Moon-Shadow Sword Emperor
Chapter 98

Episode 98:

Making use of Ghost Treasure’s supernormal ability, he killed his presence and began a backtracking.

‘If I’m going to follow you, I’ll do it until the end. I don’t know why you stop midway and go back.’

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the man’s back.

Like Cheon Ga-ryeong, he also has not taken off his mask since leaving Heuksi.

Not only was the face unrecognizable, but no clues could be found to guess the identity or background.

At least I could tell that he was a person of considerable skill.

Judging by his gait, posture, and prayers, he seemed to have reached at least the peak.

‘There may be someone behind it, so don’t attack right away.’

I followed the man like that for a while.

Something amazing happened.

The moment the man stepped into the spacious manor, his new form disappeared as if melting into thin air.

“…!”

It was truly a miracle.

Not only did his appearance disappear, but even his presence was completely erased.

I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

‘It seems like the battle is spread throughout the entire manor.’

Things became difficult.

Because of this, it was impossible to replace out the man’s identity.

Isn’t it impossible to jump into a battle without any preparation?

‘Should we stay hidden and wait until someone comes out?’

After thinking for a moment, I quickly shook my head and walked away.

I didn’t want to use such an ignorant and cumbersome move.

Because there was a simpler and more reliable way.

‘First, I will ask Hao Mun to replace out who the owner of that manor is.’

For a manor of that size, it wouldn’t be that difficult to replace out the owner’s name.

It didn’t seem like the masked man was the owner of the manor.

Perhaps he was entrusted with the certification plaque by the owner of the manor and went to the dark city on his behalf?

‘I don’t know who the owner of the manor is, but he is probably not an ordinary person.’

When I think about it, I didn’t even know it was natural.

Isn’t he a person with enough wealth to give away a golden certification plaque at the Black Sea?

He probably had an unusual status.

I glanced back and muttered.

‘There’s no need to rush.’

* * *

Same time.

In the office of a palace located inside the manor, an older man was reporting to a young woman.

“sorry. “I couldn’t get the item.”

“Didn’t the elixir come up for auction?”

“Gongcheong Oil has arrived. But I didn’t win the bid.”

“I would have said it was okay to spend all my money.”

“The price has risen to 500 gold coins.”

“Like that?”

“I thought that anything more than that was not an amount I could decide at my discretion.”

The woman nodded, licking her lips with regret.

“Then I can’t help it. Thank you for your hard work, Warrior Chu.”

“I have one additional thing to report.”

“……?”

“I briefly followed the man who won the bid for Gongcheong Petroleum. “I thought that once I knew where he lived, I could visit him later to receive the elixir.”

“Was there something wrong?”

“Nothing that could be called a problem happened. “But I saw his face briefly from afar, and his appearance seemed familiar.”

“Did you know someone?”

“I’m not sure because I only saw it at first glance, but it seemed to be a kite cooperative I met in Zhejiang.”

“Kite small cooperative? Are you by any chance referring to Yeonsun Sohyeop?”

“yes. “It’s probably him, seeing as he was wearing a fox mask in the dark.”

“So, you’re saying that Yeon Small Cooperative not only participated in Heuksi’s auction, but paid 500 gold coins to win Gongcheong Petroleum?”

“That’s right.”

There was deep interest in the woman’s eyes.

She muttered in a voice as sweet as jade beads rolling.

“Not only do you have the jewels that symbolize the VIPs of Hwayang Sangdan, but you also have the golden plaque that symbolizes the special guests of the Black Poetry. “I’m becoming more and more curious about its identity.”

“I stopped following him immediately after seeing his face. “Because I judged that since it was the other party, I could get caught.”

“Well done. I will personally visit the cooperative. “Samurai, please go back and rest now.”

The woman who answered with a grin gave an order to congratulate the guests.

After Musa left the office.

The woman yawned and stretched.

“I knew he wasn’t an ordinary person, but…”

The wide sleeves of his clothes flowed down his forearms.

At the end of the sleeves, a crane symbol, symbolizing the Zhuge family, was embroidered.

* * *

The day for the preliminary round of the competition has arrived.

I set out early in the morning to take the test with other participants.

The testing site was a steep cliff area located a long way away from the village.

Not even a human shadow was visible on the winding road between the cliffs.

This was because the government sought cooperation from the government in advance and received authority to control the area.

The content of the test was simple.

Gyeongju (競走).

When the commander gives a signal, the participants waiting at the starting point run along the path in the canyon.

Whoever holds the flag at the finish line passes.

Those who fail to do so are eliminated.

Although it was a simple test, only 30% of the total number of people could pass it.

If it was natural, it was natural.

Isn’t it impossible to have thousands of participants compete one by one to decide who wins or loses?

In order to reduce the consumption of time, manpower, and funds, there was a need to filter out low-quality participants through large-scale testing.

The content of the subsequent preliminaries would probably be similar.

I lightly warmed up among the bustling crowd of reviewers.

‘Did you say 100 ri (里)?’

Although it was a simple race, the distance was quite long.

Excellent divine law, pure inner strength, and strong stamina.

Only participants who had all three skills would be able to pass the test.

It was known that the first preliminary round would be held over a total of seven rounds.

Since Cheonwoo Dojang was assigned to a different group than me, there was no one around him who could be considered an acquaintance.

‘At least there is one face I know.’

I smiled and looked at the back of the young man standing in the front row.

He must have sensed my gaze and frowned as he turned towards me.

Hwang Bo-jin, the future Kwon Dragon.

I guess he never thought he would be placed in the same group as me and take part in the preliminaries.

Although he had a grim expression on his face, bewilderment was clearly visible in his eyes.

The rules for the first preliminary round did not include a clause about not interfering with others.

Here, if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be an easy task to eliminate Hwang Bo-jin.

Hwang Bo-jin must have known that fact, too.

‘What should I do?’

As I drew a meaningful smile on my lips and stimulated Hwang Bo-jin’s anxiety, I felt the signs of revenge slowly approaching and took a quick look around.

Men I had never seen before were approaching me, pushing other participants.

Among them, there were some who openly showed hostility.

‘what?’

I tilted my head with a puzzled expression and then slapped my palms together.

A conversation I had with a guru of the fortune-telling sect some time ago came to mind.

[Let’s let the person who achieves higher scores in the competition carry out his/her wishes. If Changin Dojang defeats me, I will hand over my sword as he wishes.]

[Not bad. Let’s do that.]

Changin Dojo, one of the disciples of the Jeomchang sect.

It seemed like he had done something before the preliminaries started.

A laugh escaped me.

Since it was a bet with such a high price, it was not unreasonable to feel anxious.

However, I never thought that such a petty move would be used.

The Jeomchang faction dressed the charlatan in uniform.

‘The future of the faction Moorim is truly bright.’

Of course, there were people other than Changin Dojo who had a grudge against me.

For example, Hwang Bo-jin, who is staring intently at the commander from the front line.

However, I had no idea that he would have planned something like this.

There’s no way he would use such a sloppy tactic, having already competed with me once.

“depart!”

The powerful voice of the Hyeonmu Daewon (玄武隊員) who was controlling the participants rang loudly through the canyon.

The late exponents began to run along Guando, shouting shouts.

At the same time, several men attacked me at once.

Because the wearing of weapons was prohibited, everyone was bare-handed, but the number reached as many as six.

‘It looks like you have no interest in the test.’

He had probably promised to get paid for interfering with me.

I didn’t bother to run away from them.

Instead, he stood still and lifted his index finger to provoke the nearest man.

“I’m dead!”

He mercilessly kicked the man in the abdomen as he let out a bloody cry and swung his fist.

Then, he aimed his fist at the face of the man who leaped towards the back.

While fighting with the men, the other participants gradually moved further away from the starting line.

I muttered to myself as I grabbed the arm of the man running from the side and broke it.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s a little late. ‘Because I can catch up with you.’

* * *

The expression of the Hyunmudaeun who was leading the participants at the starting line showed a hint of displeasure.

‘Those guys… … .’

The image of six men working on a young man came into view.

Although the competition rules do not state that you must not disturb other participants, this is still too blatant.

‘It looks like he was ordered by someone.’

Hyeonmu, who was contemplating whether to stop him, sighed softly and shook his head.

It was beyond his authority.

There was no way the high-ranking people could not have predicted that a situation like this could happen.

In other words, this foul was implicitly permitted.

If there is a loophole in the original laws and rules, it is natural for vested interests to exploit it for profit.

The member of the Hyunmudae held his sword tightly and cheered in his heart for the young man who was being attacked by the men.

“Wow!”

Did the support reach you?

The young man simply knocked the men down.

It didn’t take more than 10 minutes to subdue everyone.

‘That’s too bad. ‘It’s a waste of skill to be eliminated from the preliminaries.’

However, at that time, the distance between me and the other participants had already widened significantly.

The member of Hyeonmu clicked his tongue as if he felt sorry.

The next moment, the young man glanced in the direction where the Hyeonmu squad member was and curled the corners of his mouth.

The young man took a strong step forward while the puzzled members of the Hyeonmu unit watched with bated breath.

Quang!

The ground caved in and cracks spread in all directions.

The young man’s new form was shot out like an arrow leaving a protest.

It was so fast that an afterimage remained, lasting long like a tail.

The member of Hyeonmu’s eyes became bulging.

Even I didn’t have the confidence to run that fast.

He muttered in a subdued voice as he stared at the back of the young man walking away.

“A monster entered the contest.”