Chapter 93 - Time to Hunt (7)

"It disappeared."

Zhuge Somyeong narrowed his brow.

Again.

Another admission token had disappeared.

The examiners of the Murim Academy's exam followed the admission tokens. Tracking the tokens ultimately determined who passed and who failed the exam.

However, it was impossible to track all four thousand admission tokens from the First Gate alone.

Because of this, they predicted the routes and relayed the tokens' locations to the examiners in the next area.

To the question of whether there might be mistakes since it was human work, Zhuge Somyeong firmly shook his head.

"There are double and triple failsafes in place to prevent exactly that."

Furthermore, the information provided by the missives was too subtle to be called a mistake.

"Two hundred tokens. And only from the main sects, at that."

A total of two hundred admission tokens across both the First Gate and Second Gate.

Considering there were four thousand admission tokens for the First Gate, it might seem within the margin of error, but looking at the tokens and the individuals who had vanished, it was a different story.

The Nine Sects and One Gang.

The Five Great Noble Clans.

The 108 Peaks.

They had solely targeted those with a high chance of passing into the Murim Academy—those who would become the future pillars of the Murim Alliance.

"Do you think it's the work of the Underworld?"

"..."

Zhuge Somyeong looked at Maeng Ju-won, who had suddenly interjected.

The dark circles under his eyes reached down to his cheeks. Yet despite that, the light shining in his eyes was bright and clear.

"Why do you think so?"

"The samples are too distinct to be considered a simple margin of error."

"Elaborate."

"A large number of those who could be considered the second-stringers of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the 108 Peaks have been eliminated. It might seem like an insignificant number when looking at the whole, but considering these are the ones who form the backbone after entering the Academy or operating in the Murim Alliance, it's the perfect way to shatter the overall balance."

"Hah."

Despite it clearly being a serious situation, he couldn't hold back a laugh.

The thought slowly crept up that if he had just one more person like this, he too could eventually retire from the Mantong Bureau.

"Who do you think is pulling off such a deed?"

"The easiest assumption would be the Underworld."

Zhuge Somyeong's brow furrowed.

"However... it's not the work of the Underworld."

And then his eyes widened again.

"Speak without delay."

"If a war were to break out with the Underworld, it would be an all-out war. The maximum profit the Underworld desires would ultimately end at wanting more than half of Jianghu. Thinking of it that way, the standard Murim exam is just an event where they can lie under the persimmon tree and wait for the fruit to drop. There's no need for them to step up and act themselves."

Zhuge Somyeong nodded.

It was a valid point.

Every time the standard Murim exam was held, the blood of the Orthodox sects flowed throughout all of Jianghu.

The fighting force of the Murim Alliance would become more elite, but their overall numbers would clearly drop.

"Then who do you think committed this act?"

Maeng Ju-won, who had been pondering deeply, shook his head.

"There's no one I can specifically pinpoint."

"..."

"However, I do know what they are aiming for."

"What is it?"

"The destruction of the Murim Alliance."

"Haa."

Zhuge Somyeong let out a long sigh. Maeng Ju-won had flawlessly spat out the very thought that had been circling in his own mind, the part he hadn't dared to follow through on. It was a statement he could make because he was young, full of vigor, and still naive.

"But are you just going to sit back and do nothing?"

"...?"

The Murim Alliance never halted the standard Murim exam, no matter what happened.

It was a tradition of the standard Murim exam that whatever problems arose simply became part of the exam.

"Even so, isn't this problem too massive?"

"The problem seems massive, but it hasn't been confirmed as such. If the Alliance steps in now, it will raise suspicions about the fairness of the exam."

He wondered why this kid, who clearly knew that, was suddenly saying such things.

"At this rate, a true disaster will happen."

"..."

Had this kid perhaps seen something beyond what he himself had considered?

"Our Sowoon has entered the area where the admission tokens disappeared. We need to rescue him before he's in danger."

"..."

He hadn't even seen his face once, yet he was already attaching the word 'our' to him.

"At this rate, I won't be able to get married, or have fox-like children, or a rabbit-like wife... Aaagh!"

A beating was the best medicine for someone who couldn't get a grip.

The judge's brush in his hand shot out toward Maeng Ju-won using the Plucking Leaves and Flying Flowers technique, hailed as unparalleled in Jianghu.

"Die!"

* * *

"We are the Namgung Clan. What is your identity?"

During the brief moment the warriors of the Namgung Clan tended to the injured, Namgung Seonhwa spoke to the dark figures, but no answer returned.

"Prepare for battle!"

SHING-SHING-SHING!

The warriors of the Namgung Clan and the Iron Sword Sect drew their silver swords in unison and formed a sword array.

"If you don't reveal yourselves, we will attack!"

"..."

The nearly twenty dark figures gave no reply. They didn't even seem to share opinions amongst themselves.

The fact that they stood as still as statues, as if they had always belonged in that spot, made it even more chilling.

Furthermore, for some unknown reason, everyone's hearts were pounding violently.

Unable to overcome that pressure, Cho Mubin finally shouted.

"Strike!"

At that moment. From within their cloaks, which had looked like dark boulders, white sword blades thrust out.

Swords with a bumpy, uneven shape rather than a smooth edge.

Chillingly, blood was dripping steadily down the entire length of the blades.

Just as the warriors charged in even more fiercely to overcome their fear.

They felt a tremor in the air and instinctively halted their steps.

The sensation they had felt at the Zhenjiang docks.

A pressure that felt like it was sucking in all the surrounding air.

And following this tremor in the air...

A shockwave struck faster than expected.

CRAAASH!

The palm technique that had instantly obliterated dozens of ships setting sail from the Zhenjiang docks had just been unleashed upon the dark figures.

"Huff, huff... We have to run!"

"What?"

The reason was unknown.

The sight of Jin Sowoon, who had maintained his composure in every situation until now, looking like this made the warriors even more anxious.

Kang Seopyo and Cho Mubin instinctively looked at each other.

They had participated to help them pass the exam, but the warriors' foremost mission was ultimately the protection of Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran.

Kang Seopyo and Cho Mubin decided to trust the Jin Sowoon they had observed so far.

"Let's go!"

"Move!"

Gathering the injured in an instant, the warriors kicked off the ground.

Jin Sowoon, on the contrary, threw himself into the space where the aftershocks of the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm hadn't even dissipated yet, returning moments later.

In his hand, he held one of those chilling swords and a severed arm.

"Young Master Jin..."

"We'll talk later... For now, we absolutely must enter Punghyeon."

Originally, they had planned to bypass Punghyeon to avoid drawing attention. But seeing Jin Sowoon's expression now, it was no time to argue about it.

* * *

'Why are these bastards here? And what's their goal?'

Zhuge Somyeong was an incredible genius.

I realized this while memorizing all the data in the Mantong Bureau.

It wasn't just that he was highly intelligent.

He knew how to build a system.

Without a system, no sect could last through the ages.

There were ten-year systems.

There were fifty-year systems.

And there were hundred-year systems.

Zhuge Somyeong had built a hundred-year system for the Murim Alliance. And that system was created using his own unique method of handling information.

He organized the Mantong Bureau and established the Simhyeon Pavilion to weigh the gravity of information.

By efficiently utilizing the limited personnel of the Murim Alliance and the Cheonmok Pavilion, he planted eyes and ears all across Jianghu.

He arranged the acquired information chronologically, filling the gaps in information that humans failed to relay.

Sitting in the Mantong Bureau, he viewed the world as if looking at the palm of his hand.

However, despite installing such double and triple failsafes, there were times when empty gaps in information still appeared.

He classified these as 'missing pieces'.

Even after creating a system worthy of absolute confidence, he always kept the possibility that there were things he didn't know in mind.

He also noted that to find these missing pieces, one had to find the surrounding pieces.

'The Missing Piece Theory.'

Right now, inside my head, pieces were gathering one by one according to his 'Missing Piece Theory' to find the lost piece.

◎ The ambush on Moyong Sangwon.

◎ The Demonic Cult's intention to conquer Jianghu in the future.

◎ The disappearance of the Wudang Sect's Hyeonjeong and the Mount Hua Sect's Yeon Umun.

◎ The traces of the Fluid Body Bone Sword found on the bones of Hyeonjeong's and Yeon Umun's corpses.

◎ The Dark Soul-Severing Squad that shouldn't be here.

As the surrounding pieces fit together, the 'missing piece' appeared, just as Zhuge Somyeong had said.

—The assassination of key Murim Alliance figures in preparation for the Orthodox-Demonic Great War.

"Damn it."

The problem was that the 'missing piece' meant they would kill us to silence us and hide their intentions.

The Dark Soul-Severing Squad.

A special forces unit organized into a 'Squad' despite having barely twenty members.

Monsters of the Demonic Cult, created by forcing them to master the Dark Demonic Sword—a bizarre martial art of the Demonic Cult that combined stealth and swordsmanship into one—and then subjecting those who reached the peak of this art to the absurd surgical procedure known as the Fluid Body Bone Sword.

A single unit consisted of barely four members, but if the right environment was established, the members of just one unit could easily take on ten of the Top Hundred Experts of the World.

Such existences were targeting us.

"We... We need light."

The most important factor in fighting them was the environment.

The dark night was their stage.

Because I had fired off the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm, my inner qi was scraping the bottom. I had tried to control it as much as possible, but it was such an extreme martial art that right now, I had to scrape the very bottom of my Dantian just to barely use the World-Traversing Lone Footwork.

Still, there was a result.

Hitting a member of the Dark Soul-Severing Squad with an unexpected Radiant Heaven Divine Palm, leaving behind only an arm as he became a wandering ghost.

It was such an incredible achievement that if the Minor Orthodox Unit from my past life had seen it, they probably would have given me all their monthly pay for that month.

"What in the world..."

"You must never stop moving!"

Whether there was a way to fight them was a problem for later. If we clashed with them now, not only the Namgung Clan and the Iron Sword Sect, but even the lives of the Geum-eun-dong Brothers could not be guaranteed.

"Kuhuk!"

Even as I spoke, the scream coming from behind eventually caused Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran to turn their heads.

One of the warriors was sprawled on the ground, reaching his hand out.

As Kang Seopyo nodded to another warrior, that warrior took the lead to guide Namgung Seonhwa forward instead, while Kang Seopyo immediately dashed toward the rear.

A dark figure was trying to plunge its white blade into the fallen warrior.

Kang Seopyo unleashed the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique with his sword enveloped in sword qi.

SLA-SLA-SLASH!

Kang Seopyo's sword butchered the dark figure into three pieces in an instant.

However, his eyes were too shocked to say he had succeeded in landing a strike.

STAB.

Even after taking Kang Seopyo's strike, the dark figure merely scattered like smoke for a brief moment before skewering the warrior's neck.

"What is this..."

Confirming that the warrior's breath had ceased, the dark figure swung its white sword at Kang Seopyo once more.

SWISH.

A sword stroke, faster and more flawless than Kang Seopyo's, slashed out to carve his body into four pieces.

I barely managed to execute the World-Traversing Lone Footwork, instantly arriving behind Kang Seopyo, grabbing him by the nape, and fleeing again.

SLASH! SLASH!

He narrowly avoided having his body chopped into four pieces, but a long stream of blood sprayed like a fountain from Kang Seopyo's chest.

"Keuhuk."

At the same time, I fired off all the spare flare signals I had received.

Of the four flares that shot into the sky, three were blocked by something they threw and plummeted while only spewing white smoke, but one flare barely managed to explode, briefly illuminating the figures of the Dark Soul-Severing Squad.

"Heeek!"

Being dragged from behind, Kang Seopyo forgot about his injuries and screamed as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.

"It's the village!"

Past the pitch-black area, we could see Punghyeon glowing like fireflies.

* * *

"Perhaps you are in need of a gisaeng?"

"..."

The owner of the Red Pavilion scanned everyone's faces, but shut his mouth after seeing Seong Moran's and Namgung Seonhwa's faces.

"Ahem... Or shall I call in some courtesans instead?"

"Just bring us something to eat."

Cho Mubin tossed him a pouch. However, the owner turned away muttering, seemingly unpleased.

It was understandable, considering we were currently occupying the largest table on the first floor of the Red Pavilion.

In a place where the only things separating the tables were thin veils, you could see men and women entwining their bodies with just a turn of the head, and moans went back and forth amidst our silence.

"..."

"..."

I was the one who chose the Red Pavilion instead of the Cangqiong Merchant Group in Punghyeon.

Even with this absurd choice, the group followed my lead without a word of complaint.

No one even thought of speaking up first.

Right now, there wasn't even time to mourn the dead.

Because those who remained here didn't know when they might follow them into death.

In that sense, I felt that being in the Minor Orthodox Unit had made my heart feel a bit lighter.

Because amidst the death that was always with us, we could at least choose our mood in the moment.

"What was that?"

Kang Seopyo had large bandages wrapped around his chest.

Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep, but because it was wide, crimson blood was still seeping through the wrapped bandages.

"I-I've definitely never seen anything like that. Something so horrifying."

At the words of Kang Seopyo, who had the most age and experience among the Namgung Clan's warriors, the other warriors were infected with the same fear.

"... Are we safe here?"

Namgung Seonhwa wanted an explanation with anxious eyes.

Since I couldn't say everything I knew, I spun another lie. I had no hesitation. This lie was the only thing that could save us right now.

"There was a time when I left the Taiyi Sect and roamed Jianghu alone. At that time, I saw them attack a traveling merchant group."

I roughly brought up a merchant group that had disappeared from my memory and mentioned it.

"The escort warriors' martial arts were outstanding, and the escort agency itself was a famous place, so I naturally thought those guys would lose."

"... But they didn't."

I mixed information into the lies.

"The escort warriors' swords couldn't reach them. It seemed they had learned some unique martial art. Even if they were slashed, they took no damage, as if they were made of water."

The body of someone who had learned the Dark Demonic Sword and undergone the Fluid Body Bone Sword procedure transformed like air, like water.

In the darkness, their true forms couldn't be grasped, and they freely traveled between shadow and shadow.

They had become existences that could not be cut, no matter how much you slashed at them.

"Then using that palm technique was..."

"They were foes I had only ever fought in my imagination. I hadn't actually expected it to work."

I brought out the arm of the Dark Soul-Severing Squad member.

"I took it on purpose. To figure out what kind of existences they are."

As I tore away the cloth, dark skin was revealed.

"Th-This is..."

A bumpy, white sword was protruding from the palm.

"Isn't that bone?"

The sharpness of the bone sword bursting through the palm was chilling.

Namgung Seonhwa, Seong Moran, and the warriors all wore expressions of disbelief.

"We have to stop the exam right now."

The missing piece was speaking.

The Dark Soul-Severing Squad—no, what the Demonic Cult wanted—was to use the exam as an opportunity to nip the future pillars of the Murim Alliance in the bud.

"You know they won't do that."

In the midst of the standard exam, it would absolutely never be halted.

The victims of the Dark Soul-Severing Squad would be considered casualties of the exam, meaning no proper investigation would even take place.

Ultimately, even if they ended the exam here, no trace of the Dark Soul-Severing Squad would be left behind.

"T-Then..."

Completely erasing their own traces while inflicting only damage to their opponents. It was a very clever operation.

It must have been because of such meticulous preparation that the Murim Alliance had collapsed in an instant.

"First, the most important thing is reporting their true identities to the Murim Alliance."

"Right."

"After we make it out alive."

"What? What do you mean... We've already..."

"They won't just give up."

What they feared the most.

That would be having even a speck of their true identities revealed to Jianghu.

Because that would put the Murim Alliance on guard against the Demonic Cult's future invasion.

"..."

"They were bastards who ran around ambushing people while keeping their true identities completely hidden. The reason we hadn't been attacked until now is likely because they were taking care of other examinees first."

GULP.

If they barged in here right now, they might be able to kill us all.

"Those bastards will never give up on us."

However, if they did that, someone would notice them.

If they were noticed, they would be suspected. That was the last thing they wanted.

"Then... the reason we came to the Red Pavilion is..."

"Because the Red Pavilion is the only place with its lights on all night and people gathered together."

I knew that the strange incense drifting throughout the Red Pavilion was meant to relax people's tension, but neither the warriors nor the women could let their guard down.

Furthermore, we were currently in possession of a piece of their corpse.

I didn't know much else, but even if they had to put all their other operations on hold, they had a reason they had to catch us.

"What should we do? Should we contact the main estate?"

"Then wouldn't you fail the exam?"

Namgung Seonhwa wore an expression that said, *'What is up with this guy?' *

"We are going to keep taking the exam."

And I planned to slip out of their hands using the method they wanted the least.