King Shura

That was how Jo Gi Chun set it up.

‘Haha. Did he perhaps change the whole of the formation by himself?’

It was unbelievable, but it seemed that was what actually happened. The boy was truly amazing. He didn’t know how the boy managed this. The boy just kept on surprising him.

Drrr….

The stone wall was trying to restore itself.

It was time for him to make a decision.

Jo Gi Chun didn’t know how the boy managed to complete an unstable formation like this, as this didn’t even remotely resemble the formation he gave the boy. Because of that, the risk he was trying to take was even more dangerous.

‘Dangerous?’

Jo Gi Chun smiled bitterly. Going into a formation he didn’t know about was suicide. Normally, he’d try to observe the flow of the formation, calculate answers based on the observation, and recalculate until he became sure that the answer he came up with would break the formation.

But Jo Gi Chun couldn’t do that right now. Cho Ryu Hyang was surely in this formation. The boy was his first disciple, and his disciple managed to get in this situation because of the homework Jo Gi Chun gave the boy. Hesitating here would simply be a waste of time. Jo Gi Chun walked towards the entrance, stroking his beard with a trembling hand.

The first transformation in the Eight Gates Restraining formation.

Jo Gi Chun wasn’t sure of how powerful the transformation would be.

The moment Jo Gi Chun was entering the formation, Cho Ryu Hyang was wiping his forehead.

‘I was lucky.’

He was really lucky. It seemed that his senses triumphed over math for the first time.

The tsunami turned into a giant ocean in a flash. But the place Cho Ryu Hyang stayed in wasn’t flooded at all. While looking at this strange phenomenon, Cho Ryu Hyang scratched his head. This was quite troubling.

After a while, the first transformation will end. The second transformation would begin immediately after. How should Cho Ryu Hyang endure through the next transformation? Just a while ago, he was able to live because there were only 2 choices. There was a 50/50 chance of living.

But after this? There’s 3 choices. Would he be lucky like last time? Thinking that, Cho Ryu Hyang made a pained face.

[There’s an intruder.]

When Cho Ryu Hyang heard this voice in his head, he immediately turned his head. He could see a figure far away from him. And this person was someone Cho Ryu Hyang knew well.

“Teacher?”

In the dark depths of the ocean. Under the great sea, an old man was slowly walking with a tired expression. It was Jo Gi Chun.

Cho Ryu Hyang stood up in surprise, and stepped forward. The moment he did so, a voice came into his mind.

[You really are an idiot….]

His sight became messed up. The sea came at him full force. Cho Ryu Hyang’s whole body became heavy, as his clothes got wet. But Cho Ryu Hyang endured this and grit his teeth. He knew what was coming at him this time.

But he still moved. His teacher was in danger. He didn’t know why his teacher was here. No, he didn’t need to know. To Cho Ryu Hyang, none of that was important right now.

‘I need to save him.’

Cho Ryu Hyang stabilized his body as much as possible, trying not to be swept away from the waves. His teacher was saying something towards him since a while back. Looking at the teacher, Cho Ryu Hyang tried imitating what the teacher was saying with his mouth,

‘Look at your… meet?’

Just what did that mean? Cho Ryu Hyang could feel that his body was running out of breath quickly. His chest was tightening.

Seeing that, Jo Gi Chun’s face showed urgency, and he started to repeat what he was saying earlier. Cho Ryu Hyang caught something then. He could see his teacher come towards him with a weird footwork.

‘Look at your feet?’

That was it.

Cho Ryu Hyang understood what his teacher was trying to say. Jo Gi Chun was walking as if he was drunk since a while back. But would walking like that really help? Cho Ryu Hyang tried to imitate his teacher, but the situation just got worse. His body got heavier, and the waves got fiercer.

surawang_12

Right then.

[You idiot! When are you planning to use the technique I gave you!]

Cho Ryu Hyang came back to his senses.

The thing the old man taught him?

He then realized. This was a formation. A fake space created by humans. And he had the power to be able to look at the truth of the world at will.

‘The Faultless View of The World!’

Cho Ryu Hyang narrowed his eyes, after taking a deep breath. He could barely make out numbers that got strewn on the ground with his eyes. He started to walk towards a brightly shining blue number under him without realizing it.

“Eh?”

The pressure that pushed him down disappeared. He could breath again. Cho Ryu Hyang looked at his teacher in surprise. Jo Gi Chun, too, stared at Cho Ryu Hyang with a surprised expression.

Then, the blue number he was standing on started turning red. Then, the pressure returned, and Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t breath. He stepped towards another blue number in front. After walking in such a way for a while, he reached his teacher.

“Teacher!”

Jo Gi Chun had a really surprised expression. He asked his disciple a question.

“When did you learn the Disintegration Steps (破毁步) technique?”

“Disintegration Steps?”

Cho Ryu Hyang tried to think of what the teacher was talking about. He soon thought up of the teacher’s strange walking technique, and shook his head.

“I never learned such a thing.”

“Then how did you walk around the formation?”

Jo Gi Chun was really confused. When he came in and solved various problems to break through the walls, he could reach the place where his disciple was. It seemed that his student had thankfully gone to the door of life.

But relief won’t stay for long. The situation would get worse when the second transformation happens. He was walking towards his disciple by solving equations as quick as possible, but Cho Ryu Hyang just made a strange face, and walked straight to him.

This action just surprised Jo Gi Chun so much, he almost fell from where he was standing.

He did tell his student to try and imitate him, but he didn’t expect his disciple to be able to do it. But look at what happened! His disciple seemed a little lost in thought for a while, but after that, the boy came to him in a faster speed than he.

The boy managed to figure out the secret behind the disintegration steps? This wasn’t simply a matter of discussing whether the boy was a genius or not. Even Confucius wouldn’t be able to achieve the boy’s feat.

“Let’s get out of here, then talk.”

“Yes.”

“Follow me.”

“Yes sir.”

Jo Gi Chun walked carefully. He completed an equation which would take a normal man tens of tries to get right in an instant. Cho Ryu Hyang looked at him carefully. He didn’t know how teacher did it, but somehow his teacher managed to step on the blue numbers accurately without fail. How could his teacher do this without even knowing the Faultless View?

‘Amazing.’

Cho Ryu Hyang’s teacher surely was looking at the formation differently than he.

He wanted to know how the teacher viewed the formation badly, but this was a bad time.

‘I should’ve used the Faultless View from the start.’

If he did that, he wouldn’t have gotten so lost like that back there…… While Cho Ryu Hyang was regretting what happened before, a voice rang in his mind.

[Don’t try to get everything the easy way, boy. What you went through today will surely aid you in the future.]

Cho Ryu Hyang, who momentarily forgot about the being in his head, scratched his cheeks.

‘Well, thank you.’

If it wasn’t for the old man, Cho Ryu Hyang would’ve been a burden to his teacher, by stepping out of the safe zone. While he was thinking that, a suspicion rose in his mind.

‘Was the formation I made this big?’

They were walking around for almost half an hour, but they have yet to see the exit. The formation he drew in the real world was small, which should’ve affected the size of the formation here, too. At Cho Ryu Hyang’s suspicion, the old man smiled.

[You guys are just walking in circles.]

Cho Ryu Hyang nodded his head. In a formation, your sense of direction completely vanishes. It felt like they were going the right way, but that wasn’t necessarily true. While CHo Ryu Hyang was organizing his thoughts that way, his teacher stopped walking.

“It’s here.”

Cho Ryu Hyang looked around. It was an empty space. There was nothing special about it. His teacher smiled.

“Look carefully.”

When his teacher stepped forward, the teacher’s whole body disappeared. When Cho Ryu Hyang followed, the whole world went bright.

“Are you alright, elder?”

“I’m alright.”

While Um Seung Do and Jo Gi Chun were exchanging words with each other, Cho Ryu Hyang tried to regain his surroundings. Wasn’t he just walking around in the seafloor? To think that was nothing but an illusion……. Cho Ryu Hyang spaced out for a moment. Then, he started seeing something. The formation he made…….

‘This…….’

It was different. The stones he put there was broken to pieces.

“Just what happened?”

When Jo Gi Chun walked to him while massaging his shoulder, Cho Ryu Hyang came back to his senses and spoke.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, teacher.“

Jo Gi Chun nodded, and asked again.

“Yes, regarding that, how did you manage to activate the formation? And how did you know about the Disintegration steps?”

“That’s…….”

When Cho Ryu Hyang was about to explain what happened, he looked at Um Seung Do, who was looking at Cho Ryu Hyang at the moment.

“Before that, who’s he?”

Jo Gi Chun seemed to think of that just now, and opened his mouth.

“This man needs my help, it seems. He came from the Heavenly Demon Church.”

“The Heavenly Demon Church!”

Cho Ryu Hyang widened his eyes. Wasn’t the Heavenly Demon church extremely famous in the Martial World? Looking at Cho Ryu Hyang’s face change, Um Seung Do smiled a bitter smile.

“We’re not as dangerous as you think.”

“…….”

Cho Ryu Hyang quickly realized his mistake, and his his shock.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I heard you were the elder’s disciple?”

“Yes.”

Cho Ryu Hyang was fully alert towards the man, who was being quite polite just then. He sensed suspicion in that man’s gaze.

‘It’s strange.’

Um Seung Do was indeed looking at Cho Ryu Hyang suspiciously. He would find out everything about the boy sooner or later. But now, he wasn’t suspicious of the official info of the boy. Why was there something that only belonged in the Martial World on the boy’s body?

‘He didn’t go through the Bone-Changing Growth, did he?’

This was a really nonsensical suspicion. The Bone-Changing Growth only happened when a martial artist went close to the Harmonious stage. That was why Um Seung Do knew about it.

But this strange suspicion kept coming back up. That was because he saw something on the boy that only could be seen when someone neared the Harmonious stage.

‘The halo……’

It wouldn’t be visible to a normal person, but for a person like Um Seung Do, this was clearly visible. There was a light that was behind Cho Ryu Hyang for a brief moment.

‘Must be an imagination.’

He observed Cho Ryu Hyang for a while longer, but the light just disappeared. This just made everything more suspicious. After looking at the boy for a while longer, he retreated, and said this with a smile on his face.

“I’m sorry. It’s a habit I got from the job. My name is Um Seung Do, from the Heavenly Demon Church.”

“Cho Ryu Hyang.”

Cho Ryu Hyang fixed his glasses when he talked. He didn’t like the man. Because of that, he took a look at his forehead unconsciously.

‘Fifty-eight……’

The man was obviously more talented than normal people. Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t take him lightly.

“The elder agreed to help the main church with a certain event. But the elder said that he wanted to take you with him. What do you think?”

What did that mean? The man’s voice clearly implied that he wanted Cho Ryu Hyang to refuse. Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t respond, but instead looked at his teacher. He thought that there would be some more explanation. As expected, the teacher said something, too.

“The man said that he’d show the greatest formation under the heavens. I think this would help your education a bit, so I tried to take you with me. What do you think? You can say no if you want.”

Um Seung Do wrinkled his eyebrows, but stayed quiet. Say no? Is that possible at this point? This old man really didn’t know how scary the church could be. Since they knew about the upcoming event already, they wouldn’t be in a situation where they could even say no.

But Um Seung Do stopped himself from saying that. He didn’t know what the young man in front of him would say.

‘The greatest formation?’

The moment he heard that, Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes sparkled. He didn’t know much about formations, but he was already exposed to that part of the world.

The Greatest Formation! He wanted to see it. The formation he created just now was incredibly complicated already. How complex would the greatest formation be? Looking at the boy’s expression, which started to be filled with expectations, Um Seung Do wrinkled his face.

‘They’re of the same kind.’

There was a saying that those who are alike, stick together. While Um Seung Do was insulting the two like that, Cho Ryu Hyang opened his mouth.

“I think I should tell Grandpa first. He’d get worried if I didn’t.”

“You do that.”

Jo Gi Chun nodded. He didn’t ask the question he asked a while back. A while back, he was too excited to remember that Um Seung Do was there. But not now. He wouldn’t dare discuss such things while the dangerous man was nearby.

‘I’ll learn sooner or later.’

He was dying to know how the boy was able to do such wondrous deeds in the formation, but it wasn’t the time to ask it now.

“So, the disciple’s also going?”

“Yes. I’ll be in your care.”

“Yes, yes…. But we don’t have much time, so can you hurry?”

Um Seung Do replied with a expression of defeat. He had to take this little boy too. He didn’t really desire this to happen. It was better if fewer people knew about what was going on…….

He barely managed to persuade himself by saying that refusing outright would just bring him trouble. Um Seung Do’s face full of sorrow contradicted with the boy’s excited expression. The boy was the one who wanted to go, after all. He wanted to know what the formation would be like. He was happy, as he didn’t know how fearsome the place where he was going to would be.

The decision he made just now. This decision would be the single thing that Cho Ryu Hyang would regret the most in his lifetime.