Soul Summoning Sword

Chapter 32: Swallowed by the Spinning Wind (2)

The night air had changed.

Yun Seoha lifted her head as she looked at Gugwi and Yeon Sohye, who were both in training. Her sharp senses had caught the ominous energy of spirits surging toward Silver Moon Valley.

The stench of Bloody Poison Mist stung her nose.

The screams of dead spirits carried on the wind. The once peaceful Silver Moon Valley was instantly steeped in tension.

“An enemy ambush!”

Yun Seoha shouted as she drew her fan.

“It’s an evil art that confuses the spirit. Stay on guard!”

Gugwi and Yeon Sohye seized their weapons at the same time. The moonlight was swallowed by clouds, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

Ssssht! Ssshhhht!

A legion of Living Spirits arrived at Silver Moon Valley.

The cries of dead souls echoed through the valley. Even the rocks trembled at the sound.

In that instant, the very air of Silver Moon Valley warped. The boundary between reality and the world of spirits began to collapse.

“We’re being dragged in!”

Yun Seoha cried out.

Gugwi could not understand what she meant. What was being dragged in? Why was Yun Seoha clutching her spiritual fan tightly, eyes wide with intensity? Why was Yeon Sohye looking at him with such urgency?

Suddenly, Gugwi felt his body being sucked up into the air with a whoosh!

‘What is this? I’m really being dragged away!’

Not his body but his soul… As if momentarily fainting… pulled out of the living world, drawn toward the edges of the Realm of the Threshold.

A gray expanse spread before his eyes.

An infinite void with neither sky nor ground. It was the same outer gate territory he had seen while training in the Soul-Summoning Arts of the Cold Wolf Sect.

When the Soul Command was invoked, one would immediately enter within the gate. But Soul-Summoners of the Cold Wolf Sect always came here first, opening the gate before cautiously stepping inside.

‘This place is…?’

At that moment, the young man’s soul charged forward from the front.

He wore Gugwi’s own clothes and lunged with sharpened claws.

“Hurry! You have to get out, fast!”

Yun Seoha shouted desperately.

Again, Gugwi could not comprehend her words. Everything happening was something none of them had ever experienced before.

Ssshwiiik!

The claws rushed at him, sharp as blades.

Sssh! Shhhht!

Gugwi blocked with the Cloud Flow Spear.

“Kyaaaah!”

The young man’s soul howled like a beast.

He had died, yet before stepping through the gate of the Realm of the Threshold, his soul had been trapped—these were called Living Spirits. They failed to pass into the gate, wandering instead as Wandering Spirits outside.

Sssht!

Yeon Sohye leapt in front of Gugwi. No—she instantly drew her dagger and slashed the spirit. Here, blades could cut spirits. But Living Spirits did not die easily.

A child’s soul grabbed onto Yeon Sohye’s leg.

The chilling aura climbed up her spirit. Yeon Sohye screamed.

“Haaah!”

She let out a desperate gasp and stabbed the child’s head with her dagger.

Fwooosh!

The child holding her leg dissolved into smoke and vanished.

Outside the gate, everything existed only in spiritual form. Wounds harmed the soul directly. If struck fatally, the soul would vanish completely.

This was entirely different from the Realm of the Threshold.

“Kiiyaaaah!”

An old man’s soul lunged at Yun Seoha.

Yun Seoha swung her spiritual fan, striking it down. Her soul collided directly with the old man’s.

A hundred Living Spirits filled the gray space.

These were beings unaware of the Realm of the Threshold. Upon death, they had failed to pass on and lingered outside the gate. That made them more violent, more savage.

The young man’s soul charged Gugwi again. This time, black energy spewed from his mouth. Gugwi blocked with his spear, but the black aura grazed his soul.

“Ah!”

A wound tore into Gugwi’s soul.

So that was it. Living Spirits were beings capable of directly harming the soul of the living.

A woman’s soul slashed her claws toward Yeon Sohye. She stepped back, but her spiritual robe was torn.

“They’re dead spirits! If we handle this carelessly, our souls will be at risk. Strike to kill without hesitation!”

Yun Seoha barked as she swung her fan.

Outside the gate, the weapons of a Soul-Summoner could strike spirits too. But Living Spirits were relentless. Even when cut down, they reformed. More and more surged at them.

A hundred spirits surrounded the three of them.

“We have to deal with them quickly and get out!”

Yeon Sohye shouted as she evaded an attack, turning to Gugwi.

“Our bodies are still in the living world!”

“Ah!”

Gugwi nodded while parrying an old man’s soul with his spear. He realized it too. Right now, their bodies were standing frozen in Silver Moon Valley.

Completely defenseless, unable to move a finger.

“The Black Blood Unit is targeting us!”

Yun Seoha shouted again.

As Gugwi stabbed the young man’s soul and toppled it, he understood. The true aim of Soul Transformation. By dragging the enemy’s soul into this outer gate realm between the living world and the Realm of the Threshold, their physical bodies were left helpless in the living world. Even if a venomous snake bit them, they would not resist.

“This is the Heavenly Sound Cult’s method?”

Hearing Gugwi’s cry, Yeon Sohye slashed her sword.

The child’s soul screamed as it was pushed back.

“Using Soul Transformation to create Wandering Spirits is the vilest karmic sin. And yet they use it without hesitation! Because it lets them kill so easily!”

Her voice trembled with fury.

Fwip! Ssshhwwhhk!

A silver mist burst forth, wrapping around the spirits. At the same time, a dazzlingly fast movement art—Flowing Willow Storm—unfolded.

Her dagger swept across the gray space.

“How much time do we have left?”

“The time it takes the Black Blood Unit to arrive!”

“How long is that?”

“Idiot! It’s right now!”

All three were desperate.

They had to escape before their bodies in the living world were attacked. There was no time to cut down the Living Spirits one by one.

“Let’s end this in one strike!”

Yun Seoha shouted.

A hundred Living Spirits surged from every direction.

Time was running out. The blades of the Black Blood Unit were already reaching for their throats.

‘End it in one strike?’

Gugwi pressed down on his heart.

The pounding pulse of the Spirit Flow Core was transmitted to his fingertips. As soon as he stirred his consciousness, the Spirit Flow Core began to respond.

“No, Gugwi!”

Yun Seoha shouted. But it was already too late.

A blue light burst explosively from Gugwi’s body. The light that began from his heart spread through his Dantian and coursed across his whole body.

In that moment, an astonishing event occurred.

A massive vortex formed in the air. The Living Spirits began to be sucked into it.

“What is this?”

The young man’s soul panicked. But he could not resist.

One by one, the clusters of light vanished into the vortex. Gugwi was pulling them into the gate, into the Realm of the Threshold.

“Stop!”

Yun Seoha shouted again.

“This is faster and better!”

Gugwi shook his head as he spoke. In his eyes, firm determination gleamed.

If Living Spirits were slain outside the gate, they would vanish forever. But if drawn into the Realm of the Threshold, they could glimpse their next life, perhaps even progress toward release.

It was a hundred times better for the souls. Why would she tell him not to?

Fwaaaash!

At last, all the Living Spirits were absorbed into the Realm of the Threshold.

Normally, Living Spirits could never enter the gate… but like other spirits, they were sucked in, transformed into light.

Now they had to choose within the Realm of the Threshold. Whether to remain in rage, or move toward reincarnation.

“Urgh!”

Heuk Yeomjo, who had been charging toward Yun Seoha in the distance, widened his eyes and froze his body in mid-motion.

“What is this?”

He was a Soul-Summoner who had surpassed the Fourth Level of Spiritual Sensitivity. A Soul Transformation performed personally by him should not have failed. But for a hundred Living Spirits to ascend all at once? Not vanish, but ascend?

This was the first time he had ever seen such a case.

Heuk Yeomjo pressed against his chest. When he used Soul Transformation, the spirits were linked to his own with threads, like strands. Red threads stretched out from his heart, connecting him to over a hundred Living Spirits.

When the enemy struck them down and they were destroyed, they faded like smoke. The threads severed and disappeared.

At first, it had been that way. Each time Yun Seoha and Yeon Sohye cut down one of the Living Spirits, a thread snapped. The fight between them and the spirits had begun. It had always been like this.

But then… in a single instant, all the threads that connected him to the spirits were severed. As if cut with scissors. All at once. Simultaneously.

“What is this!”

Heuk Yeomjo clutched his chest.

All hundred threads had vanished. This was the first time he had ever seen such a thing.

Could Living Spirits disappear like this? It was as if they had all been sucked in one direction by some immense pull. At the gesture of that boy, Gugwi.

“What did that brat do?”

Heuk Yeomjo turned his gaze to Silver Moon Valley. The three of them still stood motionless. Whatever occurred at the edge of the Realm of the Threshold could not be seen in the living world.

But one thing was clear—his Soul Transformation had been completely neutralized.

All hundred Living Spirits had been absorbed into the Realm of the Threshold.

“Does such a Soul-Summoning Art exist?”

He muttered to himself.

Even as one beyond the Fourth Level of Spiritual Sensitivity, he had never seen such a technique.

“Gugwi….”

Heuk Yeomjo repeated the name. Only now did he understand why he had been ordered to capture him.

“He’s a special one.”

Greed flashed in his eyes.

Yeon Sohye summoned So Ryeonghwa.

A silver mist burst out from her body. The mist enveloped all of Silver Moon Valley. In the midst of it… she unleashed the Gale Movement Art. With movements as swift as the wind, she pierced through the Black Blood Unit.

Her sword began to dance.

“Keugh!”

The first warrior of the Black Blood Unit clutched his throat and fell. Blood splattered.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yeon Sohye hurled her dagger. Another screamed and collapsed.

The Black Blood Unit countered by forming the Ghost Blood Formation. Those in Spirit Contact swung their blades violently.

Yun Seoha moved as well.

She summoned Baek Soryeong, Jin Mukran, and Wi Unseo in succession. Three masters of the spiritual fan appeared.

Winds rose, and venom spread.

Warriors of the Black Blood Unit began to cough and collapse.

Yeon Sohye seized the opening. With the Gale Movement Art, she moved instantly and stabbed a warrior’s vital point with her dagger.

“Urgh!”

Heuk Yeomjo confirmed the complete failure of his Soul Transformation.

The moment the Living Spirits vanished, his ambush had failed. The souls of those three had already returned to their bodies.

Heuk Yeomjo gnashed his teeth. The perfect chance to strike down defenseless bodies had slipped away. While they were occupied outside the gate fighting the Living Spirits, he could have beheaded them.

Now only a direct confrontation remained. He had to settle it with Soul-Summoning Arts.

“Damn it!”

He cursed. Against Yun Seoha, he stood no chance in that regard. She was a Resonance, one who commanded three spirits. Even for one at the Fourth Level of Spiritual Sensitivity, facing a Resonance was a disadvantage.

He looked around at the Black Blood Unit. More than half had been cut down by Yeon Sohye and Yun Seoha’s counterattack. The plan had completely unraveled.

“To think it would end like this….”

Heuk Yeomjo muttered.

Soul Transformation was the Heavenly Sound Cult’s ultimate technique. Until now, it had never failed. But Gugwi had overturned everything.

“Retreat!”

He ordered the surviving members of the Black Blood Unit.

The Black Blood Unit scrambled to rise. Supporting the wounded, they began to withdraw from Silver Moon Valley.

“The Heavenly Sound Cult is targeting Gugwi.”

Yun Seoha murmured as she watched Heuk Yeomjo retreat. In his gaze, she had read a fierce killing intent directed at Gugwi.

This was why she had warned him not to use the Spirit Flow Core.

Yun Seoha sighed inwardly.

Right before the eyes of the Heavenly Sound Cult, he had unleashed the peculiar ability of the Spirit Flow Core. An unprecedented Soul-Summoning Art that absorbed a hundred Living Spirits into the Realm of the Threshold.

Saving the souls had indeed been the right thing. He had returned wandering spirits who could not find release back to their rightful place. But of all times, he had done so in front of the enemy.

“It’s over now.”

Yun Seoha muttered.

This matter would surely be reported to the Heavenly Sound Cult. Heuk Yeomjo himself had witnessed Gugwi’s ability. A technique utterly impossible at the level of Spiritual Sensitivity.

Gugwi would be watched even more closely. Either to be abducted, or to be eliminated. In either case, the outcome would be dire. To the Heavenly Sound Cult, Gugwi had now become someone they must either seize or destroy.

Yun Seoha called out to Gugwi.

“From now on, do not use the Spirit Flow Core until I give the command.”

Her voice sank into coldness.

“No matter the reason.”