Chapter 167: Hae-il (2)

Yunnan Castle.

Less people lived here than in the nearby Sichuan Castle, however, the size of the territory and the walls were about the same.

It was because they were right next to Nanman.

Cale took a quick look at the wall down in the distance that looked sturdy even from up here.

Honestly speaking, he wasn't paying much attention to the walls right now.

"Is it a formation?"

Two individuals responded to what he seemed to mumble to himself.

"That's right! Outside the walls and inside the walls! There are two different formations!"

"It does seem like a formation, young master-nim."

Inside the walls…

Yunnan Castle, which should be clearly visible from up in the mountains, was not visible at all.

A white fog was covering just that area.

"Formations really are different from magic."

Raon quietly mumbled.

"If magic is using mana to create what you want, the formations of the Central Plains seem to artificially change the aura of nature to change the nearby surroundings."

He then nodded his head with a serious look on his face.

"Yes, even formations will be very useful if used properly."

"That's correct, Raon-nim."

Chief Eunuch Wi added on.

"Great formations can be called their own worlds. And the person who creates that formation will be called the god of that world."

"God?"

He smiled at the young Dragon looking at him and answered.

"Doesn't it seem that way? If someone is able to control and dominate an area and the time in the area, isn't that basically a god?"

"…Area and time..."

Raon seemed to be thinking hard as his face looked like a squashed dumpling. Cale looked at him for a bit before asking.

"Is it a formation outside the castle as well?"

"I was wondering the same thing, young master-nim. Even I cannot tell what that is outside the castle."

Chief Eunuch Wi quickly answered.

Yunnan Castle, which has mountains to the east and west, and wide plains to the north and south.

There were some houses visible on the endless plains but nobody seemed to be inside them.

This was to be expected.

There was no way that the Blood Cult would have traveled past these homes without doing anything to the people.

"It is a formation!"

Raon answered extremely confidently.

"I'm certain that there is a formation that starts at the castle walls and wraps all around it! It has an approximate radius of 1km!"

A formation with a radius of 1km that wrapped all around the castle.

"I'm saying that because mana is twisted over there! Formations are the only things in the Central Plains world that can cause that!"

"Oh."

Cale quietly gasped.

"Then you are saying that this normal sight of rice paddies underneath the sunset might be an illusion?"

"That's right!"

Raon frowned.

He looked even more like a squashed dumpling.

"Both formations inside and outside the castle are ones that are difficult for me to figure out at once. The person who set up the formation seems to be quite skilled! This is the most skilled formation I have seen since we arrived in this world!"

The corners of Cale's lips twisted up.

'They definitely seem to be more skilled than the Black Bloods.'

The first Hunters household he met on Xiaolen…

The Black Bloods, the House of Huayans.

They were quite strong as well but the Blood Cult seemed to be more strategic and have more abilities and secrets.

'The living jiangshis and jiangshis are probably not all of their cards.'

They were probably only a portion of their strengths and abilities.

Yet just that portion, the living jiangshis, appearing in the Central Plains was enough to cause chaos. It would have been enough for the Blue Bloods, the Blood Cult, to consume all of the Central Plains.

If things had been left as is, of course.

"Raon."

Cale asked in a low voice.

"Is it impossible to figure out everything about those formations?"

"No! I am a great and mighty Dragon! I can figure out a good amount if I take a look! I know everything if I study it!"

Raon puffed up his chubby stomach.

He pounded his chest as if telling Cale to trust him.

"Then it will probably be easier to inspect the formations if we get a bit closer, right?"

"That's right!"

Cale looked around after hearing Raon's response.

Choi Han, Chief Eunuch Wi, Choi Jung Soo, Beacrox.

These were the only people who teleported with him.

"We will stay around here tonight and observe Yunnan."

"Yes, young master-nim. Then I will get a place ready for the night."

Chief Eunuch Wi answered and Choi Jung Soo suddenly interjected.

"We have to go observe the formation anyway, so how about over there?"

He was pointing to one of the houses on the plain.

It was a house right at the bottom of the western mountain Cale was standing on. It was also one of the few houses that were outside of the formation's area of influence.

"Won't we get caught?"

As Chief Eunuch Wi worried about the enemies seeing them…

"Don't worry!"

Raon interjected.

"I can use a bit of formations now! I will try to hide us!"

"Hooo."

Cale gasped in admiration.

"You've already learned that?"

Raon's cheeks twitched as the corners of his lips rose.

"I am smart!"

"Yes, you are great and mighty."

"That's right, I am extremely great and mighty!"

Cale received everybody's gazes as he continued.

"Then let's get to that house and then figure out what we will do from here."

He looked toward the castle walls.

"Those formations are weird."

Whether it was a tsunami or a wave…

Even if he wanted to use water to sweep it all away, it would not be too late to do so after they took a look at these formations.

These couple weird things made it so that Cale could not move rashly.

"That's right."

Choi Jung Soo agreed.

The faces of everybody here were now serious.

They stealthily started moving toward the bottom of the mountain using a gust of wind that Raon created. Choi Jung Soo started speaking again.

"I didn't see anybody on the castle walls."

The castle walls were the boundary of the formation.

As a result, they could clearly see the walls. However, not a single person was on the walls.

That meant that there was nobody observing the area.

How did that make any sense for the people who took over a castle and had to protect it now?

Cale nonchalantly commented as if he was responding to Choi Jung Soo.

"I didn't see any jiangshis either."

The Blood Cult uses jiangshis.

However, there weren't any jiangshis on the castle wall either.

They were said to have at least a thousand jiangshis.

All of those jiangshis were completely hidden right now.

"…I have a bad feeling about this. It is too quiet all around us."

Nobody disagreed with Choi Jung Soo's comment.

They simply remained quiet as they moved toward their destination.

It was at that moment.

"...?"

Cale could see that Choi Han had stopped walking.

He turned his head.

The sun was basically beyond the horizon and darkness was slowly setting in.

However, as always, night time arrived faster in the mountains and the forest.

Choi Han's gaze headed toward the forest which was already dark.

Through the lush trees…

– Human, there is someone there!

Choi Han waved as soon as Cale heard Raon's voice in his mind.

He nodded his head at Choi Han's signal that he would go take a look.

Choi Han cautiously started moving toward the direction of the noise.

'Is it an enemy?'

Cale nervously waited before his eyes opened wide once Choi Han returned.

"Huh?"

There was someone on Choi Han's back.

"Huff, huff."

The person, who was completely covered in blood and looked as if he might die at any moment, looked at Cale.

"Y, young master-nim-"

Cale knew this person.

"…Noble Warrior Dokgo."

When he left the Imperial Palace and headed toward Huángshān to find Choi Jung Soo… One of the first people of the Martial Arts world he met…

The Dokgo Clan's Dokgo Chang.

He was covered in blood and barely breathing.

The Dokgo Clan was located within Yunnan.

"Let's hurry."

Cale's group quickened their pace to their destination.

Of course, he handed Choi Han one of the potions he received from the leader of the Church of the God of Death in the Roan Kingdom to feed to Dokgo Chang. He had no idea whether a potion from Roan would work on a person from the Central Plains.

* * *

Thankfully, the potion worked a bit.

"He is no longer in critical condition."

Cale was relieved after hearing Chief Eunuch Wi comment as he felt Dokgo Chang's pulse.

He then brought over a chair inside this empty house and plopped down.

Dokgo Chang had lost consciousness for a bit but his breathing was at least stable.

Thankfully, the house at the bottom of the mountain was empty.

Of course, the inside of the house was a mess as if a giant storm had swept through.

There were many traces of people being dragged out.

It seemed as if the Blood Cult dragged the people from these houses into the castle as they went by.

Thankfully, nobody seemed to have died as there were no traces of blood anywhere.

"He must have been escaping from Yunnan Castle?"

Cale nodded his head at Choi Jung Soo's comment.

"I would presume so."

There were quite a lot of martial artists, sects, and clans within Yunnan.

The Dokgo Clan was one of them and they had a good amount of power within Yunnan.

That probably led them to try to escape from the castle to get reinforcements from outside.

Dokgo Chang was one of the experts of the Dokgo Clan and had a reliable and loyal personality, making it understandable that he was tasked to be the one to escape.

"Human, there are no influences of formations around us! I will create our own formation!"

Cale nodded his head at Raon's comment without giving it much thought.

"Can I use whatever ingredients I need?"

Cale responded as if it wasn't a big deal as he thought Raon was talking about magic stones.

"Yeah. Do whatever you want."

He turned his head and motioned to Choi Jung Soo with his eyes.

Choi Jung Soo pulled a map out of his pocket and opened it on a table.

This map had Yunnan Castle at the center.

Choi Jung Soo looked down at the map as he spoke.

"The Heavenly Demon will come first early tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah."

The Heavenly Demon would come first with the Sage Demon and the Demon Laws Battalion Commander.

After that, the Demon Cult's forces would slowly gather around Yunnan.

"After them is the Namgung Clan?"

"That's right."

He had sent a message to the Sword Saint, who should be on his way to Sichuan, to come directly to Yunnan.

The Sword Saint had sent a message saying that he was almost at Sichuan, so he should arrive here soon.

"The people in Sichuan will come with the team leader soon too. After that, the Divergent Coalition and the Martial Arts Alliance-"

Cale, who was organizing his thoughts while listening to Choi Jung Soo, flinched after hearing something.

"Hey Beacrox! Give me Central Plains!"

'Hmm?'

Cale's gaze moved.

The statue of the young monk was in Raon's hand.

"...."

Raon must have felt Cale's gaze as he looked at Cale. He then smiled.

"Human! Formations get much stronger if you set an item as the core! Out of the things from the Central Plains we have, this stone is the strongest, so I will create a formation with Central Plains at the center of it! Then the enemies will absolutely not find this house!"

Chief Eunuch Wi and Choi Jung Soo blankly looked at Raon.

At that moment…

"Wow."

Cale commented in admiration.

"That is a great idea."

'Who does he take after to be so smart?'

He was amazed at this Dragon's intelligence.

'Yes, that's just an annoyingly heavy stone. It would be great if it can be useful to us.'

Cale had contacted Central Plains after getting the new version of the crown, but he received no response.

It was the same with the God of Death.

The response he got when he contacted the God of Death was quite the spectacle.

< Currently taking shelter due to emergency situations >

< Cause of emergency situation: A tyrant going berserk due to a proclamation to go on strike >

He had no idea what was going on, but…

< Central Plains pulled off something major. >

< That punk really is a fox. >

He stopped paying attention after seeing what the God of Death left behind as postscript.

He just thought things would resolve themselves.

Of course, things might not go well and could influence Cale in some way, but…

'I just have to do what I have to do for now.'

That was the answer.

Right now was a chance to take down the Blood Cult since he confirmed that the others did not have any restrictions or seals on their abilities.

He then heard Choi Jung Soo's voice.

"The Imperial Palace said that they'll take care of things in the back. Sounds like we should start at Yunnan and strike hard at once."

Cale's gaze turned cold as he looked down at the map.

Now that the Imperial Palace said that they would take care of the jiangshis throughout the entire Central Plains…

The core of the Triumvirate were gathering at Yunnan.

These were the members who would go past Yunnan to Nanman.

Cale, who was deep in thought thinking about the things they would do from here, heard someone calling out to him after a bit of time.

"Hae-il-nim."

Choi Han and Raon approached him.

"The formation has been set and I think we can go to observe the formation at the castle wall now."

It was at that moment.

"Oo, oooo-"

They heard Dokgo Chang groaning.

His closed eyes were twitching. He looked ready to wake up soon.

Chhh.

Choi Jung Soo stood up from the chair and looked at Cale.

"Shouldn't we at least have an idea about what we are going to do before the Heavenly Demon gets here?"

Cale nodded his head.

"You chat here with Noble Warrior Dokgo. I will go with Raon and pa, paternal cou, no, u, un, Unc-"

"Yeah. You go with your Uncle and Raon."

"Uhh, okay-!"

Cale looked away from the flustered Choi Jung Soo and spoke to Choi Han, who was looking at Choi Jung Soo with a satisfied look on his face. He was naturally addressing Raon as well.

"Don't do anything dangerous and take a look out the external formation without getting caught. If it seems dangerous, it is okay to do it from a distance. Our goal is to gather information so don't move by yourselves."

"Yes, Hae-il-nim."

"I got it, human!"

"I got it too!"

Cale looked away from the trio heading to investigate the external formation and walked up next to Dokgo Chang.

"Y, young master-nim-"

His eyes were already open and he was looking at Cale.

Cale knew that there was something more important to say to someone like this rather than asking if they were okay.

"I came here to save Yunnan Castle."

Dokgo Chang's eyes lit up and his body relaxed.

"Young master, nim-"

Dokgo Chang's eyes teared up as he struggled to speak.

Dokgo Chang. A single tear dripped down from that stubborn and usually composed person.

'He is not crying because we came to save Yunnan.'

This tear was full of heartbreak and desperation.

It was coming from despair that made him unable to handle his emotions.

"T, the martial artists… Are, getting cap…tured."

"By the Blood Cult?"

Dokgo Chang barely answered.

"Jiangshis. They are going to turn them into jiangshis to fight-"

Dokgo Chang was not someone the Dokgo Clan had sent out to get reinforcements.

"T, they all got caught and only I managed to escape."

He just got lucky and managed to escape.

"Young master-nim, please- p, please- save them."

Inside the castle that was covered in fog…

The Blood Cult was trying to create jiangshis in there.

"Noble Warrior Dokgo. Please calm down."

The emotional Dokgo Chang flinched.

An aura that was colder than ever was coming out of young master Kim.

It snapped him right back to his senses.

This is not the time for me to be like this.

I need to tell them as much as possible.

"Please tell us everything you know. Only then can we save everybody."

Dokgo Chang looked into young master Kim's eyes that looked so firm that it would never crumble and slowly managed to get each word out.

After some time passed…

Click.

The door opened.

"Human!"

Raon stopped being invisible and rushed in.

Choi Han and Choi Jung Soo, who stopped being invisible as well, looked quite stiff.

"Human, we were looking at the formation and there was a spot that was weaker than the other areas. We were able to create a hole and look inside!"

Raon looked completely shocked.

"Jiangshis! They were all jiangshis!"

Choi Han added on.

"Inside the formation outside the castle walls… It looks like just a field but actually, it is completely full of jiangshis."

Choi Jung Soo spoke with a disgusted tone.

"…It wasn't just a thousand."

There was a lot more than that.

"I know."

The three of them all looked at Cale after hearing his calm voice.

Cale looked down at Dokgo Chang, who was unconscious once again, as he spoke.

"There are at least ten thousand."

Dokgo Chang had noticed at least 10,000 jiangshis.

It had started with about a thousand before an endless amount of jiangshis rushed in.

"The number might increase as well."

He looked out the open door. He looked toward the formation that made it look as if they were looking at an empty field.

"The Blood Cult is planning on turning everybody inside Yunnan Castle into jiangshis."

Dokgo Chang had told him.

'They plan on finishing things up today and, t, tomorrow night, turning everybody into jiangshis-'

He received another important piece of information.

Dokgo Chang had told him this as well.

'Apparently the young Blood Demon candidates are here as well.'

Two of the candidates for the next generation's Blood Demon were here as well.

A twisted smile appeared on Cale's face.

– Cale.

The Sky Eating Water was urging him to hurry up and use his powers.

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

Cale heard the sound of water by his ear every time that happened.

Almost as if there was a downpour.

Or a tsunami that was headed toward him.

Perhaps a storm that was slowly approaching from a distance.

This water that was ready to strike at any moment was waiting for Cale's command.

—

Translator's Comments

Waaaaaaaaaaater.