Chapter 104. An Obvious Trap
“You can plant it in here.”
“Understood.”
There was something Cho Ryu Hyang immediately began to do when he arrived at Sichuan.
That something was to plant trees everywhere in the area.
Strangely enough, the trees that Cho Ryu Hyang had chosen were all different in size and shape.
No matter how busy he was, Cho Ryu Hyang always found some time to plant more trees.
At the time, not even Un Hui and No Jin Nyung knew what Cho Ryu Hyang was trying to do.
But they still silently helped their master, and their work was finally beginning to bear fruit.
Ju Ho Yu liked sweet things.
Even in front of the frightening Chuk Gye Gw.a.n.g, he was unable to restrain his sweet tooth; however, right now, he was unable to touch the sweets that were in front of him.
That was because he was in deep thought at the moment.
‘The formation has not been activated yet?’
The giant formation that was set up in the Sichuan branch of the church.
He didn’t know who made such a thing, but one thing was for sure: the man who made this formation was an ‘expert’.
But that wasn’t the only thing that made Ju Ho Yu so surprised.
‘This is amazing.’
The formation wasn’t even activated.
Even so, the energy that came from it was extremely unusual.
Ju Ho Yu was able to feel the energy that others were unable to feel in an instant.
After continuously rubbing his nose, Ju Ho Yu closed his eyes.
‘The smell is just too strong.’
This formation had an extremely strong smell.
A formation attained a unique smell based on its purpose.
A formation made to kill had a smell of blood about it and one that was made to capture people had an earthly smell about it.
But the formation here had a different smell from anything else.
‘What in the world is this?’
A formation he never knew existed.
Ju Ho Yu was stressed due to finding something he never saw before.
He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled.
He had remembered something that someone told him a long time ago.
‘Nothing is impossible in this world.’
The only man in the world who tried to create formations through calculations.
And the only man in the world who tried to look at the world mathematically.
‘Teacher Jo Gi Chun…….’
The man who worked harder than anyone else in the Imperial palace.
That man’s advice floated up in Ju Ho Yu’s mind multiple times, allowing him to become calm.
Jo Gi Chun, the man who no longer existed in the world, had managed to calm Ju Ho Yu quite a bit through his advice.
‘Nothing is impossible, huh……’
It seemed that he had been thinking that there wouldn’t be any formation experts who were better than he was.
Thinking that such a person might exist actually made him quite comfortable.
Ju Ho Yu stretched his hand out to the snack in front of him and calmed himself.
‘Keep calm.’
His chaotic eyes immediately became calm again.
He had to wait.
If he waited, the person would come.
The person who made the formation.
And a while later, the person appeared in front of him.
“You’re making it too obvious that you’re in love with him, senior brother.”
A small, dry whisper was pa.s.sed by between two people.
“Yeah? That’s good. I’m doing it on purpose. I think I’m in love. What should I do?”
The heir to the North Sea Ice Palace, Juk Hyul Myung, looked right and grinned.
The person who he was looking at was Gu Hui, the heir of the Nanman Beast Gate, who was currently riding on a black ox.
Juk Hyul Myung’s eyes burned with fighting spirit as he looked at Gu Hui.
“Trying to fight here…… Are you crazy? Are you actually trying to get beat up by our teacher?”
Juk Hyul Myung grinned for a bit, but after hearing Ju Da Hye’s words, his grin disappeared.
“Hey, junior sister, your words are getting a little rough nowadays? Aren’t you being too harsh here?”
“You’re forcing me to be like this.”
Juk Hyul Myung looked at Ju Da Hye with an annoyed face.
In the past, he would’ve teased the girl, but he couldn’t really do that now because of the mistake he made a while back.
‘And…….’
For some reason, the girl’s pride was going through the roof nowadays.
It was almost too hard to handle.
Juk Hyul Myung swore that he would take his revenge in the near future, but at that moment, his eyes met Ju Da Hye’s.
Then, the girl lifted her chin, making a ‘what do you want?’ face at him, making Juk Hyul Myung awkwardly smile and turn away.
“I swear, you’re going to try to hit me in the near future.”
“Tch, it’s not like you’re actually going to get hit though.”
“Well, that would depend on the situation.”
Ju Da Hye’s eyes sparkled when she heard this.
Her senior had never been hit by anyone since his birth.
Because his talent was so great, not even their master punished them.
This kind of a person just indirectly said that he would allow himself to be hit.
‘Is this a chance?’
Ju Da Hye began to look at the world more positively.
However.
“Puhehe, I’d be screwed the day I actually get hit by you. I’d actually have to give up my position as your senior brother?”
“…….”
“Anyway, I’d have to fight that lump of muscle on some other day. The Church thing comes first.”
“…….Right.”
Juk Hyul Myung completely ignored Ju Da Hye’s crestfallen face as he moved on his horse.
There weren’t many people who actually came from the North Sea Ice Palace and the Nanman Beast Gate.
The group was actually just under twenty people.
The people from the Alliance behind them, however, numbered more than two thousand.
‘We’re just straight up asking to fight, huh.’
Well, that was what they were going to end up doing, but he still didn’t like it.
Juk Hyul Myung disliked winning by numbers.
Just sending Gu Hui or him would’ve been enough to a.s.sa.s.sinate the heir of the Demon Church.
That might actually be easier actually.
But…….
‘Just what is teacher thinking…….’
He would never have attended a fight like this if it wasn’t for his teacher.
This was probably the same for Gu Hui as well.
The heir of the Church greatly let down Juk Hyul Myung’s expectations.
‘A child who just turned ten…….’
This made him feel quite disappointed.
He had been expecting a lot from the heir after all.
‘But…….’
The fact that the great Gongson Chun Gi sent a little child to Sichuan made him feel a little confused; however, it didn’t change how Juk Hyul Myung was going to cut off any weeds that might become dangerous in the future.
‘Two harmonious experts, was it?’
Having two harmonious experts as bodyguards showed how much importance Gongson Chun Gi put in his heir.
But that was all.
Unless Gongson Chun Gi himself came, there was no way Juk Hyul Myung was going to move back.
‘I hope those experts are there right now.’
As Juk Hyul Myung thought this, a single man from the Alliance complained to himself.
“How long do we have to follow them? This is getting annoying.”
“Be patient.”
“I’m not used to such a thing……. and why are they so arrogant?”
The representative of the Alliance, Qing Song Ja, sighed to himself inside.
‘Is there anyone in this world who’s as arrogant as you?’
The man who had been complaining.
Although this man was far younger than Qing Song Ja, it was hard to treat him normally.
‘The disciple of the Dao King.’
This man, Kang Sebin, was someone who the great Lim Jaehak took in as a disciple in his later years.
But Kang Sebin’s master wasn’t what made Qing Song Ja act to respectfully.
The fact that Kang Sebin reached the Harmonious stage in just twenty years, even when starting to learn at a late age, was what made Qing Song Ja act with great respect.
This man would surely lead the next generation of martial artists.
The man also happened to be a sworn rival of Yu Sul Bin.
The reason for this was simple.
‘Swordsmen are all just fancy weaklings.’
Due to the fact that Kang Sebin regularly uttered these words, he and Yu Sul Bin always got into a fight when meeting each other.
‘So why did I become the representative?’
Qing Song Ja was feeling extremely stressed for becoming the representative for the Alliance.
He was afraid of what would happen later.
What would happen after this battle?
‘The Alliance should have a plan for that…….’
He could only subdue his panicked heart by telling himself this.
Then, the person at the very front suddenly stopped.
“What is this?”
As Kang Sebin frowned and said this, Qing Song Ja sent out his disciple to the front.
When the disciple came back later, Chun Songja asked a question.
“What’s going on?”
“Well……. I think you’d have to see for yourself.”
Qing Song Ja frowned.
To him, representatives were people who couldn’t be moved that easily.
“Was that what they told you?”
“No, but they seemed to be quite concerned.”
“Concerned? About what?”
He knew the Church was quite strong.
But this group was composed solely of experts.
There would rarely be a case where this group could actually become pressured.
And the experts from the Nanman Beast Gate and the North Sea Ice Palace were extremely powerful as well.
So why were they hesitating?
Qing Song Ja’s disciple hesitated, then opened his mouth.
“The doors are open.”
“What?”
“The doors to the Church are wide open, as if they are inviting us in…….”
“Huh? As expected of the Church……. What pride……..”
“To this disciple, it looks like the others are hesitating to go in because of that door.”
Qing Song Ja’s eyes narrowed.
“Tch, how cowardly.”
They must be like this because they don’t have enough experience.
At times like this, experienced people like him should step up.
When Qing Song Ja walked up with a mindset like such, Kang Sebin silently followed behind him.
‘Why’s this guy coming along?’
Qing Song Ja was about to say something to the man, but decided not to.
It wasn’t like the man was going to listen to him, and he needed someone to pressure the other side as well.
And once Qing Song Ja walked to the front lines, he immediately approached Gu Hui and Juk Hyul Myung.
“Why are you hesitating?”
Juk Hyul Myung glanced at the man, then turned back to Gu Hui.
“He wouldn’t know even if we tell him, right?”
“Probably……”
“d.a.m.n it, how troublesome.”
Qing Song Ja frowned when he realized the two were talking about him.
But in this world, the strong ones had all the right to say whatever they wanted.
Due to this, he simply tried to stop himself from becoming angered.
At that moment, Kang Sebin, who was next to Qing Song Ja, opened his mouth.
“Are you guys hesitating because of that?”
Only then did Gu Hui and Juk Hyul Myung turn towards them.
“Hoh? I had thought that the Alliance only had idiots, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Don’t put me on the same level as them, please.”
“Well, whatever. What do you think about all of this? Should we go in? Our side should be fine, but your side would suffer from a lot of casualties.”
“I should be fine, but the others won’t be.”
The three people began to talk amongst each other.
Qing Song Ja, who had been completely ignored, turned red from anger.
“What in the world are you people talking about! Kang Sebin, please tell me what’s going on!”
Kang Sebin glanced at Qing Song Ja, sighed, then opened his mouth.
“There’s something dangerous in front of us.”
“Something dangerous?”
So what was it?
Gu Hui decided to answer this one.
“It’s a formation. A big one at that.”
“For……mation?”
What the h.e.l.l was this?
These people stopped the entire group, just because of a single formation?
“You were hesitating just because of a mere formation? Just attack. There’s no need to hesitate over such petty things.”
Gu Hui and Juk Hyul Myung smirked when they heard this.
“Yeah? We’ll attack if you want, then.”
Kang Sebin thought about stopping Qing Song Ja, but decided against it.
He didn’t want to waste his time either.
Juk Hyul Myung got off his horse with a grin and walked forward.
“Shall we go, then? I can’t wait to find out what kind of a monster is inside.”
He knew that there was danger inside.
It was extremely obvious.
But that’s what made things interesting.
Juk Hyul Myung’s grin widened.