Chapter 294

Chapter 294
### Chapter 294. Returning Home in Silk Clothes (2)

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The traveler journeying in isolation through the caverns of the Heavenly Cave suddenly ground to a halt.

“Ssssip…… Haaa.”

Drawing a deep breath and slowly releasing it, an intense shudder rippled across his entire frame.

“To think a malice so profound could exist……”

It was a shame he had fallen short of taking the life of Dam Jung-ho, yet his primary objective from the very beginning was far greater than the mere elimination of a single prominent figure. He had been deprived of the minor thrill he typically enjoyed during his assignments, but in exchange, he had glimpsed a completely different form of ecstasy, leaving him with little true dissatisfaction.

“To think an entity of that caliber was walking the Central Plains. Keu-heu-heu-heu.”

The very instant his gaze had fallen upon the man, an unruly urge to slaughter had welled up inside him, making him completely lose sight of his initial purpose. Considering that the Bizarre Demonic Art—which remained dormant unless triggered by a truly formidable adversary—had activated entirely on its own, there was no doubt that this opponent could grant him genuine satisfaction.

He had always carried a specific desire in his heart. He constantly anticipated the day he might finally get the chance to end the lives of So-a Yong, Bul So, or the White-Handed Divine Maiden.

*‘Yet to discover another soul as captivating as those three.’*

Though this new individual seemed slightly unpolished by comparison, he was an even more alluring target for destruction.

Slurp.

It was a jagged, raw bloodlust. The moment he witnessed that primitive, single-minded intent focused entirely on tearing an adversary apart piece by piece, he understood.

That man was a wild animal. Truly, he was a aberration of nature, much like himself. He was no fragile blossom nurtured within the protective walls of a Central Plains sect, but a predatory creature that bellowed across the endless wilderness—a rare sight even among the ranks of the Demonic Cult. How could someone reeking so heavily of a orthodox Taoist lineage project an energy so jagged and violent?

“Ah, it really is such a profound shame.”

At last, he comprehended why the Young Demon (So-ma) had shown far more curiosity regarding this man than So-a Yong.

*‘Perhaps I should just turn back and slaughter him this instant?’*

Glancing back down the dark cavernous corridor he had just traveled, the traveler ultimately shook his head. That man was quite a decent fellow for shattering the skull of Geum-hak Je. Granting him a single opportunity to survive wasn’t the worst choice.

It was reasonable enough, and yet…….

“Ugh…… this fervor simply refuses to quiet down.”

Contrary to his rational mind, his steps faltered because his very flesh was reshaping itself in response to his inner cravings. The peak of his dark impulses, once awakened, showed no indications of subsiding easily. He absolutely required an outlet to alleviate this burning tension…….

“Identify yourself!”

“How dare an intruder boldly interfere with the business of Zhongnan!”

“Do you seek death!”

Right on cue, a trio of martial artists closed in around the solitary traveler. They brandished unsheathed blades and wore the distinct martial attire of the Zhongnan Sect.

The traveler put on a mockery of dismay. He had been so utterly consumed by his inner frenzy that he hadn’t even bothered to conceal his presence.

“My, my…… I had intended to slip away from the Heavenly Cave without leaving a single trace…….”

Since a trio of eyes had already observed him, the prospect of a quiet exit had completely evaporated.

“Ah! If I simply consume every last one of them, no evidence remains!”

A distorted snicker escaped his lips.

Hearing the traveler’s bizarre declaration, the Zhongnan disciples looked at him with utter disbelief before projecting their own lethal aura.

“He is completely unhinged!”

“Are you begging for an execution?”

“What are you waiting for! Subdue him at once.”

As their hostile energy surged forward, the traveler’s face twisted into a displeased grimace. It was not because they had the audacity to project malice toward him, but rather because their martial prowess was so utterly pathetic that it caused his burgeoning interest to instantly evaporate.

“This fails to even amuse me.”

Crack— crack-crack—

The sickening sound of contorting skeleton and muscle echoed from his hands and arms as their physical structures began to warp into monstrous shapes.

“Wh-what is that……”

“D-Demonology!!”

Witnessing the abrupt and horrific alteration, the Zhongnan disciples stared with wide, terrified eyes.

“Observe carefully. This is no petty trick like demonology.”

The individual spoke aloud, wiping away the saliva that trickled from the corner of his lips.

“This is the true Demonic Way (Ma-do).”

The disciples of Zhongnan plunged into absolute hopelessness at the sight of a grotesque form so terrifying, they had never encountered anything like it in either tales of the afterlife or the mortal realm.

Having successfully claimed the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil, our group pressed forward once more.

Since the precious oil was safely in our possession, our initial intent was to exploit the unfolding bedlam, mingle with the unaffiliated martial artists, and quietly exit the caverns. However, the volume of independent warriors who had actually made it inside the Heavenly Cave was far smaller than I had calculated.

When I subtly integrated myself into the gathering to listen closely to their hushed conversations, I managed to glean information that had completely eluded us until now.

*‘They have sealed off the exits?’*

I had been wondering why the crowds were so sparse compared to my original estimations, and it seemed Zhongnan had forcibly restricted the pathways. They had brought down the ceilings of two exits to force everyone through a solitary passage, deploying their own disciples at the threshold to ensure absolutely no one could pass through undetected.

Why were they taking such drastic measures?

The independent warrior’s hushed explanation carried on.

“Word has it that Zhongnan was fully aware of the exact moment the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil would manifest.”

“……Does that mean it has already been claimed?”

“Given that Zhongnan refuses to budge even though the window has closed…… they must believe one of the independent fighters currently holds it.”

My martial brothers, faces darkening with tension, cast subtle glances at the surrounding crowd. Fortunately, among the gathered martial artists, not a single soul viewed our faction with any form of distrust. The appearance of our container was virtually indistinguishable from the canteens everyone else carried.

“Even so, surely they wouldn’t…… resort to lethal measures, right?”

The independent warrior’s voice diminished into a faint, trembling murmur. His tone betrayed a deep, mounting dread.

“Lethal measures? ……Ahem. What sort of unprincipled savagery would that be! Consider the immense blow to the reputation of Zhongnan if they executed a massacre in this place!”

“Th-that is true! Regardless of Zhongnan’s authority, they wouldn’t dare push things to such an extreme, would they?”

The man who had raised the terrifying point tried desperately to gather reassurance from the others to quell his own rising panic.

“If every single soul perishes within these walls, not a whisper will ever reach the outside world.”

The moment those words were carelessly thrown into the air, an abrupt, suffocating quiet fell over the entire gathering. They had managed to force their way inside, but they were now acutely understanding, once more, that they had willingly marched straight into a predator’s den.

“D-do you honestly think we will just submit without a fight!”

“Exactly! If they act with such tyranny, we will rise up together!”

In that exact moment, a sharp question pierced through the bravado.

“Then who among us will take the lead?”

“What?”

“Even if we strike back as a unified front, someone has to be at the very vanguard to take the first blow. I am asking who possesses the courage to do so.”

Because this individual kept pointing out the grim reality, the sharp glares of the surrounding martial artists shifted toward him with hostility.

“What the hell is your problem? Why have you done nothing but preach failure since the start? Are you eager to die in these caverns?”

The cynical warrior merely let out a soft chuckle, entirely unbothered by the collective pressure bearing down on him.

“Open your eyes and look around. Do you spot a single disciple from a renowned sect here besides a rabble of drifters like ourselves?”

Eun-ho firmly clamped his hand over Geum-pyo’s tense shoulder, forcefully keeping him from breaking containment. Affection for one’s own lineage is admirable, but a martial artist must recognize the precise moment to advance and the moment to hold back.

*‘And if we are being completely honest, we haven’t quite attained the status of a world-renowned sect just yet…….’*

True to the cynical warrior’s assessment, the independent fighters who had ventured into these depths were entirely rogue wanderers or small, unaffiliated bands with no major power backing them.

“At the absolute minimum, is there a single powerful faction out there willing to challenge Zhongnan just to recover your corpses after you are slaughtered? Especially when Zhongnan will simply shrug and claim absolute ignorance regarding whatever transpired within these dark tunnels?”

“……Keuk.”

The martial artists, as if a painful truth had been driven deep into their chests, fell completely silent and shifted their gazes away in frustration.

As a heavy quiet settled over the independent crowd following that grim exchange, I signaled my martial brothers and quietly withdrew from the gathering.

Once we had put a safe distance between ourselves and the rest, Sa-ryeon leaned in and inquired in a low, careful whisper.

“Sahyung…… what in the world is truly happening out there?”

I found myself equally perplexed by the situation. Why had Zhongnan suddenly escalated their tactics to such a severe degree?

I had two distinct theories regarding their motivation.

The first was exactly what the warrior had brought up earlier: they had foreknowledge of the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil’s arrival window. Even with the sudden influx of rogue martial artists, they wouldn’t have abandoned the specific caverns where the artifact was meant to materialize. Just as Cheon-ji Gun and the Hall Master had remained firmly anchored to that solitary chamber.

*‘But it never appeared for them.’*

Despite the calculated timeframe passing by, the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil remained missing. Since none of their own search parties had retrieved it, Zhongnan likely concluded that an independent interloper had already snatched the prize.

The second theory involved Dam Jung-ho being incapacitated. Since the renowned Big Dipper Swordsman deployed by Zhongnan had vanished from the field, perhaps they suspected a catastrophic event had occurred?

Alternatively.

*‘……Is it possible that absolute lunatic triggered some massive disaster?’*

Damn it all, his gaze was completely devoid of sanity when we crossed paths……. Considering how he attempted to submerge Dam Jung-ho without a second thought, he definitely wasn’t the type of bastard to pass through an area without leaving total devastation in his wake.

Yet, could he really have initiated a massive crisis in such a brief window of time? Furthermore, no matter how unhinged a demonic fanatic he might be, driven solely by the urge to slaughter, he would surely exercise some restraint if he possessed even a shred of intellect. Simply put, his faction wasn’t supposed to unmask themselves to the world just yet either.

“Will Zhongnan…… truly resort to such merciless actions?”

That remained entirely unpredictable. Only the leadership of Zhongnan truly understood the depth of the resolve they had chosen to adopt.

The crucial reality was that the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil was far too legendary an asset to simply abandon just because their initial strategy had collapsed. When balancing the dark reputation of slaughtering the wandering martial artists inside the Heavenly Cave against the possession of the oil, the choice was obvious. The scales would overwhelmingly favor the acquisition of the artifact.

And given that they had already blocked off the secondary passages, Zhongnan appeared to have finalized their grim preparations.

*‘Ultimately, I have no choice but to discard our primary strategy.’*

The initial concept of rallying a massive horde of rogue martial artists to trigger a chaotic diversion and slip through the main gates was no longer viable.

Right then, Eun-ho leaned over and offered an alternative.

“Dae-sahyung. What if we simply go into hiding instead?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just like our approach when we secured the oil, if we seal off a handful of intersecting tunnels and conceal ourselves while completely masking our breathing, locating us will be an nearly impossible task.”

He truly possessed a remarkably sharp intellect. Unfortunately, that tactic was entirely unfeasible given our current circumstances.

“It is a clever thought, but because they possess a flawless chart of these tunnels, we would inevitably be cornered eventually.”

“Then what path remains for us?”

“What is there to be anxious about?”

“Pardon?”

I turned to my anxious martial brothers, a confident smirk pulling at the corners of my lips.

“We simply exit through the exact same path we utilized to enter.”

A proper strategist should always maintain at least three separate contingencies, shouldn’t they? Why constrict oneself so rigidly? Granted, I hadn’t exactly chosen this chaotic lifestyle by preference, but…….

*‘Because throughout my entire existence, absolutely nothing has ever unfolded according to the primary plan.’*

In short, I had become an absolute master at discovering a path to survival against all odds.

“What transpired within the depths?”

Sun-jik Cheol observed the long mantle proffered by Hyeon-jik Cheol with a deeply perplexed expression.

Hyeon-jik Cheol let out a weary breath and pressed the long garment firmly into his younger brother’s grip.

“Your sect attire is completely ruined. Now that daylight has broken, the traces of your combat injuries are entirely visible.”

“Ah…….”

Only then did Sun-jik Cheol register the state of his own appearance, quickly taking the mantle and throwing it over his shoulders.

*‘That was an incredibly close call.’*

Because his position had been near the threshold, he had learned almost instantly that the primary entrance was being brought down. Knowing full well what dark objective Zhongnan was pursuing, he was no longer in any position to carry out the task So-un Jin had commissioned him for.

Sun-jik Cheol had seized upon the spreading panic to swiftly depart from the Heavenly Cave. Even so, since he had successfully delayed the enemy for the exact duration agreed upon, he had fulfilled his obligations to the best of his ability.

*‘Yet I still fail to grasp the purpose behind his secondary directive.’*

To obliterate all traces of their passage. And furthermore, he had explicitly commanded:

*‘To gather the Iron Beads??’*

He truly was an entirely erratic individual. Because the logic eluded him, he had no clear idea of how to even proceed. Yet even if the man claimed the terms were violated and withheld the promised ten percent share, there was very little for Sun-jik Cheol to truly lose. From the very inception of this venture, he had considered the likelihood of the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil falling into his own possession to be virtually nonexistent.

More than anything else, his primary motivation for entering the fray lay entirely elsewhere.

“……Did you bear witness to what you desired before exiting?”

He lifted his gaze to look upon his sibling’s countenance. The initial swelling had receded somewhat, but the flesh remained heavily bruised in the distinct shape of a handprint. With so many prying eyes surrounding them, his brother should have at least pressed a freezing stone against the mark.

He consciously shifted his attention away from his brother’s battered face.

“I cannot say for certain. Now that Zhongnan has restricted the pathways in this manner……. how this scenario resolves is entirely up in the air.”

The moment the tertiary entry point had been breached, even the reserve forces of the Zhongnan Sect who had been stationed in Xi’an rushed to reinforce the perimeter of the Heavenly Cave. Zhongnan moved instantly to seal off two of the entryways, leaving only the narrowest passage open to the outside.

Sun-jik Cheol’s focus shifted toward the assembled ranks of the Zhongnan Sect.

Two mature figures stood out sharply among the gathered squad commanders and Hall Master-tier personnel. The sheer gravity of those two individuals was far more potent than any other member of the Zhongnan lineage present.

*‘Two seasoned Big Dipper Swordsmen…….’*

Unlike the youthful Big Dipper Swordsman he had previously obstructed, these two were masters whose depths of cultivation he couldn’t even begin to measure. In a very real sense, they were the most formidable combatants currently anchored to this location.

The strategy behind those two remaining stationed on the exterior rather than venturing into the Heavenly Cave was glaringly obvious. They were positioned to definitively capture whoever emerged with the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil.

*‘Are they truly prepared to execute every single witness to ensure total secrecy?’*

In that precise moment, the surrounding earth and heavens shuddered violently once more.

Ureureureung.

Sun-jik Cheol realized the truth in an instant. It was absolutely certain that another deliberate incident was unfolding.

This time, the leadership of Zhongnan appeared to comprehend the situation as well, and they instantly began sprinting like possessed demons toward the origin of the heavy tremor without a moment’s hesitation.

“Su-Sun-jik!”

Sun-jik Cheol bolted directly after the surging Zhongnan forces so rapidly that the long mantle his brother had provided whipped violently through the air.

And in that split second.

Kwagagagagwang!

Accompanied by a colossal, deafening detonation, a section of the mountain ridge violently disgorged massive boulders and torrents of displaced earth. It was a structural collapse identical in nature to the previous ones.

Sun-jik Cheol couldn’t prevent a stunned, hollow laugh from escaping his throat.

“It is him! It is the exact same bastard who carved out the tertiary entrance!”

“Zhongnan disciples, advance and apprehend him immediately!”

“Move!”

Before the massive shroud of dust generated by the sudden creation of yet another gaping chasm could even begin to drift away, the Zhongnan disciples plunged into the opening with frantic urgency.

However,

Ureureureung.

Once more, the ground beneath them rumbled fiercely, and a succession of devastating palm strikes was unleashed from the dark. Several martial artists, likely because they had attempted to directly oppose the sheer momentum of the palm force, were violently hurled backward out of the cavern with shattered digits.

“He possesses an astonishingly vast reserve of inner strength.”

“Precisely. To think an individual could command this level of internal power……”

The veteran Big Dipper Swordsmen, uttering brief murmurs of genuine respect, stepped forward to anchor themselves directly at the mouth of the cavern.

Sun-jik Cheol involuntarily swallowed hard. Had So-un Jin actually succeeded in securing the Five Spirit Immortal Flower Oil? No, pushing that question aside, would a man attempting a desperate escape genuinely be capable of overcoming two seasoned Big Dipper Swordsmen?

In that exact instant.

“Gajuaaaaaaaa!”

“Gajuaaaaaaaa!”

A roaring battle cry thundered from deep within the subterranean passage, and a flurry of dark objects was violently propelled outward from the cavern mouth.

“Do you honestly expect to push us back utilizing mere pebbles of this caliber?!”

“You have clearly underestimated our capabilities…… wait, what?”

The Big Dipper Swordsmen attempted to instantly cleave what they assumed to be ordinary stones with a singular, fluid sweep of their weapons, which were heavily coated in sharp sword energy.

Tteong! Tteong!

“Wh-what under the heavens is this!”

Far from shattering upon impact, the unexpected mass and sheer momentum of the objects left the masters momentarily disorganized and startled.

Simultaneously, five dark silhouettes erupted from the cavern like released projectiles.

“Heh……”

The Big Dipper Swordsmen, entirely preoccupied with deflecting the onslaught of heavy, unidentified masses hurtling toward them, were unable to effectively intercept the five individuals who had seamlessly masked their advance within the volley.

Abandoning any attempt to decipher the nature of the projectiles, the Big Dipper Swordsmen pivoted to thrust their lethal blades directly at the five escaping figures.

Right then, a deafening explosion erupted once more from the palm of the individual bringing up the absolute rear of the formation.

……Accompanied by a thoroughly arrogant, mocking exclamation.

“Deal with this!”

Ureureureung!

Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!

As a localized palm strike—significantly smaller in scale than the previous detonations but packing no less sheer concussive violence—was unleashed, the Big Dipper Swordsmen had absolutely no alternative but to instantly cross both forearms to shield their own faces.

───.

Once the brief, tempestuous gale had finally subsided and they were able to lift their gazes once more.

“……!”

The five mysterious individuals had vanished entirely into thin air.

“Heh, what manner of advanced movement art was that……”

“What in the name of martial arts……”

The elite Big Dipper Swordsmen, having been caught completely off guard in such a humiliating fashion, lowered their blades as a profound sense of emptiness washed over them.

Meanwhile, Sun-jik Cheol, who had observed the entire sequence of events with wide eyes.

*‘Incredible…… he truly pulled it off.’*

He had to exert an immense amount of self-control to suppress the triumphant cheer threatening to burst from his chest.

But right in that moment.

*‘Wait……?!’*

The small objects that had struck against the defenses of the Big Dipper Swordsmen suddenly caught Sun-jik Cheol’s attention.

*‘I-Iron Beads? It couldn’t be……!’*

Only at that moment did the true meaning behind So-un Jin’s secondary request finally click in Sun-jik Cheol’s mind. Following a brief instant of internal debate, he adopted a completely neutral, unbothered expression and quietly began retrieving the scattered Iron Beads one by one, ensuring absolutely no one noticed his movements.