#057.
Until just recently, Sunri had been nothing more than a homeless man on the streets, but he had escaped his past and obtained a new life.
A single mark stamped clearly upon his forehead.
It was proof that he had achieved the evolution of a 1st stage trait even among Shaolin traits.
He did not know what the future held, but at least for now, he stood as the highest-ranking figure among the Shaolin Awakened.
That was why he had taken the position of abbot and was leading the Shaolin members under his command.
He had thought himself chosen.
Of course, it was not by his own strength, but by the will of another.
He had met that person, Shenren, blooming his trait faster than anyone and even obtaining the method of evolution.
Thanks to that, it had taken less than a month for him to go from a homeless man to the temporary abbot of Shaolin.
He had thought his life would be smooth sailing from now on, but.
“…Why?”
For the first time in a month, he voiced a question.
His voice was mixed with complex emotions—resentment, rage, fear, and despair.
“….”
But there was no answer.
The Shaolin Awakened who had filled his surroundings were gone.
It was not only Shaolin.
Wudang, Emei, Kunlun, Zhongnan, Kongtong, Diancang, Qingcheng, and the Beggars’ Sect—not a single one of the sects that formed the group called the Jianghu remained.
Of course not.
“Guh—”
“Guehh—”
Those who had been laughing and chatting only moments ago had turned into wicked specters and become enemies.
“Just why?”
How had it come to this?
He had been confident only moments ago.
He could not help it; the enemies numbered only five at most.
In contrast, their allies were a tremendous force of nearly five hundred.
So why?
How had they ended up in this state?
Why was he left alone to face these wicked specters?
“Did you come alone?”
Behind the bizarre sound of a throat being rasped, a voice rang out.
His gaze naturally turned toward the source.
A man waving his hand, completely ill-fitting to the current situation.
‘Him.’
The one Shenren had told me to eliminate.
One of the five who had entered and exited Tunnel No. 3.
“Oh my, why the shit-eating expression?”
“….”
“Ah! This was unexpected, huh? Well, I suppose so. You wouldn’t have thought you’d be annihilated even after bringing hundreds of Awakened.”
“….”
“But what can you do? It’s become reality, hasn’t it?”
“…What are you.”
“Hm?”
“What the hell are you.”
He was genuinely curious.
Just what was he, that he could not merely break through but utterly tear apart the Net of Heaven and Earth formed by hundreds of Awakened?
“Who else would I be? I’m the grim reaper who’ll guide you to the netherworld.”
That laughter dug deep into his heart.
“Uaaaaaah!”
From his hands, which let out a scream-like roar.
Rumble—!
A majestic energy gathered.
When he thrust his tightly clenched fist forward.
Kwaaaaah—
A giant fist materialized and flew.
『Hundred-Step Divine Fist (Baibu Shenquan)』
A Shaolin fist art that elevated the realm of fists by a stage.
An attack capable of annihilating distant enemies; it was said that when its realm reached the pinnacle, it could topple Mount Tai.
‘He actually toppled Mount Tai.’
Divine Monk (Shenseng).
The Hundred-Step Divine Fist he unleashed boasted enough power to actually topple Mount Tai.
But now, what Ttaengjung had displayed was only enough to break a boulder.
“Hap!”
The one who stepped forward in my place was Yeongung.
Had instinct moved him?
The guy reacted to the enemy’s fist technique and swung his fist.
Kwaang!
“Kehuk!”
He succeeded in pulverizing the approaching energy but was pushed back steadily.
Seeing him clutching his slightly bent wrist, it seemed he had not been able to fully deflect the power.
“Amateurish.”
Indeed, he was still amateurish.
Ah, of course, that was by my standards.
The fact that he had blocked the Hundred-Step Divine Fist despite not having an evolved trait also showed his potential as a Fist King.
“Hah!”
Watching the Hundred-Step Divine Fist that had used all his strength disappear futilely, Ttaengjung let out a sigh.
He must have felt it by now.
That no matter what desperate struggle he put up, he could not make it out of here alive.
That he would become an undead like his comrades who died moments ago and be unable to find eternal rest to the very end.
Thud!
He fell to his knees.
“P-please spare me.”
What he chose was not honor, but a miserable life.
“If you spare me, I will tell you everything. So please….”
“Tsk tsk.”
But at his surrender, I could not help but click my tongue.
“You’ve spat out words that shouldn’t be spoken. Can you handle the consequences?”
“…What do you—hup!”
He seemed to realize belatedly, but it was already too late.
Whooooosh—
A black hole formed above his head.
“That’s why you should have read the contract carefully.”
He had likely made a contract with Shenren; in other words, he had received his trait from him.
There was no way he could have evolved his trait in the current situation otherwise.
Most who contracted with him had to abide by the special clause of “prohibition of secret disclosure.”
Otherwise, the penalty for contract breach like now would appear.
“Uaaaaaah—”
Unable to overcome the black hole’s pull, he was sucked into it.
And.
Fwoooosh—
He vanished without a trace, as if he had never existed at all.
‘The trait that had been granted to another was reabsorbed into him.’
Feeling it anew, I wondered if there was such a fraudulent trait.
Not only being able to manifest multiple traits, but even granting them to chosen targets on top of that.
Just what kind of monster was Shenren?
‘To face a monster, one must become a monster.’
That was why there was no time to rest.
“Let’s go.”
I tore through the Net of Heaven and Earth that Black Moon had laid out.
What I had to do from now on was steal the treasures accumulated by the King of Greed, Qin Shi Huang, which I had put off for a while.
*
Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum.
To the west of the Terracotta Army pits, a pyramid-shaped hill.
Modeled after Xianyang, the former capital of the Qin dynasty, it was closer to a small city than a tomb.
The entrance to the tomb, divided into outer and inner walls.
After subduing the caretakers, I stealthily infiltrated the place and surveyed the surroundings.
Nothing.
Even when focusing my hearing as well as my sight, no significant signs of presence or movement were detected.
You think someone could fool my senses?
Of course, it was possible.
If someone could fool my senses after two full-body reinforcements and even while wearing a hearing aid, I’d let them fool me.
But at least, it did not seem like that would happen now.
“Alright, here’s a question.”
There were no enemies.
I posed a question to lighten the mood.
“Why do you think Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum still hasn’t been excavated?”
A long time had passed since its discovery, yet the mausoleum remained in its unexcavated state.
Why would the Chinese government leave untouched a place obviously filled with cultural relics and treasures?
“Uh….”
They seemed taken aback by the out-of-the-blue question, but—
“I heard they don’t have the technology to excavate it. There are a lot of empty spaces inside, so if they dig wrong, it might collapse.”
Having read it somewhere, Yeongung answered.
“Buzz.”
Of course, that was not the right answer.
“…I heard the buried mercury and luminescent bodies replicating the sky are radium, so there’s a risk of radiation exposure….”
Jeong Dohwan, who had been keeping silent, spoke.
Wow, and I thought this gentleman could not care less about worldly affairs.
“That’s a plausible theory, but that’s also incorrect.”
“Then?”
William, who had failed to infer a single thing, asked.
“Aren’t you all thinking too modernly? With the Great Cataclysm already underway, you should expand your thinking in a more special direction.”
The reason they could not reach the answer was their lingering modern way of thinking.
Excavation risks, hazardous materials—those were merely hypotheses one would come up with in the modern era.
“A barrier.”
“Huh…?”
“It’s because of a barrier. The reason China hasn’t laid a hand on Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum.”
All sorts of rumors circulating in the world were merely rumors.
The reason a great nation like China could not touch Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum was because of a transcendental force called a barrier.
“The Great World Annihilation Formation (Tianxia Damiezhen).”
An unprecedented great barrier enveloping the entire mausoleum.
A formation literally created to kill, which injected the killing intent of a million-strong grand army into all trespassers who entered without permission, bringing them to instant death.
The formation that had demonstrated formidable power even before the Great Cataclysm now boasted perfect power alongside it.
No one, including me, a regressor.
‘Even if it were Shenren himself.’
Without the key to open the formation, one could not recklessly intrude.
And now, I possessed the only key to surviving that formation.
A jade seal vividly carved with the image of a dragon ascending to heaven.
“….”
I held it and took a moment of contemplation.
‘I don’t know if this will work, but…’
If it worked, it could be an opportunity to land a decisive blow.
“Everyone….”
I spoke to the party standing behind me.
“…Get inside the backpack.”
“….”
There was no reaction for a moment.
“…Huh?”
“What… did you just say?”
“The backpack?”
“….”
Their reactions varied.
“I have my reasons, so hurry.”
I urged them to enter while keeping the backpack’s opening wide.
Of course, they wore reluctant expressions, not entering easily.
But.
“Go in.”
Jeong Dohwan, our master who remained composed in any situation, slipped right into the backpack.
Jeong Dohwan vanished like magic.
This backpack, reinforced to 2-Star and specialized particularly in spatial expansion, was spacious enough to accommodate around five humans along with all sorts of miscellaneous items.
“Then….”
After Jeong Dohwan, Yeil, William, and even Yeongung.
“Hup!”
Heavy.
By rough estimate, it weighed over 500 kg, so of course it was heavy.
But it was fine.
Thanks to two full-body reinforcements, my strength had reached a level unimaginable for a human.
Ah, of course, my stamina as well.
Anyway, with this, preparations were complete.
All that remained was.
Swish.
Taking the jade seal to the entrance.
Snap!
Blue sparks flew.
For an instant, he wondered if he was seeing things, but.
Crackle crackle!
As if to prove it was not an illusion, bright sparks began flying around.
It was a repulsion phenomenon caused by colliding with the barrier installed at the entrance.
But the jade seal was the only key to passing through the Great World Annihilation Formation.
No, rather than a key, it could be called a “token” to be delivered to someone.
Swish—
Space distorted as if passing through a membrane, and a hand sprang out from the other side.
The moment it grasped the jade seal, I released the strength in my grip.
Slip.
The hand holding the jade seal vanished.
How much time had passed like that?
Gggrrrng—
Along with the sound of mechanisms moving.
Swish—
The energy of the Great World Annihilation Formation that had been spread around Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum temporarily disappeared.
「At last, the jade seal returns to the imperial palace.」
Thud.
When the barrier at the entrance vanished, a handsome man dressed in scholar’s robes appeared.
He possessed a somewhat sharp, piercing gaze.
‘Lord Changping.’
The supreme commander of the Qin army.
Depending on how one looked at it, he could be called the superior of Meng Wu and Wang Jian, but in the end, he was a figure who returned to the state of Chu and opposed Qin.
He died born of Chu, not Qin, at the end, but could not escape Qin Shi Huang’s greed, and due to that curse, he lived an unwanted eternal life.
「Thy merit is not insignificant.」
His eyes, which lightly cupped his hands in a salute to convey thanks,
Swish.
Piercing eyes imbued with insight examined my insides and surroundings.
「The one invited by His Majesty is only you, noble sir.」
Only one who possessed the jade seal could enter the immortal imperial palace.
「Sir. This Lord Changping shall personally guide thee…」
‘Great!’
It worked!
Even Lord Changping’s insight could not examine those separated inside the backpack, in a different space.
The ploy I had prepared just in case had paid off perfectly.
「…Follow me carefully.」
Unable to look inside the backpack, he turned around and began walking.
I could not let my intentions show.
I followed him calmly, pretending nothing was wrong.
In order to meet the great king who unified China, Qin Shi Huang.