Chapter 110: Too Late for Regret (2)

At that moment, the shadows of two people fell across the entrance to the Zhuge Household’s secret closed-door training cave.

The Dark Emperor instinctively turned toward them.

In that same instant, blue Sword Force lashed into him.

“...Urgh!!”

The Dark Emperor had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm.

And yet he was driven far back.

Because of the Sword Force bursting from Zhuge Won’s sword.

“Do not overstrain yourself, Family Head.”

“The same goes for you, Elder.”

“Heh heh. Even if we stand in the same realm, I’ve trained longer than you have.”

Cheongpyeong, the Empty-Fist Elder of the Wudang Sect.

Zhuge Won, the Heaven-Communing Enlightened One and Family Head of the Zhuge Household.

They were the two men who had come charging in after receiving Zhuge Yeon’s urgent message.

Zhuge Won had even used an emergency measure to get here faster.

He had exercised the Family Head’s privilege to disable every formation and mechanism near the closed-door training site at once.

“Can that be restored?”

“Do not worry. It will return to normal in three shichen.”

By temporarily severing the flow of the mountain’s energy veins, he had neutralized everything.

That was something only a person with exact knowledge of the energy veins’ positions and the way they branched through the mountain could do.

And that information was revealed only to the Family Head.

Cheongpyeong decided that was none of his concern and merely shrugged.

Then, together with Zhuge Won, he advanced one step at a time.

Soyak was sprawled on the ground, groaning weakly.

“Can you stand, disciple of Mount Hua?”

Cheongpyeong glanced down at Soyak.

It would not be easy to help her recklessly.

The moment someone moved to assist her, the Dark Emperor would strike the one left behind.

One was at the opening stage of the Transformation Realm, and the other was in its middle stage.

It sounded simple enough when spoken aloud, but the gap between those realms was vast.

There was no guarantee one of them could hold out until the other moved Soyak to safety.

And yet the Dark Emperor was an opponent they could not guarantee victory over unless both of them attacked together at full strength.

In other words, the moment they were isolated and beaten separately, defeat was certain.

And helping Soyak was the quickest road to exactly that.

Soyak knew it too.

“...Don’t worry about me.”

She drove her sword into the ground.

Then, using it as a cane, she barely forced herself upright.

The left leg pierced by the throwing knife and soaked with poison still would not obey her.

If she pulled it out, the bleeding would be severe.

Soyak clenched her teeth and endured it.

Then she slowly retreated.

“...You will not find me disappointing.”

Zhuge Won took the opening stance of the Ascending Heaven Flying Dragon Sword.

Cheongpyeong did the same.

Blue force streamed from his hands in branching currents.

It was Fist Force.

“So the Family Head means to exert himself.”

“Be careful, Elder.”

“Don’t waste your worry on me.”

Two masters at the opening stage of the Transformation Realm.

And one master who had reached its middle stage.

Naturally, the odds favored the Dark Emperor...

But Zhuge Won and Cheongpyeong still had at least a thirty percent chance.

And their goal was only to endure until Grand Master Jeonggang arrived.

Zhuge Won and Cheongpyeong stamped hard against the cave floor and rushed the Dark Emperor.

*****

At that same time.

Outside the Zhuge Household’s secret closed-door training cave.

Zhuge Yeon, Eunsong, Great Madam Ak Jayeon, and Jang Yul had gathered together.

All of them strained their ears toward the sounds coming from inside.

“...They’ll be safe, won’t they?”

Zhuge Yeon asked the others carefully.

But neither Eunsong nor Ak Jayeon nor Jang Yul could promise victory.

Though she was Zhuge Won’s wife, Ak Jayeon was also a woman who lacked nothing as a martial artist in her own right.

A master standing at the very edge of Apex, wielding the Flame-Dragon Saber Canon.

Of course, compared to the Transformation Realm, she was nothing more than an ant before a great river...

But even she could feel just how overwhelming the clash of internal energies pouring from within truly was.

“...About thirty percent.”

“Mother?”

“Yeon, you know it too. Their chance of winning is about thirty percent.”

Zhuge Yeon’s face went pale.

Of course she had known the odds were slim...

But hearing her mother confirm it aloud made it feel different.

“...Uncle Yul, is that really true?”

“That’s how it looks to me as well, miss.”

“B-but Cheon Soyak is in there too...”

Zhuge Yeon glanced sidelong at Eunsong’s face.

His expression was harder than she had ever seen it.

“...Eunsong, are you all right?”

“I am not.”

He had clenched his fist.

So tightly the veins stood out on the back of his hand.

He had to gauge the situation inside.

Even if only to go in and bring Soyak out.

Eunsong carefully calculated the collisions of internal energy he could feel from outside the closed-door training cave.

Once, twice, three times...

The Zhuge Household’s Great Heavenly Star Art, the Wudang Sect’s heart method, and even the killing intent of the Kill Veil.

There were three kinds of energy intermingling within.

“...I have to go in.”

Eunsong muttered it under his breath.

The one who stopped him was not Zhuge Yeon, nor Ak Jayeon.

It was Jang Yul.

“I’ll go.”

“...You, Hero Jang Yul?”

“Among everyone here, I’m the one with the highest martial arts, am I not?”

The mere force radiating from the clash of those three energies was enough to leave all of them sweating coldly.

A place where three Transformation Realm masters were locked in combat.

It truly was a hell descended into the human world.

“She is my disciple. You do not need to do this.”

“That’s exactly why I do.”

Jang Yul drew a deep breath and steadied the flow of his internal energy.

Jang Yul, the Vertical-Split Execution Sword.

A master of the Cloud-Cutting Sword Art, his unique martial art.

If it was him, then perhaps—just perhaps—he might be able to pull Soyak out from that chaos.

And besides...

If not him, then who else here could possibly succeed?

As he himself had said, there was no one here whose martial arts surpassed his.

“Your disciple fought her way back alive. It would be rather troublesome if her master died, got injured, or even lost an arm.”

“That sounds entirely possible, Eunsong.”

Zhuge Yeon added quietly.

But she was not done.

“And Uncle Yul. The same goes for you.”

“Well, I’m still a little better than that Mount Hua Daoist, miss.”

“Whether an arm gets cut off or a wrist gets severed, it hurts the people watching all the same.”

“I’ll do my best to make sure nothing like that happens.”

Smiling, Jang Yul cupped his fist toward Zhuge Yeon.

And then toward Great Madam Ak Jayeon as well.

Ak Jayeon was looking at the bodyguard bantering with her daughter with surprisingly warm eyes.

“Then I’ll be off.”

*****

Zhuge Cheokwol and Zhuge Sakhyeon were whipping their horses onward with all their strength.

Humans had created martial arts, and they had also created lightness arts...

But even those had come into being because men wished to match a horse’s speed with their own bodies.

Riding two of the finest horses in the Zhuge Household, the brothers were by no means slow.

And there was another problem.

Zhuge Cheokwol’s martial arts had already passed the opening stage of Transcendent Apex.

But Zhuge Sakhyeon had only just barely reached the very end of First-Rate.

Not even strong enough to call a true master without hesitation.

But if they adjusted their pace to match Zhuge Sakhyeon’s internal energy and martial ability, they would certainly be delayed.

In that case, it was better to rely on horses that could maintain the speed of lightness arts without pause.

After racing like that for quite some time, they finally saw it in the distance—the dizzying, precipitous form of Mount Hua.

A sight truly worthy of being called the Sword Peak.

But there was no time to let themselves be distracted by the scenery.

The two brothers drove their horses with all their might toward the signboard at the foot of Mount Hua.

“Halt your horses!”

The gatekeeper stopped them.

White martial uniforms, plum blossom embroidery across the chest.

They were Mount Hua martial artists.

“For what business do you seek to pass the main gate in such haste? State your identities and your names. Your purpose as well.”

“I am Zhuge Cheokwol, First Young Master of the Zhuge Household! I have come to see Grand Master Jeonggang!”

Grand Master Jeonggang.

At that name, the gatekeeper’s face stiffened.

Had the man before him not been the heir of the Zhuge Household, he likely would have dragged him straight down from his horse.

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. But it is urgent... Tell him that his disciple’s disciple, Cheon Soyak, is in danger. Then he will let us in.”

“...Very well. But if this is false, the consequences will be grave.”

The gatekeeper gestured to his assistant, who had been listening from the side, telling him to go up the mountain.

The man immediately began sprinting up Mount Hua’s steep paths with the steps of the Lightness Arts.

“...I am not lying. The Dark Emperor has appeared at the Zhuge Household.”

“The Dark Emperor? If you mean the legendary one from the Kill Veil... If First Young Master speaks the truth, then all I can do is hope my assistant runs with everything he has.”

Even so, the gatekeeper still looked unconvinced.

He knew there was no reason for a man of the Zhuge Household to tell such a ridiculous lie.

And yet...

For a mere gatekeeper to hear such a monstrous, unbelievable report in broad daylight was another matter entirely.

“It is true. Was it not already a fact that Hero Eunsong, a second-generation disciple of Mount Hua, and Young Hero Cheon Soyak, a third-generation disciple, were heading to the Zhuge Household?”

“...That is true, yes.”

“Then there is no point in doubting it.”

Zhuge Cheokwol said that as he looked around.

Because he could not shake the thought that the Dark Emperor might slaughter everyone at the Zhuge Household, then chase after them and kill them too.

But fortunately, nothing like that happened.

“...Brother. What are you thinking?”

“Nothing. More importantly, all of this has to be resolved quickly...”

It was then.

Someone leaped down from one of Mount Hua’s distant, towering peaks, stepping lightly through empty air as if pressing his feet against the sky itself on the way down.

“That figure...”

“If there is anyone in Mount Hua who can even approximate walking on air, it would be none other than Grand Master Jeonggang.”

The gatekeeper looked up at the same sight and spoke in a voice full of pride.