My clove oil and Tang So-wol's hairpin, shamelessly included among the items stolen from the Tang Clan.
"So they didn't just get lost—someone took them."
A hollow laugh slipped out on its own. Then again, Gwiyeong Sin-tu was never in his right mind anyway.
As I laughed to myself, Tang So-wol peeked her head in and looked my way.
"Young hero Cheon? What's so amusing?"
"Take a look at this."
I pointed at the writing on the altar, and then at the hairpin gleaming like new inside the stone box.
"My hairpin?!"
Now that she understood the situation, Tang So-wol giggled as well and picked up her hairpin.
She examined it this way and that, then nodded.
"It really is my hairpin. Whoever took it must have felt a bit guilty, since they polished it nicely—but this small scratch here is still visible. I thought I'd lost it somewhere around Zhongnan Sect… You placed it here because you thought we'd come looking for it first, right?"
"Half right. But I think differently. Senior Gwiyeong Sin-tu may be playful, but he takes considerable pride in his achievements. No matter how much he wanted to play a prank, for that reason alone he wouldn't have stored it alongside the Tang Clan's stolen goods."
"What do you mean by that…?"
"It means we need to read this too."
Just like Tang So-wol's hairpin had been polished, my half-used clove oil had been filled to the brim as well.
And on the inside of the lid, there was a small, folded letter attached. I unfolded it to read.
"You may be unknown now, but by the time you read this, that will no longer be the case. The two of you I saw were talents destined to make a name for themselves in the martial world. So I left this for you in advance."
"So it says."
"Hmm. Our alias has been spreading for quite a while now… but could it be that he passed away much longer ago than that?"
"That's possible. Or when he placed these two in the stone box, the Dragon Phoenix Gathering might not have even started yet."
"True. Things like this tend to lose their appeal if there are signs someone has already opened them."
Tang So-wol let out a small laugh as she swapped the hairpin she was currently wearing for the new one. I, too, tucked the container of clove oil and the letter into my bosom rather than my pack.
And then, with a slightly more excited heart, I headed for the next altar.
"Then let's quickly take a look at the other spots."
"Oh, but young hero Cheon."
"Hm?"
"That one… what do you plan to do about it?"
Tang So-wol extended her hand, pointing to the innermost area. Unlike the ordinary altars, there stood one lavishly decorated with gold and red dye.
They had even cleared the space around it, leaving it solely for this altar.
No matter how I thought about it, it radiated the atmosphere of holding the most precious object in this room.
The Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects and One Gang. And if it was the most valuable thing in a space lined with items stolen from places of comparable standing… then it had to be that, after all.
"Should we return it to the Imperial Court, and if we do, what should we say when we return it…"
"That's not easy."
I don't know much about the Imperial Court's genealogy, so I can't be certain, but considering Gwiyeong Sin-tu's age, it must have been stolen from the current Emperor's mother or grandmother.
As members of the Imperial family, they wouldn't have had time to train in martial arts, but they would have grown up learning good martial arts and eating good things.
In other words, there's a chance they might still be alive. It's a truly difficult problem. So.
"Difficult problems should be left to the elders, shouldn't they? If we give it to my father-in-law, he'll handle it as he sees fit."
See. This is the kind of thing you have to do when you become the head of the Tang Clan.
And yet, how could I ever think of using marriage to swallow up the Tang Clan?
I'll leave all the troublesome matters to Brother Tang Cheong and go have fun with Tang So-wol.
***
After that, I went through the remaining rooms and gathered what I needed.
However, just as in the first room, the amount of stolen goods was more than expected, so some sorting was necessary.
In the end, I had no choice but to put everything back in its place, except for the items stolen from truly renowned places.
Of course, that included things I could handle right away—for instance, mid-low grade elixirs that were fine to consume as-is, or poisons that Tang So-wol could absorb and later recreate identically.
When Tang So-wol and I each came out carrying bulging bundles, Sama Yuryeon spoke in a serious tone.
"This is where it gets important."
"You've looked around everywhere there is to look?"
"So now we should leave. There aren't many people who could break through the formations and mechanism traps this quickly and make it all the way into the secret vault, but…"
"You're saying there are quite a few people waiting for us to come out. As I said before, there's no need to worry."
"I remember. I'm not trying to say it'll be hard to get out safely. I'm saying things could get complicated."
"Complicated, you say."
"Of course, even if things do get a bit complicated, the two of you might still get out without any trouble. …But I can't say the same for myself."
"What, are you saying that since I've used up all my usefulness, I should just cut your neck here, Sama Yuryeon, and take the Sama Clan's share too?"
"Surely not. It's just that I could die or get hurt if I'm caught up in a fight. And that little wordplay with 'neck' and 'share' just now wasn't funny."
"It wasn't intentional, though…"
As I shook my head, Sama Yuryeon shrugged and continued.
"I'm not trying to say anything grand. It's just that if there are people waiting when we get up there, and if a fight seems likely to break out… I'll turn right around and hide inside the vault. I'm just asking you not to take that the wrong way."
"Hoh."
I was taken aback for a moment by how shamelessly she declared she'd hide until the fight was over, but after thinking it over, she had a point.
At best, she was a first-rate martial artist. And even that seemed like a barely-passing level. If Sama Yuryeon wandered around needlessly, she'd only get in the way.
And as she said herself, she could get hurt by a stray blade.
"Fine. But don't go in too deep."
"Understood. I have no intention of pilfering anything left behind."
I had never thought of going that far in the first place. It was simply because calling out would be difficult if she went too far… If she was careful on her own, all the better.
"Good. Let's do this well. But before that, would you check whether anything is hidden around here? Whether it's a formation or a mechanism trap."
"Here?"
Sama Yuryeon tilted her head and pointed at the large portrait of Gwiyeong Sin-tu hanging at the very front of the secret vault's entrance.
"That's right. Didn't I say so at the start? The reason I came here with Tang So-wol was partly to take the items in the vault… but the biggest reason was to hold a funeral."
"Ah… So you believe Gwiyeong Sin-tu's tomb is here."
"Given the elder's consistent tastes, there's a high probability of that."
A man who enjoyed the very act of thievery, who threw down warning letters and left traces of his thefts purely out of a desire to boast of his achievements—surely such a man had a powerful need for recognition.
Naturally, he would have asked to be buried in the place where he could best watch the final festival that unfolds after death—where people, coveting his accomplishments, would grow restless with desire.
Had that expectation been correct? After scanning the area around the portrait and the tombstone for a long while, Sama Yuryeon approached.
"I think I found it."
"Then get to it."
"Yes. Please step back a little farther."
So saying, Sama Yuryeon touched the wall behind the portrait and the tombstone here and there.
Kugugung.
The floor split open, revealing a hidden staircase.
Together, we slowly descended the stairs into the space one floor below.
What lay at the end was an unremarkable square room—neither particularly ornate nor spacious.
A night pearl, rough-cut and emitting a murky glow, was embedded in the ceiling. In the center sat a crude coffin, and beside it, a crutch leaned at an angle.
It was a crutch sized perfectly for Gwiyeong Sin-tu, who had lost a foot fighting assassins.
If that was the case, then who lay inside the coffin was as clear as day.
"So this is where you've been. You really hid yourself away well, didn't you?"
"We did arrive a bit early, but in the end, just as the elder Gwiyeong Sin-tu boasted, everyone in the Central Plains came to know your name."
Tang So-wol and I continued our brief conversation, our voices heavy with complicated emotions.
Our connection with Gwiyeong Sin-tu hadn't been a long one, that much was certain. But it had been intense, leaving behind a great deal.
Take the Gwiyeongbo, for instance—one of the footwork techniques I now relied on as a primary tool.
And the Spirit Blood Pill that Gwiyeong Sin-tu had brought from the Demonic Cult had played a key role in making the Murim Alliance wary of the Demonic Cult in the first place.
If I hadn't regressed, if I hadn't gone searching for that cave in my memories, intent on seizing the Fortuitous Encounter at just that time, Gwiyeong Sin-tu would have ended his life inside that cave.
He would never have met us, never passed his martial art on to me, and never revealed the existence of this secret vault to announce his name across the entire Central Plains.
But a series of coincidences had aligned to make all of it possible.
Instead of dying alone and forlorn, seated cross-legged in a small cave, Gwiyeong Sin-tu breathed his last lying down, able to gaze upon the completed secret vault and the martial artists who came flocking to it.
After a moment of deliberation, I drew my sword.
Sreung.
"Young hero Cheon?"
I gave a faint smile to Tang So-wol, who looked puzzled, and stood facing the nearest wall.
"Elder Gwiyeong Sin-tu spread his alias far and wide as he intended. At least for the next hundred years, there won't be a single person who hasn't heard the name Gwiyeong Sin-tu."
"That does seem to be the case."
"But an alias isn't the only name a person has."
After passing on the Gwiyeongbo to me, Gwiyeong Sin-tu, sensing that this would be the last time we'd ever meet, had roughly anticipated this turn of events. And he had said this.
"You said that although the whole world would call you Gwiyeong Sin-tu, you wanted me to remember you by your name."
Though I had only inherited half of his martial art, I was the sole martial artist to carry on his legacy, and I had promised him I would.
"Then this should be fine. It bothered me that such a splendid tomb had no tombstone."
I raised my sword and swung it against the wall. Delicately, as if painting with a brush, but with the unbroken flow of one-stroke calligraphy.
- Jang Cheok, the Gentleman Thief who came and went through the world as if it were his own courtyard. Here he sleeps.
After gazing at the words I had carved for a while, I spoke.
"Now, let's head out."
"…Yes. Let's do that."
The moment I offered two final bows to pay my respects to the deceased.
Rumble.
Suddenly, the passage we had entered through closed shut, and the opposite wall split apart, revealing a new path.
I hadn't expected there to be a mechanism trap here of all places. And one that opened by bowing, no less.
As I stood there dumbfounded, Sama Yuryeon, who had been surveying our surroundings, added an explanation.
"It's not a path leading to a different space."
"Then what is it?"
"It's a path that leads straight outside. However, it seems to be a mechanism trap that can only be operated from here."
"So it wasn't made for his own convenience. He made it expecting that someone would come all the way here. No, wait—if it's someone who would come this far and even bow before leaving…"
In other words, he had practically built this expecting me and Tang So-wol to come.
I let out a small chuckle and gave a brief nod toward the coffin.
"Thanks to you, I'll have an easy time getting back."
***
After walking and walking down a long flight of stairs with no traps whatsoever, I finally reached the exit.
It was a dark cave, but the scenery outside the cave was familiar.
It was the same cave that had the words "Sin-tu Secret Vault" written boldly across it—the cave that I and Tang So-wol had mistaken for the entrance.
"So this is how it all connects."
I let out a hollow laugh and made my way out of the cave, past the formation beyond it.
And there, as expected, a considerable number of people had gathered.
Except every single one of them was dead—or dying.
"What the…?"
Before we could even react, a man appeared before us.
A middle-aged man with sharp features reminiscent of a venomous snake. Clad in a purple robe, his entire body wreathed in deadly poison energy, he stared at us with blood dripping from his hands.
His eyes and hair were a vivid green—the hallmark of a Tang Clan master.
It was a face I had never once seen in all my years living with the Tang Clan… but I remembered it from before my regression.
The sect leader of the Heavenly Poison Sect, who had invaded the Central Plains alongside the Demonic Cult when the martial world was thrown into chaos.
A man who carried Tang blood, yet was no man of the Tang Clan.
The Poison Demon's gaze turned toward Tang So-wol.