Chapter 16: Into the Tomb

“How can I trust you?”

“If I break my promise, you can call me, Yeon Ja-ryong, a son of a b*tch.”

Yeon Ja-ryong revealed his identity.

The battlefield became restless, and the martial artists stepped aside to make way.

‘There are people like this in the martial world.’

If there were heroes in the martial world, they would be like Yeon Ja-ryong.

I couldn’t help but admire his bold actions.

The martial artists opened the way, and Yeon Ja-ryong and his unit members entered through it.

I also walked the path created by the martial artists, along with the Black Tortoise Unit.

As we went deeper inside, we began to see the entrance of a cave, slightly taller than a person’s height.

And around the entrance were piled large rocks, stones, and dirt.

“They cleared the rocks and dirt that were blocking the cave entrance.”

Yeon Ja-ryong, who arrived first, grasped the situation at once.

Even without his words, anyone could see that someone had removed the rocks and dirt if they looked at the cave entrance.

‘This wasn’t done by ordinary people. Those with tremendous internal energy must have rushed in and removed the rocks blocking the entrance.’

To the left and right of the cave were huge rocks that seemed to have blocked the entrance.

While I was thinking about that, Jin-chung began to tell the story related to the cave.

“I also knew about the existence of a cave here through stories. About twenty years ago, a sudden landslide blocked the cave. According to the villagers, a heavenly deity was angered and caused the landslide. The elders of my family said that the inside of the cave is like a maze, with confusing and deep paths.”

As Jin-chung finished speaking, Yeon Ja-ryong turned around and shouted towards the martial artists who followed.

“This cave was blocked twenty years ago! But the Martial Emperor passed away eighteen years ago! So this is not the Martial Emperor’s tomb!”

With a little thought, one could see that his words made sense.

However, the martial artists, blinded by greed, refused to believe Yeon Ja-ryong’s words.

“Are you perhaps trying to break your promise and take all the Martial Emperor’s treasures for yourselves?”

“This is unacceptable! We will also enter the cave!”

As the martial artists’ momentum turned hostile, Yeon Ja-ryong let out a short sigh and looked back at the unit leaders.

“It seems like there’s no good fortune inside the cave, only misfortune. Those rocks that blocked the entrance can only be moved with difficulty even if several people use levers. Otherwise, someone with extraordinary internal energy must roll them one by one.”

Not only the unit leaders but also the unit members understood his words.

As he said, the large rocks that blocked the entrance would be difficult to move even for the strongest person in the world.

And if several people had used levers, there should have been marks on the ground, but there were only traces of the rocks rolling.

“If everyone goes inside, there will be no one to guard the entrance. So, it seems like one of the Four Divine Units should stay behind.”

“The White Tiger Unit will stay.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Baek Mu-ho, who had been hardening his expression, stepped forward.

However, Yeon Ja-ryong shook his head.

“You can’t, your temperament is too fiery.”

Then, Unit Leader Yang spoke.

“I and the Black Tortoise Unit will stay and guard the entrance.”

“If you do that, the Four Divine Units can enter without worry.”

In the end, it was decided that the Black Tortoise Unit would stay.

“Make torches!”

The members of the Four Divine Units scattered and began to make torches, and the martial artists also prepared torches.

Finally, when all preparations were finished, the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger Units entered the cave.

And following them, the martial artists also rushed inside.

As the martial artists went inside, Unit Leader Yang gave orders to his unit members.

“Guard the entrance!”

The unit members lined up and blocked the cave entrance.

I also took a position in front of the cave entrance with the rookies, behind the unit members.

‘I feel strangely chilly……’

Although a large number of martial artists had entered the cave, there were still many who remained outside.

Hehehe……

How much time had passed since the Four Divine Units and the martial artists entered the cave? The martial artists who remained outside instead of entering the cave let out a sinister laugh.

‘A trap.’

I realized that those who were smiling sinisterly were not ordinary martial artists.

And I also realized that we had fallen into a terrible trap.

However, the unit leader and the unit members had not yet noticed the change in the atmosphere.

I nocked an arrow, ready to s*oot at any moment.

The moment I nocked the arrow, a pressure as if the air was crushing my body came over me.

Gasp ……

The unit leader and the vice unit leader, as if they also felt the pressure, placed their hands on the hilts of their swords.

Whoosh ……

“Not bad, you can sense the killing intent I released.”

The unit leader and the unit members turned their heads towards the direction of the voice.

I also raised my head and looked up.

About twenty feet above, five men were looking down.

The man standing in the middle of them seemed to be in his early fifties, and he was holding a fangtian ji in one hand.

“Who are you?”

Unit Leader Yang asked in a cold voice.

However, no one opened their mouth to answer.

At that moment, the vice unit leader raised his hand and pointed at the giant standing next to the man.

“It’s Jang Sun-wook, the Green Blade King.”

At the vice unit leader’s words, the unit leader and the unit members were all surprised and widened their eyes.

Jang Sun-wook, the Green Blade King, was the head of the Green Forest Eighteen Units’ general headquarters.

Originally, he was someone who never left the general headquarters, but he had appeared here.

“Begin.”

As the vice unit leader recognized him, the Green Blade King moved his massive body sideways and placed his hand on a large rock.

“Today, the Martial Alliance’s Four Divine Units will be annihilated!”

He shouted in a voice that shook the mountain and pushed the rock with both hands.

Rumble …… Crash …… Boom ……!

Soon, the rock moved, a loud noise rang out, and the large rock began to roll down.

“Dodge!”

Unit Leader Yang shouted, and the unit members threw themselves out of the way of the boulder falling on their heads.

Thud!

The rock that fell with a loud noise landed precisely at the cave entrance.

“Twenty years ago, my comrades were caught in the trap of the Northern Heavenly Martial Emperor and the Western Heavenly Spear Master and were defeated like this.”

The man with the fangtian ji kicked off the ground and soared into the air.

His figure, which had soared into the air, plummeted straight down.

Unit Leader Yang was standing where his figure plummeted.

Crash ……!

Unit Leader Yang’s figure blurred, and the fangtian ji split the ground where he had been standing.

Starting with that, the martial artists who had been smiling sinisterly rushed towards the Black Tortoise Unit.

“Today, the Martial Alliance’s Four Divine Units will be annihilated!”

“K*ll them!”

Thwack! Thwack!

Arrows pierced the foreheads and necks of the enemies who rushed forward.

I shot arrows in succession, piercing the heads and necks of the enemies.

However, the number of enemies was overwhelming.

Clang! Clang ……!

In an instant, the enemies’ weapons and the Black Tortoise Unit members’ weapons became entangled.

Groan!

Blood splattered from the enemies’ bodies, and severed arms spun in the air before falling down.

Thwack! Thwack!

I retreated and shot the arrows from my quiver in succession.

The moment I grabbed an arrow from the quiver with my right hand, a chilling killing intent fell from above.

Boom!

Unit Leader Yang, who blocked the fangtian ji, hurriedly moved his body.

As soon as he moved, the sharp blade of the fangtian ji swept through the space.

The man with the fangtian ji turned around and smiled sinisterly.

“Indeed, you are the Unit Leader of the Black Tortoise Unit.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised the fangtian ji and split the space vertically.

Bang!

Unit Leader Yang’s figure, which blocked the fangtian ji, was pushed back.

Groan!

Crack!

While the enemies were dying in succession, the Black Tortoise Unit members were also falling one by one.

In particular, the Green Blade King was cutting off the heads of the unit members with his greatsword, which was as tall as himself.

Boom! Bang ……!

Unit Leader Yang barely blocked the blade of the fangtian ji, which was slashing through the space as if cutting it into pieces.

‘If this continues, the Black Tortoise Unit will be annihilated.’

However, if the Black Tortoise Unit retreated, the Four Divine Units that had entered the cave would be annihilated.

In this situation where we could neither advance nor retreat, the unit members continued to fall, bleeding.

He hesitated for a moment, then clenched his teeth.

“Retreat!”

If we escaped from here and then gathered the martial artists of Suzhou to repel the enemies, we could somehow save the Four Divine Units.

As soon as the retreat order came from the unit leader’s mouth, the Black Tortoise Unit members retreated in unison.

In the process, the rookies, lacking experience, screamed and fell.

“Pursue them!”

As the man with the fangtian ji approached the cave entrance, the Green Blade King and the other men followed.

The Green Blade King took off the luggage he was carrying on his back and pulled out several leather pouches from inside.

As he took out the leather pouches, the other men gathered branches and set fire to the entrance of the cave.

The Green Blade King threw the leather pouches onto the blazing fire.

The man with the fangtian ji placed the fangtian ji he was holding against the rock wall and began to push a rock lined up next to the entrance.

Heave-ho ……!

As he put strength into both hands, the rock, taller than himself, began to move little by little.

As he pushed the rock and moved it, the Green Blade King and the other men rushed in and pushed rocks to block the cave entrance.

Rocks piled up at the cave entrance, and the gaps were filled with small rocks and stones.

“It will take about an hour for them to be annihilated.”

The man with the fangtian ji, who had completely blocked the cave entrance, bowed to the Green Blade King.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve avenged my twenty-year grudge.”

Guffaw ……!

“Do you know how many of our Green Forest brothers the Four Divine Units have killed? I’m the one who should be thanking you, Southern Barbarian Lord.”

The Green Blade King burst into a hearty laugh, his back arching.

The man with the fangtian ji waited for his laughter to subside and then spoke.

“After we deal with the Black Tortoise Unit, it’s the Martial Alliance’s turn.”

“I, the Green Blade King, want to take on Yeon Cheon-yu.”

The cave entrance wasn’t very large, but as we went inside, the space gradually became wider and taller.

It was a cave with a river flowing through it, but strangely, the ceiling was so dry that not a single drop of water fell from it.

Yeon Ja-ryong, who was walking ahead, shone his torch downwards.

There, a withered corpse was lying crushed under a rock.

Judging by the spear in one hand, this corpse must have been a martial artist during his lifetime.

Yeon Ja-ryong raised his torch above his head.

The torch illuminated the ceiling where the rock had fallen.

“He was crushed to death by a rock.”

Baek Mu-ho pointed to the part where the rock had fallen off.

“It’s extremely rare for a perfectly fine rock to suddenly fall. He must have stabbed the crevices with his spear until the blade was worn out. Trying to escape from here.”

As Yeon Ja-ryong said, the spear the corpse was holding had only a small part of its blade remaining.

As we walked a little further inside, we found numerous corpses scattered around.

And from where the corpses were scattered, a fork in the road appeared.

The martial artists who followed in were clamoring, picking up rusty weapons from the ground and rummaging through the pockets of the old, crumbling corpses.

“It’s mine!”

“What are you talking about? I saw it first!”

Unable to stand it any longer, Baek Mu-ho shouted at them.

“Behave yourselves!”

Yeon Ja-ryong chose the rightmost path among the three forks and went inside.

However, the martial artists, blinded by greed for treasure, chose the remaining two paths and rushed in, instead of following the Four Divine Units.

“There might be others who entered before us! So don’t move recklessly!”

At Yeon Ja-ryong’s shout, the martial artists who had entered the other passages reluctantly came back out.

Yeon Ja-ryong, who was walking along the path made of solid rock, suddenly stopped.

“Didn’t you feel anything?”