Let’s Go At It Again

Killing intent pierced his body with every breath.
Darkness filled every direction. Even with his eyes open, he could see nothing, and no matter how hard he listened, he could hear nothing.
Gyo-ha’s foot cut through the darkness.
Kung!

“Keuk!”

A faint scream reached him. However, he heard no sound of anyone falling.
The darkness was swallowing even sound.

‘But I can still feel when I hit something.’

Puk.
The moment he felt pain from behind, he reacted.
His foot cut through the darkness once more.
This time, he heard the sound of impact. Even that, however, was muffled.
His ears felt blocked.
It was as though he were underwater.
Meanwhile, his enemies’ swords swam leisurely through the darkness to attack him.
His wounds continued to multiply.
Gyo-ha was the only one who could not see. His enemies could see him clearly even within the darkness.
That was because the black smoke reacted to their internal energy.
But Gyo-ha had no time to worry about that.
A strange sensation.
He could neither see nor hear anything.

‘I can tell.’

It was a sense unlike anything he had experienced before.
Yokai nature.
The instincts of a yokai that had lain dormant within him were awakening after the previous battle.
He could not see his enemies’ swords or their attack patterns.
He simply perceived the living.
It was the nature of a yokai searching for prey.
Living flesh, bodies coursing with blood, the sensation of prey. Their outlines began taking shape within his mind.
His golden eyes pierced through the darkness.
Kwang!
The darkness rippled. Gyo-ha, who had only been reacting until now, began to move.
Faint screams erupted within the darkness.
At the same time, he could sense his enemies growing flustered.
His yokai senses could even pick up their fear.

‘Good.’

With this, he could fight.
Gyo-ha stepped forward.
At that moment.
A sharp sensation pierced into his back.
Puk!
Gyo-ha reacted immediately.
He twisted his body and kicked.
But what his foot struck felt different from before.
Kwagang!
The impact sent Gyo-ha’s vision flipping over. A violent vibration ran along his spine.
A massive wave engulfed him.
Gyo-ha rolled across the ground and quickly sprang back to his feet.
Sensing a living presence directly before him, he hurriedly jerked his head back.
Chwaak!
His forehead split open, spraying blood.

“How are you reacting to my attacks?”

Jeokyang Mok’s voice reached Gyo-ha’s ears.
Just as he thought.
Only Jeokyang Mok could unleash an attack of that caliber.

“But it doesn’t matter.”

Jeokyang Mok’s presence soon vanished. More precisely, he concealed himself among the others.
Gyo-ha bit his lip.
That was right. Simply sensing his enemies wasn’t enough.
Fish swimming through the darkness.
Among them lurked a shark.
That was precisely what made the Dark Night Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation so terrifying.

‘I need to deal with the formation first.’

Otherwise, he had no chance of winning.
Gyo-ha licked his lips. His master’s voice echoed through his mind.

“There are things known as formations. A formation created by a skilled formation master can do more than simply intimidate an enemy. It can show illusions, numb the senses, and sometimes even bring forth cold or heat.”

It was a fascinating story.
Young Gyo-ha, lying on the ground and groaning, lifted only his head to look at Yun Heo.
Yun Heo would tell him stories of the Kangho like this during breaks in his training.
Considering Gyo-ha’s condition, there was barely enough time for training as it was.

“Formations combined with spellcraft can produce particularly terrifying effects. Some are powerful enough to create an entirely new world.”

Perhaps he had experienced one himself, for Yun Heo shook his head.
It was the first time Gyo-ha had seen Yun Heo marvel at something like this.
That made Gyo-ha’s eyes sparkle.

“An opening!”

He pushed off the ground with both hands and launched himself toward Yun Heo’s head.
Naturally, the charge ended in failure, and Gyo-ha’s body was driven into the ground.
Yun Heo continued speaking as though nothing had happened.

“But no matter how extraordinary a formation may be, it will always have a Life Gate and a Death Gate. If you find them, you can escape the formation or even shut it down.”
“How do you find the Life Gate and Death Gate?”

Gyo-ha asked as he pulled himself out of the ground.

“You simply have to master the Book of Changes. The foundations of all formations are the same. From yin and yang to the Four Symbols, from the Four Symbols to the Eight Trigrams, then the sixty-four hexagrams…”

Yun Heo stopped speaking.
Gyo-ha was yawning.
Kwang!

“Euaak!”

Gyo-ha’s little head snapped back and forth.
Yun Heo spoke to the suffering Gyo-ha.

“With that brain of yours, you’d starve to death before finding the Life Gate.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”

Gyo-ha asked while rubbing his swollen forehead.
Yun Heo answered calmly.

“Whether it’s a person, a formation, or anything else in this world, there is one unchanging truth.”
“What is it?”

The corner of Yun Heo’s mouth rose at Gyo-ha’s question.

“That none of it matters before overwhelming power.”

Gyo-ha stared at Yun Heo in disbelief.
Yun Heo’s eyebrow twitched.

“Your eyes look rather defiant.”
“Of course not.”

Yun Heo clicked his tongue at Gyo-ha’s innocent smile.
The way he had been when they first met was disappearing, and he was becoming stranger by the day.

‘Just like his body.’

Yun Heo looked Gyo-ha up and down and sighed.

“You won’t be able to decipher a formation with that brain of yours anyway. Fight with the resolve to destroy the formation itself.”
“What if I can’t break it?”
“Then fight until you do. Or would you rather die inside it?”

Gyo-ha shook his head.
Even doing something that seemed pointless was better than doing nothing.
Wasn’t he already fighting every day just to stay alive?

“Of course, to do that, you’ll have to become stronger than you are now.”

With that, Yun Heo gestured toward Gyo-ha with his chin.

“Yes?”

Gyo-ha tilted his head with innocent eyes.
Yun Heo spoke coldly.

“Stop fooling around and get up. Your training is nowhere near finished.”

Gyo-ha cursed inwardly as he got back to his feet.

Gyo-ha’s eyes gleamed as he emerged from the nostalgic memory.
Gyo-ha exhaled.
Seuseuseuk.
He felt the claws on his fingers and toes extend.
The sensation had become familiar.

‘…Don’t aim for the people. Think of breaking the space itself.’

Gyo-ha’s foot slowly moved.
Then his foot cut through the air.
The enemies watching him were puzzled, but Jeokyang Mok sensed something was wrong.
Hwicheong.
Gyo-ha’s knee buckled.
The darkness where Gyo-ha’s foot had passed began to ripple.
Kwajijijijijijik!

“…!”

The darkness convulsed.
For an instant, sunlight broke into the darkened space.
The darkness swallowed the sunlight again, but another wave followed.
Darkness and light intertwined.
Jeokyang Mok realized what was happening.

‘The Dark Night Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation is wavering?’

He could hardly believe it.
But the darkness soon swallowed the surroundings once more.
Even so, everyone within it could tell.
The darkness had grown thinner.
Gyo-ha could see it as well.

‘It’s still not enough.’

Gyo-ha straightened himself.
He was gasping for breath after using too much Yokai Qi.
Immense weakness washed over him. His eyes also returned to their normal color.
It was different from exhausting all of his internal energy. It felt as though all the blood had drained from his body at once.
Yokai power had seeped that deeply into Gyo-ha’s consciousness.
In his current state, even the martial art the man had taught him was impossible.
Gyo-ha bit his lip.
Was this the end?
Then he sensed something strange.
A murmuring within the darkness.
It was not a sound made by actual people.
The Heretical Qi that had not yet escaped the corpses of the dead began to stir strangely.
Seureureuk.
Gyo-ha’s body moved on its own.
Without Gyo-ha consciously directing his breath or will toward it, his body drank in the corpses’ Heretical Qi like a man dying of thirst.
His eyes turned gold once more.

‘Right. If I can’t break it, then I’ll keep going until I do.’

Sensing something ominous in Gyo-ha’s presence, Jeokyang Mok shouted.

[Stop him!]

Jeokyang Mok’s voice, infused with internal energy, rang out.
They could see within the formation, but that did not mean they could hear through it. Even Jeokyang Mok’s voice would vanish into the darkness unless he infused it with internal energy.
Those farther away could not hear him, but the ones nearby reacted immediately.
But that was a mistake.
The toe claws that had extended slid back in.
At the same time, Gyo-ha bared his teeth at the men rushing toward him.
Kwang! Kwajik!
He ignored the swords coming at him.
They carried no internal energy anyway.
Even if he tried to dodge them, he couldn’t. Besides, the wounds they inflicted were not deep.
It was better to ignore them.
With each strike, he took a life.
Heretical Qi was being absorbed faster than before. His ragged breathing gradually steadied.
The others watching the scene began to move as well.

[Stop!]

Jeokyang Mok realized his mistake too late and shouted, but the men already charging forward couldn’t hear him.
In an instant, the darkness was dyed red.
A single beast rampaged within it.
Golden eyes raced through the darkness. Jeokyang Mok’s command had amounted to throwing prey before a starving beast.
Then Gyo-ha abruptly stopped.

‘Again.’

Gyo-ha slowly drew his foot back.
Jeokyang Mok personally launched himself forward.

“Out of my way!”

He charged ahead, shoving aside the subordinates in his path.
Gyo-ha’s foot slowly cut through the air.
Jeokyang Mok raised his sword as well.
Darkness slowly crept from Jeokyang Mok’s blade.

Soul-Extinguishing Black Extremity Sword.
Eternal Night Oblivion.

Darkness devoured everything around them.
The black shadow collided with Gyo-ha’s foot.
And then.
Kwagagagagagagagagagagagagang!
A shockwave unlike anything before swept over the surroundings.

As day follows night.
The estate gradually brightened.
Gyo-ha limped forward through the dispersing darkness.
With each step, his gait changed little by little.
He was recovering as he absorbed the Heretical Qi of the dead.
Gyo-ha quietly inhaled.
He could smell firewood, oil, and the gamy scent of meat.
He could even hear children chattering in the distance.
The Dark Night Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation had finally shattered.
It was already evening outside.
The sun was sinking beyond the mountain ridge.
The sky rippled as though draped in pale crimson silk, while red light glowed across every tiled roof.

‘I never knew a sunset could be this beautiful.’

Gyo-ha marveled at the sight, momentarily forgetting even the battle.
But his appreciation didn’t last long.

“You… bastard.”

Someone else walked toward him through the receding darkness.
It was Jeokyang Mok.
His elegant long robe had been torn beyond recognition, and his hair hung wildly around him.
Yet that only made him look more savage.
Jeokyang Mok no longer resembled a serpent.
It was as though a lion were walking toward him.
Gyo-ha tapped his foot.
Pain flared through it, but not enough to keep him from fighting.
That was thanks to the Heretical Qi he had absorbed.
But that was over now.
There was no Heretical Qi left in the nearby corpses.
The survivors merely watched the two from a distance. Third Elder was among them. They understood that interfering would only benefit their enemy.

“I guess this makes things fair now?”

Gyo-ha’s gaze fell upon Jeokyang Mok’s arm.
It hung limply.
The previous clash had broken it. And it wasn’t only his arm.
His movements were unnatural.

“All right, let’s go at it again.”

Jeokyang Mok’s expression twisted when he saw the corners of Gyo-ha’s mouth rise.
Despite his injuries, Jeokyang Mok’s presence had not weakened.
If anything, an even more vicious killing intent was rising from him.
But the same was true of Gyo-ha.
The gold in Gyo-ha’s eyes deepened.
He had just used most of his yokai power on the attack and his recovery.

‘Which means I don’t need to hold it back.’

Until now, Gyo-ha had fought while regulating his yokai power so that his yokai nature wouldn’t consume him.
But with only this much yokai power left, there was no need to regulate it.
Goooooooooooooooooooo.
Wrapped in Yokai Qi, Gyo-ha smiled savagely.
An instant later, their figures collided.