“Se, Senior Elder Do-ryeong!”

Yu Su-rin screamed as she brushed the corpse’s face.

She had lived her whole life here in Azure Forest.

Though the Azure Forest had many disciples, they were surely like family.

The corpses of her family lay everywhere.

“Yu-yeong, Gi-jeong.”

Not only the elderly had died.

Several third generation disciples of the same age as Yu Su-rin, and even younger, were dead.

The corpses stared with wide-open eyes.

Those twisted expressions seemed to testify to the immense terror and pain they’d suffered.

Yu Su-rin wailed in agonized screams.

Jun Myung, barely able to speak, made hoarse, choked sounds.

Son Hee-il knelt, shedding endless tears.

Their cries echoed sadly from the rubble of the collapsed pavilion.

Yi-gang stood quietly there.

Unlike the third generation disciples, Yi-gang did not cry.

Had he been in Azure Forest so briefly that he had forgotten how to grieve?

No, that was certainly not the case.

Yi-gang felt deep melancholy.

It had been the same at the Baek Family.

When he returned after a long time, his home had been taken by others.

Whether good or bad, it was the place of his childhood memories.

Yi-gang had personally set fire to the family head building and left.

A real home could not be burned so easily.

And his second home.

Azure Forest, where Yi-gang had stayed the longest after the Baek Family, had also been destroyed.

‘…Wherever I stay, blood flows.’

Yi-gang suddenly felt that way.

It was true. Though the world was chaotic, blood always flowed around Yi-gang.

He wandered many places as if cursed with restless fate.

From the Baek Family to Azure Forest, the Martial Alliance, the Wudang Sect, Kunlun, the Demon Cult, Potala Palace, the Imperial Palace.

And he had never passed through any of them peacefully.

‘Well, is my energy just bad or something?’

Yi-gang asked bitterly.

But no answer came.

‘…That’s right.’

He had for a moment forgotten that Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon had vanished. The current Heavenly Demon Plaque was no more than an ordinary piece of metal.

Come to think of it, the soul fragments that had been by his side had all left.

The Immortal Sword, Zhang Sanfeng, the Heavenly Demon, even Bodhidharma had gone.

Was it a relief that Cheongho still remained?

Cheongho twitched its ears and circled Yi-gang.

Yi-gang felt even more despondent.

No, this was not melancholy but a sense of helplessness.

Yi-gang had reached the Absolute Realm.

It was astonishing talent and had required equal effort.

To attain the Absolute Realm in a young body was comparable to the achievements of Zhang Sanfeng or the Heavenly Demon of old.

But what of it?

Yi-gang was not the strongest among humans.

The true power of Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon far exceeded Yi-gang’s.

Yet those world-beating figures had told him something.

That there is a limit humans can never surpass.

That there are monsters who, born able to use Supreme Ultimate Techniques as naturally as breathing, surpass the lofty levels humans can only gain through long suffering.

Yi-gang felt like a falling leaf.

A helpless leaf tossed about by a fierce, biting wind.

“Are they all dead…?”

Ha-jun’s mutter sounded like thunder.

Azure Forest had been annihilated. It certainly seemed so.

Then what should Yi-gang do?

Could they rescue the eighty thousand people trapped in the Crouching Dragon Basin with the present numbers?

Could so few stand against the Evil Cult?

That sense of helplessness blurred Yi-gang’s vision.

When the heart breaks, it becomes a heart demon.

A dark lump threatened to form in a corner of Yi-gang’s heart.

“King.”

Cheongho made a whimpering sound.

Yi-gang’s clouded eyes regained focus.

“Cheongho?”

Cheongho rarely conveyed meaning with words.

Cheongho simply began to dig.

Its small snout and forepaws could not work quickly, so Yi-gang helped dig.

Soon, a dirt-covered corpse’s hand emerged from the ground.

Cheongho looked up at Yi-gang as if asking him to take care of the rest.

Yi-gang gave a bitter smile.

“They’re already dead.”

Had Cheongho thought any survivors remained alive?

Though Yi-gang said so, he still pulled people buried in the rubble out.

They were long-dead corpses. One wore the robe of a Taoist Flower disciple.

Yi-gang laid the body down properly.

There were more than a few corpses buried in the ground like this.

Yi-gang repeated the work Cheongho had done.

He straightened and organized the buried or scattered corpses.

Then he murmured to Cheongho, who was scratching its ear.

“…You’re better than me. You don’t give up.”

Yi-gang was startled at his own words.

A face came to mind at the thought of not giving up.

It was So-hwa, whom he had talked with in that dark passage long ago.

At that time Yi-gang had promised her.

He vowed never to give up, to survive to the end and take revenge on the Evil Cult.

Yi-gang realized he hadn’t thought of So-hwa for a long time.

He had briefly forgotten that vow.

Yi-gang’s eyes brightened.

“Huh?”

Dam Hyun, who had been sitting with a dejected face, lifted his head.

“Yu Su-rin, Son Hee-il, Jun Myung. Gather in front of me.”

Though their grief had not ceased, they gathered before Yi-gang without protest.

Yi-gang looked over the Sajil and spoke.

“It appears the sect has been annihilated. We may be the only survivors.”

Yu Su-rin wiped her tears.

Yi-gang’s words were so calm they sounded cold.

“That’s why. We don’t have time to just cry here.”

Yi-gang was a second generation disciple.

At least before the third generation disciples, he had to act as their senior.

“Search for any possible survivors and gather the sect’s belongings. As long as we live, Azure Forest has not vanished.”

A sect does not cease to exist just because a pavilion fell or the head and elders died.

If disciples who inherit the sect’s martial arts and spirit live, Azure Forest is not completely annihilated.

“Junior Uncle’s words are correct.”

Son Hee-il opened his reddened eyes wide.

His firm, weighty voice carried solemn resolve.

He was the eldest among the third generation disciples.

He seemed not to have forgotten the responsibility on his shoulders.

Yi-gang nodded and ordered the search.

“Son Hee-il and Jun Myung, search this place. Pay particular attention to the Academy Hall and whether the books are safe.”

“Yu Su-rin and Ha-jun, check the Five Flower Main Library.”

Then what would Yi-gang and Dam Hyun do?

As if sensing their question, Yi-gang raised his thumb to indicate where he would go.

“I’ll go to White Cloud Peak.”

White Cloud Peak was a high summit jutting up like a vertical cliff.

The pavilion atop it was the Forest Leader’s residence.

It also hid the sealed spirit box that Azure Forest kept from the Evil Cult.

“Disperse.”

At Yi-gang’s words, the group dispersed.

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun glanced up at White Cloud Peak.

White Cloud Peak was visible from anywhere in Azure Forest.

There had been steps embedded in the cliff to reach it, but they had all been removed.

The reason was obvious. It was an attempt to defend White Cloud Peak to the very end.

Though it seemed unclimbable, it was possible for Yi-gang and Dam Hyun.

Yi-gang activated the Absorption Technique at the Yongcheon point on his soles.

Then he ran up the near-vertical wall as if it were flat ground.

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun reached the summit of White Cloud Peak in short order.

At the sight before them, Yi-gang’s expression hardened.

There was a large pavilion atop White Cloud Peak.

But the pavilion had a gigantic hole blown through it.

Even explosive charges couldn’t have made a hole that large.

Moreover, the hole was shaped exactly like a human palm.

“They made a hole like that… with a palm technique?”

It had to be a palm technique.

Someone had emitted palm force and smashed the pavilion.

The only one capable of such an act was the Cardinals.

It could have been done with psychokinesis, but Yi-gang somehow felt certain.

They entered cautiously.

“…All the magical defenses have been neutralized.”

The pavilion on White Cloud Peak had been equipped with many defenses to stop intruders.

Mechanical traps, mysterious gate formations, and various magical barriers.

But not a single one of them was functioning.

“They too seem to have suffered many casualties…”

There were many corpses of Evil Cultists.

Some had arrows in their chests, while others were charred black.

Common followers were nowhere to be seen among them.

There were red attendants, golden attendants, even blue-cloaked black-cap members.

“Since this is where the Forest Leader resides, they must have used every means.”

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun walked on in silence.

This pavilion had also served as a treasure vault.

It hid forbidden treasures and the sealed spirit box.

Corpses continued to accumulate even as they approached the vault.

Yi-gang finally arrived at the vault’s iron-reinforced gate.

“…They tore the door apart.”

The iron door, which couldn’t be cut even by a sword, had been half-torn off.

It looked as if a massive battering ram had struck it hundreds of times.

The deep dents bore the unmistakable marks of fingers.

Whoever had made the huge hole in the pavilion’s entrance had definitely opened this vault door.

Yi-gang and Dam Hyun entered.

The vault’s interior had been brutally ransacked.

Yi-gang was horrified.

“…My God!”

Someone sat slumped against one wall.

It was unmistakably a corpse.

Its chest was blown open.

Beside it rolled a gigantic hand that could not possibly belong to a human.

The identity of the corpse was…

“Forst Lord…”

Azure Forest Lord Im Gi-hak.

A great star had fallen.

Confirming the Forest Lord’s death, Yi-gang gritted his teeth.

Im Gi-hak had been the greatest master of Azure Forest.

Yi-gang didn’t even know exactly what realm the Forest Lord had achieved, nor the depth of his knowledge.

He had been the Forest Lord, one who seemed to hold the world’s secrets and could never be killed.

Yet he lay dead so desolately.

A huge left hand, seemingly belonging to the Cardinal, had been severed… but that was all.

Perhaps those monsters could even regenerate the severed left hand.

Dam Hyun clicked his tongue and looked away.

He seemed unwilling to look at Forest Lord’s form.

But Yi-gang stared and examined Forest Lord’s corpse.

“It looks like it was Heuk-am.”

You must not look away from what’s in front of you.

Yi-gang looked into the Forest Lord’s eyes.

The wrinkled face was contorted in pain.

The eyes were not closed.

The clouded gaze pointed to a spot on the floor.

Yi-gang examined that spot.

The floor was covered in bloodstains. It was likely the Forest Lord’s and the Cardinal’s blood.

Thanks to that, footprints were clearly visible.

Indeed, the footprints were unbelievably enormous.

They belonged to the owner of the right hand.

Probably, Heuk-am had stood here looking down at the Forest Lord.

The dying Forest Lord would have been leaning against the wall, speaking with someone.

Then that someone walked away with the sealed spirit box and left.

Not mutilating the corpse could be a sign of respect toward the enemy.

If the final “scene” was like that, one could retrace events backward.

“What are you doing?”

“Shh, be quiet.”

This place, where the most blood splattered.

There were fragments of entrails. Since it wasn’t where Heuk-am’s wrist was cut, it must be where the Forest Lord received his mortal wound.

Yi-gang moved as if scanning the entire vault.

His eyes moved astonishingly fast, cold sweat trickling down his neck.

Dam Hyun, about to ask again, sensed something ominous and fell silent.

Then Yi-gang came to an abrupt stop.

Yi-gang hurried to the well where the sealed spirit box had been kept.

The iron plate that covered the well lay on the floor, and there was nothing inside.

Yi-gang then looked up at the ceiling.

There were many cut marks and signs of breaking up there as well.

Dam Hyun, with a stunned face, waited for Yi-gang to speak.

Yi-gang pondered for a moment and muttered.

“I think I found something.”

Instead of answering, Yi-gang approached the Forest Lord’s corpse.

He then pointed to the Forest Lord’s right hand.

It was an ordinary hand lying on the floor.

“What’s that?”

“Look here.”

Yi-gang moved the Forest Lord’s hand aside.

Then characters etched into the floorboards were revealed.

Rudely scratched in haste, as if with a fingernail.

Up.

That was what was written.

Without either being first, Dam Hyun and Yi-gang looked up at the ceiling at the same time.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep