Chapter 175 : Pursuit
Pursuit
Unlike the first time when Baek Il-gang guided their path, this time Jeong-un darted ahead, unleashing his lightness skill.
Within his acutely heightened ki sense, the traces of pure energy were vividly perceptible.
It was entirely different from when he had vaguely sensed a sinister force during his initial assignment and followed it blindly.
Now, it was as if he could see with his own eyes, so clearly did he feel Zhao Yeong-ryeong's energy.
'It's not just that the range of my ki sense has grown more refined....'
But in addition to that, the energy Yeong-ryeong possessed was so extraordinarily pure.
It was hard to believe she had cultivated her internal power with the same mind methods as Zhao Gang.
Such was the peculiarity of internal energy—though born of the same bloodline and trained in the same cultivation methods, the nature of that energy would differ subtly.
From behind, Zhao Gang, who was in pursuit, asked anxiously,
"Is it still far?"
"It continues to that end point."
Jeong-un answered, pointing to a spot near the mountain's summit.
Zhao Gang could not conceal the anxious look in his eyes, clearly worried for his younger sister.
Their sibling bond must have been deep.
'She's not dead.'
Jeong-un inwardly muttered. If she had died, the trail wouldn't have continued this far.
The enemy had clearly ambushed Zhao Yeong-ryeong's group with some objective, and among them, only Yeong-ryeong had been taken away.
'Someone from the Zhao clan of Changshan reported back alive, didn't they?'
He'd heard that after barely making it back, that person collapsed right after delivering their report.
Though everyone rushed to action upon hearing the shocking news, Jeong-un had already found it peculiar.
'In a fight between martial artists, someone found an opening to escape?'
But it wasn't Yeong-ryeong who escaped, but rather, the guard?
Even at first glance, it was implausible.
Escaping in the midst of battle was only possible with sufficient skill.
A martial artist—a peerless expert strong enough to battle the bloodline of a powerful noble clan.
There's no way it would be easy to slip away from their notice. If anyone could have done it, it would have been Yeong-ryeong herself.
Though perhaps not quite at her elder brother Zhao Gang's level, she was likely the strongest among her group.
But instead, she had survived, was captured and dragged away by the enemy, and one of her subordinate guards had managed to return to the clan alive.
'... There must be a reason they didn't kill her.'
Undoubtedly, that reason would not be a good one.
The enemy was, after all, the leader of the Demonic Cult.
Jeong-un's thoughts turned over and over, but he kept quiet, deeming it unnecessary to speak aloud.
He glanced at Zhao Gang, running alongside him.
His face was open and transparent, wholly concerned for his younger sister's safety.
Jeong-un didn't want to heap more worries on him with stray words. The man's heart was likely burning with anxiety already.
It was then.
From far off, along the trail of Yeong-ryeong's energy, Jeong-un's senses began to detect other ki waves.
The sensation that stabbed at him was familiar, yet unpleasant: the chilling, sinister energy unique to the Demonic Cultists.
"There they are," he said curtly, pouring a surge of cultivated power into his next step.
Instantly, internal power streamed down his central channel and pooled at the Yongcheon acupoint, then exploded in a ki wave.
The powerful rebound from the release launched his body powerfully forward, tearing across the ground.
Paaat!
In a flash, Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang, who had been running at his sides, were left far behind.
Such was the tremendous speed of Jeong-un's surge.
The enemy figures in the distance expanded within his field of view in a single instant, like flickering lights.
Srrrng!
Jeong-un interwove the intricate mysteries of the body-strengthening Moonlight Swift Steps into a drawn-sword technique, gripping his sword handle.
He didn't want to waste the blistering speed he had built up by just stopping.
Thus, in the bright day, the streaking tail of light trailed from his body's form down to the sword's blade, imbued with the burst of energy.
Slash!
The throat of the foremost enemy was sliced like a sheet of paper.
The sword passed through the thick neck at blinding speed.
For a moment, the severed neck clung to the body as if unaware of its doom.
"Hmph."
For an instant, Jeong-un allowed himself a wry smile.
The saying that, for a true master, the sword was pointless—pure nonsense.
The new Dragon Sky sword he had received was a truly divine sword.
The memory of achieving Unity of Man and Sword replayed in his mind, so smoothly did it convey his true ki.
"He's here!"
"It's him!"
Jeong-un spun his body, sending several waves of ki blasting out from the blade.
They shot out toward the solar plexus of the cultists who'd cried out in terror.
Pababat!
Instantly, large circular holes were punched through their bodies, and even those standing behind were torn apart.
The power was utterly overwhelming.
'None left.'
Simultaneously, his eyes swept the surroundings.
It was certain that Zhao Yeong-ryeong's energy led to this place.
But she was nowhere in sight, and only dozens of rabble-level cultists from the Demonic Cult had arranged themselves, lying in wait for him.
They had definitely been waiting. The moment they saw him, they'd shouted his arrival.
'It was to lure me here.'
That demon, the Demonic Cult leader, had deliberately drawn him to this battleground.
His real target wasn't even Yeong-ryeong—she was just a plausible pretext to provoke Jeong-un into action.
An innocent third party had been put in peril.
But the problem was, even this wasn't the end.
There was no way they intended to capture him with just a handful of rabble.
Sure enough, Yeong-ryeong's energy continued up the mountain, beyond this point.
The leader knew.
He knew that Jeong-un would pursue the trail using his exceptionally sensitive ki sense.
Of course, Jeong-un couldn't abandon a woman entangled in his battle.
Jjeo-eok! Kwaaak!
While sweeping his sword in rapid succession, he unleashed strikes with the other arm and even utilized his kicking method.
He resorted to any means to eliminate the enemies swiftly.
Kwaang! Quang!
"Keugh!"
"Kuh!"
Massive bursts of energy shook the ground in quick succession.
The rabble couldn't endure even a fraction of his martial skill, suffering near total annihilation.
Tadak!
Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang, who had lagged behind, arrived on the scene.
In truth, barely any time had elapsed; it occurred in the scant moments it took them to catch up at full speed.
"What the...?"
Baek Il-gang, his face drained, stared at Jeong-un.
By then, Jeong-un had already felled the last enemy.
In fitting form for a peerless expert of the martial world, he had singlehandedly annihilated dozens in an instant.
Jeong-un spoke.
"We have to go at once. These ones are meaningless."
"Meaningless? Without even searching their bodies?"
Zhao Gang, puzzled, asked as his feet touched the earth. All the enemies around them were corpses already.
Had it been him, he might've kept some alive to ask about Yeong-ryeong's whereabouts.
But Jeong-un shook his head.
"They're just tools to confirm I'm on the right path."
"What do you mean?"
"..."
Jeong-un found himself unable to answer.
He couldn't bring himself to tell Zhao Gang that his sister was being used as bait to lure someone else.
Seeing this, Zhao Gang said,
"Whatever it means, young hero Yu has never spoken wrongly. We've no time—let's hurry."
"... Understood."
Once more, they raced up the mountain, chasing the trail of energy.
Through his underlings, the demon had conveyed a clear message to Jeong-un.
He was indeed coming as planned.
In other words, Jeong-un was walking straight into a trap, with no clue as to what awaited him.
Yet, knowing it all, he could not stop his advance.
Zhao Gang's younger sister had been taken.
Jeong-un wasn't one to disregard another's life simply to avoid playing into his enemy's hand.
'No matter what.'
He muttered thus.
He didn't care what the enemy had prepared. As long as they appeared, he would cut them down.
Again, he surged after the trail of energy, and encountered another sizable group of Demonic Cultists.
"They're coming!"
"Leave the one in the middle! Hold back the others!"
"Attack!"
Jeong-un raised Dragon Sky and brought it down from above.
The arc of transparent true ki gradually turned golden, then transformed into a bolt of lightning at the end of its trajectory.
Without slowing, he broke straight through the center of the enemy formation.
Kwa-gwagwaggwang─!
It was a straight line, cleaving through the horde.
Dozens of bodies split as one mass, blood spouting upward in unison. All in the path died instantly.
"This is insane..."
Trailing behind, Zhao Gang murmured in quiet awe.
It was the second clash with enemies, but again, he hadn't had a chance to act.
Jeong-un was smashing through them like a tempest—blindingly fast.
'He's quick...'
But now, time was of the essence.
If one possessed the skill, the obvious solution was to rapidly dispose of any enemies encountered.
Moreover, Jeong-un's swordwork, when considered, was not odd at all—he was dealing with the worst of unorthodox villains.
If an orthodox swordsman was seen, people would say his swordplay was bold, if not exhilarating.
Yet, there was an uneasy urgency to him. This man, usually always calm, was showing a rare agitation.
'... Let's hope nothing goes wrong.'
After cutting through several more groups, they climbed ever higher.
At last, Jeong-un's light-as-wind sprint came to a halt.
"..."
Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang arrived shortly after, their eyes scanning the astonishing scene before them.
"This is it?"
"Y-Young Hero Yu...!"
Before them stretched a dizzying cliff.
The ground below was concealed by the dense green leaves of trees, leaving it impossible to judge just how deep the chasm ran—a sheer precipice at the edge of ceaseless pursuit.
Zhao Gang looked to Jeong-un in shock.
"A-are you saying Yeong-ryeong fell down there?"
Jeong-un shook his head.
"She didn't fall."
"Then?"
"They descended beneath the cliff. With Lady Zhao."
"...!"
He checked his ki sense again.
Zhao Yeong-ryeong's energy led from the precipice, continuing down its face—not the traces of a fall, but a deliberate descent.
He spoke again.
"We have to go down."
Zhao Gang, who had been peering anxiously over the edge, now nodded resolutely.
There was no turning back. Having come this far, he had to rescue his sister.
The three of them leapt down the cliff, stepping on small outcroppings jutting from the rock.
As they tracked the trail of energy, they could not afford to haste even further.
At last—
"There was a place like this?"
"You didn't know?"
"... It's my first time seeing it."
Having spotted an inward recess in the cliff, they set down there.
The ground was so flat, one wondered whether it was naturally formed.
Zhao Gang muttered, incredulous.
"I've climbed Daemu Mountain countless times..."
Daemu Mountain—Zhao clan of Changshan's ancestral mountain—was no ordinary place to the Zhao Clan.
It was so renowned that even the name of their ancestor, the Tiger Might General, bore it, and it served as a sacred root for their bloodline.
Of course, as the eldest son, Zhao Gang had climbed this mountain countless times.
But now he gazed at the scene before him in utter ignorance.
A massive cave entrance, almost impossible to believe, yawned from the middle of the cliff.
"Lady Jo's energy continues inside."
"..."
Jeong-un silently stared into the cave's depths.
Though the sun had not yet fully set, it was pitch black inside, making it impossible to see.
As if a mouth had opened wide, waiting to be entered.
At the same time, a powerful premonition filled his mind.
Separate from the trail of Yeong-ryeong's energy, another sense was triggered within—a sensation like a sound transmission, whispering in his ear, just as he had felt whenever he stood near that enemy many times before.
It was telling him—the enemy was in there.