Chapter 764: Cry Louder
Chapter 764: Cry Louder
A massive space unfolded before his eyes.
Its overwhelming scale was incomparable to the illusory tomb he had encountered earlier within the formation. This was the final resting place where the Alliance Leaders of generations past came to sleep eternally.
Standing on the boundary between the living and the dead, Geom Mu-geuk called out to the silent hall.
"I am Geom Mu-geuk, the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Though our paths differ, I hold the utmost respect for the great lives you seniors led, protected by a single sword. In this current age, there are forces seeking to disturb the order of Sama Jeong and seize control of the Murim. I have come here to stop them, so please, forgive this junior’s unauthorized footsteps today."
After bowing politely to show his respect, Geom Mu-geuk stepped inside. Then, he added a remark that was quintessentially him.
"I truly like and respect the current Alliance Leader! And the next leader happens to be a dear friend of mine! So please, look upon me kindly!"
Mu-geuk stood at the entrance for a moment, surveying the interior while feeling the staggering weight of ages past. The scent of incense permeated the dry, heavy air.
The interior was vast, but he felt he would have enough time to search. Even Dan So-jin wouldn't be able to enter this place freely; he likely only visited on designated dates.
However, time was not the most important factor. If it was meant to be, he would find it in half a shijin; if not, he wouldn't find it even if he stayed here for ten years.
He only hoped that the final bead was destined for him.
The hall was constructed as a giant circle. At the far center stood a stone statue of a martial artist seated in a Grand Tutor's chair.
Despite being made of stone, the statue exuded a powerful authority. It appeared to be the figure who had founded the Unorthodox Path Alliance. Blood Jade was embedded in its eyes, making it look terrifying, as if it were glaring at anyone who dared meet its gaze.
In front of the statue was an altar for performing rites, surrounded by dozens of towering pillars.
Each pillar bore inscriptions—the records of the past Alliance Leaders.
One pillar for every life.
They recorded when and where each leader was born, what martial arts they mastered, how they rose to lead the Unorthodox Path, their achievements after their inauguration, and finally, when and how they died.
Each of those pillars was a chapter in the history of the Unorthodox Path Alliance.
Geom Mu-geuk read the inscriptions slowly.
Reading about someone's life through records like these was usually a tedious task. But Mu-geuk knew there was always something to be learned from the choices of others. Life was too short to make every choice for oneself.
Thus, Mu-geuk read through the most pivotal choices the leaders had made and the consequences that followed.
When he finished reading about one person, he moved to the next pillar, and then another.
He laughed, and he frowned. There were leaders he admired, and others who made him wonder how such a person could have ever existed.
As he continued through the pillars, a name caught his eye.
Ju Ga-sin.
He was the peerless master who had served as the Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Path three hundred years ago.
When it became known that the Sword Tomb beneath the lake—where Mu-geuk had previously fought the Twelve Zodiac—was also his grave, masters had flocked there in droves. However, his actual remains were interred here.
Geom Mu-geuk read about Ju Ga-sin's life: how he trained in martial arts, became the First Sword of the Unorthodox Path, and eventually the Alliance Leader.
— After becoming the Alliance Leader, he always traveled with a wolf named Red Rang.
An Alliance Leader who traveled with a wolf? Mu-geuk thought it sounded incredibly cool.
Then, a certain passage among his deeds caught his eye.
— Destroyed the Heavenly Will Palace alongside the Martial Emperor Divine Sword.
'Ah, Ju Ga-sin was there too!'
On that day three hundred years ago, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult wasn't the only force to arrive for the final bloody battle between the Murim Alliance and the Heavenly Will Palace. The Unorthodox Path Alliance had also intervened. And it was Ju Ga-sin, the Alliance Leader himself, who had led the charge.
It was no coincidence that the final bead was kept here; the fate from three hundred years ago was clearly continuing down the line. This was information he never would have known if he hadn't read the inscriptions on this pillar in detail.
Geom Mu-geuk read all the remaining pillars as well. There was no pillar for Baek Ja-gang yet. His would likely be erected somewhere here after his death.
'I wonder if my name will be included in a single line of your history, Alliance Leader?'
— Destroyed the lineage of the Heavenly Will Palace alongside the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!
'I hope so, Alliance Leader.'
Having finished reading the history on the pillars, Mu-geuk moved toward the area where the legacies of the past leaders were kept.
The unique martial manuals they had used were displayed on shelves. These were divine techniques that would throw the Murim into an uproar if even a single volume were leaked.
Of course, Mu-geuk passed them by without a second glance. His interest lay in the items displayed in front of them. He wondered if the bead might be hidden among the relics.
All sorts of weapons, protective armor, gauntlets, hidden weapons, and even the clothes and shoes the leaders enjoyed wearing were on display. Since there were no labels indicating what the items were or who they belonged to, it was impossible to tell who had left them behind.
Mu-geuk did not touch the items.
Though no one was watching, he maintained the utmost etiquette. He simply observed them closely to see if the bead was mixed in among them.
However, even after looking through every relic, the Secret Casket did not vibrate.
'Right, they wouldn't have hidden it so easily.'
Recalling how he had obtained the previous ones, he knew finding this wouldn't be simple. He had obtained the Black Essence from So Baek-ta, the next Cult Leader of the Pungcheon Cult, by simply saying he would choose it. On the surface, it seemed he had obtained it easily, but considering the trials it took to reach that point, it had been anything but.
Mu-geuk then walked toward the surrounding walls.
Stone statues of martial artists stood along the walls, leaning on their swords as if guarding something. Murals were painted on those walls, depicting various scenes from the lives of the former Alliance Leaders.
There were scenes of them engaged in bloody battles, covered in gore; scenes of them shouting while holding a flag on a battlefield piled with corpses; and scenes of them splitting a cliff with a single strike. There were also scenes of someone running while holding a child, and even scenes of a leader being brutally killed. A vast array of diverse images covered the stone.
Since the paintings covered a significant portion of the wide walls, it was a magnificent sight to behold.
The statues were arranged at regular intervals in front of the murals. There were too many of them to be mere symbolic guardians. Furthermore, the distance between each statue was precise, without a hair's breadth of error.
'Who are you all standing there to protect?'
Mu-geuk placed his hand on the wall between the statues. The stone was so thick that even a master wouldn't be able to tell what lay beyond it, but Mu-geuk, whose martial arts had reached the ultimate principle, could sense what was behind the heavy rock.
'There is a space behind the wall.'
Mu-geuk looked at the statues standing in a circle along the wall.
'So, the coffins of the Alliance Leaders are stored between these statues!'
These statues were a type of guardian stone meant to protect each leader's coffin. Even if he wanted to open them, there were no doors on the wall. There wasn't even a trace of a seam. They must have been designed to be opened and closed, so there had to be some unknown, sophisticated mechanism.
'What if the bead is inside someone's coffin?'
That would be a truly difficult situation. Finding the last bead was of paramount importance, but he couldn't exactly desecrate the tomb and pry open the coffins. He couldn't do that—not just because of Dan So-jin, but also because of his respect for Baek Ja-gang and Bi Sa-in.
'Please, let it not be hidden inside there.'
Mu-geuk walked along the circle, examining the guardian statues first.
'Please ring, Secret Casket! Let the eyes of a statue pop out with a purple glow, or let a decoration hanging from a sword hilt drop off!'
But that was merely Mu-geuk's wishful thinking. The Secret Casket remained silent until he had finished inspecting every last guardian statue. He examined the statue sitting in the Grand Tutor's chair and even flew up into the air to check the ceiling, but the bead was nowhere to be found.
'Is it perhaps not in this tomb?'
No, that couldn't be.
— If the Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Path does not die, the Murim will be destroyed.
It was a matter of prophecy. Those villains had certainly intended to kill the current Alliance Leader, find the location of this place, and seize the bead.
'It's definitely in here.'
Mu-geuk's gaze returned to the walls between the statues.
'The only places left are those...'
There had to be a mechanism to open the doors somewhere. If not, he might have to cut through the wall without leaving a trace...
As his thoughts reached that point, Mu-geuk realized he was being uncharacteristically anxious. Even now, he was unconsciously clenching his fists. He was in a hurry because it was the last remaining bead.
'I didn't obtain the previous beads by trying to force it.'
Mu-geuk unclenched his fists. He had to open his hands to hold the bead.
Mu-geuk plopped down on the floor.
"Aigo, seniors. This humble junior will rest for a moment. People from the Demonic Cult are naturally impatient like this. Please understand."
Mu-geuk's voice echoed through the hall. Sitting there, he suddenly thought of Baek Ja-gang. He missed the man who used to look at him with those small, sharp eyes. 'Alliance Leader, please come and help me find it!'
"As time passes, you will also be resting here, Alliance Leader."
A mural of Baek Ja-gang would be painted as well. And later, Bi Sa-in would be painted too, right? Once he left this place, he wouldn't be able to return, so these were paintings he would never see again.
"If I really miss you too much, I might sneak in here."
Mu-geuk smiled as he imagined Bi Sa-in complaining about why he only thought of scenarios where he died first.
Regaining his composure, he looked around. Mu-geuk stared at the murals. Until a moment ago, he had been so focused on the vibration of the Secret Casket that he hadn't paid much attention to the paintings themselves.
'Ah, Ju Ga-sin must be in one of these paintings too.'
If no one else, he wanted to find Ju Ga-sin. He was the only person here he felt he knew. Even if the bead was hidden here, it would have followed his final wishes.
However, since it was impossible to tell who the leaders in the paintings were, finding Ju Ga-sin seemed impossible. The items, the manuals... the Unorthodox Path Alliance was truly unkind for not writing down a single name.
As Mu-geuk sat there admiring the murals, something caught his eye. It was a painting of a wolf with magnificent red fur.
"Wow, you're really handsome!"
He was about to move on when his gaze returned to the wolf. At the same time, a certain sentence came to mind.
— Even after becoming the Alliance Leader, he always traveled with a wolf named Red Rang.
If it was Red Rang, it meant a red-furred wolf!
Mu-geuk sprang to his feet and approached the painting. His eyes widened as he examined the wolf in the painting closely. The wolf was wearing magnificent armor on its neck and body, and a bead was embedded in the center of the neck armor.
'It's a blue bead!'
The bead he had obtained from the steel wolf statue of the Unorthodox Path Alliance before was indeed the Blue Essence.
Mu-geuk looked at the leader standing next to the wolf. A middle-aged man was depicted with a dignified air, wearing a protective robe as if heading off to war. He was a martial artist who suited the wolf perfectly.
In an instant, Mu-geuk's eyes widened even further. A bead was embedded in the belt he wore around his waist, and its color was purple.
'This man is Ju Ga-sin!'
The bead on the wolf's armor being blue could have been a coincidence, but the bead on this belt ornament could not be.
'Ju Ga-sin obtained two beads that day.'
So he hid one in the steel wolf statue, and the other? Where did he put the other one?
Mu-geuk flew back to the place where the sacred relics were piled and searched for the belt Ju Ga-sin had been wearing.
"It was here!"
The belt did not have a bead embedded in it. However, Mu-geuk felt a strange sense of dizziness emanating from it.
"Excuse me for a moment, Alliance Leader."
Mu-geuk carefully picked up the belt.
"Perhaps we could have met that day."
But the Secret Casket had returned him to reality before that battle three hundred years ago could take place. If he had been there, he really might have met him.
Staring silently at the belt, Mu-geuk fastened it around his own waist. But nothing happened.
Mu-geuk's gaze returned to the painting.
'Could it be?'
Mu-geuk walked slowly and stood next to the steel wolf statue. He stood exactly like Ju Ga-sin in the painting.
Ssssh.
It was at that very moment he felt the metal ornament of the belt being magnetically drawn to the steel wolf statue.
A mechanical click sounded from within the wolf statue.
Rumble!
Across the room, one of the walls between the guardian statues swung wide open. What slid out from the opened door was a coffin. Both the door and the emerging coffin were operated by incredibly sophisticated mechanisms.
Mu-geuk knew instinctively.
'It's Ju Ga-sin's coffin!'
Clatter.
The lid covering the coffin slid to the side, opening completely.
With trembling eyes, Mu-geuk walked toward it. The moment he looked inside the coffin, his heart was swept with intense emotion.
Ju Ga-sin's skeleton lay within. The skeletal hands were folded over the chest, and between those two hands lay a single bead.
It was the final bead he had been searching for so desperately: Midnight.
The bead, revealing itself to the world for the first time in three hundred years, radiated a brilliant purple glow.
Vrooooom.
The Secret Casket in his robe began to vibrate. It was a vibration more powerful than any he had felt before.
"Cry louder, Secret Casket!"
At that moment, the five energies slumbering within Mu-geuk's body awakened all at once.
"I've finally found the youngest!"