Chapter 17 Escape (3)

Chapter 17: Escape (3)

Fortunately, the bathing incident passed without incident.

I don’t know how they did it, but the pond had both a water supply and a sewage system installed.

‘Well, of course. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a pond inside a cave.’

Instead, we’d have to make do with meals of raw rice and jerky for the rest of the day since we couldn’t use water.

Chew chew.

Tough, tough jerky. In this era without tenderizers and where sugar was hard to come by, jerky was equivalent to dried squid in modern society.

Zing.

Thanks to that, I felt the intense gaze of the cleaning crew enduring the strenuous chewing.

“Hm, seeing you up close like this, you really are a beauty.”

Trying to stay quiet felt awkward, so I blurted out anything.

Still, it was half true. She had that fresh, teenage high school girl vibe, so I felt nothing.

As always, my love is only for Yuk Jin-hwa.

“I hear that a lot.”

She tidied the hair by her ear and opened her eyes wide.

It was as if she wanted more praise.

I wanted to punch her, but since I was in the wrong, I summoned superhuman patience and held back.

“By the way, why were you captured by the Ten Demon Sect?”

If you judge the Cheong Family solely by their strength, they are indeed a small-to-medium sect.

However, the connections they built through practicing medicine and martial arts extend throughout the entire martial world.

Even if the Ten Demon Sect is a nationwide gang, kidnapping the daughter of such a family was like pouring gasoline on the already raging fire of public criticism.

At my question, Cheong Sosso seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Ah! If it’s a secret, you don’t have to answer.”

“Hmm… No. It’s not really a secret. What is it?”

Cheong Sosso swallowed a piece of jerky and continued.

“It’s because of the Snow Ice Clan.”

“Snow Ice Clan?”

The one famous for rice cake shaved ice?

Seeing my puzzled expression, Cheong Sosso explained further.

“It’s a medicine with the nature of extreme yin.”

“Well now, that sounds like a magical elixir.”

“It is half magical elixir. It’s just that its effect on enhancing internal energy is small.”

“But what does that have to do with Cheongsojae being kidnapped?”

“The Crown Prince of the Ten Demon Clan fell into demonic possession while learning extreme yang martial arts. To cure him, they need a refined pill containing extreme yin energy. As you know, only our Green Dragon Hall or the Nine Dragons City deals in such items.“

”So that’s why they kidnapped Qingzhe, to exchange him for the Snow Ice Pill.”

After nodding briefly, I suddenly had another question.

“But tell me this. Wouldn’t it have been quicker to just raid the Qing Family’s warehouse? Kidnapping a hostage and arranging an exchange isn’t exactly a quick process…”

“True. The masters of the Dark Sect did breach our Qing Family’s walls. They were trapped and captured in the Jiezhen, that’s why. That’s why they targeted me. I happened to be in Shanxi Province purchasing medicinal ingredients.”

“The Ten Demon Sect must have been in a real hurry.”

“Well, he is the Crown Prince. It’s already a place where ten sects are vying for power through underhanded schemes. If the succession goes wrong, it would be uncontrollable. That’s why Father held out and didn’t hand over the Snow Ice Pill. He would have given it if absolutely necessary.”

This is why partnerships are dangerous.

It began with the noble ideal of joining forces to conquer the martial world, but a hundred years later, they were engaged in bloody battles against each other to protect or seize control.

Just look at Goldmoon—after the chairman died, didn’t Jae-sung, who was a police informant, become chairman after a bloody fight?

That thought made me realize I needed to get out of Guryongseong as soon as possible.

This business had also started as a partnership.

***

Three days passed after that.

Before I knew it, a week had passed since I entered the secret chamber, and I thought it might be time to leave. I asked the cleaner for her opinion.

“I think it’s fine too.”

“Then let’s start preparing to leave.”

“Yes.”

And so began packing.

Contrary to my suggestion to take only a week’s worth of supplies, the cleaner insisted there was much to pack.

“You know how hard it was to get here from Hyeongju? Might as well milk it for all it’s worth while I’m here.”

She began gathering aged medicinal herbs, aged Hwandan pills, and aged medicinal formulae from the various shrine jars scattered around the divine cave.

‘It’s not like it’s kimchi or something.’

An hour passed as she gathered these items.

“We’re done. Let’s go.”

Cheongso-so appeared, slung over her back a bulging sack.

“…Just saying, in case you were wondering. I won’t carry that.”

“Tch.”

Carrying Jirul all the way here had already strained her back terribly.

To satisfy the three wives and concubines she’d be sharing with later, she needed to spare her back from now on.

“Is the way out the same as when we came in?”

“No. Back then, crossing from the north to the west side of the mountain range was treacherous, but now we just need to head south, so it should be a bit easier.”

“Well, that’s one thing to be thankful for.”

Cheongso-so smiled brightly and pressed the door lock’s passcode.

Ding!

Then, with a loud clang, the door opened···?

“Huh? Why isn’t the door opening?”

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

She pressed the door lock again, but this time there was no response at all.

“…Cleaner?”

“Oh, oh no. Looks like the mechanism’s broken.”

“Damn it, this is bad.”

Ultimately, they had to force the door open.

“Will it open if we push it?”

“It might open, but it won’t be easy. It weighs over five hundred kan.”

One kan is 3.75 kilograms.

Five hundred kan is 3,000 kilograms.

Meaning, they had to push a three-ton boulder out of the way.

“That won’t be easy.”

It was absolutely impossible without heavy equipment.

“What should we do?”

The janitor asked in a worried tone.

“We have no choice. We’ll have to break it down and get out.”

“Break it? That big thing?”

“It might be tough at first, but we’ll manage after a few tries. But is that okay? If the door’s gone, everything inside will be exposed.”

“As long as what’s behind the inner iron door stays intact, it’s fine.”

“Understood.”

In the end, the method I chose was to break through.

It wouldn’t be easy, but if I kept at it, it would be possible someday…

“Hmph.”

I stretched my body, keeping a slight distance.

I’d decided to go all out from the very first strike.

“Huff.”

Just as I was about to unleash the full power of the Zhenwang Style.

Tuuuwoong!

A suspicious sound came from outside the door.

Faced with this inexplicable phenomenon, I considered various possibilities.

‘A rescue team? No. They wouldn’t even know this location.’

Then there was only one answer.

“It seems the enemy has found us.”

“Wh-what do you mean!”

Sure enough.

BOOM! CRASH!

The sound of a thunderbolt shell exploding echoed.

THUD!

A hole the size of a watermelon burst open, and a human head popped through, staring at me and the cleaning station inside the room and shouting.

“Found you two bastards!”

There was no time to think.

Crack!

First, I had to run and smash that skull.

Hot blood and brain matter spurted from the shattered head.

Then, the headless corpse stumbled out the door, its voice raspy and strained.

“So it’s you. You dared to turn the Gamsukbunta of the Great Ten Demon Alliance into a wasteland and take the woman.”

“I merely rescued a woman captured by villains.”

Peering through the hole, he saw a bandit-like figure wearing an eye patch standing there.

“What is your name?”

“…Danun.”

“The Blue Dragon Sword?”

“So my fame has spread that far.”

“Sending the heir to rescue the youngest daughter of the Blue Family? Looks like your clan’s leader has lost his mind.”

I didn’t know.

That Danun was being treated as the heir to the Nine Dragons Fortress.

Better not mess with him from now on.

“Well? Isn’t it better than living like you, a young master who’ll be possessed by demons any day now?”

“How dare you mention his name with that filthy mouth? You must not want to live.”

A thick killing intent seeped through the hole.

“I, Yang Hanbaek, will take your life without fail.”

Hearing the name, the Qingchao behind him gasped and shouted.

“Soul-Snatching Killing Axe!”

The familiar cliché of an ally gasping in shock and shouting the enemy’s moniker upon hearing their name.

I stared silently at the cleaner.

Because it was obvious he’d explain everything about the bastard even if I stayed quiet.

“He’s the Grand Master of the Jima Guard protecting the Crown Prince. A powerhouse among powerhouses who’s been at the peak of his art for over ten years.”

“Ugh. Fuck.”

The unexpected appearance of such a powerful enemy made curses spill out involuntarily.

I immediately spoke into the hole.

“Um, sir? I’m sorry about what happened earlier? I didn’t mean to…”.

BANG!

Seeing them smash the door without even accepting my apology made me feel utterly hopeless.

“What do we do now?”

The cleaner asked, his face drained of color.

‘What do we do?’

If he reached his peak ten years ago, he’s probably a couple steps ahead of me.

Plus, unlike me who’s alone, the enemies are numerous.

‘Survival probability less than 1%.’

But I can’t just die like that.

“Cleaner, is there any elixir or potion here?”

“Huh? Elixir?”

“If there is, bring it all. We have to do something, don’t we?”

Cleaner, who had been biting her lip in thought, suddenly dashed toward the iron door and shouted.

“Follow me!”

Then she immediately dismantled the formation on the iron door.

“It’s done! Come in!”

Clang.

Inside the iron door, there was nothing special.

Except for a small jade bottle right in the center.

Cheong So-so picked it up and held it out.

“Snow Yin Essence. Our family’s finest elixir.”

“Hurry up and give it to me.”

“But, will it even work if I take it now?”

That’s right. Elixirs don’t take effect the moment you consume them.

If it did, the strongest fighter in Nine Dragons Fortress would have come from Golden Dragon Hall (Million Gold Battlefield), not Green Dragon Hall (Dang Family).

Truly, to absorb a potion’s energy, one must bathe and purify oneself, then slowly absorb its essence through qigong practice. Only then can one barely dissolve half its potency.

And even then, taking too much diminishes its effect.

There’s a limit to how much elixir one person can absorb.

But.

“I can do it.”

I was confident.

Because I believed in the efficacy of the Zhen Wang Liu.

‘I’ll show you the terror of a Saiyan who grows stronger through battle.’

I grabbed the jade bottle from the cleaning lady’s hand and downed it in one gulp.

“Wait, drinking it like that will cause side effects…”

She belatedly tried to explain the side effects, but that was a problem for later.

First things first: dealing with the bastards breaking down the door.

“Lock the door and hide. Don’t forget to use that silver-thread technique I showed you last time.”

With that, I opened the iron door and stepped outside.

‘Damn, I’m charismatic.’

I really shouldn’t be making Cheongso-so fall for me.

** *

Rumble.

Just then, I saw the bastards smashing through the door and entering.

Some guy named Salbu blew on his huge axe and said.

“This old man’s axe will slice your neck clean off, so just wait right there.”

“Ever heard of the King’s Fist?”

“King’s Fist?”

“This is the hell you’re about to experience.”

“What the hell are you talking about!”

I immediately activated the Jeonwangbo and charged at him.

“Hmph!”

Perhaps faster than he expected, the bastard was startled and shielded himself with his huge axe.

But.

My target wasn’t him from the start.

It was the scum he brought along.

A lightning-fast thrust pierced the chest of one of the henchmen the bastard had brought.

Snap.

The bastard’s ribs shattered.

Puff!

It pierced through his back.

Kwaaang!

The explosive force from the punch swept through the area.

“Gyaaah!”

“Guh!”

Thanks to that, the bodies of the two behind him were flung backward, crashing into the wall.

The first technique of the Zhenwang style. Explosive Death Force.

Three men in one strike.

Killing a third of the henchmen he’d brought in an instant, the fat bastard flew into a rage and swung his axe.

“You bastard!”

Whoosh!

Its speed was painfully obvious.

But he couldn’t let his guard down.

The axe was imbued with terrifying aura.

Kwaaawwaaang!

The crimson aura erupted, sweeping the area.

He swiftly activated the Zhen Wang Bo, barely escaping the range.

“You rat-like bastard. Wait there. I’ll split your skull open.”

The bastard charged at me with bloodshot eyes.