Baek Yoonjun fell silent.

No, to be precise, he couldn't say anything.

Although Divine Nun Jihwa looked very benevolent like a nun, to Baek Yoonjun, she was just another burden.

Whether Baek Yoonjun was silent or not, Divine Nun Jihwa continued to speak.

"I heard from Yeohyang. As soon as you heard about Emei's troubles, you stepped up to help."

The words that came out of Divine Nun Jihwa's mouth were a great misunderstanding.

'Stepped up to help?'

He had just been dragged here because he couldn't refuse her earnest request due to his homebody introvert nature.

'What did she say to cause such a misunderstanding?'

Although Baek Yoonjun was curious about what had been said, due to his nature, he couldn't bring himself to correct the misunderstanding.

Baek Yoonjun was not the only one who was uncomfortable.

Although Divine Nun Jihwa was not showing it on the outside, she was lost in various thoughts as she scanned Baek Yoonjun.

'The immortal at the summit of Cheongseong Mountain...'

Although she had heard it from her disciple, since she was a timid and clumsy child, she hadn't completely believed it.

But his sharp gaze and his noble demeanor, which flowed with dignity despite his lack of words, were not lacking even if he were described as an immortal who had descended to earth.

'Although he looks perfect on the outside, what is needed to pass through the secret cave is the depth of his martial arts.'

Divine Nun Jihwa spread her senses and observed Baek Yoonjun.

Although she should have been able to gauge the depth of his internal energy to some extent with this, she couldn't feel anything from the man in front of her.

However.

'From his movements, I can feel a depth of martial arts that is impossible to gauge.'

Since she had not seen him for long and had only observed him in fragments, it was just a guess, but she could tell that the depth of his martial arts itself was extraordinary.

'He is not someone I can carelessly judge.'

Divine Nun Jihwa was at a loss for words at the unfathomable depth of Baek Yoonjun's martial arts.

She couldn't fathom why such a man was interested in something like a secret cave, and if he succeeded in passing through the secret cave, what Emei should give him as a reward.

And so, as Divine Nun Jihwa remained silent, Baek Yoonjun's side became incredibly anxious.

'No, why is this person just standing there? Did I do something wrong?'

In any case, the opponent was the sect leader, who seemed to be the highest in the Emei Sect.

'Although her realm doesn't seem that high.'

By Baek Yoonjun's standards, the sect leader possessed a realm below third-rate.

Although her realm was low, at the height felt from the position of sect leader, Baek Yoonjun couldn't think of carelessly speaking to her.

'But with such a low martial arts level, she's the sect leader? Do Buddhist sects choose their positions based on their level of study in that area?'

Baek Yoonjun's questions only deepened.

And Su Yeohyang, who was caught between them, was sweating profusely.

'Why are they both silent?'

Su Yeohyang was crushed by the immense pressure of just having the two people of a distant realm in that place without a word.

'I can't breathe.'

And so, as an innocent third-party victim was being created.

'Should I speak first? I can't stand it anymore.'

Unable to bear the silence, Baek Yoonjun spoke first.

"When are we going to the secret cave?"

Into the place where silence had been flowing, Baek Yoonjun's quiet but heavy voice seeped in.

"Let's go right now."

As Baek Yoonjun spoke first, Divine Nun Jihwa could not delay any longer and guided him to the secret cave.

The secret cave was quite a distance from the place where the main building of the Emei Sect was, and it was a secluded place with no signs of people other than a few gatekeepers.

Even those few gatekeepers, when Divine Nun Jihwa approached, greeted her, exchanged a few words, and then disappeared.

"This is the place."

Following Divine Nun Jihwa's guidance, Baek Yoonjun entered the entrance of the secret cave.

“Hmm, it’s more authentic than what I made.”

The entrance of the Emei Sect's secret cave looked even more authentic than what Baek Yoonjun had made.

'If you make the entrance like this, won't it be conspicuous?'

By Baek Yoonjun's standards, the entrance of a dungeon, no, a secret cave, should be secretly hidden.

The current entrance of the Emei Sect's secret cave was a form that was too conspicuous.

From the square-shaped secret cave entrance to the Buddhist-related sculptures of lotus flowers or Buddha statues carved around it.

To anyone's eyes, it was a secret cave related to Buddhism.

"If it's this conspicuous, won't it cause trouble?"

At the incomprehensible form of the entrance, Baek Yoonjun unconsciously voiced his question.

"Thank you for your concern. Fortunately, this secret cave was made by the founding ancestor of the Emei Sect, and since it has been under the protection of Emei since then, there have been no major troubles."

Fortunately, it seemed there were no problems that Baek Yoonjun was worried about.

'It's uncomfortable.'

Nevertheless, at the useless splendor of the entrance, Baek Yoonjun's mood was uncomfortable.

'It's uncomfortable...'

Of course, he couldn't voice his complaints.

'Let's just go in quickly.'

Baek Yoonjun decided to just go into the secret cave quickly.

"I'm going in."

"What? You don't have anything to prepare?"

Although Su Yeohyang and Divine Nun Jihwa were flustered by Baek Yoonjun's words, Baek Yoonjun had already disappeared into the secret cave.

'As expected.'

Although Baek Yoonjun had just gone in quickly due to the burden and the uncomfortable form of the secret cave entrance.

'Does it mean that with overwhelming martial power, no other preparations are necessary?'

Divine Nun Jihwa was having another misunderstanding about his actions.

* * *

Inside the secret cave.

Baek Yoonjun quickly scanned the inside, mobilizing his five senses and his senses.

The first thing that caught his eye was.

'Is that a genuine night-luminescent pearl?'

It was an object presumed to be a night-luminescent pearl, embedded here and there in the wall.

'It's smaller than I thought.'

Although Baek Yoonjun had made the pseudo night-luminescent pearl the size of a head, the size of the night-luminescent pearl embedded in the secret cave now was the size of a fist.

Besides that, there were quite a few differences.

'It's green, and it's not that bright.'

The pseudo night-luminescent pearl that Baek Yoonjun had made was an object into which he had crammed Samadhi True Fire, so it emitted a white light and its brightness was at the level of a fluorescent lamp, but the night-luminescent pearl was at a level where it shone faintly with a green light. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

'Come to think of it, I think I heard that night-luminescent pearls are made of fluorite...'

Although Baek Yoonjun remembered the word fluorite, no more detailed information came to mind.

'Should I take one as a souvenir?'

Baek Yoonjun pulled out a night-luminescent pearl from the wall, took one, and then went deeper inside.

What came into Baek Yoonjun's sight as he went deeper inside was.

'Ugh! You scared me!'

It was something in the shape of numerous people.

When Baek Yoonjun looked closely, it was a wooden puppet in the phenomenon of a person.

'Ugh, who put this kind of thing here? You scared me!'

Although there were a few corpses that had become white bones rolling around, Baek Yoonjun was more scared of the wooden puppet.

'In this neighborhood, corpses are lying around on the street.'

Although it was less so in the Sichuan region where Baek Yoonjun resided, if you went a little further out, it was an era where corpses that had starved to death or been killed by a sword were common.

Therefore, even the timid Baek Yoonjun would only blink his eyes when he saw a corpse, and although he felt unpleasant, he was not particularly surprised or anything.

'Anyway, this wooden puppet won't move or anything, right?'

Baek Yoonjun carefully moved his feet towards the wooden puppet.

Creak.

As if his words had become a seed.

As Baek Yoonjun moved his feet, the wooden puppet's head turned towards Baek Yoonjun, making a strange sound.

"Ugh! What?!"

Startled, Baek Yoonjun drew Black Iron Bright Night.

Creak. Creak.

As soon as Baek Yoonjun took a battle stance, as if they had matched their timing, the wooden puppets began to move, using the strange sound coming from their rusted joints as a cry.

"D-don't come! You bastard!!"

Baek Yoonjun cut down the wooden puppet that was rushing at him.

From the split gap of the wooden puppet, numerous rusted and reddish metal parts poured out like entrails.

Baek Yoonjun was startled as he looked at that scene.

'They're not going to ask me to pay for this, are they?!'

It was a startle at the thought that they might ask for compensation.

Although Baek Yoonjun possessed numerous heavenly treasures, since he alone did not know their value, and he did not have much money on hand.

Therefore, it was a natural worry.

'I think I have to subdue them without breaking them.'

Baek Yoonjun avoided the attacks of the wooden puppets and put away his sword.

'A sword won't do.'

As he dodged the attacks of the wooden puppets, Baek Yoonjun thought of the various skills he possessed, but.

'No matter how I think about it, there's nothing but smashing them.'

Martial arts were followed by destruction, and as for mechanisms or formations, or sorcery, his preparations were insufficient.

'Should I have carried a few talismans like that guy Zhuge Hyun?'

Until now, he hadn't particularly felt the need for talismans, which were troublesome to make and weak to moisture.

And for good reason, if the opponent was evil, he would cut them down, and if not, he would immediately withdraw.

Now, it was a situation where it was difficult to just withdraw.

'Should I just pass by?'

Although the corridor of the secret cave was densely lined with wooden puppets, for Baek Yoonjun, it was at a level where he could sufficiently ignore them and go.

'No, then these things will follow me to the end, won't they?'

In the end, it seemed there was no choice but to subdue the wooden puppets.

And so, as he was thinking of a way, Baek Yoonjun's mind eventually reached the memories of his past life.

'Come to think of it, in my past life, in the early days when I was cooped up in my room...'

The various useless things he had done while cooped up in his room came to his mind, and among them.

'Joint locks!'

Baek Yoonjun recalled practicing joint locks in the air by himself.

Although there was no particular purpose, it was a useless thing he had done because he needed something to immerse himself in and forget reality.

But now, that useless thing shone.

Baek Yoonjun dodged the attack of a wooden puppet and approached.

Creak.

He twisted the wooden puppet's joint.

After that, he grabbed another wooden puppet that was rushing at him, twisted its joint, and linked it with the joint of the current wooden puppet.

A situation where the joints of the wooden puppets became each other's shackles, making them unable to move.

Screeeech!

The sound of rusted joints echoed mournfully like a scream.

"This works?"

Looking at the wooden puppets that were linked more splendidly than he had thought, Baek Yoonjun's eyes shone.

"Then shall I link them all?"

Baek Yoonjun's gaze turned to the remaining wooden puppets.

Creak.

The wooden puppets, which did not even have a remaining life, for some reason seemed to let out a scream and flinch their bodies.

And so, after about a moment had passed.

Creak! Creak!!

The mournful sound of rusted metal echoed like a scream from here and there.

"Wow, I did this, but..."

Baek Yoonjun looked down at the wooden puppets, which had now become a long wooden snake.

"If they were people, their arms and legs would have all been pulled out."

Although the wooden puppets were wooden, perhaps because they were not ordinary wooden puppets, their arms and legs were well linked, becoming shackles for each other.

"Well, then, let's put this aside for now."

Baek Yoonjun kicked the wooden puppets, which had become a wooden snake, to a corner.

"Shall we go?"

He moved forward.

Although he had been startled by the bizarre form of the wooden puppets at first, it was a meaningful time where he could freely utilize the joint locks from the memories of his past life.

'I'm proud.'

Feeling as if he had come to an amusement park, Baek Yoonjun continued to move forward, anticipating what the next device would be.

And at that time, at the entrance of the secret cave, Divine Nun Jihwa and Su Yeohyang were talking.

"When you set foot in the secret cave, the first thing that greets the challenger is the wooden puppet hell."

"Wooden puppets?"

"That's right. It's a human-sized puppet made of wood."

"It doesn't look very scary."

"It may look so on the outside, but the hardness of the wooden puppet is comparable to cold iron, so it's hard for even a martial artist of the peak realm to damage it."

"Huh? Then what should we do?"

"The only way to break through the wooden puppet hell is to step on the footwork in the correct order."

"It seems difficult."

"That's right. But the moment you pass through the wooden puppet hell, you will master the peerless movement technique of our sect, the Nine Revolutions Illusionary Step."

"It is the ancestor's arrangement."

"That's right. Although it is harsh, it is an arrangement left by our ancestor."

Divine Nun Jihwa and Su Yeohyang looked up at the sky, recalling the face of the founding ancestor, which now remained only as a portrait.

Without even dreaming of the fact that the wooden puppets, which contained that insight, had become a wooden snake and were crawling on the ground.

"Then, Master, did you pass through the wooden puppet hell?"

"That's right. Am I not a body called a transcendent master in the Central Plains in my own way?"

"You're amazing. I don't think I could even dream of it."

"No. Although it is difficult, you will be able to pass the first gate."

Divine Nun Jihwa's words trailed off as she looked at the secret cave.

"The problem is from the next gate. From then on, a hellish trial awaits."

Divine Nun Jihwa frowned as if it were painful just to recall it.

And at that time, Baek Yoonjun had arrived at the second gate.

"What is this now?"

He was startled.

(End of Chapter)