Wudang Sacred Scriptures

At that moment, two masked assailants appeared in the corridor.

—Shhht!

—Shhht!

Two cold, blue blades slashed down toward Gwaa.

Lethal sword strikes raining down on a child of barely twelve or thirteen.

A storm of fury swept through Kwak Yeon’s entire body.

He drew Gwaa into his embrace and spun his body in a fluid motion.

Deflecting the blades with the Heavenly-Eight Universal Step, he swept his free hand outward.

—Whoosh!

A crimson blaze lit up the corridor.

It was the Infernal Flame Qi erupting from the Great Yin Jade Maiden Divine Art.

—BOOM!

The firestorm surged through the corridor.

The two masked assailants, engulfed in the heart of the blaze, collapsed where they stood.

Even as their masks and clothing fused with their skin, not a single scream escaped their mouths.

It was because the Infernal Flame Qi had seared through to their internal organs.

The stench of roasting flesh filled the corridor.

Even Kwak Yeon, the one who had unleashed the blaze, furrowed his brows.

Overwhelmed by rage, he had expelled the maximum output of Infernal Flame Qi.

In the narrow corridor, the firestorm had raced forward in search of an exit—leaving the masked assailants, caught within its path, utterly consumed.

Fortunately, it didn’t lead to a full-blown fire.

The blaze dissipated so quickly that it never reached its ignition point.

Kwak Yeon entered the room with Gwaa in his arms and closed the door.

Even though they were assassins, it was too brutal a scene to expose a child to.

“Where is your grandfather?”

“Grandpa Elder Jo went to lure the enemies down to the Bluestone Tower beneath Aknyang Pavilion. To save me.”

Though trembling in fear, Gwaa spoke clearly and coherently.

“But two of the assassins found out where I was hiding and started searching. I had no choice but to run... but there was nowhere to go.”

“That’s enough. I’ll hear the rest later.”

With Gwaa tucked under his arm, Kwak Yeon leapt out the window.

He darted across the rooftops like a flying leopard, racing toward the shadow of Aknyang Pavilion in the distance.

In the sands of Bluestone Tower, Elder Jo Cheon-yang of the Hao Clan stood with the lake at his back, locked in a desperate struggle.

The masked assailants were all first-rate experts.

Even Jo Cheon-yang, one of the highest-ranking masters in the Hao Clan, found himself completely overpowered.

He had lured them to Bluestone Tower, intending to take at least one of them with him to the afterlife. But now, he realized even that might be beyond him.

The coordination of the assailants was astonishingly precise.

If he attacked the left, a lethal sword came from the right. If he lunged forward, sword energy swept in from behind without fail.

Jo Cheon-yang was barely managing to parry their attacks. His robes were shredded by blade energy in multiple places, and his body was covered in wounds.

But the external injuries weren’t the real problem. His internal qi had been depleted to the brink.

At last, the symptoms of the old illness he had been suppressing with internal energy began to manifest.

“Khagh!”

Jo Cheon-yang spat out a mouthful of black blood and collapsed to his knees in the sand, his legs giving out.

“Enough!”

At the sound of a man’s barked command, the blades aimed at him stopped simultaneously.

A middle-aged man emerged from among the masked assailants.

“It’s been a while, Elder Jo.”

Jo Cheon-yang lifted his head with difficulty to look at the man.

Thanks to the light drifting in from the flower boats scattered across Dongting Lake, Jo Cheon-yang could recognize him.

“Gok Ji-ryang. The Vice Branch Leader’s lapdog. I figured as much.”

Gok Ji-ryang let out a twisted smile.

“Isn’t it a bit rude to speak so harshly to the man who’s about to replace you as Elder?”

“You, an Elder? Who in the Council would recognize your standing?”

“No need to worry about that. Most of the Elders will be replaced in this upcoming Council Meeting at Gunsan.”

Jo Cheon-yang’s expression hardened.

“How do you know the Elder Council is meeting in Gunsan?”

Meetings of the Hao Clan’s Elder Council were strictly confidential, known only to the Elders themselves. They were convened specifically to check the power of the current leadership—namely the Clan Leader and Vice Branch Leader.

“Don’t tell me...”

His face suddenly drained of color.

“There’s an Elder who’s in bed with the Vice Branch Leader?”

Gok Ji-ryang nodded.

“Isn’t that how we were able to find you? Or more precisely, we’ve been waiting for you to show up.”

“...”

“You did a good job hiding all this time. You should’ve just stayed hidden. Why call for a Council and create this mess? Well, I suppose it’s worked in our favor—we’ll clean house through this meeting.”

Jo Cheon-yang clenched his teeth and growled.

“You think this will go your way? If word gets out that you’ve ignored the traditions of the Elder Council, every branch of the Hao Clan across the land will rise up.”

“Elder Jo, I assure you—that won’t happen.”

“...?”

“Consider why this Council Meeting was called in Gunsan in the first place. Every Elder who opposes the Vice Branch Leader will end up as fish food in Dongting Lake. And with this Council’s resolution, the Vice Branch Leader will rise to become the Clan Leader. It’s no surprise, really—the current Clan Leader’s just a puppet.”

Now Jo Cheon-yang understood just how thoroughly the Vice Branch Leader had prepared for the Gunsan meeting.

Crushed by despair and rage, he shouted:

“Gok Ji-ryang, do you even know what your precious Vice Branch ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Leader has done?”

Gok Ji-ryang replied:

“Why would I need to know? All that matters is that our faction takes control of the Hao Clan.”

“...”

“Oh, and the Vice Branch Leader gave strict orders to eliminate that girl, Gwaa. We knew you lured us here to protect her.”

Jo Cheon-yang’s face turned ashen.

“Then...”

Gok Ji-ryang nodded.

“We left people behind to pursue Gwaa. They’ll be bringing her head back shortly. Of course, it would be fitting if you went to the underworld ahead of her and waited.”

Gok Ji-ryang drew a gleaming sword.

“Still, since I once followed you, I suppose it’s only right that I be the one to send you off.”

Jo Cheon-yang, drained of all strength and devastated that he had failed to protect Gwaa, closed his eyes.

—Shhht!

As he heard the sharp whistle of the blade, he braced himself for the moment his head would fall to the sand.

But then—

—THWACK!

At the blunt, heavy sound, Jo Cheon-yang opened his eyes—and saw Gok Ji-ryang’s head still staring blankly back at him.

—THUD!

His headless body toppled backward like a rotted tree.

Only then did Jo Cheon-yang spot the Cheonggang Sword flying through the air—and the figure standing tall in the direction it had flown from.

‘How... How is he here?’

Jo Cheon-yang watched the masked assailants rush the man all at once.

They must have seen that he had just thrown his sword, and took it as their opportunity.

“Ah!”

Jo Cheon-yang let out a gasp.

If he hadn’t thrown the sword to save him, he wouldn’t have to face first-rate experts empty-handed.

Though the Cheonggang Sword was speeding back toward him, it was far too short a time to prepare for their combined assault.

By the time the sword reached his hand again, the masked assailants were already upon him.

Their coordinated strike was overwhelming—surrounding him from all sides, leaving no gaps, not even in the air above.

Just as Jo Cheon-yang braced himself for the inevitable, imagining the man’s body being torn apart—

“Annihilate.”

A thunderous shout rang out, followed by a flash of blinding light.

The masked assailants flying toward him were blasted apart in all directions—as if they had slammed into an invisible wall.

Only then came the explosive roar.

Jo Cheon-yang watched in stunned awe as the assailants, flung backward, sank into the sand like they were vanishing into a swamp.

But they hadn’t sunk.

Their bodies had been shattered—broken into pieces that fell onto the sand, giving that illusion.

“...!”

Only then did Jo Cheon-yang understand that the flying sword had not been tethered by a string or wire.

Sword Guided by Qi.

He had never imagined he’d witness it in his lifetime—and that was why he hadn’t dared to believe it.

****

Jeong Seop-bo, the Blood-Light Demon Blade and Captain of the Black Death Division under the Demonic Cult Alliance, was inspecting a mountain hut beside the trail.

After stirring the mound of ash in the hearth with the tip of his sword, he spoke.

“He stayed here for about ten days.”

The Black Death Division had been pursuing the Cave Daoist ever since they annihilated the magistrate and officials of Geyang-hyeon.

Although they had hurried to intercept him after receiving intelligence that the Cave Daoist had headed southwest from Waryong Pavilion in Shinya Prefecture, he had vanished without a trace.

That was because Kwak Yeon had been spending that time training in Sword Guided by Qi within the mountain hut—never exposing himself—leaving no witnesses behind.

Their paths hadn’t diverged; there had simply been a gap in timing.

The intelligence agents of the Demonic Cult Alliance had been searching for individuals matching the Cave Daoist’s description.

Convinced that the Cave Daoist had changed his route, the Black Death Division had returned to the vicinity of Shinya Prefecture and began conducting a more precise backtrace.

The other agents had left to investigate alternate paths.

As a result, when Kwak Yeon departed the hut, not a single intelligence operative remained stationed along the southwestern route he had taken.

Regardless, the Black Death Division used traces Kwak Yeon had left behind—along with prior investigation reports from their agents—to reverse-track his movements. Eventually, they discovered the secluded mountain hut along his path.

Yi Gwal, the Chief Inspector of the Black Death Division and someone who knew the Cave Daoist’s appearance better than anyone, spoke up.

“It’s definitely him who stayed here. During harvest season, hunters don’t come to the mountains, after all.”

Captain Jeong Seop-bo, finding it strange, remarked,

“Then what in the world was he doing here for nearly ten days?”

“Couldn’t it be that he knew we were tracking him?”

Chief Inspector Yi Gwal’s thoughts were simple.

“He probably assumed things would quiet down if he just laid low.”

Captain Jeong Seop-bo shook his head.

“Then he would’ve fled farther. And he moved around with his face clearly visible. That’s the only reason we even found this place.”

“Ah!”

“Moreover, this hut is right next to the mountain path. If we hadn’t insisted on sticking to the main road during our first pursuit, we might have run into him and captured him right here.”

“You’re right, Captain. Then why would he...?”

Captain Jeong Seop-bo didn’t answer Yi Gwal’s question. He simply stepped outside the hut.

The Black Death Division agents were already deployed outside.

“Search every inch around the hut. I want to know exactly what he was doing during those ten days.”

There had been nothing inside the hut aside from traces of daily life, so he intended to find the reason outside.

The Black Death Division operatives immediately fanned out and began scouring the surrounding area.

The search soon yielded results.

“Captain, there are sword marks on this tree.”