novelraw Chapter 57 : I Really Want to Beat You to a Pulp.
Chapter 57 : I Really Want to Beat You to a Pulp.
"The The Complete Truth Sect? Hasn't it been at least 300 years since that disappeared? You're saying it's the sacred altar of that place?"
Cheon Mubaeck nodded his head.
"Is it a good thing?"
For a moment, Cheon Mubaeck was dumbfounded.
'This guy isn't this stupid.'
Cheon Mubaeck was about to say something to Neung-heo, but he closed his mouth.
Neung-heo really had a face that knew nothing. He wasn't joking.
Neung-heo did not show such a great reaction to the name The Complete Truth Sacred Altar'.
'Wait. Come to think of it... it's been a while since the The Complete Truth Sect disappeared, right?'
It had been over 300 years, and its power had weakened even before that, so it had gradually been forgotten.
It's understandable that he doesn't know.
Only then did Cheon Mubaeck understand a little.
To Cheon Mubaeck, who had lived in that era, the name 'The Complete Truth Sect' was by no means a name to be taken lightly.
Wasn't it the orthodoxy of Taoism in the Central Plains?
But to people like Neung-heo who lived in the present era, it was not.
A sect that had disappeared from the martial world.
Since it was a martial world of survival of the fittest, the fact that it had disappeared meant that it had been eliminated because it was weak.
So the name 'The Complete Truth Sect' was forgotten, and even those who remembered the name remembered it as one of the many sects that had appeared and disappeared in the history of the martial world.
'I see. Is that why?'
Only then did Cheon Mubaeck feel that the part he had not understood was refreshingly explained.
'He must have thought that he couldn't lure the martial artists with just The Complete Truth Sacred Altar.'
That was Cheon Mubaeck's question.
Why had he gone to the trouble of making it seem like the treasure map of the Red Blood Sword Demon, which didn't even exist?
If it was the Complete Truth Sacred Altar, it would surely be a great discovery.
The secret manual of the Red Blood Sword Demon, who had clearly left his name as one of the top masters of his time in the history of the martial world, would have stimulated the desires of the martial artists more than the forgotten The Complete Truth Sect.
It was the gap between Cheon Mubaeck, who had lived in that era, and the martial artists who lived in the present era.
'Then it makes sense.'
Cheon Mubaeck nodded his head.
No, on the contrary, he was extremely grateful.
He had found the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar, which he had not even expected.
If the false rumor of the treasure map of the Red Blood Sword Demon had not spread in the first place, Cheon Mubaeck would not have bothered to look for this place.
Moreover, wasn't it only Cheon Mubaeck who felt the importance of the name 'The Complete Truth Sacred Altar' now?
'If Mount Hua or Zhongnan find out, they might rush in.'
Both Mount Hua and Zhongnan were Taoist sects, and they claimed to have inherited the lineage of the The Complete Truth Sect.
'Well, that's their business.'
If it was the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar, there was something that came to Cheon Mubaeck's mind right away.
For example, the sacred object of the The Complete Truth Sect.
'If even one of those things is properly preserved...'
Cheon Mubaeck's eyes shone.
The Heaven-Shaking Soul Art had developed even more with the internal energy cultivation methods of Taoism and Buddhism.
On top of that, what if there was a sacred object or something important of the The Complete Truth Sect?
'I might be able to expand the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art even more, or find a different way to use it.'
Then Cheon Mubaeck could make a quantum leap. After taking the elixir using the Great Return Pill from the Medicine Immortal, the total amount of his internal energy had increased by a quantum leap.
Now was the time to seek a diversification of its use.
If it was a sacred object of the The Complete Truth Sect, it would surely be a great help.
"Well, if the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar is so great, why did my lord suddenly kill his presence? What's with the tactical retreat? Shouldn't we be the first to rush in?"
"What do you think is in there?"
"...?"
Cheon Mubaeck pointed to the character 'Ghost Tomb' with his finger.
"How does it look?"
"Eum, the handwriting has quite a bit of power... hey. What are you trying to say?"
"It's different from the characters engraved on the back."
It didn't just mean that the handwriting was different.
"The characters on the back are so erased that they have faded over time, but this is very clear."
Cheon Mubaeck's eyes flashed.
Only then did Neung-heo nod his head as if he understood.
"That's true. This one is unusually clear."
"It means that the characters were engraved at different times."
The reason why Cheon Mubaeck had made a tactical retreat even after being the first to discover the Ghost Tomb was precisely this.
Someone had manipulated the treasure map of the Red Blood Sword Demon and had gathered the martial artists.
Judging that he could not gather them with the name value of the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar, he had falsely made the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar seem like the Ghost Tomb.
In the end, all this...
"It's a trap. Shit."
Neung-heo muttered in a hollow voice.
'The problem is, what are they trying to do by gathering all the martial artists?'
The character 'Ghost Tomb' was a trace left by a sword.
'It's quite something.'
He tapped the metal that formed the entrance with his hand a few times.
The elasticity and strength were quite great.
He had left a sword mark on such a metal.
'The depth is uniform, and the carved part is smooth. In a word, it was engraved in one go.'
It was on a different level from the engravings that sculptors made by striking with a chisel several times.
It was a character engraved in a single stroke.
The depth was also uniform and it was extremely smooth. To cut such a metal, one had to maintain a sufficient amount of sword qi uniformly.
In other words, one had to be a great internal energy master who could perfectly control their internal energy.
That was not all.
Although the stroke was uniform, it contained power.
In a word, it meant that the sword was also of a high level.
'The guy who set the trap is a strong guy.'
Well. You have to be at this level to even think of setting a trap that gathers all the martial artists.
"Damn it. There's no need to crawl into a trap first. Right?"
Cheon Mubaeck decided to watch for the time being.
In any case, if this place was the The Complete Truth Sacred Altar.
'It's not something you can occupy just by going in quickly.'
Neung-heo said with a slightly impatient face.
"Then shouldn't we run away?"
"Run away?"
"Are you saying you're going in, knowing full well that it's a trap?"
"Aren't you curious what kind of trap it is?"
Neung-heo took a deep breath as he saw Cheon Mubaeck's nonchalant face.
'I really want to beat you to a pulp.'
If he were my younger brother, I would just break his leg.
But all that was just a delusion. Neung-heo followed Cheon Mubaeck with a resigned face.
* * *
Kkeuaaak!
Another scream echoed through the stone cave.
Perhaps because of the structure of the stone cave, the sound did not spread outside. It echoed endlessly, hitting the walls in all directions.
The fact that it echoed meant that the stone cave was completely blocked without any gaps.
Every time it echoed, the psychological pressure on the martial artists who were running through the stone cave increased.
"No matter how I look at it, it's strange!"
When the Plum Blossom One Sword Gukbo shouted, Cheonghyeonjin bit his lip.
"I've never seen a place like this in my life."
Cheonghyeonjin also kept chanting Taoist mantras.
Otherwise, he would not have been able to maintain his composure.
'I don't know what's going on.'
The Mount Hua sect had entered the Ghost Tomb relatively carefully. At first, there was nothing special.
The problem was that they could not find a way.
"Who on earth makes their own tomb into a maze?"
"Eum!"
"That Red Blood Sword Demon must have been a crazy bastard. It's not for nothing that he was given the title of a ghost crazy about the sword."
Although the still young Gukbo let out an angry voice, even Cheonghyeonjin could not deny his words.
The structure of the Ghost Tomb was a maze. And a terrible maze with no end in sight.
Of course, if it were a simple maze, a master of Cheonghyeonjin's level could easily break through.
The problem was because of the martial artists who had come in with them.
A maze is bound to have areas where you run into each other once in a while.
Every time that happened, a sword fight was bound to break out. Because the martial artists, whose eyes were red with the words 'treasure map of the Red Blood Sword Demon,' could not judge the situation properly.
A few martial artists who had come in as individuals had formed an alliance and had fought against Mount Hua and Zhongnan.
At this point, even Cheonghyeonjin and the disciples of Mount Hua were on edge.
Because they had no choice but to be tense every time they ran into each other.
"And where is a maze like this?"
Gukbo got angry again.
"Save your internal energy."
At first, Cheonghyeonjin had thought of breaking through by breaking the walls.
But the walls were thicker than he had thought, and he had to consume a considerable amount of internal energy every time he broke through one.
The problem was that even if he did so, there was another wall next.
"It's ridiculously wide."
"Hey!"
"...Amitabha."
Gukbo hurriedly chanted a Taoist mantra.
But even Cheonghyeonjin was barely holding back the urge to curse.
The maze was too vast and endless.
Even if he broke through a wall, another wall would appear, so he was psychologically exhausted. And it was dangerous to keep consuming internal energy because there were many enemies.
The alliance of the second-rate or third-rate was not a problem.
But the Mute Red Demon, the Old Tiger Ghost, and the Star-Gazing Sword were masters that even Cheonghyeonjin could not easily face.
If he lacked internal energy when he met them at a critical moment, there would be no such disgrace.
'Where is a treasure map like this?'
Even while running through the maze, Cheonghyeonjin's suspicion deepened.
Originally, if it was a treasure map, it was natural that dangerous traps were lurking everywhere.
The masters who would leave a treasure map were usually eccentric guys. Since they were leaving a treasure map to the martial world, not to their disciples or family, how eccentric would they be? And if they hid it, it would be even more so.
In a word, they were guys whose personalities were as terrible as their skills.
The Red Blood Sword Demon in the literature was also a person with a considerable personality.
Putting aside the title of a ghost crazy about the sword, he was a martial artist of the righteous and unorthodox, and it was said that he would cut down anyone he met as an enemy, whether it was the orthodox sects or the demonic path.
How brutally he cut down his opponents in a single blow, wasn't he the Red Blood Sword Demon because he was always drenched in a red light?
Since it was the treasure map of such a person, he had come in with a resolution...
'There are no mechanism traps or traps. Only a maze, and another maze.'
Even a master like Cheonghyeonjin, a Taoist who had trained deeply, was getting psychologically exhausted.
'Moreover, it's not easy to find a way using qi waves.'
He could find a way by spreading his qi sense widely and using the qi waves that hit the walls.
But for some reason, that did not work in this maze.
"Everyone, harden your will. Just keep moving forward."
Cheonghyeonjin muttered as if he were resolving himself and then silently walked ahead again.
* * *
"It's a mess."
"Can't these guys get out of the maze? Are they really peak masters?"
Cheon Mubaeck shook his head as if he were dumbfounded.
He found it hard to understand.
If you were above the first-rate, at least at the peak level, it was the internal energy masters who could easily break through a maze.
But Cheon Mubaeck felt something strange in the way the guys who had gone in first were wandering in the maze.
"Neung-heo."
"Yes."
"Pay for your medicine."
"My medicine?"
"You ate a lot of elixirs at Shaolin. Spread your qi sense widely and check if it's blocked by a wall."
"If I do that, my dantian will be empty."
"Your head is also empty, so what's the problem with your dantian being empty too?"
"...It's not like you gave me the elixirs."
"Do you want to spit out the elixirs? Or do you want to do it?"
At Cheon Mubaeck's brutal words, Neung-heo nodded his head.
"I wanted to test my internal energy at least once."
Thanks to Cheon Mubaeck, Neung-heo had eaten quite a few elixirs at Shaolin.
So Neung-heo's dantian had become much more solid and his internal energy had deepened compared to before.
"Eum."
But not long after, Neung-heo narrowed his brow.
"This is something... a little strange."
"What is it?"
"Well. Is it because my internal energy is weak? I don't feel anything open, it feels like everything is blocked."
Cheon Mubaeck opened his upper dantian as if he understood.
'Certainly... does it mean that an artificial internal qi doesn't work?'
He felt that the internal qi that a person had trained, not the natural qi, was being suppressed.
But the story changed when Cheon Mubaeck's Heaven-Shaking Soul Art was fully operated.
Cheon Mubaeck used the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art to widely sense and spread the external qi.
'It certainly feels a little different.'
Although Cheon Mubaeck's Heaven-Shaking Soul Art also felt somewhat suppressed, the internal qi of others would be even more so.
But even so, Cheon Mubaeck could find an open path.
Cheon Mubaeck, who had roughly estimated the direction, immediately moved.
"Let's get out of the maze first."
The path was quite far. The maze was so complicated that it could not be broken through with a normal sense of direction. To the extent that even Cheon Mubaeck had to keep operating the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.
As Cheon Mubaeck moved carefully, Neung-heo followed him without a word.
'What is the reason for twisting the maze to this extent? Without any traps or mechanism traps. Are we supposed to die trapped in the maze?'
There must be a clear intention for making this.
Cheon Mubaeck moved even more carefully.
It was then.
"Huh?"
Neung-heo suddenly made a strange sound.
"Why is this just coming out?"
Cheon Mubaeck turned his head. Neung-heo was holding a structure that had been embedded in the stone wall with a slightly dazed face.
In an instant, the qi sense that Cheon Mubaeck had spread widely shook.
With a dull sound, the ground shook slightly.
"Uh... my lord."
"..."
"I'm in big trouble now, right?"
Neung-heo's face turned pale. Putting aside the vibration that was being transmitted from the soles of his feet, Cheon Mubaeck's eyes, which were looking at him, were glittering.
Soon, a bigger sound and a stronger vibration.
Cheon Mubaeck's face hardened at the strong vibration, as if an earthquake were happening.
The ground turned. It spun around. The walls that had formed the maze sank, and then they rose again.
The pupils of Cheon Mubaeck, who had been heading straight for the perfect path, shook.
The maze had changed.
And...
"Kkeuaaak!"
With a scream, numerous mechanism traps popped out from here and there.
"Hey, what did you touch?"
"Heh... haha. Well, I don't know."
Looking at the helpless Neung-heo, Cheon Mubaeck spoke his true feelings.
"I really want to beat you to a pulp.”
(End of Chapter)