Episode 260
A full day had passed since Jin Taedo descended from Bongam Peak on Phoenix Mountain and resumed the pursuit.
But as time dragged on, Jin Taedo’s impatience only grew.
Contrary to his expectation that they would catch up quickly, the distance to their target stubbornly refused to close.
What was worse, the group carrying the wounded was moving even faster than before.
This only created problems for Jin Taedo’s side.
“Come on, Jangmunin! Ugh!”
“You useless fools!”
Until now, Jin Taedo’s men had been forced onward by his relentless urging.
They clung to his boastful promises that they’d catch up soon.
But as time passed with no results, the exhausted men began dropping out one by one.
No amount of shouting or threats from Jin Taedo could bring them back.
Their bodies were completely drained; intimidation couldn’t restore their strength.
So now, Jin Taedo was forced to continue the chase with a dwindling number of men, leaving most behind.
And at this very moment, even the key subordinate responsible for the critical white horse, Unmyo Baekah, collapsed from exhaustion.
For Jin Taedo, it was a maddening and frustrating blow.
“Can’t you get up?!”
“I’m sorry, Jangmunin. I just can’t go on…”
Jin Taedo trembled with rage in front of the fallen man.
He wanted nothing more than to kill him on the spot.
Just then, sensing the gravity of the situation, the Six Harmonies Swordmaster, Ja Seongjin, quietly approached and called out.
“Jin Jangmunin.”
Jin Taedo snapped back sharply.
“Why are you calling me now?!”
He could no longer hide behind a friendly facade.
Seongjin clicked his tongue inwardly at the harsh reaction but carefully suggested, “If we leave him behind, the pursuit itself will fail. How about carrying him, like Inpa did with his companion?”
Jin Taedo hesitated for a moment.
“Hmm…”
For someone as authoritative as him, carrying a subordinate was unthinkable.
But now, he had no choice but to accept.
He asked Seongjin, “Can one of the Six Harmonies Swordmasters carry him?”
“…”
Seongjin cursed inwardly. Why should his own subordinate be carried by someone else?
Still, he smiled politely and accepted Jin Taedo’s request.
“Ha ha ha! Of course. It’s not impossible for you to carry him yourself, Jangmunin.”
“Hmm, then I’ll ask a favor, Seongjin.”
And so, Jin Taedo’s group resumed the pursuit once more.
Now, only Jin Taedo, the Six Harmonies Swordmaster Pacheonjo, and the subordinate responsible for Baekah remained—a small, lean team.
But Jin Taedo no longer complained.
With fewer men, their speed actually increased.
Especially once the swordmaster carried the Baekah handler, their pace quickened.
Now, they could finally unleash their supreme techniques as top-tier masters and close in on Sunwoo Jin’s group.
“Jangmunin! It looks like we’re closing the gap! Baekah’s reactions are becoming more active!”
“Is that so?”
Hearing this, Jin Taedo allowed a rare smile to cross his face.
They were currently in Fujian Province, about two days away from Sangpo Port—their presumed destination.
‘They’re probably planning to take a boat from Sangpo to the Demon Realm. We must catch them before they reach the port.’
Jin Taedo’s eyes gleamed sharply.
From here to Sangpo was a straight, open road.
No more surprises like Phoenix Mountain could occur.
‘As long as nothing like Phoenix Mountain happens again, there’s no way we’ll lose them. This time, we’ll finish it for good!’
He was one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars, accompanied by six supreme masters from the Hyungsan Sect.
If they could just catch up, everything would be over.
Jin Taedo stared down the long, straight road, recalling Sunwoo Jin’s face—the one he had lost track of so many times.
Meanwhile, Sunwoo Jin was asleep atop the black tiger, Sakwol.
He had told the others he was resting to regain strength, but in truth, he had another purpose.
He was entering the dream realm through the Dream Soul Technique to train.
“Haah!”
Shhhhhh!
Within the dream space, Sunwoo Jin swung his sword, releasing a blast of icy white energy forward.
Frozen vapor crystallized into white ice shards, fanning out like a giant fan.
“Hmph.”
Mukrang, standing before him, smiled faintly and stepped lightly out of the cold trail.
His movements were even more wind-like than Sunwoo Jin’s own Thousand Winds Technique.
Unfazed, Sunwoo Jin pressed on, launching another sword strike at Mukrang.
“Here I go again!”
Shing!
This time, five white wolves made of ice burst from Sunwoo Jin’s blade, howling as they charged at Mukrang.
Awoooo!
“Oh!”
Mukrang let out an impressed exclamation.
He swung his sword lightly.
Swish!
In an instant, Mukrang’s blade split into five, effortlessly dispelling the five ice wolves.
Crack!
But at that moment, Sunwoo Jin had already closed the distance to Mukrang.
Sweeping his sword, he shouted, “Heavenly Ice Wall!”
Shraaak!
A pure white ice barrier rose from beneath Mukrang’s feet.
Sunwoo Jin had turned the defensive move of the Seollang Sword Style into an offensive technique.
Mukrang quickly stepped back out of the area, calling out, “A clever attack!”
The sword techniques Sunwoo Jin was using now were the Seollang Sword Style moves once mastered by Mayugyeom: First move, North Wind Slash; third move, Seollang Sky Piercer; and fourth move, Heavenly Ice Wall.
He was skillfully wielding all three moves Mayugyeom had learned from the five-move Seollang Sword Style.
It was nothing short of remarkable.
But even after using all three moves, Sunwoo Jin’s eyes gleamed behind the ice wall, signaling he wasn’t finished yet.
Using his insight, he pinpointed Mukrang’s position and thrust his sword into the ice barrier in that direction.
Seollang Sword Style, fourth move: Absolute Ice Sword.
Shing!
His blade pierced the ice wall.
Then something incredible happened.
A transparent ice sword extended from the barrier, reaching straight toward Mukrang.
It was as if the sword had materialized out of thin air, not just released like a normal attack.
In an instant, the transparent blade pierced through Mukrang’s body, who had stepped back three paces.
Sunwoo Jin’s eyes flashed as he shouted, “Did it work?!”
But at that moment, Mukrang’s body blurred—it was just an afterimage.
With a step to the side, Mukrang evaded the attack and smiled lightly, flicking his finger against the ice sword’s surface.
Ting!
“No way.”
The ice sword shattered into pieces, and Sunwoo Jin’s attack failed once again.
Crack!
Sunwoo Jin watched the crumbling ice wall and broken ice sword with a look of regret, then said to Mukrang, “If only I could have followed up with the fifth move, the Ten Thousand Snowstorm, it might have worked on you, sir.”
Mukrang shook his head with a satisfied smile.
“You’re not ready for the Ten Thousand Snowstorm yet. If you could perform that, you’d already be able to wield the Mukrang Sword Style’s ultimate move, the Celestial Annihilation. And aren’t you being a bit greedy? You just learned the Seollang Sword Style, and now you’re lamenting not mastering the fourth move, Absolute Ice Sword, which even Mayugyeom hasn’t fully mastered.”
“Well, that’s true.”
After understanding this, Sunwoo Jin recalled how Mayugyeom had cried for a long time before passing the Seollang Sword Style to him.
Though still injured and with blocked pressure points, Mayugyeom had transmitted the secret hand signs through telepathic communication.
At first, Sunwoo Jin had tried to dissuade him, worried Mayugyeom might be preparing for death and wanted to pass on the style before then.
But Mayugyeom’s resolve was firm.
‘I have no intention of dying anymore. But I’m injured, and this is a crisis. It’s better to leave the master’s legacy behind, just in case.’
With that, Mayugyeom entrusted the Seollang Sword Style to Sunwoo Jin.
When Sunwoo Jin offered to teach him the Mukrang Sword Style in return, Mayugyeom refused.
‘The master’s legacy is too much for me. The Seollang Sword Style alone was already more than enough. I can’t take on another style. Besides… I plan to return to training the Jeomchang Sword. I don’t need any other sword styles.’
Watching Mayugyeom, Sunwoo Jin realized he had truly changed from the man he once was.
He decided to respect his wishes.
And so, Sunwoo Jin entered the Dream Soul Technique’s realm and began learning the Seollang Sword Style from Mukrang.
Though he had only learned the secret hand signs from Mayugyeom, Mukrang taught him the remaining moves and forms in full.
“I was the one who set the rule not to teach sword techniques like Mukrang Sword Style or Seollang Sword Style to other successors of the sword. But it wasn’t because I didn’t know them that I withheld the knowledge. Now, since the successor of the Seollang Sword Style has decided to teach you, there’s no need for me to pretend ignorance. Come, let’s start with the first form of the North Wind Sword Wave.”
And so it came to pass.
To everyone’s surprise, Sun Woo-jin mastered the Seollang Sword Style immediately after just one lesson from Mukrang.
It took him a little time to get used to the Seollang Heart Method, but the sword techniques themselves felt as natural as if he had known them all along.
Even Sun Woo-jin found this astonishing.
Mukrang suddenly gave a meaningful smile and asked him, “Do you know why you were able to pick up the Seollang Sword Style so easily?”
Sun Woo-jin studied Mukrang’s expression for a moment.
There was something deliberate behind that enigmatic look.
With a hint of suspicion, he asked, “You’re not expecting me to say it’s because you’re such a good teacher, are you?”
Mukrang chuckled softly and replied, “That’s such an obvious answer, it hardly needs saying.”
Sun Woo-jin frowned slightly and reflected on the situation from earlier.
“Well, if you ask why it was so easy… it just felt like there was no real difference. It’s just converting internal energy into a force and releasing it. In the end, swinging the sword is still swinging the sword…”
He trailed off, lost in thought.
Mukrang said nothing, just smiled warmly and waited patiently.
After a moment, Sun Woo-jin snapped out of his reverie and muttered absentmindedly, “In the end, it’s all the same. Whether it’s a strong sword or a swift sword, the difference is just in how hard or how fast you swing it. The fact that you’re swinging the sword doesn’t change at all.”
He sighed deeply.
“So, all swords are essentially the same.”
At last, Mukrang broke into a broad smile.
Sun Woo-jin’s realization had finally reached the principle of “All streams flow to the source.”
Sun Woo-jin called out urgently, “Sir!”
Mukrang nodded and said, “Hurry. If you miss this moment of enlightenment, who knows when the next chance will come.”
Sun Woo-jin was standing before the ultimate barrier.
If he could seize this insight now, he might finally step into the realm of the supreme.
“Thank you, sir!”
He shouted, then quickly broke free from the Monghon Great Method.
Following the trail of the moonlit path he had taken, he called out to his companions behind him.
“We need to stop here for a moment!”
His urgent shout made the others look at him with puzzled expressions.
Jin Tae-do and the Six Harmonies Sword Masters were racing across the pass like the wind.
Since there was only one path, they didn’t need Baek Ah’s guidance.
They only stopped occasionally to check their direction, then pressed on relentlessly, chasing after Sun Woo-jin and the others.
Then, one of Baek Ah’s subordinates shouted out.
“It’s just nearby, Chief! They passed through here not long ago!”
The news made Jin Tae-do’s eyes light up.
Feeling a surge of renewed energy, he shouted, “Good! Let’s pick up the pace, Jin-in!”
“Understood!”
Without even waiting for Baek Ah’s response, they pushed themselves harder.
There was only a day’s journey left to Sangpo—they could catch them before then.
After a short while, Jin Tae-do’s eyes widened as he shouted, “There!”
Ahead, two figures—a man and a woman—came into view.
The man in white was none other than the hated Inpa-rang. There was no doubt about it.