Chapter 127 : Divine Beast
The upper level of the Sound Gathering Pavilion, which had been swept away by explosive flas and a vacuum, was transford into a wretched state.
The flamboyant silk fabrics were scattered as ashes, and the floor was lting from my mad fire, boiling like red lava.
“Ke-heuk...!”
The Heavenly Sound Witch vomited blood while being stuck against a pillar of the pavilion.
The recoil from having the Blood Sound Soul Shaking Tune, into which she had ground her life force, shattered head-on was fatal.
My gaze was directed not at the fallen Heavenly Sound Witch, but at the Heavenly Cry Zither lying on the floor.
Wuuuuuung—!
The sacred object that had lost its owner was emitting a bizarre resonance.
The wave generated as the strings broke stretched out to the sea along the coastal cliff below the Sound Gathering Pavilion.
“...Look over there.”
At Seol Ye-rin's shout, I looked down beyond the railing.
The massive whirlpool that had been rotating as if to swallow the sea off Liaoning stopped, and the sea began to part on both sides like the miracle of Moses.
At the end of that abyss, a massive stone gate emitting a faint bluish-white brilliance revealed itself.
[Gate of the Zither Venerable's Forbidden Area]
“...It finally opened.”
My eyes sank coldly.
The four types of energy inside my qi center fluctuated in response to the pulsation coming from down there.
It was not the energy of an ordinary legacy. It looked like the remnants of a massive power that the Zither Venerable had suppressed for hundreds of years, unable to bring it out into the world.
“He-he-he... brat, do not be mistaken.”
The Heavenly Sound Witch, hanging at the edge of the cliff, burst into a bizarre laugh.
Dark red blood flowed from her mouth like a waterfall.
“What opened is not a treasure house. Down there... lies a ‘calamity’ that the Zither Venerable could not bring himself to kill and thus imprisoned. For you to walk into that mouth with your own feet, the Saphaeryeon Leader will be pleased!”
“You talk too much.”
As I lightly waved my hand, the purple flas erupting from the Red Sword swallowed the Heavenly Sound Witch's form.
Her body turned into ash and scattered into the sea without her even being able to scream.
I picked up the Heavenly Cry Zither and secured it on my back.
The strings were broken, but the body itself was a sufficient sacred object.
“Miss Seol, Miss Cheon, Miss Seong. From here on, it is truly dangerous, so I will go down there alone.”
“Wasn't that discussion already finished earlier?”
Seol Ye-rin replied calmly while brushing the frost off her ice sword.
Cheon Deung-jin snorted while raising her fire spirit energy, and Seong Sang-ah quietly checked her ergency antidotes.
“Let's go. Whatever is down there, it will be less dangerous than sending you alone, Young Master.”
I shook my head and threw my form toward the bottom.
Seol Ye-rin, Cheon Deung-jin, and Seong Sang-ah followed behind .
***
At that ti, unlike the Sound Gathering Pavilion where the scent of flowers and the sll of powdered dicine vibrated, the southern edge of Liaoning was mixing the sll of human sweat and the fishy sll of alcohol.
At the center of it, the base of the Rogues' Guild was located.
“Who are you! This isn't a place for drifters to linger...!”
It was before the gatekeeper guarding the entrance of the Liaoning branch of the Rogues' Guild could even finish his words.
Boooom—!
The bolt of the heavy iron gate twisted, and the Small Snow Squad mbers led by Wi Ji-yeong pushed into the inner courtyard.
At the sudden raid, the warriors of the Rogues' Guild raised their weapons, but no one dared to step forward due to the chilly killing intent erupting from behind Wi Ji-yeong's back.
“We didn't co here to fight. We ca to et the Liaoning branch leader.”
At Wi Ji-yeong's cool voice, the Liaoning branch leader of the Rogues' Guild, Iron Sword Cho Chil, stord out of his room.
He had already been inford of the existence of the gold I had thrown to Cho Gun through a ssenger of the Rogues' Guild.
“...So you are the subordinates of the Ice Palace. You ca earlier than expected.”
Cho Chil laughed, revealing his teeth, but his eyes were not laughing.
Cho Chil stared intently at the thick silk pouch that Wi Ji-yeong slamd down onto the table with a bang.
What shone through the gaps in the pouch was the brilliant light of gold.
“It is the Captain's order. We would like to borrow all the ‘ears’ within Liaoning. Especially the movents of the fellows coming over from the Sa Ma Clan and the main base of the Demonic Cult, and even the positions of the experts the Saphaeryeon has ambushed around the Sound Gathering Pavilion.”
Cho Chil picked up the gold pouch, weighed it, and then replied with a giggle.
“Haha! You certainly have a grand scale. Fine, for this much, I can lend you not just the information network of the Rogues' Guild but even the eyes of the rats on the floor of Liaoning. However, there is one thing you should know.”
Cho Chil lowered his voice and approached Wi Ji-yeong.
“The Sa Ma Clan has already released their people. The Black Lotus Warriors of the Sa Ma Clan are not just targeting the Sound Gathering Pavilion.”
Wi Ji-yeong's brow narrowed. While I was fighting the sound arts of the Sound Gathering Pavilion, it seed that an information war had already begun in the invisible places.
“Before delivering this to the Captain, we will grab the leashes of those Black Lotus Warriors first. Branch Leader Cho, I'd like you to tell their hideout imdiately.”
“A hideout... those fellows are hidden in places deeper than rats. The basent of the closed grain warehouse in the west of Liaoning, that is the base of the Black Lotus Warriors.”
Cho Chil spread a map on the table with a fishy smile.
The place he pointed to with his finger was the most dilapidated and deserted place in Liaoning.
“Be careful. The Black Lotus Warriors are not ordinary assassins. They are experts at hiding in the shadows and brandishing weapons. If you are not careful, you might go to grab their leashes and end up having your limbs torn instead.”
Instead of answering, Wi Ji-yeong turned to look at the Vice Captain, Eun Bin.
“Vice Captain, what do you think?”
“A re shadow, we should be able to catch easily.”
As Eun Bin nodded, the Small Snow Squad mbers waiting behind began to move like ghosts.
They left the Rogues' Guild branch and perated into the dark alleys of Liaoning.
***
anwhile, we, who had thrown ourselves between the parted sea, were facing a bizarre sight.
The seawater rose on both sides to form transparent walls, and the floor revealed between them was paved with smoothly polished white jade stone instead of seaweed or sand.
“...Did the Zither Venerable make all of this?”
Cheon Deung-jin asked while looking around.
Cheon Deung-jin's Extre Yang Body made a sizzle sound as it evaporated the surrounding moisture, but the energy coming up from the underground was so cool and heavy that it suppressed even that heat.
I watched the front instead of answering.
Before the massive stone gate, statues that seed to have endured hundreds of years were standing together.
Musical instrunts were held in the hands of the statues, but the killing intent they emitted was of a different level from the musicians of the Sound Gathering Pavilion.
—Chuckle, they seem to be statues in which the Zither Venerable implanted his internal strength.
—It seems we should open the gate before their performance begins.
At the warnings of the Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen, I drew the Blue and Red Twin Swords.
The Heavenly Cry Zither secured to my back trembled as if it were alive and began to resonate with sothing inside the stone gate.
“Miss Seol, please stop the movent of those statues. Miss Cheon and Miss Seong, please guard my back.”
“Understood!”
As Seol Ye-rin swung her ice sword, white frost began to freeze from the ankles of the statues.
At the mont the statues made a bizarre friction sound and lifted their instrunts, I rushed toward the stone gate like purple lightning.
Boooom—!
The sound of a massive pulsation coming from beyond the stone gate.
The calamity that the Zither Venerable was said to have imprisoned was waking up from a long sleep to greet .
***
It had been hundreds of years.
The bottom of the deep sea where not a single point of light reached, the years endured in a cold jade stone room with only the sound of its own heart as a companion.
It was once a Divine Beast that commanded the world, the most cherished companion of the Zither Venerable, and at the sa ti, an incarnation of destruction that the Zither Venerable could not handle in the end and had to seal.
—Rumble.
Beyond the massive stone gate, the sleeping bluish-white scales trembled minutely.
Golden eyes, torn vertically, flashed in the darkness and slowly opened.
—Who are you?
Not human language, but a massive thought wave that directly shook the soul swept through the closed space.
The existence is rembered.
The last performance left by the master who imprisoned it here.
On the day that elegant yet sad lody stopped, it was said that only two types of people would co to wake it.
Either a demon who wanted to use it to destroy the world, or a true master who would cut its neck and give it rest.
Wuuuuuung—!
A disgusting resonance heard from outside the stone gate.
It was the sound of the Heavenly Cry Zither, which had been its master's item.
But the quality was different. It was a dissonance emitted by greedy humans, forcibly twisted and torn.
—How laughable. Are the vermin who want to use as a tool again knocking on the gate.
The mouth of the Blue Dragon slowly opened.
Between them, a blue mist swirled as if the water pressure of the deep sea had been compressed.
Boooom!
Finally, the stone gate opened, and a figure surrounded by purple flas flew inside.
The Blue Dragon stood up its whole body while harboring a cold sneer.
Every ti its massive form, reaching dozens of ters, rose while scraping the ceiling, the white jade stones laid on the floor were smashed and scread.
—Evil energy... and the scent of unidentified sacred objects. Brat, did you open this gate?
The roar of the dragon struck the group like an earthquake.
The ice energy of Seol Ye-rin, who followed inside, was eaten by the coolness of the Blue Dragon to such an extent that the energy emitted by the Blue Dragon, the master of this place, was absolute.
—Co. I will fill my hundreds of years of hunger with your bone marrow!
Under the stone gate, the calamity the Zither Venerable had hidden was a Divine Beast.
I, Seol Ye-rin, Cheon Deung-jin, and Seong Sang-ah were astonished by the unbelievable appearance of that Divine Beast and at that mont.
The Blue Dragon's massive front paw fell like a great mountain over my head.
Whoosh—!
The front paw of the Blue Dragon and my sword collided.
Soon, an enormous fla began to overflow in the surroundings.
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