Chapter 301 – The Black Sheep

“Haat!”

Kwaaaaaaaang!!

As the giant demon struck the ground, the deafening sound shook the surroundings to the point where my ears felt stuffy.

In fact, a huge hole was created as if a bomb had been dropped.

The surrounding rocks were shattered, and the guys around me were temporarily suspended in the air and powerless.

Taking advantage of the gap, Hong Yeon-hwa quickly broke through the mountain.

We were recovering our inner strength on Hong Yeon-hwa’s hands, except for me.

Well… I have overflowing inner strength.

At first, we opened the way, and Hong Yeon-hwa, who had to fight the Black Sheep, tried to recover the Hong Yeon-hwa who had been using Cheonma Jaelim for a long time.

Hong Yeon-hwa can perform martial arts while moving, unlike me and others.

However, there is a reason why it has become the opposite now.

There is a reason to quickly run and fuck before the opponent does something…

The biggest reason is that the medicine spilled out of Hong Yeon-hwa’s backpack, which she thought she had packed a lot of food.

What if she got bloodthirsty like Sura Geomma and put in as much medicine as possible?

There were a considerable amount of medicines left, including the ones made internally by the Cheonma Religion and the ones obtained by breaking the Mureummaeng.

Other than me, the others had already eaten one or two medicines, such as Summoning Dan or Maehwa Dan.

Since the situation is what it is, it is not possible to fully absorb it through proper martial arts, but…

They are medicines that represent each martial arts faction.

Just swallowing them should be able to recover the inner strength used so far. We didn’t fight while scraping the bottom.

Hong Yeon-hwa can eat the remaining Daehwan Dan later. If it’s not enough, she can eat one more from the Taechungdan.

Since our level of inner strength operation is different from theirs, it won’t take long to absorb them.

“… It’s strange. When did she pack this?”

She must have spent all her time before departure sparring with me or fooling around.

As I was tilting my head, Pungsoso, who had become lively again thanks to the medicine, laughed and said.

“Maybe Hong Unni sneaked it from the pharmacy. And anyway, what’s wrong with that? It’s Hong Unni’s stuff… It’s a bit extravagant, but thanks to that, we can fight properly, right?”

“That’s true.”

I didn’t expect this situation, but Hong Yeon-hwa’s preparation was a big help.

So we quietly recovered our inner strength on Hong Yeon-hwa’s hands for about an hour.

By the time we crossed the Tae-san entrance and climbed up to a point close to the center, it had passed about half a day.

Chapter 302 – The Hidden Cave

Through the direction where the Togui was taking us, we roughly knew the location, but we didn’t know exactly where it was. So, Myeongwoljin was tracking the demon’s energy and giving us directions.

But suddenly, Myeongwoljin shouted in a loud voice.

“There it is!”

“Huh?”

“On the left. The place where the cliff is visible. The energy is concentrated there!”

“Hmm…”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been staring at the direction pointed out by Myeongwoljin, tilted her head in disbelief.

“Until just now, I couldn’t feel anything. But when I focused properly, there was something.”

“Hiding the hideout is the most basic thing, so it’s natural. If you concentrate, you can sense it with your senses.”

Myeongwoljin was right. In fact, even I and the others couldn’t feel anything no matter how much we concentrated on the cliff.

When Hong Yeon-hwa headed towards the cliff, Myeongwoljin took out a small jade bead from his pocket.

A device that shines with a bright light on one side, about the size of a fist. But for some reason, some parts of it were burning dark red.

I was about to look closely, thinking that the stone was on fire, but Myeongwoljin’s explanation continued before that.

“It’s called the Gonryunboju. As you can tell from the name, it’s a divine water of the Gonryun faction…”

“It must have been stuck somewhere in the Cheonma Religion’s warehouse. So, what function does that Gonryunboju have?”

As I cut off the explanation that seemed to be getting longer, Myeongwoljin coughed with a disappointed expression.

“Ahem. Since the situation is what it is, let me explain briefly. The Gonryunboju has a function that assists the owner as much as the energy stored in it. It seems to have malfunctioned a bit because it was used excessively… but thanks to that, we were able to find the place where the energy is concentrated.”

“So that’s this cliff.”

“Right. More precisely, it’s underground. The entrance is probably…”

“Hup!”

Before Myeongwoljin’s words could continue, Hong Yeon-hwa’s arm shot out like a lightning bolt.

The demon’s arm, which followed like a black lightning bolt, swung towards the root of the cliff.

It was a powerful blow that could collapse the entire cliff if it hit properly. But…

Tuwong-

A wave-like thing spread through the air, drawing a circle, and then all the power in Hong Yeon-hwa’s fist disappeared into the surroundings.

Watching that scene, Hong Yeon-hwa narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue.

“Tsk. I didn’t expect to use the principles of Taeguk like this. If I had done it well, it would have been a chance to collapse the entire cliff.”

“Oh no! What if you had just punched it recklessly?! Fortunately, it was just a technique that nullifies attacks, but if a counterattack had come flying, it could have been a big problem!”

“Impossible. Since they were solely focused on defense, it was able to block my attack. If they had added any other functions, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand my blow just now.”

“I don’t understand…ah.”

Hong Yeon-hwa knew that deceiving oneself might be possible, but blocking an attack was a different matter.

Myeongwoljin looked at Hong Yeon-hwa with a puzzled expression, but soon nodded in agreement.

Well, even if the opponent was on the same level as Hong Yeon-hwa, their field of expertise was different.

Just like how he covered the entire Taesan with Jinbeop and how not everyone can perform the ritual to honor the dead.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s attack also had destructive power that not just anyone could replicate.

Although the attack just now may not have been at full power, it still contained enough force to collapse an entire cliff.

If they were able to block it so easily, then they must have solely focused on defense.

“Wait, did you say Taeguk just now?”

“Yes. It had a similar touch to Jang Mun-in’s Taeguk Miribeop太極薇釐法, a shamanistic technique I faced before.”

“Shamanistic…is it really Taeguk?”

In reality, the shaman using a sword to demonstrate the principles of Taeguk became so famous that Taeguk itself became a concept.

Just like how Hong Yeon-hwa used it to enhance Kang Hwan’s power, it was one of the concepts that could be expressed without a sword.

Still, it was surprising that they were able to incorporate it into Jinbeop.

“Perhaps they dispersed my power throughout the entire cliff and sent it flowing somewhere, whether it be in the air or underground.”

“Hmm. Even if it was a direct hit, it’s uncertain whether it would have broken through or not, so they were able to easily block the aftermath.”

By the way, although they twisted it in a bizarre way, Jinbeop that covered the entire Taesan…Palmyeon Dungab is a well-known and fundamental Jinbeop that I’ve heard of before.

In terms of martial arts, it would be like Yookhapkwon or Samjae Geombeop.

But a Taeguk that was able to block Hong Yeon-hwa’s attack…

“Could they be a survivor of the shamanistic faction or something?”

“It’s not that. There may be survivors, but there has never been a case where they let an opponent who could push Hong Yeon-hwa this far live.”

“They could be a former master. Or like the Cheonma, they could have reached a high level and easily utilized the principles of Taeguk.”

“Hmm. Since Taeguk itself is a concept of Taoist philosophy, it’s possible for a Taoist monk to use it.”

“That person is not a monk.”

“Then let’s say they were a former monk.”

Ignoring Myeongwoljin’s words, Hong Yeon-hwa looked around for a moment before finally bringing us back down to the ground.

Suddenly, I wondered why they were doing this.

“What? Where did the Togui go?”

“If you mean the Togui, they haven’t appeared since the first lady attacked the cliff.”

It wasn’t a threat, just a disappearance, so I realized a little late.

Hong Yeon-hwa, who was sensitive to energy, and Samamaeng seemed to have noticed it right away.

Anyway, someone who could revive the Togui… in other words, the person who died in the Cheonma War wouldn’t just end like this, so the opponent intentionally used the Togui.

That means…

“Are they going to open the door…?”

As soon as I spoke, the ground vibrated lightly, and then the floor split open, revealing a staircase leading underground.

“They really opened it.”

“They were trying to bring us here from the beginning, weren’t they? From their perspective, it’s a natural thing to do, Jinrang.”

Samamaeng looked beyond the stairs.

Well, just as we concluded that they would destroy us without trying anything, they must have concluded that they would bring us to their hideout and deal with us.

It’s like returning to the starting point after going around in circles.

I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile at that fact.

“Well, we still have to try. Yeon-hwa, give it your all and hit the inside of the stairs.”

“I was planning on doing that from the beginning.”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had been maintaining the Cheonma Realm, took her stance.

One leg forward, fist tightly pressed against her waist, she aimed straight ahead.

And then, at some point, the feeling that everything around her was being sucked into Hong Yeon-hwa’s fist began to creep in.

That’s because an enormous amount of energy was being concentrated in Hong Yeon-hwa’s fist.

Soon, everyone could tell that this tremendous energy was about to be released.

“Hup!”

—————————————!!!

The giant demon’s fist flew at a speed that couldn’t be followed with the naked eye.

But there was no thunderous roar or earthquake-like tremor.

It was an unexpectedly quiet blow, unlike Hong Yeon-hwa’s usual style.

…Of course, it wasn’t lacking in power.

Splat.

The space around where Hong Yeon-hwa’s fist hit was breaking apart.

It probably wasn’t really breaking the space, but rather the Jinbeop.

It wasn’t enough to break it in one hit, but it was a signal that it would crumble easily with a few more hits.

But there was one problem.

“It’s recovering too fast. It’s too fast.”

“We have plenty of materials, so it’s not a problem.”

Myeongwoljin’s material was probably referring to blood.

The blood that they had accumulated so far, and the blood that we had unintentionally given them.

I can’t even imagine how much blood they have.

Of course, if we keep hitting it, we can break it…

“If we have to call the Togui again, it will take too long to break it. We might not even be able to break it until the ceremony is over if we make a mistake.”

Hong Yeon-hwa said this with a hint of wounded pride.

So, in the end, we have no choice but to move as the opponent wants us to.

Srrr.

Everyone silently drew their weapons that they had put away for a moment.

It’s time to go into the enemy’s mouth.