Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 574

“……?”

The Three Immortals raised their heads.

“Hmm?”

The Five Immortals, who had been examining the ledger and moving their brush on the parchment, asked,

“What is it?”

“…….”

“Hey, Three Immortals.”

“It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“It seems the presence has disappeared.”

“Presence? Whose?”

“……I’m not sure. It’s not definite.”

The Five Immortals frowned and waved their hand.

“It must be because the ventilation isn’t working properly. You haven’t smoked any poppy yet, have you?”

“That’s right.”

“Even if your level is high, you can’t withstand continuous exposure to poppy. I’ll ventilate for a bit, so cleanse your body with internal energy.”

The Three Immortals sighed.

“Yes, that would be good.”

The Five Immortals strongly pulled a steel rope that had come down on one side of the wall.

Whoooosh.

A strange sound echoed from the hole in the ceiling at the end of the room. The air and dust that had been filling this place were escaping through the ventilation shaft.

Of course, clean air was constantly flowing in as well. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to stay here for days.

“It’s something I’m realizing again.”

A subtle admiration appeared on the Five Immortals’ face.

“Isn’t it truly amazing? The structure of this place, I mean.”

The structure of this massive underground space was common to all Paradise Hideouts. The inflow of air was reliable, so there was no dizziness or clouding of consciousness, and it was sturdy enough that it wouldn’t collapse even if several fire bombs exploded.

There were a total of fifty rooms, including a large room that could comfortably accommodate more than twenty people, as well as the offices where the Immortals resided and warehouses for storing ‘prey’.

The Three Immortals shook their head.

“I knew the Sicheon Tang Clan’s iron-making technology was amazing, but I didn’t know their mechanisms were also top-notch.”

“It’s not just top-notch. No one in the world could create a mechanism like this. And you saw it too. It took less than three months to create this sturdy and massive space.”

“That’s right.”

“Even with so many people mobilized, it’s truly amazing. To have such amazing technology and not try to expand their power, the Tang Clan Head must be more easygoing than I thought.”

The Three Immortals chuckled.

“It seems the poppy smoke did seep in. My head feels clearer now that the air is clean.”

“See? Isn’t it as I said?”

“Still, this feeling is still there.”

“If you’re so worried, I’ll go up and check, so you should focus on your internal energy. You’re such a worrier.”

The Five Immortals had a point.

This place, or rather, the Paradise Hideouts spread throughout Sicheon, absolutely did not allow the intrusion of outsiders.

First, there was a mechanism called the Hidden Flying Scatter Bomb installed throughout the forest. This mechanism was so powerful that even if one knew of its existence, most experts wouldn’t be able to react before being turned into a honeycomb.

Even if one managed to pass through that mechanism and infiltrate the building, there were deadly poison traps installed everywhere from the first to the third floor.

If the trap’s control device wasn’t returned to its original position every hour, poison gas would immediately explode. Of course, it would also explode if touched.

Even if one passed through the first gate, no one but a master of the Saintly Heaven could survive the second gate, the deadly poison traps.

There was even a third gate here. Although it didn’t exist in other Paradise Hideouts, some branches near the Sicheon Province capital had explosives as a third gate.

Even if one was lucky enough to pass through the second gate and reach this basement, the third gate, the explosives, would detonate, destroying all evidence.

This was the absolute defense of the Paradise Hideout. No one could infiltrate secretly, and even if they succeeded in infiltrating, they couldn’t obtain any evidence.

“Rest and meditate while I’m gone. I’ll be right back.”

The Three Immortals felt unnecessarily apologetic.

“You don’t have to do that because of me. It seems I’ve become too sensitive.”

“Don’t worry about it. I was going to go out soon anyway because of the Hidden Flying Scatter Bomb.”

“Hmm? Why the Hidden Flying Scatter Bomb?”

“Recently, quite a few animals have been passing by. A while ago, a tiger accidentally stepped on it, and we wasted a valuable hidden weapon.”

“Oh, that happened.”

“We got a message from the Tang Clan. They said that if we adjust the control mechanism a little, it won’t activate unless the animal is as tall as a bear.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I’ve been learning about mechanisms lately, so I was planning to check it out.”

The Three Immortals chuckled.

“Alright. Please do.”

“Of course.”

“Oh, and.”

“What is it?”

“I received a separate message from the First Immortal.”

The Five Immortals’ eyes lit up.

The First Immortal was the highest-ranking expert among the Immortals. Their authority was equal, so they didn’t necessarily use honorifics, but unlike the other Immortals below the Third Immortal, the gap in martial arts was significant.

In other words, the First Immortal was the highest-ranking person in the Paradise Immortal Group, except for the Immortal King, the leader of the group. It could be said that they were the de facto leader of the Immortal Group.

“What is it?”

“They say that the training department head of the Sicheon Province Military Command will be coming soon.”

The Five Immortals’ eyes gleamed.

“The adjutant?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm, I heard that the adjutant of the training department strongly resisted.”

The Three Immortals shrugged.

“It seems he wanted to maintain his scholar’s integrity. But after investigating, it turns out that he’s had a pretty brutal life.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Twenty years ago, he killed his nephew, made his brother and his wife’s deaths look like an accident.”

The Five Immortals scoffed.

“A man who was rumored to be as unyielding as a bamboo tree, actually committed such heinous acts?”

“That’s not all. It seems that he secretly kidnapped young girls, satisfied his lust, and killed them without a trace. The number of casualties revealed by the investigation is twenty-two.”

“Heh!”

They had met all sorts of villains while hosting guests at the Paradise Hideout, but it had been a while since they had seen such a villain.

The Five Immortals smacked their lips.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

They were quite surprised, but considering the eccentric members of the Paradise Hideout, it wasn’t entirely surprising.

There were many crazy people among the members of the Paradise Hideout. There were perverts who only liked boys under the age of ten, madmen who enjoyed torture, and demon-like beings who were obsessed with human flesh.

And the Paradise Hideout was a dream-like place that always satisfied their desires.

“Anyway, they say he’s coming with the provincial commander. They said that they didn’t have enough nameplates to give him, so they were ordered to let him in even without a plate.”

“Understood. We will do so.”

The membership process for the Paradise Hideout was extremely strict.

If one failed to receive membership certification after more than ten rounds of inspection, even the emperor could not enter the Paradise Hideout. They wouldn’t even know of its existence in the first place. They were committed to member management and information control.

The reason why the Paradise Hideout had been able to maintain itself for so long was because of such thorough member management and information control.

“Then, I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Alright.”

* * *

“H-here it is!”

Guided by the warrior, the group arrived in front of a huge rock near the stream.

“There, there’s a square hole under that rock. It’s covered with a fabric that looks like moss, and if you remove it and insert the key, a path to the underground will open.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is!”

“And you have that key?”

“It’s in my possession!”

Gang Ryang searched the warrior’s chest.

The warrior was right. He had two pouches, and one of them contained something long and angular.

Gang Ryang opened the pouch.

A gray, square metal object appeared.

Yeon Ho-jeong tilted his head.

“If you insert this there and turn it, a passage to the underground will open, is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Gang Ryang walked towards the rock and said,

“I’ll check it out.”

It was then.

“No.”

“Stop.”

Yeon Ho-jeong and Tang Gwan spoke at the same time.

Gang Ryang hesitated.

“Wh-why?”

Yeon Ho-jeong frowned.

“It can’t be this easy.”

“Huh?”

“The Paradise Hideout has been rooted in Sicheon for a long time and has been maintained in secret. They may have become complacent after not being discovered for so long… but if something goes wrong, the entire Sicheon martial world could be turned upside down. Is their management really this lax?”

The group glared at the warrior.

The warrior’s face turned pale.

“I-I didn’t lie! It’s true!”

Gang Ryang growled like a beast.

“Are you going to talk straight, you bastard? Do you want to be chopped up and die?”

“It’s true! Please believe me!”

At that moment, Tang Gwan raised his hand.

“Stop.”

Gang Ryang hesitated and looked at Tang Gwan.

Tang Gwan nodded.

“What he said is true.”

“Huh?”

“It is true. He clearly believes that this is the entrance to the basement.”

“……?”

“Not just him. Everyone who lost their lives to your sword from the first to the third floor must believe that.”

“But…”

Yeon Ho-jeong interjected.

“The question is whether these guys have ever been down to the basement.”

The warrior shouted.

“I’ve been down there! It’s true!”

“You inserted that key, turned it, opened the passage to the basement, and went down?”

“……?!”

“Not that the basement opened first and someone inside called you, or that you went in with someone else?”

The warrior’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Tang Gwan chuckled.

“Paradise Hideout… those guys know how to handle people.”

The warriors guarding the first to third floors were just disposable decoys. The Paradise Hideout’s executives didn’t let them go to the basement alone.

Gang Ryang asked,

“But it really might be more lax than we think. There’s no guarantee that this key is fake.”

“That’s true. But…”

Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Tang Gwan.

Tang Gwan nodded.

“It’s gunpowder.”

“Are you sure?”

“Didn’t you smell it too?”

“Honestly, it’s ambiguous. I’m asking because I’m also unsure.”

“It’s definitely gunpowder. It’s faint, but… there’s definitely gunpowder spread around this area.”

Tang Gwan looked at the rock.

“And the place where the smell of gunpowder is strongest is near that rock. It seems they were trying to hide it with the fishy smell of the stream.”

“Huh?”

“They’ve done a good job of making such an obvious move.”

From the beginning, the Paradise Hideout’s mechanisms came from the Tang Clan’s technology.

And Tang Gwan was at the pinnacle of the Sicheon Tang Clan. He didn’t pour much passion into mechanisms, but he knew everything about the knowledge that came from his family.

Tang Gwan looked down at the warrior.

“In the end, this guy is unnecessary.”

The warrior slammed his forehead on the ground.

“P-please, spare me!”

Yeon Ho-jeong sighed.

“In this case, it seems we really have no choice but to break through the ground and go down.”

“That would be better… hmm?”

At the same time as Tang Gwan’s eyes flashed, Yeon Ho-jeong shouted to the group in a small voice,

“Scatter! Hide your presence!”

Fwoosh!

No sooner had he finished speaking than the entire group scattered in all directions.

A moment later.

Krrrrrr!

The ground near the back of the building, opposite the rock, slowly caved in.

It was an incredibly precise mechanism that was hard to believe. It was unbelievable that such a mechanism could be created by human hands, let alone on bare ground.

A moment later.

The Five Immortals appeared from there.