Chapter – 76
It was a blindingly white light.
Soon, the glare faded, and a familiar scene began to emerge.
A mother-of-pearl cabinet.
A curtain woven with gold threads.
Expensive paintings and porcelain.
A floor paved with the finest stone slabs.
“….”
Kang Yu climbed down from Yeon Baekrim’s back and flexed his arms and legs.
Then he gave Yeon Baekrim a deep bow.
“Thank you, Divine Dragon! You saved my life!”
Yeon Baekrim, feeling the gratitude was excessive, waved him off.
“It was only natural. There’s no need to go that far…”
“I was actually suspicious.”
“What?”
“I thought perhaps you were just all talk. Maybe you were deceiving people with lies. I mean, you’re supposed to be a noble, yet you never run. And whenever you carry me, you always faint.”
“……”
Kang Yu sniffled.
“So once we escaped the Illusory Formation, I was planning to test you myself. But I was wrong. You defeated that grandfather—who overwhelmed me without me being able to do anything—so easily. You really are amazing. Sniff. Sniff.”
“……”
A chill ran down Yeon Baekrim’s spine.
He shouldn’t have brought this monster along.
If he’d just left him behind, everything would have been perfectly fine.
“I-I’m glad the misunderstanding is cleared up.”
“I’m sorry, Divine Dragon. Sniff.”
Yeon Baekrim swallowed dryly.
He needed to get away from this creature as soon as possible. He thought he’d been holding up well, but now it seemed he’d nearly been exposed.
“Well then, since things seem settled, I’ll be going—”
“Not yet.”
Kang Yu grabbed the hem of his trousers.
“That Dreamland grandfather ran away.”
Yeon Baekrim tried to shake off the grip.
“What are we supposed to do about someone who ran away in a dream?”
“He’ll be nearby.”
“What?”
“To take someone into Dreamland, you have to stay close to them. He’s still around here.”
Releasing the trousers, Kang Yu pressed his ear to the director’s office floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Just a moment.”
Children playing in the yard.
The unconscious director groaning.
The everyday noises of the slum.
The crackling of a bonfire.
‘A bonfire?’
It was too warm for that.
The source of the sound and faint spatial resonance—
“The basement.”
There had been stairs leading down from the central staircase to the director’s office.
Kang Yu stood.
“Let’s go, Divine Dragon.”
“……”
Seeing Kang Yu naturally present his back again, Yeon Baekrim bit his lip.
They quickly arrived at the basement entrance.
Opening the wooden door, a musty smell pierced their noses.
A long, dark corridor stretched deeper inside. The walls were densely covered with geometric patterns and characters.
Kang Yu brushed the wall.
“This seems right.”
No need to waste time.
Carrying Yeon Baekrim, Kang Yu shot to the end of the corridor.
After passing a bow-shaped bend, another staircase appeared.
[Basement Level 2]
Though no light entered, Kang Yu saw the sign clearly, as if it were daytime.
They descended.
“Hmm?”
It looked exactly like the first basement level.
Same patterns. Same tiny script filling the ceiling and floor.
Kang Yu turned around and climbed back up.
The sign read:
[Basement Level 2]
He had clearly come up from Level 2—yet it was still Level 2.
He rushed back down, passed the entire corridor, and found another staircase at the end.
[Basement Level 2]
“……”
Now accustomed to the dark, Yeon Baekrim panicked.
“H-How is this possible? Up or down, it’s the same floor!”
Kang Yu tore the sign off.
“There must be a formation in the corridor too.”
At that moment—
“Hehehe. Yes! I prepared arrangements here as well!”
The old man’s voice echoed through the corridor.
“This is the Hundred-Eight Labyrinth Formation! The ultimate evolution of the Eight Trigrams and Eight Gates that I personally devised! Did you think I’d let you leave so easily?”
“The Eight Gates…?”
The old man laughed heartily.
“Like the Eight Gates—Rest, Life, Injury, Block, View, Death, Shock, and Open—you must find what differs from the previous space. Though there are no literal gates here.”
He chuckled darkly.
“Without the eight gates, the constraints are far greater.”
“What constraints?”
“If there is no difference from the previous level, advance. If there is a difference, retreat. Do that for 108 levels, and you’re done.”
“And if we get it wrong?”
“Back to the beginning. Even if you’re on level 107—back to Basement Level 1.”
Yeon Baekrim felt dread.
Kang Yu repeated the condition.
“If there’s no difference, advance. If there is, retreat…”
“Correct. Quick to understand. Foolishly so.”
Suddenly, red letters appeared above the corridor:
[Rule Acknowledged]
[Time Limit Generated by Amplification]
[Time Limit – Until the end of You Hour]
The old man continued:
“There are 1.8 million characters and 4 million patterns in each corridor. Even a single stroke may differ—or a radical may be missing.”
He laughed.
“You’re halfway through You Hour. One hour remains.”
More red letters:
[Second Rule Acknowledged]
[Attempt Limit Generated]
[Allowed Attempts: One]
The old man burst into wild laughter.
“Be late and die. Be wrong once and die!”
—CRASH!
The basement door flew open behind the old man.
Footsteps echoed like thunder.
He turned.
“Gah!”
It was Kang Yu—carrying the Sun-Moon Divine Sword on his back.
“How… how did you clear 108 levels?”
“You said: if there’s no difference, advance. If there is, retreat. I followed your instructions.”
“You broke through it properly? In mere breaths?”
“Yes.”
“Without a single mistake?”
“Well, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
The old man trembled in rage.
“That’s impossible! You must have used some superior illusion technique!”
—“You’ve fallen for it!”
“—!”
Kang Yu suddenly shouted.
Nothing happened.
“I tried copying you since you kept shouting earlier.”
The old man stared blankly, then laughed madly.
Ten years of preparation—destroyed.
Even the Hundred-Eight Labyrinth, undone instantly.
“Fine,” he said, crushing a bead.
“Ten thousand souls will suffice.”
The walls vanished.
A red sky replaced the ceiling.
Crows swarmed.
A giant moon hung overhead—bleeding from its eyes.
It was the Otherworld Illusion Formation again.
The old man had broken the Ten-Thousand Souls Bead, fully opening his upper dantian—sacrificing his ascension for power.
The sky burned with inextinguishable hellfire.
“Die.”
Flames rained down.
Kang Yu and Yeon Baekrim flew upward—
The old man vanished like smoke.
Hellfire swallowed them.
They screamed.
Burned to black ash.
The old man reappeared, laughing maniacally as he crushed the ashes underfoot.
“Who’s pathetic now?! Hahaha!”
The ashes scattered in the wind.
“…Now who’s pathetic…?”
The old man lay on the basement floor, muttering.
Yeon Baekrim blinked.
“He suddenly collapsed. What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s in Dreamland.”
“What?”
“You’ve been there. Dreamland.”
“You sent him there?”
“Didn’t you hear me?”
Kang Yu clasped his hands behind his back and shouted:
“You’ve fallen for it!”
Yeon Baekrim remembered.
“That wasn’t just a joke?”
“Of course not. He’s an elder, after all.”
“But you said earlier you couldn’t use illusion arts!”
“I said that because whatever you say in Dreamland is heard by the one taken there.”
He smiled sweetly.
“Obviously, that was a lie.”
“……”
