Chapter 208

Chapter 208. The Path to Seeking a Solution (2)

It was a barren expanse.

An arid gust swept across the naked slopes, where not a single blade of greenery survived.

This was the location where the Bandit Alliance had previously established their encampment.

Presently, nothing but the wreckage of smashed timber barricades and scorched pavilions remained tossed about.

“We have arrived. The spot where Mutoe was located.”

Yan Bilyeong pulled on her mount’s reins, her gaze constricting.

No bloodlust, no breath of life, nothing was borne upon the breeze.

Yet the earth told a different story.

There were markings that only a Formation Master possessed the sight to detect.

As Yan Bilyeong dropped to a knee and pressed her fingers against the dirt, the lingering True Qi offered a subtle reaction.

Though a great deal of the power had vanished by now, its initial magnitude had been so immense that a tiny fragment still endured.

Remnants of a warped space, woven repeatedly across the eight directions.

“This…”

The creases on her forehead deepened.

“This appears to be the Eight Directions Avici Prison.”

“Are you certain of that?”

Myo Jinheo walked over, folding his hand fan.

“Yes, it appears to be so. Examining the layout of these remnants, every single one of the Eight Trigrams is interwoven. And there is only a single soul alive capable of executing such a mad architecture on such complicated geography.”

“Hah.”

“Ugh, that lunatic. He actually unleashed something of this nature? If the Yin-Yang Guard caught wind of this, his research funding would be halted for years to come, at this rate.”

Myo Jinheo likewise crouched down to feel the texture of the remaining Qi.

He arrived at the identical verdict.

Nonetheless, there was a single anomaly.

“Trigram Master Yan. Do you perceive this? Is it not startling?”

“What might it be? Is there truly anything left to be shocked by here?”

“There is. Did you fail to notice it back then?”

“Notice what?”

“The Preliminary Thesis on the Eight Directions Avici Prison, located within Trigram Master Dongmun’s quarters.”

“Yes. I observed it. What of it?”

“Was that not a Formation Dao that could not be dismantled by anyone once it was put into effect? Not even by Trigram Master Dongmun himself, the very person who triggered it.”

Only at that moment did Yan Bilyeong comprehend the abnormality of the terrain itself.

“Ah!”

“Observe. The core pivot of the eight directions is shattered. From the interior outward.”

Myo Jinheo’s finger came to a halt.

From the interior outward.

It signified that the Eight Directions Avici Prison had been forcefully breached.

“…Improbable. How could such a thing occur?”

A hostile True Qi automatically spilled from her frame.

Myo Jinheo instinctively retreated a half-pace.

“Restrain yourself.”

Yan Bilyeong once more surveyed the entire surroundings, then let loose a brief, hollow chuckle of sheer skepticism. “Ha.”

“Restrain myself? You are informing me that someone shattered this from the inside?!”

The Eight Directions Avici Prison.

Dongmun Mutoe himself had calculated that Breaking the Formation was an impossibility, and Yan Bilyeong and Myo Jinheo, upon reviewing the Preliminary Thesis, had similarly concluded it could not be undone.

In theory, fleeing it was out of the question.

It had to be.

The arrays of the eight directions would collapse inward concurrently, entirely severing the perceptions and spatial awareness of whoever was confined within.

That catastrophic tier of Formation Dao had been defeated…

And from the interior?

Had these been signs of Dongmun Mutoe dissolving it from the exterior, she would not have been filled with such astonishment.

After all, it was Dongmun Mutoe.

But this stood as validation that someone had been ensnared by this Formation Dao and still tore their way out.

‘Unbelievable.’

Keeping her palm firmly against the earth, Yan Bilyeong probed further into the fabric of the remaining Qi.

The fingertips of a Trigram Master could penetrate depths that an ordinary Formation Master was blind to.

She perceived it.

At the location where the core pivot had yielded, there were signs of Dongmun Mutoe’s True Qi falling into severe disarray.

The scattered remaining marks demonstrated that it was by no means a methodical shutdown.

“Hah… that reckless fool.”

It pointed to someone who had been overpowered.

“Trigram Master Yan.”

Myo Jinheo’s hand fan remained motionless.

His customary nonchalance had vanished from his gaze.

Yan Bilyeong stood back up, lifting her palm from the dirt.

A blaze was burning within her eyes.

“I am aware. I see it too.”

“Trigram Master Dongmun’s True Qi is being pulled in a single direction. He did not depart of his own volition.”

“I am aware. So cease your talking.”

Neglecting even to wipe the soil from her hand, she shifted her gaze toward a single path.

The vestiges of True Qi spoke the truth.

Dongmun Mutoe had unleashed the Eight Directions Avici Prison; someone had shattered it from within, and shortly thereafter, Dongmun Mutoe was mastered and hauled away somewhere.

In that precise direction.

“This lunatic…”

An oath welled up in her throat, though she chose not to voice it.

‘There is an individual who bested Dongmun Mutoe.’

There lives a person who overcame the Eight Directions Avici Prison from the inside, overpowered a Trigram Master—and Dongmun Mutoe of all people—and dragged him off.

“What lies in that quarter?”

Myo Jinheo traced a line in the soil using the edge of his hand fan, tracking the surviving vestiges.

The orientation was, naturally, identical to Yan Bilyeong’s.

The southeast.

The end of the energy trail pointed toward just one location.

“River Capital.”

“River Capital, you say.”

Yan Bilyeong’s mouth tightened.

She had encountered that name on one occasion in the past.

“Is that not the place that was featured all over the territory dispatches for being so tumultuous of late?”

“Precisely.”

“I paid it little mind at the time—.”

Yan Bilyeong at last wiped the grime from her fingers and commenced walking down that path.

“Now it appears it is about to become truly tumultuous.”

No further discussion was required.

Myo Jinheo clicked his hand fan closed and trailed after her.

The strides of the pair of Trigram Masters targeted the southeast.

Walking along the edge of the fading True Qi.

● ● ●

After journeying for roughly half a day, Dongmun Mutoe’s remaining Qi was becoming more obscure, yet the heading stayed constant.

Unswervingly southeast.

Toward the River Capital.

But suddenly.

Yan Bilyeong’s stride halted once more.

“…Trigram Master Myo.”

“For what reason have you paused?”

“Evil Qi.”

Myo Jinheo’s hand fan locked mid-motion.

“Evil Qi?”

“Yes, there is a odor more repulsive than your own breath drifting from this ground.”

“…What an uncivil remark. I cleanse my mouth routinely, I will have you know.”

“Then simply speak less.”

“…”

Yan Bilyeong merely quieted Myo Jinheo and dropped to one knee, pressing her palm flat against the dirt.

“It is faint, yet it is blanketed widely across this territory. A completely distinct composition from Dongmun Mutoe’s remaining Qi. It is also obscuring his path.”

It appeared that while pursuing Dongmun Mutoe’s path, they had blundered into something entirely unlooked-for.

Yan Bilyeong arose and this time lifted her palm to the breeze, testing the currents of power.

The lingering aroma of Evil Qi.

The density itself was minor, but she could discern that a rather concentrated Evil Qi had previously blanketed this region.

This was not the Bandit Alliance’s former territory, but the flatlands outside the River Capital.

A setting that held no connection to Dongmun Mutoe.

“Furthermore…”

“Is there something additional?”

Myo Jinheo inquired, obscuring his jaw with his unfurled hand fan.

“There is something commingled with the Evil Qi.”

Yan Bilyeong’s brow twitched.

“It is a force of remarkably high refinement. A vestige of it colliding directly with the Evil Qi… yet it conforms to no tradition I recognize. It does not appear to be Martial Arts, nor is it Formation Dao.”

Myo Jinheo extended his own hand to capture the remaining Qi.

An unfamiliar power buried within the murky composition of the Evil Qi.

To the perception of a Formation Master’s touch, categorization itself was out of the question.

“…Hah.”

Myo Jinheo lowered his hand fan.

“It is without a doubt peculiar. This degree of refinement implies it conquered a substantial tier of Evil Qi directly.”

“Correct?”

Yan Bilyeong shifted her gaze toward the River Capital.

The individual who overpowered Dongmun Mutoe.

The unrecognized power.

The collision with Evil Qi.

And the heading every single clue pointed toward.

“It must be, correct?”

“Would that not be the case?”

The pair gestured in agreement simultaneously.

It was far too much of a coincidence to simply be a coincidence.

Could it be that the soul who bested Dongmun Mutoe and the one who annihilated this Evil Qi were the identical person?

The solution rested ahead.

The momentum of the pair of Trigram Masters intensified.

● ● ●

Following and following the edge of the trail, the ramparts of the River Capital emerged in the twilight of dawn.

The Walled City of the River Capital was hushed in the early morning brightness.

The city barriers were unbarred, but few individuals were passing through.

Myo Jinheo, still masking his jaw with his hand fan, scanned the surroundings before speaking.

“Though, I must ask.”

“Cease harboring resentment. A Trigram Master of your standing.”

“What are you implying?”

“You are still demonstrating that you are aggrieved because I insulted your breath moments ago, are you not?”

“…Hoho. Is that how it presents itself?”

“Yes.”

“旅行…”

“Disregard that. But, I must ask, what is our next move?”

Only then did Myo Jinheo clear his throat a few times and deliberately shut his hand fan, exposing his face.

“Now that we have stepped into the Walled City, all manner of varied powers are jumbled together, rendering tracking impossible. In what manner do you intend to locate Trigram Master Dongmun?”

“Every Walled City contains a outpost of the Great Beggars’ Sect.”

Yan Bilyeong offered a brilliant grin, showing her teeth.

“Hey? Trigram Master Myo?”

“Ah, ah. Yes, you speak truly. A marvelous concept.”

Yan Bilyeong brought her narrow gaze level with Myo Jinheo’s chin.

“What is?”

“Wh-what?”

“What is so marvelous?”

“Trigram Master Yan’s… concept, naturally.”

“Yes, precisely. No matter where you travel across the land, the residents understand the local conditions best. And if that resident happens to be a beggar, what further explanation is required?”

Yan Bilyeong’s index finger pointed toward a corner of a side street.

The markings of the Great Beggars’ Sect outpost were simple to identify.

Wherever beggars assemble, there are distinct markers.

Even so, the pair had to scour the labyrinthine side streets of the River Capital for a considerable duration before they could fix upon a destination.

All-Knowing House.

A dilapidated tea establishment, with a timber marker far too modest to be designated a plaque.

It was unmistakable.

This location had to be the River Capital outpost of the Great Beggars’ Sect.

Before it, a fellow was shifting about actively, even at this premature hour.

A mid-life fellow with a unkempt jaw and a ragged appearance.

“Visitors?”

He, Bae Dal-pae, squinted his eyes as he took note of the pair.

“We hail from the Heavenly Formation Dao Alliance.”

Myo Jinheo declared serenely, bypassing any misdirection.

Bae Dal-pae’s expression shifted subtly.

“Step inside. Let us converse over a bowl of tea.”

The instant they trailed him within, Yan Bilyeong’s eyes locked onto a section of the room.

A surface in the far corner.

Three women were seated there.

They gripped heated bowls of tea with both hands, not one of them uttering a word.

One fixed her gaze solely on her tea, another wrapped her arms around her frame, and the final one’s eyes were devoid of focus.

Heavy cloaks, seemingly donned in great haste, were draped over their shoulders, yet what was visible beneath them revealed the chronicle of what had befallen these individuals.

Yan Bilyeong shifted her gaze away.

There was no requirement to view more.

This Jianghu was teeming with tragedy.

Few individuals possessed the freedom to intervene in others’ tragedies and offer aid, and she was not among them.

Bae Dal-pae poured tea and naturally escorted them to the opposite surface.

“Given you hail from the Formation Tower, I shall skip the pleasantries. What variety of tea?”

Yan Bilyeong replied without delay.

“Human Tea.”

“Arrived to consume or to purchase?”

“To purchase.”

“The classification?”

“Special Grade.”

“Special Grade, you say.”

A faint grin appeared on Bae Dal-pae’s lips.

“The Sect Leader did mention an individual from the Formation Tower would arrive… though I did not anticipate it to be this rapid.”

“…?”

“By any chance, is the identity of the person you seek Dongmun Mutoe?”

Yan Bilyeong shifted forward.

“You possess knowledge of him?”

“Naturally.”

“Where can he be found?”

● ● ●

Hero’s Sect.

The pair of Trigram Masters stood before the primary entrance of the Murim sect, which was constructed upon the former ground of the Iron God Gang.

In the broad Training Ground, youths were executing their dawn practice.

From one flank, a poised voice was projecting instructions.

It was a young lady.

It was a tranquil morning.

And then.

Beneath the overhang of the Main Hall.

A fellow was resting on a seat, consuming tea.

Dark hair, an immaculate stance.

The fellow shifted his face toward the primary entrance.

Eyes empty of any sentiment mirrored the shapes of the pair of Trigram Masters, and then a mild grin was sketched across them.

“Greetings.”

His action as he set down his tea bowl and arose was unhurried.

“I was informed you hailed from the Formation Tower.”

Yan Bilyeong’s gaze contracted slightly.

The fellow answered with an intentionally soft smile.

“If you are seeking Dongmun Mutoe, you have arrived at the correct destination.”

“Does that imply he rests here?”

“Have no anxiety. He is among the living.”

His phrasing was intended to offer comfort.

And yet, a shudder traveled down Yan Bilyeong’s spine.

He is among the living.

That remark, inverted, was uncomplicated.

It signified he was within this fellow’s grasp.

She covertly unbarred her Upper Dantian, binding her True Qi to her entire frame and the Earth Veins concurrently.

“…Where can he be found?”

“He is absent at this moment. He is away executing an errand.”

Away? Executing an errand?

His delivery made it appear as though he had departed with authorization.

A Trigram Master, one of the Eight Trigram Masters, departed with this fellow’s authorization?

Yan Bilyeong deployed every single one of a Formation Master’s perceptions to attempt to decipher the fellow before her.

He could not be deciphered.

Vacancy.

If this fellow was the architect of the power that had shattered the Evil Qi in that expanse, the soul who had broken the Eight Directions Avici Prison from within, he could not possibly remain this undisturbed.

He was undisturbed.

So undisturbed it was eerie.

“Pray, let us converse within.”

The fellow pivoted and strolled into the Main Hall.

There was not a single grain of caution in the manner he exposed his rear.

Yet, she found herself unable to strike him.

Myo Jinheo’s eyes locked with hers from the flank.

She noted that the fingers gripping his hand fan were white.

He perceived it as well.

Whatever this fellow represented, he was no simple opponent.

Yan Bilyeong took the initial stride.

Dongmun Mutoe.

She remained ignorant of what condition that reckless fool was in, but she was required to verify it.