[Episode 86 Pursuit (2)]
The southern entrance of Dohwaseon.
It had not been long since Jin Woon-hwi went out.
Jeongyang Jinin burst into laughter and said while looking at the place where Jin Woonhwi disappeared.
“Hehehe. “I hope everything works out the way it should.”
To his words, the Taoist holding the yin-yang tablet smiled and responded.
“It will be so. Although it is a small skill, we all taught it to one person for the first time. “Before he is an agent, he is like a co-disciple.”
“Co-disciple.”
At his words, the monks all smiled faintly.
Although they are cultivating the Tao, they have been competing with their disciples for some time.
This was the first time they had come together for a common goal.
Although it was short, the period felt meaningful.
As we looked at each other as if we were reminiscing, Jeongyang and Jinin spoke.
“Now go back and teach your disciples.”
“All right.”
The monks folded their hands neatly and bowed their heads.
Then, Jeongyang Jinin’s new form became blurred and disappeared.
Following this, other Taoists also left one by one using the method of Chukji.
It was time for Geomseondo to return to Sunyangjeon.
“But the death penalty. “You said you were making a support to send outside, but have you completed it?”
A Taoist man with a drum on his belt asked him.
Geomseon responded with a smile.
“If things are going the way they should, shouldn’t we leave it behind?”
Only by leaving that behind can we reach our current relationship.
“Even so, I also feel like I haven’t left anything behind in this world, so in order not to have any regrets, I’m going to write down a little bit of enlightenment about music and send it to my disciples when they go on their pilgrimage.”
“haha. “That will do.”
“All right. “Tell me when the time is right…”
Before he could finish his sentence.
The fog at the southern entrance to the Dohwaseon wavered and someone appeared.
The swordsmen of Geomseon and Tongso, who saw this, could not help but be surprised.
“Yangseon!”
The person who appeared through the fog was none other than Yeo Yang-seon, Geom-seon’s second disciple.
As she walked unsteadily, her condition was not that good.
Just by looking at the scratches all over his body and his haggard face, I could see how much he had suffered.
Tungso’s Taoist caught her as she was about to fall.
“Are you okay?”
“Haa… Master… Master…”
Hearing her words utter with difficulty, the Taoist monk turned his gaze to Geomseon.
Geomseon came closer and spoke to her.
“What happened to this?”
“Master! “Ahhhh.”
When she saw Geom-seon’s face, she shed hot tears.
When she, who had been kidnapped by Ja Kyung-jeong, the disciple who betrayed him, returned in this state, Geom-seon felt heartbroken.
Geomseon barely suppressed his emotions and spoke to her.
“How did you escape from him?”
“Haa…haa….”
Yeo Yang-seon, who couldn’t even catch her breath in response to his question, spoke with difficulty.
“Master…..please prevent the death penalty…..the death penalty.”
“You want to stop him? “What does that mean?”
“The death penalty…..the emperor…..”
“Emperor?”
At the unexpected words that came out of her mouth, Geomseon and Tungso’s Daoin looked at each other with serious faces.
* * *
A pole flag that can be seen everywhere at the forefront of the army.
The large letters “Hwang (皇)” written on it can only be used by the emperor’s army.
It’s a strange thing.
When an emperor leads an army, it is no different from his own reign.
Even if the emperor does not directly lead the army, he does not raise the flag so openly.
Rather, to protect the emperor, the flag of the general who actually leads the army is raised.
However, this army raised the emperor’s flag as if to show off.
The flag next to it has the name of the country written on it.
-It’s written as a kite, right?
Yeon?
So this army is the army of the Yan Dynasty?
Considering that the Yan Dynasty was established, at least it is not that far away compared to the time I was in.
It was found that it was at least several hundred years old.
Then, just by knowing which dynasty you are in, you can know who is directly leading that army.
‘Is it over there?’
It certainly seems like there must be an emperor in the county.
Usually, generals and generals marched at the front, but there were about three carriages that looked like whole houses had been moved in the middle, and security was tight around them.
I focused my eyes on Seoncheonjingi and looked at the group as a whole, and there was no face I recognized at first glance.
‘hmm.’
They’re pulling such big carriages.
As befits the emperor’s army, there is something beyond imagination.
‘Go higher up Namcheon.’
-i get it.
Namcheon Cheolgeom increased its altitude.
-Wood! Crack!
I quickly changed the shape of my face using physical transformation.
The altitude was much higher and there was a lot of distance, so there was no chance of the military finding me, but it was necessary to prepare for just such an emergency.
-First of all, since there are a lot of them, you won’t get too close, right?
‘okay.’
As Namcheon Cheolgeom said, it is difficult to approach hastily.
Even if it is about 2 ri away, there is a high probability that you will be noticed if you lower your altitude here.
-how will we do it? Unhui.
Let’s think about it for a moment.
-Purrrrr!
If you look at the needle of the pendulum shaking violently, it is clear that the Buddhist sphere is within the Hwanggun.
Moreover, it seems like he is openly using legal tools.
That means that in the emperor’s army, there is Ja Gyeong-jeong, the disciple who betrayed Geomseon.
-Why on earth are you there?
Is there any way for me to know that?
However, in order to catch Ja-gyeong-jeong, he was familiar with all the information that Geom-seon knew about him.
-what? Does that mean he cares about the people’s livelihood and doesn’t have a bad personality?
okay.
The problem is the information that is almost a compliment.
The more I hear from Geomseon about Vigilantism, the more he thinks he is even better than those from the prestigious political faction.
He was a person who worried about the safety of the people and lamented the reality that believers had to live trapped in a fuse like this.
-Why is that guy so crooked?
How can I know everything about the human mind?
-Then did he go under the emperor?
Under the emperor?
There’s something strange about that.
It is said that the reason why he often clashed with Geomseon was because Jagyeongjeong insisted that Dohwaseon should actively help the imperial court’s oppression of Taoist and martial people.
But then you suddenly get a government position under the emperor?
It was completely absurd.
-….Then you didn’t sneak in there to kill the emperor?
‘Kill the emperor?’
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the imperial army’s advance.
It was definitely a better fit than serving in the imperial family.
For that level of inaction, a Buddhist monk might even have considered killing the emperor.
However, the imperial family is not so easy.
If the imperial family had no power, the Murim people would never have noticed.
-Aren’t you just pushing the water?
I heard that even though the imperial army’s million-strong army is scary, there is a hidden power within it.
Since there was something that could counter the inaction of the martial arts people, wouldn’t the government have tried to subjugate the martial arts people at all times?
-So that’s why you’re sneaking in and looking for an opportunity?
It seems highly likely.
Now, the outline is becoming somewhat clear.
If my guess is correct, it seems that Ja Kyung-jeong also infiltrated the imperial family in some way because he knew that he could not deal with the imperial family with just the legal tools alone.
So, he may be trying to do something by gaining the emperor’s trust.
-That could be possible? So are you going to sneak in there too?
That’s the problem.
You have to infiltrate the Imperial Army to catch him, but you can’t just join him.
It might have been better if that army was in the process of being drafted out, but how could they get in while they were still marching for a long time?
-hey. You have the art of embodied transformation.
It’s impossible right now.
Even if you try to disguise yourself as one of them, if they are stationed at night, you can sneak in and imitate one of them, but right now they are on the march.
-Then what are you going to do?
Looking at the sun in the sky, it looks like it will set in at least an hour or so.
I’d rather go down, keep some distance, hang around, and wait for them to station themselves.
It is not too late to aim for that time.
At night, no matter how strict the military discipline is, there will be some gaps.
-Then I will get out of here for now.
If you lower your altitude right away, they will see you, so you should do that.
Anyway, it’s quite a coincidence.
If you continue to advance like this, you will reach the foggy forest where the fuse is located.
Of course, the fuse will disappear before long, so there is no way they will make contact, but the timing is clever.
Well, this could be a coincidence.
Considering that the fuse is staying in that position and the speed of the army’s advance, it is impossible to encounter the foggy forest.
In any case, my priority is to infiltrate there…
-Shoot!
At that moment, I caught something flying fast.
It was none other than an arrow as long as a pole.
‘arrow?’
It is impossible for ordinary archers to shoot something this thick and long.
Moreover, the direction from which it flew was none other than the direction from which the imperial army was advancing.
‘No way…’
The arrow was fired from 2 li away?
Moreover, if you calculate altitude, the distance increases even more.
Even if I had natural divine power, this was too far.
Even if you were an expert at climbing over walls, it was not easy to accurately aim at someone at this altitude at this distance.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that a person who could shoot by looking at what appeared to be a blurry dot had archery skills and could be called a courtier.
‘Is it true that it really came from there?’
It may have come from a little closer, but there is no one in the immediate vicinity.
It was a moment when I was wondering.
-Shoo shoo shoo!!
Arrows were seen flying one after another from exactly the direction where the imperial army was.
It was coming from the center of the army.
-Papak!
I lightly waved my hand and caught all the flying arrows.
‘Could it have been shot by a vigilante?’
If it had been his inaction or discipline, he might have found me.
But the guy was clearly not visible.
I concentrated my eyes and looked straight at the direction the arrow had come from.
From the front of a carriage the size of a house, I saw someone vaguely looking like a dot aiming at me.
It looked so small that it was blurry, but it was definitely not a vigilante.
‘He saw me?’
He was definitely not an ordinary person.
Although the distance was so far away that it was impossible to determine if he was inaction, there was no doubt that he was an archer who was at least as good as an expert who could overcome walls in terms of eye strength and aerial power.
‘Namcheon. Let’s get out quickly.’
The people around the archer are looking at this place, wondering something.
You don’t have to be noticed by them, but if the commotion gets louder, you might be caught by a vigilante.
I quickly flew away from the military.
As the distance grew, even I could no longer see the advancing imperial army.
‘shit.’
-What should I do?
At this point, it is questionable whether they will actually be stationed there and rest in peace.
I never expected that there would be someone with such ridiculous eyesight.
Even if it was just a coincidence that it was found at such a high altitude, it was surprising that it had been discovered at a somewhat noticeable angle.
-Didn’t I see you flying on a sword?
That’s impossible.
Even though I had become stronger after training at Dohwaseon, at that place where I had increased my altitude, even though I had increased my eye strength with Seoncheonjingi, the archer looked like a blurry dot.
No matter how good the archer’s eyesight is, he cannot see something as thin as a sword.
Even if you looked at it, it would have looked like it was flying in the sky.
-Even if that were the case, this would have heightened vigilance significantly.
It’s embarrassing.
In this case, it is unreasonable to wait for the station to be stationed.
I have to find another way, what should I do?
-Woonhwi. Look over there.
‘where?’
-southeastward!
I looked down at Sodamgeom’s words.
I saw a group of about thirty people there.
There were about 20 people riding horses.
‘Military uniform?’
They were wearing armor similar to the imperial troops we had discovered earlier.
It looked like they were scouts.
Otherwise, there was no way to return to the exact direction where the imperial army was.
‘ah!’
Great.
I think we can use them to infiltrate the imperial army.
-What are you going to do?
‘Namcheon, please come closer to them.’
-i get it.
Namcheoncheolgeom lowered its altitude and approached their direction.
When I saw it from a distance, I couldn’t tell because it was faint, but as I got closer, I saw what looked like scouts on horseback, leading about 10 people with a rope.
No matter how I looked at it, it looked like a prisoner.
What’s more interesting is that I thought they were ordinary scouts, but one of them was a peak expert and the rest were top experts.
-Those guys are so cruel.
The imperial soldiers on horseback advanced without any concern that the prisoners were falling and being dragged to the ground.
Among them was a boy who looked to be about fifteen years old.
The boy, whose legs were shorter and slower than the adults, was dragged away covered in blood, which was frowned upon.
-Pot!
Without hesitation, I jumped off the Namcheon Iron Sword.
And it landed right in front of the guys riding the horse.
-thud!
The imperial soldiers could not hide their bewilderment when they saw me suddenly fall from the sky.
They pulled out weapons from their belts.
-visor!
“Who are you?”
The peak expert, who seemed to be the leader, shouted at me.
I said with a grin at them.
“I don’t know anything about that, and I’ll have to release those guys later.”
“What!”
At my words, the faces of the people who were tired from running with their upper bodies tied to the rope brightened.
But when I came down again, I saw that their abdomen was stained with blood.
To be exact, it was towards Danjeon.
They seem to have been trained in martial arts, but they appear to have destroyed the Danjeon.
“You came to save these guys. Catch him!”
“yes. Commander Cheon!”
I didn’t think he was a scout, but did he become a commander in chief?
A commander in chief refers to a general who handles a thousand soldiers under his command.
Somehow, it was said that martial arts skills were quite good.
At Commander Cheon’s command, the imperial army, made up of top-class experts, rushed towards me on horseback.
At this, I quietly backed away.
The imperial army charging in from the front, holding a spear, seemed absurd.
“This guy has lost his fear…”
-Boom!
At that time, I stepped hard towards the floor.
-Paang!
“Huh!”
“100 million!”
At that moment, with the strong wind pressure, about ten imperial soldiers in the front row who were charging at the same time were immediately thrown off their horses.
The eyes of the prisoners, including the imperial army, widened at the sight.
He seemed to have never imagined that such a great master would appear.
“Run away!”
Is it because he shows such great prestige?
The judgment of the person called Commander Cheon was very quick.
As soon as that cry went out, the imperial soldiers let go of the rope holding the prisoner and tried to run away
– just!
The moment he snapped his fingers, the remaining ten imperial soldiers, including Commander Cheon, fainted and fell under their horses.
A few people were unlucky enough to fall head first and break their necks.
‘Eek.’
I didn’t mean to kill him like this, but I couldn’t help it.
When I turned my head, I saw the prisoners tied to the ropes looking at me in bewilderment.
I was so surprised that I couldn’t even speak.
As I approached them, several people asked me.
“What kind of deceased person is this that made us…”
-Wow!
“Huh?”
Instead of answering, I held the sword and swung it to cut their rope with a sharp move.
They said as they were released from the rope and were puzzled.
“It’s okay, tens of thousands of imperial troops are coming here now, so run away quickly.”
“Hi!”
They started a fight when they heard that tens of thousands of people were the imperial army.
It made me click my tongue to see how he would react this way when he had suffered so much.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“Please tell me at least your honorific name.”
The prisoners asked me as I untied the remaining ropes.
However, I shook my head.
This was the end of my relationship with them anyway, and I wasn’t going to stay here, so I didn’t feel it was worth telling them.
After asking several times, they soon gave up and ran away to the other side with a thank you.
But there was only one person left.
It was a boy who appeared to be about fifteen years old.
The boy’s appearance, covered in wounds from being dragged by a horse, was truly horrendous.
“Why aren’t you going?”
In response to my question, the boy stood up with difficulty.
Then he suddenly bowed to me.
“Thank you for your help. However, as a descendant of a warrior family, I am unable to learn martial arts, so how can I say I am alive?”
‘hmm.’
I think it’s because the Danjeon was destroyed.
Like other prisoners, this boy’s abdomen was stained with blood.
They were truly without blood or tears.
This is why I thought that Ja Gyeong-jeong might have hated the emperor.
I sighed and said to the boy.
“Just because the Danjeon was destroyed doesn’t mean there is no way. “If you survive, think of it as fate and try to survive somehow.”
At my words, the boy stood up without a word.
Then, he immediately picked up the sword hilt that the emperor had dropped on the floor.
And then he tried to cut his own throat with a sword.
“This guy!”
I tried to catch the guy’s sword with a new weapon.
As I closed the distance in an instant, he shouted at me in surprise and swung his sword without realizing it.
“Don’t stop me!”
But as he moved his feet and swung his sword, I had no choice but to stop for a moment.
‘This?’
I caught the boy’s sword with two fingers.
No matter how weak the sword was, an exclamation escaped the boy’s mouth as the sword was blocked so easily.
“Ah….”
I asked that boy.
“Who did you learn this sword from?”
The boy was embarrassed by my question and stuttered.
“Why are you asking that?”
“Just answer me.”
At this, the boy died and said to me.
“It’s our family’s swordsmanship.”
“Family’s swordsmanship?”
“Why on earth are you asking that?”
“Where are you from?”
“……Yunnan Province.”
There was only one reason I asked this.
Although this swordsmanship he unconsciously swung was crude, it was the basic form of a swordsman’s sword.
I asked the guy again.
“What’s your name?”
“no. Why on earth are you doing this? No matter how much you are Eungong, how can you let me die by my own hands…”
“Just answer the questions.”
The boy was startled by the intimidating voice.
Then, as he looked at me, he opened his mouth in a hushed voice.
“Ho….I’m Ho Jong-won.”
‘!!!’
ⓒ Hanzhongwolya
