Chapter 84 - The Hellish Regular Exam's 'Second' Gate

During my days in the Minor Orthodox Unit, there was a time I saw the ocean for the first time while fleeing from demonic practitioners.

A place larger and more massive than the Yangtze River, where an intensely salty taste lingered, so much so that it was undrinkable, as if it had been mixed with a massive amount of precious salt.

Hovering between life and death, we forgot the fact that we were being chased by the Demonic Cult's pursuit squad, and we stepped further out and closer in to gaze at the ocean.

The muddy flats that repeatedly sank up to our ankles were a nuisance, but we forgot even that nuisance as our eyes took in the overwhelming and marvelous scenery of the massive nature.

And when we had been staring at the ocean in a daze for a long while.

The tide slowly began to rise.

At first, the seawater only brushed against our ankles, but the moment we came to our senses, it had risen to our chests, and the moment we desperately tried to get to land, the seawater had already swallowed us up.

The ocean instilled a terrifying dread in us that could not even be compared to being chased by demonic practitioners.

Right now, we felt as if we were submerged in that very ocean.

"Huu... Huu... It's getting harder to breathe, Senior Brother."

An overflow of killing intent constricted us from all sides, as if seawater had risen to the top of our heads.

The boys' faces slowly began to turn pale white.

Dongryong, who was wearing the Tangmaryeongju, seemed to be in a better state at least, but that did not mean we could hand the Tangmaryeongju over to Geumpyo or Eunho.

For the moment it was removed, Dongryong's murderous nature might awaken within this thick killing intent.

"We're going higher."

Those who had cast the Heaven and Earth Net from the entrance of Mount Makgan were endlessly radiating killing intent, as if to fill the entirety of Mount Makgan with it.

The Yellow Sword Sect and Azure Blade Gang formed groups of five to cast the Heaven and Earth Net, while the other sects formed groups with larger numbers ranging from ten to fifteen to cast it.

They were substituting the differences in their martial arts realms with the number of warriors.

As we ran up to a higher point, my head turned on its own at the clamorous noise coming from down the mountain.

FLAP!

The flying beasts that had been holding their breath under the killing intent took to the sky above the forest all at once.

RUSTLE.

The forest shook, even though no wind was blowing.

Following that, herds of wild beasts bolted down the mountain, mingling together regardless of their species, as if they had encountered a fierce predator.

ROAR!

GROWL!

What was surprising was that bears and tigers were also at the tail end of the beast herd. The two apex predators let out desperate cries, drooling profusely as if they had met their natural enemies.

"Shoot!"

Along with someone's shout, flying swords and arrows rained down from all directions.

ROOAR.

GRUNT!

Struck by the hidden weapons flying from all sides, everything from the smallest rabbits to deer, wild boars, roe deer, and the like lost their forms, collapsing as they turned into hedgehogs.

The bears and tigers ran without flinching despite taking a few arrows, but the warriors making up the Heaven and Earth Net soon leaped into the formation all at once and butchered them in an instant.

The fierce predators that had ruled Mount Makgan collapsed like reeds.

All of this was over in a single breath.

GULP.

The Geum-eun-dong Brothers swallowed thickly, as if they had just seen their own futures.

"There's no time to delay. Let's move quickly."

"... Y-Yes."

"Yes!"

Gathering their wits, the Geum-eun-dong Brothers quickly moved to avoid suffocating in the killing intent once again.

However, just like seawater, the speed at which it rose was faster when it passed our chests than when it first wrapped around our ankles.

"Huff. Huff. Huff."

It had slowly reached a level that could no longer be handled even with moving cultivation.

The peak of the mountain.

There was nowhere left to climb to escape the killing intent.

"Listen carefully. Hold out here for exactly thirty minutes."

"What?"

Eunho muttered with wide, surprised eyes.

"... By then, I think I'll be missing at least one arm."

"Do not worry. I also know the secret arts of the Single-Armed Flying Sword. If you lose an arm, I will pass it down to you."

"... I'll try to hold out."

With that, I immediately threw my body down the sheer cliff.

"..."

Eunho's face, which had been full of laughter, soon stiffened rigidly.

Geumpyo and Dongryong, who hadn't grasped the situation, looked at Eunho.

"What is it? Did you discuss something with Senior Brother beforehand?"

"No."

"Then why did you say you understood when you didn't know anything?"

Eunho stared quietly at Geumpyo.

"Do you think Eldest Senior Brother would abandon us?"

Geumpyo, who had been about to reply by asking what kind of nonsense that was, answered blankly.

"No."

"Then isn't that enough? Even if he did abandon us, we came here prepared for even that. Isn't that right?"

"... Stop trying to act cool."

Geumpyo drew his sword and stepped two paces forward.

The vanguard position of the White Tiger Sword Array.

A strong resolve to not back down, regardless of who the opponent was.

Eunho stood at the left flank.

And Dongryong, who had been hesitating, stood at the right flank.

"Thirty minutes. Just thirty minutes! Don't go losing your arms and legs."

At Geumpyo's words, the two brothers voiced the chant they had always shouted whenever they practiced the sword array in the past.

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

* * *

As I free-fell down the cliff, I spotted a cave that looked as if two stone slabs had been stacked on top of each other, just as I had seen in the reports, and shot the Flying Dragon Claw to throw my body inside.

Following the narrow cave inwards, I saw a small spring giving off a damp smell, just as the records stated, and as I passed the spring, a fishy stench vibrated throughout the cave, as if I had entered a swamp.

"I wonder if it's hibernating."

On the massive cave walls, large enough to easily fit three or four people standing on each other's shoulders, golden roof-tile-like objects were stuck here and there.

However, they lacked the brilliant luster of gold, instead sporting a yellowish color like dried-up mud.

"It certainly has a voracious appetite."

Following that, one side of the cave was filled with a massive mound of bones, seemingly what the beast had eaten.

Starting from small things like roe deer and rabbits, there were also bones that appeared to belong to bears and tigers.

"Don't snakes usually swallow their prey whole?"

HSSSSS.

Had it woken up after hearing my voice?

Or did creatures that transcended the natural order simply not hibernate at all?

The metallic scraping sound it produced echoed throughout the cave, piercing my eardrums.

Before long, two red eyes flashed in the darkness.

"So you're the master of Mount Makgan."

A head the size of a bull.

Golden scales covering its entire body.

It was a Golden-Scaled Azure Serpent that had lived for a whopping two hundred years.

* * *

Roughly three hundred... No, was it five hundred?

Dongryong recalled the time when all the disciples of the Taiyi Sect had gathered to throw a feast.

'That was really fun.'

Oops.

Now was not the time to be getting distracted.

The faces of Geumpyo and Eunho in front of him were pale.

After dodging the arrows pouring down from all directions and avoiding the flying swords, warriors approached them amidst the killing intent.

Sluggish movements, as if swinging a sword underwater.

It felt incomparably slower than when they had synchronized their sword array.

It would be disastrous if they moved that slowly...

Even so, he could not move carelessly.

Because if he did, the sword array would collapse.

He knew.

It wasn't that his brothers' movements had gotten slower.

Relatively speaking, the enemies' movements weren't that fast either.

So they managed to block them somehow.

But before long, wounds appeared.

'Can we hold out like this?'

Eldest Senior Brother had said they only needed to hold out for thirty minutes, but he couldn't see any possibility of that happening.

He simply realized it instinctively.

Ah, my brothers are going to die soon.

He intuitively felt things he had never known before.

And he saw it.

The countless corpses he had seen so often until now.

With Geumpyo and Eunho lying among them.

Even if Eldest Senior Brother returned after thirty minutes, there was no way to resolve this.

No, it was impossible from the beginning.

It was his first time experiencing the Heaven and Earth Net that Eldest Senior Brother had mentioned, but he could instinctively grasp this too.

That this was a method used to hunt humans like wild beasts.

In truth, nothing would have changed even if Eldest Senior Brother were here.

'Besides, there are terrifying people out there too.'

The warriors who had stood next to Jong Seogang of the Yellow Sword Sect.

Those people were very terrifying people.

While they might not be able to stand against Eldest Senior Brother individually, if they joined forces and formed a sword array like his brothers, there was little Eldest Senior Brother could do either.

And right now, such terrifying people were mixed in among the warriors making up the Heaven and Earth Net.

'It's all because of me...'

He knew that he was holding back his brothers and Eldest Senior Brother.

Even so, he had wanted to be with them.

Because he hated being left out alone.

Because he couldn't accept the fact that he was the only one who was no help.

This was the result of him being so stubborn.

If I had gone back, would Geumpyo and Eunho have gone back too?

If so, they might not be dying here right now.

"Dongryong!"

Geumpyo took the slow-moving warrior's sword in his place.

Even though he knew that I was faster now, Geumpyo always did that.

"Geumpyo!"

Eunho covered Geumpyo's back. Once again, the sword array was broken.

It was always like this.

I was continuously holding my brothers back like this.

"Reform the sword array!"

Just as the sword array was about to be formed, two warriors squeezed in between Geumpyo and Eunho.

We were split into two in an instant and faced the enemies.

Geumpyo and Eunho's hands crossed.

Even as their wounds increased, the two of their gazes were fixed on me.

"Eunho!"

I quickly dispatched the warriors who had their backs turned to me and approached them.

We couldn't go on like this.

In this state, we would inevitably all die.

"Dongryong! Stand behind me!"

Geumpyo and Eunho, whose faces were gradually turning pitch-black, ignored the sword array entirely and positioned me behind them.

This wasn't why I had come.

"Brothers..."

"Don't worry! We'll make sure to send you back alive and intact!"

"Fuck. Geumpyo, it'd still be better for me to be the one missing an arm, right?"

"No! It'd be better if it was me! Instead, you take over the mill!"

"No, why is the issue of succession suddenly coming up here!"

Even though the vicious enemies were scattering killing intent right in front of their noses, his two brothers still didn't stop cracking jokes.

Dongryong chuckled without realizing it.

At that, Eunho smirked.

"Yeah, Dongryong. It's no big deal. So don't worry. It'll end well."

No, it doesn't seem like it'll turn out like that.

Eunho was telling an obvious lie.

And Dongryong wanted to listen to his brother's silly jokes for a longer time.

'...'

The thoughts he had hesitated over until now fell into place.

And then... he took off the Tangmaryeongju wrapped around his neck.

"Dongryong! I told you not to take that off!"

In an instant, vitality surged through his entire body. Something blazing hot pounded in his chest, as if his body, which had felt like it would collapse at any moment, was fully recovered.

"Brothers... let's all go back intact together."

Now, Dongryong too was telling an obvious lie just like Eunho.

THUMP! THUMP!

His racing heart calmly settled down.

In exchange, his two eyes burned hotly as if they were ablaze.

One, two, three.

Sword forms were drawn in his mind.

Dongryong lightly inserted himself into that drawing.

"Kuhuk."

"Gah."

"Kehuk."

Three enemies collapsed in an instant.

Five, six... nine.

One person per breath.

As if having forgotten all fear of his first murder, his body moved incredibly naturally to take his opponents' lives.

He was afraid.

No, he wasn't afraid.

What he was truly afraid of was Geumpyo, Eunho, and Eldest Senior Brother dying here.

He swung his sword recklessly to avoid that fear.

... Because if he swung his sword like that, the only corpse left here would be his own.

"Damn it! You can't even handle a single brat!"

His sharpened hearing distinguished Jong Seogang's voice.

Then, the fearsome man who had been next to him dashed forward.

'The terrifying person.'

He was different from the others.

In a battle with this person, the drawing snapped and disconnected in places.

What that meant was likely his own death.

But he didn't stop.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

In the time it took them to exchange three forms in an instant, the man's eyes widened in shock as he swallowed a groan.

"Keuhm."

The drawing was sketched once again.

Now it seemed about half finished.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

After they exchanged ten forms in an instant, the front of the terrifying man's robes was cleanly cut off.

"You... what is your true identity?"

The drawing that was sketched once more was completed. He could win. At the end of the drawing, the terrifying man was bleeding.

The moment Dongryong was about to thrust his sword.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Two more terrifying men charged at him.

Now, no drawing was sketched at all.

"A murderous nature... you're a brat with a murderous nature!"

"You mean the Heavenly Slaughter Star?"

"He's that monster?"

Gazes of contempt flew and pierced into him.

He was hurt.

No, he wasn't hurt.

Even if he was a monster, as long as he could save his brothers and Eldest Senior Brother...

Dongryong threw his body forward to sketch the drawing once more.

Geumpyo and Eunho tried to intervene but were blocked by the other warriors.

'Don't come...'

If at least these guys were gone, both Eldest Senior Brother and his brothers could live.

'So please, don't come...'

Red paint splattered out from between the sharply disconnected drawings.

A drawing he had never seen before.

The drawing painted with red paint connected continuously without snapping.

It was a drawing where he could defeat the enemies, exactly as Dongryong had wished.

But at the end of the drawing, Dongryong himself collapsed as well.

A miracle that could be created by an endless thirst to kill humans and a persistent obsession to do so even at the cost of his own life.

["Dongryong! Pull yourself together!"]

["If you keep doing this, we're leaving you behind!"]

He heard his brothers' voices that had faintly reached him on Mount Cheonmok. The desperate voices that had barely managed to bring him to his senses.

For some reason, recalling his brothers' voices made even his last lingering fear of death vanish completely.

"He is someone we must definitely kill!"

"To think it's the Heavenly Slaughter Star..."

With the fear of death gone, even more vitality surged through his body.

He pushed the Taiyi True Scripture beyond the level he had originally mastered.

Like a gourmand trying to enjoy a banquet to the fullest, or a calligrapher writing out their masterpiece.

The Heavenly Slaughter Star dragged out all of Dongryong's latent potential to commit the greatest final murder.

Is this the end?

Will I not be able to play with my brothers anymore, or see Eldest Senior Brother enter the Murim Academy?

It's a shame.

If only I could play with my brothers and Eldest Senior Brother again.

If only I could see Eldest Senior Brother proudly entering the Murim Academy...

But he decided not to be any greedier. Wasn't saving his brothers already doing everything he could?

He threw his body in accordance with the red drawing that concluded with his own end.

Just like how Eldest Senior Brother had calmly thrown his body into a perilous situation in the past.

Dongryong, too, threw his body as calmly as possible.

At that moment.

"Aren't you adults embarrassed? Going up against a single kid."

His two ears twitched.

Could it be?

Already?

Forgetting even the enemies in front of him, he turned his head.

He saw Eldest Senior Brother there.

"Eldest..."

Dongryong's mouth, which had been in the middle of speaking, fell wide open.

The enemies who had been thrusting their swords at Dongryong also flinched in surprise and halted their blades.

Eldest Senior Brother was running towards them, being chased by a golden snake as large as a mountain stronghold.

Curses burst out of the mouth of Gam Cheoljin, who had worn a solemn expression.

"What the fuck is that!"