I moved with Yu Yeon in tow.
I say I dragged her along, but in reality, it was more like she was following after me as I moved.
“You’re really coming?”
I asked as we moved. I used footwork and glanced back. Yu Yeon nodded at my words.
“...Hmm.”
Would this really be fine? I was a little unsure, but—
Nothing I can do about it.
There was something I needed to check anyway, so bringing her along was not a bad idea. I decided to think of it that way.
I would confirm it before noon passed. Thinking that, I climbed the mountain. A little farther west after leaving Liaoning’s county town.
I moved according to the information I had received. The location was far. Farther than expected.
Around here, maybe.
I felt something. There seemed to be something a certain distance away. It was about time to erase my presence.
Sssss—!
I used inner qi to kill my presence. At that moment, I felt spiritual energy move with it.
Can spiritual energy really be used like inner qi?
If so, that meant the amount of inner qi I could use had increased.
I had not confirmed that yet. I would have to check it all at once later.
I killed my presence and looked at Yu Yeon. I was about to tell her to do the same.
“...?”
Yu Yeon looked at me. Her eyes seemed to ask why I was staring. I did not bother saying anything. She had already killed hers.
For all that, she was unexpectedly quick on the uptake.
—We’ll be there soon.
At my words, Yu Yeon slowed down. We moved through the trees and stopped at one point.
I could feel it in the distance.
There are a lot of them.
Quite a few people were gathered halfway up this mountain. However—
What is this?
Their presence was faint compared to the signs of people. Or rather—
I’m not perceiving them properly.
I could sense an encampment far ahead, but separate from the signs of people—
Something is different.
Could I call this human presence?
No. This was not human presence.
Now that I was closer, I understood.
They’re spirit forms.
The souls inside human bodies. It seemed I was feeling those as presence.
Why can I feel that?
Normally, I would not have been able to.
I should not have been able to see it, either. Sensing spirit forms this clearly meant—
The ring is loose.
Which meant it should have been an extremely dangerous situation. But it was not.
“Mm...”
I frowned. This, too, seemed like some kind of change.
And.
The presence around this area. I could feel something like a formation laid out here. This was—
A formation?
It seemed to be a technique in the formation category. That thing was suppressing their presence.
And if they’re suppressing their presence...
It meant they were plotting something. I moved my eyes.
I can’t just break straight through the formation.
Thousand-Mile Divine Eye’s study. I had read a few books there.
He had told me to read them when I was bored, so I found and read them.
Most of them were formation manuals created by the Zhuge Family. They were a little difficult, so I had stumbled through them, but—
Memorizing is my specialty.
Memorizing and making use of it was my specialty. I even seemed a little smarter than in my previous life.
Maybe because of my bloodline.
My mother’s family. The Zhuge Family, said to reach the heavens when it came to using their heads. Perhaps because I had inherited their blood, my mind worked better than it had in my past life.
So those formation manuals I had read had also included methods to break formations.
But... trying to break it completely could be poisonous instead.
The fact that they could use a formation like this meant there was a formation expert inside.
If I dispelled the formation outright, I could be discovered.
Then—
I have to enter without being noticed.
I narrowed my eyes and opened Moon Eye as I was.
My eyes shone, and the world around me turned blue.
As expected.
I had opened Moon Eye just in case. Since it let me see what I could not normally see, I wondered if it might help here too.
Oh.
I could see it. A faintly spread membrane was visible. In that case—
That must be the formation’s membrane.
I looked at the things connecting it. Lines were linked here and there.
It’s complicated.
More complicated than I expected. The technique did not seem simple. But—
Tap. I came down to the ground and examined the lines more slowly.
“This...”
I found something strange among the connected lines. Things buried beneath stones. Ropes tied to trees.
Among things that should not have connected, I found a commonality.
And that commonality...
Seemed to be heading toward a single destination. I carefully touched a stone. Among the many stones, it was one that looked especially plain.
I was not certain. Still, I picked it up.
When I lifted it carefully—
Woooong. The membrane trembled faintly.
“...”
Was this it? I tossed the stone I was holding upward.
“Now.”
I signaled Yu Yeon. The two of us entered through the membrane as we were.
Tap—! The stone landed perfectly where it had originally been.
Woooong.
The membrane did not distort or react.
Oh. Did that work?
Not bad.
“...Let’s go.”
Yu Yeon nodded.
*****
The inside of the membrane was fairly wide.
I could feel human presence far ahead, but the distance was farther than it looked.
The circular area where the formation was active was also quite large.
Compared to that, the place that could be called an encampment was not big.
So they’re packed tightly together.
We calmly entered while keeping our presence suppressed.
Then—
Swish.
I raised my hand. Yu Yeon hid behind a tree. I could see two martial artists walking ahead.
“You heard?”
Their voices brushed my ears.
“The ones who went out last time. I heard they all died.”
“What? Did they get attacked?”
“Must be. But can an attack even happen in that forest? They said they’d put measures in place with the Murim Alliance bastards.”
“They took all that money and still stabbed us in the back?”
“Probably not. The fact that the Alliance bastards took our money is poison in itself. And they only hit the ones doing the work? Something’s going on.”
“This is ridiculous. Those Sky-Crushing Palace bastards boasted so much that we should trust them.”
“Trust? What trust? Hehehe. Where in the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Central Plains are there bastards worth trusting?”
I listened to the Sama Sect bastards.
They gave money to the Murim Alliance?
They paid a bribe? If they meant this area, was it the Liaoning branch? Or somewhere else?
Either way.
They were called the orthodox faction, but I had known for a long time that they were rotten. It was nothing surprising.
The problem was—
They’re connected to the Sky-Crushing Palace more deeply than I expected.
The information matched. At the same time—
“Then what happens to the Green Forest bastards?”
My eyes widened at what I heard from them.
The Green Forest came up.
“Those bastards were always famous for not listening. I heard they’re moving separately.”
“Tsk. The Green Lord isn’t even around anymore, so why are they acting so high and mighty?”
The Green Lord was not around. That meant—
They don’t know the Green Lord is alive.
Those bastards did not know that much. Or else—
Hoyeon played some kind of trick.
It could be her doing. I would confirm that later.
The Green Lord isn’t important.
After the Green Emperor died at the Heavenly Demon’s hands, the Green Lord took the master’s seat.
And then those bastards threw themselves into the Demonic Cult.
Here, the Green Lord’s survival that Hoyeon had mentioned was not especially important. What mattered was—
That the Green Forest bandits joining hands with the Sky-Crushing Palace is true.
That was the only thing that mattered.
“No, so what happens with the next job?”
“Well, the captain said we’re short on numbers, so they’ll send more out and bring back the girls.”
“Ah, if that’s what they’re doing, I hope I get to go this time.”
“Why? Want to have some fun?”
“Obviously. I’ve been stuck here so long my crotch is itching like hell.”
“Kekeke, true enough. Being holed up in the mountains all the time is pretty rough—”
Slice—!
“Huh?”
I cut off the neck of the one on the left.
I did not want to hear any more. The moment he came within a certain distance, I sliced his throat. I was about to kill the next one too.
Thuck—!
“Grk...!”
Yu Yeon thrust the tip of her sword into his throat first.
The men collapsed where they stood, and I stared at Yu Yeon in surprise.
“You...”
You can kill people? Couldn’t you not do that before? I looked at her in confusion.
“...”
Yu Yeon nodded expressionlessly. Had something changed?
“...”
It seemed so.
Yu Yeon’s face was twisted too, perhaps because the conversation just now had been unpleasant.
—...Let’s move them.
I did not know what this was, but I decided to ask later.
I grabbed the corpses and threw them. After roughly tossing them behind us, I tightened my grip on my sword.
I did not even put it back in its scabbard.
Good.
I hardened my heart.
These bastards—
I’ll kill them all.
They were bastards I could kill.
*****
With that in mind, I went deeper inside.
A large building came into view ahead.
That was probably... the Sama Sect’s base.
Impressive.
How had she found this? With even a formation laid over the place, it could not have been easy to discover.
That woman’s side is frightening in its own way too.
Hoyeon. Her information network struck me as impressive all over again.
Their numbers...
Seemed to be a little over thirty. That was how many presences I could feel.
What about their realms?
A few first-rate, and a few second-rate.
Their realms were not that high. However, there were people keeping watch around the area, and several groups were clustered together, so secretly assassinating them would be difficult.
I never learned assassination in the first place.
All I had done was suppress my presence and enter. I had never deeply explored assassination, so this was a little burdensome.
Hmm.
What should I do? As I leaned against a tree and thought—
“Enemy attack!”
A loud voice rang out.
“Enemies have entered the formation! Two scouts are dead. Change stance!”
The martial artists reacted to the raised voice.
“What?”
“Enemy attack...!?”
The atmosphere changed in an instant. How had they known?
They even figured out the deaths.
That meant—
They noticed when I killed them.
They had not known we had infiltrated. They realized it when someone died inside.
Did I make a mistake?
Maybe.
I looked at Yu Yeon. She was looking at me. Her eyes were telling me to decide what to do.
“Hmm...”
The killing intent I felt ahead grew stronger and stronger. There were a little over thirty of them, and their realms were low.
[What are you hesitating for?]
The Heavenly Demon’s voice sounded.
[Do you hesitate because you fear stepping on insects will dirty your shoes?]
[If not that—]
[Then do not hesitate. Such things do not suit one who will stand above the heavens.]
“...”
Who said I was standing above the heavens?
There were mountains of things I wanted to point out, but—
“...I’m not hesitating.”
As if mocking those words, I stepped forward.
Whoooosh—!!!
I raised my energy. I had wanted to confirm the changes anyway.
In that case, this was just right.
Thinking that, I leapt.
“Huh?”
“That’s...?”
“En... enemy atta—!”
The Sama Sect bastards discovered me and tried to shout.
I looked at them and put strength into my sword.
Radiant Moon Flash Aura.
Pzzzzzzzt—!!!
Hard aura surged upward.
Woooong—! Wooooooong—!!!
A sword cry rang out.
I gathered more hard aura on the sword than usual, perhaps an inefficient amount, and slammed it straight into the ground.
Boom—! Kwaaaaaaaaaa—!!!
“Aaaagh!”
“Gaaah!”
The ground exploded along with the hard aura, and the people nearby screamed.
Ruuuumble—!!!
Cracks spread in every direction.
“It’s the enemy!”
“Who are you—!!!”
The Sama Sect bastards shouted as they looked at me.
Watching them, I slowly rose.
“Who am I?”
I swept up my hair. I put force into my blue eyes.
Sssss.
Energy rose through my body, and my white hair swayed.
“Something like the grim reaper, more or less.”
I said it with a smile.
[...Your line was somewhat poor.]
“...”
The Heavenly Demon pointed it out as if embarrassed.
I deliberately ignored him.
