The Darkest Place is Under the Lamp

The moment he heard the word “plum blossom,” Yuseong unconsciously muttered.

“Mount Hua Sect?”

“Ma-master!”

“Kugh! Plum Blossom Swordsmen, form the Plum Blossom Formation!”

They must have been hiding somewhere.

An elderly man wearing a blue robe appeared out of nowhere and let out a grief-stricken cry, and when he ordered to form the Plum Blossom Formation, robust men wearing blue robes appeared from somewhere and surrounded the area.

Yuseong quickly scanned the surroundings and undid his stance.

Just from what he could see, there were over thirty Plum Blossom Swordsmen, and their swords were all imbued with sword energy.

He was confident he could win in a fight.

But what came after was the problem.

This was the middle of a battlefield.

Even if he took down dozens of enemies, hundreds or thousands would still remain, and if they kept charging at him, he likely wouldn’t survive even using all his items.

‘If I show overwhelming martial prowess, would they let me go out of fear? No, that’s too optimistic. A master might become interested and approach.’

First, he needed to find the safest way to escape from here.

And Yuseong already knew that method.

Yuseong stretched his hand toward empty space and rummaged around as if searching for something before grasping something like he had caught it.

“If you’re going to put me in subspace, you should say so first…”

“A woman appeared from thin air!”

“C-could it be stealth arts?”

“How could stealth arts work in broad daylight, and in a place with nowhere to hide?”

A foreign girl in exotic clothes suddenly appearing in midair.

Everyone on the battlefield, regardless of their martial prowess, couldn’t help but fall into confusion, and Yuseong used that opening to approach Alice.

“Mr. Yuseong? What’s going on here?”

“I just started so I don’t know either. But escaping from here comes first.”

Yuseong reached out to grab Alice’s arm and pointed to the sky with his other hand.

Alice was innocent but not stupid.

Understanding Yuseong’s command, Alice bent her knees slightly and jumped.

“What fools! Just what do you think you can achieve by jumping here…”

The faces of those mocking Yuseong and Alice instantly turned to shock.

It’s a natural law that what goes up must come down.

However, the two didn’t fall but floated in the air like the sun or clouds.

“…Void Walking?”

“Impossible! That’s not Void Walking but black magic!”

A technique that even supreme masters could barely perform was being used by a pair, or more precisely, by a foreign girl who wasn’t even twenty.

Looking down while clinging to Alice, Yuseong muttered in a low voice.

“Can you attack from range?”

“What? Yes. But why are you suddenly asking?”

“Because we need to use it. See those people wearing blue clothes? If we just leave like this, they’ll definitely keep following and causing trouble. Let’s eliminate all aftereffects and send a warning to others by not leaving a single one…”

Yuseong trailed off while calmly giving orders, unsure how Alice would react to an order to kill people.

However, Alice spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“So I just need to eliminate the people wearing blue clothes?”

“Y-yes. But are you okay with that?”

“With what?”

“Killing. Isn’t this too much?”

“What’s wrong with killing people?”

Yuseong was momentarily lost for words at Alice’s nonchalant response.

Due to her usual innocent appearance and image as a poor experimental subject created by a witch, it was easy to overlook, but Alice wasn’t just an innocent child who knew nothing.

Alice shared the childhood memories of the original, and back then, the original Alice had to fight fiercely to escape from enemies targeting Eye of Truth.

For Alice, killing enemies who weren’t even innocent people was nothing significant.

Alice, who had somehow produced a massive rifle that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie, pointed the muzzle downward and said.

“Should I shoot?”

“…Shoot.”

Alice pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The witch’s divine punishment rained down on the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.

* * *

“Waiter! Three bottles of flower wine here!”

“How many mouths do you think you have to order just three bottles? Bring six bottles of flower wine here!”

“Bring five of your best dishes here.”

“Your order is ready! Please enjoy your meal!”

“To think I’d meet the Righteous Sword who took down the sect leader of Red Sand Sect in a place like this. Since it’s fate, how about a drink together?”

Hwayangru, one of the top three inns in Honam, was so crowded there was barely room to move.

At first glance it looked like just a slightly noisy ordinary inn, but anyone with good eyes would notice that all the guests were martial artists carrying weapons, and despite their outward laughter and chatter, they were ready to draw weapons at any moment.

It was an absurd situation where people were accumulating fatigue in an inn where they should be relieving it, but it couldn’t be helped.

Currently, Honam was like a powder keg that could explode at any moment, packed with martial artists who had gathered from all over the central plains targeting the secret treasure map.

No matter how tired and fatigued they were, they couldn’t let their guard down thinking about possible situations.

“Hey, did you hear that rumor?”

“How would I know which rumor you mean when you say it like that?”

“You should know what I mean. The one that happened in Hyungju.”

“Ah, that one!”

Several people in the inn turned their attention to the young men having the conversation.

“I heard bits and pieces. I heard there was a large-scale battle involving the righteous path, demonic path, and even wandering warriors, but is that true?”

“Of course it’s true.”

“Hmm.”

“Why are you making that expression?”

“No matter how I think about it, I just can’t believe it.”

“Because of Mountain Lifter and White Light Heavenly Lady?”

“You know well. Killing the Plum Blossom Sword Lord in one strike and beating down a hundred members of Mount Hua Sect’s pursuit squad with brute force? Fine, let’s say that’s possible if we make a hundred concessions. If this Mountain Lifter guy is a supreme master of external martial arts and the stories got exaggerated as they spread, I could understand. But White Light Heavenly Lady is just impossible.”

The young man’s face showed an expression of disbelief as he filled his empty cup with flower wine and drank it in one go.

“Using Void Walking to fly around in the sky all day, and firing hundreds of energy beams so fast that even peak masters couldn’t dodge? Tch, if you’re going to lie, at least make it somewhat believable. Making up stories that even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe…”

“I saw it myself.”

“…What did you just say?”

“I said I saw it myself.”

The chatter in the inn instantly died down.

Everyone in the inn was listening to the conversation between the two young men.

Just as the young men were about to stand up sensing the unusual atmosphere, an old man nearby spoke up.

“Young friend there. Could you finish the story you were about to tell before leaving?”

“It-it’s nothing special, you’ll just be disappointed if you hear it.”

“I’ll give you a bottle of hundred flower wine for the story.”

Hundred flower wine.

A famous wine made from a hundred different flower petals that couldn’t be compared to cheap flower wine.

The young man, who had been smacking his lips, made up his mind seeing the old man shaking the wine bottle.

“I didn’t see the battle that happened in Hyungju, but I did see Mountain Lifter and White Light Heavenly Lady fighting the pursuit squad sent by the Mount Hua Sect from afar.”

“Did White Light Heavenly Lady really use Void Walking all day?”

“I don’t know if it was Void Walking, but she definitely floated in the sky all day. She held something like a long stick in the sky and shot beams of light… Whew, if you saw it yourself, you’d immediately understand why she got the title White Light Heavenly Lady.”

The young man shuddered as if remembering something horrifying.

Could divine punishment from heaven be like that?

When white light flashed in the sky, someone would surely die.

The shock he received seeing that was immense.

If it hadn’t been for the Heavenly Demon’s secret treasure map, he would have broken his sword and returned home immediately.

“What about Mountain Lifter?”

“I didn’t see him fighting, but I saw the corpses he left behind, and it’s certain he has tremendous strength worthy of the title Mountain Lifter. The corpses were caved in all over as if beaten repeatedly with a blunt weapon, and dozens of Song family swords were shattered into pieces.”

“Shattered? You mean he broke the swords?”

“No. I mean literally shattered them.”

A member of Mount Hua Sect’s pursuit squad would at least be a first-class master.

Breaking – no, shattering famous swords wielded by first-class masters who could generate sword energy?

It was something difficult to understand with common sense.

“That’s all I saw.”

“Thanks for the story. Here, take this.”

The young man caught the wine bottle thrown by the old man and left the inn with a bright smile.

The old man stroked his beard while watching his retreating figure.

The quiet inn soon became noisy again.

The topic of conversation was naturally Mountain Lifter and White Light Heavenly Lady.

“Do you think that young man’s story is true?”

“No way. Since there are quite a few people who claim to have seen Mountain Lifter and White Light Heavenly Lady, it can’t be completely false, but the stories must have been exaggerated. Like mistaking a martial art that can stay in the air for a long time, like Kunlun’s Cloud Dragon Eight Forms, for flying in the sky.”

“Right?”

“It’s black magic, black magic! How could a human float in the sky all day?”

“I’m more concerned about Mountain Lifter than White Light Heavenly Lady. Just what kind of external martial arts did he learn to display such monstrous strength?”

While people were absorbed in conversation, a pair entered the inn.

A young man wearing a black robe and a girl wearing a veil so dark her face couldn’t be seen.

Quite an unusual combination.

However, in current Honam, there were plenty of more eye-catching people like martial artists from the Northern Ice Palace with snow-white hair, or martial artists from the Southern Barbarians accompanied by beasts.

People soon focused back on their conversations.

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“I’m fine with anything. Please order what you want, Mr. Yuseong.”

“Really? Well, since we’re in the martial arts world… Waiter! Two bowls of noodles, one roasted duck, and one bamboo leaf liquor!”

“Yes, yes. Coming right up!”

Yuseong scanned the surroundings while drinking tea.

Though some people showed interest, it was merely curiosity, with no signs of suspicion.

Yuseong nodded faintly and took out a ring from his chest.

It was one of the items obtained from a quest cleared before starting the [In Search of Treasure] quest, a ring with the effect of blocking sound within a certain area.

“You can speak now.”

“Shouldn’t we leave even now? If our identities are revealed here, there will be a huge commotion…”

“There’s a saying that the darkest place is under the lamp for a reason. It’s actually harder to find someone in a bustling area than hiding in mountains or forests.”