Chapter 112 : Chapter 112
Chapter 112. The Faded One (2)
“This should be about right.”
The place where Dam Jeok-san halted was, quite literally, deep within layered mountain ranges.
A secluded mountain valley so remote that even herbalists and ginseng gatherers would never venture inside.
Behind them rose a cliff like a thousand-man precipice, while ahead there was nothing but dense undergrowth, leaving no place to set foot.
Yet certainty shone in Dam Jeok-san’s eyes. The certainty that a Blood Palace branch existed here.
“Hm… This old man is not easy to sense.”
At those words, Kwon Gi-il of the Heaven-Dominating Saber stroked his chin, a troubled look crossing his face.
Even his perception as an Entering Transformation Realm expert detected no unusual signs.
That said, Kwon Gi-il was a saber master who had cultivated a domineering path of martial arts. Compared to other Entering Transformation Realm experts, his sensory perception was not particularly sharp.
‘And the Third Young Master led us here in the first place….’
Only a few double hours had passed, but the Third Young Master he had reunited with clearly possessed something extraordinary. Enough that even the Young Cult Leader of the Ming Cult followed behind in silence.
Sure enough.
Bukgung Wan was sweeping his surroundings, crimson rays bursting forth from his eyes.
The eye-light born from the Ming Cult’s secret art, the True Demon Eye.
It carried enough power to shatter flimsy barriers or formations.
Just as Bukgung Wan’s gaze completed a full sweep of the forest—
KRAAASH!!
A sudden tearing sound erupted from within the woods.
The eye-light of the True Demon Eye had smashed apart the barrier concealing the Blood Palace branch.
“The concealment was impressive, but the formation itself was not sturdy.”
Bukgung Wan spoke in a flat tone.
“Not bad.”
A flicker of interest appeared in Dam Jeok-san’s eyes as he looked at him.
If he truly set his mind to it, finding a hidden branch would not have been difficult for him either.
He could simply scour everything around the place that reeked with that ‘scent’ using sword strikes.
Still, Bukgung Wan’s method was undeniably more efficient.
“Not something ignorant blade-swingers can easily imitate.”
Bukgung Wan spoke boldly, even with two such ‘ignorant blade-swingers’ standing right beside him.
“Hah, what an absurd brat.”
Kwon Gi-il spoke as though dumbfounded, but he did not bother to grow angry.
Even as a blade wielder himself, he could not say the remark was entirely wrong.
“Have you forgotten who guided us all the way here?”
Dam Jeok-san added with a mocking tone, though there was no real malice behind it.
“Hah….”
Bukgung Wan let out a wronged sigh, but there was nothing he could do. In truth, it was Dam Jeok-san who had found this place.
“Would you mind taking the lead, Heaven-Dominating Saber?”
Dam Jeok-san said as he looked toward Kwon Gi-il.
No matter what, this was a stronghold of the Outer Path Four Fiends. Even Dam Jeok-san could not predict what might occur here.
If an unexpected strike were to come flying, the one most likely to block it was Kwon Gi-il.
Because he was the strongest.
“Understood.”
Kwon Gi-il followed Dam Jeok-san’s instruction without complaint. This was enemy territory, and for all intents and purposes, Dam Jeok-san was the commander.
The Blood Palace branch they entered with Kwon Gi-il at the front was little different from a mountain stronghold.
Wooden palisades woven from trees, and empty watchtowers.
There was only one difference.
“All of them are martial artists.”
Dam Jeok-san whispered, suppressing his presence to the extreme.
And at least First-Rate.
A level that could be considered elite even within the Martial Sovereign Castle.
They all wore robes as red as blood.
Among them were several grotesque figures wearing goblin masks. All of those were Peak masters.
Yet there was no vitality in their faces. Instead, they looked as though they were trembling with anxiety and fear.
‘Is the branch head a tyrant?’
To make even Peak masters cower like that, he had to be at least Ultra-Peak, or higher.
“Be careful, everyone. The head of this branch seems to be quite formidable.”
Dam Jeok-san continued in a hushed voice.
“He was said to have dealings with the Iron Blood Tyrant Blade… so perhaps he has reached the Entering Transformation Realm.”
Kwon Gi-il voiced his agreement in a restrained tone.
He had known Woo Gi-tae personally. As such, he understood just how much obsession and longing that man had harbored toward the Entering Transformation Realm.
‘I was in a similar position myself.’
Yet Kwon Gi-il had never once considered violating a taboo. A realm reached by such means was no true realm at all.
“That is unlikely.”
Dam Jeok-san spoke while raising the Predator’s senses—something difficult to even describe as perception—to their utmost.
He had encountered countless transcendents of the Outer Path in the Demonic Realm.
From the Sword Ghost to Wi Cheon-rak. He had even faced beings on par with a temporarily summoned Demon God, such as the Yin God Cult Leader.
Those beings alone turned their surroundings barren merely by breathing.
But there was no such presence here. At least, not to Dam Jeok-san’s senses.
“Still… it is strange.”
Yet Dam Jeok-san did not end there.
“For this to be just one Ultra-Peak expert, my premonition feels too ominous.”
The spirit of Dam Jeok-san’s Upper Dantian, honed sharper than ever through consecutive battles, was on edge.
If there were only opponents he could sweep aside, he would not feel this unease.
“How about we move in first?”
After a brief moment of thought, Kwon Gi-il spoke.
“That would be best. Elder, please stay one step back and watch over us in case something happens.”
Dam Jeok-san nodded.
If an Entering Transformation Realm expert had completely hidden his presence and suddenly revealed himself, someone needed to stop him.
“Very well.”
With those words, Bukgung Wan and Dam Jeok-san leapt forward toward the Blood Palace branch without hesitation.
***
THUD!
Dam Jeok-san’s sword pierced deep into an enemy’s chest.
A concise movement without the slightest waste. Before blood could even spray, he withdrew the blade and rushed toward another foe.
“M-Martial Sovereign Castle!! It is the Martial Sovereign Castle!! Call the Branch Head!”
An enemy wearing a goblin mask screamed as he saw Dam Jeok-san.
Even as a Peak master, he could not comprehend the gap between himself and his opponent.
There was only one thing he knew.
He would die. If he fought, he would certainly die.
That was all.
The goblin-masked enemy fled as far from Dam Jeok-san as he could.
And there—
“Greetings.”
Bukgung Wan, the Young Cult Leader of the Ming Cult, stood waiting. Like a reaper.
“Die!”
Judging escape to be futile, the enemy charged him in a desperate gamble.
He could not gauge Bukgung Wan’s realm, but at least he seemed more manageable than that monster. Or so he thought.
“It is true that I am weaker than the Sword Dragon, but….”
As if he had sensed that thought, Bukgung Wan ground his teeth as he spoke, as though uttering words he never wished to say.
“I should not be so easily looked down upon by vermin like you.”
At the same moment, Bukgung Wan’s figure blurred like a ghost.
“Huh—?”
Confusion flickered in the enemy’s eyes as he completely lost track of Bukgung Wan’s movement.
Before that confusion could even clear, a cold finger touched his head.
SPLIT!
Bukgung Wan’s long index finger cleaved through the mask, the forehead, and the skull as though slicing tofu, then viciously stirred the inside.
“Guhk!”
The enemy struck by Bukgung Wan died without even managing a proper scream.
Thud—
Bukgung Wan stared at the collapsing corpse with a chillingly emotionless expression.
Then he lightly flicked his finger, which was not stained by even a single drop of blood.
“Monstrous fellows.”
From behind, Kwon Gi-il muttered words that sounded like both admiration and lament as he watched.
Strong. They were strong, certainly…
But describing Dam Jeok-san and Bukgung Wan with such a simple word felt almost insulting.
‘It feels like watching Imoogi on the verge of ascending to heaven.’
Kwon Gi-il had reached his current realm only after passing forty.
Yet those two were merely twenty-five.
As heirs of great powers, they were clearly different.
Once more, Dam Jeok-san surged forward.
At some point, he had drawn both Sky Thunder and the Red Cloud Sword.
Both blades were now wrapped in the deep-blue genuine qi of the Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique.
Five or six enemies with clouded eyes, their reason dulled, charged toward him simultaneously.
Behind them stood another Peak-level enemy wearing a goblin mask.
More precisely, he appeared to be someone who had learned sorcery.
Which meant he must have driven his subordinates into a frenzy using soul-manipulating arts.
“How laughable.”
Dam Jeok-san sneered as he watched the masked man flee at full speed.
At the same time, blue lightning flared from both of his swords.
An overwhelming momentum that made even the mindless enemies flinch.
Before any of them could act—
Azure Thunder swept across the world.
BOOOOM!!
All six bodies were split cleanly in half at once. The intense heat seared their wounds completely, leaving not a single drop of blood—only smoke and the stench of burning flesh.
“…!”
As Dam Jeok-san annihilated six men in less than a single breath, shock filled the masked man’s face. He had thought he might at least gain a moment to recover.
Only then did he try to chant an incantation—
THUD!!
Dam Jeok-san’s sword pierced straight into his mouth far faster.
Thus, before even one tea-time had passed, the Blood Palace branch was utterly reduced to scorched earth.
Yet the expressions of Dam Jeok-san and Bukgung Wan, the ones who had wrought this carnage, were far from refreshed.
“There is no discipline at all.”
Bukgung Wan spoke in a sharp voice.
“Agreed. This was definitely not a branch created for military purposes.”
Which meant there was only one reason it had been established: to tempt Woo Gi-tae and corrupt him.
“The branch head will not be easy.”
He would be a true powerhouse. Perhaps even the real mastermind who had corrupted Woo Gi-tae and manipulated the Iron Blood Woo Clan’s atrocities from the shadows.
“If possible, I would like to face him alone. Is that acceptable?”
At Dam Jeok-san’s words, Bukgung Wan readily nodded.
But Kwon Gi-il was different.
“If the Third Young Master is put in danger, this old man will intervene immediately.”
“Stopping that would be foolish.”
Even vengeance had to be restrained by cold reason. All the more so if he sought the seat of the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
“But I do not believe I will be in danger.”
Dam Jeok-san spoke as his pupils glowed faintly blue.
At some point, the Predator’s Eye had activated.
‘Strong.’
He could see it. A giant approaching from the center of the branch.
It was not a matter of physical size. The amount of accumulated qi was abnormally vast. Moreover, the waves of power rippling around him were enormous—almost unbelievable for an Ultra-Peak expert.
‘But he is not in the Entering Transformation Realm.’
Of this, Dam Jeok-san was certain.
That bloated, massive power was failing to distort the world in the slightest.
It stood in stark contrast to Kwon Gi-il’s refined breathing and honed presence, which constantly warped reality itself.
As though the power that once distorted the world had now faded and lost its luster.
“Come, you fallen one.”
Dam Jeok-san taunted the approaching figure in a calm voice.
“I will be waiting.”
“…!”
Those words struck Reverse-Blood Heaven Fiend’s heart like a dagger.
To be so arrogantly provoked by someone who saw him standing right before them.
By nothing more than a mere Ultra-Peak expert.