SDG 125

Chapter 125

“Leave it to me, Master!”

At my command, light burst out from the entrance of Gilnang and swallowed the stele and the surrounding garden whole.

In an instant, the mysterious scenery vanished without a trace, leaving behind only empty bare earth.

“…Amazing.”

No matter how many times I saw it, the ability never failed to impress.

Hehe.

Gilnang smiled shyly.

But my eyes were not so easily fooled.

Behind that smile was deep exhaustion.

It seemed that using such divine power demanded a price of its own.

“You did well. Rest for a while.”

I placed Gilnang against my chest and shared just a tiny portion of my divine power so it could recover comfortably.

I felt Gilnang tremble slightly in pleasant response.

Feeling a bit sorry to disturb it, I nevertheless took one last look around the area.

To see if there was anything else worth taking.

The garden was vast and still full of rare and wondrous plants I had yet to collect, but I decided to leave them for now.

My plan was to show only what I had gathered to the Divine Physician first.

If they turned out to be useful, I could always come back for the rest later.

‘It doesn’t look like there’s anything else I need to take.’

This should be enough for now.

“By the way, where did Geumdu run off to?”

I looked around.

Geumdu had been out of sight for a while.

Pii!

Thankfully, it hadn’t gone far. Before long, I spotted it running back from the distance.

But then—

“Where did you get all of that?”

Both of Geumdu’s feet were piled high with fruits I had never seen before, similar to spirit herbs.

They were reddish, as if freshly picked, and shaped somewhat like acorns. Even without bringing them close, I could smell a refreshing fragrance.

At a glance, they were clearly valuable spirit fruits.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who had made a harvest besides the stele.

Pii!

Geumdu held out the fruits toward me, as if offering to share them.

Touched by its thoughtfulness, I smiled softly and shook my head.

“Keep them. They’re your share.”

Hadn’t this little one worked hard today too?

It had searched underground for fragments and even dug out the base of the massive stele.

This was a fair reward for its efforts.

Piii!

Geumdu cried happily and hugged the fruits tightly to its chest.

I patted its head in praise, then lightly picked it up in my arms.

“Alright, let’s really head back now.”

I lifted my gaze to the entrance, where unfathomable darkness spread above us.

“At least I made a path on the way down, so going back shouldn’t be too difficult.”

The depth was intimidating, but I could faintly see the branches I had driven into the cliff face here and there.

I could use them as footholds to climb back up.

Bang!

I kicked off the ground and lightly stepped on the first foothold.

Without stopping, I leapt straight toward the next.

Tap-tap-tap!

As if climbing invisible stairs, I began scaling the vertical cliff without hesitation.

My speed wasn’t much slower than when I had descended.

From afar, it might even look like a single shooting star streaking upward.

Ever since reaching the supreme realm, my body had indeed become much lighter.

Still, reaching the top was no easy feat.

‘If I hadn’t embedded branches on the way down, even I wouldn’t have been able to climb back up.’

Only when I was starting to feel tired did a faint light appear above my head.

The exit.

I kicked off the final foothold and shot up onto the surface.

Hoo…

The feel of solid ground beneath my feet and the clear air made me sigh in relief.

Looking back at the hole I had come out of, that relief deepened even further.

No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t believe I had gone down there and come back up.

After staring at it for a moment, I finally turned away.

Since it had taken longer than expected, I picked up the pace on the return.

Thanks to that, I managed to reach the area near the exit of the Azure Tiger King’s residence before sunset.

“Hah! Hah!”

Dongchil and his siblings were still training there.

“Go on ahead and look after the Soul-Refining Divine Saber.”

I sent Geumdu ahead first, then briefly turned off onto a side path.

There was something I needed to do before leaving this place.

“You should always collect your reward on time.”

It was time to receive payment from the Golden Divine Book for fulfilling its request.

“Gilnang.”

‘Yes!’

When I took Gilnang out, it obediently produced the Golden Divine Book.

“I arrived as you requested, and found a bottomless hole waiting for me. Below it was a gigantic stele, along with an unknown power that seemed to be guarding the place. I destroyed that power and secured the stele.”

This part was admittedly a bit ambiguous.

I hadn’t actually faced a clearly defined enemy when I arrived.

“But in any case, I’d like you to hand over the reward you promised.”

Still, it was true that I had removed all potential dangers present there, so I spoke confidently.

The Golden Divine Book didn’t seem inclined to argue.

<Indeed, I no longer sense any strange energy from that direction. As promised, I will grant either “one wish equivalent to a year’s harvest” or ten small wishes.>

“I don’t have to decide right now, do I?”

<No, you do not.>

I didn’t have any urgent wishes anyway.

As I was about to put the Golden Divine Book back into Gilnang, I paused.

It occurred to me that asking it something might not be a bad idea.

“Do you happen to know this script?”

I traced a character in the air with my finger.

It was the underworld script from the stele, whose meaning I couldn’t even begin to guess.

The Golden Divine Book’s response was… astonishing.

So it was planning to count something like this as a wish.

I was speechless.

“Forget it. We’ll talk about it another time.”

This time, I put the Golden Divine Book back into Gilnang without hesitation.

No matter how many small wishes I had earned, I had no intention of wasting one on something like this.

Nice try.

I clicked my tongue lightly and recalled its earlier reaction.

“It definitely knows something.”

That was why it had mentioned a wish.

But even thinking about it now, using a wish just to ask about one character felt like a terrible deal.

“I have Sahun and Chu Haeyeon to look into it for me anyway. No need to rush.”

If that didn’t work, I could consider using a wish then.

“Of course, that probably won’t be necessary.”

If it came down to it, I could even summon a grim reaper.

And if even that didn’t work…

Then I’d summon Yama himself.

“Let’s head back.”

Before my thoughts spiraled any further, I decided to leave first.

Thinking alone wouldn’t produce an answer anyway.

It was really time to return.

After supervising Dongchil and the others’ training for a bit and chatting briefly with Dokgo Cheol, I left the Azure Tiger King’s residence.

By the time I looked out the window, the sun had already set.

I was back at the same low table where I had been when I first entered.

I put the stele into Gilnang first, then turned around.

“So it happened while I was gone.”

Chu Haeyeon was no longer on the bed.

But I wasn’t worried.

After spending some time together, I already knew her usual range of activity.

She was probably out sightseeing in the village, or at the blacksmith’s.

It was a shame I couldn’t ask her about the underworld script right away, but fortunately, I had a substitute.

Sahun.

“Have you been waiting long?”

‘No. I just got back myself.’

“You just got back?”

I couldn’t help but ask in surprise.

With Sahun’s ability to go anywhere in the world instantly, it shouldn’t have taken long.

As expected—

‘There was a bit of trouble with the two of them, so I was delayed helping them.’

“Trouble? What kind?”

‘According to the Azure Tiger King, by the time they reached the Ten-Thousand-Poison Emperor’s vault, other people had already entered it.’

I let out a soft sigh.

There was no way Goyeol, the grim reaper, would have let that happen as a prank.

“So they were unlucky.”

‘It seems so.’

“So what happened after that?”

According to Sahun, the original entrance he had told them about was already occupied and guarded by others, making it impossible to approach.

In the end, Jin Chosan had to search for another route, which delayed their entry into the vault.

‘It seems they managed to find another way in. The problem was what came next. The traps inside had already been activated.’

Just breathing was enough to melt one’s lungs, and even steel would corrode—a terrifying poison.

Of the hundred or so martial artists who had entered earlier, most were reduced to nothing, their bodies not even left intact.

It didn’t affect Jin Chosan, who was already dead and only a soul remained, but the Azure Tiger King, a living spirit beast, couldn’t avoid being affected.

‘The Azure Tiger King was poisoned as well. His life wasn’t in immediate danger, but that was where things started to go wrong.’

One of the mechanisms the Ten-Thousand-Poison Emperor had left behind apparently judged that enduring the poison meant passing his test.

In other words, his true legacy was passed on to the Azure Tiger King.

I could already picture what happened next.

“The Azure Tiger King refused it.”

He had already inherited my legacy in order to break through his fate and take a step forward.

There was no way he would willingly accept the legacy of some stranger.

And my guess was correct.

‘Yes. But the problem was that the other side had no intention of giving up quietly.’

In the end, a clash occurred.

The commotion was enough to draw the attention of the others still inside the vault.

Before long, they were discovered and barely managed to break out of the encirclement.