Chapter 500

It was still dark when Jang Taebo followed us out, looking as though he’d been led to his execution. The moment he saw the Water God Dragon’s remains, his expression changed.

“Ohhh… Ohhhhh…!”

Talk about a change of attitude.

Trembling like a kindergartener who needed to pee, Jang Taebo threw himself between the mountains of bones and scales.

“Oh, the strength! The color!”

His eyes had gone hazy, and his voice shook. He ran his hands over the scales and stroked the bones, unable to contain his excitement.

“I’d be happy to be buried here and die! No, I want to die here!”

“Get the Old Master out of there! The pile’s about to collapse!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The Jin Dragon Squad martial artists had been staring blankly at the remains of a gigantic creature unlike anything they had ever seen. Now they rushed forward and dragged Jang Taebo out.

Only then did the old Master Artisan come to his senses. He looked at me with moist eyes.

“So everything you told me was true.”

“It sounds insane, but every word of it was true.”

“I thought I’d had my fill of working meteorite iron fallen from the sky and Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron…”

Jang Taebo wiped at his eyes. He sniffed, tried to compose himself, then seized my shoulder.

“Thank you. Now I can die without regrets.”

I gave him a warm look.

“Don’t say that. Stay healthy and live a long life. Have something nourishing simmered for yourself, too.”

“You little…”

“You still have plenty of Stamina and life left to grind into the forge. Where are you trying to run off to—the afterlife?”

“You little…!”

Same words. Different feeling.

A high-quality slave this hard to acquire deserved to be put to work. Toss him a reward now and then, crack the whip when needed.

Of course, I wasn’t the one holding the whip.

“Well, would you look at that. Even the second time, it’s astonishing. And there’s so much of it.”

“Speak of the whip holder.”

“Hm? What was that, my youngest?”

“Nothing, eldest brother.”

Jin Wikyung tilted his head, then laughed and patted Jang Taebo on the back.

“What do you think, Hall Master Jang? Quite a sight, isn’t it?”

“Hall Master… Jang?”

“Of course. You’re the Master of our family’s Ironcraft Hall now. That makes you Hall Master Jang. Come, let’s hear your opinion.”

The reality Jang Taebo had briefly forgotten began to sink in. His face darkened.

“There’s no question it’s extraordinary. Even at the Ironcraft Guild, with the finest artisans and materials under Heaven gathered in one place, I never saw anything like this.”

“So, can you work with it?”

“I can’t promise anything until I try. But…”

Jang Taebo studied the mountain of remains before continuing.

“The bones are far stronger than meteorite iron, though not quite as strong as Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. They should be workable.”

“And the hide and scales?”

“I made enough armor in my younger days to get sick of it. None of it was made from an imugi¹, of course… but I’ll try.”

“Oh!”

“With this much material, there will be enough to arm every martial artist in the Jin Family of Taiyuan—or rather, in our family—and still have some left over. I should be able to show results soon, so I trust you’ll forgive the first few failures.”

“Of course.”

Among artisans, Jang Taebo held a place equal to—or perhaps higher than—the Three Saints did among martial artists.

Jin Wikyung’s face lit up at the high-quality slave’s calm, well-founded confidence.

“I’ve heard that only the finest Master Artisan of his generation can lead the Ironcraft Guild. I’m counting on you, Hall Master Jang. Whatever you need, just say the word.”

“Then assign me some artisans I can rely on, Lesser Family Head.”

“Artisans?”

“I know our family has artisans of its own. If I train them, they may not become the beams that hold up the family, but they could make sturdy pillars. However…”

“That would take time. Am I right?”

“Yes. I have eyes and ears, and I’ve heard what’s been happening across the world. The artisans I still keep in touch with tell me orders for weapons and armor have risen sharply.”

The war had already begun.

From the small and mid-sized sects scattered throughout Murim to the Nine Sects and One Gang,² everyone wanted weapons and armor to prepare for the war that had drawn so close. The fires of the forges would not go out until the war ended.

In the current state of Murim, it was not only the flames of war that had begun to blaze fiercely.

“Time is short, Lesser Family Head.”

Jin Wikyung looked up at the sky in silence. Then he spoke.

“Hall Master Jang, how long have you been at this?”

“I started when I was shorter than your sword, Lesser Family Head. I’ve devoted my life to it.”

“Then after all those years in the trade, you must have made many friends.”

“Of course. Every one of them is a renowned artisan in their field.”

“Send messenger pigeons to everyone who comes to mind. I don’t care if it costs a fortune.”

“Everyone has something they value more than money. To an artisan like me, the body of an imugi¹ is worth more than any fortune.”

Jang Taebo stepped back and gave Jin Wikyung a respectful martial salute.

“Jang Taebo, Master of Ironcraft Hall of the great Jin Family of Taiyuan, obeys the Lesser Family Head’s command.”

By then, the darkness had retreated and the sun was rising on a new day. The light spreading from the east looked like the glow of a forge, and the quick footsteps of the Jin Dragon Squad martial artists carrying away the Water God Dragon’s remains beat like hammers.

While fifty Jin Dragon Squad martial artists transported the Water God Dragon’s remains under Wipeng and Jang Taebo’s meticulous direction, Jin Wikyung and I returned to where we were supposed to be. There we found Zhuge Feng beside himself with excitement.

“I did it! I’m telling you, I did it!”

He bounced around like a child, without a trace of the dignity expected of a clan’s Family Head.

But once I saw what he’d done, I couldn’t help nodding.

He blocked the magical power completely.

Unlike before, not even a trace of magical power escaped the enormous rift—or rather, the Gate.

The dogs, pigs, fish, and other animals apparently left there for testing showed an interest in it a few times, then went back to what they’d been doing.

“You really did it, Sir Zhuge,” Jin Wikyung said.

A broad smile spread across Zhuge Feng’s exhausted face.

“Of course I did. Even my ancestor Zhuge Wuhou³ couldn’t have managed this. Come to think of it, he knew a thing or two about mechanisms and formations himself, but Wei still kicked his ass in the end…”

“F-Family Head!”

“What? It’s true! If he really cared about the people and was such a great strategist, he should’ve thrown a resignation letter in that incompetent emperor’s face instead of a campaign memorial, then taken the throne for himself…”

“Family Head, have you lost your mind?”

“No, Uncle. Am I wrong?”

The Zhuge Clan was a mess.

Having smeared shit all over his ancestor’s reputation, the current Family Head shook off his relatives and continued proudly.

“Well? What do you think of the Demon-Sealing Formation now that you’ve seen it?”

“The Demon-Sealing Formation?”

Zhuge Feng nodded, pleased with himself.

“I named it. A formation that seals a demon’s power. Fitting, isn’t it?”

The Demon-Sealing Formation. Considering where that power came from, I couldn’t think of a better name.

Not that the name mattered if the formation worked.

As I carefully examined the Demon-Sealing Formation, Jin Wikyung whispered to me.

“What do you think?”

“Of what?”

“……?”

“I’m just looking at it. How would I know?”

Murim formations were much like modern magic circles. I’d encountered Magic plenty of times as a Hunter and still knew next to nothing about it. There was no way I could judge a formation at a glance.

I could at least sense the qi flowing through it.

Looks like it’s drawing in qi from the natural world to block the magical power… The principle is similar to a magic circle.

Compared with modern magic circles, though, the formations I’d seen and heard about in Murim were much more limited in variety and power. Murim’s emphasis on martial arts themselves probably had a lot to do with that.

They did this faster and better than I expected.

The natural qi flowing through the formation was enough to block the magical power leaking from the Gate completely. For now, it was the best solution we had.

After looking it over carefully, I turned to Zhuge Feng.

“How long will the Demon-Sealing Formation last?”

“Do you think the Yangtze will ever run dry?”

“Ah.”

“It will keep drawing in the qi around it and continue operating. Assuming my theory is correct.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“My theory? You might as well call Zhuge Wuhou a halfwit.”

Clang!

“You bastard, Zhuge Feng!”

“Great-Uncle, no! Put your sword down!”

“Someone shut the Family Head’s mouth!”

The atmosphere had suddenly turned murderous.

Before blood could be spilled among the relatives, I hurried to speak to Zhuge Feng, who was using a grappling technique against the family members rushing him.

“Can you keep installing these?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“What do you mean?”

For the benefit of the Zhuge Clan members who had stopped in their tracks, I said it again, slowly and clearly.

“Keep installing them. Dozens of times. Hundreds, if necessary.”

“……!”

“……!”

The air around us instantly turned cold.

Zhuge Feng, who had been held by the collar by an old man, straightened his clothes. When he looked at me again, his eyes were steady and his voice had gone quiet.

“Now I’m curious what the Divine Dragon has in mind.”

I clicked my tongue bitterly.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? You already know, Sir Zhuge.”

“I do. If it happened once, it could happen ten times. A hundred.”

“Then we’re thinking the same thing.”

“I wasn’t as certain as you. I was only considering every possibility.”

Something unreadable flashed in Zhuge Feng’s eyes.

“Why are you so certain that things like this will continue happening? What grounds do you have for speaking with such confidence?”

Plenty. I just couldn’t tell him.

The Zhuge Clan might have celebrated when Zhuge Feng was born, but when I was born, all of humanity celebrated. The Demon King Asmodeus had fallen, and the long Great Cataclysm had ended.

There was no explaining the difference.

An entire lifetime—my lifetime—had passed since then. Yet Gates still existed in the modern world, and new ones kept appearing.

Once a dam starts to crack, no matter how sturdy it is, there’s no telling how far the damage will spread.

That was Murim now.

I can’t exactly tell them all of this.

In the end, there was only one answer I could give.

“I saw it and felt it in the memories the Water God Dragon passed on to me. Dark Heaven intended this from the start. They planned it and carried it out. And they’ll keep doing it.”

“You’re a better liar than I expected.”

“You’re more suspicious than I expected.”

“I can’t believe you. No—that’s not quite true. I don’t want to.”

“Zhuge Wuhou must have felt the same way. And yet he still served that stupid emperor until the very end. Even if it fucking sucks, you have to accept it.”

“Even if it fucking sucks, you have to accept it…”

Zhuge Feng gave a short laugh and turned to Jin Wikyung.

“What do you think, Lesser Family Head?”

“I agree with my younger brother,” Jin Wikyung said calmly.

“I do wonder what the others will think.”

“Then why don’t we ask them?”

“What does that mean…?”

Zhuge Feng studied Jin Wikyung. Then he murmured, “Henan.”

“Yes.”

Jin Wikyung looked into the distance.

“The New Murim Alliance.”