A Matter of Trust
I opened the door and stepped inside. The moment I crossed the threshold, I knew exactly where I was.
Wait, isn't this... the same place from earlier?
It was the chamber filled with weapons that I had entered during the day.
Every single blade here deserved to be called a masterpiece. Though I couldn't say for sure,
They're all at least Silver-grade.
They were on par with the masterwork swords forged in the Cheolgang.
Or perhaps...
Even higher. Gold-grade, maybe.
These might be the kind of weapons that were strictly forbidden from leaving the clan unless under exceptional circumstances.
If I actually knew how to appraise swords, I could say for sure.
But since I was completely clueless in this area, it was nothing more than a guess.
Still, I knew none of these blades were ordinary.
If I could just swipe a few and sell them...
I would probably make a fortune.
And such weapons were scattered all over the place.
I scanned them one by one, then turned to Dok-jon to speak.
"Hey, Elder—"
"Keep your voice down. They'll hear you outside," Dok-jon hissed.
"..."
I shut my mouth mid-sentence.
I stared at the entrance. Not the secret passage I had just used, but the main entrance we had entered through during the day.
The door was firmly shut. Were there people on the other side?
Either they're investigating the secret vault, or they're simply standing guard.
It was highly likely. After all, a secret vault was called secret for a reason—it was hidden, and it contained valuable things.
Now that it had been discovered and opened, it was only natural for guards to be posted to secure and investigate it.
But one question remained.
Are they watching our quarters too?
Would they really leave us unwatched, knowing we might hold the key to the vault? As that thought crossed my mind, my expression hardened.
It's entirely possible.
In fact, they were probably already doing it.
Besides...
No matter how righteous the Dang Clan claims to be...
Now that an outsider had uncovered their family's secret vault, there was always a risk they might try to silence me.
I need to start planning for that.
I had been aware of this danger from the moment I first heard about the vault.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down my spine.
This is exactly why I try to avoid dealing with high-status people.
It was like the tyranny of giant corporations. In my past life and this one, getting tangled up with the powerful always ended in disaster.
I had to proceed with extreme caution.
First things first.
I silently looked at Dok-jon. Since this chamber couldn't be our final destination, there had to be something else we needed to do. I gave him a look, prompting him to show me the way.
"Over there," Dok-jon said, pointing.
Sure enough, he gestured toward a specific spot.
He was pointing at the wall directly opposite the entrance.
Is this a hidden mechanism too? I examined it closely, but it was different from before.
There are no markings.
There wasn't a single dot to serve as a guide. It looked like nothing more than a rough stone wall.
Hmm.
What was I supposed to do then?
As I focused my gaze and studied it further...
Ah.
I finally understood what Dok-jon meant.
"It might not make sense at first, but on that wall..." Dok-jon began to explain.
I listened to his belated explanation.
At the same time, I gripped the hilt of the sword at my waist.
"...use the sword techniques of Cheongwol Gate... Wait, kid?"
Dok-jon frowned as he watched me.
That was all I needed to hear.
Vrooooom!
Qi surged, gathering in the palm of my hand.
The concentrated energy flowed down the blade, overflowing in a brilliant, deep blue light.
Feeling the momentum build, the corners of my mouth curled upward.
Nice.
It was different from before.
Unlike my first attempt, channeling the energy was much easier now.
...And the quality has changed too.
I realized that both the volume and the purity of the flowing energy had grown significantly.
Had my internal energy reserves increased? Probably not.
It simply meant I had become far more proficient in utilizing it.
"Huuuu..."
I took a shallow breath, centering myself.
Squeeze.
I slowly tensed my muscles.
My feet, planted firmly on the ground, pushed against the floor.
In that split second, I circulated the energy throughout my entire body.
I could feel the qi rising, filling me to the brim.
Let's push it a bit further.
I was getting greedy. I hadn't been like this before, but lately, this urge kept cropping up.
I think I can do it.
In the beginning, I could barely send the energy to my arms and legs.
Now, I could feel it reaching places I couldn't access before.
Sensing that progress sparked a needless desire within me.
I could do a little more.
It would be even better if I did it this way.
That kind of greed.
Since Yoo Chun-gil had told me to do whatever I wanted when he saw this, I figured it was worth a shot.
So, this time was no different.
Last time, I focused on the sword. This time, I'll relax my grip on the blade and focus on my body instead.
I measured the distance precisely and took a deeper breath.
Holding the breath that now circulated through my body, I braced myself.
"Hup!"
With a sharp shout, my sword sliced through the air.
Moon Wave.
The first form of the Blue Moon Sword Dance swept across the stone wall in a rapid arc.
Slash!
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew, briefly scattering dust into the air.
As the dust settled, I slowly caught my breath.
"Phew... Haa..."
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. To think a single strike would take this much out of me.
Seriously. The deeper I dig, the more ridiculous it gets.
Just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, there was always another wall to climb.
I didn't know if all martial arts were like this,
or if it was just that old man's techniques.
...It's so damn hard.
It was brutally difficult. Yet, even as I experienced it firsthand...
Why the hell am I finding this fun?
Regardless of the grueling process and the toll it took, I found myself enjoying it.
Strangely, that annoyed me.
Click!
I sheathed the sword.
"What in the..." Dok-jon stared at me, dumbfounded.
He looked completely blank.
At that moment,
Thud.
With a dull rumble, the wall began to slide open, revealing another entrance.
I knew it.
I nodded, completely unsurprised.
...I thought it felt familiar.
The "snack vault" Yoo Chun-gil had mentioned back at Cheongwol Gate.
I had to use the Blue Moon Sword Dance to open the hidden chamber inside that vault too.
I saw the same thing here.
I remembered seeing blue lines on the wall back then.
And I had caught a glimpse of something similar on the wall of Dok-jon's secret vault. That was why I had immediately unleashed Moon Wave.
"How on earth did you know to do that?" Dok-jon demanded, his expression turning fierce as if he couldn't let this slide.
"I've seen it before," I answered honestly.
"The secret vault the old man took me to. The method to open it was exactly the same."
"What? By secret vault, do you mean the Cheongwolgo? Yoo Chun-gil took you *there*?"
The Cheongwolgo...? The old man had just called it his snack vault back then, but judging by Dok-jon's reaction, that must have been its real name.
"Yes. I believe that's the place."
"That lunatic! He claimed it was a sacred sanctuary that no one but the successor to the sect leader could ever enter...!" Dok-jon sputtered in disbelief.
Hearing that, I felt a similar wave of absurdity wash over me.
...The successor?
The old man had claimed it was just a private storage room where he hoarded things he liked.
But it seemed the place was far more significant than I had imagined.
Then again...
...It was already suspicious that the Blue Moon Pill was in there.
I had heard the Blue Moon Pill was reserved strictly for the sect leader. Why else would it have been sitting in a mere "snack vault"?
And I was the one who had greedily swallowed it down.
Tsk.
It really must have been an incredibly important place.
But...
"So," Dok-jon asked, "how many chambers did you go through?"
His question caught me off guard.
"Chambers? Wasn't the second one the last?"
"The second chamber?" Dok-jon muttered. "I suppose he kept some shred of decency."
"What do you mean by that? Is there more?"
"You should ask Yoo Chun-gil about that later. It is not my place to speak of it."
"Hey..."
Seriously? He was going to leave me hanging after dropping a bomb like that? How annoying.
There were more chambers behind it...?
Just how massive was that vault?
No, that's not what's important right now.
Regardless of what lay deeper inside the Cheongwolgo, it wasn't my concern at the moment.
I looked at Dok-jon and asked, "Can I ask you something too?"
"What is it?"
"Why is the method to open this vault connected to the Blue Moon Sword Dance?"
I could understand it for the Cheongwol Gate's vault, since it was located within their own sect.
But why here?
It was baffling that Dok-jon's own secret vault required the Blue Moon Sword Dance to open.
When I voiced my confusion, Dok-jon's brow furrowed deeply.
"Ahem..."
"Elder?"
"I didn't particularly want to use you lot's sword techniques either."
"Then why...?"
"...bet."
"What was that?"
His voice had dropped to a tiny mumble, so I couldn't hear him properly. When I asked again, he snapped.
"It was a bet!"
"Excuse me?"
A bet? If I hadn't misheard...
"A bet?"
"Yes! Damn it! Ah, I should have never made that drinking bet with him...! Blast it!"
Dok-jon struck the empty air as if slamming his hand on a table in sheer frustration.
"..."
I was left completely speechless.
A drinking bet...
I thought there would be some profound, secret reason, but it was just a drinking bet?
What on earth did these crazy old men wager when they drank together?
I forced myself to ignore my throbbing headache and turned my attention back to the path.
Let's just go inside...
As Dok-jon said, the secrets of the Cheongwol Gate's vault were things I should ask Yoo Chun-gil, not him.
I took a step forward.
The entrance was barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.
Someone of Yoo Chun-gil's massive build would never have fit.
I ducked my head slightly and peered inside.
If I hadn't activated my Moon Eye, it would have been pitch black, completely invisible to the naked eye.
"There are no traps in the corridor itself. Walk slowly," Dok-jon advised.
Hearing his words, I stepped into the passage. At that exact moment—
Slam!
"Whoa, holy crap!"
The sudden closure of the door behind me startled me.
I whipped around to look at Dok-jon.
"Is there a way to open it from the inside too?"
"I have created an exit route," he replied.
"Well, that's a relief."
Reassured, I continued forward. Before long, I emerged into an open space.
"Whoa."
I let out a soft breath as I took in the new chamber.
...What is this?
My eyes widened. The interior was far larger than I had expected.
Much larger than the chamber where the weapons were stored.
On top of that...
Trickle, trickle.
The sound of running water echoed. Looking down, I saw water flowing between beautifully crafted structures.
I wondered briefly why water was flowing in a place like this, but my attention was quickly drawn to something else. Specifically, a small table in the center of the room.
And on top of it sat a box.
That box held my gaze.
It wasn't just my eyes that were drawn to it.
This scent...
A subtle fragrance tickled the tip of my nose.
It smelled faintly of flowers, but there was a distinct, bitter undertone that caught in my throat.
Whatever it was, a rich, heavy aroma filled the entire room.
Could it be?
Is that...
...the Shaolin Temple's Great Pill?
The legendary pill of pills, which was rarely seen even at the grand festivals held once a decade by the Martial Alliance.
I was convinced that the box contained the Daehwandan.
Naturally, I began to walk toward it, but—
"Found it!" Dok-jon shouted from a corner.
"It's here! It's right here!"
He waved his hand urgently, gesturing for me to come over. I turned on my heel and walked toward him first.
Dok-jon was pointing at something in the middle of the flowing water.
"That's it. Pull it out."
That?
There was definitely something submerged in the water.
Was that what Dok-jon had been talking about? I reached my hand out, but then—
Freeze.
"Hmm?" Dok-jon looked at me, confused by my sudden halt.
My hand remained frozen in midair.
"By the way, Elder."
"What is it?"
"Why exactly is the Thousand Demon Sword here?"
"..." Dok-jon's nose twitched.
"I was going to let it slide because I didn't want to get dragged into anything troublesome, but now I'm getting curious."
How could I not be?
"I mean, think about it. If I make a wrong move, I could get caught up in something massive. I can't just blindly help you without knowing anything."
I smiled at Dok-jon and continued.
"You should at least explain the situation. Both regarding the current family head... and this sword."
Dok-jon stared at me with a hardened expression.
It seemed my questions about the Thousand Demon Sword and the Poison Sovereign had hit a nerve.
"Did you keep quiet all this time just to wait for this moment? Are you threatening me?"
"Oh, a threat?"
If he meant that I wouldn't pull out the Thousand Demon Sword unless he spoke...
"Yes."
Then yes, he was absolutely right. That was exactly my plan.
"Honestly, I don't even need the Daehwandan. My life is far more important. And this whole business smells incredibly fishy."
"You little...!" Dok-jon's eyes shook at my brazen declaration.
"If you don't tell me, I'm not pulling this out. I'll just ignore the Daehwandan and walk right out of here."
If you don't want that, explain yourself properly.
At my unspoken ultimatum, Dok-jon's expression shifted rapidly.
First anger, then confusion, followed by annoyance, and finally, resignation.
"Sigh... You insolent brat."
"I hear that a lot."
"You don't back down for a single second, do you? If only I were still alive, I would have taught you a proper lesson."
He seemed deeply frustrated that he couldn't do anything as a ghost.
Of course. I can only talk back to you because you're a dead ghost.
If he were still the living Poison Sovereign, I wouldn't even have dared to meet his eyes.
"So, are you going to tell me?"
Dok-jon fell silent for a moment. I waited patiently.
After a brief pause, he spoke.
"Kid."
"Yes, Elder."
"How much do you trust Yoo Chun-gil?"
"What?"
Why was that old man's name coming up all of a sudden?
"Out of nowhere?"
How much did I trust him...?
Well...
"Yes. If you trust that bastard..."
"I don't trust him at all."
"...Huh? What did you say?"
"I don't trust him one bit."
I replied with a perfectly flat, confident expression.
"Oh... Really?"
Dok-jon looked even more bewildered than before.
"Yes. I don't trust him in the slightest. I'd sooner trust a random pebble on the street than that old man. Not even a speck."
"..."
"Elder?"
I finished my sentence, but for some reason, Dok-jon remained silent.
He seemed to have lost his words entirely.
I wondered why.