< Episode 113: The ruins of an old castle (3) >
[Collapsed old castle ruins… Ryu So-wol, you know where that place is.]
-A place where those who worship martial arts gathered to form a high castle. A place where the legend of Gumurim lived.
[Cluck, cough, cough… After all, you know better.]
-So where is he? Give up any thoughts of deceiving. If that happens, you will be with me all the way to the bottom of hell.
In response to this threat from the young spirit, the head of Cheonjihoe coughed blood and said with a bitter smile.
[hell······. If you want that, I, a member of the Heavenly Vessel clan, don’t seem to have any reason to refuse. Cluck cluck. But have you ever thought that the world we live in now is even more hellish?]
-······.
[I think I said something useless. Black ears… ha······. It was reported that the ghost sword was waiting in a bamboo grove not far from the ruins of the old castle.]
-Bamboo forest? Did you mean the bamboo forest?
[exactly. This on the belt… If you take this… You will know that I sent it.]
Since he was unable to move because he was possessed by the spiritual power of the young spirit, he pointed to his waist belt with a wink.
On the belt was the flag of Hoeju.
Seeing this, Cheongryeong suddenly remembered the story that Baek Sa-ha, the king of island poison, told Mo Gyeong-un when he was inside the wooden doll.
He said that while competing with him, he asked Hoeju to deliver that tile to him.
Is that the medium through which Hoeju can move the ghost sword?
As his status reached its peak and he was a young spirit whose spiritual body could directly influence matter, he took his hand without any hesitation.
She asked after collecting her teeth.
-But there is something I don’t understand.
[Cluck, cough, cough… What do you mean?]
-A ghost sword.
[······.]
-I obtained the golden drink, but why is it staying there instead of sending it to you?
In response to her probing question, the head of the Cheonjihoe was silent for a moment with a strange expression, but then opened his mouth.
[that······.]
* * *
Seven days after that.
‘found.’
As a spirit, she was able to freely roam the sky and did not need to eat or sleep, so she was able to reach the northern tip of Shaanxi Province in just seven days.
If I had been able to use my spiritual power to its fullest during the day, I would have arrived sooner.
Even if her status reached its peak, if she was exposed to the sun, which is the peak of positive energy, for a long time, her spiritual body, which was composed only of negative energy, would inevitably be weakened.
‘What are those?’
Unexpectedly, the Jukripin, presumed to be a ghost sword, was fighting with dozens of warriors.
But when Cheongryeong saw him like that, he couldn’t help but be surprised.
I knew that he was a member of Palseong (八星), the current top martial arts expert, and that he belonged to the first world of secret societies, but this was unexpected.
-Wow! Wow!
With minimal movement, he targeted only the enemy’s blood vessels and killed them in one day.
There was not a single unnecessary action.
As long as there were no variables caused by the enemies’ joint attacks, he killed most of the enemies with one sword in an efficient manner.
However, what impressed Cheongryeong with this was that there was absolutely no limit to that sword technique.
It was made up of nothing but attack.
It was a sword technique aimed at killing, or rather annihilating, the enemy, even at the risk of risking one’s own life.
‘A swordsmanship that excludes one’s own safety…’
In a way, I learned a really dangerous sword technique.
However, I was able to overcome this shortcoming with just one thing.
‘······It’s a monster.’
He sent away all of the enemy’s fatal attacks with his sword.
This is the first time I have seen such a perfect and extreme number of pear grafted trees.
I think I now understand why this person is called a ghost sword.
But that wasn’t the important thing.
-Sigh!
When Jukripin, presumed to be a ghost sword, killed the last enemy, Cheongnyeong unfolded the blood realm, which was the realm of the ghost.
The conditions were good.
The surrounding area was dark thanks to the towering bamboo forest, and the area was overflowing with death energy as dozens of people died.
Therefore, if you use this condition appropriately,
-Sneaking!
We were able to build a stronger field of refuge.
Her spiritual power, combined with the morale of those around her, stained blood in all directions, and before she knew it, the surroundings were filled with only blood.
Even though she brought Hoeju’s card, which was said to be able to move the demon sword, there was only one reason why she tied him up like this.
It was because of what Hoeju said.
[······haha······. It seems like something happened to him in the process of approaching shamanism.]
-Are there any problems?
[I don’t know why, but… Letters with the same phrase came periodically from him.]
-Same phrase?
[exactly.]
-What is that?
[We are getting closer to the epicenter of the golden drink. This is all.]
-what?
——————
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[Literally. There have been repeated reports that we are getting close to the epicenter of Jinsul.]
-How many times is that?
[Twelve times.]
-!?
It is said that Cheonjihoeju delivered a secret letter containing the same content as many as twelve times, approximately every five days.
Because there was a watchful eye on the secret society, the secret treasure chest was usually recovered once a month, but as the Presbyterian War began to move in earnest, it inevitably had to be recovered in the second month.
However, when the same report was made every five days in the two months’ worth of secret records recovered in this way, the Lord of Heaven and Earth could not help but find this strange.
[······Originally, I was planning to go there myself once the affairs within the society were resolved, but now it seems that you, Ryu So-wol, will have to find out the secret of Jeon Seo-gu.]
Cheongryeong, who recalled what Hoeju had said, came to one conclusion.
I don’t know what the secret is, but if the ghost betrayed Hoeju or if there was some problem with Ilshin and I lost him, I wouldn’t know anything, so I had to suppress him somehow.
In response, she opened the blood system and moved the blood.
-Sneaking!
Numerous bloody thorns soon sprouted from the blood.
The thorns of blood that sprouted all at once rushed towards the bamboo person who was assumed to be a ghost sword.
-Choo! Chop! Chop!
At the flying thorns, Juklipin pulled out his half-holstered sword.
A lightning-like sword light flowed out, and in a split second, the red thorns of blood covering Jukripin split and melted into blood.
‘Yes, that should be enough.’
Her status was difficult to compare to before.
The anger that had been burning like fire while coming here calmed down to some extent, and although his spiritual power was not as maximized as it was at the Heaven and Earth Association, it became strong enough to at least deal with the Seven Heavens in peacetime.
-Sigh!
In an instant, two hands emerged from the blood and grabbed Juklipin’s ankle and pulled him.
As a result, Juklipin lost his balance and tried to fall backwards.
At that moment, a spear made of blood came out and flew towards Jukripin’s hands and thighs.
however,
-Poof!
-Pot!
Juklipin, who was about to fall, leaned back and stuck his sword in the floor, then turned over using it as support, and at the same time pushed away the hand holding the sword and launched himself upward.
When the floating Juklipin swung the sword,
-Ch-ch-ch-ch-chak!
A sharp spirit flowed out and cut down the spears she had created with blood.
As Juklipin pretended to pull his hand, his sword stuck on the floor popped out and was sucked into his hand.
-widely!
The Jukripin holding the sword immediately raised his sword and launched a barrage of bullets in all directions.
-Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chach!
The blue-colored sword that flew in split the blood stains everywhere with the force of shattering the blood world.
As it split, a part of the bamboo forest, which was the real world rather than the blood world, was revealed for a moment, but it was soon covered with blood.
‘Is this not enough?’
Juklipin, who confirmed that the world created by spiritual power could be destroyed by a strong miracle, fired a new weapon at a place covered in blood.
-Gooooooo!
The size of the sword steel on his sword soared to almost five feet.
But it didn’t end there; the sword that had soared began to shrink as if condensed, and the blue light became even darker.
‘That won’t work.’
The young spirit soon realized that he was trying to force his way out of the blood world by concentrating as much energy as possible.
-Wow!
He jumped out of the blood and appeared.
Blood stuck to the bear blade in Cheongnyeong’s hand, forming the shape of a sword.
She gathered the spiritual power of her resentment into a sword made of blood, and its energy was comparable to that of Juklipin’s condensation of the sword.
It was just as the sword made of spiritual power and the condensed sword were about to collide.
“Sigh.”
Suddenly, Juklipin was forced to stop swinging his sword.
If you try to force yourself to stop while simply moving your body vigorously, the aftereffects of that force will hit you and overload your body.
Even more so, to force it to stop when it has generated such energy to the point of condensing the sword,
-Wow! Wow!
The hand holding the sword trembled strongly along with the sound of muscles twisting in Jukripin’s body.
The palm that was holding the sword was torn and blood was flowing out.
The young man could not understand his appearance like this.
What is your intention?
Therefore,
-Wow!
The young spirit also stopped swinging the blood sword made with spiritual power.
Unlike him who had a physical body, she, who was made up of a spirit body, did not experience an overload when it came to stopping the force she had applied.
Cheongryeong, who stopped the bloody sword right in front of Jukripin’s neck, asked in confusion.
-Why did you stop the sword?
Juklipin, who had been silent for a moment in response to her question, soon opened his mouth.
“You are truly free.”
-what?
“It’s only been a hundred years, but the fact that his status as a vengeful spirit is so high means that he was released through your will rather than through contact with the Avatar?”
‘!?’
Cheongnyeong’s expression hardened at Jukripin’s words.
What she knew was that the demon sword was an official of the secret society, but for some reason he was in league with the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
But now, listening to the way this person spoke to him, it seemed as if he knew something.
-What are you? What on earth do you know about this place?
“······The fact that you, who should have been holding a grudge even though you were released from the seal, came all the way here means that you found out that he is still alive and well, and that there has been a setback in the work of the Lord.”
Cheongnyeong’s eyes became sharp at his words.
Going a little further, I thought it was related to the death of Mok Gyeong-un’s grandfather, Haeyeong Yak-seon Jang Mun-no, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
In order to have the insight to understand the situation to this extent with simple information, you had to know a lot.
Soon, the corners of Cheongnyeong’s mouth rose.
-If I make you open your mouth, I think you will learn a lot.
“······.”
-Would it be better to force it to open? Or you can choose whether it would be better for you to open it yourself.
-Sigh!
Cheongnyeong showed him the plaque he had received from Hoeju.
Jukripin, who was presumed to be a ghost sword, saw this and remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke with a faint sigh.
“If you brought it, you either obediently received it from him or you took it by force.”
-If it was the latter, how do you think they would have known your location?
“Now that even he is close to the traces of the golden drink, finding out about this place is no longer difficult.”
Jukripin nodded and pointed to the bodies lying on the floor.
The very fact that they came here meant that they had discovered traces of shamanism in their secret meeting.
-Hmph, if I were to tell you that you sent the same electronic message repeatedly, would you consider it to be the former?
“Repeatedly······. Sending the same ex-seo-gu? “What does that mean?”
Jukripin frowned and asked in an incomprehensible tone.
The young man said this.
-It is said that you repeatedly sent Jeon Seo-gu, saying that you were close to the traces of gold alcohol, but this is enough… You… Why are you doing this?
‘!?’
When Juklipin looked somewhat embarrassed, Cheongryeong couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
The guy was saying something over and over again, and it was saying that it couldn’t be possible.
Why are you doing this?
It was that moment.
-Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
At that time, Cheongnyeong looked at the surroundings with startled eyes.
As expected, he was still maintaining the blood system, which was his area of refuge, but the space around him was suddenly seen to be curved.
I wonder what the phenomenon is, and soon,
-Blah blah blah!
Surprisingly, beyond the distortion of space, her blood system was forcibly broken.
I was confident that since my spiritual power had become stronger, it would be difficult to break, but what on earth is going on?
As the blood system was broken, even the exposed bamboo forest was bending.
‘What is this?’
While I was puzzled, the Jukripin, who I guessed was a ghost sword, opened his mouth.
“It looks like a simple bamboo forest, but this entire bamboo forest is one formation.”
-······This is the method?
“It’s not a simple lineup. “If you look at the positions where the bamboo is placed, it is made up of advanced techniques. It is not just one, but hundreds of combinations, and it is a technique that cannot be entered or exited unless certain conditions are met.”
-No way is this…
“Yes, this bamboo forest is the entrance to the trail of Geumsul.”
It was that moment.
-Jejeojeojeop!
The space in the bamboo forest that had been curved like that was completely twisted into a whirlpool, and soon Cheongryeong and other bamboo forest people were sucked into it.
-Sooo!
And the moment the twisting of the vortex is over and the space is restored to its original state,
Before I knew it, Jukripin was standing alone in the middle of the bamboo forest.
As the breeze blew and the bamboo swayed and the leaves fluttered and fell, Juklipin, who was hit by it, glanced at the arrangement of the surrounding bamboo and muttered softly.
“I finally found it. “I have to send Jeon Seo-gu.”
< Episode 113: Collapsed Old Castle Site (3) > End
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