SYM 113

Cheong-un descended to the place filled with Reversing Heaven Energy.

The monks inside the Yonghe Temple were taken aback by Cheong-un’s sudden appearance, but Cheong-un paid them no mind. A brief scan was enough for him to know that they were not related to the Hongbaek Sect.

Feeling the Reversing Heaven Energy here today clarified things he had been unsure about until now. The energy was so faint and weak that he couldn’t be certain, but the unpleasantness he felt when facing the Hongbaek Sect. That was the Reversing Heaven Energy.

Reversing Heaven.

Reversing Heaven, meaning to overturn the heavens, signified an energy that defied the natural order.

Righteous sects spoke as if the Demonic Sect, especially, was Reversing Heaven itself, but the heavens did not distinguish between righteous and evil. In other words, the Demonic Sect’s martial arts were not inherently Reversing Heaven. Rather, the Demonic Divine Art itself contained the purest energy of all.

This was the first time Cheong-un had encountered such Reversing Heaven Energy.

Cheong-un frowned involuntarily and clicked his tongue.

He was glad he hadn’t brought Eun-hyeon. If Eun-hyeon, weak as he was, was also sensitive to energy, he would have definitely been affected by this Reversing Heaven Energy.

Suppressing his unpleasant feelings, Cheong-un stomped down hard with Stomping step.

Thump.

It was a massive reverberation, as if an earthquake had occurred.

The golden roof of Yonghe Temple shook. Tiles crumbled and fell. Screams erupted from everywhere.

“What’s going on?”

“Aah! An earthquake…!”

“Where is the abbot?”

The monks ran around in chaos.

Cheong-un lightly tilted his head from side to side. Already, the Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard had arrived and were waiting around Cheong-un.

Cheong-un glanced at them.

“Did you all hear that?”

At Cheong-un’s words, they all nodded.

When Cheong-un used Stomping step just now, a massive reverberation occurred. Such a reverberation could not have occurred if the space below was not hollow.

Cheong-un took his stance and used Stomping step again. This time, it wasn’t just to create a reverberation, but to gather energy at his toes.

With a bang, dirt shot into the air.

With a completely different level of destructive power than before, the ground caved in. At the same time, dust rose so thickly that nothing could be seen.

Cheong-un and his party threw themselves into the hole.

Considering the size of Yonghe Temple, it seemed they had dug a basement under the entire temple.

The faces of the Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard hardened at the enormous size, which could be called an underground palace.

The Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard were a group that prided themselves on knowing everything that happened in Beijing like the back of their hands. Even the secret stories that took place inside the bedrooms of high-ranking officials could not escape the eyes and ears of the Eastern Depot.

And yet, they hadn’t known that such a massive underground space had been created under Yonghe Temple, one of the outer palaces, until now. This was impossible unless there was a traitor within the Eastern Depot or Brocade Guard.

Some of the Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard even gritted their teeth. They were people who had been trained to control their emotions their entire lives, but this incident was shocking. They even felt fear towards the Hongbaek Sect, which had carried out such a large-scale operation in Beijing without anyone knowing.

As the thick dust settled, an underground space that had been dug out like an ant nest was revealed.

Cheong-un had forcibly collapsed the ceiling, making a mess, but countless narrow passages stretched out in all directions, making it impossible to know what was where.

“If we disturb it any further, the entire structure above could collapse…”

One of the Brocade Guard muttered, clenching his fist.

They had received orders to handle the matter quietly, as they would cover up almost anything. But the entire Yonghe Temple collapsing was not just any matter, nor was it something that could be covered up.

Seeing the dozens of ant tunnels, even the formidable Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard were at a loss.

“Don’t try to see with your eyes, spread your senses and search.”

At Cheong-un’s words, those who had been standing there with dazed expressions quickly came to their senses and spread their senses.

Cheong-un watched them search the surroundings, then swept the dirt on the floor with his hand. The musty-smelling, damp dirt indicated that blood had been spilled here.

“It seems it may already be too late to find the sacrifice.”

In truth, human life was not that important to Cheong-un, but recalling how Eun-hyeon had continued to care about the sacrifice made him feel unpleasant.

“We’ll split up here.”

Cheong-un looked at the Eastern Depot and Brocade Guard as he stepped into the dark tunnel.

He hadn’t brought them here because he trusted them anyway. He had simply wanted them to do work that required hands, so it was more convenient to move separately from here.

“Understood. Then please be careful.”

Seeing someone answer on behalf of the group, Cheong-un disappeared into the darkness.

Cheong-un moved, following the Reversing Heaven Energy.

If it were on the ground, he could have quickly broken through with light body skill, but that was impossible underground.

Even if the direction of the Reversing Heaven Energy and the path diverged, he couldn’t force his way through. He didn’t know what kind of structure this ant nest-like underground space had, so if he was careless, the entire thing could collapse.

In the end, even if it was frustrating, even if he had to go around, he had no choice but to move along the narrow paths.

Walking through the narrow, dark paths might have been frightening to some, but Cheong-un felt boredom rather than fear.

Eun-hyeon picked up a small statue reeking of Reversing Heaven Energy. He couldn’t even tell exactly what it was supposed to be, but it was definitely an unpleasant shape.

The moment he grabbed it, a damp energy flowed through his hand. Cheong-un ignited the Samadhi Fire and instantly burned the wooden statue to ashes. Even after it had completely burned and turned to ash, it felt like an unpleasant, sticky energy remained.

After that, Cheong-un searched through the ant tunnels and found five more similar statues. All of them were placed on small altars.

If his guess was correct, it seemed like these were all placed in each direction for some kind of ritual.

He didn’t know what kind of ritual it was, but Cheong-un burned and destroyed them all whenever he found an altar.

After repeating this several times, he began to wonder.

Why the hell did they do this? Was it to receive power by offering sacrifices to an evil god?

He couldn’t easily grasp Jeong-hyeon’s sinister intentions.

He hadn’t told Eun-hyeon, but in fact, Cheong-un had been watching Jeong-hyeon, the leader of Kunlun, all this time. He sent people from time to time, and sometimes he went himself.

If it were up to him, he would have included Kunlun in his list of revenge targets and wiped them all out, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so because he knew that his master had always longed for Kunlun.

So, instead of taking revenge, he occasionally visited Kunlun and observed Jeong-hyeon.

Thanks to that, he was able to realize early on that Jeong-hyeon had a different character than he showed.

Although he didn’t make it obvious, Jeong-hyeon’s actions were often cunning.

He subtly stepped forward when it came to promoting his own achievements, and stepped back when it came to taking responsibility. He did such things so skillfully that even ordinary people in the Martial World didn’t notice at all.

At the same time, Jeong-hyeon was subtly belligerent and had a domineering side.

He always pretended to be a kind Taoist, but when he encountered bandits in the mountains, he never let them live. He became even more ruthless when he thought the other party didn’t know his identity.

As Cheong-un observed Jeong-hyeon, he felt that Jeong-hyeon was subtly conscious of him. It felt like they were playing tug-of-war with Eun-hyeon between them.

Until now, there had been no particular problem because what existed between them was Seo Eun-hyeon, who did not exist in this world. But now that Eun-hyeon had returned, he couldn’t just let it pass. That was probably why he had reacted more sensitively when Jeong-hyeon appeared before Eun-hyeon.

Cheong-un wasn’t that surprised when he heard that Jeong-hyeon was the leader of the Hongbaek Sect. However, he was dumbfounded that he had been playing the role of the Hongbaek Sect leader without his knowledge.

Jeong-hyeon was someone who could lie flat and smile until he achieved his goal.

But such a Jeong-hyeon wasn’t coming out even though he had come all the way here?

He had an uneasy feeling that he had fallen into some kind of trap.