Absolute Sword Sense Chapter 354

< Side story 3 Those who look for him (3) >

'Grandfather?'

King Nangwang Hyukcheon was at a loss for words at the sudden announcement.

Until just a moment ago, he had thought that these women were after the priest Jin Yun-hui.

But what is Grandfather saying all of a sudden?

“……What on earth are you talking about?”

At his words, Baek Hye-hyang raised one eyebrow and said.

“You. Aren’t you Yun-Hui’s successor?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you are my grandfather.”

Hyukcheon's eyes widened at her words.

If what she says is true now, then it means that the Blood Witch Baek Hye-hyang married Un-hwi.

For a moment, his gaze turned to the Ice Queen Seol Baek.

She also called him her grandfather.

'no way?'

Hyukcheonman's mind became complicated.

It almost seemed like they were making fun of me.

The Bloodthirsty Witch Baek Hye-hyang was one of the five great villains, and the Ice Queen Seol Baek was one of the eight great masters.

So they are the wives of his priest, Jin Yun-hui?

I just couldn't believe it.

“…….Are you kidding me right now?”

Seolbaek smiled brightly at those words.

“Are you kidding me? If you are the death penalty of the highest order, you are my uncle, so please speak comfortably. If possible, I would like you to call me ‘Jesus’.”

Seolbaek's face brightened as he said it himself, feeling good about being called that name.

Looking at her like that, Baek Hye-hyang shook her head and snorted.

“Your sister-in-law likes you.”

“Then why should I call you sister-in-law?”

“What about sister-in-law? Do you want to be called ‘sister-in-law’ at that age?”

Seolbaek glared at her with cold eyes at Baek Hye-hyang's words that attacked her with age.

The surrounding air gradually grew colder and steam rose from my breath.

As Baek Hye-hyang also raised her energy, red mists began to sway.

'What on earth are they doing?'

Suddenly, the two of them started arguing like archenemies and looked like they were going to fight at any moment.

Hyukcheonman had a hard time understanding this situation.

What on earth did he hear?

“……If the two female knights are my priest’s…..wives…..what does it mean that they will see the end they spoke of in the guest house?”

At his words, Baek Hye-hyang spoke without taking her eyes off Seol-baek.

“Ah, I have to finish it. I wonder who will be the next in line.”

“Higher ranking?”

I was puzzled, but this time Seolbaek spoke in a lively voice.

“Don’t be disappointed by hearing it directly from your husband’s mouth. Why don’t you just be satisfied with the third place?”

“I don’t know who’s talking. Senior.”

“You again!”

With a sharp cry, Seolbaek extended his sword towards her.

Baek Hye-hyang also fought against the cold-blooded day, which was filled with the energy of the Blood Heavenly Sword.

-Paang!

As the two women clashed, a strong gust of wind arose.

The aftermath caused a crack in the floor, and if Hyukcheonman had not been a master who had overcome the wall of superhumans, he might have been thrown out with internal injuries.

'Should I stop it?'

But for some reason, I felt like I shouldn't interfere, so I stepped back.

Then, someone's voice came into his ear.

[Your Majesty, don't be so surprised.]

'huh?'

He was the third of the three sects of the blood sect, Nanmadodoje Seogalma.

[What is Nanmadoje?]

[You know the old man.]

[Can I just leave it alone?]

[……This happens often. Don't worry about it.]

[with short?]

Hyukcheon frowned.

Usually when women fight, it's just a fight, but when it comes to them, it's a disaster.

Even now, the wind is blowing so hard that it threatens to break the trees.

[……Is it really true that the reason they are fighting is because of my priest?]

[Yes. Ahem.]

Seogalma coughed in vain, perhaps because she felt embarrassed to be talking about something like this.

At the sound of Seogalma's affirmation, Hyukcheon blankly stared at the two women who were engaged in a duel.

"under……"

What is this feeling of emptiness?

It wasn't a feeling of emptiness over a misunderstanding.

Some people push themselves to extremes in the West for a year to overcome their limitations.

But not only did he earn the title of best in the world in just one year, but the best women in the current martial arts world are fighting over who can possess him.

The boy who was his disciple approached him and spoke to him cautiously.

“I… are you okay, Master?”

He was a boy who had already inspired his teacher.

I'm worried that I might have been needlessly disappointed.

But I still thought that he, a master of the Eight Great Swordsmen and the king of the Ronin, would be greatly affected by something like this.

But the boy could hear Hyukcheonman's muttering in his ears.

“……You are truly blessed, priest.”

'ah……'

His teacher was also a man.

The excitement I felt from the Master said it all.

* * *

Deep in the mountains.

Bushes so thick that not even sunlight can penetrate.

Because of this, the dark mountain path can sometimes have an eerie atmosphere.

A middle-aged herbalist, carrying a sickle and a hoe on his waist and a sack on his back, was leading the way along the mountain path.

Behind him, a young man wearing a bamboo hat and his little finger tickled his left ear, and a servant carrying a bundle followed.

The herbalist who was giving the tour said.

“Isn’t the road really rough?”

“That’s true. What on earth are the bushes that have grown so thick?”

The man who appeared to be a servant spoke in a rough tone, sticking out his tongue.

To this the herbalist replied:

“The mountain path becomes somewhat flatter when many people come and go, but it’s like that because there are no people. Even herbalists like us don’t come up here often, so it must be even more so.”

“Oh my. It’s not even dark yet, but it’s so dark and creepy. I wonder if a ghost will come out.”

Even as we went inward little by little, fog began to form.

It seemed like there was a reason why this place was called the Three Great Forbidden Places.

There were strict warning signs posted everywhere telling people not to enter the valley of Mt. Kirin where they were walking, starting from the entrance of the mountain.

The servant continued to grumble.

“Why did you choose to come here out of all the places?”

At this the young man chuckled and said,

“Why are you scared?”

“Aren’t you scared, Young Master? You’ll be embarrassed if you come alone.”

“This is a world where everyone lives. Why bother?”

“Yes, yes. You are truly amazing.”

The attendant shook his head.

The herbalist burst into laughter as he watched their conversation.

“How did you two end up here?”

“What could it be? I came here because my master said he was looking for something.”

“Are you saying that there is something to be found in this mountain, which has so many warnings against entering that it is dangerous?”

People who live near Mt. Kirin here never even come near this place.

It was a place with such ominous and sinister rumors.

The young man wearing a bamboo hat opened his mouth.

“Have you ever heard of Seomok Hancheol?”

“What time is it?”

“I heard that a long time ago, a unique iron was discovered in a cave in the valley here, and it was called Seomok Hancheol.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

“I know that Hancheol can only be found in the northern Seoye along the cold railroad, but I heard that in the past, it could also be found here in Mt. Girin.”

“You have truly shown great courage to come to such a dangerous and dangerous place to get that.”

The young man responded as if it was nothing to the herbalist's words that praised him as if he were great.

“There must be something wrong.”

“There is nothing wrong with being careful in everything.”

“So I am asking you for directions.”

This herbalist was the only person from the nearby village who came here to dig up herbs.

The herbalist's voice became much more serious as he listened to the young man's words.

“I guess you don’t know what happened here because you’re young.”

“What's going on?”

“Well, you’re not even from this area, so there’s no way you’d know. Hehe. Since it’s come to this, would you like to hear some old stories?”

“An old story? Are you going to tell me a scary story?”

The attendant asked with a frown.

The herbalist spoke in a frightening tone, as if he were amused by such a reaction.

“If it’s scary, then it’s scary.”

“No. Why are you talking about something like this here….”

At this, the attendant waved his hand and tried to tell him not to do it.

But the young man wearing the bamboo hat said as if he found it interesting.

“That sounds interesting. Tell me about it.”

“Your Majesty, you are truly…..”

"fizzle."

“Ah.”

The attendant pounded his chest with his fist as if he was frustrated.

The young man urged him to tell the story anyway.

Then the herbalist took up his sickle and cut down the bushes blocking his way, saying:

“I don’t know if it was the Seomokhancheol or something, but I heard that in the past, there were many precious medicinal herbs growing here, and there were also many wild animals, so everyone from herbalists to hunters would come and go.”

“Do you know since when this place was banned?”

“It’s a story known only to the locals. A long time ago, several Taoist priests passed through our village with injuries and then went into hiding in Mt. Kirin.”

“Taoists?”

“Yes. He is a Taoist priest from a place called Mosan or Maksan.”

“…….Mosanpa?”

“Oh. That’s right. I think it was something similar to that name. It’s a story I heard when I was very young, so I can’t remember it clearly.”

The Mosanpa was a Taoist sect that was once destroyed while helping the Jin Dynasty suppress the Central Plains.

Compared to other sects, they were skilled in sorcery and witchcraft, but their lineage has now been completely cut off.

But the young man became even more intrigued when he heard that some of the survivors were hiding here.

“Please continue talking.”

“At first, the villagers didn’t think much of it. I heard that Mosanpa is also a martial arts sect. Is it only a day or two since martial arts people are covered in blood?”

The young man nodded in agreement with those words.

The herbalist stepped forward and continued speaking.

“But the problem came after that. About a month after the Taoists went into hiding in the mountains, the villagers noticed something strange.”

“Strange fact?”

“Not a single herbalist or hunter who went into the mountains returned.”

It was more suspicious than strange.

This is what happened after the priests of Mosanpa came.

“He said he wouldn’t come back… So what did you do?”

“How could we have just sat there and watched as the men of our family didn’t return? The whole family came here to look for them.”

“So, did you find them?”

“Unfortunately, they also could not return to the village.”

“…….Everything is gone?”

“Ah! They say that only one person came back alive. However, he was so badly injured that he died shortly after.”

Should I say that it came back to life?

“But if he had come back alive, it would have been revealed what happened. Was it the work of the Mosanpa Taoists?”

The herbalist shook his head at the young man's question and answered in a heavy voice.

“I really don’t know how to explain this.”

“……Aren’t the Mosanpa Taoists like that?”

“That’s the thing. They say he said something strange before he died.”

“Strange words?”

“……They said they saw strange creatures in the forest that drank human blood.”

At those words, the attendant frowned and trembled.

He was sick of stories like this.

“It is said that no one believed him because his story was so absurd.”

Of course, it was a story that was hard to believe.

According to what he said before he died, the monsters who drink people's blood are said to have such great strength that they can tear a person in half with just a simple wave of their hands.

“Even if you didn’t believe that, who would want to go into the mountains when so many people have disappeared? In the end, the villagers decided that they couldn’t solve the problem on their own, so they filed a complaint with the government and requested an investigation. So what do you think happened?”

The herbalist asked back.

The young man with the bamboo stick who was stroking his chin said.

“If it’s still called a restricted area, isn’t it because it wasn’t resolved back then?”

“That’s right. None of the officers returned alive. More officers were mobilized and several more searches were conducted, but it was the same.”

“They all didn’t come back?”

“That’s right. Even the most famous martial artists went into the mountains to try to solve this case, but not a single one of them came back alive.”

When things got to this point, people thought there was nothing they could do.

Even the soldiers of the coffin and the people of the martial arts world can't solve it, so how can we get back the ones who disappeared?

It is said that whenever people entered, the only traces left were bloodstains that clung to the leaves of the forest like dew.

Because of this, the valley of Mt. Kirin came to be called Hyulrorim (血露林), and became notorious as one of the three major forbidden areas.

“Isn’t that a truly eerie story? Perhaps there really are monsters living in this cursed forest that drink human blood.”

The young man, who had been listening to the herbalist in silence, suddenly asked.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“Please ask.”

“According to what you said, no one has ever entered this forest and come out alive, so how did you manage to gather herbs without any problems?”

-Stop!

The herbalist stopped dead in his tracks at the young man's question.

The forest covered in darkness was ominous and terribly eerie.

The herbalist who had stopped suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahahahaha.”

The attendant muttered as if he couldn't understand while watching him laugh like a madman.

“Has this guy lost his mind?”

-Ouch!

A rustling sound could be heard as the bushes on all sides swayed in confusion.

There were some unknown beings surrounding the area.

That feeling was quite different from the presence of people.

“Your Majesty, this is…”

Then the herbalist, who had been laughing for a long time, stopped and spoke to them.

“I guess I got excited without realizing it since it’s been a while since we’ve had guests here. You can tell by the ridiculous slip of the tongue I made.”

The herbalist slowly turned around.

Unlike before, he was carrying a backpack and had an arrogant expression on his face.

“I’ve been their watchman here for so long, I find that I feel relaxed when I come here.”

"warden?"

A watchman is a servant who guards a place and works.

The herbalist, who called himself that, spoke with a grin.

"It's become a daily routine to scare everyone who comes here."

A herbalist who never loses his smile, wondering what is so enjoyable about it.

The young man from Juklip said to him,

“……It was a pack.”

“He seems like a pretty smart young man, but what can I do? I just realized it now. Hahahahahaha.”

The herbalist laughed at them.

Then, he raised his hand and signaled something.

-Pussssss!

Then, a large number of monsters with yellow eyes and disheveled hair appeared from the bushes.

For a human, all of its teeth were sharp and pointed.

“Krrrrrr.”

Even beast-like sounds came out of his mouth.

The herbalist spoke in a triumphant voice.

“How would it be to see with your own eyes the vampire monsters you’ve only heard of? Would your heart burst?”

“……."

'Hehehe.'

The herbalist was sure that they were scared, looking at them speechless.

It's a sight I see all the time, but this is when I get the most excited.

It was a moment of watching a human being die in fear.

“Welcome to the Three Great Forbidden Blood Forest. And goodbye.”

-Papapapat!

As soon as he finished speaking, the monsters all started moving at once.

He lunged at the two people, screaming as if he were a ferocious beast.

It was that very moment.

-Exactly!

The young man in the bamboo hat lightly snapped his fingers.

At that moment, the monsters that had been rushing towards me stopped in their tracks with blank expressions.

'!?'

The herbalist was dumbfounded by the unfamiliar sight.

“What the heck is this…..”

“There’s nothing particularly surprising enough to make my heart burst.”

"what?"

The young man in the bamboo hat waved his hand lightly, as if he couldn't understand English.

Then, the heads of dozens of monsters exploded all at once.

-Crack! Crack! Crack!

“Oh no!”

It was a sight that was hard to believe.

He killed them all without even laying a hand on them.

What was even more surprising was that the heads of many of these monsters exploded, spraying blood and brain fluid in all directions, but the area around the young man in the bamboo grove seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier.

'Am I really human?'

It wasn't the dead monsters, but the person in front of me that was the real monster.

The terrified herbalist backed away and said,

“Who…who are you?”

To his question, the servant, not the young man, shrugged his shoulders and said.

“Oh my. Do you think our master, who even killed a dragon, would be defeated by those blood-sucking monsters?”

“A dragon? No way?”

The herbalist's face turned pale.

A young man secretly lifts a bamboo stick towards him.

'!!!'

He is the one who is called the pinnacle of the current martial arts world.

It was Jin Yun-hwi, the best swordsman in the world.

< Side story 3 Those who look for him (3) > End

ⓒ Hanjungwolya