“The answer is the left!”

“…And the reason?”

I paused for a moment and asked him. Oh Cho-sam then pointed to the front where the phrase was engraved and answered.

“Look at the color of the rock wall! Isn’t it a mix of blue river stone and white jade stone?”

“So?”

“Blue and white, dragon and tiger. This refers to the Azure Dragon of the East and the White Tiger of the West. Since the dragon was previously stated to be the one with qualifications and the tiger the one without, we, who have entered with the key to the tomb and are qualified, must choose the left passage.”

He explained with a triumphant air. It was a decent interpretation. In fact, he had guessed it correctly according to the original work’s guide. But it was only half the answer.

“Then what do you think of the phrase below?”

I mentioned the characters engraved on the second line.

[To those who wish to be the same, a trial, to those who wish to be different, a provision.]

Oh Cho-sam, who had been pondering the added question for a moment, tilted his head.

“Isn’t it just saying that there is a trial and a provision? In any tomb, there are often writings about warnings and rewards at the entrance.”

“So, you’re saying the presence of a trial is meaningless?”

“Well, I think it’s right to not pay attention if the threat isn’t direct. It’s not like we’re going to stop just because there’s a trial.”

Come to think of it, what was important to a tomb raider was finding the right path. Regardless of whether there was a trial or a provision ahead. But that was strictly from a tomb raider’s perspective.

“You’re wrong.”

“Pardon?”

“Look at the first phrase again.”

Oh Cho-sam, having been corrected, stuck his head forward and looked at the string of characters.

[You who are qualified, follow and become a dragon, you who wish to be qualified, become a tiger alone.]

I began to explain to the guy who was still tilting his head, unable to find his bearings.

“Following to become a dragon and becoming a tiger alone. That is related to those who wish to be the same and those who wish to be different later on.”

In other words, it meant that for those who wished to become a dragon, there was a trial, and for those who wished to become a tiger, there was a provision.

“Thinking of it that way, it’s strange. Why would they give a provision to someone who stands alone?”

The explanation for that was simple. This tomb, created by the Heaven-Shattering Demon, was intended for two types of successors: one like himself and one different.

However, since this was content from the latter half of the original work, I appropriately changed the subject.

“The important thing is that if we go left, there’s a trial, and if we go right, there’s a provision.”

“But the left side must have ‘something’ for those who are qualified, right? Therefore, becoming a dragon probably means inheriting the will of the Heaven-Shattering Demon. In cases like this, the side that inherits the will is usually the real deal. There might even be a secret manual!”

Oh Cho-sam retorted. It seemed he thought the provision on the right was just a moderate reward like gold and treasures, and that beyond the trial on the left, which inherited the Heaven-Shattering Demon’s will, there would be an ultimate secret manual.

“So?”

“Pardon?”

“So you think you can inherit his will? You?”

I pointed out the most important thing. He was puffed up with pride after breaking through a complex trap, but the problem was whether he could pass the trial left by the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

“As you said, this tomb was left for the will of the Heaven-Shattering Demon. Did that look easy to you? At your current level, no, even at my level, we cannot pass the trial.”

I spoke with deliberate conviction. Because to pass that trial, based on the original work, one had to at least surpass the extreme of the super-peak level.

If we went there at our current level, we would die.

I turned my feet towards the right, where the provision was said to be.

This was not the time to be needlessly greedy for something I couldn’t handle.

Kuuung-!

As we passed through the right tunnel, we heard the sound of a heavy rock wall falling from the side in succession.

It was probably a structure where the moment you chose one side, the path to the other was blocked.

“…Even so, don’t you feel it’s a waste?”

“Not at all.”

Oh Cho-sam asked in a tone that seemed to hold lingering attachment, but I didn’t pay it any mind.

Choosing the right was not a simple second-best option. Right now, I needed the provision left by the Heaven-Shattering Demon.

Most importantly, there was another way to the heart of the tomb besides this place, so I could aim for it later.

“Just in case, I’ll check first.”

As I was about to enter the interior in earnest, Oh Cho-sam took out a night-luminescent pearl from his bosom and shone it around.

I ignored Oh Cho-sam’s fuss and moved forward.

“S-sir, it’s dangerous!”

“Seeing as the side passage collapsed as soon as we entered, it’s highly likely this place has the same device. It’s difficult to lay down petty traps while making a mechanism of that scale. Most of all, I don’t think the Heaven-Shattering Demon is a petty person who would set traps behind a provision for his successors.”

And so, I walked through the dark passage without hesitation. Of course, the reason I was acting this way was because I knew the contents of the original work.

“Brother Cheonwu…!”

“Who’s your brother?”

Oh Cho-sam, as if impressed by my bold action, followed me clingily. I quickly moved my feet and traversed the inside of the passage.

As expected, there were no traps in the right passage, which was specified as a provision. As we moved through the darkness, relying on the faint light of the night-luminescent pearl, a large door finally revealed itself before us.

“This, this is unsettling…”

I heard Oh Cho-sam muttering from the side. He certainly had a useful intuition.

I inserted the sword-shaped key into the hole at the bottom of the door. Then, I saw the key-sword break inside and get sucked beyond the door.

Soon, with the sound of a complex mechanism engaging, the iron door began to open.

Kwaaaaaa-!

An enormous energy poured out from between the opened gap. Beyond it, night-luminescent pearls were embedded in various places in the room, and in the center, there was something resembling an altar.

At the obviously unusual atmosphere, Oh Cho-sam’s voice trembled.

“Th-this is. It’s dangerous!”

“Then, you stay here.”

Oh Cho-sam, who was conflicted for a moment at those words, finally stood next to me as if he had made up his mind.

“No, I will too!”

The moment he stepped inside the door, his two legs trembling, the huge energy that had been encroaching on the room struck him down.

“Keuleuk…!”

Oh Cho-sam, who had entered the interior, fainted right at the entrance. He had lost consciousness due to the full energy of the earth vein that had been accumulating for at least tens of thousands, or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of years.

‘It’s certainly a space where an incredibly dense energy resides.’

A place called the Altar of Provision in the original work. In fact, this was a prime location among prime locations where several large earth veins overlapped, and the energy of the room, which had been drawn in to an extreme degree, was truly enormous.

To withstand this level of pure energy, one needed internal energy of at least the peak level. It was similar to how only professional divers could remain conscious and active beyond a certain depth of water.

I left the fainted Oh Cho-sam outside the entrance and entered the interior again. In a way, he had been pierced through the whole body with tremendous internal energy, so it would take a full day for him to wake up.

In fact, I had pretended not to know even though I knew it would turn out like this. Because Oh Cho-sam couldn’t see what was about to happen.

I entered the inside of the Altar of Provision. As expected, perhaps due to the effect of the geometric patterns drawn on the floor, the energy grew thicker as I moved towards the center.

‘Just as I expected.’

Finally, when my feet reached the stairs at the center of the altar, my circle began to churn wildly. It was because the area was filled with a pure but more specially purified energy, mana.

In the first place, a place like this was a type of energy vein where a peerless elixir, the Azure Jade Nectar, would form.

I climbed the stairs leading to the altar in the middle of the room and gripped the Daoist Scholar’s Fan that I had taken out from my bosom. I could feel the Daoist Scholar’s Fan trembling in my hand.

As soon as I reached the top, I moved to the center of the altar and stood. There was a place to put a weapon at chest height, so I placed the Daoist Scholar’s Fan on it. Then, as if to remind me that I had come to the center of a huge energy vein, a strong current of air blew from all directions.

Huuuuung-

In the midst of the mana and qi mixing and swirling, the pressure weighing down on my whole body gradually intensified.

“…It’s rougher than I thought!”

The mana storm gradually grew, and soon, the inside of the room began to vibrate.

The geometric lines drawn on the floor, centered on the altar, began to emit light, and the numerous murals engraved on the ceiling began to flicker faintly.

It looked dangerous at a glance, but I had no intention of backing down.

‘Because I came for this.’

One of the reasons I came here. It was to release the power held by the divine object.

With that, the patterns inside the room emitted light all at once, and all the power inside the altar was concentrated on the Daoist Scholar’s Fan.

‘My whole body feels like it’s going to explode!’

It felt like I had entered the very core of a huge power plant. I could feel the immense mana crushing me.

But this was also an opportunity.

In the midst of the sensation that my body would be annihilated at any moment, I controlled the mana as much as possible.

It was an astonishing power, but the talent of [Absolute Magic] made it possible.

The role of this room was simple. It drew out the original power of a divine object with a huge force.

That was also because one of the Heaven-Shattering Demon’s two disciples had received an unstable divine object.

‘But the Daoist Scholar’s Fan came instead.’

Although it was originally intended to release a different divine object, the principle was the same. All that was left was to endure this huge power and match the link between the owner and the divine object.

A divine object is, in a sense, like a living being, so when it is first released, it imprints on the being who led it.

Originally, a being with that much power had to release the divine object with their own ability, but this room forcibly helped with that.

‘I have to endure somehow.’

Since I was already closer to release after breaking one of Sayurang’s three evil artifacts, it was worth a try.

I gritted my teeth and poured mana into the Daoist Scholar’s Fan.

Kiiiiing!

Soon, the white ribs of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan slowly rose from the round base of the fan and wrapped around me in a fan shape.

With that, the resonance of the mana that had been shaking all around stopped. The light from all directions went out, and even the force that had been pressing me disappeared.

I looked at the nine dagger-shaped fan ribs floating around my chest, covered in cold sweat.

The mid-range combat form of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, the Art of Controlling the Fan with Qi.

Of course, it wasn’t completely the same as the Art of Controlling the Sword with Qi. It was just a miracle realized with the help of a divine object.

It was on a different level from the sword control art unfolded by a monster of a distant realm.

However, with this, I could supplement my relatively weak body and close-range combat.

I tried operating the fan ribs as a test. Since there were as many as nine, it was tricky to handle, but by concentrating my consciousness as much as possible, I could operate one.

‘It’ll take quite a while to get used to it.’

It felt like I had grown a tail. It was a much more unfamiliar sensation, different from simply throwing or controlling magic.

As a test, I moved the fan rib floating in the air and made the fan rib blades clash.

Tiiing-

Then, the tips of the white ribs bounced off as if repelling each other. It was just a dagger, but I could faintly feel the pressure transmitted to it.

To think that a sensation could be transmitted with just a weapon.

“Amazing.”

I didn’t know the principle, but it was a function that could only be described as miraculous. I marveled like a child who had touched a drone for the first time, waving my hands and moving the fan ribs, and then I discovered something.

“What is this?”

A mark was embedded on the back of my hand. A fan-shaped pattern had a faint purple hue.

‘A bound weapon?’

I had only seen it in passing in the guide, and since this was the first time I had come to this stage, it was fascinating.

It would be a problem if the bioluminescent tattoo didn’t turn off forever, but from the feeling, it seemed it only became like this in the Art of Controlling the Fan with Qi form.

Because in order to control that remotely, there had to be a medium like this circuit.

‘For the time being, it’ll be tight just focusing on this.’

Thinking so, I moved the fan rib. The fan rib that soared, drawing a twisted trajectory. Its power itself might not seem like much, but it would become a tremendous asset in the future.

“Hoo.”

I rotated the fan rib in a large circle and let out a hot breath.

What surprised me while trying the Art of Controlling the Fan with Qi was the enormous consumption of internal energy and mana.

‘It’s basically operated with internal energy, but I have to use both to use it stably.’

It was difficult to train unless it was a place overflowing with qi and mana like this.

For me, who needed time to get used to the second stage of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, this was the optimal training ground.

Just as I was drawing a sword path in the air and operating the first fan rib, the First Blade, for a while.

Jjeojeojeok-

At the sound of something falling off from somewhere, I turned my head, and a gruesome sight unfolded.

From the murals surrounding all sides, earth soldiers in the shape of humans were falling out.

“…It’s finally started.”

Nearly a hundred terracotta soldiers began to approach, aiming their earth-made spears at this side in formation. It was a hellish scene, as if I had been placed in the middle of the Terracotta Army.

I returned the Daoist Scholar’s Fan that had been floating in the air to my hand and then took out only the First Blade I had been operating and aimed it forward.

“Not bad.”

Even though they looked like that, each of the terracotta soldiers in my sight was a mass-produced pseudo-spiritual beast filled with pure energy.

In other words, it meant that they would greatly increase the proficiency of the divine object.

‘It’s not called a provision for nothing.’

The last reason I chose this place. It was the experience burning event I had experienced in the original work.

(End of Chapter)

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