The Viper's Test

Gu Mo did not rush to urge the exhausted soldiers into action. Perhaps he still lacked the mindset and awareness of a capitalist, and he did not see them as working for him.

So he thoughtfully let the soldiers rest properly. Only after the afternoon arrived, when they had recovered their energy, did he put them to work searching the entire residence... After all, many hands made light work. It was far better than the three of them searching around blindly without a clue.

—Or rather, not even three people. He was the only one consciously paying attention to this matter, yet he truly had no way to explain it to the other two.

Tokichiro naturally knew nothing about it, while Hidechiyo had sensed Yokai Energy within the mountain but did not know that the hidden passage leading into the mountain lay somewhere deep inside her father's residence. She had not given it much thought... So Gu Mo was the only one certain of this, yet he had no way to explain it to them.

It would not have been appropriate for him to search too conspicuously himself, and the workload was enormous.

Thus, he could only place his hopes on the soldiers conducting a carpet search. With enough people, and a thorough search carried out naturally, they should be able to find the hidden door and passage.

The matter went even more smoothly than he had imagined. Deep within an ordinary-looking room, a small squad of Matchlock Ashigaru discovered a wall that had been violently smashed apart, as well as the hidden passage behind it... It was rather obvious. Anyone entering this room would see it, but if there had only been one person, they might have wandered around the residence for a long time before finding it.

After hearing the report, all three of them hurried to the room and saw the damaged wall.

It appeared to have once possessed an exquisite mechanism. All one needed to do was gently turn the torch at the corner of the wall, and the wall would rotate aside, revealing the hidden passage...

—But none of that design mattered anymore.

Perhaps it had been the work of the yokai. The room was likewise in ruins, and the mechanism wall itself had been smashed through, exposing pitch-black darkness beyond it. It was a man-made tunnel, with thick rocky mountain walls on both sides. It was so narrow that only two people could walk abreast, with almost no room to spare.

The tunnel was long and narrow, and there was no telling where it led. There was not the slightest bit of light within it.

"Something deep inside the mountain is drawing them in..."

Tokichiro volunteered himself, forcefully securing the chance to prove himself despite the objections. Holding a torch and accompanied by his Guardian Spirit, he cautiously poked his head inside. Yet moments later, he returned with a grave expression and said this.

"The yokai on this mountain were probably all drawn here by that thing, whether they have brains or not... It goes too deep inside, though. It's even bigger than I thought. I don't dare go too far in alone."

Whether they had brains or not, those creatures could be drawn by whatever lay within the mountain and instinctively find this place—the path leading deep into the rocky mountain, sealed off by the entire residence. That showed the thing held an immense, innate significance for them.

Tokichiro vaguely thought of something. He had already had his suspicions before, but it was not something he could casually mention. Even if he knew, he would not say it aloud. He was genuinely intelligent, not someone who seemed shrewd but was actually foolish. Naturally, he understood that presumptuously guessing his superior's intentions was never a good thing, and loudly showing off what one knew was even more stupid.

Whether he guessed right or wrong, there would be no good outcome.

"Finding the source is a good thing. It's better than wandering aimlessly around the mountain outside like headless flies..."

Gu Mo studied the dark tunnel beyond the wall, nodded, and spoke.

"That's true..." Tokichiro said stiffly, forcing out a smile. After hesitating briefly, he glanced outside. The soldiers were patrolling or standing guard, while only the three of them were in the room. He stepped closer and lowered his voice—

"Brother Gu Mo, Miss Axiu... I think we should try not to bring too many people in with us."

"?"

Gu Mo's expression did not change, but Hidechiyo, who had been studying the hidden door and passage, glanced sideways and raised her delicate brows.

"Think about it. Lord Dosan must have built this in secret, right? That means Lord Dosan didn't want anyone else knowing. No matter what's hidden inside the mountain, it must be extremely important..." Tokichiro tried hard to organize his words. He felt that this was truly too difficult for him.

He clearly knew, yet he had to pretend he did not.

While pretending not to know, he also had to find a way to cover for his superior and clean up the mess... Worse still, this had nothing to do with him in the first place. It had been a disaster falling from the sky. He had thought he had finally gotten a great opportunity to rise through the ranks, that coming here would give him a chance to display his talents.

But reality often differed somewhat from one's ideals.

Over the past half month, he had found nowhere to truly demonstrate his abilities. The local interest groups he had expected to oppose him with false compliance and make things difficult, giving him the chance to show off his methods and worth, had never appeared. The city was managed in perfect order; it seemed there was no difference whether he was there or not.

Because he felt he had no indispensable role, and feared that he would fail to demonstrate his value or earn recognition, he had worked desperately hard. Yet he still could not find a good solution. And at such a time, of all things, a major problem had arisen. If things went badly, he might even be implicated simply because he happened to be serving here.

"That does make sense. He probably hid it so carefully because he didn't want anyone else to know..."

Gu Mo nodded leisurely, accepting Tokichiro's reasoning.

The explanation made sense. Since the Viper had gone to such lengths to hide this secret, it naturally was not suitable for too many people to know about it... Having the soldiers help find the hidden door was already the limit. Letting them learn more would not be a good thing.

After thinking for a moment, Hidechiyo nodded as well. Since that was the case, she felt there was no need to cause trouble for her old father.

The Yokai Energy inside was mixed and chaotic, but there were no powerful individuals. She could deal with it herself if she spent a little time... Besides, even if there were dangers beyond her ability to handle, would bringing a group of ordinary soldiers inside truly help?

More people would only become a greater burden. That was simply how it was.

"Then the three of us will go in," Gu Mo said, raising a fist to his mouth and giving a light cough.

Tokichiro's expression changed slightly again. He gave an awkward yet polite dry laugh, trying his best to sound honest and straightforward as he scratched the back of his head. "How about I don't go in either? I'll stay outside and lead them in clearing out the other monsters on the mountain... I won't be much help inside anyway."

That was precisely why he had said all that: to remove himself from the matter.

The secret within was so significant, and Lord Dosan had even built a residence specifically to hide it, so outsiders should not know about it... He was not merely saying that the soldiers should not enter. He had no intention of risking his life either. And if those soldiers did not go in, yet he followed them inside...

As the only outsider, would that not make him even more conspicuous?

But would saying this make him seem like he was shrinking back at the crucial moment, as though he was afraid of death? Monkey was deeply worried, feeling he had been terribly unlucky. He laughed awkwardly while secretly watching Gu Mo's expression, terrified of leaving a bad impression.

However, Gu Mo nodded with remarkable decisiveness, seemingly without the slightest dissatisfaction—

"Sure! I'll leave the outside to you. Axiu and I can go in by ourselves."

Hidechiyo was the real powerhouse. Even in the game, Monkey had always merely been an NPC who introduced quests and plotlines. Gu Mo had never counted on him in the first place.

A short while later.

They proceeded along the tunnel behind the wall, traveling down the narrow man-made path. Gu Mo and the black-haired girl walked quietly within the range illuminated by the torchlight, and he watched his footing with extreme caution. The farther they went, the rougher and cruder the man-made traces became, until they gradually disappeared altogether.

The mountain's interior had always been hollow, containing a vast natural cavern. The excavated passage had merely opened a route connecting the residence to the space inside the mountain. Everything beyond that was nature's own handiwork...

After all, Saito Dosan could not possibly have ordered someone to hollow out the entire mountain himself. That scale of work was unimaginable.

Holding the torch, Gu Mo could vaguely see winding stone steps ahead. They descended along the rock wall and vanished into the deep darkness below. On the path they traveled, one side was solid mountain rock, while the other was a bottomless abyss. Natural stalactites of varying sizes hung overhead.

Cold, damp, dark.

The torch's range was limited in the end. The shadows stretched strangely beneath the firelight, like clawing monsters lurking in the darkness. Dim and indistinct, they made the atmosphere unconsciously grow eerie, leaving a faintly creepy feeling in one's heart.

Perhaps it was because there was no longer that atmosphere of a dungeon raid, with the voice channel bustling and noisy?

Gu Mo thought of this. There was no longer a huge crowd following behind him, no heavy footsteps, no clattering and scraping of armor and weapons. Naturally, there was no courage-boosting buff that came from strength in numbers... Axiu was great, but she was too quiet.

She barely made any sound. By that, he meant every movement she made; even her footsteps were completely silent—

If he could not see her, Gu Mo would have begun to imagine that he was walking through this cursed place alone... Well, there was also the great fox.

The black-haired girl, who walked lightly and treated the perilous terrain as though it were level ground, suddenly stopped. She took the longbow from her back, drew and nocked an arrow, then fired it straight ahead. The entire process was incredibly fast. It seemed she did not even need to aim.

A roar sounded out, followed by the muffled crash of something heavy striking the ground.

A huge snake five or six meters long suddenly fell from a stalactite overhead. Its upper body was that of a soaked woman, her long hair trailing to the ground. The arrow had struck precisely between its brows, and the piercing fatal blow had already claimed its life.

Though the wound was fatal, a centipede did not stop wriggling after death. Its formidable vitality made its enormous body thrash wildly in place, its tail smashing heavily into the ground and nearby stone pillars with dull, powerful crashes.

Only after twitching for a short while did it gradually stop moving.

The black-haired girl calmly walked past the corpse without even looking at it. To her, it was merely an ordinary interruption. Gu Mo followed close behind, watching Nurarihyon's Health Bar empty and disappear. Yet no light gathered, making it obvious that it had dropped nothing, so he did not linger either.

The rest of the journey went much the same way. The road was rough and winding, twisting through countless bends, while one side was a cliff. A single careless misstep would lead to an entirely different story. Thus, Gu Mo never got the chance to claim a kill. Knowing there was no room for him to show his skills here, he naturally did not ask Hidechiyo to give him opportunities to fight.

Under such circumstances, their advance became exceptionally efficient.

Whether it was Nurarihyon coiled around the stalactites overhead or yokai hiding within Tokoyo, whether Gu Mo noticed them or failed to detect them, Axiu could always pinpoint them precisely and effortlessly kill them in a single blow.

They advanced with unstoppable momentum, as though they had encountered no obstacles at all.

"Axiu, look over there. There's a shrine... Your father must have built it here, right?"

After passing down a slope that was somewhat dangerously steep, Gu Mo finally saw the scene below. It seemed they had reached the bottom. Strange light flickered faintly, dimly illuminating the entire underground space. It was the pale golden radiance of spiritual stone essence.

For some unknown reason, numerous fragments of spiritual stones were scattered across the ground. These crystals containing strange energy varied in size, and the glow they emitted was the primary source of illumination in the underground space.

A small river crisscrossed the cavern, its countless branches spreading outward like a spiderweb...

Yet it was not groundwater. It was a green, viscous liquid, constantly bubbling on the surface and releasing a green vapor visible to the naked eye. Even just visually, it seemed intensely corrosive, reminding him of some chemical reagent.

It was likely Yatagarasu's venom, accumulated over countless years to form this small underground river. The giant serpent's poison was also part of this place's defenses; Gu Mo understood that clearly. Above the river formed from that venom, traces of construction appeared once more. Wooden walkways connected into a path, ensuring they would not be left without a route forward.

At the end of that path, a structure appeared faintly behind clusters of stalactites. It had a torii gate, an approach path, and shimenawa ropes... It was actually a shrine built beneath the mountain, in an underground space that never saw daylight.

Hidechiyo withdrew her gaze and gave a soft affirmative hum. She thought that was likely the case as well, because her vision was sharper. She could see not only the outline, but many details.

The shrine still looked quite new. It was not some ancient ruin left behind from long ago, but something built within the last two years. Perhaps it had been constructed at the same time as the magnificent residence above. Naturally, it could only have been her father's work.

What had been hidden here seemed to have an answer already...

Such powerful fluctuations of spiritual stone energy...

Her gaze shifted away from the scattered, irregular fragments of pale golden crystals below and returned to the shrine. There was extremely strong, chaotic Yokai Energy there. A great number of yokai had gathered around it, along with an intense smell of blood.

"Lord Dosan, they've arrived. They're above us..."

"Mm. I know."

Within the secret passage, Saito Dosan listened to the report from his most trusted retainer and gently raised a hand, his expression somewhat complicated. His test was about to begin, leaving him conflicted. Though he deeply despised that detestable brat who had run off with his precious daughter, he wanted even less for Gu Mo to fail this trial.

This was not a test of combat strength. Yokai had never been the focus.

The focus was all the spiritual stones he had collected over the years, all placed above. Their quantity was beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.

"Brat, don't disappoint me..." Saito Dosan muttered to himself. He sighed, then turned his gaze toward the black-haired girl beside him. "Yoshitatsu, watch carefully too. Just like with Oda Nobunaga, I asked for your opinion. This brat is no exception."

Black hair, a beauty mark at the corner of her eye, clear rose-red eyes as gorgeous as rubies...

A girl identical to Hidechiyo.

She nodded calmly and lowered her eyes. "Yes, Father."