Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun was the first to speak. He sniffed the air and said.
“There’s quite a pleasant fragrance in the air.”
“You’re right. Is that flowers?”
“I think it’s coming from in there.”
But I could only tilt my head.
What fragrance were they talking about? All I could smell was the stale, musty odor unique to an underground place that had been sealed for ages…
“Let’s go in.”
We headed inside and descended the stairs.
“This… really is the Sword Tomb?”
“No wonder I smelled flowers.”
“What kind of marvel is this!”
The other three all looked either stunned or awestruck.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can’t you see that field of flowers?”
“What? A field of flowers?”
“Haha! It’s a truly beautiful field of flowers.”
“I’ve never seen a flower field like this anywhere in Yunnan.”
Judging by their reactions, there must have been a breathtaking field of flowers spread out before them.
But if I couldn’t see it… then it was most likely an illusion created by a formation.
The pure Qi of the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art made it impossible for anything to interfere with my mind.
Come to think of it, Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun was a descendant of the person who had built this Sword Tomb, or at least someone connected to one of his close companions.
Then why had the creator gone to the trouble of making a field of flowers to hide what this place actually looked like?
Maybe he simply wanted the place to feel a little more impressive.
After all, in reality, it was nothing more than a square chamber built from rough bricks.
Or perhaps the flowers were meant to soothe weary minds and bodies.
Then a question suddenly occurred to me.
Illusions created by formations couldn’t affect me, so how did Patriarch’s arrangement work on me?
I’d definitely been told that I was able to meet Patriarch because of a formation created by one of his friends…
Well, I could ask Patriarch about it later.
“I can’t see the field of flowers.”
I told them the truth.
It seemed better to let them know the flower field was an illusion than to pretend I could see it too.
“It’s probably because of an Artifact I’m carrying. It has an ability that keeps illusions from affecting me.”
“Then the flower field we’re seeing is an illusion.”
“Yes. Most likely an illusion created by a formation. Is there anything unusual in the field?”
“Anything unusual… Ah! There’s something like a stone monument here.”
The stone monument standing at the center of the chamber seemed to be visible to them as well.
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun continued.
“Something is engraved here. It says, 「Descendant of Yeon, the contents of this chest were left for our descendants. Use them to carry out our will.」”
“And there’s a chest behind the monument.”
Just as Commander Gwon said, I could see a chest sitting on a stone platform.
“So that’s the chest.”
“Hm? You can see the chest?”
“Yes. I can see both the chest and the monument.”
“Then let’s open it. Young Lord Yeon, if you would.”
“Of course.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun walked over and opened the chest.
There were several scrolls inside.
“Hm? Why are there documents in here?”
“I’ll take a look.”
I picked up the thickest of the scrolls and immediately unrolled it.
“This is…”
The writing on the paper wasn’t in the Imperial language.
But it wasn’t completely unfamiliar either.
I remembered seeing it in my previous life… I think someone had once told me that it was a script used by some tribe a very long time ago.
Still, I certainly couldn’t understand what it said.
That was when Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun stepped forward.
“Ah, this is a script our tribe has used since ancient times.”
“You can read it?”
“Ah, yes. Of course I can. I am the heir to this fortress, after all. Naturally, I was taught how to read it.”
As I thought, it was the script used by the tribe that lived in Springview Fortress.
“I’ll read it. Hmm… If you are reading this, then my descendants must surely be in dire straits. I prepared these arrangements so that my descendants who settled here may survive and carry on our bloodline for generations to come.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun continued reading.
“First, I leave behind a token of a marriage pact made with the emperor who rules this Empire. I recommend using it to form a marriage alliance with the Imperial Family.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun gave an awkward smile.
“Well… I’m already married to Her Highness the Princess. Hahaha.”
“I see.”
In other words, that token of the marriage pact was now completely useless.
The person who built this Sword Tomb probably hadn’t been able to foresee that.
The current situation only existed because my intervention had intersected with the current emperor’s considerable competence and equally considerable ambition.
“I’ll keep reading.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun returned his attention to the scroll.
“Second, I leave behind a token given to me by the Palace Lord of Zhurong Palace in Yunnan. Use it to seek protection and ensure your personal safety.”
Hearing that, Master Craftsman Cha pointed into the chest.
“There’s a token here.”
“So there is.”
“Third, there is an authenticated document granted by the emperor of the Empire. It certifies that we shall not be driven from this land, so use it to assert our rightful claim to remain here.”
That must be one of the other two scrolls.
“Lastly, fourth, seek out a man born with the Black Dragon Star Body.”
“…!”
I flinched before I could stop myself.
Did he just say a man born with the Black Dragon Star Body?
I had a pretty good idea who that was.
Me.
In my previous life, the Black Flute Physician had told me something about it.
He’d said that the odds of a man being born with the Black Dragon Star Body were so low that they might as well be nonexistent.
Meanwhile, Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun continued reading.
“A man born with the Black Dragon Star Body is destined to become the center of the world. He will become a sharpened blade that sets the broken order right and cuts down those who stain the Heaven’s will with blood. If you can gain his aid, you will surely be able to restore the clan to prosperity.”
I felt like I’d heard something similar before.
Where had I heard it?
Ah… the Black Flute Physician had told me this too.
— According to what has been passed down, a woman born with the Black Dragon Star Body will become a genius unrivaled under the heavens, while a man will become the center of the world.
I’d thought he was only saying that to comfort me.
Had it actually been true?
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun finished reading the scroll.
“And for this purpose, I leave behind travel funds. I hope you will put them to good use.”
Looking inside the chest, I saw an old pouch that appeared to be made of silk.
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun picked it up and emptied it.
Clink, clink.
There were around fifty gold rings.
Altogether, they amounted to barely two Gold Taels.
No wonder Geumryeong hadn’t reacted to them.
It wasn’t a small sum, but it certainly wasn’t enough to make anyone’s eyes light up either.
“Is that everything?”
“Yes.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun nodded at Commander Gwon’s question.
“Ha! So all of this was built just to preserve those arrangements?”
Master Craftsman Cha followed with a disappointed sigh.
“There were so many elaborate, high-level Trap Formations and traps that I was expecting something more. What an anticlimax.”
I tried to console them.
“Even so, we should give him credit for how much he cared about his descendants.”
“Well, you do have a point.”
Yunnan was hardly a peaceful region.
It was far from the heart of the Empire, which meant the local powers in and around the region frequently waged war against one another.
There were several major powers in Yunnan, with Zhurong Palace, the Southern Barbarian Beast Sect, and the Myriad Poison Sect being the most prominent.
Imperial control barely reached this far, so naturally, the local powers rooted in the region held tremendous influence.
For an ordinary place like Springview Fortress to survive among powers like those and preserve itself for generation after generation must have been an exhausting struggle.
That was probably why the creator of this Sword Tomb had worried so much about his descendants’ future that he built this place and preserved these arrangements here.
The reason he made the place so complicated was likely to keep those arrangements safe from forces that might invade Springview Fortress.
And if outsiders had managed to break into this place in the first place, that would probably mean his descendants had already been slaughtered. Perhaps all these traps were also intended to exact revenge on the invaders responsible.
I spoke to the other three.
“And I think it would be best if everything we saw and heard today stayed with us for the rest of our lives. It may not look like much, but these things were left behind by the ancestors of Springview Fortress’s people. I don’t think we should turn them into idle gossip.”
“True enough.”
“Don’t worry. We’re not thoughtless enough to go spreading something like this around.”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun looked deeply moved.
“I can only thank you for showing such consideration for my people.”
Part of the reason I’d asked them to keep quiet was for Springview Fortress’s sake, but another part was for my own safety.
It was because of the fourth thing Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun had read earlier.
The claim that a man born with the Black Dragon Star Body would become the center of the world.
But the center of the world was something one normally said about the emperor.
If those words leaked outside and people also discovered that I possessed the Black Dragon Star Body, there was a real chance I could be accused of treason.
The emperor had granted me limited immunity, but being accused of treason would still be a massive headache.
Wait.
If the Blood Cult had explored this Sword Tomb, discovered this place after sacrificing countless lives, and then managed to decipher the writing…
[He will become a sharpened blade that sets the broken order right and cuts down those who stain the Heaven’s will with blood. If you can gain his aid, you will surely be able to restore the clan to prosperity.]
That passage would have bothered them a great deal.
Those who stained the Heaven’s will with blood probably referred to the Blood Cult.
And judging by everything I’d seen so far, the Blood Cult and the Murim Alliance seemed to have some sort of connection.
Then had they killed me because they discovered that I possessed the Black Dragon Star Body?
I still remembered what Namgoong Gang had said while I was dying in my previous life.
“I wonder if you know this. Truth is, the higher-ups wiped out the Eunhae Merchant Group because of you.”
If that was really true…
Had my very birth been a disaster for the Eunhae Merchant Group?
“Are you all right?”
Perhaps I looked pale, because Commander Gwon asked me with concern.
“I’m fine. It’s probably just the stale air down here.”
“That would do it. Let’s pack everything up and get out of here.”
That was when Master Craftsman Cha spoke.
“Ah, but does everyone remember the inscription on the stone door we saw when we came in?”
“I remember.”
“It said that what was left inside represented their will, and that their descendants should use it to fulfill that will. But what exactly is that will?”
“Hm?”
“That part bothers me.”
“Survival.”
The answer came from Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun.
Looking down at the scroll, he continued.
“According to what was written here, all four methods were meant to help the tribe survive.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
“I believe our ancestor’s will was simply for us to survive on this land.”
“I think so too. Then let’s start heading out.”
With that, Commander Gwon personally picked up the chest.
It was small enough for one person to carry without much trouble.
“Hm? There’s something here.”
There was writing engraved into the floor where the chest had been sitting.
“What does this say?”
Young Lord Yeon Yu-mun approached and read the inscription.
“It says, Remember this above all. The strong are not the victors. The one who survives to the very end is the victor. And remember this as well. Do not look upward. Look below. We have always lived at the bottom, and that is where true peace lies.”
“…!”
At that moment, something clicked inside me.
The one who survives to the very end is the winner.
I had been born with the Black Dragon Star Body, and because of that, the Eunhae Merchant Group had been annihilated.
So what?
It wasn’t like I’d chosen to be born that way.
I’d suffered like hell because of it too.
Did that somehow make me the villain just because I’d been born with the Black Dragon Star Body?
The real bastards were the ones who murdered me and my family when all we’d been doing was living our lives in peace.
They killed me in my previous life, but it wouldn’t happen again.
Because this time, I’d claw and scrape my way to the very end if that was what it took.
That’s right. Just like the inscription said, the one who survives to the end wins.
And in this life, I would be the winner.
“But this is all we found in here… What if people suspect we pocketed the real treasure for ourselves?”
Master Craftsman Cha Geo-i had a point.
Normally, exploring a Sword Tomb meant coming away with countless treasures. There had also been plenty of gold and silver among the horns of the stone statues scattered throughout this place.
And we were supposed to walk out with only this?
People would definitely talk.
What was the best way to handle this…
As I thought it over, something struck me as odd.
He’d used that much gold and silver just to lure enemies into his traps, yet for the descendants who were supposed to carry on his will, he had left barely fifty gold rings?
No way. There had to be something more.
– Geumryeong.
– Kui!
– Are you sure there’s no treasure in here?
– Kui! Kui!
– There’s no treasure, but there’s something that smells like money? What is it?
– Kui! Kui!
Geumryeong was talking about the chest.
More precisely, the bottom of the chest.
I politely addressed Commander Gwon.
“Commander, may I take a closer look at that chest?”
At my request, Commander Gwon handed it over without the slightest hesitation. We’d managed to reach this place without any trouble largely because of my help, so he must have trusted me.
I removed everything inside the chest and carefully examined its interior.
“The bottom of this chest has a false panel.”
“Let me see!”
Master Craftsman Cha examined the chest as well and soon exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh! You’re right!”
“Can you take it apart?”
“Of course I can! Who do you think you’re talking to?”
Master Craftsman Cha confidently rolled up his sleeves, and in no time at all, he had the bottom panel removed.
A piece of silk had been hidden between the wooden boards forming the base of the chest.
A map was drawn on that silk.
Since it said [This is a gift left for my descendants]…
“Now this is a real treasure map.”
Seriously, why make the riddle this difficult? How was a descendant who truly needed it supposed to find the thing?
Then again, perhaps he’d intended to leave it only to a descendant clever enough to figure it out…
Either way, we’d found it thanks to Geumryeong. But then,
– Kui? Kui?
Hm? There was a problem?
–TL Notes–
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