Chapter 676

The fire I’d started with Flame Divine Palm spread from the entrance to Ailao Mountain in the blink of an eye.

Fwoosh. Roooar!

If the Scorching Hell described in Buddhism existed, I imagined it would look something like this.

Ash drifted endlessly through the air, mixing with acrid smoke. A fire demon rolled like a wave, devouring everything in its path.

Crack. Rumble!

The earth shook as massive trees toppled one after another, and mountain birds took flight all at once.

It was the sort of sight that would have made Jeok Cheongang, honorary chairman of the Forest Protection Association, roll his eyes back in horror. Fortunately, there were no beasts in sight, so it looked like the Animal Protection Association wouldn’t be getting involved too.

Wild animals must be quick on the uptake. Have they all run away already?

Not that it mattered now.

I didn’t want to take the home and lives of some poor family of muntjacs, but stopping Dark Heaven’s scheme and saving everyone else’s lives mattered more.

If that sense of dread is right…

I had no time to hesitate.

Running at full speed, I spotted a wall of flame blocking the path a little over thirty yards ahead and reached into the air.

Open Inventory. Summon.

Not taking White Flame out when I surrendered at the Western Yao Estate had been the right choice. If they’d confiscated it, I wouldn’t have had it when I needed it most.

Shing.

Cool metal filled my hand. Flames flickering all around me reflected off the spearhead, so white it looked almost transparent.

Now.

With the entire area already turning into a sea of fire, I didn’t do something stupid like send out Scorching Yang Qi.

What I needed was power and speed—and a single clean, perfect motion.

Whoosh!

The spearhead slashed diagonally down. A violent gust burst from its tip with a short whistle and tore the flames apart.

Fwoosh! Boom!

The explosion opened a path.

I flattened myself against Muyaho’s white fur and whispered into the ear of the tiger that had hesitated before the flames.

“Let’s go.”

• Grrr.

The White Tiger answered with a low growl and shot forward like a beam of light.

The flames rolled after us like waves, close on our heels, but even amid the chaos, Muyaho knew exactly where it was going.

Papat!

The scenery flashed past. Clouds hid the moon high overhead. As we raced on with the fire at our backs, something about the path struck me as familiar.

“Don’t tell me…”

A thought flashed through my mind, and I fell silent.

No. Maybe there was no don’t tell me about it. This path and the scenery around it should have been unfamiliar. If I recognized them, it could mean only one thing.

The Poisonblood Grounds.

After the Five Poisons Sect, which had once terrorized all of Nanman, was destroyed, Ailao Mountain became known as one of Nanman’s forbidden lands.

And the Poisonblood Grounds lay in its deepest, most secluded reaches.

If my guess was right, that was exactly where we were headed. To what might be the most dangerous place in Nanman.

But there should be plenty of troops guarding it by now.

The Nanman Beast Palace wasn’t some backwater sect full of riffraff.

When five Thousand-Year Spiders—venomous beasts so rare they were almost unheard of—appeared, and the Poisonblood Grounds emerged after going undiscovered for so long, the Palace had sent a sizable force to root out any surviving remnants of the Five Poisons Sect and whatever dangers remained.

Even if they were trying to hide right under the Palace’s nose, they went in there?

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

• Grrrr…

Muyaho gradually slowed. It bared its teeth at something I couldn’t see, and I knew at once that something had happened. Then I caught the smell seeping through the acrid smoke.

Human blood.

I see. So that’s how it is.

I looked toward the entrance to the Poisonblood Grounds. It gaped like the maw of a gigantic monster, full of the same unknown dangers I’d sensed on my first visit.

No. Perhaps it was worse now.

Well, if it were easy, it wouldn’t be a Supreme Peak-grade Quest.

I’d started to think things were going more smoothly than expected. But like Baeksang—though for a very different reason—I’d come too far to turn back.

If I avoided the danger in front of me, something worse would come rushing up behind me. Just like the flames sweeping through the forest at my back.

Rustle.

I climbed down from Muyaho’s back and gently scratched under its chin, where it liked it.

“Looks like this is where we part ways. Unlike last time, you don’t have to come back for me.”

• Grrr?

“Go back before it gets any later. You can break through the flames and escape. I know you can.”

• Grrrr…

Muyaho gave a soft growl and gazed into my eyes.

I could see conflict and fear in the intelligent White Tiger’s blue-white eyes. With instincts like its, it must have guessed already.

Getting in would be easy. Getting out would be hard.

It might never see Yayul Mok again.

Yet it couldn’t turn away as easily as it had last time. I supposed we’d grown attached to each other along the way.

“I’m not going in there to die. Don’t worry about me. Go on—your master’s waiting.”

I stroked the back of its neck. At last, Muyaho gave a slow nod and sprang forward.

• GRAAAWR!

Whoosh!

Not toward the hill the flames had yet to reach, but straight for the entrance to the Poisonblood Grounds.

“Hey! Hey, you idiot!”

I shouted in surprise, but it was already too late to catch it.

I froze at the unexpected turn of events. With a mighty roar, the White Tiger charged headlong into the pale Poison Mist—then staggered back out.

• Krrk. Cough.

“…Want a poison-warding pearl?”

Muyaho paused, avoided my eyes, and gave a furtive nod.

Muyaho adapted to the Poisonblood Grounds much faster than I’d expected.

As if biting down on the poison-warding pearl weren’t enough, it gulped the thing down whole. With nimble reflexes, it dealt with the venomous beasts surging in from every direction and cleared a swamp so wide that even Peak masters who had learned a movement technique would have hesitated to cross it in a single leap.

But the deeper we went, the more cautious its movements and breathing became.

Whooosh…

Poison Mist filled the grounds, making it hard to see. Something brushed through the grass. Water dripped somewhere out of sight. Apart from those occasional sounds, everything was quiet enough to make my skin crawl.

It wasn’t this bad even when I came here with the Beast Miao King last time.

I had sensed it from the moment I smelled blood at the entrance, but this was definitely not a good sign.

A thought crossed my mind. Perhaps… No, there was a good chance the Palace warriors sent here a few days ago were already dead.

If they are, that bastard probably did it.

A Supreme Peak master whose name, sobriquet, and face remained unknown. Someone who had drenched the Western Yao Estate in blood and abducted Heugung and Yohi in mere moments was more than capable of it.

It was also highly possible that it wasn’t just one bastard, but them.

Dark Heaven.

Even what they’d revealed of their strength so far was terrifying. They had emerged in the wake of the Demonic Cult, and I’d personally faced the Blood Lord and the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

Their martial prowess was such that even now, after growing rapidly through the System, relentless training, and countless life-or-death battles, I couldn’t count on beating them.

I haven’t fought the Southern Heaven Demon Empress, but I doubt she’s any weaker.

No wonder I was tense, heading into enemy territory alone.

When I’d encountered the Blood Lord, Sword Saint Mae Jonghak had been there. And when I’d come closer to death than ever before in my battle with the Western Heaven Demon Lord, Jeok Cheongang had helped me.

But if the Southern Heaven Demon Empress is here…

Would I live to see my companions and family again?

Drip.

A bead of cold sweat I hadn’t noticed forming slid down the back of my neck.

Lick.

Something rough enough to sting swept over my skin.

The White Tiger had licked the back of my neck. Now it was pretending nothing had happened. I let out a quiet laugh.

“Telling me not to be nervous?”

• Grrrr.

It was such a small thing, but somehow it put me at ease.

I’d faced death more times than I could count. After coming this far, what was I doing breaking into a cold sweat? If I let myself tense up, I’d be too stiff to fight properly.

Yeah, fuck it. It’s not like this is my first time.

I called to mind the no-brakes mentality essential to the successor of the Fire Gate Clan and the heir of the Fire King, then thrust a palm toward the Poison Mist.

Boom!

The sharp sound of displaced air shattered the silence.

Scorching Yang Qi was poison’s natural enemy. The fierce heat of Flame Divine Palm surged forward, breaking the thick mist apart and staining the dark Poisonblood Grounds red.

Hssssss!

Strangely shaped venomous beasts scurried away from the light and heat.

The tangled, maze-like paths finally lay exposed. I glared into them, put internal energy behind my voice, and roared.

“Come out, you fucking bastards!”

• GRAAAAAAWR!

How had this happened?

Yohi came to her senses and blinked into darkness so deep she couldn’t see an inch in front of her.

“Ah.”

Her usually alluring voice was half-hoarse. Her body ached all over, perhaps from lying still for so long.

Then fragments of memory began to return.

“……!”

Her heart lurched. Her body, relaxed for a moment, went rigid as stone.

In Yohi’s trembling eyes, memories she couldn’t believe were flashing past.

Screams. Corpses. Blood.

And the face of the one person responsible for it all.

She was about to scream when a voice, carefully hushed, came from the darkness.

“Calm yourself, Yohi.”

“Gasp…!”

“Don’t be frightened. It’s me.”

Yohi barely managed to swallow her scream and calm her pounding heart.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, a familiar figure came into view.

“Heugung? Is it really you, big brother Heugung?”

“That’s right. Don’t you remember?”

It took her a moment to piece her memories back together. She recalled Heugung resisting him to the very end.

“I forgot for a moment. But why are you speaking so differently…?”

Heugung had been waiting not far away in the darkness for her to wake. He gave her a bitter smile.

“There were various circumstances. Circumstances I couldn’t easily tell even you.”

His tone was so courteous. Yohi was used to seeing Heugung grin foolishly and call her “little sister”; this side of him felt strange. But it wasn’t what mattered now.

“Where are we? Wh-where is that man?”

“I don’t know either. I woke up here.”

Iron chains bound her body, and her internal energy wouldn’t budge.

Yohi searched the darkness around her in despair. Then came a heavy noise, and faint light poured in.