He answered without hesitation.

“Azure Cloud Sect. I am Clear No-Name, and this is my senior brother, Clear Martial Hall.”

“Azure Cloud Sect… A sect I have never heard of. Where is it?”

“A small sect on the frontier. It would make sense you have not heard of it.”

Mujin looked at Ya Suyeong, and Ya Suyeong, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, nodded.

“There are countless small sects in the martial world, and it is hard to know everything. Fine. Let us go together.”

From Ya Suyeong’s attitude, Mujin seemed to read something as well.

“Blessed Light. You lay benefactors have come to such a dangerous place at such a young age. Your courage is truly admirable.”

“Our master told us to come build experience.”

At Unhwi’s reply, a few people nearby snickered. They likely thought these were thoughtless youths here to show off.

Being dismissed like this is a new experience in its own way.

Only two.

Only Ya Suyeong and Mujin did not dismiss Unhwi and Chief Seong.

The instincts of the two who had rolled around the martial world were clearly sensing danger.

Ya Suyeong spoke in a cold voice.

“Enough pointless talk. Let’s begin. The night is getting deep.”

The hour of the tiger had passed long ago.

The hidden realm entrance had formed in front of a rock face on one side of Watching-Moon Peak, and everyone stared at it.

“Blessed Light. You may be able to stay together, but you may also be separated far apart, so keep that in mind, and if possible, move in groups.”

After delivering the formal words, Ya Suyeong and Mujin stepped into the hidden realm.

Martial artists followed after them, and last of all, Unhwi and Chief Seong entered the hidden realm.

Before entering, Unhwi said briefly.

“If we are placed separately, come find me.”

“Can’t young master come find me?”

“No.”

Chief Seong chuckled softly and nodded.

“I will come find you.”

The two of them vanished completely.

***

The conversation they had shared became meaningless, because everyone who entered the hidden realm had gathered in the same place.

“Looks like we’ll all go together.”

At Ya Suyeong’s words, everyone fell silent.

The place they stood was a cavern, enormous enough to hold several hundred people.

There were exactly two passages leading out. One was large enough that several dozen could walk shoulder to shoulder, while the other was large enough for about ten or so to walk together.

Aside from the glowstones embedded in the walls casting a dim light, there was nothing distinctive about it.

“There are two passages.”

Usually, when a fork like this appeared inside a hidden realm, the correct answer was to take the widest one.

The reason was nothing special.

If the passage was large, the traps installed there would also be large, which made it more likely you could avoid them and gave you more time to prepare.

A narrow passage forced urgent movement, so most people moved toward the wider one, and Ya Suyeong was the same.

“We’ll take the wide passage. No need to drag this out. Let’s depart right away.”

Ya Suyeong and Mujin stood at the very front, and other experts followed behind them.

Unhwi and Chief Seong positioned themselves around the middle.

The passage traced a gentle downward curve into the underground.

After they walked about a hundred paces, Ya Suyeong’s voice came from up front.

“Stop. Halt here.”

Everyone stopped.

“Look at the ground. The color of the stones changed subtly.”

At Ya Suyeong’s words, everyone looked down. Indeed, the color of a few stones differed slightly.

“Seems like a trap. What do we do?”

Multiple voices traded opinions.

And even in that moment, Ya Suyeong and Mujin’s gazes were pinned to Unhwi and Chief Seong, and the two men were also watching Ya Suyeong and Mujin.

Ya Suyeong smiled.

“I’d like to hear the thoughts of the two who came from the Azure Cloud Sect. Anything?”

Before entering the hidden realm, and after.

Ya Suyeong’s attitude was consistent.

She kept her attention on the two who claimed the Azure Cloud Sect, and if everyone around them failed to notice that, that would be stranger.

Silence settled in.

It was an extremely uncomfortable silence, and a future that would become even more uncomfortable.

Unhwi stepped forward.

“We will just move separately.”

“Separately? Why?”

“Because we can tell the two seniors are uncomfortable with us.”

“…”

“Do not worry. From the moment we leave this line, even if you seniors and the martial world seniors here obtain something, we will not claim any ownership over it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But if I and my senior brother here reach the end of the hidden realm first, then we will take all the treasure that comes out of there.”

“Our junior is proposing an interesting deal. But that makes things more uncomfortable.”

“Do you dislike it?”

After thinking for a moment, Ya Suyeong looked around.

“When we first entered the hidden realm, there were two passages, right? You mean you’ll take that other passage, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Fine. I’ll take that deal.”

Without hesitation, Unhwi turned, and Chief Seong followed behind him.

Mujin sent a voice transmission to Ya Suyeong as she quietly watched the two leaving.

-Which one are you keeping in mind?

-Who else? The bastard called Clear Martial Hall or whatever, the one he’s calling his senior brother.

-From what I see, he seems to be around Divine Manifestation.

-Then you saw it wrong. From what I see, he’s on the same side as me.

-The same side?

-An assassin, is what. Those types are very used to hiding their realm. From what I see, he’s Celestial Being. That bastard.

-…You know very well that Divine Manifestation and Celestial Being are truly different. Do you really think so?

-Yes. But if he isn’t Celestial Being and is merely Divine Manifestation? Then the story changes again.

-Changes how?

-My senses pick up the danger of looking at a Celestial Being expert, but in reality he’s Divine Manifestation? Then the martial art he’s learning has to be at least at the Realm of Martial Divinity level. With martial arts like that, if it becomes a situation where you have to kill him, you need to be ready to lose an arm. You know. What kind of fights people like us have.

Assassins begin fights with the mindset of mutual destruction.

The mediocre ones forget that principle, get cocky, and dying becomes routine, but Divine Manifestation is different.

Their fights always end with one side dead and the other alive. That is the world of assassins.

As if he understood, Mujin nodded.

Then, as if something made him curious, he asked immediately.

-What do you think of the benefactor called No-Name beside him?

-…In some ways, he seems even more dangerous than that Clear Martial Hall bastard. Even if his martial realm is nothing special.

-This humble monk thinks so as well.

-Either way, he’s definitely hiding something.

-Better to be apart than together?

-Yes. But if those two reach the end before us.

-Blessed Light. Then we must erase them, for peace.

Ya Suyeong smiled as well.

-That’s right. We erase them. Make it look like they died in an accident.

Because this was a hidden realm.

In a hidden realm, you never know what might happen.

After exchanging laughter, the two returned their focus to the situation at hand.

***

Not long after Unhwi and Chief Seong set foot into ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the narrow passage, the first trap appeared.

“Young master.”

Chief Seong sensed the subtle change in the floor and stopped.

The stone’s color and texture differed, and a faint current flowed out.

Unhwi knelt and examined the floor closely.

“A Five-Elements Formation.”

He traced the stone surface with his fingertips, reading the structure.

Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were tangled together in a complex arrangement, and if even one part was touched wrong, a lethal attack would pour out.

At a glance, holes had been drilled into every corner of the walls, and the grain beyond them was split unnaturally.

The most common kind: poison-coated throwing blades or arrows would spray out, and at the same time the walls would collapse and the floor would cave in.

And beyond that, there would clearly be something else.

“So it’s not as low-level as I expected.”

Martial artists around the Karmic Fourfold Realm would be cleaned out here without exception.

The record he read in his previous life had nothing like this, so either almost no one came this way, or no one recorded it.

There were several possibilities, but he did not bother dwelling on it.

“Weren’t you saying they were trivial traps?”

“Do you think I can know everything?”

Chief Seong chuckled softly.

“May I handle it?”

When Unhwi nodded, Chief Seong pulled out small tools as if he had been waiting: thin wire, small beads, and several silver needles.

“Before I became directly under young master, I wandered the martial world for quite a long time. I’ll take care of it in the blink of an eye.”

Chief Seong immediately used the wire to carefully touch the core portion of the Five-Elements Formation.

He was using the principles of metal birthing water and water birthing wood in reverse, severing the formation’s cyclical link.

Tuk. Tuk.

With a faint sound, the formation was released, and a portion of the floor cracked open slightly, revealing a small jade bottle.

A quick glance showed there were letters written on it.

“A Bone-Refining Pill.”

Even though a long time had clearly passed, the jade bottle and its contents were in perfect condition, as if it had been placed there just now.

When Chief Seong lifted the bottle, a faint medicinal fragrance drifted out.

“It isn’t something you or I really need… but it should fetch quite a price, shouldn’t it?”

Unhwi did not answer and looked around.

“If they hid something like this from the first trap, it means more will come.”

“So it really is a treasure vault.”

The two started walking again.

And Unhwi’s expectation proved accurate.

After another twenty or so paces, the second trap appeared.

This time it was a Yin-Yang Change Formation.

A Great Polarity Sigil had been carved into the wall, and black-and-white currents spun without end.

“When yin reaches its extreme, yang is born; when yang reaches its extreme, yin is born.”

Unhwi muttered while analyzing the rotating structure. He had to pinpoint the exact turning points between yin and yang.

“Second point from the left, and the very end of the lower right. Pierce them with needles.”

Chief Seong acted at once. The formation released cleanly, and the wall beneath it lifted with a clunk.

There, as before, was a jade bottle.

“A Marrow-Forging Pill.”

True to its name, it strengthened the marrow and aided the circulation of inner power, a precious spirit pill.

A spirit pill that would be a great help even to Heaven-and-Earth Fourfold Realm martial artists, with value starting from 500 liang of gold.

Unhwi silently handed it to Chief Seong.

“You’re planning to give this to Alliance Lord Hwa as well, right?”

Unhwi shook his head.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep