Chapter 205: Sound and Smell.

Light stretches straight out, piercing through the fog.

The crimson light was truly strange.

It wasn’t brightly shining, yet…

Within the hazy light, clarity was abundant.

It was truly a contradictory light.

“Why… is it like that?”

As I tried to move my feet little by little, Namgung Bi-ah asked me from behind.

“Why do you ask, up ahead….”

The mouth that was about to ask stopped short.

After all, there was no way she couldn’t see such a clear light.

Only then did I narrow my eyes and ask Namgung Bi-ah.

“You, can’t you see that?”

“…?”

To my question, Namgung Bi-ah tilted her head as if asking what I meant.

It seemed she really couldn’t see it.

‘Can only I see it?’

Meaning, I was the only one seeing the light that was so obviously visible.

[What are you always looking at?]

‘It seems Elder No can’t see it either.’

If even Elder No, who was sharing my vision as if we were linked, couldn’t see this, could this also be the Orb’s ability?

Whether that was true or not.

‘For now, following it is the right thing to do.’

I had no other method right now.

To find a way in this crazy fog, I had to try something, you see.

‘My ability to sense my surroundings has become useless.’

My senses are working fine, but using them to survey my surroundings isn’t functioning properly.

It seemed like there was something in the fog that had densely enveloped the surroundings.

‘Right, there’s no way fog that’s been maintained for hundreds of years could be normal.’

Given this state of affairs, it made sense that the Black Night Palace established its main palace here.

Even if the main palace were in the Mu Mountain Range.

It wouldn’t be easy to find, and if they even set up a formation array here, it would be impossible to discover.

I tightly gripped Namgung Bi-ah’s wrist behind me.

“Follow me closely.”

“…Yeah”

As much as I could prioritize, I heightened my senses.

Though I couldn’t feel it properly, I could see to some extent.

It was only enough to see what was right in front of me, but since this was an unfamiliar mountain range, even this much was quite helpful.

Holding Namgung Bi-ah’s arm like that, I carefully moved forward.

Even though I was dragging her along without any explanation.

Namgung Bi-ah didn’t express any complaints about it.

I wondered if she was perhaps being mindful because I’d teased her so much about being bad with directions.

After that, we walked for quite a while, piercing through the fog.

Even for a distance that would normally have been covered in just a few leaps.

We barely made any progress because we had to move forward so cautiously.

[Truly, this is some tenacious fog.]

‘Yes, it’s disgustingly persistent.’

[This is a remnant of a demonic beast?]

‘Yes.’

This peculiar fog originated from the time when the White-grade Demonic Gate opened in the past.

It was a trace left behind after the demonic beast that burst forth from there died.

Historically, the number of White-grade demonic beasts was negligible, and although they were all successfully sealed or vanquished,

as if to prove how formidable the demonic beasts were, they left traces in this world even after death.

The fog in the Mu Mountain Range was like that,

and the cold slumbering in the North Sea was also such a trace.

The intense heat in the west was the same.

To think they could affect nature even after death.

It was truly unbelievable.

Upon hearing this, Elder Shin clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

He seemed displeased about something.

[Tsk, scoundrels like these should have their messes cleaned up properly afterwards, but the way things were handled is just sloppy.]

Fog that covered an entire mountain range.

Elder No was saying this was because the demonic beast was vanquished, but the cleanup wasn’t done properly.

Of course, vanquishing a disaster like a White-grade demonic beast was undoubtedly a tremendous achievement,

but if Elder No said so, I had to understand.

[Anyway, back in my day…. Once we got rid of scoundrels like that, we even cleaned up the aftermath properly. But these juniors nowadays…. Tsk, tsk.]

In the past, during the era when Elder Shin confronted the Blood Demon,

that was also an era when the demonic beasts that appeared were particularly high-grade.

Given that Elder No was active as the Volcanic Sword Saint,

he must have had experience facing White-grade demonic beasts.

Moreover, evidence of this was widespread throughout the world.

One only needed to look at the current Mu Mountain Range.

‘You’re right.’

[Hm? What do you mean? For a runt like you to agree with me….]

‘I know, right? You should have cleaned up better.’

[…Hm?]

Elder No expressed confusion, as if he couldn’t understand what I meant.

The demonic beast that turned the mountain range into this state was a monster called the Mist Dragon (霧龍).

It was a creature that, after dying, covered the mountain range in fog as if casting a curse.

It was also a White-grade demonic beast vanquished by Shin Cheol, the Volcanic Sword Saint.

[…]

When I told him this fact, Elder Shin remained silent for a while.

He seemed to know he was embarrassed.

*******************

Walking for a long time, following the light.

Walking alongside the now quiet Elder Shin and the naturally taciturn Namgung Bi-ah, we eventually reached the edge.

‘What time is it…. Roughly?’

I couldn’t be sure due to the dense fog, but seeing how the visibility was gradually darkening,

night would soon arrive.

‘Camping….’

We could do it if necessary, but the situation wasn’t good.

First, the Orb of the Heavenly Path was malfunctioning.

The light was still properly showing the way,

but even though the Orb had regained its proper color, I couldn’t know what Gu Huibi was experiencing like before.

The viewpoint wasn’t changing.

This means…

‘Something must be wrong?’

I didn’t know if the Orb had usage limits or anything,

but judging by the current situation, I didn’t think that was the case.

If not, it could mean something was wrong with Gu Huibi’s condition.

Ultimately, this was just speculation that something might be wrong,

but regardless, I had lost the only information I thought I had.

As such, I had to figure out a way to overcome the situation somehow,

but proceeding under the current circumstances was difficult.

The fog was obviously a problem, and now night had arrived too.

It was truly a situation where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

‘The Orb’s light is also problematic.’

A single beam of light illuminating the front, seemingly trying to show the location.

However, from some point on, I started feeling the illusion that it was circling around me.

If you asked whether the light itself was wrong, it wasn’t.

Rather, the light seemed to be indicating the correct path,

“Tsk.”

As I looked around and frowned, Namgung Bi-ah asked,

“Why… is it like that?”

“I think there’s a formation array.”

I could feel a subtle presence.

It was so faint that one couldn’t detect it without concentration.

Since I was already certain there was a formation array, I could grasp that subtle gap.

However.

‘How should I break through and enter?’

That was the problem.

If this really was the main palace,

it wouldn’t be strange if there were martial artists from the Black Night Palace nearby, not to mention the formation array.

I even had to move while remaining vigilant of my surroundings.

With the dense fog rendering my senses useless,

and darkness obscuring the visibility I barely had,

plus the tension of being stranded in the middle of enemy territory.

‘This is the worst.’

Ha.

It was a situation so bad it almost made me laugh.

But this wasn’t the time to crawl around on the ground driven by emotion.

‘I need to find a way.’

I was always good at struggling, better than anyone,

so something like this wasn’t a big deal anymore.

‘How should I approach this?’

‘If there’s a formation array ahead, can I break it with brute force?’

‘That’s unlikely.’

If I failed, I might unnecessarily attract their attention,

and even if, by some chance, I managed to break the formation array,

the backlash from its collapse would alert them.

‘So what should I do?’

I had absolutely no specialized knowledge about formation arrays.

Thinking back to my previous life…

‘…I just had to break through and enter.’

Most of my solutions were crude, so they wouldn’t help in the current situation.

In my past life, I could just tear through a formation array, enter, and burn everything; that was enough.

Even before becoming a Demon, when situations like this arose, the Sleeping Dragon handled everything.

Thinking about this made me realize how recklessly I acted in my past life, giving me a headache.

‘For now…. Should I wait?’

No matter how urgent the situation, now that it was night, I ultimately had no immediate solution.

I wasn’t capable of handling the consequences if I just charged in recklessly,

‘…I’m not alone, after all.’

I needed to make a more rational judgment.

Finishing my thoughts, I spoke to Namgung Bi-ah behind me.

“For now, let’s find a safe place and wait for daytime…. What are you doing?”

Namgung Bi-ah was looking around, sniffing the air.

At that absurd sight, I asked again,

“What are you doing right now…?”

“Looking… for a smell….”

“Looking for a smell? What smell?”

Why is she acting like this?

Thinking that, I unconsciously followed Namgung Bi-ah and sniffed the air,

but I couldn’t smell anything special.

Only the characteristic scent of grass from the forest could be felt.

“What on earth are you smelling…?”

Just as I was about to ask what was going on,

Srrrring.

Namgung Bi-ah suddenly drew her sword.

Next, Namgung Bi-ah’s hair, gripping the sword, fluttered slightly as if brushed by the wind,

and in an instant, lightning energy enveloped her sword, spreading a tingling sensation around.

Startled, I yelled at Namgung Bi-ah,

“Hey, what are you doing!”

Due to the nature of lightning energy, it was obviously conspicuous,

and the aura was particularly distinct, making it easy for others to notice even with slight miscontrol.

Despite my shouts, Namgung Bi-ah stared fixedly at one spot with a calm expression.

Staring intently at the empty air, Namgung Bi-ah spoke.

“It’s here.”

“Here or wherever, get rid of that aura first! If we get caught like this…!”

As if not hearing my words, Namgung Bi-ah unhesitatingly slashed her lightning-infused sword through the air.

Then.

Swoosh.

“…!”

Even though she only cut the air, somehow, a sound like something being sliced echoed.

Simultaneously, a faint white barrier slowly settled in the air.

“…What is this.”

It was an utterly absurd situation.

The invisible barrier vanished at the tip of Namgung Bi-ah’s sword, creating a small opening.

It looked like a doorway.

“What is this…. How did you know?”

Seeing this, I asked Namgung Bi-ah.

“…I smelled it.”

At Namgung Bi-ah’s words, I frowned.

Because it was an incomprehensible statement.

What Namgung Bi-ah had just done was find an unstable gap in the formation array and cut it with her sword energy.

If swung incorrectly, it could backfire,

and the gaps in a formation array shouldn’t be visible to the human eye in the first place.

Not only did she find it, but she even succeeded in cutting it?

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but think of someone.

‘The Sleeping Dragon.’

The madman of the century born from the Mu Clan.

That guy from my past life also used to deal with formation arrays like this.

He’d look around, roughly slash the air,

and claim it was resolved.

It left a strong impression because it was incredibly annoying.

I couldn’t understand it at all, so I even asked that Sleeping Dragon guy.

How he actually did it.

His answer was quite something.

-Listen carefully to the sound. Then you’ll hear it.

-Hear what? The sound of my stomach bursting?

-I’ve been hearing that all along.

-This bastard…?

I remembered the Sleeping Dragon laughing hoarsely while looking at my face, and I instantly felt annoyed.

‘Putting that aside….’

Anyway, comparing it to what Namgung Bi-ah just said,

-I smelled it.

-I hear a sound.

Somehow, it felt very similar to the Sleeping Dragon’s case.

Namgung Bi-ah looked at me and said,

“Aren’t… you going in?”

The empty space Namgung Bi-ah created was slowly closing.

She hadn’t disabled the formation array, just created a temporary gap, so it would likely fill up again.

Borrowing from what the Sleeping Dragon did in my past life, once it filled up, she probably wouldn’t be able to create another opening in the same spot.

If that happened, they would mostly notice, or so he said.

Seeing this, there was no time to hesitate.

“…We have to go.”

I followed Namgung Bi-ah into the opening.

And the place we entered was…

completely different from the outside of the formation array.

*******************

Thump.

Following the passage of time, the steps of the Palace Lord, who had been walking, suddenly stopped.

“Palace Lord-nim?”

The old man following behind, Tae Jeol-gwi, called out to the Palace Lord,

“Hm.”

The Palace Lord didn’t answer, looking around with a strange expression.

Tae Jeol-gwi could tell.

That the Palace Lord’s gaze was directed not at the palace walls, but beyond them.

After gazing like that for a moment, the Palace Lord quickly averted his eyes and looked forward again.

“…Tae Jeol-gwi.”

“Yes, Palace Lord-nim.”

“Check the formation array later.”

“…Understood.”

Tae Jeol-gwi accepted the order, but inwardly felt puzzled.

‘A formation array.’

He had checked it himself recently, so there shouldn’t have been anything unusual,

so why would the Palace Lord issue such an order?

He was curious about the reason, but the thought was quickly forgotten.

The old man simply had to follow the Palace Lord’s orders.

The Palace Lord resumed walking.

His destination was undoubtedly ‘that’ room.

As expected, the Palace Lord headed towards the room he had visited yesterday.

Approaching the door, the Palace Lord thought,

‘By now, it should be finished.’

A day, that amount of time should have been sufficient for that person to consume the flames.

As the Palace Lord neared his destination, he felt his heart pounding.

Recalling his ‘heaven’ who would show an even more perfect form,

the Palace Lord felt a sense of longing.

Kuwuuung!

The massive door operated once more,

and the Palace Lord slowly entered the room after opening the door.

Thump!

The door shut immediately after the Palace Lord entered.

The Palace Lord immediately knelt and faced his ‘heaven’.

“Oh, Heaven…. I….”

As the Palace Lord opened his mouth, he stopped speaking at the sight before him.

At the same time, shock spread across the Palace Lord’s face.

Light filled the space that should have been filled only with darkness.

A deep purple flame was illuminating the room.

This flame was undoubtedly the sacred fire that his ‘heaven’ used to ignite.

From the center of the light, a voice could be heard.

“…Why is this book so difficult? Isn’t there anything else?”

“A book.”

“No, I mean, is there no other book besides this one?”

“No.”

“…You’re being awfully brief. Didn’t I tell you to say more than two words?”

“No.”

“Right, good job.”

Gu Huibi, who should have long since vanished into the heavens, becoming one with them, was sitting comfortably in the room.

And resting on Gu Huibi’s lap was his ‘heaven’.