoring Jegal So-rin from the clan.
Those watchers from the clan were currently scrambling in panic, searching every corner for her.
Because Jegal So-rin, out on a stroll, had slipped past their eyes and vanished without a trace.
Jegal So-rin herself had no idea about any of this.
She had been pondering the Gwanggwanghwanjucheonhwi Formation and unwittingly shifted her steps according to its alignments.
And in that instant, the formation's power had activated, concealing her whereabouts.
[Ho?]
At that moment, Chaos took an interest in Jegal So-rin.
“Something up?”
[I think I know why the text in that book you brought vanished.]
What was this out-of-the-blue remark?
In truth, that had been the original reason for coming here, but with that monster Ha Mu-baek showing up, it hardly mattered anymore.
“Why bring that up now?”
[Looks like that girl read it.]
Jegal Nam-cheon's eye twitched.
He had only mentioned finding the book, never who read it.
“What do you mean? You're saying So-rin—that girl—read the book infused with primordial power?”
Chaos had clearly stated it before.
The book had contained primordial power, but both the contents and the energy had vanished.
Jegal So-rin was the first to discover the book in the library, and the first to read it.
She had claimed someone stole the book after she read it, then returned it with the text erased.
Yet the moment Chaos saw Jegal So-rin, it claimed to understand why the text had disappeared.
The instant it realized she had read the book.
The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.
“Don't tell me the primordial energy was embedded in the text, and it got absorbed into the body of the first person to read it, erasing the words. Is that it?”
[Ho?]
Chaos sounded genuinely surprised.
In truth, it still had no intention of revealing everything.
It had merely tossed out a few clues.
Yet from those scraps, Jegal Nam-cheon had pieced together the full truth.
[As expected of the Jegal Clan head. Sharp one, aren't you.]
Chaos spoke with what seemed like sincere admiration, but Jegal Nam-cheon furrowed his brow.
The tone felt like it was mocking him.
“Didn't you say you had no idea?”
Jegal Nam-cheon asked sharply.
He clearly remembered Chaos's nonchalant reaction when they first saw the book.
[I didn't back then. There were no clues. But the moment I saw that girl, it clicked.]
Chaos replied as if it were no big deal.
“Then why did she come here?”
[Probably drawn by the primordial power she absorbed.]
Shattered fragments naturally sought to reunite, so it wasn't uncommon for one to unwittingly follow the pull of another.
That must have led her here.
Of course, the commotion from Ha Mu-baek breaking—no, demolishing—the formation had likely played a part too.
“What are you planning to do?”
Jegal So-rin asked, eyeing the massive sword aura blooming from his raised blade.
She could guess what he was up to, but asked anyway out of disbelief.
“Smash it.”
'Just as I thought.'
Jegal So-rin was surprised once more that her observations of the surroundings and her deductions had been spot on, confirmed by Ha Mu-baek's answer.
She had figured the one capable of such destruction amid the traces of the broken formation and standing alone was no one else.
But to think he had really smashed the formation by himself.
The formation Jegal So-rin had analyzed was nine layers deep.
Yet the one before them now was the seventh layer.
Meaning he had already destroyed six.
“Ah, don't be alarmed.”
Ha Mu-baek paused before swinging and glanced at her.
“You mean destroying this formation will trigger a new one around us, changing the environment?”
Ha Mu-baek nodded at Jegal So-rin's question.
“The Jegal Clan is the Jegal Clan, alright.”
Ha Mu-baek had learned this firsthand, but Jegal So-rin had already figured it out just from looking around.
“Um...”
Jegal So-rin's lips parted as if to say something.
According to the formation's structure she had read, she needed to stick close to Ha Mu-baek now.
But even as a woman of the martial world, Jegal So-rin lacked the boldness to press right up against a man she had just met.
Ha Mu-baek glanced back.
“You can't just brute-force the next formation like this.”
Her face flushed as she managed only that, then bowed her head deeply.
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head, then swung his sword down anyway.
Brute force was the only method he knew.
Infinite Formless Eight Severances Sword Wave.
Fourth Severance. Soul Shackler.
A brilliant white sword aura scattered radiant light as it flew toward the formation.
Kwaaaaaaang!
A massive roar echoed.
Guuuuung!
The heavens and earth shook.
Puuuung!
With a deafening boom, the formation shattered and scattered.
The world changed in that instant.
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched.
'What was that?'
It was the seventh formation, but the backlash was weak.
As if it had only pretended to block his sword.
As if Chaos's power was barely there, urging him onward to the eighth.
Shuuuuaak.
A sound rang in his ears, and a new world unfolded before Ha Mu-baek.
A dense jungle.
Not like the forests of Yungjung Mountain.
This was the southern barbarian jungle.
Teeming with all sorts of venomous insects.
“You alright?”
Ha Mu-baek turned and asked without thinking.
“Ah.”
He realized.
She was gone.
No, she probably hadn't vanished.
They had been just ten paces apart?
Yet the moment the formation activated, he could no longer sense her.
Just ten paces?
It could happen, but considering formations that hurled people into entirely different environments even one pace apart.
Ten paces was plenty of distance.
Well, breaking this formation would reunite them.
Ha Mu-baek raised his sword again.
He was starting to get irritated by these endless formations.
This would be the eighth already.
He needed to smash them fast and confront the culprit.
As sword aura surged and he prepared to swing.
Jegal So-rin's final words came to mind, and he paused.
“Can't brute-force it?”
He halted the sword.
And pondered the meaning.
He had brushed it off at the time, but now separated from her inside the formation, it made him think.
Destroy the formation.
It breaks.
That was Ha Mu-baek's simple method.
Utterly crude in Jegal Nam-cheon's eyes.
When using this method.
Chaos sent its energy to resist, causing massive clashes that shook the formation violently.
No issue for Ha Mu-baek.
But for someone trapped elsewhere in the formation?
Unknown.
Back as Hocheon Corps Leader, some Blood Cult and Demonic Cult formations had collateral effects on others when brute-forced.
Han Seol-bing had stopped him in those cases.
And found the safe path to break them.
Thus, during Hocheon Corps days, whenever a formation loomed, Han Seol-bing stuck to Ha Mu-baek like glue—practically in his arms or piggybacked.
They couldn't afford to separate in a formation.
In case it was the type where destruction harmed others inside; she had to rein him in.
Ha Mu-baek had zero discernment for formations.
“Could this be one of those?”
Recalling those times, Ha Mu-baek muttered in frustration.
He thought back to destroying the seventh layer.
Chaos had barely resisted, as if begging him to smash it.
“So that's why?”
Ha Mu-baek grimaced.
Headache incoming.
He had no skill to properly dispel this formation.
Only destruction.
But blindly smashing it might harm Jegal So-rin somewhere else in it.
Ha Mu-baek's nature wouldn't allow that.
This wasn't some desperate crisis where sacrifice was needed.
“Tch. Should've had her stick close after she warned me.”
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue.
“Guess the clan's precious flower really is precious...”
He immediately recalled why she hadn't.
Even as a martial world woman, she had lived sheltered in the clan.
Approaching a strange man wasn't easy.
Different from Han Seol-bing, who had rolled through battlefields with him.
“What now?”
Ha Mu-baek fell into thought.
Should he, clueless about formations, go searching for Jegal So-rin?
Better to draw from past experience.
Hocheon Corps couldn't always keep him and Han Seol-bing together in enemy traps.
“Absolutely! Absolutely do not move! Just stay put! Root yourself there like a tree and don't budge an inch! Stay right there! That way, I'll find you. If the Corps Leader moves even a little, everyone dies except him! I won't be able to locate you. Got it?”
That was Han Seol-bing's plea when Ha Mu-baek asked what happened if separated in a formation—hammering it home relentlessly.
The memory burned strong.
“Hm. Better wait, then. She seemed to know her formations.”
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and stood stock-still.
Ensuring his position didn't shift at all.
The more intricate the formation, the more a slight movement skewed coordinates, or so they said.
That's why Han Seol-bing insisted on not moving a muscle.
Staying put made it easier to find you.
The more you moved, the harder it got.
The formation didn't let Ha Mu-baek rest.
Venomous creatures lunged at him from all sides.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek casually swatted them away.
Rooted in place, he couldn't move his legs.
But his arms were free.
Balance might falter for most, but not for him.
Even if it did, so what?
Truth be told, he didn't even need his arms.
Hwaruruk.
The fiery aura rising from Ha Mu-baek's body incinerated the venomous foes around him.
“A nine-layer overlapping formation like this seems tricky... Wonder how long it'll take.”
Han Seol-bing called even triple layers the worst.
If separated from her, Ha Mu-baek would have just destroyed it.
He knew her formation mastery and martial prowess; she could handle the shock.
But Jegal So-rin? He knew nothing.
No clue on her formation or martial skills.
So he couldn't act rashly.
He could only guess from her initial analysis that she was proficient in formations—and wait.
A three-headed serpent with wings flew at Ha Mu-baek.
Hwaruk.
It burned up in his fiery aura.
Ha Mu-baek frowned.
“Of all places, this environment... Will she be okay?”
This land crawled with bugs and snakes—things women loathed most.
Ferociously venomous ones at that.
No telling if Jegal So-rin could safely dispel the formation amid this.
“Hm?”
Han Seol-bing scratched her ear with a finger.
“What's up?”
Yeon Ha-min, beside her, asked at the sudden gesture.
“Dunno. My ear's itching all of a sudden. Someone badmouthing me?”
“No way.”
Yeon Ha-min smiled brightly.
“Yeah, probably not.”