Heaven-Defying Hero - Chapter 75

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#075

“The only place we haven’t been is the sea. North Cheon City would have already searched everywhere else.”

“The sea? Are there caves or mines in the sea…?”

Ja-gang-cheon, who had been speaking, also thought of a certain possibility.

“Those small islands over there?”

There were countless islands near Yonggu as well.

There were uninhabited islands large enough to be called islands, but there were also many rocks that looked like small hills with only peaks torn off.

Natural caves were sometimes discovered on such islands too.

“Then could it be an island three hours away by boat?”

“Three hours? That’s a bit strange.”

If you go out three hours by boat, it becomes the distant seas, not the coastal waters.

“That would mean they at least took a fishing boat.”

It wasn’t impossible to force it to fit, but it certainly wasn’t natural.

“If it was a one-time visit, maybe, but if they went back and forth regularly, there’s no way people wouldn’t have noticed.”

They were back to square one.

Cheon-gu, who stood up feeling frustrated, only then realized that Geumgang-gae had come nearby.

“Ah! I’m sorry. And thank you for your help.”

“What thanks? It’s not like I lied.”

Geumgang-gae waved his hand and changed the subject.

“But what did you mean by what you just said? That the sea hasn’t been searched?”

“It’s about the location North Cheon City is looking for. I was thinking that maybe it could be the sea.”

After getting permission from Ja-gang-cheon with a glance, Cheon-gu honestly shared the information he had obtained last night and his predictions.

Geumgang-gae was inwardly impressed but also felt puzzled.

“What’s the reason for suddenly being so proactive?”

Ja-gang-cheon answered that question.

“If there’s Gongcheong Stone Oil, I want to take it myself.”

“Haha. If you’re going to be so honest, Lord, I have nothing to say.”

“I’ll share all information until today. But from now on, we’re competing with Gae-bang too. Please understand this.”

“If I get it first, will you give up cleanly?”

“Of course. I have no intention of fighting you to the death, sir.”

If it was competition to obtain Gongcheong Stone Oil, risking one’s life was natural.

“If you say that, I’ll make a promise too. If Gongcheong Stone Oil actually exists and you get it first, Lord, I’ll also give up cleanly.”

“But let’s agree to keep it secret no matter who gets it.”

“I’ll have to tell the Branch Leader. He’s quite vindictive, so if he finds out later, there’ll be trouble.”

“I’ll tell my aunt too. Then it’s fair.”

The two reached an agreement as if they had already found the Gongcheong Stone Oil. But Ja-gang-cheon had more to say.

“This is uncomfortable, but there’s one more thing I need to tell you. I have to share this information with Hao-mun too.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Hao-mun provided crucial information for us to figure this out. They didn’t request information sharing, but I think we should do at least that much. And this will be the last time I work with both Gae-bang and Hao-mun simultaneously. I apologize for this part.”

Since Ja-gang-cheon’s sincerity was felt, Geumgang-gae couldn’t refuse. Moreover, it was true that Gae-bang’s role in this incident was less than Hao-mun’s.

“Do as you wish.”

In the end, Ja-gang-cheon solved the complicated tangle with his characteristic honesty.

“Now the only unsolved clue is time. Our Gae-bang will also investigate in every way possible.”

When Geumgang-gae left, Ja-gang-cheon asked Cheon-gu, who was still lost in thought.

“Cheon-gu. Should I press your pressure points?”

Cheon-gu, with an extremely tired face, gave a bitter smile.

“Yeah. It would be good to sleep now. It would be better to sleep and organize my thoughts again when I wake up.”

“I’ll make it painless.”

“You don’t need to press pressure points. I think I can just lie down and sleep.”

“Really? That’s good.”

Ja-gang-cheon took Cheon-gu to Yongseong Merchant Guild and met with Hao-mun as planned.

“You’re the kindest of all the Lords I’ve met today.”

“Really?”

“But I feel like your heart, which was gradually opening, has closed again. I guess I put too much burden on you.”

“You said the right thing.”

“Fine. I said I’d give you time, so I’ll just watch. But since you gave us information, we’ll tell you something too.”

She was always thorough when it came to information exchange.

Having received an excellent price compared to the information provided, she was trying to balance it again.

“We looked into Song Jin-baek’s past. It seems true that he lived with a woman named Han So-ok in Yonggu in his later years. And he went out alone every three days. But it seems he didn’t tell even the woman about his destination. He only said ‘Yongmyeong Tomb,’ which has continued until now.”

“Thank you.”

Ja-gang-cheon memorized that information and came outside.

Since Cheon-gu was sleeping anyway, there was no reason to return to the merchant guild immediately.

So he took the walk again that had been interrupted in the morning.

Because he had good memories of quietly being lost in thought, he went to the seaside and fell into deep contemplation for a long time.

‘He went out regularly? Where on earth did he go?’

He repeated that question about a hundred times while walking, but couldn’t reach a clear conclusion.

‘I should tell Cheon-gu when he wakes up.’

Eventually, he put down the worries he had been carrying for two hours. Then the surrounding scenery came into view.

While sitting on a nearby rock and looking at the sea, Ja-gang-cheon saw an unexpected scene.

“Huh?”

Unlike when he saw it in the morning, the water level had dropped considerably, revealing the tidal flat.

“Land that wasn’t there before has appeared?”

One thought led to another.

“Three hours distance. Six hours round trip.”

Something also came to mind about time, the only thing he couldn’t solve.

“The interval between high tide and low tide.”

If you live by the seaside in Shandong Province, you become familiar with the term six hours.

High tide and low tide repeated twice a day in cycles. So if you missed the tide, you had to wait six hours, making that time very important at the seaside.

“I need to tell Cheon-gu.”

Ja-gang-cheon hurried back to the merchant guild.

***

When Cheon-gu opened his eyes, it was a little past noon. It wasn’t a long sleep, but after martial arts training, about two hours was enough for full recovery.

However, he didn’t expect to hear his name as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Cheon-gu!”

“Hmm. If you were planning to startle me, you succeeded. I think my lifespan shortened by five years.”

“Ah! Sorry! I was just waiting for you to wake up!”

Only then did Cheon-gu, seeing Ja-gang-cheon’s expression, sit up.

“What’s going on?”

“Tidal flat!”

“Tidal flat?”

“Land that wasn’t there appeared! And the interval between high tide and low tide! Six hours!”

Though it was disjointed speech, Cheon-gu understood what he meant.

“They went into the tidal flat during low tide, then came back out during the next low tide? It wasn’t about distance but having to wait unavoidably?”

“Yes.”

The tidal flats in northern Shandong Province spread over such a wide area that there were plenty of ways to avoid people’s eyes.

“It’s quite possible.”

When Cheon-gu closed his eyes and fell into thought, Ja-gang-cheon quickly offered him a glass of water.

“Drink some water first.”

“Thank you.”

As the warm water entered his body, he felt his body awakening. Thanks to that, he remembered what he needed to do.

“There must be a place that’s only revealed during low tide. Let’s try to find it.”

Thinking it was worth investigating, Cheon-gu immediately got out of bed.

***

“It would be better not to tell Uncle Sangpil about this matter.”

If they asked Sangpil from Yongseong Merchant Guild, he would quickly find a region that met their conditions.

“We could find out quickly by asking the local aunties.”

When the men took boats out, the women would go out to the tidal flats. That’s why there was a saying that at seasides with tidal flats, you might freeze to death, but you’d never starve to death.

“If Yongmyeong Tomb really exists there, the fewer people who know about it, the better.”

The situation with North Cheon City’s movements was already concerning enough.

“Got it. Then we’ll have to wait for the tide and search directly ourselves.”

“That sounds good. Let’s have Hyeongnim Pan Seok-i move with us too.”

Yonggu’s high and low tides were slightly over six time periods apart, so the timing changed slightly each day.

Today’s low tide was past noon, so the next low tide would be around midnight.

“Let’s investigate secretly tonight.”

They waited for night to fall.

Late at night.

Wearing even black armor and climbing over walls to reach the seaside, they found themselves in a daunting situation.

“Now that we’re actually doing it, it feels overwhelming.”

The tidal flat was very wide.

“We don’t have time, so let’s start right away. If the water rises, we’ll have to do it again tomorrow.”

Though the night was long, the time they could use wasn’t much.

“Then I’ll go first!”

Ja-gang-cheon stepped on the muddy tidal flat and rushed forward.

For him who could even step on the sea, the tidal flat posed no problem at all.

“Hyeongnim. A flying fish has appeared on the tidal flat.”

“Indeed. We need to move diligently too if we want to be at least jellyfish level. Let’s hurry.”

“Yes, Hyeongnim.”

They began searching the tidal flat.

Their search continued for three whole days.

That day too, Ja-gang-cheon went into areas where seawater was lapping and examined the rocky areas that jutted up.

“Did I think wrong?”

Even though the tidal flat was wide, it wasn’t so large that Ja-gang-cheon couldn’t find anything even while using lightness skills.

‘There’s nowhere left to go now.’

He was in a situation of re-examining places he’d already looked at. He felt like the possibilities were rapidly diminishing.

“Whew.”

Ja-gang-cheon climbed onto the largest island in the tidal flat.

It was an island that remained exposed even when it wasn’t low tide, but now with its lower parts revealed, it could be called a small hill. It was the first place Ja-gang-cheon had examined, but he hadn’t discovered anything strange.

“Let’s calmly start over again.”

It was when he had that thought.

Splash.

“Huh?”

Because the rock he was standing on was so large, lapping water remained in the lower parts.

It was a common scene on tidal flats, and a fish had jumped up from there.

“What’s that?”

The fairly large fish had jumped up, but surprisingly, it went back into the water.

“Is there a pool there?”

Finding it strange that it went into water instead of falling onto the tidal flat, Ja-gang-cheon examined that area again.

“This place is empty.”

It was a spot barely covered by mud. In that place where seawater was lapping, there was enough space for a large fish to come and go.

“It’s quite big?”

Ja-gang-cheon, who was gauging the size with his hands and feet, suddenly drew in a breath.

“Whoop!”

Ja-gang-cheon, who was confident in water techniques, threw his body toward the suspicious spot.

‘A cave!’

The entrance was just wide enough for one person to barely pass through, but it had a structure that widened as you went inside.

Thinking he had finally found something, Ja-gang-cheon moved his body quickly.

He followed the ceiling looking for breathing space, and before long, a space appeared where he could stick his head out.

“Huh? That’s light.”

Naturally, nothing should have been visible. But beyond the waves barely lapping below the ceiling, a clear light was visible.

‘It’s a luminous pearl.’

Since Ja-gang-cheon also possessed one, he knew the characteristics of that light.

The presence of a luminous pearl meant human hands had touched this place. Ja-gang-cheon regulated his breathing again and moved toward the light.

The closer he got to the light, the lower the water level that had filled the ceiling became, and finally his feet even touched the ground.

“This is the place.”

Below the faintly glowing luminous pearl, a tightly closed stone gate was visible. And on the stone gate, sharp and ornate characters were left behind, as if carved with a sword.

-Where the dragon sleeps.

Ja-gang-cheon stood at the entrance to Yongmyeong Tomb.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————