“Wait. Hold on.”
As Bu Eunseol tried to venture deep into the forest, Yoo Hwaryeong stepped forward.
“I’ll pursue them and scout the situation, so you should stay in the village.” He seemed worried that while Bu Eunseol chased them, they might miss the Thousand Swords Society’s fiend.
“Understood.” Sensing Yoo Hwaryeong’s concern, Eunseol turned back as if with no choice.
“….!” But something was off.
Surprisingly, the villagers who had entered the forest had vanished as if evaporated. He searched extensively, but no traces remained anywhere.
‘Did I get possessed by a ghost?’ He hurriedly returned and informed Bu Eunseol of the fact.
“Let’s go together.”
Whoosh.
The two unleashed qinggong and plunged into the forest in one breath. But the cart-pullers had vanished without a trace. Even venturing deep into the woods yielded the same.
‘No one can fool my eyes.’ Bu Eunseol’s super senses could detect a falling leaf a hundred paces away.
Yet for people who entered the nearby forest to disappear in an instant? After pondering deeply for a while, Bu Eunseol muttered.
“It seems some mechanism or formation is installed somewhere here.” For non-martial commoners to deceive a martial artist’s eyes and vanish instantly was impossible.
“That could be.” With vast Kangho experience, Yoo Hwaryeong’s eyes flashed as he began scanning the surroundings. But nowhere was there a faint friction sound of mechanisms activating, or traces of formations using silver shadow stones.
“None. They’ve completely vanished.” As Yoo Hwaryeong shook his head,
Hum.
With a low vibration, white heat haze rose in Bu Eunseol’s pupils.
Swish.
He reached out, brushing the ground’s traces, then began walking forward while surveying around. He was deploying the pinnacle of the Beast Way, Void Heart Control, to follow the traces.
“This is the spot.” Bu Eunseol finally halted in a wide clearing deep in the forest. “They vanished from here.”
“No way?” Surveying the empty surroundings, Yoo Hwaryeong wore a hollow smile. “For that many people to disappear all at once from here, they’d have to shoot into the sky or….”
“Exactly.” Bu Eunseol nodded, looking down at the ground.
“Sink into the earth.”
And simultaneously, he deployed the Thousand Jang Drop. As his mighty inner power pressed the ground, suddenly with a clank, a square hole abruptly formed.
“No way.” Yoo Hwaryeong gaped, peering inside. Upon closer look, the large hole was an artificially installed passage.
“To build a mechanism like this in the mountains.” The deep passage shrouded in darkness resembled an entrance to hell. Yoo Hwaryeong dared not look properly, merely craning his neck. “I have no idea where it connects.”
“We’ll know when we go.”
“Then I’ll go first. Who knows what’s ahead.” Worried Bu Eunseol might get hurt, he quickly took the lead.
“Wait.” But Bu Eunseol stopped him, plucking a single leaf and flinging it toward a distant great tree over ten paces away.
Thud!
With a dull sound, the leaf embedded upright on the tree trunk’s pillar. It was a stunning technique of the Falling Leaf, Flying Flower.
“Come out.” Bu Eunseol said lowly. But the forest remained silent, no response.
“Hmm.”
This time, Bu Eunseol plucked two leaves. And without hesitation, flung them toward the great tree’s interior.
Ting ting!
With clear sounds, the leaves bounced back, and
Whoosh.
From atop the great tree, a black-clad figure with a veiled face descended to the ground. Not tall, but sturdy build with limbs thick as logs. Outwardly, he appeared a man versed in substantial external arts.
“Your eyes are sharp.” The black-clad figure’s voice was very low and raspy, deliberately altered. He glanced at the darkness-shrouded passage and sighed.
“A weight-sensing mechanism. That’s why we couldn’t find it until now.”
Bu Eunseol stared intently at the black-clad figure. Then, as if realizing something, nodded.
“You’re the physician treating patients in the village.”
“What?” The black-clad figure blinked, then chuckled. “Me, a physician?”
“You stuffed something bulky inside your clothes to hide your build.” Bu Eunseol, arms crossed, snorted. “Better to just wear loose clothes.”
Gazing at Bu Eunseol’s confident eyes, the black-clad figure sighed as if with no choice.
“How did you know?” A clear, resonant woman’s voice.
Upon Bu Eunseol instantly exposing her identity, she discarded the wads of cotton stuffed throughout her body.
“No one’s seen through this disguise until now.” As befitting a physician, she hadn’t just crammed cotton but shaped it to mimic muscle forms vividly. Outwardly flawless—how had he discerned it at a glance?
“That much muscle, is at least 160 jin minimum. But your steps were quite light.” Narrowing his eyes, Bu Eunseol gazed at the black-clad figure’s thighs. “And with such a muscular build, the developed thigh muscles would widen your stride considerably.”
Then, looking at the discarded cotton wads, he continued.
“But your gait and posture were those of someone around 70 jin. In that village, among those with martial traces around 70 jin, only the patient-treating physician fit.”
“Hearing about 60 jin or 70 jin makes me feel like a hunk of meat.” Chuckling in absurdity, she alternated glances between the masked Bu Eunseol and Yoo Hwaryeong. “Well, with such keen observation, you’re no nameless grunt. Who are you?”
“No need to know.” At the cold reply, she blanked momentarily.
But soon smiled confidently and nodded.
“Good. I wasn’t planning to reveal my identity either. Let’s not ask each other.”
Plop.
At that moment, a small leaf fell over Bu Eunseol’s head.
It was the leaf from his earlier Falling Leaf, Flying Flower that she had bounced back.
The fallen leaf bore an invisible minute hole.
“From the Needle King’s clan.” At Bu Eunseol’s low mutter, the veiled woman’s pupils widened to tearing.
“How did you know my identity?” With no reply from Bu Eunseol, she raised her hand blade as if to deploy martial arts. “Answer me, now.”
Indeed, considerable sharp momentum emanated from her body. But Bu Eunseol remained utterly unresponsive. Impressive for her age, but to Bu Eunseol, who had entered the Superhuman Realm, it seemed mere child’s play.
“I’m curious too. Why not just tell us.” As the atmosphere turned hostile, Yoo Hwaryeong stepped forward to mediate. “Besides, isn’t the Needle King clan known for free treatment of the sick and many good deeds?”
Then, Bu Eunseol exhaled lowly and said.
“Weapon.”
“Weapon?” He lifted the fallen leaf.
Its edge bore an invisible minute hole.
Barely visible unless light passed through, but to Bu Eunseol versed in the Beast Way, it appeared a bowl-sized gaping hole.
“Though myriad exotic weapons exist in the martial world, only the Needle King clan uses thin needles as weapons.” Seeing the fallen leaf, Bu Eunseol had instantly discerned the hair-thin needle used.
“But strange. Even using the Needle King’s martial arts, how did you know she’s clan-born, not a disciple?”
“The Needle King’s arts stem from medicine, impossible to master in a short time. In truth, their disciples are all renowned physicians.” Bu Eunseol stared intently at the young woman’s pupils. “But at such a young age, with outstanding medical arts and freely wielding the Needle King’s secrets…. only blood kin would suffice.”
“Not just observation, but insight too.” Her identity fully exposed, she flung off her veil.
Revealed under moonlight was a clean, elegant beauty like dew-kissed morning grass.
“Correct. I’m Jongri Sayu.”
Jongri Sayu. Granddaughter of Zhongli Sahyeon, the Needle King among the Seven Demon Kings. Known to have inherited even his martial and medical transmissions, she held considerable fame in Kangho. Especially for compounding ordinary herbs into elixir-like effects, earning the moniker Grass Spirit.
“Now your turn.” Jongri Sayu said coldly. “I’ve revealed myself openly, so isn’t it your turn to disclose?”
With Bu Eunseol unmoving, Yoo Hwaryeong clasped his hands as if with no choice.
“I am Yoo Hwaryeong, disciple of the Thousand Swords Society.”
“Thousand Swords Society?” Jongri Sayu raised an eyebrow.
The Thousand Swords Society was once prosperous but now nominal, barely active in Kangho?
‘The Thousand Swords Society….’ Assuming Bu Eunseol was also from there, she snorted.
“What’s so grand about it that you hide your identities.” Sighing, she asked lowly. “How did the Thousand Swords Society learn of this place?”
“We didn’t know. We just…. heard our society’s arch-nemesis was nearby and came searching.”
“Arch-nemesis?”
“Yes. Then we spotted suspicious people, pursued, and stumbled upon this passage.”
“Who is that arch-nemesis?”
“Circumstances prevent disclosure.”
Masked, but Yoo Hwaryeong’s pupils brimmed with integrity, his voice revealing upright character. Moreover, the Thousand Swords Society was orthodox-aligned, and pursued an upright path researching martial arts.
“Hmm. Arch-nemesis, arch-nemesis….” Her wariness eased; Jongri Sayu shrugged and smiled subtly. “By chance, isn’t he a government official?”
“How did you….” As Yoo Hwaryeong gaped in shock, she nodded as if knowing the circumstances.
“We seem to be pursuing the same person.” From her tone and actions, she had long tracked the government figure.
“Who exactly are you seeking?”
At Yoo Hwaryeong’s question, Jongri Sayu sighed and said. “Long ago, my clan learned of a force deliberately using tuberculosis parasites to create plagues.”
“Deliberately unleashing plagues? Is that possible?”
“Not impossible for the government.” She said firmly. “Unlike medical or poison clans, the government faces no public backlash or restraint.”
Yoo Hwaryeong’s eyes widened. The reason that devil appeared wherever plagues spread—to research them?
“Well, the details will reveal themselves inside.” Remasking, she gazed at the darkness-shrouded passage. “Since our goals align…. let’s cooperate for now.”
The downward passage stretched endlessly. Walking the darkened path, Jongri Sayu showed no hesitation or fear.
‘Is she fearless or overconfident?’ Watching her back, a doubt crossed Yoo Hwaryeong’s mind. No matter her skills inherited from the Needle King, wandering alone pursuing plague-spreaders?
—Long ago, my clan learned of a force deliberately using tuberculosis parasites to create plagues….
Recalling Jongri Sayu’s words, Yoo Hwaryeong nodded faintly.
‘She’s not alone.’ She seemed solitary, but clearly led a covert force.
After all, she was from the Needle King clan.
How long had they walked?
In the seemingly endless passage, faint light finally appeared. Entering revealed a vast space dozens of paces high. Night pearls densely embedded in the ceiling cast daylight glow, below which numerous buildings stood.
A proper small cityscape.
If not deep underground, one might mistake it for entering a castle town.
“Wha, whoa….” Yoo Hwaryeong involuntarily exclaimed.
He had roamed the four seas and eight wastes, priding himself on broad experience above all. But crafting such a vast, enormous space deep underground? He’d never even heard it joked.
‘And what’s that.’ Peering from behind a building, Yoo Hwaryeong’s eyes flashed.
Here and there, busy martial artists moved, amid heaps of cloth-covered corpses. Moreover, among the corpses, some seemed alive, emitting low groans.
“What do you think they’re doing?” At Yoo Hwaryeong’s transmission, Bu Eunseol shook his head.
“I don’t know either.” Bu Eunseol was equally stunned.
As a coroner, he’d seen all manner of bizarre affairs, but never anticipated such a scene in desolate forest depths.
But Jongri Sayu showed no surprise.
Instead, scanning sharply around, she said to Bu Eunseol and Yoo Hwaryeong.
“Follow me.” Jongri Sayu wove between buildings toward the depths.
Finally, her steps halted before a structure not just door-bound but entirely gleaming with metallic luster. The iron door was firmly shut, seemingly with special mechanisms—only intricate patterns engraved.
Surveying, she drew two gold needles from her bosom and traced the door’s patterns. Spotting a small hole, she inserted and delicately maneuvered them.
Then, with a clank, the firmly shut iron door slowly opened.
‘Skilled in infiltration.’ Bu Eunseol watched Jongri Sayu’s silent steps.
She had infiltrated such places before. Perhaps professionally trained in stealth and entry.
‘That means the Needle King clan has investigated them for a long time.’
“What in the world is all this.” Then, Yoo Hwaryeong, surveying around, tilted his head.
The interior gleamed metallic to the ceiling, vast enough for over three hundred paces. Moreover, bizarre structures numbering hundreds densely stood, all shrouded in black cloth.
Below, black pipes tangled chaotically.
From afar, like thousands of giant spiders splaying legs everywhere.
“Eugh.” Gazing at the grotesque scene, Yoo Hwaryeong unwittingly backpedaled, accidentally stepping on a nearby black cloth covering a structure.
Rustle, and the structure revealed itself.
‘Glass tube?’
Shrouded was a transparent glass tube. And inside, a sleeping woman lay engulfed in vibrant plants.
“This is….” Peering into the glass tube, Yoo Hwaryeong’s eyes widened.
Upon closer look, thick needles connected by tubes pierced the woman’s veins. And through the tubes, blood flowed to the plants?
“What monstrous deed is this.” At Yoo Hwaryeong’s cry, Jongri Sayu answered.
“Human Flowers.”
“Human Flowers?”
Contempt and rage poured from her pupils.
“Forcibly injecting human essence blood creates these artificial spirit herbs called Human Flowers.”
Yoo Hwaryeong gaped. Cultivating spirit herbs with human essence blood? Was such possible?
Moreover, why perpetrate such heaven-defying atrocity here?
