Chapter 86 : Dragon Scale Robe
Anyone, from anywhere, would have seen the gorgeously armored steel soldier as 'I am the captain~'. Jang Baekseo flew his body without hesitation.
But.
"Tsk! You're going to protect the captain?"
Other steel dolls rushed in and blocked Jang Baekseo, who had flown his body to deal with the captain steel doll.
At this sudden action of the steel dolls, which had been pressing Jang Baekseo and the Geumjo Guard with a siege formation until now, Jang Baekseo was rather convinced.
'I have to deal with that guy!'
"Great Hero Yiseon!!"
"Yes!"
At Jang Baekseo's call, Yiseon, who had already grasped the situation, swung his sword force.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
“Fierce Bird Slashing Hero Sword!"
The yellow sword force that flew from Yiseon's sword swept away the soldier steel dolls that were blocking the front of the captain steel doll.
Jang Baekseo flew his body without hesitation through the path that had been created in that way.
Thump!
Jang Baekseo's sword qi, which had shortened the distance in an instant, poured down on the captain steel doll.
Kakakakakang!
As expected, as he was the captain, not only his movements but also the unprecedented energy he was clad in were stronger.
But this time, the opponent was not good.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
The technique of putting two types of qi into one move at the same time, which he had used when facing Gang Junpyo!
Although it was a different power from the martial artist's energy, there was no problem in weakening the unprecedented energy that the captain steel doll was clad in with the Jowon sword manual. Thus, the armor of energy was unraveled, and the sword manual of Ganghon was driven in as it was.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
The main point of the Ganghon sword manual was 'explosion'! It was a sword manual that gave a huge shock by exploding the internal energy.
Thus, the captain doll, whose clad energy had been torn by Jowon and had been hit head-on by Ganghon, exploded and scattered, starting from its chest.
And at the same time, the other steel dolls that had been rushing at Jang Baekseo and the Geumjo Guard stopped moving as if they were puppets with their strings cut.
"It seems it was the right answer."
Even though the situation had ended in that way, the dark clouds in Jang Baekseo's heart did not clear.
"…"
Jang Baekseo looked up at the sky, no, at the spherical ceiling of the circular room.
"…Why is that here?"
The patterns, no, the letters that were densely filling the spherical ceiling. They were familiar to Jang Baekseo.
The unknown characters that were written in the Blood Flower Sutra!
The characters that he had also seen in the fishing secret place of the Water Remnant Gang in Guilin, Guangxi, had appeared again here, in the secret vault of the Hegemon's Fortress.
And Jang Baekseo was convinced that these steel dolls had moved because of these characters.
If not, there was no way that the steel statues, which had no devices, could have moved…
Moreover, there was already a precedent.
'Gang Junpyo… that guy was also holding the Blood Flower Sutra before he turned into a monster.'
And at that time, he had been in a hurry and had not paid attention, but he had definitely been reading something.
And it was highly likely that it was the unknown characters written in the Blood Flower Sutra.
'It's not a technique of the Central Plains.'
Gang Junpyo's transformation was also like that, and the techniques of these steel dolls now were also far from the techniques of the Central Plains, no matter how much he thought about it.
Alchemy!
The various mysterious studies that existed in the Central Plains. From martial arts to sorcery, Qimen Dunjia, and formations. Although they were studies that seemed to have no connection with each other, all these studies of the Central Plains existed on the extension of one great stream.
That was alchemy.
The purpose of alchemy was simple.
To reach immortality.
This study, which was said to have started from the desire of the emperor who had first unified the continent a long time ago, or perhaps had been passed down from a much more distant past, had influenced all the studies of the Central Plains, including, of course, martial arts.
But in Jang Baekseo's eyes, the studies using these characters were clearly out of the orbit of such alchemy.
As much as they aimed for immortality, the studies influenced by alchemy had generally developed in a form that focused on the human body.
Even things like sorcery, Qimen Dunjia, and formations, which caused phenomena outside the human body, were mostly deeply related to the human body if you dug deep into them.
'But these are not.'
Although Gang Junpyo had transformed into a monster, in Jang Baekseo's eyes, that was also far from alchemy.
'Then is it related to the alchemy of the Western Regions?'
Alchemy.
If alchemy was created with the goal of immortality, then alchemy was a study created with the goal of making gold.
As such, its purpose was on the alteration of the outside world, not the inside of the human body.
But…
'It's different from alchemy too… no matter how much alchemy is a study that alters the outside, it wouldn't be this aggressive and bizarre…'
Since Jang Baekseo had also come into contact with studies related to alchemy in the Demonic Cult, he could tell that the things that these strange characters caused were not similar to either alchemy or alchemy.
Although his worries were long, it was now time to do what he had to do.
"Just in case something happens, let's have one team of six check the rooms clockwise and the other team counter-clockwise."
Following Jang Baekseo's instructions, the Geumjo Guard was divided into teams of six and began to check the rooms one by one.
Jang Baekseo, who was watching it from the center of the room, suddenly noticed something strange.
"Huh…?"
When they had first entered, there were a total of 12 doors in this circular room, excluding the door they had entered.
But now, when he checked again, the number of doors had increased to 13, hadn't it?
Although Jang Baekseo had rubbed his eyes and had checked again, the number of doors was still 13.
Jang Baekseo looked for the new door among the 13 doors.
It was not that difficult to find. Among the steel doors with various splendid patterns engraved on them, there was only one wooden door.
As Jang Baekseo approached the door…
Creak!
The door began to open by itself, as if it had been waiting.
"Ha! Are you telling me to come in?"
Jang Baekseo said so and moved his feet into the room.
There was nothing in the room.
It was not a figurative expression, but there was really nothing. It was to the point where you could believe that the inside of a solid block of marble had been hollowed out in a square shape. There was nothing in the room.
But there was only one thing that existed…
There was a shelf in the center of the room.
On the splendid shelf, which was completely different from the style of the Central Plains…
Flinch!
On the shelf, 'something' was wrapped in a cloth.
Although he had not seen the shape of that something, Jang Baekseo was convinced that it was by no means an ordinary object.
That was because of the strong presence that was felt even through the cloth!
Because that presence had made Jang Baekseo have no choice but to be tense.
But nevertheless, Jang Baekseo approached the shelf.
Jang Baekseo, who had stood in front of it for a moment and had tried to guess the identity of the object in the cloth…
'I can't tell…'
In the end, it seemed he would have to remove the cloth and check inside.
Since he had already decided to do it, he did not drag it out any longer and removed the cloth.
Flap!
"…What!?"
But in the place where the cloth had been removed, there was nothing.
Instead, there was a character engraved in intaglio.
Fortunately, unlike the Blood Flower Sutra and the characters on the ceiling, Jang Baekseo read the character, which was written in the characters of the Central Plains.
"Dragon Scale Robe?"
The moment he read the name, Jang Baekseo could tell.
The identity of the mysterious presence was the very cloth he had just removed!
Jang Baekseo's eyes naturally turned to the cloth.
A black cloth. When he looked closely at what he had thought was just an ordinary black cloth, he could see that there was a pattern like the scales of a fish engraved on it.
And…
"What is this?"
That black cloth was wrapping around Jang Baekseo's arm like something with a life, yes, like a snake.
Although Jang Baekseo had tried to shake it off for a moment, he left it alone because its movement was like that and he did not feel any intention to harm him.
The black cloth, no, the Dragon Scale Robe, slowly wrapped around Jang Baekseo's right arm in that way, and soon it was tightened to fit his arm perfectly.
Jang Baekseo tried moving his arm as a test, but he did not feel any resistance or discomfort.
"This energy is…"
Jang Baekseo, who had realized that the energy felt from the Dragon Scale Robe was similar to the energy that had been covering the bodies of the steel soldiers who had attacked them, created a water qi in his hand and scratched it.
Kigigik!
Surprisingly, the Dragon Scale Robe, which had been as soft as silk and had seemed as if it would tear if it were caught on a tree branch, repelled Jang Baekseo's water qi.
"Ho ho? The Dragon Scale Robe… is it the kind of thing that is commonly called a magical item?"
What was more surprising was that after various tests after that, he found out that the Dragon Scale Robe moved freely according to Jang Baekseo's will.
"I don't have much skill in the robe art, but this will be useful."
Jang Baekseo, who had smiled with satisfaction, wrapped the Dragon Scale Robe around his waist and left the room.
While Jang Baekseo was obtaining the Dragon Scale Robe in the 13th room, the members of the Geumjo Guard had been faithfully checking the rooms, and it seemed they had just finished checking the last room.
"Young Master Jang, we have just finished checking the 12th room."
"I see. Then, just in case, let's check that 13th room one more time…"
Saying so, Jang Baekseo's eyes, who had turned his head, widened.
'It's gone!?'
The door of the 13th room, from which Jang Baekseo had just brought out the Dragon Scale Robe, had disappeared.
To say that it was just an illusion, the energy of the Dragon Scale Robe that was now wrapped around his waist was clearly proving that the 13th room had existed.
"…I feel like I've been possessed by a ghost…"
"Yes? What do you mean by that… and what do you mean by the 13th room…"
"Ah, no, Great Hero Yiseon. I just misspoke for a moment."
Jang Baekseo, who had changed the subject, received a report from Yiseon about the treasures found in the 12 rooms.
And the amount of treasures he had heard in that way was beyond Jang Baekseo's imagination.
'Wow! You crazy bastards of the Hegemon's Fortress, how much wealth did you scrape together?'
Even Jang Baekseo, who had been confident that he would not be surprised by a few pieces of wealth, as he had been active as the master of the Sword Demon Palace at one time, could not help but be astonished at the enormous amount.
But among them, the story that caught Jang Baekseo's ear was, of course, the story about the elixirs.
Jang Baekseo immediately opened the door of the warehouse where the elixirs were piled up and checked it with his own eyes.
Click!
That room, compared to the other rooms full of gold and silver treasures, had a modest atmosphere, and the size of the room itself was small.
But in Jang Baekseo's eyes, these were the truly valuable treasures.
Jang Baekseo's eyes, who had opened the wooden boxes displayed in several layers on each shelf one by one, sparkled like crazy.
'Jackpot…! It's a jackpot!! With this, I can… no, with this much, there's more than enough for Sohyun! Then where should I use it?'
It was the moment when the corners of Jang Baekseo's mouth were hanging on his ears.
After that, it was a smooth ride.
After securing the safety, they brought in the workers who had been prepared in advance, took out the treasures in the secret vault in top secret, and moved them to the inner residence of the Geumjo Merchant Guild.
Of course, in the meantime, Jang Baekseo had smuggled out a little, no, quite a lot of the elixirs…
Jang Baekseo and Geum Gadong, who had succeeded in smuggling out all the treasures in the secret vault in that way, were having a secret one-on-one meeting in the inner residence of the Geumjo Merchant Guild.
"Well, is this enough to plan for the Eastern martial world?"
Looking at Jang Baekseo, who was asking with a sly smile even though he knew everything, Geum Gadong nodded his head with an excited face.
"The Eastern martial world, of course… it's enough to plan for the world!"
The wealth obtained from the secret vault of the Hegemon's Fortress was at a vast level, enough to reignite the passion of Geum Gadong, which had died down after he had passed his sixtieth birthday.
"The distribution is five to four to one… is that okay?"
"Of course! No matter how much wealth has come into my hands, I'm not a shameless person who would change a promise made in advance."
Geum Gadong, who had nodded his head at the words that felt sincere, continued cautiously, looking at Jang Baekseo.
"But, Young Master Jang? It might be a bit much to ask this, but… why on earth did you include the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency in this matter? Moreover, they were of no help in this excavation, were they?"
Geum Gadong's question was natural. As he had said, the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency was of no help in this matter. Moreover, since even Jang Yuran had not followed this excavation team, it was as good as said.
At this, Jang Baekseo said with a smile.
"The treasures excavated from the Hegemon's Fortress are mostly in kind. Unless they are silver or gold, they will eventually need to be converted into money once."
At Jang Baekseo's words, Geum Gadong nodded his head.
"But the problem is that these treasures are actually mostly stolen goods."
Certainly, the items found in the secret vault of the Hegemon's Fortress were items that the Hegemon's Fortress had plundered from all over the world through its march across the world… hearing that, Geum Gadong understood the meaning of Jang Baekseo's words.
"In other words… are you saying that you will use the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency as a laundering place?"
"No, no, a laundering place… the word is too ominous. It's just…"
Jang Baekseo said with a meaningful smile.
"It's about helping each other out."
(End of Chapter)