The Collapsing Mine
Two days earlier.
In the depths of a moonless night, Uncheon rose quietly from his bed.
Countless eyes were fixed on Yanghu Manor, yet not one among them could sense his presence.
If I don’t go now, there won’t be another chance to search in secret.
Rumors in the murim spread like wildfire. There was no such thing as a secret once more than one person knew it.
By morning, word of the coal mine will be everywhere.
He had to climb the mine and find Moyongjeok before the Hebei Peng Family, hearing the rumors, moved in a panic.
Uncheon drew the Silent Divine Shadow to its utmost limit and unfolded the Cho-un Shin-bop.
In the direction he passed there was no sound, no shadow, not even the faintest outline of a form. Even Jeokbalgoein, sleeping in the next room, never noticed that Uncheon had vanished.
Turning over in his mind the information about the coal mine he had gleaned from the old man, Uncheon cut through the thick darkness and ascended toward the pit.
The coal mine was so dark a man could not see an inch before his face. Uncheon closed his eyes once, then raised his vision with the Sal-ui-gong.
When the killing intent art spread through the pitch-black darkness, the interior of the shaft slowly took shape. Moving became no trouble at all.
Concentrating for any sign of presence, he descended with perfect precision. He walked a long while through the lightless tunnel without even the whisper of wind.
He halted.
Crunch.
A faint sound of hard food being crushed between teeth reached him.
Found him. There.
The deeper he went, the louder the chewing became. Far ahead, at the end of the shaft, a wriggling presence stirred.
“Ah… so boring. When are they coming?”
Moyongjeok cracked open a peanut and tossed it into his mouth. It was the perfect emergency ration for a man in hiding. Still lying down, he reached for another handful of the dried peanuts he had set beside him.
His fingertips brushed empty air.
Huh… did they roll underneath?
Moyongjeok frowned and turned his head. At the tips of his fingers he saw a human foot.
Whoosh!
He sprang up at once and stared at the man who had entered the tunnel.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Are you the one called Moyongjeok?”
The voice was young. Moyongjeok eyed Uncheon warily.
“Have you come from the Peng Family?”
“No.”
Enemy.
Paah!
Moyongjeok leveled the tip of the short red tube at his waist. To make up for weak martial arts he always carried hidden weapons. If the man was not of the Hebei Peng Family, there was no need even to ask who he was.
A dart tube?
Uncheon expected a sharp needle or some such projectile to fly from the red tube aimed at him.
“It’s dangerous to point a hidden weapon at someone without even asking who he is.”
Tap.
The instant Moyongjeok pressed the trigger, Uncheon lightly struck the tip of the red tube with his hand.
Whoosh!
He had thought the tube heavy with needles; it was surprisingly light. In that same moment—
Paaah!
A cloud of white powder enveloped Uncheon’s entire face. The tip he had meant to send skyward now pointed straight at Moyongjeok’s own face.
“Aaaagh!!”
Moyongjeok screamed and rolled across the floor. Before he could even attempt to purge the poison he vomited black blood and his life was cut short.
“Ah…?”
Had Uncheon looked him full in the eyes he would have known it was poison powder, but the whole thing had happened so fast there was no time to react.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to kill you…”
Uncheon gazed down at the body for a moment, a pang of regret settling over him. Accident or not, he had taken the man’s life against his will.
What now?
Looking at the corpse sprawled on the ground, he debated whether to carry it out or leave it where it lay. The debate did not last long. Leaving it in the coal mine seemed best.
They said this man possessed a piece of the Cheonhwangdo Map…
The object that had sparked the Baekcheon Blood Sect Incident. The treasure countless people hungered to possess. Uncheon carefully brushed the poison powder from the body and searched every inch of it.
Nothing?
He had no idea what the Cheonhwangdo Map even looked like. Because it was called a map he had vaguely pictured something like a drawing. Yet on Moyongjeok’s person there was neither the map nor any other item of note.
He must have hidden it somewhere else already. Of course—no one carries something that important around carelessly.
And now that he was dead, every clue to its whereabouts had vanished with him.
At this rate I’ll never find the Cheonhwangdo Map…
Uncheon searched the body one last time. When he felt inside a sleeve his fingers brushed a dark-colored bracelet.
At that moment—
Wuuuung.
Huh? This feeling…
It was familiar—the same intangible qi he had felt when he first fastened the sword belt his maternal grandfather had given him around his waist.
Uncheon slipped the bracelet from the dead man’s wrist and examined it. On a single round bead that glowed with a faint red light was carved the character Huang—the same character inscribed on the sword belt.
Hmm… the writing looks identical to the one on the sword belt. Probably made by the same hand.
He unfastened the sword belt and tucked the bracelet into the hollow space inside.
Too many sharp-eyed people around. Better to hide it than wear it openly.
After that he dragged the corpse deeper into the shaft and left the coal mine.
Once the people who enter the mine find the body empty-handed, that should be the end of it.
Uncheon unfolded his movement art and raced back toward Yanghu Manor. He alone knew of Moyongjeok’s death.
KWAANG—!!!
An enormous explosion thundered from the coal mine. The ground outside shook with the force of the blast.
“Kwahahahaha!!”
Bocheok threw back his head and roared with laughter as he listened to the detonations. He had entered ten separate shafts and set off the Thunderbolt Heaven-Shattering Bombs.
“I wonder how many of those rat bastards who went inside will crawl out before the whole place caves in! Kwahahahaha!”
Dudududu—
Ceilings and walls of the tunnels began to collapse. With his exceptional hearing Uncheon was the first to catch the sound of the blasts deep in the shafts. Earth and stone rained down; he kept running forward without pause.
Alone he could have moved faster, yet he could not simply sprint ahead and abandon the people behind him who did not know the way out. From every direction came the crash of falling rock mixed with human screams.
“Aaaagh!! The ceiling’s coming down!!”
“Get out—now!”
“The path is blocked!!”
Dududududu—
The closer they climbed toward the entrance, the louder the collapsing tunnels became.
Just a little farther!
Thud thud thud!!
Behind Uncheon, Jeokbalgoein, Mun Gu, True Man Cheongyu, and Daoist Yujin kept their spacing and smashed aside the boulders raining down as they ran. Inside a collapsing mine there was no friend or foe. Without helping one another none of them would escape alive.
Kuuuuung—!!
Now it was not only the ceiling; the floor itself began to give way.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Uncheon pushed his hearing to the limit, scanning every branch of the tunnel as he moved.
“This way!”
Fortunately the shaft he chose was collapsing more slowly than the others.
A little more and we’ll be outside.
Uncheon abruptly halted his movement art and looked back at the murim folk following him. Jeokbalgoein, who had been right on his heels, demanded urgently,
“Why aren’t you going out?”
“From here on you just keep running straight. You go first.”
“……Understood. Get out quick.”
Jeokbalgoein brushed past him and raced for the exit. Mun Gu, True Man Cheongyu, and Daoist Yujin followed hard on his heels.
A moment later Uncheon spotted Baekri So and Sanggwan Gyeong, who had fallen a little behind.
Dudududuk—
I knew this would happen…!
The support pillars holding the tunnel groaned and bowed as if they would snap. Uncheon seized a pillar with both hands and poured his internal energy into it. Baekri So, racing up with the men of the Blue Dragon Hall, shouted at the sight of Uncheon bracing the timber.
“Uncheon!! What are you doing? Get out of there!!”
“Baekri hyung, I can still hold it! Go—hurry!”
“Damn it, you come out right after us!”
Baekri So and Sanggwan Gyeong hesitated only a heartbeat before sprinting for the open air. Uncheon held the pillar until the last of the murim folk had passed.
Good. Now I can—
Just as he prepared to unfold his movement art again—
Kuuuuung!
It was not the ceiling above the pillar he held, but the roof of the tunnel ahead that came crashing down.
……I’m finished.
There was no way through the completely sealed passage. The pillar in his grip could no longer bear the weight; the ceiling above him began to fall as well.
I have to find another way.
Taah!
Uncheon drew the Cho-un Shin-bop to its absolute peak and darted through the collapsing galleries.
Whooosh!!
Yet no shaft leading outside revealed itself. Ceiling and floor gave way together; the space in which he could move shrank by the second. At last he stopped and stared ahead.
“This is bad.”
He had run into a dead end. Turning back was no longer possible either. A wry smile tugged at his lips.
“Haah… so this is where my life ends? I haven’t even met a girl I like yet, and I still haven’t eaten half the good food in the world.”
Wuuuuung—
A vast, animal-like bellow rolled through the entire collapsing mine, and the ground shuddered on every side.
Thud.
A heap of stone dropped from directly above his head. At the same instant a crack split the wall that barred his path, and a hole opened.
Uncheon’s eyes went wide.
The wall broke open.
Thud thud thud!!
He drove his fists into the fractured stone.
Kwaang!
“Hah!”
Beyond the broken wall there was no path—only a sheer drop whose bottom could not be seen.
Then—
Shaaaaa—
“……Water?”
The sound of underground current seemed to rise from close by.
Doesn’t sound that deep.
Kuuuuung.
The roar of the collapsing tunnel behind him grew louder by the second.
Even if it doesn’t reach this far, I’ll never get out alive.
Uncheon looked down into the darkness.
“If I’m going to die either way, I might as well gamble on a little hope.”
Taah!
He secured the Cheongeungeom firmly in its sword belt and, without a moment’s hesitation, leapt into the void.
Splash.
Icy water closed over him. The drop had not been as high as he feared, yet the current was swift.
Maybe this underground stream leads outside.
He surrendered himself to the flow and let it carry him.
This is bad.
Before long the space between the water’s surface and the ceiling narrowed until they nearly touched. Uncheon held his breath and submerged completely.
Half a ke later there was still no air pocket above him.
If I hadn’t learned the breathing method of the Sal-ui-gong from Master, I’d be finished.
He still had air to spare. Without panicking he swam in the direction the current carried him. Just as his lungs began to burn, the black-blue darkness before his eyes gradually brightened.
I can surface.
The current weakened and the waterway suddenly widened.
Puuuuuuh!
Uncheon thrust his head above the surface, exhaled the breath he had held, and looked around.
Outside?
He climbed onto the bank and surveyed his surroundings, but it was clear he had not left the mine. He stood in a sealed chamber roughly a hundred pyeong in size.
“Looks like I’m completely trapped.”
The pond linked to the underground stream measured about five jang across.
Water keeps flowing in, yet the pond’s level never rises. That means it’s draining somewhere. If I’m lucky there might be a way out…
No surface channel led away from the pond.
I’ll have to dive and look.
Uncheon submerged again and traced the current. Disappointment soon settled over him.
I can’t get out this way.
Contrary to his hopes, the water escaped through a tiny passage no human body could enter. He surfaced once more and sank onto the stone floor, staring blankly ahead.
Huh?
A faint light shifted across the surface of the pond.
Sunlight!
Uncheon looked up with brightening eyes. High above—about ten jang—a hole pierced the ceiling. Climbing that high would be difficult enough, and the opening itself was far too small for him to squeeze through.
“……I’m completely finished. I won’t be crushed—I’ll starve to death.”
Even with drinking water, a man could not live on water alone.
Pooong!
As if answering his words, something suddenly leapt from the pond’s surface. Uncheon focused on the water again.
Whoosh!
Whatever broke the surface and arced through the air before falling was unmistakably a fish.
If those are here…
He had no idea how many swam in the pond, but at least he would not starve for the moment. With the most pressing problem solved, Uncheon’s heart lightened.
“Hmm… wonder what else is around. Let’s take a look.”
He walked along the walls, examining every surface. Hard stone sealed him in on all sides—that much was certain.
If I knew how far down I am from the surface I might try digging through the rock, but…
He stopped.
Something moved in the shadows at the base of the opposite wall.
What is that?
Uncheon approached cautiously and peered at the wriggling shape.
Whooosh!
A strange living thing shot from the floor into the air. No matter how fast it was, it could not outpace Uncheon.
Thwack!
He smashed the leaping toad out of the air. It hit the ground with a dull thud and died at once. It was plump and well-fleshed.
Lucky. I can catch these too and eat them.
They looked unappetizing, but a man who wanted to live would eat anything.
As long as these are here I can hold out until I find a way.
Uncheon lifted the toad by its hind legs and scanned the rest of the chamber, but nothing else of note appeared.
“Haah… I’m exhausted. Better sleep a little and think after I wake.”
Whoosh.
He tossed the toad aside, stripped off his water-soaked clothes, and lay down on the stone floor.
No one around to see. This isn’t so bad.
Before half a ke had passed, Uncheon had fallen into deep sleep.
The coal mine had completely collapsed.
Those who had barely escaped stared in disbelief at the ruined heap of stone and earth that had once been the mine.
“Th-those men!!”
Someone shouted.
“They set off the thunder bombs inside the mine!!”
Whoosh!
Jeokbalgoein dropped in front of the fleeing figures. Rage filled his face.
“Where did you bastards come from?”
“Kkeuugh…?!”
Under Jeokbalgoein’s killing aura the man could not form a coherent word. At that moment Baekri So landed beside the captives.
“These are evil-path dogs of the Cheonsa Cult!”
Jeokbalgoein’s hands began to tremble.
“These mad dogs… Even if the Cheonhwangdo Map has driven them blind, blowing up an entire coal mine—they’ve lost their minds.”
“S-spare… me…”
Thud.
Jeokbalgoein drove his fist down into the man’s face with crushing force. Then, without mercy, he cut the throats of the dozen others trembling before him.
He had slain men who offered no resistance, yet no one questioned the act. Every one of them shared the same fury.
But amid all the uproar, Namgung Jinwoo heard nothing. He simply stared at the collapsed mine with empty eyes, and tears began to fall.