Light Novel: Volume 16 Episode 21
Manhwa: N/A
“It’s truly collapsed.”
Um Soso muttered, staring at the collapsed cliff.
The place where she stood was where the Prison of No Return deep in Mount Longhu used to be.
Just as the letter had said, the Prison of No Return had completely collapsed. Covered with an enormous amount of rocks, even if there were survivors, it seemed impossible to get out.
A normal person would have thought this would be enough to confirm it, but Um Soso was different.
“Sea Mist Squad.”
“Yes!”
At her call, a group of martial artists appeared without a sound.
They all had masks covering their faces.
The martial artists wearing demonic masks with horns on their foreheads were known as the Sea Mist Squad. They were one of the secret forces of the Martial Sword Alliance.
Their main duties were to hunt and execute people.
As such, they possessed powerful martial arts.
“Search the area thoroughly. There might be a hidden passage.”
“By your command!”
Despite being ordered to search vast Mount Longhu, they followed without objection.
That was their greatest strength.
Their ability as hunting dogs was excellent, and they follow orders without any questions.
Um Soso sat on a huge rock, staring at the entrance to the Prison of No Return
‘I should have killed him then.’
If she had been given full authority, she would have killed Yu Suhwan.
He was such a threatening existence.
Yu Suhwan himself was a good cause.
If he made up his mind and stepped forward, many would follow him. If that happened, the Martial Sword Alliance would be divided into two and fight.
‘I must confirm his death with my own eyes.’
She felt that she could only sleep peacefully after confirming Yu Suhwan’s corpse.
Um Soso did not move as she waited for the Sea Mist Squad to return.
She even spent some time meditating.
She spent more than three days in front of the Prison of No Return like that.
Her patience was starting to wear thin.
It was then that the Sea Mist Squad leader returned.
The leader bowed his head and cautiously spoke,
“We have found a suspicious space. You will have to come with us.”
Um Soso nodded and followed him.
The place where the Sea Mist Squad leader took Um Soso was the Luxi River that circled around Mount Longhu.
Luxi River was adjacent to the cliffs of Mount Longhu.
On days when it rained heavily, waterfalls would cascade down the cliffs into the Luxi River.
Um Soso wore a puzzled expression.
There was a considerable distance between the Luxi River and the Prison of No Return. But she knew that the Sea Mist Squad would not lead her here without reason, so she silently followed them.
The Sea Mist Squad started to climb the cliff connected to the Luxi River.
The surface of the cliff was covered in moss, making it extremely slippery. Most ordinary people wouldn’t even dare attempt to climb it.
However, both Um Soso and the Sea Mist Squad were far from ordinary people. They were able to climb up the cliff without difficulty by using wall-walking qinggong.
As they climbed a part of the cliff, the Sea Mist Squad leader pointed to a spot.
“Look there.”
There was a small cave to where he pointed.
The cave was so narrow that a child could barely squeeze through.
Um Soso concentrated and channeled qi to her eyes and looked inside the cave, but it was so dark that she couldn’t guess where it ended.
It was then.
Someone crawled out of the cave.
The person whose body was covered in dirt was none other than a warrior of the Sea Mist Squad.
While the Sea Mist Squad leader had gone to call Um Soso, one of the warriors had entered the cave.
Among the Sea Mist Squad, he was the one with the smallest build and the most nimble. He stepped forward and reported.
“The cave could possibly be connected to the Prison of No Return, but it collapsed halfway, so I couldn’t go any further.”
“So there’s no evidence that it’s connected to the Prison of No Return?”
“No, but I found this inside.”
The warrior handed a piece of cloth to Um Soso.
Um Soso frowned.
The fact that the cloth was inside the cave was as good as evidence that someone had been there.
The warrior continued,
“Not only that, but there are signs that several people have stayed inside the cave. Judging by the footprints and hand marks, I estimate they were more than a dozen.”
“Mmm!”
Um Soso unknowingly hummed in contemplation.
There was no evidence that Yu Suhwan had stayed inside, nor was there any certainty that the cave was connected to the Prison of No Return.
However, if by any chance the cave was connected to the Prison of No Return, and people had escaped through this place, the problem would become serious.
If Yu Suhwan was inside, it would be nothing short of a disaster.
If it becomes known that the sect leader of the prestigious Martial Sword Alliance had sent a person into exile in a place like the Prison of No Return, he would not be able to escape the wrath and criticism of Jianghu. In the worst case, the disciples of the Martial Sword Alliance might even reject Dok Gohyang.
Such a worst-case scenario had to be prevented at all costs.
Um Soso asked the leader of the Sea Mist Squad,
“Can you find out where the people who escaped from here went?”
“Too much time has passed. The traces have all been erased. It’s impossible.”
“If they really escaped from the Prison of No Return, they must have rested somewhere. Having been trapped in such a terrible environment for a long time, their bodies must have been greatly weakened.”
“I understand. I will search the guest houses and inns in the area.”
The leader of the Sea Mist Squad ordered his men to search the guest houses in the area.
The Sea Mist Squad dispersed in all directions to search for guest houses.
There were quite a few guest houses near the Luxi River.
People often came to enjoy the beautiful scenery, so there were many places to stay.
Because of this, it would take a long time to search through them all.
Um Soso waited patiently for the Sea Mist Squad to bring good news.
After half a day, she finally heard from them.
“We found it.”
A warrior of the Sea Mist Squad hurriedly ran over.
“You found it?”
“Yes! Follow me.”
The place where the warrior led Um Soso was a run-down guest house called the Hwa-young Guest House.
The entrance to the guest house was guarded by the Sea Mist Squad, and an elderly couple, who didn’t know what was happening, were trembling with fear.
“They say they took in about a dozen guests on the day of the heavy rain.”
“Really?”
At the warrior’s words, Um Soso questioned the old couple.
“It’s true. So many people came that I remember it clearly.”
“What do they look like?”
“Huh?”
“There must be a reason you remember them, right?”
“They… Their eyes were very frightening. They looked like wolves that had been starving for a very long time, and they were very skinny, like they’d been locked up somewhere for a very long time. Ah, and they also talked about how good the outside air was.”
The old man answered, searching his memory.
“They were skinny?”
“Yes, they were. That’s probably why they gobbled up the food like famished people.”
Their appearance was so striking that it still remained in the couple’s memory.
The old man described in detail what he had seen.
Um Soso’s expression stiffened.
The people the old man was describing were unmistakably those who had been trapped in the Prison of No Return for a long time.
The last one was especially disturbing.
All the others left as soon as they were well enough, except for the last one, who stayed for over a month and never recovered. Moreover, his appearance matched that of Yu Suhwan.
“Could he really be alive?”
Um Soso bit her lips hard.
There is a possibility that the person the old man was talking about was not Yu Suhwan. But even then, she had to confirm it.
Um Soso asked,
“Did you say the person who brought them was handsome?”
“Yes! The person was definitely a man, but he was so beautiful that no ordinary woman would even compare.”
“A man more beautiful than a woman? Pyo-wol?”
Um Soso’s expression twisted.
If her assumption was true, it was indeed the worst possible situation.
“Did they say where they were going?”
“I think I heard they were going to the dock.”
“The dock? Where can they go if they take a boat from there?”
“If you go downstream along the river, you’ll reach Poyang Lake. If you go upstream, you’ll reach the mountain valley.”
“Poyang Lake?”
There was no need to think further.
Um Soso tossed a coin to the old man and left the guest house.
She turned to the Sea Mist Squad,
“We’re going to Poyang Lake.”
* * *
Pyo-wol looked around the old mansion.
It was structured around a central courtyard, surrounded by the mansion itself. There was no fence, but because of the fully enclosed structure, it was absolutely impossible to see inside from the outside.
There was even a small stable on one side of the mansion.
Pyo-wol put his horse in the stable and then sat down on the wooden porch in the middle of the courtyard.
The owners of this mansion were an old couple with no connection to Jianghu.
They had been greatly frightened by the recent fights among the Jianghu warriors in Poyang Lake that they had sold the mansion to escape the danger and left Poyang Lake.
The place where they sold their house was the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group.
Ju Seolpung, the head of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group offered the house to Pyo-wol at a low price.
Originally, Pyo-wol intended to stay at another guest house. However, all the guest house owners were reluctant to accommodate him.
Although they didn’t refuse verbally, their expressions and eyes revealed their thoughts.
They realized that having Pyo-wol as a guest would spell trouble.
Pyo-wol didn’t want to stay in a guest house that rejected him, so knowing his situation, Ju Seolpung provided him with the mansion they owned.
Since the elderly couple had not left long ago, the mansion was very clean.
Pyo-wol lay down on the porch and looked at the sky.
In the square of sky above the courtyard, he could see clouds swiftly passing by.
Pyo-wol stared at the clouds for a long time, using his arms as a pillow.
After a while, the sun set and darkness descended.
It was then.
A streak of red light entered his vision.
Bang!
The light that had risen high into the night sky exploded, creating fireworks.
It was a firecracker.
The moment he saw the firecracker, Pyo-wol jolted up.
It wasn’t an ordinary firecracker.
It was the kind of firecracker mainly used for signaling.
Pyo-wol launched himself onto the roof of the mansion, and the view of the Poyang Lake area came into clear sight.
Bang!
Another firecracker went off in the distance.
It was clear that someone was sending and receiving signals.
Another firecracker went off at that moment.
The path of the firecrackers was in a straight line, and the speed at which they were exploding was very fast.
Pyo-wol sensed something was happening.
Although he usually didn’t get involved in matters unrelated to himself, this time was different.
Somehow, he felt he couldn’t just let it go.
Pyo-wol kicked off the roof and flew off.
Like a bird, he flew gracefully and landed on the roof of the mansion across the street, then began running at a terrifying speed.
As he sprinted across the rooftops like a gust of wind, neither sound of his footsteps, nor the fluttering of his robes could be heard.
It was a silent sprint.
No one detected Pyo-wol’s dash.
Pyo-wol caught up with those setting off the firecrackers in an instant.
Beneath his feet, he could see the martial artists running through the alleyways.
They were chattering, unaware that Pyo-wol was watching them from above.
“That way.”
“He turned north.”
Although they were no match for Pyo-wol, their agility and qinggong were incredibly impressive.
The narrow alleyways were full of obstacles, but nothing could slow them down.
‘Elites!’
These warriors, with their level of cultivation and qinggong, could easily be classified as elites among Jianghu’s great sects.
It was not common for such people to be mobilized.
Pyo-wol carefully examined their appearances.
They were all unfamiliar faces.
Not only were their faces unfamiliar, but the aura they exuded was also foreign.
At least among the sects or warriors Pyo-wol met around Poyang Lake, none had such an aura.
This meant that they must have come from outside.
Pyo-wol launched himself and landed behind the warrior running at the very back. Despite landing directly behind him, the warrior didn’t even notice Pyo-wol’s presence.
Bang!
At that moment, another firecracker exploded.
As they sprinted down the alleyway, the warriors turned their eyes towards the firecrackers. They turned down the alleyway toward the source of the firecrackers.
The warrior at the rear also turned the corner to follow his comrades.
Snap!
But at that moment, a strong hand grabbed him by the nape of his neck.
It was Pyo-wol.
Pyo-wol yanked the warrior and threw him backward.
“Ack!”
With a muffled scream, the man was slammed against the wall.
It all happened in a flash.
His comrades didn’t even notice he was gone and continued moving off into the distance.
The warrior got up, rubbing his neck.
“Who are you? How dare you interfere with the affairs of the Snowflake Sword Squad?”
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