Rebirth of the Thunder God

"This is where you will be staying. To be precise, it's called the Heavenly Altar Cliff, a fortress-like place we are proud of."

As Namgung Hui tilted his head, Ma Jincheol continued his explanation.

"Haha! You're not as surprised as I thought. Then I'll show you the real Heavenly Altar Cliff."

As Ma Jincheon drew something on the floor, a passage that had not been visible on the floor appeared.

This was a realm closer to sorcery than to formations.

And it seemed to be a considerably high-level sorcery at that.

Ma Jincheol stepped towards the stairs leading down to the basement and said.

"Now, follow me. The guest rooms are down here."

At this point, Namgung Hui couldn't help but be quite surprised.

To think that they had carved out the inside of a cliff to build a building, the skill was skill, but the idea itself was interesting.

'Rather, by building it like this, it would be difficult to notice even from the outside. This is a true natural fortress. Itself.'

On top of that, they had even hidden its appearance with sorcery.

Even if the Heavenly Altar Pavilion above was discovered, since the Heavenly Altar Cliff was hidden beneath it, there would be no major damage.

On top of that, who would have imagined that they had dug a deep tunnel into the ground like this?

He descended the rather long stairs down the cliff.

It was more bizarre than the feeling of having a cave drilled into a cliff.

They had even drilled a window to see the waterfall on the other side.

The scenery seen through it was something Namgung Hui had never seen in his entire life.

It was a magnificent view, to the point where he wanted to come and see it with Beak Seolhwa.

"As expected, you are surprised. How is it? Isn't the scenery of the Heavenly Altar Cliff a masterpiece?"

"It is. I haven't traveled to many places in the Central Plains, but among them, it's worthy of being called the best."

"Heheheot! Since the manager says so, my shoulders are rising. Now, now, we're almost at the guest rooms. There's another guest in the end room, so you can choose the rest of the rooms and go in."

"There's a guest in the end room? Can I know who it is?"

"It's difficult to tell you who it is. Why are you curious?"

"Since I'm a woman, I thought I needed to be careful. It's not a man, is it?"

Ma Jincheol showed a slightly troubled expression and cleared his throat.

"Ahem! Where are there men and women among martial artists? We are all comrades of the four seas."

"I'm more of a merchant than a martial artist, though?"

"Hmm... Then stay as far away from that room as possible."

"So it's a man?"

"But it's also difficult to give you another place. The clan village, as its name suggests, is a place where the New Six Demonic Families reside. Outsiders cannot be accepted."

In the first place, how many outsiders would come to the Blood Cult that they would have built so many guest rooms?

Giving a whole floor like this was probably a great favor.

Because building a structure by digging into the ground was in itself a considerable difficulty.

"If so, I guess there's no choice. I'll take care of myself."

"If you're really worried, I'll assign you a guard."

"A guard is not necessary. Would a person who came as a guest harm me?"

"That's true. By the way, he hasn't come in since last evening, I hope he hasn't caused any trouble..."

Could it be the residence of the captured Mad Dragon?

Since there were no other outsiders besides the Mad Dragon, it was certain that it was the Mad Dragon's guest room.

'It wouldn't matter if I went into any room.'

"As long as it's not the end room, I can go into any room and unpack, right?"

"That's right. Is there anything you left at the military affairs department? I'll have someone send it."

"No. I didn't leave anything."

"Alright. If you need anything, pull this rope."

It seemed the Heavenly Altar Cliff didn't have any servants either.

Still, it wasn't that there were no watchful eyes, as he felt some presences around.

It seemed they had learned a concealment technique, as their presences were somewhat faint.

To the point where Namgung Hui would never have felt it if his realm were lower.

As the Second Elder disappeared with quick steps, Namgung Hui roughly chose a spot two rooms away from the Mad Dragon's room.

When he opened the door and entered the room, it was quite a bit larger than the guest room in the military affairs department.

On top of that, the bed was also more spacious, and the leather and wooden pillow laid on it were also luxurious.

To the point where he was quite curious where such funds came from.

'They're not in a position to be self-sufficient. And it would be difficult to procure funds by breaking through the Martial Alliance's surveillance network.'

It seemed they had their own source of funds that no one knew about.

If not, the magnificent appearance of the Heavenly Altar Pavilion, along with the structure built on this Heavenly Altar Cliff, would not be explained.

He was just very curious how they had avoided the eyes of the Beggars' Sect, which had a hundred thousand members.

'Then it's time to investigate that.'

Namgung Hui recalled the clan village that Ma Jincheol had mentioned a while ago.

He had said it was a place where the New Six Demonic Families resided.

Since it would be located in a deeper place, he resolved to infiltrate it when night fell.

Because he had put the Thousand-Li Tracking Scent on Ma Jincheol's collar just in case.

However, he would have to shake off the watchful eyes of the two guards to be able to track Ma Jincheol.

Since there was still some time until the sun set, he decided to think of a way gradually.

Since he had to formulate a concrete plan anyway, there was no need to move right away.

As Namgung Hui sat on the bed, one of the guards stealthily approached from the ceiling.

The other one seemed to be a person dedicated to the Mad Dragon, as he was guarding the Mad Dragon's abode.

Perhaps because they had undergone considerable training, not even the sound of their breathing leaked out.

Even when Namgung Hui pretended to change his clothes, his breathing was steady.

Originally, when a woman tried to change her clothes, her breathing was bound to be disturbed.

'They're not guys to be dealt with simply. Besides, it would be difficult to subdue both of them at the same time by breaking through the ceiling.'

Since it was not a general pavilion but one carved out of a cliff, the thickness of the ceiling was not ordinary.

It seemed virtually impossible to break through the ceiling made of hard rock walls without making a sound.

The guards were fully prepared to ring the emergency bell if necessary.

'Shall I take a nap for now?'

Namgung Hui fell asleep in such a defenseless state.

The guard just stared at such a Namgung Hui.

A little while later, had about two hours passed?

The sun set, and darkness came to the Heavenly Altar Cliff.

Such darkness woke Namgung Hui from his light sleep, and as if to chase away the darkness, he stretched wide and got up.

'As expected, there's no disturbance. He's a well-trained person.'

But that didn't mean there was no way.

There was a small gap in the ceiling for Namgung Hui to be looked down upon.

A small gap, just enough for a person's finger to fit through.

On top of that, the fact that they had entered there meant that there was also an entrance for people to enter and exit somewhere.

'I can put one of them to sleep by aiming for that gap. The other one is a little far away, so it will be difficult.'

He could just find another way for that.

Namgung Hui woke up Chichi, who was sleeping in his robes, and sent a telepathic message.

-Chichi. Are you up?

-I'm up. What do you want me to do now? I'm an expensive body now.

After undergoing one stage of evolution recently, Chichi's arrogance had also grown a notch.

Namgung Hui shook his head and continued.

-You feel the people on the ceiling, right?

-Yes. They're as quiet as a dead mouse.

It was funny for a squirrel to say this, but Chichi's detection ability was excellent.

-Go in there and put the guy at the end to sleep. Can you do it?

-I don't know. I think I'll be able to judge whether I can do it or not depending on what you give me.

-One bottle of Thunder Liquor.

-Alright. And you can make that thing called a Thunder Pill, right?

The Thunder Pill was a spirit medicine given to the successor of the Thunder Sect and a token of the next sect leader.

Namgung Hui could not tolerate giving it to a spirit beast that was not even a disciple.

Even if it was Chichi, who was no different from a friend.

-That's a bit difficult. It's a treasure of the sect that is only made for the next sect leader.

-Then can't you make something similar to a Thunder Pill? I'll work hard from now on. You have to find more spirit medicines in the future.

If it wasn't a spirit medicine like the Thunder Pill, it wasn't that he couldn't make it.

The Thunder Liquor was also an alcohol that contained thunder ki in that context.

He just had to create something between the Thunder Liquor and the Thunder Pill and give it to Chichi.

'Hmm... When I stop by the Divine Treasure Fortress, I'll have to ask them to teach me some alchemy. And I'll have to start making the Thunder Pill to pass on to my disciple.'

Perhaps because Chichi had undergone one stage of evolution, the amount of thunder ki he needed seemed to have increased.

Since his performance had also improved that much, Namgung Hui had no way to complain.

On top of that, since he had undergone such an evolution, Chichi had also gained another ability.

Namgung Hui was trying to use that ability now.

Namgung Hui nodded and sent a telepathic message.

-Alright. A Thunder Pill is difficult, but I'll make you something else.

-Alright. Then I just have to deal with the human at the end, right? Just leave it to me!

Chichi, excited at the thought of getting something from Namgung Hui, quickly disappeared somewhere.

Perhaps he had left to find a passage to the ceiling.

As soon as Chichi disappeared, Namgung Hui took out Bukgung Jinwu's Judge's Brush from his robes.

The Judge's Brush was a brush made of steel, but since it looked like a brush, it had virtually no killing power.

Well, he could die if he hit a fatal acupoint, but it was usually used to paralyze by hitting other major blood points rather than aiming for a fatal acupoint.

If the purpose had been to kill, it would not have been made in the shape of a brush like this.

Namgung Hui lightly threw the Judge's Brush up and estimated its weight.

'With this much, there should be no problem.'

Perhaps because it was made of black iron, it was quite heavy.

Namgung Hui was rather satisfied with the weight, which was comparable to a single sword.

And so, as he threw it up and caught it several times, when the guard's gaze became somewhat bored.

The Judge's Brush showed no sign of falling from the empty air.

The guard, at the strange state of it floating, finally tilted his head.

Just then.

-Swiiik!

The Judge's Brush was shot quickly and stuck in the guard's brow.

Since the brow was a place that controlled the brain, he would not be able to avoid death if he hit it wrong.

But who was Namgung Hui? He was a person who had mastered not only the principles of the Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers but also the principles of the Flying Thunder Sword.

Since he was a man who had already mastered the principles of controlling a sword with his mind, this level of strength control was nothing.

Teolseok.

As Namgung Hui knocked down the guard, the sound of a person falling was heard from the side with a sizzling sound.

Chichi had knocked out the remaining guard with a full power discharge.

Chichi's new ability was just that.

'If you inject thunder ki into the back of the neck like that, you're bound to lose consciousness. Even if you wake up later, you'll think you were asleep.'

The same went for the guard in front of him.

It wasn't for nothing that Namgung Hui had aimed for the brow; if he was knocked out like this, he would temporarily lose his memory.

One of the phenomena that occurs when the ki sent to the brain is cut off.

Perhaps this person would also feel like he had a dream in a dazed state when he woke up.

Namgung Hui left the guards as they were and asked Chichi.

-Now I'm going in there. If you feel a passage leading inside, tell me right away. Got it?

-I feel something now, but I think I'll know if I get a little closer.

-Really? That's great. I'm going right away.

Namgung Hui followed the smell and walked in the direction Ma Jincheol had disappeared.

The passage was so spacious that it should be called an artificial cave.

As expected of a deep place, it was dug deep into the cliff.

Could it be that there was a mole among the Blood Cult members?

How could they have created such a wide cave inside a cliff?

Namgung Hui, worried that it might collapse, walked into the cave.

And after walking for about two hours, he reached a dead end.

Although no door was visible, since Chichi had immediately jumped out of his robes and run somewhere, Namgung Hui just watched Chichi.

But unlike Namgung Hui's expectation, Chichi delivered disappointing words.

[There's a passage here, but I can't figure out how to get in.]

(End of Chapter)