Chapter 208. Heavenly Emperor Cult (1)

Behind the man in black who was picking up the piece of bark.

In the darkness, there was a pair of eyes watching him.

The man in black began to walk.

A faint sound was made as leaves crumbled.

RUSTLE.

The man in black passed right in front of Choyeon.

Despite being so close, the man in black did not recognize Choyeon’s presence.

He was full of openings.

But Choyeon did not attack him.

She was recalling the advice Jin Yuseong had given her.

‘This person could also be an innocent person swept up in the shamanism.’

If so, even if she caught him, it would only end with his head exploding.

An innocent person would die, and the means to chase the Heavenly Emperor Cult would be lost forever.

After the man in black had moved a little further away, Choyeon followed him.

In the dead of night, with no sound other than the chirping of insects and the cries of animals coming from far away.

A path full of grass and leaves.

It was an environment where a small noise was bound to be made, just as that man in black had.

But there was no noise or presence in Choyeon’s movements.

Even though she had stepped on leaves and grass, she did not waver at all.

It was the result of combining the supreme Flying on Grass with concealment techniques.

Thanks to having opened the Gate of Life and Death a while ago, her concealment and movement techniques had also grown significantly.

Also, she would secretly swing her sword from time to time.

The blade, dyed black with charcoal, cut through the air without a presence.

A sword mark in the shape of the character for ‘small’ was secretly made on a nearby tree branch.

Choyeon glanced at the mark and continued to follow the man in black.

‘Senior Brother would surely be able to recognize it.’

A secret mark. It seemed it would be difficult to find even if one knew the code.

But Choyeon did not doubt Jin Yuseong’s abilities.

In the first place, that code was also something she had agreed on with Jin Yuseong.

It was a code derived from Choyeon’s name, ‘yeon’.

Since the character had too many strokes, they had decided to use only the simplest part, the character for ‘small’.

She continued to leave the code while moving.

In fact, she had been secretly leaving signals ever since Chun-gae had headed for this mountain.

Yet, Chun-gae had not noticed this fact at all.

The man in black who was leading the way now was no different.

The man in black continued to advance.

Having set out when the sky was completely dark, the man in black continued to advance even after the sun had risen to the middle of the sky.

As the surroundings brightened, there were almost no places for Choyeon to hide.

In the forest, she hid in the shadows of trees or rocks and followed.

When he entered a village, she boldly melted into the crowd of people.

When passing through an open area, she willingly increased the distance.

And she continued the pursuit through the faint traces left by the man in black as he walked.

That was how it was.

The man in black continued to move for two full days.

Of course, the man in black took breaks in between.

One day, he slept at an inn and had a meal, and another day, he hunted an animal in the mountains and slept outdoors.

But Choyeon could not do that.

She could barely drink water, let alone eat.

Because there could be a problem with the pursuit due to the food she had consumed.

Of course, she could barely sleep either.

What greater problem could there be than losing the target while sleeping?

In the midst of the fatigue and powerlessness that enveloped her entire body, Choyeon, on the contrary, smiled very faintly.

‘To think that the training I received in that hellish place would end up being so helpful like this.’

Going hungry and without sleep for just about two days was nothing to her.

On the third day of the pursuit, around the afternoon.

The man in black entered a back mountain.

Choyeon also secretly followed the man.

As expected, after advancing for a while, leaving traces.

The man in black, who had been visible between the trees, suddenly disappeared.

He disappeared without a trace, as if a ghost had kidnapped him.

Moreover, she could not feel the presence of the man in black at all, even with her senses.

It was an absurd thing.

No matter how tired and exhausted she was, she was not so naive as to lose him right in front of her.

Choyeon, thinking that there might be something, quickly used her movement technique.

She reached the place where the man had disappeared.

As expected, the man in black was not visible.

At that moment, someone’s voice was heard.

“Tsk. A rat has secretly snuck in from somewhere.”

It was a surprising thing.

Although she could clearly hear a voice, she could not tell where it was coming from.

It was as if it were echoing from all directions at the same time.

Only then did Choyeon realize.

‘A formation.’

She quickly used her concealment technique to hide herself.

Then, a voice was heard again.

“Hahahaha. What an amazing concealment technique. To think you are not visible at all even though you have entered the formation.”

A voice mixed with leisure and ridicule.

Soon, a bird formed of flames flew toward her, who was in concealment.

It was a shamanistic spell sent by the caster who had set up the formation.

“But it is useless in front of this formation.”

Leaving the shaman’s ridicule behind, Choyeon quickly threw herself to the side to avoid it.

Having given up on her concealment, she quickly used her movement technique and began to retrace her steps.

But her hurried steps soon came to a halt.

Because she had returned to the place where she had been standing just a moment ago.

At that moment, a voice was heard again.

“Heheheh. Where does the rat think it’s running off to?”

Simultaneously, a tree branch next to her suddenly bent and flew at her like a whip.

Choyeon concisely used her footwork to avoid that shamanistic spell.

Immediately after.

A man in black suddenly popped out of the empty air where no one had been.

“Haat!”

A blade flying at close range.

Choyeon, with an indifferent expression without any sign of panic, swung her sword back.

In the air, silver trajectories were successively embroidered in an instant.

Concise thrusts followed, and the man in black, who had been stabbed in several paralysis points in succession, collapsed to the floor.

Thud.

But the man in black was not alone.

Another man in black appeared right in front of her and swung his weapon.

For Choyeon, it was a fight that gave her a sense of déjà vu in many ways.

Because it was similar to the battle she had experienced when she fought against the Red Moon Falling Flowers in the past.

Since it was a fight she had already experienced, Choyeon did not panic.

She calmly swung her sword and used her footwork to deal with them.

Moreover, she even closed her eyes completely.

The shaman’s ridicule was heard.

“Hahahaha. So you’ve given up on life.”

Choyeon ignored that sound.

She blocked her vision by closing her eyes.

She ignored the sound.

Furthermore, she began to erase all her senses.

Sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste.

Ignoring those senses that were deceiving her, she calmly began to scatter the energy of her dantian in all directions.

“Haa. Hoo.”

Repeating her breaths very slowly, she focused only on her qi sense.

Thanks to having opened the Gate of Life and Death, she had become much more proficient in handling qi.

She began to perceive her surroundings not through her five senses, but through the energy that touched the qi waves she had scattered in all directions.

In that way, Choyeon began to build her own domain.

It was a strange feeling.

It was different from the flow of qi she usually felt. A somewhat artificial flow.

But since she was a novice in shamanism, she could not break through the shamanistic spell with just that heterogeneous flow.

Instead, she could feel something else.

Between the heterogeneous flow of qi, something else was felt.

The form of a person.

Choyeon willingly thrust her sword toward that place.

STAB!

The man in black, whose paralysis point was pierced by her sword, crumbled.

Was it because she had gotten the hang of it once?

She began to feel several human auras flickering around her.

Choyeon boldly sheathed her sword.

And then, she slowly, slowly began to expand her own domain.

At some point, something new came into contact with her domain.

Simultaneously, a man in black who was hiding beside her rushed in and swung his sword.

Choyeon’s sword was drawn out with the speed of a ray of light.

The White Cloud Life Severing Sword she had obtained from the Aenoe Sect shone.

Her sword, wrapped in sword qi, cleanly cut the man in black’s sword in two.

SLASH!

Choyeon’s sword, having cut the weapon, advanced toward the man in black’s paralysis point.

Simultaneously, a single strand of sword qi secretly escaped her sword.

It was the second form of the Sun Moon Infinite Sword, Azure Heaven’s Hidden Smile.

That secret sword qi passed by, grazing the man in black’s clothes.

The sword qi, advancing while hiding among the undergrowth on the ground.

That sword qi crossed with the fire bird that flew through the air.

Choyeon pulled the man in black, whose paralysis point she had subdued, and twisted her body.

The fire bird sent by the shaman grazed past her.

Simultaneously, a very small cutting sound echoed.

SLASH.

Soon, the shaman’s scream was heard.

“Kuaaaaaaaahk!!”

But the shaman did not die.

“How dare this damn wench! Rot in this formation for the rest of your life and starve to death!”

The shaman had also already noticed.

That the wench was pinpointing his location through the shamanistic spell he had sent.

So he intended to give up on the shamanistic spell and just maintain the formation.

Just at that moment, the voice of a young man was heard from somewhere.

“As if trash like you could kill my junior sister?”

That sound was heard even by Choyeon, who was doing her best to block out her five senses.

Choyeon’s tightly shut eyes opened wide.

The sound of something being cut was heard in succession.

SLASH! SLASH!

The scene visible in Choyeon’s vision was shaken.

The world had changed at some point, and she could see the figures of the men in black scattered around her and those who were hiding.

And beyond the undergrowth, to the side.

She could see the figures of Jin Yuseong and her companions.

The corners of Choyeon’s mouth, who had discovered them, went up slightly.

But it was only for a moment.

Instantly returning to her original expression, she used her movement technique to its fullest.

Toward the shaman with a startled face.

He tried to flee in a hurry, but it was not easy.

A large wound had appeared on his thigh, and blood was flowing out.

Choyeon, who had caught up in an instant, subdued the shaman.

Having fulfilled all her roles, she turned her head.

She bowed her head toward Jin Yuseong, who had approached at some point.

“I am sorry, Senior Brother. It seems this person is not the cult leader.”

Compared to the Moon Lord of the Red Moon Falling Flowers, his level was too low.

He seemed to be lacking to be a great demon who would throw the world into chaos in the future.

At her apology, Jin Yuseong shook his head.

“Don’t worry. It seems this guy is a disciple of the cult leader, so we can just interrogate him and find the cult leader, can’t we?”

At Jin Yuseong’s words, Hwangbo Ak scratched his head and asked.

“Didn’t you say that if we interrogate him because of that shamanism or whatever, his head will explode and he’ll die?”

Jin Yuseong shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s a problem if an innocent person’s head explodes, but this guy is a disciple of the cult leader, isn’t he? I don’t care if a piece of trash’s head explodes.”

***

Somewhere in Fujian Province, bordering Jiangxi.

A middle-aged man sitting on a splendid chair stroked his thin beard and furrowed his expression.

“Tsk. I don’t know how those damn beggars found out.”

For several years, the members of the Beggars’ Sect had been searching for them all over the martial world.

It was a truly strange thing.

He had spent decades cooped up in the mountains, honing his shamanism.

It had only been a few years since he had ended his seclusion and come out into the world.

He had just started his activities under the name of the Heavenly Emperor Cult, but almost at the same time, the members of the Beggars’ Sect had started looking for him.

Because of that, it was not easy to increase the number of his followers.

At the displeased-looking cult leader’s words, the fourth disciple answered cautiously, watching his expression.

“According to the rumors, a fellow called the Ghost Sword asked the Beggars’ Sect to find us.”

The cult leader frowned.

He had heard the name Ghost Sword.

There was one problem.

“How on earth did that Ghost Sword know about us and entrust the request to the Beggars’ Sect?”

“Th-that is……”

At the sight of the disciple who could not answer easily, the cult leader clicked his tongue with a pathetic expression.

“Tsk. For all of you to be so unreliable.”

“I-I am sorry, Master. P-please spare me.”

Looking down at the disciple who was hastily prostrating himself in apology for a moment, the cult leader turned his head and looked at the talismans hanging on the wall.

The talisman with the name of that fourth disciple written on it.

At this, the face of the prostrating disciple turned white.

“Tsk.”

The cult leader who clicked his tongue turned his gaze to the side.

It was a talisman with the name of another disciple written on it.

“I don’t know if the sixth one managed to shake off those damn beggars properly.”

The sixth disciple. He had recently been engaged in proselytizing activities in Ningdu.

But he had foolishly been caught by the Beggars’ Sect.

“S-still, since he has made one of the Beggars’ Sect members a follower, th-there shouldn’t be a b-big problem.”

Just as he was nodding at the fourth disciple’s cautious answer.

FLICKER.

The talisman with the name of the sixth disciple written on it began to burn brightly.

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