Reincarnation of the Martial Emperor

Chapter 19: Watch me. I'll definitely survive.

The steward, Yi Sabaek, took out a leather pouch from his bosom and sprinkled water in all directions without hesitation.

Chwaaaaaaaah!

I hurriedly examined the floor of the mechanism.

Surprisingly, the floor was transparent.

To think that all those things filling the grids of the floor were those expensive crystal stones.

Soon, a faint luminous body was revealed from within the crystals.

It was a path of light.

That path was surely pointing to the Qi Step to escape the trap.

In the end, an unbearable curse flowed from my mouth.

“Th-this piece of sh….”

To think that the way to escape that hellish final gateway, the Sword Forest, was this simple.

Mechanisms like this always find a way to dig into a person's psychology.

Inside a sealed mechanism where everything within sight is covered in iron.

In a place where one could be isolated at any moment, water was naturally a lifeline.

To sprinkle such precious water on the floor?

There was no human who could recklessly take such a risk.

In the first place, this Sword Forest was structured so that it couldn't be broken unless one knew about it in advance.

Damn it, to think they used those good brains to make something like this.

Jaegal was even scarier now.

“Young Master, what's wrong…?”

“……No. It's nothing.”

It was a relief that it was dark.

Otherwise, that steward would have seen my flushed face clearly. Fresh chapters posted on novel·fire·net

“If you follow this path straight ahead, the first gateway will be waiting. Please move quickly before the water dries up. According to the rules, I must now return.”

I carefully examined the sparkling crystal path.

The Asuras and Rakshasas, holding all sorts of spears and swords in their hands, were now all smiling.

It felt like they were mocking my miserable past, and all the blood in my body rushed to my head, but I gritted my teeth and suppressed my anger.

“Well, do you have any last pieces of advice?”

“You must survive.”

“Aigoo, I shouldn't have asked. Go on.”

“Then….”

And so, the steward, Yi Sabaek, walked away from me without looking back.

What a cold-hearted person.

I thought he would at least give me a word of helpful advice.

Somehow, he was even less affectionate than the Great Murim Alliance guys.

“Heup!”

I moved my body quickly.

The moisture was beginning to seep into the edges of the grid, and the rays of light were gradually weakening.

Since no one was watching anyway, I began to freely unfold the Galaxy Eternal Spirit Steps.

Among the thousands of martial arts I had learned, the one that was somewhat known was the Martial Emperor's footwork, the Galaxy Eternal Spirit Steps.

Papat!

And so, having reached the end of the mechanism in an instant, I stopped in front of a large iron door.

It was an iron door that you just pushed open with force, without any particular device, and of course, I didn't hesitate much.

As long as I passed the gateway, the reward of this damn Secret Cave That Repels Demons was certain.

Huh?

But it wasn't pushing open easily.

“Aigoo, damn it.”

Actually, this wasn't the mechanism's fault.

This body of mine, with only a handful of muscle strength, was the problem.

I had no choice but to draw up the power of the One Origin Jade Flower.

It was less than a tenth of my prime, but still, it wasn't to the point where I couldn't push open an iron door like this.

Geugeugeugeuk—

As I opened the iron door like that.

What greeted me was the musty smell of moss, and a pitch blackness like an abyss.

“Ha….”

If it had been my original self, I would have examined it with my eye techniques, but now I really couldn't see an inch ahead.

I'm not the very adventurous type.

Nor do I particularly enjoy gambling.

As I stood there blankly, unable to easily take a step.

Suddenly, an ice-cold voice was heard, and goosebumps ran down my spine.

<Close it.>

It was strange to call it a human voice.

It was terribly dry, yet a chaotic mix of emotions was clearly boiling within it.

His body was not in good condition either.

When one is trapped in a sealed place for a long time, damp energy fills the lungs, and that voice, which sounded like blood-phlegm was boiling, was proof of that.

He was definitely a person who had not seen the outside world for many years.

And finally.

‘His internal energy is incredible!’

In a sealed space like this, even the smallest sound would resonate like an echo.

But the voice had stopped all at once, as if it had been cut off.

To control one's own energy to this level was not easy even for me in my prime.

He might even surpass me in my Martial Emperor days.

I sharpened my senses to the extreme and closed the iron door.

There was nothing to be gained by provoking a master of that caliber.

‘But who is he?’

He was definitely an absolute master who had reached the realm of a Grand Master.

There was a heavyweight on the level of the Seven Revered of Jianghu in this Jaegal Clan?

<So you're a fellow who has already learned martial arts.>

I gritted my teeth and fiercely scanned the darkness.

I felt dirty.

Because I was laid bare like this, while there was nothing I could grasp about my opponent.

I tracked the amplitude of the voice and carefully opened my mouth.

“Who might the esteemed elder be?”

<The one who presides over your Nine Phoenix Gates.>

My heart sank.

I had been hoping it wasn't true, but just as I had feared, my opponent was the damn supervisor of the Nine Phoenix Gates.

I had thought of it as just a gateway of the Jaegal Clan and had taken it lightly.

But my plan was being twisted from the very beginning.

Damn it, to think a master of this level was in the Jaegal Clan.

<You must be tired from passing through the difficult mechanism, so first, relieve your accumulated travel fatigue.>

No, in this pitch blackness where I can't even see an inch ahead?

Don't tell me they're not even giving me food?

“In here?”

As soon as my words fell, a fierce roar echoed in my ears.

Geugeugeugeugeu—

As another iron door opened in the distance, a blinding ray of light dazzled my vision to the point where I couldn't open my eyes.

The unique smell of oil, and the way the shadows flickered, it was definitely a place where torches had been set up.

Of course.

Still, since I was a direct descendant of the Jaegal Clan, there was no way they wouldn't have prepared a place for me to sleep.

“Thank you for your consideration. Then….”

What greeted me after passing through the iron door was a narrow, rectangular stone chamber illuminated by a total of six torches.

As I carefully examined the interior of the stone chamber, I couldn't help but furrow my brow.

The center of the stone chamber.

Because four damn black iron chests were rising up from it.

“Ha….”

Those iron chests were the monsters that rose up throughout the Secret Cave That Repels Demons.

What was vicious about those iron chests was that they had a high probability of containing food and water.

At the last moment, my starving subordinates had opened the iron chests with their eyes crazed, and hundreds had died from the poison mist like that.

As long as there was a chance to secure food and water, they had fallen into the trap like moths to a flame, knowing they would die.

Having experienced all of that pandemonium, I couldn't help but tremble with rage.

I immediately walked over and retrieved all the torches hanging on the wall.

Then I leaned them against a corner of the stone chamber and gathered the firepower.

This was the only way to quickly secure water inside this hellish iron coffin.

<You are quite a strange one.>

I just listened quietly.

<There have been many who ignored the iron chests, but you are the first to gather torches to obtain water through steam.>

The clan that studies mechanism science most deeply.

Naturally, the new generation of the Jaegal Clan would be well aware of the basic framework of mechanisms that exploit human psychology, that weakness.

But.

Do they have the experience of surviving within such a mechanism?

If you gather the torches like this, the damp energy from underground will vaporize, and dew will form on the ceiling.

There was no way they had licked that dew.

Because that was a unique experience even for this Martial Emperor.

<However, a human cannot survive on water alone. You, like the others, will have no choice but to open the iron chests.>

At his words, I finally realized that this was the first gateway of the Nine Phoenix Gates.

Survival, huh.

Surviving in this damn Secret Cave That Repels Demons is a daunting task for an ordinary human.

As someone who had personally survived that hell, I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

“More than half must have been culled here.”

Jaegal Cheon, Yeong, they would endure something like this?

Not a chance in hell.

“Ha, shit.”

To make me recall such bad memories to this extent.

Blood rushed to the top of my head again.

Ha, how should I torment that monster-like bastard?

“Hoo….”

I immediately lowered my pants and relaxed.

Trickle, trickle.

As I began to urinate refreshingly like that, the monster's mocking voice was heard again.

<What a foolish fellow. At a time when you should be preserving as much moisture as possible, you go and piss first.>

“Bullshit.”

That monster bastard doesn't know.

How many lives I saved with this method.

Since it has come to this, I will show everything.

Watch closely how this Martial Emperor survived in the Secret Cave That Repels Demons.

Because now I'm also curious how long you can ignore me.

***

Life is strong.

And the places where such strong life force extends are all the places under heaven where moisture and heat exist.

Even within this barren underground world, life naturally breathes.

Because water veins are intricately intertwined, and geothermal heat also exists.

Moreover, if they encounter sugar, which is rarely found in an underground world like this, they will go crazy and flock to it.

I waited all day.

To humans, urine is just a stench.

But by now, they would be scouring the underground world after smelling the scent of urine containing sugar.

I knew that they would somehow dig tunnels and make paths to find it.

Because the soil stained with urine would be a fresh banquet for their queen.

Three days passed.

Around the time I was replacing the wicks of the torches in the oil containers, a pile of dirt was finely crumbling from a crack in the stone wall.

Fire ants.

As expected, the rulers of this underground world had appeared.

I carefully watched them as they returned in a long line, carrying the dried soil.

That's it.

The crack I was looking for.

I waited for their red line to disappear completely, then began to fiercely rotate the power of the One Origin Jade Flower that I had been sharpening for the past three days.

Crack!

This Dragon Scale Hand, which strikes repeatedly and quickly with the side of the hand, is a type of variation of the Wall Tiger Art.

A martial art optimized for penetrating cracks and breaking walls.

The side of my hand swelled up blue, but I never stopped.

Kwang!

Crack!

Cracks began to form on the solid granite slab.

Of course, these cracks had already been made by the fire ants.

I was just widening the gap with the Dragon Scale Hand.

Kwaaang!

Crumble…….

The stone slab broke, revealing a damp earthen wall.

I carefully removed the soil and quickly examined the hole the fire ants had passed through.

They really are diligent little bastards.

The traces they had left were already about to fade.

But they still can't be faster than a human.

I grinned, then squeezed the shirt I had soaked with the dew from the ceiling and put it in my mouth.

Papat!

And again, the Dragon Scale Hand danced.

At the end of the tunnel I dug, their nest, about the size of my body, will appear.

Even by eating just one anthill little by little, I can survive for a month.

And in this underground world…….

There are countless such fire ant nests.

I am the one who survived even the Heavenly Demon's Heaven and Earth Net.

The Martial Emperor of the world.

From now on, watch closely.

You gloomy monster bastard.