CHAPTER 50: Fortuitous Encounter
A resounding crack echoed deep into the cave as the stone wall split open.
Rumble rumble rumble—
“......!”
As the stone wall parted, a rush of stale, musty air poured out.
Beyond it loomed a vast cavern.
The tunnel leading here had been sizable enough, but this chamber could have swallowed several such tunnels whole.
Step. Step. Step.
Jin Muhon widened his eyes and slowly stepped inside.
The ceiling overhead was high enough to house an entire palace hall. Studded across it were glowing jewels mimicking constellations, casting a faint bluish glow over the entire space.
The walls were carved with grotesque figures—neither fully human nor beast. A monster bird with three wings, a giant with multiple arms, a faceless form grinning with a gaping maw.
Each bared fangs and claws in vivid detail, as if ready to burst from the stone at any moment.
In the chamber's center stood a neatly hewn stone altar.
Its surface gleamed with a subtle crimson-black sheen, as if soaked in blood over countless years.
Just looking at it sent chills crawling up the spine.
“Blood... perhaps?”
Drawn by an inexplicable pull, Jin Muhon approached the altar.
Hummm— hummm— hummm— hummm—
The Four Emperors Sword resonated more intensely.
It thrummed as if proclaiming this its true home.
“Very well, then.”
Jin Muhon placed the sword atop the altar.
Soon, the pitch-black blade began to take on a bloody hue.
He stepped back to observe what changes might unfold.
“......”
The transformation started at the blade's tip and swiftly engulfed the entire Four Emperors Sword.
Not just the sword—the altar itself glowed red, as if doused in fresh blood.
Wooooong—
The light emanating from the altar grew brighter.
The blood-red glow surged like waves, illuminating the cavern brilliantly.
Jin Muhon followed the light back to the walls.
“......”
His eyes narrowed.
Under the faint glow of the luminous jewels, he hadn't noticed before. But now, it was clear the walls weren't merely carved with monsters.
Beneath the monsters' feet writhed countless humans—pierced, torn, and screaming in agony.
And those carvings extended not just to the walls, but the floor and ceiling as well.
A hell mural.
This chamber depicted a colossal vision of hell.
“What an ill-fated place.”
The moment Jin Muhon muttered under his breath—
Hiss—
The soaring light from the altar abruptly dimmed, then extinguished entirely.
“......?”
In its place, a thread-thin strand of crimson energy, like a silken thread, drifted from the Four Emperors Sword into the air.
The crimson thread fluttered through the darkness toward somewhere unseen.
Jin Muhon snatched up the sword and hurried after it.
Step. Step. Step.
In one dim corner of the cavern was a passage just wide enough for a single person.
The crimson thread led inside.
Jin Muhon followed.
After about a quarter hour, they emerged into a modest stone chamber.
“And what's this?”
Nothing remarkable about the room.
Small enough for three grown men to lie down in.
One wall held a roughly carved stone bed; the opposite floor bore a flower bed dusted with soil.
A flower bed in a pitch-black chamber without a speck of light.
And before it—the tattered robes and weathered bones of who might have been this cavern's master.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Whoever it had been, Jin Muhon had entered the deceased's abode uninvited. He offered a light bow.
At that moment—
The crimson thread slipped smoothly into the flower bed.
“......?”
Should he dig it up?
No—best not act rashly and ruin everything.
Jin Muhon circulated his upper dantian energy, scrutinizing the flower bed intently.
No changes.
“A dud, then.”
Growing bored of waiting, he slowly surveyed the chamber.
Without luminous jewels, darkness reigned thick here. He focused his energy into his eyes and groped the walls for hidden mechanisms.
'Something has to trigger a change... Hm?'
Then Jin Muhon halted before a section of the wall.
His fingertips felt something.
“Writing?”
Words carved into the stone by someone.
Jin Muhon traced the wall with both hands, reading the inscription downward.
They call it the Ten Thousand Blood Ghost Flower. Yet after guzzling far more than ten thousand souls, why won't it bloom? At this rate, it'll drain the lifeblood of everyone south of the clouds.
“Ten Thousand Blood Ghost Flower?”
Jin Muhon tilted his head.
It rang a vague bell, yet didn't quite surface clearly. He continued groping the wall.
Last month, my eldest senior brother died. This month, my second brother followed. Fuck. But that wasn't all. Cartloads of seniors and juniors went before us as sacrifices. Damn it all. Next month, will it be me? Or little sis? Probably me, right? Yeah, me. Dying here? No fucking way. That bastard master of mine. Rotten fucker. Burn in hellfire.
So I killed him. Me, Dan Ri-ye. I won't die as some sacrifice in a hellhole like this. He went down nice and easy. Just to check, I sprinkled master's blood on it. No bloom, as expected. Little sis slit her own throat. Idiot. If she'd held out one more day. Now I'm leaving. Master's dead, seniors dead, sis dead—nothing left to hold me. Who'd come back here? Maybe master hid a successor? Who knows. 'Do what you can and leave the rest to heaven,' they say. Whoever reads this—if luck smiles and the flower blooms, eat it well. Master slaved over it for a century. But the flower—
“...What?”
It ends there?
Flabbergasted, Jin Muhon checked the wall everywhere.
But that was all there was.
“Tch.”
He couldn't grasp the full story, but he got the gist.
Perhaps some past demonic lord fled the cult and committed atrocities here.
Then—
Whoosh—
A clear fragrance filled the chamber as it lit up brightly.
Jin Muhon whipped his head around.
“......!”
Astoundingly, a bizarre flower had bloomed from the barren flower bed.
A wondrous bloom.
Its petals were transparent, veins like blood threads starkly visible; the stamen burned blood-red. The stem gleamed bone-white, evoking a skeleton.
Beautiful, yet eerie.
Such was the flower.
“So that's the Ten Thousand Blood Ghost Flower.”
A blossom nurtured on ten thousand lives and grudges.
Ironically, it unfurled only after all involved had departed.
“Definitely an elixir, but...”
Its aura alone was extraordinary. Even the Heavenly Demon's Infinite Art, said to encompass all elixirs of the world, didn't radiate like this.
Yet knowing its origins made him hesitate to give it to Jin Hayeon.
He extended his sword intent to probe it carefully.
Contrary to fears, no grudging souls lingered.
“Still, better not risk any mishaps.”
No matter how he thought, feeding it to Hayeon felt wrong.
Should some undetected soul haunt it, the backlash could be severe.
But leaving it? A waste.
“Ah! Give it to old man Muheo.”
He had the Bone Transformation Rebirth Pill too, and after a lifetime teaching disciples, a tonic for his health seemed fitting.
If a major spirit dwelled within, the Primordial Heavenly Lord would handle it.
Decision made, Jin Muhon plucked the flower without hesitation.
He half-expected wails of ghosts, but no ill omens.
Just the crimson stamen glowing brighter.
“Hmm.”
He held it before his eyes for inspection.
Its eerie form belied a pure, clear scent.
“This should cover the Bone Transformation Rebirth Pill nicely... Hm?”
But in that instant—
Like ice melting under a blazing sun, the flower began to liquify and drip.
“Gah!”
Instinctively, Jin Muhon opened his mouth and swallowed the falling nectar.
The molten elixir slid down his throat upon touching his tongue.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Smack... smack... gasp...!
As he licked his lips regretfully, eyeing the stem—
Sudden, bone-chilling cold and agony erupted through his meridians.
Jin Muhon hurriedly assumed the cross-legged position.
“Haa...”
His body froze solid.
His breath emerged as frosty vapor, scattering in the dark.
His teeth chattered clack clack, eyes growing dry.
'Extreme yin, then.'
Crack. Crackle.
Now he heard his meridians icing over.
A few breaths, and sensation vanished below his neck.
The Sword Demon of old, no matter his inner energy, would have frozen into an ice statue.
But now, his upper dantian endured.
'Fine. Let's do this.'
Wooooong—
Jin Muhon closed his eyes and roused the energy coiled in his upper dantian.
Not vast in quantity, but its quality rivaled the flower.
It began pushing the cold back downward, bit by bit.
Drip... drip... crackle.
Sweat beaded on his chin.
Droplets hitting the floor froze instantly.
Jin Muhon circulated the Dual Intent Divine Art to control the flower's spiritual energy.
Sizzle!
Blood mist steamed outward from him, like rising vapor.
- Kee kee kee kee!
- Keeeaaak!!
- Kyaaaahhh!
Soul wails? Or hallucinations?
With eyes shut, ghostly shrieks echoed from every corner.
Cold, eerie hands seemed to grasp his neck, arms, waist.
Was he sitting or lying? Pitch black or blinding white?
How much time passed?
A quarter hour? A day? A year?
Impossible to tell.
At least he'd driven the flower's energy below his waist.
Only possible thanks to upper dantian energy and the Dual Intent Divine Art.
'Can't stay like this forever...'
Next: fully absorb the energy as his own.
Problem: too potent. His upper dantian energy couldn't swallow it—might get devoured instead.
Then—
'Hm?'
His left hand twitched.
Eyes still closed, Jin Muhon focused on the sensation.
'There you are.'
It was the poison dragon lodged in his left hand since the battle with the Poison King.
Born from a sacrificed soul.
Come to think of it, the Ten Thousand Blood Ghost Flower too stemmed from unknown malice.
'Go.'
Jin Muhon awakened the poison dragon.
It surged down his meridians eagerly.
Kaboom!!
The agony was excruciating.
Mind reeling.
Vicious yin, vicious poison.
Harmonized by upper dantian and Dual Intent Divine Art.
Even Jin Muhon couldn't predict the outcome.
All he could do: grit his teeth against the impending clash.
When the four forces collided at one point—
Jin Muhon's world went utterly blank.
Five days had passed.
Go Seokchu grew more anxious with each day Jin Muhon was gone.
'Damn it. What if he's dead? Who do I collect the fee from then?'
He scowled, glancing at the recumbent Jin Baek and Jin Jaryeong.
Though stripped of inner energy and unable to move, these two had been the Sword Demon's division leaders.
They read his intent in his eyes.
“Hey, rat. Wanna die?”
Jin Baek grinned at him.
“Huh? W-what's that outta nowhere?!”
“Cut the crap. Or you might actually drop dead.”
Normally, Go Seokchu wouldn't dare retort.
But after five days feeding, washing, and cleaning shit for these cripples? That snark boiled his blood.
“You're pushing it! You gobbled it up fine when I fed you— that's how you talk to your caretaker?!”
“...Hah. Look at this punk. Ballsy now, huh.”
“Damn right! Swollen with 'em! So what? Lost your energy, can't move, muscles wasted to skeletons! What're you gonna do?!”
“......”
Jin Baek's grin faded as he slowly propped up his torso.
Unable to move, yet the killing intent in his eyes chilled Go Seokchu to the bone.
Face paling, he scrambled back.
Recovering Yeon Jeokhwa lightly smacked the back of his head.
“Ow!”
“Why pick a fight if you're that scared, punk.”
“Kekekeke.”
Jin Baek relaxed, chuckling.
Jin Jaryeong's lips twitched too.
'Fuck me.'
Go Seokchu rubbed his head, eyes darting.
Sword Demon's division leaders.
All bereft of energy; two with severed limbs' meridians.
Yet a brawl now would surely kill him.
'Damn. Not scared of shit—just gross.'
Ptui!
He spat roughly and turned toward Poison Dragon Valley.
“Don't forget who you owe this easy life to... Hm? What's... that?”
Blinking at the valley, Go Seokchu stared.
The three leaders followed his gaze, wondering at the fool.
“......?”
“......!”
“Th-that... could it be?”
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
The heavens quaked.
Crimson mist surged from Poison Dragon Valley like a tsunami.
And above—
A pristine white dragon twisted its majestic form skyward in ascension.