Chapter 98
Chapter 98: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
“Did you spot something, Little Brother?”
“Is there honey smeared down there or what? What’s got you staring so intently?”
“Yanghwi. My stomach is growling.”
“Everyone, gather round and see for yourselves.”
Motioned over by Yanghwi, Gu Ak, Chudal, the Tang siblings, and Adu leaned over the narrow fissure to peer into the expanse beneath them.
“Well now, doesn’t that look fascinating?”
“Fascinating? What’s going on? Hehe, I enjoy fun things too.”
“Hush now, Adu. Lower your voice.”
A vast subterranean vault opened out below, extending nearly a hundred zhang across. Dirt, rubble, and fallen stone blanketed the cavern floor, dotted with fallen martial artists groaning in agony as they held fractured limbs.
“It seems we ended up right against the roof.”
Only faint traces of sunlight seeped from the world above. Anyone hoping to reach the outside would have to scale a sheer precipice stretching at least two hundred zhang upward. Yanghwi scrutinized the formation of the rock wall.
That surface offers no real footing.
The wall consisted of packed dirt rather than solid bedrock. Even at that moment, loose soil trickled downward in fragile cascades. Given such an extreme gradient and such crumbly ground, even a grandmaster of lightness techniques would be hard-pressed to ascend to the top. The warriors trapped down there were utterly stranded.
“There isn’t a solitary doorway or corridor visible anywhere. The Sword King’s Tomb can’t possibly consist of just this single cavern.”
“That cave-in was practically an avalanche. Whatever entryways exist are likely buried under mountains of earth.”
“Ah.”
Those wretched souls below would have to start digging from scratch, stumbling around blindly in search of chambers or passages they had no means of locating.
A consideration flickered across Yanghwi’s mind. How many among them had packed sufficient provisions? The Namgung clan had surely prepared well, but the Daoists of Wudang had likely brought barely anything to eat.
“Hmph. Yanghwi. I’m hungry.”
At this rate, their own companions might face food shortages before long.
“Give it twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and blades will start drawing blood,” Tang Gun murmured, his tone grave.
Tang Yeon added her thoughts from his side.
“With the main entry so thoroughly devastated, any latecomers arriving outside won’t dare force their way inside so heedlessly either.”
“With a drop that steep, pulling them up with lines won’t be simple,” Gu Ak observed. “Gathering hundreds of zhang of heavy cordage is an impossible undertaking on short notice.”
None of the trapped fighters had managed to send any distress messages, meaning relief from outside was days away at the earliest.
“In short, we’ve secured an enormous amount of time.”
“Hmm. Fair enough. Still, Little Brother… didn’t you insist that venturing off alone would invite disaster?”
“I did say that. Back then, at any rate.”
“Oh? Have you figured out an alternative since then?”
Yanghwi puffed his chest out with supreme confidence.
“Brother Gu. Just who do you take me for?”
“…….”
Gu Ak understood entirely what response was expected of him.
“A peerless prodigy of our era, a crafty little ra… admirable young hero capable of sniffing out an exit even if the heavens themselves caved in.”
“I could swear a very peculiar syllable almost slipped out just then, but I’ll let it slide. All the same, your assessment is correct.”
The Namgung noble clan was undoubtedly the only group holding schematics of the tomb’s inner corridors. Even so…
The circulation of immortal qi feels significantly more distinct down here than it did on the surface.
He knew nothing of the complex formations or winding labyrinths hidden within. Yet by tracing the currents of immortal qi, could he not chart a route through? At the very least, they could strip the Sword King’s Tomb bare of its treasures long before the trapped crowd beneath them managed to unearth a passage.
“Very well. That’s enough gawking. Let’s get moving. We need to carve out our own escape.”
The rocky gap where they crouched was far too shallow for standing or even sitting upright, yet it ran dozens of zhang in width. So long as they inspected every crevice, they were bound to discover a breach leading somewhere viable.
“Boss! There’s a tiny crawlspace over here!”
“Well done, Chudal.”
Yanghwi crawled across on all fours in the manner of a crab. True to the man’s word, right where Chudal indicated, a narrow aperture worn smooth by ancient rainwater opened into the stone.
The orientation runs opposite to the source of the immortal qi, but scouting the area takes priority.
The only hurdle was its diameter. The gap was so constricted that only a small child could wriggle inside.
“Tsk. A lad of eleven or twelve might slip past, but none of us will make it,” Gu Ak muttered.
Instantly, every set of eyes shifted to Chudal.
“…….”
Chudal quietly attempted to force his frame inward, only to become hopelessly wedged at the shoulders.
“Boss. I’m stuck tight. Pull me out.”
“Completely useless as always. What was the purpose of growing into such a giant?”
“…….”
Chudal stared blankly upward — or rather, directly into the pitch-dark ceiling an inch above his brow. Who was the one who had spent all that time insisting that bulking up his body and building muscle was the single highest priority? Now he reversed his words on a whim just to mock him.
And to think this is the man I call my elder brother…
SMACK!
“OUCH! Why did you strike me?! I didn’t say a single curse!”
“Your eyes were swearing up a storm.”
“Dammit!”
“Dammit? Would you prefer I kick you the rest of the way down that hole?”
“I was wrong! I apologize!”
Once they hauled Chudal back out, Gu Ak stepped forward. Manifesting razor-sharp qi along the edges of his hatchets, he shaved away at the stone until the opening widened sufficiently for Yanghwi, the broadest of the group, to pass through. Even then, their troubles were far from solved.
“It remains this tight further inward. At this pace, carving a path ahead using sheer muscle will take forever.”
“Hmm. Do we have any other options?”
“Yanghwi. Do you need my help?”
“What?”
Adu offered a bright, guileless grin.
“Do you want to head down?”
“Yes. That’s the goal.”
“Stay right where you are!”
A blinding golden halo of Buddhist light flared across Adu’s entire form. The brilliant radiance blazed so intensely that Yanghwi grew anxious the glare might pierce the ceiling and tip off the martial artists stranded in the cavern. Wrapped from crown to sole in dazzling true qi, Adu drove his head straight into the crawlspace.
“Namo Amitabha!”
Under normal circumstances, when human flesh smashes into solid stone, the body inevitably shatters. Adu, however, shattered all conventional expectations.
“What in the world… Is he some kind of massive mole?”
Plunging downward like a burrowing beast, Adu enlarged the opening by using his own skull and shoulders as a battering ram. He advanced so effortlessly that he might as well have been taking a casual stroll down a hillside.
The Muscle-Tendon Classic paired with Immense Strength?
Immense Strength — the preeminent defensive qi art among Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Supreme Arts. Adu had not yet mastered its ultimate depths, but the protective shroud of true qi blanketing his frame possessed more than enough force to pulverize hard rock into dust.
“Folks claim that Shaolin warrior monks have bodies tempered like iron and steel, but watching it unfold before my own eyes…”
“He’s been battering through stone without pause for half an incense stick.”
“Sustaining protective true qi for that long demands a monstrous reservoir of internal energy…”
Just then, Adu burst through into open space below. A dull thud reverberated from beneath, swiftly followed by his characteristically cheerful chuckle.
“Hehe! All clear down here!”
Yanghwi slipped through immediately after, taking in the perimeter before calling back up.
“It’s clear. Everyone head down.”
Tang Gun descended next, followed closely by Chudal, Gu Ak, and Tang Yeon.
“Brother Adu, thank you for your immense effort!”
“Hehe. You’re welcome.”
“Even though these surfaces are made of raw stone and soil, there are definite signs of human masonry here.”
“This must be a passage constructed during the original excavation of the Sword King’s Tomb.”
“Do we proceed ahead, or trace our steps backward?”
Judging by the curvature of the tunnel Adu had forged, their current spot lay roughly south of the subterranean cavern holding the stranded martial artists. Since their starting position had been toward the northeast, their path had traced a sweeping semicircle downward.
The immortal qi seems to emanate… from both directions?
That presented an annoyance. The primary origin of the immortal qi seemed situated to the north. Positioned as they were at the southern boundary, an east-west passage caused the energy to manifest from both ends simultaneously.
Alternatively, currents of qi might simply be leaking through fissures along one of the pathways. Or perhaps both.
Whatever the reality, they needed to settle on a route. Idling around hoping the energetic currents would reveal themselves was pointless.
“Boss. It feels unsettling down here. Shouldn’t we strike a flame with a torch?”
The group had packed thoroughly for this journey. Their bags held a variety of expedition equipment beyond standard rations, including torches.
“Let’s move through the shadows for now. Certain internal mechanisms might react to open flames.”
The more pressing dilemma remained which route to take.
“Brother Tang. Which fork do you favor?”
“Me? You’re asking me to make the call?”
“Indeed. You’re the eldest among us.”
“AHEM!”
A dry, pointed cough sounded from Gu Ak.
Ah. That slipped out entirely unprompted.
In bearing and comportment, Tang Gun certainly carried an air of maturity that far exceeded Gu Ak’s.
“Ahem. Brother Gu. You have such a youthful presence that it slipped my mind entirely. Which direction should we take?”
“Hmph. It better have been an accident. The western branch looks more promising to me.”
Gu Ak gestured toward the western corridor.
“A sensible choice.”
Since the subterranean cavern rested directly below the main entrance, it necessarily served as the focal core of the burial grounds. Heading toward the west meant venturing toward the outer perimeter, which ought to prove comparatively safer. If they ultimately had to search both branches, starting with the less hazardous route made logical sense.
Or so they assumed.
Right up until…
“Brother Gu.”
“What is it now?”
“Doesn’t the silence feel abnormal?”
“Caves are naturally quiet places.”
Tang Yeon withdrew her hands into her sleeves, speaking in Yanghwi’s place.
“I cannot even pick up the sound of trickling water. Just a moment ago, the sound of falling droplets was distinctly audible.”
There were only two rational explanations. Either the construction in this area was so immaculate that not a single droplet could seep through the masonry, or it was an extraordinary coincidence.
“…The likelihood of it being a simple coincidence seems vanishingly small, wouldn’t you say?”
“…Still, that’s preferable to walking into death on a hopeful delusion, isn’t it?”
Right at that second.
Yanghwi’s sharp energetic awareness detected a disturbing abnormality. The true problem was that this anomaly was not confined to a single source. A chilling dread crept upward along his spine. In an instant, hundreds, thousands of distinct life signatures — the raw, pulsating vitality unique to living beasts — erupted simultaneously from every flank.
When on earth did my sensory perception become this acute?!
Even as the thought flashed through his head, he unleashed a deafening command at the top of his lungs.
“WEAPONS READY! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!”
His sword cleared its scabbard before his voice had even faded.
CLANG!
A violent impact struck his metal blade, deflecting away into the gloom with a sharp ring. Channeling inner qi into his eyes to cut through the darkness, Yanghwi picked out a tiny, indistinct shape.
“Brother Gu! Channel your axe qi! Chudal, strike the torch!”
Gu Ak’s twin hatchets ignited with radiant power. From the earth, across the masonry walls, and down from the ceiling — countless tiny, round points of light materialized throughout the corridor, gleaming like the predatory gaze of wild beasts waiting in the midnight black.
“Light’s up!”
The moment Chudal raised the blazing torch toward the ceiling, those myriad gleaming points revealed their masters.
SKREEEE!
SKREEE! SKREEE!
“They’re bats.”
“Just a bunch of bats.”
Yanghwi could not prevent a desperate shout from tearing from his throat.
“How in the world could those be ordinary bats?! FLEE!”
Summoning every ounce of his power, Yanghwi grabbed Chudal and hurled him down the opposing corridor. Chudal went flying through the air, torch held fast in his grip.
“Adu! Cover the retreat!”
“Understood!”
“Brother Gu! Pick up Sister Tang!”
Simultaneously, Yanghwi reached down and hoisted Tang Gun into his grip.
“You two provide covering fire with your darts! Run for your lives!”
SKREEEE! SKREEEE!
For creatures resembling bats, their flight speed rivaled authentic spirit beasts. They were utterly unnatural.
“Brother Tang! Do you recognize what these abominations are?!”
“They match the descriptions preserved in our clan’s poison encyclopedias! Those are Iron Poison Bats — venomous vermin that have partly evolved into spirit beasts!”
Do these wretched things never feed?! Why are thousands upon thousands of them crammed inside this single tunnel?!
“Look out!”
Evading a suicidal plunge from one of the diving creatures, Yanghwi slipped through the gap using the Vessel Thousand Steps.
“OUCH! That burns! It stings so badly!”
Adu bounded behind their retreat with a tearful shout. If even the young monk felt real pain through the golden Buddhist barrier protecting his entire frame, these Iron Poison Bats were monstrously lethal.
Their eyes are completely slick and reflective, exactly like round glass beads.
Wait a moment. Glass beads? How could any living creature perceive anything through eyes shaped like that?
“Brother Tang!”
“What is it?!”
“What are their specific vulnerabilities and traits?!”
Yanghwi hurled the sharp question toward Tang Gun, receiving an instant reply. A fierce, predatory grin spread across Yanghwi’s features.
“You miserable little vermin, your lives end right now!”
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