The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 176

"Destroy? How do you mean, destroy?"

"Destroy the formation. Is that even possible?"

"Of course it's possible, that's why I'm telling you two. Why would I be bluffing in this situation?"

"No. When on earth did you even learn formations?"

"As I said a little while ago, to be precise, I didn't learn formations, but I know how to destroy them."

"So how?"

I glanced at Yu Cheongja, who was still looking at me with eyes that couldn't believe me, and then I turned around and said, checking the large trees and grass in sight, "A formation is ultimately bound to be made up of the objects needed to construct the formation, right? Either by using natural objects, or by driving in stakes, or if not that, by using talismans. So if you destroy the core objects of that formation... that is, if you knock down the trees, pull out the stakes, or break the rocks, the formation will naturally be destroyed."

"How do you know which are the core objects of the formation and destroy them? Isn't that ultimately possible only if you know how to read the formation?"

"Well. If you go by the book, that's right."

"By the book... that means there's a shortcut. And you know that shortcut."

As expected, my master and I are now on the same wavelength.

I even clapped a few times and said, "That's right. I know that shortcut."

"Alright. What is it?"

"First, this location is important. The Demonic Cult guys earlier were not resting around here, but were searching this area, right?"

"They were."

"Then that means the formation starts around here. They must have been searching this area very carefully from the beginning so as not to be sucked into the formation. So, from right here to the very end. All you have to do is knock down every tree in sight, break all the rocks, and if you see anything artificial, just destroy it all. Simple, right?"

"......"

"......"

At my explanation, my master and Yu Cheongja looked at me with dumbfounded eyes.

It seems they never thought it would be such a simple and ignorant method.

But what can I do if this is the best way?

"For now... I understand what you mean. But if we keep destroying as we go, won't we not know if the formation has been deactivated, or if we still need to destroy more objects?"

"That's right. That was a very good question. But we don't need to worry about that at all. Because the one who rebuilt this formation is our Senior Uncle Hyeon Cheong, right? Then he will surely feel it first when the formation is deactivated. Then he will do something."

"An action?"

"Either run away, or attack us. It will probably be the latter in most cases. You two can both avoid or block the attacks of martial artists whose bodies are not in good condition after being chased for a month and a half, right?"

The two of them nodded their heads.

"Come to think of it... it's a really good method."

"Yes. Although it feels like we've become woodcutters, not martial artists."

"Let's do it quickly now. Because we're in a hurry."

I rolled up my sleeves and took out the Red Dragon Sword.

It's sad that I have to use this beautiful sword as a substitute for an axe, but there is no other choice.

No. I should think of this as all part of my training.

Training to protect the sword blade from being damaged while cutting trees and splitting rocks with a sword.

Because if this training becomes perfect, I will be able to exert greater power in a one-on-many fight.

"Wait. But Unhwi-ya."

As I was walking towards the nearest tree, Yu Cheongja called me.

"Yes?"

"How do you know something like this? Judging by the fact that Hyeon Yang doesn't know, it doesn't seem like it's something they teach at Wudang."

I smiled as if asking why he was asking something so obvious and answered, "Books are everyone's teacher."

***

Hyeon Cheong of the Wudang Sect and Man Cheong of the Kunlun Sect.

The two of them had not eaten or slept properly for several days, and their bodies were in a terrible state.

Sleep would come as soon as they closed their eyes, but they couldn't sleep because they were so hungry.

'When I modified the formation, I should have at least checked if there was a stream nearby.'

Well, when he first fell into the formation, he had no room to worry about such things.

A situation where the five senses are confused, and the sky and the earth cannot be distinguished.

In the midst of that, he wouldn't have been able to find the objects inside and build the formation in reverse if the heavens hadn't helped him.

'I can't light a fire because of the smoke, and I can't get water...'

Although he had endured by chewing on the surrounding leaves and eating insects in a hurry, he was now beginning to feel that he had reached his limit.

'Should I go out on my own?'

He began to have such worries.

A worry that whether he dies of starvation here or at the hands of the enemy, it would be the same.

"Hey. Man Cheong. Are you okay?"

"I... am fine."

Man Cheong answered in a weak voice.

In fact, Man Cheong's condition was worse than Hyeon Cheong's right now.

The Demonic Cult guys, even after knowing that Hyeon Cheong had set up the formation in reverse, had continued to send people, and Man Cheong had been grazed by an enemy's sword on his chest while fighting them.

Although he was barely bandaging the wound, a fever was rising and he was losing the strength in his eyes, as if the wound were getting infected.

"Sigh... I can't do this. Let's go out now."

"Go out. Where?"

"I mean, let's go out of the formation. In this state, we won't be able to last a few days. Especially you, you could really be in big trouble if you go on like this."

Although Hyeon Cheong spoke earnestly, Man Cheong shook his head firmly.

"No. I can't do that. Then let's do this. I'll go out of the formation and buy some time... you run away to another place in the meantime."

"I can't do that either. I don't want to sacrifice the Taoists of Kunlun for me anymore."

"Am I not a dead man anyway? The wound has started to fester. As you said, I probably won't be able to move properly in a few days. Let me help you while I can still move to some extent. I don't want to die uselessly like this."

"We've come this far, so we should die together. Even if you buy me time, it's obvious that I won't be able to run far on my own, isn't it?"

"Hyeon Cheong..."

Hyeon Cheong forced a smile at him and said, "Anyway, if the Demonic Cult guys have any sense, they will bring a formation master who can deactivate the formation. When the formation is deactivated then, it will be the end anyway. Although I don't know when that will be."

"So shouldn't we struggle to live even a little longer?"

"It would be better to surrender to the enemies... huh?!"

He stopped talking and his eyes widened. He had felt something.

"Hyeon Cheong. What's wrong?"

"Sigh... so it ends like this? Man Cheong. I think the time I mentioned earlier is now."

"What are you talking about now? What do you mean, now?"

"The formation is being deactivated. I thought we could last a few more days..."

Hyeon Cheong said as if he had given up, straightened his clothes, and tore a long strip from his cloth bag and tied his sword to his right hand.

It was a determination to die holding his sword to the end, even if his strength ran out.

Man Cheong, who saw that, also ties his sword to his hand as calmly as Hyeon Cheong, as if he were not in pain at all.

Man Cheong said to Hyeon Cheong, who was looking at him with pity, "Good. It's the final battle. This is better. It's much better to die fighting as a martial artist until the very end than to starve to death and collapse helplessly because a wound gets infected."

"Yes. From now on, I will not think of you as an injured person."

Although he said that, Hyeon Cheong still stepped forward in front of Man Cheong and left the cave where they were hiding.

As he left the cave, he could tell a little more clearly.

That the formation was almost completely deactivated.

He began to walk, slowly killing his presence.

How far had he walked like that?

Rustle— Rustle!

He began to feel the presence of something moving in the bushes a little distance away.

Judging by the size of the shaking grass, it was definitely not the size of a small animal.

It would have to be at least the size of a deer, but he had not found such a large animal around.

Because if he had, he and Man Cheong would have caught and eaten it long ago.

Then there is only one possibility left.

A person.

'I will take at least one more person with me as a companion on the road to the underworld.'

He gathered the little internal energy he had left, put it into his sword, and then immediately kicked off the ground and was shot in a straight line.

It was a clean and powerful footwork that you wouldn't have thought was from a body that was about to die.

An attack worthy of Hyeon Cheong, who was evaluated as one of the best talents of the Wudang Sect.

He reached the place where the bushes were shaking in an instant and strongly thrust his sword.

It was a form of the Nine Palaces Sword Art, which was said to be the most domineering sword art among the sword arts of the Wudang Sect.

'One for now...?'

Hyeon Cheong, who was confident that he had dealt with one person, almost lost his sword at the unexpectedly large rebound.

'This is my grave...'

He gave up without my realizing it. Although it was also because he had weakened, it was because the power of the opponent he had faced was too strong.

His mind is filled with the thought that he will never be able to win now, even if he were in a healthy state.

"Get out of the way—!"

At that time, Man Cheong's voice burst out from right behind him.

Hyeon Cheong collapsed to the ground, and Man Cheong's sword narrowly passed the place where he had been standing.

An attack that truly brought out the best of a surprise attack.

Hyeon Cheong felt a flame of hope bloom in his chest for a moment, but that was also for a moment...

Man Cheong's sword was also blocked helplessly.

But Hyeon Cheong made a surprised expression. It wasn't because Man Cheong's sword was blocked.

Because when he looked from a step away, the form and the sound of Man Cheong's sword being blocked were very familiar.

It is a defense method in which countless changes are contained in one move, suppressing strength with softness.

"Taiji Sword Art?!"

He shouted and jumped up from his seat.

And at the same time, a person who was presumed to have exchanged blows with them a little while ago popped out of the bushes.

That person was shaking his hand with a frown.

"Ouch. My wrist. If I hadn't brought out the best of the Taiji, my own hand would have been torn."

"U-Unhwi?!"

"Senior Uncle Hyeon Cheong. You've had a hard time."

"How are you here?"

That answer was enough as another person popped out of the bushes in the other direction, as the bushes rustled.

Because from there, Unhwi's master and Hyeon Cheong's senior brother, Hyeon Yang, appeared.

"Senior brother!"

"Hyeon Cheong-ah... you were alive."

"Sniff..."

Hyeon Cheong felt tears welling up in his eyes without my realizing it.

Although it was a very shameful thing for a man, and a martial artist of the Wudang Sect at that, to show such a sight in front of his junior, he didn't care at all.

"You came to save me."

"Yes. Thank you for being alive until now."

"No, senior brother...!"

And another martial artist who appeared from the bushes on the opposite side.

As soon as he appeared, his eyes became moist, and then he called out the Taoist name of another person, not Hyeon Cheong, in a very wet voice.

"Man Cheong..."

"Senior brother...!"

Yu Cheongja's eyes had become red, and he walked over and hugged Man Cheong tightly.

"Ugh, ugh."

"Huh. What's wrong?"

He, who had hugged him so tightly without thinking, saw the long gash on Man Cheong's chest and quickly moved away.

"S-Sorry. Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine. But how did you find this place? There must have been dozens of enemies chasing us."

"There are no enemies left around."

"No enemies?"

"Yes. We dealt with them all. But we don't know when the enemies will rush in again, so let's apply some medicine first and get out of here."

"I understand, senior brother."

Just before Man Cheong was about to apply the golden wound medicine to the wound and move right away.

"Wait a minute. No matter how urgent it is, why don't you eat this first and then leave? Otherwise, you might collapse on the way."

Commendably, Unhwi took out a grain pill and a leather water bottle from his bag and handed them to Hyeon Cheong and Man Cheong.

Although they had forgotten for a moment that they had met their senior brothers, when they saw the grain pill, they were reminded that they had not eaten anything for a long time.

"Thank you, Unhwi-ya."

"Unhwi? Thank you very much."

Hyeon Cheong and Man Cheong drank water while standing and chewed on the grain pill.

A little while later, they were finally able to leave.

When they had crossed the bushes that were as high as a person, not long after they had moved their steps.

"Ah...!"

"This... can't be..."

Hyeon Cheong seemed to know how they had deactivated the formation.

Beyond the bushes was a completely bare mountain.

All the trees in sight had been knocked down, leaving only the stumps, and the rocks had been pulled out, and as if that were not enough, there were also places where the ground had been completely overturned.

(End of Chapter)