The Shadows Ran Deep (7)
The Three Immortal slowly lifted his head.
“Mm?”
The Five Immortal, who had been poring over the ledger and moving his brush across the parchment, looked up. “What is it?”
“……”
“Hey. Three Immortal.”
“It’s strange.”
“What is?”
“It feels like the presence has vanished.”
“Presence? Whose?”
“……”
“I’m not sure. It’s not clear.”
The Five Immortal frowned and waved his hand dismissively. “The ventilation must be off. You haven’t smoked any poppy yet, have you?”
“No.”
“Your cultivation is impressive, but even you can’t resist prolonged exposure to the poppy smoke. I’ll ventilate the room. Use that time to purify your body through cultivation.”
The Three Immortal let out a long sigh. “Yes, that might be best.”
The Five Immortal grabbed the metal chain hanging from the wall and yanked it hard.
Whooooosh.
A bizarre sound reverberated from the hole in the ceiling at the far end of the chamber. The stale air and dust filling the room were being sucked out through the ventilation shaft.
Clean air flowed in steadily to replace it. Without that, staying underground for days on end would have been impossible.
“I’m reminded of it again,” the Five Immortal said, his face showing quiet admiration. “This place really is remarkable. The engineering, I mean.”
The structure of this enormous underground facility was standard across every Paradise Haven. The air circulation was flawless, preventing dizziness or clouded minds, and the construction was so sturdy that even multiple explosive charges wouldn’t bring it down immediately.
Including the large rooms capable of comfortably holding over twenty people, there were fifty chambers in total. They also included offices for the Immortals and warehouses to store their “prey.”
The Three Immortal shook his head. “I knew the Sichuan Tang Family’s metallurgy was extraordinary, but I never imagined their mechanisms would be top-tier as well.”
“Top-tier doesn’t even begin to describe it. No one else in the world could build mechanisms like these. And you saw it yourself. It took them less than three months to create this vast, sturdy space.”
“True.”
“Even with all the manpower they mobilized, it’s still astonishing. To possess such incredible technology yet make no move to expand their influence further—the Tang Family Head must be more humble than we gave him credit for.”
The Three Immortal gave a small snort of laughter. “It looks like the poppy smoke really did get to me. Now that the air is fresh, my mind feels clear again.”
“See? Just as I told you.”
“Even so, this feeling hasn’t gone away.”
“If you’re that worried, I’ll go up and take a look. You focus on your cultivation. Honestly, you worry too much.”
The Five Immortal had every reason to speak so casually.
This place—and every Paradise Haven spread across Sichuan—absolutely refused to allow outsiders to infiltrate. First and foremost, the Silver Shadow Flying Scatter Bombs were installed throughout the surrounding forest. Those mechanisms were lethal enough to turn even a first-rate peak expert into a pincushion before they could react, even if they knew the devices were there.
Even if someone managed to bypass those traps and enter the building, extreme poison traps were laid everywhere from the first floor to the third.
If the control device wasn’t reset on schedule, poisonous fog would erupt instantly. Touching the wrong thing would trigger them as well.
Even if one somehow passed the first line of defense, no one short of a heavenly expert could survive the second checkpoint of those lethal poison traps.
And here, there was even a third line of defense. While other Paradise Havens lacked it, several branches near the Sichuan provincial capital had been fitted with buried explosives as their final safeguard.
Even if someone miraculously made it past the second checkpoint and reached this underground chamber, the third line would detonate and erase every trace of evidence.
This was the absolute formation protecting the Paradise Haven. No one could sneak in undetected, and even if they did, they would never obtain proof.
“Cultivate for a while and rest. I’ll be back soon.”
The Three Immortal felt a pang of guilt. “There’s no need for you to go because of me. I must have become overly sensitive.”
“Don’t worry about it. I was planning to head out soon anyway because of the Silver Shadow Flying Scatter Bombs.”
“Hm? Why?”
“A lot of wild animals have been moving through the area lately. Last time a tiger stepped in the wrong spot and we wasted several valuable hidden weapons.”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“The Tang Family sent word. They said a minor adjustment to the mechanism would prevent it from activating unless something at least the size of a bear triggered it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’ve been studying mechanisms lately anyway. I thought I’d inspect it while I’m out.”
The Three Immortal chuckled. “All right. I’ll leave it to you, then.”
“Consider it done.”
“Ah, one more thing.”
“What is it?”
“The One Immortal sent a separate message.”
The Five Immortal’s eyes sharpened with interest.
Among their group, the One Immortal stood at the very top. Their authority was equal, so no one used honorifics, but unlike those below the Four Immortals, the gap in martial prowess grew vast starting from the Three Immortals upward.
In other words, the One Immortal held the highest position after the Immortal King himself, the leader of the Paradise Immortal Group. He could practically be considered the field commander of the entire organization.
“What did he say?”
“The training department head from the Sichuan Provincial Military Command will be arriving soon.”
The Five Immortal’s eyes gleamed. “The staff officer?”
“Correct.”
“Hmm. I heard the training department’s staff officer put up quite a stubborn resistance.”
The Three Immortal shrugged. “He must have wanted to preserve his scholarly principles in his own way. But when we looked into him, it turns out the man has lived a rather bloody life himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Twenty years ago, he raped his nephew, then murdered his older brother and sister-in-law and staged it as an accident.”
The Five Immortal let out a hollow laugh. “A man famous for being as upright as a bamboo stalk committed such heinous acts?”
“That wasn’t all. Secretly, he would kidnap young girls to satisfy his lust and dispose of them without a trace. The investigation revealed at least twenty-two confirmed victims.”
“Unbelievable!”
They had hosted all kinds of depraved guests at the Paradise Haven, but it had been a while since they encountered someone this vile.
The Five Immortal clicked his tongue. “You really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
He was surprised, but when he thought about the unique members who frequented the Paradise Haven, it wasn’t entirely shocking. Among them were perverts who only desired boys under ten, madmen who delighted in torture, and demonic bastards obsessed with human flesh.
The Paradise Haven was a dreamlike paradise that fulfilled every one of their desires.
“Anyway, he’s coming with the provincial military commander. They ran out of identification plaques to distribute this time, so the order is to let him in even without one.”
“Understood. I’ll handle it.”
The membership process for the Paradise Haven was notoriously strict. Without passing more than ten layers of inspection and receiving official authentication, not even the emperor could enter. Most people never even learned of its existence. The organization placed absolute priority on member management and information control.
It was precisely because of that ironclad system that the Paradise Haven had survived for so long.
“Then I’ll be off for a bit.”
“Go ahead.”
“H-here it is!”
Following the warrior’s guidance, the group arrived at a massive boulder near a stream.
“Th-there’s a square hole beneath that rock. It’s covered with fabric made to look like moss. Remove the cover, insert the key, and a path to the underground will open.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“And you have the key on you?”
“It’s in my pocket!”
Kang Liang searched the warrior’s clothes. The man had been telling the truth. Two pouches rested against his chest, and one of them contained a long, angular object.
Kang Liang opened the pouch. A dull gray square of metal emerged.
Yeon Hojeong tilted his head. “You insert this into the hole and turn it, and the underground passage opens. Is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s correct.”
Kang Liang began walking toward the boulder. “I’ll check it myself.”
“No.”
“Stop.”
Yeon Hojeong and Dang Gwan spoke at the exact same moment.
Kang Liang froze mid-step. “Why?”
Yeon Hojeong frowned. “There’s no way it would be this easy.”
“What?”
“The Paradise Haven has maintained secret roots across Sichuan for a very long time. They might have grown complacent after going undiscovered for so long, but… this is an issue that could flip the entire Sichuan martial world on its head. You expect me to believe their security is this sloppy?”
The group turned their sharp gazes on the warrior. His face went deathly pale.
“I-I’m not lying! It’s the truth!”
Kang Liang growled like a wild animal. “You’d better start talking straight, you son of a bitch. Do you want to die in pieces?”
“It really is the truth! Please believe me!”
At that moment, Dang Gwan raised his hand. “Enough.”
Kang Liang paused and looked at him.
Dang Gwan nodded. “What this bastard says is true.”
“Pardon?”
“I said it’s true. This fool genuinely believes this is the entrance to the underground chamber.”
“……?”
“And he’s not the only one. Every single person from the first floor to the third who died by your sword believed the same thing.”
“But……”
Yeon Hojeong cut in. “The real question is whether any of them have actually been inside the underground chamber.”
The warrior shouted desperately. “I have been down there! It’s true!”
“You inserted the key, turned it, opened the passage, and went down yourself?”
“……?!”
“It wasn’t that the chamber opened first and someone inside called for you, or that you went down with someone else?”
The warrior’s eyes shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
Dang Gwan gave a low chuckle. “Paradise Haven… those bastards know exactly how to manipulate people.”
The warriors standing guard between the first and third floors were nothing more than disposable decoys. The Paradise Haven’s executives never allowed them to visit the underground chamber alone.
Kang Liang asked, “But couldn’t it really be sloppier than we expected? There’s no proof this key is fake.”
“You’re right. However……”
Yeon Hojeong looked at Dang Gwan, who nodded.
“It’s gunpowder.”
“Are you certain?”
“Didn’t you smell it yourself?”
“To be honest, it’s faint. That’s why I’m asking for confirmation.”
“It’s definitely gunpowder. It’s subtle, but… there’s no doubt that explosives have been laid throughout this entire area.”
Dang Gwan stared at the boulder. “And the smell is strongest near that rock. They tried to mask it with the fishy odor of the stream, but it’s obvious.”
“Huh?”
“They did a terrible job hiding something so easily seen through.”
After all, the mechanisms used in the Paradise Haven originated from the Tang Family’s techniques.
And Dang Gwan stood at the very peak of the Sichuan Tang Family. While he had never devoted himself passionately to mechanisms, there was no knowledge from his clan that he did not understand.
Dang Gwan looked down at the warrior. “In the end, this bastard is no longer useful.”
The warrior slammed his forehead against the ground. “P-please spare me!”
Yeon Hojeong sighed. “At this point, it looks like we’ll have to break through the ground and descend by force.”
“That would be better… hm?”
The moment Dang Gwan’s eyes flashed, Yeon Hojeong whispered urgently to the group.
“Scatter! Hide your presence!”
Swish!
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the entire group vanished in every direction.
A moment later.
Rumble.
On the opposite side of the boulder, near the rear garden of the building, the ground began to sink slowly.
It was an astonishingly sophisticated mechanism—so precise it was hard to believe even after seeing it with their own eyes. The idea that human hands had created such a device on bare earth seemed impossible.
A moment later, the Five Immortal emerged from the opening.