Let's search slowly

Even if they were discovered, they could just fight.

Yuseong held back his words when he spotted the waiter bringing food.

“Your order is ready! Please enjoy your meal!”

“Well, let’s eat.”

“Thank you for the food.”

To be honest, the food wasn’t that great.

For Yuseong who was used to MSG and Alice who could now taste things after his dark art had improved, simple noodles and roasted duck weren’t enough to satisfy their palates.

But Yuseong and Alice continued eating with smiling faces.

“How’s your physical condition?”

“No problems at all. If I had to point out something, it’s that the dragon heart’s magic power is more ferocious than expected, making it difficult to control even with Eye of Truth.”

“Tell me right away if something feels off. You’re more important than clearing the quest.”

“Mr. Yuseong!”

“We can repair or make a new body, but we can’t get another dragon heart. If something goes wrong… ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Mr. Yuseong…”

“I’m joking, joking.”

Yuseong laughed playfully.

Alice’s combat capabilities had been thoroughly proven through the battles of the past few days.

“I was worried there might be problems since it’s your first real combat, but thankfully everything’s fine. Now we need to think about what to do next…”

To perfectly clear the [In Search of Treasure] quest, they needed to obtain the Heavenly Demon Cave’s Treasures and safely return to the family.

The problem was that they didn’t know the exact location of the Heavenly Demon Cave.

‘Identical secret treasure maps discovered a few months ago? All important content was damaged and all that could be made out was the four characters “Heaven-Communicating Divine Demon” and the topography of Lake Dongting?’

It’s a trap.

And such an obvious trap that anyone could see through it.

However, the secret treasure map of the legendary Heavenly Demon who once unified the martial arts world, Heaven-Communicating Divine Demon Hae Cheongyeong, blinded people’s eyes and the martial arts world fell into chaos due to martial artists flooding in seeking treasure.

The battlefield Yuseong experienced when starting the quest was one such instance of chaos.

With hundreds of thousands of diverse martial artists gathering from all corners of the world to search one region, friction was inevitable, and to settle scores while also eliminating competitors, they had engaged in large-scale combat near Hyungju.

‘Based on the quest, the hidden chamber definitely exists. The problem is we can’t even guess where it is. Seeing how hundreds of thousands of people couldn’t find it after months of searching, it’s either in a place that can’t be found through simple methods, or worst case, it might be somewhere completely different from Lake Dongting.’

Yuseong downed the bamboo leaf liquor in his cup in one shot and continued his thoughts.

‘I shouldn’t fixate on the hidden chamber. Let’s think from a different perspective. Who spread the secret treasure maps and for what purpose?’

They wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of creating and spreading secret treasure maps throughout the martial arts world without any purpose.

There must have been a clear objective in spreading the secret treasure maps.

It wasn’t to cause chaos in the martial arts world.

If that was the goal, there would have been better methods.

‘I just can’t figure it out no matter how much I think about it. The only thing that changed after spreading the secret treasure maps is that people gathered at Lake Dongting…’

“Wait. Could gathering people at Lake Dongting itself be the purpose?”

Why did they want to gather people?

The reason could be understood by looking at the current situation at Lake Dongting.

Hundreds of thousands of martial artists were thoroughly searching the Lake Dongting area without rest.

Whoever spread the secret treasure maps was getting hundreds of thousands of martial artists to search Lake Dongting without spending a single coin.

‘If they knew the exact location, they wouldn’t use this method. The secret treasure map that the perpetrator has must be damaged too. They’re not looking for some object. Those can just be taken by whoever finds them. Something that physically can’t be moved no matter how many people there are. Something that can’t be handled by individuals or small groups even if found, forcing them to reveal its existence to others. There’s only one thing that satisfies these conditions.’

The hidden chamber.

Whether it belonged to the Heavenly Demon or someone else was unclear, but there was definitely a hidden chamber somewhere in Lake Dongting.

At least, whoever spread the secret treasure maps believed so.

Once he figured out the purpose, the perpetrator’s identity naturally came to mind.

‘Unless they’re cooking porridge for others to eat, the perpetrator must be after the hidden chamber’s treasure too. Meaning the perpetrator is among those who enter the hidden chamber. Don’t know how many people can enter the hidden chamber, but since they’ll have to defeat others to claim the treasure, they must either be extremely confident in their abilities or part of a group.’

“Finished eating?”

“Yes. Aren’t you going to eat more, Mr. Yuseong? There’s still noodles left and half the duck.”

“I just thought of something urgent we need to do. We can eat after finishing that.”

Thud!

Yuseong placed a silver tael on the table and stood up.

It was more than enough for the meal, but since it was money taken from the pockets of dead Mount Hua Sect people, he didn’t feel particularly stingy.

‘Mok Cheolyoung.’

-…

‘Mok Cheolyoung?’

-Eek? D-did you call for me?

Yuseong slightly furrowed his brow at the servile voice in his head.

This quest’s client, Mok Cheolyoung, had a very weak and servile personality unlike his impressive name. ^[1]

Though he tried to act tough when synchronization first completed, after seeing Alice flying through the sky and beating up Mount Hua Sect’s pursuit squad, his spirit was completely crushed and he wouldn’t speak unless spoken to all day.

‘Does this world have Beggar’s Sect and Hao Clan too?’

-Y-yes. But they also wouldn’t know anything about the secret treasure maps or Heavenly Demon Cave. How many people must have asked Beggar’s Sect and Hao Clan by now – if they knew anything, rumors would have spread long ago.

‘You think I don’t know what you know? I’m asking something else. Tell me where to go to meet them.’

-Hmm, I only know about Beggar’s Sect. Just approach a beggar wearing a knotted rope around their waist and say you want to buy information.

‘Just say I want to buy information?’

While wandering around, Yuseong spotted a beggar with two knots tied around his waist in a corner alley and casually approached.

“If it’s about the secret treasure maps or Heavenly Demon Cave, we don’t know anything either, so just leave.”

He was rejected before even speaking.

Yuseong spoke toward the beggar who wouldn’t even look at him, adding a bit of internal energy to his voice.

“What I’m looking for isn’t information about the secret treasure maps or Heavenly Demon Cave.”

“Ahem. Well, you should have said so earlier. What information do you need?”

“Information about forces and experts to watch out for in the Lake Dongting area, and areas people have finished searching. That should do for now.”

“Well, with so many people involved and maps included for the second request, it’s quite expensive…”

“How much?”

“Four gold taels, no, five.”

Though the price increased, Yuseong didn’t mind and took out a pouch from his chest and threw it.

The Beggar’s Sect member who caught the pouch checked inside and widened his eyes.

“I’ll give you ten taels. Bring the most accurate information as quickly as possible.”

“Please wait a moment, great hero!”

The Beggar’s Sect member loudly called out and summoned another nearby member to whisper something.

Though what was said couldn’t be heard, the member who received the whispered message disappeared at a speed leaving afterimages, and shortly after returned carrying a bundle of papers and parchment.

“Please review these!”

Leaving behind the Beggar’s Sect member who was bowing deeply, Yuseong left the village and moved to a less populated area.

Though during the day it would have been crowded everywhere with people searching for the Heavenly Demon Cave, fortunately it was late at night so he could find an empty spot without going far.

“Alice, keep watch around here for a bit.”

After leaving surveillance to Alice, Yuseong took out a new item from subspace.

A long cylindrical object reminiscent of a mortar.

It was a Portable Satellite Launcher obtained as a reward from the [City Being Devoured] quest.

After loading a metal sphere about the size of a child’s head into the launcher, Yuseong activated the equipment.

Zap!

Instead of an explosion or flames, the satellite disappeared high into the sky leaving behind sparking sounds and blue light.

And shortly after, satellite imagery of Lake Dongting appeared on the dedicated terminal.

Yuseong then took out the map received from Beggar’s Sect and compared it with the terminal’s map.

‘As expected, quite a difference.’

No matter how much effort was put in, maps made by humans could never match the precision of satellite maps.

When he conservatively calculated and transferred the searched areas marked on Beggar’s Sect’s map to the satellite map, the difference was more than double.

“First transfer this somewhere else and sell it back to Beggar’s Sect…”

“What? Sell it? Aren’t we using that to find the hidden chamber?”

“…Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be keeping watch?”

“I scanned and there’s no one around? So why are you trying to sell that?”

Seeing Alice’s pupils contracting and expanding like camera lenses, Yuseong shrugged and answered.

“Because I don’t think the hidden chamber is on the ground.”

Though it was less than a year ago for him, after interrogating Mok Cheolyoung, he learned that by this world’s standards, it had been over a thousand years since Hae Cheongyeong reached the demonic immortal realm, unified the martial arts world, and established demon path rule.

Though he wasn’t sure how long Hae Cheongyeong was active, the hidden chamber must have been built at least several hundred years ago at minimum.

“Think about it. They built a hidden chamber not in some remote uninhabited place, but in a crowded area. Now hundreds of thousands of martial artists are even thoroughly searching the area for it. Yet they still haven’t found the hidden chamber? Between the possibility that the hidden chamber is near Lake Dongting but hasn’t been found, or the possibility that it’s somewhere completely different, which is more likely?”

“…Probably the latter?”

“Right. Since there’s always that slim chance, I’ll spread this map to help people search more thoroughly, but the chances of finding the hidden chamber on the ground are extremely low. Where I think the hidden chamber is located is over there.”

Following Yuseong’s pointing finger, Alice let out a small gasp.

“Not near Lake Dongting, but under Lake Dongting.”

“You mean they made a cave under the lake?”

“They might have made it themselves, or discovered an existing cave. Anyway, what we need to search isn’t above ground but underwater.”

“Wow!”

“So I’ll be counting on you from now on.”

Alice, who had been clapping and cheering, tilted her head feeling something was off.

“Um, Mr. Yuseong? You just said you’ll be counting on me, but what exactly will you be counting on me for?”

“What else? Searching the hidden chamber. The catalog specs Sophia sent said you can operate without problems even 3,000 meters underwater.”

Staring at Yuseong with blank eyes, Alice turned her gaze to Lake Dongting.

A vast lake as dark as pitch black ink with no visible end.

She had to search that?

Yuseong’s casual voice reached Alice’s despairing ears.

“The time ratio difference is severe in this world, so even if we spend a few months here, not even a day will pass on Earth. We have plenty of time, so let’s search slowly.”