Chapter 64 – Desert (3)

As the horses toppled forward and fell into the pits, the bandits riding them reflexively kicked off their horses and leaped up. It seemed they would jump right over the pits.

But at that moment, a man and woman leaped over the chief’s head from behind him and shot toward the bandits. It was Nan-seol and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom.

“Ah, Holy Maiden!”

At the same time, Yeon-hwa and Sun-woo’s figures became visible among the people. The village people, the chief, and the bandits all perceived Sun-woo’s party standing with the village people as fellow villagers. It was all thanks to Sun-woo’s <Illusion Arts>.

Sun-woo and the party had decided to hide and observe the situation instead of stepping forward to eliminate the bandits. It was to obtain information or handle a situation like the current one.

Fortunately, the decision to hide among the people was the right decision.

Swish swish swish!

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and Nan-seol’s swords showed no mercy. The bandits floating in midair, whether third-rate or second-rate martial artists, were instantly cut down along with their swords.

“What is this!”

Branch Leader Sa-hyeok, who had been watching from behind, shouted to his party in a surprised voice.

“Everyone block them!”

With his words, the remaining bandits rushed forward and the escort martial artists with him also blocked his front.

At the same time, the branch leader urgently turned his body and rode his horse in the opposite direction.

Boom!

An earth pillar shot up in front of him as he fled, but he was barely able to jump over the earth pillar and escape. It was remarkable horsemanship.

“Ah!”

Seeing that, Nan-seol, who had dealt with one of the escort warriors, tried to fly her body to chase him, but she had no choice but to stop her steps due to the earth wall that suddenly rose in front.

When she looked back at Sun-woo in surprise, he pointed to Yeon-hwa who was concentrating beside him. It seemed there was some reason.

Shortly after, all the bandits and escort warriors except the escaped branch leader had died.

After finishing up, the two who approached Sun-woo threw him a question.

“Why did you let the branch leader go?”

Judging by blocking Nan-seol’s pursuit, the earth pillar that blocked the branch leader must have deliberately risen late.

“The Holy Maiden planted a tracking mark. Rather than capturing and torturing him here, it seems better to secretly track him.”

Sun-woo called Yeon-hwa Holy Maiden because there were other people around.

“Hmm, won’t he just go back to where the branch is?”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, Yeon-hwa shook her head.

“No. He won’t. He saw me and fled in surprise. I don’t know why he betrayed the Cult, but not all Cult members in the city where the branch is located could have betrayed the Cult. He’ll go somewhere else.”

“Then that somewhere else would ultimately be where the bandits are?”

“Anyway, if even the branch leader isn’t normal, it seems we need to go where the cause is. There’s quite a suspicious smell.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom and Nan-seol nodded. Though not certain, with this many strange occurrences, it was hard to see them as unrelated to the Blood Cult.

The party immediately prepared to pursue the branch leader on the ownerless horses. All of the party including Yeon-hwa had no problem riding horses, but unfortunately Sun-woo had no choice but to ride behind Yeon-hwa.

When everyone finished preparing to leave, Yeon-hwa gave instructions to the chief.

“We will immediately pursue the branch leader. In the meantime, hide all the bodies and take refuge for a while. When things are properly settled, we’ll contact you right away. If you happen to encounter other bandits, talk about me. My companions are strong, so I’m perfectly safe.”

“We’ll attach someone to guide you.”

The desert was harsh. Without guidance, one would only get lost and become food for the desert.

But Yeon-hwa shook her head. Coming here, she hadn’t felt any danger from the desert at all.

“It’s fine. Among our party, there’s someone who knows the land well.”

At her answer, the chief made a puzzled expression, but it was right to obey the Holy Maiden’s words.

The chief bowed deeply to the Holy Maiden, and following him, the village people bowed their heads to her.

After the party also exchanged greetings, they began riding their horses in pursuit of the escaped branch leader.

When the party began their pursuit, the horse’s footprints had already disappeared due to sandstorms. Even to Sun-woo’s detection ability it was out of range, so without Yeon-hwa there would have been no way to pursue at all.

The branch leader was definitely not fleeing to the city where the branch was. The direction Yeon-hwa’s mark pointed wasn’t west but north. Toward the center of the Taklamakan Desert.

As time passed, the desert now showed not even a blade of grass and the temperature kept rising, beginning to emit heat.

“Is it okay to pursue like this? There’s quite a difference in horse riding skills, so I wonder if the distance won’t get too far apart.”

All the party rode horses quite well, but still, riding horses in the desert was not easy. They hadn’t ridden far but could already feel the horses getting tired.

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, Sun-woo threw Yeon-hwa a question.

“How far can you track?”

“It’s not martial arts, so there’s no limit.”

At Yeon-hwa’s words, the party was quite surprised. An ability without limits. If they weren’t summoned, it was an ability worthy of causing an uproar as a divine miracle.

“Then let’s see how far it goes.”

Since there was no worry of losing track, the party began riding with more relaxed feelings.

After that, the party traversed the desert by resting in pits Sun-woo made during the hot daytime, riding horses at dawn and evening, then entering pits Sun-woo made again at night to sleep.

The earthen caves Sun-woo made sufficiently blocked both daytime heat and nighttime cold.

Thanks to this, the party could cross the desert without major inconvenience, and two days later at dawn they could discover the branch leader’s dead horse.

“He really must have hurried. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d kill his horse like this.”

It seemed he had ridden without rest. The branch leader had probably abandoned his horse to notify them that the Holy Maiden had come.

“We’re fortunate to have Mr. Sun-woo.”

Nan-seol spoke while stroking her healthy horse. Not just her horse but the other horses also looked very healthy.

It was all thanks to Sun-woo finding underground water while traveling and feeding it to the horses.

Sun-woo’s enhanced detection ability could find water deep underground in the desert and could even move earth to draw that water up.

Thanks to this, the party was traveling the desert with no water worries at all.

“Still, this sandstorm is quite irritating.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom frowned at the swirling sand. They could handle daytime sunlight, nighttime cold, and thirst, but the sandstorms that occurred frequently were hard to deal with.

“We don’t have far left now.”

Since the enemy’s horse had died, it would be soon. Nan-seol looked at Sun-woo to seek agreement, but Sun-woo seemed distracted by something else. Sun-woo was watching the sand flying in all directions. Shortly after, he extended his hand forward, and the sandstorm seemed to bend following his hand.

“Mr. Sun-woo?”

“Ah, sorry.”

At Nan-seol’s words, Sun-woo came to his senses. The sandstorm that had been circling around him flowed back on its way, and the party moved again to catch up with the branch leader who had gone ahead.

And about two hours later, Sun-woo’s party was able to catch up behind the branch leader.

The distance was twenty li (8 kilometers). The party could see the branch leader walking through the desert in the distance.

“Isn’t that too close? Won’t we be discovered if he just looks back?”

But Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s worry was groundless.

“I hid us with <Illusion Arts>. When he looks, it will just appear as somewhat severe shimmering heat haze.”

“Tsk, it’s all-purpose.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom scratched his head at Sun-woo’s words.

“We probably don’t have much left now, right?”

At Nan-seol’s question, Yeon-hwa answered.

“If he decided to walk in a desert like this, even for a martial artist it wouldn’t be a long distance. Unless he abandoned his horse intending suicide, we probably don’t have far to the destination.”

Yeon-hwa’s words were right.

Late that afternoon when the evening glow rose, the party could see ancient ruins in the middle of the desert in the distance.

The ruins were tremendously large. Buildings that appeared to be made of mud and mortar spread out widely.

“It’s incredibly big. It looks about the size of the city where the branch is.”

Even Yeon-hwa seemed quite surprised seeing the ruined city.

The party was hiding behind a sand dune not far from the ruined city.

The horses had been released far into the desert, and Sun-woo had also released his illusion arts. Not knowing when they might fight, he couldn’t waste internal energy.

The branch leader had already entered the ruined city, and while the party hid behind this sand dune, bandit figures began appearing throughout the ruins.

“Was the pursuit discovered?”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, Sun-woo shook his head. For that, there was too little movement.

“They just seem to have strengthened surveillance.”

“Ugh, then when night comes we just charge in, right?”

Looking at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s tone, he seemed to be enduring hiding right now tremendously. Well, for his personality, it was already praiseworthy he hadn’t just charged in.

From what Sun-woo confirmed, unfortunately the underground of the ruins consisted of bedrock. Like at the hospital, infiltrating underground with the party was impossible.

“First, I’ll go scout. If we can at least find out the internal terrain of the ruins or the number of personnel, it seems we’ll be quite advantageous when attacking.”

At Sun-woo’s words, the party all agreed.

He didn’t know if Yeon-hwa would get along well with the two, but that was a problem Yeon-hwa would have to work through.

“Be careful.”

Sun-woo left Nan-seol’s encouragement behind and placed his hand on the ground.

His body disappeared into the sand as if seeping into water.

“That guy is absurd anyway.”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom clicked his tongue looking at the spot where Sun-woo sank, then lay down behind the sand dune using baggage as a pillow.

“I’m counting on you for surveillance. Wake me when it’s time.”

“Okay.”

After Nan-seol nodded at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, she looked at the ruins beyond the dune and opened her mouth.

“Where would Mr. Sun-woo be about now?”

“He just arrived at the outer buildings.”

At Nan-seol’s question, Yeon-hwa answered. When Sun-woo said he would scout, Yeon-hwa had switched the surveillance she had placed on the branch leader to Sun-woo.

And Nan-seol immediately noticed that.

As Yeon-hwa said, Sun-woo rose in front of a wall of an outer building in the ruins lit by evening glow.

Soon Sun-woo’s body shot upward and climbed onto the building, and shortly after Sun-woo’s figure slowly disappeared in the evening glow. He had concealed his appearance with illusion arts.

Watching that scene, Nan-seol opened her mouth again.

“I don’t know what situations will come ahead, but if a Divine Cult martial artist appears before me, I will cut him down.”

Though casually spoken, the content within was not small. With Sun-woo absent, she was notifying Yeon-hwa, the Cult’s Holy Maiden.

Yeon-hwa also answered calmly to Nan-seol’s words.

“I’ll stop you from doing that.”

“If you stop me, I’ll cut you together.”

“I’ll still stop you.”

Because of the two women speaking calmly, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom ultimately couldn’t fall asleep.

Unaware of the situation of those left behind, Sun-woo continued entering the ruined city.

They were one or two-story buildings that seemed to have been made a long time ago, but they appeared quite solidly built as they still looked livable now.

It seemed the bandits were using ruins abandoned due to water running out as their stronghold.

‘But how did they obtain water?’

Even while jumping over buildings, Sun-woo couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Because throughout the city, the waterways, wells, and ponds that seemed made in the past were all empty, filled only with sand.

But right now he needed to check other things more than water.

On building rooftops, people who appeared to be bandits were sparsely climbing up and surveilling the surroundings, but fortunately there seemed to be no experts among them.

Because no one noticed him running across the rooftops.

And shortly after, Sun-woo could see the branch leader and other people standing in front of a building.

“Bingo.”

A smile formed on Sun-woo’s lips. The feeling of pills was stealthily emanating from among them.

Contamination spreading agents.