Chapter 272
Sun Woo-jin and his group were rapidly heading north.
Their destination was Zhejiang Province.
This was the place where, over a hundred years ago, the three absolute masters known as the Martial God, Thunder God, and Sword God had appeared—figures still regarded as the greatest warriors of all time. Because of this, the area was now called Shinji.
For Sun Woo-jin, it was also the location where the true sword spirit of the Sword God was hidden.
Jung Chil, who was running while deploying his divine techniques, glanced back and grumbled in a sour tone.
“This isn’t some bandit gang. Ordinary folks would be terrified if they saw us.”
Sun Woo-jin and Seol Poong exchanged wry smiles.
This time, Jung Chil’s complaint wasn’t without merit.
Currently, the number of people Sun Woo-jin was leading was exactly twenty-four, plus two beasts.
At this point, it was no longer accurate to call them a small party.
It might be more precise to consider them a military unit—a powerful one, at that, with few rivals in the world.
Jung Chil grumbled again.
“What is this? It’s a hassle, dragging along all these zombies. I’m not some kind of drunkard leading a parade of the undead.”
Sun Woo-jin frowned slightly and warned him.
“Brother, calling them zombies is a bit much.”
Jung Chil snorted dismissively.
“Hmph! Too much? They probably don’t even understand what you’re saying…”
Just then, a sword guardian following behind interrupted.
“Please watch your words! How can you say that about people who are paralyzed by possession?”
The woman speaking was Un-yeong, a female member of the Six Harmonies Sword Guardians from the Pa San Sa Jo faction.
She had stepped in on her own accord, without Sun Woo-jin’s instruction, to protest Jung Chil’s words.
Other members of Pa San Sa Jo quickly joined in.
“Even if you’re the sworn brother of the Great Elder, that was excessive!”
“Exactly! Your words were too harsh!”
Faced with their protests, Jung Chil looked embarrassed and glanced at Sun Woo-jin.
Sun Woo-jin smiled proudly and said to him,
“What are you waiting for? Apologize.”
The Six Harmonies Sword Guardians of Pa San Sa Jo, whom Sun Woo-jin had been carefully tending to, had improved remarkably.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they could live normally even after Sun Woo-jin lifted the soul-binding spell.
Jung Chil avoided Sun Woo-jin’s gaze and muttered,
“No, I wasn’t talking about them… I meant the others over there. Fine! I get it! I apologize! I was wrong!”
Un-yeong spoke again.
“Please apologize to them as well. We were in that state not long ago. Even if they can’t speak, they remember. They’ll all remember eventually.”
“R-right?”
Jung Chil looked flustered and glanced at the others.
The people he looked at were older sword guardians, appearing middle-aged or older, unlike the warriors of Pa San Sa Jo.
They were actually the Six Harmonies Sword Guardians of Pa Cheon Sam Jo, once led by Ja Seong-jin.
After collaborating with Jin Tae-do to pursue Sun Woo-jin, they had stopped moving when Ja Seong-jin was killed by Ma Gyeong.
Sun Woo-jin had quickly extracted the control talisman from Ja Seong-jin’s corpse and consumed it, gaining control over Pa Cheon Sam Jo.
He then ordered them to maintain their sword formations and hold out inside the collapsing gorge as he escaped.
Of course, he wasn’t confident they would survive.
But unlike the injured Jin Tae-do, the Six Harmonies Sword Guardians were unharmed and managed to create a space between the rocks with their sword formations, successfully holding out.
It might have been possible only because they had lost their consciousness.
Later, the Saintess helped them escape the debris.
After being rescued, they fled to the mountains on Sun Woo-jin’s orders and returned to him once the Saintess had left for Yongga.
All of this was because Sun Woo-jin didn’t want to show the Saintess that he was controlling them.
Seol Poong, watching Jung Chil’s behavior, suddenly smiled and spoke to Sun Woo-jin.
“Looks like the big guy can’t argue with Un-yeong. Seems like his natural enemy has appeared.”
Sun Woo-jin smiled in return.
“Indeed. Thanks to her…”
He stopped himself before saying it would make things easier from now on, not wanting Jung Chil to overhear and cause a fuss.
He glanced briefly at the ten Six Harmonies Sword Guardians lined up behind Seol Poong.
Seol Poong had recently been staying in Changsha, Hunan Province, helping the Ban Hyunghoe faction, which included Yun Chwi-gak Son Dae-su.
After rescuing them from a crisis and resolving the situation, he had rejoined the group.
Not long ago, the Hyungsan Sect had attempted a ruthless plan to exterminate all martial arts sects in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, to drive out Ban Hyunghoe.
They knew Ban Hyunghoe mainly operated near Changsha but didn’t know exactly which sect they belonged to.
So, they sent three squads of Six Harmonies Sword Guardians from Pa San Jo to attack dozens of sects in Changsha one by one.
They had even wiped out several sects.
Seeing this, Ban Hyunghoe had no choice but to confront them directly.
Morally, they couldn’t just stand by, and since many of them were based in Changsha, further conflict would harm them as well.
But their strength wasn’t enough to withstand the Pa San Jo squads.
Each squad was composed of elite warriors who could overwhelm even top-tier masters.
They were quickly pushed into a crisis.
Ban Hyunghoe’s survival was at stake.
Jin So-eun, standing beside Sun Woo-jin, asked Seol Poong with a curious expression,
“How are Elder Son and Lee Rang doing? I suddenly miss them.”
Seol Poong smiled gently.
“They’re fine. They arrived after the whole incident was over, so they were never in danger.”
“Oh, that’s a relief. I didn’t mean just because they’re safe, but that it’s fortunate you saved Ban Hyunghoe.”
“It was just luck. If we had been a little later, the damage would have been worse. We arrived just as they were holding out.”
At that moment, Yeon Tae-jin, the Ha Won Dal-gi, who was standing close by, laughed and interjected.
“Why call it luck? It was possible because you ran so hard. I even thought you might be trying to shake me off by running so fast. Of course, that would never happen.”
She brushed her long hair back with her hand.
Despite her somewhat arrogant tone and expression, her beauty made it all seem charming.
Seol Poong cleared his throat and looked away toward the distance.
“Hmph, hmph.”
Yeon Tae-jin smiled, her eyes crescent-shaped.
“Oh? Embarrassed again? You’re so cute, Poong.”
Her blunt words made Sun Woo-jin and Jin So-eun look away as well.
Perhaps because she was a woman in her mid-thirties with experience, or due to the free-spirited nature of the Sapa faction, Sun Woo-jin’s group found it hard to get used to Yeon Tae-jin’s frankness.
To save Seol Poong from embarrassment, Sun Woo-jin changed the subject.
“Brother, how are they doing these days?”
He was referring to the ten Pa San Jo members lined up behind Seol Poong.
Seol Poong answered eagerly.
“Thanks to the method you taught, they’ve improved a lot. My soul-binding technique has also advanced. Soon, they might even be able to speak.”
“That’s wonderful.”
The soul-binding technique Sun Woo-jin had taught was, of course, the one Muk Rang had taught him—an old method from the Mo San Sect.
Jin So-eun spoke cautiously.
“But they really stand out too much. They don’t look like ordinary people yet, and with Sakwol and Baek Ah there, it’s even more noticeable.”
At the mention of her name, the black tiger Sakwol approached Jin So-eun and rubbed its face against her body.
Now that their group had grown, Sakwol, who moved freely with them, had become closest to Jin So-eun.
But she wasn’t the only one.
Unmyo Baek Ah, a fluffy cat originally belonging to Jin Tae-do’s subordinates, had barely survived by hiding in a crevice when the cliff collapsed.
If the Saintess Si Seo-woo hadn’t cleared the debris, Baek Ah would have surely died.
Jin So-eun had treated the injured Baek Ah back then.
Since then, Baek Ah had stuck closely to her, refusing to follow the other Ha Nam Pa members she had known.
Even now, Baek Ah was lazily perched on Jin So-eun’s shoulder, yawning.
Jin So-eun’s kind and gentle nature seemed to resonate with animals.
When Sakwol and Baek Ah were rubbing against her, Yeon Tae-jin scoffed at Jin So-eun’s concern about standing out.
“Hmph! Just accept it. As long as I’m here, standing out is inevitable. Even without them or Sakwol, people’s eyes would still be on me.”
She meant that her beauty made her impossible to ignore.
She said it with an air of confidence, as if it were only natural.
The group sighed at her excessive pride but couldn’t deny the truth in her words.
Indeed, more people had stared at her than at the Six Harmonies Sword Guardians as they passed by.
Of course, it wasn’t just her beauty—it was also the way her loose clothing subtly revealed her shoulders and legs that drew attention.
Sun Woo-jin let out a small sigh and said, “Still, it would be better if we could keep a low profile. Once we enter Zhejiang Province, it might be best if only the Liuhe Sword Guards move separately. We might run into the Sword Master, and if he sees the guards together with those affected by the Seop Hon Technique, it could cause unnecessary misunderstandings.”
Everyone nodded in agreement at his words.
Indeed, bringing along those under the Seop Hon Technique wouldn’t look good.
Especially in Zhejiang Province, the sacred ground of the orthodox sect known as Shinji, it would be even more problematic.
“Zhejiang Province…”
Suddenly, Mukrang’s voice echoed in Sun Woo-jin’s mind.
‘It’s nothing special. But are you sure you don’t want to visit your family home?’
The birthplaces of the Sword God and Thunder God were in Onju, located in the southeast of Zhejiang Province.
Even now, countless martial artists revered it as a sacred place and guarded it as a holy ground of the martial world.
Sun Woo-jin had originally planned to make a pilgrimage there while in Zhejiang.
But Mukrang had refused that plan.
He said the journey would be too long and that it might disturb his inner peace.
Sun Woo-jin decided to respect his wishes.
He simply couldn’t imagine how it would feel for someone like Mukrang—who had outlived all his acquaintances by a century and was left with nothing but willpower—to return home.
So, giving in half-heartedly might only cause him more pain.
As Sun Woo-jin was lost in these thoughts, Mukrang suddenly spoke again.
It seemed he wanted to change the subject.
Sun Woo-jin simply went along with it.
‘I didn’t think much of it. I believed that, as things stand, I’m qualified to succeed the elder. Besides, I was confident I wouldn’t be outdone by him. If anything, I thought I was the better candidate.’
Mukrang burst out laughing.
Sun Woo-jin smiled softly at Mukrang’s words.
When leaving Fujian Province, Sun Woo-jin had proposed to Mayu-gyeom that they journey together to Zhejiang Province to challenge the Sword God’s True Spirit Trial.
But Mayu-gyeom had refused outright without hesitation.
‘I’m not fit to inherit the elder’s True Spirit Trial. I know that better than anyone. I plan to return to basics and hone the martial arts of the Jeomchang Sect. Reviving the Jeomchang Sect, which my grandfather, maternal grandfather, and father ruined, into a proper orthodox sect—that’s my way of atonement and the mission I’ve been given. And…’
He had said this while gazing wistfully at the western sky—the direction of the front lines.
Sun Woo-jin had clasped his hand firmly and bid him farewell.
They didn’t know when they would meet again, but it probably wouldn’t be long.
Mayu-gyeom had promised to join the fight when the time came to battle the Blood Sect.
As Sun Woo-jin recalled those moments, Jin So-eun suddenly spoke to him.
“Master Sun Woo, look over there. That must be Gyeongwon.”
In the distance, the city walls came into view.
It was likely Gyeongwon, the city at the southern edge of Zhejiang Province.
At last, they had arrived in Zhejiang Province—the place where the Sword God’s True Spirit Trial was hidden.