It was a desolate field.
Only a dry wind swept across the bare hillside where not a single blade of grass remained. The place where the Red-Red Alliance had once set up camp. Now only the remnants of collapsed wooden fences and tent stakes turned to charcoal were scattered here and there.
'This is it. Where Mu-toe was."
Eom Bi-ryeong stopped her horse and narrowed her eyes.
No killing intent, no sign of human presence-nothing was carried on the wind.
But the ground was different.
There were things visible only to a Formation Taoist's eyes.
Eom Bi-ryeong knelt on one knee and pressed her palm to the earth. The residual Formation Energy responded faintly. The energy had already dispersed considerably, but it had originally been so vast in scale that a slight trace still remained.
The vestiges of spatial distortion woven in overlapping layers across eight directions.
'This...'
Her brow grew progressively narrower.
'This looks like the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell."
"Are you certain?"
Myo Jin-heo folded his fan and approached.
'Yes, it does appear so. Looking at this residual structure, all Eight Trigrams are cross-layered and overlapping. And there is only one person who could realize such a deranged design over terrain this complex."
"Ha."
'Goodness, this lunatic. He actually deployed something like this? If the Grand Zenith Position finds out, it's an immediate research funding freeze for several years, at this level."
Myo Jin-heo also bent at the waist to trace the grain of the residual energy. The same conclusion.
However, there was one strange point.
'Trigram Leader Eom. Do you see this? Is it not remarkable?"
'What? Is there something more remarkable here?"
'There is. Did you not see it back then?"
"See what?"
'The Preliminary Discourse on Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell, in Trigram Leader Dong's room."
"Yes. I saw it. So?"
'That was a formation technique that, once deployed, no one could dismantle-not even Trigram Leader Dong, the very one who had opened it."
Only then did Eom Bi-ryeong notice the bizarre thing about this very site.
"Ah!"
'Look. The central axes of the eight directions are caved in. From the inside outward."
Myo Jin-heo's fingertips came to a stop.
From the inside outward.
"Ah!"
'Look. The central axes of the eight directions are caved in. From the inside outward."
Myo Jin-heo's fingertips came to a stop.
From the inside outward.
That meant the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell had been 'broken through."
"...Come on, surely not? That can't be."
Fearsome Formation Energy poured from her body without her realizing it.
Myo Jin-heo reflexively stepped back half a pace.
"Calm yourself."
Eom Bi-ryeong looked around the entire vicinity one more time and then let out a short, hollow laugh -'ha'-from the helplessness of it.
"Calm down? Who broke this from the inside?!"
Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell.
Dong Mu-toe himself had evaluated it as impossible to break, and Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo, having read the Preliminary Discourse, had also concluded it was impossible to dismantle.
In theory, escape was impossible. It had to be. The formations from all eight directions close in simultaneously, completely blocking the senses and spatial perception of whoever is trapped inside.
That 'force of nature level formation technique had been shattered...
And from the inside at that?
If it had been a trace of Dong Mu-toe dismantling it from the outside, she wouldn't have been this shocked. He was Dong Mu-toe, after all.
But this was proof that someone had been caught in this formation and still punched their way out.
'That's impossible.'
Eom Bi-ryeong, without lifting her palm from the ground, read deeper into the grain of the residual energy. A Trigram Leader's fingertips could reach layers that an ordinary Formation Taoist could not read.
It was readable.
Centered on the point where the central axes had collapsed-the trace of Dong Mu-toe's Formation Energy scattered abruptly. The residual marks strewn about in all directions were not those of an orderly dismantling.
"Ha... this reckless bastard."
They were those of someone who had been overpowered.
"Trigram Leader Eom."
Myo Jin-heo's fan had come to a standstill. His eyes had lost their usual composure.
Eom Bi-ryeong lifted her hand from the ground and rose to her feet. Flames were blazing fiercely in her eyes.
"I know. I do too."
'Trigram Leader Dong's Formation Energy is being dragged in one direction. He did not go on his own feet."
'I said I know. So stop talking."
She had even forgotten to brush the dirt from her palm as she turned her head in one direction.
Formation Energy traces do not lie. Dong Mu-toe had deployed the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell, someone had broken it from inside, and before long Dong Mu-toe had been overpowered and dragged somewhere. In that very direction.
'This madness..."
The curses surged up to her throat but she didn't bother to spit them out.
'There is someone who defeated Dong Mu-toe.'
Someone who broke through the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell from inside, overpowered a Trigram Leader-and Dong Mu-toe of all people-and dragged him away.
"What is in that direction?"
Myo Jin-heo drew a line with the tip of his fan along the residual traces on the ground. That direction was, naturally, the same as Eom Bi-ryeong's.
True southeast.
There was only one place the tail of the energy pointed.
"Gangdo."
"Gangdo."
Eom Bi-ryeong's lips pressed together thinly.
She had heard that name once before.
'That's the place that was making all the noise in the recent activity report, right?"
'That is correct."
'I didn't think much of it at the time-"
Eom Bi-ryeong finally brushed the dirt from her hand and began walking in that direction.
"Looks like it's about to get truly noisy now."
No more words were needed.
Myo Jin-heo also snapped his fan shut and followed, setting off his own steps.
The two Trigram Leaders' footsteps turned to the southeast.
Treading along the trail of scattered Formation Energy.
***
Perhaps half a day of walking.
Dong Mu-toe's residual energy was growing thinner, but the direction remained unchanged. True southeast. Straight toward Gangdo.
But then.
Eom Bi-ryeong's steps stopped again.
"... Trigram Leader Myo."
"Why have you stopped?"
"Evil Energy."
Myo Jin-heo's fan, in the middle of opening, stopped.
"Evil Energy?"
'Yes, a stench worse than your bad breath is wafting through here, across this entire area."
"...What kind of rude thing is that to say? I clean my teeth regularly, I'll have you know."
'Then just talk less."
"..."
Eom Bi-ryeong simply silenced Myo Jin-heo and bent one knee to press her palm against the ground.
"It's faint, but it's spread widely across this area. It's a completely different grain from Dong Mu-toe's residual energy. It's also covering up his traces."
She had been following Dong Mu-toe's trail, only to catch something entirely unexpected.
Eom Bi-ryeong raised her knee and this time held her palm upright in the air to feel the flow of energy.
The lingering traces of Evil Energy.
The concentration itself was thin, but it was clear that a fairly dense Evil Energy had swept through this area at one point. This was not the Red-Red Alliance site-this was the plain outside Gangdo. A scene completely unrelated to Dong Mu-toe.
'And on top of that..."
"What else is there?"
Myo Jin-heo said this while spreading his fan to cover his mouth.
'There's something mixed into the Evil Energy."
Eom Bi-ryeong's brow narrowed.
"It's energy of extremely high purity. It's the trace of something that clashed head-on with the Evil Energy... but it doesn't match any system I know. It doesn't seem to be martial arts, and it doesn't seem to be Formation Path either."
Myo Jin-heo extended his own hand to trace the residual energy. The alien energy buried within the murky grain of Evil Energy. The sensation reaching a Formation Taoist's fingertips made classification itself impossible.
"...Ha."
Myo Jin-heo's fan came down.
'This is certainly strange. At this level of purity, it means something suppressed quite a significant level of Evil Energy in a direct confrontation."
'That's right, isn't it?"
Eom Bi-ryeong turned her gaze toward Gangdo.
The one who had overpowered Dong Mu-toe. An energy of unknown origin. A clash with Evil Energy. And the direction everything pointed.
'It has to be them, right?"
"Would it not have to be?"
The two nodded simultaneously.
It was too coincidental to be a coincidence.
Likely, the person who had overpowered Dong Mu-toe and the one who had crushed this Evil Energy were one and the same.
The answer was in there.
The two Trigram Leaders' strides quickened.
***
Treading the trail again and again, it was near dawn when the walls of Gangdo came into view.
Gangdo Castle in the predawn hour was quiet. The gates were open, but those coming and going were few.
Myo Jin-heo, still covering his mouth with his fan, looked around and opened his mouth.
"By the way."
'Stop sulking. For a Trigram Leader, no less."
"What sulking?"
'You're still showing you're upset because I said bad breath earlier, aren't you?"
*... Haha. Is that how it comes across?"
"Yes."
"... "
'Anyway. By the way-what's next?"
Only then did Myo Jin-heo clear his throat a couple of times and carefully folded the fan, revealing his mouth.
"Now that we've entered the city, all sorts of mixed energies make tracking impossible, do they not? What is your plan for finding Trigram Leader Dong?"
"Every city has a branch of the Great Beggar Sect."
Eom Bi-ryeong gave a bright smile that showed her teeth.
"Wouldn't you say so? Trigram Leader Myo?"
'Ah, yes. Quite right. An excellent idea."
Eom Bi-ryeong brought her modest eyes up to Myo Jin-heo's lower jaw.
"What is?"
"Wh-what?"
"What's excellent?"
'Trigram Leader Eom's...idea, of course."
'Yes, of course. No matter where you go in this world, local matters are best known by locals. If that local happens to be a beggar, what more is there to say."
Eom Bi-ryeong's index finger pointed down one of the alleyways. The traces of a Great Beggar Sect branch were easy to recognize. Where beggars gather, there are distinctive markers.
Even so, the two had to rummage through Gangdo's spider web-like back alleys for quite some time before they could pinpoint one location.
Ten Thousand Things Known.
An old teahouse with a modest wooden plaque that was barely adequate to be called a sign.
No doubt about it.
That place would be Gangdo's Great Beggar Sect branch.
In front of it was a man bustling about even at this early hour.
A grimy middle-aged man with an unkempt beard.
"Guests?"
Bae Dal-pae squinted at the two of them.
"We have come from the Alliance Under Heaven Formation."
Myo Jin-heo said this directly, without preamble.
Bae Dal-pae's eyes changed subtly.
'Come inside. Let's talk over a cup of tea."
The moment they followed him inside, Eom Bi-ryeong's gaze stopped at one side of the room.
A corner table.
Three women were sitting there.
Holding warm cups of tea in both hands, not one of them was speaking. One was staring only at her teacup, one had her arms wrapped around her own shoulders, and the last had her eyes unfocused.
Thick robes hastily thrown on rested on their shoulders, but what showed beneath the robes was speaking for itself. Of what had happened to these people.
Eom Bi-ryeong withdrew her gaze.
There was no need to look further. This Martial World overflows with misfortune. There are not many people with enough spare capacity to step into misfortune that isn't their own and lend a hand, and she was not that kind of person.
Bae Dal-pae brought tea and naturally guided them to the opposite table.
"You've come from Formation Tower, so I won't beat around the bush. What kind of tea?"
Eom Bi-ryeong answered immediately.
"Human Tea."
"Here to drink it, or buy it?"
"Buy."
"Which kind?"
"Special Type."
"Special Type."
Bae Dal-pae let the corner of his mouth curve up slightly.
"The Guild Master did say someone from Formation Tower would come... didn't expect it this quickly though."
"...?"
'By any chance, is the person you're looking for named Dong Mu-toe?"
Eom Bi-ryeong leaned forward.
"You know him?"
"Of course."
"Where is he?"
***
Hero Gate.
The two Trigram Leaders stood before the main gate of the sect built over the site of the former Iron God Society.
Children were doing their morning training in the wide Training Grounds. A neat voice was calling out commands on one side. A young woman.
A peaceful morning.
And then.
Below the eaves of the Main Hall.
A man sitting in a chair, drinking tea.
Black hair, upright posture.
The man turned his head toward the main gate.
Eyes carrying no emotion at all reflected the appearance of the two Trigram Leaders, and then a gentle smile was layered over them.
"Welcome."
The movement of setting down the teacup and rising was unhurried.
'From Formation Tower, I hear?"
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
At that, the man smiled with deliberate softness.
"If you're looking for Dong Mu-toe, you've come to the right place."
'Meaning he's here?"
"Don't worry. He's alive.'
It was a reassuring thing to say.
Even so, Eom Bi-ryeong's spine only grew colder.
Alive.
That phrase, flipped over, was simple. It meant he was in this man's hands.
She secretly opened her Upper Dantian and connected her Formation Energy to her entire body and the earth's energy channels simultaneously.
'... Where is he?"
"He's not here right now. He went out on some business."
Out on business? He had business?
A tone that made it sound as though permission had been obtained.
A Trigram Leader-one of the Eight Trigram Leaders-had left after receiving this man's permission?
Eom Bi-ryeong mobilized every last Formation Taoist sense to try to read the man before her.
She couldn't read him.
Nothing at all.
If this man were the owner of the energy that had crushed and flattened the Evil Energy out on that field, the one who broke the Eight Direction Uninterrupted Hell from inside-he couldn't possibly be this still?
He was still. Still to the point of being uncanny.
'Let's talk inside."
The man turned and walked into the Main Hall.
The act of showing his back carried not the faintest trace of wariness.
Even so, she could not strike the man.
Myo Jin-heo's gaze came from beside her. Looking at him, the hand gripping his fan had tension in it. He too had felt it. Whatever this man was, he was not someone to be trifled with-that much was certain.
Eom Bi-ryeong stepped forward first.
Dong Mu-toe. She didn't know what state that reckless bastard would be in, but she had to verify it.
-x-X-x-
As Dong Bong-soo walked toward the newly built Main Hall, his mind was accelerating.
After disposing of the entire Sang Gwan-hwi gang last night, he had brought the village women to Gangdo. No particularly special additional quest had arisen, but in one way or another this sort of "surface-level reputation" mattered. For the time being, there was a need to always look good in Lumina's eyes. In that sense, it was a calculated move-if Bae Dal-pae were to take in the women and see to their salvation, various implicit effects could be gained.
Of course, he had made sure to keep them tight-lipped. There was no need for sensitive information-about Sang Gwan-hwi's gang's misdeeds, or about wielding powerful hidden power-to leak carelessly. He hadn't explained all the details to Bae Dal-pae, but the man would surely have surmised the general flow of events.
That part didn't concern him much either. Because of the "Second Belief," after all. That alone was enough to ensure the man would say or do nothing to the detriment of Hero Gate.
'The problem is...'
Those two. The pair who had followed him out from Formation Tower.
[The activation conditions for Spirit Eyes have been met, and Spirit Eyes will automatically activate.]
Their distance was fluctuating between three and four meters.
Whether it was both of them or just one, they were formidable opponents.
By now [Spirit Eyes] alone couldn't fully assess an opponent's full extent of ability... but at the very least, they had to be considered a person-or persons-whose inner power overwhelmingly surpassed his own by an immeasurable margin.
-Who are those people?
At some point Jeon Ra-hwa had sidled up next to him and asked via Sound Transmission.
[Guests.]
-They're not just ordinary guests, are they? They look incredibly strong.
[Yeah. Not "look strong-they are strong.]
-They didn't come here to fight, did they?
[They came looking for someone.]
-Who? That painter?
[Yeah.]
-I don't see that person anywhere.
[Sent them somewhere for a bit.]
-x-X-x-
Jeon Ra-hwa, who had pushed open the Main Hall door-its pungent fresh-wood scent still strong from having been opened only a few times-placed both hands on her hips and shook her head at Dong Bong-soo.
'No. You know the rules, right? This thing was only finished a few days ago."
'What's not allowed?"
"Don't play dumb."
"Alright, alright. I'll try to keep it together."
"You haven't forgotten there's the Founding Ceremony tomorrow, have you?"
"Aah. Right, there was that."
'Isn't this a bit too much, Guild Master Kim? You're the Guild Master here, you know?"
"I'll just be a figurehead Guild Master. That's fine."
"Ha.... I can't live like this. Anyway-."
Jeon Ra-hwa glanced once at the two people behind them and wrapped up her words.
'Don't cause any trouble. We suffered something awful building this place."
"I know, I know."
Dong Bong-soo roughly ruffled Jeon Ra-hwa's hair as a way of closing the matter, then looked at the two figures from Formation Tower and said:
'Please, come in."
Jeon Ra-hwa's grumbling could be heard from behind, but Dong Bong-soo dismissed it with a light smile and stepped inside the Main Hall first.
The interior was clean. One might say it was a space that reflected Jeon Ra-hwa's character directly.
The walls still had the living grain of fresh timber, and the shelves were arranged without a single excess item. Nothing expensive, but nothing out of place either. Morning sunlight slanted in through a window at waist height, casting long wood-grain shadows across the round table placed at the center of the Main Hall.
On one wall hung a wooden plaque inscribed with "Hero Gate"-the letters quite crooked, which made it obvious Ho-ae had written it.
Various props for tomorrow's Founding Ceremony were also neatly stacked in one corner.
Squeak.
Dong Bong-soo pulled a stool to one side of the round table and sat. Even as he did so, the circuits of his thoughts continued to accelerate. All manner of scenarios were flowing through his mind, but no direction had been set. All of that would be decided during this conversation.
"Kim Rae-won."
Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo sat down side by side, precisely across from him, and spoke.
"I'm Eom Bi-ryeong."
"I am Myo Ga Jin-heo, Trigram Leader of the Thunder Formation Division of the Alliance Under Heaven Formation."
The brief exchange of names finished, and Eom Bi-ryeong immediately asked:
"Mu-toe. No-where has Trigram Leader Dong gone?"
'Formation Tower."
Dong Bong-soo resolved her question simply with those two syllables.
"He has departed for the Alliance Under Heaven Formation."
At those words, Eom Bi-ryeong let out a breath of relief-but simultaneously lit fire in her eyes and swung her words like a sharpened blade.
"You keep saying 'departed, departed'-Trigram Leader Dong is plainly a member of Formation Tower."
Dong Bong-soo quietly looked into Eom Bi-ryeong's eyes.
A hasty temperament, yet the type to share deep affection. A type that revealed herself without concealment, to an almost bewildering degree.
He immediately shifted his gaze to Myo Jin-heo seated beside her.
A gentle disposition with deep thought, eyes that harbored many doubts yet almost never let them show.
This one is the complete opposite type from Eom Bi-ryeong.'
Not only that, but he was also a person Dong Bong-soo could not read completely. He could grasp the general scent that emanated from him as a human being, but beyond that, this was a person who was fundamentally "blocked" from being read.
'So that's also possible. To deploy a Formation technique within one's pupils.'
Myo Jin-heo seemed to do it deliberately, opening his fan to cover half his face, then took up Eom Bi-ryeong's words.
"Quite right. Trigram Leader Dong is most unambiguously the Alliance Under Heaven Formation's highest-ranked Formation Taoist. In that regard, Guild Master Kim's word choice of 'departed' does seem rather overbearing. However, more than that, this Trigram Leader has something he is more curious about... might I ask?"
'Of course. Please ask away."
The moment permission was granted, the conjunctival blood vessels tangled around Myo Jin-heo's pupils rotated almost imperceptibly. A tiny movement so small that no one but Dong Bong-soo would have noticed.
'Did you not say that Guild Master Kim's given name was Rae-won?"
[An unidentified domain has been deployed around you.]
"That is so."
'Is it your real name?"
[Conditions have been met, and 'Shield of Faith Lv.2' automatically activates.]
An extremely thin membrane of light was layered over Dong Bong-soo's pupils. So minuscule that ordinary powers of observation could not even detect it.
Interesting. I thought it was only an Active Skill, but it seems reaching Level 2 also added this kind of effect.
Of course, even without Shield of Faith activating, defending against that Formation technique wouldn't have posed much difficulty. After all, the absolute natural defense of his Super True Energy Field was always present.
"Of course. Is there some problem?"
*...No. This Trigram Leader has heard of someone by the same name as Guild Master Kim and asked out of curiosity."
'Aah. I've also heard that name. People sometimes mistake me for that person, but honestly, I don't know either. Whether I am that person-"
Dong Bong-soo stared at Myo Jin-heo piercingly, then gave a faint smile.
'-or whether that person is me."
Myo Jin-heo, not to be outdone, stared straight back as if to discern the truth of Dong Bong-soo's words.
But.
"...Ugh."
The blood vessels over Myo Jin-heo's whites twisted this way and that, and at last a faint trace of blood seeped down the corner of his eye. Whatever had been done, the Formation technique layered over his pupils had been destroyed.
Watching Myo Jin-heo bow his head hurriedly, Eom Bi-ryeong apparently sensed something had gone wrong, and she sprang to her feet with the corners of her eyes arched sharply upward.
"What are you doing?!"
"Ha. Ha. I have done nothing. If anything, it was that one there who deployed a hidden technique with ill intent, was it not?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ha ha ha. Should you not direct that question to your own companion, in the proper order?"
Eom Bi-ryeong's gaze fixed on Myo Jin-heo.
Myo Jin-heo wiped the blood from the corner of his eye with his sleeve and smiled bitterly.
*...Correct. This was this Trigram Leader's mistake, Trigram Leader Eom."
"A mistake?"
"Guild Master Kim is right. It was our side that moved first."
'Don't tell me... you used Soul-Reading Eyes?"
'My apologies, Trigram Leader Eom."
"Ha-."
Eom Bi-ryeong's expression twisted in complicated ways.
A face that had lost its sense of direction for its anger. Getting angry at Myo Jin-heo was warranted by the facts; getting angry at Kim Rae-won had no grounds.
She ended up sitting back down. But her back did not touch the back of the chair. It was a posture with tension still remaining throughout her entire body.
Dong Bong-soo quietly observed all of it.
Myo Jin-heo had moved first, and Dong Bong-soo had done nothing. With this single fact, the moral high ground had already been seized by his side.
'Care for a cup of tea?"
Dong Bong-soo spun the teacup on the round table as if nothing had happened. It was something Jeon Ra-hwa had prepared in advance.
Eom Bi-ryeong did not accept the tea. Myo Jin-heo, one beat late, quietly lifted his cup.
"...Let's get to the point."
Eom Bi-ryeong exhaled deeply and continued.
"Why was Trigram Leader Dong here?"
'Because he came to kill me."
Twitch.
The composure Eom Bi-ryeong had barely managed to gather crumpled in an instant.
"Ha-. Mu-toe tried to kill you?"
'That is so."
'Then how are you still alive?"
Clearly a simple and shallow type. He had given some thought to how he would convince them of the Dong Mu-toe matter, but it turned out there was no need for any thought at all.
Dong Bong-soo, arms crossed, met Eom Bi-ryeong's eyes squarely and answered, pressing weight into each and every word.
'Because I won."
"..."
The expression vanished from Eom Bi-ryeong's face.
Dong Bong-soo did not stop there.
'After winning, I forgave him, and upon being forgiven, he remained here."
'That... makes sense?"
'Why would it not? You tracked him here precisely by following the traces of my fight with Dong Mu-toe, did you not?"
Dong Bong-soo had already finished his calculations.
Both in terms of timing and from the very start, the fact that these two were searching for Dong Mu-toe here meant they had clearly followed his trail. Then someone had broken through the Formation technique Dong Mu-toe had deployed, and even a fool could infer that the party responsible was "Kim Rae-won."
And yet they were reacting like this.
'Your Trigram Leader Dong has already submitted to our Hero Gate. That's precisely why I used the word 'departed' earlier as well."
Then he simply had to play along accordingly.
*Submitted?"
Myo Jin-heo's fan snapped shut with a clack. This was the first time in this meeting he had closed the fan he had been leisurely keeping open. His eyes narrowed. The look was actually sharper than when the pupil Formation technique had been broken earlier.
'Guild Master Kim. Do you know the weight of those words?"
"Weight? What of it."
Dong Bong-soo gave a faint smile.
"I merely spoke the truth."
Myo Jin-heo's lips closed. The hand gripping the fan was taut with force.
Eom Bi-ryeong had already gone crimson. When that beautiful face twisted to look like a vengeful spirit, the anger within it appeared all the more vivid.
*...Are you insane?"
A low voice. Somehow more frightening than a shout.
"Why-! For what reason would Trigram Leader Dong join a pathetic fledgling sect like this where only children run around?! Huh?!"
Energy burst from her body.
Whether intentional or not, raw unbridled True Energy at the level of a Trigram Leader, carried on pure emotion and poured out unrestrained. The round table vibrated, the teacups clattered, and one tipped over, spreading its contents. The wooden plaque with Ho-ae's writing on the wall tilted crookedly.
Only around Dong Bong-soo was the air still. The Super True Energy Field was automatically nullifying the air pressure around his body. Not a single ripple disturbed his teacup.
"Calm yourself."
"Calm down?! A One of the Eight Trigram Leaders! To a fledgling sect of all things-!"
Eom Bi-ryeong placed her hands on the round table and rose from her seat. From the grain of the wood where her palms touched the table, threads of True Energy spread like spider silk. Whether conscious or unconscious, it was the habit of a Formation Taoist showing itself-attempting to read the opponent's energy channels through the table as a medium.
Nothing was read. Same as before. Nothing at all flowed from this man's body.
That, paradoxically, poured oil on the fire.
"Fine."
One of Eom Bi-ryeong's hands traced a pattern through the air. In that instant, a line of True Energy was drawn taut across the round table. An improvised Formation technique. Not a probe-a restraint. The Mountain Formation Division's distinctive suppression formation designed to pin down an opponent's upper body.
"It'll be faster to confirm this directly."
The Kim Rae-won mask really does come in handy at times like these.
A positioning like this-declaring 'in the name of justice, I will not forgive you.'
Wouldn't it be so enjoyable if only this could be completed perfectly?
'Trigram Leader Eom!"
Myo Jin-heo cried out, but it was already too late.
"What interesting people you are."
Smirk-
The corner of Dong Bong-soo's mouth rose in pleasant satisfaction.
It was a smile where outside and inside were in perfect alignment.
"If this is the meaning of Formation Tower's chivalry and righteousness-"
I'll play along with you.
Zap-!
Dong Bong-soo's figure shot toward the two of them like a bolt of lightning.
-x-X-x-
The moment Dong Bong-soo's figure kicked off the round table and came flying in, Eom Bi-ryeong reflexively deployed a suppression formation.
Nine Bindings.
The most basic formation of the Mountain Formation Division closed in around Dong Bong-soo's upper body in an instant.
At least, that was how it should have gone.
Sliiiide.
The nine strands of Formation Energy rope created by the formation, the moment they wrapped around Dong Bong-soo's body, slipped on something. Like thread placed on oil, the Formation Energy slid off without catching hold of its target.
Super True Energy Field.
The invisible domain of energy enveloping Dong Bong-soo's body pulsed and automatically repelled Eom Bi-ryeong's Formation Energy.
The Mountain Formation Division's method of deploying formations was to weave lines of Formation Energy to control space. Without the rope binding, there was no formation.
'Again!?'
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyes widened, but her response was swift.
She was a Formation Taoist, but she was also a martial artist.
Wham-!
She replaced the Formation Energy rope released from her left hand with her right fist. A direct punch aimed at Dong Bong-soo's face.
A single blow overlaying the Mountain attribute onto the Mountain Trigram's characteristic unyielding strength.
Dong Bong-soo's head tilted half an inch diagonally.
It grazed past him, but where the fist had passed, a whirlwind of air spun furiously.
Clang-!
Simultaneously, the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword summoned from Inventory came up diagonally from below, aiming for beneath Eom Bi-ryeong's jaw.
Formation Energy surged into one of Eom Bi-ryeong's hands and wove an impromptu defensive barrier.
One layer.
A single layer of Energy Membrane inserted itself between the blade and her jaw.
Clang-!
The clash of metal and Energy Membrane.
Eom Bi-ryeong's body was immediately pushed back about three meters as the floor was scraped away.
The floorboards of the Main Hall cracked sharply beneath her feet.
That impact transferred directly to the pillars.
Thud.
'Tch. Looks like I'll owe Ra-hwa an apology."
While Dong Bong-soo glanced up at the ceiling.
Whoom-
The quality of the air changed.
Not temperature. Not humidity. A change in the space itself.
4G
The air beneath their feet began to twist. An invisible force coiled the air currents around Dong Bong-soo, attempting to restrict his movement.
This time it was Myo Jin-heo.
With his fan half-open, he was drawing a small circle in the air with one hand. The Vortex Formation unique to the Thunder Formation Division. Whereas the Mountain Formation Division wove strands of Formation Energy to bind, the Thunder Formation Division's method was to alter the very properties of space itself. A strand is visible, but a field is not.
Dong Bong-soo did not react differently.
Because it didn't work.
The Super True Energy Field was directly nullifying the vortex field right beneath his feet. As if standing in the eye of a typhoon, only directly beneath Dong Bong-soo's feet was the air still.
One of Myo Jin-heo's eyes narrowed. That eye where the blood had not yet fully dried.
As if he had anticipated this, not a single tremor showed in his pupils. But the fact that things had gone as anticipated was an even worse sign. The opponent had dismantled his Soul-Reading Eyes without care, and this time too had blocked things from the very root using something that was neither Formation Energy nor Rigid Energy.
An opponent whose foundation was somehow different.
'I didn't want to make this bigger...'
Right then.
Crash!
A pillar collapsed.
At nearly the same instant, all three people burst through the wall and leaped outside.
The Founding Ceremony decorations that Jeon Ra-hwa had hung with such care scattered into pieces, crumbling down together with the wreckage.
***
Creak.
Jeon Ra-hwa's head turned.
She had been in the middle of drilling the children on fundamentals at one side of the Training Grounds.
Ho-ae had been standing before the younger ones, demonstrating a horse stance.
Creak... creak-snap!
The pillars of the Main Hall, whose scent of fresh wood had not yet even faded, toppled sideways.
It was not just one pillar. The beams shifted, the roof was pushed to one side, and the walls began to crack. Through those gaps, a bizarre vibration was wringing the entire building.
"Haa... again?"
Jeon Ra-hwa's expression went flat.
"I asked and asked you not to, you idiot."
Real suffering, absolutely real suffering. She had personally selected every single plank of wood, personally hammered every single nail... Rae-won, who had promised to help build it, had been out wandering every single day, and in the end Jeon Ra-hwa had recruited the workers, even the children, and completed it while struggling away.
Two days. It had been only two days.
Boom!
The Main Hall collapsed.
Dust rose, and tearing through that dust, three silhouettes crossed each other in midair.
"Eeeek!?"
Ho-ae screamed, but even that didn't reach Jeon Ra-hwa's ears.
Three people landing side by side atop the crumbled wreckage.
Dong Bong-soo on one side.
That woman and the fan-holding man on the opposite side.
The aura radiating from those two was so immense that the children's bodies shrank of their own accord.
Jeon Ra-hwa swiftly stepped in front of the children. Cold energy from the Snow Snow Yin Cold Art rose from her fingertips. While taking up a firm guard stance, her eyes were fixed on Dong Bong-soo.
-Ugh, seriously!
Jeon Ra-hwa's Sound Transmission carried her irritation mixed right in.
Dong Bong-soo glanced at Jeon Ra-hwa indifferently.
Their gazes crossed for just an instant.
At that, Jeon Ra-hwa let out one more sigh and bit her lip.
"Ugh, what's he got to be grinning about, all bright-eyed, while tearing down his own house."
She set aside her worry for now.
Although it was a fight, it was not an atmosphere overflowing with killing intent.
Shaking her head, she led the children back to a corner of the Training Grounds.
"Is the Guild Master fighting?"
"It's fine, it's fine."
'Shouldn't we help?"
"No."
Jeon Ra-hwa waved her hand dismissively, crossed her arms, and smiled brightly.
'If you helped, you'd actually get scolded."
She confirmed Rae-won's eyes once more.
Some would call it expressionless, a blank face-but Jeon Ra-hwa knew better now.
There are many kinds of expressionlessness.
That was the smile of someone delighted out of their mind.
Well, in a way, it was perfect timing.
She'd make the one who broke it rebuild it, and he'd have to help now.
Just then, that distinctive [Sound Transmission] of Dong Bong-soo's alone reached her mind.
[Don't worry.]
"Tch."
Who said anything about worrying.
'Auntie, why are you smiling?"
'Who said I was smiling! And I'm not an auntie!"
***
Training Grounds.
A wide open space with morning sunlight slanting across it.
Dong Bong-soo stood with the wreckage of the Main Hall at his back, and some ten steps ahead, Eom
Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo stood side by side.
In Eom Bi-ryeong's hand was, at some point, a single club. It was not an original weapon but a rafter splinter pulled from the Main Hall debris-yet once Trigram Leader-grade Formation Energy was loaded into it, it became no different from an iron sword.
A wood piece reinforced with Formation Energy.
It was an improvisation applying the Mountain Formation Division's martial arts method. The Formation Taoist's habit had seeped into combat itself-sublimating nearby objects into makeshift weapons on
the spot.
On the other hand.
Click-
Dong Bong-soo rested the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword on his shoulder.
'Let's see how far you'll go."
An obvious provocation.
"Shut up."
Eom Bi-ryeong was the type to react to provocations straightforwardly. A predictable emotional pattern.
Whoosh-!
Lightness Arts erupted. Eom Bi-ryeong's figure shot forward like an arrow.
Fast.
A speed that far surpassed an ordinary peak-level martial artist.
Even as a Formation Taoist, she appeared to be unusually skilled in martial arts.
But.
Dong Bong-soo's sharp eyes were already reading her trajectory.
Without lowering the sword from his shoulder, he stepped half a pace to the side. Minimum movement.
Swish!
Eom Bi-ryeong's wood piece sliced through empty air. The Training Grounds' earthen floor split in a straight line from the aftermath of the missed strike.
Heavy. Certainly heavy.
It was a heavy blow loaded with an absurd amount of inner power, beyond anything one could ever attribute to a Formation Taoist. Even just grazing it would chill one to the bone.
But heavy is merely heavy.
In some respects, it was also the worst possible weakness-something that emerged only by nearly abandoning all other advantages.
Clang!
The Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword struck precisely the side of the wood piece. Not receiving the Formation Energy head-on, but twisting and deflecting its flow at an angle.
Windless Sword Method.
A single move inserted without sound or wind delayed Eom Bi-ryeong's follow-up attack by approximately 0.01 seconds.
Of course, to Dong Bong-soo, it was more than enough time.
Thud-!
Half a step forward. He bored in to within one sword's gap.
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyes widened. Close range. An interval where elbow would connect before sword.
She immediately pivoted with her left foot as axis and detonated Formation Energy packed beneath her soles.
Wind Corner Formation. An application of Mountain Formation Division formation arts-a close-range defense technique that engraves Formation Energy patterns into the ground beneath one's feet during a pivot to push the opponent back.
He should have been pushed back.
But.
"...Huh!?"
He wasn't pushed back.
Dong Bong-soo's feet were planted into the ground. The Super True Energy Field was neutralizing in real time the Formation Energy radiation transmitted through the soles of his feet.
Shing!
A horizontal slash launched without being pushed back.
[Three Talents Sword Technique First Form Sweeping Away a Thousand Soldiers].
A single horizontally drawn cut aimed at Eom Bi-ryeong's abdomen. It was not loaded with a great deal of Formation Energy. The Sword Energy was extremely thin-but precise.
Clang-!
Eom Bi-ryeong just barely blocked it by lowering the wood piece downward.
But a crack appeared in the wood piece. The improvised weapon reinforced with Formation Energy ropes was split after only two exchanges.
"...?"
Her face contorted, bewilderment piling on top of anger.
'Who is this man?"
Not particularly well-known within Formation Tower, but she herself had come from one of the Ten Great Sects. And not as a branch family member, but from the main family line. That was why she was overwhelmingly stronger in close combat compared to other Formation Taoists.
By her own estimation, if she were to rank herself outside Formation Tower by the Martial World's standards, she figured she'd be in the top 100 at the very least...
To be pushed back by the Guild Master of some backwater sect she'd never even heard of-one that could barely be called a proper Martial World sect.
"Why? Is something-"
Slice-
'-strange?"
Dong Bong-soo's attack came at a completely unexpected beat and left a thin scratch on her right
forearm.
"You coward...!"
The enraged Eom Bi-ryeong launched herself again, swinging the reinforced wood piece.
But Dong Bong-soo neutralized her attack with a mere half step of movement.
"Cowardly? Where's the cowardice in a fight?"
Dong Bong-soo's sword strikes, which appeared nonchalant yet each one weighted and deliberate, kept pushing Eom Bi-ryeong backward one after another.
The occasional counterattacks from Eom Bi-ryeong were blocked in a manner too anticlimactic.
Either deflected, evaded, or withdrawn before they could even be fully deployed due to the opponent's own attack.
"If you don't want to die, fight dirty."
Dong Bong-soo had already perfectly grasped Eom Bi-ryeong's combat habits from the first couple of exchanges. More precisely, it was likely the common weakness of all martial artists who originated from Formation Taoists.
Eom Bi-ryeong had a habit of first extending Formation Energy onto something-whether the ground, the air, or some part of her own body-before deploying her inner power.
A faint flow of Formation Energy extended out just before each attack, and it was detected by the Super True Energy Field first. The fact that Formation Energy always moved before the fist, before the sword, inevitably exposed a fatal weakness.
A telegraphed attack.
To Dong Bong-soo, every single attack from Eom Bi-ryeong was nothing more than a telegraph announcing the future 0.01 seconds ahead. If only she had operated her Formation Energy and inner power separately, the fight could have become quite fascinating.
One more time.
Clang!
This time, Direct Strike at the Yellow Dragon's thrust targeted precisely the crack in the wood piece.
Snap-!
The Formation Energy-reinforced rafter split in two.
"Urgh!"
Eom Bi-ryeong lost her makeshift weapon and was pushed back all the way to the wall, leaving two deep furrows in the Training Grounds' earth.
But Dong Bong-soo did not follow up.
Because.
Tingle.
At first it was only that. The sensation of every hair on the skin standing straight up simultaneously.
The next instant, a small spark flew from the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword. At the same time, the base of a training wooden sword propped against one side of the Training Grounds glowed blue.
That was not all.
The metal fittings scattered throughout the collapsed Main Hall debris all began rattling with a zzzzt sound..
Every piece of metal in the vicinity was reacting.
The air had not grown heavier. The air had changed.
Myo Jin-heo stood at the opposite end of the Training Grounds with his fan fully spread open.
The Thunder Formation Division's main formation.
It was of an entirely different dimension from the Vortex Formation inside the Main Hall earlier. If the Vortex Formation was a minor trick of twisting air currents, this was rewriting the very laws of space itself.
There were no patterns on the ground. No Formation Energy ropes were visible. The atmosphere of the entire Training Grounds had simply been placed beneath the Thunder Formation Division's field.
Only the results were visible to the eye.
Sparks flying from metal, static electricity crawling across skin, and thin threads of lightning splitting intermittently through the air.
"...I apologize, Guild Master Kim."
Sincerity was buried in Myo Jin-heo's voice.
'As this Trigram Leader's duty, this cannot be helped."
Thunder Seal Absolute Ring.
The Thunder Trigram Thunder Formation Division's primary sealing formation.
It perfectly locks down any target trapped within the ring.
Joints, nerves, inner power, and all other energies-it misfires them all with the power of lightning.
Because it is invisible, it cannot be dodged, and once caught, one is already inside.
[An unidentified domain has been deployed around you.]
[Conditions have been met, and 'Shield of Faith Lv.2' automatically activates.]
An extremely faint light was layered over Dong Bong-soo's entire body. A membrane so thin as to be invisible to the eye.
The Super True Energy Field repelled the physical interference of Formation Energy, and the Shield of Faith rejected the intrusion of the formation field itself.
Dual defense.
The muscles did not contract. The joints were free. The nerves remained Dong Bong-soo's own.
The flow of inner power continued naturally.
And yet.
The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring did not stop there.
Whiiiiiiiiii—!
The density of the atmosphere rose by one more degree. The air above the Training Grounds shimmered visibly. It was not a heat mirage. Space itself was vibrating.
Myo Jin-heo swept his fan once in a large arc.
Thwip.
With that single sweep, the density of the field doubled.
Invisible lightning struck at the outer walls of the Super True Energy Field without pause.
It struck, and struck again.
Zzit. Zziz-zit. Zziz-ziz-zit-!
The Super True Energy Field that Dong Bong-soo had formed began to vibrate faintly for the first time.
It was different from the Vortex Formation before. The difference between something improvised on the spot and something properly deployed.
This was the moment the true weight of the Formation Taoist called Myo Jin-heo was finally felt.
Through the flickering light of surging lightning, Myo Jin-heo's eyes were visible.
One eye where the blood had not yet dried. The other eye calm and settled.
Those eyes were saying:
'Whatever kind of existence you are, this Trigram Leader will most certainly find out.'
Energy Field versus Formation Field.
The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring pressed past the Super True Energy Field, closing in around Dong Bong-soo.
-x-X-x-
The lightning, now fully materialized into jagged arcs of sapphire, hammered relentlessly against the outer wall of the invisible Super True Energy Field.
Zzzt, zzzť, zzzzzzt-!
At irregular intervals, flashes of lightning split the empty air, the sheer discharge scorching the dirt floor of the training grounds a bone-white.
Myo Jin-heo's eyes were completely unmoving, fixed upon Dong Bong-soo with a predator's focus. In return, Dong Bong-soo's eyes were a mirror of calm, meeting Myo Jin-heo's gaze without a hint of tremor.
The Super True Energy Field was trembling.
It was a sensation Bong-soo had never felt quite like this before-not during the desperate great battle with Yeon Yeong-ha, not when he was trading blows with Palmiko, and not even when he had recently shattered his way through Dong Mu-toe's Eight-Direction Uninterrupted Hell.
'Interesting.'
But even as the field vibrated under the assault, it was still merely that-a vibration. Between a vibration and a total breakthrough lay an uncrossable river.
Step.
Dong Bong-soo took one single step forward.
Zzzt-!
The lightning shrieked in reaction. Centered on the exact spot where Dong Bong-soo's foot touched the earth, an invisible electric potential rapidly converged. Myo Jin-heo's formation field was tightening its grip, attempting to seize the intruder like a physical snare.
Step. The second step.
Zzzzzzt-!
The third.
The fourth.
Dong Bong-soo was walking.
He moved across the very center of the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring, walking steadily and purposefully toward Myo Jin-heo. Lightning clawed across his entire body in a frantic dance. Static electricity forced his hair to stand on end, and blue sparks constantly burst from the blade of the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword resting on his shoulder.
Along with his progress, the vibration of the Super True Energy Field grew stronger and more violent with every inch gained.
Even so, Dong Bong-soo's steps never wavered.
He walked as if he were taking a leisurely stroll through a garden.
"...! "
One of Myo Jin-heo's eyes widened to its limit.
Impossible.
The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring was a high-tier formation that forced the muscles of anyone trapped within its radius to contract painfully, locked their joints in place, and caused their very nerves to misfire. Even if a target managed to block the external Formation Energy, the raw physical stimulation of the lightning acted directly upon flesh and bone, squeezing the Dantian and severing the natural flow of internal power.
Enduring it... that could somehow be understood. There certainly existed several martial artists in the Martial World who occasionally displayed such incomprehensible levels of endurance.
But... walking?
Inside that density of lightning?
This was not "blocking" the technique. He was behaving as if the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring simply did not exist in the same dimension as he did.
Fwoosh.
Myo Jin-heo snapped his fan open with a sharp flick of his wrist.
The density of the formation field rapidly increased yet again. Every piece of metal nearby-discarded nails, hinges, and scrap-began to scream in a high-pitched metallic resonance.
And yet.
The fifth step.
The sixth.
The seventh.
Dong Bong-soo was still walking.
Even his stride did not waver by a hair's breadth. His steps were as relaxed as someone strolling through fields in early spring. The hand gripping Myo Jin-heo's fan began to tremble slightly from the sheer strain of maintaining the field.
This man...'
Is the formation truly not working on him, or has he perfectly understood and reverse-calculated its frequency? Or is he some incomprehensible new kind of human being?
Whichever it was, the answer led to the same terrifying conclusion: the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring could not capture this man.
Eight steps.
The distance between Dong Bong-soo and Myo Jin-heo narrowed to a mere five paces.
At that moment-
Dong Bong-soo raised his left hand,
Click.
Light condensed at his fingertips. A single pure white arrow appeared above Dong Bong-soo's left hand. It was a brilliant, dazzling light-bright enough to sear the retina, yet oddly devoid of heat.
[Faith Arrow]
The arrowhead was aimed directly at the center of Myo Jin-heo's forehead.
"..."
Myo Jin-heo's breath stopped in his throat.
This was fundamentally different from before. In the earlier exchange, Dong Bong-soo had only used his sword. Even that had been more than enough to completely suppress Eom Bi-ryeong.
But what he held now was neither a sword, nor Formation Energy, nor conventional internal power.
It was something entirely different. A light that did not belong to the category of Qi.
Although Myo Jin-heo's Soul-Reading Eye had already been destroyed, even with his one remaining eye he could tell: that thing did not belong to any martial system he had ever encountered. A formation could not interfere with it, for it found nothing to grasp.
'You're called Trigram Leader Myo Jin-heo, right?"
Dong Bong-soo finally spoke.
His voice was calm. There was no threat, no anger, and no excitement. It was just a flat, neutral tone delivering a simple fact.
"I can shoot this, or I can choose not to."
The arrow of light hovered quietly about three feet in front of Myo Jin-heo's forehead.
"However."
Dong Bong-soo's eyes looked straight through Myo Jin-heo.
"If I shoot it, this won't be the end. It'll be the beginning of something entirely new."
There was no need for him to explain what kind of "beginning" that would be. Myo Jin-heo could easily guess the scale of the fallout.
'Tomorrow is the Founding Ceremony, and I'm a busy man too. So how about we stop here?"
The tone was light, almost conversational.
But Myo Jin-heo could clearly read the immense weight buried within it. In the voice of this man-who was supposedly just the leader of a newly established, obscure sect-there seemed to be a strength enough to bear the weight of everything, a composure enough to endure any storm, and a persuasion enough to guide the world itself.
Looking into those faintly smiling eyes even brought a strange, cold fear to his heart.
He had spent his entire life roaming the Martial World. He had met and fought countless master-level martial artists, endured extreme situations, and survived terrible hardships.
But he could swear on his life he had never met someone like this. He had not even fully seen what lay beyond those eyes yet.
'Even though I haven't personally confirmed or experienced all his abilities...'
Just watching him made it feel as though invisible wounds were being carved into one's very soul. It was exhausting. It was as if he were standing alone before a hundred thousand absolute masters.
Still, there was one fortunate thing. No matter how it sounded, his words were not a threat. They were a choice.
Continue, or stop.
Myo Jin-heo's fan trembled slightly. The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring was still active, still humming with power. But this formation had already lost its meaning.
A prison that cannot capture its target is no longer a prison. And something like this could never confine that man.
"..."
Just as Myo Jin-heo was about to speak-
'Stop."
An unexpected voice cut through the static.
It was Eom Bi-ryeong.
Leaning against a remnant of the wall, she slowly pushed herself upright. The rafter she had reinforced with Formation Energy had already been split in two and lay rolling at her feet, and a thin stream of blood flowed from the shallow wound on her forearm.
Eom Bi-ryeong did not look at Dong Bong-soo. She was looking solely at Myo Jin-heo.
'Trigram Leader Myo. Let's call it off."
'Trigram Leader Eom?"
The corner of Myo Jin-heo's eye drooped slightly.
"I was thinking the same thing, even without you saying it."
He gave a light, dry chuckle and continued.
'Sect Leader Kim is clearly a friend of Trigram Leader Dong Mu-toe. Why should we mix hands any further?"
'Yeah... well. That thing... no, that person."
Eom Bi-ryeong jerked her chin toward Dong Bong-soo.
"He's not an enemy. From the beginning, he had no intention of opposing the Formation Tower, and no intention of killing us."
Before she was a Formation Taoist, she was still a martial artist. During the fight just now, Dong Bong-soo had not once aimed for a vital point. The wound he made was only on her forearm. The only thing he truly split in two was her makeshift weapon.
Winning so overwhelmingly yet sparing the opponent... that was true leisure-and also a clear gesture of goodwill.
'Well... even if we continued, it'd probably end the same way anyway."
Eom Bi-ryeong's voice finally settled into a calm tone. Her anger and excitement had already vanished.
In their place were a sharp interest and practical judgment. She knew well that forcing one's strength against someone you cannot defeat only leads to greater losses.
She would have to review later how exactly it had happened, but as far as she could tell, formations and the Dao of Formations either did not work on Kim Rae-won or had only very limited effects.
"..."
Myo Jin-heo had already reached the same conclusion.
Snap.
The fan closed with a sharp click, and the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring dissolved into nothingness.
The pressure crushing the air vanished instantly. The sparks flying from the surrounding metal went out. The static electricity scattered into the wind, and the ordinary, fresh morning air returned to the training grounds.
At the same time-the arrow of light above Dong Bong-soo's left hand also disappeared as if it had never been there.
Of course, he had never intended to shoot it in the first place.
'A wise decision."
Dong Bong-soo returned the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword to his Inventory. Myo Jin-heo's eyes narrowed once more when he saw the massive sword vanish into thin air, but this time he held his tongue.
Eom Bi-ryeong brushed off the dust from her backside and asked while looking off toward the distant mountains, avoiding eye contact.
'Well, since things seem mostly settled... you can tell us now, right? Why my junior brother was stuck here, and why he supposedly pledged his allegiance to this 'Hero Gate'."
Her tone was still sharp, but it was different from before. At least she intended to talk rather than fight.
"Didn't I already say?"
Dong Bong-soo chuckled.
"I beat him, then I forgave him. After I forgave him, he decided to stay."
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyebrow twitched, but she did not explode again.
"Sigh... yeah, yeah. I get it. Anyway, Mu-toe did return to the Formation Tower, right?"
"He went out."
Dong Bong-soo grinned deliberately and tapped the ground repeatedly with his right index finger.
'Here. He'll come back here to this Hero Gate. He didn't return to the Formation Tower."
He continued his explanation without erasing that smile.
"As for the specific reason he pledged his allegiance, that's not something I should be the one to explain. Ask Dong Mu-toe yourself when he comes back."
At the mention of the name "Dong Mu-toe," Eom Bi-ryeong's face flushed red again, but she managed to restrain herself. After taking several deep breaths, she looked at Dong Bong-soo with a newly composed expression.
'Fine, fine. Tomorrow's the Founding Ceremony, right?"
'That's right."
'In that case... since our Trigram Leader, Dong Mu-toe who went out will take a few days to return after finishing his business at the Formation Tower, is it okay if we stay here for a few days and attend the ceremony?"
Dong Bong-soo's smile deepened. It was exactly what he had hoped for from the start.
"Of course."
Myo Jin-heo lightly patted Eom Bi-ryeong's back as she pouted and turned her head away. Half-opening his fan before closing it again, he said:
"...Very well. We will impose upon your hospitality until Trigram Leader Dong returns. Thank you for your consideration, Sect Leader Kim."
Myo Jin-heo performed a formal fist salute.
"However, one thing."
His remaining eye-still bloodshot and raw-looked straight at Dong Bong-soo.
'While I stay here, I will observe you and the Hero Gate. Everything. Whatever it may be."
It was an open declaration: / will discover what kind of person you are, and what kind of place this Hero Gate truly is.'
"Do as you please."
Dong Bong-soo merely smiled calmly in response.
***
Debris.
The remains of what had once been the Hero Gate's Main Hall were scattered messily across one side of the training grounds. Columns had fallen, beams had shifted, the roof had completely collapsed, and deep cracks ran through the walls. Dust rose everywhere in the morning air.
Once the battle had finally ended, Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo had moved to the opposite side of the training grounds. Eom Bi-ryeong was busy stopping the bleeding in her forearm with her own True Energy while glaring at Dong Bong-soo with obvious dissatisfaction. Myo Jin-heo stood silently with his fan closed, surveying the debris and the layout of the entire training ground.
Jeon Ra-hwa approached.
The children had already been sent to safety behind the training grounds. She had left the younger ones with Ho-ae and came back alone. Her gaze passed over Dong Bong-soo, then slowly and painfully swept across the debris.
What had been the Main Hall just moments ago...
Every piece of wood had been chosen by hand. Every single nail had been hammered in personally. Even the workers and the children had been mobilized, struggling together to build it from the ground up.
Two days. It had only been two days.
"..."
Jeon Ra-hwa stood silently beside Dong Bong-soo.
Dong Bong-soo was also looking at the debris. He was quiet.
After a long moment of heavy silence-
"You know what you always say."
Jeon Ra-hwa finally spoke. Her tone carried no emotion at all. That made it even scarier to Bong-soo's ears.
"What is it?"
'The one who makes the mess should be the one to clean it up."
"..."
Dong Bong-soo looked at the debris. Jeon Ra-hwa looked at the debris. The debris gave no answer to the silent accusation.
"...Did I say something like that?"
'Yes. You did."
"..."
"That."
Jeon Ra-hwa jerked her chin toward the mountain of debris.
'Who made the mess?"
"...."
'So someone should clean it up, right?"
"...."
For a long moment-silence.
A gust of wind blew across the clearing, scattering a fresh layer of dust from the debris. Among the shifting dust, a wooden fragment appeared. On it were the crooked, earnest letters that Ho-ae had carved.
"Hero Gate."
Dong Bong-soo suddenly grinned. Still smiling, he turned his head slowly. He looked one by one at Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo standing on the other side of the training grounds.
'We should clean it up, right?"
Jeon Ra-hwa's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"Didn't we just get two new guests?"
"...You."
Jeon Ra-hwa pressed a hand to her forehead, exhaling a long, weary sigh.
"Sigh."
She sighed, but the corner of her lips had slightly, almost imperceptibly, lifted.
Dong Bong-soo reached down and picked up Ho-ae's wooden sign from the debris. He brushed off the thick layer of dust with his sleeve. The two characters for "Hero Gate" shone clearly and brightly in the morning sunlight.
Tomorrow was the Founding Ceremony.
So everything would have to be cleaned up and restored before the sun rose again.
-x-X-x-
'By now, the three of them must have met, right?"
A low, private chuckle slipped out into the stillness of the mountain air.
Walking along the quiet, narrow mountain path that wound its way toward the Heavenly Formation Tower, Dong Mu-toe was snickering to himself. In the city of Gangdo, the person his companions were destined to meet was not him, but Kim Rae-won-the most fascinating and, as far as he currently knew, the most dangerous figure roaming the Martial World today.
'When my junior sister and Trigram Leader Myo Jin-heo finally come face-to-face with Sect Leader Kim...
The corners of Dong Mu-toe's lips curled even deeper into a smirk. What happens when a raging flame meets another flame? A greater, uncontrollable conflagration is the only possible result.
"Heh."
Ah, he truly wanted to be a fly on the wall, to see that collision with his own two eyes.
At that exact moment-
Thump.
A strange, phantom tugging sensation blossomed deep within one side of his chest. There was no need for him to stop and calculate or measure the feeling to know its origin. It was a needle pointing straight toward the coordinate of the Hero Gate.
'Is this also an effect of the oath?'
This bizarre, metaphysical shackle always left a lingering sensation behind, acting as if an invisible thread were occasionally pulling him back toward the direction where Kim Rae-won stood. As of yet, he didn't understand the underlying principle of such a high-level technique.
Still, the pull did not feel unpleasant or restrictive. Rather-
'Interesting.'
For a scholar of the unknown, a mystery usually brought a sense of electric excitement rather than any form of fear.
"Hah. When will I finally get there? Hmm?"
By the time he had walked for almost exactly three full days-
'Finally. Whew. Now I can rest a little."
The dense, vibrating bundles of Formation Energy unique to the Alliance Under Heaven Formation began to prick at his skin like thousands of tiny, invisible needles.
After passing the liaison station situated outside the Heavenly Formation Tower and entering the main headquarters, he reached the primary entrance path-a corridor surrounded by layers upon layers of overlapping barriers and complex formation methods.
An ordinary person, no matter how skilled in martial arts, would become hopelessly trapped in a bewildering maze the moment they stepped into this area, condemned to wander in circles until their strength utterly failed. But to a Trigram Leader, this was no different from walking through their own front door. It was simply a familiar road filled with familiar, nostalgic air.
It was, in a sense, home.
'Well... maybe I should call it my former home now.
As he stepped into the main headquarters of the Heavenly Formation Tower, something unusual immediately caught his keen eye.
The lower-rank Formation Taoists were scurrying about the halls with unusual haste, and the expressions of those passing through the corridors were taut with an unmistakable tension.
As if...
Dong Mu-toe reached out and snagged a passing Formation Taoist by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
'What's going on here?"
"Who are you to ask?"
Living as a recluse and rarely showing his face had its advantages most of the time, but in moments of urgency like this, it was a nuisance.
'A Trigram Leader.'
"Pardon? The Trigram Leaders are all in Eight Trigram Hall right now..."
"Eight Trigram Hall?"
Eight Trigram Hall was the grand meeting chamber located on the very topmost floor of the Heavenly Formation Tower. In the center of the octagonal room stood a massive, circular table engraved with the Eight Trigrams symbol, surrounded by eight seats reserved exclusively for the Trigram Leaders.
'Ahh, so that chaotic, never-ending debate is still going on, I see."
'Yes... but who exactly-"
"I told you I'm a Trigram Leader, you brat."
Ignoring the confused lower-rank Taoist who stood there tilting his head in bewilderment, Dong Mu-toe stepped onto the grand stairs. As he ascended the spiral staircase, circling higher and higher-
[You've arrived.]
Suddenly, a voice rang clearly and resonantly inside his head. No-more precisely, it wasn't a voice carried by sound. It was closer to a pure, unadulterated manifestation of will or concentrated thought.
But whose it was became instantly clear.
'Is he really divine? To think something like this is even possible."
A [Sound Transmission] transmitted across hundreds of li... and it even accurately perceived the exact moment his foot touched the floor of the Heavenly Formation Tower. Was the man truly someone who had moved beyond the human realm?
Adding yet another question to his rapidly growing list of mysteries, Dong Mu-toe smiled faintly and continued his ascent.
He headed toward Eight Trigram Hall, where the other leaders were likely still struggling over the matters of the Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect and the Dark Net Rakshasa Path.
***
Inside Eight Trigram Hall.
Three of the eight Trigram Leader seats were conspicuously empty.
Mountain Formation Division.
Fire Formation Division.
Thunder Formation Division.
Dong Mu-toe, Eom Bi-ryeong, and Myo Jin-heo.
All three were absent, yet the meeting had already ground on for two full days without pause. The remaining five Trigram Leaders and the Grand Zenith sat around the octagonal table. Among them, the loudest and most aggressive voice belonged to Baek Jang-gyeong, the Trigram Leader of the Heaven Formation Division.
"I will say it again!"
A massive man in his late fifties with snow-white hair neatly tied back, slammed a heavy, calloused palm onto the table.
Crack!
The teacups on the table rattled and jumped in unison from the sheer force.
"What the Heavenly Formation Tower has maintained for three hundred years is not mere neutrality, but dignity. If we lose our dignity, we lose our neutrality as well!"
The other Trigram Leaders turned their eyes toward him, some with weariness, some with focus.
'The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect is the leader of the Orthodox Path. Among the Ten Great Sects, it is hailed as the First Sword. Joining hands with such a lineage means upholding the established dignity of the Heavenly Formation Tower!"
His voice rumbled like low, distant thunder. The pressure of the eldest among the Trigram Leaders weighed heavily upon the entire hall, filling the space with a suffocating gravity.
"But joining hands with the Dark Net Rakshasa Path? With those madmen who scream that slaughter itself is the only true liberation?"
His tone was resolute, brooking no argument.
'That would be the same as announcing to the entire world that the Heavenly Formation Tower has become a mere pawn of the Demonic and Heretical Path. The moment we join hands with them, the Orthodox faction will release the silent grip of cooperation they have maintained with us for centuries. When that happens, tell me, what use will money be?"
Silence fell over the room after Baek Jang-gyeong finished his outburst. The one who eventually broke it was the woman sitting directly opposite him: Ga Myo-ryeon, the Trigram Leader of the Lake Formation Division.
She was in her early thirties-a slender woman who always seemed to be flicking the beads of a dark wood abacus. Her narrow eyes only revealed her pupils when she was smiling, giving her a perennially unreadable, fox-like impression.
Click. Click. Click.
After flicking three beads with precise movements, Ga Myo-ryeon spoke.
"Dignity?" She smiled lightly, a soundless curve of the lips. "Can dignity buy formation stones?"
"What?"
"I'm asking whether dignity can fund our research expenses. Can dignity pay the contract wages of our lower-rank Formation Taoists who work through the night?"
Click. Click.
'The advance payment offered by the Dark Net Rakshasa Path is greater than the total offer from Vast Heaven. Exactly three times greater. Furthermore, the Dark Net proposes payment upfront, while Vast Heaven insists on paying only after the work is complete."
Her abacus continued its rhythmic, clicking dance.
"If you wish to ignore the numbers, then perhaps you should start by rewriting the research pavilion's budget proposal yourself. If Trigram Leader Baek can procure high-grade formation stones using nothing but his 'dignity, I would gladly agree to your terms."
"You? Is Eight Trigram Hall a place to haggle over money like a common merchant?!" Baek Jang-gyeong's fist struck the table again.
'Do you remember the command of the Heavenly Formation Tower, Trigram Leader Baek?" Ga Myo-ryeon's voice remained chillingly calm.
"Money is us, and without money is them. If there is money, they are righteous; if there is none, they are heretical. Was that not a tenet personally established by our founding ancestor?"
'That command does not mean we sell our souls to the highest bidder!"
'Then what does it mean?"
'It means the Heavenly Formation Tower can accept any request without discrimination, not that we should join hands with absolute madness!"
"Madness." Ga Myo-ryeon tilted her head slightly. Her narrow eyes opened halfway, revealing a sharp, calculating glint. "In this current war, is there anyone who is not mad?"
".... "
'The Vast Heaven Limitless Sword Sect lost an entire branch to total extermination, yet it still refuses to descend from its main mountain to take action. Is that pride? Or is it simple, blind arrogance?"
Click.
"If the leader of the Orthodox Path cannot even avenge its own subordinate branch, then where exactly is this 'dignity' you speak of?"
Click.
'The dignity you cling to, Trigram Leader Baek, may already be something Vast Heaven has shattered with its own incompetence."
"...!"
Baek Jang-gyeong's eyes flared with a sharp, murderous rage. At that moment, the Trigram Leader of the Water Formation Division intervened-a man in his late thirties with a gentle, mediating air.
'Both sides have valid points, do they not? Perhaps we could reach a compromise by sending small teams to both sides-"
"Half-hearted nonsense!" Baek Jang-gyeong cut him off immediately.
"It isn't 'half-hearted, it's strategic suicide," Ga Myo-ryeon added, her smile unchanged. "Straddling two sides is the most reliable way to make enemies of everyone."
Faced with the fierce confrontation-like two blades clashing in a duel to the death-the Water Trigram Leader fell silent. Then, the Trigram Leader of the Wind Formation Division crossed his arms.
'The reason this meeting has dragged on for two days is precisely because we are incomplete."
'Is any conclusion valid while three Trigram Leaders are absent? Perhaps we should wait until Trigram Leader Dong Mu-toe, Trigram Leader Eom, and Trigram Leader Myo Jin-heo return-*
*Continue."
A single, short word silenced the entire Eight Trigram Hall.
In the central seat of the octagonal table sat a small old man. He was in his sixties, thin and frail-looking. His physical frame was less than half the size of Baek Jang-gyeong's massive build. Among the powerful, eccentric leaders, he appeared the weakest.
However, he did not wear the eight-colored robe of a Trigram Leader. He wore a pure white robe embroidered with the Eight Trigrams pattern-the Grand Zenith Robe, crafted three hundred years ago.
The energy flowing beneath that robe was too quiet, too still to be called Formation Energy. It was as if Eight Trigram Hall itself were his personal domain. In fact, it was. All flows of energy within the room circulated around this small man as their axis.
This was a man said to unfold five formations with each step and create seven variations with every single breath.
One-Step Five Formations, Single Breath Seven Changes.
The current Grand Zenith of the Formation Tower: Jin Mu-geuk.
His deeply wrinkled face held eyes that were deeper than any light and sharper than any blade.
After sipping from his teacup, those eyes slowly swept across the table. That alone was enough. The Wind Trigram Leader closed his mouth. Baek Jang-gyeong and Ga Myo-ryeon swallowed their next words.
The meeting continued, but it remained in a deadlock.
Vast Heaven or Dark Net.
Justification or profit.
Dignity or money.
The Trigram Leader of the Earth Formation Division, a taciturn man in his forties, only nodded or shook his head throughout the debate. He had not spoken a single word.
If a stalemate like this lasted two days, both sides had already exhausted their arguments. Without a new variable, the cycle would never end.
'My position has not changed. Dignity-"
Just as Baek Jang-gyeong was about to resume his tirade for the hundredth time-
Creeeak.
The tightly shut, heavy doors of Eight Trigram Hall swung open.
"Ah, discussing such an interesting topic without me?"
A languid, playful voice followed the opening of the door. A pale face lacking healthy color, a thin frame that looked as though it might break in a stiff breeze-yet the corners of his lips were full of mischief.
Dong Mu-toe stepped into the hall. As soon as he entered, he shook his robe once with a flourish, scattering three days' worth of road dust into the pristine air.
"Dong Mu-toe? Where in the world have you been!" Baek Jang-gyeong turned his massive body and shouted, his voice half-scolding, half-relieved to see a peer.
Ga Myo-ryeon's abacus stopped mid-click. Her narrow eyes swept over the newcomer with hidden scrutiny.
*... You've finally arrived," the Earth Trigram Leader noted with a simple, stoic nod.
And the Grand Zenith, Jin Mu-geuk, merely raised his teacup in a silent greeting. 'You're here."
The reaction was overwhelmingly one of welcome. Dong Mu-toe was, after all, the greatest genius of the Heavenly Formation Tower. His arrival would undoubtedly shift the stagnant tides of the meeting.
Dong Mu-toe walked to the empty seat of the Mountain Formation Division and sat down naturally, as if he had been sitting there for the last forty-eight hours.
"I heard a few things on my way up. I roughly understand the situation, so please, continue."
"More importantly, the Wind Trigram Leader asked, looking around the room, "where are Trigram Leader Eom and Trigram Leader Myo? Didn't they come with you?"
"They had urgent matters, Dong Mu-toe answered lightly, a faint, cryptic smile playing on his lips as he smoothly changed the topic.
'Vast Heaven or Dark Net Rakshasa... you must be quite tired of that after two days. May I bring up. something else?"
Baek Jang-gyeong narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Something else?"
'Yes. The premise of this entire argument is a bit flawed."
Ga Myo-ryeon's abacus began moving again, faster now. Dong Mu-toe rested his elbow on the table and propped his chin on his hand.
At that moment-
Thump.
It came again.
That divine will echoing inside his mind, transcending the vast distance. Dong Mu-toe's smile deepened further.
"Have any of you perhaps heard of a newly founded sect called the Hero Gate?'
-x-X-x-