Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 80

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#80

Before I knew it, it was the evening of the sixth day.

I clicked my tongue with a bitter taste in my mouth.

‘It’s been confirmed that everyone will escape tomorrow evening, and if we take this route, we won’t encounter them at all.’

I was sitting on one side of the basin with a map spread out, thinking about our escape route.

I wouldn’t be escaping alone.

Three people from Sadoryeon, plus Cheongwun and Gangbi, Leaf Huazi. Along with several people from other minor sects, nearly ten people would be moving together.

‘By the way, we’re leaving tomorrow, but the White Dao Alliance still shows no particular movement. I thought if they were going to move, they’d definitely move on a large scale. It’s too quiet.’

Next to me as I looked at the map, Cheongwun was rolling around blowing dandelion seeds.

I scanned the map once more.

The south was close to the White Dao Alliance headquarters. Blocked.

The east was a cliff. Impossible.

The west was the way we came. Scouts were stationed there.

‘Only the north remains.’

If we crossed the northern ridge, we could escape to another county.

The problem was the distance.

From here to the northern ridge would take at least half a day.

Leaf Huazi was an old man, and there were injured people too.

Running at full speed was impossible.

“….”

This wasn’t easy.

‘Still… there’s no other clever solution now.’

We couldn’t delay any longer.

No matter how I thought about it, if we stretched it to the eighth day, we’d completely enter the realm of death.

Even being conservative, tomorrow—the seventh day—we had to leave this place no matter what.

With an uneasy heart, I was about to fold the map and stand up when something on the ridge caught my eye.

‘…What’s that?’

Halfway up the ridge.

A blackened mark.

It was traces of a charcoal fire.

‘Have people lit fires there before?’

Perhaps noticing my gaze, Cheongwun spoke up beside me.

“That’s probably from when the Sadoryeon guys lit a fire while hunting. They do that sometimes.”

“Sadoryeon?”

“Yes, Sadoryeon insists they must eat meat as their staple food—they’re always going on about meat. But they have some conscience, I guess, since they say it smells too much to do it inside our living area, so they cook outside and bring us jerky as our share too. Anyway, we’re the only ones in this basin, so don’t worry too much about it.”

That wasn’t wrong either.

If it had been scouts, instead of taking time to light a fire and leave traces there, they would have brought people and attacked immediately.

Even if they had lit it to send a signal to the main force, would they bear the risk of being discovered from that position?

They could just attack in the meantime.

Or maybe they looked down on us and charged in, only to be captured already. Most importantly, from that position, this place would be clearly visible—why would outsiders deliberately camp and light a fire there?

It was behavior that defied common sense.

“…My head feels sluggish too. Maybe it’s not just my qi sensitivity that’s deteriorated.”

Even this brief contemplation made me feel like fog was settling in my mind.

‘…It must be Sadoryeon. Cheongwun is probably right—with my qi sensitivity dulled, I might be getting unnecessarily sensitive about pointless things.’

I forcibly stopped my thoughts while pressing my throbbing temples.

“Brother!”

I looked up at Cheongwun’s voice.

“You didn’t eat a single meal today because you were stubbornly insisting on lifting that iron ball again, right?”

“I ate-.”

Cheongwun cut off my words.

“I know you didn’t eat. I watched you all day.”

“Then why did you even ask?”

“Because I want to go together. If I don’t do this, you’ll make excuses and slip away again.”

“….”

“The elder agreed to eat together today too. The meal should be ready by now, so let’s go!”

I stood up while folding the map.

“It’s not like I refuse every time. I need to eat, after all.”

Cheongwun smiled brightly.

“Still, it seems like you’ve gotten used to speaking casually now, brother. I’ll give you more meat today.”

I arrived at the hermitage with Cheongwun.

Inside, Gangbi was standing in front of a large pot, and all three Sadoryeon members were already there.

The Sadoryeon people waved their hands.

“Hey there, come on in. Did you train today too?”

Leaf Huazi also sat and gestured.

“Come here.”

Gangbi picked up a ladle.

“Today we specially caught a whole roe deer to put in. We happened to catch it nearby.”

“Actually, I caught it with a throwing sword, Brother Hwi!”

Cheongwun smiled proudly.

I finally understood the intention.

“So you wanted to show this off—that’s why you insisted so strongly that I come eat?”

“Hehe, you noticed. Anyway, look at this—I caught something this big!”

I looked at the game.

“Indeed, good work. It’s too big for me to even think about catching.”

“….”

“What now.”

Looking around, I saw even Gangbi staring at me with a dazed expression.

I frowned.

“Is there some problem?”

“No. Just a bit surprised.”

“I agree with Brother Gangbi.”

I sat down with a small sigh.

Leaf Huazi held out a bowl to me.

“Well, now that the last person we were waiting for is here, let’s eat.”

I looked at Leaf Huazi.

“You were waiting for me?”

“Of course, you’re family. We have to wait for family. What is family? The character for food and the character for mouth. People who eat together are family, aren’t they? Nothing strange about it.”

“….”

I received the rice.

Cheongwun ate enthusiastically beside me and said,

“Brother, it’s delicious, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Brother Gangbi really cooks well. He was the dedicated cook at Flying Red Palace too.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘cook’? Call me a chef instead.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“The nuance is different.”

At their bickering, the corners of my mouth turned up without me realizing it.

“Big brother, please eat more.”

Cheongwun pushed a bowl toward me.

I pushed it back.

“I’m fine.”

“Come on, you need to eat more. You don’t have any meat on your bones.”

“No meat on my bones? I’ve actually gained quite a bit of weight.”

“This is what you call gaining weight? You must be joking.”

Realizing from my expression that I wasn’t joking, Cheongwun raised his finger slightly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just this much more. Don’t you want to gain just this much more weight? I keep telling you, if you bulk up just a little more from here, you’ll really look amazing.”

“Yeah right.”

“No way, that won’t do. You absolutely must bulk up. Right now you’re nothing but bones. It’s such a waste. Gangbi said the same thing, didn’t he?”

“Great Hero Hwi, don’t fall for that guy’s nonsense. I never said that.”

“You did say it. Yesterday. Something about living alone like this?”

“Everyone lives alone in this world. If you have complaints, don’t eat my cooking.”

Leaf Huazi chuckled quietly beside us.

The campfire blazed.

It was peaceful and warm.

And I quietly made up my mind.

‘I really can’t let these guys get dragged into this.’

If the White Dao Alliance came charging in, I resolved to buy time for them to escape, even if I had to do it alone.

That would be for the best.

‘Nothing should happen… I hope.’

And on the seventh day, the morning when I had promised to leave the village with Leaf Huazi, dawn broke.

Everyone was packing their belongings.

Tonight.

Taking advantage of the late night hours, we would descend along the Secret Path on the Northern Cliffs.

Just before leaving, I tried lifting the iron sphere one last time – it still wouldn’t budge, but at least it trembled now.

“…I said it might work, but I didn’t expect anything… Even seeing it myself, your recovery ability is truly unbelievable. At least now you won’t suddenly faint.”

Even Leaf Huazi was amazed.

Right. That much was enough.

I could feel my senses returning.

I clenched and unclenched my hand.

‘Ideally, I’d want to leave safely once I can fully lift the iron sphere, but getting out of here takes priority over that. Until now I’ve been fainting left and right so there was really no choice, but this silence makes me anxious.’

A thick mist had been hanging over the basin for several days now.

Just before departure, I walked along the ridge at a distance from the hermitage, trying to restore even a little of my dulled senses.

“Hm?”

Something in the forest ahead caught my eye.

“…What’s that?”

It was the charcoal pit I’d seen from afar yesterday.

According to Cheongwun, it was probably traces left by Sadoryeon members hunting and roasting meat.

I was about to ignore it and pass by.

Then my steps stopped.

“There’s more than one…?”

Beside it, three or four more pits had been added at regular intervals.

I blinked.

At first I thought maybe the Sadoryeon members had done additional hunting and left more traces from roasting meat.

But that idea was immediately dismissed.

‘If it was for cooking after hunting, there’d be no reason to move around to so many different locations to dig them.’

I looked back.

The distance from the hermitage was considerable.

The surroundings were deep forest.

It would be easy enough to approach this far while concealing one’s presence.

Moreover, my senses were blocked, and the others weren’t particularly outstanding masters either.

“…Don’t tell me.”

I quickly approached.

I began examining the area around the pits.

It wasn’t just three or four.

Once I spotted them, I began seeing them lined up.

Besides the obvious pits, the traces of pits at regular intervals had black charcoal powder layered upon layer, as if fires had been lit at regular cycles.

‘And this isn’t traces of ordinary fires either – it’s the Jihuagu technique.’

A technique where you dig two pits and connect them underground.

The flames aren’t visible from a distance, and it’s secretive, with the characteristic of making smoke settle close to the ground – a method used by spies and assassins to secretly spread incense.

“This… it’s like they’re intentionally trying to spread smoke continuously and subtly.”

I returned to the village in a daze.

What was this?

Since when exactly?

No…

What confused me more than that was not being able to understand their purpose.

The formation seemed to have been broken long ago anyway, and if they had time to have scouts or whatever lurking around outside,

wouldn’t it be faster to just attack during that time?

What were they doing?

Countless thoughts flooded my mind during the entire walk back to the village.

Raising smoke as a beacon signal?

The form of those Jihuagu wasn’t for that purpose. Rather, it was meant to spread thinly along the ground.

No, in the first place, there was no reason for scouts to be right nearby making smoke as Cheongwun said before, no benefit to be gained from it…

“Ugh, this is completely ruined… What should I do about this.”

I looked up at the sound of Cheongwun’s dismayed voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“All the laundry is ruined. I thought the fog would clear by morning, so I washed everything planning to take it with us when we leave tonight.”

Cheongwun showed me the drooping clothes.

Purple.

All the clothes were dyed purple.

“Why are the clothes like that?”

“I picked up some charcoal from the ridge area yesterday. I thought it was a lucky find.”

“Charcoal? Why would there be charcoal here?”

“That’s what I’m saying. But in the old days, peddlers and charcoal sellers would sometimes dump the cheap charcoal first when their loads got too heavy around the ridges near Flying Red Palace. I remembered that and picked some up, but when I made lye water with it for washing, all the clothes turned out like this. What kind of charcoal does this?”

“Where’s the rest of the charcoal?”

“It seemed wasteful to throw away and the heat output is fine, so we’re using it to cook rice right now.”

I looked at the chimney.

Purple smoke was rising from it.

Cheongwun followed my gaze and tilted his head.

“Look at that. How strange. Even the smoke is purple. Actually, is the smoke more intense? And the fog is getting more and more purple too… Really, what’s going on here.”

“…What did you say?”

Only then did I look up at the sky.

I looked at the fog.

The fog before my eyes was subtly tinged with purple, as if it had seeped in.

‘What the… when did this happen?’

Of course, my sensitivity to energy had dulled.

I could barely make out colors.

But even that has its limits.

Even if it changed gradually like a frog in boiling water, how could I have missed this?

I can’t deny it even if I wanted to.

It’s simple.

I had unknowingly let my guard down in the peace.

In a corner of my heart, I had grown weak to the desire to trust and rely on people like weeds.

I can’t believe it.

That I could fall this far…

‘I just let it slide when the mist turned a deeper purple?’

A chill runs down my spine.

Certainly, I hadn’t completely trusted Cheongwun’s words.

I had reviewed it in my own way, and at the time, given the circumstances, I could only think it was Sadoren and excluded other variables.

But…

Why on earth did I think back then that the scouts would only light smoke for signals?

They had no reason to be impatient in the first place.

If they had enough time, they could do plenty of other things besides signals.

When public groups move in this world, what do they value most?

Even our assassins, what do they value most before entering a killing mission?

There’s no question about it.

It’s justification…

“…No… way.”

The scattered pieces in my head began to fit together.

Breaking preconceptions.

Smoke.

Color.

The charcoal pits lined up along the ridge.

Something someone deliberately lit.

Spreading smoke for days.

That’s why the mist was purple.

Why Gangbi said “It’s always like this.”

It wasn’t always like this.

Someone had created it.

And the charcoal Cheongwun picked up.

Traces left by those doing that work.

Was it simply their mistake?

Or were we already in their palm from that moment?

No, it doesn’t matter. Either way, the result is the same.

The laundry is purple too.

The chimney smoke is purple too.

The mist is purple too.

The entire village is dyed in purple.

Purple.

A purple close to black ink, flowing like blood.

This way, no matter how you look at it, this isn’t just for signaling.

This is as if they’re deliberately painting this small village with a specific color-.

-Crack.

A feeling like my brain being fried.

Memories from my past life.

Shadows surrounding me in the darkness.

Eyes burning red.

And the color of demonic energy rising from their hands.

The day I died, the light streaming from the sword that pierced my body and my opponent’s eyes.

Purple.

The Demonic Sect.

Marin,

The symbol of those who follow demons.

Would there be a village in the Martial Arts World filled with such an ominous color?

There couldn’t be.

If there were, it could only be a place that takes pride in that color, a branch of the Demonic Sect-.

“…Damn it, no way!”

I shot up to my feet.

“Brother?”

“Damn it all, the chimney! We need to put out the chimney smoke! No, is it already too late…!”

“What?”

“Gangbi! Cheongwun!!”

I shouted.

“Take Master Leaf Huazi, abandon the luggage and everything. Even if we have to throw ourselves off the cliff, we need to get out of here right now-!”

-CRASH!!!!!

Enormous pressure fell from the sky, crushing the entire basin.

Massive clouds of dust.

Gangbi, who was trying to pack, collapsed, and Cheongwun sat down with a pale face.

The bushes parted.

At the front stood.

“…Weren’t we right? What more evidence do you need than this.”

A giant holding a hexagonal iron mace.

The butcher of Shin Nongbang, Ha Song.

“Still, thanks to this we broke through the formation too, so stop doubting now. Sword Master.”

And beside him, a man walking slowly.

Sword Master Hwirong Seo Ganghyeok.

His eyes swept across the basin.

Purple smoke enveloping the entire village like mist.

Purple laundry fluttering.

Chimneys emitting purple smoke.

Seo Ganghyeok’s steps stopped.

Our eyes met.

“…”

“…”

Had I ever seen such eyes before?

Dead eyes.

Eyes so empty they were hollow, like an abyss.

The only emotion settled in that hellish abyss was cold.

“…Indeed.”

His gaze indifferently sweeps the surroundings.

He looks at the people.

“With this much purple.”

In his empty eyes, a vivid golden light of madness I had never seen before began to explode.

“You’re Marin, aren’t you?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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