The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 39

Chapter 39. A First-Rate Warrior Stirring Up a New Wind

Three spell practitioners were dispatched from the Murim Alliance through the Yueyang Branch.

The people gathered at Demon Spirit Plateau looked at them with expectant eyes, then could not hide their disappointment.

Two green brats barely rid of their downy fuzz, and one middle-aged man.

Moreover, when they learned that these were not the people who had installed the Murim Alliance’s formation but personnel who managed the formations, they grew even more furious.

“Are you saying these people are all you sent?”

The people currently gathered at Demon Spirit Plateau, without distinguishing the Orthodox Path from the Black Path, were demanding answers from the Murim Alliance’s Yueyang Branch Chief.

From the Orthodox Path’s standpoint, the Black Path members should have been an eyesore, but under the common premise that this was a gathering of victims, they no longer distinguished friend from foe.

“For now, we intend to first identify what formation it is, then dispatch additional personnel.”

“Then what about Yong So-ah? I heard he survived and left this place. Where is Yong So-ah?”

“After Hyeoncheong completed his report to the Murim Alliance, he returned to his main mountain because of an urgent matter.”

“What! Are you saying there is something more urgent than five thousand people dying in there?!”

Namgung Jin-myeong’s fists trembled.

How could those who were effectively blood allies behave in such a way?

“Hyeoncheong also said he did not actually know what kind of formation it was, so even if he came, he would not have been of much help.”

The Murim Alliance’s Yueyang Branch Chief tried desperately to avoid blame, but everyone who knew, knew.

The talent Wudang Sect treasured most.

The divine prodigy Wudang Sect would never see again.

They were trying to keep a person like that from shouldering the blame for having left five thousand people behind and survived alone.

“Among those who went inside were people from Maoshan Sect. I heard. If it was them, they should certainly have been able to identify what formation it was.”

“…Hyeoncheong said nothing of that.”

The conversation continued without resolution.

At this rate, they would only repeat the same words endlessly.

“Bring that bastard Yong So-ah here at once!”

“…….”

The Yueyang Branch Chief only lowered their head while their eyes darted this way and that.

“Do you not understand that if this matter ultimately ends in tragedy, Hyeoncheong, Wudang Sect, and the Murim Alliance will also pay the price?”

“……Um.”

Though frightened by the repeated pressure, the Yueyang Branch Chief continued speaking.

“The Murim Alliance’s view is that this was not part of an official mission, so they cannot take responsibility. Sending spell practitioners is merely a courtesy toward our allies, and responsibility lies with those who entered of their own accord……”

“What did you say!!”

“Furthermore, they said that how Hyeoncheong and Wudang Sect are handled is not a matter for the Murim Alliance to concern itself with.”

“Where did that statement come from? The Elder Council? Mantongbu?”

“……It is the Murim Alliance’s decision.”

Having lived his entire life as a member of the Namgung Clan and never once experienced such helplessness, the anger Namgung Jin-myeong felt was all the greater.

Namgung Jin-myeong moved toward the place where the spell practitioners of Maoshan Sect had gathered.

After hearing news of this place, Maoshan Sect had sent ten people as support, and they had arrived several days earlier and were studying the formation.

“How is it?”

“……The entrance is merely an ordinary Natural Formation. However, given that five thousand people entered and could not come out, perhaps this is a highly advanced trap.”

“Can it be dissolved from this side?”

“The formation axis does not exist on this side. The formation is so large that its size cannot even be estimated from outside.”

“So in the end, there is no way to rescue them.”

“Yu Ji-ryang is a disciple with skill fine enough to be counted on one hand even within our sect. If that child cannot come out from inside there…….”

“Hyeoncheong…… no, Yong So-ah is said to have come out of this place. How did he come out?”

“……I suspect he used momentary destructive force.”

“Destructive force?”

“If the place where they were was close to the outside and they had not entered completely within the formation’s influence, then by causing a brief burst of destructive force, one could momentarily open a gate in the formation. However, for that degree of destructive force, one would need at least five cycles of inner arts or something on the level of a Thunderbolt Bomb.”

“That means he had one of the two.”

“Five cycles of inner arts is something that appears only in legends, is it not?”

“I understand. Please put in a little more effort.”

“I am only sorry that we cannot be of help.”

Namgung Jin-myeong ground his teeth.

If only he could at least know what had happened inside, his heart might feel somewhat relieved, but Hyeoncheong, the only one who knew the situation inside, had fled to Wudang Sect through the Murim Alliance.

Any warrior who lived in the murim understood that there would be moments when their life was at risk.

But that did not mean they could easily accept such an absurd death.

“San.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Take the Firmament Unit, the Great Swallow Unit, and the Thunderbolt Unit to Wudang at once.”

“…….”

He could understand the Firmament Unit and the Great Swallow Unit, but the Thunderbolt Unit was the Namgung Clan’s elite strike force.

They were people who absolutely must not cross the walls of the Namgung Clan unless the clan’s survival itself was threatened.

At the order to move such a force, Namgung San’s face turned deathly pale.

Were they planning to wage war against Wudang Sect?

“If they do not hand over Yong So-ah, pass through the Sword-Release Pond.”

Saying they should pass the Sword-Release Pond without laying down their swords meant, in the end, that they should engage in armed conflict.

“At present, the only place in the murim that can demand the truth from Wudang is the Namgung Clan.”

“…….”

It was not only Wudang that was becoming a problem in this incident.

Next, they would raise the matter with the Beggars’ Sect, and they would also raise it with Hao Gate.

Hao Gate stood between the Orthodox Path and the Black Path, so perhaps it would not become an issue, but the first two were sects among the Nine Sects and One Gang.

This was not something that would end with words.

‘In the worst-case scenario, the Murim Alliance will certainly step in.’

Even so, Namgung San could not bring himself to say the words circling in his head.

His father, Namgung Jin-myeong, surely could not be unaware of that.

Perhaps this was something that had already been fully discussed with his grandfather, the Azure Emperor Divine Sword.

‘The situation is far too bad.’

If it had ended with only Namgung Seon-hwa’s matter, they would not have gone this far.

But with the matter of the collateral line added on top of it, that anger had grown twofold and threefold.

“Are you afraid?”

“No, sir!”

“……I am afraid.”

“Pardon?”

“I do not know whether I can forgive myself for making the situation turn out like this.”

Namgung Jin-myeong was blaming himself more than anyone else.

“Father…….”

“When I think of what that young child must have gone through inside there, my heart feels torn apart.”

“I will bring Yong So-ah back without fail.”

“…….”

Instead of answering, Namgung Jin-myeong looked toward one wall of the cavern where darkness had gathered.

“Even if you bring that child here, will that save Seon-hwa……?”

A self-mocking question whose target was unclear.

Instead of giving a hasty answer, Namgung San looked in the same direction as Namgung Jin-myeong.

Then.

“Huh?”

He wondered whether he had seen wrong.

The interior of the cavern was already lit as bright as day by dozens of torches.

And yet.

“Father, did you see that?”

The black shadow was writhing.

“I-I saw it!”

At Namgung Jin-myeong’s shout, the spell practitioners of Maoshan Sect who had been studying the formation hurriedly retreated.

They feared the formation might devour people.

But instead of surging toward the people, the black shadow wriggled, then suddenly drew wide apart to both sides.

Then, from between those shadows, it spat out a skeletal figure hardly recognizable as a person.

On that person’s back was a woman who was likewise in a gaunt state.

Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San shouted at the same time.

“Seon-hwa!!”

“Namgung Seon-hwa!!”

Behind the person carrying Seon-hwa, a group was filing out in a line, each carrying people who looked no better.

Strangely, they were walking while watching the spots the person at the front had stepped on, and even after entering the cavern, they kept their heads lowered.

As Namgung Jin-myeong and Namgung San received Seon-hwa, the man who had stood at the very front spoke in a cracked voice.

“W-water. S-something to eat…….”

The startled people quickly handed over whatever food and stashed liquor they had on them.

Without even knowing who was giving him what, the man crammed it into his mouth, chewed for a long time, then swallowed it straight down his throat.

“Phew, I damn near died.”

At that moment, as if by one accord, people shouted from every direction.

Among the five thousand people they had thought dead, the first survivor had appeared.

***

At Jin So-un’s appearance, the Murim Alliance’s Yueyang Branch Chief tried to question Jin So-un privately, saying he would investigate what had happened inside, but Namgung Jin-myeong and the Black Path masters did not stand by quietly.

“You said the Murim Alliance had no responsibility!”

“B-but…….”

“Right now, I am barely clinging to reason because my daughter survived. Do not disappoint me in the Murim Alliance any further.”

At Namgung Jin-myeong’s icy threat, the people of the Murim Alliance could not step forward rashly.

The first survivors had appeared, but the matter was not over.

There were still thousands of people left inside.

“That is the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation?”

When the legendary formation that had vanished three hundred years ago appeared again, the spell practitioners of Maoshan Sect were greatly alarmed.

Moreover, they could not hide their even greater astonishment at what followed.

“You can find the routes of the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Destroying Formation?”

The spell practitioners of Maoshan Sect listening to the story could not easily believe Jin So-un, who had led the survivors back out.

“I confirmed it.”

Gaunt-faced Yu Ji-ryang spoke from the side.

With even Yu Ji-ryang’s words added, there was no longer room for doubt.

“But how…….”

“The spell practitioners of Maoshan Sect had been calculating the formation’s routes from the beginning. In the middle of it, that bastard Yong So-ah interfered…….”

Famous elders of the murim, transcending both the Orthodox Path and the Black Path, had gathered here, but everyone resented Yong So-ah with one heart.

“Then, if you could not finish calculating the routes, how did you escape?”

At the Maoshan Sect spell practitioner’s question, Jin So-un answered while continuing to put porridge into his mouth.

It was porridge boiled with dried meat at the encampment outside the cavern.

Jin So-un was already eating his tenth bowl.

“I calculated the rest inside.”

Even after hearing it, the situation was not easy to believe.

“You…… did you not say you were a disciple of Taeul Sect?”

When the Maoshan Sect spell practitioner suddenly mentioned Taeul Sect, the Black Path masters who had been listening nearby each threw out a word.

“Fuck! What does Taeul Sect have to do with anything here?”

“You idiots, are you seriously talking about someone’s birth and background even here?”

“Exactly! If someone can bring our disciples out from inside there, we should bring him in even if he is a Demonic Cultist, not merely a Taeul Sect disciple.”

As if agreeing, Yu Ji-ryang spoke.

“Martial Uncle. We do not have time for this. People are dying inside even now.”

“……Y-yes. Ah, and I apologize.”

Under the furious pressure of the Black Path masters, the Maoshan Sect spell practitioner eventually stepped back and looked at Namgung Jin-myeong.

Namgung Jin-myeong asked Jin So-un again.

“Is there anything we should be careful of on the way out?”

“If they follow my footsteps precisely, they will not lose their way inside the formation. However, if they take even one wrong step, they will be trapped inside the formation.”

“It will not be easy for the people inside.”

“That is why I only brought the first ten out.”

“How many can you lead out at most?”

“One route remains stable for roughly one quarter-hour. To be safe, it would be best to move only twenty people at most at a time.”

“The Namgung Clan will prepare warriors.”

“Our Four Emperors Peak will also provide warriors. They will be better than Orthodox Path rabble.”

“I assume you have heard the name of our Black Serpent Gang.”

Everyone wanted their own warriors sent in first.

“You must think carefully. If they take the wrong path even once, they can never be found again inside the formation. I have gone in and out of there several times, but I have never once met the people who entered the formation first.”

At Jin So-un’s words, those who had stepped forward became as silent as clams.

In the end, Namgung Jin-myeong asked again.

“Then what do you think would be best?”

“First, please receive support from twenty peak warriors. Not people from different groups, but people who have normally coordinated with one another. And when they first enter with me, they should carry food in, and when they come out, they should bring out twenty patients first. Please prepare physicians at both ends of the cavern so that treatment can begin the instant they come out. Then prepare the warriors who will enter next, and continue cycling through that process.”

“That would be best.”

Namgung Jin-myeong and the Black Path masters listening to him nodded.

“However, if we do that, will you not have to keep going in? Will you be all right?”

If one had to name the person in the worst state among those who had come out alive, Jin So-un could not be left out.

Moreover, perhaps because he had shed so much blood inside, the blue martial arts uniform he wore had been soaked in blood and turned black.

“From now on, it is a fight against time. To save even one more person, we must not delay for even a moment.”

“Understood.”

At those words, people began moving with perfect coordination.

***

The Black Path masters went to Yueyang, forcibly woke the physicians nearby, and carried them on their backs to Demon Spirit Plateau, while the Orthodox Path masters stopped by the inns and wine houses of Yueyang, had food made from every ingredient there was, and rushed it to Demon Spirit Plateau.

Starting with the Namgung Clan’s Thunderbolt Unit, twenty people went in carrying food on their backs, and after quite some time had passed, they came out again, each carrying one survivor on their back.

Without distinguishing Black Path from Orthodox Path, people treated the survivors and helped them recover with whatever hands were free. When corpses came out, they brought them to the command center to find those connected to them.

“Are you all right?”

Because nearly ten thousand masters moved all at once, there was never a shortage of hands.

The greatest concern, however, was Jin So-un.

After leaving the Soul-Destroying Formation, the one who entered the Soul-Destroying Formation the most was also Jin So-un. For three days already, Jin So-un had gone in and out of the Soul-Destroying Formation without sleeping a wink, so he looked even worse than when he had first come out.

“I am all right. If I perform Qi Circulation and Breathing for a moment……”

It continued like that.

He replaced his lack of sleep with brief Qi Circulation and Breathing.

Peak-level masters could easily endure a month without sleep, but how could a Taeul Sect disciple be in the same position as them?

Unable to watch any longer, Namgung Jin-myeong took a wooden case from his robes.

“Eat this and perform Qi Circulation and Breathing.”

“What is this?”

“It is a Great Swallow Divine Pill.”

“Pardon? How could I accept something so precious……”

“Precious? Compared to what you have done by saving our clan’s people, it is nothing. I will repay you properly later. For now, eat this first and recover your strength. I am sorry, but the only person who can save the people inside there right now is you.”

When Namgung Jin-myeong stepped forward like that, the Black Path masters could not stay still either.

“The Spiritual Medicine of our Black Serpent Gang does not seem like it would suit the Daoist Heart Method you have trained in, so take this instead. It is called a Purple Flower Orchid. You know what a Purple Flower Orchid is, do you not?”

“It would have been good if I could give you Four Emperors Peak’s Four Emperors Pill, but that is a pity. I have a Clear Heart Pill I bought from the Black Shop, just in case, so please accept it.”

“Have you heard of Profound Yang Water? Originally, our sect had been gathering this to make Spiritual Medicine……”

“This is Nine-Leaf Divine Herb……”

“It is Heaven-Earth Herb.”

Where had they all hidden so many Spiritual Medicines so thoroughly? Before long, Spiritual Medicines and Spiritual Pills were piled high before Jin So-un’s eyes.

There was nothing so extraordinary as to compare with the Great Swallow Divine Pill, but they were more than enough to help him recover his vital strength right now.

From then on, instead of food, Jin So-un filled his stomach with Spiritual Medicines and entered the formation.

And then another four days.

By the time even the masters were growing exhausted through days and nights that seemed to continue without end.

At last, the final survivors appeared.

“It is over.”

“A total of four thousand two hundred eighty people have returned alive.”

The moment the command center’s announcement ended, people embraced one another without distinguishing the Orthodox Path from the Black Path and shouted as if heaven and earth were being torn away.

“Waaaaaaah!”