“It’s the smell from back then.”
The smell Jihan spoke of was the scent of the bamboo-hatted man who had told them to apply the Soul-Chasing Incense.
“He is here.”
But Jihan soon frowned.
“There are too many other smells mixed in here. I think I’ll only be able to tell if I get closer.”
In a place with this many people, it was already remarkable that he had detected that faint scent at all.
Just as Jihan was about to step forward to get a proper smell, Geom Mugeuk pulled him back and shook his head.
Jihan realized he had grown too excited. If he approached recklessly like that, they would reveal that they had noticed him.
The iron-masked man took the lead and climbed toward the peak.
“Now, everyone, follow me!”
The martial artists followed after him, though they were still half in doubt.
Geom Mugeuk and his group also followed behind.
The appearance of the iron-masked man had truly brought about a completely unexpected turn of events.
As if he really had deciphered the secret words, the iron-masked man climbed the western peak.
There was a large pond there—though calling it a pond was modest; it was large enough to be called a lake.
“Beneath this pond is an underwater cave that leads to the Sword Tomb.”
He knew the entrance to the Sword Tomb precisely.
“You must hold your breath for quite a while to pass through. Anyone who cannot swim, or who fears water, had best not enter.”
At that, one of the martial artists who feared water asked,
“How long must we hold our breath?”
“Until you can slowly count to one hundred.”
Most thought they could at least count to a hundred.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk warned Taesu and Jihan, who were confident in their swimming.
“If you let your guard down after hearing only that, you’ll die. You’ll have to swim, and the bigger problem is that you won’t be able to see well down there. There may be obstacles you didn’t expect, and someone whose breath runs out might grab onto you and drag you down. Don’t think of that hundred as the same hundred you count outside the water.”
“Yes!”
Taesu and Jihan steadied themselves.
Geom Mugeuk was not worried about the Blood Heaven Blade Demon or the Ilhwa Sword Venerable. Experts on the level of Demon Venerables were people who could even fight a bout against waterfolk underwater.
“You must follow closely behind me.”
When the iron-masked man leapt into the water without hesitation, the martial artists jumped in one after another, fearing they might lose sight of him. They had judged it safest to stay right behind him.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, was leisurely.
He took from his leather satchel a cloth used as material for a wind cloak and wrapped it around the satchel.
“You really do carry all sorts of things!”
Geom Mugeuk’s leather satchel truly seemed to lack nothing.
“Can the two of you swim somewhat?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon snorted. The Ilhwa Sword Venerable explained that confidence on his behalf.
“He’s a seal.”
Geom Mugeuk entrusted the leather satchel wrapped in wind-cloak cloth to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon.
“I’ll ask Lord Seal to carry this baggage.”
It seemed he would have to look after the two young fellows, so he was handing off the luggage. After all, they would have to pass through a narrow passage.
“What a fine thing to do to an old man.”
“You don’t look that old anymore.”
At that moment, the Ilhwa Sword Venerable held out her hand.
“Give it to me. I’ll carry it.”
Just as he was about to give it to her, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon took the leather satchel first.
Taesu jumped into the water first, followed by Jihan, then Geom Mugeuk and the two Demon Venerables.
Taesu guided the way from the very front.
True to his word, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon swam like a seal even while carrying that large baggage and his great saber, and the Ilhwa Sword Venerable also dove in with graceful movements.
The farther down they went, the darker their surroundings became. Fish appeared, then vanished from sight in an instant.
Then what suddenly loomed before them was a human corpse. Someone had already drowned.
Startled, Taesu lost his direction for a moment. The sight of the corpse had shaken him, and the bottom was darker than he had expected. Just as he floundered here and there for a brief moment—
Geom Mugeuk’s voice transmission reached him.
—To the right.
Sure enough, in the direction Geom Mugeuk indicated, there was a hole between the rocks. It had originally been hidden by waterweed, but those who had entered ahead had torn it all away, exposing the entrance.
As he entered, a sudden doubt crossed Taesu’s mind.
‘But does voice transmission work underwater?’
As far as he knew, he had heard that it did not. Had he perhaps heard things?
The cave was large enough for two or three adults to swim side by side, but it was dark, and they could not see ahead.
It was the sort of cave one would never enter unless one was certain there was a place to breathe at the end.
How long had they gone like that? Taesu panicked again. A drowned corpse was blocking the passage. He tried to push it aside, but the floating body moved however it pleased.
Because his mind was in a hurry, it would not clear away easily.
It was then.
Swaaaash.
When the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, following behind, stretched out his hand, bubbles surged up and the corpse was instantly pushed far forward.
Now the Blood Heaven Blade Demon swam at the front, clearing away the floating corpses as he advanced. There were more than just one or two bodies of those who had died along the way.
The passage was longer than expected. It felt as though they had already counted to a hundred.
‘At this rate…’
Taesu, whose martial arts were relatively weak, began to suffocate.
The terror of suffocation led to fear of death. To die without even reaching the entrance of the Sword Tomb! No, there was something even more shameful than that.
The guide drowning to death?
That would be shameful even after death.
‘I’ll do it! I’ll make it!’
But contrary to his will, his mind grew more and more hazy.
It was right then.
Geom Mugeuk’s voice transmission reached him.
—Close your eyes!
Was this an auditory hallucination again? Even if he had been told not to close them, Taesu’s eyes were already drifting shut at that very moment.
Swaaaaaash.
His body instantly cut through the current and shot forward. Jihan, who had been swimming behind him, was also pulled along by Geom Mugeuk’s hand and advanced with him.
They cut through the water in an instant and surged forward.
“Open your eyes.”
When he opened his eyes, the two of them were already sticking their heads out of the water. The corpses the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had pushed ahead floated there.
After throwing the two of them out of the water, Geom Mugeuk came out as well.
Taesu bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.
“Thank you very much for saving me.”
Jihan might have made it on his own, but Taesu had truly nearly died. He felt ashamed and embarrassed that he had once worried about what he would do if Geom Mugeuk arrived and killed him.
Soon after, the Ilhwa Sword Venerable came out of the water last.
There was enough space there for around ten people to stand, and it connected again to an underground cavern. Whether those who had come out earlier had all gone into the cavern, no one remained there.
The Ilhwa Sword Venerable’s wet clothes clung tightly to her body. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned around and subtly shielded her with his great saber.
Fwoosh.
The Ilhwa Sword Venerable raised yang heat energy within her body and dried her clothes while standing there.
“I think this is the first time I’ve swum through an underwater cave like this. What about you, Brother?”
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon also dried his clothes with yang heat energy as he replied.
“As if I would have.”
Geom Mugeuk did not dry his clothes. It was enough for two people to appear fresh and dry.
When they walked into the cavern, a wide space appeared, and those who had entered before them were there. Many had jumped into the water, but after the deaths, only about twenty martial artists remained here.
Their gazes turned toward the five of them. At least one person should have been reduced from the count, yet five had joined them, so naturally their gazes were not friendly.
At that moment, someone shouted,
“Hurry and open the door!”
Ahead, behind where the iron-masked man stood, there was a stone door.
This was the entrance to the Sword Tomb.
Thinking that beyond this door lay something that would change their fates, the martial artists’ faces as they looked toward it were full of greed and longing.
The iron-masked man slowly opened the door.
When the door opened, the interior was revealed.
What overwhelmed everyone’s gaze were hundreds, thousands of swords. Swords were embedded everywhere the eye could see. It was truly a scene befitting the name “tomb of swords.”
Looking closely, this place was not merely flat ground.
It was a recreation of some great hall. Pillars and chairs, stone statues lining the walls—swords were embedded in everything visible.
Countless swords, each seeming to have its own story.
The martial artists first examined the swords around them. Their eyes burned, wondering whether some treasured blade might be hidden among the old iron swords.
“Look only. Do not draw them under any circumstances!”
But whenever many people gathered, there was always someone bound to ignore such a warning.
The very moment someone drew a sword from an ornate scabbard—
Shhk! Thunk!
A sword blade shot up from the floor and pierced through his groin. It sprang up with a speed as fast as light, making it impossible to avoid.
No one lamented his death.
The iron-masked man looked toward the grand preceptor’s chair far ahead and said,
“We must reach the door behind that grand preceptor’s chair. And the moment we leave this spot, the mechanism activates.”
The distance from where he stood to the grand preceptor’s chair was ambiguous.
It was a distance that anyone confident in their lightness skill would want to attempt at least once.
When that ambiguous distance combined with the greed to pass through first, one person launched himself forward.
When he had crossed about halfway—
Shhhk! Thunk!
Contrary to the first dead man, his head was pierced through by a sword blade that fell from the ceiling, killing him.
At the same time, another person was already cutting through the air.
‘The chance is the very instant the mechanism activates!’
Before the previous man’s body had even fallen to the floor, he was passing through that space.
Shhk! Clang!
He struck away the hidden weapon that fell toward his head.
‘I did it!’
The moment he once again kicked off the air with force and was about to rush toward the door—
Shhhhk!
A sword blade flew in again with light-like speed and pierced through his heart. It was an attack that had come diagonally from the ceiling at an oblique angle; the angle was difficult to parry, but more than that, its speed was far too fast.
Clank!
The floor opened, and just as the corpse fell through—
Another expert rushed toward that place.
The moment the corpse is disposed of is the opportunity!
Contrary to his hopes, reality was this:
Disposing of the corpse was the trap.
The three corpses vanished underground in an instant.
A brief silence followed.
Their greed had been excessive, but that did not mean their skills had been lacking.
Then someone roared,
“Let’s just smash everything and go in!”
At that, the iron-masked man spoke firmly.
“That will not do. It was written on the treasure map. If we try to force our way in by destroying the mechanisms, this place will collapse and be submerged.”
More terrifying than death was the fact that they might not be able to obtain the treasures here.
“Now do you understand why I brought you all in?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at Taesu. Previously, he had been confident. He had said that he knew not only the location of the Sword Tomb, but that only he would be able to break through its mechanisms.
But Taesu whispered with a flustered expression.
“The description of the mechanisms written on the treasure map is completely different.”
Geom Mugeuk was not surprised in the slightest. There was no way they would have obediently revealed the mechanisms of this place in advance while scattering multiple treasure maps.
The iron-masked man asked everyone,
“Is there anyone who knows how we should pass through this place?”
When no one answered, the iron-masked man pointed to Geom Mugeuk.
“Young hero with the baggage over there.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Geom Mugeuk.
“Might you have a method?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Because of that baggage. The fact that you swam all the way in here carrying such a large burden means you must have skill to match, does it not? If you possess such skill at a young age, you must have a clever mind as well. A problem like this is something a young, clever person should be able to solve.”
Geom Mugeuk could feel it. The man knew his identity. He was testing him.
‘Is it you?’
But for someone behind all this, he had appeared before him far too openly.
Geom Mugeuk slowly walked forward and looked around at those standing there. As people died, only the true experts and the cautious were being left behind. The one behind this might be among them.
“Have none of you found a single strange thing about this place?”
At that, the people looked around. Soon, eyes that had failed to find an answer turned back toward Geom Mugeuk. The same was true of the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Ilhwa Sword Venerable.
What Geom Mugeuk had found was something no one had thought of.
“To me, the strangest things in this place were the swords.”
Everyone wore puzzled expressions. The iron-masked man spoke for all of them.
“Swords are strange in a tomb of swords?”
Rather, everyone looked at Geom Mugeuk as though he were the strange one. After all, the swords stuck everywhere were the least strange thing in this place.
Geom Mugeuk asked them,
“Was this place a Sword Tomb from the very beginning?”
For a moment, everyone flinched.
“Is this not the place that was named the Sword Tomb because, decades ago, countless masters entered and died here? The name Sword Tomb was given after they died, so isn’t it strange for this gate to have been made up like a Sword Tomb?”
“!”
It meant that this gate had been created after the Sword Tomb came into being.
The possibility that this place was a trap had grown even greater, but no one said they would turn back.
Geom Mugeuk slowly looked around.
At length, his steps came to a halt before a stone statue into which several swords had been thrust.
It was the statue of a woman holding a pipa. The woman wore an expression that looked truly sorrowful.
Geom Mugeuk had come here once in the life before his regression. Back then, this statue had definitely not been here. If it had been, it was the sort of statue he would certainly have remembered.
“Was this woman a musician? Or was she a master of sound arts?”
Geom Mugeuk flicked the sword embedded in her abdomen with his finger.
Ting.
A clear metallic sound rang out.
This time, Geom Mugeuk flicked the sword embedded in her side.
Tiiing.
Next was the shoulder, then the thigh. Whether because the metal was different, or because the depths to which they were embedded differed, every sword in her body produced a different sound.
Then Taesu cautiously said to Geom Mugeuk,
“That sound just now was exactly the same as a pipa note.”
“The same as a pipa note?”
“Yes.”
“You know how to play instruments?”
“When I was young, I learned a little of this and that.”
His father had taught him to play, saying that to become a proper thief, one had to know about instruments as well.
Geom Mugeuk looked back at the stone statue.
“Could it be?”
After asking Taesu, Geom Mugeuk began with the sword that had produced the lowest note and drove them deep into the statue one by one. The sword that produced the highest note was the last to be embedded in her heart.
The moment all the swords had been driven into the statue—
Ruuumble.
The earth suddenly began to shake, and the floor started to move.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The swords embedded in the floor seemed to shuffle and mix here and there.
Then, as though inviting them to step across, sword hilts of the same color lined up in a row all the way to the door.
At the sight, Taesu shouted in delight.
“The mechanism has been broken!”
Everyone looked at Geom Mugeuk in shock. Some were impressed, while others were suspicious.
Once one knew the answer, it was a simple method, but without knowing it, it was also a method of breaking through that one could never discover even after spending a lifetime here.
The iron-masked man looked at Geom Mugeuk with eyes filled with many emotions.
“That was truly remarkable!”
“I was lucky. It just so happened that the person I brought with me had learned instruments.”
Of course, only the Blood Heaven Saber Demon and the Ilhwa Sword Venerable knew that it had been possible precisely because it was Geom Mugeuk. The two looked at each other, shook their heads, and then nodded as well.
Before leaving, Geom Mugeuk offered a final farewell to the statue.
“Your death has guided us onto a new path. Thank you.”
Everyone stepped on the sword hilts and passed through. Sure enough, there was no attack.
Having passed through the first gate, they opened the second door.
There were swords here as well.
But there was one difference from before. If the previous room had contained countless swords, this place held only a single blade.
In the center of the room sat a corpse reduced to white bones, and a single sword was resting against its body.