Chapter 314: The Secret Vault of the Listening Dragon (4)
*Squelch.*
It was a dark path, devoid of even a single light.
The only sound to be heard was the wet squelching of footsteps on the damp ground.
I lit a flame at my fingertips, but the fire pathetically failed to illuminate what lay ahead.
Perhaps something special was blocking the light.
“What the hell is this?”
“Can’t see anything either?”
It seemed Jamryong couldn’t see a thing either.
How long had we been walking?
Was this even the right path to the secret vault?
Though I kept walking, the irritation rising inside me was unavoidable.
*Why do all the secret vaults and prohibitions I run into end up like this?*
The secret vault of Geumcheon Yeonga had been the same as well.
Every single one of them was strange.
Since there had been a strange formation at Sinryong Hall, I had broken through to enter.
It was a situation where it was difficult to be certain this was simply a secret vault.
“We haven’t asked yet, but what are we looking for?” Jamryong asked me belatedly. He sure asks early.
“What do you mean, ‘we’? I’m the one looking for something.”
“Isn’t drawing the line now a little too much?”
Jamryong spoke with a chuckle.
How I knew about this place. Why I was going. What my goal was.
He asked none of those things. He had always been like that.
If something piqued his interest, he was the type to just do it first.
Otherwise, he mostly looked half-dead on a normal day.
Sleepy.
Lazy. Something like that.
*The problem is that interesting things are distinctly few and far between.*
How else would he be called Jamryong?
Honestly, I was more used to how he was acting now than that.
*Splash.*
‘Ugh.’
O •
The more I walked, the more water seemed to pool on the floor.
What is this?
‘Is it water?’
I bent down and touched the liquid, and it seemed to be water.
Colorless and odorless.
I had no intention of tasting it, so I simply decided to think of it as such.
I was only faintly curious as to why water was flowing, and where it was flowing from.
In the midst of walking like that for a while.
“Hmm.”
“I see the end.”
At the end of the long passage.
A faint light was visible.
It seemed that was the end, after all.
Thank goodness. It didn’t seem to be that deep underground.
I moved my steps while surveying my surroundings.
How far down had I come?
I couldn’t gauge it exactly, but it was at least longer than expected.
‘Spatial distortion?’
There was a high possibility it was due to the influence of a formation.
Even when descending to Geumcheon Yeonga’s secret vault back then.
The path leading underground had felt strangely long.
That must have been the same phenomenon.
‘…To think a formation could even do such a thing.’
It was a question back then as well.
Just who could unfold such a formation, and who had laid it out?
‘Leaving that aside. What do I do with him?’
I was worried about Jamryong, who was following behind.
If this path really led to the secret vault.
Would it be all right to take Jamryong there?
That seemed a bit problematic.
Or not.
If I went in and gave him something to hold onto.
Could I just buy his silence?
Thinking about it, I ended up shaking my head.
‘Why would I give him anything?’
If I found it, it’s mine. Why would I share it?
‘Yeah, it’d be better to knock him out and go.’
!
..
If he looked like he was going to say something about it later.
I might as well place a prohibition on him.
‘So much for being a good friend.’
It’s not something you say at a time like this, but.
He’ll probably let it slide.
‘Come to think of it…’
That bastard used to let things slide like this in my past life too.
—You son of a bitch…! I told you not to place a prohibition on me!
—If it bothers you, undo it and come out.
Whenever I was about to go somewhere dangerous.
He would tie me down so I couldn’t move.
I understood his intent, but I was quite pissed since it was forced on me.
Moreover, the prohibition I used was something Jamryong had created.
It only came to be much later than now.
‘Even if I place a prohibition, he’ll figure out how to undo it later anyway.’
Even if it was a modified version, he was the one who made it.
Jamryong would eventually undo the prohibition.
Still. He’d probably be wandering around for a while.
‘Then as expected, I should knock him out first…’
Thinking if there was even an opening to exploit, I turned around.
*Thud.*
“Huh?”
*Thud, thud!*
Jamryong was standing behind me, punching at the air.
There was even sound coming from it.
“What are you doing?”
At my question in this strange situation.
[Ah, this is screwed.]
Jamryong smirked and spat out a hollow remark.
Seeing that, I widened my eyes slightly.
Because I had roughly grasped what the situation was.
‘A secondary formation?’
Had they layered another formation inside the formation?
‘If that’s the case.’
How did I get through just now?
It must have been set up so that only one person could pass.
Or some kind of special mechanism was in place.
There was no way I could have known about that.
‘…I’m completely hopeless when it comes to formations.’
In the end, I had to ask Jamryong up ahead.
[Can’t you break through? Try breaking it like before.]
Since sound also seemed to be blocked, I had to read his lips.
Voice transmission naturally didn’t work.
At my words, Jamryong put on an incredulous expression.
[You think it’s that easy?]
[It looked easy watching you do it.]
[Then you try it.]
[If I knew how to do that, would I have brought you here?]
[…]
Ha.
Though I couldn’t hear the sound, I could tell Jamryong was laughing hollowly.
*Tap, tap.*
I struck the wall blocking Jamryong with my hand.
It didn’t look particularly thin.
Then…
[Step back a bit.]
[Hm?]
After spitting out those words.
*Hup—!*
[Guh!]
I clenched my fist.
At that, Jamryong started in surprise and backed away.
He seemed to have caught on to what I was trying to do.
I immediately used the recoil of my waist to hurl my fist at the wall.
*Kwaaang—!*
The moment my fist touched the wall, violent sounds echoed around me and vibrations spread.
*Thud, thud…*
Judging by the dust falling in the passage, the shock seemed to have gone through.
[It won’t break.]
The wall was unchanged.
At this level, it was clear it couldn’t be broken by force.
[Are you crazy? You’d hit this?]
Seeing my actions, Jamryong displayed a rare, strong reaction.
Why’s he like that?
[I had to try hitting it to see if it would break.]
[…If you knew even a little about formations, you wouldn’t use such a crazy method. And if it’s a formation of this level, you should be even more careful.]
[I told you before, if I knew, I wouldn’t have brought you.]
*Tap, tap.*
I tapped the wall with my hand again, but it didn’t have a single crack.
‘Too bad.’
The reason I punched it was simple.
I hadn’t actually planned to break it and take Jamryong with me.
‘If it won’t break to this degree, he probably can’t break it either.’
I had checked whether Jamryong could break through this wall or not.
If it could be broken at this level, Jamryong would easily be able to cross over too.
[Can’t you solve this like before?]
Like the technique Jamryong had used before entering the formation.
I was asking if he couldn’t find a gap and dismantle it.
At my words, Jamryong shook his head.
[Can’t. I can’t hear anything. This is a different formation from before.]
I wondered what kind of madman solved formations by listening to them, but since Jamryong was actually doing that, I had nothing to say.
[…So you’re saying you can’t solve it.]
He nodded.
Then it seemed fine to just leave him here and go.
Whether Jamryong had realized that or not.
He suddenly plopped down onto the floor.
Wasn’t there water pooling on the floor…?
[What are you doing?]
[Rather than getting knocked out, this is better, right? I’ll wait here.]
I was quite surprised to see Jamryong speak like that.
That bastard… He noticed I was going to knock him out and go.
He sure is quick on the uptake.
From my standpoint, since he said he’d wait on his own, it was rather fortunate.
[Can’t you wait outside?]
I brought up that he could just wait outside, but.
Jamryong glanced toward the entrance we had come in from and then spoke to me again.
[Can’t get out.]
[What?]
[It’s blocked right now.]
At Jamryong’s words, I tilted my head.
The entrance was blocked? As I was flustered, Jamryong added an explanation.
[Something has to be solved from the inside for it to open. Most formations like this work that way.]
Though I heard Jamryong’s explanation.
I had a feeling that something was spinning strangely.
‘How much time is left?’
This was a situation where Geomhu was currently holding off the Qinghai Sword.
I was already pressed for time, and now I had to do something else inside.
The situation was turning into an absolute mess.
‘…Right, when have I ever had good luck?’
How many times had things gotten twisted and ruined every time I did something?
Since I had to try something first, I decided to leave Jamryong behind and head toward the exit.
I was worried about Jamryong left alone, but if he couldn’t go forward or back, there was nothing I could do.
I had to go in first and think.
Since they said the method was only there.
*Splash.*
The sound of water was still there.
It grew deeper as I approached the door.
Should I say the water level was rising?
‘It seems to have come up to my thighs.’ The water that had been at my ankles at first.
Now had risen to my thighs.
I needed to know what this liquid was.
As far as I knew, there were no lakes around Sinryong Hall.
Could it be groundwater?
Holding such thoughts.
I approached the entrance.
‘The inside is…’ The environment beyond the entrance was hard to see.
Was this also due to a formation’s influence?
For now, I stretched out my hand.
*Mmm.*
The moment my fingertips touched, a ripple spread as if waves were reaching.
Without any obstructing sensation.
My hand naturally passed over to the other side of the entrance.
It seemed there wasn’t another formation like the one blocking Jamryong behind me.
If there was something strange.
‘It’s like entering water.’
The sensation of crossing the entrance.
Because it was similar to the feeling of entering water, it felt somewhat uncomfortable.
*Whooom.*
I squeezed my body through the entrance.
Fortunately, I could escape that uncomfortable feeling.
*Fwoosh.*
Upon entering inside through the entrance.
I had to squint my eyes at the light suddenly pouring down.
A span of no more than a few seconds by the clock.
I forced my briefly squinted eyes to adapt to the light.
I made myself open my eyes, even by force.
“…!”
The environment inside the formation that I saw upon opening my eyes.
Was at a level that made me gasp involuntarily.
‘What is this?’
Roots.
Parts that could be called tree roots were covering the room.
Unlike the passage I had come through, it wasn’t dark.
Because of that, everything was visible, which made it feel alien.
‘…There are no torches.’
There was nothing that could light up the room.
What was the reason it was so bright in this underground place?
Moreover.
‘Water…?’
The small amount of water filling the floor.
Could not pass the entrance I had come through.
Something.
Something was strange.
‘This.’
Feeling an alien sensation I couldn’t pinpoint, I used my foot to flick the water on the floor into the air.
Then.
For a moment, the water droplets seemed to splash.
Then stopped still in mid-air.
‘No way, this…’
It was a sensation I had felt before.
Somewhere, in Hannam like this place, though at Shaolin which was somewhat far to be called the same place.
When I had met the comrade of Sin Noya.
The heroes of the past.
Huang A Foying and Tie Ying—this was the sensation I had felt then.
An alien sensation as if time had stopped.
The feeling I felt then was the same as now.
If so.
‘Does this mean this space too… is related to their work?’
I couldn’t be certain.
But since such experiences weren’t common, a prediction was possible.
The range of this distortion was.
Probably about this room, past the entrance.
‘What is the room’s state?’
Unlike the water in the passage that had reached my thighs.
The water was only enough to slightly wet my feet.
Between the tree roots covering the room.
An unknown cloth was covering various objects.
This was surely.
‘It seems to be the secret vault.’
If it looked like this and wasn’t the secret vault, what else could it be?
Moreover, they called that a secret vault too at Geumcheon Yeonga, even though there was nothing there but one huge snake.
Furthermore, judging by the cloth’s state.
It was clean, giving the feeling that not much time had passed.
Was it thanks to the current formation making it seem like time had stopped?
‘Good.’
It wasn’t bad.
In other words, this meant the stored items could be in quite good condition.
Swallowing my saliva for a moment.
I approached the piled-up items.
I couldn’t take them all, so I had to take what I needed.
‘What I need.’
As for what I needed.
It would likely be mostly medicinal pills, but.
Since I didn’t know what was there, I had to look and search.
‘…If the flow has stopped, might there be some time to spare?’
I could think so, but.
Since I didn’t know the situation outside for certain, it wasn’t time to dawdle.
‘Was it like this back then too?’
When the Heavenly Demon discovered this place in my past life.
It didn’t seem to have this feeling.
After I found this place.
And by the time the Heavenly Demon discovered it later.
What had happened?
Even I didn’t know that.
‘I need to find what Geomhu requested too.’
What did she say?
Did she say Maehwaseok?
I hadn’t properly heard the appearance either, so I wasn’t certain, but.
She said it was a treasure of Mount Hua.
I didn’t know why Geomhu thought such a thing would be here.
Then was Geomhu’s goal.
To retrieve the treasure of Mount Hua that might be buried here?
‘Thinking that way, it has its own plausibility.’
But it was also quite a vague thing to say definitively.
It just didn’t seem like something someone like Geomhu would go this far for.
‘A treasure is just a treasure.’
They say it is like a symbol.
But in the end, it’s just an object.
‘Though if you think of something like the No’a, it’s not entirely so…’
While there are treasures that actually help martial artists.
There are also many items that do not.
Those were usually called symbolic treasures.
The treasure I had taken to Mount Hua.
Or the treasure stored in the family was usually like that.
‘It’s not really something for me to say since I came here to loot treasures.’
I felt uncomfortable, as if I had become a grave robber.
Or rather, was I not like one, but actually one?
‘There’s no owner. It’s mine now.’
I just decided to think that way.
Rather than having the Heavenly Demon discover it later and snatch it away.
It would be much better for me to take it.
‘First, I should check what’s here.’
To search starting from the closest part, I reached out my hand.
I had to remove the cloth first to know anything.
Just as I tried to grab the cloth covering the items.
— Stop.
*Thud.*
From behind my back.
A voice was heard.
A thick yet deeply low voice.
I immediately raised my guard and turned around.
Because the voice had come from behind.
There, without my knowing, a person was standing.
No.
‘…Should I call this a person?’
It would be more accurate to say it was a human form.
Because the figure before my eyes was somehow translucent, making it difficult to call it a complete human.
‘…What is this now. A ghost?’
While I was involuntarily frightened and my body trembled slightly.
The unknown existence in front opened its mouth, looking at me.
— You… what are you?
He appeared to be a little past the age of twenty.
His hair was golden blonde that seemed to float upward.
Seeing his firmly built physique, he looked like a martial artist of the same combat style as me.
This meant at least.
That he was no ordinary person.
Even such a blonde man.
Was making a puzzled expression while looking at me.
Are you asking who I am?
“…That’s what I want to ask?”
It’s more what I want to ask.
What is his identity?
Just when I wondered if he was an enemy and thought I should take a combat stance.
The man opened his mouth again, looking at me.
— You are….
After looking me up and down briefly.
He spoke to me with somewhat cold eyes.
— You’re not Shincheol.
It was a familiar name.