Chapter 28

“You may ask why you are learning these things, but there is a reason. Later on, when you go to the strongholds, you’ll be fighting against something called the True Law. Unless you’re traveling with a master, in which case you’ll usually be on your own. Then you’ll be fighting the True Law of one against many. The many persecuting the one, shameful. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. That’s why the Huashan School and other schools shame pincer fighting, but insist that it be taught. “Many attack one, but they’re Sama, so we’ll win,” you say, ”that’s nonsense. One hand cannot stop two hands, that is the immutable truth. That’s why even a school of our caliber is taught this way. Even if we can’t use it, it’s easier to deal with it when we encounter it.”
‘I see…….’
As I thought about it, I realized that I hadn’t understood the reason for learning the Jin when the precepts forbid the persecution of one person by the majority.
Once I understood, my mind was clear.
“Do you understand? Anyway, can’t you do it right? Qi Tianping, if you do that, won’t you hit me? Lower your sword and take half a step back. Wu Jiexiu, move faster!”
Elder Wen Hu pointed out one by one.
The disorganized formation was straightened out, and the same momentum as at the beginning surged forth.
“That’s enough for today. Stop.”
Slowly, they slowed to a stop.
The pace was uncontrollable, but everyone slowed down in unison, inch by inch, until it came to a halt.
“Come out.”
Outside, the sun was setting.
‘I don’t know where the time went…….’
I don’t think I moved a few times or listened to the explanation, but the time had already passed.
This is martial arts.
You never get tired of it, and you don’t even realize how much time has passed.
“It’s still early, but it doesn’t matter. This is it for today. You can go back to your quarters or do whatever you want. As long as you don’t go outside the cordon and cause trouble, you can do as you please. Elder Lingfeng, we need to take a moment to…….”
“Understood.”
After the two elders left, Yan Hua and I returned to the inn and had an early dinner.
After returning to his room, he took out the sword his master had given him and placed the two blue steel swords beside his bed, then laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, when someone knocked on his window.
Bang, bang, bang!
“Who is it?!”
He drew his sword in fear.
“Well, well. You shouldn’t be so surprised.”
It was Ma Jinchen who opened the window and entered.
“Why are you here?”
“Did you realize something today? You seemed to have grown a little more mature earlier.”
Ma Jinchen smiled.
But he didn’t seem to mean it in a good way, as his body shrank spontaneously.
“But you’ve gone too far. To ignore my advice, I mean, you don’t think it’s fair?”
“……what do you mean?”
“I thought I told you that it would be better not to do anything conspicuous?”
“I don’t think it would have been that conspicuous.”
“No, you’re wrong, you’re already in the spotlight.”
Ma Jinchen pulled the circle from his bosom.
“Why is that?”
“Hmph.”
With an unpleasant laugh, Ma Jinchen stabbed the circle at me.
“Ugh!”
I took a step back with my right foot and ducked my head to avoid the sword.
“What the…….”
Ma Jinchen flicked his wrist.
Boom!
The circle flew through the roof.
It flew high into the sky and landed back in Ma Jintian’s hand.
“See?”
A white circle.
The black water on the ground.
“……p?”
“There’s already a rat on it, didn’t you notice?”
The body stiffens.
The assassin.
I hadn’t noticed.
I would have never known if Ma Jinchen hadn’t told me.
“Hmm, you were aiming for the neck, but it grazed your shoulder. You’re not an ordinary killer after all.”
“……Thank you.”
“Well, you’re welcome, but since I didn’t kill him instantly, I’ll report it, and I’ll send someone better, and you’d better be careful.”
“No, being careful won’t change anything.”
Ma Jinchen smirks.
“Well, that’s true.”
“He didn’t even notice, and if someone comes after me, I won’t notice even more. Being careful won’t change anything. I’d rather go after the author now.”
“Too much time has passed already. Besides, he’s an assassin. A high-level assassin you haven’t noticed. You won’t be able to keep up.”
“As a disciple of the prestigious Gu Sect and Huashan Sect, I cannot ignore this.”
“Even if you’re outmatched?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Leaving behind a puzzled-looking Mazin Tian, he stepped out through the hole destroyed by the divine line.
Scattered blood.
The blood was in a semicircle on the left and disheveled on the right.
“Did he go to the left?”
“No, it’s to the right. Look at this.”
When I came out, Ma Jinchen was holding up a tile and waving it.
“Look at the front of this tile. It’s great that you panicked and sprayed blood in the opposite direction, but your body didn’t follow reason.”
The front of the tile was slightly dented.
Of course, it could have cracked naturally due to age, but this was a new building.
There was no reason for it to crack naturally.
“It’s already quite late, so we’d better get going.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t tracking?”
“I didn’t say that.”
At Ma Jinchen’s words, he laughed, and then launched his body with a polarizing sweeping motion.
In a flash, they were out of the cordon.
“It’s to the left from here. The grass is pressed in that direction.”
The grass was pressed down slightly, as if I hadn’t adjusted my weight as I crossed the fence.
I let my judgment guide me, but there was one place where the trail had mysteriously disappeared.
This was because they were traveling through a deep forest instead of following the main road.
That’s when Ma Jinchen stepped in.
He quickly realized which direction they had gone and what the trick was.
He arrived at a four-pronged path.
The left led to the mountains, the right to the village, and the center to the city.
“It’s not dry yet. I’m almost caught up.”
Red drops of water on the ground.
It wasn’t dry yet, and the direction seemed to be to the left.
“That’s …… Nokcheongsan Mountain. Yeah, there’s no better place to hide around here than Nokcheongsan.”
The mountain is the exact opposite of Manghyeong Mountain.
It was a mountain that stood out for its green trees that covered the entire mountain.
“But did you…… notice?”
Majincheon crouched down on the ground and picked through the grass.
In the middle of the grass, he saw a tiny needle with something green on it.
“Is that acetic acid?”
If it is, it is an extremely toxic poison.
It’s a poison made by extracting the venom from thirty or so poisonous plants and combining it with a special drug.
At first, it feels uncomfortable, but as time goes on, it scatters, and after walking a hundred steps, it is said to bleed to death, hence the name Hundred Step Poison.
“I guess I shouldn’t step on the ground, then…….”
“We should step on the trees. Let’s go.”
They climbed a large beautiful tree, its thick branches leading into the mountains.
“This is…….”
As they rode from tree to tree, they saw something strange.
A large tree, with a branch cut off in the middle.
Ma Jintian approached and ran his finger along the cut.
“The section is clean, was it cut by a sword? No, it feels different…… Yes, it’s a sword.”
“Why do you want to know that?”
“Are we going to play? We’re going to fight. I need to know a little more about my opponent.”
“I see.”
“That’s common sense. I don’t know what the hell you’ve learned.”
“I’m sorry you don’t know common sense. I hope you’re smart.”
“Haha. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Ma Jincheon’s words.
I realize that I’ve been so tense, and he’s just trying to relax by joking.
“Huh.
I relaxed a bit and started tracking again.
It wasn’t long before Ma Jinchen touched a branch.
“Almost caught up, it’s warm.”
“……Wait a minute.”
“Hmm?”
He stopped at my words.
“What’s wrong?”
“There, up ahead, watch out.”
A faintly visible transparent line.
A line that I could only see because I concentrated on what was in front of me.
“This is almost dangerous.”
On a branch and in the grass.
This time the situation is reversed.
A thin thread tied from tree to tree.
It was so thin you couldn’t even see it.
As I got closer, I could feel the foreboding of a cut.
“Don’t touch it, you’ll cut yourself. Get down.”
Careful not to touch the thread, I slid down the grass.
“Mmm…….”
It wasn’t long before I hit a snag.
There were three identical bloodstains going in three different directions.
And they were all dry, as if they had been sprinkled at the same time.
I compared the grass and warmth of the footprints, and there was no difference.
It was as if three people had moved in different directions.
“Isn’t it better to split up?”
“No, wait.”
Ma Jintian closed his eyes and pressed his face to the ground.
After a moment, he stood up and opened his mouth.
“To the left. I hear a sound.”
It’s a bizarre way to do it, but there’s no other way.
He decided to go left.
After about a minute, he stiffened, grabbed my body, and threw me into the grass.
“What are you doing?”
I asked, irritated by his sudden behavior.
Ma Jintian’s face was stiff.
[Shut up, can’t you see?]
He turned his attention to Ma Jintian’s voice.
“Hmph…… that’s right…….”
Short hair, gouged eyes, and thin lips.
A man with two scythes strapped to his back.
Behind him stood twenty or so cloaked figures, and in front of him lay the assassin with the scar on his shoulder.
The trail and the shoulder wound.
It was the same assassin who had been watching me.
“Useless.”
The short-haired man spat out in annoyance and gestured to a cloaked figure behind him.
The masked man stepped forward in a flash and slit the cowering masked man’s throat.
Swoosh~ Whoosh!
“Ouch!”
The head flew off, blood gushing like a fountain.
A man was dead.
Something stirred inside me at the sight of my first murder.
“Hmm? Was there a rat?”
I exclaimed in panic.
The short-haired man quickly flung the machete on his back toward the bushes where we were hiding.
“Chit!”
I dodged the scythe as it sped across the ground with Ma Jintian and appeared in front of them.
“Did they follow us?”
“…….”
When we didn’t answer, the man frowned.
“Looks like you’re useless, dragging those guys along after all the trouble you’ve been through…….”
“Shut up!”
The man’s words made my chest swell.
I shouted as if to vent the heat.
“Hmph, is there something you don’t like?”
“How can you kill a servant and speak ill of him, even if he has done wrong!”
“He deserves this if he has done wrong. It is true that when something is useless, it should be thrown away.”
“This…….”