As Baek Yoonjun and Zhang Sanfeng entered the fog, sounds came from two directions.

Tap... tap... tap...

One was a bizarre sound, as if tapping a bone.

"Aaaaaah!!"

The other was a desperate scream.

Hearing the scream, Baek Yoonjun turned his body in that direction without looking back.

'Yuhwa!!'

That was definitely Tang Yuhwa's scream.

For a child who usually didn't even have an intonation in her speech, let alone a loud voice, to be screaming like that, Baek Yoonjun's heart could not help but sink.

On the other hand, unlike Baek Yoonjun, Zhang Sanfeng coolly listened to and analyzed the two sounds.

'The woman's desperate sound is a trap. To stop this wicked technique, I must stop the sound of the bone being tapped.'

Zhang Sanfeng stopped Baek Yoonjun, who seemed about to leave the place at any moment.

"Brother Baek, are you going that way?"

"I hear Yuhwa's scream from this way!"

Since Zhang Sanfeng had grasped the situation, he wanted to lead Baek Yoonjun to where the sound of the bone was heard.

However.

'Brother Baek. Unlike usual, he looks anxious.'

To him, Baek Yoonjun was an unpretentious and frugal but perfect human.

Seeing him being shaken humanly, Zhang Sanfeng's heart could not help but be shaken as well.

"I understand. Brother Baek, please save the person. I will catch the monster."

Having exchanged a brief glance, the two turned their backs without hesitation and rushed in their respective directions.

And so, Baek Yoonjun, who had moved forward.

'The direction of the sound keeps changing.'

He frowned as he could not move forward as he had thought.

Although he was using his five senses and his qi sense, he could not reach the source of the sound.

'Is this fog scattering my sense of direction and qi sense? Or is it that sound like a bone being tapped...?'

Although Baek Yoonjun was constantly thinking and moving, he could not get closer to the source of the sound.

"Aah!! Aaaah..."

Even at that moment, the scream, which had been growing louder, now began to grow smaller, as if it had burned all its flames.

'Damn it! Yuhwa!!'

Baek Yoonjun's heart became anxious.

'If I move the wind and blow away everything around, I might be able to see...'

But since he had handed over a considerable amount of his wind to Gu Wolju, Baek Yoonjun could not use a great power.

And if he were to bring back the wind, all the people outside would die.

'If it were normal, there would be no problem...'

Moreover, this fog was not only melting people, jiangshi, and objects, but also the energy of nature, and even the wind protecting Baek Yoonjun was decreasing in real time.

'There's no time.'

He didn't know what would happen if all the current wind was exhausted.

Baek Yoonjun became anxious.

But perhaps because the fog was melting even the surrounding energy of nature, his body felt sluggish.

'When I get one thing, I lack another. Damn it.'

It was just now that he had realized that he did not need internal energy because he could handle the energy of nature itself.

But because of the fog, the surrounding energy of nature was rapidly decreasing.

'Of all times, I can't handle the Heart Sword now...'

The Heart Sword, a sword that cuts concepts, might be able to cut even this absurd fog.

'Please let me use it. If not now, when will I use it?'

Moving, Baek Yoonjun continued to contemplate his mind-image.

'Move! Move!!'

The sword in his mind-image, which did not budge.

Baek Yoonjun tried to forcibly grab and tear out the Heart Sword.

And so, after a long tug-of-war with the Heart Sword in his mind-image.

'I couldn't draw out the Heart Sword itself. But.'

He succeeded in drawing out the energy of the Heart Sword like internal energy.

The energy of the Heart Sword, flowing like internal energy in his body.

"Cough."

Perhaps because he had forcibly drawn it out, a considerable burden was placed on his body, and a stream of fresh blood flowed from the corner of Baek Yoonjun's mouth.

At the sensation of the qi and blood in his whole body being twisted, Baek Yoonjun's impression was naturally frowned upon, but.

'Let's think about it later.'

Enduring the pain in his body by gritting his teeth, he used his qi sense and moved his feet.

Although the energy of the Heart Sword, which had spread outwards, was also melting as the energy of nature continued to melt.

'Found it!'

Baek Yoonjun sensed the life energy of two beings in the fog.

'Two people?'

Although he didn't know why there were two, Baek Yoonjun quickly moved towards that place.

'Let's hurry.'

A moment later, a cocoon-like thing surrounded by a hemisphere came into view in the fog.

'Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon. You finally did it.'

Having identified the cocoon-like thing, Baek Yoonjun approached it, drew the Black Iron Dark Night, and cut the Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon.

Sizzle.

'The blade of the Black Iron Dark Night, which is not easily damaged, was damaged.'

Baek Yoonjun swung the Black Iron Dark Night, which was in an unusual state, to shake off the traces of poison on it and sheathed it.

Inside the cut Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon, there were two people.

One was Tang Yuhwa, with an appearance as if her life had ended, which she had never shown Baek Yoonjun before.

'Sister Suhye?'

The other was Cheon Suhye, who was lying on the ground.

Although Cheon Suhye seemed to be unconscious, a faint purple aura around her body was blocking the fog from reaching her body.

'Sister Suhye will be fine for a while. The problem is Yuhwa.'

Baek Yoonjun continued to approach Tang Yuhwa.

"Ma... ster...?"

As he approached, perhaps because she had noticed his presence, Tang Yuhwa looked at him with a half-dead appearance.

At her haggard appearance, which he had never seen before, Baek Yoonjun's heart ached.

"Yuhwa."

"Master..."

"It's okay. It'll be okay."

At Baek Yoonjun's worried words, Tang Yuhwa seemed to not even have the energy to answer.

At Tang Yuhwa's unusual condition, Baek Yoonjun hurriedly placed his hand on her back.

'Normally, I would have to use internal energy.'

Baek Yoonjun moved the energy of the Heart Sword.

Since it was not moving freely as usual, and he had to move it using his qi and blood to properly interfere with Tang Yuhwa's qi and blood and her dantian, the Ten Thousand Poison Field, it was more strenuous than usual.

'Keuk. My condition is not good, and trying to move the energy along the qi and blood is killing me.'

Baek Yoonjun made the energy of the Heart Sword move along his qi and blood, imitating internal energy, and tried to contemplate Tang Yuhwa's insides through it.

But a moment later.

Sizzle.

The poison essence began to infiltrate from Baek Yoonjun's palm.

'This poison is...'

Although Baek Yoonjun was resistant to most poisons, he could not block all the poison due to Tang Yuhwa's current condition.

The way Tang Yuhwa originally used poison was to combine the poison essences of the Ten Thousand Poison Field to create poisons with various effects.

The only poison with killing power that she had created was the Heavenly Tear.

But now, those uncontrolled poison essences had begun to entangle themselves at will.

'Fatal poisons other than the Heavenly Tear have been created.'

Baek Yoonjun was flustered by the numerous fatal poisons.

'If Yuhwa had intended to kill...'

Although Baek Yoonjun was flustered by the possibility of Tang Yuhwa's killing, that time was not long.

His palm was turning blackish, and his sensation was disappearing.

'This won't do.'

At the unusual energy of the poison, Baek Yoonjun took his hand off.

It was a situation where even Baek Yoonjun could not carelessly interfere with Tang Yuhwa due to the poisons whose types he could not identify at all.

'If I'm not careful, I'll die.'

Of course, it wasn't that he was sparing his life now.

Since his past life, his own life was a light thing to Baek Yoonjun.

But he had no confidence that he could fix Tang Yuhwa even if he risked his life now.

'Damn it. Is there no way?'

Although it was a very short time, numerous thoughts went back and forth in Baek Yoonjun's mind.

And so, as time continued to pass, Baek Yoonjun, in his anxiety, came up with one possibility.

'Should I use the lock?'

The lock of the heart, which he had only one left.

'If not now, when will I use it?'

Thinking that his calmed self would find a way that suited the current situation, Baek Yoonjun put a lock on his heart.

For some reason, the lock of the heart he had put on this time felt so firm that it would never be unlocked.

---

Marquis of Wu.

At the last moment of his life, facing the cooling autumn wind of Wuzhang Plains, he was glaring at the sky with bloodshot eyes.

"Heavens! How can you be so heartless!!"

He coughed up blood and poured out the loyalty and resentment he had devoted his whole life to.

"Leaving my thatched cottage and wandering the world for decades... I, your subject, have never once coveted personal gain! Only for my lord and the people, I have worked and worked until this one body burned like a candle!"

In front of his eyes, the memory of that day, which was etched in his bones, flashed by like a phantom.

"Shangfang Valley... yes, that day! The day I trapped him in a sea of fire and could finally end the chaos of the world!"

In his wide-open eyes, his blood vessels swelled as if they would burst at any moment.

"Why! Why did you make it rain on that dry sky! Why did you let him live at the very moment I was about to destroy evil!"

To plan is man, to achieve is heaven.

Was it said that to plan is man, but to achieve is heaven?

"The heavens are not fair. The heavens did not help those who strive! They were never just!!"

The eyes of the genius, who had always been at ease, were now dyed with a deep madness and a sense of betrayal.

"I am not the one who is wrong. Heavens, you are the one who is wrong!!"

Red tears of blood flowed from his wide-open eyes.

"The whim of the heavens has ruined the world!"

His fingertips headed for the rough stone tablet in front of him.

He began to scratch the stone tablet like a madman.

"I will surely leave behind an absolute providence that will replace that foolish heaven!"

Crack.

His fingers were bizarrely twisted and broken.

But his hand did not stop.

"Life and death will not be the will of the heavens, but will be placed under my calculations!"

Even when his skin was peeled off and his white bones were revealed, he did not stop scratching the stone tablet.

"Strength and weakness will also not be a destined fate, but will be changed according to my touch!"

The blood flowing from his hand began to flow along the grooves that had been dug out by his frantic scratching.

"Space and law will only exist within the eight gates that I have set! If I command fire not to burn, it will be extinguished, and if I command water not to flow, it will stop. Within my domain, I will become the universe!"

The red blood flowed ominously and completely filled the grooves.

"Furthermore, cause and effect is not something that flows, but something that I decide! Whatever the process, the result will be my victory... A perfect future where no variables or coincidences are allowed will unfold!"

On the stone tablet, the red blood, containing his resentment, writhed and took on a strange form on its own, becoming a living curse and a record.

"Emotions, mercy, and expectations for the heavens are not needed. Only an absolute reason that derives only results! An omniscience that holds the world in the palm of its hand and plays with it!"

There, was no longer the respected chancellor of the Shu Han.

Only a single demon, having lost its reason, was roaring ominously and scratching the stone tablet.

"The one who obtains this formation diagram, he will become the new heaven!"

Thud.

The demon's figure stopped.

The end of life.

Even at that moment, he stood there as if nailed to the spot, with his eyes wide open.

In front of him, was left the legacy of one who had tried to kill the heavens, which humans could not handle, and become the heavens.

The Wuhou Eight Gates Formation Diagram.

It was a curse and a declaration of war that would not rot even after a thousand years, thrown at the heavens by a despaired genius who had become a demon.

---

Baek Yoonjun felt a sense of incongruity different from when he had put a lock on his heart before.

The lock that had seemed as if it would break at any moment before was now closed so firmly that it seemed it would never open.

'It's as if my heart has disappeared.'

He felt neither fear, nor anxiety, nor even pity for his disciple.

Only a cold reason remained, analyzing the situation.

He had definitely come here to save Tang Yuhwa.

'But, the chances are low.'

Baek Yoonjun quietly drew the Black Iron Dark Night.

'If I leave her like this, the poison will spread in all directions and destroy all life here.'

The blade of the Black Iron Dark Night, which had been damaged by the poison, shone ominously in the fog.

'If so, cutting off the root of the trouble is the most rational judgment.'

Baek Yoonjun quietly brought down the Black Iron Dark Night towards Tang Yuhwa's neck.

---

Zhang Sanfeng was wandering in the fog, following the ominous sound.

'It feels like all my senses, including my qi sense, are in a mess.'

Tap... tap... tap...

The ominous sound was definitely heard from not far away.

But now that his senses were in a mess.

No matter how he moved his feet in that direction, he could not get closer to the source of the sound.

'Just moving around will be a waste of stamina.'

Zhang Sanfeng stopped on the spot.

'This space that scatters the senses. There is no answer in just moving.'

Standing still, he calmly analyzed the situation and searched for possibilities.

'A wicked sound. This sound was neutralized by the Buddhist scriptures of Miss Hyang and Monk Hyejin. If so, it will definitely react to a pure energy.'

Having organized his thoughts, Zhang Sanfeng gathered his internal energy.

What he had realized was the mystery of the Taiji, which was circulation.

'The Taiji is circulation itself. Circulation is the flow of the world.'

The enlightenment of the Taiji that had bloomed when he had first met Baek Yoonjun.

After that, Zhang Sanfeng had continued to train and had achieved a considerable accomplishment.

But it was true that he had been stagnant for a while.

And now.

'The water that flows in circulation does not rot, and the turning wind is not blocked. A wicked sound is also just a noise in front of this great flow.'

Zhang Sanfeng began to take a step further than before.

His internal energy began to circulate according to the mystery of the Taiji, and like his enlightenment, it began to become more and more pure.

His pure internal energy began to gradually drive out the wicked sound.

"Is it that way!"

The wicked sound, which was gradually losing its place, made him confirm where its source was.

Kicking off from his spot, Zhang Sanfeng swung his sword towards where the source of the sound was.

The Jinmu Sword that Gu Wolju had given to Zhang Sanfeng before.

The Jinmu Sword accepted Zhang Sanfeng's pure internal energy, shone with a blue light, and emitted an aura of exorcism.

Slice.

The being that was making the wicked sound was split in two by Zhang Sanfeng's hand.

He quietly examined what he had cut down.

A jiangshi.

The only difference from the other jiangshi was that it was holding a skull in its hand and tapping it, even while its body was melting in the fog.

'Did a single jiangshi create this commotion?'

Zhang Sanfeng frowned at the strange, uneasy feeling.

At that moment.

Tap... tap... tap...

That ominous sound was heard again, not from where the cut-down jiangshi was, but from another place.

'As expected, this wasn't the end.'

Although Zhang Sanfeng was flustered, he immediately composed himself and rushed towards where the sound was heard.

Slice.

This time too, what was cut down was a jiangshi tapping a skull.

'Is this the end?'

This time too, Zhang Sanfeng could not erase the reluctant feeling.

And as if his ominous premonition had hit the mark.

Tap... tap... tap...

The wicked and ominous sound, this time, began to echo from all directions at the same time.

(End of Chapter)