Seol-Hwi and his team took a break for another half a day, before moving on.
Because they weren’t seriously injured, everyone recovered after brief self cultivation.
Mount Hwanga was located in the center of a mountain range bordering the Qinghai Sea. The sea looked like rapid currents flowing between steep canyons.
Seol-Hwi and his party crossed the river, and headed for the destination written on the parchment given to them by the masked man.
“This is it.”
It takes half an hour to climb the mountain.
On their way to the top, Seo Ryeong approached Seol-Hwi and notified him.
In a forest on the other side, she had discovered small blood stains. After discussing with Seol-Hwi, the others began to look around as well.
“Any other traces?”
Yong Jin checked, and asked the rest of the team what they had found.
Yorim shook his head.
“It’s like finding someone who was spirited away.”
“Even if we search the entire mountain…”
Jeok Song and Imugi approached, and also gave their thoughts on the matter.
They couldn’t help feeling pessimistic.
Even if one is a master at tracking, they couldn’t find someone just by guessing that they disappeared in the mountains, without knowing where they disappeared.
Also, hadn’t two months already passed?
If there were originally traces left behind, almost all of them would have disappeared over time.
“Didn’t they say that there’s a secret hideout of Mount Hua around here? We’ll have to focus on searching there.”
What Seo Ryeong said made sense.
Finding Ma Taryong the way they were now was impossible.
“What do we do, Captain?”
Jeok Song looked toward Seol-Hwi and asked.
But Seol-Hwi stood quietly without answering him. He seemed to be thinking about something.
Imugi answered the question instead.
“There’s no way out, right? We should look around and find that secret place of Mount Hua’s…”
“Everyone, wait here for a moment.”
“…Huh?”
Almost in the blink of an eye, Seol-Hwi began to climb the mountain, as if he was soaring up into the sky. He was so fast that he disappeared in an instant.
“What is he doing?”
Seeing this, Imugi tilted his head and asked. But no answer came from the others.
They, too, had the same thoughts.
…
Seol-Hwi was climbing up the mountain when he saw the summit, which made him hurry even more.
After a while, Seol-Hwi reached the peak. He turned, and looked down at the bottom of the mountain.
Can we find him in a normal manner?
Seol-Hwi thought about this the entire time the previous day. How do you track a person who went missing two months back?
As a result, Seol-Hwi thought the quickest conclusion was to search the secret hideout of Mount Hua.
After all, it’s virtually impossible to find traces of Ma Taryong on this vast mountain.
But at the same time, he was doubtful.
Wouldn’t they have sent another tracking team other than Seol-Hwi’s to find Ma Taryong?
If Elder Nok had said one of the Seven Messengers was missing, someone would have certainly been sent out.
Yet, nothing came of it.
“I don’t know if this is possible.”
Seol-Hwi looked around.
The reason he climbed to the top was so he could try out this skill.
He’s not sure if this will work, but he has to use the opportunity.
With it, finding Ma Taryong may not be too difficult.
<Combat Method, Simulation System Lv2> <Analyzing Seol-Hwi’s martial arts> <Analyzing Seol-Hwi’s skills> <...> <Analysis complete>
As soon as he changed his combat method, Seol-Hwi could see text pop up in front of him.
The system asked him a familiar question.
<Which simulation would you like to take?>
Seol-Hwi didn’t know to what extent the simulation could calculate or implement a solution, but Seol-Hwi decided to give this a try.
“Find the last route that the Earth Demon’s subordinate, Ma Taryong, took.”
While giving the command, Seol-Hwi thought to himself that this was nonsense.
The simulation that he had experienced so far was “finding the best way”.
As he made it to LV2, Seol-Hwi knew that he could calculate a wider range, but the current command he gave had too many variables.
Like the passage of time. Wasn’t it a necessary factor for the simulation to consider?
It felt like a reckless move, but he had to do this.
No response…?
After waiting, he noticed the window still didn’t respond.
Seol-Hwi raised his voice, wondering perhaps if the system didn’t recognize his instruction.
“Earth Demon’s subordinate Ma Taryong…”
It was then!
<Analyzing...>
“Wow!”
Seol-Hwi looked at the text in front of him.
Is this real? Or will it go back to normal after a while?
<Analyzing...>
Time went on and on.
And the word “analyzing” kept coming up, yet nothing could be seen.
Is this okay?
Seol-Hwi was a little nervous.
Because he had entered the main story, the duration of his combat methods other than “free” were shortened.
So much time had already passed.
“If it doesn’t work, then why analyze…”
<Found it!>
Seol-Hwi’s eyes widened.
Because he couldn’t believe it despite seeing the evidence in front of him.
<Ma Taryong, one of the Seven Messengers of the Earth Demon! The last route he traveled is marked with the red line.>
At Seol-Hwi’s feet, the view of the mountain around him changed. Everything was dark, except for some bright colors.
One was a red line, which appeared to be the path that Ma Taryong took.
The other was a green line, that traveled around the red one.
Seol-Hwi quickly opened up the parchment paper, comparing it to what he saw.
“The location of Mount Hua’s hideout is different?!”
It was a completely different location from the mapping their side had done.
With a flash of light, the colors in front of Seol-Hwi disappeared. The simulation had ended.
But Seol-Hwi roughly remembered where that point was.
After all, judging the distance to a place far away from the mountain, it’s basic knowledge any captain should have.
“Uh, Captain…?”
Yong Jin looked at Seol-Hwi, who had just returned. He was searching for something on the ground.
“Captain, what did you find out?”
When the others questioned him, Seol-Hwi said.
“I’ve found the last location of Ma Taryong.”
“Huh? How?”
“Follow me. I’ll tell you as I go.”
With those words, Seol-Hwi jumped ahead.
His subordinates had an intuition for his actions, and followed him straight away without asking.
What Seol-Hwi saw was a house.
Temporary residences were also seen, and in some places, there were buildings the size of a large square.
It was an area small enough to be called a village, but also large enough that houses could be built here too.
Seol-Hwi and his team ran for some time.
Although it didn’t look that far when he was on top of the mountain, it was actually quite a distance on the ground.
They slowed down when they entered the house where Ma Taryong disappeared.
“Captain, this is…”
“Shhh!”
As soon as Imugi spoke, Seol-Hwi covered his mouth.
Gesturing toward his subordinates, Seol-Hwi hurriedly ran into the woods.
The movements of the members were quick as they ran after him. Only Imugi was a little slow.
Seol-Hwi and the others hid themselves in the trees.
“Hey, don’t you have anything to talk about today?”
“Well, disciple Myung-hoon didn’t say anything either…”
There were two men approaching.
Both were dressed in cotton fabric, and their gait was different from a normal person’s.
The members exchanged glances with each other. They saw that the two men on the move had a constant stride.
It was obvious they had learnt martial arts.
Seo Ryeong sent a hand signal towards Seol-Hwi.
-Should we deal with them?
If there were enemies at their destination, it would be efficient to infiltrate them as one of their own.
-No.
Seol-Hwi raised his hand and expressed his intention. There was a reason.
We need to carefully choose the target for infiltration.
This, too, was something the members were aware of.
Depending on who they infiltrate as, their actions will increase with the degree of freedom.
This is because the stronger their martial arts, the easier it is to gain inaccessible information.
One by one. Two, or four.
Groups of people walked by like that.
And then, a man with a fairly strong impression passed by, and all the members looked at Seol-Hwi.
Still, he shook his head.
Not these guys.
They didn’t know, but Seol-Hwi was already aware of the abilities of those passing by.
<Combat Method, Turn Based >
When using turn-based, Seol-Hwi had a “mind reading” ability which allows him to understand the opponent’s stats.
And seeing the combat power of the opponents one after another, he decided to wait.
From the other side, the person 1 hadn’t come this far yet, but he seemed like a good one.
<Taoist Myung Kang [Disciple of Mount Hua, handler of Myunghwaji] > Super Master level Health: 600k Internal energy 990k Combat power: 7.02 million
A 7 million in combat power!
He had a much higher ability than the others.
Seol-Hwi was waiting for someone just like that.
Here he comes.
Seol-Hwi’s eyes shone in anticipation.
After talking with the people around, he began to head over to where Seol-Hwi and his team were hiding.
Seeing that, Seol-Hwi gestured to his members.
-Everyone, use the Ghost Method.
To stop their movements, or make them soundless.
It was a high level stealth technique that stopped their breathing, and even the beating of their heart, from being heard. It also lowered body temperature.
<Stealth activated. >
As soon as Seol-Hwi recalled the contents of the secret map, this text appeared.
This skill is different from other martial arts. No movement had to be done in order to activate the skill.
End it with one blow. And right away, use the projection technique along with the attack.
He wasn’t sure there would be another good opportunity like this.
Someone strong in martial arts, and who had sufficient authority to get information from the people around him.
<Combat Method, Free >
Watching the group of five slowly approaching, Seol-Hwi changed his combat method.
Several martial arts flashed through his head, but he narrowed it down to one.
↓ ↘ → , something which can happen with a simple movement.
Wind God.
