Chapter 272

Westward, westward.

The Evil Sect members could continue advancing without much interference.

There wasn’t no damage at all, but they were fighting much more easily than expected.

Clang! Clang clang!

The Sichuan warriors blocking their path couldn’t withstand the Evil Sect members’ attacks and retreated while rubbing their eyes. Once again, a path opened.

Several shouted excitedly.

“The Zhuge family’s Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation isn’t much either?”

However, Jin Ja-gang somehow felt uneasy.

Because of the Evil Sect members, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t use his most powerful poison. So he had used poison parsley flower leaves. Poison parsley flower was a poison with no particular symptoms that one wouldn’t know they were poisoned until sunrise. When the sun rises, it can give sufficient advantage in battle, but it’s not powerful enough to collapse the formation itself.

Yet the current situation felt almost like the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation was being smashed to pieces like straw!

Jin Ja-gang looked at Bian Bu. Bian Bu was also tilting his head as if something was strange. When Jin Ja-gang approached, Bian Bu said.

“If you completely ignore the deployment method of the Eight Gates of Solar Divination, the side operating the formation suffers great harm. Even setting aside us, it’s strange for the Zhuge family, masters of formations, to operate a formation this way. The order of Yang Shield and Yin Shield is completely messed up.”

The Sichuan warriors kept retreating and blocking repeatedly, and each time, warriors continued to die one by one.

An Evil Sect member who had killed a charging warrior from the side wiped the blood from his sword while scolding Bian Bu.

“It’s just unnecessary worry. Don’t you see those bastards are desperate to hide their tails and run? Whether it’s Yang Shield or whatever, they’re fleeing because the formation is getting wrecked.”

“But then there should be a feeling that something’s going wrong, yet I don’t feel that at all.”

Bian Bu practiced divination with the I Ching. The Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation also basically follows the I Ching. Even if he didn’t know formations in detail, basic reasoning was possible.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Then are you saying we’re going the wrong way?”

“We have no choice but to go west since we used poison. But… the Zhuge family knowing the direction we’re going and not blocking us but obviously leaving us alone…”

Bian Bu said as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Could it be… the entire formation is moving following us? Adjusting to us?”

“You’re saying the entire formation is moving?”

If it were a small formation it wouldn’t matter, but in a large formation like now, that wasn’t easy. They would have to readjust and turn the formation that operates like precise gears according to the Evil Sect members’ movements each time.

“It’s the Zhuge family after all. Well, it might just be my old woman’s worries.”

Hearing this, Jin Ja-gang quietly fell back. He retreated from the front ranks to the rear ranks and went to the very back. He moved so stealthily that even the Evil Sect members didn’t notice Jin Ja-gang’s movement.

Jin Ja-gang waited until the Evil Sect members had gone far enough away, then shook his sleeve.

Poison powder settled hazily around the area. Jin Ja-gang then hid in the bushes and waited.

An Evil Sect member leading the way looked around and pointed southwest.

“This way!”

An escape route was visible diagonally southwest. Warriors were swarming from other places, but only that direction seemed to have fewer numbers.

“Wait, what about over there?”

Northwest had many flags and several archers visible. Battle cries also rang out loudly.

“Wahhhhh!”

But the actual personnel didn’t seem that numerous. The siege seemed unexpectedly thin compared to what was visible, looking easy to break through.

“Which way?”

They could just continue straight west, but then they’d be caught in a pincer attack from both sides. In that case, it might be better to twist a bit and choose one of the two sides.

Bian Bu shouted.

“Rest Gate is the auspicious gate and other gates are inauspicious gates. We can’t enter rashly!”

“Which one is the auspicious gate?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Geez. That’s not helpful.”

The Evil Sect members grumbled while waiting for Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s decision.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong carefully examined both sides. One seemed to have an ambush and the other looked dangerous but seemed to have few actual personnel, making it look easy to break through.

However, both could be traps.

After pondering, Dan Ryeong-gyeong decided.

“Let’s go straight.”

She judged it was better to go between them.

The Evil Sect members immediately went straight. The warriors guarding both gates fought for a while then retreated. The pincer attack from both sides wasn’t as strong as expected.

“Rest Gate and Scene Gate. Both were just noisy with no substance.”

However, the Evil Sect members remembered Jin Ja-gang’s words.

“He said the life gate is in the death gate and the death gate is within the scene gate, right? Then since we just passed through Scene Gate…”

Entering Scene Gate leads to Death Gate. Continuing in the direction ahead would lead directly to Death Gate. But to exit through the life gate, they had no choice but to go to Death Gate.

The only consolation was that since Death Gate was right ahead, the life gate was also almost close.

“Let’s give it a try!”

“Good, now it’s Death Gate!”

“Let’s taste what Death Gate is like!”

The Evil Sect members prepared fully and immediately rushed in. But the moment they rushed in, the Evil Sect members stopped abruptly.

Before them were nuns from Mount Emei.

If ordinary warriors were messengers of death, Mount Emei’s nuns were King Yama themselves.

“Damn.”

The Evil Sect members looked around to the sides and back, when suddenly flags began frantically moving between bushes and trees.

Tweeeeet!

Countless warriors scattered throughout the mountain were circling around them as the center.

Escape routes disappeared and all gates became distorted, making it difficult to find direction. Moreover, tremendous numbers of heavily armed warriors were holding their ground at every gate.

The formation itself was moving centered on the Evil Sect members.

“Dodge for now!”

They couldn’t fight Mount Emei’s nuns head-on. The Evil Sect members turned left, heading south to dodge.

But the formation moved again. Flags moved in circles from all directions, and Mount Emei’s nuns appeared once more. Though the people were different from before, they were still Mount Emei nuns.

No matter how many times they dodged, it was the same.

Eventually, all four sides became surrounded by Mount Emei nuns.

“Hey now.”

“This is too much.”

The Evil Sect members realized they couldn’t escape without overcoming the Mount Emei nuns.

Gam Chung stepped forward.

“I’ll break through! Follow me!”

However, the Mount Emei nuns didn’t retreat even an inch. They only defended against the attacks from Gam Chung and the Evil Sect members from their positions. They were in a completely different class from ordinary small and medium sect warriors.

Clang! Clang clang!

While fighting, Mount Emei nuns from the other three sides approached one step closer.

Bian Bu held the frightened Soso and said.

“It’s Kun Palace. The gatekeeper of Kun Palace that maintains Death Gate is Mount Emei. Does this mean we can’t find the life gate within Death Gate unless we defeat Mount Emei?”

Gam Chung gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Let’s try breaking through once more!”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong, thinking the atmosphere was strange, stopped the Evil Sect members.

“Wait!”

Before Mang Ryo left, he had said Mount Emei wouldn’t interfere with the Evil Sect. And that they only needed to avoid one direction. Coming down to the middle of the mountain, she understood. That one direction was none other than where the command post was located.

When she pulled the Evil Sect members back to think about the meaning, the Mount Emei nuns also stopped attacking.

‘They’re not making the first move?’

Literally a wall.

If they didn’t attack first, they wouldn’t attack first either, but there was no escape route either.

‘Where is Poison Dragon?’

But then.

Suddenly screams began to be heard from above.

“Ahhhhh!”

Not only the Mount Emei nuns but also the Evil Sect members were startled by the ominous screams.

“What is that!”

Warriors’ screams echoed continuously from the eastern path the Evil Sect members had passed through.

Tweet! Tweet!

Urgent whistle sounds rang out and chaos erupted.

“It’s Poison Dragon!”

The Evil Sect members’ eyes widened. They had wondered where Jin Ja-gang was, but when had he gone behind to attack the formation?

In less than a moment, dozens of screams rang out.

The Mount Emei nuns blocking the east suddenly opened the path.

Jin Ja-gang was walking in covered in blood. Of course, it wasn’t his own blood.

“Elder Bian Bu was right. The formation was moving.”

Jin Ja-gang had thrown himself between the gears and smashed them! Since there would be no need to go back up the eastern mountain anyway, and morning had come so the wind direction was starting to change, he used poison freely. Because the formation was moving, warriors ended up charging into where Jin Ja-gang had scattered poison.

Jin Ja-gang looked around at the Mount Emei nuns surrounding all four sides.

The Mount Emei nuns were impassive. They seemed to be waiting for something.

No, they weren’t just seeming to wait but actually waiting. They were waiting for Jin Ja-gang’s answer!

Jin Ja-gang steadied his breathing and closed his eyes.

He recalled meeting Mount Emei’s sect leader at the Tang family.

Holding a sword to King of Hell’s neck, In Divine Nun had asked:

First, if the Tang family falls, who will stop the Western Tibet Demon Cult?

Second, who will check the Northern Heaven Evil Sect?

Third, if you cut off King of Hell’s neck, who will check the Martial Alliance?

In Divine Nun desires dramatic change in the current system for the greater good. However, overthrowing the system is In Divine Nun’s intention, not necessarily Jin Ja-gang’s answer to those three questions.

Jin Ja-gang said to the Mount Emei nuns.

“I will give you an answer to the questions.”

Both the Evil Sect members and Mount Emei nuns all looked at Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang spoke resolutely but without hesitation.

“I will do it.”

While the Evil Sect members were bewildered, not understanding the meaning of those words, the Mount Emei nuns suddenly sheathed their swords and put their palms together.

“Namo Amitabha.”

A nun in her fifties stepped forward, put her palms together and said.

“This poor nun is Nang Yo. Those words, may we understand them as having set your intention?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then there must be something that needs to be done beforehand for that?”

That answer had already been shown by In Divine Nun. The reason In Divine Nun had immediately withdrawn upon learning Tang Ha-ran was pregnant was precisely because of this.

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“I will kill King of Hell.”

The Evil Sect members got goosebumps at Jin Ja-gang’s words. King of Hell out of nowhere!

However, Nang Yo stepped back as if she had heard a sufficiently satisfactory answer.

“I will convey Patron Poison Dragon’s words exactly. Though we withdraw today, Mount Emei will be Patron Poison Dragon’s strength in the future.”

Mount Emei had relationships with other Sichuan sects, so they couldn’t attack them. However, just withdrawing from their guarding positions could deal a major blow to the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation.

Nang Yo continued.

“The principles of the martial world come from justification, and those who wish to claim justification must know the complete truth.”

Nang Yo looked at Jin Ja-gang and put her palms together again.

“These are words left by Sect Leader.”

“Justification and complete truth…”

Jin Ja-gang had not known the complete story until now. If he wanted to remain at personal revenge, it didn’t matter. However, if Jin Ja-gang wanted to go one step further and act beyond revenge, he should understand the complete truth of matters he hadn’t known. Only then could he receive support.

Jin Ja-gang bowed with cupped fists instead of thanks.

“I fully understand your words.”

The Mount Emei nuns simply stepped back and left the formation.

At that moment, the Death Gates on all four sides disappeared and became ordinary paths.

An escape route was completely opened before their eyes. Bian Bu marveled.

“So this is what it means that there’s a life gate within Death Gate.”

Since Mount Emei, who was in charge of Kun Palace, had been acting as the bolt of Death Gate, when Kun Palace disappeared, the bolt opened.

The Evil Sect members were still bewildered. However, since Mount Emei had disappeared and part of the formation had collapsed, they couldn’t miss such an opportunity.

Jin Ja-gang looked at Dan Ryeong-gyeong and nodded. Now wasn’t the time to explain that matter. With Mount Emei’s withdrawal and the collapse of the rear formation, the gears of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation had stopped.

“Let’s go.”

Jin Ja-gang took the lead and began leading the Evil Sect members down the mountain.