Bang! Bang!
‘Is that it?’
Following Dokgorin, who entered first, I changed my direction immediately upon hearing the distant explosions as I infiltrated the palace of the Forbidden City.
It seemed likely that Dokgorin was at the center of the commotion.
‘Being the Emperor’s residence, it truly is vast.’
The grounds of the Cheonmu Academy were quite large too, but the imperial palace was about twice that size.
Moreover, due to the uniformity, there were many buildings with similar appearances around, making it almost a maze for someone who didn’t know their way.
After wandering for quite some time in search of the source of the noise, I finally spotted Dokgorin floating in the air.
‘Who is she fighting?’
I couldn’t see her opponent, who was engaged with Dokgorin.
So, instead of rashly calling out to her, I observed the situation, and suddenly, something shot upwards vertically toward Dokgorin in the sky.
“What the?!”
The thing that suddenly attacked Dokgorin was black sand.
The sand moved as if it were a living creature, darting around to engulf her as she floated above.
Using nine swords controlled by her spirit fire sword, Dokgorin exhibited three-dimensional movements, continuously evading the pursuing sand.
At times she blocked it, at times she slashed through it, avoiding all the sand’s attacks, but from my perspective, it looked like a precarious tightrope act.
‘Why isn’t she fighting back?’
Just as I questioned this, a sparrow flying through the air suddenly transformed into a splash of blood upon touching the sand and fell.
‘Is it sand that kills living creatures merely by touch?’
Only now did I understand why she was behaving so passively.
If she rashly tried to counterattack and happened to touch that sand, it would be a disastrous turn of events.
‘Is that what they call sorcery?’
An irrationality completely different from martial arts.
According to Wolhyang, even if it’s called sorcery, it’s not invincible, but no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t think of an appropriate countermeasure.
How could one attack something that moves at an extremely fast speed and can change its form at will?
‘No, I was told to find the sorcerer first during such a situation.’
Recalling my master Wolhyang’s teachings, I immediately climbed to the highest point around.
‘I see it!’
The one fighting Dokgorin was none other than the sorcerer Yangbang I had seen in the capital.
Next to him was a small jar, and it seemed that all the sand was coming from that jar.
‘What do I do?’
That jar was probably the medium for the sorcery Yangbang was using.
If that were the case, breaking it might disrupt the sand-controlling sorcery, but the problem was that I had no long-range attack means.
‘But if I approach to break that jar, the odds of being hit in return would be high.’
The fact that his attack method was sand was a significant variable.
Just as Dokgorin handled the nine swords with ease, it looked like Yangbang was controlling the sand coming from the jar with his will, and with a speed that was not only fast but also the condition that even touching would lead to death, approaching was almost like a suicide mission.
As I racked my brain alone, I suddenly sensed a presence behind me.
“What are you doing over there?”
“Ah! You scared me!”
I turned around in surprise.
Standing behind me was Baek Yujin, who I had separated from earlier outside.
“Why are you here?”
I asked incredulously, and with a playful demeanor, Baek Yujin replied.
“They say the most fun things in the world are watching fires and watching fights.”
“So, you came to watch the fight?”
“Something like that, yes.”
She looked annoyingly indifferent as if it were none of her business, but I couldn’t blame her.
After all, this began as a very private revenge for me and Dokgorin.
I pointed at Yangbang, who was leisurely fighting with Dokgorin in the distance.
“Well then, could you tell me just one thing? Is that jar next to him the medium for the sorcery he’s using?”
Baek Yujin replied.
“I don’t know that either.”
“Huh?”
“At first glance, that jar seems to be the medium, but in reality, it could be something entirely different. After all, this is just an area that can only be speculated about by someone who isn’t the user of the sorcery.”
“So, you mean what you see isn’t everything?”
“Well, that’s true. But once you start arguing about possibilities, it never ends, does it?”
So sometimes, trusting your instincts isn’t such a bad idea.
“……”
Honestly, it wasn’t very helpful advice.
But it was better than doing nothing, I suppose.
With my resolve strengthened, I looked around and picked up a soldier’s spear that Dokgorin had thrown down.
‘To hit the jar with the spear, I need to get closer than I currently am.’
Making that judgment, I turned to Baek Yujin behind me.
“Are you coming with me?”
“Yeah.”
“…Just don’t get caught.”
“That’s basic.”
Hearing Baek Yujin’s not-so-reassuring reply, I stealthily moved via the roof to avoid being detected by Yangbang.
*
The black sand, filling my vision once again, surged in like a wave.
“Ugh.”
Seeing that, Dokgorin clicked her tongue and quickly retreated, using the swords hovering around her as stepping stones.
‘There’s no sign of any openings to attack.’
The massive amount of sand Yangbang controlled acted as both a perfect weapon and, in a way, a shield.
I don’t know the exact principle, but if it’s a living creature, touching that black sand would turn it into a puddle of blood and lead to death.
Fortunately, it seemed ineffective against inanimate objects, but when it gathered together, it possessed immense mass capable of destroying almost everything.
Thanks to that, her surroundings were practically obliterated.
There were no structures to use as stepping stones since Yangbang had destroyed them all, making even a brief touch to the ground a challenge.
The black sand morphed again into a spike-like form, attacking Dokgorin.
Helplessly soaring into the air to evade Yangbang’s attack, Dokgorin caught an unnatural movement in the briefest of moments.
‘Could it be?’
To verify her hypothesis, she shifted direction and dove back in.
As if mimicking the previous charge, the relentless sand chased after her.
Instead of soaring into the sky, this time she started to fly backward recklessly.
Maintaining a certain distance from the sand while leading it to a desired spot, Dokgorin flipped her body over at one point.
“This is it.”
Immediately, she drew a line on the ground.
Rumble!
“The boundary of the attack range.”
The black sand that had been chasing her moments ago seemed to hit an invisible wall, no longer advancing but merely floating in the air.
‘There’s a limit to how far the sand can be controlled. And that range is roughly about 10 li centered around the jar.’
Unlike before, where everything felt hopeless, now it seemed like there was a certain path forward, so Dokgorin glanced toward Yangbang standing far away.
Upon receiving her gaze, Yangbang shrugged his shoulders and said,
“Not bad for figuring out the attack range of the Blood Sand. But surely that alone won’t be enough to kill me.”
‘Indeed.’
To kill Yangbang, she ultimately had to enter the attack range of the sand.
The intangible poison she had occasionally shot out seemed ineffective against Yangbang. So the only answer left was to directly behead him, breaking through that ironclad defense.
As Dokgorin pondered this method, a shadow rapidly moving across the rooftop caught her eye.
‘Chilbongi?!’
Behind him was Baek Yujin, whom I had separated from earlier.
Seemingly planning to do something on his own, Chilbongi held a long spear in his hand.
‘…Could it be that he’s trying to break the jar containing the black sand?’
Realizing what he intended to do, Dokgorin revised her strategy.
She didn’t have to step in herself to unravel Yangbang’s sorcery; if someone else could handle it, it would provide her with an opportunity to counterattack.
So now, there was only one thing she had to do.
Get attention.
‘I need to divert Yangbang’s focus onto me so that Chilbongi can approach unnoticed.’
It seemed that currently, this was the only way to target Yangbang.
Thus, she decided to use a powerful secret technique she hadn’t used until now.
Crash!
From outside the range of the sand, Dokgorin clenched her fist, and the nine swords circling around her surged forward.
When the fluorescence of the green sword energy ignited from her blade, the overwhelming heat began to distort the surrounding scenery.
The technique she was about to use was the strongest among the nine basic techniques of the Nine Phantom Immortal Sword Techniques, which she knew.
It was what they called the Sky-Cutting Technique.
An ultimate sword energy powerful enough to cut through the heavens at its peak.
Previously, it had been the technique that killed Weijichun, the leader of the martial world.
As nine swords, imbued with her will, lined up like a single massive blade, it resembled nothing less than a colossal sword.
Yangbang’s previously composed expression twisted into a grimace.
Even to him, the power of the technique Dokgorin was about to unleash appeared ominous.
For the first time, Yangbang, who had remained stationary until now, moved his body.
Charging forward to attack Dokgorin, who had left herself vulnerable while using a large technique.
But for someone who had been waiting for the perfect moment—this was a golden opportunity.
“Now!”
Dokgorin’s shout.
In that moment, Ichilbok, who had been hiding on the rooftop, threw the spear he was holding in his right hand.
The spear shot forth like an arrow, precisely piercing through the side of the jar that had been endlessly pouring forth black sand.
