Chapter 18 – Tomb (2)

The gorge, which appeared to have dried up long ago, began revealing its desolate appearance as the fog at the entrance somewhat cleared.

Whether it was the influence of the formation or not, there were trees and bushes that appeared to have died long ago. And scattered about were broken wooden stakes and skeletal corpses along with weapons, as if there had been battles in the past.

On top of those old traces, martial artists who had died not long ago could be seen. They were the ones who had rushed inside just moments before.

No warriors from the Demon Cult, Tang Clan, or Qingcheng could be seen, but wandering warriors and other martial artists, as well as Blood Cult warriors in red clothes, were visible.

“There seem to be mechanisms still functioning. Most died from fighting, but there are also corpses that fell victim to mechanisms and traps.”

Wang Mun-pung spoke while poking at a corpse pierced by spikes.

And while he was speaking, faint screams could be heard from afar. The warriors who had scattered in all directions seemed to be trapped in the remaining formations.

“Everyone be careful. The outer perimeter still has active formations. Plus there are still many functioning traps.”

“No, if we move this slowly, when will we catch up to those who went ahead?”

“Hey, listen to me for once. If you move thoughtlessly again, you’ll die by my hand first!”

Wang Mun-pung shot back sharply at the grumbling Hwangbo Ja-gyeom.

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom finally seemed a bit tense, and Nan-seol also paid attention, but Sun-woo was a little different.

He tilted his head and then stepped firmly on the ground. The appearance of the surrounding underground began to be drawn in Sun-woo’s mind.

As <Spirit of the Earth> reached 5th class and <Three Talents Qigong> reached 6 stars, Sun-woo’s ability to move earth and his sensing power to understand the interior of the ground increased further.

Thanks to this, Sun-woo could now perceive dozens of meters of underground area around him as if seeing it with his own eyes.

“Is it enough to just disable the traps and mechanisms?”

“Well, the formations around here have mostly lost their effectiveness. But even if they’re old, traps must be carefully checked.”

At Wang Mun-pung’s words, Sun-woo nodded and then took a step forward.

At the same time, the Three Talents Qigong that had reached 6 stars surged from Sun-woo’s body and began spreading sorcery around him.

“Wh-what!”

Whoooosh!

Along with Wang Mun-pung’s surprised words, traps collapsed everywhere and old weapons popped out. Following that, rusty iron spikes and old arrows shot up from the ground.

Sun-woo was using the Spirit of the Earth to turn over the ground.

Dismantling the surrounding mechanisms, Sun-woo began walking forward, and the other group members followed behind Sun-woo with wide eyes.

“Didn’t you say he was just a sorcerer who could move the ground a bit?”

“I didn’t know either. Well, it worked out better.”

At Wang Mun-pung’s grumbling words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom shrugged his shoulders. Thanks to him speaking as if it was nothing special, Wang Mun-pung’s mouth protruded even more.

As they went deeper inside, the gorge gradually widened. And the traces of battles that had occurred long ago also gradually disappeared.

Sun-woo could no longer find any traps, and the group could move comfortably without worry.

But not long after, the group had to stop walking again.

Inside the gorge, black fog still hadn’t disappeared. The fog looked like jelly floating in the air.

“The formation’s power has greatly diminished, but the inside is still quite dangerous.”

According to Wang Mun-pung’s explanation, the formation’s lethality had almost disappeared, but its ability to show illusions still remained.

“The other people all went inside too. Isn’t it not very dangerous?”

“What are you talking about! Everyone came knowing this was forbidden. The Demon Cult and the major sects of Sichuan would have brought methods or people to break through this level of formation.”

“But we also have the former divine thief Wang Mun-pung.”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s seemingly mocking words, Wang Mun-pung glared at him, but Hwangbo Ja-gyeom didn’t care about his gaze at all.

Eventually, Wang Mun-pung took out a long rope from his pocket and spoke to the group.

“Everyone tie yourselves to the rope. I’ll guide the direction from the front, so entrust your bodies to the direction the rope pulls. Various illusions will attack, so raise your internal energy to the maximum to protect your body and don’t trust your eyes!”

The group stood in a line and tied the rope around their waists. Wang Mun-pung stood at the front, followed by Hwangbo Ja-gyeom, then Nan-seol, and finally Sun-woo, who had the weakest internal energy, stood at the back.

“Alright, we’re going in.”

Wang Mun-pung took a deep breath and stepped forward. The four people tied with rope entered the fog.

“Huh!”

The moment they entered the fog, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom made a surprised sound, and Nan-seol also gasped quickly.

A different world was spread before them as they entered the fog. Huge rock walls and cliffs were spread before them.

“Everyone stay alert! It’s all illusion! Just blindly follow the rope!”

But Wang Mun-pung’s voice shouting from the front could only be heard faintly in Nan-seol’s ears. Moreover, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s figure walking right in front of her was also faintly disappearing.

As they walked forward, the surrounding situation kept changing. It suddenly became the middle of a desert, then turned into snow-covered snowy mountains.

Nan-seol, who was carefully walking along the rope, was startled by the rope behind her that suddenly lost strength.

The rope that had tied Sun-woo had come loose. Surprised, she stopped walking and looked around, but only snow-covered snowfields were visible around her.

The rope floating in the air ahead continued to pull Nan-seol, but after pondering, Nan-seol drew her sword. She intended to cut the rope and look for Sun-woo.

That’s when it happened. There was a hand grabbing the arm of Nan-seol who was holding the sword. Surprised by the hand that appeared from thin air, Nan-seol tried to shake it off, but stopped at the words heard from behind.

“It’s me, Sun-woo.”

Sun-woo’s figure began to appear before Nan-seol’s eyes. And at the same time, the fiercely blowing snow and the appearance of snowy mountains gradually became blurred.

Shortly after, Nan-seol realized she had escaped from the illusion.

She saw Hwangbo Ja-gyeom hanging onto the rope like a blind man and Wang Mun-pung crawling on the ground, and she saw the desolate gorge and ruined halls.

And she could see several martial artists wandering in circles among the destroyed buildings. They had been caught in the formation and lost their way.

Nan-seol realized how she had escaped from the formation through the warm feeling flowing from the hand.

“Did you also know sorcery to break illusion formations?”

Nan-seol looked curiously at Sun-woo’s eyes that were glowing blue.

Honestly, Sun-woo was also very surprised.

Sun-woo saw the illusions as translucent the moment he entered the black fog, unlike the others. Puzzled, he soon realized it was thanks to the <Illusion Art> he possessed.

Showing illusions to others was the same as being able to perceive external illusions.

Sun-woo tried enhancing illusion art with Three Talents Qigong like when using sorcery, just in case. Fortunately, illusion art was also enhanced by qigong.

His eyes glowed with blue light and he immediately escaped from the formation’s power. And Sun-woo untied the rope and placed his hand on Nan-seol’s arm.

‘Hmm, can about one person escape from the formation together?’

It was a kind of test, but Sun-woo kept a straight face and answered her words.

“Fortunately, the technique I have seems to be effective against this thing called formation. Let’s lead the way.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Nan-seol looked back at Wang Mun-pung groping around on the ground and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom holding the rope and looking around with surprised eyes.

Her face reddened slightly at their appearance. She remembered her own appearance from just before.

As Sun-woo expected, only about one person besides Sun-woo could escape from the formation’s effects.

Sun-woo placed his hands on them in turn to explain the situation to the other two, and the two who temporarily escaped from the formation with Sun-woo’s help looked at Sun-woo with incredulous expressions.

After explaining to everyone, Sun-woo and Nan-seol held hands and led the group forward.

“It seems like there was quite a large sect here in the past?”

Nan-seol spoke while looking around the ruined halls. As she said, although only traces of fire remained after a long time, the size could be guessed from the ruins alone.

Nan-seol looked around and made a somewhat pitiful expression seeing the wandering martial artists. But since she alone had no way to save them, she forcibly turned her head away.

Sun-woo was also observing the surroundings.

‘There are too few people wandering around. Ordinary warriors wouldn’t have been able to pass through this formation, but there are far fewer corpses and wandering people than the number Hwangbo told us about.’

Moreover, there were no particular traps visible inside. Well, there was no reason to install traps in a place where people actually lived.

‘But I definitely heard screams.’

Sun-woo’s expression became serious. It seemed there were traps he didn’t know about.

The group was able to pass through the halls and reach the depths of the gorge. It was a place where huge rock walls rose like cliffs. Under the cliff, a large cave was opening its mouth as if tempting the group.

Fortunately, fog couldn’t approach near the cave. And the light seen from outside was definitely flowing from the cave. A faint light was flowing from the cave entrance.

When they arrived in front of the cave and the formation’s influence disappeared, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom was about to tease Wang Mun-pung again, but seeing his appearance full of killing intent, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth.

Wang Mun-pung’s pride seemed to have been greatly wounded while passing through the formation.

He glanced at Sun-woo and then strode toward the cave.

But while examining around the cave, he let out a big groan.

“Did you find something?”

The curious group approached the cave front, and Wang Mun-pung pointed to the upper part of the cave. There, words were deeply carved in intaglio on the rock wall.

(Demon-Defeating Bright Cult Heroes’ Tomb)

Unlike Sun-woo who was puzzled not knowing what it meant, the expressions of the other three hardened stiffly.

“Don’t tell me this was the stronghold of the Demon-Defeating Demon Cult?”

Even Hwangbo Ja-gyeom muttered with a serious expression.

Shortly after, Sun-woo was able to hear about the Demon-Defeating Demon Cult from the others. (People from the righteous faction called the Bright Cult “Demon Cult” in a derogatory sense.)

The Demon-Defeating Demon Cult was one of the eight major branches of the past Demon Cult. It was a branch of the Demon Cult that used quite powerful martial arts and sorcery, and numerous righteous sect schools had perished at their hands.

However, the Demon-Defeating Demon Cult had lost contact long ago, so now only seven major branches were making their names known.

“But it’s strange that a powerful Demon Cult branch was engulfed in formation and turned into a forbidden zone. That was when the Demon Cult was at its peak.”

“Well, we can’t know the exact reason. From the battle traces we saw when coming in and seeing that the formation protecting the sect went berserk, it seems like tremendous enemies invaded this place.”

Wang Mun-pung shrugged at Nan-seol’s question, his tension relieved. He knocked on the cave wall inscribed with ‘Heroes’ Tomb.’

“Anyway, everyone seems to have entered here. In the end, they jumped into a tomb for treasure hunting.”

Heroes’ Tomb. It was a name indicating the sect cemetery of a large sect.

“At times like this, the righteous sect guys who were showing off and the Demon Cult guys are no different from me!”

Wang Mun-pung, who had been mocked as a thief, gave a hearty sneer at the actions of both sides’ masters.

“Anyway, let’s go in. The contamination source must be here too.”

Wang Mun-pung, who had regained his spirits, strode inside. If it was tomb robbing, it was his specialty. It seemed he could finally display his skills.

Seeing this, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom chuckled and followed him in, and Nan-seol also followed inside.

Sun-woo, who was following behind, looked back for a moment. Faint screams could be heard from beyond the gorge shrouded in black fog.

Sun-woo looked toward where the screams came from and then entered the cave following the group.