Lee Sungmin did not enjoy murder.
It was like that in the previous life, and it was still the same now. He had never found pleasure in killing others. It was natural for Lee Sungmin to avoid killing if there was no reason to.
But if he had to.
He felt sharp gazes fixed on him. Everyone in the village recognized Lee Sungmin as an enemy and was trying to kill him. Lee Sungmin glanced at the dead body of Kuromaru. He didn’t protect him since he had no intention of saving him. Should he have saved him? Lee Sungmin suddenly had such a thought.
It was too late to sit and think. He walked forward while activating his Defense Aura. He was able to use it freely once he reached transcendence. Lee Sungmin was able to use spear force even when he was at the peak, but the strength he was able to exert in the past compared to now was incomparable in every way.
“Can you hear me?”
Lee Sungmin asked with qi infusing to make his voice louder. His loud voice rang out across the village, but the magnitude of the killing intent didn’t change. Lee Sungmin thought that they were likely not just ignorant barbarians since there was no subsequent attack.
“I don’t want to fight you. If possible, I’d just like to talk.”
Lee Sungmin said out loud again. After a while, the atmosphere slightly eased up. Then a man jumped over the fence and stood in front of Lee Sungmin.
‘An expert.’
He was an expert who had already passed over the wall of the peak. However, he did not seem to be the transcendence level warrior he was looking for. The middle-aged man asked while looking into Lee Sungmin’s face.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Lee Sungmin.”
He tried not to feel too disappointed about it. Instead, Lee Sungmin replied with a slight nod. The man looked into his eyes, trying to get a glimpse of his level.
“Interesting. Your body is on the verge of transcendence, but your mind seems even further ahead.”
The man muttered in a small voice. Lee Sungmin asked the man without answering to his words.
“Who are you?”
“I am Kazuya.”
He replied. It was a name he knew. It wasn’t from the memory of his previous life, but Kazuya was the name of the clan leader, whom Kuromaru had mentioned a while back.
“As I said, I have no desire to fight you.”
“If so, thank you. A lot of people would have died if you had decided to go all out. There aren’t too many of us left. I don’t want to lose my head either.”
“Why did you kill Kuromaru?”
“Violation of law must be punished.”
Kazuya replied without changing his expression.
“Elder Nobuhiro must have died. It was unavoidable. There would have been a difference in skill, and it is only natural to try to preserve your own life. But when he saw the elder dying in front of him, he did not try to avenge him or even resist. The young kid who brought the enemy directly to the village’s front door must be punished.”
Kazuya said, looking down at Kuromaru’s body. It seemed to be the law of highest importance in this closed-off village.
“I will accept you as a guest in the village.”
Kazuya reached out. Lee Sungmin took the hand.
“Come in.”
When he went into the village with Kazuya, the clan’s patriarch, no one stopped them. Lee Sungmin had many things to ask, but he followed Kazuya to his home without question. In the meantime, he looked around at the houses with interest.
“A master of your level would be treated very well outside.”
“You are younger than me, but still far stronger than me. I do not want to face the wide world outside and despair. That’s why I live in this narrow forest.”
Kazuya said with a laugh. He guided him into a Japanese-style house. Lee Sungmin thought for a moment about Kazuya’s words. However, he did not tell Kazuya his thoughts.
“Do you know of Envirus?”
Lee Sungmin sat down with Kazuya in the room. Kazuya nodded at the big question.
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“He already left the forest about two months ago.”
Kazuya replied. Hearing that, Lee Sungmin frowned. He had pursued the traces left by Envirus through the information bought from Erebris, but he didn’t think he would be so close to meeting Envirus.
“Do you know where he went?”
“No.”
The problem was this. He had come all this way here, but if Envirus had left no traces, he would have an extremely hard time tracking him down. From the information purchased through Erebris, the last place Envirus had been seen was this place, the Sleeping Forest.
“What did Envirus do here?”
“Why are you looking for Envirus?”
He answered the question with a question. Lee Sungmin narrowed his eyes and stared at Kazuya. At that look, Kazuya gave a low laugh.
“You don’t have to look at me that way.”
“There is a reason I must meet him.”
“I wonder why.”
“I cannot answer.”
“You don’t answer my questions, but want all of your own questions to be answered.”
Lee Sungmin clenched his fists silently. Kazuya, who was staring at Lee Sungmin, opened his mouth.
“I don’t know whether the guest Envirus mentioned was you or not.”
“… Yes?”
“Before Envirus left, he told me. Someday in the future, someone will come to this forest and ask about him. When that time comes… ”
Kazuya rose up from his seat.
“I’d like it to get over with it sooner rather than later. Is it alright if we move right away?”
“Let’s do that.”
Lee Sungmin nodded and rose up from his seat as well.
Kazuya took Lee Sungmin outside the village. After passing the barrier, Kazuya said toward Lee Sungmin, who was following after him.
“Are you curious about the clan’s secrets?”
“I don’t think you’ll let me know if I ask.”
“To be precise, I can’t even tell you. It is said that we are looking for a secret garden, but we don’t even know what it is.”
Lee Sungmin could not understand those words. He posed a question to Kazuya’s back.
“Then… Why are you living in this forest?”
“Because we have to. Our souls are bound to the Sleeping Forest. Those born in this forest can never escape from here.”
“… Is it a curse?”
“It’s like this. Our clan has already lived several generations in this forest. Our bodies have become weak with repeated inbreeding. The clan’s techniques and martial arts have weakened and can no longer be transferred to the next generation. Sooner or later, our clan will die.”
Kazuya’s voice, while talking about this, was rather calm. It was as if he was waiting for that kind of end.
“I don’t know what the family’s secret is. Perhaps there was no such thing as a secret garden from the beginning. Maybe the word biwon was used to forcibly give a sense of purpose to the young ones to be born in the future. What is clear, however, is that our clan is not able to leave the forest and is defending something at the end of the forest.”
“You’re guardians then?”
“I don’t know. Can we be called guardians?”
Kazuya shook his head as if he did not know himself.
“The confounding formation targets the weak. It is impossible to live in this forest unless you’ve crossed the peak. The little ones don’t know that they were taking medicine to resist the confounding formation. The deeper the forest, the stronger the spell. I don’t know if you can withstand it.”
“I can probably hold out.”
“Huhu! It’s hard to resist the confounding formation even if you’re transcendent. That’s because it attacks the mind. I have an agreement with Envirus, So I will guide you, but I don’t know if you can overcome it.”
Kazuya’s footsteps stopped.
It was a mysterious sight. The trees were intertwined to make a huge wall that divided the massive forest in half. Lee Sungmin, who was looking at it, turned to Kazuya and asked.
“What is this?”
“It’s a wall. Do you see it?”
“I know it’s a wall.”
“You can’t go through this wall without the clan’s consent. Would you like to try though?”
Kazuya asked while looking at Lee Sungmin. He had a mischievous look that was unlike his age plastered on his face.
“If you succeed in breaking through this wall… ”
“What would you give me?”
“Well. When I think about it, there is nothing I can give. How about trying it out as a test?”
Lee Sungmin snickered at the overt suggestion. He lifted the spear off his back and passed Kazuya. When Lee Sungmin lifted the spear, a purple cloud surrounded the spear.
Kwaaang! When he stabbed his spear forward, a huge force burst out. However, the walls of the tree remained intact. It was no different even when he used his inner force to drive the spear. Lee Sungmin opened his eyes and looked at the wall.
“Right? It cannot be broken through by force. Even Envirus couldn’t do it.”
“But then, how did he get in?”
“I let him in. I was told to let him in.”
It was an unknown mechanism. Kazuya passed Lee Sungmin and walked forward. He reached out to the wall of the tree and recited something softly. It was a spell in an unknown language.
The entangled wall of wood disappeared.
“I can’t go any further.”
Kazuya looked back and turned around. Lee Sungmin watched Kazuya heading back toward the village for a while. Then he turned. There was a winding road at the place where the walls had disappeared. Lee Sungmin looked at the path for a moment and stepped forward.
Ah.
Aaah.
Aaaaaaah.
A sound started ringing in his ear. Confounding Formation. The unknown sound that befuddled the consciousness of those who entered the sleeping forest grew increasingly louder. It started buzzing in his mind. The greater the number of steps forward, the greater the effect. Its purpose wasn’t just to make him unconscious, but to drive him insane. The ominous ghost’s cry rang out in Lee Sungmin’s mind.
“Huuk.”
Lee Sungmin took a deep breath. It was not difficult to endure. It was just annoying to endure. This was a powerful mental attack. It was difficult to resist such a confounding formation even if one was transcendent. Lee Sungmin could see what Kazuya meant now. Even if one were an expert of the highest level, this kind of attack would be hard to endure.
But that wasn’t the case for Lee Sungmin. In the 2100 years, he had spent in his subconscious, his spirit had been destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the process, Lee Sungmin had nearly gone insane forever. But contradictorily, his ability to hold it together was now tens and hundreds of times stronger than before.
His mind would not collapse. He kept walking. Even though he felt annoyed, he wouldn’t run away. The winding road was quite lonely. Looking around, strangely, there were no trees visible. Only a thick, hazy fog could be seen ahead.
“I was confused.”
A loud voice filled the air, and Lee Sungmin stopped walking.
“Fate is usually predetermined and absolute. It’s not common for it to be distorted. So I was confused. The guy who visited a while ago also had a distorted fate. That’s why I let him inside.”
The thick fog hung like a veil. Lee Sungmin, who had stopped for a moment, headed forward again.
“Answer me. The one with the distorted fate. Have you returned?”
The voice asked. Lee Sungmin continued walking as something began to light up in the mist. Hundreds of fireflies seemed to shine around him.
Lee Sungmin’s steps stopped. The dark flames were swaying on a huge rock.
“What do you mean?”
Asked Lee Sungmin. The cloud of flame shaking on the rock swelled up.
“I asked if you came back.”
“What do you mean by coming back?”
“Have you experienced death?”
The flame asked. The moment Lee Sungmin tried to answer, the dancing flames split apart and flowed out, breaking apart the illusion. He could hear it chuckle and laugh while watching him.
“An ill-advised trick. If we weren’t on the rocks, I would never have allowed you to play such a trick.”
“Then my master would not have escaped this forest.”
The flames joined together to form one mass. A petite robe? It had taken the appearance of a girl. Lee Sungmin looked at the girl while blinking and asked a question.
“Exactly who are you?”
“I’m Envirus’ familiar.”
This wasn’t reality. Only his consciousness was transferred here through the magic engraved in this space. The flame flared up towards Envirus’ familiar.
“How annoying. I can’t believe they won’t even let us talk.”
“Because you are evil.”
“Haha! You judge me based on just one look? Even your master wouldn’t be able to judge me!”
The flames burst into laughter. The voice coming from the flame grew, and the number of lights flickering in the fog increased.
“Can you please explain the situation to me first?”
Said the clueless Lee Sungmin.