Chapter 132: An Unnecessary Truths (2)

In the end, we rejected Cheon Jeonmun’s offer and followed the traces of Ma Jinyoon.

And thus, we finally arrived at Iron Steed Prison Cave.

“This… is this Iron Steed Prison Cave?”

It looked like an antlion trap expanded tens of thousands of times.

Considering that every one of those holes carved into the massive cliff was a prison cell, it meant that at least several thousand people were imprisoned here.

“It’s even more grotesque at night. Feels like a chilling Yin energy is floating around.”

If it weren’t for the torches densely lit across the entire cliff, that eerie sensation would have been even stronger.

“Jin Yeomyung, there’s something I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Why didn’t that old man from the Cheon Clan act against us directly?”

Ma Chulsoo had thought that monster from the Cheon Clan would strike at him personally.

So the fact that he left only a vague warning of an ambush and disappeared had been unexpected.

“Because he’s from the Cheon Clan.”

“Even so, the place where we met the old man was suitable enough for a surprise attack.”

I looked at Ma Chulsoo, who said such a thing, with a pitiful gaze.

“Ma Chulsoo. What do you think it means to be from the Cheon Clan?”

“W-what? Are you saying I misunderstood something?”

“The Cheon Clan is like a parent. The parent of everyone under the roof of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Even the Six Great Demonic Clans aren’t exempt from that.”

“……”

“No matter how incompetent a child may be, a parent can’t easily betray the natural bond of blood.”

Ma Chulsoo responded with a sour expression.

“…Then what about those elders from the Cheon Clan who attacked me?”

“Haven’t I already told you? Those old men are being overly greedy.”

The fact that they didn’t make a move and only applied pressure—perhaps that was their way of compromising.

“Well, this is all a metaphor, of course. Think of it as a kind of restriction.”

“Restriction?”

“Just like the Blood Dragon Demonic Clan has its laws of blood, the Cheon Clan has something similar, or so I’ve heard.”

It was precisely because of such laws that the Heavenly Demon Cult had not fallen to internal strife during the thousand years of its existence but had flourished instead.

“In any case, what matters now isn’t the Cheon Clan, but what lies ahead.”

The traces of Ma Jinyoon continued to stretch onward.

‘No guards…’

Perhaps due to Cheon Jeonmun’s intervention, the guards that should’ve been stationed at Iron Steed Prison Cave were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, what greeted us was—

“Huahahaha! Look at this, a bunch of fluffy little cubs!”

“Come here, I’ll give you a good rub!”

“Where’s a woman?! Isn’t there a woman?!”

It was obvious from a glance why these demonic beings had been thrown into Iron Steed Prison Cave. They greeted us with twisted laughter.

“Not exactly a pleasant place, is it?”

San Dojeon grimaced as he scanned the surroundings.

Seeing the prisoners gripping their iron bars, hurling curses and lewd remarks, I felt like my mind would be tainted in less than a day.

“If you felt pleasant looking at a prison, that’d be more disturbing.”

Especially since he used to be a mountain bandit—perhaps he had an even greater aversion to such a prison environment?

But more importantly—

‘Why in the world did Ma Jinyoon come to a place like this?’

While Iron Steed Prison Cave was certainly a forbidden place in the cult, it was hard to believe it held any particularly special secrets.

Compared to sacred sites like the shrine of the Priestess or hidden chambers within the Heavenly Demon Hall that only the Cult Leader could enter, Iron Steed Prison Cave was relatively mundane.

‘Maybe I think that way because even during my time as Inner Administrator, there weren’t any problems here…’

At any rate, if we followed the trail to the end, we’d surely find a reason.

And then—

Thump! Thump!

‘What is this?’

Without any reason, my heart began to race.

My blood circulation quickened, and my whole body was suddenly tingling with excitement.

Fear? No.

Anticipation? Something close.

To put it precisely—

Yes, it was battle intent.

But toward what? Toward whom?

Ever since the power of the Second Heavenly Demon suddenly burst forth, my senses had begun to run wild.

And that surging battle intent reached its peak due to—

The presence of someone walking out from one of the caves.

Clank! Clank!

A disheveled man, limbs bound in iron chains.

But his aura couldn’t be hidden by mere shackles.

More than anything else, at his waist was a single ancient longsword with a green pine scabbard—Green Pine Ancient Sword.

I instantly analyzed his condition and frowned.

‘His tendons are severed, but… his internal energy hasn’t been sealed!’

He merely looked like a prisoner on the surface. In truth, he was still a highly dangerous opponent.

‘Is this man the trial that old man left for us?’

If so, he certainly wouldn’t be an ordinary expert.

Then, with a melancholic gaze, the disheveled man introduced himself to us.

“…I am Song Yangja, of Azure Star Sect.”

“Song Yang…ja? S-Song Ja distribution?!”

Baek Sang-ah, from the Orthodox side, was the first to understand what he meant and gasped.

“Song Ja distribution” referred to the current three disciples of Azure Star Sect.

But there was no way that such an old man could be one of the current top three disciples.

That could only mean—his lineage dated back beyond even the current head disciples and elders… A truly distant senior of the martial world!

Baek Sang-ah, shocked, pointed at him and cried out.

“Why is a Song Ja-level elder, who should have retired long ago and be building his coffin, here?!”

“Hehehe, quite the candid tongue you have, young lady.”

“A-ah, I-I’m sorry!”

She instinctively bowed her head and apologized.

Unlike us, who were members of the Heavenly Demon Cult, she was strictly from the Orthodox faction.

To offend someone of such mythic seniority from the Orthodox side—her reaction was only natural.

“There is no need to apologize, Lady Baek.”

“B-but… in terms of distribution!”

If it truly followed the hierarchical distribution, there wouldn’t be more than ten people in the entire Orthodox world who wouldn’t bow their heads before this man.

“That’s assuming he really is a senior who devoted his life to the martial world.”

“Eh? What do you mean…?”

I forcibly pulled Baek Sang-ah behind me and addressed Song Yangja.

“Azure Star Sect’s Jeokunja—was he your disciple?”

For a brief moment, the old man’s eyes glinted with a murderous light.

“Jeokun… You know that child?”

“…As I thought.”

I didn’t answer directly but nodded slowly.

Jeokun of Azure Star Sect—the Elder and peak-level master who had cornered me and Cheon Yura during the Hidden Trace Manor incident in Nine Streams City.

Back then, he’d referred to someone as ‘that person’ when speaking to Cheon Yura. I hadn’t paid much attention at the time since the situation had gotten out of hand.

But now, the chances that the man before me was that ‘person’ Jeokun had referred to—were very high.

“I heard Jeokun… was defeated in a joint attack by the Young Cult Leader and some brat… So that brat… was you.”

Song Yangja seemed to have treasured Jeokun quite a bit.

The look in his eyes as he stared at me was anything but ordinary.

No, more importantly—

“If you’ve infiltrated the cult, I expected you to appear more discreet and composed. Your current state is… surprisingly unkempt.”

There’s no way someone of his level was merely pretending to be a prisoner.

In an instant, Song Yangja’s gaze grew shadowed.

“Hehehe… Before I met that person, I believed I could stand equal to the Three Supremes.”

Someone of his rank could certainly possess that level of confidence.

“But that was merely an illusion. That person… was a true sky I could never reach.”

“Who is that person?”

With a face full of hatred, Song Yangja shouted—

“The Heavenly Demon!”

“……!”

“Had that monster not caught me in his eyes…! The Grand Design of the Assembly would have risen to glory!”

‘…Hah.’

“Such bitterness, such regret!”

It seemed the Cult Leader had personally tracked down and beaten that man called Song Yangja, who had been in hiding.

‘To think that someone of his level would tremble in fear like this… he truly lives up to the name of Heavenly Demon.’

But that was beside the point.

“The Grand Design of the Assembly, huh…”

I glared at Song Yangja, filled with a disgust I couldn’t wash away.

“You’ve no right to speak of any grand design—after selling the Orthodox Murim to the Heaven-Defying Society.”

“…!”

“Huh? The Heaven-Defying Society? Why are they being mentioned here?”

Having experienced the events in Qinghai Province, Baek Sang-ah had come to grasp some of the hidden truths lurking beneath the surface of the Murim world.

After all, she had directly witnessed the grotesque transformations of the one of the Ten Heavenly Lords, Colorful Flower Lord.

There was no denying that reality.

I pointed at Song Yangja and spoke.

“That man is one of those damned lackeys. Whether he was one of the Ten Heavenly Lords we encountered before is unclear, but…”

“Is that… really true?”

Baek Sang-ah’s eyes turned ice-cold in an instant.

Of course—her clan, the Southern Baek Clan, had been thrown into chaos precisely because of those bastards.

“A man not even fit to feed pigs…”

Whoa now, young lady—your mouth!

Honestly, I was worried about how rough Baek Sang-ah’s tongue had become.

What was she going to do when she returned to her clan with that kind of language?

Naturally, Song Yangja flew into a rage at her unfiltered insult.

“A descendant of the Orthodox dares to speak that way to me!?”

“Shut it! If it weren’t for you scumbags, my grandfather and father wouldn’t have had to suffer so much!”

And she herself wouldn’t have ended up sold to the cult either.

Not to mention the reversal of her internal energy…

Song Yangja let out a shrieking cry and shouted back.

“All of this is but a small sacrifice for the sake of the Great Reincarnation! Once we return to the primordial world, every martial artist will thank us!”

I asked Song Yangja.

“And what, exactly, would they thank you for?”

“For smashing open the gates to Immortality! For allowing them to live in a flawless utopia, unblocked by that damnable wall! We shall ascend to the heavens and rule the world!”

His shrieked words were laced with deep resentment.

So basically… he wanted to stand in the sky.

I understood.

He wanted to shatter the wall of immortality.

That single phrase explained why Song Yangja had sided with the Heaven-Defying Society.

‘He must’ve grown tired of it all.’

The realm of the Immortal.

The legendary state said to be reached only by mythical swordmasters like the Three Peaks True Ones or Lü Dongbin.

A state so elusive that even after a lifetime of pursuit, not a single clue might appear.

But what if one could achieve it easily—by reshaping the world itself?

That temptation would be overpowering.

However…

“At the very least, that’s not something a true Daoist should say.”

If you were truly a Daoist, you’d reach enlightenment through your own power. What’s with all the complaining?

“You’d sacrifice countless others and defy the heavens to get what you want? You’re just a rotten husk of a man…”

“Hehehe, sacrifice? Defy the heavens? And you dare to accuse me?! You brats don’t even know what lies beyond this point!”

Behind Song Yangja was a long, shadowed corridor.

Coincidentally, the traces left by Ma Jinyoon continued beyond that corridor.

“If you knew what was ahead, you filthy demonic trash wouldn’t dare to judge us as impure!”

“What lies beyond that path?”

“See for yourself—with your own eyes! That is, if you’re confident you won’t die by my hand!”

Crunch! Crack!

In that moment—

Song Yangja’s body began to swell and twist grotesquely.

“U-ugh! What is that?!”

“A-a monster!”

Unlike Baek Sang-ah and I, who had encountered such things before, Ma Chulsoo and the others screamed in horror at the terrifying sight.

Clang! Crack!

The chains that bound Song Yangja shattered, and his muscles began to swell abnormally.

His massive new form resembled that of some prehistoric humanoid—like an ape said to be an ancestor of mankind.

The transformed monster that was once Song Yangja exhaled roughly and spoke.

“Hhgh… huff… He told me… that if I killed you… I would be freed.”

Right, they had called such forms Awakened States.

“Today, in this place, I shall gain both my freedom and my revenge for my disciple.”

As I watched, I felt a strange surge of emotion.

‘He’s definitely imposing, but… this doesn’t feel as threatening as when I faced Yin-Yang Fist Demon or Colorful Flower Lord.’

In other words, Song Yangja was not a bloodline inheritor of the mythical era like the Ten Heavenly Generals of the Heaven-Defying Society—but more akin to a test subject like Myeong-oh.

“Looks like I’m a lucky man.”

“What… are you saying?”

“You’re choosing to face me not as a swordsman, but as a monster.”

To be exact, Song Yangja’s life as a swordsman had already ended—cut short by the Cult Leader.

Now, he had no choice but to face me in this grotesque form.

And that fact alone was something I very much welcomed.

“I might not be good at dealing with people, but I’m plenty confident when it comes to smashing monsters.”

With a sinister smile, I drew the sword from my waist.

From deep within my body—

The Second Heavenly Demon’s power… surged forth.

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