Chapter 117 The Bright Sword Tomb-3

Chapter 117: The Bright Sword Tomb-3

Meanwhile, Seon Woo-jin, who had chosen the left path and been running for quite some time, slowed his pace upon sensing no signs of pursuit from behind.

Then he whispered softly to Dang Ye-eun.

“Lady Dang, it seems they went the other way. There’s no need to rush.”

“Ah, yes.”

Having stopped walking, the two could now finally take their time to look around.

The cave interior consisted of a circular passageway built from large bricks.

The bricks were meticulously fitted together, almost seamlessly connected, as if crafted with great care.

Moreover, despite being deep inside the cave, the two could easily make out their surroundings with their own eyes.

This was because a faint green light flowed throughout the entire cave.

Dang Yeo-eun gazed at the green glow of the night pearls irregularly embedded in the ceiling along the passageway and remarked with wonder.

“I’ve never seen so many night-shining pearls before. Even if we brought all the night-shining pearls from the Tang family, we wouldn’t have this many, right?”

Seon Woo-jin replied with a wry smile.

“So that’s a night pearl. I’d only heard about them before—this is my first time seeing one in person. I heard they’re incredibly expensive, so using one instead of a torch is a bit mind-boggling. Well, at least it saves the trouble of lighting a torch.”

He then studied the arrangement of the night pearls and the characters carved into the surrounding stones before speaking again.

“Young Lady Tang, doesn’t that aura trying to invade our hearts seem to be coming from over there?”

“Huh? From the Nightlight Jade over there?”

Hearing Seon Woo-jin’s words, Tang Yeo-eun briefly concentrated her mind, searching for the energy lurking, eager to invade her heart.

Then, just as Seon Woo-jin had said, I could sense that energy emanating from the night pearl and the characters engraved around it.

She said with a startled expression.

“That’s right! It really is coming from there!”

Seon Woo-jin gazed down the passageway at the row of night pearls embedded along it.

It seemed the passageway itself was a massive energy field designed to drive people mad.

He suddenly swallowed hard and muttered.

“What on earth did that man, Gwanggeom, want? Why such an enormous jinsik…?”

I couldn’t understand why he’d turned the place where he’d left his own Eugene into such a massive trap.

Not even a place to test one’s abilities, but a trap designed to drive people mad.

But there was no way he could know the reason now.

The two decided to keep moving forward for now.

The passageway remained unchanged for a long time.

A passageway stretching endlessly ahead, identical in shape.

At first, she carefully scanned the area, wary of any other traps, but no other traps appeared—only that strange energy persistently trying to break through the Great Union Heart Seal’s barrier.

Dang Yeo-eun asked, sounding puzzled.

“Why does the path only continue forward? The fact that there are no other traps makes me feel even more uneasy.”

Seon Woo-jin shook his head and replied.

“It seems it’s not ahead.”

“Huh?”

“The path curves slightly to the side. Almost like it’s drawing a large circle.”

Upon hearing this, Dang Ye-eun examined the passage ahead closely and nodded.

“Hmm, now that I look closely, you’re right. It is a bit bent. But does that really mean anything?”

Seon Woo-jin frowned slightly at Dang Yeo-eun’s question and replied.

“If this is truly a circular passageway and it continues connecting like this, then perhaps…”

At that moment, Seon Woo-jin sensed someone approaching fiercely from ahead.

Seon Woo-jin hurriedly whispered telepathically to Dang Ye-eun.

– Young-eun, someone’s running toward us from ahead!

– Huh? Ahead? Who?

– Probably… Makwoojin. If this really is a circular passageway.

– Huh?! What do you mean, oh!

Dang Yeo-eun instantly understood Seon Woo-jin’s words.

It meant that since this passage was circular, even if they went in opposite directions, they would eventually meet.

That’s why Mak Woo-jeon, who had run in the opposite direction, had appeared before them.

But even though Dang Yeo-eun understood that fact, her doubts remained unresolved.

If Seon Woo-jin was right, didn’t that mean the fork in the road earlier was just the opposite direction of the circle and had no real significance?

If this passage was just a circular tunnel, then why on earth did the Sword of Light create this place?

Seon Woo-jin had similar thoughts.

But that wasn’t important right now.

Seonwoo Jin pushed those thoughts aside and began to focus first on what he needed to do right now.

He quickly scanned his surroundings and racked his brain.

‘This doesn’t look good. Even if Lady Tang and I join forces, we can’t take on Ma Wu-jeon head-on. Plus, seeing how he broke through the Gayao Wall earlier, he might be even more powerful now that he’s fallen into madness. The environment is also against us. In such a narrow passage, it’ll be hard to fight using my specialties—sword techniques or divine arts.’

The situation was dire.

Sun Woo-jin bit his lip and looked at Tang Yeo-eun.

If he were alone, he might have been able to hide using stealth techniques, but with Dang Yeo-eun, even that was impossible.

‘I have no choice.’

That was when it happened.

Suddenly, a massive vibration shook the passageway walls from ahead, engulfing the two.

Woooooom!

It was a massive tremor shaking the cave as if an earthquake had struck.

“What is this?!”

The massive tremor surged along the walls, and Seon Woo-jin instantly recognized what it was.

“Damn it!”

Gritting his teeth, Seon Woo-jin rushed to Dang Yeo-eun, clamped both hands over her ears, and pulled her into his arms.

It was an action taken in an instant as the tremor hit.

Suddenly caught in Seon Woo-jin’s embrace, Dang Yeo-eun’s face flushed bright red.

“M-Master?!”

But at that very moment, a massive tidal wave of sound engulfed them.

– KRAAAAAAAAAA!

It was a colossal roar that echoed thunderously throughout the entire passageway.

The roar unleashed by Makwoojin had amplified within the cave, crashing down upon Seonwoojin and Dangyeo-eun like a storm.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

Dang Yeo-eun screamed as the massive wave of sound pounded violently against her body.

Such immense sonic energy it felt like pain on her skin. Only because Sunwoojin covered her ears and shielded her body could she endure it. Had she been caught off guard, her eardrums would have burst.

The dark wave that had engulfed them pounded their entire bodies for a moment before passing.

Then, Tang Yeo-eun hurriedly slipped out of Seon Woo-jin’s embrace and looked at him.

He had shielded her ears with his hands and wrapped his body around her, meaning Seonwoo Jin himself had faced that Yin Energy completely unprotected.

He had endured that immense sound wave without even covering his ears; there was no way he could be unharmed.

“Young Master!”

Dang Yeo-eun called out to him, tears welling in her eyes.

But the figure of Seonwoo Jin reflected in Dang Yeo-eun’s eyes fortunately seemed unharmed.

He looked a little pale, but he was still looking at Dang Ye-eun with a smiling face.

Seon Woo-jin smiled faintly and said to Dang Yeo-eun.

“Don’t worry, Miss Dang. I blocked my ears with internal energy and trained my external defenses, so minor shocks don’t bother me at all.”

Then he urgently continued.

“More importantly, Mak Woo-jeon is coming. Judging from his Yin energy just now, he’s clearly fallen into madness, and his power has definitely increased beyond before. We must flee quickly.”

At his words, Tang Yueyun nodded.

“Yes! Got it! Let’s go quickly!”

But Seon Woo-jin shook his head and spoke again.

“No. If we flee together, it will be too late. His speed is faster than yours, so he’ll catch up soon. Therefore, you must flee first. I’ll stall for time and then escape.”

At that, Tang Ye-eun shouted as if it were nonsense.

“That’s impossible!”

But Seon Woo-jin smiled confidently, reassuring her.

“Don’t worry, young lady. If it gets dangerous, I’ll flee immediately. You know my lightness technique, right? He’ll never be able to catch me.”

“But—”

“Alright, we don’t have time. Run back out the way we came as fast as you can. I’ll follow shortly.”

Just then, as Dang Yeo-eun was about to say something else, the sound of Mak Woo-jeon’s footsteps began to echo from afar as he ran toward them.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Seon Woo-jin was right.

There really was no time left now.

“Hurry! Quickly!”

Seon Woo-jin gently pushed her away in the opposite direction.

Her body flew through the air. Dang Yeo-eun, her eyes brimming with tears, glanced at Seon Woo-jin once, then left a single sentence before starting to run.

“Please take care of yourself, Young Master!”

Seon Woo-jin watched Dang Yeo-eun’s receding figure for a moment.

Then he coughed up the blood he had been holding back.

“Gurgle!”

Gurgle!

A bowlful of crimson blood spilled onto the cave floor.

“Guh!”

What he had told Dang Ye-eun earlier, that he was fine, had been a lie.

Sunwoo Jin’s body was currently so badly injured from internal damage that he couldn’t even move properly.

When the passage had trembled as if an earthquake struck earlier, he had known the shockwave would hit soon because he understood sound travels faster through solid earth than through air.

So the moment he felt the vibrations traveling up the cave wall, he knew a massive sound was about to hit.

But for the same reason, he never imagined his own body would be vulnerable to a sonic attack.

Who would have thought his solidly trained body would actually transmit the vibrations inward so easily?

So, even though he had shielded her with his own body, he ended up suffering greater damage than Dang Yeo-eun, who hadn’t trained her body at all.

Seonwoo Jin muttered with a bitter smile.

“Damn it, what do I do now?”

Thud thud thud thud thud!

The sound of Mak Woo-cheon’s footsteps grew louder and louder as he ran toward them.

***

Even in the faint green glow, Makwoojeon’s eyes blazed with a vivid red light as he ran madly down the passageway.

His mind held no memories, no rational judgment whatsoever.

Only one thing remained, seething and boiling: his rage toward the Blue-Red Twin Swords.

But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t see their figures.

Failing to find them, Makwoojeon’s chest grew increasingly filled with rage.

Like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

After a while, unable to contain his rage any longer at not seeing them even after running for so long, Makwoojeon channeled all his energy into the rising fury and unleashed it in a roar.

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

He stood his ground and roared like a lion, his roar surging through the passageway like a massive tidal wave.

A moment later, Makwoojeon’s heightened senses seemed to catch the faint sound of a woman’s scream.

Though faint, as if from far away, Makwoojeon could clearly hear it.

Something was ahead.

“Grrrrrrr!”

Makwoojeon began charging forward again, growling like a beast.

Like a beast chasing its prey, his gaze was fixed solely on the front.

He couldn’t let it slip away again.

At the same moment, Seon Woo-jin, hearing the approaching footsteps of Makwoojeon with terrifying momentum, finally clung to the ceiling like a spider.

Judging by the beast’s charging momentum, his own physical condition, and everything else, confronting it head-on was impossible.

Hiding was his only option.

But the narrow, simple circular passage offered no suitable hiding spot.

So Seonwoojin decided to cling right next to the rock where the night pearl was embedded.

It was right next to the light source, so in the narrow passageway, that spot—the only one with a bit of shadow—was their sole hope.

‘It better work out.’

Seon Woo-jin listened anxiously as the sound of Makwoojeon drawing nearer grew louder.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

He was fairly confident in his own concealment skills now, but there was no guarantee they would work against a master with over ninety years of cultivation.

Besides, this wasn’t exactly an ideal environment for hiding.

He felt he would be easily discovered if the enemy merely looked a little more carefully.

And if that happens, it’ll probably be the end of it.

Thud thud thud thud thud!

Now, even to the naked eye, its form was visible.

It charged fiercely like a predator hunting its prey, its eyes glowing red.

Gulp!

And moments later, it shot past beneath Sunwoo Jin’s head.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Seonwoo Jin breathed a deep sigh of relief inwardly.

It seemed he hadn’t been spotted after all.

That was fortunate.

Just as he was preparing his next move,

Suddenly, the guy stopped running and came to an abrupt halt.

Squeak!

At the same moment, Seon Woo-jin’s heart dropped.

The creature stood still, sniffing the air.

“Sniff, sniff!”

It looked like it had caught a scent.

Seeing this, Seon Woo-jin’s mind went blank.

The smell of blood!

It seemed to have detected the scent of the blood it had vomited earlier.

Like a beast, it pressed its nose to the floor, sniffing, then turned its body back toward the rear.

It was the spot where it had vomited blood earlier.

Seon Woo-jin’s heart pounded relentlessly as he watched.

Then suddenly, the creature lifted its head.

From a direction where, if it just lifted its head, it could lock eyes with Seonwoo Jin.

His heart felt like it would burst.

‘Damn it!’