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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Inside the cave was dark. However, that didn’t make it difficult to move around.
Chaejin was a skilled master, and as such, mere darkness couldn’t block her vision.
“Ah! Watch out there.”
I almost fell.
Right.
While Chaejin was a skilled master, I wasn’t, so naturally I wasn’t accustomed to the darkness.
“I think we should use a fire pearl…”
“Yang-myeong might notice and prepare for that.”
“That’s true.”
We had to converse in low voices.
Since we were already walking with Chae using Taichi footwork to minimize footsteps as much as possible, it was better to maintain secrecy if we could.
Even if we got caught, it couldn’t be helped.
“Ah. The cave is getting wider.”
The descending path widened, and a dim light was emanating from deep inside.
It wasn’t firelight. Could it be luminous pearls? Looking at the dull light, they didn’t seem to be expensive ones.
“How long do you think it will take to deal with Yang-myeong?”
“Well… Even if it takes long, I’ll catch them within a hundred seconds.”
Chaejin spoke without hiding the conclusion she’d reached from combining the information known to the world about Yang-myeong and the information just received from Hano.
A hundred seconds, huh.
“Can you do it within eighty seconds? You are Chaejin, the great disciple of Moon Valley Sect, one of the renowned orthodox sects.”
Pfft. A smile appeared on Chaejin’s lips.
Without erasing the gracefully curved corner of her mouth, she fixed her black eyes on me and spoke calmly.
“Aren’t you trusting me too much? Fine. I’ll finish it within eighty seconds.”
“Good.”
If Chaejin used the Moonlight Sword technique, she could definitely catch them within eighty seconds.
I nodded lightly and walked calmly.
Then I found them.
The Lost Soul People.
And the old woman surrounded by these Lost Soul People, mixing something in a large cauldron.
She was an ugly old woman.
She had a long nose, slanted eyes, and a hunched back.
Her hands looked hard like old trees, and her long, sharp fingernails were painted black.
With a serious expression, she had been stirring the long ladle in the cauldron, then let out a deep sigh.
When she shook a bell, one of the Lost Soul People moved.
It was a young girl. Looking even younger than Sa-yun.
After making the girl come closer, she stretched out her hand and made a wound on the girl’s arm, then licked up the red blood that flowed down with her long, wet tongue.
At the same time, vitality returned to the old woman’s face.
“…That’s disgusting.”
Well. That’s how all evil spirits were.
There were plenty of monsters who stole others’ life force to maintain their own life.
If there was anything fortunate, it was that among them, this old woman, Yang-myeong, belonged to the weaker ones.
“Hmm… but I’m worried about the Lost Soul People. I didn’t expect there to be so many.”
“I’ll handle the Lost Soul People. I have a way to deal with them…”
That’s when it happened.
Perhaps unsatisfied with the girl’s blood? Yang-myeong, who had thrown the ladle to the ground, let out a bizarre scream and stretched out her hand.
At the same time, what walked out was a girl in cleaner attire than the previous one.
It was Oh Yu-na, daughter of Oh-chil, the head of Jin Kwon-dang.
Roughly pulling the girl who had been standing with clouded eyes, Yang-myeong opened her mouth.
Sharp teeth glinted in the light of the luminous pearls.
She probably intended to bite the arm to drink more blood and strongly absorb life force.
Seeing that, I realized we couldn’t delay any longer.
“We can’t wait. Let’s attack.”
-Swoosh!!
When my order fell, Chaejin didn’t ask anything more.
Like a true martial artist, she only proved herself through martial arts.
The moment the sword confined in its sheath was swung, the silver sword energy aimed for Yang-myeong’s head.
“Kyaak!!”
But as Chaejin had said, Yang-myeong was also a master in her own right.
She deflected the crescent-shaped sword energy with black energy in her tree-like hands and growled toward us.
“Who are you!!”
The sharp cry echoed through the cavern.
Chaejin, who had already leaped out, swung her sword instead of answering.
-Clang…!!
The momentum shifted with Chaejin’s surprise attack.
Yang-myeong quickly shook her bell, and in sync with it, the Lost Soul People began to pressure her.
“Kekeke!! It’s the Moon Valley Sect’s woman!! Try to kill me if you can!!”
As the Lost Soul People rushed to block her, Chaejin gritted her teeth.
Then the moment she stomped her foot with a thud, her internal energy spread out and the approaching Lost Soul People were thrown back.
But that slowed down the force of her attack, and Yang-myeong, being an experienced master, didn’t miss that opportunity.
She tried to pressure Chaejin by moving the Lost Soul People and looked for an opening to attack.
Would I just stand by and watch that?
-Whoosh!!
Thanks to the internal energy built up through constant training, I had been able to train in Oh-geum-hui to some extent.
Therefore, I could create fire energy through the fire form like Sa-yun had done before.
“You damn bastard!!”
I could make Yang-myeong burst with rage.
The Lost Soul People who were trying to attack Chaejin began running toward me with their eyes rolled back.
“So why were you so obsessed with the Lost Soul People, a failed research?”
I mocked Yang-myeong who was grinding her teeth.
Right.
Failed research.
The Lost Soul People were literally failed research.
The Empire had conducted many studies to counter the Devil Sect, and one of them was to create soldiers who knew no fear.
Everyone has fear.
The Empire’s research department thought this was due to the emotions held by the soul.
Then what if they could freeze that soul and erase emotions?
If they could create soldiers who couldn’t feel emotions and would only follow orders with their reason blocked, couldn’t they create strong soldiers who wouldn’t retreat even when facing devil arts?
The research that began thus received quite a lot of support but ultimately ended in failure.
They succeeded in creating soldiers who followed orders by making people take special medicine to block the flow of the five elements to freeze their souls, erase fear, and strengthen their bodies.
But that was the problem.
Just as it’s natural for water to flow downward and night to come after morning, it’s perfectly natural for people to respond to the five elements.
That naturalness could be blocked through continuous commands and the practitioner’s concentration and control, but when that became impossible, the Lost Soul People became overly sensitive to the five elements.
Due to such a fatal reason, the Lost Soul People development plan ultimately failed, and the Empire began different research based on that failure.
But usually, even when something is said to have failed, those who were conducting the research can’t easily accept it.
Especially those with strong pride, like the outstanding researchers who received support from the Empire.
Eventually, those who continued their research trying to escape the name of failure became corrupted one by one.
It hadn’t failed.
It wasn’t wrong.
Just, there was little support, few test subjects, and they hadn’t found the method yet.
Justifying themselves thus, they continued their respective research.
But how could they continue that research without even the Empire’s support?
Eventually, they kidnapped common people to secure test subjects and attacked innocent people to obtain the medicinal ingredients needed for experiments.
Under the delusion of achieving great research, they had crossed the line.
Eventually, many problems arose in that process, and while dealing with them, martial artists prepared countermeasures against the Lost Soul People.
One of them was using the five elements that the Lost Soul People instinctively responded to.
Fire (火).
Scholars thought the Lost Soul People hated fire.
Perhaps because they believed it couldn’t thaw and save their frozen souls?
When there were no commands, Lost Soul People were drawn to flames like moths when they saw fire, as if it were their mortal enemy.
I drew out the Lost Soul People rushing at me madly while trying to buy as much time as possible.
While doing so, I briefly checked on Chaejin.
Every time the silver moonlight-like sword energy flashed, Yang-myeong cursed and stepped back.
As expected, Yang-myeong couldn’t win against Chaejin, and couldn’t even find the leisure to give orders to the Lost Soul People.
Because if she tried to concentrate just to give one order, her head would fall right off.
Then there was only one thing to do.
“Kyaaak!!”
A haggard-looking woman let out a terrible scream and rushed to catch up with me.
She attacked me with only instinctive movements to extinguish the fire energy I had created, but I couldn’t fall to something like that.
If I fell to that, Chaejin would probably double my training time.
The outstretched fist contained no mysterious martial arts principles, no swordsmanship.
Not even emotions were contained.
It was just an attack with only bestial instinct – strengthened in the process of having their soul frozen.
After avoiding such simple attacks several times, I stretched out my hand.
There was no need to block.
All I had to draw was just the taichi.
It was just a moment when the strike that didn’t care for self-preservation spun around in my left palm.
The fist thrust to crush my head lost direction and just struck the air.
The middle-aged woman who lost balance and staggered tried to fall toward me.
Still, I didn’t stop.
While accepting the momentum from delivering the strike, I turned my body with my right foot as the axis.
The moment when the woman’s back, which had been facing me head-on until just now, collided with my back. I lightly applied force to my back.
Metal (金).
Scholars thought the Lost Soul People feared metal.
Perhaps because they worried it might hurt their souls?
The Chae-style Taichi based on Oh-geum-hui’s metal form was effective.
Just a light tap was enough to make the middle-aged woman roll on the ground.
“Kuaaah!!”
While blocking her attack, a girl with dark circles under her eyes jumped up.
It was an attack as if trying to crush me using her whole body, but there was no need to receive it head-on.
Just stepping back was enough.
Wood (木).
Scholars thought the Lost Soul People welcomed trees.
Perhaps because they believed the life force contained in trees would awaken their frozen souls?
Therefore, when they found trees, they tried to cling to them as if meeting family.
When I displayed Oh-geum-hui’s wood form, the falling girl tried to cling even faster.
Rather than feeling confused by the simultaneously displayed energies of fire and wood, she seemed to want to feel more joy from the wood energy.
I received her as she attacked like falling.
My foot that had stepped back became the axis, and using that elasticity, I lightly turned my body.
Spin.
No strength was needed.
What was needed was just flow.
When I pushed back the girl I had received, she took a few steps and lost balance, sitting down on the ground.
“Kueoeoong!”
“Kyaaah!!”
The middle-aged woman and the girl.
While dealing with the two, the rest of the Lost Soul People rushed in.
Watching them as if trying to overwhelm with numbers, I took a stance.
-Thud!!
Earth (土).
The Lost Soul People avoided earth.
It’s common for people to be buried in the ground when they die.
Then what about the Lost Soul People?
Wouldn’t those whose souls were frozen by medicine think they were already dead?
Perhaps because of this, Lost Soul People without orders reacted sensitively even to earthen walls that seemed like they would collapse if just touched, trying to find ways around them somehow.
The earth that rose from the stance I took following the earth form created an earthen wall. The rushing Lost Soul People stopped approaching and began to panic.
But.
Among the Lost Soul People created by Yang-myeong, there was one who had enough strength to jump over the earthen wall.
-Tak!!
A woman in training clothes jumped up using the heads of the Lost Soul People who didn’t know what to do in front of the earthen wall as stepping stones.
While doing so, she spun once in the air, and immediately stretched out a lightning-fast fist.
Had she been a martial artist? Maybe.
Yang-myeong didn’t discriminate when choosing test subjects.
There were martial artists among the Lost Soul People captured by Yang-myeong at Cheonsang Myeongwol.
There was even a connection event through this relationship.
Against an attack that was stronger and faster than other Lost Soul People’s attacks, I stretched out my hand.
What was extended was my left hand.
The left hand symbolizing yin just deflected the fist to change its direction and then settled on her face.
Water (水).
Lost Soul People didn’t accept water.
Scholars thought this was because water’s purifying power neutralized the drug properties controlling the Lost Soul People.
“Mmph!”
Through the water form, water energy from nature gathered in my left hand with my modest internal energy.
Though it was just a small amount, about enough to fill a small jar, this much should be enough.
As water energy settled into my left hand holding her face, she flailed her limbs as if resisting it.
But I wasn’t greatly damaged by those limbs.
They were just attacks swung instinctively, not even reflecting technique.
Of course, I took some hits, but I could smile through it since I avoided vital points.
…Actually, it hurt a bit, but.
Wouldn’t it be a bit inappropriate to show signs of pain here?
Eventually unable to endure the water energy, I put down the woman who had gone limp and briefly looked beyond the earthen wall.
-Slash!!
While I was buying time by luring and dealing with the Lost Soul People.
I could see Chaejin’s sword flying off Yang-myeong’s neck.
“It took fifty seconds.”
Spinning her sword that didn’t have even a drop of blood and putting it back in its sheath, she smiled at me with what seemed like a tired expression, and I smiled back at her.
“Well done.”
Chaejin, who had jumped over, rushed at the Lost Soul People.
Watching her fists strike them, I also went outside the earthen wall.
“Don’t kill them. The Lost Soul state can be treated.”
Giggling, letting out a laugh, she pointed her fist at the Lost Soul People trying to approach me.
“I understand, so stay back.”
Now that’s reliable.
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