Chapter : 82
Yeonhwa perched on the edge of a rock jutting out near the summit of Hambyeoksan and looked down below.
Hambyeoksan was a low, gently sloping mountain, with intricately divided valleys and tightly interwoven crevices.
From the outside, it looked simple, but once one stepped in, unexpected challenges awaited.
There were no proper mountain paths, and everywhere you looked, the rocks and valleys looked the same, making it difficult to pinpoint a location.
If one hid among the crevices and valleys, it was nearly impossible to be found without systematically searching each spot.
However, simply observing from the foothills would reveal anyone’s movements above, making it the worst terrain for traveling.
In other words, if someone held firm below, they could prevent anyone from escaping this mountain.
But Yeonhwa didn’t care.
“I have no intention of leaving anyway.”
They might have thought they had cornered her at Hambyeoksan and that this was their chance, but in reality, it was Yeonhwa who had chosen this place.
Even while being pursued, she didn’t think the Murim Alliance would do nothing.
Of course, they were probably mobilizing across Hubei to rescue her.
However, her route had been along the border of Hubei and Hunan, already chaotic, and by moving alone, she had led the cultists’ pursuit in a way that repeatedly confounded the Murim Alliance’s predictions.
Then Yeonhwa thought,
“What if I stall and hold my position for a while?”
If she did, just as the cultists would call reinforcements, the Murim Alliance could send a more substantial support force.
Unlike the cult, which had many strongholds south of the front line, the Murim Alliance had no major force near the Hubei front, aside from the main headquarters in the west.
In that case, all she had to do was mobilize another force.
And that was not difficult.
The Murim Alliance had the Ten Units, a direct military organization under the alliance’s command.
Just as the Tenth Unit had been dispatched to the Hubei–Jiangxi front, the Hubei–Hunan front had the largest concentration of Ten Units, ready to converge in large numbers for battles or local conflicts under orders.
If Munryeong moved, Yeonhwa expected they would mobilize the nearest Ten Unit to her location to rescue her.
“No matter what anyone says, this is Hubei—the Murim Alliance’s territory.”
She needed to show the cultists exactly what would happen if they tried to run rampant here.
The only prerequisite for that was simple: Yeonhwa could not be captured.
The reason she had been constantly pursued was partly due to the difficulty of escaping the chase, but also because, with ordinary terrain or forces, she would not be able to withstand the frenzied cultists.
“If I moved too far north from the Hubei–Hunan front, the cultists might give up the chase, or the stationed units might struggle to move. At the same time, places ideal for hiding alone are rare.”
So she had no choice but to keep moving, eventually reaching the boundary where Hubei ended.
Between the borders facing Hunan to the southwest and Jiangxi to the southeast, she found Hambyeoksan and judged it the perfect location given her circumstances.
Satisfied that nothing better existed, Yeonhwa entered the mountain—and found it far more appealing than it appeared from the outside.
And the best spot was…
“There.”
Muttering to herself, Yeonhwa leaped from the edge of the rock.
The lights the cultists had lit while surrounding the mountain’s base did not reach her position.
As long as she didn’t descend, the darkness of night concealed her perfectly.
Yeonhwa darted into the gaps between the cultists tearing through the mountain to prevent her movement at night.
Whoosh, swish!
Though only briefly, her swordsmanship had progressed significantly.
The sword of Namgung was heavy but not sluggish, now combined with a sharpness that cut through darkness.
The best training was in real combat, and the most excellent teachers were one’s enemies.
Yeonhwa exemplified that principle.
Thud!
Her sword pierced a cultist’s abdomen.
After silencing another who tried to scream by striking his neck, she balanced on one foot, lifted the other, and spun.
Smack!
A cultist struck in the temple fell sideways.
Yeonhwa stepped on him, leapt, bounced the sword he dropped with her toe, caught it with her hand, and lightly hurled it.
Whoosh!
The sword struck another cultist in the back.
He convulsed once before collapsing silently.
“Why insist on sending them in, knowing they’ll die?”
Soon the cultists would converge to sweep Hambyeoksan from base to peak.
Why send small search parties like this instead of moving together?
“Is it because their internal coordination still isn’t complete?”
Or perhaps they were using small groups as bait—if she revealed traces while they pursued them, they could capture her quickly without sweeping the entire mountain and return to Hunan.
“Of course, with the cult concentrating on encircling a mountain, the Murim Alliance and local authorities would also mobilize troops, making a sudden attack likely. They’d want to minimize time.”
The longer she held out, the more advantageous it became for Yeonhwa.
That night too, she eliminated cultists moving in small groups, slipping into pre-selected crevices to rest.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The next morning, the atmosphere was tense from the very start.
The mountain seemed to roar as cultists pressed upward, surrounding it from below.
Yeonhwa was at the summit.
Though not a massive mountain, it was enormous compared to a person.
For most, just seeing the approaching mass would have been enough to break their resolve, yet Yeonhwa remained composed.
Of course, this did not mean she felt nothing—only that her thoughts differed from ordinary people in such a situation.
Seeing the cultists ascend so quickly, she recalled why, even when the ones who had harmed Seonyu were not necessarily from the cult, her hatred for the cult had not waned but grown.
“Even if those who harmed Seonyu weren’t cultists, he would have continued to fight them as long as he lived. So eventually, he would have been injured by the cult.”
Likewise, her people in the alliance and her family at her main home…
As long as the cult existed, and as long as they and the Murim Alliance opposed it, chaos would reign in the world.
She did not know when she might lose someone precious again.
At this moment, Yeonhwa realized that just as humans have nemeses, life’s guiding principles also have adversaries.
And those adversaries were the cult.
“Perhaps this feeling comes from all those childhood stories of Samryeong saying I must continue Seonyu’s legacy…”
Why shouldn’t it be so?
Seonyu did not belong to the world.
Samryeong should not bind him.
Namgung Seonyu was her only blood relative.
If there was anyone who must carry out his will, establish justice, and make the world livable…
It had to be Yeonhwa herself.
From deep within, she felt a grand, overwhelming energy.
As her own purpose solidified, the freely wandering aura of Namgung was refined into a tall, upright pillar.
Yeonhwa felt as if standing atop that pillar, and swung her sword toward the sky.
Shreeeaaak!
Namgung’s sword established a new order.
It was not for heaven, earth, or man—but a principle to be upheld before Namgung’s blade.
To be humble before it.
To not violate righteousness before it.
To not act unjustly before it.
As the order Yeonhwa built overflowed her being, its energy radiated outward.
The approaching cultists near the summit faltered, sensing it.
“Did you just… feel that?”
At Majinseong’s question, Kang Munpyo, who had nearly captured Yeonhwa but received a deep facial wound, raised his murderous aura.
“Why? To make them flee if they felt it?”
“No… That energy couldn’t come from a mere girl. Could it be… Muryung has arrived?”
Kang Munpyo scoffed at Majinseong, who considered that possibility.
“If Muryung had come, why would she have retreated into the mountain? She’d have killed us all on the spot.”
Even for the cult, Muryung was a feared existence.
“True… but then what exactly is that?”
Majinseong shivered, unable to control the ominous feeling.
Blam!
The summit shook once more.
This time, there was no denying it.
The world was changing.
