There were two figures in the snow. Two men, their faces covered by masks, were moving rapidly.
[She’s slowly lagging behind.]
The masked man on the right nodded at the voice transmission from the man on the left.
Behind them, a fat woman was in pursuit. But little by little, the distance between them was widening.
[I think her stamina is dropping because she is fat.]
[Still, she is good. A servant of the Bloody Hand Witch. She is quick-witted and also skilled in martial arts.]
The masked man on the left bit his tongue at this. Because of her large frame, they thought she would be easy pickings, but it turned out that she could chase them.
Initially, they aimed to stun both the fat girl and the boy.
[Just a little more time Leader Mak.]
[Yes.]
The tired look was gone. It felt like they had to go back.
The masked man on the right spoke as he looked at the herb.
[We are lucky, though. We are fortunate to have followed So Wonhwi.]
[Right. But I have doubts on one thing.]
[About what?]
[How is a guy with a ruined dantian using footwork?]
[True.]
They searched the mountain till late sunset. Then they found So Wonhwi moving around.
They were curious to see a guy who could not perform martial arts with a damaged dantian move around in the forest in the evening.
As a result, they overheard the conversation between the two and then stole the herbs.
[Whatever you are curious about, there is no way we can know it right now, so let’s just go after what we are sure about. In any case, the elder will keep his promise, right?]
Surprisingly, they mentioned elder Hae Ack-chun.
What was this?
[He said that if we bring the herbs, he will give us anything, so he will keep his word. It is a promise made in his honor. How can he break it?]
Hae Ack-chun was seriously searching for the herbs and proposed a deal to a few people in the cult.
He said if the herbs were given to him, he would give them anything they wanted. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have dreamed of trying to seal the blood points of Hae Ack-chun’s disciple.
They were convinced that he wanted the herbs for himself and that they wouldn’t be yelled at for touching his disciple and the fat girl.
[Elder asked for it, but what could we ask for it? Hahaha.]
[Hahahah]
[If we do well, we can break away from the Six Blood Valley and go elsewhere.]
At that moment, they were in love with this thought.
As they moved with the light footwork technique, a faint image appeared. Something blurry was running towards them.
‘…?!’
Upon discovering this, they stopped. Because they realized who was approaching them.
‘Bloody Hand Witch!’
The Sixth Blood Star, Han Baekha.
They were shocked as they did not expect her to come here. Besides, they also had masks on.
Pat!
The Bloody Hand Witch approached them with her expressionless face
“Who?”
The two hesitated on what they needed to do. If they took off their masks, their identity would be revealed.
“Who are you?”
Shhh!
Han Baekha’s hands were turning red.
‘Shit!’
They thought they might die if they didn’t say anything, so they took off their masks and bowed.
“Long live the Blood Cult! I am Leader Mak Wihong of the Blood Sealing group!”
“Long live the Blood Cult! I am Sa Hyeon of the Six Blood Valley.”
To get over this situation, they had to reveal their identity. It was better than being mistaken as the enemy. And then a scream came.
“Huh! Teacher! They attacked me and stole the undersea plant!”
‘…?!’
The two’s faces hardened.
“Sixth, Sixth Blood Star! This…”
“Elder…”
Before he could make any excuses, Han Baekha’s hands moved faster.
Papak!
“Kuak!”
“Ack!”
Her hands slammed into their bodies instantly, and the two fell backward. No matter how skilled they were, the gap between them and the Blood Star was too great.
“How dare you attack us?”
Her eyes were as sharp as a sword. Approaching the two that she had dealt with, she then took the plant they had.
“Huh!”
And then, the fat woman, no, Ha Yeon arrived.
“Gasp!’
Her face was wet with sweat. Han Baekha lowered her head and looked at Ha Yeon, who was gasping for breath.
“Why did you leave without informing me?”
“Kuk… kuk… sorry…”
“I am glad you are safe.”
Tat!
After that, three women in white veils arrived from the same direction. Unable to keep up with the speed of Han Baekha, they arrived late and bowed to her.
Han Baekha said.
“Now that we obtained the herbs, we can head back to the main hall.”
At her words, Ha Yeon barely caught her breath and said,
“Haaa… teacher, please head back first. I have to go back.”
“Uh?”
Han Baekha was puzzled.
Crack!
The ice cracked, and the pieces fell.
I was using the Xing Ming sword technique to break the ice, but it was so thick that I couldn’t do it properly.
How cold should the weather be for a waterfall to freeze?
-Is it here?
‘Right.’
The real undersea plant was behind the frozen waterfall.
I didn’t know who attacked me, but the real herbs would have been stolen if they had come out a little later.
-You were lucky.
‘Right. Or maybe they were stupid.’
They should be patient if they want to perform an ambush.
-Who were they?
I can roughly guess who they were. Judging from the fact that they and Ha Yeon fought, they weren’t from the side of the Bloody Hand Witch.
Then, it had to be from someone higher-ranked in the Six Blood Valley. Wouldn’t it be great to have at least that level of martial arts?
-They had no fear. They will have to face that crazy man if they attack you.
This was the shocking part.
It was apparent that they attacked us for the herbs. Even so, there was a high chance that they resorted to such an attempt because of the herbs.
‘I cannot imagine it.’
And the place was a dark cave. There was a space similar to a cave behind the waterfall. Unlike the moonlit space outside, it was too dark to see inside.
‘Should we light a torch?’
But it is hard to find branches in a place with ice everywhere. As I was about to move, Short Sword said,
-What is that?
‘What?’
-Can you see something in the back?
I narrowed my eyes and looked into the dark cave. At first glance, I could see nothing, but when I looked closely, I saw something shining softly.
And as I approached it, I saw small bead-like things emanating a green light. There were also purple petals around it.
‘Found it!’
-Is this the real undersea plant?
Seven small beads with a soft green glow inside the purple petals.
These are the fully grown Undersea plants. There were only two here, unlike the huge number of plants outside.
Would these two work?
‘It is cold.’
It is said that this cold plant only bloomed on winter nights, and it felt like my palms would freeze from just holding it.
I thought I had to cover my hand in a sleeve and then catch the stem. I carefully pulled them from the roots.
‘If this can be used in summer, it would be really cold.’
As I was pulling out the second plant, Iron Sword said,
-Wonhwi, a broken sword is at your feet.
‘Broken sword?’
-It is saying something, but the sword’s core seems broken. I cannot hear it.
‘Okay?’
I put the other plant in my hand and reached under my feet. My fingers touched cold metal, and I heard a voice in my head.
-Avo…id… it… goe…s…for… the..feet!
‘What was that?’
-Ru
‘Ru?’
-n…
‘n?’
Was this guy telling me to run? Why would it say that in such a creepy way!
And then Short Sword spoke in a whisper.
-Wonhwi, do not make a sound and stay quiet; when I say run, run outside.
Why are you scaring me? What was it?
But for now, I decided to follow the instructions.
-Run!
As soon as it told me to run, I began to look around carefully and ran to the outside of the frozen waterfall.
At that moment, I heard something strange come from behind me.
Papapal!
It was walking, more like scratching, on the ground as it moved, maybe crawling?
But it was terrifying, big, and fast.
-Too fast. Take me, Wonhwi!
As Iron Sword’s words, I pulled him out of the sheath. After infusing my innate qi into it, I quickly turned back and swung the sword.
Pak!
I could feel something brush past the sword.
Kik!
And then I saw something strange. Four eerie purple-colored eyes were staring at me.
Papapak!
The purple eyes in the light seemed to be looking at my head and moved with great speed.
-Wonhwi, defend with the sword while avoiding it.
As instructed by Iron Sword, I held out my sword, avoided it, and kept moving back.
Papal!
It felt heavy. Each step from it made ice shards bounce up.
How the hell was this thing so big that the ice was shattering? I became even more afraid since I couldn’t even see it!
-This is the time! Hidden Clam sword!
I hurriedly unleashed it, the Hidden Clan Sword technique.
A counterattack technique that used the opponent’s force.
Chachachachak!
When I used the technique, I heard the sound of scales being hit. It felt hard, too hard, and there was a feeling of the sword getting stuck.
Papak!
And then, perhaps as it tried to avoid the attack, the four eyes which were shining began to move to the side.
-Do not miss it.
‘I know.’
I began to look towards the purple eyes, which were disappearing. Then, I used the Tiger Tooth Sword technique.
Chachacha!
My sword moved in front of me with a stronger force than the previous technique. I instinctively understood this feeling of cutting into something.
“Kakakaka!”
A terrifying scream resounded in the cave. It felt like I was in pain.
I frantically swung the sword and moved ahead again as I heard the sound of pounding on the floor.
Thud!
-He is down!
Iron Sword informed me that the monster had fallen.
Papak!
I tried to swing the sword a couple more times just to be sure but found no response.
“Haa…”
Even though it was cold here, I was sweating. I almost died to this invisible monster. What was this?
-Totally disgusting.
-My first time seeing it.
Only these two seemed fine. It was then.
Puck!
“Kuaaak!”
Something sharp pierced the back of my foot. I cut it with the iron sword.
“Kuak!”
I tried to check if the thing I could hit was the mouth, but then the movement stopped. I thought I killed it. I was too careless.
Damn it, my toe hurt so much! It felt like it was on fire.
Poison?
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be getting these symptoms.
“Kuak!”
I could feel the poison qi rush into my body. It reached inside in an instant.
The poison was so intense that it felt like my body was on fire.
Ba-dump!
As my heart pounded, the innate qi in my chest moved to fight the poison. But the pain didn’t die down.
“So hot…”
My throat began to burn. I felt thirsty and wanted to drink cool water. I picked up the ice cubes and shoved them into my mouth.
-Yah! Get yourself together!
-Wonhwi! To drive out poison, do cultivation right now!
I knew that.
But it felt like I would die if I didn’t drink something cold.
I wanted to cool down, but even ice had its limits…
‘Ah!’
At that moment, I remembered the cold plant in my hands.
The herbs I found with a lot of effort. Like a possessed person, I put them in my mouth and chewed on them several times.
Gulp!
I could feel the coldness running down my throat. It was different from the ice cubes I ate.
A white fog came from my mouth as this cold qi ran down my throat.
-Calm down! Cultivate the qi!
Iron Sword urged me, and I sat down to fight against the poison.
“Kuak!”
The hot poison from my foot and the cold feeling from my throat clashed in the middle of my body.
