Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven - Chapter 98

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Third-rate Martial Arts Family, Greatest Under Heaven – Episode 098
“Elder Brother, is something the matter?”
“Did you smear honey down there? Why are you staring so intently?”
“Yang Hwi. I’m hungry.”
“Everyone, come look at this.”
Following Yang Hwi, Gu Ak, Chu Dal, the Tang Siblings, and even Adu poked their heads through the crevice and peered downward.
“Things are getting interesting, aren’t they?”
“Interesting? What is? Hehe, I like interesting things too.”
“Yes, yes. Let’s keep our voices down, Adu.”
A colossal cave with a diameter of roughly a hundred zhang.
Soil and debris filled every direction, and martial artists clutching broken legs and arms groaned throughout.
“So we’re positioned near the ceiling, then.”
Sunlight did filter in from above, though it was faint.
In other words, escaping would require climbing at least two hundred zhang upward.
I examined the walls.
‘They look decidedly unstable.’
These were earthen walls, not stone.
Even now, soil continued trickling down gradually.
With such an incline and walls in this condition, even a master of lightness martial arts would struggle to reach the summit.
The martial artists in this cave were hopelessly trapped.
“There’s not a single gate or passage visible anywhere. The Geomwang Tomb can’t consist of just this cave.”
“The ground collapsed like a landslide. The entrances must be buried beneath all that rubble.”
“I see.”
They would have to dig again.
Searching blindly for gates and passages they couldn’t locate.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
How many of them had brought adequate provisions?
The Namgung clan surely came well-stocked, but even the Shaman likely didn’t carry much food.
“Whimper. Yang Hwi. I’m hungry.”
Hmm. Our own supplies might run short too.
“If even a day or two passes, bloodshed will inevitably erupt.”
Dang-gun’s expression had grown grave and somber.
Dang-yeon added her own words.
“Since the entrance collapsed so extensively, martial artists arriving afterward won’t dare enter carelessly.”
“Given the height, rescue by rope would be equally difficult. Procuring hundreds of zhang of rope itself is a challenge.”
Since none of them had likely reported their situation, it would take at least several days for others to attempt a rescue.
“That means we have plenty of time.”
“Hmm. True enough. But, Elder Brother, didn’t we say exploring alone would be dangerous?”
“We did. Though that was long ago.”
“Hmm? Have you devised a method since then?”
Yang Hwi’s shoulders tensed with determination.
“Elder Brother Gu Ak. Who am I?”
“….”
By now, Gu Ak knew exactly what answer was expected.
“A peerless genius and a clever rat who finds the hole through which to escape even when the heavens collapse… a young hero.”
“There seems to be a strange word mixed in the middle, but I’ll accept it. In any case, you’re right.”
Certainly, only the Namgung Family possessed knowledge of the Geomwang Tomb’s internal structure.
But.
‘The flow of vital energy feels far more vivid here than when I was outside.’
I didn’t fully comprehend all the mechanisms and labyrinthine passages within.
However, if I followed the vital energy, couldn’t I find a way through somehow?
At least, I seemed capable of plundering the Geomwang Tomb before those trapped below discovered their own escape.
“Come now. Enough sightseeing—let’s move. We need to find our own way out as well.”
The crevice where our group huddled was so low that one couldn’t even sit upright, yet it stretched dozens of paces wide.
If we searched thoroughly, there had to be an opening leading somewhere.
“Brother. There’s something like a small hole over here.”
“Well done, Chu Dal.”
I scuttled forward like a crab, limbs flailing rapidly.
Sure enough, where Chu Dal pointed, there was indeed a hole as if carved by flowing rainwater.
‘The direction is opposite to where I sense the vital energy, but exploration comes first.’
The problem was that the opening was so narrow only a young child could pass through.
“Tsk. Someone around thirteen or fourteen might squeeze through, but we’re too large.”
At Gu Ak’s words, everyone’s gaze fixed upon Chu Dal.
“….”
Chu Dal silently wedged himself into the hole and became stuck.
“Brother. I’m not coming out. Help me.”
“Useless. All that size and no utility whatsoever.”
“….”
Chu Dal stared upward for a moment—or rather, at the dark, low ceiling just inches from his nose.
Not long ago, he’d been insisting that rapid growth and completing his body was the urgent priority.
Now look at him, instantly shifting tactics and finding fault.
‘Calling such a person “brother”….’
Smack!
“Ow! Why are you hitting me! I didn’t say anything!”
“You did it with your eyes.”
“Damn!”
“Damn? Should I push you straight down through that hole?”
“I was wrong.”
I extracted Chu Dal, and Gu Ak stepped forward.
As he gradually carved away with his axe wreathed in crystallized vital energy, soon even Yang Hwi, the largest among us, could pass through.
But the problem was far from resolved.
“The passage below continues to narrow. At this rate, even if we chip away at the walls, it’ll take an eternity to descend.”
“Hmm. There must be some way.”
“Yang Hwi. Will you help?”
“Huh?”
Adu continued with his characteristically radiant expression.
“You want to go down?”
“Yeah. I’d like to.”
“Wait a moment!”
Golden luminescence erupted across Adu’s entire body.
The radiance was so brilliant that light spilled outward, and I worried the martial artists in the cave might notice.
With his entire frame wreathed in golden vital energy, Adu recklessly thrust his head into the opening.
“Amitabha!”
When solid rock collides with a human body, naturally the body should shatter.
But Adu achieved the opposite result.
“What the—is he a mole?”
Adu literally widened the passage with his body like a burrowing mole, descending deeper and deeper.
His speed was remarkably similar to a leisurely stroll downward.
‘Is this the Prajna Great Ability from the Inverse Muscle Scripture?’
Prajna Great Ability.
The most renowned martial technique among the Shaolin Seventy-Two Arts, specifically the Rampart Qi Method.
Adu was no supreme master, but the protective vital energy enveloping his entire body was more than sufficient to shatter and excavate rock.
“They say Shaolin warrior monks possess bodies as hard as stone and iron. I never imagined I’d witness such a spectacle firsthand.”
“And he’s already carved through half of it.”
“To maintain protective vital energy for this duration requires such profound inner strength…”
Suddenly, Adu’s body slipped through and dropped.
With a heavy thud of landing, Adu’s distinctive cheerful laughter echoed upward.
“Hehe! All done!”
Yang Hwi leaped down immediately after, swiftly surveying the surroundings before glancing upward.
“It appears safe. Everyone, come down.”
After Dang-gun, who descended third, came Chu Dal, Gu Ak, and Dang-yeon.
“Venerable Adu. Thank you for your labor!”
“Hehe. You’re welcome.”
“Though it’s earth and stone, human hands have clearly touched these walls.”
“It appears to be a passage created when the Geomwang Tomb was constructed.”
“Which direction should we proceed—forward or back?”
Judging by the curvature of the shaft we’d descended, our current location was near the southern region of the cave where the martial artists were trapped.
Considering the starting point had been to the northeast, we’d descended in nearly a semicircle.
‘The direction where I sense vital energy is… both ways?’
Hmm. This is rather troublesome.
The source of the immortal qi likely lay to the north.
So from the opposite direction—the south—I would sense the qi emanating from both sides of the east-west corridor.
‘No, wait. One side could be qi seeping through a fissure that formed somewhere. Or perhaps both sides are like that.’
Either way, I needed to move.
I couldn’t simply sit idle and wait for the flow of immortal qi to strengthen.
“Elder Brother. I’m frightened. Perhaps we should light a torch first?”
Our party had entered the Geomwang Tomb fully prepared for exploration.
Besides food, the supply packs contained various items, including torches.
“Let’s just go for now. There might be formations that react to light.”
The real question was deciding which direction to take.
“Elder Dang. Which way should we go?”
“Hmm? You want me to decide?”
“Yes. You’re the eldest.”
“Ahem!”
The source of that cough was Gu Ak.
‘Ah. Without thinking.’
In truth, judging by demeanor alone, Dang-gun did seem more mature than Gu Ak.
“Ahem, ahem. Elder Brother Gu. You look so youthful I forgot. Which way should we go?”
“Khem, khem. You did forget, didn’t you? I think this direction looks better.”
Gu Ak pointed toward the western passage of the two.
“An excellent judgment.”
Since the eastern passage lay directly below the entrance, it must be the heart of Geomwang Tomb.
So the western route—leading toward the outer reaches—would be safer.
Since we’d have to explore both eventually, it made sense to tackle the safer one first.
That was certainly the logic.
And yet….
“Elder Brother Gu.”
“What is it?”
“Doesn’t it seem unusually quiet?”
“Caves are naturally quiet.”
Instead of Yang Hwi, Dang-yeon spoke, her hands tucked into her sleeves.
“I don’t hear water flowing. Just moments ago, I could hear droplets falling.”
It was one of two things: either there was a structure built so solidly that water had no space to flow, or it was coincidence.
Or perhaps mere chance.
“…The odds of coincidence seem low, don’t they?”
“…Hoping for coincidence and dying seems worse, doesn’t it?”
That was the moment.
Yang Hwi’s keen qi sense detected something amiss.
The problem was, the wrongness emanated from not just one or two places.
A chilling sensation crawled up my spine.
In an instant, hundreds and thousands of qi waves erupted from all directions, and I began to sense the distinctive vitality of living creatures.
‘When did my qi perception become this sensitive?’
Even as that thought crossed my mind, I immediately shouted.
“Battle stations!”
The moment the words left my lips, I drew my sword.
Clang!
I struck the blade hard, and something retreated into the distance.
Channeling my inner energy to sharpen my vision, small, blurred silhouettes became visible.
“Elder Brother Gu Ak! Sword energy! Chu Dal, you take the torches!”
Gu Ak’s twin axes gleamed with light.
From the ground, from the walls, from the ceiling.
Hundreds and thousands of small, round orbs of light appeared from every direction.
Like the reflected glint of a beast’s eyes glimpsed in the darkness of night.
“That’s it!”
The moment Chu Dal raised the torch high.
The hundreds and thousands of reflected lights revealed their true nature.
Kee-eek!
Kee-ek, kee-eek!
“Bats.”
“They’re bats.”
Yang Hwi couldn’t help but cry out.
“They can’t just be ordinary bats! Run!”
I hurled Chu Dal toward the opposite corridor with all my strength.
Chu Dal flew far away, torch in hand.
“Adu! Follow from the rear!”
“Got it!”
“Elder Brother Gu Ak! Take Dang-yeon!”
At the same time, Yang Hwi hoisted his companion onto his back.
“You and my sister use hidden weapons to keep those bats at bay! We run!”
Kee-eek! Kee-eek!
For mere bats, their flight speed was shockingly fast—rivaling that of lesser spirits.
In other words, these were no ordinary bats.
“Elder Dang! Do you know what those bastards are!”
“They match the description in the Main Residence’s poison creature catalog! Iron Poison Bats—creatures that have half-ascended to become spirits!”
Don’t these bastards ever eat? Why are there hundreds and thousands of them in this underground cavern!
“Ugh!”
I barely evaded one Iron Poison Bat launching a physical assault by executing the Gicheon Step.
“Ow! It stings! It stings!”
Adu whimpered as he ran along behind us.
The fact that pain was felt even through the golden protective aura enveloping my entire body meant these Iron Poison Bats were far from ordinary.
‘Bastards, those glossy eyes of theirs shine just like glass marbles.’
Hmm? Wait a moment.
Glass marbles?
How are they even supposed to see ahead with eyes like that?
“Elder Dang!”
“Speak!”
“Do you know what’s special about those bastards?”
I hurled the sudden question at Dang-gun and received my answer.
Yang Hwi’s lips curled upward with a vicious intensity.
“Bastards, you’re all finished now!”

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