Chapter 177 : Passage
Passage
Jeong-un nodded.
"They left traces of true ki in the sword marks. If you follow those traces and cut along them exactly, the passage opens."
"And what does that have to do with Young Hero Yu's move?"
"It was the trajectory of the sword moves I practiced countless times while training."
"...!"
In truth, discovering the sword marks had not been a particularly impressive feat.
If one sharpened their ki sense and spent some time examining, both Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang could have found the traces as well.
Likewise, the trajectory of the sword moves was nothing special either.
It wasn't the path of any masterful sword technique; it was simply horizontal slashes, downward strikes, and thrusts.
But that was exactly what troubled him.
Training the Three Talents Sword Technique had been the pillar of his own foundation.
'It means they know me.'
Jeong-un recalled when he first saw the man.
In the cave of the Divine Physician, he had swung the Traceless Flash with full force, but couldn't even graze the man's afterimage.
Although the Jeok Cheong Subdues the Dragon was not performed before the man's eyes, he had used it to cut one of his subordinates in half, killing them instantly.
On top of that, he had also used Immortal Points The Way as he soared up to the cliff of Shaolin.
If one looked at it objectively, he had revealed all his cards in front of the Demonic Cult.
'He's provoking me.'
Was he trying to unsettle Jeong-un's mental state?
At this point, the intent was almost transparent in its blatantness.
The man was openly goading him, as if to rub it in his face.
He could see the man's facial expression clearly in his mind — the characteristic smile, and those eyes watching him from somewhere.
Yet, for that very reason, Jeong-un felt somewhat relieved.
Knowing the man's personality, there was no way he had already killed Zhao Yeong-ryeong.
He would keep her alive until the end, using her as a tool to torment Jeong-un.
And Jeong-un would have to seize the opening at that moment.
Step, step.
He walked forward over the collapsed rocks and entered the passage.
Though a thick darkness lingered everywhere, with every step Jeong-un took, the darkness seemed to retreat, as if terrified.
Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang kept glancing at him with faces full of wonder, as if witnessing something unbelievable, even though they understood that he wasn't controlling light, but shaping a domain with his ki wave.
"... I wonder if this is what it feels like to walk on the bottom of a deep lake."
Baek Il-gang murmured beside him.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, even the air he breathed felt humid and stifling.
And yet, he knew they weren't underground, but inside a cliff on a high mountain.
It was when the passage felt as if it was gradually widening.
Jeong-un subtly furrowed his brow but did not slow his pace.
'Evil energy.'
He began to sense that chilling, sinister ki unique to those people.
It was stickier and more repugnant than the heavy air — so much so that even the faint traces of Zhao Yeong-ryeong's energy felt diminished.
Suddenly, light poured from ahead.
"...?"
It wasn't the kind of light that dazzled the eyes like sunlight, but it was certainly odd.
There shouldn't be a source of light this deep inside a cave.
After a few more steps, the increasingly wide passage suddenly opened up entirely.
"... Unbelievable."
"There was...such a place?!"
While Baek Il-gang gave a disbelieving laugh, Zhao Gang's face was stark with shock — as if he had never expected anything like this.
'This is...'
Jeong-un, who had been forcing himself to remain composed, widened his eyes, scanning the panorama before him left and right.
They had definitely entered a cave halfway up a cliff and passed straight through, but now it was as if they'd come out on the side of a rocky mountain.
Yet, they were not outside — the ceiling and walls revealed this was still within a cave.
That made it all the more astonishing. Below their feet stretched a vast cavern, as spacious as the land of a major city.
The source of the light was an enormous number of luminous pearls embedded in the ceiling.
There seemed to be more than the stars in the night sky on a clear day atop a high mountain.
Knowing the value of even one of those stones, their jaws stood agape at the sight.
That was not all.
The wide cave floor was densely filled with burial mounds made of earth.
It was impossible to guess how or why so many had been buried here. All they could do was look on in disbelief.
"It must be an illusion created by a formation. Don't you think so?"
Zhao Gang murmured beside him, but his voice betrayed his lack of confidence — it was more wishful than certain.
"I don't know."
Jeong-un answered quietly. He was certain this was inside a formation the man had created.
But could any formation technique truly create an illusion of this scale?
He knew that powerful spell formations could alter the environment, having experienced it in the entrance trial.
'Is it really on this level?'
Could a space this vast, and those forms, possibly be mere illusions? Jeong-un couldn't be sure himself.
At that moment, Baek Il-gang spoke.
"Let's go down."
His voice was calm; even his face, when Jeong-un turned to look, was expressionless.
With a slight shrug, his attitude seemed to suggest, "What else can we do?"
"I don't intend to leave this place until we rescue Yeong-ryeong."
"Young hero Baek."
"In truth, I'm just barely resisting the urge to leap around and search everywhere with lightness skill. But if we must go, I don't wish to delay."
"... Understood."
Jeong-un nodded and began descending the stone wall's slope.
'He's right.'
Baek Il-gang's firm words helped Jeong-un refocus on his goal.
No matter what lay ahead, now was not the time to stand still and be awestruck.
Having companions helped in this way — their very existence was a comfort.
Once they reached the bottom, the rounded earthen burial mounds loomed close in view.
They were aligned in straight rows, as if someone had carefully arranged them. The number seemed endless.
The opposite wall was not even visible to the naked eye.
For there to be enough space to fill all this ground with burial mounds — the numbers must be staggering.
Step, step.
They walked slowly among them. Somewhere here must be Zhao Yeong-ryeong and the man.
Jeong-un half-expected cultists would appear to block them, but the area was oddly quiet.
It wasn't hard to get their bearings, for the light from the luminous pearls in the ceiling illuminated the surroundings fairly well.
Jeong-un followed the traces of Zhao Yeong-ryeong's energy, naturally heading toward the center of the cavern, where a tall stone building stood alone.
As Zhao Gang kept watch around them, he spoke up.
"It's not exactly the same, but I've heard of something similar."
"Similar?"
"They say the First Emperor's tomb was like this. Thousands of clay soldiers were buried there. If those were changed to burial mounds, it would look just like this."
"He must be mad."
Baek Il-gang sneered.
"There've always been crazy ones, in the past and now. What kind of purpose does something like this even serve?"
As Baek Il-gang spoke coldly, Jeong-un suddenly halted.
"...?"
Jeong-un was the only one who knew the way.
While he had the keenest ki sense and could follow a particular person's energy among their party, when he abruptly stopped, the others also stopped and stared at his back in puzzlement.
Jeong-un slowly turned, then asked,
"Did you say this was a tomb?"
"Yes, but..."
Jeong-un's gaze swept the surroundings.
"Is there any other tomb as large as this that would remind someone of an emperor's tomb?"
Zhao Gang answered with a perplexed face.
"Well, there's the Yangling Mausoleum of Emperor Jing of Han. There are a few emperors who planned for security in the afterlife, so it's not impossible..."
"What if we limit the range to martial artists?"
"Martial artists?"
Zhao Gang shook his head.
"No matter how powerful, what martial artist would ever..."
He trailed off, eyes now wide in surprise.
"... Hold on."
Baek Il-gang, watching him, looked startled as well. Then he looked at Zhao Gang.
"... We're chasing Demonic Cult people, aren't we?"
A vast, impossible space hidden in the mountains, filled with countless burial mounds, and an unknown stone building in the center.
Zhao Gang shouted, eyes blazing,
"The... Heavenly Demon's Tomb?!"
"This is insane!"
He whirled around, sweeping his gaze across the surroundings, including the innumerable luminous pearls shining from the ceiling.
"I can't believe this. The Heavenly Demon's Tomb right next to my clan's land?!"
"We can't be certain yet. Even if it's not the legendary Heavenly Demon's grave, there are bastards crazy enough to make several of these. When it comes to madness, they're masterful."
Baek Il-gang was right.
No matter how bizarre the sight — a huge cavern lined with thousands of graves — they couldn't confirm it was the Heavenly Demon's Tomb.
'Besides, we're inside a formation.'
They could not trust what their eyes saw here.
The sinister energy unique to those people suffused the whole space, making it chilling enough to block out the light and obscure their vision from the entrance.
Who knew what strange illusions or disorder were at work here.
At that moment—
A flow of ki wave was felt from afar.
It wasn't the misty, sinister energy swirling about, but the faint trace of pure energy felt clearly as it rapidly moved at a distance.
"There."
Bang!
At the very instant Jeong-un uttered the word, he burst forth ahead with a surge of ki wave.
His entire body's true ki moved like a bolt of lightning through the principle of Moonlight Swift Steps.
He had already reached the subconscious level with his ki control; as soon as his intent moved, the true ki within his body responded.
Swoosh!
The thick cavern air howled past his ears. He could feel Baek Il-gang and Zhao Gang hurrying after him.
Now was not the time to wait for them.
Instead, he pressed his lightness skill, tearing through the space between, rapidly closing the distance on that ki wave.
'There.'
With one leap onto a large burial mound, he soared into the air. Instantly, his vision expanded. The scene became clear.
Zhao Yeong-ryeong was fleeing from figures in black martial garb.
At a glance, it was obvious they were Demonic Cultists, and unlike the rabble they'd encountered outside, these were on a different level.
With their swords held in reverse grip, they were herding Zhao Yeong-ryeong into a corner, just like driving a rabbit.
'They're the ones I saw on the battlefield.'
They were the same ones from the battlefield where the Blood Cult was destroyed — experts who gave the guards of the Heavenly Martial Hall such a hard fight.
Some had even slain themselves with mysterious techniques when facing Jeong-un.
Pop!
With a single movement, he changed direction in midair, unleashing a fresh surge of ki wave beneath his feet, propelling himself forward.
Now, he was truly using lightness skill as if kicking at the sky itself.
His kinesthetic use of true ki had entered the domain of a peerless expert.
"...!"
Maybe because they sensed the sudden surge of energy, all those chasing and being chased turned to look at him at once.
All wore startled faces — except Zhao Yeong-ryeong, whose face brightened.
She cried out as if screaming,
"Young Hero Yu—!"
But Jeong-un wasn't heading toward her. His path took him straight into the midst of those pursuing her.
Shhhk—!
He drew Dragon Sky from his waist and slashed simultaneously.
The vivid yellow enhanced energy shot from the sword around him, scattering among the foes like shrapnel.
With the sword draw, a shockwave of sword strikes exploded multiple lines of enhanced energy.
"Grahh!"
"Ack!"
The formation driving Zhao Yeong-ryeong broke apart and collapsed.
Seeing this, Jeong-un redirected himself and shot toward Zhao Yeong-ryeong.
"Are you hurt?"
"I was captured by them and taken here, but I managed to break free and run. I kept fleeing but couldn't find an exit...!"
"You can't find an exit that way. This place is inside their formation."
"In...inside a formation?!"
He took his eyes from Zhao Yeong-ryeong's surprised face — satisfied that she was unharmed — and glanced at the approaching Demonic Cultists.
"Zhao Gang and Young hero Baek will be here soon. Join up with them."
"Elder brother is... Wait, what about you, young hero Yu?"
Jeong-un replied quietly, already turning fully to face the enemies.
"I'm thinking of having a conversation."
"What?"
The cultists were already upon him.
Many had died instantly at his previous strike, but the survivors were expressionless, showing no fear despite what they'd just seen.
Jeong-un looked at them and said,
"This time you won't kill yourselves, so I think we can talk."
Dragon Sky trembled in his right hand, glowing gold with true ki, as if answering him.