Eyes That See Through Reality (2)
"Find out if anyone here has been to the Black Mist Gorge before."
Nam Se-ok addressed the red-haired scouts.
"Anyone who's set foot in this place, step forward now!"
One of the red-haired scouts stepped out of the ranks.
"I have."
"What sort of place is it?" Nam Se-ok asked.
"The Black Mist Gorge is a place where fog settles naturally."
"Then is that fog out there the natural kind?"
"That would be……"
"Aaagh!"
"Uwaaagh!"
At that moment, screams came ringing down from the cliff walls.
"Hm?" Nam Se-ok's eyes widened.
"Looks like a battle has broken out inside," the scout said.
"Which means Jang Bo-do must be in there as well."
"And if Jang Bo-do weren't there, there'd be no reason for them to fight."
"Precisely. Enter at once. Kill everyone except the woman."
Nam Se-ok roared the order.
Pah-at! Pah-at! Pah-at! Pah-at!
The Blood Evil Army poured into the Black Mist Gorge in one concerted surge.
"I'm starting to like that bastard."
Jin Yigang grinned and pushed himself upright.
"More guests arriving?"
Je Chuyeong, who had been lying prone and watching the left flank, spoke up. Jin Yigang turned his head.
This time the newcomers were the Eight Kings, led by Namgoong Wonmu, along with their followers.
Jin Yigang and Je Chuyeong leapt down from the boulder.
"Huh?" Namgoong Wonmu and his party stared at the pair in astonishment.
"We fell behind and only just got here," Jin Yigang said.
"How did you fall behind?" Dang Chwi-ryeo asked.
"Because of the bastards who just went in."
"Who went in?"
"Nam Se-ok and the Blood Evil Army."
"You're saying they didn't withdraw?" Namgoong Wonmu asked.
"Claiming they stayed behind in a private capacity would make a decent excuse, don't you think?"
"It would, but…… Where are they right now?"
"Kyaaaaagh!"
"Aaagh!"
Chang! Chang-chang-chang!
Agonized screams carried up the cliff walls on either side and echoed out of the gorge itself.
"In there." Jin Yigang pointed toward the interior.
"Have you identified who the enemy is?" Ji Yak-ran asked.
"The Demonic Cult."
"The Demonic Cult has appeared?"
The eyes of Ji Yak-ran and the rest of the Eight Kings went wide.
"They haven't merely appeared. They've joined hands with the imperial court."
"Truly?"
"Yes."
"Then perhaps the reason His Majesty ordered us to settle this with the Demon-Devil Sword Corporation is because of the Demonic Cult," Ji Yak-ran murmured.
"Very likely. In any case, let's hurry. Everyone has to make it to Mount Nogun alive."
"Agreed."
The Eight Kings split off to the left and right.
"What are you doing?" Jin Yigang asked, glancing at Ji Yak-ran beside him.
"We can't just charge blindly into a formation we know nothing about."
"…Fair point. What about Lady Je, though?"
"Are you going in right away?" Je Ha-yeong asked.
"Yes."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"Let's go."
Jin Yigang strode straight into the roiling mist.
"Hey!"
Ji Yak-ran called after him. Jin Yigang, already inside, poked his head back out.
"What?"
"What if you charge in like that and something goes wrong?"
"It won't…… for me."
Jin Yigang slipped back inside.
Once within, he and Je Chuyeong sprinted through the mist at speed.
"Kyaaaaaagh!"
"Uwaaaaagh! It's a demon!"
"A demon!"
Terror-stricken cries rose from somewhere deep in the murk.
"Hallucinations and phantoms both! Pay them no heed!"
Nam Se-ok's voice rang out — he too had entered only moments before.
"I don't much care for demons myself," Jin Yigang said, his face twisting into a scowl.
Just then, a shadow appeared some three jang ahead. Jin Yigang's right hand darted into his pouch and out again in an instant, and a stone split the mist in two.
Pweok!
"Ugh!"
Caught completely off guard, the Dark Shadow let out a scream before it could stop itself.
"It's gotten faster," Jin Yigang said with a grin.
Before, he'd never been able to feel how fast his thrown stones traveled. Today, he could feel it plainly.
"At this rate, if it lands……"
Pah-at!
A stone sliced through the empty air.
Pweok!
"…it actually kills."
Jin Yigang flung himself left and right, scanning as he advanced. Every time his arms cut through the air, a Dark Shadow died without fail.
With pebbles…
Je Chuyeong shook her head slowly. No matter how many times she watched it, Jin Yigang killing enemies with stones was nothing short of uncanny.
"The most common mistake made by those who employ stealth arts is the belief that they cannot be seen. When a formation is active on top of that, the belief hardens into certainty — they refuse to accept that the enemy has noticed their position. Even when an attack lands, they write it off as coincidence."
"So a thrown stone works even better on them?"
"Exactly."
Swish! Swish!
Two stones cut through the air almost simultaneously.
Thud! Thud!
Dull impacts sounded, and two Dark Shadows revealed themselves.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Realizing their comrades had fallen to Jin Yigang, the remaining Dark Shadows hurled themselves at him.
"Huh?"
Jin Yigang tilted his head. A moment ago the Dark Shadows had been invisible to him. Now he could see them perfectly.
Could it be the Immovable Great King Heart Method?
The only things that had changed were the internal energy transferred from Bi-geom, and the Yin-Yang Stone Moss, Yin-Yang Stone Milk, and Yin-Yang Stone Bluefish he'd consumed. In other words, his inner power had skyrocketed.
Was the Immovable Great King Heart Method a martial art all along?
Suddenly it struck him — perhaps the technique had always been a martial art, but with no internal energy whatsoever, he'd simply never noticed. It might even have been the Immovable Great King Heart Method, rather than the Piercing Insight Spirit Ring, that granted him his sight through darkness.
Well, whatever the cause, being able to see is a good thing. Now then……
Jin Yigang's body shot toward the Dark Shadows like a bolt.
Pweok! Thud-thud! Pweok!
His fists collapsed the distance between himself and his enemies' faces. When a fist struck the head, the face shattered; when it struck the lungs or heart, organs tore apart from within. The Dark Shadows crumpled one after another. Still, they refused to scream.
"These bastards have no manners whatsoever. Would it kill you to scream a little for the guy putting his life on the line to hit you?"
"That is a remarkably reasonable request," Je Chuyeong said as she drove her spear in.
Thwuck!
The spear punched a hole in empty air, and blood burst outward.
Jin Yigang's fist sliced through the space beside it.
Thud!
"Khh!"
"Now there's a properly raised young man."
Pweok!
Only one or two ever managed a scream; the vast majority died in silence.
Jin Yigang pushed forward, clearing enemies as he went. As though they'd signaled one another, every Dark Shadow in the vicinity converged on his position.
"So it's the Great Fist of Ten Thousand Innocent Images."
With cold eyes, Jin Yigang charged at them, fists raised.
Thud! Thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud!
His fists whipped forward at ferocious speed, and enemies dropped where they stood. Jin Yigang never stopped to confirm the kills — he had Je Chuyeong following close behind for that.
Chaek-aek!
His advancing fist stopped dead.
Standing directly in the path of his punch was Gung Yo's face.
"When you enter someone's territory, at least have the decency to cough," she said.
"You stopped," Gung Yo observed.
"Can't have that pretty face getting nicked."
"I was curious how much force it actually carried…"
"My fists run on speed alone. No fancy techniques involved."
"And that simple fist of yours is what Samgwang-ho couldn't dodge?"
"That wasn't me being strong. That was Samgwang-ho's arrogance and carelessness."
"Even so — getting hit twice by a punch with no technique to it…"
"So, did you come in alone?" Jin Yigang asked.
"Yes." Gung Yo nodded.
"Why?"
"Because of these."
She drew something from her pack.
A black bell, and a crimson drum.
"The Demonic Bell and Divine Drum!"
Je Chuyeong cried out, stricken.
Daryeong Singo was the collective name for the Soul-Seizing Demonic Bell and the Heaven-Collapsing Divine Drum.
The black Soul-Seizing Demonic Bell was a rattle about the size of a small gourd, fitted with a ring that slipped over the finger for use. The Heaven-Collapsing Divine Drum measured half a jang across and roughly three chi tall — and instead of drumsticks, it was played with rattles hung on cords.
It worked much like a child's toy: grip the handle, spin it side to side, and the rattle strikes the drum's center to make sound.
But those two objects were synonymous with terror.
"You know of them?" Gung Yo asked.
"Only by reputation."
"I see."
Gung Yo took the Heaven-Collapsing Divine Drum in her right hand.
The reason she had split off from the others was her martial art itself. Sonic arts had to be practiced only where there were no people nearby — which was why she had left her companions behind, only to run into Jin Yigang.
"Meeting you even in mist like this — I suppose we must have been husband and wife in a past life," Jin Yigang said with a laugh.
"People who were married in a past life meet as mortal enemies, they say."
"Why?"
"So they can fight their fill."
"…That actually kind of makes sense."
Jin Yigang brushed past Gung Yo's side, fist already flying.
Pweok!
Someone who had been closing in from her right crumpled to the ground. Gung Yo's gaze went to the man whose stealth art had shattered, leaving him exposed. His jaw was completely destroyed, the rest of his face a bloody ruin of burst veins.
If the damage showed that plainly on the surface, everything inside must be pulverized. It was a monstrous fist, no other way to describe it.
"When did you get here?" Gung Yo asked, falling in beside him.
"A little while ago," Jin Yigang answered.
Shwaaaak!
The sound of something splitting the air ahead reached them.
"Look down and you'll see shadows," Jin Yigang said.
Gung Yo cast her gaze downward and shook out her left hand as though flicking off water.
Ttarang!
Pweok!
The moment the bell's chime rang out, blood spattered in the air ahead. Seconds later, a Dark Shadow with a crushed skull revealed itself. Gung Yo immediately spread her stealth art and melted from sight.
"So that's a sonic art?" Jin Yigang asked, moving to her side.
"Can you see me?" she asked.
"No?"
"Then how on earth do you walk so precisely to my side?"
"I've done a lot of hunting. I'm good at finding things. Also… I did take the Thousand-Li Clear-View Ring and the Piercing Insight Spirit Ring, you know?"
"So you have to swallow them for the medicine to actually work?"
"They say what matters most isn't the medicine's potency, but the act of taking it."
"And 'they say' means you heard it from someone?"
"A physician told me."
"A physician who needs to sell plenty of medicine would say exactly that, wouldn't he?"
"My father always said that if you want a long life free of illness, there are exactly two people you must never defy: first, your wife; second, your physician."
"You have a father?"
"He's the entire reason I'm going through this living hell."
"What a filial son."
"I do try."
"Hk!"
Gung Yo, who had been watching the ground ahead, let out a sharp breath.
"What is it?"
"A demon has appeared."
"Where?"
"Three jang ahead…"
"What does it look like?"
"About a jang and a half tall, its whole body made of black mist… wait, you can't see the demon?"
Gung Yo asked, bewildered.
"All I see are five Dark Shadows?"
"…What are they doing?"
"Three of them are standing in a triangle, holding hands all friendly-like. The other two are staring this way."
"Which means…"
"I told you to take the Piercing Insight Spirit Ring, didn't I?"
Pah-at!
Jin Yigang bolted forward.