Chapter 35
The destination is the unconfirmed area at the end of the map.
The person who wandered the cave said he saw the Mita Holy Water beyond this unconfirmed area and returned.
The cave confused people even more with a form of connected rooms of various sizes.
Especially, there were many cases where one retreated after fighting in a room, wandered the wrong rooms, met the enemy from before again, and was killed.
“A fight occurred ahead. We will detour.”
I moved toward the destination going round and round avoiding battles as much as possible.
“……You heard this already?”
Seong Mo-ran, who was stuck close to my side at some point, listened for a moment and spoke with a surprised expression.
“Just how much is your internal energy?”
Since five senses ability is influenced by internal energy, extended five senses were also proof of vast internal energy.
But since I couldn’t tell her everything, I handed words glossing over roughly.
“Probably it is thanks to the internal energy being pure. Isn’t the Taeeul Heart Method famous for purity. What you gave last time was also helpful.”
“Ah…….”
Nodding her head saying ‘That’s a relief,’ she was following me without further grumbling.
As a result of moving forward examining the entire cave, I could grasp the aspect of the fight roughly.
But at the same time, it was not easily acceptable that five thousand people died here.
Sporadic fights continue to happen, but it is not desperate enough to commit murder and silence witnesses for the injured, and as they were people who knew that their own damage was not small as the fight became excessive, there were many cases where they stopped at moderate war of nerves.
“……This.”
Thinking this and that, I stopped at a forked road.
At my baffled appearance, the warriors started gripping their swords all at once.
“What is it?”
“One place is fighting for a long time, and one place has a group of people waiting.”
“And?”
“The waiting side has a quite thick scent of blood.”
“……!”
“What shall we do?”
“We didn’t come in here to keep avoiding people.”
As Namgung Seon-hwa drew her sword, the warriors of the Namgung Clan exuded rough spirits.
Bringing them in preparation for this situation was a job well done.
“I will take the lead.”
Seong Mo-ran and the Iron Sword Sect took the rear, and the Namgung Clan stepped forward.
“We have to go left, right?”
“Yes.”
As we entered the room, three men in fancy clothes and about ten men in red martial arts uniforms stood in the middle of a mountain of corpses and sea of blood inside the cave.
‘Earth Spirit Beggar Ma Go-san, Golden Horn Bronze Man Sa Mu-in, Paradise Boy Seo Hyeon-jae.’
Masters who had to be watched especially carefully even among the Unorthodox people seen on the streets of Yueyang were occupying the cave imposingly.
“My my, the Young Lady of the Namgung Clan has come all the way to a rough place.”
Paradise Boy Seo Hyeon-jae, known as Yin Demon, licked his lips and spoke.
“Didn’t you come in to find the Mita Holy Water? Even if you are Unorthodox, is it okay to commit such meaningless killing?”
“Actually, we didn’t want to spend time in such a place either. It’s just that we also have unavoidable circumstances.”
“What is that?”
“The map disappeared during battle.”
“……That wouldn’t be it.”
It was clear they lost it while fighting an opponent, or it was damaged.
“Anyway, we need a map to find the Mita Holy Water. If it stays like this, we might be so disappointed at not obtaining the Mita Holy Water… that we might continue killing people.”
Seo Hyeon-jae opening his eyes gleefully and smacking his lips.
“You seem to find the Namgung Clan funny.”
All three belonged to the Blood Snake Gang, a huge Unorthodox force based in Guiyang, Guizhou Province.
But even so, they shouldn’t be able to handle the Namgung Clan, the main axis of the Murim Alliance. I was quite curious about what confidence they had to act like this.
“How can that be. Moreover, we are this shabby because we lost quite a few personnel on the river path. Therefore, we prepared something separately.”
The guy took out a sphere about the size of two human fists from his bosom.
Among the warriors, someone spat out the identity of the object like a groan.
“Thunder Crash Bomb……!”
“!”
“!”
Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran’s two eyes also opened roundly, unable to hide their surprise.
Thunder Crash Bombs are military items, so they are not items easily obtained even in the black market.
Let alone, they were items that should never fall into the hands of the Unorthodox.
“If you use that, you also won’t be safe.”
“If we cannot obtain the Mita Holy Water and leave, it would be better to die here.”
“Even so, did you think the Namgung Clan would succumb to threats?”
I looked at the appearance of the Thunder Crash Bomb and tilted my head.
When the Thunder Crash Bomb first appeared, I was quite surprised, and wondered if it was the object responsible for the five thousand deaths, but actually, seeing its size by enhancing my eyesight, I could only be puzzled.
Although the destructive power of the Thunder Crash Bomb is great, with that size, it couldn’t collapse the entire cave.
At the end of the Orthodox-Demonic War, the Light Spear Unit, which became desperate, raided the military warehouse and dealt with the bastards with Thunder Crash Bombs, so I knew for certain.
Moreover, the stone quality of Spirit Plateau’s cave was quite hard so the collapse of one place didn’t seem likely to lead to another place.
“Prepare the sword formation.”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s cool words, Seo Hyeon-jae took out a fire starter from his bosom and lit it.
And at that time I intervened.
“Is it true you came up to here looking at the map?”
Seo Hyeon-jae frowned and glared at me.
“Who are you?”
The bastard, fitting of a rootless Unorthodox, kept manners selectively distinguishing people.
“Just a party member. And a person managing the map.”
“Why are you curious about that?”
“Because if you saw the map and came, you would know that it’s not far from here to the destination.”
“……Hmm, was that so? Since the guy burned the map while dying, I couldn’t check.”
“Perhaps you lost the map in the process of betrayal? And lost the path you saw on the map due to that?”
“……!”
The bastards exchanged glances silently.
“Must be right.”
“Shut up. If you don’t want to die here either, it would be better to hand over the map you have in your bosom.”
“Understood.”
Shocked gazes flew from Seong Mo-ran and Namgung Seon-hwa’s party.
Ignoring that, I took out a map from my bosom and threw it to them.
“It is a map marked up to the destination. Do not ask where this place is.”
“Hmph! We also know where is roughly where.”
Seo Hyeon-jae, who spoke like that, licked his tongue with a regretful expression and put the Thunder Crash Bomb back into his bosom.
“Regrettable. Young Lady. Even so, I hope you do not follow us closely. Since we don’t know when the Thunder Crash Bomb might explode.”
Seo Hyeon-jae and his gang slowly took a guard stance and entered the leftmost fork among the three.
“Young Master Jin, just what are you doing!”
Namgung Seon-hwa approached with a pale face.
“Ah, do not worry. Since they won’t be approaching the Mita Holy Water anyway.”
“What does that mean?”
“The map they took is a fake map.”
“Yes?”
“Wouldn’t it be obvious that a fight would break out over the map inside the cave? Of course, I didn’t know there would be a crazy guy bringing a Thunder Crash Bomb to such a place, but anyway, I made a few more maps on purpose for that.”
I showed a few scrolls from the luggage and said, and Namgung Seon-hwa, Seong Mo-ran, and Yu Ji-ryang looked at the scrolls hidden in their bosoms with unbelieving eyes.
“Ah, those are real. You do not need to worry.”
“By the way, is it true that we reached the destination?”
“That is so.”
“Then let’s go quickly.”
Starting to move again, this time Namgung Seon-hwa stuck close to the side instead of Seong Mo-ran.
“Young Master Jin, perhaps may I ask a favor?”
“Favor… you say?”
“Yes. You may refuse if you do not want to after hearing the story.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“If by chance Young Master Jin obtains the Mita Holy Water, could you sell the rest to me excluding Young Master Jin’s share?”
“If we move together, wouldn’t the possibility be higher for you, Young Lady? Why are you saying such words?”
“Because somehow I feel like Young Master Jin will obtain it.”
Although I prepared a water bottle to contain the Mita Holy Water separately, I know how this Mita Holy Water ended in my past life.
In this incident causing five thousand victims, the Mita Holy Water did not reveal itself in the end.
“Why do you think so?”
Namgung Seon-hwa pointed to my water bottle.
“Since Mita Holy Water has Extreme Yin property, one must never grab it with a human body. Because it freezes everything around it, one shouldn’t contain it anywhere carelessly either. But coming up to here, I haven’t seen ten people who prepared such a water bottle.”
It seems she kept glancing at me all the way here to guess the use of this water bottle.
“I refuse.”
“Yes? Why?”
“I plan to give it to a suitable child among the children of the sect.”
“Ah……. Is there perhaps something going on?”
“They plan to take the Martial Arts Academy Regular Exam.”
“From the Taeeul Sect?!”
“…….”
Namgung Seon-hwa realized she made a mistake only after letting out an exclamation.
Saying ‘Taeeul Sect will take the exam’ was no different from words looking down on the opponent.
“Ah… I, I am sorry.”
“It is fine.”
After speaking like that, I started walking a couple of steps ahead.
Her reaction wasn’t anything new either, but just because I’m used to it doesn’t mean I don’t mind it.
Passing a few caves like that, a group with tremendous energy was approaching from one path.
I stopped the party for a moment and stepped forward.
As long as we can reach the destination passing only this place, I intended to examine the opponent and let them pass first.
Ssaek, thud.
At that moment, a finger wind was shot right next to my face, and a few rocks shattered from the ceiling fell to the floor.
Simultaneously, Yong So-ah and the Wudang Sect Daoists approached in an orderly manner.
Not a drop of blood was on Yong So-ah’s body, and there were no traces of big fights on the Daoists’ attire either.
However, Ha Min-jung, Ak Mu-heun, and Yang In-su’s parties who followed them were reduced to half, and moreover, their conditions did not look very intact either.
“You had petty tricks, did you survive alone?”
Yong So-ah scanned me and spoke like that, and at the same time, Ha Min-jung and his party were snickering from behind as if something was so satisfying.
I ignored Yong So-ah and shouted toward the back.
“Come out. They don’t seem to be enemies.”
As Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran’s party started coming out one by one from the back cave, a minute crack appeared on Yong So-ah’s face too, and Ha Min-jung and his party’s faces distorted as if chewing dung.
“As expected, it is fortunate we didn’t chase that side.”
“…….”
At my words, Yong So-ah glared at me with cool eyes.
“……I will watch until the end.”
Ha Min-jung and his party looked at the Namgung Clan party like cows being dragged to a slaughterhouse, then followed Yong So-ah.
Finally reaching the destination, a huge hollow we hadn’t seen until now appeared.
In the hollow where hundreds of people could enter, rather not a single person was visible.
The strange point wasn’t just that.
Unlike other cave rooms which were circular, this huge hollow was situated as if one side was sliced off, and a dark shadow was occupying the sliced-off part instead of a wall.
“It seems everyone went in here.”
Yu Ji-ryang slipped his hand into the black shadow.
Then his hand was completely hidden by the shadow and not visible.
“Fortunately, the installed formation does not look very dangerous. It looks a bit like a natural formation but…….”
“Is there any strange point?”
“Not that, but the energy it is forming is quite powerful. Even if it is a formation maintained for three or four hundred years, it is too powerful.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“I am calculating for the case of emergency. Since it is a form of natural formation, it will break soon against decent strong force.”
Yong So-ah, who might have been listening to Yu Ji-ryang’s story together, moved his steps immediately.
Namgung Seon-hwa stopped him in shock.
“Master Yong So-ah! How about entering after waiting a little more until the analysis is finished?”
“Since it is a formation a herb gatherer also escaped, there is no way a martial artist cannot pass.”
“With those words, Yong So-ah and the Wudang Daoists slipped inside, and Ha Min-jung and his group entered the formation one by one after them.”
“Like Master Hyeon-cheong said, there might be no big problem, everything is just in preparation for emergencies.”
But at that moment, a sound ringing the cave loudly echoed.
“Namgung Clan! That name is wasted, daring to play such trickery!”
It was the voice of Seo Hyeon-jae whom we met just a moment ago.
“Unfold the Blue Sky Sword Formation!”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s shout, the warriors started moving all at once.
Within that, the three sorcerers of the Maoshan Sect quickly put their hands in to grasp the formation, and were busy calculating while writing drawings and numbers on the floor.
“You bastard who handed the map! I will definitely pluck out your eyeballs and eat them!”
The voice started to be heard closer and closer.
At that moment, Yu Ji-ryang jumped up and said.
“Calculation finished. We may enter.”
“Move quickly!”
This time Yu Ji-ryang stood at the very front, then me, and then we started entering in the order of Seong Mo-ran and Namgung Seon-hwa.
It was a place filled only with pitch-black darkness where an inch ahead could not be seen, but Yu Ji-ryang, who walked left and right for a long time, found an exit where soft light was coming out at some point.
The moment we crossed the exit.
At the sword blade suddenly striking in, I quickly kicked Yu Ji-ryang’s back of the knee to make him fall and simultaneously drew my sword.
Clang!
The moment the swords clashed, realizing it was an opponent with not much internal energy, I simultaneously raised eighty percent of my power and cut off the guy’s neck.
Chwaaaak!
“Keu-heuk!”
The Unorthodox person scattered spraying a blood fountain.
The spectacle that appeared beyond the formation was the appearance of people fighting shedding blood fountains inside a huge hollow of the same size as the hollow we just passed.
“Maintain the sword formation!”
“Iron Sword Unit! Unfold the Nine-Fold Sword Formation! Remove the blind spots.”
We stood on one side watching the aspect of the fight.
The faces of those fighting fiercely divided into two sides were strange.
Especially, those standing on the opposite side of those who entered with us were all skinny and wearing clothes dirty as if they hadn’t changed clothes for days.
“Young Lady Namgung!”
At that time, Yu Ji-ryang called Namgung Seon-hwa excitedly for the first time.
“We are in big trouble!”
“What is the matter?”
“Namgung Seon-hwa, watching the flow of the fight, gave her answer not with words, but with her gaze.”
“It seems we are trapped.”
“Yes?”
“The formations inside and outside are different from each other.”
“I don’t understand what you mean. Please explain simply.”
“The natural formation that was outside seems to be a product of coincidence created as the original formation collapsed.”
“!!!”
