Chapter 195 : Jaseung, Finds It
Chapter 195: Jaseung, Finds It
Lee Jaseung and Ho Yeonshin walked along the stone corridor.
The place had not been used for a very long time, and dust had piled up in thick layers, so even the ornate patterns carved into both walls were covered and hard to see.
There were no special mechanisms or traps hidden inside. That made sense, since the outer perimeter had always been guarded so strictly that there had never been any need to install extra devices this deep within.
On top of that, this was the Heavenly Demon’s private resting place. Traps or mechanisms did not suit it.
As he walked down the corridor, Lee Jaseung recalled an old conversation he had once had with Dan Woobin. It had not been an important talk, just a topic that had come up by chance while they were drinking.
They had been sharing all the places they wanted to visit. Mujin had said he wanted to go to the pleasure quarters of Hangzhou, which was said to be overflowing with peerless beauties. Ma Young-gi had said he wanted to climb the glaciers of the Northern Sea.
And Dan Woobin had said this.
“I want to go inside the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave.”
Considering that the only martial arts he had learned were barely enough to send a sound transmission, that answer had been quite unexpected.
“Why that place of all places?”
Before speaking about the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave, Dan Woobin brought up something else.
“Have you ever heard of the Blood Heaven Secret Cave?”
“Blood Heaven Secret Cave? Could it be related to the Blood Sect?”
“Yes, that is right. It is a hidden place of the Blood Cult that, just like the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave, is said to be accessible only to the Cult Leader. They say the will of the Blood Cult’s leader remains there.”
“And you’re saying something like that is in the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave as well?”
“That is not the reason. There are many rumors about the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave, but according to the most credible information, it is nothing more than the Heavenly Demon’s resting place. A purely symbolic place that only someone who has mastered the Nine Divine Demonic Arts can enter.”
There were similar places in the Murim Alliance or the Black Way Alliance. The underground secret chamber of the Murim Alliance that Jang Wonso had used was like that, and the Black Way Alliance also had a hidden place that belonged only to Lee Jaseung. They were retreats, and they were also used as places to hide or escape in an emergency.
“Then why do you want to go there?”
“I heard there is a book there that records the conflicts between the Demonic Cult and external forces. It is a sort of history of conflicts that describes which forces challenged the Demonic Cult and how.”
“How did you find that out?”
“I investigated it. It was so little known that it was very hard to track down.”
“Even if that book really is there like you say, all the methods in it would be failed ones, would they not?”
“You are right. The Demonic Cult still stands strong. So it is a book no one else would care about, but I very much want to see it.”
Lee Jaseung had roughly guessed why Dan Woobin needed it.
He wanted to find the path to success through failure.
“Haha, if you ever happen to go in there someday, please bring it out for me.”
It had been almost a joke, just a passing comment. Back then, Dan Woobin had not seriously imagined that Lee Jaseung would ever have the chance to enter that place.
In fact, at that drinking table, Mujin had joked that it was all part of a grand plot to assassinate the Cult Leader. That was how the matter had been forgotten.
When he met Ho Yeonshin, however, that old request from Dan Woobin suddenly came back to him, together with the thought that someone who had mastered the Nine Divine Demonic Arts could enter that place.
Lee Jaseung trusted Dan Woobin. If he managed to obtain that book for him, it would be a great help for the great work Dan Woobin meant to achieve in the future.
And there was another crucial reason.
Some time ago, Baek Seolyoung had told him what her father had said on his deathbed. He had said that the Limitless Treasures were related to the Heavenly Demon Sect.
By a mix of coincidence and inevitability, Lee Jaseung had already obtained all four Limitless Treasures. Since his fate and that of the Limitless Treasures were bound together so deeply, he could not help wondering what kind of connection they had with the Heavenly Demon Sect.
If anywhere held a clue, it would be the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave, right?
That was why he had come here.
The two men opened the door at the end of the corridor and went inside.
The moment they saw the interior, they were both taken aback. First of all, the space was much larger than they had expected.
At the center stood a pavilion where one could rest in comfort, and beside it was a channel that showed traces of once flowing water.
Judging by the look of it, the place had originally been arranged as a garden where water ran and flowers grew. Small openings in all directions let in sunlight and wind.
If they had come when it was still well maintained, it would have been an extraordinarily beautiful view. Of course, now that it had been neglected for so long, it was almost a ruin.
In front of the stone walls on all sides, shelves and display cases had been set up. There were books, and a variety of weapons and other items were arranged there.
The two men started with a bookshelf standing to one side. There were many different books, most of them martial arts manuals.
Lee Jaseung slowly examined them.
There were manuals of demonic arts, and there were manuals of orthodox arts as well. They were mainly the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects and the Four Great Clans, arts that would have left ordinary people of the Jianghu wide eyed with shock.
But of course, there was no martial art there that could whet Lee Jaseung’s appetite. Ho Yeonshin showed no interest either. Now that he had mastered the Nine Divine Demonic Arts, no other art could catch his eye.
At that moment, Ho Yeonshin glanced toward one of the stone walls and gasped.
“Ah! This is?”
One entire stone wall was densely filled with carved writing that described the history of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
With shining eyes, Ho Yeonshin began to read it. He had come only because Lee Jaseung had pressed him, but in his heart he had been hoping to gain some insight here that would deepen his understanding of the Nine Divine Demonic Arts.
The characters were so small and covered an entire wall of that wide space, so it looked like it would take at least an hour just to read it all.
Since Lee Jaseung had no interest in the contents, he examined a bookshelf on the opposite wall.
Here, instead of martial arts manuals, other sorts of books were lined up.
There was a register of elders and books about the troops, along with works about the achievements of past Cult Leaders.
As he examined the titles, a faint smile appeared on Lee Jaseung’s lips.
One particularly thick volume caught his eye.
Its title was Record of the Cult’s Victorious Battles.
It was precisely the book that Dan Woobin had wanted.
So it really was here.
He had found it so easily that it almost felt anticlimactic.
Lee Jaseung slipped the book inside his robe. The thought of how delighted Dan Woobin would be put him in a good mood.
Up to that moment, Ho Yeonshin was still immersed in the lines carved into the wall. In any case, he paid no attention to Lee Jaseung. Having even taken poison, he had nothing to gain by involving himself in Lee Jaseung’s affairs.
His only concern was to push the Nine Divine Demonic Arts to its peak. He did not care about anything else. If anything, he simply hoped to find some way to master the Nine Divine Demonic Arts to the extreme from the words carved on the wall.
However, most of the writing on the wall was about the history of the Heavenly Demon Sect. Even so, he could not just skip over the history of his predecessors, so he read it with great care.
Meanwhile, Lee Jaseung examined the display case standing next to the bookshelf.
When he opened the door, he saw a wooden box inside. He took it out and opened it.
A sharp fragrance rose out, and inside was a pellet. It was the Demonic Cult’s treasured elixir, the Demon Restoration Pill. It was a medicine used in the Demonic Cult to increase inner Qi, and its effects were said to be greater than the Great Restoration Pill of Shaolin.
The main reason the Demon Restoration Pill was so highly valued was that it was not limited only to those who had learned demonic arts. Even someone who had not learned demonic arts could take it and see a great improvement in inner strength.
Of course, there were extra benefits for someone who had learned demonic arts, but the Demon Restoration Pill was such an outstanding elixir that those additional effects could be ignored.
Lee Jaseung carefully put the Demon Restoration Pill away inside his robe. A single pill would not greatly help his own inner Qi, which had already reached five hundred and forty years worth.
However, it would be of great benefit to Baek Seolyoung, whose inner Qi was one hundred and eighty years worth.
Even while he was putting the Demon Restoration Pill away, Ho Yeonshin was still absorbed in the writing on the wall.
Lee Jaseung had already decided that he would not mention the Demon Restoration Pill to him. If nothing else, Ho Yeonshin would covet that much. It was a medicine of immense help to anyone who cultivated demonic arts.
Lee Jaseung was in a good mood. He still did not know what relationship there was between the Limitless Treasures and the Heavenly Demon Sect, but he had obtained what Dan Woobin wanted, and on top of that he had gained the Demon Restoration Pill. That felt more than enough.
However, his good fortune for the day was not over yet.
Lee Jaseung looked around the rest of the place. On one side, there were weapons laid out.
In truth, he did not need any more weapons.
He had Asura and Dream Phantom.
On top of that, he wore the Limitless Gauntlets on his hands and the Protective Armor on his body. He even had finely crafted throwing daggers that had been made by a master artisan.
He had thought that he truly had no need for any other weapons… Yet something among the items caught his eye.
Brushing off the thick dust, he uncovered a pair of leather greaves that covered from the ankle up to just below the knee, designed so that daggers could be slotted into each side.
There were also bracers for the wrists. They were made as a matching set with the greaves and were likewise designed to hold daggers.
What drew his attention most was the leather itself. He did not know what it was made from, but its toughness was as strong and resilient as his Protective Armor. He could slot daggers into it, and in an emergency it could also protect his arms and legs.
Lee Jaseung placed Asura and Dream Phantom, which had been sheathed at his hips, into the leather bracers on his forearms. Once he pulled his sleeves down, they were completely hidden. Moreover, the design allowed him to draw them in an instant.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
Asura and Dream Phantom were so famous that he had deliberately carried them in an ordinary dagger belt. Even so, Ho Yeonshin had recognized Asura this time.
Of course, Ho Yeonshin’s eye for weapons was exceptionally keen, and he had seen Asura once in the past, so he had been able to identify it. But there was no guarantee that no one else would recognize the daggers someday.
Now, however, that worry no longer existed.
Once Asura and Dream Phantom were hidden, his greaves felt empty.
Lee Jaseung began looking for daggers to fill them.
He did not so much as glance at the other weapons. Most of the armaments here were demonic weapons, so Baek Seolyoung and the subordinates could not use them.
They were all experts, but even so, there was too great a chance that the Demonic Qi of the weapons would adversely affect their minds.
He could fully control Demonic Qi himself, but he had never looked for such weapons before, simply because he did not need them. Now, however, he needed daggers for his greaves.
There were seven daggers in total. All of them were at least high grade, but two of them caught his eye.
One dagger in particular overwhelmed all the others. It was called Ten Thousand Blood.
It had earned that name because the blood of ten thousand men had stained it.
If you judge only its murderous sharpness, it even surpassed Asura. Its Demonic Qi was so strong that ordinary people obviously could not use it, and even a Demonic Human would need considerable skill to handle it.
If you were to rank it, it stood on the same level as Asura.
Lee Jaseung poured his inner Qi into Ten Thousand Blood.
Woooong.
A deep hum rang out.
From a distance, Ho Yeonshin glanced over. He was curious what kind of dagger Lee Jaseung had picked up, but then turned his head back to the wall. He did not use daggers himself, and he was in no position to complain about someone handling the items here as he pleased.
Wooooong.
This was a contest of will between Lee Jaseung and Ten Thousand Blood.
No matter how fearsome a demonic weapon it was, it could not withstand the depth of his inner Qi.
In the end, the dagger’s resistance weakened, and the vibration gradually subsided.
Soon the dagger, which had been shaking with a frightening intensity, fell quiet.
He could no longer feel its Demonic Qi. He had not erased it completely, but forced it deep inside the blade. Unless Lee Jaseung wished for it, the Demonic Qi would never surface.
The second dagger was called Demonic Wind. It could not compare to Asura or Ten Thousand Blood, but it was still a named dagger.
The fact that a weapon had been given a name at all was proof that it had reached a remarkable level.
Lee Jaseung pressed down the Demonic Qi of Demonic Wind in the same way.
After suppressing the Demonic Qi of both daggers, he slid them into the leather straps on his legs.
Normally, they would serve as protection for his legs, and if necessary, he could pull them out and use them.
If anyone who knew even a little about daggers heard that he was using Ten Thousand Blood and Demonic Wind as backup weapons, they would be utterly appalled.
Even so, he could not suppress the Demonic Qi of other weapons in the same way and hand them out to Baek Seolyoung or his subordinates. If he erased the Demonic Qi completely, the weapon would lose its value, and if they used it with the Demonic Qi merely suppressed, it would be far too dangerous.
Having obtained the daggers as well, Lee Jaseung sat on the railing of the pavilion with a pleased heart.
Sitting like that, he felt a new surge of emotion.
Who would have imagined that he would end up seated at the very heart of the Heavenly Demon Secret Cave? It made him think once again that no one could see even an inch ahead in life.
Ho Yeonshin was still engrossed in the lines left behind by the Heavenly Demons of past generations.
Lee Jaseung waited patiently for him to finish. He had obtained everything he needed, so he intended to give Ho Yeonshin time as well.
While he rested there, something caught his eye. It was the stone wall opposite from where Ho Yeonshin stood.
Tilting his head once in curiosity, Lee Jaseung began to walk toward it.