Chapter 52 - The First-Rate Warrior Peering Into the Darkness (5)

Moyong Sangwon, who was heading toward Mugang's Cheongmyeong Escort Agency, suddenly stopped walking and looked back due to a fleeting sense of anxiety crossing his mind.

'No way...'

He soon shook his head.

It was not easy for any righteous warrior in the world to sacrifice their life for someone they had just met.

Moreover, he could not easily believe that a young man who hadn't even reached twenty years of age would willingly become bait to save him.

Moyong Sangwon charged into the Cheongmyeong Escort Agency with all his might.

The warriors guarding the main gate were startled by the bizarre sight of a man running at them with disheveled hair and tattered clothes, but they soon realized it was Moyong Sangwon, who had visited the place a few days prior.

"Minor Patriarch!!"

Despite being an escort agency, there was no cargo inside at all.

Instead, the escort warriors and ordinary warriors were gathered in large numbers, fully prepared to go to battle at any moment.

"What on earth happened to you? People from every branch in Henan Province have been searching for the Minor Patriarch."

"Jin Sowoon! Has a man named Jin Sowoon arrived here by any chance?"

"Who?"

He felt as if his bad premonition had somehow hit the mark.

Did that boy truly sacrifice his life for him?

"... No, that shouldn't be the case."

If one of them had to die, it should have been him.

He already owed his life to Jin Sowoon once.

He could not go through the same thing twice.

"Minor Patriarch. Are you alright?"

Moyong Sangwon half-ignored the Branch Chief's question about his well-being and asked.

"How many people are gathered here?"

"Everyone from the nearby branches has gathered, totaling three hundred people, and a hundred reinforcements from the Namgung Clan have arrived as well."

"The Namgung Clan?"

Only then did Moyong Sangwon turn his head and spot people in different attire lined up to one side.

And at the very front stood Namgung San with a stiff expression and Namgung Seonhwa, who had turned deathly pale.

"San, Seonhwa."

"... We greet the Minor Patriarch."

"It is incredibly fortunate that you appear to be unharmed."

"So even you two came."

Namgung San got straight to the point.

"By any chance, is the Jin Sowoon you mentioned the Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect?"

"Do you know the boy?"

Namgung San and Namgung Seonhwa exchanged glances.

"What exactly happened to you?"

"I was attacked by unidentified enemies at Seoho Peak."

"Was Young Master Jin left alone?"

Namgung Seonhwa, who usually did not step forward, suddenly interjected.

Namgung San was about to say something but stopped upon seeing her pale face.

She seemed to have no room to even care about whatever rudeness she was committing.

"... I hope that's not the case, but it seems to be exactly that."

Moyong Sangwon briefly explained the situation of when they last parted.

"If it's him... he is more than capable of making such a choice."

"... I truly wished otherwise."

"Minor Patriarch. It would be best to move out immediately."

"Right. Let us go."

* * *

["Because you want to live the most out of all of us. You must survive."]

After leaving the Minor Orthodox Unit, I continued to survive.

That didn't mean I had found peace.

While I was holed up in a deep mountain valley after leaving Jianghu. Not for a single moment was I at peace.

During the time I met no one, I had to face everyone in my memories.

The countless enemies of the Demonic Cult swarming in, and the officials of the Murim Alliance standing by with their hands behind their backs even with a crisis right before their eyes.

The comrades I had grown attached to while rolling on the ground together dying helplessly against the cold sword blades of demonic practitioners, and the dogs of the Demonic Cult laughing at those comrades' wretched deaths.

I had to die tens of thousands of times within those memories.

One day, I recalled the memory of Go Tae, the successor of the Geumgang Sealing God, blocking the swords of the Yeomma Ghost Eye Squad for me.

Because it was a memory I had replayed hundreds of times, the enemy's weakness became visible for the first time.

The exact single spot I had never seen until then.

It felt like I would be able to see a different outcome if I thrust my sword into that spot.

I poured my imagination of thrusting the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique into that memory.

The member of the Yeomma Ghost Eye Squad was stabbed in a vital point and died, scattering a fountain of blood.

Then, a brief wave of relief washed over me.

Another day, I recalled the memory of Yayul Jae, the successor of the Flowing Cloud Divine Art, blowing away the Heavenly Demon Black Sword Squad members.

I saw weaknesses there as well, and I poured in the imagination of swinging the Flash Lightning Sword Technique to slit the enemies' throats.

By adding those countering imaginations into the hellish memories of the past that surfaced so vividly, I could fall asleep without suffering anymore.

Like that, one day, ten days, a hundred days, a thousand days passed.

I researched methods to fight against every enemy the Minor Orthodox Unit had faced, pouring in my imagination to practice my countermeasures.

I spent my life pondering strategies that I would never have to use again.

Because as long as I agonized over them, I didn't have to spend my days in suffering.

"Back then, it was nothing but a futile act to escape my pain."

I never imagined that the agony I put myself through solely to escape my suffering would end up being used like this.

The corpses of the Yeomma Ghost Eye Squad scattered everywhere.

In the past, had I ever seen this many corpses of the Yeomma Ghost Eye Squad?

"If those bastards had seen this, they would have made a fuss about bringing out meat and booze to throw a party. Crazy punks."

Before I could even get swept up in the sentimentality of having killed nearly twenty people, a chuckle escaped me.

I buried the corpses of the Yeomma Ghost Eye Squad in the mountain, leaving only a few behind. If I claimed that I, a disciple of the Taiyi Sect, had dealt with all of them, it would undoubtedly only draw unnecessary suspicion.

My tension unwound as I roughly finished the job.

"The Jade Dragon Bracelet isn't omnipotent after all."

Fatigue had been washing over me right after the fight ended.

I had absorbed all of their internal energy and innate qi that were filled with demonic qi, but as expected, what entered my body was pure true qi.

However, perhaps because of that, my Dantian still held more than half of its internal energy, but an unbearable drowsiness was surging forward.

It seemed that irresistible fatigue had built up in my body as the Jade Dragon Bracelet purified the demonic qi.

"It should be fine to sleep for just a bit, just a very short while, right?"

Somehow, I felt like if I fell asleep now, I would be able to see the old guys from the Minor Orthodox Unit.

Their faces that I used to hate seeing so much—it felt like seeing them for a brief moment right now wouldn't be so bad.

"It's not that I want to see you bastards. I just want to see Lady Moyong Seol."

I briefly leaned my body against a rock and closed my eyes.

* * *

"Young Master Jin Sowoon!"

"Young Master Jin Sowoon!"

The mountain's night was dark.

Piercing through that darkness, hundreds of torches were lighting up various parts of Seoho Peak.

"It's this way."

Moyong Sangwon retraced the path he had taken, spreading out the people in a ten-zhang radius in all directions.

Because there was a chance the attackers might still be lingering, and they didn't know where or how Jin Sowoon was hiding.

Namgung San, who was running closest to Moyong Sangwon, asked.

"Minor Patriarch, could you tell us what happened?"

Namgung Seonhwa on the opposite side also looked extremely eager to hear.

"I encountered attackers at Seoho Peak and was on the verge of death. That was when a friend named Jin Sowoon saved my life."

"..."

"But on the way back to Mugang with that friend, the very people who had attacked me were waiting for us."

"... Gasp!"

Namgung Seonhwa subconsciously inhaled sharply.

"We managed to escape their clutches thanks to Sowoon's quick thinking, but as you can see, my condition was rather poor, so we decided to split up and run."

"Then..."

"However... I can't shake this feeling that the boy acted as bait for my sake. It makes me anxious."

As soon as Moyong Sangwon's words ended, Namgung Seonhwa's pace began to quicken.

Namgung San was about to say something but soon closed his mouth.

Because he himself was sharing the exact same feeling as Seonhwa right now.

"There are traces of a fight here."

The escort warriors sent ahead were gathered in one place.

Moyong Sangwon quickly approached them.

It was not far from the spot where he and Sowoon had first split up and fled.

"There's quite a large amount of blood..."

"Hmm."

Moyong Sangwon's brows furrowed deeply.

"There are traces here too!"

"There's a massive amount of blood stained here."

When they followed the warriors who had found the next set of traces, they arrived precisely at the spot where Jin Sowoon and Moyong Sangwon had parted ways.

"He really went and did it! He actually did it!"

Moyong Sangwon's emotion was closer to anger than regret.

Just who did the boy think he was to go to such lengths for him? It was a life that had already been lost once; just being able to deliver the news would have been enough.

Namgung San's expression turned grave as he inspected the site of the fierce battle.

"There is far too much blood scattered around."

"If it was shed by a single person?"

"... They wouldn't have survived."

"Find the corpse..., no! The traces! Find the traces! Traces of Jin Sowoon, traces of the attackers, anything! Find them all!"

"Yes, sir!"

The escort warriors and warriors moved more swiftly than ever before.

The Minor Patriarch of the Moyong Noble Clan.

They had instinctively realized that he had steeled himself with a heavy heart, in one sense or another.

"Ah..."

Namgung Seonhwa slumped to the ground, as if she could no longer endure it.

Namgung San barely managed to grab her arm and stop her from collapsing completely.

"Pull yourself together. We haven't found anything yet."

"But, Brother..."

"Do you not know him? If he were the type of man to meet his end so easily, he would have died long ago."

"..."

"People are watching. Get up."

"... Yes."

Moyong Sangwon, who had been listening to their conversation from the side, felt something strange and asked.

"What kind of connection do you two have with Jin Sowoon?"

As for him, the boy was his savior, so they were bound by an unpayable debt.

But the two children of the Namgung Clan were acting quite similarly to him.

"Are you aware of what happened at the Demonic Spirit Plateau?"

"I apologize for hearing about it so late. But I heard there was fortunately a savior?"

"Yes. That savior was none other than Young Master Jin Sowoon."

"You mean the person who entered the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Extinguishing Array countless times to save everyone was..."

"Yes."

"Goodness..."

He finally understood why Namgung Seonhwa's legs had nearly given out.

To think that the righteous warrior who had saved everyone at the Demonic Spirit Plateau, regardless of whether they were from the Orthodox faction or the Underworld, was Jin Sowoon.

"Truly... Why did he have to save me..."

Now, Moyong Sangwon even felt a sense of self-loathing.

If he had just died earlier beneath that cliff, Jin Sowoon could have returned with the core of the Fire Monkey and become a chivalrous hero remembered forever in Murim.

If Jin Sowoon really died like this, wouldn't he have caused an immense tragedy to the martial world?

"What is a middle-aged man's life like mine even worth."

Without caring whether the children of the Namgung Clan were watching or not, tears streamed down Moyong Sangwon's face.

And right then.

"O-Over here!!"

"I-Isn't that a person?"

"It's a person! There's a person here!"

Small voices echoed from the opposite side of the forest.

Moyong Sangwon, Namgung San, Namgung Seonhwa.

The moment their eyes met, the three of them kicked off the ground and shot forward like the wind, without caring who went first.

"Where! Where is he!"

Moyong Sangwon wildly pushed past the escort warriors and ordinary warriors, surging to the front.

Then, on one side of a small clearing, he saw Jin Sowoon, covered in blood and sitting while leaning against a rock.

"Is he alive?"

"He's okay, right?"

"Is he alive?"

Under the bombardment of questions from Namgung San, Namgung Seonhwa, and Moyong Sangwon, the escort warrior who had first checked Jin Sowoon's condition nodded.

"He is breathing."

Moyong Sangwon approached and checked Jin Sowoon's pulse.

Fortunately, his pulse was beating vigorously.

Wondering if he had sustained any injuries, he rolled up the clothes on his arms, stomach, and legs to check.

Fortunately, other than being smeared with dried blood scabs, he had no wounds.

And right around then, Jin Sowoon woke up.

He spoke with half-open eyes, seemingly exhausted from accumulated fatigue.

"Hah, have you arrived?"

Moyong Sangwon let out a hollow laugh at Jin Sowoon's carefree response.

"You fool! Just what in the world happened! Did you really act as bait for my sake?"

"Ah... Well, I had a few more traps set up in this direction, so I thought I could utilize them. As I was considering it..."

"Hah! And so?"

"I fought them off a bit, and fortunately, the bastards ran away."

"Haha. If you survived like that, you should have returned immediately. Why are you sleeping here!"

"I apologize. I was too tired."

Jin Sowoon apologized with an apologetic expression at the fact that so many warriors and escort warriors had mobilized because of him.

Moyong Sangwon hugged Jin Sowoon and spoke.

"No! No! It's enough that you're alive. It's truly a relief! Of course it is."

"Ugh, w-why are you doing this."

Suddenly wide awake, Jin Sowoon struggled to escape, but Moyong Sangwon did not let go easily.