Chapter 152
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Advancing on the Ground (2)
There was a cave in the Star Garden called the "Ant Den."
It wasn't a naturally formed cave but an artificial tunnel dug out by human hands.
"Open it."
"Yes, sir!"
The four warriors guarding the cave swung open the heavy iron door.
The entrance to the cave was sealed with this iron door. It was spacious and sturdy enough for a four-horse carriage to charge through without issue, and it extended a full hundred jang deep—an enormous cavern.
The iron door was even double-layered.
You could open the whole thing like a grand gate or just the smaller side door like a wicket gate.
The warriors had opened the side door.
Since the Ant Den had been created, the large door had never been opened. Only a handful of people could enter the Ant Den, and even they used the small side door.
The side door swung open, revealing pitch-black darkness.
Star Garden Lord Gokgang stared at the cave mouth for a long moment, his eyes filled with nostalgia.
His life had begun with the pale demonic ants and now it would end with them. Their existence had defined his own, and as their numbers grew, so had his status.
"Burn it."
Gokgang said weakly.
"B-burn it? Everything?"
"You lot sure talk a lot. If I say burn it, just burn it—what's with all the questions!"
"Star Garden Lord, burning them requires the Heavenly Lord's command..."
"Ugh, what a pain!"
Gokgang scowled deeply.
At that, the four warriors collapsed without so much as a scream, like rotten straw bundles tumbling over.
Gokgang didn't spare them a glance as he stepped through the small side door into the cave.
Black smoke billowed thickly from within the cave.
A scorching heat radiated out. Through the open side door, fierce flames roared into view.
"Poisoned."
Hanbi examined the warriors slumped at the cave entrance.
"Isn't Gokgang a disciple of the Poison Master? Of course he'd use poison. I just didn't expect him to dose his own men."
"This must be where they raised the pale demonic ants."
Four Thousand Four said calmly.
"They mentioned a place called the Ant Den in the Star Garden. Looks like this is it."
"If he set fire to the pale demonic ants, does that mean we should assume the Star Garden Lord is inside too?"
"No one who's ever served in the Heavenly Annihilation Division is unaware that you can't escape it. The higher your rank, the clearer that truth becomes... He might have chosen to die alongside the ants."
"No."
Four Thousand Four said firmly.
He was staring at his palm.
As if savoring the sensation, he gently swept his hand through the empty air, like feeling the flow of water over his skin.
Still relishing the feeling, Four Thousand Four spoke.
"This is indeed where they raised the pale demonic ants... but the ants didn't burn. They're still alive."
"What! You mean the Star Garden Lord smuggled them out? Ha! As if you could just pick up pale demonic ants by hand... How did he move so many?"
The blaze engulfing the cave was ferocious. It was hot enough to melt the iron door blocking the entrance. If the ants were inside, there's no way they could have survived the inferno.
Honestly, in a situation like this, speaking like Four Thousand Four was the abnormal response.
How could he declare they were alive without knowing for sure if they were even in there? He hadn't searched the cave, nor did he possess the inner power to peer through the flames.
Only Four Thousand Four could pull this off.
Whoooosh!
Four Thousand Four extended both hands toward the cave and quietly closed his eyes.
Shoooo!
True energy swirled around him. A blazing heat surged from his body. His true energy radiated the warmth.
Circulating energy generated body heat.
When the pale demonic ants didn't resonate, no heat arose. The heat only came when they were nearby. The dissolved ants within him communed with the living ones.
He didn't know how or why this happened.
Shhh!
The heat intensified fiercely. Like a fever ravaging the body... he could feel the heat rising from within.
'They're still in there!'
Four Thousand Four was certain of the pale demonic ants' presence.
This heat was unlike anything he'd felt before. It was so intense it choked him. It dwarfed the trace ants Chupyeong had scattered to track down Vanguard and the others.
He raised his hand, following the heat.
The external blaze from the cave was overwhelming, but the heat he sensed wasn't that external fire. It was the heat from his true energy—different in nature from the cave's flames.
True energy didn't chase fire. It chased only pale demonic ants.
'Hm?'
Four Thousand Four sensed something odd.
When he pointed his hand toward the cave, the heat dulled. The fluctuation was so subtle he had to heighten his focus to the extreme to detect it... but yes, the heat diminished ever so slightly.
So, in which direction should he open his palm to make the heat surge?
Down. Strangely, pointing toward the ground beneath the cave made his true energy boil like molten lava.
'They've hidden underground.'
Four Thousand Four gave a wry smile.
It was only natural for ants to live underground. They built nests in trees too, but primarily in the earth.
It was so obvious it didn't bear thinking twice... so why had he assumed the ants were housed inside the cave itself, stored away like items in a drawer?
Because humans needed to manage them.
Humans had to be able to retrieve them at any time, control their numbers, and care for them properly to preserve their unique traits.
Four Thousand Four released his circulation and stood.
There was no need to circulate any longer. Now that he knew the ants existed, there was nothing left to do but wait for the flames consuming the cave to die down.
"Hohoho! Ho ho!"
Gokgang laughed. But his laughter was thick with emptiness and defeat.
His eyes were fixed on Four Thousand Four, unblinking.
So that's what Four Thousand Four, heir to the Ant Master, looked like.
The bastard had slain Chupyeong.
Since Chupyeong had lost to him, Gokgang couldn't hope to win in a martial clash either.
That left poison arts...
Damn it! The bastard had acquired ant essence.
Ant essence was the state where pale demonic ants dissolved within the body and merged with one's true energy.
Swallowed normally, ants melted in stomach acid and digested away.
In that state, they were just ants—mere snacks with no effect. Folk remedies claimed fire ants boosted virility or ant powder helped arthritis... but to a martial artist, they were worthless.
But there was an exception.
Under certain conditions, pale demonic ants wouldn't digest in the stomach. Instead, their essence absorbed into the body and fused with true energy. Bones and tendons strengthened, veins wrapped in tough membranes, senses sharpened to superhuman levels.
That was ant essence.
And Four Thousand Four, that bastard, had achieved it.
The pale demonic ants and blood ants he'd scattered hadn't digested inside him—they'd become essence, coursing through his veins.
What conditions...? The key to forming ant essence.
Gokgang had never discovered that "key condition."
He'd spent his life wrestling with pale demonic ants, learning all their secrets—except the one essential condition for ant essence.
How had Four Thousand Four uncovered it?
No, he couldn't have. It wasn't something you found by searching. Probably... the Ant Master... that old man had rigged it somehow.
"What damn luck you've got. How do you beat a guy as lucky as you? You don't."
Gokgang chuckled bitterly.
The bastard could sense the ants' presence with his energy sense. He was the only one who could wield pale demonic ants as masterfully as Gokgang himself, despite knowing nothing about them.
That was what he wanted to confirm: Had the bastard truly gained ant essence?
When the blood ants failed to track him, when the pale demonic ants Chupyeong carried vanished like sinking into quicksand... he'd suspected it then.
Now it was confirmed.
"You think I'd let a bastard like you have my children? In your dreams! I can't beat you, but that doesn't mean I'll hand them over. Not a single one!"
Gokgang pulled out a lump of ointment balled up like a rice ball.
"What I've obtained, no one else will take."
Gokgang muttered at the fist-sized ointment before hurling it unhesitatingly into the roaring flames.
"Urgh...!"
Four Thousand Four grimaced deeply and groaned.
The man who hadn't flinched when blades scorched his flesh now writhed in pain.
"You hurt?"
"The pale demonic ants are burning."
"What? What do you mean... The Star Garden Lord's burning the ants?"
"Heh heh! The Star Garden Lord is human too. He can't burn an endless horde. Strictly speaking, the ants right now... they're committing suicide."
"Suicide?"
"......"
Four Thousand Four couldn't smooth his furrowed brow. He leaned against a tree for support.
It hurt too much to even stand.
The pale demonic ants' agony boiled up from deep in his chest. No sound, no touch—just the vivid sensation of their bodies charring in the flames.
The ants crawled into the fire like iron filings drawn by a magnet.
'Ant Odor Ointment!'
A scent wafting from the blaze lured the pale demonic ants.
Stronger than any odor, stronger even than the queen ant's pheromones, it bloomed from the flames.
And Four Thousand Four recalled the term "ant odor ointment."
Ant odor ointment? Where had he heard it? Read it? In the records?
He had no memory of hearing "ant odor ointment" before. Yet it sprang to mind crystal clear. Even that it was burned in flames to draw the ants.
"It wasn't ours to begin with, so no great loss... Still, a shame. We could've avoided so many fights with it."
Vanguard sounded genuinely regretful.
Bang! Boom! Bang bang bang!
Signal flares shot up from all directions.
The flares seemed to communicate: one side fired, the other answered, and vice versa.
They erupted around the Star Garden in every direction.
Judging by the flares alone, encirclement was undeniable. Firing them in a perfect circle like this wasn't child's play.
Four Thousand Four had planned to infiltrate the Heavenly Annihilation Division via the Star Garden, but now they were trapped like rats in their own snare.
Around that time, alongside ant odor ointment, Four Thousand Four recalled another term.
'Ant Heavenly Annihilation... Ant Heavenly Annihilation. Ant Heavenly Annihilation... Ant Heavenly Annihilation!'
The phrase "ant heavenly annihilation" popped into his head, and soon its meaning followed.
Ant Heavenly Annihilation was a poison.
The ultimate venom released by dying pale demonic ants. Deadly enough to bear the name "heavenly annihilation."
"Ah!"
Thud! Thump!
Four Thousand Four's cry of alarm came at the same instant Vanguard and Hanbi collapsed limply.
'Ant Heavenly Annihilation! An incurable absolute poison! Gokgang... he's turned this place into a land of death.'
But he'd recalled the term too late.
Vanguard and Hanbi were already poisoned and down. And he wasn't unscathed either. His chest tightened, his head spun, and his legs buckled.
Thud!
He collapsed too.