Chapter 15 Ghost Gate

Chapter 15 Ghost Gate

Finally, the Ghost Gate opened.

It was accompanied by a powerful wave of Aura of Evil, strong enough for any Martial Artist gathered in Wu’an County to perceive.

The sudden opening of the Ghost Gate. Even though it was just the day after the Peng Clan members arrived, the Martial Artists acted with cool heads.

The location of the Ghost Gate had already been pinpointed under the command of the Lee Clan Manor, so as soon as the gate opened, the Martial Artists moved directly to their assigned positions.

Namgung-woo was among them, rushing to the location he was assigned to with the Yang brothers.

“Couldn’t we just destroy it before it opened?”

“It’s possible, but…”

“We don’t have any diviners.”

“Is it difficult with Martial Arts?”

“That’s also possible, but…”

“Only for a select few strong masters!”

A select few strong masters, indeed.

Could he, Namgung-woo, accomplish it if he exerted his full power? He questioned himself.

Meanwhile, Yang Jeong snapped at Yang Kwae, who kept interrupting him.

“Stop cutting me off, Brother!”

“You talk too much, man. Time is of the essence. There hasn’t been a signal yet, has there?”

“None at all. We might be the first to encounter them.”

“Tsk. I told them to put a scout on the Ghost Gate beforehand. Falling for the Peng Clan’s name like that…”

Yang Kwae clicked his tongue.

“They said it was below Azure, didn’t they? So they got complacent.”

“Below Azure?”

“It’s a grading system for Ghost Gates and Demons/spirits. They’re named after the Five Cardinal Colors of the rainbow.”

Namgung-woo was more familiar with the seven colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, azure, indigo, violet), but that was the Western style; in the East, the rainbow was seen as having five colors.

Yellow. Red. Azure. Black. White.

They were evaluated based on the intensity of their aura and actual danger level, with Yellow being the lowest and White the highest.

Once Yang Jeong finished his explanation, Yang Kwae casually asked, “Doesn’t the Yaoping Escort Agency teach you things like that?”

“Ah, I haven’t been with them for very long.”

Including the time Namgung-woo spent as a guest, it would have been about half a month, but he had only started claiming to be from the Yaoping Escort Agency three days ago, after agreeing with Peng Choyul.

Either way, it was a very short period.

“Really? Anyway, if it’s below Azure, it’s either Yellow or Red. It’s not that terrifying. If it’s Yellow, even commoners who haven’t practiced Martial Arts can somehow fend them off!”

“It’s probably Red. With five Peak Transcendence Masters from the Peng Clan and the Lee Clan Manor Lord here, there shouldn’t be a big problem.”

“It’s an excellent opportunity to gain experience, that’s what I mean.”

The color grading seemed quite absolute, as the Yang brothers grew more relaxed and talkative.

Their reactions and explanations eased Namgung-woo’s tension, and he prioritized satisfying his curiosity.

“But why do they use rainbow colors? Isn’t a rainbow an auspicious omen?”

“A rainbow? Well, people used to see it that way, so it’s not entirely wrong, but now it’s only considered an ill omen.”

“And, most importantly, the being that first emerged from the Ghost Gate was like that.”

“The first Ghost Gate?”

“Yes. What emerged from the first opened Ghost Gate was a colossal dragon. A massive dragon clad in brilliant, five-colored scales.”

“They call it the Rainbow Dragon. And the prevailing opinion is that it’s the progenitor of all Monsters and Demons.”

Namgung-woo found it somewhat strange to consider something the progenitor just because it appeared first.

Before answering that, Yang Jeong asked, “Do you know Nuwa?”

“Nuwa? The mythical goddess who created humans?”

“You know her well. That’s right. They say she molded humans from clay in her own image. Those created this way later became nobles, while those made by scattering ropes dipped in mud, not by hand, became commoners.”

“Bullshit.”

Ignoring Yang Kwae’s interjection, Yang Jeong continued, “The Rainbow Dragon is similar. They say that when it flapped its wings, Demonic Beasts came into being.”

“So, isn’t it natural to grade their territory by the colors of the rainbow?”

“So that’s how it was…”

Namgung-woo felt as if he had uncovered another secret of the world.

There was still so much Namgung-woo didn’t know about this world. About the Martial World, and about its history.

‘When I go to Beijing, it would be good to diligently study worldly affairs and historical knowledge.’

But that was a thought for after this battle.

Namgung-woo sensed an unfamiliar aura approaching and immediately reported it.

“I feel an Aura of Evil nearby. It seems we’ll be the first to encounter them.”

The two brothers’ reactions to Namgung-woo’s briefing were quite dramatic.

“What? You can feel that?”

“Come to think of it, you were also the first to notice the Peng Clan members arriving at the Lee Clan Manor…”

“Hey, Junior Brother! Have you perhaps mastered some special detection ability?”

“Not really… I just have good Qi Senses.”

Namgung-woo vaguely brushed off the existence of his Azure Serenity Eyes as merely having good intuition, then gauged the distance to the alien aura he felt from the other side.

At this speed, they would clash in less than ten minutes.

‘No, if they’re moving too, we’ll meet even faster.’

“They’re moving too. We’ll meet soon.”

“Well, Junior Brother, you had a hidden card up your sleeve.”

“I’m starting to feel it too. Let’s get ready.”

The Yang brothers’ spiritual aura began to change. Unlike before, when they were focused solely on running, they now entered a combat stance, and a fierce Aura erupted from them.

If ordinary people saw this, they might think, ‘This is what a Martial Artist looks like,’ but they would be mistaken.

To Namgung-woo, it merely looked like they were leaking Internal Energy because they couldn’t properly control it.

Namgung-woo’s disappointment didn’t end there. In his eyes, their Light Body Arts were below expectations. Despite possessing pure and potent Internal Energy, they weren’t utilizing it effectively.

To Namgung-woo, who used the Internal Energy of the Heavenly Thunder Emperor’s Divine Art, which belonged to the same Thunder Qi system, their Light Body Technique was crude beyond belief.

To possess the Thunder Qi, said to be the fastest in the world, and yet move at this speed? At first, he wondered if they were conserving Internal Energy before a battle, but observing them, he realized that wasn’t the case.

Though its quality was slightly inferior to the Heavenly Thunder Qi of the Heavenly Thunder Emperor’s Divine Art, the discrepancy was utterly incomprehensible.

Namgung-woo could see this in their Blade Art as well.

Shhhk!

Finally, they encountered a Demon/spirit.

The blades of Yang Kwae and Yang Jeong sliced through its translucent body.

The Demon/spirit’s body was torn apart by the brothers’ blades, imbued with the power of Qi-Infused Sword, which channeled Internal Qi into their weapons.

However, despite cutting it down with a single strike, the brothers’ expressions were far from pleased.

“Damn it! We got a tough one!”

“A Spectral Fiend… This is the worst.”

The two brothers spoke with exasperation, adjusting their positions. They stood in front, protecting Namgung-woo, who was behind them.

“Junior Brother, your Qi Senses are sharp, so focus on pinpointing the enemy’s location as much as possible.”

“I’ll help too.”

Namgung-woo placed his hand on his Sword hilt, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

He had deliberately waited to observe the brothers’ skills, but had they mistaken his patience for fear or an inability to follow the Demon/spirit’s movements? Yang Jeong stopped Namgung-woo, who was about to step forward between them, and began to explain.

“These are Spectral Fiends. Their bodies are made of Qi, so ordinary attacks can’t harm them. You need at least a Qi-Infused Sword to cut them.”

They were incredibly difficult to kill, and even when killed, they yielded no valuable byproducts.

They were the most avoided targets for wandering martial artists searching for Ghost Gates.

“Normally, you’d need to be a Sword Qi Master to completely annihilate them, but our brothers’ Internal Force is unique, allowing for annihilation.”

“In that sense, we’re lucky. Or rather, unlucky.”

Thunderbolts have long been believed to possess the power of exorcising evil.

There’s a reason why thunder-struck jujube wood was said to repel Demons/spirits.

“But if that’s the case, what about the wandering martial artists on the side without the Peng Clan members and the Lee Clan Manor Lord?”

“…There’s nothing we can do. We have to consider it their fate.”

“It’s a harsh truth, but it’s correct. For now, our goal should be to retreat as safely as possible. The Gate Closing… we’ll have to leave that to the Peng Clan Martial Artists.”

Did it really have to be that way?

Namgung-woo wanted to see the Ghost Gate with his own eyes.

He had heard that the Ghost Gate was less a simple transcendence of space and time and more a portal connected to an entirely different world.

If so, could he find a clue to return to his original world through it?

With his Azure Serenity Eyes, Namgung-woo was sure he could uncover something.

Shhhk!

With a clear ringing sound, his sword was drawn. As Namgung-woo infused Internal Qi into the high-quality sword, a gift from the Yaoping Escort Agency for Chae-ji’s benefactor, a resplendent Sword Cry began to emanate.

The deep sound, impossible to imagine coming from a mere second-rate martial artist, made the Yang brothers’ heads involuntarily snap back.

“Junior Brother?”

“Young Hero?”

Leaving the astonished Yang brothers behind, Namgung-woo instantly drew the approaching Spectral Fiends into his sword domain.

And just as the Spectral Fiends lunged their hideous claws at the brothers, whose defenses had faltered as they lost focus, staring at him—

Namgung-woo’s sword finally cleaved through the air.

Whizzz! Slice!

A light Single sword strike.

Yet its aftermath was anything but light.

The brilliant platinum energy condensed on his blade took the form of a sharp edge, shattering the Spectral Fiends that had been targeting the brothers’ backs.

The cross-section left by his precise Sword Strike, utterly different from the brothers’ tearing Blade Strikes, was as smooth as glass.

It was a Sword Qi of an entirely different caliber than the half-formed Sword Qi forcibly squeezed out by so-called Top-tier Martial Artists; it was an exquisitely honed Sword Qi.

Moreover, it wasn’t merely infusing Sword Qi into the sword, but an ultimate technique of Flying Sword Qi, carrying Sword Qi on the Sword Wind.

“What in the…?”

“You weren’t hiding thirty percent, but ninety percent.”

Yang Kwae was utterly dumbfounded, while Yang Jeong, though his eyes trembled, struggled to maintain his composure.

The two brothers, forgetting that their lives had been hanging by a thread, replayed the incredible Single sword strike Namgung-woo had just displayed.

“From now on, I’ll take the lead. We’re going straight to the Ghost Gate, so if you want to follow, stick close and don’t fall behind.”

Namgung-woo walked past the brothers, who stood frozen like stone statues, and moved forward.

His gaze was fixed on the distance.

Towards the Ghost Gate, which was spewing forth streams of Aura of Evil, far beyond the level of the Spectral Fiends.