Absolute Darkness And The Silence Of Despair (1)

Byeon Bong instinctively felt that things had finally begun. The unknown being who had not directly touched them until now had finally begun to act against the group.

As the first of those acts, one person disappeared. And it was Yeongcheon, an absolute expert of Jieun Territory, without a trace at that. Even if it were Byeon Bong himself, he was not confident he could deal with Yeongcheon like that. In the end, the unknown being could be said to be stronger than himself.

“Be quiet.”

After making his murmuring subordinates quiet down, Byeon Bong went to the place where Yeongcheon had disappeared.

There, only one lump of filth that Yeongcheon had left behind remained alone. And nowhere around it were there any traces of a person. The only footprints were those Yeongcheon had left.

“The unknown enemy is an expert beyond imagination. Perhaps he is even now hiding and watching us panic and fear, enjoying it. So from now on, we must not scatter. As long as we stay gathered together, the enemy will not be able to act recklessly.”

His subordinates nodded. Byeon Bong continued speaking.

“From now on, absolutely do not move alone. Even when doing your business, at least three people must move together. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“We will go to Seon-yeong again. From now on, there will be no sleeping time either. If we grow tired on the way, we will replace sleep by circulating energy in shifts. We are all martial artists. I believe we can endure that much.”

They caught and ate enough fish from the lake, and dried the rest so it could be stored for several days. They would use that as food while heading to Seon-yeong.

However, whether everything would go according to Byeon Bong’s will was something no one could know.

Neung Je-gang pressed Yeongcheon’s death point. Simply killing him would have been easier, but in order to heighten their fear, he endured the trouble of kidnapping him.

Yet unexpectedly, rather than fear, the enemies were hardening their will to fight. If they ran toward Seon-yeong without sleeping, then it would also become difficult for Neung Je-gang to deal with them while hiding himself.

Following behind Byeon Bong’s group, he chose and cut down a suitable tree. He cut it into a suitable size and shaped it into the form of the daggers he liked using. If there were not enough, he could simply make more from the surrounding trees, so there was no need to make exactly as many as the number of people.

True experts could kill even with a single leaf or reed stalk. Of course, Neung Je-gang also had more than enough of that ability. However, among the hidden weapon techniques he knew, daggers still had the best throwing feel. He was dissatisfied that making them out of wood made them lighter, but it would be extravagant to use expensive Gongryeong Seven Blades on the enemies who were Byeon Bong’s party.

He chased after them as they ran blindly. Now, it did not matter even if he showed himself. In any case, they would all die before reaching Seon-yeong.

Swish.

A sound of cutting through the wind rang out, impossible to believe had come from throwing wood. Geumnyeong Flying Dagger unfolded with wooden daggers. For the first time in a while, Joseon’s hidden weapon art was being displayed from Neung Je-gang’s hand.

“Kuh-eok!”

Thud.

A Taoist running at the very rear of Byeon Bong’s group screamed and toppled forward. At the sound of his scream, the figures of those who had been running naturally stopped.

“What is it?”

Byeon Bong shouted and approached the fallen Taoist’s side. His eyes snapped wide open. A single wooden dagger into which blood was slowly seeping hurt his eyes.

“Be on guard!”

At his shout, the experts of Jieun Territory first turned and guarded every direction. The Taoists also hurriedly looked around. But they found nothing.

Judging from the direction in which the dagger had flown and embedded itself, it had been thrown from behind the group.

Byeon Bong was flustered for a moment. If the enemy had a means to attack from this long range, then blindly running quickly was also no longer a situation in which they could feel safe.

“Everyone, depart.”

Byeon Bong gave the order. But the Taoists hesitated.

“The corpse……?”

“We leave it behind. Right now, we do not have the time to take care of the corpse of the dead. I will guard the very rear, so run without worry.”

Byeon Bong decided to guard the very rear himself and urged them to run again. In any case, the dead were the dead. There was no need to linger over them.

After they left, Neung Je-gang appeared in front of the corpse of the Taoist killed by Geumnyeong Flying Dagger.

“In any case, what loyalty they have…….”

Neung Je-gang, as with Yeongcheon’s corpse, dug a hole on one side and roughly buried the Taoist’s corpse. No matter what, he thought he could not let someone who had once lived as a Taoist become food for beasts.

“To even make me clean up afterward……. Byeon Bong, I do not think I can let you die normally.”

Neung Je-gang added something unnecessary to fuel his vengeful heart and again launched himself after them. If he reduced their numbers one by one like that, the time would someday come when only Byeon Bong remained. Waiting for that moment, Neung Je-gang continued his pursuit.

Night was originally a good time for surprise attacks. It was also a time Neung Je-gang liked. At night, if one paid even a little attention to concealment, there were many cases where one could approach right beside someone without being noticed.

Byeon Bong also knew that. In truth, he too had carried out many secret missions, so he knew as much as others about the effects brought by night. That was why he knew that their position as the ones being attacked was by no means good.

Two more had already died during the day. The enemy cowardly targeted the middle if Byeon Bong was at the rear, and targeted the front or rear if he took a position in the middle.

The fact that the enemy could move freely in all directions like that showed that, if nothing else, he was overwhelmingly superior in lightness skill and concealment. In that case, night was the enemy’s ally. The darkness was far more advantageous to the enemy.

Byeon Bong’s prediction was by no means wrong.

“Aaak!”

Although they had their eyes wide open, someone in the middle of the formation screamed. Screams at night sounded even more miserable.

“Heh heh heh!”

A laugh of unknown origin was heard nearby. It was certainly not their own laughter.

“Who are you?”

Byeon Bong and his subordinates opened their eyes wide. However, they could not find Neung Je-gang, who was hidden in the darkness with illusion arts.

Instead, only the corpse of another comrade who had been killed greeted them.

“You son of a bitch!”

Someone shouted while launching palm wind toward the ground. It was an action to wash away fear, but because of it, Neung Je-gang’s next target became him.

Crack.

“Kek!”

A hand suddenly emerged from the darkness and seized his neck. With his throat strangled, he let out a short scream, and his neck broke.

“Heh heh heh heh!”

Neung Je-gang launched himself backward while holding the corpse whose neck had been broken.

“There!”

Seeing their comrade’s corpse move, the remaining people poured out their most powerful attacks. They had not seen Neung Je-gang’s form, but after seeing their comrade’s corpse, they roughly predicted that he was around there and attacked.

However, no scream was heard. Instead, only their comrade’s corpse was torn apart like a rag.

He had approached right beside them and killed their comrade, yet they had seen nothing. That fact plunged Byeon Bong and his subordinates into fear.

“Get a hold of yourselves. We will continue on our way.”

Byeon Bong judged that they could no longer stay in one place and decided to keep running. Even if they died on the way, going to Seon-yeong was the best action they could take.

Whip, whip, whip.

Fear could make even nonexistent strength arise. Although they had run all day, they ran east and east with all their might.

“Heh heh heh!”

It was when they had run for quite some time. That familiar fishy laugh was heard.

Crash.

“Keuheok!”

One Kunlun Taoist tumbled sideways in the middle of running because of a force that seemed to pull him. The shock of being forcibly thrown while running at full speed with lightness skill was no joke.

The only fortunate thing was that, though there was an impact, he had not died. Since he had fallen anyway, he pretended to be dead and did not get up. Now, he no longer had any affection or loyalty for his comrades or for Kunlun, his sect. By heaven’s fortune, he had not died, so there was no need to insist on getting up and losing his life.

‘Immeasurable Life Buddha!’

He recited the Taoist invocation he had forgotten for a long time. He only hoped that the unknown being would think he was dead and simply withdraw.

After pretending to be dead without moving at all for quite some time, only when he judged that the group had completely moved far away did he gently open his eyes. Fortunately, neither his comrades nor the enemy could be seen nearby.

Dragging his aching body, he barely managed to get up. It seemed several bones throughout his body had been broken. His internal injuries were also not light.

“I survived. I survived.”

He wanted to shout with joy, but if he did, that terrifying being might come back.

Treatment was urgent, but first, leaving this place came first. Dragging his aching body, he limped away. His direction was south, not Seon-yeong. At this moment, he erased from his mind Kunlun, and even the desire for a new empire led by Kunlun. Life was this precious.

For several days, they had been unable to sleep. Just as they could not sleep, the opponent must not have been able to sleep either. No, perhaps he trusted that proud lightness skill of his and slept now and then along the way. Since they could not confirm it with their eyes, they could only imagine such things.

Now, only about ten people remained beside Byeon Bong. More than half had died or disappeared. At least it was reassuring that all those still alive were experts of Jieun Territory who had long served as his hands and feet.

“Scatter.”

In the end, Byeon Bong decided to use his final move. It was a method of throwing away his own life to save his subordinates. If they scattered, he calculated that the enemy would chase after him, the leader.

“We cannot do that.”

His subordinates’ expressions were obvious. They were reading Byeon Bong’s thoughts exactly.

“No matter how I think about it, the only being capable of toying with us like this seems to be Secret Shadow, whom we thought was dead. No, even if it is not Secret Shadow, it is certainly an enemy more dangerous than Secret Shadow. At least one of us must survive and go tell them about this man. Think about it. If this man goes to Seon-yeong and attempts indiscriminate assassinations, who could avoid him, and what would become of our dream? So for even one person to survive, we have no choice but to scatter. Scatter and head to Seon-yeong, but absolutely do not run into one another.”

At Byeon Bong’s words, the experts of Jieun Territory lowered their heads. They did not know which of them would survive, but they also knew it would not be Byeon Bong. When one could not catch them all, catching the strongest one was the correct answer.

“Is there truly no other way?”

One person asked again, but no answer came.

Instead, the words that forced their way through Byeon Bong’s tightly closed lips were a simple command.

“Go. Hurry!”

“Please take care of yourself.”

“You must survive and return.”

How long had they lived together? The affection that had accumulated over that time was also not small.

Whip, whip, whip, whip.

They each bowed to Byeon Bong one by one, then scattered and ran in all directions. And in the darkness, their figures became invisible.

Even after all his subordinates left, Byeon Bong did not move from that place. He knew. If he did not move, the unknown enemy would not be able to chase his subordinates either. Like that, he intended to save his subordinates by staking his own life.

“Heh heh heh! To think you would become bait yourself and try to save your subordinates. That effort is admirable.”

Neung Je-gang revealed himself in front of Byeon Bong. Byeon Bong’s intention was successful. Since he could not catch them all anyway, he had no choice but to choose the side of not letting Byeon Bong escape at least.

“Who are you?”

Byeon Bong asked Neung Je-gang, who had revealed himself. What he had been most curious about while being chased all this time was precisely Neung Je-gang’s identity.

“The man who fell into the Bottomless Prison.”

“Secret Shadow? You were alive. I never imagined you would survive even after falling into the Bottomless Prison.”

Byeon Bong cried out as if dumbfounded. Then, as though he had thought of something, he was startled.

“Kunlun? What happened to Kunlun?”

He thought that after Neung Je-gang escaped the Bottomless Prison, there was no way he would leave Kunlun alone. No matter how much he had become the Territory Lord of Jieun Territory and fallen into being Deung Gak’s subordinate, his original affiliation was Kunlun. Kunlun was a place like his spiritual homeland.

“Kunlun disappeared into ashes, just as you once slaughtered and burned a village near Seon-yeong.”

“Ahh!”

Byeon Bong’s figure staggered. To him as well, the fact that Kunlun had disappeared came as that great of a shock.

“You must have heard the conversation Dam Ja-cheon and I had, so you know why I am chasing you, yes?”

“Wahahaha! Yes, I know. Of course I know. I took your family’s lives, so you must be trying to repay me for that.”

Byeon Bong laughed loudly. He showed an appearance of despair and abandonment.

“It will not end with your death alone. Your subordinates, who believe they have escaped safely from here, and Deung Gak, Deung Hyeon, Deung Myeong, and everyone bearing the name of Kunlun will follow after you. From now on, there is no Kunlun in this world.”

“Wahaha! Do not boast. Kunlun has overcome every hardship and continued for a thousand years. It is not a place that will disappear at the hands of someone like you.”

Byeon Bong shouted and gripped his sword tightly with both hands.

“Even for Kunlun’s sake, I will surely kill you today.”

With those words as the end, Byeon Bong launched himself toward Neung Je-gang. Sharp sword light received the moonlight and flashed.