Chapter 19 – Tomb (3)

The quite large rock cave had been artificially processed by human hands.

The entrance of the cave seemed to have been blocked by inscriptions forbidding entry and a huge iron gate, but it was scattered on the ground, shattered as if hit by a cannonball.

“Those who attacked this place in the past must have had truly fearsome martial arts. To smash an iron gate that appears to be one chi thick like sorghum stalks.”

At Wang Mun-pung’s words, Sun-woo also nodded involuntarily. The story that humans had smashed a gate that even tank shells couldn’t easily destroy in one blow made it impossible to know just how strong those warriors were.

Fortunately, inside the broken gate wasn’t very dark due to torches that had been relit by mechanisms.

The cave was a mess. Countless mechanisms and traps were scattered around in pieces, and skeletons that had died long ago were rolling around everywhere. All traces of battle seemed to be from long ago.

Seeing the broken traps, the group looked at Sun-woo, but he had to shake his head.

“There are many rock walls, making it difficult to check far ahead. There seem to be several artificial devices, but since they’re hidden between rock walls, it’s difficult for me to do anything about them.”

“Hahaha, now it’s time for me to step forward. Please tell me where the devices are.”

Wang Mun-pung laughed loudly and stepped forward. He had been worried just in case, but fortunately it seemed his role wouldn’t be buried.

The hidden devices were mechanisms that hadn’t been activated yet, but perhaps due to the passage of time, except for a few, they were too old to move.

And the moving mechanisms were sequentially neutralized by Wang Mun-pung’s touch, as if his claim of being a former divine thief wasn’t false.

“Now my hands are finally loosening up. What would have happened if I hadn’t come along?”

The person who had absolutely refused to enter until just a while ago was now showing off his skills to the fullest.

The others chuckled at his boasting, and Wang Mun-pung excitedly turned the corner to dismantle the next mechanism.

Then Wang Mun-pung saw a flashing blade falling toward him.

“Waah!”

Unlike his greatly surprised mind, his body trained over long years rolled on the ground like lightning to avoid the blade.

It was just an ordinary downward strike, but the donkey roll that had saved his life countless times over the years once again saved his life.

What attacked Wang Mun-pung was a masked person in red clothes from the Blood Cult. The Blood Cult warrior immediately followed Wang Mun-pung rolling on the ground, and other masked figures rushed out from around the corner to attack the group.

“Be careful! It’s the Blood Cult guys!”

But the others except Wang Mun-pung noticed the ambush the moment he was attacked.

Sun-woo, who had weak martial arts, immediately retreated backward, while Nan-seol and Hwangbo Ja-gyeom stepped forward.

Clang!

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s blade, overflowing with sword energy, was blocked by the opponent’s sword.

“Huh? Why is the strength of someone who’s only first-class so strong!”

At Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words, the masked person’s eyes seemed to smile, but the very next moment the masked person’s head flew into the sky.

Although he could block a peak-level warrior’s strength, the difference in swordsmanship couldn’t be helped. Though Hwangbo Ja-gyeom was said to rely only on strength, his martial arts were completely at the peak level.

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s blade that flowed down along the opponent’s sword had blown off the masked person’s head.

Having blown off the masked person’s head, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom turned to help Nan-seol but soon stopped with wide eyes.

Nan-seol’s sword gently swirled through the air, and the masked person’s sword was flailing, caught up in Nan-seol’s sword.

Unlike before, blue sword energy extended beyond Nan-seol’s sword, and the fragrance of plum blossoms was wafting around.

Slash!

Eventually, her sword pierced through the masked person’s chest, and the masked person collapsed to the ground and died.

“The fragrance of plum blossoms, she’s completely at the peak level. She was definitely at the end of first-class last time. What terrifying growth. Is a new Sword Empress emerging?”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom muttered while watching Nan-seol sheathe her sword.

To reach the peak level at just twenty years old. It was comparable to the female swordsmen who had made names as Sword Empresses throughout history.

Meanwhile, Wang Mun-pung was still running away. Perhaps due to his tracking skills and thievery, his martial arts specialized in running seemed leisurely enough in escape.

Thanks to this, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom could leisurely observe the Blood Cult martial arts.

“It was strange before too, but now I’m certain. The internal energy and swordsmanship are definitely first-class level, but the speed and strength are beyond that. Does the Blood Cult really have some great method to enhance martial arts? No wonder ordinary warriors can’t handle them.”

“Hey! I’m about to die and you’re just watching from there?”

Wang Mun-pung shouted while running away. At the same time, Sun-woo passed by Wang Mun-pung’s side. Sun-woo’s blade glowed brightly and collided with the masked person’s sword.

Bang!

Sun-woo was pushed back by the impact. As Hwangbo Ja-gyeom said, the opponent’s strength was unexpectedly strong.

“Are you alright?”

Nan-seol, who had approached at some point, supported Sun-woo from behind.

“I’m fine.”

Though his chest felt tight from the impact, Sun-woo put his sword back into his phone with a satisfied expression.

There were no more enemies left.

The masked person who collided with Sun-woo lost his life from the fragments of his shattered sword instead of bouncing Sun-woo away. The masked person’s sword couldn’t withstand Sun-woo’s enhanced blade.

“Impressive. You’re already a mature first-class warrior.”

Nan-seol looked at Sun-woo with an admiring expression.

The martial arts enhanced with points had elevated Sun-woo to complete first-class level. Thanks to this, he could now fully utilize the advantages of his weapon.

“I don’t think someone who reached the peak level in just a few days should be saying that.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Nan-seol smiled gently.

“I had some enlightenment at Mount Hua.”

Sun-woo clicked his tongue at Nan-seol’s words. Surely geniuses were different.

While he was struggling just to keep up with the insights and internal energy raised through points, she had broken through the wall to the peak level on her own.

“Ugh, to think they were guarding the entrance. They seem to have made up their minds completely.”

Wang Mun-pung grumbled while sitting on the ground.

“Looking at their actions, it doesn’t seem like they just participated in a treasure scramble. They seem to know something and are moving accordingly…”

Hwangbo Ja-gyeom muttered while scratching his beard vigorously.

But nothing special was found on the dead masked people’s bodies, and the group went inside while surveying their surroundings.

“Really amazing. A summoner from another dimension using martial arts. Plus sorcery that moves earth and the ability to see through formations. It’s a summoner type I’ve never seen before.”

Walking inside, Wang Mun-pung once again looked Sun-woo up and down.

“But Three Talents Sword Method, don’t tell me your qigong is also Three Talents Qigong?”

“It is Three Talents Qigong.”

“Huh? You reached first-class with Three Talents Qigong?”

Wang Mun-pung stopped walking and looked at Sun-woo with a bewildered expression. Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s expression was the same.

At their expressions, Nan-seol smiled slightly. She was amused thinking about how their expressions would change if they knew Sun-woo had only been learning martial arts for a few months.

“But it’s really a pity. If you have the ability to reach first-class with Three Talents Qigong, you’d be faster with other martial arts. Moreover, reaching the peak level with Three Talents Qigong would be difficult.”

Sun-woo’s expression hardened. It was something Sun-woo had felt while raising his qigong grade with points. Not only did the required points increase as the grade went up, but he was also feeling that growth was gradually stagnating.

Until now, Sun-woo had only thought the stagnation was the limit of what could be raised with points. So he had been wondering lately whether he should train like other warriors.

But because of the quality of martial arts. It seemed he needed to look into better martial arts quickly.

Inside the cave, broken mechanisms and traps were scattered everywhere. The group slowly walked inside and saw a Blood Cult member whose neck had been cut by a blade that protruded from the wall.

“What a terrifying mechanism. If the traps and mechanisms had been intact, it wouldn’t have been easy to get inside.”

Wang Mun-pung continued speaking while dismantling the mechanism hidden in the wall.

“The warriors who passed through here in the past must have been real masters. Seeing how they passed through by indiscriminately destroying mechanisms and traps of this level.”

“But if we move this slowly, we can’t catch up to those who went ahead.”

“Hey. It’s only because I’m here that we can move even this much.”

But at Wang Mun-pung’s words, Hwangbo Ja-gyeom grumbled to himself.

“Honestly, wasn’t Sun-woo’s help greater?”

Naturally, there was no one here who couldn’t hear his muttering.

“This guy!”

Wang Mun-pung burst out angrily at Hwangbo Ja-gyeom’s words.

“If only the mechanisms had been intact, overtaking those who went ahead would have been quick! What am I supposed to do when everything’s broken and rusted so it won’t move!”

At those words, Sun-woo spoke up.

“Is there a shortcut?”

“Huh?”

Wang Mun-pung scratched his head at Sun-woo’s question.

“It’s not just mechanisms that move automatically. There’s a back route for people who operate the mechanisms to move. The problem is that the passage has collapsed and the mechanisms are broken, so there’s no way to go through that back route.”

“Where are those collapsed passages and mechanisms?”

Wang Mun-pung pointed to a location with doubtful eyes. It was the half-collapsed cave wall they had just passed.

Sun-woo placed his hands on the collapsed wall. And he drew up his qigong to the fullest. The spirits of the earth extended through the collapsed wall to the inside.

“There’s definitely a small cave deep inside.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Well, it’s useless since the passage has collapsed.”

But Sun-woo didn’t remove his hands despite his words and began drawing up his full sorcery.

Whoosh.

A small sound came from inside the wall. And earth began seeping out between the collapsed walls.

With Sun-woo’s ability, it was difficult to move solid rock walls. But if it was a collapsed passage, the story was different. A collapsed passage was where rocks and earth had collapsed together. The earth there could be moved by Sun-woo.

As earth gradually seeped out, the collapsed stones began to stir. The stones began being pushed out by the moving earth.

As sweat began forming on Sun-woo’s face, stones began popping out wildly.

Everyone stared blankly at the rocks and piles of earth shooting out.

Shortly after Sun-woo removed his hands, a passage wide enough for one person to pass through had been created in front of Sun-woo.

When Sun-woo looked at the group with a tired face, Wang Mun-pung ran over and grabbed Sun-woo’s hands.

“Brother! Partner with me! If you and I partner up, even the imperial treasury would be no problem. No, any tomb would be no problem for us two!”

Wang Mun-pung’s eyes looking at Sun-woo sparkled like a dreaming maiden.

“I refuse.”

Sun-woo coldly pulled his hands away.

“It’ll be difficult to meet again anyway once the mission ends.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Wang Mun-pung seemed to finally realize reality and became dejected.

“No, didn’t you quit thievery? If Advisor Zhuge heard what you just said, he’d be pleased.”

“Shut up, I was just excited for a moment.”

Wang Mun-pung trudged into the passage with an expression aged by ten years, and the others followed him and disappeared into the passage.

Shortly after everyone disappeared, sounds of scraping on the ground and low rattling sounds were heard in the cave.

Large and small snakes emerged from cracks between walls and floor. Vipers, rattlesnakes, and pythons. The small ones were as small as thread snakes, but the large ones included giant snakes as big as human torsos.

The snakes, whose skin should have been glossy but had turned murky in color, filled the cave and then began swarming toward the passage where the group had disappeared, their red eyes glowing.