Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 87

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 87: I Was Once a Madman of Chu (9)

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"Y-yes. L-let's hide for now! Until Martial Uncle and the senior brothers find us. The fallen Daoists in a place like this have learned not only martial arts, but strange dark arts as well... It wouldn't be wise to face them recklessly!"

So Hye whispered as she followed Yeon Sowol out through the iron bars.

"Yes."

Yeon Sowol agreed.

They were in the heart of enemy territory. If the enemy noticed something was wrong and swarmed them, it would not be easy for the two of them to hold out.

Once outside the cell, Yeon Sowol carefully surveyed the underground prison.

"..."

At the sound of his footsteps, the people who had been crouching shrank further into themselves and hid in the corners of their cells. The sight looked all too familiar, as if they always fled to the corners whenever someone came down into this prison.

The youngest looked about five, while even the oldest appeared to be no more than in their early twenties.

They did not even look at Yeon Sowol's face beyond the bars. The sound alone was enough to make them retreat into the corners. Pressed tightly against the cold, damp walls of the underground prison, they trembled.

There was no doubt that something terrible happened whenever someone came down here.

They had learned never to draw attention to themselves.

Yeon Sowol's footsteps slowed as he walked between the cells, then finally came to a stop.

"..."

He looked at the people crouched down and trembling.

The qi all around them was still quivering from the shockwave caused by the collapse of the massive formation array. It seemed to embody those people's terror, making it even harder for Yeon Sowol to look away.

Creeeak!

Yeon Sowol had not reached any particular decision before moving. On impulse, he bent one of the iron bars and stepped inside.

A particularly young, particularly small child was curled up and trembling against a wet stone wall where water had pooled.

"Hey."

Yeon Sowol carefully took hold of the child. The little body shook as though it would fly apart.

"Hey. It's okay. You're okay, so can you look this way for a moment?"

The child would not turn around. Instead, they pressed themself even harder against the wet stone wall, as if trying to disappear inside it.

"Young Hero Yeon. This isn't the time for that! We need to hide quickly."

So Hye whispered beside him.

"Just a moment."

Rationally, Yeon Sowol knew So Hye was right.

At the same time, though, he felt something else.

Was I really so weak that I needed to hide? Could I not even hold out until the Hengshan Sect disciples arrived?

The answer was no.

If this were only about martial arts, it might have been different. Yet with the power of the Heaven-Killing Star, the strength of one Daoist temple could not do anything to him.

It was not even his first time fighting many opponents alone. Yeon Sowol had once stormed the Golden Powder Gang by himself and killed Seo Muryang.

The dark arts worried him, but were they truly an insurmountable threat? He had already fought a demonic practitioner from the Demonic Cult.

That unconscious judgment held Yeon Sowol in place.

Are you really going to hide? it asked him.

Leaving the crouched child alone for the moment, Yeon Sowol looked beside them. A man who appeared to be in his early twenties was curled up against the wall in the same position.

"Hey."

He grabbed the man's shoulder. His reaction was no different from the child's. Trembling violently, he pressed himself even closer to the wall.

"..."

Yeon Sowol placed a hand on the man's back and sent a little true qi into him.

Warmth flowed through Yeon Sowol's hand and into the man's meridians. It gently warmed the energy that had frozen rigid, then slowly set it circulating.

The man's trembling gradually subsided.

"Sir."

Only then did the man turn around.

"W-who are you?"

"I came to save you."

The man's eyes widened.

They grew wider.

And wider.

Then tears streamed down both cheeks.

The man broke into ragged, heaving sobs.

Yeon Sowol clenched his jaw.

A man who looked about his own age was crying in this dark, damp place, giving off a stale smell. It made him feel... awful.

"You must have had it hard..."

He only said it to comfort him as he patted the man's back, but the man answered.

"More than hard... It's just... so humiliating..."

Yeon Sowol's hand stopped.

"I couldn't do anything. I couldn't resist. I just hid... all this time... like some bug... I was... like a bug..."

Yeon Sowol's eyes darkened.

His chest heaved.

Thinking about it calmly, there was no reason for him to step in now.

If they hid well enough, the Hengshan Sect disciples would arrive and take care of everything.

That was the easier, more sensible path.

But.

"Young Hero Yeon?"

Yeon Sowol slowly turned to So Hye. Startled, she took a step back.

"Miss So, please get somewhere safe first."

"What?"

"I can't do that."

"What do you mean..."

"The stench is awful. I feel like my nose is going to fall off. What the hell have these so-called Daoists been doing here? It's revolting."

"That's true, but when the senior brothers arrive..."

"Miss So. You see, I..."

Yeon Sowol gripped the hilt of his sword as he spoke.

"I hate bad smells. I hate foul odors so much that I learned martial arts."

Yeon Sowol drew his sword.

Shing-

The sound of the blade sliding against its scabbard flowed along the cold walls.

"Looks like it'll finally pay off today."

As Yeon Sowol raised his sword, So Hye suddenly caught a clear fragrance from him. It was a scent his shabby clothes could not completely conceal, one that had seeped into his skin from washing every day and wearing fragrance.

As if entranced, So Hye could not take her eyes off Yeon Sowol.

* * *

An alley somewhere in Hengyang.

An old Daoist temple that had stood for over a hundred years. A red building surrounded by tall walls.

Ordinarily, it was a place where modest-looking Daoists wandered about at leisure with genial smiles, but today the atmosphere was different.

It was as chaotic as if a fire had broken out.

"The formation array has collapsed!"

"Judging by the way the energy is shaking, it collapsed on our side!"

"Are you sure it was ours?"

"I'm certain."

"No. How the hell did that happen?"

"What happened?"

"This is a headache... Do you know what kind of formation array that was? The other Daoist temples will raise hell over this."

As the Daoists panicked over the inexplicable disturbance, the Daoist temple master stepped forward.

"What are you all doing? Shouldn't you first inspect every anchor of the formation array? Move! Check them all, without missing a single one!"

"Yes! Yes!"

The Daoists scattered in every direction.

"What in the world..."

The Daoist temple master, his long white beard hanging from his chin, swept his surroundings with an irritated gaze and frowned.

It was a formation array that should never have collapsed.

Even if it had collapsed, it should not have collapsed at his Daoist temple.

Several Daoist temples in Hengyang had secretly joined hands to create this formation array. All of them were connected.

Since it had begun collapsing from his temple, the others would not stay quiet. They would try to pin everything on him and shift the damage onto his shoulders.

Just as the Daoist temple master was considering how to escape this mess...

"Aaaaaaah!"

A shrill scream rang out.

It came from the underground prison.

"What is this?"

The Daoist temple master drew a sword and raced over as though flying.

Daoists had already crowded around the prison entrance.

The Daoist temple master asked them, "What's happening?"

"An intruder is inside the underground prison! That bastard must be the one who destroyed the formation array."

"What?"

The Daoist temple master's face flushed red.

"That wretch isn't even worth grinding to pieces! Do not kill him under any circumstances! I shall make him taste every pain that exists in this world!"

Rumble!

The roof tiles of the surrounding buildings shook at his voice.

Internal energy and spiritual power blended together, producing crushing pressure and terror, like a divine general of hell roaring an order.

"Y-yes!"

"W-we'll capture him at once!"

The Daoists, their faces pale, rushed into the underground prison.

None of them returned.

"...Hm?"

The Daoist temple master's face stiffened.

"Eh? Why is it so quiet?"

"Hey! What are you all doing?"

A few people leaned into the underground prison stairway and shouted, but no answer came back.

Everyone's faces turned pale. They sensed it. Something dangerous lurked in that darkness.

Something that could take down the Daoists here, practitioners of both martial arts and sorcery, without letting them make a single sound.

"Out of the way, all of you."

The Daoist temple master spoke coldly, and the Daoists moved aside.

"So, it is something dangerous. Then again, no ordinary opponent could have destroyed the formation array from within. Fine. I don't know who you are, but I'll capture you myself and make you serve me."

"The Celestial Master is going in personally..."

"With the Celestial Master's martial arts and sorcery..."

"Hmph!"

The Daoist temple master snorted and entered the dark stairway. As he descended, he bellowed, "I don't know whether you're human or monster, but come out at once. You may have some knowledge of formation arrays, but you've grown arrogant over a pathetic trick and forgotten how high the heavens are."

Step. Step.

His footsteps carried no fear at all.

He had faith in his own abilities.

"Still not coming out? You should already be caught in my sorcery. By now, it must be hard for you to even keep your mind intact. Stop struggling. You'll only prolong your suffering."

The Daoist temple master spoke with ease.

Then his face suddenly went white.

Snap!

"Huh?"

The energy he had secretly spread out was ripped apart and scattered in an instant, as if it had never existed.

"Huh?"

The Daoist temple master spun around in a panic.

What... What was that? What was it? Just now. That... What was it?

Questions he could not possibly understand echoed through his mind.

The energy was gone.

Without a trace.

It had not been overwhelmed by stronger energy, nor shattered. It was as though it had torn itself apart.

It was gone.

No principle he knew in all the world could explain it.

What in the world was down there?

I-I have to run...!

He hurried up the stairs.

Toward the end of the stairway where light spilled in.

His mind reeling from witnessing the impossible, he tried to run as though possessed, but...

Whoosh!

A shadow slipped into the gap in his wavering mind. It turned sharply without a sound, caught up to him in an instant, then...

Stab!

"Aaaaaaah!"

The shadow pierced his thigh with a sword and dragged him down the stairs.

"Aaaaaaah!"

The white-bearded Daoist temple master was dragged below.

Screaming.

Thud! Thud-thump! His head slammed loudly against the stairs.

"Aaaaaaah!"

A dreadful scream echoed from the darkness.

"..."

The Daoists above the stairs turned pale.

"T-the Celestial Master?"

"W-we have to run..."

The faint-hearted ones had already turned to flee.

Then...

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Shadows leaped over the Daoist temple's high walls.

"Aaaargh!"

Several Daoists trying to escape were skewered by swords and had their legs cut off, rolling across the ground.

Someone screamed in terror.

"T-the Hengshan Sect!!"

The Daoists scattered in all directions, but it was useless. The Hengshan Sect disciples had already surrounded the Daoist temple completely, and they cut down and stabbed the enemies without mercy.

For a short while, the old Daoist temple became wildly chaotic.

Then it fell quiet.

* * *

What was that earlier?

Yeon Sowol wondered.

He thought of the old man who had come down the stairs calmly, hands clasped behind his back, confident in whatever he believed in.

At a glance, the man had looked like the leader of this filthy Daoist temple.

He had talked about sorcery and released some strange energy.

It had felt ominous and sticky, so Yeon Sowol had cut it off with the power of the Heaven-Killing Star.

What would have happened if I had left it alone? Is there really something called sorcery? Something other than martial arts?

Yeon Sowol thought of the demonic practitioner from the Demonic Cult.

The darkness he had released.

The ability to kill people with sound alone.

They were powers like magic, truly deserving to be called dark arts or sorcery.

Yet even that had ultimately been a kind of martial art that could be understood through the frameworks of a protective qi art and sound arts.

Is sorcery something like that?

He was curious, but he could not find out. He had already dragged the man underground and hacked him to death.

All he could do was once again realize how little he still knew of this world.

"Phew..."

Dead Daoists lay scattered at Yeon Sowol's feet.

"...Ah."

"Ah..."

"A-are we alive?"

"Ah..."

The underground prison was different from before.

Everyone had watched the Daoists, the source of their terror, get dragged down and die one after another, hacked to pieces.

Those who had only crouched and trembled began lifting their heads one by one. At last, they pressed themselves against the bars.

They finally understood that the terror oppressing them was over.

At that moment, the screams of Daoists also rang out from outside the underground prison. The Hengshan Sect disciples had arrived.

"Wow... You really did all of this by yourself... How?"

So Hye looked around, then stared blankly at Yeon Sowol.

Yet Yeon Sowol seemed lost in thought, paying no attention to her reaction.

So Hye continued on her own.

"It's a shame, though. Judging by the scale of the formation array, a great many Daoist temples must have joined together to create it. We caught one, but the others will cut their ties and disappear... We have no way to track them down."

Yeon Sowol only half-listened.

He was closely observing the energy trembling around them.

Since the moment he had destroyed the formation array, circles of energy had rippled outward like shockwaves.

Yeon Sowol's unmatched qi sense, born with the power of the Heaven-Killing Star and sharpened by the assassin qi sense training Eun-yeong had taught him, worked together with his sensitive physique, refined through bodily cultivation by the Greater Rejuvenation Pill, to follow the ripples of those concentric circles.

At last, he spoke.

"Miss So Hye."

"Yes?"

"You said formation arrays are organically connected to one another, right?"

"Yes, I did."

"And this is a massive formation array that could only have been created by several Daoist temples pooling their strength."

"Ah, yes. That's right."

Yeon Sowol flicked the blood from his sword. He had simply picked up one of the swords his enemies had carried.

"I think I can find them."

"Find what?"

"Every formation anchor connected to this place."

"What?"