Chapter: 205
Sound and Smell.
The light stretches out and pierces through the fog.
The scarlet hue is truly out of place.
It’s not bright, but it shines all the same.
Within the hazy light, clarity abounds.
It was indeed a contradictory light.
“Why… what’s up?”
As I started to move my feet, Namgung Bi-ah behind me asked.
“What do you mean ‘why’? Just look ahead….”
My mouth stopped mid-sentence.
There was no way she couldn’t see such distinct light.
Only then did I squint my eyes and ask Namgung Bi-ah.
“Can’t you see that?”
“…?”
Namgung Bi-ah tilted her head in confusion at my question.
It seems she really couldn’t see it.
Am I the only one who can see this?
This means I was seeing a light that was blatantly visible to me and invisible to others.
[What do you keep saying you see?]
Looks like you can’t see it either, Elder Shin.
If even Elder Shin, who was sharing my sights, couldn’t see it, then was this another ability of the Marble of Celestial Captivation?
Be it true or not.
For now, I guess I should just follow it.
I had no other option.
To find my way through this mad fog, I had to try something, anything.
Expanding my senses has become useless.
My Qi was functioning fine, but using it to check my surroundings wasn’t working properly.
Perhaps there was something within the fog.
Yeah, a fog that has lasted for centuries definitely isn’t normal.
Given this mess, it made sense why the Black Palace chose this place for their main palace.
Even if there was a main palace in the Misty Mountains, finding it wouldn’t be easy.
Especially if formations had been laid down to hide it.
I tightly gripped Namgung Bi-ah’s wrist.
“Stick close.”
“…Okay.”
As much as I could, I heightened my senses.
Although it only felt slightly improved, it still aided me a great deal in this unfamiliar mountain.
With that, I cautiously moved forward, holding onto Namgung Bi-ah’s arm.
I was dragging her along without explaining anything, but Namgung Bi-ah didn’t express any dissatisfaction.
Maybe she was somewhat more aware since I always pointed out her notorious poor sense of direction.
We walked for quite a while through the fog.
In normal circumstances, we would’ve covered that distance in a few leaps.
But needing to tread carefully made our progress nearly nonexistent.
It really is a god-awful fog.
Yeah, it’s disgustingly terrible.
[Is this a trace left by a demon?]
Yes.
This special fog appeared when a White Gate of Demons opened in the past.
It remained after the demon that had emerged from that gate was slain.
Historically, the number of White Demons is extremely low, and they were all sealed or slain.
Yet, as evidence of how strong they truly were, they left traces behind even after death.
The mist of the Misty Mountains too.
The chill that sleeps under the North Sea was also such a trace.
The scorching heat to the west proved the same.
To have an impact on nature even after dying, truly absurd.
At this thought, Elder Shin clicked his tongue.
He seemed to have a problem with something.
Tsk, these bastards don’t even clean up after themselves; they leave everything a mess.
Elder Shin was saying that people should’ve handled the aftermath better after slaying a demon.
Of course, slaying a White Demon was a phenomenal achievement on its own.
But because it was Elder Shin, I understood.
Back in my day, when we got rid of such bastards, we cleaned up the mess too. But those juniors nowadays… Ugh, tsk tsk.
In the past, when Elder Shin was against the Blood Demon.
A time when high-ranking demons ran rampant.
And since Elder Shin had acted as the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, he must have faced some White Demons.
Too many traces existed for it to be otherwise.
I could tell just by looking at the current state of the Misty Mountains.
You’re right.
[Hmm? What’s gotten into you? It’s unusual for you to agree with me…]
You should’ve cleaned up after yourself.
[Hmm?]
Elder Shin looked confused.
The demon that turned this mountain into a messy state was the Mist Dragon.
It had cursed this mountain with eternal fog after its death.
And it was slain by none other than the Divine Sword of Mount Hua, Shincheol.
[…]
Realizing this, Elder Shin fell silent.
It seems even he felt a bit embarrassed.
After walking along the light for a while, the silence from Elder Shin and the naturally quiet Namgung Bi-ah made for much faster progress. Soon enough, we were nearing the end.
What time is it…?
I’m not too sure because of all the fog, but since the visibility was getting dimmer, night would come soon.
A campsite…
I could pitch one if I really wanted to, but the situation was far from ideal.
First, the Marble of Celestial Captivation had gone mute.
The light continued to guide our way; however, even with its color restored, I still couldn’t understand what situation Gu Huibi was in.
My field of vision hadn’t changed at all.
What could that imply?
Is there a problem?
I wasn’t certain about how many uses were left on the marble, but I doubted that was the issue.
Most likely, there was an issue concerning Gu Huibi’s situation.
It was ultimately just a guess, but either way, I had lost a reliable source of information regarding her.
I needed to come up with a way to break through this scenario, but making progress in the current situation was quite difficult.
The thick fog, alongside the encroaching night, made it nearly impossible to see anything.
The marble’s light too has turned into an issue.
A beam of light seemed to indicate the right path ahead, yet I felt like I was going in circles.
The light doesn’t seem to be the problem.
In fact, it probably points out the correct route.
Tsk.
Noticing the grimace on my face, Namgung Bi-ah asked.
“What’s wrong?”
Sigh. I think there are formations here.
I could sense a peculiar aura lingering; it was so faint that I wouldn’t have noticed it without concentrating hard enough.
I suspected formations might have been drawn around their palace, so I was able to catch onto that.
But,
How do I break through this?
That was the concern.
If we were indeed at the main palace, then I not only had to consider the alchemy formations but also the potential presence of Black Palace martial artists.
I needed to keep my guard up as we moved about.
The fog made my senses useless.
The encroaching darkness obscured my vision.
And the anxiety of being alone in the wilderness heightened my fear.
This is the worst.
Hah.
Hollow laughter escaped me; it was quite a dire situation.
Yet, I couldn’t allow my emotions to take command.
I have to find a way.
I was no stranger to being cornered.
This sort of thing was merely another challenge in my life.
What should I do?
If there was a formation in front, could I use brute force to break it?
That’s a bit unrealistic.
Failing could attract their attention, and even if I managed to destroy the formation, the backlash could reveal our location.
What then?
I lacked extensive knowledge about formations.
As I thought back to my previous life,
I just smashed them apart!
Most of my solutions leaned towards brute force, which wouldn’t help in the present dilemma.
In my previous life, I dealt with formations by ripping them apart and incinerating everything.
Before I became a Demonic Human, it was the Water Dragon who cleaned up such messes whenever needed.
Remembering how reckless I had been gave me a headache.
Should I wait for a moment?
Even if the situation was urgent, with night approaching, I had no choice but to wait.
I was neither powerful enough to smash through nor willing to confront anyone.
…I’m not alone either.
I needed to make a rational judgment.
Placing faith in my thoughts, I turned to Namgung Bi-ah behind me and said,
“First, let’s find a safe place and wait until… what are you doing?”
She was sniffing the air!
In disbelief, I asked,
“What’s going on?”
“Smell… searching…”
“Searching for a smell? What kind of smell?”
Why does she keep acting like this?
As I wondered about her odd behavior, I unconsciously began sniffing along with her, but there were no notable scents.
All I caught was the usual earthy smell from the forest.
What on earth was she looking for?
Just when I was about to voice my confusion,
Swish.
Suddenly, Namgung Bi-ah unsheathed her sword.
As if caressed by the wind, a sheen surrounded the blade in an instant, crackling with lightning Qi that surged around us.
Startled, I yelled at her.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
The Lightning Qi was visible and incredibly striking. Just a tiny bit of miscalibration and we’d surely be detected.
Despite my shout, Namgung Bi-ah remained fixed on a singular point.
Her gaze locked onto the void.
“Over here.”
“Whether it’s here or not, just hide your energy first! We’ll get caught like this!”
Ignoring my warning, she swung her electrified sword without hesitation.
Then,
Slash.
…!
It was like she merely swung in the air, yet somehow, I distinctly heard something being sliced.
At that moment, a translucent veil began to drift downward from the air.
…This is…
This situation was almost too outrageous to believe.
With Namgung Bi-ah’s blade movement, the invisible barrier vanished, revealing a small space that looked almost like a door.
How did you know this…?
Caught off-guard by such an absurd development, I asked Namgung Bi-ah.
“There was a smell.”
Her response left me frowning.
I couldn’t grasp the logic.
Namgung Bi-ah had just sliced through a fragile spot in the formation with her sword.
A misstep would’ve triggered a backlash, and regular human eyes couldn’t see the vulnerable points in formations to begin with.
Yet, she managed to find and slice it?
Seeing her perform such a feat reminded me of someone.
The Water Dragon.
The madcap of the Wudang sect.
In my previous life, he also had a knack for dealing with formations this way.
I recalled how he simply glanced around before swinging his sword at the air, resolving everything with minimal effort.
His methods were so nonsensical that they stuck with me.
I had even asked him about the principle behind his technique because I couldn’t comprehend it.
But asking had returned a ridiculous answer.
“Listen for a sound. Then you’ll hear it.”
“What do I hear? The sound of my heart exploding from annoyance?”
“I could hear that just fine.”
“What a#!…”
I envisioned the Water Dragon’s mocking laughter, and suddenly felt irked.
Setting that aside…
When I compared what Namgung Bi-ah had said to the Water Dragon’s advice,
“There was a smell.”
“There’s a sound.”
For some odd reason, their assertions had a striking resemblance.
Namgung Bi-ah gazed my way, asking,
“Are you not going in?”
The opening she created was slowly closing.
She hadn’t fully dismantled the formation but merely created a passage through it, which now threatened to repair itself.
Thinking back to the Water Dragon’s words from my past life, it would be impossible to create an opening at the same spot after it healed.
The enemies would grow alert if such a location was tampered with repeatedly.
So seeing this, I realized there was no time for hesitation.
“…Let’s go.”
I followed Namgung Bi-ah into the formation.
Upon entering, I found the environment to be entirely different from the outside.
Pause.
The Palace Lord abruptly halted his steps.
“Palace Lord?”
The Great Oni who followed him asked.
“Hm.”
The Palace Lord didn’t respond, his eyes sweeping around with an odd expression.
The Great Oni sensed that the Palace Lord’s attention wasn’t focused on the wall before them, but rather something beyond it.
After a brief moment, the Palace Lord returned his gaze forward.
“Great Oni.”
“Yes, Palace Lord.”
“Check the formation later.”
“…Understood.”
Although the Great Oni accepted the order, he held an inner doubt.
Formation, huh.
He had recently inspected it and found no issues. Why would the Palace Lord issue such a command?
His curiosity piqued but choosing not to question it, the Great Oni simply did his duty.
The Palace Lord resumed his steps.
Naturally, his destination was ‘that’ room.
Sure enough, the Palace Lord returned to the same room he had visited just the day before.
As he approached the door, thoughts began to swirl.
It should be done by now.
A day or so should have sufficed for the Great One to consume the flame.
With each step closer to his destination, the Palace Lord felt his heart racing.
Imagining the perfect form of His Heaven that awaited him, he felt a surge of exhilaration.
Crash!
The gigantic door swung open, and the Palace Lord stepped inside slowly.
Bam!
As soon as he entered, the door slammed shut behind him.
The Palace Lord promptly knelt and bowed before His Heaven.
“Oh, Heaven, I have—”
His words halted as he took in the sight ahead, shock washing over his face.
In a space where darkness alone should have dwelt, rays of light shone.
A deep violet flame illuminated the room.
This flame—without a doubt—was the Holy Fire ignited by His Heaven.
From the center of this flame, voices resounded.
“Why is this book so hard? Uhm, is there anything else?”
“Book.”
“No, I mean, do you have any other books?”
“No.”
“Sigh—why do you give such terribly short replies? Didn’t I say you should respond with at least two words?”
“None.”
“Great job!”
Gu Huibi, who should have long since vanished into the world after merging with His Heaven, was comfortably seated in the room.
With His Heaven nestled in her lap.
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