Chapter 39 - A First-Rate Warrior Stirring a New Wind

Three array masters from the Murim Alliance were dispatched through the Yueyang Branch.

The people gathered at the Demonic Spirit Plateau looked at them with expectant eyes, only to be unable to hide their disappointment.

Two greenhorns who had just shed their peach fuzz and one middle-aged man.

Moreover, upon learning that these people were not the ones who had installed the Murim Alliance's arrays, but merely personnel who managed them, they became even more enraged.

"Are you saying these are all the personnel you have right now?"

Currently, the people gathered at the Demonic Spirit Plateau, regardless of whether they belonged to the Orthodox faction or the Underworld, were demanding answers from the Yueyang Branch Chief of the Murim Alliance.

From the perspective of the Orthodox faction, the Underworld figures should have been a sore sight, but under the shared premise of being a gathering of victims, they no longer distinguished between friend and foe.

"For now, we plan to first determine what kind of array it is before dispatching additional personnel."

"Then what about Yong So-ah? We heard he survived and escaped this place. Where is Yong So-ah?"

"After finishing his report to the Murim Alliance, Hyeoncheong returned to his headquarters due to an urgent matter."

"What! You're telling me there's a more urgent matter than five thousand people dying right now?!"

Namgung Jinmyeong trembled as he clenched his fists. How could those who were supposed to be blood allies commit such an act?

"Hyeoncheong also stated that he actually didn't know what kind of array it was, so even if he had come, it wouldn't have been of much help."

The Murim Alliance's Yueyang Branch Chief desperately tried to evade responsibility, but everyone who needed to know already knew.

The talent the Wudang Sect valued most.

A rising star the Wudang Sect would never see again.

They were trying to prevent such an entity from taking the blame for being the sole survivor who left five thousand people behind.

"I heard there is someone from the Mount Mao Sect among the people who went inside. Surely they would have been able to figure out what kind of array it was?"

"... Hyeoncheong made no mention of that."

It was a continuous string of unresolved arguments.

At this rate, they would only repeat the exact same points endlessly.

"Bring that bastard Yong So-ah here immediately!"

"..."

The Yueyang Branch Chief merely kept his head bowed, his eyes darting back and forth.

"Do you not realize that if this matter ultimately ends in tragedy, Hyeoncheong, the Wudang Sect, and the Murim Alliance will also pay the price?"

"... Well."

Frightened by the continuous pressure, the Yueyang Branch Chief still managed to continue speaking.

"The Murim Alliance's stance is that they cannot take responsibility, as this was not part of an official mission in the first place. Sending the array masters was strictly out of courtesy to our sworn allies, and the burden of responsibility lies with the people who went inside..."

"What did you say?!"

"Furthermore, they stated that how Hyeoncheong and the Wudang Sect conduct themselves is not a matter for the Murim Alliance to interfere with."

"Where did that statement come from? The Council of Elders? The Mantong Bureau?"

"... It is the Murim Alliance's decision."

Having lived his entire life as a member of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Jinmyeong had never experienced such helplessness even once, making his anger all the greater.

Namgung Jinmyeong moved his body and headed toward where the Mount Mao Sect's array masters were gathered.

Upon hearing the news from this place, the Mount Mao Sect had sent ten personnel as backup. They had already arrived several days ago and were in the middle of studying the array.

"How is it?"

"... The entrance is merely an ordinary natural array. However, seeing that five thousand people went in and cannot come out, perhaps this is a highly advanced trap."

"Is there no way to dismantle the array from this side?"

"The array's axis does not exist on this side. It is such a massive array that we cannot even gauge its size from the outside."

"So in the end, there is no way to rescue them."

"Yu Jiryang is a disciple with outstanding skills that are counted among the best within our sect. Seeing that he cannot make it out from in there..."

"I heard that Hyeoncheong... no, Yong So-ah made it out of this place. How could he have escaped?"

"... I believe he might have used momentary destructive power."

"Destructive power?"

"If the place they were in was close to the outside and they had not completely entered the array's area of influence, he could have unleashed a brief burst of destructive power to momentarily open the array's gate. However, to achieve that level of destructive power, he would need at least three hundred years' worth of internal energy or something like a Thunderbolt Bomb."

"So you're saying that guy had one of the two."

"Three hundred years' worth of internal energy is a story that only appears in legends, isn't it?"

"Understood. Please keep doing your best."

"We are only sorry that we could not be of help."

Namgung Jinmyeong gnashed his teeth.

It would have brought him some peace of mind if he at least knew what on earth had happened inside, but Hyeoncheong, the only one who knew the news from the inside, had already fled back to the Wudang Sect via the Murim Alliance.

Anyone living as a warrior in Jianghu was aware that there would be moments when their life was in danger.

However, that did not mean they could easily accept such an absurd death.

"San."

"Yes. Father."

"Take the Cangqiong Squad, Daeyeon Squad, and Thunderstrike Squad to Wudang right now."

"..."

He could understand the Cangqiong Squad and Daeyeon Squad, but the Thunderstrike Squad was the Namgung Clan's most elite strike force. This was essentially an order to mobilize entities that were never to cross the walls of the Namgung Clan unless the clan's very existence was threatened.

At the command to mobilize such a force, Namgung San's face turned deathly pale.

Was he planning to wage a war against the Wudang Sect?

"If they refuse to hand over Yong So-ah, push past the Sword Disarming Ground."

Telling him to proceed without laying down his sword at the Sword Disarming Ground ultimately meant starting an armed conflict.

"Right now, the Namgung Clan is the only place in Jianghu that can demand the truth from Wudang."

"..."

In this incident, Wudang was not the only problem.

Next, they would raise issues with the Beggars' Sect, and then they would raise issues with Haomun as well.

Even if Haomun wasn't an issue since it was a faction that straddled the line between the Orthodox faction and the Underworld, they were still dealing with two factions of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

There was no way this matter would end with just words.

'In the worst-case scenario, the Murim Alliance will definitely step in.'

Even so, Namgung San could not spit out the words lingering in his head.

Because there was no way his father, Namgung Jinmyeong, wouldn't know that.

This might have already been fully discussed and settled with his grandfather, the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.

'The situation is too dire.'

If it had ended at just the issue with Namgung Seonhwa, they would not have gone to such extremes. However, with the branch line's issues added on top of it, that anger had multiplied two or three times over.

"Are you afraid?"

"No, I am not!"

"... I am afraid."

"Pardon?"

"I don't know if I can forgive myself for letting the situation come to this."

Namgung Jinmyeong was blaming himself more than anyone else.

"Father..."

"When I think of what that young child must have gone through in there, it tears my heart apart."

"I will bring Yong So-ah here without fail."

"..."

Instead of answering, Namgung Jinmyeong looked at a wall of the cave cloaked in darkness.

"Even if we bring that boy here, will we even be able to save Seonhwa...?"

It was a self-deprecating question, unclear who it was meant for.

Instead of offering a hasty answer, Namgung San also looked at the same spot as Namgung Jinmyeong.

Just then.

"Huh?"

He thought he might have seen it wrong.

Dozens of torches were already illuminating the inside of the cave as brightly as day.

However.

"Father, did you see that?"

A black shadow was undulating.

"I-I saw it!"

Simultaneously with Namgung Jinmyeong's shout, the array masters of the Mount Mao Sect who had been studying the array scrambled backward.

They were afraid that the array might perhaps swallow people up.

But instead of lunging at the people, the black shadow undulated before suddenly splitting wide open to both sides.

Then, from within that shadow, it spat out a skeleton-like figure that was hard to even call human.

On that person's back, a similarly emaciated woman was being carried.

Namgung Jinmyeong and Namgung San shouted at the same time.

"Seonhwa!!"

"Namgung Seonhwa!!"

Behind the person carrying Seonhwa, a group of people in equally poor condition filed out in a line, each carrying someone on their back.

Peculiarly, they kept their heads bowed even after entering the cave, walking while staring intently at the exact spots the person in the very front had stepped on.

As Namgung Jinmyeong and Namgung San took Seonhwa into their arms, the man standing at the very front spoke in a cracked voice.

"W-Water. S-Something to eat..."

Startled, the people quickly handed over the food they had in their pockets and the alcohol they had stashed away.

Without even knowing who was giving him what, the man frantically stuffed it all into his mouth, chewed for a long while, and then swallowed it down his throat in one gulp.

"Damn, I almost died."

At that moment, without anyone needing to prompt it, shouts erupted from all directions.

The first survivors among the five thousand people they thought were dead had appeared.

* * *

Upon Jin Sowoon's appearance, the Murim Alliance's Yueyang Branch Chief attempted to interrogate Jin Sowoon separately, claiming he would investigate what had happened inside, but Namgung Jinmyeong and the experts of the Underworld did not sit still.

"The Murim Alliance said they bear no responsibility!"

"B-But..."

"Right now, I am barely clinging to my reason because of my daughter's survival. Do not make me any more disappointed in the Murim Alliance."

At Namgung Jinmyeong's menacing threat, the people of the Murim Alliance dared not step forward.

Although the first survivors had appeared, the matter was far from over.

There were still thousands of people remaining inside.

"That's the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Extinguishing Array?"

The array masters of the Mount Mao Sect were greatly alarmed as the legendary array that had vanished three hundred years ago reappeared.

Furthermore, they could not hide their utter shock at the words that followed.

"Are you saying you can find the paths through the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Extinguishing Array?"

Listening to the explanation, the Mount Mao Sect array masters found it hard to believe the story of Jin Sowoon, who had led the survivors back.

"I verified it myself."

The emaciated Yu Jiryang spoke up from the side.

With Yu Jiryang's testimony added, it was a situation where they could no longer doubt it.

"But how..."

"The array masters of the Mount Mao Sect had been calculating the array's paths from the very beginning. But in the midst of it, that bastard Yong So-ah interfered..."

Although renowned figures of Murim transcending both the Orthodox faction and the Underworld were all gathered here, they all resented Yong So-ah with a united heart.

"Then how did you escape when the path calculations weren't fully completed?"

At the Mount Mao Sect array master's question, Jin Sowoon kept shoveling porridge into his mouth as he answered.

It was a porridge boiled with beef jerky from the campsite outside the cave. Jin Sowoon was already eating his tenth bowl of it.

"I calculated the rest on my own from inside."

Even after hearing the story, it was a situation that was hard to easily believe.

"Aren't you... a disciple of the Taiyi Sect?"

When the Mount Mao Sect array master suddenly brought up the Taiyi Sect, the experts of the Underworld who were listening nearby each spat out a remark.

"Fuck! What does the Taiyi Sect have to do with anything here!"

"You idiots, are you seriously still nitpicking about backgrounds in this situation?!"

"Yeah! Right now, if they can pull our disciples out of there, we should be bringing in someone from the Demonic Cult, let alone the Taiyi Sect!"

As if agreeing with them, Yu Jiryang spoke.

"Martial Uncle. We don't have time to be doing this. People are still dying inside even as we speak."

"... R-Right. Ah, and I'm sorry."

At the relentless badgering from the Underworld experts, the Mount Mao Sect array master eventually took a step back and looked at Namgung Jinmyeong.

Namgung Jinmyeong asked Jin Sowoon again.

"Are there any precautions we should take on the way out?"

"If you follow my footsteps exactly, you will never lose your way inside the array. However, if you take even a single wrong step, you will be trapped inside the array."

"It won't be easy for the people in there."

"That's why I only brought out ten people the first time."

"What is the maximum number of people you can lead out?"

"The time a single path is maintained is roughly fifteen minutes. It would be best to safely move back and forth with a maximum of twenty people at a time."

"The Namgung Clan will prepare the warriors."

"We at Sahuang Peak will provide warriors as well. They'll be better than those Orthodox faction scrubs."

"You must have heard the name of our Black Death Gang."

The people all wanted to send their own warriors in first.

"You must think carefully. If you take a wrong path just once, you will never be found again within the array. I went back and forth inside several times, but I never once encountered anyone who had entered the array first."

At Jin Sowoon's words, the people who had been stepping forward fell completely silent.

In the end, Namgung Jinmyeong asked again.

"Then what do you suggest is the best course of action?"

"First, please provide support from twenty Peak Realm warriors. Rather than those from different groups, pick those who normally coordinate well with one another. Then, the first time they go in with me, they should carry food inside, and on the way out, we will bring out twenty patients first. Please have physicians stationed on both sides of the cave so they can be treated the moment they come out. And you must prepare the warriors who will go in next, continuing this cycle."

"That would be best."

Listening to his plan, Namgung Jinmyeong and the Underworld experts nodded.

"But if we do that, wouldn't you have to keep going back in? Are you alright?"

If one were to single out the most exhausted state among those who had made it out alive, Jin Sowoon would certainly not be excluded.

Moreover, considering how much blood he must have shed inside, his seemingly blue martial robes were drenched in blood and had turned black.

"From here on out, it is a race against time. To save even one more person, we cannot delay for even a moment."

"Understood."

At those words, the people began to move with perfect discipline.

* * *

The Underworld experts went to Yueyang, forcibly woke up the nearby physicians, and carried them all the way to the Demonic Spirit Plateau, while the Orthodox faction experts stopped by the guest houses and taverns of Yueyang, cooked food using every available ingredient, and transported it to the Demonic Spirit Plateau.

Starting with the Namgung Clan's Thunderstrike Squad, twenty personnel went inside carrying food, and after a long time had passed, they came back out, each carrying one survivor on their back.

Regardless of whether they were from the Orthodox faction or the Underworld, the people treated whoever they could get their hands on and focused on recovery, and whenever a corpse was brought out, they took it straight to the command post to find anyone connected to the deceased.

"Are you alright?"

Thanks to nearly ten thousand experts moving in unison, there was no shortage of hands.

However, their biggest concern was Jin Sowoon.

Since escaping the Soul-Extinguishing Array, the one who entered the Soul-Extinguishing Array the most was Jin Sowoon, and because he had been going in and out of the Soul-Extinguishing Array without sleeping a wink for three days now, he looked in an even worse state than when he first came out.

"I am fine. If I just take a moment for qi circulation..."

It was always like this. He compensated for his lack of sleep with brief moments of qi circulation.

But that sight could not help but appear incredibly pitiful in the eyes of the warriors.

Experts who had reached the Peak Realm could easily hold out for a month without sleep, but how could a disciple of the Taiyi Sect be in the same situation as them?

Unable to just watch any longer, Namgung Jinmyeong took out a wooden box from his robes.

"Take this before your qi circulation."

"What is this?"

"It is the Daeyeon Divine Pill."

"Pardon? How could you give me something so precious..."

"Precious? It's nothing compared to you saving the people of our noble clan. We will pay the real price later. For now, take this first and replenish your energy. I am sorry, but right now, you are the only one who can save the people inside there."

When Namgung Jinmyeong stepped up like that, the Underworld experts could not sit still either.

"The spiritual elixirs of our Black Death Gang likely wouldn't suit the Daoist mental cultivation method you've learned, so take this instead. It's called the Purple Flower Orchid. You know what the Purple Flower Orchid is, right?"

"It would have been great if I could give you Sahuang Peak's Sahuang Pill, but it's a shame. Just in case, I have a Clear Heart Pill purchased from the black market, so please accept it."

"Have you ever heard of Profound Yang Water? It was originally gathered by my sect to make spiritual elixirs, but..."

"This is the Nine-Leaf Divine Herb..."

"This is the Heaven and Earth Herb."

Goodness knows where everyone had been keeping such spiritual elixirs tightly hidden away, but before long, a massive pile of spiritual elixirs and spiritual pills had accumulated in front of Jin Sowoon.

Although there was nothing incredible enough to compare to the Daeyeon Divine Pill, they were things that would definitely be of help in recovering his vitality right now.

From then on, instead of eating food, Jin Sowoon filled his stomach with spiritual elixirs before heading back inside the array.

And so, another four days passed.

As the days and nights blurred together, right around the time even the experts were growing exhausted.

At last, the final survivors appeared.

"That's the end of it."

"A total of four thousand two hundred and eighty people have returned alive."

As soon as the command post's announcement ended, the people, regardless of whether they were from the Orthodox faction or the Underworld, hugged one another and let out shouts that seemed to shake heaven and earth.

"WAAAHHHHHH!"