Chapter 115: Radiant Sword Tomb-1
Chapter 115: Radiant Sword Tomb-1
Sucheonhoe was in complete chaos, as if a hornet's nest had been stabbed.
So the very first thing he should have done was reorganize the internal defenses, but the impatient leader of Sucheonhoe, Mak Woo-jeon, had ordered his subordinates to recklessly pursue the strange figures.
Thus, Sucheonhoe's security posture was now a state with holes completely punched through it.
Seonwoo Jin became a shadow and infiltrated straight into those very holes.
It was the most comfortable infiltration of all the ones Seonwoo Jin had ever done.
Even when infiltrating the Na family estate, a mid-sized power in Gwiju Castle, it hadn't been this easy.
'Had I known it would be like this, I could have brought Lady Dang along with no problem.'
Seonwoo Jin, who had smiled leisurely, was able to find the Thunder Prison where the sinners were confined before long.
Now it was finally time to rescue Do Mun-seung of the Yeongnam Sword Gate, which had been the original objective.
'Might as well gather some information while I'm at it.'
After rescuing Do Mun-seung, he also planned to probe into the secrets of Mak Woo-jeon.
Since it seemed they hadn't even properly grasped the whereabouts of the escaped Jeongdo yet, surely they wouldn't notice another one or two disappearing, right?
A short while later, Seonwoo Jin was able to find Do Mun-seung inside the outdoor cell of the Thunder Prison.
Unexpectedly, he was lying on a pile of dry grass in a perfectly unharmed state.
His face seemed lost in worry, contemplating something, but contrary to expectations, his body showed no signs of injury whatsoever.
Seonwoo Jin, concealed in the nearby shadows, sent him a telepathic transmission.
- Brother Do. Listen without making a sound.
At that, Do Mun-seung, who had been wiggling his foot, came to a startled halt.
- I am the person who tried to help you earlier this morning when you were being taken away. Knowing your unfair situation, I have come to rescue you.
Having heard the telepathic message, Do Mun-seung slowly rose from his spot.
And after subtly glancing around, he poked his face outwards and slowly shook his head.
'Huh?'
Seeing this, Seonwoo Jin frowned.
It seemed that signal meant he was telling him not to rescue him.
A man who was about to be executed, who had even fled for that reason, refusing to be rescued — it was an extremely odd thing, to say the least.
Seonwoo Jin decided he needed to have a bit of a conversation with him.
So, remaining concealed, he began to stealthily move toward the perimeter of the Thunder Prison.
And a moment later, he was able to press the acupoints of not only the jailer guarding the Thunder Prison but also all the people confined in the nearby cells.
Of course, they would have felt absolutely nothing.
Do Mun-seung stared blankly at Seonwoo Jin, who had appeared before him after pressing everyone's acupoints without a soul knowing, and asked with a dazed expression.
"Are you... perhaps Am Hyeol-hyang?"
Am Hyeol-hyang was an assassin of unknown identity, renowned alongside Guyueumma Jigieum as one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World.
Seonwoo Jin chuckled and replied to his words.
"I am not. I simply learned stealth techniques as a hobby. Anyway, why do you mean you won't escape? Weren't you in a position to be executed?"
At that, Do Mun-seung made an apologetic expression and first bowed his head in thanks.
"First, I deeply thank you for coming to rescue me, having only seen me once."
And what he said next was this.
He had originally thought he would be facing execution as well, but the story he heard upon being captured today was a bit different.
Hearing this, Seonwoo Jin frowned and asked.
"The story was different, you say?"
"Yes. They told me that if I merely entered a certain cave and brought out what they wanted, they would neither execute me and would send me straight home. However, they also said that if I refused, they would execute all the members of the Yeongnam Sword Gate as accomplices who aided my escape."
Entering a cave and bringing out the desired object...
Seonwoo Jin's eyes flashed upon hearing that.
Somehow, this seemed to be a story connected to Mak Woo-jeon's secret.
The secret that killed countless martial artists said to be in the north, and perhaps the very secret that would make him one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World a few years later.
'If that is the case...'
Having instantly formulated a plan in his head, Seonwoo Jin, before stating it, asked Do Mun-seung again.
"Do you believe their words? The promise that they will let you live and send you back if you bring what they want?"
At that, Do Mun-seung shook his head with a bitter expression.
"I do not believe those words. The words I do believe are their threat that if I do not accept their offer, they will execute even the members of my sect school."
Seonwoo Jin let out a deep sigh.
In the end, he had resolved to sacrifice himself so as not to endanger the members of his sect.
Just as he had seemed at first glance, Do Mun-seung was indeed a person of exceedingly righteous nature.
It was a regrettable matter.
But that decision of his was also a welcome one from Seonwoo Jin's current standpoint.
With a now lightened heart, Seonwoo Jin spoke to Do Mun-seung.
"If you have resolved yourself so, may I offer you a proposal?"
At that, Do Mun-seung's eyes widened.
"A proposal, you say?"
"Yes. It's a proposal that will likely save your life, Brother Do, and ensure that many more people stop dying."
At the story Seonwoo Jin then told him, the light in Do Mun-seung's eyes grew increasingly serious.
***
Mak Woo-jeon, the Heaven-Ascending Swordsman and leader of Sucheonhoe, drove his subordinates hard until late at night to pursue those called the Blue and Red Twin Swords.
But even with hunting dogs mobilized, he could not find any trace of the bastards whatsoever.
He didn't want to admit it, but they had apparently been lost completely.
"Eudeuk!"
Mak Woo-jeon, gnashing his teeth in boiling rage, suddenly recalled what the blue-robed freak had said.
'You sacrificed that many lives for your own selfish desires and yet you intend to deny being the number one villain of Sichuan? How utterly shameless you are.'
As that memory surfaced, Mak Woo-jeon's expression contorted.
How on earth did they know?
And just how much did they know?
As he agonized, a thought suddenly flashed through Mak Woo-jeon's mind.
It was a thought about Do Mun-seung, imprisoned in the Thunder Prison.
'No way?!'
Mak Woo-jeon turned his body abruptly and ran as if flying towards Sucheonhoe's Thunder Prison.
If it were those who had toyed with him to this extent, there was a possibility they knew about that matter as well.
'No way. No way.'
Mak Woo-jeon's heart pounded madly.
Do Mun-seung himself might not know, but he was an incredibly important person to Mak Woo-jeon.
But if the bastards knew about even that, and if they had drawn him out and, in the meantime, extracted Do Mun-seung, there could be no greater disaster.
However, what met his eyes when he rushed over in urgency a moment later were jailers and prisoners sleeping soundly, and the figure of Do Mun-seung, also asleep inside his own cell.
"Haah, haah."
Mak Woo-jeon, who had been breathing roughly, watched his sleeping form for a moment before slowly turning his steps around.
Of course, rage did boil up within him at the sight of the jailers asleep without even maintaining a perimeter.
But it felt like if he unleashed his anger on them now, he wouldn't be able to stop his hand.
He might end up killing his subordinates.
Having left the Thunder Prison, Mak Woo-jeon stared down at his own hands, still trembling and shaking with rage.
'Just when on earth did it get this bad...'
He could not control his surging Mind Fire at all.
It felt as if the blaze burning in his chest would swallow all his reason in a single moment.
Gritting his teeth, he struck his own cheeks hard with both hands.
Jjaak!
'No. Get a hold of yourself, Mak Woo-jeon!'
Mak Woo-jeon desperately pulled together his mind, which was trying to be swept away by the Mind Fire.
Fortunately, it was still possible for now.
"Huuu."
Taking a deep breath, Mak Woo-jeon thought while grinding his teeth.
All of this was because of Gwanggeom's Tomb.
The reason Mak Woo-jeon had come to suffer from this inner demon.
And the death of his son Mak Se-ryeol, who had been called the future of Sucheonhoe — all of it was because of that.
Therefore, even to end this accursed situation, Mak Woo-jeon absolutely had to break the seal of Gwanggeom's Tomb.
Whatever it took...
Mak Woo-jeon paused his steps for a moment, turned back, and looked towards the Thunder Prison where Do Mun-seung was sleeping.
Now Do Mun-seung, that man, was all that remained of hope for Mak Woo-jeon.
Because if even he, rumored to be the most righteous gentleman in this region, failed to break the seal of Gwanggeom's Tomb, the only remaining method would be to demolish the entire mountain.
***
The next day, Do Mun-seung had to receive a visit from the warriors early in the morning.
"Get up, Do Mun-seung. It's time to move."
In the dim light before the sun had even risen, Do Mun-seung glanced at the brightening eastern sky and asked them with sleepy eyes.
"Already?"
At that, one of the warriors, whose nerves were on edge, burst out in anger.
"If they tell you to come out, just come out! What's with all the talking?!"
Then, the other warrior beside him restrained him.
"Hey, hold it in. They told us to bring him with respect."
"Hmph! Respect my foot!"
Do Mun-seung sharply observed their complexions.
For some reason, their nerves seemed extremely frayed as well.
Outside the Thunder Prison, several horses were already prepared.
And on one of them sat Mak Woo-jeon, the leader of Sucheonhoe.
With weary eyes, he spoke towards Do Mun-seung.
"Come quickly, Do So-hyeop. You must be tired, I'm sorry to call you out so early. We don't have that much leisure."
He did not wish to show courtesy to the man who had captured him and was threatening the lives of the Yeongnam Sword Gate members.
So Do Mun-seung simply nodded his head in silence.
At that attitude, Mak Woo-jeon's eyes twitched, but he did not prolong the conversation further.
Do Mun-seung and the warriors soon departed from Sucheonhoe.
They moved covertly, wary of their surroundings and careful not to attract attention—a sign that they were taking extreme precautions with security.
Bound and restrained, Do Mun-seung was slung over a horse they led. After glancing back once, he slowly closed his eyes.
It was as if he no longer cared where they took him or what they did with him.
But that was not because he had given up.
Although his nose could detect no scent, his body still carried traces of the tracking incense that Seonwoo Jin had applied to him the day before.
It was the tracking incense of the Sichuan Tang Family—odorless, colorless, and guaranteed to be undetectable to anyone but themselves.
And so, behind him, that man was surely following.
That hyeopsa who had come to rescue him from Sucheonhoe's thunder prison after only a single encounter.
The reassurance that he was not alone steadied Do Mun-seung's heart once more.
It was then.
Abruptly, Sucheonhoeju Mak Woo-jeon spoke to him.
"Strange. You ask nothing at all. Are you not even curious where we are going?"
At that, Do Mun-seung slowly opened his eyes, regarded him with a cold gaze, and answered.
"There is only one thing I am curious about. Whether the Hoeju will keep his promise not to bring any harm to the members of the Yeongnam Sword Gate. Nothing else."
Hearing those words, Mak Woo-jeon stared at Do Mun-seung blankly for a moment.
Then, at last, he smiled bitterly and spoke.
"You are indeed different from others. With you, it might truly succeed."
Then, he nodded and said to Do Mun-seung,
"Upon my honor—no, upon my life—I swear it plainly. If you cooperate with us, not a single hair of trouble will befall the Yeongnam Sword Gate. You may trust that."
Thereupon, Do Mun-seung's gaze softened slightly as he asked again.
"Then what of myself? Will I also return safely?"
At that sudden question, Mak Woo-jeon fell silent as though struck speechless. He could not bring himself to answer.
He simply stared at Do Mun-seung with a troubled expression.
Do Mun-seung nodded.
It seemed he did not need to hear the answer to know what it was.
It likely meant he would never be allowed to return.
It was a hopeless reply, but unexpectedly, Do Mun-seung merely nodded calmly and said,
"As I thought. It seems there was never a path for me to survive from the start."
Mak Woo-jeon could not help but feel admiration at his composed demeanor, as if he were speaking of someone else's affairs.
Indeed, Do Mun-seung—he was a man worthy of being called the greatest righteous gentleman of southern Sichuan.
Perhaps this man truly could lift the seal on that accursed Light Sword Tomb.
As Mak Woo-jeon was briefly lost in such thoughts, Do Mun-seung asked him again.
"Then, could you at least explain what exactly it is that I must do? If I am to die, then I at least wish to know why I must die."
Thereupon, Mak Woo-jeon, who had been silent for a moment, finally let out a sigh and opened his mouth.
"Very well. If you have already accepted the situation, there is no reason to hide it."
And what he revealed was something Do Mun-seung had not anticipated in the slightest.
"Have you heard of the Broad Hero Sword Ghost, Jeong Myeong-gang? One of the absolute beings of the martial world from around fifty years ago?"
"...The Broad Hero Sword Ghost, Jeong Myeong-gang, you say?"
The absolute beings of the martial world had changed roughly every twenty to thirty years. Naturally, unless it was a legendary name from a century past like the Thunder God or Sword God, it was only natural not to know the absolute beings of a previous generation.
Only after searching his memory for a long while was Do Mun-seung able to barely recall the name.
"Ah, I remember hearing of him. You speak of that capricious eccentric who killed or performed chivalrous deeds depending on his mood that day."
At Do Mun-seung's words, Mak Woo-jeon chuckled and replied.
"Indeed. That is how he is known. Because of that willful nature, he killed countless people and earned great enmity, yet he was a tremendous swordsman whom no one could stop thanks to his outstanding martial prowess. That is why he was usually called the Light Sword rather than the Broad Hero Sword Ghost."
"I see. But why bring up his tale so suddenly...?"
At that, Mak Woo-jeon's expression abruptly brightened.
It was a delighted look, as if he could not suppress his smile merely by thinking about it.
Suddenly wearing the expression of a child showing off a new toy, he answered Do Mun-seung.
"We discovered the Broad Hero Sword Ghost's tomb. A tomb that is presumed to hold his legacy relic, that is."
"...What?!"
Mak Woo-jeon's abrupt emotional shift was unsettling, but this time even Do Mun-seung could not maintain his composure at the content of his words.
To discover a tomb containing the legacy relic of a former absolute being—it was a fated opportunity for which a martial artist would gladly stake their life.
Seeing Do Mun-seung's astonishment, Mak Woo-jeon smiled proudly and continued.
"That tomb is precisely the place you must enter."
"...I must enter it?"
Mak Woo-jeon's explanation that followed was this:
The entrance of the tomb was an artificially constructed underground cavern, and every person who had entered it had lost their sanity and gone mad.
"In truth, it was written at the cavern entrance. That only one who possesses a righteous mind may enter."
And that was the reason they had to forcibly bring Do Mun-seung, known as the greatest righteous man in the region.
At that, Do Mun-seung furrowed his brow as though unable to comprehend and asked.
"I do not quite understand. If the problem is that one loses peace of mind and goes mad for whatever reason, would it not suffice to send in masters? Masters such as yourself, Hoeju."
But Mak Woo-jeon shook his head and let out a deep sigh. The face that had worn a proud smile moments before was now overcast with deep shadow.
It was indeed far too sudden a shift in emotion.
"Why would we not have thought the same? Of course, we assumed as much. So... at first, my son Se-ryeol entered. Hoping that a martial artist at the peak-level would be sufficient."
Mak Woo-jeon's face was steeped in profound remorse as he spoke.
Seeing his expression, Do Mun-seung could guess how things had unfolded.
And so he did not speak further, merely watching him.
Then, Mak Woo-jeon, who had been lost in a moment of silence, murmured again with a heavy expression.
"It was arrogance. To think that we, who have not even set foot in the transcendent peak realm, could ignore the arrangements laid by an absolute being of the former generation."
Mak Se-ryeol, a young peak-level master in his thirties who had even been called the hope of Sucheonhoe, had entered the cavern full of confidence—only to emerge a madman.
And the matter did not end there.
"I should have remained calm, but seeing with my own eyes that Se-ryeol had gone mad... I could not bear it. So I intended to enter myself. But the vice-leader, Ga Yoo-ak, restrained me and went into the cavern first. And... he too went insane."
For Mak Woo-jeon, who had been rejoicing at discovering the legacy relic of a former absolute being, it was nothing short of a nightmare.
But the greatest nightmare occurred right after.
The maddened Ga Yoo-ak committed an atrocity, brutally slaughtering Mak Woo-jeon's own son, Mak Se-ryeol.
And because it happened near the cave entrance, it unfolded right before Mak Woo-jeon's watching eyes.
"It happened in an instant. I simply could not believe it at the time. So I, too, immediately tried to leap into the cavern."
But the moment he set a single step into the cavern, Mak Woo-jeon could instantly feel it.
The fact that an unknown impulse was seeping into his soul.
And so Mak Woo-jeon had no choice but to exert superhuman patience and step back.
It was all too clear that at this rate, he himself would meet the same end.
Having finished his account, Mak Woo-jeon's eyes were fixed, unfocused, on the empty air as if gazing upon that scene once more.
Watching him, Do Mun-seung, who had been listening in silence, spoke as though heaving a sigh.
"He is called the Light Sword, yet it seems to be a trap overflowing with great malice. Are you certain his legacy relic is indeed there?"
At that, Mak Woo-jeon laughed feebly and answered.
"I don't know. Only... surely, at this point, you cannot give up?"
Do Mun-seung said nothing further.
Not about why he was being dragged into this simply because Mak Woo-jeon could not give up, nor about why he had to stake his life on the matter.
Because in the eyes of Mak Woo-jeon—who had even lost his son and was now staring ahead with a darkened expression—an unquenchable flame of greed was flickering.
Do Mun-seung could see it clearly.
***
By the time Do Mun-seung's party had ridden for a long while and arrived at their destination, the sun was already slanting low.
And Do Mun-seung was at last able to behold the Light Sword Tomb in question.
It was a solitary cave at the base of a mountain, situated deep in the heart of a dense forest.
Mak Woo-jeon pointed with his finger at the place, which was surrounded and guarded by numerous warriors, and said to Do Mun-seung.
"That place is precisely what I spoke of. The place you must enter. But it will soon be dark, so rest today and enter tomorrow."
After briefly glancing at Mak Woo-jeon, who spoke as if granting a great favor, Do Mun-seung once more looked upon the cavern entrance.
Within the cave, black as the entrance to hell itself, someone's two red eyes were glowing.