Chapter 134

The day the No-Return Cave opened.
A huge crowd had gathered near the entrance.
Perhaps because this was the day people actually entered, there were far more of them than on registration day.
There were even peddlers who had set up makeshift stalls.

‘There isn’t even the slightest hint of tension.’

The atmosphere was almost like a festival.
It was hard to believe this was a place where someone might soon die.

‘Hmm?’

As I looked over the crowd, I spotted a group that made me frown the instant I saw them.
There was the Elder Council Lord, who had been lying low ever since taking a major blow when Ak Mu-jin returned to the Demon Cult.
Beside him, Jin Si-myeong clung close like a spineless lackey, chatting away, while Yuk Ja-heung wore the sour expression of someone who had just stepped in muddy water.

‘What is the Elder Council Lord doing here?’

The way he had planted himself there as if demanding to be noticed suggested only one thing.
He was letting me know exactly who was behind Jin Si-myeong.
He might have lost some of his former influence, but the Elder Council Lord was still one of the most powerful people in the cult.
And since he still hadn’t let go of his alliance with Geuk Mu-hyeok, pulling some dirty trick in this matter would have been well within his power.

‘The real problem is the Heavenly Demon.’

Rather than stopping the Elder Council Lord’s scheme, he had simply stood by and watched.
He knew the three zones would be combined into one, yet he had still told me to enter, saying the place was perfect for training the Six Extremes Demon King Step.
That was probably why the crafty old Elder Council Lord had tested the waters for a while before finally appearing right in front of me.
As though he meant to provoke me outright.

“Ohoho, who might this be? Why, if it isn’t Seventh Young Lord.”

The Elder Council Lord put on an exceptionally bright smile when he spotted me.
Apparently, he was that happy to see me.
I smiled as well and walked over to him.

“It’s been a while, Elder Council Lord. How is your health?”
“My health?”
“You were holed up at home for quite a while, no, living in seclusion. Someone who loves butting into things, no, stepping forward as much as you do suddenly disappeared, so I thought you might have come down with some serious illness. Unfortunately, no, fortunately, you look perfectly healthy.”

I shamelessly rattled on.
It was what you might call provoking someone before they could provoke you.
Judging by how the Elder Council Lord’s expression stiffened, it worked quite well.
But he forced a kindly smile and replied in a faintly trembling voice.

“Thank you for your concern. As expected, Seventh Young Lord is very courteous.”
“I suppose I am. What brings you here?”
“I came to encourage the rising talents in their challenge. Heoheo.”
“You must have a lot of free time.”
“……And I particularly wanted to wish Seventh Young Lord good fortune. I hear your name is on the list of entrants?”

I almost let out a scoff.
To think he would actually wish me good fortune.

“That’s how things turned out. Your concern makes me feel like I should try even harder.”
“You should. It would be terrible if something happened to you inside.”

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were rigid.
His meaning was obvious, so I simply nodded without answering.
While thinking, ‘You should worry about yourself.’

“You seem especially confident today, Seventh Young Lord.”

Jin Si-myeong spoke up.

“Take away my confidence and I’m as good as dead.”
“I hope you can maintain that attitude until the very end.”
“Tsk, tsk.”

I shook my head.
Did these people think I was an idiot?
They were taking turns threatening me.
What would they do if I suddenly decided not to enter?

‘Well, that isn’t going to happen.’

Let’s see how long that stupid confidence lasts.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”
“Huh? Uh.”

Yuk Ja-heung avoided my gaze.
Was he feeling guilty?

‘Whatever.’

I turned my gaze behind them.
There was one person back there who had been bothering me for a while.
He was a young man who looked around twenty-four or twenty-five, and there was something unusual about him.
Even standing still, his expression and eyes radiated killing intent.

‘He’s strong.’

A question rose in my mind.
Who the hell was this guy?

Judging by what I could sense, he was somewhere around the Transcendent Realm.
There were very few Transcendent masters under twenty-five within the Demon Cult.
A rising talent who had reached this level couldn’t possibly be unknown.

‘Was there a master I didn’t know about?’

It was possible.
But even if I didn’t recognize his face, I should at least have heard his name. Yet this man was completely unfamiliar.
No one came to mind at all.

Perhaps he read my expression.
The Elder Council Lord spoke.

“It seems this is your first time meeting him. This young man is also an entrant. I hear he is from a distant collateral branch of the Radiant Moon Jin Family.”

A distant collateral branch, my ass.
Even Jin Si-myeong wasn’t from the direct line, though his status was close to it. And they expected me to believe someone from a distant collateral branch was already an elite master?
Given how the Seven Demonic Houses funneled more support toward those closer to the direct line, it was highly unlikely.
Even more so if I had never heard of him.
They must have brought him in from somewhere. It looked like they had prepared thoroughly.

“For some reason, you look like someone I won’t be seeing for very long.”

Because he wouldn’t be coming back out of the No-Return Cave.
I would make sure of that.

A short while later, the official overseeing the entry appeared.

“We will now begin entry. Names will be called in order. When your name is called, please enter.”

The official opened the roster.
The first name called was Jin Si-myeong.

“Jin Si-myeong of the Radiant Moon Jin Family, enter.”

Jin Si-myeong flashed me a nasty grin before going inside.
The first five entrants after that were all from the Radiant Moon Jin Family.
Yuk Ja-heung entered somewhere in the middle, followed by several more members of the Radiant Moon Jin Family.

“This is the last entrant affiliated with the Radiant Moon Jin Family. Jin Mu-myeong, enter.”

Jin Mu-myeong.
As expected, the name meant nothing to me.
He stopped briefly as he passed in front of me.
His killing-intent-filled eyes swept over me.
It was the gaze of someone sizing up their prey.

“Young Lord, I have a bad feeling about that man.”

I nodded at Im Yeon’s words.

“You read him correctly.”
“Could you not reconsider entering even now? I cannot feel at ease knowing we cannot accompany you.”
“If I said I wasn’t going in now, Master would probably grab me by the collar and throw me inside himself.”
“Then what if you postpone your entry date? Sending in ten people a day like this is unprecedented, and I do not believe it makes sense.”

They said entry would conclude with ten people on the first day and ten on the second.
Judging by the entry times so far, it came to roughly one person every two hours.
I understood exactly what Im Yeon was worried about, but I shook my head.
As though resigned to it, Im Yeon spoke in a low voice.

“I thought you would say that. Then I will remain outside and watch the Elder Council Lord closely to ensure he cannot try anything foolish.”
“Don’t stare too hard at the Elder Council Lord.”
“Why not?”
“What if he says he finally found the spy of mine he’d forgotten about and drags you away?”
“……Haa.”

A tiny sound suddenly slipped through Im Yeon’s lips.

“Huh? Did you just sigh?”
“I-I believe you misheard.”

Flustered, Im Yeon stammered.
I playfully asked the guards.

“No, I heard it perfectly. You all heard it too, right?”

Holding back their laughter, the guards answered in unison.

“Yes, we heard it.”
“It was definitely a sigh.”

Im Yeon looked utterly betrayed.
She spoke again.

“I-it was the wind.”
“There’s no wind though?”
“My breathing became uneven because I was worried about you entering the No-Return Cave.”
“So air leaked out of your mouth without you realizing it?”
“That is correct!”

Im Yeon nodded with the expression of someone who had just found the perfect excuse.
As if her explanation were flawless.

“Come on. For that, there was an awful lot of emotion mixed into your inhale and exhale.”
“M-my inhale and exhale?”
“I may not look it, but my ears are very sharp. So.”

I looked Im Yeon in the eyes and continued.

“Don’t worry so much. I have senses sharp enough that I won’t miss even the faintest breath.”
“Ah…….”

Im Yeon’s wavering eyes gently curved.

“Yes, I understand, Young Lord.”

I nodded in satisfaction.
It wasn’t only Im Yeon. The expressions of the other guards relaxed completely as well.
Once I went in, there was no telling when I would come back out. I should at least ease their worries a little.

“Geuk Mu-gwang of the Demon Bell Geuk Family, enter.”

After another couple of entrants from the Demon Bell Geuk Family went in, my name was finally called.

“Seventh Young Lord, please enter.”

By then, night had already fallen.
I stood and stretched out my stiff body.
Many of the people who had remained there all this time shouted loudly.

“Seventh Young Lord, if you pass this time, you’ll be the youngest in history! Just keep doing what you’ve always done!”
“We’ll wait until you come back safely!”

I nodded with satisfaction.
Such fervent support.
As I stood there waving to them, the official called my name again.
Come on, couldn’t he let me enjoy this a little longer?

‘Guess it’s time to go in.’

Without looking back, I walked into the pitch-black entrance of the No-Return Cave.
The inside of the No-Return Cave was astonishingly similar to Hwang Si-mong’s inferior recreation.
Even the stone corridor and the moldy smell that seemed to burrow into my lungs were exactly the same.
I pictured Jin Si-myeong’s face.

‘I wonder where he’s lying in wait.’

I was the last entrant of the day.
Nine people had entered before me.
Their goal wasn’t to pass through the cave. It was me. They were surely waiting for me to arrive.
Though I had no idea where.

‘No need to rush.’

They would show themselves when the time came.
Before that, there was something else I had to focus on.
The two things I had to obtain from the No-Return Cave: the secret manual left behind by a past Cult Leader and the elixir the Heavenly Demon had mentioned.
As I mentioned before, the secret manual was about footwork.
But what I needed wasn’t the main volume containing the footwork art. It was the supplementary volume containing something else.
It wouldn’t be particularly useful right now, but that would change once the restrictions of my True Blood Severed Meridians eased.
It would give me enough mobility to make a round trip between the Central Plains and the Demon Cult within a matter of days.

‘I have a rough idea where it is.’

Several years from now, the No-Return Cave would be temporarily closed to overhaul its mechanisms.
During the massive reconstruction that followed, when they practically tore the interior apart, the secret manual was discovered.
The man who found it received an enormous reward for recovering a lost supreme art, and I heard that while drunk in private, he once boasted this:

-The secret manual was burning in the flames.

It made no sense.
Secret manuals were usually made of paper or bamboo slips, or perhaps silk cloth if someone spent enough money. Yet he claimed it had been burning in the flames?
But it had to be true.
He had already turned the manual over, so there was no reason for the discoverer to lie.

‘There’s probably some kind of trap involving fire.’

I had a rough guess.
Seen that way, having the routes consolidated into one might actually be fortunate.
If there were still three separate routes, I might have ended up on one without a fire trap.

‘I don’t know where the elixir is, but if I search thoroughly enough, I’ll find it.’

I moved forward boldly.
Click! A familiar sensation traveled through the tip of my foot.
It was a pressure-triggered trap.
The ceiling opened, raining iron balls down like hail, while giant axes anchored above swung toward me in sweeping arcs.

It resembled what I had experienced in the inferior recreation, but differed in both density and composition.
Hwang Si-mong had passed through the cave decades ago.
Apparently, it had been reinforced considerably since then.
There were far fewer openings to evade through.

But I had changed since then as well.
Death-Line Step at the third stage carried me through the trajectories of death with little difficulty.
The paths of the iron balls and giant axes, their speed, the points where they would collide.
All of it flashed through my mind in an instant and guided me forward.
Kkang! Kkang! Kkang!
The iron balls hammered the floor one after another.
Hwoong, hwoong!
Several axe blades danced through the air, but I never stopped moving.
One step, then another.
I simply kept advancing until I cleared the first trial.

‘That’s one.’

When I looked back, the floor was covered in iron balls.
If even one had struck me, it probably would have shattered my bones.

The second trial wasn’t fundamentally different.
But after passing that one as well, I encountered something I had never expected.

‘What the hell is this?’

I stopped.
The path before me split into two.

The left passage was covered in white frost.
Cold air poured out of it, so intense it seemed even my breath would freeze white the moment I entered.
The sight was reminiscent of the Ice-Soul Demonic Realm.

The right passage was completely submerged.
The dark blue surface rippled quietly.
Presumably, I was supposed to dive beneath it and swim through.

I blankly looked back and forth between the two passages.

‘Wasn’t the No-Return Cave supposed to be a straight path?’

That was what I had believed until now.
No one had ever said anything about forks in the road.
There had been nothing like this in Hwang Si-mong’s inferior recreation either.

‘Wait.’

A voice suddenly came to mind.
When I last visited the Illusory Hwang Family before entering, Hwang Si-mong had said this while handing me the talismans.

-I have one piece of advice I wish to give Seventh Young Lord.
-What is it?
-It is the way of the world that when one and one meet, they become two. Illusory Formation Arrays are not so simple.
-Are you saying something may have changed inside?
-Even I do not know that.
-……?

At the time, I hadn’t thought much of it.
I had assumed it was just another vague, cryptic remark like the people of the Illusory Hwang Family tended to make.
But apparently, this was what he meant.
It seemed that when the three routes were combined into one, the Illusory Formation Arrays interacted with one another. The result was this bizarre structure.

‘Seriously, he could’ve just said it plainly.’

I clicked my tongue, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
I had to decide which way to go.

‘I don’t like this one.’

I shook my head as I looked at the flooded zone.
I had no idea how deep or long the submerged passage was, so I couldn’t enter it recklessly.
The frozen zone, on the other hand, was comparatively better.
Even though I hadn’t prepared for the cold, I could endure it.
Thanks to consuming the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass, I had developed some resistance to cold.

‘Let’s go.’

After concealing myself and briefly circulating my qi,
I boldly stepped into the left passage.
Cold air filled my lungs.
I carefully advanced over the slippery ground one step at a time.
It didn’t take long for me to realize something.
The traps in the frozen zone were quite troublesome.

Click! Ice spikes erupted from where I had been standing.
The moment I evaded with Death-Line Step, the floor tilted to one side and sent me sliding toward a patch bristling with spikes.
Pushiiik- A sudden blast of cold from somewhere nearly froze my body solid.
It was frightening to imagine what would have happened without Death-Line Step and the Ice-Spirit Cold-Soul Grass.

How long had I been gritting my teeth and forcing my way through like this?
Little by little, I began to feel overwhelmed.
I had thought I could make it through in six to eight hours at most.
Even including finding the secret manual and elixir and dealing with Jin Si-myeong’s group, I had expected it to take around twelve hours.
But at this pace, I had no idea when I would make it out.

‘Huh?’

That was when it happened.
A strange sensation brushed across my skin.
Heat.
I could feel heat in the middle of an ice cave?
It was strange, but my feet naturally carried me toward it.
The heat grew stronger and stronger.
And then.

‘……This is.’

I stopped at the sight before me.
Lava flowed through the middle of the frozen ground.
And instead of flowing downward, it was surging upward like a waterfall.
A sight that completely defied common sense.
It had to be the work of the Illusory Formation Arrays.

‘This is it.’

I knew instinctively.
The secret manual was here.
But several people were lingering in front of the lava.
Their backs were familiar.
Jin Si-myeong’s group and Yuk Ja-heung.
I frowned.

‘What are these bastards doing here?’