Rrrrmmble.

We all went quiet, staring at the opening that had formed in the wall.

A few inexplicable moves, and an entrance had popped open where there’d been nothing.

What kind of nonsense was that?

Everyone was silent.

What on earth had just happened?

A door that a handful of experts could never find had opened right now.

“What in the world...?”

“How did he...!”

The Tang warriors, who’d been watching in silence, finally broke and reacted late.

Even seeing it, it was hard to believe.

It had been just a few small actions.

And from those nothing-special motions, the archive door suddenly opened?

It was absurd.

‘Insane.’

I felt the same.

‘Why did it suddenly open?’

All I could do was stare slack-jawed at the mouth jutting out of the wall.

I was genuinely rattled.

‘...What is this, seriously.’

They told me what to do and I did it, but I hadn’t expected it to open like this.

I had to steal a glance at the entrance.

Meanwhile, the old men floating in the air were busy running their mouths.

[Still thought you’d fail a few times, but doing it in one go—curious fellow.]

The Poison Sovereign looked at me with bright interest, half-amused.

[Right? He’s a failure in most ways, but he’s decent at this.]

Yoo Cheongil sounded inexplicably delighted.

Why do you look proud?

[Exactly. I figured at least the thumb or middle finger would go flying...]

‘...What?’

What did that crazy old man just say?

Thumb or middle finger? He meant fingers, right?

‘...If I slipped, my fingers would’ve flown?’

All I did was toss a pebble and draw a little with my finger on a wall—where in that was the risk of losing a hand?

Scowling in disbelief, I listened.

[Did you... mess with the mechanisms again?]

Yoo Cheongil spoke to the Poison Sovereign like he couldn’t believe it.

The Poison Sovereign answered—

[What, then? If thieves hit an empty house, should I just let them clean it out? You set the proper measures.]

[There’s a limit. What you do isn’t just over the line—it’s downright vicious.]

[And that’s why it didn’t get looted and held out.]

[That part is true.]

‘...’

The more I listened to the old men, the deeper my sigh.

‘Either way, he rigged it with something.’

So the archive itself had traps laid in.

Which meant—

‘...Don’t relax.’

Anything could still happen. That alone tightened my body.

Then—

“Young Hero Bang.”

The Poison King’s voice reached me. I turned; he approached wearing his usual unreadable expression.

“How did you do it?”

“...”

How?

Your “father” walked me through it.

‘...Isn’t exactly something I can say.’

Saying that would be the same as asking to be killed.

So how to explain it? I turned it over and answered.

There was only one thing I could say anyway.

“I saw it.”

“...You saw it?”

“Yes.”

I spoke and focused my eyes.

Vvmm—! The Blue Moon Heart Art moved and drew into my eyes.

A proper opening of the Moon Eyes. A power I’d gained after taking the Blue Moon Pill.

When I used it, my eyes shone—so I used that to show the Poison King.

“...That is...”

He widened his eyes at me.

Did he know what these eyes meant?

He didn’t give a straight answer, but it didn’t matter whether he knew or not.

“It seems the Poison Sovereign did set things in place.”

He’d left me all the justification anyway.

I just had to fit a pretext into it.

“When I look at the wall while channeling energy, I can see something in a blue glow. I think that’s probably what let me open the archive.”

“...You can see a glow...”

For reference, I’d borrowed that from what I saw in Yoo Cheongil’s snack pantry.

‘I did see a glow back then too.’

I said it, thinking of that time. Whether the Poison King would grasp it was a little iffy, but—

‘And if he doesn’t believe it?’

There’s nothing he can do.

I did open the door.

Knowing that, the Poison King kept his peace.

“So the Sword Saint’s power truly was needed.”

He even looked convinced.

Given the message left behind and the fact I’d demonstrated it, he had to.

He shifted his gaze from me to the archive mouth.

“...From here, we proceed with entry into the archive.”

His face grew solemn as he spoke.

The mood around us tightened in kind.

The archive the Poison Sovereign left.

A space that could hold anything of Heaven-Breaking caliber.

We were about to enter it.

[Let’s go in.]

With the Poison Sovereign himself, at that.

****

We stepped into the pitch-dark interior.

Despite the total lack of light, the first thing that appeared was a staircase descending.

No lanterns lit the space, but with power in my Moon Eyes, the darkness itself wasn’t a problem.

‘Narrow.’

The passage was tight.

Barely enough for one person to squeeze down.

I braced on the wall and carefully took the steps.

Even after a long time descending—

‘How far does this go?’

We still hadn’t reached the end. It felt like we’d come down forever; it was oddly deep.

I squinted at the strangeness. Tension still clung to my body.

Did I have to be the one in front.

‘Damn.’

This is what I get for claiming I could see.

That left me more anxious than anything, but—

[How far did you make this go down?]

[We’re almost there.]

The guy who built the archive was floating over my head, chattering, so that helped a little.

‘Almost?’

If we had to go farther than this, I would start wondering if he’d dug to the bottom of the world.

“Do you see anything?”

The Poison King asked from right behind me.

“...Not yet. I think we need to go a little farther.”

Six people total.

Including me, three from the Blue Moon Sect.

And three others including the Poison King.

If I remembered right, he’d said two of them were a formation master and a mechanism engineer, just in case.

Which meant the only Tang warrior here was the Poison King himself.

‘...What’s he expect to find?’

They’d had a fatal incident trying to force the archive, and yet the Poison King himself was entering what seemed the most dangerous interior.

I was moving under commission, but the questions kept coming.

‘What exactly is he after?’

What did he want from opening the archive?

At first I thought he simply wanted to open the former Clan Head’s archive and retrieve what was inside.

‘But coming personally this far, and the way he’s reacting—it’s fuzzy.’

Of course, it isn’t strange for a Clan Head to enter his own archive.

But [N O V E L I G H T] there was a subtlety in him I couldn’t place.

I hadn’t figured it out yet.

‘I should keep it in mind.’

When anything is off, you put it in your head.

Thinking that, I kept down the steps when—

[Boy. Stop.]

“...”

At the Poison Sovereign’s words, I halted.

We were still in the middle of the stairs.

“Young Hero Bang?”

I ignored the Poison King and listened.

[Put your hand on the left wall.]

I set my hand to the wall.

Then, just like before, he adjusted my hand’s position with precise words.

[From that angle, left. Stop there. Now only the middle finger a touch to the right—good.]

The movement was so fine, I couldn’t tell what changed.

I just moved like a puppet at his words.

[Now push with inner energy.]

Vvmmmm—!

I drew energy at once and brimmed it into my hand.

Then I pressed hard.

Skkkrrrk—!

The wall under my palm buckled inward.

In that instant—

Krrrrrrrk—!!!

A harsh sound scraped by, and the wall changed like before.

Another entrance formed.

“...”

I looked at the opening, then at the stairs ahead.

‘This looks like the entry. Then what are those?’

What were the stairs laid out in front?

As I stared, the Poison Sovereign spoke.

[Feel like going down? I understand the urge, but I won’t recommend it.]

“...”

At that, I turned for the entrance without hesitation.

“Let’s go. This way.”

I took the group for the opening between the stairs.

This time, unlike before, the path wasn’t long.

After only a short walk, a door appeared.

I went straight to it and reached to open it when—

[Ah. Grab that handle as-is and it’ll collapse. Take hold of the lamp beside it and pull down first, then open.]

I reached to the lamp on the left and pulled.

You really couldn’t relax for a moment.

Creak.

I heard a sound. Only then did I take the door and open it again.

Creeeeak.

I checked the inside through the crack.

“Hm?”

I narrowed my eyes the moment I saw it.

Unlike outside, the interior was very bright.

‘...What?’

Why was it this bright?

It wasn’t even narrow. It was wide.

Maybe wider than the Clan Head’s own quarters.

‘If it’s this bright...’

Where was the light coming from? I tilted my head back and looked up.

Then I understood.

‘...That...’

Something luminous embedded in the ceiling.

Don’t tell me—

“Night pearls...?”

Were all those packed studs night pearls?

No way.

The price of a single night pearl—and all of that were night pearls?

It was so ridiculous I couldn’t believe it; I just stared.

[...Where did you get all of those?]

[Knowing would hurt you.]

[You didn’t... take them from the Demonic Sect, did you?]

[Hey now. I said knowing would hurt you.]

‘I’m going to lose it.’

More things I didn’t want to hear.

It was insane enough if those were real night pearls.

‘...What? The Demonic Sect?’

Why bring that up?

I almost screamed without meaning to.

‘Those night pearls came from the Demonic Sect...?’

The Heavenly Demon, who started the War of Righteous and Demonic.

The Heavenly Demon Cult, which worshiped him like a god.

It’s said the Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil beheaded the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Sect fell.

And the Poison Sovereign took night pearls from such a sect and studded his archive?

‘...How did that even happen?’

I had a mountain of questions I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t say them.

“Those... are those all night pearls?”

“...That’s... night pearls?”

Do Hyeong and Cheon Eujin reacted as they confirmed the night pearls.

The Poison King stared fixedly, apparently surprised as well.

[No, the night pearls aren’t the point right now. Look at them, they can’t tear their eyes away.]

No, they are very much the point. How could it not be, with that many night pearls set in?

‘I want to pry one off.’

Just one would be enough to disappear and live easy.

I indulged that happy thought for a moment, but—

[If you even think about it—if you try to pry one carelessly, the place will collapse. Mind yourself.]

The Poison Sovereign smashed my hope instantly.

“...There doesn’t seem to be anything else here. We should move.”

I swallowed a sigh and spoke, and the looks from all sides changed.

What...? Why were they looking at me like that?

“Young Master Bang... truly has no interest in material things...”

Cheon Eujin said it like he was impressed.

The hell?

‘I absolutely am interested.’

I want to steal one and bolt right now.

‘...I’m rotting inside because I can’t.’

I had treasure right in front of me and couldn’t touch it.

What was sadder than that?

“...It’s not that. This is the Poison Sovereign’s archive; it isn’t mine. More importantly—”

I turned to the Poison King and continued:

“From what I’ve grasped of its temperament so far, I don’t know what happens if you touch those rashly.”

“...”

From my words, the Poison King looked like he already knew that.

If anything, he looked surprised that I’d realized it.

“Just in case, we shouldn’t touch anything. How does it look to you, Clan Head?”

“I agree.”

He consented. That was enough justification.

“Then, Clan Head—what should we do now?”

I asked. His brow pinched faintly.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve come into the archive just fine... What else do we do from here?”

“...”

We’d succeeded in opening the archive.

Wasn’t the commission done?

At my question, the Poison King paused, then said:

“We haven’t searched everything yet, so we should take a closer look.”

“Understood.”

I nodded without further comment.

Then—

[This brat? You haven’t even found the sword yet and you’re already talking about being done...]

The Poison Sovereign muttered like he couldn’t believe it, but—

[Be quiet, Poison Sovereign.]

Yoo Cheongil cut him off at once.

At the same time, I turned my gaze.

Where no one else would notice, I changed my face.

I narrowed my eyes and worked my head.

‘...Figures.’

I was pretty sure.

I looked at the Poison King, feeling my caution rise.

‘There’s something he has to find here.’

The archive itself wasn’t the goal.

He’d come in to find something inside.

And—

‘Whatever it is—’

Feeling that inexplicable tenor in him, I scowled.

‘This stinks.’

I had a bad, bad feeling.

Like—

Standing next to a bomb about to go off.