The suffocating heat filled my lungs, making it hard to breathe.
Now that we’ve reached the bottom, I can definitely feel the temperature difference.
Jade Flower’s shedding her outer jacket, unable to withstand the heat, is evidence enough.
“I can’t afford to recklessly expend my inner energy after encountering the Four Demon Lords earlier.”
“Is that what worries you?”
“If only I had reached the realm of invulnerability to cold and heat like you…”
Jade Flower lets out a wistful sigh of regret. She neatly folds her discarded jacket and wraps it around her forearm.
“Don’t yearn for martial prowess. That haste will only hold you back.”
“I know it in my head, but my heart doesn’t follow, and it’s frustrating.”
“Knowing is enough.”
The lower levels of the Demon Sword Valley are nothing like the upper levels – they’re filled with countless traps.
Poison arrows flying from all directions are just the beginning; red flames would erupt from the ground, venomous mists would spread from the ceiling.
While I could handle them, if any other martial artist had come here, they wouldn’t have lasted half an hour. The place is a maze of dangers.
“Are you holding up alright?”
“Thanks to you.”
“That’s good.”
Unfortunately, despite all our efforts destroying traps as we went, we still haven’t found the secret chamber.
It must be somewhere, but why can’t we find it even after searching nearly everywhere?
It’s not pressing, but it’s still quite troubling. We can’t leave Gayoung Jin waiting for too long.
“Let’s just destroy everything here. You could do it, right?”
“What if we bring down the secret chamber too?”
“…Ah.”
Her suggestion, though absurd, indicates that Jade Flower is growing weary.
It’s understandable. We’ve been doing the same thing over and over all day.
“Grandson!”
At that moment, I heard Woo-yong Jin’s voice in my mind – the first I’d heard from him in quite some time.
“Master? How long has it been?”
“Still haven’t found the secret chamber, have you!”
“Why the shout as soon as we meet? Is something urgent?”
“Quick! You must find the secret chamber faster!”
After such a long absence, the old man was quite agitated. Irrational outbursts came from his aging mouth.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s no time for this idle chatter! If that guy escapes…”
“First calm down. Excitement will only ruin even the simplest of tasks.”
“…!”
Why was the old man so anxious? For a ghost, it seemed he had quite the pressing matter.
It was truly curious.
“Hmph… Alright, I’ve been too scattered. Not befitting of my noble self.”
“Noble…?”
“At any rate, find it quickly. Shouldn’t you, my son-in-law, be searching for the secret chamber?”
“That would be easy if it were within my control. I would have found it already.”
“Can’t you sense it with your energy?”
“It’s blocked by the dense evil energy. We’ve searched nearly everywhere, but still no sign.”
“Tch, hurry. This is no longer just your problem.”
“I’ll find it, but could you explain first? What has you so worked up?”
“That…! Never mind. You don’t need to know.”
For some reason, Jin Woo-yong falls silent. Until now, there had been scarcely anything he kept from me. It seems there indeed is something.
Everyone, even ghosts, has their own story. Just as my own regression has secrets, so too must Jin Woo-yong have things he cannot speak of.
“Rak, you’ve been quiet since awhile ago. Anything on your mind?”
“Nothing important. Don’t worry about it.”
Thus, I conversed with Jade Flower while also engaging in telepathy with Jin Woo-yong after so long.
Significant time passed as we searched, yet we still couldn’t locate the secret chamber.
Where exactly is the Demon Sword Valley’s secret chamber? I’m starting to suspect it might not even be in the underground levels.
*
Against a dazzling backdrop of golden light.
A pitiable and overweight soul knelt in supplication.
His name was Bin Namgung.
The man, whose life was unjustly taken by the whims of heaven, now existed as a mere spirit.
“I must meet my elder brother… There is an urgent matter.”
Namgung Bin pleaded earnestly, his forehead pressed to the ground.
Although his opponent was a girl perhaps a decade younger, that was irrelevant.
After waiting tens of years, ‘the opportunity’ had finally arrived.
The memory of that day still burned vividly in Namgung Bin’s mind.
It was a time when the atmosphere between Gansu’s Blood Cult and the Central Plains martial world was growing increasingly tense.
The era of uncertain rumors and fleeting existence.
One day, after completing his usual arduous martial practice and falling asleep…
“Huh..?”
When he opened his eyes feeling refreshed, he could see his own form!
At first, he thought he might be dreaming or perhaps experiencing astral projection. But then he saw his body in bed rise and begin muttering strange things to itself while rubbing its head.
Namgung Bin could only stand there, dumbfounded like a honey-eating bear.
Not long after, a grumbling Underworld messenger wearing a straw hat arrived to collect him, complaining about this unplanned extra duty. Namgung Bin was dragged to the Underworld where he underwent nine trials. The experience was far from easy.
Despite the hardship, the truly devastating fact was:
“But I’m barely past my early twenties!”
He had died suddenly without illness, internal injuries, or falling into madness. It was only later that the Underworld guides revealed it was an unplanned death.
Who in this world could be more wronged than he?
What made it worse was that there was no one to hold his funeral or even offer memorial meals. This was hardly surprising.
No one, not a single person, had noticed his passing. Watching his counterpart in the mortal world, Namgung Bin quickly understood why.
The mortal world Namgung Bin was mimicking his movements so perfectly that even he had difficulty distinguishing between the two.
Though the imposter occasionally mumbled when alone, no matter how much he rationalized it, being wronged was still being wronged.
Thus, becoming a vengeful ghost and entering the Ghost Cave, Namgung Bin met his distant ancestor, the Sword Immortal, who convinced him to enter a jar, promising the arrival of the Sword Sage.
Year after year passed…
Finally, after about fourteen years, the opportunity he had waited for with a withering spirit had arrived.
“What in the world is going on here?”
Though unfamiliar with the Heavenly Qi written from Namgung Cheolbin’s perspective, Tang Sobaek was utterly confused.
“Uh… Excuse me?”
“Ah! Miss! Anything you command!”
“Eh, stop being so formal. Don’t treat me like I’m older than I appear.”
“Huh? But I’m… younger than you?”
“…”
“Really! This is my early twenties!”
Amid this incomprehensible situation, Tang Sobaek thought to herself, “Even spirits can lose their minds, I mustn’t end up like that.”
“Hehe.”
The Sword Immortal, who had been quietly observing, smiled knowingly and interjected.
“You’re both too focused on your own thoughts to have a proper conversation.”
Feeling their eyes on him, he continued.
“This one here is not the Namgung Bin you know.”
“Eh? But what…”
“Um… Let’s just say there were… unavoidable circumstances. Consider it a kind of ‘face-changing’ technique, but applied to both soul and body.”
Though incompletely understood, Tang Sobaek nodded readily.
In a world with ‘regressions’, why not this as well?
It just requires some adjustment.
“And young man, while I understand your urgency, wouldn’t it be better to wait until this girl brings your brother to elaborate?”
“Ah! Right, I’ll follow your orders!”
“Exactly. The Sword Sage will come here eventually. But for that…”
The Sword Immortal looked meaningfully at Tang Sobaek.
“Tang family descendant, while you may have questions, you should go now.”
“But where am I supposed to go? Isn’t this the secret chamber?”
“He needs to be led here by the Sword Sage. By now, he must be wandering around.”
“But how would I know where he is?”
“You’ll find out quickly. There will be quite the commotion outside. Furthermore, the Sword Sage will soon face great peril.”
“…Peril?”
Tang Sobaek’s voice became serious.
Though difficult to believe that the current pinnacle of the martial world would face true danger, coming from the Sword Immortal, it couldn’t be dismissed as mere nonsense.
“You will need to assist him.”
“Should I go right now?”
Nod.
Having saluted the Sword Immortal with a ritual gesture acknowledging the trouble, Tang Sobaek turned around.
Though she never directly received help from the Sword Sage, without him, she wouldn’t be alive today.
Isn’t it the way of the Jianghu to readily offer assistance when an benefactor is in danger?
Clack, clack –
Meanwhile, as Tang Sobaek’s retreating figure disappeared through the newly opened chamber door, the Sword Immortal gazed after her.
“Truly, we’ve waited long enough.”
For five hundred years, patiently enduring.
“Is this truly the right path? Daughter?”
He recalled the sudden appearance of a young girl in the underworld.
A girl who had come once, and left just as suddenly.
– Hello! Esteemed senior! A humble martial artist of later generations greets you!
– If it’s not too much trouble, could you live through one more cycle for us?
– Nothing will change from before! You just need to follow a few guidelines I’ll give you!
– Being someone who loved the world and family more than anyone, surely you can make the effort for your future juniors?
Since that encounter, the Sword Immortal had followed the girl’s guidance, sensing a kindred spirit in her.
“Everything has happened exactly as you predicted. The wait was worth it.”
Though the girl, who appeared and disappeared like a ghost, never returned after that day – supposedly because she couldn’t keep the rift in time open for too long.
Though mysterious, the Sword Immortal thought to himself.
“The current world…”
For one whose life had ended long ago, it was ultimately a meaningless thought.
“Seems to be shaped by just one person.”
