Infiltrating the Secret Branch
"Everyone stay sharp. From here on, we're in Kunlun territory."
Shin Gi-woon halted at the head of the group, and the others fell into formation behind him without a word.
The pure, austere aura of Mount Kunlun seeped into the air around them. For martial artists who cultivated demonic arts, it was anything but a welcome sensation.
None of them said it aloud, but they were all thinking the same thing. Five people charging into the Kunlun mountain range was an act of pure insanity.
Still, if they followed the path marked on the map, they wouldn't be discovered during the approach — at least not while they were moving.
Even if the Kunlun Sect had rigged the exam out of malice, surrounding them the moment they set foot in Kunlun territory made no sense. At least one of them would survive long enough to return to Cheon-san and report everything to the higher-ups.
Which meant this stretch was still relatively safe.
"From now on, we talk through sound transmission only. I can't watch your backs. Keep up on your own."
Leaving only that curt warning, Gi-woon threw himself back into his lightness skill. His senses, wound tight to the breaking point, picked up even the faintest stirrings of nearby beasts.
Ryu-jin, working through his upper dantian, doubled the range of his awareness — insurance against any emergency that might catch them off guard.
Roughly four hours later, Gi-woon's group finally found Kunlun's secret branch.
Security level… not particularly high.
He had expected Peak-level experts mixed among First-Class martial artists. But looking at it now, he couldn't spot a single Peak-level fighter.
Of course, some might be hiding inside the buildings. That was a problem for later. For the moment, it was good news.
"Yul. Find us a way in. Everyone else holds position until she gets back."
Sama Yul nodded and vanished without a sound. True to her Death Demon Sect origins, she was built for infiltration.
With her gone, Gi-woon finally had a window to speak with Ryu-jin. Sending Yul out alone had been a convenient pretext — a small justification for heading toward the secret passage.
Ryu-jin. Exact location of the secret passage?
"It's a passage that responds to my power. Head east and I'll give you the precise spot."
So it was a secret passage forged through sorcery. Of all the things he never expected to see in this life — an Imugi punching a hole through a Kunlun secret branch with magic.
Somehow, he was starting to suspect that Ryu-jin's failed ascension hadn't been pure sabotage after all.
"Hey. That's rude."
Rude, nothing.
"You keep dismissing me, and if you keep this up—"
Until I hear out your revenge, you have to cooperate. If I just up and die, you're finished too.
"Urgh! Damn it!"
She had no comeback for that. What came back instead was Sama Yul.
"Security's weakest on the west side. Highest chance of a clean breakthrough is the east."
"What does that mean? If it's weak, shouldn't that make it easier to get through?"
"There's no way a structure like this has no mechanisms."
Sama Yul answered Ma Ra-jin's question flatly. It seemed mechanisms were compensating for the thin manpower.
None of them were experts on trap mechanisms. The group naturally drifted toward heading east — exactly the atmosphere Gi-woon had been hoping for.
"We move east. Stay sharp. If we get spotted, we all die right there."
With Gi-woon's grim warning hanging over them, the group shifted eastward.
After covering some ground, Ryu-jin gave the signal, and Gi-woon stopped cold.
"Straight ahead from here. Exact line."
How long to open the secret passage?
"The instant your hand touches the wall."
Excellent news. Touch the wall and they were in. The problem was the patrol.
Three First-Class martial artists and four Second-Class ones were making their rounds.
"So-hyang. Skewer every Second-Class fighter in one volley. Yul, you, Se-hwa, and I each take a First-Class. Jin, you're backup in case anyone fails."
Targets were assigned in a single breath. Of everyone present, no one had more experience in the martial world than Shin Gi-woon.
The others didn't know it, but he had been the Ghost Spear. To infiltrate a secret branch without anyone knowing, they had to move with absolute efficiency.
"On my signal, So-hyang fires first. The rest of us — everyone except Jin — jump at the same time and shut their mouths."
Bi So-hyang nocked four arrows onto her bowstring. The weapon in her hands was no ordinary bow lying around in some armory.
It was a divine weapon on the same tier as Gi-woon's White Fang Spear — a bow said to hit with the force of a cannon shell when charged with internal energy.
The Hongpo Bow.
"Now!"
Four arrows screamed through the air, each packed with devastating internal force — and every one of them punched clean through a Second-Class martial artist's skull.
The Kunlun fighters reeled from the sudden ambush.
"Intru— khk!"
"Ghk!"
"Urghk!"
They never stood a chance against the simultaneous strikes from Gi-woon, Se-hwa, and Sama Yul. Their heads left their shoulders before a proper alarm could leave their throats. But it wasn't over yet.
Bi So-hyang and Ma Ra-jin closed ranks with the other three in a flash. Gi-woon swept the surroundings once, then pressed his palm to the wall.
Fwaaat!
Light swallowed the five of them in an instant.
Where they had stood, the blood of eight corpses soaked the ground.
"We can talk here."
"What the hell just happened?"
"Does Kunlun use sorcery too?"
"At least we got in safely. That's something."
"…Not a mechanism, then."
Permission to speak unleashed a flurry of comments. Gi-woon offered no detailed explanation and simply walked ahead.
"We got lucky. Something felt off, so I put my hand on the wall — never figured it'd be a secret passage."
An absurd excuse. But they took him at his word. Digging deeper wouldn't have done them any good, and maybe that was why no one pressed the issue.
"Does Kunlun not know about this passage?"
"If they did, the security wouldn't have been that thin."
Gi-woon swallowed a laugh at the exchange between Bi So-hyang and Ma Ra-jin. Three First-Class and four Second-Class guards — and they called that thin?
Who in the world would evaluate it that way? This was why people needed to live long enough to see things. He'd died and come back, sure, but still.
"Looks like an intruder's passage. It leads straight to the heart of the compound."
At Sama Yul's assessment, the whole group nodded. A straight shot — a shortcut straight into the deepest core of the secret branch.
Kunlun almost certainly didn't even know this passage existed. The one downside: they wouldn't be able to use it for the escape.
We can get out, but we'll be surrounded. They'll find the dead guards soon enough.
Gi-woon called for more speed, and the entire group tore down the secret passage at a full run.
"You have a plan, right? For how we get out if we're spotted."
"Of course."
Se-hwa asked as they ran. She clearly didn't buy that discovering the secret passage had been pure coincidence.
The others might not care how things turned out, but he'd known Se-hwa would want confirmation.
He didn't give it to her. Anything involving Ryu-jin was classified. Until he could handle the fallout on his own, it had to stay buried.
"Exit ahead. Sound transmission only from here."
Having raced through the passage, Gi-woon stopped just short of the exit. According to Ryu-jin, this connected to the secret branch's warehouse.
If any Kunlun martial artists were inside, a fight would break out the second they stepped through.
They had to approach with care.
"So-hyang takes the rear. Jin covers her from the front. I lead. Yul, then Se-hwa, in that order. I'll give the signal."
Gi-woon raised an open palm. One by one, his five fingers folded down — one per second.
When the last finger closed, Gi-woon was first through the exit. Sama Yul and Se-hwa followed, then Ma Ra-jin and Bi So-hyang emerged together.
The warehouse was dark. It seemed empty, but they couldn't afford to assume.
"Don't touch anything, just in case. Not even a whisper of internal energy leaves your body."
The darkness itself was no problem. Three years of closed-door cultivation had trained their eyes to the dark.
Gi-woon had come out six months early, but the rest of them were still fully adapted. That let them quietly survey every corner of the warehouse.
The problem was that they found nothing — not a single useful lead.
"Doesn't look like there's anything here, so let's mo—"
Bang!!
Someone shoved the door open hard. All five of them melted into the corners without a word.
Judging by the footsteps, roughly three people. If they were discovered here, they were all dead.
Ryu-jin. Any other passages?
"Nope. I made this one to steal food, remember?"
Any way to open another passage right now?
"If my body were whole, maybe. In this state? Impossible."
The situation was bad. He was grateful his comrades had hidden their presence without needing orders — but if this kept up, nothing good was coming.
We haven't even found the Vice Commander yet. One reckless move and… it's over.
Every second stretched into an hour. One wrong call meant total annihilation.
This was his first time operating as a unit rather than alone. The hesitation he had sworn he would never feel again was climbing toward the point of freezing his thoughts solid.
"Since when do you think before you move? Just smash through."
…!
Ryu-jin's voice cut through. A clean, piercing answer that blew the fog out of his head.
What was he hesitating for? Fear that his comrades would die? Fear of failing the mission?
No.
I wasn't trusting myself or my comrades — not fully. Not even without realizing it.
They could do this. If it didn't work, they'd make it work. If he was too scared, he might as well die.
Right?
"Hahaha! Now that's the insane bastard Shin Gi-woon I know!"
Thanks, Ryu-jin.
The Kunlun martial artists were easing deeper into the warehouse — close enough that the slightest sound would give them away.
Gi-woon killed his breathing to the absolute limit and sent a sound transmission.
"Everyone. On my signal, we kill these bastards and break out of the warehouse."
His final order carved a hard resolve into every pair of eyes. A fight was inevitable now. From here on, they had no choice but to force their way out.
"On three. One, two—"
"Hey, you! What are you doing in here?! Looks like we've got intruders — get out here now!"
"What?! Intruders?"
Gi-woon was a heartbeat from lunging out with his spear when another Kunlun martial artist came running with the news of the breach.
They were close enough that a simple turn of the head would have locked eyes. But the man was too rattled by the report of intruders to notice.
"Damn it! Who the hell has the guts to break in here?!"
"Hurry up and show me!"
Kwaaang!
They slammed the warehouse door shut and bolted outside.
"Hooo… we lived."
Ma Ra-jin's muttered relief hung in the dark. No one answered him, but every one of them exhaled the same long breath of agreement.