Chapter 372

“This is the place.”

“It’s a cliff. A perfectly ordinary one.”

I stopped with the others in front of the steep cliff and looked around.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about it. The cliff rose more than a hundred jang¹, its entire face formed of solid rock.

There’s a formation here?

But it didn’t take long for my question to be answered.

Following a strange sense of déjà vu, I slowly walked forward and stopped before a yellow-brown rock wall.

“This is…”

Everything has a flow and a grain. Even qi, which can neither be seen nor touched, is no exception.

And the senses I had honed by advancing into the Supreme Peak realm were more than enough to detect an unnatural flow of qi.

“A formation?”

A voice answered my mutter.

“More precisely, an Illusion Formation.”

Mungyeong—no, the Slaughter Saint—studied my face with his dry gaze, then stepped forward and extended a hand.

With a massive surge of qi, the solid rock wall vanished like mist, revealing the entrance to a pitch-black cavern.

“So your eyes aren’t completely useless after all.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ask.”

The Slaughter Saint tossed out that one remark, then walked toward the cavern without giving me time to respond.

Was that an insult or a compliment?

It left me oddly irritated.

Still, getting angry would have been awkward when neither his words nor his actions showed any particular hostility toward me. He was simply as dry and rigid with me as he was with everyone else.

It was hard to get mad at that. All I could do was feel awkward.

“…”

Of course, part of the reason I was letting it slide was because of who I was dealing with.

If that was how the Slaughter Saint acted, what could I do? Even if it bothered me, I had to put up with it.

I should be grateful I was still standing after bringing up wet dreams.

I nearly turned the Slaughter Saint into the Spurt Saint. Compared to that, this is downright civilized.

As I had that thought, a low chuckle came from beside me. I turned and saw Jeok Cheongang’s lips twitching.

“Why are you suddenly laughing?”

“No reason. I was just thinking that the Slaughter Saint is remarkably bad at being honest.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ask.”

“…?”

What was this? Some kind of new catchphrase?

Jeok Cheongang sauntered away after saying that. The two Sect Leaders and I watched his retreating back, then stepped toward the pitch-black cavern.

More importantly…

Who would have thought a place like this was hidden here?

It was only half a day’s journey from Chengdu, the heart of Sichuan—and that was at an ordinary commoner’s pace. For martial artists, it would take even less time.

I looked around as I walked through the endless cave.

Even the entrance is enormous. It’s several times bigger than the underground prison beneath the Sichuan Tang Clan.

I had heard a brief explanation on the way. Dark Heaven’s villains had been staying in this very cavern.

So that was where all those people had come from. They must have been lying low here, waiting for the right moment.

But how did they get here in the first place?

Under the command of the Western Heaven Demon Lord, more than three hundred enemies had invaded the Tang Clan alone.

Add in those who had headed for Qingcheng and Emei, and their numbers were impossible to ignore.

Is Sichuan’s security really that terrible? No, even if it was, surely the Beggars’ Sect and the Lower District Sect would have noticed.

I had been walking with that question in mind for some time when the broad passage—wide enough for ten sturdy men to walk abreast—finally ended and opened into a new space.

The words slipped out before I knew it.

“…Well, look at this.”

The cavern could easily hold more than a thousand people. Dozens of night-shining pearls embedded in the ceiling cast a soft glow, while jars filled with dried provisions and grain-avoiding pills stood piled in one corner alongside weapons and other supplies.

But something else caught my attention far more than any of that.

What is that?

Strange patterns covered the entire cavern floor.

Engraved in a regular arrangement like elaborate gears, they looked like the ruins of an ancient kingdom forgotten long ago.

“Is that what you mentioned earlier…?”

At my question, Clear Wind Ancient Sword, Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, nodded gravely.

“Yes. That is the strange formation I spoke of.”

I had suspected as much, but it was still astonishing to see that it really was a formation.

I had encountered all kinds of mechanisms and formations at the Star-Netted Grand Banquet, but I had never seen anything so large or so strange.

This goes beyond strange. It’s downright malformed.

Perhaps it was the patterns themselves. They looked both mysterious and dangerous.

Jeok Cheongang seemed to have had the same thought.

“But what in the world are those bizarre patterns?”

“We have yet to determine that ourselves.”

Extinction Divine Nun added, “We cannot jump to conclusions. We copied part of the formation and showed it to several renowned scholars and eminent figures, but none recognized it. We cannot entirely rule out the possibility that it is writing from some unknown region of the Western Territories.”

Then, without meaning to, I blurted out,

“Uh, these aren’t letters.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward me.

The Slaughter Saint, who had remained silent ever since we entered the cavern, suddenly spoke.

“Your basis?”

“M-my basis?”

“If you make such a claim, you must have a sound basis for it. Don’t ask. Answer.”

Of course I did. I had a firm basis that neither a renowned scholar who had built up knowledge by reading tens of thousands of books nor an eminent martial artist who had spent a lifetime roaming the Murim and gathering countless experiences could refute.

The Integrated Language Pack.

Through the power of the System, the Integrated Language Pack automatically translated every language.

With it, I could communicate without difficulty, as well as read and write.

It was thanks to the Integrated Language Pack that I had been able to converse with the Skeleton Warlord in the modern world.

Yet even though its translation function was always active like a passive Skill, the patterns making up the formation remained exactly as they were. That was conclusive proof they weren’t writing.

The problem was…

How am I supposed to explain that?

I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have just kept my mouth shut.

But it was already too late. As the Slaughter Saint’s gaze grew more intense, I stammered,

“J-j…”

“Jugs?”

The Spurt Saint’s eyebrow twitched. It was the first emotion I had seen from him. He had clearly remembered the wet-dream incident.

“N-no, not jugs.”

“Then what? Breasts?”

“…”

Please. Don’t say things like that with a face completely devoid of emotion.

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

Just as I was frantically waving my hands, Jeok Cheongang suddenly cut in.

“Are you threatening my disciple? How dare you threaten the Fire King’s heir and the Young Sect Leader of the Fire Gate Clan?”

“Threaten him? There is no need. But there is nothing stopping me, either.”

“I was going to hold back since I happened to owe you my life, but if this is how you intend to behave, Wen, then this old man cannot stand by and do nothing.”

The atmosphere grew increasingly hostile.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted,

“I—I just guessed!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I think I might’ve seen it in a book once… It just didn’t feel like writing, so I guessed.”

A deep silence descended.

The Slaughter Saint let out a nearly inaudible sigh, then asked Jeok Cheongang,

“So that man is the Fire King’s heir and the Young Sect Leader of the Fire Gate Clan?”

Jeok Cheongang was silent for a moment before answering.

“Come to think of it, he never went through a formal initiation ceremony.”

“…”

“So strictly speaking, he isn’t an official disciple of our sect. Which means he still belongs to the Jin Family of Taiyuan…”

Jeok Cheongang’s eyes met mine. He quietly looked away.

“Let us leave it at that.”

“…”

Leave what at that? He had already said everything there was to say.

Extinction Divine Nun and Clear Wind Ancient Sword, who had just witnessed the trust between master and disciple being utterly destroyed, awkwardly changed the subject.

“Ahem. In any case, it seems we will have to continue investigating this strange formation.”

“Y-yes. Fellow Daoist Jin and Senior Jeok’s insights have been a great help.”

Heaven knew, earth knew, and everyone here knew they hadn’t helped at all.

Not even a mangy stray in a back alley would have believed that, but Clear Wind Ancient Sword used it to bring the matter to a close before turning to Extinction Divine Nun with a troubled expression.

“More importantly, this is truly unbelievable. To bring that many people here with nothing but a formation… My goodness.”

“Indeed. If such a thing is possible, does that not mean they could appear anywhere across the land?”

Wait. What did he just say?

I had been staring at the ground, frustrated by my inability to explain myself and still reeling from the boob incident. My head snapped up.

“What’s the matter, Benefactor Jin?”

“It’s just… I think this is the first time I’ve heard what you two just said about the formation.”

“Hm? You mean the Transportation Formation?”

“…The Transportation Formation?”

“Yes. According to Samgoe, that is what this strange formation is called. It is an absurd claim, and we have no way of knowing how much of it to believe, but he said Dark Heaven used it to cross hundreds of li.”

A Transportation Formation.

He said a Transportation Formation.

Even if a critic wearing angular horn-rimmed glasses had suddenly walked over and said, “I give this formation four and a half stars,” I would not have been any more bewildered than I was now.

I’ve heard of this somewhere before.

A formation capable of transporting hundreds of people across hundreds of li.

The more I thought about it, the harder my heart pounded and the drier my lips became.

What if this Transportation Formation is that thing I’m thinking of?

No. That can’t be.

But despite my desperate attempts to deny it, my throat bobbed heavily.

“Is this formation still operational?”

I had directed the question at the two Sect Leaders, but the answer came from the Slaughter Saint.

“Samgoe. I caught him here myself.”

“…He tried to escape through the Transportation Formation.”

“Yes. But that was merely his intention.”

“You mean…”

“He later confessed that he tried to activate the formation, but nothing happened.”

“Ah.”

“One thing is certain. There is no flow of qi coming from that formation. It has completely lost its power. Now it is nothing more than an empty shell.”

After explaining in his level voice, the Slaughter Saint added,

“Judging by the circumstances revealed so far, Dark Heaven is unquestionably a successor of the Demonic Cult. The Demonic Cult possesses countless bizarre and supreme arts. It would not be strange for them to have any number of strange techniques.”

I had heard what kind of place the Demonic Cult was so many times that the words had practically been hammered into my ears.

A powerful religious organization that was the very embodiment of evil, demonic, and heretical ways.

Although it had ultimately lost the Great Faction War, the Demonic Cult had been able to overwhelm the entire Murim for a considerable period thanks to its bizarre and supreme arts.

Then this formation is one of the countless strange arts passed down from the Demonic Cult?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe it was because this sort of thing showed up so often in the fusion-fantasy novels I used to read. If anything, that only made it more confusing.

It worked just fine in Muk-hyeong.² Sigh. I shouldn’t have bothered reading something that never even got an ending.

Still, just in case, I decided to memorize the formation’s layout and patterns.

As I stared intently at the Transportation Formation, engraving every detail into my memory, the Slaughter Saint suddenly spoke.

“Judging by your attitude, you seem to know something. Does anything come to mind?”

“…”

What excuse was I supposed to make now?