Chapter 747: Your Death Has Guided Us to a New Path

TL: FoodieMonster007

"It's that scent from before."

Ji Han recognized the smell. It belonged to the man in the bamboo hat who had told him to apply the Soul Tracking Incense.

"That person is here, but…" He frowned. "There are so many other smells mixed that I think I'll have to get closer to be sure."

Geom Mugeuk was taken aback. It was remarkable that Ji Han could even smell the incense at all in such a crowded place.

Ji Han stepped forward to get a better whiff, but Geom Mugeuk pulled him back and shook his head.

Ji Han realized he had gotten too excited. If he approached so recklessly, he would reveal that they had noticed the man.

The man in the iron mask took the lead and climbed to the summit. "Now, everyone, follow me!"

The martial artists followed him, still half in doubt.

Geom Mugeuk's party also followed them. The appearance of the man in the iron mask created a completely unexpected situation.

The man in the iron mask climbed the western peak and acted as if he had truly deciphered the code. A large pond was there, big enough to be a lake.

"Beneath this pond is an underwater cave that leads to the Grave of Swords," he announced, revealing that he knew the exact location of the entrance. "You'll have to hold your breath for a long time to pass through. It'd be best for those who can't swim or are afraid of water not to enter."

A martial artist who feared water asked, "How long do we have to hold our breath?"

"You must hold it until you've slowly counted to one hundred."

Everyone thought they could manage that.

Geom Mugeuk warned Tae Su and Ji Han, who were both confident swimmers. "If you let your guard down just because of his words, you'll die. You have to swim, but the bigger problem is your poor vision down there. There could be unexpected obstacles, or someone might run out of breath and grab onto you. Don't think of that one hundred as the same as counting to one hundred outside of the water."

Tae Su and Ji Han steeled themselves.

On the contrary, Geom Mugeuk wasn't worried about the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Flower Sword Supreme. Masters at their level could fight aquatic beasts underwater.

"You must follow me closely," the man in the iron mask said, then jumped into the water without hesitation.

The other martial artists dove in one after another, afraid of losing him. They judged it would be safest to stick right behind him.

Geom Mugeuk was relaxed, however. He took a cloth from his leather backpack, the kind used for a wind-repelling cloak, and wrapped the backpack in it.

"You really carry all sorts of things!" Tae Su exclaimed. Geom Mugeuk's leather backpack truly seemed to have everything.

"Can you two swim?" Geom Mugeuk asked the elders.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon scoffed.

"He's as good as a water dragon," the Flower Sword Supreme explained the reason for his confidence.

"I'll entrust this luggage to the water dragon, then." Geom Mugeuk entrusted the wrapped leather backpack to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. Normally, he would carry it himself, but he had to look after the thief and the tracker in the narrow passage.

"You're asking an old man to do chores?"

"You don't look that old anymore."

The Flower Sword Supreme held out her hand. "Give it to me. I'll take it."

As Geom Mugeuk was about to hand it over, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon snatched the leather backpack first.

Tae Su jumped into the water, followed by Ji Han, then Geom Mugeuk and the two Demon Supremes.

Tae Su led the way at the very front. True to his word, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon swam like a water dragon even with the large luggage and his giant dao. The Flower Sword Supreme also dove in with elegant movements.

The deeper they went, the darker it became. Fish appeared and vanished from sight in an instant.

Suddenly, a human corpse appeared. Someone had already drowned.

Startled, Tae Su momentarily lost his sense of direction. The corpse had shaken his composure, and the bottom was darker than he had expected. He floundered for a moment.

Geom Mugeuk's telepathy reached him. [Go to the right.]

Indeed, there was a hole between the rocks in the direction Geom Mugeuk had indicated. Waterweeds had originally covered it, but the entrance was now exposed because the people ahead had torn them all away.

As Tae Su entered, a strange thought occurred to him. Wait… since when does telepathy work underwater?

He quickly gave up thinking, assuming he was just hallucinating.

The cave was large enough for a couple of adults to swim side-by-side, but it was too dark to see ahead. It was a cave one would never enter without being certain there was a space to breathe at the end.

Tae Su was startled again. A drowned corpse blocked the passage. He tried to push it aside, but in his haste, the floating body would not move easily.

SWOOSH!

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who followed behind, stretched out his hand. With a rush of bubbles, the corpse was instantly pushed far ahead.

Now, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon swam at the front, clearing away the floating corpses. There was more than just one or two bodies of those who had died on the way.

Tae Su shuddered. The passage was longer than he thought. He felt like he had already counted to one hundred.

At this rate…

His martial arts were relatively weak, and he was running out of breath. The terror of suffocation led to the fear of death.

Will I die without even reaching the entrance of the Grave of Swords?

No, there was something even more shameful than that.

Me, the guide, drowning to death?

That was something to be ashamed of even in death.

I can do it! I will do it!

However, contrary to his will, his consciousness began to fade.

[Close your eyes!]

Geom Mugeuk's telepathy reached him again.

Is it another hallucination?

Tae Su's eyes fluttered shut, even if he had been told not to close them.

SWOOOOOSH!

His body shot forward, cutting through the water. Ji Han, swimming behind him, was also pulled forward by Geom Mugeuk's hand. They parted the water and shot forward in an instant.

"Open your eyes."

When Tae Su opened his eyes, he and Ji Han were already poking their heads out of the water. The corpses that the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had pushed ahead floated nearby.

After throwing the two men out of the water, Geom Mugeuk emerged himself.

Tae Su bowed his head in gratitude. "Thank you so much for saving me."

Ji Han would have made it on his own, but Tae Su had truly been on the verge of death. He felt ashamed and embarrassed for worrying about what he would do if Geom Mugeuk arrived and killed him.

Soon after, the Flower Sword Supreme was the last to emerge from the water.

They found themselves in a space large enough for about a dozen people to stand. Some distance away, there was another underground cave. The people who had come out first seemed to have already gone into the cave, as no one was there.

The Flower Sword Supreme's wet clothes clung to her body. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon turned around and discreetly shielded her with his giant dao.

FWOOSH!

The Flower Sword Supreme circulated her yang qi and dried her clothes while standing. "I think this is the first time I've swum through an underwater cave like this," she grumbled. "What about you, Orabeoni?"

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon also dried his clothes with yang qi as he replied, "You think I would have?"

Geom Mugeuk didn't dry his clothes. Two masters emerging from the water perfectly dry was enough.

They walked into the cave and found a wide space where those who had entered first were gathered. Most of the martial artists who had jumped into the water were dead, leaving only about twenty still alive.

Their gazes turned to the five newcomers. They needed the numbers to decrease to heighten their chances of getting the treasure, so the arrival of five people was naturally met with unfriendly stares.

"Hurry up and open the door!" someone shouted.

Above the cliff face up ahead, there was a stone gate. The entrance to the Grave of Swords.

The martial artists stared at the gate, their faces filled with greed and desire. They believed that beyond this door lay something that would change their destinies.

The man in the iron mask slowly opened the door.

As the door opened, the scene inside was revealed. Hundreds, thousands of swords overwhelmed everyone's sight. Swords were embedded everywhere the eye could see. It was a scene truly befitting the name 'Grave of Swords'.

Looking closer, this wasn't just a flat area. It was a recreation of some grand hall. Pillars, chairs, and stone statues lining the walls all had swords stuck in them. Countless swords, each of which seemed to have its own story.

The martial artists began examining the nearby swords. Their eyes lit up, wondering if a treasured sword might be hidden among the old iron blades.

"Look, but don't pull them out!" the masked man warned.

However, whenever many people gather, someone always ignored such warnings.

SHIING! THUNK!

The moment someone pulled out a sword with an ornate scabbard, a blade shot up from the floor and pierced his groin. It moved with the speed of light, making it impossible to avoid. No one mourned his death.

The man in the iron mask looked at the grand throne far in the front and said, "We must get to the door behind that grand throne. The trap activated the moment we entered this place."

The distance from where he stood to the grand throne was awkward. It was a distance that someone confident in their movement arts would be tempted to cross in one go.

This awkward distance, combined with the greed to be first, prompted one person to leap forward.

SWISH! THUNK!

When he was about halfway across, he was killed by a blade that fell from the ceiling, piercing his head.

At the same time, another person cut through the air.

The opportunity is this very moment, right after the trap has been triggered!

He passed through the spot just as the previous person's body hit the floor.

SHIING! CLANG!

He deflected the hidden weapons falling toward his head.

I did it!

The moment he kicked off the air again, intending to rush toward the door…

SWIIISH!

Another blade, flying as fast as light, pierced through his heart. It was an attack that flew diagonally from the ceiling. The angle was difficult to deflect, and its speed was too fast. The floor opened, and the corpse fell through.

Another master rushed through the spot.

The moment it disposes of the body is the opportunity!

Contrary to his hopes, reality was harsh. Disposing of the body was also a trap.

The three corpses vanished into the ground in an instant.

A brief silence followed. The three martial artists' greed was excessive, but their skills weren't lacking.

"Let's just smash everything and go in!" someone roared.

The man in the iron mask said firmly, "That won't do. It was written on the treasure map. If you try to force your way in by destroying the traps, this place will collapse and be submerged. Do you now understand why I brought you all here?"

What was more frightening than death was the prospect of not being able to obtain the treasures here.

Geom Mugeuk looked at Tae Su. He had previously been confident that he not only knew the location of the Grave of Swords but that he alone could disable its traps.

However, Tae Su whispered with a flustered expression, "This is completely different from the trap description written on the treasure map."

Geom Mugeuk wasn't surprised at all. It was unlikely that whoever released multiple treasure maps would have obediently revealed the traps of this place beforehand.

The man in the iron mask asked everyone, "Is there anyone who knows how to get through this place?"

When no one could answer, the man in the iron mask singled out Geom Mugeuk. "You there, the young master with the luggage."

Everyone's gaze turned to Geom Mugeuk.

"Do you perhaps know a way?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because of that luggage. To have swum all the way here with such a large bundle must mean you have the skill to match, no? If someone so young has such skill, they must also have a sharp mind. A problem like this can be solved by someone young and smart."

Geom Mugeuk could feel it. The man knew his identity, and was testing him.

Is it you?

However, for him to be the mastermind, he had appeared far too openly.

Geom Mugeuk slowly walked forward and looked around at those standing there. With people dying, only the true masters and the cautious ones remained. The mastermind could be among them.

"Have you not found anything strange about this place?"

At that, the people looked around. Soon, their gazes, having found no answer, returned to Geom Mugeuk. It was the same for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Flower Sword Supreme.

What Geom Mugeuk had found was something no one had considered.

"I found the swords in this place to be the strangest thing."

Everyone wore puzzled expressions.

The man in the iron mask spoke for them all. "The swords are strange in the Grave of Swords?"

Rather, everyone looked at Geom Mugeuk with expressions that suggested he was the strange one. After all, the embedded swords were the least strange thing in this place.

Geom Mugeuk asked them, "Was this place the Grave of Swords from the very beginning?"

For a moment, everyone flinched.

"Isn't this a place that was named the Grave of Swords because decades ago, countless masters entered and died here? The name 'Grave of Swords' was given after they died, so isn't it strange that this gate is decorated like the Grave of Swords?"

"!"

This meant the gate was created after the Grave of Swords came to be. The possibility of this place being a trap grew even larger, but no one said they would turn back.

Geom Mugeuk slowly looked around. Finally, his steps halted in front of a stone statue with several swords embedded in it.

It was a statue of a woman holding a pipa. The woman wore a truly sorrowful expression.

Geom Mugeuk had been here before in his past life. Back then, this statue definitely wasn't here. It was the kind of statue he would have surely remembered if it had been.

"Was this woman a musician? Or a master of sound arts?"

Geom Mugeuk flicked the sword embedded in her stomach with his finger.

TING!

The metallic sound rang out clearly.

Geom Mugeuk flicked the sword embedded in her side, then the shoulder, then the thigh. Each sword stuck in the body produced a different sound, whether because the metal was different or the depth of embedding was different.

Tae Su whispered cautiously to Geom Mugeuk. "That sound just now was the same as a note from a pipa."

"The same as a pipa note?"

"Yes."

"You know about musical instruments too?"

"I learned a little of this and that when I was young."

His father had taught him to play, saying that to be a proper thief, one must also know about musical instruments.

Geom Mugeuk looked at the statue again. "Perhaps?"

After asking Tae Su, Geom Mugeuk pushed the swords deep into the statue in order, starting from the one that made the lowest note. The sword that made the highest note was the last to be embedded in her heart.

The moment all the swords were fully embedded in the statue, the ground began to shake, and the floor started to move.

RUUUUMBLE! SHIIIIINK!

The swords embedded in the floor seemed to shuffle around. Then, as if inviting them to cross, sword hilts of the same color formed a straight line all the way to the door.

Seeing this, Tae Su shouted with joy, "The trap has been disarmed!"

Everyone stared at Geom Mugeuk in astonishment. Some were in awe, while others were suspicious. It was a simple method once you knew it, but for those who didn't know the answer, it was a solution they could have been stuck here for a lifetime without figuring out.

The man in the iron mask looked at Geom Mugeuk with a gaze full of various emotions. "Truly amazing!"

"I was lucky. The person I brought with me happened to have learned music."

Of course, only the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and the Flower Sword Supreme knew it was possible because it was Geom Mugeuk. The two looked at each other, shaking their heads and also nodding.

Before leaving, Geom Mugeuk offered a final farewell to the statue. "Your death has guided us to a new path. Thank you."

Everyone stepped on the sword hilts and passed through. Indeed, there were no attacks.

Thus, they passed the first gate and opened the second door.

There were swords here as well, but there was a difference from before. While the previous room had countless swords, this one had only a single blade.

In the center of the room sat the skeleton of a man, and a single sword was leaning against his body.