The grand conference hall of the Martial Alliance.
In the place where the supre council was held, the Martial Alliance Leader, Gwak Doyeop, the external and internal general managers of the alliance, and even the elders were all gathered.
In front of the square table where a solemn atmosphere lingered, the external general manager, Dokgo Jeokmyeong, opened his mouth.
“I believe we can no longer delay.”
“Keueum.”
“Hmm!”
Faint groans flowed from the mouths of the elders.
The Martial Alliance Leader, Gwak Doyeop, the final decision-maker of the Martial Alliance, stared at the docunts placed in front of him with heavy, sunken eyes.
“In the end, it has co to a situation where we must draw our swords first.”
It was hard to believe, but it was also impossible not to believe.
Gwak Doyeop wrapped his large hand around the alliance seal, which was carved with a dragon, the symbol of the Martial Alliance.
However, he could not move rashly.
The alliance seal was the will of the Martial Alliance.
It represented the will of the righteous martial world.
A declaration of the alliance that might decide the future of the martial world.
Gwak Doyeop looked at the faces of the elders and then lifted the seal.
It was then.
The door opened, and a martial artist of the alliance with an urgent look on his face appeared.
It was a rudeness that should never be committed while the supre council was in session, so the elders’ expressions beca fierce.
“What is it!”
As the internal general manager of the alliance, Zhuge Goun, shouted, the martial artist of the alliance stuttered with a pale face.
“Th-that is…”
“Don’t say anything. This person is not at fault.”
The person who appeared behind the martial artist of the alliance was an old man.
But at his appearance, the elders and the two general managers who had gathered for the supre council could no longer sit on their chairs.
“You are…”
“The Flying Heaven Sword Master!”
At the appearance of the Flying Heaven Sword Master, Kang Cheon, one of the Five Great Masters of the Central Plains, surprise and wonder appeared on everyone’s faces.
In the anti, Kang Cheon, who had walked to a place where everyone could see him well, lightly cupped his fist to Gwak Doyeop.
“It’s been a while, Alliance Leader.”
“What brings you here, Kang Cheon. I was planning to make a ti for you soday, but at a ti like this…”
“I ca because it is a ti like this.”
With the consideration of the internal general manager, an empty chair was placed in the conference hall for Kang Cheon.
Kang Cheon, who had sat on the chair and caught his breath for a mont, looked at the elders, the general managers, and the alliance leader who were waiting for his words, and then opened his mouth.
“The Sword Saint is dead.”
“…”
The air in the conference hall beca heavy.
Kang Cheon, who was watching their reaction, nodded his head.
“It seems you already knew.”
“A while ago, the disciple and granddaughter of the Sword Saint ca to the Martial Alliance. Thanks to that, we were able to know about the Sword Saint’s death. It seems to be the work of the Blood-Sucking Sword Demon this ti as well.”
The death of one of the Five Great Masters of the Central Plains.
In a ti of superficial peace like now, the death of one of the Five Great Masters of the Central Plains ca as a great shock to the Central Plains martial world.
The Sword Saint, Hong Yumong.
An absolute master who had reached the rank of the Five Great Masters of the Central Plains as a woman.
Hong Yumong, the daughter of the Sword Emperor, Hong Usim, who had pacified the martial world with a single sword, and who had inherited his talent and had fought against the masters of the Ming Cult alone, displaying the prowess of one against a hundred, was a master among masters that no one would not acknowledge.
Such a Hong Yumong was murdered.
And by the hands of a young martial artist called the Blood-Sucking Sword Demon.
“Fortunately, the lineage of the Sword Saint has not been completely cut off, but the death of the Sword Saint… can be said to be a great loss to the martial world.”
“Then do you also know that?”
At Kang Cheon’s following question, everyone’s eyes, mixed with a sense of foreboding, gathered on his lips.
“The Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword, Gu Jucheol, is dead.”
“…!”
Following the Sword Saint, Hong Yumong, the death of the Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword, Gu Jucheol.
Two absolute masters of the righteous path had died.
Gwak Doyeop closed his eyes tightly and massaged his temples, and Dokgo Jeokmyeong and Zhuge Goun let out deep sighs and rolled their eyes.
“The one who killed the Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword… is it the Blood-Sucking Sword Demon?”
As Kang Cheon nodded his head at Gwak Doyeop’s question, the sighs grew even louder.
“Following the Sword Saint, even the Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword… the situation is not good.”
“What’s more surprising is that even after killing the Sword Saint and the Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword, that bastard was fine. It was hard to find even a small scratch.”
Kang Cheon placed his two hands on the table and stood up.
“The Blood-Sucking Sword Demon is getting stronger, and it’s not enough that he has stolen the martial arts of the person he killed, he can also handle the stolen martial arts as skillfully as the original owner. Also, it has been confird that he even steals internal energy. If not… he wouldn’t be able to swing a slash with such enormous internal energy so casually.”
“Is that true?!”
“I confird it by fighting him myself.”
“You an the Flying Heaven Sword Master fought him directly?”
“That’s right. I’ll be honest.”
Kang Cheon continued without hesitation.
“I cannot defeat the Blood-Sucking Sword Demon.”
At the shocking statent of the Flying Heaven Sword Master, the conference hall was engulfed in a deep silence.
The only thing that could be heard was the rough breathing of the elders.
Swoosh—
Gwak Doyeop, who had lifted the alliance seal, said.
“Great Master Kang. In your opinion, do you think the war has begun?”
Kang Cheon sneered.
“We have already entered the pit of fire.”
***
Jin Sohyun, who had followed the circling Southern Eagle, examined the small wooden tower that existed below it.
Its height was similar to the surrounding trees, so it was not noticeable.
Moreover, the size of the wooden tower was no different from an ordinary-sized tree, perhaps because the number of carrier pigeons it used was small.
But the problem was.
‘Did the carrier pigeon disappear?’
There was no way that the trained Southern Eagle would have lost a re carrier pigeon.
Jin Sohyun looked around and then looked at the bottom of the wooden tower used for carrier pigeons.
‘Not a single blade of grass has grown.’
Jin Sohyun, who was looking at the dry land under the wooden tower where not even weeds grew, confird that there was no sign of people around and then approached the bottom of the wooden tower and placed his hand on the ground.
He closed his eyes and let his ki flow, and the ki wave that had extended under the ground was cut off after not going far.
‘There’s a space under here.’
The scale seed quite large.
‘Where’s the entrance?’
No matter how much he looked around, he couldn't see any place that looked like an entrance.
“Is there no entrance?”
It seed that there was no way to enter the space below except for the wooden tower used for carrier pigeons.
Literally a small and narrow entrance that only a trained carrier pigeon could enter.
Beomgang stealthily approached the contemplating Jin Sohyun.
“There’s no place that looks like an entrance around here.”
“You probably can’t find it here.”
“Then what do we do now?”
Jin Sohyun, who had been contemplating for a mont, brought his fist to the ground under the wooden tower and said.
“Get away from .”
“What are you going to do?”
“If there’s no entrance, I have to make one.”
“W-wait a minute!”
Beomgang, who had belatedly realized what Jin Sohyun was about to do, even unfolded his lightness skill and retreated far from the wooden tower.
Jin Sohyun, who had confird that Beomgang had retreated, took a breath and then concentrated his internal energy in his right fist.
At the sa ti, he recalled the short ti he had spent with Ju Opal.
—For a proper Fajing, it is important to concentrate all parts of the body, including the flow of ki, muscles, and joints, in one place as if exploding.
Jin Sohyun, who had closed his eyes and concentrated his mind on all parts of his body, opened his eyes.
At the sa ti, Jin Sohyun’s right fist hit the ground hard.
That power was.
So intense that it could overturn the earth.
“Huh?”
This was a situation that even Jin Sohyun had not expected.
He had only intended to make a hole large enough for a person to pass through, but the fist strike with all of Jin Sohyun’s power had completely collapsed the ground.
Kugugugung—!!
As the earth collapsed, Jin Sohyun disappeared into the ground along with the collapsing soil.
Beomgang, who was watching this from a distance, hurried over.
“Heo…!”
Beomgang clicked his tongue at Jin Sohyun’s fist strike, which had collapsed the entire surrounding area, including the wooden tower, and looked down at the newly created huge pit.
“Little brother. You’re not… dead, are you?”
***
“Whew!”
Jin Sohyun, who had thrown himself into the passage that existed underground before being completely swallowed by the collapsing soil, raised his head and examined the passage.
“It’s bright without any fire.”
The passage was bright even without any light.
Jin Sohyun, who was walking along the passage in search of the source of the light, was surprised to find that night-luminescent stones were embedded in the long passage.
Although they were about the size of a fist and could not be said to be very large, it was surprising that night-luminescent stones, which were priceless, were embedded in a place like this.
Anyone who had discovered the night-luminescent stones that illuminated the passage would have tried to tear them out, but Jin Sohyun was not.
“It’s nice and bright.”
Jin Sohyun, who was just glad that it was bright thanks to the night-luminescent stones, looked back.
Kung kung—!!
Beomgang appeared, pushing through the piled-up soil with a rough explosion.
“Keok keok—!! You ignorant fellow!”
Beomgang appeared, covered in dirt, and dusted off the dirt and dust from his clothes.
“What do you think you’re doing, entering in such an ignorant way, not knowing what’s below?”
“Anyway, we’re in. Look at this.”
Beomgang, who had moved his gaze to where Jin Sohyun was pointing, could not find the end of the passage even with his vision enhanced.
“It’s long.”
“It is. Let’s go.”
With Jin Sohyun leading the way, Beomgang began to walk along the long passage whose end was unknown.
About half an hour had passed since the two had started walking.
Jin Sohyun, who was walking along the long underground passage, relying on the light of the night-luminescent stones that were embedded at intervals of about ten feet, stopped in his tracks.
“Wait.”
A sign of people was felt from the end of the passage.
As he approached the place where the sound was coming from, a ladder extending upward appeared.
As he approached the ladder, the voices of several people could be heard faintly from above.
“Ugh… it’s creepy! Did you see it too? The way he ate the Hao Sect mber he had brought as a guide on the spot?”
“Don’t say such terrible things! He ate a person?”
“That’s what I’m saying! Not even killing him, but alive… ugh… I thought I had seen all the things I could and couldn't see in the martial world… but that was the first ti I had seen sothing so terrible.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear any more stories about those cannibals.”
The voices of the two were getting farther and farther away.
Beomgang, who was listening to this, swallowed his dry saliva and looked at Jin Sohyun.
“My goodness… cannibals… do such guys, who only existed in the past when war and famine were rampant, still exist in this day and age?”
Even for Jin Sohyun, the cannibals were so terrible that his handso face was distorted.
“Let’s go up this way first.”
“Keung…!”
Jin Sohyun and Beomgang climbed the ladder, erasing their presence.
The depth of the underground passage was not very deep, and as they climbed to the end of the ladder, they could feel the surroundings getting brighter.
It ant that light was coming in from sowhere.
The two, who had finished climbing the ladder, following the brightening light, moved secretly along the passage that led inside.
As if people’s hands had been constantly touching it, the passage had torches hanging instead of expensive night-luminescent stones.
The torches and the light coming from outside illuminated the passage brightly.
“The Hao Sect has sent a black bamboo after a long ti.”
“After being beaten by the Martial Alliance and struggling, are they trying to ask for help?”
“Tsk… but from the perspective of the main sect, it’s less troubleso and better to have the Hao Sect. The head of the sect will be waiting, so let’s deliver the letter quickly.”
At the sound of the busy conversation, Jin Sohyun and Beomgang looked at each other and nodded their heads.
They quickened their pace.
The two, who had moved deep inside while still erasing their presence, went up the stairs that led diagonally.
At that, they felt a wind, and a large space appeared.
Jin Sohyun lowered his posture and took in the inside with his two eyes.
A large cavern.
Inside, it was full of carrier pigeons flying in from all directions and people managing them, just like Ok Myeon’s branch office.
Among them, a carrier pigeon with a particularly noticeable black bamboo tied to it was seen moving sowhere with its eyes covered.
Jin Sohyun moved, following the carrier pigeon, lowering his body between the furniture and fixtures, with Beomgang.
Unlike Jin Sohyun, who had learned the stealth techniques of the Shadowless Ghost, Beomgang had to lie flat on the floor and crawl.
‘He went in this way.’
Jin Sohyun went along the passage that the carrier pigeon with the black bamboo had entered, and Beomgang followed him.
“Phew… I’m going to die.”
Beomgang, who had no talent for stealth, grumbled and barely managed to enter the passage, following Jin Sohyun.
This ti too, a ladder appeared in front of the two.
Jin Sohyun and Beomgang, who had climbed the ladder that seed to have been built a long ti ago, felt the surroundings getting brighter.
‘It’s outside.’
Jin Sohyun, who had completely climbed up, realized that he had co out from the underground.
The cold air rushed into his lungs.
And at the sa ti, he discovered a man holding a carrier pigeon in his hand.
A small height and build.
The man, who was sitting on a rock and chewing raw at, saw through Jin Sohyun, who was hiding his presence with his stealth techniques, and licked his tongue.
“You really ca.”
(End of Chapter)
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