Chapter 56 – Peach Blossom Girl (12)

The Dead Slayer sword vibrated in the darkness. A golden light spread like an arrow through the sword’s body.

No matter how powerful a Sword Spirit was, it was rare for them to move on their own. It seemed as if it was doing everything it could to prevent its owner from being dragged by this demonic qi.

Seol Young looked at the doorway that opened.

The spirits hesitated.

They felt grateful to Seol Young. It was because when the spirits blocked them, he didn’t cut them down but sealed them, and now he was sending them away.

So they waited without leaving. They wanted to go together.

“I feel nice, but…”

Seol Young motioned for them to leave.

And he turned around…

He couldn’t help it after seeing this.

The evil spirit’s darkness had already taken over most of this place. And it wasn’t long until it would become complete.

How would they solve this?

The vibration from the Dead Slayer sword was becoming more intense. The sound of metal clashing pierced his ears.

And the Blue Rainbow sword resonated with it. It was trembling.

Seol Young looked at his sword.

“Why are you doing this?”

Blue Rainbow wasn’t a sword that communicated with him often. But at this moment, it seemed to be desperate to say something.

“I get it. Fine.”

Seol Young raised his sword high and threw it as hard as possible at the golden light that shone beyond the darkness.

And the Blue Rainbow sword flew straight, leaving a rainbow trail behind it. With the sound of the wind being cut, it moved right behind the Dead Slayer sword.

A bright blue light shone, and unlike before, the Mandala of Darkness couldn’t encroach on it. It was thanks to the sword in front that was blocking it.

When the two Sword Spirits joined forces, the situation seemed to improve.

It was fine now, but Seol Young didn’t have a weapon in hand to defend himself.

‘These are the times I need to stay calm.’

Seol Young thought so.

He was sure that there was a way out.

All the things he heard and saw when he was young, the knowledge he held then and what his teacher and his three hyungs taught him about slaying spirits, and the things he learned from books and stories…

After desperately going through everything in his mind…

That’s it!

Seol Young’s eyes followed the dark energy.

This mandala-like existence moved through space, but this place was a spirit world. This meant that neither the walls nor the floors had a physical ground.

And that told him that there was a way.

‘Axial Method.’

It felt like he should do it now.

The Axial Method was a technique to reduce land. In legends, one could travel thousands of miles in one go, like a footwork technique.

But that was an exaggerated legend.

The actual method was handed down among the shamans, and at best, it could reduce the time it takes to make two steps into one. Even so, it wouldn’t work much in the material world.

However, this was the spirit world.

Seol Young changed the spell for the Axial Method and reversed it. And when he cast it onto the floor, the space increased.

And as he thought.

The dark energy that engulfed this place didn’t increase, but the land without darkness grew. This was kind of a territorial battle.

This place was created by Dohwa, but this evil spirit had taken it, and now Seol Young was going to create his own.

The evil spirit had to take control of the consciousness of this man named Seol Young, but he had no intention of giving up now.

‘Nice.’

He hurriedly stepped back.

He took one to two steps at a time, and it required a lot of spiritual power. It was like making a patchwork on a piece of cloth that was torn and stitching it one after another accurately.

And after struggling for a considerable amount of time, he was finally able to reach the place guarded by the two Sword Spirits.

Zaha seemed unconscious.

He didn’t look dead, but even if he were dead, Seol Young had to bring his body back.

Seol Young was careful not to touch the Mandala of Darkness, and he grabbed Zaha by the collar and pulled him.

He felt no movement, and after bringing him to the safe side, he pulled out both swords and rummaged through the pockets in his robe.

He held out a piece of yellow paper to Zaha’s nose, and the paper moved lightly.

“He is not dead.”

He told the Dead Slayer sword, and he put it back in its sheath.

Now the next problem…

It was much harder for him to move around while carrying someone on his back. It would require more space.

Seol Young opened the way with extreme focus.

But…

He didn’t get very far as he suddenly heard a crackling sound.

It was the ghost door.

He looked up and saw that the spirits were colliding with each other in the air.

Seol Young was shocked.

“You didn’t leave?”

Right. The courtesans hadn’t left and were waiting for Seol Young, wanting to leave together.

But he couldn’t.

The energy of darkness that had spread out was growing closer to the door. The courtesans were already covering their ears and blocking its path.

The youngest ones were around the door, making sure the darkness didn’t get closer, and a couple of spirits looked at Seol Young. The door was slowly shutting down.

“Fools…”

Seol Young mumbled, but when he thought about it, he didn’t have the right to say that either.

“…”

Seol Young quietly held the plaques.

And he had to move, carrying Zaha’s body.

Now that the ghost door was closed, there was no place to escape.

When the caster moved away, the barrier he had made earlier also weakened. And because of that, it didn’t seem like it would last long.

Seol Young dragged Zaha’s body into the blue circle for now.

As soon as he entered, he pierced the written text with his sword and stabilized the barrier again.

He sat down and noticed the situation wasn’t good. The space was shaking even more. It felt like the space was going to be completely taken over.

He had a strong feeling that it was going to happen soon, and it felt like he was on a cart that was rolling down a cliff.

“Wake up.”

He shook Zaha, but there was no response.

“It looks like it is going to appear again.”

Still, no response.

He shook the man a couple more times, but suddenly, the darkness trembled. The mandala moved in different shapes and ran out of control.

… No.

Seol Young bit his lip.

He couldn’t help it.

He sat down and cut his left hand with his sword. The blood dripped onto the letters in the center of the barrier.

When the blood landed on the text, it was immediately absorbed.

The barrier turned from blue to red, and the letters that were floating around it began to give off heat.

Seol Young began to recite the mantras he could think of.

‘… Answer my call!’

A glowing form appeared in each of the twelve directions of the barrier.

The zodiac.

All were armed and girded with belts that fluttered in the wind. As the zodiacs appeared, their spears and swords shone brightly, and all their faces were stern.

They weren’t illusions cast by his spirit qi. They were vivid advents, close to incarnations. Only with this level of power could he put an end to this.

The weight of the twelve zodiacs weighed on the space, and the mandala running rampant lost its place and began to turn around and around.

“…”

Seol Young looked at it for a moment.

He was successful, but he had to pour almost all his remaining spiritual energy into that spell.

Will he be able to use even one talisman now?

He laughed bitterly.

Wouldn’t someone from the outside notice this situation?

It wasn’t like he didn’t think of it, but he knew it was impossible.

‘Is this the end?’

Of course, he planned to hold on until he was about to die. But it was true that this was unfortunate.

He looked at Zaha, who was still unconscious.

Still, he didn’t seem to have any major trauma, and his breathing wasn’t raspy, so he thought Zaha would wake up soon.

‘I don’t know…’

And when he thought so, he was shocked.

He was always cursed as a troublemaker who ruined the past, present, and even the possible future of people.

But he was now reflecting on it.

Why did he acquire such evil strength? Why did he follow me? Why did he keep lying and cheating?

It was disappointing from all sides.

And now the man is passed out? Comfortably in such a situation? No way.

“Wake up.”

Seol Young pushed him with his foot.

But he didn’t even budge.

So he pushed harder, and depending on how one looked, it looked more like a kick.

There was still no response.

But instead…

Something rolled down from his body.

Seol Young’s eyes widened. An object with a golden color.

‘Golden thread….’

He forgot about it for a while, and he tried so hard to find out what it was….

‘I never thought it would appear on its own like this.’

Seol Young stared at the object.

It looked like it was a part of something and fell off. Seeing that there was a loop, it seemed to be a chain.

‘A broken chain…’

That was what it was.

He felt strange.

What was the use of knowing this? This was the end.

He surely felt it.

But if he was going to die, he wanted to at least clear up his curiosity.

What was the identity of that familiar sensation that he felt the moment he held it in his hand?

He thought he could find out something about it, so he reached out and picked it up.