Chapter 477: I Don’t Believe in Legends (13)

How in the world could someone be named Da Yeoreum?

The woman with the strange name pulled her fists free from the stone wall.

When they went in, they were bare fists.

When they came out, each gripped a sword.

At once, the man who had driven in those twin swords raised his arms meekly to either side.

The woman spun the blades with an ostentatious flourish and, with a flick, slid them neatly back into the scabbards at the man’s waist.

Their gazes crossed like two people sharing some hidden understanding.

The woman swung her palm out boldly, and the young man, seemingly just as exhilarated, raised his fist.

Her palm cut through empty air; his fist hung awkwardly extended, frozen.

They looked at each other again.

Silent exchange.

This time, she threw out a fist.

He thrust out his palm.

The onlookers realized.

Those two... they’re not in sync at all.

The pair glanced at each other, embarrassed—

“Lady, this won’t do! Let’s go!”

“Mm. Let’s.”

And with that, the two leapt away.

“Wait! What the—”

Someone tried to stop them, calling out in haste, but Da Yeoreum’s sharp voice cut them off.

“My name is Da Yeoreum! The one who opens every gate beneath heaven! Keep your thanks!”

“Keep it!”

And then—whoosh.

The two of them bolted away and vanished.

The remaining warriors blinked, then blinked again.

What? What in the hell just passed through?

All that remained was the giant crater gouged into the stone wall, the deep cracks spread like a spiderweb, and at the very center, two smaller holes.

From those holes, new cracks spread outward even now.

“Graaaaghhh!”

The Empty-Blood Hall technician—one of the Gonghyeoldan trap engineers—screamed.

“Damn it! Why! Why do you interfere! Why does heaven betray me again!?”

He raged and flailed, but all he could do was stamp and curse.

And yet, more urgent than his fury was the decision he had to make.

He snatched up the direct communication tube to the Sect Leader and shouted his report.

“Lord Sect Leader, the North Gate is—”

Gui Sanmanbak Amhalyong had been in a foul mood all along.

Because the great plan, twenty years in the making, kept veering awry.

If he were in a good mood at such a time, one would suspect dementia or mania.

Blowing up the West Gate had been an impulsive decision, born of that frustration.

Even with three tunnels remaining, how could he so casually order the collapse of a maze into which the Western Expedition had poured twenty years?

It had been an explosion of rage—and a severe warning.

If they played tricks, not only would they fail to enter, they would all be buried alive in the mountain.

No schemes. Kill each other honestly, and deliver the heart of an Absolute.

That was the warning the wreckage of the West Gate would carry north and south, spread by the surviving martial artists.

Play games, and the gate collapses!

Draw your blades and sacrifice an Absolute’s heart!

He had barely finished sending that solemn warning when—

—Sect Leader, the North Gate is about to collapse. Shall we destroy the tunnel now, or—

“Why!? Why! We already showed them what happens! So why! Why collapse again! Are they all illiterate? It’s written there! Heart! It said to give us a heart!!”

Gui Sanmanbak Amhalyong, Lord of Gonghyeoldan, bellowed.

—It’s that woman, the one called Da Yeoreum—

“Again! That Da Yeoreum bitch again! What the hell grudge does she have with us!?”

—Sect Leader, the North Gate is on the verge of collapse. Your orders?

“Grrh...!”

Amhalyong gnashed his teeth.

Three tunnels remained.

If he destroyed another, then half of the prepared passages would be gone.

And he was not the sort of man to laugh and say half still remain.

“Why! All we asked for was a single heart! Just one! We didn’t demand a hundred lives for some grand ritual! Just one heart!”

He erupted again, rage like molten fire.

“Just one heart! A little blood! That’s all it would take for us to open the way! And you can’t even manage that!? We prepared for twenty years! And you bastards can’t cough up one measly heart! How can this be!?”

The technician at the North Gate sobbed too, his voice quivering through the brass tube.

—Sniff...!

The pitiful sound touched Amhalyong’s blazing heart.

And slowly, he forced himself to calm.

“Damn it... North Gate, open. All personnel, remain in trap sectors and await action. Repeat. The northern passage is now open. All teams, remain focused on mission.”

The order left a bitter taste in his mouth.

The demand for an Absolute’s heart at the entry stage had not been about a bit of bloodletting.

It was to force those martial scum to expose their true nature.

So that after they offered up an Absolute’s heart, they would know their own barbarity.

So that once inside, they would kill each other without hesitation.

Each step meant to stoke the flames until the slaughter blazed out of control...

At that moment, cracks spreading from the North Gate’s center reached its edges, and a faint tremor ran through the ground.

“Th-that... that thing...!”

The gathered warriors staggered back in a rush.

Then—KRA-KOOM!

A thunderous crash, clouds of dust billowing.

Coughs and wheezes filled the air.

And when the dust finally cleared—

The massive stone gate, a full jang tall, was gone.

Beyond the heap of rubble, a yawning black tunnel gaped open.

“It... it really opened?”

“The gate... was broken through...”

“The one who opens gates... the Gate-Opener Da Yeoreum.”

Had Qing heard, she would have protested bitterly.

She’d seen with her own eyes the West Gate collapse into ruin after an attempt to slice it open.

At the North Gate, there had been no time to waste—pursuers were closing in.

No leisure to play games. She had simply smashed it and run.

How could she have known it would really open?

She had overlooked just one truth—

Whether man or object, beat it hard enough and it will obey!

And then—

“Da Yeoreum, you bitch! You broke another gate!”

With a furious roar, Jeollak Holy Lord Jun Gichung descended.

He spun around, scanning.

And then froze, staring at the dark tunnel yawning open.

What? It’s open?

He darted glances left and right, spotted a familiar face, and sidled over.

“Tell me, Holy Lord of Guangryong Fortress. Did a bitch with the ridiculous name Da Yeoreum come through here?”

“She did. Appeared out of nowhere, smashed open the gate, then vanished. Do you know her?”

“Well, that bitch is—hm?”

Jun Gichung cut himself off, staring at the tunnel.

Torches along the walls flared to life one by one, lighting the way in.

Like an invitation.

He faltered.

What did it matter to chase Da Yeoreum and crush her?

With the passage to the Absorption Demon Art wide open before him, was there any need?

He began to rationalize, as only heretics do.

Why chase her?

Because she tricked him, the Holy Lord of Jeollak Fortress.

But was it really a trick?

If the North Gate had simply collapsed, perhaps. But open like this? Perhaps Da Yeoreum truly was a master of mechanisms.

Maybe it had been the meddling lama, poking with his fingers, that ruined the West Gate attempt.

What if she hadn’t deceived him at all?

Then he needed to hurry and find the manual.

Why waste time twisting her limbs?

For the greater prize, small slights could be set aside.

Heretic logic.

“She went east. Her body technique was superb—if you mean to catch her, you’d best hurry.”

Spoken by Guangryong Holy Lord Ui Ryungchang.

Which meant: get lost already.

Jun Gichung cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Not that I must chase her. In any case, the gate is open. We must begin exploration...”

Ui Ryungchang’s face soured.

Why was this bastard hovering at his entrance?

Opening the North Gate had been the rational choice.

One gate had already collapsed—destroying more would be pointless spite.

But the sting of defeat was unbearable.

Damn bastards. Even after all our preparation, they couldn’t bring a single heart...

Just as Amhalyong was swallowing down his rage—

—Sect Leader, report from the East Gate—

“What? Did they bring a heart? Opening now?”

—No, sir. It seems this Da Yeoreum woman is stirring trouble...

“Again! That Da Yeoreum bitch again! Why! Even when we open the gates, she still has to make a mess!”

—Sh-she tried to smash the gate, was stopped, and now she’s riling everyone up, telling them to forget hearts and just break it like the others. The East Gate crowd is just standing around outside, dumbfounded—

Amhalyong screamed.

“Just open it! Open the damn thing!”

—S-sir?

“It’s clear now, opening the gates isn’t her goal at all! She just wants them destroyed! That’s her scheme!”

He wasn’t a fool.

Hadn’t she tried to brute-force the West and North Gates?

At first, when he heard of the North, he thought she’d moved on after failing at the West.

But if she showed up again at the East even after it opened, then what else could her aim be?

“So open it first!”

—Y-yes. Opening East Gate.

“South Gate! You hearing this? You open too!”

—Sir? Now? We—

“Just open it! All sectors in place! The Grand Bloodshed Plan begins in earnest now! Let the fisherman’s net close!”

Amhalyong’s voice rang with grim finality.

Even if the whole strategy was already warped from the start, forced into motion by blunders and fury, he still shouted like a great general at war.