WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 47: The Secret Archives (3)

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The Secret Archives (3)

"Cough, cough."

Mumu had fallen for a long while, coughing as he looked around. Somehow he'd landed safely even amid the collapsing ground, disoriented as he was, but the surroundings were pitch black, and he couldn't see a thing.

Through it all, Mumu still held the black iron bar in his hands. The chains must have snapped during the fall, because the Demonic Dragon Crescent Blade was no longer attached to it.

Clank! Thud!

Mumu unraveled the remaining loose chain and planted the iron bar upright on the ground. Just then, a hissing sound rose and a torch flared to life.

Whoosh!

The one holding the torch was none other than Lim Jeong. Their eyes met.

"......" "......"

Silence followed. Lim Jeong had plenty to say but held it back. Something else mattered more right now.

Covered in cuts and bruises from the fall, Lim Jeong looked around, trying to figure out exactly where they had landed.

"Manager?"

At Mumu's call, Lim Jeong's face darkened, and his lips finally parted.

"Oh my. This is bad." "What?" "I can't believe you. This looks like the third underground floor of the archives." "The third underground floor?" "What do we do."

He felt the sense of falling through floor after floor as the heavy pillars crashed down, but he never imagined it would end all the way at the lowest level.

"That sweet face fooled me. You're a lot more trouble than you look. You've set a historic record today, the first in Changcheon Martial Academy's founding history." "A record?" "That's right. You're the first person ever to reach the third underground floor without even filling out your star marks. You must be so proud."

His tone dripped with sarcasm despite the words. And no wonder, Lim Jeong was in a state of considerable inner panic right now. He was called the manager, but his jurisdiction only covered the first underground floor. From the second floor down, other staff were responsible. Which meant this was his first time here too.

"Couldn't we just find a way out quickly?"

Mumu scratched his head, saying it so calmly that Lim Jeong glared at him. If it were that easy, he'd have done it already.

[Just in case, let me say this to you. Squad Leader Lim, or rather, the Archive Manager of the academy now. In any case, do not so much as set foot on the third underground floor out of curiosity. That place is dangerous enough to threaten the lives of even the Master of Ten Thousand Wisdoms or myself, should we carelessly step inside.]

That had been the advice the Jegal Clan's Grand Patriarch gave him when he'd transferred to become archive manager. Over a decade had passed, but he still remembered those words deeply.

"Hah. There's no point getting angry at you right now. Listen carefully from here on. The third underground floor is dangerous beyond anything on the floors above. You need to be careful with every single move. Understand?" "Yes!" "You're good at answering, at least. Ugh."

Shaking his head, Lim Jeong lifted the torch toward the ceiling, checking if there was a way out above them.

'!?'

But the ceiling, which should have had an opening, was already sealed shut as if nothing had ever happened there.

'Oh my. So it really does self-repair.'

He hadn't expected to witness it with his own eyes. Unlike the other floors, he'd heard that every wall on the third underground floor was fitted with a mechanism device that allowed self-repair. Probably a defense meant to prevent escape.

'This is bad. The formations and mechanism devices shouldn't be active unless all eight star marks at the entrance statue are certified.'

But judging by the ceiling's self-repair, they were working just fine. Trying to force a way out through the ceiling might well trigger some trap in the mechanism devices. Either way, the situation looked hopeless.

"Hah. No choice then."

They had to find the exit. After a moment's thought, Lim Jeong tore a small strip from his sleeve and burned it with the torch. Black smoke rose from the fabric.

Whoosh!

The rising smoke drifted toward the southeast.

"What are you doing?" "Ho ho hong. This is what you call worldly wisdom. Smoke always flows toward wherever the air can pass through. So that direction must be the way out." "Oh!"

Mumu nodded, letting out a small sound of admiration at learning something new. Lim Jeong gestured for him to follow and took the lead.

"Stay alert and follow close. Don't ever lose sight of me." "Yes!" "Wait, hold on, you're not seriously bringing that thing along?"

Lim Jeong pointed at the black iron bar Mumu had propped up.

"Yes." "Leave it behind. How are you supposed to carry something that heavy and still get out of here?" "It's fine. I can carry it."

Mumu hoisted the black iron bar up with ease. Without the crescent blade hanging off it, it was manageable enough to carry around. Watching this, Lim Jeong clicked his tongue inwardly. He'd already been shocked by Mumu’s monstrous strength earlier, but he really did seem to be some kind of powerhouse.

'Did this kid train mainly in external energy?'

That might explain why his Ki sense hadn't picked up on him properly. But that wasn't what mattered right now. Lim Jeong tilted his head, motioning him along.

"Let's go."

And so Lim Jeong and Mumu began moving. As they walked, Lim Jeong, on high alert, studied the floor and walls with great care. Having managed the first and second floors for years, he picked up a fair bit of knowledge about mechanism traps.

"Don't step there." "Okay." "From here on, step exactly where I step." "Okay."

Maybe his knowledge was paying off. They'd covered about forty paces, and no mechanism had triggered yet. That gave Lim Jeong a growing sense of confidence. Maybe they really could escape the third underground floor without any further disasters.

Just then, Mumu called out to him.

"Manager." "Quiet. We still can't let our guard down." "Manager." "I said be quiet." "This looks like the place from before." "What?"

Mumu pointed at a chain lying on the ground, and Lim Jeong looked at him, puzzled. It was the extra length of chain Mumu had unraveled from the iron bar earlier. Seeing this, Lim Jeong's brow furrowed.

"Huh... that shouldn't be possible." "What's wrong?" "We walked in a straight line, how could we end up back at the spot we fell into... oh my!"

Lim Jeong's face went pale with shock.

"What's the matter?" "Oh my, oh my. This is very bad." "What?" "It looks like we're trapped inside a formation." "A formation?"

Lim Jeong spoke, his face on the verge of tears.

"Of all places to fall, we had to land right in the middle of the Infernal Formation of Thousand Calamities and Myriad Transformations." "What's that?" "What do you think it is? It means you and I are truly, thoroughly done for."

The Infernal Formation of Thousand Calamities and Myriad Transformations.

It was the most fearsome grand formation ever created, forged jointly by the Master of Ten Thousand Wisdoms, called the finest mind in the Central Plains martial world, and the Jegal Clan's Grand Patriarch. A formation so terrifying that no intruder was said to ever leave alive. And they had wandered straight into it.

"Isn't there some way out?" "If I knew that, don't you think I'd have gotten us out by now instead of wandering around like this?"

Lim Jeong snapped, raising his voice. If Mumu hadn't forced his way into meddling with that iron bar, none of this would have happened. Still, blaming him outright felt pointless now. He hadn't done it on purpose, and even working together, their odds of escaping this place right now were barely one in ten.

'Lim Jeong. Lim Jeong. Calm down.'

Wasn't there a saying that the harder things got, the calmer you had to stay? Lim Jeong scanned their surroundings. He wasn't a master or expert in formations, but he'd studied a bit in his younger days.

'Every formation is built on the foundation of the Eight Trigrams.'

He recalled hearing that the Jegal Clan's formations, too, were fundamentally based on the Nine Palace Eight Trigram Formation. The Eight Trigrams contained eight gates: Rest, Life, Injury, Obstruction, Scenery, Death, Fright, and Opening.

'Let's see.'

Looking around, he could clearly make out lines etched into the floor. The lines formed a strange pattern, connecting in every direction like a maze.

'The solution to the Eight Trigrams is to pass through the Gate of Life and exit through the Gate of Opening.'

Lim Jeong traced the lines to find north. If this layout held true, then...

"We need to go that way." "That way?" "Yes. Follow me. We can't stop moving, no matter what."

Urged on by Lim Jeong, Mumu followed close behind him. Walking in the opposite direction from before, Lim Jeong counted off about twenty-four paces in one direction. Then he changed course, heading southwest. After another twenty-four or so paces,

Shhhhh!

The space ahead of them rippled like smoke, and the mouth of a great cave revealed itself before their eyes.

"Wow! Must be the exit." "Ho ho ho hong. See? See? Nothing bad ever comes from listening to me."

Lim Jeong shrugged, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. He'd secretly worried he might have been wrong, but it seemed they'd escaped safely after all, and that was a relief. Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief,

"But it says Great Screaming Hell up there." "What?"

Lim Jeong looked up. His expression hardened at once. Just as Mumu had said, the words Great Screaming Hell were carved above the mouth of the cave.

"......"

Lim Jeong felt like his nose had gone numb and his breath had left him. He'd barely wracked his brain enough to escape, only to find the entrance to yet another hell. Now he understood exactly why this grand formation had been given the name Infernal Formation of Thousand Calamities and Myriad Transformations.

'The Eight Great Hells......'

In Buddhist teaching, it was said that sinners were sent to one of eight hells according to the weight of their sins. Those were the Eight Great Hells, and the Great Screaming Hell before their eyes now was the fifth among them.

"I'm going to lose my mind."

Lim Jeong genuinely felt like he might snap. If things were exactly as they appeared, walking through this entrance would drag them into a formation living up to the name Great Screaming Hell. But turning back meant facing four more hells in reverse order. They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Ahhh. I can't go any further."

Lim Jeong pressed a hand to his forehead and sank to the ground. There was no telling what disaster might unfold if they recklessly stepped through that entrance. Lim Jeong spoke to Mumu.

"Let's just wait here instead. It'd be better to wait until another manager discovers what's happened."

That seemed like the safer option. But right at that moment,

Shhhhhh!

The mouth of the Great Screaming Hell, which had been standing still, suddenly moved toward them.

"Oh my!"

In an instant, everything around them changed. It became a round chamber, but unlike before, there was no exit anywhere to be found. The diameter looked to be about ten jang, the height around fifteen. Luminous Stones lined the walls, keeping the interior from total darkness.

"What in the world is this place..."

Swooooosh!

Before he could even finish speaking, water suddenly came crashing down from the ceiling like a waterfall. In an instant, Mumu and Lim Jeong were soaked through, looking like drowned rats.

'!?'

The water was filling the floor at a terrifyingly fast rate.

"Aaaaaaaah!"

True to the name Great Screaming Hell, Lim Jeong let out a scream fit for the occasion. At this rate they were going to drown.

'What do we do? What do we do?'

Falling into a panic, Lim Jeong scanned the surroundings frantically, searching for some way out like with the trigram gates, but he couldn't find any way to break the formation. In the end,

"You! You! Break the wall, quickly!"

At this point, there was no choice but to punch a hole through the wall and let the water drain into some other space.

Splash! Splash!

The water had already risen to their thighs. Having given Mumu his orders, Lim Jeong hurled himself toward the wall of the chamber.

Whoosh!

The water resisted his movement, but as a master at the inept stage of Master, Lim Jeong reached the wall with quick, sharp motion. Drawing his Force of ki up to its full tenth stage in an instant, he unleashed a double palm strike at the wall.

Boom!

A handprint appeared on the wall where his palms struck, and faint cracks spread around it. Seeing this, Lim Jeong couldn't hide his shock.

'Wh... what is this? Harder than Gyeseseok stone?'

He hadn't expected the wall to be this sturdy. Lim Jeong drew his Force of ki up to its tenth stage once more and, this time, unleashed an Ultimate Technique against the wall.

'Blazing Heaven Gyu Palm, Secondary Bay Surge of Passion!'

Fwaaaang!

The secret art of his exclusive martial arts, Blazing Heaven Gyu Palm, exploded against the wall. But,

'What!?'

The wall showed more cracks than before, and a palm print sank into it in the shape of the technique, but it still stood essentially intact.

"Ha......"

Lim Jeong was at a loss for words. If his strongest secret art at full power couldn't even budge it, there was no way left to break through.

'This isn't an ordinary wall. What in the world is this thing made of?'

He finally understood why the Jegal Clan's Grand Patriarch had warned him never to set foot on the third underground floor even out of curiosity. This place truly was hell itself, a place with no way out.

Swooooosh!

The waterfall kept pouring down, and the water had already risen to their chests. Before long, it would fill the entire chamber completely.

'What do we do?'

Boom!

Just then, a thunderous crash reached his ears. Looking over, he saw Mumu punching at the wall. The spot Mumu struck showed a slight crack, but the mark was fainter than his strike.

'Ugh. Of course.'

It only made sense. If he, a master at the inept stage of Master, could barely leave a scratch, there was no way a mere cadet like Mumu could punch a hole through that wall.

Lim Jeong looked up at the ceiling with a hollow expression.

'Ugh, how embarrassing. Is this really how the archive manager goes out?'

Just as he was about to sink into despair, with the water rising to his neck, Mumu spoke.

"This isn't working. Not like this." "Obviously. Even I couldn't manage it, how do you expect to..." "Hold this for me."

Just then, Mumu waded through the water toward him and handed the black iron bar to Lim Jeong. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. In a situation where their lives hung in the balance, the fact that he was still fussing over this iron bar was completely absurd. What on earth was he so attached to it for...

Thud! A heavy weight.

'Gasp!'

Caught off guard, Lim Jeong took hold of the iron bar and was startled by its sheer weight. Even with the buoyancy from the water, it was still incredibly heavy. It seemed almost miraculous that this kid had been carrying it around like it was nothing.

Just then, he saw Mumu fidgeting with something underwater. And then,

Crack! Crack!

'!?'

Lim Jeong's eyes went wide. Mumu's whole body was swelling up, his muscles bulging in a way that defied belief. His trapezius looked ready to tear, veins standing out across his bulging pectorals. His biceps rose like mountain peaks, and his forearm muscles rippled with dense, coiled power.

His mouth hung open, unable to close.

"You... you... just what is your body..."

Mumu scratched his head and spoke to Lim Jeong.

"Better to smash it than drown, right?" "What?"

Just then, Mumu wrapped one arm around Lim Jeong's waist, the one holding the iron bar.

"Oh my!"

Then he bent his knees.

"Oof!"

That sent Lim Jeong under the water. Right in front of his eyes, he saw Mumu's rectus femoris split into distinct bulging ridges across his thighs, ready to burst. Coiled like a spring about to release, Mumu pressed all his force down through the soles of his feet.

And in that very instant,

BOOOOOM!

The floor beneath Mumu's feet split and collapsed. Along with it, Mumu's body, one arm wrapped around Lim Jeong and the iron bar, shot straight upward.

"Guh-uughhh!"

The speed was so ferocious that Lim Jeong's lips and eyelids flipped inside out. He couldn't breathe. And then something unbelievable happened.

Whooooosh!

As Mumu shot upward, the water that had filled the chamber reversed course and surged up after him like an ascending dragon, rising alongside them. It collided with the waterfall still pouring down from the ceiling above.

Fwaaaaang!

A shockwave rippled outward as the colliding water spread across the walls in every direction. At the same moment, Mumu, fist thrust upward, tore through the falling waterfall and shot straight toward the ceiling. Cutting through the current like that, the moment his fist met the ceiling,

BOOM!

It punched clean through the solid wall. But that wasn't the end of it. Mumu's fist, having broken through the ceiling, kept surging upward with unstoppable force.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

'What... what is this kid?'

He was smashing through a space built entirely from a formation, through sheer physical force. Lim Jeong, his face drained of all color, clung even tighter to Mumu as he tore through the ceiling.

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Footnotes:

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