Episode 119
As Sun Woo-jin slipped through the crack in the stone wall, a sudden dizziness washed over him, as if the entire world had flipped upside down.
It felt like he had stepped into an entirely different realm.
Glancing around, he quickly realized it wasn’t just his imagination.
He muttered in disbelief, “What on earth is this…?”
Dang Yeo-eun, who had come in holding his hand, was just as stunned. She looked around blankly, her voice vacant as she asked, “What is going on here?”
All around them stretched a vast forest—an endless sea of trees.
That alone might have been explainable. Perhaps there was a wide clearing inside the cave.
But what truly defied all logic was the sky above their heads.
Though they had passed through the stone wall, they now stood in the middle of a forest beneath a gray, open sky.
Sun Woo-jin whispered, “This is impossible.”
If the stone gate they entered had been on the outer side of the circular passage, they might have thought they’d emerged on the opposite side of the cave, into a forest.
But the gate faced inward, toward the mountain’s core.
So there was no way they could have come out into an open forest with a visible sky.
At that moment, two more figures came running from behind.
“Ino-om!”
The first was Mak Woo-jeon.
Hearing his voice, Sun Woo-jin quickly pulled Dang Yeo-eun back, stepping away cautiously.
Mak Woo-jeon spotted them immediately and snarled fiercely, “Cheonghong Ssanggeom! Finally, I’ve caught you!”
Right behind him came Ga Yoo-ak, who called out, “Chief!”
Mak Woo-jeon turned to him with a grin, “Ah, Vice Chief! Perfect timing! We need to kill these bastards!”
Sun Woo-jin’s eyes clouded with confusion.
‘What the hell is going on?’
He couldn’t make sense of the situation.
These two had just moments ago been raging like beasts, consumed by madness…
Yet now, they seemed to have regained their senses.
‘Could it be that entering here breaks the madness?’
He considered it, but something still felt off.
He could still feel the energy inside himself, blocked by the barrier of the Great Yeonjeong Heart Technique, unable to penetrate.
In fact, the sensation was even stronger than before.
So there was no reason for the madness to have lifted just because they came here.
Besides, Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak’s eyes still glowed with a reddish tint—not as intense as before, but enough to show they hadn’t fully escaped the madness.
There was no time to dwell on it.
Both were radiating murderous intent, ready to pounce at any moment.
“Tch!”
Sun Woo-jin gathered his energy, checking his condition, then sent a mental message to Dang Yeo-eun.
We have to fight for now. We’ll look for an opening to escape.
Understood!
His injuries seemed to have healed somewhat.
And if their madness had truly lifted, their martial arts would have returned to normal, meaning they might actually stand a chance.
Suddenly, Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak charged.
“Try running away again! Haaah!”
“Die!”
Whoosh!
Sun Woo-jin’s sharp gaze swept over the two attackers as he quickly formulated a plan.
‘First, confuse them with Cheonpung Hwayeop, then follow up with Hwangeomgyeong and Gongjeuksisaek…!’
But before he could act—
Kraaaang!
With a loud crash, the two attackers were suddenly thrown backward.
They’d been struck by something that appeared out of nowhere.
“Ugh!”
“W-What was that?!”
As they staggered, Sun Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun turned to see the source of the attack, frozen in place, eyes wide with fear.
Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak, too, barely managed to regain their footing after being flung back.
But when they looked toward the newcomer with furious eyes, they too suddenly stiffened.
The man spoke.
“Who dares cause trouble in my domain?”
His low voice pierced their ears, carrying a power that seemed to shake their very souls.
Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak trembled involuntarily.
He was a middle-aged man with sharp eyes, dressed simply in gray martial robes, of average build.
Yet no one looking at him could see him as ordinary.
Sun Woo-jin swallowed hard.
Before them stood a mountain rising above the clouds—towering, its peak seemingly touching the sky, an overwhelming presence.
His aura rivaled that of Yeoryeong Seokma Son Eun-sang or Sa Hyehyeolma Jeon Mu-gwang, both of whom had seemed to stand above the clouds before.
In fact, the murderous energy radiating from him was even more chilling, like a blade cutting through the air.
He was like a demon king incarnate.
Struggling to withstand the oppressive aura, Sun Woo-jin asked with difficulty, “Sir… who are you?”
The man turned his gaze to Sun Woo-jin and answered, “I am Jeong Myeong-gang, the one who created this place.”
“!”
Jeong Myeong-gang?
What?!
The moment they realized who he was, the four felt as if they’d been struck by a powerful blow.
It was unbelievable.
Jeong Myeong-gang was the name of the legendary swordmaster of the Light Blade Sect, said to have died at least thirty or forty years ago.
And yet here he was, alive and well.
Of course, it could be a lie.
But the overwhelming presence he exuded told them otherwise.
It was absolutely true.
Mak Woo-jeon stammered, his face pale with fear.
“S-Senior… you’re still alive. We… we didn’t know and…”
Jeong Myeong-gang shook his head expressionlessly.
“No. I am already dead.”
“…What?”
It was a strange answer.
Here he was, standing alive before them, yet he claimed to be dead as if it were the most natural thing.
None of them knew how to process his words.
Sun Woo-jin cautiously asked again, “Senior, what did you say…?”
With the same matter-of-fact tone, he replied, “I am already dead. This place is a space somewhere between dream and reality, created before I died. That is why I can exist here.”
“Ahhh!”
Only then did Sun Woo-jin begin to understand the situation.
How they had come into a cave only to find a forest with an open sky, how a legendary swordsman thought dead decades ago had appeared alive—it all made sense now.
Mak Woo-jeon seemed somewhat relieved and carefully asked Jeong Myeong-gang, “So… you’re a being of the dream world? Not real?”
He seemed comforted by the idea that this demon king-like presence wasn’t truly real.
Sun Woo-jin felt the same.
Standing before Jeong Myeong-gang felt like teetering on the edge of a thousand-foot cliff, one wrong move away from falling.
It was as if a single flick of his finger could snuff out their lives like ants.
But that relief was short-lived.
Jeong Myeong-gang shook his head again at Mak Woo-jeon’s question.
“No, not a dream. More precisely, somewhere between dream and reality. That is why if I kill you here, you will die in the real world as well.”
“…What?”
The four froze.
His words sounded like a death sentence.
Then, the already immense murderous aura of the Light Blade Sect exploded like a storm.
Whoosh!
The sudden surge forced them to groan in pain.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
“Cough!”
They realized the aura they’d felt before was nothing compared to this.
As Jeong Myeong-gang truly unleashed his killing intent, the invisible energy took on form, lifting them into the air and tightening around their throats.
“Guhhh!”
Jeong Myeong-gang merely watched as they writhed helplessly like insects, suffocating midair.
They couldn’t move a finger despite having nothing to grab onto.
It was a crushing, unfamiliar helplessness.
Moments later, as their vision began to yellow from lack of air, the aura faded back into invisibility.
They collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Cough! Cough!
Hack! Hack!
They felt as if they’d been to the gates of death and back, gasping for breath.
Jeong Myeong-gang’s expression remained blank as he asked again, “Do you still think this is some kind of dream?”
Startled, Mak Woo-jeon shook his head frantically.
“No! Absolutely not!”
Jeong Myeong-gang nodded slowly.
“Good. Then let us begin properly. You have passed the first stage of my Wolha Hwangeommu, the Light Moon Phantom Sword Dance, known as Gwanghon-gwan. Now you have entered the second stage, Iingwan. Is there anyone here who has no interest in my martial arts and has come by mistake?”
The four exchanged cautious glances before shaking their heads carefully.
Of course, Mak Woo-jeon wanted to claim the Radiant Sword’s Yu-jin, and Seon Woo-jin couldn’t allow him to do so.
So neither side could afford to give up here.
Mak Woo-jeon was eager to emphasize that Seon Woo-jin was an intruder who had barged in without permission, while Seon Woo-jin wanted to point out that neither Mak Woo-jeon nor Ga Yoo-ak had truly passed through the Radiant Soul Gate.
Both had lost their sanity and gone mad.
But neither dared speak recklessly.
They couldn’t predict how the Radiant Sword would react—or when it might suddenly turn on them and kill them.
When both sides silently nodded, Jeong Myeong-gwang, the Radiant Sword, spoke again with his usual expressionless face.
“Very well. I will give both of you, who have passed the first gate, an equal chance. But remember—only two can pass the second gate. Only two of you will survive.”
Seon Woo-jin, Dang Yeo-eun, Mak Woo-jeon, and Ga Yoo-ak exchanged tense, sharp glances.
Out of the four, only two would survive—and only one side could come out on top.
No matter what the second gate held, they had to be the first to get through it.
Jeong Myeong-gwang spoke again.
“Now, I will send each of you to your respective second gates.”
With a sharp snap of his fingers, Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun suddenly realized the space around them had shifted.
They were no longer in the forest from moments ago, but standing atop a hill overlooking a rural village.
A cozy mountain village bathed in the warm glow of a crimson sunset.
Seon Woo-jin, Dang Yeo-eun, and Jeong Myeong-gwang stood quietly on the peaceful hill overlooking the village.
Dang Yeo-eun whispered softly, “Mak Woo-jeon and Ga Yoo-ak are gone.”
Seon Woo-jin nodded slightly. “Looks like they’ve been separated and are facing their own gates individually.”
Jeong Myeong-gwang gazed down at the village and finally spoke.
“This is the village where I once lived. It’s also the place where my greatest regret remains.”
As he spoke, a storm of murderous intent began to radiate from him, growing stronger and more intense.
Though it didn’t seem like he intended to harm them, the pressure was so overwhelming that standing upright became difficult.
“Ugh!”
“Huff!”
Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun gritted their teeth to keep from collapsing.
But Jeong Myeong-gwang paid no mind to their struggle and continued.
“When I lived here, I had two friends who trained in martial arts with me since childhood. They were like brothers to me, and I shared everything with them.”
Seon Woo-jin felt a strange sensation.
Even someone who looked like a demon lord had once had friends and a past like this—it was oddly touching.
Yet, as Jeong Myeong-gwang spoke, his murderous aura thickened, becoming almost tangible.
He went on.
“So when I happened to acquire the Moonlit Sword Dance technique, I wanted to share it with them.”
He had wanted to share the secret manual with his closest friends.
Seon Woo-jin somehow sensed what was coming next—and why Jeong Myeong-gwang’s aura was so fierce.
Jeong Myeong-gwang’s voice grew colder.
“But one of them wanted it all for himself. He ambushed me, trying to kill me.”
Just as expected.
Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun felt a deep sorrow.
“But he failed. He underestimated my skill—I had already mastered the Eclipse form of the Moonlit Sword Dance. I should have killed him then, but foolishly, I hesitated, my heart weak. He took advantage of that hesitation, attacked our other friend, and fled. I couldn’t chase him because I had to save my injured friend.”
Now the murderous aura became fully tangible, constricting their bodies like a vice.
They felt as if their entire bodies were being crushed.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Despite their groans, Jeong Myeong-gwang pressed on.
“That wasn’t all. When I barely managed to heal my friend and returned to the village, he had already destroyed it like this.”
At that moment, as his words ended, the peaceful village below suddenly erupted in flames.
Crackling and roaring!
The beautiful village, once like a painting, was now engulfed in a raging inferno, collapsing under the fire’s wrath.
Villagers trapped in the blaze cried out desperately for help from every corner.
As the two watched the tragic scene, Jeong Myeong-gwang’s voice continued.
“He did it to stop me from pursuing him. Out of fear of my chase alone, he destroyed the village where he had lived his whole life. And… he succeeded. Foolishly, I lost him because I was busy saving the villagers.”
Until now, though he radiated a demonic aura, his tone and expression had remained cold and emotionless.
But now, his face twisted like a vengeful spirit, his voice trembling with molten rage.
That fury and murderous intent pressed down on Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun, squeezing them until they cried out in unbearable pain.
“Ughhh!”
“Aaahhh!”
Yet Jeong Myeong-gwang’s voice remained fierce and unrelenting.
“Do you know what happened next?! His rumors drew countless martial artists here! In the end, even the villagers I saved were slaughtered! My parents, my wife, my children—all gone! I had to endure ten long years of patience and hatred to repay that blood debt!”
After a moment, as if the storm had passed, his murderous aura finally receded.
Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun gasped for breath, finally able to breathe again.
“Phew…”
“Hah, hah…”
Jeong Myeong-gwang’s face returned to its usual blank expression as he looked at them.
“This is the second gate. What will you do? Will you save the village, or will you hunt him down? Unravel the regrets of my lifetime.”
With that, Jeong Myeong-gwang vanished.
Left behind were Seon Woo-jin and Dang Yeo-eun—and the village below, now a scene of utter chaos and destruction.