Heavenly Inquisition Sword Novel - Chapter 304
C304. What is Most Important?
Cutting through the water, three people leaped into the air.
To be precise, it was Yeon Jeokha, who was holding Namgung Yeon and Old Shim in his hands.
“Ah!”
Yeon Jeokha exhaled the breath he had been holding and deeply inhaled the fresh air into the depths of his lungs.
“Cough, cough!”
“Ugh! Cough, cough!”
Namgung Yeon coughed violently, while Old Shim vomited the water he had swallowed.
Yeon Jeokha quickly scanned his surroundings.
They had been swept so far by the current that land could be seen on both sides.
He first threw Old Shim, whom he held in his left hand, to the nearby shore.
“Argh! Ahh!”
Old Shim, who was still vomiting water, screamed as he flew through the air.
Yeon Jeokha then ran across the current with Namgung Yeon in his arms.
He used a rapid movement technique called Deungpyeongdusu.
Even with a third-level movement technique like Beyeonbo, reaching this level was an incredible feat.
Splash.
“Ouch! I’m going to die! Ah, my back!”
Old Shim began to complain as soon as he fell to the ground.
Tap, tap, tap.
Yeon Jeokha, who had run across the water, carefully placed Namgung Yeon beside Old Shim.
“Thank you, Jeokha.”
“Hehe…”
Yeon Jeokha scratched his head, feeling uncomfortable.
Old Shim, who was rubbing his back, spoke with a grieved expression.
“Ouch, Young Master! Who is a person and who is a burden?”
“What are you saying? Are you complaining because I saved you?”
“At least you could have given me time to react before throwing me. I thought I’d break my back.”
“Tsk, tsk. Now I understand why they say you shouldn’t save a black-haired beast. You save them, and they still complain.”
“Well, you could have been a bit more careful… Never mind. Thank you.”
When Yeon Jeokha stared at him, Old Shim gave up.
He knew there was no point in arguing with someone who had no interest in Confucian principles.
Old Shim looked at Yeon Jeokha with a newfound appreciation.
At times like these, no one seemed more fitting of the Nokrimdo than Yeon Jeokha, with his selfishness and arrogance.
“What are you looking at?”
“I respect you.”
“Hmpf! I’m sure you were cursing me inside, you crafty old man.”
“Oh no! If I were, may lightning strike me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a soft thunder rumbled from the sky.
Crack, crack~
“See! Something bad always happens whenever you speak.”
“…”
Old Shim, knowing he had no response to that, said nothing.
The conversation, which almost seemed like a fight, ended there.
Then, harsh reality dawned on the three.
“By the way, sister, what did you mean when you said we need to break one of the Eight Gates?”
At that moment, a bitter smile appeared on Namgung Yeon’s face.
Even before the exploration group had scattered, facing the Eight Gates was challenging. They had been moving in circles within the formation, waiting for time to pass, precisely for that reason.
“When the formation changes shape, you can find an escape route and gradually make your way out. But if it inverts, the situation changes. The escape route becomes unpredictable, and you end up trapped with nothing to do.”
“So, have you been following the escape route all this time?”
“Yes. Even if there are no open gates or life gates, there are always relatively safe paths.”
“So now we can’t find a safe path?”
“What happens if we break one of the gates?”
“The Eight Gates formation supports each other. That’s why it has eight times the strength, but if one is broken, the others will also stop. It’s a fatal weakness hidden within its strength.”
“Then we just need to break one gate.”
“It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
“Why not?”
“Without the special vision of the Three Immortals of Kunlun, we can’t find the hidden points or the gates.”
“Ah…”
Yeon Jeokha finally understood why Namgung Yeon’s face was so grim.
It was because there was no one who could see the hidden with the divine power of the Six Directions and Six Armors.
The Three Immortals of Kunlun would be in the same difficult situation.
What does it matter if they can see with their special vision? They don’t have the ability to interpret and destroy the formation.
A groan escaped Old Shim’s mouth.
“Ugh! It was difficult even when we were all together… Now that we’re scattered, what are we going to do?”
“Stop groaning and lamenting.”
“I can’t help it. Without the Three Immortals of Kunlun, we’ll die fighting the monsters.”
“They say what one says happens. If you want to die, die alone. Don’t say horrible things in front of the young ones. Sister, how about we follow the water’s course? If the Three Immortals of Kunlun are alive, we might find them.”
“Yes, that seems to be the only option. The formation has just changed, so it will hold for at least the time it takes for a meal (30 minutes). We must find them before then.”
Namgung Yeon stood up after speaking.
The comment about finding the Three Immortals of Kunlun rekindled Old Shim’s spirit, who seemed on the verge of death.
The three checked their weapons and equipment before quickly following the water’s course.
After about fifteen minutes, Namgung Yeon, who had been observing the water, murmured something.
“It seems there’s something…”
“In the water?”
Yeon Jeokha looked toward the water.
However, with the fast current, he didn’t think there could be anything in it.
Apparently, Yeon Jeokha wasn’t the only one who thought so.
Old Shim chimed in.
“Young Master, don’t worry. Even if there’s something, it’ll surely be swept away. What could survive that current?”
Yeon Jeokha nodded unconsciously.
Certainly, even an expert like Jang Mubaek, the Peerless Master, had been swept away…
There it is!
Shoooosh!
Shoooosh!
The serpent-like creatures were as thick as a man and about nine meters long.
Despite the fast current, the Jiaos headed directly towards Yeon Jeokha, Namgung Yeon, and Old Shim.
Namgung Yeon shouted briefly.
“They’re the water monsters, the Jiaos!”
Yeon Jeokha stepped forward and unleashed his Rising Dragon Ascension technique.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two bursts of sword energy sliced through the Jiaos’ bodies.
Even with their bodies cut, the Jiaos’ heads jumped, attempting to bite Yeon Jeokha.
Yeon Jeokha swung his sword again, vertically cleaving the heads.
The severed jaws kept biting even after falling to the ground.
Tuk. Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.
Old Shim struck the heads with the end of his sword, tossing them back into the water.
“Wow! These things keep trying to bite even after being chopped into pieces.”
Namgung Yeon warned as Old Shim watched the heads with curiosity.
“The Jiaos’ venom has no antidote. Just touching the skin is deadly. It’s better not to get close.”
Old Shim shuddered at hearing this.
Dying just from contact, even without being bitten, was terrifying.
Old Shim was about to back away when…
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo!
Four Jiaos emerged from the current.
“Ah!”
Old Shim reacted instinctively, slicing two of them to pieces.
But he couldn’t touch the other two.
They were too thick, and their skin was too tough.
Shaa-!
Shaa-!
The two open jaws of the Jiaos resembled two dark tunnels.
The two open jaws descended toward Old Shim as if to devour him.
Then…
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Two swords flew and embedded themselves in the Jiaos’ mouths.
Yeon Jeokha’s and Namgung Yeon’s swords.
Yeon Jeokha’s sword pierced through the Jiao’s upper and lower jaw, flying toward the water.
The other sword lodged in the Jiao’s nostrils.
Kyaaah!
The Jiao, with a sword in its nose, quickly submerged in the water.
Swoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Yeon Jeokha’s sword, which had completely pierced the Jiao’s head, returned to him.
Old Shim, who had moved away from the water, wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Ah! I felt like I lost ten years of my life.”
“I told you, if you mess with the Jiaos, you’ll get into trouble. There’s never a calm moment with you.”
“…”
Speechless, Old Shim merely plucked the hairs from his chin.
“Jeokha, you should keep your distance from the water too.”
“Yes.”
The three continued descending, following the current.
However, after about twenty minutes, there was no sign of the Three Immortals of Kunlun or any other members of the group.
“We should have found them by now. The river is only one; why don’t we see them?”
Namgung Yeon pondered and said:
“It may be that we can’t see them. If they’ve been separated by divine power, we have no way of knowing.”
“So, do we have to give up on finding the Three Immortals of Kunlun?”
“It seems so.”
Old Shim, who was standing idly, intervened.
“Then what do we do now? Is there anything we can do?”
Namgung Yeon looked at Yeon Jeokha and Old Shim with a complicated expression.
The power that moves the Eight Gates and Eight Trigrams Formation is the divine power of the Six Directions and Six Armors.
Though it’s frustrating, without the ability to see beyond the norm, there’s nothing they can do.
“To be honest, not much. We can’t see the formation’s axes, not even the gates.”
“Haa!”
A sigh escaped from Old Shim’s mouth.
If Namgung Yeon, the Unparalleled Among the Ten, says there’s nothing to do, then there really is nothing to do.
Facing the divine power of the Six Directions and Six Armors without vision techniques is like being blind.
Yeon Jeokha kicked the ground with a discouraged expression.
Namgung Yeon, who was watching him with pity, looked around for a solution.
‘Is there really no other way?’
He felt powerless against the divine power.
Even the great Eight Gates and Eight Trigrams Formation must have a weak point.
Nothing is perfect.
Though people called her the Unparalleled Among the Ten, she was also powerless against this divine power.
Her gaze turned to the sky.
Looking at the gray sky only made her feel more suffocated.
‘Is this just to block the starlight?’
Come to think of it, the cloud mantle not only blocks the starlight but also separates the world of the Eight Gates and Eight Trigrams Formation.
In tactical formations, weak points are never revealed.
The celestial master who created the formation hid the axes and gates using the divine power of the Six Directions and Six Armors precisely for this reason.
‘Could it be that the clouds are also hiding something?’
The vast sky looked suspiciously concealed. Just to block the starlight, using so much power would be a waste.
If they’re using so much power, there must be something more important they’re hiding.
Come to think of it, direction is a secondary issue.
Even if you know the direction through the stars, you couldn’t handle a sudden change.
With that thought, something crossed her mind.
“Ah!”
Namgung Yeon let out a cry of realization.
“What’s wrong, sister?”
Yeon Jeokha, who was disheartened, looked at her curiously.
“I think I found a way.”
“Really?”
“Is there a solution?”
Hope returned to the faces of Yeon Jeokha and Old Shim.
Namgung Yeon couldn’t help but smile at how quickly their expressions changed.
Even great martial arts masters tend to hide their emotions, but not these two.
Their emotions of joy, sadness, anger, and happiness were clearly displayed, as if they were children.
Namgung Yeon pointed to the sky with her hand.
“Those clouds. I thought they only blocked the starlight, but I think there’s something more.”
“What else are they hiding?”
“In the celestial master’s Eight Gates and Eight Trigrams Formation, what is the most important?”
“Um, the divine power?”
“Correct. It takes great power to cover the sky. And if they’re using so much power to hide something, it must be the divine power.”
“Then, if we break the clouds, can we see the divine power?”
“Exactly. I believe the divine power will weaken and become visible to our eyes.”
Then, Old Shim questioned:
“I understand what you’re saying, but how are we going to break the clouds without the Three Immortals of Kunlun?”
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