Chapter 259

Silently, Pyo Wol raised his head above the water’s surface.

His hand was gripping the hull of the boat.

The people on board were completely unaware of Pyo Wol’s presence.

Pyo Wol touched his chest with one hand.

A muscle was slightly torn, and blood was seeping out.

Before being struck by Ji Gang-pyo’s sword, he had pulled his body back as far as possible to minimize the area of contact.

He could have avoided it completely, but then Ji Gang-pyo would have become suspicious.

To avoid his suspicion, he had to accept a small loss on his side.

Pyo Wol circulated his Internal Energy, concentrating it on the wound. The wound began to close, and the bleeding slowly stopped.

Unaware that Pyo Wol was clinging to it like a cicada, the boat glided smoothly across the water.

Pyo Wol relaxed his body as much as possible, entrusting himself to the flow of the current. Having perfectly mastered Hand Art in the underground cavern, he was able to maintain his composure even in the rough currents.

Pyo Wol held onto the hull and looked at the surrounding scenery.

They had been traveling down the river for more than half a day. They were already quite far from Runan. There was no telling how much longer they would travel by boat. Still, Pyo Wol did not feel anxious.

Pyo Wol recalled the conversation he had overheard from the martial artists on the boat.

‘They called the goods on the boat Demonic Transformation Pills.’

It was a name he had never heard before.

The name exuded an ominous feeling.

Everything that exists tends to follow its name.

He didn’t know what the Demonic Transformation Pill was, but it was clearly a very ominous item.

Although Snow Blade Sword Manor was in a power struggle with Jin Clan, he still professed to be of the Orthodox Faction.

If Snow Blade Sword Manor had been a sect of the Demonic Path or the Evil Path, the Shaolin Temple would not have tried to handle the matter so vaguely.

They tried to mediate because it was a fight between Orthodox Factions; otherwise, they would have mobilized their forces to punish them long ago.

Whatever his inner thoughts, on the outside, Snow Blade Sword Manor professed to be of the Orthodox Faction. And yet, such an ominous item was being made at Snow Blade Sword Manor.

If this fact were to leak to the outside world, he could be branded a public enemy of the Jianghu.

He didn’t think Manor Lord Seol Gang-yeon would choose such a foolish course of action. The Seol Gang-yeon he had assessed was a greedy person, but not so foolish as to ruin everything he had with a single mistake. If he were that kind of person, he would not have been able to protect and grow Snow Blade Sword Manor until now.

‘This must be related to Lee Yul.’

Pyo Wol did not know the identity of the Baek Dokyeong he had seen in the Secret Ground. But the Qi and atmosphere he felt from his body somehow resembled Lee Yul.

It was common for people who did the same kind of work to have such similar atmospheres.

Pyo Wol thought it was for the best.

After all, everything he had done was aimed at Lee Yul.

Lee Yul was an extremely unsettling individual.

He was different from any other martial artist Pyo Wol knew in the Jianghu.

It wasn’t simply a matter of Martial Arts or appearance.

He was very different from other people in his disposition, his gaze, and his way of thinking.

He was a person as alien as Pyo Wol himself.

There was no way such a human could have suddenly fallen from the sky.

The people on this boat would guide him to his point of contact with Lee Yul.

Thinking so, Pyo Wol closed his eyes.

The boat continued to ride the waterway for a full day after that. The place they arrived at was an unnamed island.

The island, surrounded on all sides by a canyon, was so exquisitely located that its existence could not be known until one entered.

The island was incredibly vast, unbelievable for a place formed in the middle of a canyon.

Thud!

The boat carrying the martial artists docked at a pier built on one side of the island.

As the boat docked, a group of martial artists came out from the inner part of the island to greet them. A middle-aged martial artist among them opened his mouth.

“Captain! You’ve returned?”

“Mm!”

The lead martial artist nodded and got off the boat.

“Is Master Lee Su-sa doing well?”

“He’s not the type to come to harm wherever he goes.”

“That’s true.”

The Subordinate smiled and nodded.

The lead martial artist pointed at the boat and said.

“The goods are loaded, so unload them all. They’re precious items we’ll use later, so store them well.”

“I don’t know why Deathshroud makes such things. They’re completely harmful to the human body.”

“Hmph! Do you think we make them for our own use? It’s a Devilish Creature that allows even a low-life ruffian to exert three to four times their strength in an instant. There will be an important use for it in the future.”

“That may be so, but…”

Despite the lead martial artist’s answer, the middle-aged martial artist’s expression was still displeased.

“It’s something Master Lee Su-sa made despite the risks. He must have had his reasons, so just store it well.”

“Understood.”

The middle-aged martial artist replied and gestured to his subordinates. The martial artists who had come out to greet them then boarded the boat and unloaded the boxes containing the Demonic Transformation Pills.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Yes! Captain.”

The middle-aged martial artist replied respectfully to the lead martial artist’s words.

The attitude he showed the lead martial artist was extraordinarily polite.

The lead martial artist’s name was Mok Han-seong.

He was the person the middle-aged martial artist respected most in the world.

He was prepared to follow Mok Han-seong to the ends of hell. Not only him, but everyone here felt the same.

Ghost Dance Unit.

That was what people called them.

The middle-aged man was Jong Ri-gu, the Vice Captain of the Ghost Dance Unit.

Jong Ri-gu followed Mok Han-seong into the living quarters on the island.

＊＊＊

The last box was unloaded from the boat.

After unloading all the boxes, the Ghost Dance Unit checked their surroundings once more. They knew that no one could approach because they were surrounded by the canyon, but they never neglected their guard.

The demeanor of the Ghost Dance Unit, unlike that of ordinary martial artists, was disciplined and well-regulated.

One of the Ghost Dance Unit martial artists shouted.

“Once all the cargo is unloaded, reactivate the Ten-Mile Illusion Formation.”

“Yes!”

Immediately after the reply was heard, a thick mist began to form around the island.

The mist, rising like a fog, instantly swallowed the island.

Just like that, the island vanished into the mist in an instant.

A long time passed after that.

Suddenly, a martial artist from the Ghost Dance Unit emerged, parting the mist. He looked around the pier and muttered.

“All clear.”

Even after the Ten-Mile Illusion Formation was activated, he had waited without going inside the island to check for any potential pursuers.

It was an incredible level of caution.

The martial artist disappeared back into the mist, and only then did Pyo Wol come out of the water.

It was a good thing he had waited, just in case.

If he had moved rashly, he would have been discovered immediately.

Pyo Wol approached the mist.

He had never heard of a formation called the Ten-Mile Illusion Formation. But judging by the name, it seemed to be a type of formation that confused human senses to show illusions.

He had not experienced the Ten-Mile Illusion Formation directly, but he had experienced many similar types of formations in the underground cavern.

Pyo Wol closed his eyes and circulated his Internal Energy, completely blocking even his sense of hearing.

One of the principles by which formations worked was to implant false information through a person’s eyes and ears.

Eighty percent of the information a human receives is transmitted through the eyes, and an illusion formation confuses the vision to make one perceive false information.

In addition, hearing also played a large role.

Sound had the power to make people imagine things. Therefore, an illusion formation continuously emits specific sound waves to induce false imaginings.

Those who were unaware of these facts and entered this kind of illusion formation would, ten out of ten times, suffer from illusions.

Distracted by the illusions, they would move about and end up getting caught in mechanisms or traps, losing their lives or revealing their presence.

The Ten-Mile Illusion Formation was not much different from that principle.

That was why Pyo Wol had blocked his eyes and ears.

He had cut off the influx of false information at its source.

For an ordinary person, limited sight and hearing would greatly affect their movement, but that was not the case for Pyo Wol.

Having lived in darkness for a long time, all of Pyo Wol’s senses had developed to an unbelievably keen degree.

Especially in the dark, Pyo Wol’s senses showed their true worth.

Pyo Wol moved his feet without hesitation.

The mist, heavy with moisture, clung to his body like a spider’s web. It was a sticky sensation that would have made an ordinary person shudder.

Pyo Wol walked through such mist without hesitation.

The mist did not just serve to show illusions. It also acted as a curtain to hide the mechanisms and traps hidden everywhere.

If one was not careful, they would trigger the traps and mechanisms, and the people inside would quickly notice.

Pyo Wol was extremely careful not to touch the mechanisms and traps.

After walking for a long time, the sensation of the mist on his skin lessened. Only then did Pyo Wol cautiously open his eyes. A completely different scenery from before came into view.

A flat plain that seemed to have been recently leveled. And the moment he saw the dozen or so Thatched Huts around it, Pyo Wol realized that this was a temporary shelter.

The Thatched Huts were built crudely, as if they could be abandoned and left at any time.

It was clear that they were not built by professional workers, but roughly constructed by the people staying here.

Outside the Thatched Huts, a group of martial artists sat on the ground.

Although they looked carefree at a glance, the martial artists did not neglect to keep watch on their surroundings even while chatting.

Even though they had deployed the ultimate formation, the Ten-Mile Illusion Formation, they did not fully trust it.

Pyo Wol lay flat on the ground to avoid their gazes.

‘They’re elites.’

Pyo Wol knew others who exuded the same scent as these men.

It was the Black Cloud Corps, led by Jang Muryang and Heo Ranju.

The Black Cloud Corps was not a simple group of wanderers but was so disciplined that it resembled a military unit.

The men sitting in front of the Thatched Huts also had a similar scent to the Black Cloud Corps. The only difference was that they were fewer in number and exuded a much more dangerous feeling.

Pyo Wol hid his body and observed them closely.

They did not let their guard down for a single moment.

Even while conversing, they did not neglect their watch on the surroundings.

When exposed to a familiar environment for a long time, one’s guard naturally slackens, but there was no sign of that in them.

But no matter how perfect a human was, there were bound to be weaknesses, and being human, they could not maintain their tension forever.

The moment when the thread of tension snapped was bound to come, and Pyo Wol was the owner of a strong patience that could wait until such a moment arrived.

In this kind of battle of patience, no one could match him.

Pyo Wol completely halted his body’s activities with the Breath Concealment Art and waited for the martial artists’ vigilance to dissipate.

It was late in the evening when the martial artists in front of the Thatched Huts moved. They looked around one last time and then entered the huts.

Only then did Pyo Wol release the Breath Concealment Art and rise from his spot.

With darkness descending upon the mist-covered island, the optimal environment for him to operate was created.

The night was Pyo Wol’s stage.

Pyo Wol moved without a sound.

There were a total of ten Thatched Huts built around the plain.

Pyo Wol climbed onto the roof of the nearest Thatched Hut. Landing on the roof as silently as a stray cat, Pyo Wol peered inside through a crack in the wood.

Inside the Thatched Hut, there were four beds made of roughly woven wood. This meant that if four people stayed in each hut, there were nearly forty people on this island.

The scene inside the Thatched Hut was desolate.

There were only temporary beds, and no other furniture existed. It was the moment that confirmed this was a temporary shelter.

The martial artists inside the Thatched Hut had little conversation.

Some were sitting cross-legged, circulating their Internal Energy, while others were passing the time reading Secret Manuals.

Nowhere in their appearance was there any sign of impatience or boredom. They seemed very accustomed to this kind of life.

Pyo Wol checked the other Thatched Huts as well.

They showed a scene not much different from the interior of the first hut he had seen.

While going about their own lives, they never showed any sign of being disheveled. In particular, a few of them were emitting a sharp aura that even Pyo Wol could not ignore.

Their aura was so formidable that if anyone other than Pyo Wol had snuck in, they would have been discovered long ago.

‘Where did these people come from?’

Pyo Wol had already met martial artists from prestigious sects like the Wudang Sect and Shaolin Temple. Therefore, he knew well what the aura and atmosphere of Orthodox Faction martial artists were like. But the atmosphere of these men was distinctly different from theirs.

It was rougher and fiercer than the Black Cloud Corps, giving the impression of seeing something raw and wild.

‘Why haven’t people like this been known in the Jianghu until now?’

Through his travels in the Jianghu, Pyo Wol had come across a fair amount of information about it.

He might not know about small sects, but he was aware of the movements of most major sects. However, nowhere in the information he had obtained was there any mention of martial artists like these.

If a group of people emitting this level of Qi Wave had been active, they would have inevitably been noticed.

It was difficult to emit a Qi Wave like theirs just by learning Martial Arts.

Those who had tasted a lot of blood and were accustomed to it often emitted this kind of Qi Wave. If they had killed that many people, they would naturally have become known in the Jianghu.

Yet, the fact that they were not known in the Jianghu meant that they had acted secretly to avoid people’s eyes, or that they had operated in places where people’s gazes did not reach.

It was then.

Shwaak!

Suddenly, a flash of light sparked above Pyo Wol’s head.