Chapter 011. Forbidden Demon Forest
There was a vast forest to the west of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
And the castle's secret place, the Forbidden Demon Forest, was hidden at its entrance.
“It is around here. Have you ever entered before?”
Deep within the western forest.
A place filled with evergreen coniferous forests all year round.
The Martial Sovereign looked around and spoke.
“Yes, I have entered exactly once.”
Dam Jeok-san nodded at the Martial Sovereign's words and answered.
It was something from a long time ago. Back when not much time had passed since he was taken in by the Martial Sovereign and started learning martial arts.
Back then, the Martial Sovereign had thrown Dam Jeok-san into the Forbidden Demon Forest under the pretext of training.
Saying that a martial artist of the Martial Sovereign Castle ought to know how to fight against monsters.
And he only pulled him out when Dam Jeok-san was pushed back by the swarming monsters and nearly half-dead.
Damn it.
It was not a memory he particularly wanted to recall.
The Dam Jeok-san of that time was still immature.
And the monsters inside the Forbidden Demon Forest were exceptionally vicious under the logic of survival of the fittest.
However, the western forest was peaceful, as if it were a lie that it was hiding such a Forbidden Demon Forest.
‘This is the power of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.’
Dam Jeok-san thought, feeling a slight sense of surprise.
The Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation was a formation devised after monsters appeared in the Central Plains.
A formation specialized in confining beasts or humans possessing demonic energy.
Not only clans originally famous for formations like the Zhuge Clan, but also sects that maintained mysticism like the Blue Dragon Palace or the Mount Mao Sect participated in large numbers to cooperate in creating the design of the formation.
As if its reputation was not false, not even a trace of demonic energy could be felt in the western forest.
However, that was only by the standards of martial artists who sensed the world through ordinary energy sensing.
‘An appetizing smell is wafting out.’
Dam Jeok-san, who possessed the ability of predation, instinctively felt that a great many monsters were lurking in this vicinity.
And Dam Jeok-san did not stop at just feeling it.
WHOOOOM!!
Internal energy gathered in his eyes and a faint luster appeared.
Predator's Eye.
It was a signal that an ability comparable to peerless eye techniques was being displayed, at least regarding things related to monsters.
Dam Jeok-san did not know much about formations.
So he could not grasp the structure of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.
However, if he used the Predator's Eye, he could see through the movements of the monsters moving inside the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.
The places where the monsters' movements stopped.
The points they never crossed.
If he connected those points to make a single diagram, he could easily guess the territory of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.
The time it took for that to happen was approximately one quarter of an hour.
The Martial Sovereign stared blankly at Dam Jeok-san, who seemed engrossed in something with his hands behind his back.
‘It is done.’
Dam Jeok-san, who had roughly grasped the territory of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation, moved his steps without hesitation.
Ten steps forward.
And five steps to the left.
Dam Jeok-san, who moved with a constant stride, tilted his head for a moment.
Not yet.
I can go a little closer.
Such intuition grazed his mind.
Dam Jeok-san walked two and a half steps further forward, and stopped at that spot.
―!
The predator's sense, which had been engraved in his instinct before he knew it, was trembling as if resonating with the boiling energy of the monsters.
― Kill them all.
― Devour them.
Such auditory hallucinations shimmered near Dam Jeok-san's ears.
But his heart was calm like a silent lake.
If he were a vessel to be swept away by such trivial impulses, he would not have been able to crawl up to this point.
“Master, please open the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.”
He said while looking at the Martial Sovereign.
“……!”
At those words from Dam Jeok-san, a glint flickered in the Martial Sovereign's eyes for an instant.
That was because Dam Jeok-san had opened his mouth while standing exactly half a step away from the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.
‘He figured out the exact territory of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation?’
Hoh.
A low exclamation flowed from the Martial Sovereign's mouth.
Since the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation must not be easily broken, it was a formation with excellent concealment.
Even the elders of the Zhuge Clan, who had studied formations their entire lives, could not pinpoint the territory of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation accurately without any preparation.
Unless one reached a supreme state like the Martial Sovereign himself, where the boundary between sorcery and martial arts disappeared. It was virtually impossible for an ordinary martial artist to accurately find the territory of the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation.
Yet Dam Jeok-san had done it.
That was no fluke.
“Interesting.”
A vivid unusual light appeared in the Martial Sovereign's eyes.
To keep accomplishing tasks bordering on the impossible meant that he possessed something incomprehensible.
The Martial Sovereign did not go out of his way to question what that was.
All he had to do was wait.
Until Dam Jeok-san showed his potential and proved himself.
“I will open it.”
The Martial Sovereign said, waving his hand roughly in the empty air.
CRACKLE!!
A crack began to appear in the empty air following his hand gesture.
No, it was not the empty air, but the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation that was torn. With a single indifferent gesture from the Martial Sovereign.
Through that crack.
GRRRRR……!
The cries of starving monsters and stickily concentrated demonic energy began to ooze out.
It felt as if another world had unfolded through the gap of the crack.
“I hope you can obtain what you desire.”
The Martial Sovereign said while watching that scene.
Shortly after, he took out a dark ink-colored token from his bosom.
No characters were engraved on the dark-colored token, which seemed to have sucked in all the surrounding light.
Because it was made by mixing Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron and Ink Iron, nothing could be engraved on it unless one was a smith of great skill.
However, the Martial Sovereign was different.
When he lightly stirred his finger, characters were engraved on the ink token in a single stroke. Heavenly Martial.
A technique of peerless height.
The value of the Heavenly Martial Gentleman Token lay right here.
A divine token that was no different from being personally signed by the Martial Sovereign.
It meant that one could rely on the Martial Sovereign's halo, at least once.
“……Thank you.”
“No need for that. If you die, it will merely be a piece of metal after all.”
The Martial Sovereign said in a seemingly cold voice.
Dam Jeok-san bowed his head deeply once and shifted his gaze back inside the Forbidden Demon Forest.
Then, a scene that could literally be called a hell on earth unfolded.
Howling monsters,
Boiling demonic energy,
And an environment completely isolated from the outside by the formation.
Thinking of the hardships he had suffered in there.
And if he let himself be crushed by the pressure felt from that sight.
He wanted to reverse his will and back away even now.
But he could not do that.
‘I cannot be cowed by mere Forbidden Demon Forest. I have to go to the real Northern Demonic Realm sooner or later.’
Thinking so, Dam Jeok-san walked into the crack without hesitation.
GRRRRR―!
In that instant, a wolf-type monster nearly as huge as a bull rushed in, aiming for Dam Jeok-san's nape.
As if giving a welcome greeting.
It was like this when he entered the Forbidden Demon Forest last time too.
But unlike then, Dam Jeok-san did not panic.
Not only had he already noticed the bastard's approach through the Predator's Eye, but,
‘Truly, things no different from spiritual elixirs are walking around everywhere; it is practically a treasure house.’
Since that monster was a vicious beast, but at the same time, no different from a walking spiritual elixir.
“Come!”
Shouting boldly, he drew his sword.
CRUNCH!
The front paw swung by the huge wolf monster and Dam Jeok-san's sword clashed.
Just then.
‘Hmm……?’
A faint question appeared on Dam Jeok-san's face.
Because the wolf monster was terrified even before colliding with him.
‘There is something here.’
The moment he saw that, Dam Jeok-san's intuition began to ring alarm bells loudly.
However, the smile lingering on his lips became deeper.
Crisis is opportunity.
Because the presence of a powerful monster meant that what he could obtain through predation would also become greater.
* * *
Western forest of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
The place where Dam Jeok-san had left and only the Martial Sovereign remained alone.
As one tea-time passed before anyone knew it, the crack in the Heaven-Honoring Forbidden Demon Formation healed like a lie.
The scenery, which was like a hell on earth unfolded in the present world, was nowhere to be seen, and only the desolate forest remained.
Then, another voice was suddenly heard from the empty air.
“Castle Lord.”
However, there was not a speck of change in the Martial Sovereign's expression.
Because the one who spoke was his bodyguard, Mu-yeong.
“Recently, the movements inside the Forbidden Demon Forest have been unusual. Will the Third Young Master…… be alright?”
Mu-yeong asked in a very cautious voice.
In a way, it was a question that could be seen as presumptuous interference.
“This Seat does not know either.”
The Martial Sovereign said to Mu-yeong in a nonchalant voice.
“I do not know whether Jeok-san can come out alive or not. I only granted it because he asked.”
At those words, Mu-yeong's eyes shook faintly.
“Proving himself is that child's share.”
At the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle's words, Mu-yeong slowly nodded.
The Castle Lord was originally a heartless person.
He did not care for those who could not prove themselves.
And he did not lead those who could not advance.
However, Dam Jeok-san had merely crawled back up relentlessly even after falling once.
Therefore, he must have given him a chance to prove himself once again.
“Although the second one does not satisfy me either, considering the entire Central Plains Murim, he possesses quite excellent aptitude.”
The Martial Sovereign said, gulping down liquor straight from the gourd bottle.
The achievement of the Martial Sovereign's second disciple, Woo Seo-gwang, was outstanding.
Successors of the famous great sects.
To the extent that he would not lag much even when compared to the eldest disciples of the Nine Sects or the young family heads of the Great Clans.
Woo Seo-gwang had steadily trained himself within the family to digest the Martial Sovereign's teachings.
It was true that the process was stained with corruption, but Woo Seo-gwang's achievement itself was genuine.
Of course, achievement in martial arts was not necessarily equivalent to actual skill.
‘If they were to hold a life-and-death duel right now, Jeok-san would actually be at a disadvantage.’
Because the internal energy of Dam Jeok-san, who had just regained his dantian, was at a level where even the word meager was insufficient to explain it all.
He would probably see a path to survival only if he achieved remarkable progress in the Forbidden Demon Forest.
Dam Jeok-san must know that fact as well.
That was why Dam Jeok-san chose.
To fight with bone-carving determination instead of looking away and running away.
“If you chose, then prove it.”
If one could not prove it, there was no choice but to die.
Because that was the Jianghu.
“Apart from the children's quarrel, I must do what I have to do. Mu-yeong, convey the order to the Hidden Heaven Guard.”
The personal guard and hidden sword of the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle, which some compared to the Imperial Household's Brocade Clad Guard.
“Yes.”
Mu-yeong bowed his head, tensing up closely at the talk of moving them.
“Blockade the main house of the Iron Blood Woo Clan. As secretly as possible, so that even the Family Head does not notice.”
There was a very faint bitterness in the Martial Sovereign's eyes as he said that.
Because the Family Head of the Iron Blood Woo Clan, Heaven-Breaking One Sword Woo Gi-tae, was a super peak master and, at the same time, an old comrade-in-arms of the Martial Sovereign Man Su-geuk.
However, there was no reversal to an order once given.
All Mu-yeong had to do was move.
“I obey your command.”