Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: Predation (1)
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Guizhou Province could be called a key transportation hub in the southwestern part of the Central Plains.
Yunnan, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi.
It was land that bordered a total of four provinces.
In the heart of Guizhou Province stood the provincial capital, Guiyang.
"Fine silk for sale! Silk! The king of silks from Shu is right here!"
"Take a look at this sword I'm holding! This is the beloved blade of the Dragon Eon Yong-un!"
"...Regret, you say?!"
"...Forged by the artisans of Mount Mokgan! They crossed to the Takga Iron Fleet in Huguang to craft this White Lotus Pure Steel Sword!"
As the hub where official roads from the four provinces converged, Guiyang was packed with crowds from all over mingling together in several bustling spots.
And here, using them as cover, there was a Heavenly Demon Divine Cult outpost where someone had slipped in.
"Yunnan's famous black tea! Only the finest selected leaves—come check them out!"
On the surface, it looked like an ordinary teahouse.
But the hidden safehouse, with its rooms arranged according to the mysteries of formations, housed Song Gil-jun of the Roaming Devil Forces.
He had been ordered into seclusion and self-reflection.
"......"
He had once been spoken of as the successor to the Demon Brain, destined to take on the role of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's mastermind.
Thus, his confinement was different from others'.
His residence was fixed, but various intelligence networks reported directly to him.
"Young master. Here's the information on Henan as you requested."
He was merely forbidden from using cultists as his direct forces.
He still had the authority to employ proxy schemes, borrowing knives to strike.
Song Gil-jun was mobilizing everything at his immediate disposal to hunt down one late-stage talent.
"...Eon Yong-un."
In the room where Song Gil-jun sat, murmuring to himself with sunken, hollow eyes and a haggard face plastered everywhere with information on Eon Yong-un.
From Heavenly Demon Divine Cult intelligence reports to all newsletters issued by the Azure Bamboo Pavilion, maps marking his movements so far, and even various anecdotes and portraits.
If a stranger stepped into this room, they might mistake the owner for an ardent fanatic of the Dragon.
"...Eon Yong-un."
Song Gil-jun's desire to capture Eon Yong-un was that desperate and obsessive.
Muttering the name once more, he checked the Henan report handed over by his subordinate.
Schick—
He moved to the wall with the map and marked Mount Song with an X.
"Not in Zhenzhu where his main family is, nor in Taiyuan where his maternal family resides, nor in Sichuan where he could be treated as a hero. He didn't accompany the Martial Alliance Leader who appeared in Anhui either. I thought he'd gone to Shaolin... but no?"
To find Eon Yong-un who had vanished like smoke, Song Gil-jun began retracing every route from the beginning.
"Chased out from Zhenzhu and heading south..."
Then, at some point, he spotted something oddly nagging at him.
"What if his appearance at the Moyong family wasn't just to meddle in the Hebei-Liaodong conflict... but because someone asked him to sever the link between the Moyong family and Prince Lian's Mansion?"
A thought flashed through his mind.
"...Is he at Prince Chao's Mansion?"
Song Gil-jun's gaze, fixed on the map, shifted to Gyerim.
"Prince Chao welcomes martial artists. And that prince was smitten with Eon Yong-un... Ha. Why didn't I think of this? I only considered people directly connected to Eon Yong-un."
Muttering feverishly to himself like a madman, Song Gil-jun turned to his subordinate, who had been silent as the dead since delivering the Henan intelligence.
"Sam Ho."
"Yes."
"Gather all intelligence on Prince Chao's Mansion's movements for the past month and bring it here immediately. Once done, go to my informants and tell them to make contact with the internal officer of Prince Lian's Mansion."
"Understood."
Watching his subordinate salute and depart.
Song Gil-jun muttered to himself again.
"No matter how much Prince Chao favors martial artists, it's just for amusement or as hunting dogs at best."
All those noble types were like that.
"His reputation for exceptional character and all that... If he incites Prince Lian's Mansion and ends up with a knife at his precious neck, or framed as a rebel, he'll discard some rivers-and-lakes latecomer without mercy."
Convinced that Eon Yong-un would be crushed like a shrimp between the whales of Prince Chao's and Prince Lian's Mansions, he let out a dry chuckle.
"Heh. Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ To traverse the Endless Abyss, I devised a plan.
My younger comrades and I would each carry bundles of sturdy ropes down, connect the ones we were wearing, and proceed.
Thus, Namgung Yun, Dang Ok-gi, and Woo So-rung connected their carried ropes one by one.
Squeeze.
Finally, I tied a secure knot with the last rope I'd brought down.
- ...Isn't that the end of the ropes?
We'd run out of the ropes we'd brought before fully reaching the bottom of the Endless Abyss.
'You got that right.'
I'd made what I thought was full preparation.
But security was a concern, and ropes were quite heavy anyway.
On a small boat, I couldn't just grab indiscriminately, leading to this situation.
Among the three hanging in a line above me, Namgung Yun spoke up.
"We've used up all the ropes?"
"Yeah. I brought as many as I could. But this is how it turned out? Still, we can see the bottom now, right?"
At my words, Dang Ok-gi shrieked.
"Hey! You call that visible?!"
Visible—
Visiiiible—
His voice echoed enough that the bottom of the Endless Abyss was still far below, enough to steam any ordinary cliff.
The walls glistened with moisture from the nearby waterfall.
'...One misstep here, and even a middling expert screams to their death.'
Knowing that full well.
Woo So-rung swallowed dryly and spoke.
"Wh-what if we go back up and get more ropes?"
"Yang Zongqi said the boat would capsize, and this is all we brought."
"We could buy from a nearby village..."
"Want to spread word that we're here? Why do you think we took a tiny boat in the first place? To keep it secret."
"R-right? Then what do we do now?"
Woo So-rung trembled, Dang Ok-gi sighed.
But truthfully, our situation was hopeful compared to the original protagonist's generation.
'They had pursuers, so they tumbled down from above.'
Many were injured and scattered.
They were stuck in this Endless Abyss for quite a while.
Fortunately, we weren't in such dire straits.
We'd descended a good height using ropes.
And above all, I—a Flower Realm expert—was here.
"Here's the plan. I think I can make it down alone from here. I'll go first. Then one by one..."
"Kak!"
"I didn't finish, why are you freaking out?"
"You're saying jump and you'll catch us!"
"Sharp, huh?"
"You're really insane! Yun, say something!"
"I think it's a good idea."
"Fine. Majority vote then."
"...No, hyung. There are four people—how's that a majority?"
"Ah, Flower Realm folks get two votes. That's over half, right?"
Finishing, I wrapped my body in internal energy for any mishaps.
Pressed my hand to the cliff wall.
Then released my grip on the rope.
What kind of majority vote is that—
Majority vote—
Ignoring Dang Ok-gi's echoing cry, I began descending the cliff when.
The wall I was scraping crumbled with a whoosh, and my body plummeted.
Crash!
But calmly, I spun like a swallow and kicked off the air.
Whirl!
Reached for the wall again, repeating the motion whenever it crumbled. After a moment.
"Huuu. See that?!"
Finally landing, I called out to the guys hanging far above.
"Easy, right? Come down one by one in the order you jumped earlier!"
At my words, Namgung Yun immediately let go of his rope.
Imitating my method on his descent.
He failed to control his strength, the wall collapsed in a rumble, and he lost balance.
Watching the scene, I heightened my focus, dashed to his fall point.
Recalling the softness I'd trained with Mount Wudang's famed Nam Young Taoist.
I swept my hand.
'Four Taels to Pull a Thousand Catties.'
The softness fused with Heaven-Splitting energy sucked in the surrounding air like devouring it.
Whirrr!
Riding that airflow, Namgung Yun lightly touched down at the Endless Abyss floor.
"...Thanks."
I brushed off his thanks and called upward again.
"Next! Dang Ok-gi!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ They each cursed and groaned, but Dang Ok-gi and Woo So-rung safely reached the bottom with my help.
After venting his frustration for a while, Dang Ok-gi suddenly scanned the surroundings and spoke.
"...But this terrain—Elder Tae Young-ja's spot where the carriage fell doesn't mean much here, does it?"
"Pretty much."
He was right.
Thanks to Tae Young-ja, we'd nailed the descent point.
But he'd said the carriage fell midway while crossing the bridge alone.
'And that was from when Tae Young-ja was young.'
Decades had passed since then—enough to turn his hair white.
Searching such a place, and the Endless Abyss bottom was dim even in broad daylight.
Weird rock formations sprawled like a natural labyrinth, making maps largely useless.
"But it's worth a shot."
"Worth a shot?"
"Even we martial experts barely secured safety with prep and luck. No fallen people or animals? And there's an ecosystem here too."
To Dang Ok-gi's retort, I grinned and pushed energy to my upper dantian.
Placed my palm on the Endless Abyss floor and issued the command.
"Rise."
Skeletons of people and beasts lurched to their feet en masse.
Crack!
Crack crack!!
I commanded them.
"A metal carriage is somewhere here. Find it."
Screech!
Screeech!
Woo So-rung and Namgung Yun spoke in turn, staring at me.
"Th-that method! Hyung's sorcery is unbelievable every time."
"...That skill truly is in a league of its own."
"Quiet. Go find something to burn nearby. We'll warm by the fire till they find the carriage."
Urging them on, we built a bonfire and sat for a while.
Screech.
A lone skeletal deer scampered up, pointing its antlers in a direction.
Screeech.
To conserve energy, I severed links with the other skeletons.
"Found it?"
I kicked dirt over the fire and set off with my comrades.
Heading toward Yung Dae-in's carriage.
Every twenty steps or so, Dang Ok-gi halted us.
"Guys! Hold up! Just a sec!"
He stopped us to gather herbs.
Forgotten were his earlier ravings; he beamed ear to ear.
"This is paradise for physicians."
"That good?"
"You kidding?! I figured untouched spots would have decent spirit herbs, but... fifty-year-old ones everywhere!"
His sack already bulged with spirit herbs.
"Picked the thick-rooted ones blindly, but might not carry them all, so I'm vowing to only take century-old from now."
His grin faded as he tilted his head.
"...But this is deer droppings. That bone deer didn't fall dead—it might've lived here? Like you said, there's an ecosystem."
At that, Namgung Yun spoke.
"So predators too?"
"Huh? Didn't think that far... Herbivores alone wouldn't leave this many herbs. Probably some."
Dang Ok-gi nodded, and Woo So-rung freaked.
"P-predators?!"
"Just beasts. No need to panic."
Namgung Yun chided, Dang Ok-gi teased, when.
"Who knows. With fifty-year spirit herbs aplenty, maybe a tiger demon! Rawr!"
"Eek."
The bone deer halted abruptly.
Beyond it, an aged carriage embedded in the ground.
"Found it."
But as we approached.
Tsssss—
A creepy sound rang out.
From the pitch darkness, fist-sized crimson eyes gleamed fiercely.
Not just a pair.
Dang Ok-gi muttered entranced.
"Two, four, six, eight. Spider-like? Eyes bigger than my fist means the body..."
I chuckled.
"Guess it's the predator you mentioned."
I'd only kept quiet since I couldn't explain how I knew.
Truth was, I'd known about it from the start.
'Human-Faced Earth Spider.'
It would greatly aid Dang Ok-gi's future research.
"Ruling here alone like a king, it's lost all fear..."
Not hiding my leaking smile, I drew Regret.
"Come on. This opponent's a first for you."