Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: The Flooded Labyrinth
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Thud.
Hyeok Mulin stepped out from the rift hanging in the air.
Having fully recovered his internal energy, he now set foot in an entirely new place.
As soon as he fully emerged, the rift vanished, and Hyeok Mulin stopped to survey his surroundings.
"This place..."
Observing his surroundings, he immediately understood the nature of the second trial.
The ceiling was sealed shut, and walls intersected on all sides, forming a multitude of branching paths.
A maze.
Standing at the center of this single-level, square maze, Hyeok Mulin showed interest in the site of this new trial.
Mazes were one of the traps most frequently mentioned in tales.
Yet, despite their notoriety, they were something martial artists rarely encountered.
Not only was crafting one incredibly difficult, but considering the manpower and time required, no trap was as inefficient.
"My first maze."
This was why Hyeok Mulin had no prior experience with them either.
He had heard stories of mazes built with intricate mechanisms to hide rare treasures or artifacts, but what occasion would he have had to visit such places?
After all, the Heavenly Demon Secret Vault was already overflowing with them.
Hyeok Mulin slowly turned in place at the center, organizing his thoughts.
There is one easy way to escape a maze, actually.
As a famous trap, escape methods were well-known.
The right-hand rule, or left-hand rule.
A method of progressing through the maze by keeping one hand—either right or left—along the wall.
Unless it was a multi-layered complex structure or had special fixtures, a maze was ultimately just a single surface, no matter how intricate.
Thus, following one wall would cover every section without duplication.
Of course, if the maze was vast, escape might take longer, but success was guaranteed eventually.
However, this standard method had one major flaw.
Precisely:
"If you start in the middle of the maze, you can't use the right-hand rule."
It only worked starting from the outer wall's entrance.
Using the left-hand rule from the center would just trace isolated inner walls, and in the worst case, you'd loop forever without escape.
In this situation, eight paths radiated from the center in all directions.
Thus, the right-hand rule was impossible; he had to find another way to the exit...
Thump—
Hyeok Mulin tried to expand his senses broadly to grasp the maze's scope and layout.
But it was immediately severed by an invisible pressure.
So they block overall detection.
Not even allowing senses into the air—this trial was quite finicky.
But that didn't mean there were no methods.
Hyeok Mulin headed to the maze's dead center, then knelt on one knee and placed both hands on the floor.
Closing his eyes tightly, he blocked out all other senses and focused solely on emitting his qi.
Slither—
Black qi unfurled from his palms onto the floor.
It soon hardened into a dozen stiff lines, spiderwebbing out in all directions.
Expanding from the center, they climbed the walls and extended onward.
Lines blocked by walls vanished one by one, while the rest pressed forward.
Eventually, only one line remained, allowing Hyeok Mulin to identify the longest unobstructed path.
He slowly opened his eyes and stood.
"South it is, then."
Without hesitation, Hyeok Mulin turned south and began traversing the maze.
At each junction, he paused, placed a hand on the wall, extended his qi, and proceeded based on the result.
Thus, Hyeok Mulin advanced smoothly toward the exit—until he sensed a faint incongruity.
His field of vision?
No.
Direction?
No.
Smell?
No.
This was...
...it feels damper than at the start.
The air around him—no, throughout the maze—felt humid.
It hadn't been like this when he began; wary of the subtle change, Hyeok Mulin heightened his tactile senses.
With nothing else altered yet, he decided to observe and continued walking.
About a day passed.
On the second day, Hyeok Mulin detected a greater change.
Splash.
A faint sound, but his hearing caught it.
Water sounds from afar.
Convinced it wasn't a mistake, Hyeok Mulin gradually quickened his pace.
And on the third day.
"Not just a simple maze, then."
Water pooled at his feet.
And it didn't stop there.
As time passed, it rose rapidly.
By the fifth day, up to his knees.
Sixth day, to his waist.
After seven days and nights, it reached his chest, sloshing around.
"That's how you want to play it."
Little time remained.
A few hours at most.
If he didn't escape swiftly, he'd drown in the maze.
Regulating his breathing, Hyeok Mulin pondered.
How to overcome this.
Water.
As he scanned his surroundings, a past memory surfaced.
From when he was not yet ten.
He and his younger brother had trained under a waterfall in a deep mountain under the Hyeok Clan's domain.
It wasn't unusual for children learning martial arts.
Water reduced injury risk during intense movement and provided resistance that aided training—it was even encouraged.
Moreover, skilled in swimming, Hyeok Mulin enjoyed aquatic training and cultivation.
Then the incident struck abruptly.
Drip!
Rain began falling from a clear sky.
Not a gentle drizzle, but a torrent as if the heavens had ruptured.
The problem arose there.
Swollen by rainwater, the upstream flow cascaded down like a waterfall.
Toward Hyeok Mulin and Hyeok Gyo-jin directly below.
—Run!
In the dire moment, Hyeok Mulin warned his brother on the opposite side while grabbing a nearby tree.
But it was too late.
Hyeok Gyo-jin, a step behind, couldn't react and was swept away.
Hyeok Mulin whipped his head around, but no signs of life remained except his own.
His decision was swiftest then.
His brother floated far downstream; he couldn't just wait for help.
Thus, Hyeok Mulin plunged into the water without hesitation.
Yet time dragged, and his brother's form had already vanished from sight.
—Damn it!
Eyes blazing, Hyeok Mulin searched but found nothing.
As despair paled his face at losing his brother—
Hiss—
Raw demonic qi suddenly rose from his entire body.
Young and ignorant of demonic qi then, he didn't even know how to wield it.
It was pure instinct.
Afterward, Hyeok Mulin simply followed where his demonic qi led.
Guided thus, he soon found Hyeok Gyo-jin unconscious and sinking in the downstream river.
"...Right. That's what happened."
Recalling how he saved his brother in the water, Hyeok Mulin nodded.
He still didn't remember exactly how.
But he'd done it once; no reason he couldn't now.
No choice.
Hyeok Mulin placed his hand lightly on the water's surface.
From his palm, he released extreme demonic qi into the water.
The clear blue water darkened instantly, like ink in dye.
Simultaneously, Hyeok Mulin sensed the water's overall flow via the extreme demonic qi's currents.
The maze's structure and form mapped in his mind; he shouted suddenly.
"Found it!"
He had located the exit, but couldn't fully rejoice.
Its position was viciously placed.
In the far northeast corner, directly opposite his current spot.
Heading south from the center had been correct at first, but that path looped west to eventually reach the northeast.
It could only be described as a maze brimming with malice.
And that's not the end.
A horrific trap surrounded the exit.
Not arrows or collapsing floors—physical attacks.
The maze's structure itself transformed.
Walls near the exit randomly vanished or appeared.
"Vicious."
Rubbing his throbbing head, Hyeok Mulin prepared to move.
But now fully submerged to the torso, lightfoot skill was difficult.
Then, glancing aside, he spotted a wall.
Thud!
Planting his foot on the wall, Hyeok Mulin soon dashed along it.
His toes, employing Extreme Swift Step, blazed forward with scorching speed.
Now, it was solely a race against time.
And so.
Time flowed like running water.
Thud—
Thud thud—
Thud thud thud kuwagagaga—!
Suddenly, with a dull crashing sound, the door shattered, water gushing out.
The torrent pouring from the exit.
And amid it, Hyeok Mulin was pushed out, coughing harshly as he gasped.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
Hyeok Mulin's chest heaved up and down.
Soaked through, he steadied his breath, then spread his arms and lay back, staring at the ceiling.
"Nearly died there."
Truly by a hair's breadth.
When he neared the exit and walls shifted wildly, the maze was full; he'd held his breath for ages.
But.
"Still, in the end..."
Sneer.
"I passed the second trial."