Chapter 226: Chapter 226

“I… I found it!”

Jang Sam-tae looked around with hollow eyes, then his eyes flashed as he spoke.

He had thought that the cult leader must have hidden the money somewhere, and sure enough, he had discovered a secret passage.

He shouted loudly, calling for Dan Woo-hyun.

“My Lord! My Lord!”

Hearing this from afar, Dan Woo-hyun looked at Jang Sam-tae.

“You are noisy.”

“I said I found it! I, Jang Sam-tae, really found it!”

Because Jang Sam-tae had been looking for only this all day, he looked just like a wild ginseng digger who had found wild ginseng.

He moved here and there, as if he wanted to dance with joy.

Dan Woo-hyun cast a displeased look at him, but he did not seem to stop.

“Anyway, I found it.”

“I can see that too.”

Jang Sam-tae turned his head with an awkward expression.

He did not like Dan Woo-hyun’s nonchalant remark.

Since he had found the secret passage that even the great Dan Woo-hyun could not find, how nice would it be to praise him a little?

Muttering to himself, Jang Sam-tae headed toward a spot inside the pavilion that was hard for people to see.

Since they had passed by the area several times without noticing anything strange, it was clear how little the cult leader trusted people.

A table stood there, with a vase on top. A painting also hung on the wall, and though at first they thought some hidden device was in the vase or the painting, the table itself was the entrance to the secret passage.

To waste a whole day because of this.

He felt as though his name as a great thief would cry.

“It is a narrow place.”

“It would be plenty for that cult leader’s wretched body to enter.”

The secret passage was narrower than expected.

It was a place where even an adult male would find it difficult to enter. However, the cult leader’s body could easily go inside.

Since he was very thin, it was enough for him to crawl in.

Dan Woo-hyun quietly placed his hand on the wall.

Crash!

The exploding force struck and shattered the wall.

Jang Sam-tae gasped as he looked at the wall fragments falling down. The outside was definitely filled in using wood and soil, but the inside was made of steel so that it could not be easily broken even with internal energy.

However, even such a thing was useless before Dan Woo-hyun’s power.

Not only the wood and soil, but even the steel was shattered into pieces.

Soon, a fairly wide passage appeared.

“He hid it tightly.”

“Just how much did he gather…”

Jang Sam-tae shook his head as he looked inside. Money was important, but this was so thorough that he wondered if it was really necessary to go this far.

As they stepped inside, they felt dampness.

In that dark space where not even a night-glowing pearl, let alone a torch, was placed, it was impossible to even walk because they could not see an inch ahead.

Following behind, Jang Sam-tae grabbed the hem of Dan Woo-hyun’s clothes.

It was to prepare for any unexpected situation.

“Let go.”

“Yes…”

Letting go at the sharp voice he heard, Jang Sam-tae closed his mouth.

Seriously, he said nothing when So-mi held onto him, so he did not know why he only did this to him.

Although he felt a bit of anger welling up, he closed his mouth since the opponent was who he was.

There were people you could fool around with and people you should not, and Dan Woo-hyun belonged to the latter.

Soon, when they went in a bit further, Dan Woo-hyun, who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks. Jang Sam-tae, who was following behind, bumped his nose hard against Dan Woo-hyun’s back.

“Ah, damn, what are…”

“We are here.”

“Is that so? Hehehe.”

Feeling as if Dan Woo-hyun was glancing back, Jang Sam-tae quickly lowered his posture.

Soon, Dan Woo-hyun looked around and reached out toward a torch placed on one side, and with a whoosh, light entered the dark space.

“It… it’s tremendous…”

Jang Sam-tae swallowed his saliva as he looked at what was before his eyes. Like an emperor’s treasury, a significant amount of gold and silver coins were piled here and there, and all kinds of precious metals that could make money were also visible.

If they were to sell it, it was not just a fortune, but an immense amount that could feed several generations, causing even Dan Woo-hyun to be unable to hide his surprise.

Even though he saw it with his own eyes, the quantity was truly hard to believe.

Then, something caught Dan Woo-hyun’s eye.

Although the other treasures were scattered here and there, there was a single book that seemed to be carefully enshrined alone.

Dan Woo-hyun approached it with a strange expression.

The moment he saw its cover.

His eyes widened in surprise.

The Scripture of the Martial God.

* * *

Namgung Cheon and Dan So-mi had driven the carriage and had already entered Hunan. If they went on like this for about another day, they would surely have arrived, but they had turned the horse’s reins elsewhere and were riding up a mountain.

The look in Dan So-mi’s eyes as she gazed out the window was generally bright.

It was unclear whether she was recalling the past while looking at the surrounding scenery, or if she wanted to imprint the scenery she had not seen in a long time into her eyes, but she did not want to leave the window for even a moment.

“It seems you will have to walk from here.”

Gwon Mu-jin muttered soon after.

The mountain path was rougher than he had thought. It would have been nice if they could pull the carriage up, but it seemed impossible.

It seemed faster to stop the horses nearby and walk instead.

“Ah, I know this place! If we go straight this way from here, we’ll get there!”

Leaping down from the carriage, Dan So-mi looked around and spoke. When she lived in the slash-and-burn farming village, this vicinity was no different from a playground for children.

Namgung Cheon looked at the place Dan So-mi pointed to.

There were no traces of people passing by.

‘From a place like this to Yueyang?’

Thinking that, he could not hide his surprise.

According to what he heard from Dan Woo-hyun, Dan So-mi’s village was raided and her entire family was massacred. However, the distance from here to Yueyang was considerable.

Even at an adult’s pace, it would take at least two or three days unless they rode a horse or carriage.

Yet Dan So-mi had a much smaller build than children her age.

More than a year had passed, but she had not grown much except for being slightly taller.

For such a child to walk to Yueyang with an injured body, it would have required at least four days, and in the end, she would have collapsed and died of exhaustion before then.

“Did you really come to Yueyang from here?”

“Yes? Hehehe, actually, I don’t remember very well.”

With an embarrassed look, Dan So-mi scratched her head. Even if she tried to recall her memories of that time, there was nothing special. Was it just that when she opened her eyes, she was in Yueyang, she was alone, and the faces of her deceased parents came to mind?

Only the struggles to survive remained in her mind.

“Hmm… I see. You were unconscious.”

Namgung Cheon was somewhat unconvinced, but it did not seem like Dan So-mi was lying. It was impossible to know whether she really could not remember or if she had blocked out the painful memories.

“Let us go for now, So-mi.”

Namgung So-hye led Dan So-mi while looking at Namgung Cheon with a strange gaze. This was because he kept making her recall memories that did not do any good to think about.

“This way!”

Soon, they moved toward the place Dan So-mi pointed to. The mountain was generally not rugged.

Since it was easy enough for young children to run around, although it was narrow overall, it was easy to climb.

Climbing the winding mountain path, they kept moving toward the place Dan So-mi pointed to.

After entering deep inside for a long time, soon, as they pushed through the thick bushes, the view of a small village caught their eyes.

“This is…”

“This is too much.”

Gwon Mu-jin and Ma Jang-gang, who were the first to lay eyes on it, frowned. At a glance, it was a tiny slash-and-burn farming village.

The place, where even the number of people would not have been that large, was completely devastated.

Looking back, Dan So-mi was also pale.

It seemed she had not even imagined it would be to this extent.

Since this tiny child would have only been busy running away.

“Hmm…”

Namgung Cheon swallowed a sigh and stepped into the village.

“This way! It’s this way!”

Grabbing Namgung So-hye’s sleeve, Dan So-mi pointed to a place. She had found the house where she used to live.

Namgung So-hye caught her breath and quickly ran toward it.

“Here… this is So-mi’s house.”

“Ah…”

Namgung So-hye could not bring herself to say anything.

The place, which had completely collapsed, could no longer be called a house.

Hardened bloodstains remained faintly, letting them know the tragedy that had occurred here.

Was the only saving grace that there were no corpses?

Thinking up to that point, Namgung So-hye turned her head.

What was there to be glad about?

Considering Dan So-mi’s feelings, they should have at least found her parents’ corpses and buried them properly.

She glanced at Dan So-mi.

Although her eyes looked sad, she did not seem that discouraged. Therefore, Namgung So-hye asked Dan So-mi with a curious expression.

“Are you alright?”

“Although my heart hurts, what has happened cannot be helped.”

“…”

She was mature to the point where it was hard to believe she was really eight years old.

However, seeing her fists clenched tightly, it seemed the fear and terror of that day still remained in her mind.

Namgung So-hye slowly stepped inside the ruined site.

“What did So-mi play here?”

“Ah! Over there, you see? That persimmon tree! I used to play on that, and every day when the persimmons ripened, I ate them.”

What Dan So-mi pointed to was a persimmon tree that was half-broken and fallen over. Although it could no longer function as a tree and could only be used as firewood, looking closely, Dan So-mi’s traces remained there.

“It must have been nice. Hahaha.”

Namgung Cheon caressed the broken tree. When he smiled as he spoke, a bright smile bloomed on Dan So-mi’s face and she nodded.

Although it was a memory that could never be returned to, perhaps because she liked her hometown visited after a long time, she led Namgung So-hye by the hand and showed her around here and there.

“She is an amazing child. To keep her composure even after seeing this situation.”

“She is smiling on the outside, but in truth, she probably wants to cry… That aside…”

Looking around, Namgung Cheon examined the broken trees, the traces left everywhere, the direction the blood splattered, and the sword marks carved on the walls and pillars.

“They were no ordinary bandits.”

“How do you judge that?”

Ma Jang-gang asked. Because a long time had passed, many of the traces had deteriorated.

In fact, it seemed it would not be easy to judge their identity whether they were bandits or not.

Nevertheless, thinking that way meant Namgung Cheon had grasped some clue.

“Most of the blood splatters are uniform. That means they were considerable experts. Also, there were not many of them… Since So-mi said they rode horses and wore iron armor…”

A group that wore iron armor, rode horses, was small in number, and consisted of outstanding experts.

Although such people existed in the Martial Alliance as well as the Demonic Cult, he felt a strange sensation in that the traces were not of the martial arts used by the orthodox path or the Demonic Cult.

“But then, why are there no corpses?”

Namgung Cheon narrowed his eyes. Although it was possible the government office had disposed of the bodies, if they did, they would have gathered them in one place and burned them, yet not even such traces were visible.

The bizarre feeling did not easily fade away.

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