Chapter 739: Neither We Nor You
The carriage passed through a narrow path.
Each time the overgrown blades of grass brushed against the side of the carriage, a soft rustling sound followed.
Tae Soo glanced sideways at Geom Mugeuk, who was driving the carriage.
‘What if this turns out to be a dead end?’
There was no way to turn the carriage around.
If they happened to encounter another carriage head-on? Ah, on second thought, that probably wouldn’t happen. Who would drive a carriage into such a narrow forest path anyway?
Yet Geom Mugeuk drove with confidence, as if he knew the way.
Inside the carriage, Blood Heaven Blade Demon watched the grasses sliding past the window.
‘Is he trying to take a shortcut?’
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen such a narrow road.
‘He said we’d move slowly, so why is he in such a hurry now?’
Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s gaze shifted to One-Slash Sword Supreme. She was meditating with her eyes closed. She already looked young for her age, but after taking the Immortal Peach Spirit Fruit and the Stalactite Immortal Moss, it seemed as if her skin emitted a radiant glow.
Then One-Slash Sword Supreme opened her eyes and spoke.
“I can hear the sound of water.”
Indeed, from somewhere outside the carriage came the sound of flowing water. Were they planning to cross a river?
The sound grew louder and louder—
And the moment the carriage left the narrow forest trail, a grand sight unfolded before them.
Kwaaaaaa!
A thunderous roar of water echoed through the valley.
Geom Mugeuk stopped the carriage and called out loudly.
“Please step down for a moment.”
Blood Heaven Blade Demon and One-Slash Sword Supreme alighted from the carriage.
Before their eyes spread a magnificent waterfall that drew gasps of awe.
A stream of pure white water cascaded from a sheer cliff, crashing against the rocks and bursting into countless droplets. The misty spray met the sunlight and formed a rainbow so vivid that it felt as though they had stepped into a celestial paradise where immortals might dwell.
The four of them stood silently, gazing at the waterfall.
There was a sense of calm born from its grandeur. Standing here, one could easily spend the entire day without tiring of the view.
“How did you come to know of a place like this?”
At Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s admiration, Geom Mugeuk replied with a hint of pride, as if waiting for the question.
“I studied the route in advance to show you, sir.”
Could that really be true? Until yesterday, no one had even expected they would be heading toward Zhejiang.
Besides, this waterfall was in an extremely secluded spot. For Geom Mugeuk to drive the carriage all the way here could only mean he had been here before.
“If we go around that path later, there’s a restaurant by the roadside that serves an incredible bowl of beef noodles. We should stop there for a meal.”
He glanced at Blood Heaven Blade Demon as he added,
“You like beef noodles, don’t you?”
One-Slash Sword Supreme softly interjected, amused by the familiarity in his tone.
“So your taste hasn’t changed at all.”
“Did he enjoy beef noodles in his younger days, too?”
“So much that he ate it every single day.”
Blood Heaven Blade Demon waved his hand lightly.
“You remember the strangest things. And it wasn’t quite that bad.”
Still, he couldn’t help but feel pleased that One-Slash Sword Supreme remembered those days.
“Shall we go now?”
Blood Heaven Blade Demon felt grateful toward Geom Mugeuk. It wasn’t as if the man had come all the way here because he wanted to see the waterfall himself. He had driven through that narrow path just to show it to him and One-Slash Sword Supreme.
“My eyes have been thoroughly blessed.”
That was how Blood Heaven Blade Demon expressed his gratitude.
The carriage started moving again.
Instead of turning back the way they had come, Geom Mugeuk found another route. After traveling down a narrow path for a while, they emerged onto a wide road.
“How do you know the roads so well?”
“Well, I’ve been around quite a bit.”
Considering how young Geom Mugeuk was, Tae Soo couldn’t quite understand.
‘Could his family be part of an escort bureau? Maybe he’s traveled all over the Central Plains since he was young?’
The thought seemed possible. Tae Soo was still mulling over which escort bureau he might belong to when—
Geom Mugeuk suddenly yanked Tae Soo’s body to the side.
Sssshhhk—
Thunk!
A dagger buried itself in the spot where Tae Soo’s head had just been.
Startled by the sudden ambush, Tae Soo’s eyes widened.
“Grab the reins!”
At the same moment, Geom Mugeuk handed Tae Soo the reins—
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Throwing weapons flew in from all directions. They were aimed at the horses, and Geom Mugeuk leapt into action.
Cheng! Cheng! Cheng! Cheng! Cheng!
Tae Soo was once again stunned by Geom Mugeuk’s lightning-fast movements. He deflected the hidden weapons flying from the left, and in the next instant, he was already deflecting those from the right.
The weapons that were knocked away flew back to the ones who had thrown them, and screams echoed from both sides of the forest.
Geom Mugeuk’s movements were so fast that to Tae Soo’s eyes, it looked as if twins were striking from both directions at once.
No—triplets. Because before Tae Soo realized it, Geom Mugeuk was already seated beside him again, gripping the reins.
“Hold tight!”
He jerked the reins to the side, turning the carriage sharply.
Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!
The weapons that would have pierced the carriage instead struck the ground, missing their mark. As more projectiles flew toward them, Geom Mugeuk slowed just enough to dodge them.
To handle a carriage this skillfully—!
Tae Soo was convinced.
‘He’s definitely from an escort bureau!’
He must have learned how to drive carriages since he was a child.
Then something caught Tae Soo’s eye.
“Over there! Look ahead!”
A tree had fallen across the path ahead—clearly placed there to block the carriage. And it wasn’t just a log. It was a massive tree trunk, far too large to simply jump over.
“Hold on tight!”
In a situation where anyone else would have stopped the carriage, Geom Mugeuk instead increased speed.
Speeding? You mean they were going to jump that?
“Stop! No! This is a carriage, not a horse!”
Despite Tae Soo’s shout, Geom Mugeuk urged the animals on like a madman.
“Going!”
“Aaaaaaa!”
As Tae Soo screamed, the horses struck the fallen tree. Or rather, it seemed they would.
In that instant the horses leaped and the carriage flew over the tree.
‘They jumped that? It’s a carriage, not even just horses!’
Everything felt as if it were moving slowly, like in a dream—
Clatter.
The carriage that had cleared the fallen tree began to race forward again.
When Tae Soo looked back, masked men emerged from the forests on both sides. They wore stunned expressions as they stared toward them.
“How did the carriage clear that?”
It didn’t just clear it. Geom Mugeuk had used Void Telekinesis to lift the horses and the carriage into the air and send them over in one piece.
“This carriage really did have wings on it!”
Earlier, when Tae Soo had asked Geom Mugeuk who the two masters riding in the carriage were, Geom Mugeuk had referred to them as his wings.
Could it have been them who made it happen? No matter how skilled, was such a thing even possible?
When the carriage had flown just now, the left "wing" had looked out the window and remarked,
“It really is flying.”
The right "wing" had laughed and said,
“Who but the Young Cult Leader would come up with something like this?”
Lifting a running carriage by Void Telekinesis to avoid an obstacle? They themselves could not have done such a thing.
Even if they had the ability, they would never think to jump it. They would have stopped the carriage and slaughtered the pursuers.
“Thanks to you, I’ve even ridden a flying carriage.”
Seeing One-Slash Sword Supreme’s delighted face, Blood Heaven Blade Demon smiled as well. Truly, there was never a dull moment on this journey.
Unlike the calm pair, Tae Soo was riding through an adventure that could cost him his life.
Tae Soo turned and shouted,
“Over there! Those guys are chasing us.”
Some twenty masked men were pursuing the carriage using lightness skill.
“All right, take the reins again.”
Geom Mugeuk rose from the coachman’s seat, opened the carriage door of the running vehicle, and climbed in.
He smiled at the two Demon Supremes and said,
“When you’re out in the Central Plains, carriage chases are common, aren’t they?”
Geom Mugeuk unfastened his leather pouch and began searching. Blood Heaven Blade Demon peered into it and frowned.
“So many useless junk items that make you lose your mind.”
“They may look that way, but you’d be very inconvenienced without them. Ah, here it is.”
What Geom Mugeuk produced was a leather belt with about twenty daggers embedded in it.
“I promised not to draw my sword, so I’ll have to make do with these.”
“That’s essentially the same thing.”
As Blood Heaven Blade Demon had said, there was no way the daggers thrown by Geom Mugeuk were ordinary daggers.
Geom Mugeuk fastened the leather belt around his waist and climbed onto the roof of the carriage.
By then, the masked men had nearly caught up to them.
Geom Mugeuk drew one dagger and hurled it toward the nearest pursuer.
Sshhk!
The dagger sliced through the air, and the masked man flipped backward as he fell.
When the blade had flown toward him, he had thought he could easily dodge it—but he couldn’t.
One man fell, yet the others continued to pursue.
Sshhk! Sshhk!
This time, two daggers flew out.
They weren’t as blindingly fast as before—speeds that looked possible to evade—but still, none of them could avoid the strike.
The daggers that had seemed to travel in straight lines suddenly shifted their speed and trajectory at the final instant. Those who tried to block them with their swords failed, and those who twisted their bodies to dodge met the same fate.
Two more fell, and yet the masked men still charged forward.
Then, Geom Mugeuk deliberately drew three daggers and raised them high for everyone to see. He wanted them to notice—this time, there were three.
At that, one of the masked men at the rear raised his hand, signaling the others to stop. The pursuers halted all at once.
Geom Mugeuk could tell that man was their leader.
The enemy had realized that, at this rate, three more of his subordinates would die—and judging by Geom Mugeuk’s skill in throwing daggers, he also knew they stood no chance of victory.
Their gazes met.
The eyes beneath the mask were calm. He was a man who knew when to give up.
As Geom Mugeuk watched the masked men turn away, he returned to the coachman’s seat.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, thank you for saving me.”
Tae Soo bowed his head in gratitude. Had Geom Mugeuk not pulled him aside when that first dagger came, he would already be dead.
“Where are we headed now?”
He assumed they would make new plans after being ambushed—perhaps abandon the carriage and continue on foot using lightness skill.
But the one holding the reins was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
“We’re going to get beef noodles.”
* * *
An hour later, the four of them were indeed eating beef noodles.
“It’s good.”
Blood Heaven Blade Demon was satisfied. The flavor was worth seeking out. The dumplings they ordered alongside were equally exquisite.
Even One-Slash Sword Supreme, who normally didn’t care much for beef noodles, finished an entire bowl.
“It was delicious.”
“I’m glad it suited your taste. Please look forward to the next stop.”
That meant their next destination would be somewhere One-Slash Sword Supreme liked.
“You know what I like to eat?”
“I’ve heard that when you’re in the Central Plains, you enjoy five-spice braised pork. I know a place that makes it perfectly.”
Her gaze toward Geom Mugeuk softened. He had shared those precious elixirs without hesitation, and now he wanted to treat her to a meal she liked.
“Thanks to you for bringing me along, both my eyes and palate have been spoiled.”
He gave so much—things ordinary people could never even dream of—and yet still expressed gratitude in return.
Truly, Geom Mugeuk was a man who carved what he received into stone, but what he gave, he let flow away with the water.
How could anyone refuse to be wings for a man like that?
‘I will gladly become your wings.’
At that moment, Blood Heaven Blade Demon interjected.
“Why is she getting five-spice braised pork while I got beef noodles? I like expensive food too, you know.”
At his complaint, both Geom Mugeuk and One-Slash Sword Supreme laughed together.
Not understanding their relationship, Tae Soo gave an awkward laugh along with them.
Inside, however, he was anxious. He knew well that these people were masters, but—
‘Is it really all right for them to be so relaxed?’
What if those masked men brought reinforcements?
Fortunately, Geom Mugeuk soon brought up the earlier ambush.
“Judging by how those attackers moved, they were well-trained.”
They weren’t hired martial artists or wandering mercenaries, but members of an organized group.
Blood Heaven Blade Demon then voiced his suspicion.
“Could the Flying Dragon Gang have leaked our information? Or maybe it was them.”
It was a reasonable doubt. They had been the last ones the group met, and despite Jongbaek’s efforts to dissuade him, the Flying Dragon Gang Leader might have grown greedy.
Geom Mugeuk thought of Jongbaek and remembered his expression as they had departed.
“It wasn’t the Flying Dragon Gang.”
He was certain the man had kept his word.
“If we assume it wasn’t them, then there are only two possibilities. They were after us—”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward Tae Soo.
“—or they were after Tae Soo.”
Naturally, the latter seemed more likely, given that Tae Soo possessed the Treasure Map. If they had known who Geom Mugeuk’s group really was, they wouldn’t have launched such a reckless attack.
With all three of their eyes fixed on him, Tae Soo tensed up.
“Other than us, is there anyone who knows you have the Treasure Map?”
“No, no one.”
Tae Soo shook his head firmly.
“Then maybe it’s not because of the Treasure Map, but because someone holds a grudge against you.”
“As you know, my father and I only stole from evildoers. That’s why our names are known, but very few have ever seen our faces.”
That was why he had been so shocked when Geom Mugeuk showed him the wanted poster drawn with his likeness.
“So it’s neither us nor you?”
That was, in fact, the very thing that weighed on Geom Mugeuk’s mind at this moment.
How did they find us?
Geom Mugeuk hadn’t shown it outwardly, but he had been paying close attention to whether anyone was tailing them.
He had alternated between main roads and narrow ones, even using the New Eye Technique at intervals to check if anyone was following. Moreover, they had taken a detour to see the waterfall—he had confirmed then, too, that no one was behind them.
As he quietly looked at Tae Soo, a thought flashed across Geom Mugeuk’s face—Could it be?
“If it’s neither us nor you, then there’s only one thing left.”
He immediately searched through his leather pouch and pulled out a small medicine vial.
“Tae Soo, come here.”
Tae Soo approached nervously.
“Hold out your hand.”
“What is this?”
“It’s a medicine that gives us the answer.”
“Is that some kind of truth serum? My hand doesn’t have a mouth, you know.”
Drip.
Geom Mugeuk poured the liquid from the vial onto Tae Soo’s palm.
At once, Tae Soo’s hand turned blue.
“See? Your hand is answering for you.”
“What is this?”
“Your hand’s been coated with Soul-Chasing Incense.”
Tae Soo shook his head in alarm.
“I’ve never come into contact with Soul-Chasing Incense.”
Geom Mugeuk hadn’t suspected that Tae Soo had been directly exposed. Rather—if it wasn’t them, and not him—
“It must’ve been smeared on the Treasure Map.”
Someone had applied it in advance in case the map was ever stolen.
Blood Heaven Blade Demon and One-Slash Sword Supreme exchanged astonished glances. Even as experienced Demon Supremes, neither of them had thought to check for something like that.
“Can’t the Soul-Chasing Incense be removed?”
“It can.”
“Then please remove it!”
When Geom Mugeuk reached for his sword, Tae Soo flinched in panic and pulled his hand back. That gesture made the meaning clear—removal meant cutting off the hand.
“This is far more potent than the Tracking Incense. Once it’s on you, it can’t be removed until enough time passes for the scent to fade naturally. It’s so expensive that very few can afford to use it.”
Moreover, the pursuers they had faced were no ordinary martial artists. For people like that to chase them while using Soul-Chasing Incense meant—
“You. From whom did you steal the Treasure Map?”