Chapter 223 : Chapter 223
Chapter 223 - Tower of Causalitas (11)
Listening to the Murim Alliance Leader, the Demonic Cult felt like an exceedingly mysterious organization.
Although the Demonic Cult was one of the three pillars dividing Murim, not much was known about it, and it was still filled with things hidden behind a veil.
How large was it? Why had they recently erased their traces? And was the Heavenly Demon alive?
In particular, the mystery surrounding the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, which was known as their headquarters, was the most remarkable of all.
Among the countless peaks that made up the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, some were said to appear and disappear repeatedly from moment to moment.
It sounded absurd, but this was the common testimony of survivors who had returned from expeditions against the Demonic Cult, so it was not entirely groundless.
“So it turned out to be the workings of a Qimen Formation.”
“That is right. In truth, there was a great deal of controversy before we reached the conclusion that it was a Qimen Formation. Spreading a Qimen Formation over such a vast range defies common sense, after all.”
“But if the scale is that large, would there not be a flaw somewhere?”
However, the Murim Alliance Leader shook his head.
“Surprisingly, they say it is watertight.”
It meant that the Demonic Cult had a master of Qimen Formations of considerable skill.
It was a pity Rosie was not here.
A Qimen Formation was surely a kind of illusion magic. If it had been Rosie, she would have undone it instantly with a thoroughly smug expression.
Then perhaps she would have said something like this.
- Unit Leader Ji-han! Perhaps because this is a world without the concept of magic, even its illusion magic has no foundation.
“Then a way to undo the Qimen Formation over the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains...”
“We have not discovered one yet.”
“Yet?”
There was something subtle about the Murim Alliance Leader’s words. The nuance was that although it was impossible at the present moment, it might become possible someday.
“Tell me, then. What am I supposed to do now?”
At that, the Murim Alliance Leader laughed boldly.
“As expected, you are a sharp-witted fellow.”
I calmly waited for the Murim Alliance Leader’s next words.
“Have you ever heard the name Kwak Woo-gyeong?”
“I have not.”
“Then what about the byname, the Great Sage of the Righteous Path?”
“I have not heard of that either.”
“Heh heh! You are truly a surprising man in many ways.”
He seemed to be quite famous, but of course, I had no way of knowing that.
“Who is he?”
“He was once the Chief Strategist of the Murim Alliance. Now he has turned his back on the world and lives buried in seclusion.”
“Are you saying he is a master of Qimen Formations?”
The Murim Alliance Leader nodded.
“Then he must be someone who became extremely estranged from you, Alliance Leader. And there is a high probability that you were the cause.”
From the sound of it, he seemed to be a remarkable talent. If someone like that had left the Murim Alliance, there was a good chance his relationship with the Alliance Leader had soured.
And usually, it was the superior who made the mistake.
“Heh heh!”
“Since you cannot deny it immediately, it seems you committed quite a grave wrong.”
The Murim Alliance Leader’s expression darkened at once.
“Even so, did you have to point it out so directly?”
“I was merely guessing. If I touched a sore spot, I apologize.”
“It hurt a great deal.”
Just what on earth had happened between them?
“In any case, you are telling me to go find this man named Kwak Woo-gyeong.”
“That is the only method for now. But the problem is...”
“I can roughly guess. If he has buried himself in seclusion, does that not mean he no longer intends to involve himself in worldly affairs?”
The Murim Alliance must have continued sending people to him as well.
I could easily guess the result.
“Yes. Nine times out of ten, you will be turned away at the door as well.”
“Still, if I do not reveal that I came with your recommendation, would that not raise my chances a little? Considering the reason this Kwak Woo-gyeong left the secular world, I mean.”
Perhaps my words wounded the Murim Alliance Leader again, because he wore a mournful expression.
“You truly have no habit of speaking indirectly.”
“Please tell me what happened between the two of you. That way, I will not make a mistake.”
“Hmm.”
The Murim Alliance Leader sighed.
After a brief silence, he began the story.
As it turned out, it was a matter involving a woman.
“It may sound absurd to you.”
“It does not.”
After all, on the Kalia Continent, wars between nations had even broken out over women.
“It could not be helped. Even I never expected my Hang-ah to react that way.”
The Hang-ah he spoke of was the Murim Alliance Leader’s one and only daughter.
At one time, she had also been Kwak Woo-gyeong’s fiancée.
The Murim Alliance Leader had arranged their engagement in order to recruit Kwak Woo-gyeong, who had been living outside official circles.
“Still, it seems a little hasty to have arranged an engagement when the two of them had not even seen each other’s faces.”
In the end, that was the problem.
It was said that the Alliance Leader’s only daughter had been horrified the first day she saw Kwak Woo-gyeong’s face.
“My Hang-ah always said that her ideal man was someone wise and intelligent. So, from my perspective, I naturally had no choice but to think there would be no problem.”
Just how ugly was this man, Kwak Woo-gyeong?
In any case, with a spike driven through his heart, Kwak Woo-gyeong had turned his back on the world and left the Murim Alliance.
“No matter what the intermediate process was, the conclusion was a broken engagement, so you cannot be free from responsibility, Alliance Leader.”
The Murim Alliance Leader sighed again with the face of a guilty man.
“You are the first person to criticize me that way.”
“Is that not obvious, considering you hold the position of Alliance Leader? In any case, please just tell me where this man Kwak Woo-gyeong is. I will handle the rest myself.”
The Alliance Leader brought out a map that marked Kwak Woo-gyeong’s residence and handed it to me.
“If things happen to go well, please pass on one word for me in a roundabout way. Tell him it was all my fault, and ask him to forgive me.”
“I will pass it on. Though I do not know whether a single sentence will be enough to resolve it.”
To think that such a disastrous story existed at the very summit of the Murim Alliance, the greatest organization in this world.
In any case, I became curious about this man named Kwak Woo-gyeong.
In a world without magic, just how far had the realm of magic he had reached gone? And just how far beyond the line had his face crossed for something like that to happen?
***
A small mountain village in the Jingzhou region.
It was said that the man named Kwak Woo-gyeong, once called the Great Sage of the Righteous Path, lived somewhere here.
“Well, I am not sure whether there is such a person in this village.”
“As far as I know, no one lives in the direction of that hill over there.”
Kwak Woo-gyeong seemed to be living here like a ghost.
The problem was that I lost my way from the very entrance of the hill marked on the map.
Judging by the distance, I should have arrived long ago, but I felt as though I were sinking into a quagmire.
‘Strange.’
There was no way the map was wrong, and there was no way I had come to the wrong place either.
Even so, I felt as though I were circling endlessly inside a maze.
Only after wandering a little longer did I become certain.
A Qimen Formation had already been activated around this place.
At that moment, a thick fog began to settle over the surroundings. A sudden fishy stench pricked the tip of my nose.
‘Look at this.’
They said he was a master of formations, and it seemed Kwak Woo-gyeong had been tormenting visitors who entered his territory in this way.
No wonder the villagers did not know of his existence.
There was one more astonishing working here.
A path free of the thick fog lay directly behind me.
It was probably a kind of warning telling me to go back along that path.
I had heard that he had no great expertise in martial arts, so this was simply astonishing.
Creating magic of this level with such mana was something that defied common sense.
In any case, I lightly ignored Kwak Woo-gyeong’s warning and walked into the fog.
My vision blurring into whiteness and the terrible fishy stench bothered me, but by expanding and controlling my senses, I was able to adapt quickly.
Of course, Kwak Woo-gyeong’s warning did not end there.
The air around me was gradually growing hotter.
‘Now it is a fire attack?’
I had expected it to some extent.
If anything, it worked out well.
If I followed the mysterious workings Kwak Woo-gyeong was producing, I might be able to find the Life Gate of the Qimen Formation.
FWOOOSH.
As I walked through the fog without hesitation, a fireball flew toward my eyes.
It was an illusion, yet not an illusion.
If someone dismissed that as a false image, their entire body might burn away.
To be precise, they would feel as though their body were burning away, but in this place, the distinction between illusion and reality was meaningless.
If one met death inside a Qimen Formation, it would not be an illusory death, but a real one.
In other words, the most dangerous moment was the moment one denied the mysterious workings taking place inside the Qimen Formation.
WHOOOSH!
I swung the Holy Sword and cut down the fireball.
The flames died down and went out just like that.
However, the fire attack Kwak Woo-gyeong had unleashed continued.
FWOOOSH.
FWOOOOOSH.
This time there were two.
In truth, even now, it felt more like a warning than an actual attempt to target me with fire.
And I could tell at least this much: Kwak Woo-gyeong was watching me from somewhere outside the Qimen Formation.
WHOOOSH!
This time as well, I lightly cut down the two fireballs.
As someone who had even endured a dragon’s Hellfire, an attack like this did not feel like so much as a firefly.
I continued walking through the fog.
Perhaps sensing my will, the change inside the Qimen Formation came abruptly.
KABOOOM!
KABOOOOM!
As though a volcano had erupted, flames began surging up from the ground.
As if there would be no more warnings, the threat of the fire attack became far more vivid.
In one sense, I liked it.
It meant that this fellow Kwak Woo-gyeong’s abilities were real.
KABOOOM!
With each step I took, flames burst up around me.
Sooner or later, one of them might erupt beneath my feet.
Of course, there was a solution.
Even if this was not real but an illusion, it could be resolved by suppressing it with even greater force.
Although I did not know much about illusion magic, the fundamental material behind all these workings was mana, so I thought it would be simple enough if I crushed that mana itself.
- Friend! What are you trying to do?
KABOOOM!
A massive surge of Sword Qi poured out, and the ground trembled.
The rising flames collided with the Sword Qi and vanished just like that.
It was a satisfying sight.
I slightly raised the corner of my mouth and walked forward, one step after another, without hesitation.
And then...
KABOOOM!
I continued my show of force against the unknown illusion.
I did not know the exact principle behind the Qimen Formation, but I could tell that my method was working.
The frequency of the rising flames gradually subsided, then stopped at some point.
- Friend! This is actually working!
Supreme physical magic could defeat any magic.
I did not know about something on the enormous scale of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, but if it was only the illusion magic cast over one small hill like this, it was more than worth trying.