Chapter 108
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Myriad Demons Cave
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The spectators among the masters cried out in shock, but Dae Jongdo's figure had already vanished into the darkness.
Seonwoyong, however, showed little surprise and simply let out a sigh.
"Foolish fool."
His Victory Sword was swiftly drawn, emitting a white glow as it flew toward the direction Dae Jongdo had fled.
It was the Flying Sword Divine Art.
The Victory Sword carried the full force of the Northern Sea Divine Art.
Swoosh!
"Argh!"
A deathly scream soon echoed.
Moments later, Seonwoyong retrieved his returning Victory Sword and muttered bitterly.
"I've spared his life, so come take him."
With that, he returned to the shabby tavern.
The surroundings had fallen silent.
The tavern's soot stains were now his only companions.
"Bring more alcohol."
From a corner of the deathly quiet tavern, where an old woman had been cowering to hide herself, she hurriedly brought another jar of liquor.
Her hands trembled as she set down the jar.
Seonwoyong knew she had been peeking through the ill-fitting door crack, holding her breath to watch the events outside.
"Fear not. We're all the same people."
He muttered those words as he filled his cup to the brim and drained it in one go.
His throat burned fiercely.
He felt utterly alone in the world.
Lonely, sad, angry.
Now he began drinking straight from the jar.
* * *
Dawn broke, and the scorching sun rose once more over Mingsha Mountain.
The cave entrance that Dew-Cutting Sword Guest Ilseonja had already located was in fact buried over a zhang deep in sand, so it hadn't been possible to enter right away.
While establishing the headquarters near Wolacheon, they had mobilized laborers to excavate the sand covering the cave entrance, erecting timbers and supports.
And today, that entrance was finally exposed to sunlight.
Mingsha Mountain's surface was of course sand, but beneath it lay layers of soft sandstone.
The cave here was not a natural formation but an artificial one, dug painstakingly by human hands and ingenuity over a long period.
The softness of the sandstone had made it feasible, but it was still an monumental achievement.
At the entrance now gathered over a hundred masters of the Ten Heavens Alliance.
"Finally, we open this door."
Golden Purity Nun murmured in a voice thick with emotion.
It was a soliloquy that perfectly captured the feelings of everyone present.
They were now calling themselves the Ten Heavens Alliance instead of the Ten Heavens Society.
With the Nine Great Sects united as one, everyone agreed it was better to use the name Ten Heavens Alliance.
Before their eyes stood an ancient door, weathered yet majestic.
It wasn't large.
Just four chi wide and about six chi high.
But it was carved from a solid piece of precious ebony wood, intricately engraved all over, making it a treasure in its own right.
The carvings mainly depicted scenes from the hells described in Great Cloud Bright Religion doctrine.
The true lord, the Radiant Honored One, had subdued all the world's demons and imprisoned them in the nine levels of hell.
Sinners from the world would fall into those hells and suffer eternally—that doctrine had been rendered in sculpture.
Especially prominent was the figure depicted as the lord of those hells.
Even in Great Cloud Bright Religion teachings, they avoided mentioning this being.
The Heavenly Demon.
While the others merely admired it, Ilseonja was meticulously inspecting and touching every part of the door.
Then he brushed away the sand covering the lintel above.
Three characters were revealed, engraved there.
-Myriad Demons Cave
Boldly incised in a dignified clerical script, yet somehow eerie.
"Myriad Demons Cave? What a suspicious name."
Ilseonja tilted his head as he gazed at the characters.
"Myriad Demons Cave, indeed. Makes me worry if this is truly the place we've been seeking."
Golden Purity Nun shook her head, lost in concern.
The other masters showed similar unease at the name Myriad Demons Cave.
But there were always those of a different mind, and the foremost among them was Jin Kwi.
"Come on, let's open it."
Drunken Dragon Divine Dog, standing beside Golden Purity Nun, grew impatient.
"We should proceed with more caution."
Ilseonja first checked him.
"We've only just reached the door—what more caution is needed? Hurry and open it, let's go in."
But Ilseonja, who had been examining the door's every nook, muttered in bewilderment.
"The thing is... how exactly do we open it...?"
Indeed, the door showed no seam or keyhole of any kind.
"Why fuss? Just smash a door like this."
Without a moment's hesitation, Drunken Dragon Divine Dog stepped forward and unleashed a palm strike.
"No, wait...!"
Boom!
Ilseonja cried out in alarm, but Jin Kwi's ferocious Anti-Dragon Eighteen Palms had already shattered the door.
The sheer power of Jin Kwi's Anti-Dragon Eighteen Palms was tremendous—the ebony door splintered and collapsed.
But a problem arose immediately.
As the door shattered and fell, the lintel above and the doorposts on either side crumbled too, unleashing a massive cascade of sand piled atop them.
"Good heavens..."
Ilseonja let out a sigh of dismay. His companions, watching the scene, shook their heads.
They had barely excavated the entrance, only for it to be buried again in an instant.
All that lay before them now was the collapsed sand.
"Why the long faces? Sand's nothing—just dig it out again."
To cover his embarrassment, Jin Kwi bellowed and immediately urged his Beggars' Sect subordinates to start clearing the sand.
But it was utterly impossible.
This was the flank of Mingsha Mountain, naturally on a steep slope midway up.
And Mingsha Mountain itself was a mountain of thick sand, so for every bit they shoveled away, an equal amount poured down from above to refill the spot.
It was like bailing water from the sea.
For the time it took to eat a meal, dozens of Beggars' Sect disciples sweated profusely to clear the sand, but nothing changed.
Finally, Golden Purity Nun, who had been watching, stepped forward to rebuke Jin Kwi for the first time.
"Jin, lay donor. Please, for heaven's sake, refrain from rash actions. We're only just beginning—whatever shall we do now?"
"Ahem. Tsk..."
Jin Kwi fell silent and stepped back.
The Beggars' Sect disciples, who had been endlessly digging under his orders, took the hint and quietly withdrew.
"This is proving tricky from the start. Dew-Cutting Sword Guest must oversee all future work. From now on, everyone follows his command."
Golden Purity Nun was now the Alliance Leader of the Ten Heavens Alliance.
With her decree, all had no choice but to obey.
The Ten Heavens Alliance masters, all versed in martial arts, withdrew to the headquarters at Wolacheon.
Then, laborers hastily gathered from various places in Dunhuang were redeployed to the Mingsha Mountain site.
They spanned fields like earthworks, construction, carpentry, masonry, and more—but the overall commander was, of course, Ilseonja.
Golden Purity Nun herself stood atop a hill overlooking the site, monitoring the situation.
Standing beside Golden Purity Nun was a Shaolin novice monk with his head shaved blue.
Naturally, it was Smiling Buddha Hyeonjin.
Thoroughly concealing his identity and posing as a young Shaolin disciple, no one paid him any mind.
Except for a few of the Ten Heavens Alliance's top leaders.
"Most suspicious. Makes me wonder if we really must enter there..."
As Golden Purity Nun murmured, Hyeonjin grinned and replied.
"What's suspicious about it? To catch a tiger, you enter the tiger's den—that's the way."
"Does Martial Uncle Hyeonjin know what's waiting inside?"
"How could I? But it's undeniably tasty bait. What matters is whether we bite first, or those fiends do."
"Bait? What do you mean?"
"Don't we all know that place is the holiest sanctum and greatest taboo for the demonic cultists? They've dangled it as bait, and we've bitten—right? Heh heh..."
"Hmm. Then we play the fish for now."
"Exactly. We play fish first, and things get interesting. Of course, they have no idea I exist, so they'll be in real trouble later."
"I know well that Martial Uncle Hyeonjin's deep schemes and far-reaching plans reach divine heights, but this time, I can't help but worry."
"Why? Don't you trust me anymore? Haha..."
"That U Gyeongcheon fellow. Feels like he'll meddle this time. He's already here in Dunhuang, and it can't be coincidence..."
"Heh heh... Too much worry spoils even doable things—don't you know?"
"I'd love to worry less, but ignoring worries we must heed means the damage falls to our juniors."
"Is that so? Then let me tell you one thing. Last night, something big happened on Dunhuang's night streets. They say Blood Thorn Saber King Seong Ilchung lost his wrist? Heh heh..."
"What? Such a thing happened? Whoever did it has impressive skill."
"Not just that Seong Ilchung—apparently, all eighty-odd demonic cult masters present had their wrists severed the same way. And most were Great Cloud experts, no less."
"If true, that's truly astonishing..."
Golden Purity Nun was genuinely startled, lost in thought.
To sever only the wrists of eighty-odd masters, including one of the Seven Kings.
Even for her, one of the Five Divinities, it was no simple feat.