Chapter 183
Inside the Muhwang Tomb, accessed through a collapsed crevice in the cliff, there was absolute darkness—not a single ray of light.
Unlike the Guanggeom Tomb in the Guanghyeop Sword Sect that Sunwoo Jin had explored before, there were no light sources installed inside the Muhwang Tomb at all.
Naturally, only three could move around here without difficulty: Seolpoong, Sunwoo Jin, and, for some reason, the black panther that kept sticking close to Sunwoo Jin.
Bisa Young had trained her mind’s eye quite a bit, but even she wasn’t yet skilled enough to navigate freely in such pitch-black darkness.
As for Jeungchil and Ya Unhyang, it was even more impossible.
Thunk!
Jeungchil bumped his head lightly against the stone wall and muttered under his breath.
“Ugh! How are we supposed to move around in a place like this without even a single light?”
His grumbling was habitual, but he wasn’t wrong.
The problem was that lighting a torch was out of the question.
If they lit a torch in this pitch-black cave, the light would be far too bright.
Everyone knew how a single beam of light in the darkness would immediately give away their position. They couldn’t risk being detected by the enemy just to have some illumination.
It was a frustrating predicament.
But Sunwoo Jin had anticipated this possibility from the moment they set their sights on the Muhwang Tomb.
He opened his pack and pulled out an item he had brought just in case: a Nightglow Pearl.
Vwoooong!
As the pearl emitted a faint, gentle green light, the group let out impressed murmurs.
“Oh! What’s that?”
“A Nightglow Pearl? Where on earth did you get such an expensive thing?”
This pearl was something Sunwoo Jin had picked up earlier, before encountering the Guanghyeop Sword Sect, from the collapsed ceiling of the Guanggeom Tomb.
Since their target was the Muhwang Tomb, he had brought it along just in case—and it turned out to be a wise choice.
In a low voice, Sunwoo Jin addressed the group.
“The light from the Nightglow Pearl is very dim. Any brighter, and we risk being spotted by enemies. But I believe this level of light is enough for everyone here to navigate.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The pearl’s green glow was so faint that ordinary people would struggle to find their way by it, but for this group, it was more than sufficient.
Sunwoo Jin gently stroked the black panther’s neck beside him and continued.
“I’ll lead the way holding this. If I sense anyone nearby, I’ll put it away immediately. From now on, we’ll communicate via telepathic transmission. If anyone has questions, ask now.”
Perhaps impressed by his preparedness, even Jeungchil had no questions this time.
Silently, the group began moving forward.
Only the sound of water droplets—plink, plink—echoed through the dark passage.
The tunnel was utterly silent.
Apart from the dripping water, not a single footstep could be heard.
But in truth, Sunwoo Jin felt no peace at all.
His mind was filled with complaints as he observed the passage.
This is truly the worst. To call this shoddy structure the Muhwang Tomb… I don’t know if this ‘Muhwang’ is the one I know, but if he saw this place, he’d weep bitter tears even in hell.
Mukrang seemed to be an expert not only in martial arts and medicine but also in architecture and formation techniques.
In fact, it was almost more curious to wonder what he couldn’t do.
To his discerning eye, the Muhwang Tomb was a complete mess.
Throughout their journey inside, he had been relentlessly criticizing the place in a sharp tone.
From start to finish, it’s a disaster. The materials, measurements, aesthetics, durability—nothing is right. It’s a hastily thrown-together structure built solely with malice to kill people. It’s exactly the kind of place the Blood Sect would make.
Sunwoo Jin didn’t know much about architecture, so he couldn’t fully grasp Mukrang’s disdain.
He even considered quietly asking him to tone it down.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize how invaluable Mukrang’s insights were.
Suddenly, Mukrang spoke up.
“Jin, stop the group. There’s a mechanism ahead.”
“Huh? A mechanism?”
Startled, Sunwoo Jin raised his hand to halt the others.
The black panther, sensing his will, immediately understood and stayed still.
Mukrang began explaining about the faintly visible stone wall ahead.
“Look carefully at the walls on both sides, about one jang ahead. Do you see the grooves carved evenly between the bricks? Those are the firing ports for hidden weapons. And the trigger mechanism… that’s it—the largest stone on the floor aligned with the firing ports. It seems stepping on that stone activates the hidden weapons. And behind that, at intervals of three steps, the same setup repeats. Those five rows are all identical mechanisms.”
Following his words, Sunwoo Jin examined the grooves in the wall and couldn’t help but be amazed.
What if they hadn’t met Mukrang? He shuddered to think.
He had always respected him, but now he felt confident calling Mukrang the most admirable person in history.
Sunwoo Jin sincerely thanked him in his heart.
Thank you so much, sir. So we just need to avoid stepping on those stones, right?
Mukrang replied.
“No, don’t just avoid them. Show the group what happens when you step on one. Especially to that Jeungchil fellow—it’s important he sees it. That way, he’ll be more likely to follow your instructions going forward.”
Sunwoo Jin hesitated for a moment.
Won’t that cause unnecessary noise?
“It should be fine. There’s no sign of anyone nearby, and judging by the scale, these are simple, isolated mechanisms. They’re not connected to anything else, so it won’t cause a big commotion. Also, judging by the firing ports, the hidden weapons are probably very small. The noise should be minimal.”
Convinced by Mukrang’s explanation, Sunwoo Jin decided to follow his advice.
There was no reason not to trust him now.
He sent a telepathic message to Seolpoong and Bisa Young, who were waiting with puzzled expressions.
There’s a mechanism about one jang ahead. Stepping on the large stone seems to trigger hidden weapons firing from both sides.
The group responded with surprised expressions, giving thumbs-up to acknowledge, then looked toward the spot Sunwoo Jin indicated.
But to untrained eyes, all the stones looked the same.
Just as Jeungchil was about to grumble and send a telepathic message back, Sunwoo Jin smiled knowingly and picked up a fairly large stone lying nearby.
He tossed it onto the large floor stone.
The stone arced through the air and landed heavily on the trigger stone.
Boom!
Fshhh!
Jeungchil jumped in shock.
The moment the stone struck the floor, hidden weapons shot out from the walls on both sides.
They were so tiny and fast that even top-tier experts would find them threatening in this darkness.
Seeing the hidden weapons with his own eyes, Jeungchil had no choice but to clamp his mouth shut.
His startled eyes blinked rapidly.
Sunwoo Jin grinned at his expression and sent another telepathic message.
There are four more rows of the same mechanism behind this one. Follow me, stepping only on the stones I step on, in a single file.
With that, Sunwoo Jin led the black panther and slowly passed through the hidden weapon zone.
No one in the group doubted his instructions anymore.
Jeungchil and the others followed obediently, like ducklings trailing their mother.
And this pattern repeated over and over.
“Hmph, that’s another mechanism. Looks noisy—better not step on it.”
“Ugh, they even made traps like this? Truly the worst architecture I’ve ever seen. Well, maybe not ever, but close enough.”
“Just smash that one and move on. I don’t even want to look at it.”
It was a smooth, if somewhat noisy, progression.
The five of them wandered through the tunnels for nearly half a day.
During that time, Sunwoo Jin was steadily mapping the interior of the Muhwang Tomb in his mind.
Now that he had roughly completed the outer map, he finally reached a conclusion.
This place is nothing but a trap designed to imprison and kill people.
“Hmm, that seems to be the case.”
According to the mental map Sunwoo Jin had drawn, the Muhwang Tomb was divided into an outer and inner section, like the white and yolk of an egg.
But there was only one passage connecting the outer to the inner area.
That was the very tunnel leading back to the Gwisogok valley where they had first entered.
So the vast outer space was nothing more than a maze with no exit, designed to confuse, trap, and kill anyone inside.
It was an incredibly malicious design.
In the end, the Muhwang Tomb never really existed. It was just a structure built by the Blood Sect to deceive people.
“Hmm, that might be true.”
Another discovery was that the original entrance to the Muhwang Tomb wasn’t the Gwisogok side.
The true entrance was on the opposite side, facing the mountain’s exterior, but it had completely collapsed.
Well, people believed the tomb had caved in, crushing everyone inside. It makes sense they’d block off the entrance to keep up the deception.
So, the group was currently hiding inside a dark corridor, keeping out of sight as they watched the passage that connected to the only internal entrance—the path leading to Gwisogok.
From that direction, low voices were drifting over.
They were the voices of the warlocks guarding the corridor.
“Ugh, time’s dragging so damn slow. If only someone would send a girl on guard duty every shift, that’d be perfect.”
“Heh heh heh! I’d rather have some booze myself.”
“You’re such a damn drunkard. Just wait until you get caught sneaking off to drink in a corner like last time. I bet Shima’ll personally turn you into a revenant.”
“Ha ha ha! Even as a revenant, I bet he’d still be chasing after booze.”
“Hohoho, that’d be hilarious—a revenant thirsting for alcohol instead of blood!”
Just like the ones guarding the outer entrance earlier, the warlocks posted here inside the corridor were six top-tier masters.
Six outside, six inside—twelve elite warlocks standing guard in total.
Jungchil asked through telepathy.
—What’s the plan? If even the guards are this strong, there must be an enormous number of top-tier warlocks deeper inside. There are probably some ultra-elite ones too.
Even Jungchil, who usually seemed fearless, looked a bit deflated at the sight of the enemy wasting twelve top-tier masters just on guard duty.
But Sunwoo Jin was just as stumped.
Unless there was a secret passage inside Muhwangchong, they’d have no choice but to break through those lines—and blindly charging in would be reckless.
Biting his lip, Sunwoo Jin fell into thought.
“If only we had some inside information…”
As he pondered, scanning the area for any possible solution, his gaze suddenly fixed on something.
It was Jungchil.
Startled, Jungchil asked,
—W-what is it? Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?
Sunwoo Jin cracked a sly smile.
It was the kind of smile that sent a chill down Jungchil’s spine.