Book 14 Chapter 7
The two most terrifying disasters in this world!
“Pant, pant, pant!”
“Huff, huff, huff!”
“Did you eat boiled grubs? Run!”
Yeomdo shouted at the top of his lungs, urging the people forward.
Thirteen rescue team members, who had rushed forward without regard for their own safety to rescue a beautiful woman.
They were now wrestling with two opponents: limited time and an inexhaustibly high mountain range.
Unfortunately, Nagansan Peak was the highest of the Five Peaks of Huashan. It wasn't for nothing that wild geese fell to their deaths from exhaustion while flying. They were already suffering from accumulated fatigue from the fierce battle of the previous night.
But there was no time to rest. The act of stretching their legs and collapsing felt like an immense luxury.
Now, time was truly running out.
“Run!”
At Biryu Yeon’s shout, they rekindled their inner strength and began to ascend Nagansan Peak using their qinggong.
They ran without rest until the cold air of early evening enveloped them. Their breath was caught in their throats, their lungs felt like they would burst, but there was no time to rest. The land grew increasingly barren and desolate. The breath of life seemed to be fading further away, like patients in the throes of death.
Upon hearing Hanno’s words, as they rushed to rescue Eun Seolran, dawn was already breaking.
Soon it would be the end of the Mao hour. The time for morning assembly and roll call after waking up.
“Pant, pant, pant!”
By the time they reached their destination, they were all completely exhausted. It was understandable, as they had covered a mountain so high that an ordinary person would take all day to reach its summit, in just one hour at full speed. Even with solid internal and external cultivation, how could they not be tired?
Their legs trembled uncontrollably, and sweat poured down like rain. Some with weaker internal energy felt dizzy, their vision swimming.
“Hurry up!”
The roll call would begin soon. They would have to appear in the training yard, pretending to be fine. It was at that moment.
“Wait a moment!”
Startled!
The heads of the group all snapped to one side.
‘Oh no!’
The faces of several people turned visibly pale. Especially Yoon Junho, known for his timidity, looked almost deathly pale.
A striking, half-black, half-white robe!
The person standing there was none other than one of the three Edict Enforcers.
And another…
Biryu Yeon’s gaze stopped at the unfamiliar figure. The smug smile on his face made Biryu Yeon’s mood unpleasant.
‘Wiji Cheon…’
Why was that 'smooth operator' here?
‘Could it be that rat from last night?’
Rustle!
Biryu Yeon’s ears perked up instantly.
“What’s going on?”
Hanno asked, his body covered in blood. They had been in the middle of discussing how to rescue Eun Seolran. This old man, covered in blood, was urging them to go rescue her as soon as possible.
“It’s nothing. It seems to be a rat.”
And then he dismissed the matter.
‘I made a mistake, unlike myself…’
He resolved to be more thorough with pest control measures in the future.
The situation was clear. That snake-like smooth operator, Wiji Cheon, had reported their activities. Even though they were fellow disciples of the Cheonmu Academy. And to show his face like this! Biryu Yeon had a premonition that if he didn’t teach him the price of such audacity, he wouldn’t sleep soundly later.
A tense silence, like a drawn bowstring, filled the hall.
And then, a slightly awkward silence settled upon it. No one could easily speak in this situation.
“Who is that woman?”
The white-haired Edict Enforcer at the forefront asked as if interrogating them. Judging by his white hair, his age was considerable, yet his back was as straight as bamboo, and his eyes were filled with a sharp light.
Five Black Lines (墨線五本)!
Judging by the five black stripes on his right sleeve, he seemed to be the highest-ranking among the three. The man standing behind him, as if attending him, had three black lines on each sleeve.
“……”
Everyone was at a loss for an answer. What should they say?
The longer the silence stretched, the more their hearts pounded, and their chests felt constricted as if they were suffocating.
“……”
What should they say? Should they confess everything as it was? Unless they had kidnapped the woman, they had only broken the rule by leaving Hongmaegok, and had done nothing wrong.
Should they, or shouldn't they… As they were writhing mentally from serious conflict and torment, it was at that very moment.
“She’s a castaway!”
A leisurely and confident voice emerged from somewhere. The speaker was Biryu Yeon himself.
‘Such an absurd claim…!’
Everyone thought, ‘Who would believe that?’ But it was at that moment.
Suddenly, Moyong Hwi stepped forward and stood beside Biryu Yeon, shoulder to shoulder. He was a young man known for his upright character and his aversion to lies, to the point of being called obsessive. His reputation was so great that he was called 'The Upright Youth'. His lips carefully parted.
“She’s a castaway.”
Unlike when Biryu Yeon spoke, his words suddenly carried conviction. The beautiful woman, who had collapsed unconscious before their eyes, now appeared in people's eyes as a pitiful woman who had been stranded in the mountains.
“Tch, are they playing favorites!”
Biryu Yeon, who had been watching the sudden reversal of atmosphere, grumbled quietly.
Moyong Hwi’s reputation, despite his young age, was well-known throughout the martial arts world. His rock-solid upright character, forged through a thousand years of trials, was as famous as his fastidiousness.
Then, another person stood to Biryu Yeon’s right. Surprisingly, it was Na Yerim.
She moved without making a sound. Her every movement overflowed with grace and mystique, like a celestial being walking on purple clouds. As Na Yerim moved, everyone’s attention was drawn to her. It was an irresistible charm. Wiji Cheon’s eyes flashed with jealousy, envy, and desire.
Her mysterious eyes, resembling the night sky that seemed to extend into infinite space, pierced the souls of the onlookers.
Thump!
Regardless of age or gender, the hearts of everyone present skipped a beat.
The gently rising morning sun settled on her raven hair, crowning her with a golden halo. A profound silence descended.
Her lips opened quietly.
“She’s a castaway.”
Her voice, neither high nor low, possessed an immeasurable depth that instantly captivated the human soul. Her voice, like clear music, felt fresh and refreshing, like a stream of cool rain. The words that flowed from her ruby-red lips seemed to be imbued with a divine power, like a spoken spirit (言靈).
It felt as if one could believe her if she said the moon was square, a swan was black, or a crow was white. It was an astonishing power that captivated dozens of people in an instant.
Then, everyone began to think in unison.
‘Yes, this woman is a pitiful castaway! Therefore, as a matter of human duty, we must help her. How pitiful it is for such a beautiful lady to suffer such a misfortune in these remote mountains! We must help her!’
The Edict Enforcer with Five Black Lines, ‘Wigang’, also came to believe this.
Namgung Sang, Jin Ling, and Yeomdo also joined in, speaking as if they had made a pact.
“That’s right. She’s a castaway. Surely you won’t just leave such a pitiful castaway like this, will you?”
With such a unified, overwhelming public opinion formed, it was difficult to argue against it.
Now, the three Edict Enforcers seemed to be in a dilemma, putting their heads together to discuss something.
‘What are they thinking?’
Biryu Yeon’s group couldn’t take their eyes off them. The discussion soon ended.
“Excuse me, young lady! Are you not, by any chance, Miss Seok Ryuhwa, also known as the Crimson Sword Maiden, one of the participants in this Sky-Reaching Pavilion competition?”
Wigang asked in a very polite tone.
“Yes, that’s right!”
Seok Ryuhwa responded with a polite fist-and-palm salute.
Wigang had been targeting Seok Ryuhwa, the Crimson Sword Maiden from the Sky-Reaching Pavilion, from the beginning. She, and indeed everyone else watching, couldn’t help but be surprised. The Edict Enforcers acted as if it were natural for them to know her identity, even though they had only been here for less than a week.
“Miss Seok, I have one question. Since this person is the only one with a different affiliation among them, if Miss Seok agrees, then their words would also be true, wouldn’t they? Is this fallen woman truly a castaway?”
Biryu Yeon’s group tensed at Wigang’s question.
They had momentarily forgotten, but she was a woman from the Sky-Reaching Pavilion, their rival and enemy. Furthermore, she had been forced to join this journey. She could be considered a victim. If she revealed everything here, all their accumulated merits could become meaningless.
Tense anticipation hung in the air as everyone watched her tightly closed lips. Judging by her subtly changing and unpredictable gaze, she was clearly in deep thought.
Her restless, trembling red lips finally opened.
“…Yes! She’s a castaway. I saw it with my own eyes, so it is undoubtedly true!”
As she nodded slightly and spoke, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, they had not yet completely overcome the crisis. The three Edict Enforcers were more persistent than expected.
“But I have another question?”
“What is it?”
Ah, how flimsy the trust between people is! Biryu Yeon lamented to the sky.
“It’s nothing much. What kind of ordeal did this young lady suffer? How could she have been stranded on the peak of this high Cheonmu Peak? I simply cannot understand that part yet.”
If they couldn’t explain this part properly, they wouldn’t be convinced. It was a question of where they found this castaway. And yet, he said it was nothing much…
‘This! I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet…’
Yeomdo felt a sense of despair.
At that moment, Biryu Yeon unhesitatingly answered loudly.
“She suffered a great disaster!”
“A disaster?”
Wigang tilted his head, still looking unconvinced. Biryu Yeon nodded.
“That’s right. She is a pitiful victim of one of the two most terrifying disasters in this world.”
His voice was solemn.
“On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much damage?”
“Everything has an inside and an outside. Can you judge solely by the surface?”
“That’s also true. Hasty conclusions are indeed to be avoided.”
This time, Wigang seemed to be convinced.
“Then, what disaster befell this woman?”
Biryu Yeon answered without hesitation.
“A tiger’s affliction (호환)!”
“Ho-hwan?”
The expressions of the onlookers immediately soured, but Biryu Yeon nodded unhesitatingly.
“So, are you referring to the tiger affliction among the tiger affliction and smallpox?”
Biryu Yeon nodded again.
The eyes of the onlookers widened like saucers.
‘Such an unbelievable reason…’
Anyone with a brain would know that such a grand, unconvincing, and unrealistic story wouldn’t be believed. Not without evidence, at least.
The Edict Enforcers clearly thought so too.
“Ahem, a tiger’s affliction… That’s a reason that’s hard to accept. I’ve lived here for over fifty years, and this is the first time I’ve heard such a story.”
Their sharp questions were shrouded in suspicion. Everyone thought it was a natural reaction.
Even if you were to sprinkle ashes on a finished meal, it would still be a mess! The gazes of the people looking at Biryu Yeon were not kind.
“Can you perhaps provide proof?”
Finally, the words that should not have been spoken came out of Wigang’s mouth.
‘Now it’s all over! Ruin! The end!’
Everyone in the audience, without exception, screamed silently in their hearts.
‘You crazy fool! You’re finished now!’
Wiji Cheon, who watched Biryu Yeon dig his own grave, smiled inwardly with satisfaction. However, Biryu Yeon’s answer surpassed everyone’s expectations.
“Of course!”
The audience’s eyes widened like saucers at Biryu Yeon’s crisp and decisive answer. Their eyes were all shouting this:
‘How!’
“Master!”
Biryu Yeon quietly called out to someone without looking back. Who was he calling?
“I’m here!”
A person who suddenly emerged from the bushes, it was Binggeom. The mouths of the onlookers dropped open. They worried their jaws might dislocate. Their eyes were already wide enough to fit in the full moon.
“Icebreaker, you…”
Yeomdo’s unspoken question, ‘How are you here?’ could not continue due to Biryu Yeon’s swift elbow nudge.
The astonishment of the onlookers was not solely due to Binggeom. It was because of ‘something’ that Binggeom was carrying on his shoulder. It was so large that it was dragging on the ground. Yet, he didn’t seem to be struggling much, which gave an indication of how deep Binggeom’s internal energy cultivation was.
What sent the onlookers into a state of shock from Binggeom’s shoulder was a giant ‘tiger’. It was a ‘great tiger’ whose massive front paw was large enough to fell even a bear with a single blow.
“Good work.”
Biryu Yeon said with a smile, commending him.
“It’s nothing!”
Though his answer was dismissive, if someone were to stand before him and say, ‘It’s really nothing!’ they would likely be turned into dust and soul. It was no small feat to catch such a ‘great tiger’ by roaming the mountains all night. Binggeom’s entire body was tattered from his nocturnal journey, a stark contrast to his usual impeccably neat appearance.
“I-is this possible…”
The Edict Enforcers and the 11 rescue team members (12 if Seok Ryuhwa was included) – everyone except Biryu Yeon – were equally bewildered and shocked. By what means, and by what magic, was this possible?
As far as Yeomdo remembered, there was only one instance where such a bizarre and contradictory situation could occur.
As if agreeing with his thoughts, several people shifted their gaze and glared at Biryu Yeon.
‘How?’
Thump!
Binggeom threw the great tiger in front of the three Edict Enforcers as if to show off and recalled what had happened the previous night.
“There’s one thing you need to do while we’re gone.”
“A request?”
“Something that might be needed!”
“What?”
He uttered it nonchalantly, as if he had no regard for the process or effort involved in obtaining it.
“A tiger!”
Two days later.
A large fire, suspected to be arson, broke out at a mansion in Huayum Prefecture, completely destroying the entire house. Fortunately, the wind was calm, so the fire did not spread to adjacent buildings, but there were many casualties. Hundreds of laborers were mobilized, and it took them twelve hours to fight the fire before it was finally extinguished at dawn the next day.