Chapter 116: Damage
"...!?"
I looked closely at the metal trigger that opened the underground passage.
Part of the faint line I'd deliberately drawn around it had been erased.
I'd placed it there just in case.
A tiny precaution that would let me know immediately if anyone other than me touched the mechanism.
No way....
I pressed the device at once.
Rumble...
The hidden passage leading underground opened.
I went straight down.
And the moment I entered the underground training ground...
I froze.
“...No.”
The ominous feeling I'd had was right.
The training ground was a mess.
More precisely...
the records of the Flow left behind by True Immortal Cheongun had been destroyed.
Sword marks and traces of footwork had once covered the walls and floor.
Now...
all of them had been damaged.
Sections of the walls and floor had been crushed.
Some parts had been shattered so completely that the original traces were impossible to recognize.
I moved deeper inside.
There was something I needed to check immediately.
My steps stopped soon afterward.
“Even here....”
The wall where True Immortal Cheongun's final message had been carved.
It hadn't been spared either.
The entire wall had been smashed apart.
Those bastards....
Anger surged through me.
I was the only person who had inherited Cheongun's martial path.
And now...
a place carrying such meaning had been desecrated.
At the same time...
a deeper question rose in my mind.
...Who did this?
Only I knew about this hidden place beneath the Abandoned Martial Hall.
So how had someone found it?
And why had they destroyed it?
My thoughts raced.
Until now...
I'd believed this secret belonged only to me.
But I'd been wrong.
There might be someone else out there...
someone following the traces of Flow.
And that person had reached all the way here.
Maybe...
the collapse of Immortal Yeonha's Seclusion Cave had been caused by the same person.
True Immortal Cheongun... Immortal Yeonha... and the great evil.
The cold air inside the underground training ground felt especially chilling today.
Early the next morning.
Before the sun had fully risen...
I went to find Sect Leader Cheon Gwangcheon and Jin Gwangung.
Then I told them what had happened the previous night.
The two moved immediately.
They personally came down to the underground training ground with me and inspected the damage.
Their expressions were heavier than I'd ever seen them.
The Sect Leader's eyes sank deeply.
And undisguised killing intent radiated from Jin Gwangung.
The moment he saw the ruined wall...
he growled like a beast.
“What son of a bitch dared to destroy True Immortal Cheongun's legacy?!”
The Sect Leader raised a hand to calm him.
“Calm down.”
“Let's move somewhere else first.”
The three of us returned to the Sect Leader's Palace.
There...
we began discussing everything that had happened.
“First, we need to determine who entered the Abandoned Martial Hall.”
Jin Gwangung answered with barely contained fury.
“Sect Leader, whoever did this clearly came here knowing exactly what they were looking for.”
He slammed a fist against his palm.
“They deliberately destroyed the sword marks True Immortal Cheongun left behind!”
Cheon Gwangcheon nodded grimly.
“I agree.”
“And considering they even destroyed his final message....”
I asked carefully,
“Do you think it was an outsider?”
I hesitated.
“Or someone from within the sect...?”
The Sect Leader answered cautiously.
“We cannot jump to conclusions yet.”
Then his expression hardened.
“But one thing is certain.”
“This must not become public.”
Jin Gwangung immediately raised his voice.
“What are you saying?”
“You want to bury this without even finding the culprit?”
Cheon Gwangcheon shook his head.
“Think, Gwangung.”
“What happens if word spreads that a hidden place containing True Immortal Cheongun's final message existed beneath the Abandoned Martial Hall...”
“and that someone destroyed it?”
He continued,
“This wouldn't cause trouble only inside Kunlun.”
“The entire martial world could be thrown into chaos.”
Jin Gwangung ground his teeth.
“Tch....”
“For now, I believe we should handle this as quietly as possible.”
Then the Sect Leader turned toward me.
“Mujin.”
“What do you think?”
I nodded.
“I agree.”
“If rumors spread that True Immortal Cheongun's legacy remained inside the Abandoned Martial Hall...”
I continued,
“it would only invite unnecessary chaos.”
I took a short breath.
“And the more attention the Abandoned Martial Hall receives...”
“the harder it may become to identify whoever did this.”
Cheon Gwangcheon nodded.
“Exactly.”
“If outsiders begin gathering there, distinguishing the culprit will only become more difficult.”
The Sect Leader closed his eyes briefly, deep in thought.
Then he opened them and looked at me.
“What about the ‘great evil’?”
“Do you think it could be connected to this?”
I hesitated for a moment...
then nodded.
“I can't say for certain.”
“But I think it's possible.”
I looked at the two of them.
“The places containing the final messages of both Immortal Yeonha and True Immortal Cheongun have now been destroyed.”
“If someone did this deliberately...”
“then we cannot rule out a connection to the great evil.”
Jin Gwangung gritted his teeth.
“Great evil, small evil, whatever the hell it is...”
His eyes burned.
“I just hope it shows its face in front of me soon.”
“I'll crush it to pieces.”
At that moment—
“Sect Leader! I have something to report!”
An urgent voice came from outside.
The Sect Leader frowned.
“Didn't I clearly order that we were not to be disturbed?”
The disciple outside answered with a trembling voice.
“I-I'm sorry.”
“But guests have arrived who must be reported to you immediately.”
The Sect Leader's gaze turned cold.
“Guests?”
“Who are they?”
