novelraw Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Chapter 60 : Chapter 60
Chapter 60 Wudang is Taiji (7)
— Creeeaak
— Creeeaak
As the old woman came down the stairs, the stairs groaned heavily.
“I have prepared the rooms, so you can go rest anytime.”
“Thank you. Ah! By any chance, were there any guests who stayed here recently?”
At Jaun’s sudden question, the old woman shook her head from side to side.
“There were almost no guests for the past year. Especially for the recent three months, they have completely dried up. You folks are the first guests to stay in six months.”
The old woman grinned.
“So with a grateful heart, I intend to make some snacks. Come down in one shichen (two hours). Unfortunately, you don’t have the right to choose the dish. You have to eat whatever I give you, so keep that in mind.”
The old woman stopped while walking into the kitchen.
“Ah, if you go straight up the trail behind, there is a large bathhouse, so those who want to bathe can use it. It used to be a specialty of our inn in the past. Hot water rising from the mountain comes down and pools naturally, so it should be usable.”
“A bathhouse?”
At the word bathhouse, Baek-myo rejoiced.
“Perhaps because my eyes have dimmed, I haven't been able to find the way and wandered around these days, so I haven't cleaned it for a month or two but…… since no one used it for the past few months, it should be fine. Well, if you don’t feel like it, it can’t be helped.”
“……You couldn't find the way?”
Jaun turned his body and looked at the old woman.
“I must have aged too. Anyway, I’m going to prepare snacks.”
As the old woman went into the kitchen, Hyeon-dam and Baek-myo looked at each other.
“This, isn't it strange?”
“Yeah. She said she worked here all her life…… No matter how old she got, can she suddenly not find the way?”
“Let’s go check.”
At Jaun’s words, Baek-myo looked at the back of the inn with reluctant eyes.
The sun was high in the sky, but due to the trees filling the surroundings, the forest path was quite dark.
“Ah, seriously. Why is it so dark here again…….”
At Baek-myo’s words, Hyeon-dam smirked, turned his head left and right, and loosened up.
“Since it’s a path to a bathhouse, it would be a bit weird if it was too visible. Let’s take a slow look around before she brings out the snacks. It would be fortunate if there is nothing.”
Hyeon-dam stepped onto the trail first, and the group followed behind him in a line.
“……Uh?”
Hyeon-dam, who had been leading the way up for a long time, stopped abruptly on the spot.
He thought he had definitely climbed the mountain for about half a shichen, but what was visible in front of his eyes now was the inn they had departed from earlier.
“Oho. At this level, it seems there is a formation of quite a precise level.”
Ban Cheol-hwi looked around here and there as if intrigued.
“This time, I will go up first. Let’s go a little slowly.”
Ban Cheol-hwi began to walk up the small path wiping the sweat flowing on his forehead.
Ban Cheol-hwi, who had been walking up for a long time like that, stopped his steps at a fork in the road.
“Ha. Illusionary Maze Principle Formation . I heard it was lost quite a long time ago. I think there is someone with considerable knowledge about formations over there.”
“What is there?”
“It is a formation based on the Five Elements , but I heard it was lost quite a long time ago. I only read about it in books too…….”
Ban Cheol-hwi, looking around here and there, gathered dry leaves and piled them in one place.
“I will make a fire here. Since it is a formation weak against Fire Energy , I think it will be effective.”
The group looked at Ban Cheol-hwi with half-doubting expressions, and in the meantime, Ban Cheol-hwi took out a fire starter from his bosom and lit the gathered dry leaves.
As the fire starter burned the dry leaves in an instant, large flames began to sway here and there.
“Let’s see……. Aha. Over there.”
Looking at the place Ban Cheol-hwi pointed with his hand, the shape of the tree that should be standing straight was swaying here and there according to the shaking of the flames.
“Please strike that tree hard.”
At Ban Cheol-hwi’s words, Hyeon-dam tilted his head, gathered his energy, and punched the tree.
— Bam!
— Rumble
Although it looked like a tree to the eyes, as soon as Hyeon-dam’s fist touched it, the appearance of the tree disappeared and a pile of stones stacked high revealed itself.
Hyeon-dam squinted his eyes, rubbed his fist, and looked at the pile of stones collapsing.
“……What is this?”
“So they twisted the energy with a stone tower. Now, the Illusion Formation should be dispelled. Let’s go up.”
Baek-myo approached with fascinated eyes and tapped Ban Cheol-hwi’s back.
“Wow, unexpected? You are quite useful, aren't you?”
“O-Of course. This much is nothing.”
Ban Cheol-hwi coughed a few times as if embarrassed and started to climb up the mountain first.
Jaun, walking fast, passed Ban Cheol-hwi and took the lead.
“……There is something ahead. Let’s go up carefully.”
Looking at Jaun’s stiff expression, the group silenced their footsteps and slowly chased after him.
****
“Over there.”
In the direction Jaun’s hand pointed, a quite large wooden bathhouse was situated.
“Oh. It was worthy of being called a specialty. It’s much bigger than I thought?”
Baek-myo grabbed Hyeon-dam’s hand tightly as he whispered to the group and tried to walk forward.
“……I think there is someone.”
At Baek-myo’s words, Hyeon-dam held his breath, raised his energy, and focused it on his eyes.
“People are sitting there? Uh? That…….”
Hyeon-dam’s face turned pale in an instant.
Seeing that, Baek-myo and Jaun also focused energy on their eyes, and soon hardened their expressions.
As the three with stiff expressions stood still on the spot, Ban Cheol-hwi tilted his head and looked back at the group.
“Why. What is it. Are there previous guests?”
“……There are previous guests, but they are not alive.”
At Jaun’s words, Ban Cheol-hwi frowned and took a step back.
The group, having paused for a moment, approached the bathhouse slowly again.
As the bathhouse got closer, the group’s expressions darkened rapidly.
People were seated in a circle in the bathhouse.
Although they were clearly people, the angles of the necks of the people sitting were all turned in directions they shouldn't be turned.
“……They seated corpses in the bathhouse.”
At Jaun’s words, Baek-myo bit her lip tightly and raised a finger.
“That red pooling liquid…… don’t tell me, is it blood?”
Hyeon-dam ground his teeth.
“Bastards who should fall into Avici Hell . How could people do such a thing……!”
Jaun raised his hand and restrained Hyeon-dam and Baek-myo who tried to walk a little further forward.
“There is no smell of blood at all. If that place is the altar I saw last time, demonic energy should be felt, but it isn't felt either.”
At Hyeon-dam’s words, Ban Cheol-hwi looked around here and there, retreated slowly backward, and raised his head.
“There is one more quite large formation. It is an old formation of Wudang that gathers energy into one place. Books said such formations are usually installed in places where ingredients for elixirs are grown…….”
“Can you break it?”
Ban Cheol-hwi, looking around, shook his head from side to side.
“It is not a small formation. It is a considerably large formation keeping all around this hill under its influence. It seems they touched a formation that was installed in the past……. For now, follow me this way.”
Ban Cheol-hwi moved his steps slowly to the side of the bathhouse.
The group, who had been going around to the side for a long time, stopped on the spot.
“Over there.”
Sparks flew in the eyes of Hyeon-dam looking at the tip of Jaun’s finger whispering quietly.
People were hanging like fruits in clusters on large pine tree branches, groaning.
The smell of filth vibrated around as if they had been neglected for quite a long time, and the people were skinny to the point where their ribs were visible.
“……So they were maintaining the formation by drawing on those people’s vitality .”
Ban Cheol-hwi sighed low and looked around.
“If we rescue those people, the formation will be dispelled. However, if a formation of this size breaks, the person who set up the formation is bound to notice.”
At Ban Cheol-hwi’s words, Hyeon-dam nodded.
“That’s good. It means once we save those people, the ringleader who committed this act will appear, right?”
Hyeon-dam gritted his teeth and slowly raised his energy.
“We have to be careful. If the large bathhouse we saw earlier is the Blood Cult’s altar, and if the altar is already completed…… it might be difficult for us alone to handle that energy. Let’s save the people first, break the formation, and then retreat to watch the situation. Once the formation is deactivated, Wudang will also feel this energy and come running. If they add their strength, things will be solved a little easier.”
At Jaun’s words, Hyeon-dam nodded.
“Then let’s save the people first. I take the center, Baek-myo the west, Youngest the east. Young Hero Ban, please wait here.”
Following Hyeon-dam’s instructions, the group approached the pine forest quickly.
Jaun, who approached the tied people closely, opened his eyes wide.
Wudang’s energy emanating faintly.
They were the missing third-generation disciples of Wudang.
The group hurriedly cut the ropes tied to the tree branches, lowered the exhausted people, and sat them gathered in one place.
“Since vitality will no longer enter the formation, it will be dispelled soon. If you want to break the formation faster, break that. Then you can break the formation immediately.”
Ban Cheol-hwi, who had been examining the surroundings carefully while the group was saving people, raised his hand and pointed to a small rock.
Baek-myo, nodding at Ban Cheol-hwi’s words, flew to the rock like the wind and struck the rock with her heel just like that.
— Kaboom!
As the rock split in half, a whirring sound resonated in all directions.
Subsequently, energy mixed with massive demonic energy and blood energy began to rush in from the direction where the bathhouse was.
“The formation is broken. Let’s move the people to a safe place first.”
At Jaun’s words, Hyeon-dam, who was about to support the people, paused and turned his head. Jaun also looked at the same place as him and bit his lip.
“……The culprits of this matter were closer than expected.”
Two massive energies were approaching this way from the altar side.
Hyeon-dam, looking around, jumped to the side of Wudang’s disciples sitting on the ground, while Baek-myo stood Ban Cheol-hwi behind her and stood shoulder to shoulder with Jaun.
After a while, two old men emitting demonic energy revealed themselves from the thicket.
“Cheong-eum-sa . You have gone senile now too. Didn't you say your formation was safe? Was it something that breaks this easily?”
“Killing Shadow Watch your mouth if you don’t want to die. If they grasped and broke Wudang’s old formation at once, that side is not ordinary.”
The old men talking to each other glanced back at the group.
“Let’s see. The formation is broken and bringing people back is annoying too……. Shall we end offering sacrifices at this point?”
“Even if we grind up all the guys gathered here, it’s barely thirty. The sacrifices pushed in so far wouldn't have reached a hundred. It’s far short of the two hundred the Demonic Brain mentioned.”
“Since the formation is broken, Wudang will also notice the signs soon and come down. If that happens, offering more sacrifices will be difficult too. It’s better to escape quickly before it gets annoying for no reason.”
“Well. Do so then. Instead, you do the reporting to the Demonic Brain.”
“I will. What’s so difficult. Just make up something roughly.”
The old men who finished talking looked back at the group again.
The old man looking at the group as if pitiful opened his mouth.
“Tsk tsk. Pitiful bastards. You crawled in looking for a place to die. Which group do you kids belong to. Let’s hear what kind of guys you are before throwing you into the altar.”
Jaun, listening to Killing Shadow’s words, sighed small and walked forward slowly.
“……I am Han Jaun of the Murim Alliance. Does that side belong to the Demonic Cult?”
After confirming the new altar, Jaun’s expression was hardened stiffly.
The tone towards the two old men was polite, but the anger contained within could not be hidden.
The two old men exchanged glances, then smirked and nodded.
“Chuckle. Well, since you are guys who will die soon anyway, it won't matter if we tell you. Yes. This body belongs to the Divine Cult.”
On the face of Jaun watching the old men giggling at the group, complexity dwelled.
‘I wondered, but did the entire Demonic Cult really accept the Blood Cult’s martial arts. I heard that when Father was present, they kept at least the minimum laws. Before I knew it, they have become a group of executioners drunk on blood.’
The last lingering attachment to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult remaining deep in Jaun’s heart disappeared.
As long as the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult accepted the Blood Cult’s martial arts, it was the same as saying no dignity as humans remained in them anymore.
Jaun, erasing even the last remaining attachment, gritted his teeth tightly.
“Right. So that’s how it is. Did you two kill the people seated at that altar?”
Thick coldness began to seep into Jaun’s tone.
At the word altar coming from Jaun’s mouth, the old men turned their heads and looked at each other.
“Altar? Ha. To think you know that is an altar……. How did the Murim Alliance smell it already?”
“Well. They said they would notice only around the time at least forty altars were completed.”
The two old men frowned and muttered looking at Jaun.
“Seeing that they only sent kids like this, it seems they haven't grasped the situation properly yet……. Tsk. Since the Murim Alliance found out about the existence of the altars, things will get a little annoying from now on.”
Jaun’s expression hardened hearing the old men muttering.
“……It is indeed the work you committed.”
“Kuku. Yes. It is all what we did. So what are you going to do about it?”
“If you committed a sin, you should receive punishment befitting it.”
At Jaun’s quietly ringing words, the two old men burst into loud laughter.
“Kuhahaha! My goodness. It’s so absurd I can’t even speak. Punishment? Who will inflict that punishment?”
The old men, glancing once at Jaun, looked at each other and laughed again.
“……Who do you think.”
Saying so, Jaun clenched his fist tightly.