Chapter 250 : Heavenly Demon Secret Cave (2)
Chapter 250: Heavenly Demon Secret Cave (2)
‘What are they arguing about?’
Since they had concealed themselves quite a distance from the cave entrance, they couldn't catch everything being said in the standoff happening over there.
All Il-mok could hear were occasional shouts echoing out, and he had to piece together what was going on by reading lips and body language.
"What gives you the right to block this place!"
A middle-aged guy from the ragtag crowd of martial artists stepped up and yelled. In response, an old man from the group wearing green stepped forward.
"We're not blocking anyone! They are the ones blocking you!”
The man, who looked like an elder of the Tang Family, pointed straight at the Qingcheng and Emei groups.
An elderly nun and an elderly Taoist tried to step forward to argue back, but before they could get a word out, the elder from the Tang Family shouted again.
“Just as you said, this place doesn't belong to anyone! Whoever finds it first is the owner.”
Hearing that, the fanatics hiding around Il-mok looked like they were about to lose their shit.
“How dare he say the Blood Tear Heavenly Demon’s Secret Cave has no owner?!”
"That bastard needs to die. Young Master, please!"
"......"
Il-mok decided to pretend he didn't hear their bullshit rambling and kept his focus on the cave.
"If you're so worried about who goes in first, then why don’t you guys just go in ahead of us!”
“He is right!”
The Tang Family’s elder knew how to work a crowd. Even the unaffiliated martial artists started siding with him. The old nun’s face turned bright red as she shouted back.
“We aren’t trying to take the cave for ourselves! We just don’t want any meaningless bloodshed!”
"Qingcheng feels the same way! Do you really think we came here just to see the filthy corpse of some Heavenly Demon?”
As the Qingcheng group shouted and the fanatics around me were about to have another meltdown.
That’s when the Tang Family’s elder nodded and spoke, “Fine then. You guys stay here and watch. The Tang Family happens to be interested in that filthy corpse, so we'll head in first."
The moment the shameless elder took his first step, a murderous atmosphere rippled through the air around the cave entrance.
But the elder kept his eyes locked on Qingcheng and Emei while taking one step at a time.
The Tang Family martial artists followed their elder.
A moment later, the ragtag mob started filtering in after them. Seeing them barge in, the Emei and Qingcheng groups looked at each other, realized they were missing out, and finally started marching in too.
Watching from the sidelines, Il-mok’s crew started to panic.
"Wh-what should we do?"
"If we just sit here and someone steals the Blood Tears Heavenly Demon’s body, we’ll never forgive ourselves.”
Il-mok shook his head at the fanatics' nonsense and replied.
“We wait here. If anyone comes out carrying an ancient corpse, we simply chase them down. Is that not enough?”
"Ah!"
The fanatics gasped like he was a genius.
'Out of everything rumored to be buried here, the Blood Tears Heavenly Demon's corpse is actually the least valuable. Even if this really is the place, recovering his body won't be difficult.'
It was obvious to anyone with half a brain.
Well, except for Ouyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon maybe, but the others weren't normally this stupid. Yet for some reason, when it came to this particular matter, they seemed bizarrely brain-dead.
With their plan decided, they maintained their concealment while keeping watch on the cave.
More and more groups showed up, eyed each other suspiciously, and then disappeared inside. People kept going in, but nobody was coming out.
That strange pattern continued for a while.
And that’s when a familiar group showed up at the entrance, and Il-mok clicked his tongue.
"Are they trying to get themselves killed?"
It was the young prodigies from the Orthodox Faction.
They were standing in front of the cave while arguing about whether to go in or not.
Peng Ji-gwang was whining that they should go in, while Daoist Un-baek and Hwangbo Yeon were saying they should just go home.
'Idiots. Why even come here if you’re going to hesitate?’
Il-mok shook his head at their behavior, then lost interest in them. It was because he spotted a group emerging from the cave entrance.
Their robes were originally green, but now they were splattered with dark red bloodstains all over. Looks like they'd been in combat just now.
These were martial artists from the Sichuan Tang Family.
The first ones to enter were now the first ones to leave.
'Don't tell me they already grabbed everything and came back out?'
But I didn't see anything that looked like an old corpse.
But they weren't carrying anything that looked like an old skeleton. Just as Il-mok was wondering if they had grabbed the treasure and left the body, his eyes went wide.
‘You crazy sons of bitches!’
***
Tang Cheol-jin had entered the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave with the elite martial artists of the Dark Poison Corps earlier.
Blood stained everything on the path and corpses were scattered everywhere.
"P-please... s-spare me..."
There were still a few people alive, barely hanging on. But Tang Cheol-jin just flicked his hand, and the Dark Poison Corps members put them out of their misery.
It was their own kind of mercy.
Better to die quickly than suffer a painful death here.
They stepped over the bodies and kept going until they hit a fork in the road. Tang Cheol-jin made a weird face, but instead of splitting up, he led everyone down the left path.
As if signaling the true beginning of the secret cave, even more corpses greeted them here.
Shwaaaaaak!
Traps started popping off everywhere. But Tang Cheol-jin and the Dark Poison Corps members were experts from the Tang Family. They weren't going to get taken out that easily.
They went deeper into the cave, clearing dozens of traps and passing three more forks. Then, Tang Cheol-jin gave a strange order.
"Let's head back."
“…We can handle these traps easily, Elder. Why stop?”
Tang Cheol-jin shook his head.
“There’s no point. This place is too deep and complex to have been built for someone on the run. And more importantly, did you forget that we aren't here for the treasures?”
The treasure wasn't their main goal. It was just a bonus. Their real job was to make sure Emei and Qingcheng didn't get a damn thing.
The Dark Poison Corps’ Squad Leader understood Tang Cheol-jin's meaning, but still had a lingering thought.
"If by any chance this really is the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave, Emei or Qingcheng might obtain the treasure when we leave."
"That's exactly why we need to leave."
"???"
As the Squad Leader and members made confused expressions, Tang Cheol-jin smiled coldly.
"I kept checking on our way here, and the wind is blowing from outside into the cave."
"!!!"
The squad finally realized what he was planning. Nodding, they turned around and headed back to the entrance.
Luckily, they didn't cross paths with Qingcheng or Emei on the way back, as they must have taken different routes.
Instead, they constantly ran into martial artists traveling in small groups.
"Dispose of them."
"Yes, sir!"
The Tang Family butchered everyone in their path.
While using the Tang Family's famous poisons wasn't ideal in the narrow cave, that same narrowness made their hidden weapons almost impossible to dodge.
After massacring dozens of martial artists from smaller sects and clans, they finally made it back to the entrance.
There, they found about twenty people gathered, seeking the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave.
Among them were several faces familiar to Tang Cheol-jin.
"We greet Elder Tang Cheol-jin."
It’s the so-called 'Rising Stars' from the other clans and sects. Their faces are obviously not happy when they see him, clearly wishing he isn’t here.
Among them, the stupid brat from the Peng Family is cupping his fist with a face that looked like he'd just eaten shit.
Tang Cheol-jin thought about it for a second, then made up his mind.
'The Tang Family repays kindness twofold and grudges tenfold.'
Deciding this was actually fortunate, Tang Cheol-jin gave his order.
“Release the poison.”
The moment his order fell, several Dark Poison Corps members began spreading the poison they'd brought toward the cave entrance. Some even shot palm strikes or waved fans to help the poison spread more effectively.
While the squad members in the back were poisoning the air, Hwangbo Yeon, Taoist Un-baek, and the others shouted in panic.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
Tang Cheol-jin simply opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.
"Kill them all.”
The moment Tang Cheol-jin's command fell, the remaining Dark Poison Corps members unleashed a barrage of hidden weapons at those near the entrance.
"Kuk..."
"Kyaaaaaah!"
The young prodigies were targets just like everyone else.
"Y-you cowardly..."
Peng Ji-gwang, who'd been at the very front arguing to enter the cave, couldn't even properly react to the Dark Poison Corps' surprise attack.
Dozens of hidden weapons were already embedded in his body, and bloody foam poured from his mouth due to the poison coating them.
Thud.
"I... I am the third son of the Hebei Peng Family..."
Still calling out his family name to the very end, Peng Ji-gwang collapsed pathetically to the ground.
And it’s not just Peng Ji-gwang. Everyone around him was also hit by hidden weapons and rolling on the ground.
The only survivors were the young Orthodox Faction’s warriors hanging on the back.
Hwangbo Yeon and Taoist Un-baek deflected the incoming weapons and stepped to the front. Taoist Myeonghwan and Zhuge Eun-young circled around Hwangbo Sehui to protect her.
Tang Cheol-jin clicked his tongue as he watched them block the attacks.
'Tsk. I need to finish this quickly and collapse the cave entrance.'
Tang Cheol-jin decided to handle it himself so he could kill everyone and hide the evidence. He couldn't use poison gas on the kids since the wind was blowing the wrong way.
Pat!
BOOM!
Tang Cheol-jin’s palm slammed into Hwangbo Yeon’s fist with a thunderous roar.
Even though she was just a rookie fighting an Elder, she didn't give an inch and took the hit head-on.
However, Hwangbo Yeon's expression wasn't bright at all.
And it wasn't because of the Tang Family’s martial artists beginning to surround them.
Tsssssss.
From her Qi-coated fist came a burning sound along with acrid smoke.
'Poison Body?'
The hand that Tang Cheol-jin used to clash with her fist had already taken on a greenish tint and poison energy was infiltrating through her fist.
"Haat!"
Hwangbo Yeon didn't scream. Instead, she pulled up every ounce of her internal energy to fight off the poison.
While Hwangbo Yeon faced Tang Cheol-jin alone, Taoist Un-baek fought the Squad Leader, and Taoist Myeonghwan and Zhuge Eun-young barely managed to fend off the barrage of hidden weapons from the squad members.
"S-Sister….”
Hwangbo Sehui stood there trembling with a face drained of color.
She knew that wandering the martial world was dangerous, but she never imagined she'd face death at the hands of the Sichuan Tang Family.
Moreover, she'd just witnessed dozens of people vomiting blood and dying from the hidden weapons the Tang martial artists had scattered.
In this moment of crisis where death could come at any second...
Swoosh!
A chilling cutting sound rang out from the direction of the Dark Poison Corps members who'd been surrounding them.
Then a voice with a familiar, indifferent tone pierced Hwangbo Sehui's ears.
"The party's over."
Startled, Hwangbo Sehui turned her head.
"Time to go home."
Standing there was a man wearing a mask depicting the angry face of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
***
'You crazy sons of bitches!?'
Il-mok had been shocked when the Tang Family started poisoning the cave. But when he saw them attacking the young warriors, he instantly understood their true objective.
'Instead of going for the treasure, they're planning to weaken Qingcheng and Emei's forces. The rest are just being killed as collateral damage to eliminate witnesses.'
Once he figured it out, Il-mok gave orders to his team and flew toward the entrance.
Pat!
He wasn't doing this because he was mad at the Tang Family or because he felt sorry for the kids.
It was simply because...
"The party's over."
If he could save these kids and get them home safely...
"Time to go home."
...he could tear the Orthodox Faction apart from the inside.