The inside of the cave was dark.
Of course, to Geom Mugeuk, who had mastered the Divine Eye Art, it looked brightly lit, and the two Demon Venerables were not so hindered that they could not move.
Those with torches would at least fare better, but those without them were likely wandering through the darkness, relying on instinct alone.
As Geom Mugeuk took a small torch from his leather satchel and lit it, the two Demon Venerables spoke.
“This cave is supposed to be a maze?”
“Surely the three of us won’t get lost?”
“Wouldn’t we be more likely to get lost because there are three of us?”
Meaning, precisely because they trusted one another, they might end up losing their way.
At the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s words, the One Flower Sword Venerable smiled faintly. To others, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon seemed like the sort of person who would say, If we get lost, we can just smash everything apart.
But she knew very well that, unexpectedly, he had such delicate sides to him.
Of course, neither of them was the least bit worried about losing their way. It was because of Geom Mugeuk, who walked ahead with utter nonchalance.
“When else would I get the chance to lose my way with the two of you? And just because we lose the path, it doesn’t mean the road we must take disappears, does it?”
Thus the three of them walked inside. The interior of the cave was already filled with the heavy stench of blood, and the sounds of weapons clashing, curses, and screams mingled together and echoed. It was, in every sense, a hellscape of killing and being killed.
“We’ll take the path on the right first.”
Geom Mugeuk chose the right-hand path among the three forks.
“It’s convenient moving with the Young Cult Leader. It makes one believe he’ll take care of everything on his own, doesn’t it?”
At the One Flower Sword Venerable’s blind faith, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon glanced at Geom Mugeuk’s back for no reason and said brusquely,
“As if he has some grand plan. He’s just walking in without thinking.”
Geom Mugeuk answered with a laugh.
“As expected! Our elder sees right through me! Just where is the bastard with the treasure map hiding?”
“But how did that fellow end up being chased in here? Was he driven this way like prey?”
“Or he came in on purpose.”
“On purpose?”
Geom Mugeuk clearly seemed to have some premonition, but he did not tell them what it was. They did not bother asking. He was the sort who, even if told not to explain later, would explain until their ears hurt.
As they walked through the cave, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon flicked a gust of finger wind and destroyed a stone protruding from the ceiling. It had been sticking out at a height where it would have struck the One Flower Sword Venerable’s head as she walked.
“I saw it too.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“No matter how kind you are, I won’t go easy on the wager.”
“Who asked you to?”
Geom Mugeuk’s expression softened as he listened to their conversation. Yes, this was why he had left the cult with them—because he had wanted to hear them talk like that.
The cave was complicated. After walking a little, another fork would appear, and at times there were three or four paths.
Yet Geom Mugeuk strode along with ease, as if he knew exactly where he had to go.
Shiiik.
Just then, a sword suddenly shot out of the darkness, aiming for Geom Mugeuk.
After lightly twisting his body to avoid the attack, Geom Mugeuk simply continued walking forward. He did not even look at the one who had ambushed him.
The warrior who had launched the surprise attack was the one who became flustered instead. His opponent had passed by as if he did not exist, and even the two people following behind did not give him so much as a glance as they walked past.
Shiiik.
The sword he belatedly swung missed as well. The three of them had already disappeared into the darkness.
“What in the world is this…”
Puuk!
A sword burst out through the chest of the man who had been standing there in a daze.
Someone else had ambushed him from behind and killed him.
The attacker searched the fallen corpse. When the treasure map did not appear, he disappeared back into the darkness.
There were no rational choices or judgments here. Everyone was hiding themselves, ambushing people, killing them, and searching their bodies for the treasure map. It was truly a situation where the lucky one would take possession of it.
Clang clang clang clang clang!
This time, several people were fighting.
“Let’s just go.”
Surely one among them might have had the treasure map, no?
And yet, for whatever reason, Geom Mugeuk simply passed by.
Startled swords flew toward Geom Mugeuk as he crossed through the fighting, but not even a strand of his hair was grazed.
As if he were playing tag, Geom Mugeuk lightly slipped out of the place where the battle was taking place.
Would the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable have been any different?
“Why don’t you stop them?”
When the Blood Heaven Saber Demon asked, Geom Mugeuk looked back at the place behind them where the fighting was going on.
“Look at their eyes.”
All of them were caught up in greed-maddened frenzy.
“It would be easier to make a gambler quit gambling.”
Geom Mugeuk moved deeper into the cave.
“Do you even know where he’s hiding?”
“If we’re lucky, we’ll meet him.”
He was not searching by luck.
In truth, Geom Mugeuk had been to the Ten Thousand Blood Cave before.
He had roamed all throughout the Central Plains in search of materials for the grand art of regression; how could he possibly have passed by this famous cave of Mount Tianzi?
This mysterious maze cave had not easily let him leave. It had felt as though something was hidden somewhere he had not yet gone.
He had forgotten much of it now, but at the time, he knew this place so well that he could have drawn a map if told to.
‘Will those things still be here at this point in time?’
He had come up empty-handed when it came to finding materials for the grand art here, but he had found other things instead. Only, because the time period was different, he could not be certain they were still here now.
He also had an idea of where someone might hide, if they were to hide.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable, following behind him, exchanged glances.
It would not have been strange for him to get lost and wander at least once along the way, but Geom Mugeuk had not passed the same place even a single time.
After circling through the cave like that, they came upon a somewhat wider space.
Geom Mugeuk took two bamboo tubes from his leather satchel and handed one each to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable.
“Please have some water.”
The two drank the cool water.
Geom Mugeuk asked the Blood Heaven Saber Demon with a worried look.
“You feel stifled, don’t you?”
“I’m fine.”
He was not fine. The Blood Heaven Saber Demon was sweating. As he had said before entering the cave, he truly hated cramped places.
“I’ll go check this tunnel. Please rest here for a moment.”
Geom Mugeuk entrusted the torch to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
“What about you?”
“I have good night vision.”
In truth, Geom Mugeuk found it more convenient to move without a torch.
Swaaaak.
Using Swift Steps, Geom Mugeuk vanished from before their eyes in an instant.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable sat side by side on a flat rock.
“I’ve been surprised by the Young Cult Leader so many times that something like this feels completely ordinary now.”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon nodded and wiped away his sweat.
“Even when you were young, you hated cramped and narrow places. You’re still the same.”
“Do people change that easily?”
At those words, the One Flower Sword Venerable laughed.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s nothing.”
Others might have said such a thing, but the Blood Heaven Saber Demon should not have. After meeting Geom Mugeuk, he had truly changed a great deal.
“Do you remember? We went to visit the Cult Leader in his training cave, didn’t we?”
It was back when Geom Ujin had still been the Young Cult Leader. Though she no longer remembered what incident had caused it, Geom Ujin had been ordered to train in the training cave for a hundred days.
“We secretly went there with liquor.”
A smile formed at the corners of the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s mouth. It was one of the few memories that made him smile when he recalled the past, so how could he have forgotten it?
“You boasted that I should just trust you, but you got lost right away.”
“Did I?”
In truth, he had not gotten lost that day. He had only pretended to lose his way because he wanted to walk with her a little longer.
Now that he thought about it, the cave that day had not felt this stifling. Even while sweating profusely, he had not once thought it suffocating.
“We were so young back then.”
He recalled the sight of the Cult Leader smiling at them when they came to him, shaking the bottles of liquor.
Just as they were briefly immersed in old memories—
Shik shik shik shik shik!
Hidden weapons flew out of the darkness toward the One Flower Sword Venerable.
Dadadadang!
What deflected the hidden weapons was the cloth-wrapped Heaven-Destroying Great Saber.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon lowered the Heaven-Destroying Great Saber that had shielded the One Flower Sword Venerable.
When the ambush failed, the one who had thrown the hidden weapons had already disappeared. The two Demon Venerables had no intention of pursuing him. They were not interested at all in what was happening here.
“What is it? Did you think I couldn’t stop those?”
At the One Flower Sword Venerable’s question, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon looked at the torch standing on his side and said,
“It seemed dark over there.”
Then he added words he did not need to add.
“Your night vision gets worse when you grow old, doesn’t it?”
“It’s rude to tell an older woman she’s old.”
“What’s wrong with growing old? You don’t have to try to look young. Evening is more beautiful than morning, after all.”
“I told you I don’t like it, and still you keep going!”
When the One Flower Sword Venerable glared at him, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon quietly turned his head to the other side.
Once again, a group of warriors burst into that place. Entering with blood dripping from their swords, they were Chuyeon, daughter of the Flying Dragon Gang’s leader, and the warriors following her.
The ten warriors had been reduced to eight.
Chuyeon had thought she would be able to leisurely sweep through this cave. After all, the ones she had brought with her were the Flying Dragon Gang’s elites, the Flying Dragon Ten Heroes.
But during the search, there had been two ambushes, and two of the Flying Dragon Ten Heroes had lost their lives. Fighting while holding torches in a narrow, complicated cave—one that was pitch-dark, no less—was different from what she had imagined. Today was the first time she learned that even the Flying Dragon Ten Heroes were beings who could die like this.
That was why her nerves had become frayed.
“What were you two doing here?”
There was another reason these two stood out more than others.
“Where’s that porter?”
The insolent words he had spoken earlier had lingered in her mind the entire time. For a mere porter, he had been so brazen. She had resolved that if she met him again, she would teach him a proper lesson.
“Is he already dead? Why aren’t you answering?”
At her sharp question, the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, who had been looking elsewhere, slowly turned his head.
The moment Chuyeon’s eyes met the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s, her heart sank. It was not that he had revealed his aura, nor had he shown killing intent. And yet goosebumps rose all over her body.
It was because of his gaze. The torchlight reflected in the Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s pupils and flickered there, making it look as though flames were rising from his eyes.
At the same time, she felt as if her entire body were blazing, and she reflexively drew up her inner force.
At Chuyeon’s reaction, the Flying Dragon Ten Heroes all pointed their swords at once.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s hand moved toward the knot of the cloth wrapped around the Heaven-Destroying Great Saber. The moment he pulled it, he would lose the wager.
But if it was a situation where they had to fight anyway, he had no intention of making the One Flower Sword Venerable step forward just to win the bet.
It was then.
Grip.
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon’s gaze went to the knot. The One Flower Sword Venerable had stretched out her hand and was gripping it. It meant she was telling him not to untie it.
“Young lady.”
At the One Flower Sword Venerable’s calm call, Chuyeon’s gaze, which had been fixed only on the Blood Heaven Saber Demon, turned toward her.
The moment she saw the One Flower Sword Venerable’s calm eyes, Chuyeon finally came to her senses.
‘Both of them were true masters!’
If they could give off this feeling without even revealing their aura, then she and her people were no match for them from the beginning.
Chuyeon had the Flying Dragon Ten Heroes lower their swords. Her heart grew heavy.
‘Even masters like these have entered this place. Can I really obtain the map?’
The state of her mind now was vastly different from when she had entered.
Just then, Geom Mugeuk returned to the place.
“Young lady, you’re safe!”
When Geom Mugeuk greeted her with such delight, Chuyeon was instead flustered.
“I was worried because so many people have been injured and killed. I’m glad you’re safe.”
Now she understood why this porter had been so insolent. With masters like those at his side, what would he have to fear?
“Why were you worried about me?”
“We talked outside, didn’t we? That makes us connected by fate.”
To Chuyeon, it would sound as though he were mocking her, but he was half sincere. If this affair involved a force behind the scenes, then surely there were arrangements they had put in place.
‘Are you one of them, perhaps?’
She could be, or she could not be. She might be a connection he would see today and never again, or if he followed the thread tied to her, he might encounter them.
As always, Geom Mugeuk intended not to miss a single thing. He intended to accept all of it while pretending not to know, then turn their plans against them.
“There are corpses all over that way right now. Please be careful.”
She could not scowl and curse at someone who was so glad to see her and so worried for her. No, more than that, it was probably because of those two masters. Yes, someday the chance to teach him a lesson would come.
“You be careful yourself, porter.”
Chuyeon turned and walked away. At the end, she glanced back briefly at the two Demon Venerables, but neither of them even looked at her.
Once she and the Flying Dragon Gang warriors had left, Geom Mugeuk took something out of the leather satchel he had been carrying.
“I didn’t find the person with the treasure map in that tunnel, but I found this.”
What was carefully wrapped in paper was a deep blue-green moss.
“What is this?”
The Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the One Flower Sword Venerable were startled when they confirmed what it was.
“Stalactite Immortal Moss?”
Stalactite Immortal Moss was a spiritual medicine made of moss that grew on stalactites hanging from cave ceilings. It was a truly rare spiritual medicine that grew only when countless conditions aligned perfectly.
“This is my first time seeing it in person.”
It was the same not only for the One Flower Sword Venerable, but also for the Blood Heaven Saber Demon.
“It’s my first time too.”
The two Demon Venerables looked at Geom Mugeuk in astonishment. He had found Stalactite Immortal Moss in that dark chaos and brought it back? It was truly something difficult to believe even after experiencing it firsthand.
“Why are you both so surprised? When people go into caves, they all find at least this much spiritual medicine, don’t they? Once we get out later, the three of us can share it amicably. I’ll cook it so it tastes good. However, I’m the one doing the cooking!”
Stalactite Immortal Moss differed from ordinary spiritual medicines in its effects; it did not merely increase one’s inner force.
As its name suggested—a moss eaten by immortals—it was known to restore vitality and grant health and longevity when consumed, making it a spiritual medicine extremely beneficial to the body. That was why he intended to feed a great deal of it to the Blood Heaven Saber Demon in particular.
As they listened to Geom Mugeuk, the two Demon Venerables were thinking similar thoughts. If such great fortune followed the Young Cult Leader as it always had…
If it was the Young Cult Leader, he truly might be able to find the person with the treasure map in this place.
Geom Mugeuk shouldered his leather satchel again and took the lead down a path they had not yet tried.
“I have a good feeling about this path. Now, let’s go!”