Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 250
>Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon's Secret Grotto (2)
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‘What are they talking about?’
Hidden quite a distance from the cave entrance, Il-mok couldn’t hear the full exchange of sharp words unfolding nearby.
He only caught occasional shouts and could guess the rough situation from the people’s lip movements.
“What right do you have to block this place!”
As a middle-aged man stepped forward from the disorganized crowd and bellowed, an elder emerged from the group in green robes.
“We’ve never blocked you! It’s those guys doing it!”
The man, who appeared to be an elder of the Tang Clan, said this while pointing at Cheongsung and Emei.
An old nun and an old Daoist stepped forward to retort, but the Tang elder shouted again first.
“As you said, this place has no owner anyway! Naturally, the first to claim it owns it!”
At his cry, the fanatics hidden around Il-mok nearly burst into a frenzy.
“How dare he say the Blood Lake Heavenly Demon’s secret grotto has no owner.”
“We must kill that bastard. Young Master!”
“…….”
Ignoring the fanatics’ ravings, Il-mok focused on the cave.
“If it bothers you so much who enters first, then you go ahead!”
“Well said!”
The Tang elder’s stirring shout drew agreement even from the unaffiliated martial artists among the three major factions.
The old nun, her face flushed red, cried out in protest.
“We’re not trying to claim this cave! We just don’t want meaningless blood to be spilled!”
“The same goes for our Cheongsung Sect! Do you think we came here just to see the Heavenly Demon’s filthy corpse?”
As the Cheongsung faction shouted this and the fanatics nearly lost it again, the Tang elder nodded.
“Then just watch from here. Our Tang Clan is interested in that filthy corpse, so we’ll go in first.”
With that, the Tang elder took the first step, and a tense, murderous aura rippled around the cave entrance.
He advanced steadily, eyes warily fixed on Cheongsung and Emei.
Tang Clan warriors followed the elder toward the cave, and after a short interval, groups of variously dressed stragglers began heading there in pairs.
As they pushed recklessly into the cave, Emei and Cheongsung hesitated briefly before following suit.
Watching this, his companions spoke up in anxious tones.
“W-what should we do?”
“If we wait here and miss the Blood Lake Heavenly Demon’s corpse, we won’t know how to bear that sin.”
Il-mok shook his head at the fanatics’ nonsense and replied.
“Just wait here, and when someone comes out carrying an old corpse, chase them down. Easy.”
“Ah!”
The fanatics exclaimed in admiration at Il-mok’s explanation.
‘Among the rumored burials here, the least valuable is the Blood Lake Heavenly Demon’s corpse. Even if this is the real place, reclaiming it won’t be hard.’
It was a method anyone with a bit of brains could think of.
Gu Yang-mun or Joo Seo-yeon aside, the others weren’t fools by nature.
Yet in this matter, they seemed bizarrely dim-witted.
Deciding to follow Il-mok’s plan, they kept hidden and watched the cave.
Meanwhile, new groups arriving at Baekhak Mountain appeared, eyed each other suspiciously, and entered the cave one after another.
More kept going in, but none came out—an eerie scene repeating for a while.
When a familiar group appeared near the entrance, Il-mok clicked his tongue lightly.
“They must be dying to get killed.”
It was the Orthodox faction’s younger generation.
Facing the cave entrance, they bickered over whether to enter.
Paeng Ji-gwang whined to go in, while Un-baek Dojang and Hwang Bo-yeon suggested turning back.
‘Idiots. If they’re going to act like that, they shouldn’t have come.’
Shaking his head at their antics, Il-mok soon lost interest in them.
A group was emerging from the cave entrance.
Their robes, originally green, were now splattered with dark red bloodstains from battle.
Sichuan warriors.
The first to enter were the first to exit.
‘No way they already grabbed everything?’
But there was no sign of an ancient corpse.
Suspecting they’d taken the corpse and other loot, Il-mok’s eyes suddenly widened.
‘Those crazy bastards!?’
* * *
Tang Cheol-jin, the outer elder of the Sichuan Tang Clan, entered the Heavenly Demon’s secret grotto with the clan’s elite Hidden Poison Squad.
From the entrance onward, blood stained every path, and corpses littered the way endlessly.
“P-please… s-spare….”
Some badly wounded survivors lingered, but at Tang Cheol-jin’s gesture, the squad granted them swift death.
A mercy of sorts.
Better a quick end than agonizing here.
Pushing past corpses for a while, a fork appeared before them.
Tang Cheol-jin, wearing a strange expression, chose the left path instead of splitting up.
As if marking the true start of the grotto, more bodies greeted them.
Swaaaaang!
Traps sprang from everywhere.
But Tang Cheol-jin and the squad, all Tang Clan experts, evaded them easily.
They pressed on deep into the cave, bypassing dozens of traps and three forks.
Then Tang Cheol-jin gave a bizarre order.
“Let’s head back.”
“We can handle traps like these and keep going, Elder.”
The Hidden Poison Squad leader protested, but Tang Cheol-jin shook his head.
“Pointless. For a grotto the Martial Alliance was chasing, isn’t it too deep and convoluted? And above all, don’t forget—our goal isn’t the treasures here.”
Their first objective wasn’t treasure. That was secondary.
Their primary aim: prevent Emei or Cheongsung from claiming the treasures.
The squad leader grasped his intent but voiced a concern.
“If this really is the Heavenly Demon’s grotto, Emei or Cheongsung might grab the treasures after we leave.”
“That’s why we’re leaving.”
“???”
As the squad leader and members looked puzzled, Tang Cheol-jin grinned slyly.
“I checked on the way in—the wind blows from outside in.”
“!!!”
Understanding at last, the squad nodded and turned back toward the entrance.
Fortunately, they didn’t cross paths with Cheongsung or Emei on the way out.
Instead, they encountered scattered pairs of warriors.
“Deal with them.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Tang Clan mercilessly slaughtered them as they went.
Poison was impractical in the narrow cave, but conversely, few could withstand Tang Clan’s hidden weapons there.
After massacring dozens from minor sects, they reached the entrance.
New arrivals to the grotto had gathered—about twenty at the mouth.
Some faces were familiar even to Tang Cheol-jin.
“We greet Elder Tang Cheol-jin.”
Younger generation from other sects and families bowed unenthusiastically.
Paeng Ji-gwang, that brat among them, grimaced like he’d eaten shit while cupping his fists.
Pausing at their greetings, Tang Cheol-jin changed his mind.
‘Our Tang Clan repays favors twofold, grudges tenfold.’
Deciding it was for the best, he issued the order.
“Poison them.”
At his command, several squad members scattered poison at the entrance. Some even used palm winds or fans to spread it further.
As the dozen rear squad members dosed the area,
“What are you doing!?”
Hwang Bo-yeon and Un-baek Dojang led the cries of shock from those at the entrance, but Tang Cheol-jin spoke impassively.
“Deal with them.”
His order unleashed a hail of hidden weapons at the group.
“Gah….”
“Kuaaagh!”
The younger generation were targets too.
“Y-you filthy….”
Paeng Ji-gwang, who’d insisted on entering and stood at the front, couldn’t react to the ambush.
Dozens of darts pierced his body, poison foam bubbling from his mouth.
Thud.
“I-I’m the third son of the North Sea Paeng Clan….”
Muttering his lineage to the end, Paeng Ji-gwang collapsed pathetically.
Not just him—everyone nearby writhed on the ground, pierced by darts.
The survivors were the Orthodox younger generation, excluding Paeng.
Hwang Bo-yeon and Un-baek Dojang had deflected the darts and stepped forward protectively, while Myeong-hwan Dojang and Jeon Gal Eun-yeong guarded Hwang Bo Se-hee at her side.
Seeing Un-baek Dojang and Hwang Bo-yeon batting away the squad’s darts, Tang Cheol-jin tsked.
‘Tch. Need to finish quick and collapse the entrance.’
Aiming for murder and evidence destruction alike, he stepped in personally.
With wind blowing toward the entrance, poison on the brats wasn’t viable.
Paht!
Boom!
His palm struck Hwang Bo-yeon’s fist, thunderous impact echoing.
A younger expert versus an elder, yet she held firm without retreating.
But her face darkened.
Not from the encircling Tang warriors.
Sizzle.
Her fist, shielded by qi, burned and smoked acridly.
‘A Poison Human.’
Tang Cheol-jin’s left hand, which had clashed with hers, glowed green, toxin seeping into her.
“Haat!”
Instead of a weak gasp, Hwang Bo-yeon surged with pure Orthodox inner force from her dantian to resist.
As she dueled Tang Cheol-jin alone, Un-baek Dojang faced the squad leader, and Myeong-hwan Dojang with Jeon Gal Eun-yeong barely blocked the dart barrage.
“S-sister….”
Hwang Bo Se-hee trembled, face pale as death.
She knew wandering the jianghu was dangerous, but never dreamed death at the hands of fellow Orthodox Sichuan Tang Clan.
Moreover, she’d witnessed a dozen spewing blood and dying from their darts right before her.
A moment where death seemed imminent.
Slash!
A chilling cut rang from the encircling squad members.
A familiar, nonchalant voice pierced her ears.
“The party’s over.”
Startled, Hwang Bo Se-hee turned.
“Time to head home.”
There stood a man wearing an enraged Sichuan King Elephant mask.
* * *
‘Those crazy bastards!?’
Shocked by the Tang warriors spreading poison at the entrance, Il-mok realized their scheme as they attacked the younger generation too.
‘Not after treasure—instead weakening Cheongsung and Emei’s forces. The rest are just collateral for covering tracks.’
Finishing his deduction, Il-mok ordered his group and dashed toward the entrance with lightness skill.
Paht!
Not out of rage at their evil or pity for the dying youths.
Simply.
“The party’s over.”
If he could save those younger Orthodox and send them home.
“Time to head home.”
It would incite infighting in the Orthodox factions.