Chapter 97
Chapter 97: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
In his mind’s eye, Yanghwi pieced together the revised map he had synthesized from the Jin family’s duplicate and Yeo Hyeok’s genuine parchment.
A gift of absolute recollection meant that every line and contour remained sharply etched in his thoughts, rendering physical examination of the scroll unnecessary.
The entryway indicated on the cartography was nowhere near this position.
At present, he was stationed along the outer perimeter of the hollow, a fair distance lower down the ravine.
This indicated that the delicate waft of immortal qi drifting across his senses had not escaped via the formal entryway.
More than two centuries having slipped by, the subterranean structure must have developed structural fractures with the passage of the ages.
He recalled tales of peculiar geological formations prone to dissolving under sustained rainfall.
Perhaps the mineral composition beneath Baeksu Mountain possessed those very traits.
Which meant…
The authentic threshold lay elsewhere entirely.
Moreover, if dual points of entry truly existed now…
“Could we not direct the mob toward one side while quietly stealing inside through the other?”
In essence, blowing the whole affair wide open into an absolute riot would serve his purposes just as well.
“Heh, every last one of you is finished.”
Surveying the pugilists drifting through the basin, he noted the total absence of the highwaymen.
It made complete sense, considering the vast distance involved and his deliberate choice to drag out the delivery of the intelligence through Gu Ak.
My preliminary scheme was merely to stir up the Greenwood brutes as a diversion, letting us slip away once the Tomb of the Sword King was stripped bare…
Still, having the Greenwood rabble pour in alongside the rest was hardly an unwelcome turn.
Whatever carnage those worthless scavengers wrought upon each other meant nothing to him.
First, to convert this deduction into tangible certainty…
Undoing his hair and casting a thin veil across his features, Yanghwi set off through various quarters of the basin.
Should his theory hold water, an intensified pulse of immortal qi would inevitably reveal itself somewhere.
He honed his spiritual perception, stretching his senses to their sharpest limit to avoid overlooking the slightest ripple of mystical force.
Consequently, the chaotic tangle of qi pouring off the surrounding martial artists flooded his consciousness like a snarled bundle of twine, setting off a pounding headache, yet he persevered and traversed every span of the valley on foot.
The payoff materialized before long.
A measure of twenty-six zhang southward and fifty zhang westward from the basin’s rim.
Though faint to an extreme, this point marked where the immortal qi flowed with the greatest intensity.
The sanctioned gateway to the Tomb of the Sword King undoubtedly lay subterranean near this exact spot.
To think I would use immortal qi as a makeshift entryway diviner.
Had he foreseen this outcome, he simply would have bided his time until the Namgung house shifted its focus elsewhere.
A faint thread of remorse lingered, but what was settled could not be undone.
The wager was placed, and the board stood arranged.
Indeed, catching the Namgung clan off guard with a ruthless blow to the back of their skulls only made the current predicament that much more satisfying.
I will ensure you stand by and watch every single scrap of the harvest plucked clean before your very eyes, you scoundrels.
With a sly grin, he turned back to where his companions waited.
“A shift in our strategy!”
“Brother Hwi, why the sudden announcement?”
“Little Brother, have you discovered something already?”
“Boss, didn’t you step away to fetch water? Where is it?”
“Ah.”
The exhilaration of locating the immortal qi had driven all recollection of drawing water completely from his mind.
Even a wandering phantom looked more dignified on a satisfied stomach, so food remained the priority.
Deliberating over a meal was always best.
“Chudal, run along and draw the water.”
“…?”
“Are you asking for a strike to your forehead?”
“Repay benevolence twice over, but return grievances a hundredfold…”
Observing Chudal trudge away muttering under his breath, Yanghwi registered a quiet pledge.
That marks two strikes saved up for you down the road, you wretched brat, including the one I let slide just now.
“Brother Tang, Brother Gu, Sister Tang. Gather round, there is matter you must hear. Let us communicate through qi transmission from this point on.”
Employing qi transmission to prevent eavesdropping by outsiders, Yanghwi detailed his discoveries by the ravine.
Gu Ak inquired in sheer bewilderment:
— You can perceive the subtle current of qi? Even I, an expert of the apex realm, failed to sense a shred of it!
Did the fellow assume ascending to the apex realm granted instantaneous perfection to one’s sensory acumen?
Granted, it undeniably elevated overall awareness.
Even so, it fell short of the uncanny, innate qi sensitivity with which Yanghwi had entered the world.
It came down to an insurmountable natural gift, or simply an innate gap in baseline aptitude.
— I am entirely certain of it. What is more, I have identified the coordinates in the southwestern basin where the primary gate is presumed hidden.
Yanghwi communicated the identical statement to Tang Gun and Tang Yeon in turn.
Utilizing singular transmissions meant recounting the very same phrasing to each individual separately.
What an utter hassle. I must break into the apex realm promptly so I can utilize Six Harmonies Sound Transmission.
Six Harmonies Sound Transmission stood as a refined derivative of the core technique.
He grasped its principles, yet his present first-rate cultivation rendered its execution impossible.
— Regardless, Little Brother, in what manner do you wish to reshape the strategy?
— Here is my concept.
The longer matters stalled, the greater the assembly of sects and unaffiliated wanderers would become.
Leaving the situation to simmer without interference would maximize the delay, drawing vast throngs into the basin.
Whenever martial artists congregated in immense numbers, cold steel inevitably clashed sooner or later, regardless of the justification.
With the righteous factions and the shadow sects crammed into a restricted basin, friction would inevitably reach a boiling point.
— If conditions are this volatile out in the open, consider how much worse it will turn once they breach the interior.
— Without question.
— At the opportune moment, we quietly leak the gateway’s location. When the multitude stampedes toward that narrow opening…
— Once they rush inside?
— We slip through the ravine’s fissure that we uncovered, exploring the depths in total tranquility without trading a single blow.
Tang Gun, Tang Yeon, and Gu Ak traded glances.
The trio murmured words of genuine admiration in unison.
— A masterful maneuver.
— That will undoubtedly spare our side from harm.
— The sole misgiving is… that innocent lives might suffer grievous casualties…
That final note of hesitation came from Tang Gun.
True to his rigid adherence to righteousness and the moral traditions of the upright Tang Clan branch, he was fretting over perils that did not concern him.
“Let us simply converse out loud now,” Yanghwi declared. “Brother Tang, every wanderer assembled on these grounds has eyes crimson with avarice. There is no cause to harbor remorse.”
Take Shaolin, as an example. Though based right on Mount Song within Henan itself, not one Shaolin monk could be found…
Well, save for one. That fellow Adu was present.
Regardless…
Furthermore, the majority here hail from the dark path because the tidbits were brokered through the Hao Sect. There may be a few wandering recluses of the orthodox path scattered about, but the only established sects in attendance are Namgung and Wudang.
Tang Gun responded with total clarity.
“Then we shall act in accordance with your design!”
Ha. That settled matters far swifter than anticipated.
Regardless of Brother Tang’s noble sensibilities, he was hardly going to lose sleep over the fates of Namgung and Wudang.
“Splendid. I shall step away for a short while.”
“To where?”
“Merely fabricating a sturdier facade.”
Envisioning the pure bedlam set to erupt in the coming days, Yanghwi took his leave.
Seven days and nights went by. The gathering of pugilists swarming the basin had swelled to twice its previous size.
“Insolent hound! Do you have any idea whom you address?!”
“Some baseborn dog, surely!”
“How dare your mouth run so! Perish!”
“Gah! The Greenwood has arrived!”
“Why on earth are those bloodthirsty brigands turning up here… Urk!”
“The underworld has barged into the open. What a catastrophe.”
“Could the carnage of decades past be on the verge of rekindling?”
A suffocating quiet before the impending deluge blanketed the hollow.
The tensions were primed to detonate into an all-out bloodbath at the slightest provocation.
The single barrier holding back an ocean of slaughter was an unspoken pact: none wished to waste their vitality before grasping the treasures of the Tomb of the Sword King.
The sudden descent of a lone homing dove into the encampment of the Namgung noble house’s Azure Sky Sword Corps pulverized that precarious stalemate.
“Young Lord. A dispatch dispatched by the Jin family has arrived via our main clan.”
“Oh? What reason would that good-for-nothing have to send word?”
Unrolling the parchment, a broad smile swept across Namgung Cheonhu’s visage.
That worthless parasite who did nothing but squander clan assets had finally yielded results!
[Upon ascertaining that the cartography points toward Baeksu Mountain, our members re-examined and thoroughly deciphered all classical records.]
[In consequence, we have uncovered the precise placement of the gateway and forward it directly to the Young Lord.]
Twenty-six zhang to the south, fifty zhang to the west.
Pinpointing such rigorous measurements within an expanse spanning hundreds of zhang meant grasping the entryway far ahead of anyone else.
And yet…
The prospect was not devoid of peril.
Thousands of martial artists already occupied the basin.
Mounting an overt excavation right before their eyes would paint an immediate target across the back of the Namgung noble house.
Regardless of the elite status of Namgung’s vanguard, they could not fend off a collective frenzy indefinitely.
There remained no other path.
Namgung Cheonhu sought an audience with Elder Cheongso of Wudang.
“What prompts the Young Lord to seek out this humble Daoist…?”
“I have a joint arrangement to present.”
Confident that Wudang could never turn away such an incentive, Namgung Cheonhu laid out his terms. Predictably, an intense flicker passed through Cheongso’s narrow gaze as he accepted the proposal.
Without delay, the forces of Namgung and Wudang mobilized in unison, locking into an encircling formation directly over the subterranean entryway.
“Wudang and Namgung…?”
“Could they have unearthed a breakthrough?!”
The sudden coalition of the two colossal powers instantly seized the attention of every onlooker in the basin.
Crowds of martial artists began pressing in upon them from all directions.
“Halt your advance! This ground is claimed by Namgung and Wudang!”
Under ordinary circumstances, such a commanding roar would have dispersed the bystanders, but at this moment, it fell upon deaf ears.
“Claiming land on a masterless mountain? What rubbish!”
A burly man with a thick beard pushed through the throng, prompting a flurry of anxious whispers.
“One of the Ten Greenwood Heroes!”
“The Greenwood has truly stepped into the fray!”
Iron Brow Iron Hand Maeng Ung, counted among the Ten Greenwood Heroes, gave voice to a booming, derisive chuckle.
“Have the noble gentlemen of Namgung and Wudang gathered here simply to mark their territory?”
“GAHAHAHA!”
“Pissing on boundaries! Are they common mutts?!”
Grit their teeth in silent rage though they did, Namgung and Wudang held their defensive perimeter without yielding an inch.
The surrounding fighters kept hurling insults, scheming to extract any crumb of information.
Yanghwi and his companions observed the standoff from a safe vantage.
“The board moves precisely as planned.”
“It unfolds with such uncanny fidelity to your forecast, Brother Hwi, that it sends chills down my spine.”
“Ha, this much was entirely predictable.”
“Boss, how will they handle things going forward?”
“What would you guess?”
Yanghwi’s reply caught the entire group off guard.
“The moment that threshold is cleared, they will stroll through side by side.”
“Eh? Without an altercation?”
“Sister Tang, they are not utter fools. There is zero advantage to drawing blood out here.”
“Ah, I understand. Because there is merely one way inside.”
“Brother Tang grasps the point. Because there is only a single threshold.”
A solitary path in and out existed.
Thus, spilling blood on the surface held no utility, nor was there any sense in breaking limbs to be the first through the gate.
To do so was worse than pointless—it was blatant suicide.
Whoever burned through their reserves prematurely would merely end up as slaughter for the rest.
“They will keep a wary separation, navigating the depths while checking each other’s movements. Yet the instant an altercation erupts…”
That would be the hour the river of blood truly flowed.
Not that the tragedy concerned their little band in the least.
“Let us linger a while longer. They should clear the pathway within a single day.”
Far from requiring a day, the entrance was laid bare in barely half a shichen.
It proved to be a massive stone portal engraved with intricate reliefs depicting scores of swords.
Though firmly shut, the portal presented little true resistance.
The gathered apex realm masters unleashed sword energy from their weapons at the exact same instant.
Just as that barrage of concentrated sword energies struck the stone barrier…
RUUUUUUMBLE! CRASH!
“What?”
“What on earth was that?!”
Yanghwi stared in utter disbelief at the towering wall of dust rising in the distance.
Why in the world was it… caving in?
It couldn’t be…
As the fracture within the ravine had demonstrated, the underlying strata of Baeksu Mountain were exceptionally weak and vulnerable to erosion.
Had the foundations, hollowed out over centuries since the tomb’s sealing, collapsed entirely beneath the shock of so many concentrated bursts of sword energy?
If that stone barrier had acted as the central structural support, shattering it might have precipitated a catastrophic domino collapse…
The possibility was overwhelmingly plausible.
“Could that mob have been wiped out in one fell stroke?”
“If that truly came to pass… this qualifies as a monumental slaughter.”
“Brother, what should our next step be?”
“Boss, are we about to be branded the common enemies of the entire martial sphere?”
“Hardly. Surely that cannot be.”
Creeping nearer, they surveyed the surroundings of the former gate.
What remained could no longer be called an entrance; it had transformed into a yawning abyss, a tremendous round depression.
Dropping down might prove feasible, but ascending back out would be an absolute ordeal.
“They might all have perished.”
“…”
“…”
“Come now, that would be absurd. If curiosity gnaws at you, let us slip inside and witness it ourselves.”
“Let us proceed.”
They made straight for the ravine.
Returning to the crevice behind the cascading falls where the immortal qi continued to drift out.
“Brother Gu, if you would.”
“Entrust it to me.”
Gathering axe qi into his pair of axes, Gu Ak applied himself with absolute precision.
Channeling his power while taking pains to prevent any collapse, a portion of the cascading curtain gave way, unveiling a cave passage broad enough for an individual to slip through without hindrance.
“I will take the lead!”
Yanghwi surged ahead, the rest trailing close behind into the mouth of the cavern.
Moisture trickled along the passage, and whether worn smooth by moisture or centuries of time, the rock floor and walls were as slick as polished ice.
Because of this, they slid effortlessly into the inner depths without having to take a single step.
Right at that very second…
“Ah.”
The narrow tunnel abruptly expanded into an immense hall.
Beyond the shattered stone debris scattered ahead, an ancient inscription caught the ambient light:
[Tomb of the Sword King (劒王之塚)]
Darting nimbly up to the carving, Yanghwi peered through the opening formed by the fractured rocks.
The scene greeting his gaze coaxed a broad, satisfied smirk across his lips.
“Matters are turning more captivating by the second.”
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