He unconsciously closed his eyes and tried to breathe while avoiding the wind.
But there was no need to do even that. The moment his breath caught, breathing became comfortable again. The pressure of the wind striking his face disappeared as well.
Jo Seol-yeon opened her eyes again. And she flinched in shock.
"Oh my!"
The surrounding scenery had completely changed. Just moments ago, the place she had been in was almost a barren wasteland. Because of that, she had nearly been caught and killed by those chasing her.
But the place she was in now was thick with bushes. There were quite a lot of trees in sight as well.
And there were people.
"Ah, miss?"
At the voice coming from beside her, Jo Seol-yeon reflexively turned her head. Standing there was Hyeong-pyo.
"Uncle Hyeong-pyo!"
Jo Seol-yeon cried out happily upon seeing him, but her expression suddenly changed as she looked around. She saw wagons loaded with baggage. And around them stood sturdy-looking men.
They were wearing the clothes of the escort guards from the Hanam Escort Agency. Their faces, too, were all painfully familiar to Jo Seol-yeon.
"S-surely…!"
Jo Seol-yeon snapped her head around to look at Dan Hyung-u.
"We joined up."
At Dan Hyung-u's answer, Jo Seol-yeon was left dumbfounded. She did not know where she had originally been, but it could not have been close to here. He had crossed that vast distance in one go. And he had brought her with him.
Jo Seol-yeon looked at Dan Hyung-u with renewed eyes.
Almost at the same time as Dan Hyung-u's arrival, the escort mission resumed. Because it had taken longer than expected for Dan Hyung-u to bring Jo Seol-yeon back, there had been enough time to completely clean up the surroundings. Of course, they had no choice but to bury the bodies instead of burning them.
"Miss, what exactly happened?"
Hyeong-pyo walked beside Jo Seol-yeon. Naturally, Dan Hyung-u was beside her as well.
Jo Seol-yeon glanced at the two of them and then calmly began to explain. There was little need to hide anything anyway. And she wanted Dan Hyung-u to know as well. What she had gone through.
After listening to Jo Seol-yeon's entire story in silence, Hyeong-pyo asked with an unconcealed look of puzzlement.
"Something about this doesn't quite add up."
"What do you mean? I told you exactly what happened."
"Ah, please don't misunderstand. I don't mean that you're hiding something, miss. I meant that I find the lord's actions difficult to understand."
"My father?"
"It's hard to understand how he made such a decision in that single moment. If he had been even a little late, you likely wouldn't have been able to leave Heochang. And the Murim Alliance members would have been the same."
Now that she heard it, he was right. Jo Seol-yeon's expression grew serious. She began to suspect that matters might be more complicated than she had thought.
"Well, it doesn't matter right now. In any case, the fortunate thing is that we haven't received the commission fee from the Tang Family yet. The fee for this escort mission is quite substantial."
Hyeong-pyo smiled faintly. Looking at him, Jo Seol-yeon felt she could read a bit of his thoughts.
"So you were already thinking that far ahead, Sir Escort Leader Hyeong. Compared to that, I…"
"You just need to stay as you are, miss. That alone is already a great help. Isn't that right?"
As Hyeong-pyo said this while looking at Dan Hyung-u, Dan Hyung-u nodded.
"Do what you want."
At Dan Hyung-u's words, Jo Seol-yeon forced another smile. In any case, she was truly glad that the two of them were here. It allowed her, even if only briefly, to forget.
Slightly off the main road stood a single, ornate carriage. Around it were men dressed in blue. At a glance, they looked as though they were standing around the carriage in disorder, but in truth they followed a particular formation.
There were as many as thirty blue-clad men, and not one of them looked ordinary.
Clatter.
The carriage door opened, and a woman lightly stepped down from inside. Dressed in light clothing suited for movement, her figure was breathtakingly beautiful.
She was a beauty worthy of the phrase "one who could topple a nation," yet not a single ripple of emotion appeared in the eyes of the men standing nearby.
The moment the woman stepped down, someone appeared at her side. His movement was so secretive and ghostlike that it seemed as though he had sprung from the ground itself.
"Did it really fail?"
"Yes."
The woman could not believe it. She had thoroughly predicted the enemy's strength. By her calculations, if the entire Black Snake Group had mobilized, the task should have been completed without any losses. Yet it had failed.
"I can't believe it. Is it really true?"
At her words, the man slightly lowered his head.
"They were annihilated."
"Annihilated? Not a single one survived? The Black Snake Group? What about the group leader?"
"The group leader as well."
The woman looked shocked. Then she lightly bit her lip.
"How infuriating. I was really confident. Then what's their current state? How many warriors do they have left?"
"There's been no change."
"What?"
She could not help but be startled. No matter how one looked at it, this was too much.
"Because the Black Snake Group was completely wiped out, we still haven't determined exactly what happened, but it's clear that there is an extraordinary master among them."
The woman closed her mouth and fell into thought for a moment.
"What about Shadow Snake? Would the Blue Snake Group be enough to succeed?"
"Lord. This is not the time to rush. Without gathering accurate information on the enemy, acting now would only increase the damage. We need a bit more time."
At Shadow Snake's words, the woman called the lord nodded with a gloomy expression. She knew he was right, but she was too furious to bear it.
"Would even the White Snake Group not be enough?"
"The White Snake Group is practically the entirety of the Snake Spirit Sect. We still need more information."
"Haa… fine. We'll do that."
A sigh escaped from the lips of the Snake Spirit Sect Leader, Umun Hye. Losing the entire Black Snake Group alone was already a significant blow.
The fifty warriors of the Black Snake Group were weaker than the Blue or White Snake Groups, but when it came to carrying out external missions, they were unrivaled. With such a group annihilated, the Snake Spirit Sect was effectively crippled for the time being.
"Please board the carriage. It would be best to return to the family estate for now. Once we're back, I'll look into the estate's information."
Umun Hye nodded at those words, then suddenly looked at Shadow Snake as if something had occurred to her.
"I'll go and find out myself."
At Umun Hye's sudden declaration, Shadow Snake was greatly flustered.
"Yes? What do you mean by that?"
"I'll investigate personally. Who's over there."
For a moment, Shadow Snake could not understand what she meant, but when realization struck, he cried out in alarm.
"Miss! You mustn't!"
He was so shocked that the word "miss" slipped out before "lord." At Shadow Snake's reaction, Umun Hye smiled faintly and shook her head.
"It's fine. I'm not that weak. Even if something happens, I'm confident I can at least get myself out."
Shadow Snake knew well that Umun Hye was not weak. But even so, he could not feel at ease.
In the martial world, there were masters who could deal with someone like Umun Hye with a single finger. If the master accompanying them was such a person, escape would be impossible.
Shadow Snake looked at Umun Hye. She was gazing at him silently, her beautiful eyes shimmering.
Thinking that she looked like a child asking for permission, he had no choice but to nod. As Shadow Snake, he could never bring himself to refuse her request or command.
"Very well. But you must take Golden Snake and Silver Snake with you."
"Golden Snake and Silver Snake?"
Umun Hye slightly furrowed her brow.
"Aren't you stronger than them?"
"Of course, I'll be going as well. I am your shadow, after all."
At Shadow Snake's reply, Umun Hye beamed. And seeing that bright smile, Shadow Snake let out a quiet sigh.
Faced with such a smile, any man would find it hard to refuse. Even a man with a heart of ice.
The group led by Paeng Cheol-yeong, who had taken refuge from the Jo Family Estate, was able to reach the Murim Alliance safely without facing any particular pursuit, unlike Jo Seol-yeon, the Jo Family members, or the Hanam Escort Agency.
Upon arriving at the Murim Alliance, they immediately reported what had happened at the Jo Family Estate to the Alliance Leader. At that point, they did not think it was especially serious.
But after hearing that the Jo Family had been annihilated, they could not help but be shocked.
The Murim Alliance immediately organized its own investigation team and dispatched them to Heochang, where the Jo Family Estate was located.
Paeng Cheol-yeong sat with a heavy expression. Beside him stood Namgung Jin, wearing a similarly grave look.
"I should have gone. I should have followed her to the end. Why on earth did I…"
At Paeng Cheol-yeong's muttering, Namgung Jin nodded as well.
"Still, it's all in the past now. Once the culprit is revealed, make sure you take proper revenge."
At Namgung Jin's words, Paeng Cheol-yeong suddenly sprang to his feet.
"Yes. That's probably all I can do."
As Paeng Cheol-yeong walked outside, Namgung Jin clicked his tongue softly while watching his back.
"I can't tell whether he's sincere or not. There's no way he'd risk his life for a woman he's only seen a few times…"
Namgung Jin shook his head. Paeng Cheol-yeong had surely had no intention of following along.
"I don't know. It seems a bit excessive if it was just an act for others to see… and there's no reason for that either."
Still wearing a puzzled expression, Namgung Jin left the room. In any case, he too needed to prepare himself.
Once the culprit was revealed, Namgung Jin would also have to lend his strength. Whatever the reason or cause, they owed their lives to the head of the Jo Family.
The escort mission that had begun in Heochang had, before anyone realized it, entered Sichuan. Many incidents had occurred along the way, but thanks to their experience, they had been able to shorten the journey by a considerable amount of time.
Since Jo Seol-yeon's appearance, Hyeong-pyo had grown closer to Dan Hyung-u. It was only natural, as he had become more comfortable around him. And Jo Seol-yeon tried to forget her family's deaths as quickly as possible, even if only for a moment.
The road from Shaanxi to Sichuan was quite comfortable, but boring. Naturally so, since nothing happened at all.
During escort missions, incidents usually didn't occur very often, but this time there had been so many major events early on that, by comparison, the peaceful stretch felt even more uneventful.
Traveling along such a calm road naturally led to more conversation, and Dan Hyung-u was noticeably different from when Jo Seol-yeon had first met him.
"How did you become so strong, big brother? We're not even that far apart in age."
Jo Seol-yeon kept asking questions like this. Now that she had finally realized just how strong Dan Hyung-u was, it was only natural.
And Dan Hyung-u answered her questions quite sincerely.
"If you fight for your life for a long time, you naturally end up like this."
At Dan Hyung-u's answer, Jo Seol-yeon nodded. It made sense. Wasn't it said that there was no better training than real combat? And if that combat involved staking one's life, the results were bound to be exceptional.
"Who on earth were you fighting like that?"
"Monsters."
At Dan Hyung-u's reply, Jo Seol-yeon could only tilt her head in confusion.
"You mean yokai?"
"You could see it that way."
Jo Seol-yeon's eyes widened in surprise. Fighting yokai? Then did that mean he had trained to become some kind of immortal?
"But didn't you say you lived on Mount Heng?"
"Who knows."
At Dan Hyung-u's answer, Jo Seol-yeon felt slightly dumbfounded and searched her memory. She was quite confident in her memory, and could vividly recall what had happened back then.
"I'm pretty sure that's what it was…"
Dan Hyung-u had never said it outright, but he had responded in a way that almost sounded like agreement. Of course, it was also true that the people around him had drawn that conclusion on their own—but even so, it seemed certain that he had lived on Mount Heng.
Jo Seol-yeon tilted her head again. She had never heard of yokai appearing on Mount Heng. But if Dan Hyung-u said so, then so be it.
"Then… please tell me about it. About fighting yokai."
At Jo Seol-yeon's request, Dan Hyung-u's brow furrowed slightly. No one noticed the change in his expression. No one except Jo Seol-yeon.
"Why? Did I upset you— ah!"
As if something had just come back to her, Jo Seol-yeon's eyes widened and she quickly covered her mouth.
Dan Hyung-u had said he once had ninety-nine friends. And that all of them had died. It was probably the work of monsters.
Realizing she had asked about that very incident, Jo Seol-yeon hurriedly fell silent, thinking it only natural that he would be upset.
She felt sorry toward Dan Hyung-u, yet at the same time, she couldn't help feeling disappointed that she wouldn't get to hear the story about the yokai.
While soothing her regret, Jo Seol-yeon glanced at Dan Hyung-u and suddenly wondered where such monsters might even appear. But within the bounds of what she knew, there was no such place.
"Then where did you actually live?"
At Jo Seol-yeon's question, Dan Hyung-u didn't answer right away. He hesitated for quite some time, then muttered in a low voice, almost chewing the word out.
"Hell."
The moment she heard Dan Hyung-u's answer, a chill ran through the air. Jo Seol-yeon shuddered slightly at the sudden cold, and her eyes cautiously turned toward him.
The chill emanating from Dan Hyung-u suddenly transformed into a hollow emptiness. Thinking of that place brought Cheon Gija to mind, and with it came the natural realization that Cheon Gija was dead.
"Is Cheon Gija really dead?"
"That's what people say. They say he died ten years ago."
Dan Hyung-u's hollow aura affected those around him. Their bodies and minds slowly grew lethargic.
"Actually, I still don't believe it."
Hyeong-pyo muttered quietly. At that moment, the hollow aura that had spread in all directions vanished in an instant. And the lethargy gnawing at people's hearts disappeared cleanly.
Those who were sensitive could feel the change, if only faintly, but since they had no idea what had happened, they could only tilt their heads in confusion.
"You don't believe it?"