◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 507: Into the Darkness (2)
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Moyong Gang, Moyong Seol’s grandfather and a respected master of the martial world, had once told them this.
“Even in a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.”
It was something they had heard often, so when Moyong Seol and Moyong Jaehwa nodded without a second thought, a wooden stick came flying at them.
“Ow.”
“…”
“What do you know that makes you nod along?”
Moyong Jaehwa grumbled at the question from his grandfather, a man revered for his extraordinary martial skill.
“Doesn’t it mean that if you keep your wits about you, a tiger won’t eat you?”
Smack!
With another movement worthy of all the praise people lavished on him, Moyong Gang added a fresh bump to Jaehwa’s head.
“Argh! Seriously!”
Moyong Gang grinned as Jaehwa snapped at him.
Watching the scene, Moyong Seol understood perfectly why her grandfather was respected solely for his martial skill and ability, not his character.
“Seol, you answer.”
Before long, that foul temper turned in her direction.
“Cat got your tongue?”
Even his one precious granddaughter was no exception.
“…”
Seeing her younger brother eagerly anticipating another bump on his sister’s head, she desperately wanted to avoid her grandfather’s stick.
“…Aren’t you saying that one’s state of mind matters more?”
She was not entirely sure, but her troublesome grandfather’s questions had always caught people off guard.
Perhaps he meant they should think beyond the tiger, the most obvious concern in a tiger’s den.
Moyong Gang nodded with interest.
“Hmm… That’s not entirely wrong.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean, Grandfather? I said keeping your wits about you was important too.”
Moyong Gang’s stick moved with uncanny precision.
Moyong Jaehwa dodged first, but the stick struck his head as if it had been pulled there.
“You little brat, how are those the same thing?”
“Wow…”
Moyong Gang spoke with a deliberately serious expression.
“When people face a crisis, their unstable minds can put them in greater danger than the crisis itself.”
Even Jaehwa, who had been pouting at that profound insight, turned serious.
It was a fragment of enlightenment from an absolute master of the martial world.
Even Jaehwa understood how valuable that was.
“An anxious mind prevents you from seeing your surroundings clearly and, in the end, leads you to make the wrong choice.”
Without warning, Moyong Gang’s stick came down toward Moyong Seol’s head.
Caught off guard, she squeezed her eyes shut.
“When you become consumed by the situation and swallowed by fear, you stop making rational choices and choose only what is easy and comfortable.”
When the pain she expected did not come, she opened her eyes.
“…!”
The stick had stopped right in front of her face.
“And easy, comfortable choices always lead to an unhappy future.”
Moyong Gang drew the stick behind his back, then added with a satisfied smile.
“Do not let an unstable mind push you into greater danger.”
After hearing all that, Jaehwa had grumbled, “So it was all the same thing in the end…” and earned another bump on his head.
‘…Grandfather.’
That memory was still vivid.
It was a firm, unshakable lesson, something fundamental that could not be exchanged for anything else.
Moyong Seol repeated her grandfather’s advice to herself again and again, yet her anxiety would not fade.
No, the more rationally she tried to assess the situation, the stronger that anxiety became.
‘This is not a situation where that is easy.’
They had set out to find the Sword Venerable’s remains, only to unexpectedly obtain the Black King’s inheritance, [Twelve Tyrant King Hands].
At first, she had not thought it would be a serious problem.
Other than the Moyong Clan members, no one had seen them discover the inheritance.
But then…
“Are you the Moyong Clan investigation party?”
“I heard you obtained the Black King’s martial manual. Hand it over.”
For some reason, the first Black Path martial artists they encountered already knew that she had obtained the Black King’s martial manual.
“You’re not thinking of lying and saying you don’t have it, are you?”
“Shut up! Why should we hand it over to the likes of you?”
They could not allow the Black King’s martial manual to fall into the hands of the Black Path, so the Moyong Clan had no choice but to fight.
The first battle ended in the Moyong Clan’s overwhelming victory.
“Wait, why are you trying to kill them?”
The Moyong Clan martial artists had been about to finish off the Black Path martial artists who could no longer fight.
“My lady, they are witnesses. If they live, more pursuers will come after us.”
“But…!”
“Leave this to me.”
Unable to stop the Group Leader, who was acting more ruthlessly than usual, she could only watch as the Black Path martial artists were slaughtered.
“There, it’s the Moyong Clan!”
“They have the Black King’s martial manual!”
They had dealt with every witness from the first battle, even making certain the fallen were dead.
Yet for some reason, every person they encountered within the Sword Tomb knew the Moyong Clan possessed the Black King’s martial manual.
Three clan martial artists died in the second battle.
Eight more died in the third.
“This won’t do. We need to leave the Sword Tomb for now. It would be better to go out and come back in.”
They searched for a way out, but they could not find the path they had used to enter.
Although they had a map, they passed through small, unmarked caves and completely lost their sense of direction.
Then, at that moment…
“My lady… Look at this.”
“…!”
A wooden box brought by one of the clan martial artists.
Moyong Seol’s hands trembled as she opened it.
Tyrant King Divine Fist
Another inheritance of the Black King had fallen into the Moyong Clan’s hands.
From then on, the battles never ended.
Like swarms of bees drawn to the scent of flowers, people kept gathering around the Moyong Clan without end.
“Kill them! We have to take it from them!”
“Attack!”
With every battle, the number of Moyong Clan members, who had prided themselves on being the finest of the elite, continued to dwindle.
‘Grandfather, what should I do…?’
No matter how rationally she considered it, the current situation was unnatural.
This unending anxiety could not be dismissed through resolve alone.
They had yet to find a way out of the Sword Tomb, the fighting continued, and everyone was exhausted.
She had to make a decision.
“…”
After much deliberation, Moyong Seol made her choice.
“Let’s give up the martial manuals.”
“My lady!”
“That makes no sense…!”
“There is no other way. I said this from the beginning, but the people of the clan matter more to me than the manuals.”
Besides, even if she gave them up, she had already taken time to memorize them. It would not cause much trouble for the investigation.
Just after she made that important decision, she sensed people approaching from far away.
The clan martial artists, who had only just begun to rest, sprang to their feet.
“…Are you members of the Moyong Clan?”
Those who appeared were exceedingly cautious.
“Who are you?”
“I am Jang Unhyeon, leader of the Yuhyang Sect investigation unit.”
“!”
At last, they had encountered people from a White Path sect.
Yuhyang Sect held the fiftieth peak among the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
It was also a sect that had some ties with the Moyong Clan.
“So it is Group Leader Jang. I am Moyong Seol.”
“Huh? You truly are Lady Moyong?”
The Yuhyang Sect members hurried over.
“W-what in the world happened here?”
Shock filled their faces when they saw the Moyong Clan’s condition.
Moyong Seol and the clan martial artists could only smile bitterly.
“We have had a difficult time.”
“Even so… F-first, let us treat your injuries.”
Unlike the Moyong Clan, which had been battered by repeated battles over the past few days, the Yuhyang Sect seemed to have done nothing but explore. They had abundant supplies and medicine.
Thanks to them, the Moyong Clan was able to tend to their long-neglected injuries and eat properly.
“You should rest tonight. We will stand watch.”
“But…”
“Of course, you cannot trust us.”
“It is not that, but…”
“If anyone approaches, I will have them wake you immediately.”
Thanks to the Yuhyang Sect’s consideration, Moyong Seol was able to rest peacefully for the first time in a long while.
Twitch.
How long had she slept? Though her eyelids still felt impossibly heavy with fatigue, a strange sensation forced her eyes open.
Then she saw it.
“!!!”
“Oh dear. It would have been better if you had simply stayed asleep.”
The sword in Jang Unhyeon’s hand…
Slaash!
Wrapped in blue sword qi, it was coming down toward her.
#
The inside of the Sword Tomb was not a place that suited the word cave.
“It really is far too large.”
To be more precise, it felt like an underground city.
“A cave of this scale… The harmony of all creation is truly astounding.”
The terrain, carved and shaped over tens of thousands of years, was large enough to contain an entire village.
It instantly answered the question of why so many people had died in that cramped cave when it had been known as the Heavenly Demon Tomb in my previous life.
“Benefactor Jin, do you not agree?”
At the same time, I became certain of something.
‘It definitely was not made as someone’s tomb.’
Its scale was beyond anything human hands could have created.
It was far from the Central Plains and hidden within the treacherous Great Snow Mountain.
The Demonic Cult had no choice but to choose this place as their stage.
After finding the Moyong Clan corpses, we temporarily stopped our pursuit.
We had no clues that could lead us to the Moyong Clan.
We tried asking people passing through the caves, but for some reason, we had not encountered anyone since then.
“But can we really find the Sword Venerable’s inheritance in a cave this big?”
At Nam Hwaseong’s words, Yayul Geuk, Geumpyo, and Ilgak all looked at me.
“We can look for it while we’re at it.”
“Oh? So whoever finds it gets it?”
For some reason, Nam Hwaseong, Yayul Geuk, and Geumpyo’s eyes began to shine.
I did not think it would be so easy to find.
The Demonic Cult bastards had probably hidden the inheritance themselves, and they had surely already decided who would inherit it.
“We’re heading to the deepest part first.”
One of our original tasks was to rescue the people inside and lead them out. We could not accomplish that if we kept moving back and forth through the middle of the caves.
We began running toward the deepest cave marked on the treasure map.
“Wait!”
Before we had gone far, we had to stop.
Dang Seohui and Ilgak looked at me and nodded.
“W-what is it? Why are you suddenly nodding?”
Nam Hwaseong sensed nothing and only kept asking questions.
“Draw your weapon.”
“Huh?”
“Draw your weapon.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Geumpyo and I moved to the front and prepared the White Tiger Sword Formation.
“Over there…”
I pointed toward the far end of the cave.
As Dang Seohui, Ilgak, and I moved, the others quickly followed.
“W-what is it? Tell me what’s going on.”
“A battle.”
“Huh?”
“Keep your wits about you. Do not leave the sword formation under any circumstances.”
A moment later, ominous tremors began echoing through the entire cave.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
Stone dust fell from the ceiling as screams and shouts carried by a harsh wind began to echo.
“Aaaaaah!”
“Graaah!”
Soon, hundreds of people came pouring in.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In an instant, dozens of people fell, bleeding.
“Urgh!”
“Aaagh!”
People began fighting, trampling over the fallen without hesitation.
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