Even I Unleash Martial Arts Sometimes (1)
Three days had passed since they entered the Bogwu mountain range.
The Jecheon Medical Sage party had pressed through trackless mountains without rest, moving at nearly a run. Jin I-gang led the way.
Those heading for Nogun Mountain numbered just over fifty: Jin I-gang, Mu Dae-bo, Je Ha-yeong, Je Chu-yeong, and the martial artists of the Jecheon Medical Sage Family, along with Bukgung Hansang, Gung Yo, the Absolute Five Recluses, Gwang Bul and Gwang Do of the Three Eccentrics, and any wanderers willing to follow.
Namgung Won-mu's group had traveled with them at first, but as enemy attacks grew fiercer, they had split off toward their own faction's territory.
Jin I-gang barely rested. A slow march made them easy prey for enemy scouts.
"Dark already."
Mu Dae-bo muttered, glancing around. The sun had only just dipped below the ridge, and already a pitch-black night had swallowed the slopes. It was the kind of weather that made you feel how deep autumn had grown. Their third night in the mountains was settling in.
"It's the mountains," Jin I-gang said.
"We're still going?"
"If we want to put distance between us and them, we've got no choice but to keep moving."
"How long will it take?"
"Nogun Mountain is two hundred ri away. On flat ground it'd be nothing, but there's no trail here, and we've got people trying to kill us besides. Call it ten days."
"Three days down, so seven to go?"
"That's right."
"You been here before?"
"Why?"
"You seem to know it well."
"I lived here for twenty years."
"Twenty years?"
"Yep."
Jin I-gang's pace was so punishing that even the martial artists struggled to keep up. Ridge after ridge rose without end, and the party climbed and descended in endless rhythm behind him.
Whoosh!
Jin I-gang raised a hand and dropped into a crouch. The entire party froze and dropped to one knee in unison.
Whiiiish! Whiiing!
Wind was howling from somewhere ahead.
The Je sisters, Je Ha-yeong and Je Chu-yeong, moved up from the rear.
"What is it?"
Je Ha-yeong asked, settling beside him.
"There's something hiding up ahead. Beast, maybe."
Jin I-gang pointed forward. Je Ha-yeong followed his finger to a silver-grass field roughly fifty zhang wide, the grass grown tall as a man.
She turned to Na Hu-jeok. Even with her abilities, she couldn't make out who was concealed in that field.
"She's right. At that scale of presence, there's two hundred of them at least."
"Pushing through, then..."
"With our current strength, we'd be lucky if half of us walked out the other side."
"Then we go around."
"Left and right are almost certainly cliffs."
"Cliffs?"
"The wind's steady from ahead, but you don't hear a whisper from the sides, do you? That means there's a drop there."
Na Hu-jeok said.
"You've lived in the mountains, haven't you?" Jin I-gang asked.
"How'd you know?"
"Only mountain folk catch that. And yes, both sides here are cliffs. Over a hundred zhang deep."
"So there's no path?"
"There's always a path. Follow me."
Jin I-gang moved to the right.
"This is..."
Je Ha-yeong's breath caught. Just as he'd said, a cliff yawned before them, its bottom lost to sight.
"They say even the clouds rest here on their way through, so it's called Cloud Ridge. The only way around Cloud Ridge is the trail running along this cliff."
"There's actually a path?"
"There was, until ten years ago."
Jin I-gang started walking. A moment later he stepped onto the cliffside trail. It sat a mere three zhang below the ridge top, so close that even the smallest sound risked giving them away.
And it was barely one zhang wide.
"Careful not to knock any stones loose—"
Tok! Tu-dukk! Tu-dukk! Tororororo!
Je Ha-yeong misstepped, and the stone she kicked went clattering down into the abyss. The sound of it striking rock cut clean through the wind and rolled upward.
'Hup!'
Jin I-gang signaled: press against the cliff. The whole party flattened themselves against the rock face.
Sssssss! Sssssss!
Something was brushing past. Someone was pushing through the silver grass, drawing near.
Jin I-gang tilted his head back and looked up.
"You hear something?"
"Sounded like a falling rock."
A whisper drifted down from above.
"From down there, you say..."
Chik! Chik-chik!
Then a rat's squeak slipped out of Jin I-gang's mouth. Astonishingly, it was a perfect imitation.
"It's rats."
"We're being too jumpy."
"First campaign in a while, that's all."
"Still, those people should be arriving about now..."
"Soon enough. Let's move."
The two figures above withdrew.
"Phewww."
Jin I-gang let out a long breath of relief. Beside him, Je Ha-yeong pulled her back from the cliff.
Takk!
Jin I-gang's hand shot out and shoved her upper body back—and in the motion his hand closed squarely around her breast. Je Ha-yeong's mouth fell wide open in shock.
'Shh!'
Jin I-gang raised his left index finger to his lips. His right hand was still gripping her chest.
"You said there was no other way?"
At that very moment, an aged voice drifted down from above. The party held their breath.
"That's what you said."
"Where did you say Ma Ya and Shin Gon were headed?"
"Somewhere in Nogun Mountain. They told us no more than that."
"They'll send word, won't they?"
"Presumably."
The conversation above continued. Suddenly Jin I-gang felt a powerful energy surge from beside Je Ha-yeong. Killing intent. He looked past her—and there was Na Hu-jeok, leaning against the cliff wall directly behind her.
'People he knows, apparently.'
No one would radiate killing intent at the mere sound of a name unless there was a grudge involved.
'Their grudges are their own business.'
Then he felt Je Ha-yeong's hand on his right—the one still on her chest. He turned his head.
'Ugh!'
He winced. Only now did he realize he'd been clutching her breast the whole time. He let go at once.
—You did that on purpose, didn't you?
Je Ha-yeong asked through transmitted voice.
Jin I-gang shook his head hard.
—Was it good, at least?
This time he nodded with a mischievous grin. Truthfully, he hadn't even realized he'd been grabbing her chest.
—Hmph!
Je Ha-yeong shot him a sidelong glare.
Before long, the presence of the figures above faded into the distance.
The ones lying in ambush at Cloud Ridge were Bi Geom and Dok Ji, along with the two hundred and fifty Demonic Shadows under their command. The remaining fifty were hidden behind the ridge, ready in case the enemy slipped past this point.
"Could they have gone another way?"
Dok Ji said, looking at Bi Geom. According to Danmok Cheon-ri's message, the enemy should have arrived by now. Yet there was no sign of them.
"Let's scout that direction first."
Bi Geom pointed ahead.
"Very well. Hwa Mu!"
Dok Ji called softly.
"Yes."
At the answer, a faint silhouette approached them. A woman whose body shimmered like heat haze through the most extreme concealment art—Hwa Mu, commander of the Demonic Shadows led by Bi Geom and Dok Ji.
"They should have arrived by now. Scout the surroundings."
"Yes."
Hwa Mu vanished. Moments later, fifty Demonic Shadows shot out toward the flanks and the front.
Meanwhile, Jin I-gang's party, having reached the far side, watched the Demonic Shadows sweeping the area.
"They're not coming this way."
They had been holding their breath in case the enemy circled around behind, but mercifully, no one came.
Jin I-gang looked at Yu Bong-ji.
"What is it, boy?"
She asked as their eyes met.
"You said you learned an art that makes you invisible?"
"It's a movement art called Phantom Body. Want to learn it?"
"You'd teach me?"
"If you want it, I'll teach you."
"Doesn't it need internal energy to pull off?"
"At minimum, five cycles' worth."
"Then it's useless. Once I actually get some internal energy, I'll ask you then. For now, scout the ground ahead for me."
Jin I-gang pointed in the direction they were headed.
"You think there's an ambush there too?"
Yu Bong-ji pointed forward. Beyond lay dozens of low hills spread out like furrows in a field. Each rose about one zhang high, their left and right slopes so gentle that up close you'd never guess they were hills at all. Boulders were scattered everywhere as well—rocks perched on hilltops and slopes like the burial mounds of a graveyard.
"Not searching means they're confident of something. And the only thing those people could be confident of is an ambush."
"True enough."
Yu Bong-ji nodded and took his arm.
"What?"
"We go together."
"Do you really need me along?"
"Didn't you say you knew this terrain?"
"I know it too well, that's the problem."
"Which is why you're coming."
"Fine. Wait a moment."
Jin I-gang opened the lid of his pack and fished out a pouch. From it he took a pill the size of an acorn, popped it into his mouth, and chewed it up.
"What's that?"
Mu Dae-bo asked.
"Medicine!"
"What kind of medicine?"
"None of your business."
Jin I-gang took Yu Bong-ji's hand.
Using her internal power, she lifted him bodily and launched into the air. The distance from the party's position to the suspected ambush point was fifty zhang.
Mid-flight, Yu Bong-ji halted before a massive boulder.
"What kind of medicine was it?"
She asked, peeking around the rock to survey the ground ahead.
"Mad Soul Beast Pill," Jin I-gang answered.
"Sounds impressive, from the name alone."
"One of the drugs the Jecheon Medical Sage Family developed. It turns the user into a beast."
"A beast?"
"Yep."
"You stole it?"
"Not stolen. It's in clinical trials."
"Didn't you say you left the Jecheon Medical Sage Family?"
"I'm the trial now."
"So you're testing it on your own body?"
"I strengthened the effects beyond what they made, so it has to be tested, doesn't it?"
"No side effects or anything?"
"Every drug has side effects. The ones I've taken the most are the Myriad Poison Demon Pill, the Small Heaven Divine Pill, the Mad Soul Rebound Pill, the Penetrating Sight Spirit Pill, and the Thousand-Li Hearing Pill. The Myriad Poison Demon Pill's side effect is that it builds resistance to poison. You may or may not know this, but poison goes into medicine in huge quantities when it's being made. And these days, nothing with poison in it works on me at all."
"You're saying your body's become immune to poison?"
"Yep."
"So in plain terms, you're immune to all poisons?"
"I can't say for certain it's total immunity, but I have seen a poison master die from biting me."
"..."
Yu Bong-ji stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Hurry up and go."
"Fine."
Yu Bong-ji left at once. Jin I-gang peeked around the boulder and waited. Before long she returned.
"There's an ambush."
"How many?"
"About fifty."
"Clustered together, or..."
"Hidden at intervals of three to four zhang."
"Kill them and we move on."
"By myself?"
"You're the only one who can take out enemies without a sound, granny."
"That's going too far, you brat..."
"No?"
"Fine, you little devil!"
Yu Bong-ji glared at him. For a moment, she looked exactly like a young bride.
"Act your age, granny, hm?"
"A woman is a woman until she's in her coffin, and a man only grows up once he's in his. Judging by you, you're still a child."
As she spoke, Yu Bong-ji began undressing.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Jin I-gang asked, startled.
"Don't worry, brat. You'll never get the chance to see this body."
Yu Bong-ji smiled and stripped everything off.
"Whoa!"
Even fully undressed, her body did not appear. Only her face remained visible; everything below her chin had melted into empty air.
"To get the full effect of the Phantom Body, you have to strip completely."
"So if I learned the Phantom Body, I'd have to get naked too?"
"Obviously."
"...Not learning it."
"Of all the movement arts ever to appear in the martial world, the Phantom Body is the strongest."
"Still looks ridiculous. I'm not prancing around with my clothes off."
"Pfft!"
Yu Bong-ji snorted.
"So the reason you brought me along... was to hold your clothes while you worked, was it?"
"That's right."
"Hm. Did I ever tell you about the side effects of the Penetrating Sight Spirit Pill?"
"Penetrating Sight Spirit Pill? Don't tell me that's the one that sharpens your eyes?"
"Yep."
"Wh-what side effect does it have?"
"You're really a granny, right?"
Jin I-gang asked, his gaze fixed on her chest.
"You—!"
"Doesn't seem like it, somehow..."
Now his eyes drifted lower.
"Did you take all those poisons too, granny? Mine all fell out because of the poison."
He tugged at a strand of his hair as he went on.
"It all dropped out completely at first. The hair grew back, but nothing else did."
Whoosh!
Yu Bong-ji vanished on the spot.
Jin I-gang searched for some trace of her. But even with his ears, honed by countless doses of the Thousand-Li Hearing Pill, he caught no sign of her at all.
"Impressive, I'll give her that. Now then—time for me to move a little too."
Jin I-gang released the breath he'd been holding. And from his body, a monstrous energy came pouring out.