The Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern (1)
Of course, it was unreasonable to expect that Mu-jin’s single remark would instantly clear the children’s minds or lift their spirits.
However, they gradually began to recover from the initial shock.
“So, what will we do with them?” Mu-gung asked, pointing at the Taeeulmun warriors sprawled on the ground.
“You saw it, right? They even killed their own during the fight. These people were just being used, so we should leave them alone.”
Mu-jin and the others, being from sects dedicated to non-lethal force, had only subdued their opponents in the final battle. Not a single person had been killed.
“Are we going back now?”
Mu-yul attempted his usual bright smile, but it looked awkward. Mu-jin forced a cheerful tone in response.
“No. We need to check this place out.”
“I told you, this is a trap meant to annihilate the martial artists of Sichuan. So, we need to clear the trap before we leave, don’t we?”
Not to mention, there were treasures to be looted there. Of course, Mu-jin kept that part to himself.
“Mu-jin, what’s with that scroll?”
Mu-gyeong asked, noticing the scroll Mu-jin was holding along with the map. Mu-jin shrugged nonchalantly.
“It might be useful later.”
Saying this, Mu-jin tucked the scroll, found while searching the Taeeulmun leader’s room, into his sleeve.
For precaution, Mu-jin kept only one map and burned the rest.
The group concealed themselves in the dark night and moved toward the location indicated on the map.
The map pointed to a specific place on a large mountain relatively close to Jayangshi.
In truth, Mu-jin only knew that the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern existed in that mountain. He wasn’t aware of the exact location indicated on the map.
According to history, the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern incident was supposed to occur a year or two later. At that time, Do-wolcheon was deep in secluded training in the mountains.
Thus, Do-wolcheon didn’t directly experience the incident. He discovered the background of the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern incident while tracking down the forces that annihilated his family.
So, Mu-jin intended to search the entire mountain with the children, as he had done when looking for the miraculous elixir.
Though things had taken an unexpected turn, leading them here in this manner.
Traveling nearly a hundred miles using their light-foot technique, Mu-jin’s group moved toward the indicated location on the map.
At that moment, in a certain pavilion located in Chengdu, Sichuan.
As a figure in night attire appeared in the darkness, a middle-aged man lying on a bed opened his eyes.
“Taeeulmun has fallen.”
At the woman’s report, the middle-aged man sat up, frowning.
“Taeeulmun has fallen? What do you mean by that?”
“Exactly as I said. A force attacked Taeeulmun at night, and Il-ho along with the warriors there were all killed.”
“Are you saying Taeeulmun was completely annihilated?”
“Only those affiliated with us lost their lives. The other warriors were mostly just knocked out. Additionally, we confirmed signs of maps being burned.”
The middle-aged man furrowed his brow deeply upon hearing the woman’s report.
The woman awaited further instructions without saying another word.
“Immediately distribute the prepared maps and order the major sects infiltrated in Sichuan to initiate the grand plan.” Latest content published on novel·fiɾe·net
Despite the potential for questions, the woman followed the instructions without hesitation.
After she silently departed, the middle-aged man lay back on his bed, organizing his thoughts.
“Someone has found our trail, it seems.”
But it wouldn’t yield significant results.
Their organization was not that sloppy. Even if the maps in Taeeulmun were burned, they had prepared backups.
Although the execution of the plan had been brought forward, it wasn’t a major issue.
The conflicts among the orthodox sects in Sichuan had already reached a peak.
The alliance of the five great families, led by the Jegal Family, was facing delays in concrete negotiations, but it had prompted the Emei Sect and Qingcheng Sect to overtly check the Sichuan Dang family.
Moreover, rumors about the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern had already attracted numerous martial artists to Jayangshi, creating a volatile atmosphere ready to explode at any moment.
When the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern revealed itself, a tremendous storm would follow.
Of course, the unknown assailants who attacked Taeeulmun might clear out the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern first.
“Unless they’re supreme experts capable of using Ho-shin Gang-gi freely, it won’t be that easy to break through.”
The cavern was laden with numerous traps, meticulously prepared over a long period.
At dawn, Mu-jin and his group arrived at the mountain entrance and began searching for the location marked on the map.
And when the reddish sky turned a clear blue.
They reached the place indicated on the map.
Mu-jin was about to move toward the entrance of the Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern when his companions hurriedly stopped him.
“Mu-jin Doin, didn’t you say this place is a trap targeting the martial artists of Sichuan? It might be dangerous to enter recklessly.”
“Right. What if there are all sorts of terrifying traps like in those martial arts tales?”
Mu-jin nodded at their words.
Since Do-wolcheon hadn’t visited the cavern himself, Mu-jin didn’t know exactly how many traps lay within.
“Well, they probably can’t mix traps with Gang-gi.”
Mu-jin pushed the children aside and stepped into the cavern first.
Taking a deep breath, he channeled his internal energy to its peak, enveloping his body in a golden aura.
With that, Mu-jin launched himself into the trap-filled Divine Thief’s Hidden Cavern.
He activated the Fast Ascent Step, charging into the cavern filled with traps.
Somewhere, amidst a loud noise, arrows or shurikens flew, and blades rained down from the ceiling aiming to skewer Mu-jin’s body.
The countless traps could not penetrate Mu-jin’s Golden Turtle Technique and Jade Vajra Technique’s barrier.
Despite the sounds of the floor bursting and metal clashing, Mu-jin kept running forward, unconcerned by the metal clashing against his body.
“……Is this really how one breaks through traps?”
The party watched in disbelief as Mu-jin created chaos.
“Hahaha. As expected of Mu-jin! Boundless blessings!”
“Wow!! Mu-jin is fast!!”
“Ookki!! Ookkikki!!!”
No, only Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong had faces of disbelief.
“……Is it us who are strange?”
“It seems we lose by paying attention. Senior Brother Mu-gung.”
Simultaneously, Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong sighed and followed the path Mu-jin had cleared.
Meanwhile, at the forefront, Mu-jin, who was breaking through the traps with his body, stopped with a curse.
A fork in the road appeared. It branched into three paths.
‘Which way should I go?’
Without a map of the interior of the Divine Thief’s Den, Mu-jin also didn’t know which way to go.
‘Should I check all of them?’
While Mu-jin was lost in thought, the party that was chasing after him arrived and saw the fork.
As everyone was pondering what to do.
Ling-ling, who was perched on Mu-yul’s head, barked while pointing to the left path.
“Ling-ling thinks it’s the left path!”
With Mu-yul’s additional remark, Mu-jin briefly pondered.
But the hesitation was short-lived.
Mu-jin immediately started walking towards the left path indicated by Ling-ling, prompting a startled Mu-gung to shout.
“Are you really going that way!?”
“Since we don’t know the way, we might as well try it.”
Leaving the speechless party behind, Mu-jin willingly entered the left fork.
A peculiar sound was heard, and Mu-jin vanished from sight.
The shocked party rushed to where Mu-jin had disappeared and discovered a trap hidden in the shadows of the cave.
A shallow cover on the ground had collapsed, causing Mu-jin to fall underground.
And below lay a heap of sharp blades.
However, Mu-jin, who had fallen among the blades, lightly clicked his tongue and used the Fast Ascent Step to leap upwards.
When Mu-jin emerged, he was unscathed.
By now, they began to wonder if the arrows and blades from the traps were actually dull.
“Since the Divine Thief was active more than a hundred years ago, maybe the traps have all deteriorated?”
“Hmm……. That might be the case.”
As Mu-gung and Mu-gyeong discussed.
Mu-jin, having emerged from the pit, charged forward again.
The party encountered dozens of traps and several more forks in the path.
Every time they reached a fork, they followed the direction pointed out by Ling-ling.
This time, with a loud explosion, a real Thunder Bomb went off.
The shock caused part of the cave wall to collapse, and rubble fell on top of Mu-jin, who was caught in the explosion.
Using his internal strength and physical power, Mu-jin pushed aside the pile of stones and stood up.
“They’ve really set this up in a nasty way.”
Covered in dust from the Thunder Bomb and the rubble, Mu-jin spat out a dusty saliva.
This trap was quite powerful, causing his Golden Turtle Technique to crack and his clothes to become tattered.
Thanks to the significant reduction in damage by the Golden Turtle Technique, there were no fatal injuries, but even his skin, toughened by the Jade Vajra Technique, had some minor scratches.
“Let’s switch for a bit. I’m almost out of qi.”
With Mu-jin’s suggestion, the formation changed. Mu-gyeong and Cheongsu Dojang, who excelled in defense, took the front.
Since they had to break through traps while advancing, defense was crucial.
With the cheerful shouts of Mu-yul and Ling-ling, who had unexpectedly taken on the role of guides, Mu-gyeong and Cheongsu Dojang began to move forward step by step.
Shortly after they started moving, arrows, blades, and shurikens poured out from traps as expected.
Mu-gyeong and Cheongsu Dojang began to parry the arrows and projectiles with their swords and hands.
‘……These aren’t dull at all, are they?’
Realizing how sharp the projectiles he deflected were, Mu-gyeong swallowed dryly.
Even though it was an over hundred-year-old tomb, the items used in the traps were all perfectly sharpened.
‘I heard from the Master Abbot, but this really is sturdily made.’
Even the Anti-Demon Monk, known for his robustness and listed among the top hundred masters in the world, was astonished by Mu-jin’s toughness. Seeing the traps Mu-jin had broken through with his body firsthand, Mu-gyeong realized just how formidable Mu-jin’s resilience was.
“Hahaha. It’s good to block Mu-jin’s strikes, but this also seems like an excellent training method.”
In contrast, Cheongsu Dojang, who took the front with Mu-gyeong, was smiling brightly despite facing numerous traps.
True to his nature, he connected everything to his sword training.
Looking at Cheongsu Dojang as if he were crazy for a moment.
‘Hmm? If I do it that way, I can use my internal energy more efficiently.’
Mu-gyeong began to mimic Cheongsu Dojang’s sword technique.
Specifically, how he broke the traps.
Cheongsu Dojang used the essence of Taiji, letting some of the numerous projectiles collide with each other by deflecting them in certain ways.
Even Mu-gyeong couldn’t imitate the Taiji Sword Technique just by watching a few times, but he could adopt this method.
Of course, only someone like Mu-gyeong could do that.
Ironically, Cheongsu Dojang, instead of accusing Mu-gyeong of being a ‘martial arts thief’ for imitating him, was rather getting inspired for his own swordsmanship.
The two, like Mu-yul and Ling-ling, displayed excellent teamwork, cutting through the flood of projectiles.
It was beautiful to see them inspiring each other and rapidly developing their martial arts.
“……Indeed, geniuses.”
Mu-gung, merely a talented individual, clicked his tongue.