Machine God with EX-rank talent (Deus ex machina)

It was truly rare for the difficulty of an ongoing quest to change in real time.

Such a thing was only possible when someone discovered a hidden piece or hidden route that could completely alter the course of progress.

And that was exactly the case now.

Even if the hunters possessed Dokgo Jeong’s body and controlled it, defeating the formidable warriors of the Mount Hua Sect—or even escaping from them—was nearly impossible.

With Nova's help, Hyun Suho managed to take down all three of them, and he did so without sustaining a single injury.

On top of that, he immediately discovered the location of the Azure Dragon Statue, so it was only natural that the course of the quest would drastically change.

“The rewards won’t decrease just because the difficulty has been lowered, right?”

[As long as the dungeon exists, the rewards will only be affected by your contribution rate and the success rate of the mission. So, there’s no need to worry about that.]

“Well, that’s a relief.”

There was no time to waste.

Although he had taken down three of them, other members of the Mount Hua Sect might be waiting nearby.

He had expended nearly all of his internal energy in defeating the three.

If his final move had failed, he wouldn’t have been able to win.

Without Nova’s help, even if Nacheonryeo had been here, it would have been difficult to overcome the situation.

[T/N: I'm thinking of changing Nacheonryeo to Demoness or Lady Rakshasa, what are your thoughts on this, which is better?]

Considering all that, one could understand just how challenging it was for the quest difficulty to change.

“Let’s go now.”

After taking a short moment to catch his breath and recover a minimal amount of internal energy, Hyun Suho began to move.

As he left the estate, he had to confront dozens of charred corpses.

They were all people vividly present in Dokgo Jeong’s memories.

Hyun Suho, who retained those memories, found it hard to bear and ground his teeth in anger.

Grinding sound!

“Damn bastards!”

Although he pretended to be weak while fighting the three, his anger was genuine.

It felt as if the emotions of Dokgo Jeong, lying dormant within Hyun Suho, had boiled over.

Even without Dokgo Jeong’s direct involvement, the memories alone were enough to make him furious.

When he first saw the corpses of his brother and Baek Daeju, his legs almost gave out from under him.

“Now, let’s really go.”

In times like this, he needed to stay even more composed.

Avoiding people's eyes, Hyun Suho moved stealthily out of the village.

* * *

Half a day later, he arrived at the riverbank.

The Azure Dragon Statue was set up in a place where anyone passing by could see it.

It was a finely crafted statue, undoubtedly a valuable item, but Dokgo Giju had generously placed it here for the people.

“The enemies never expected that it would be placed in such a location, where it’s accessible to anyone.”

The Mount Hua Sect, having attacked the estate, couldn’t find the Azure Dragon Statue anywhere and assumed there must be a hidden vault.

So, they thought they could find out by torturing Dokgo Jeong.

“Is there really something here?”

The Azure Dragon Statue was a symbol of the Nine Dragon Sects.

Even for the Mount Hua Sect, or rather, especially for them, the fact that they razed an entire family to obtain the treasure would cause an uproar throughout the martial world if it were revealed.

Being labeled as heretics would be inevitable, and they might even become public enemies, unable to set foot in the martial world again.

What kind of treasure were they so desperate to obtain that they took such risks?

“It must be something that will help solve the quest.”

He still couldn’t clearly identify the target of the quest.

A person marked with a question mark.

[Based on the data so far, it’s most likely the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect.]

The enemy who destroyed Dokgo Jeong’s family.

If it was the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, the fact that the difficulty was still rated 5 stars, even after dropping by two levels, made sense.

In the original world, it would be like killing the head of a nation or defeating a top-ranked individual.

He didn’t know what was hidden here, but whatever it was, it would be useful. If it was a divine weapon or a legendary martial art, that would be best. Even a lot of gold would be useful for revenge.

“Is it still there?”

Although he had safely reached the location of the Azure Dragon Statue, he felt uneasy.

Since it was placed in such a public spot, it could have been damaged by passersby, or the attackers might have eventually found it.

Luckily, except for some dust covering it, there didn’t seem to be any major issues.

“But where is the secret here?”

The Azure Dragon Statue was about 5 meters tall. It wasn’t small, but it could be quickly inspected.

However, no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find any inscriptions or hidden compartments.

Then, Nova spoke.

[Unlike other parts, the dragon’s pearl is made of a different material than the rest of the statue.]

“The dragon’s pearl?”

Hyun Suho reached out and touched the orb-shaped stone that the dragon was holding.

As Nova said, the dragon’s pearl was made of stone, not bronze. When he touched it, he felt it lift slightly.

“This is it!”

The dragon’s pearl was blocked by the dragon’s teeth, preventing it from being removed. Hyun Suho used his internal energy to pull the dragon’s teeth apart.

Creeeeak!

As the bronze bent, the dragon pearl popped out as if it had been waiting.

“What’s this?”

Upon examining the dragon pearl, he saw a map intricately drawn on the back. It was in a spot that would be impossible to see unless the statue was broken and the pearl was removed.

“Is this some kind of treasure map?”

[In the language of this place, it’s called a Jangbodo.]

Whatever it was, it was definitely what they had been searching for. There must be something hidden in the place indicated by the map.

Hyun Suho turned the stone dragon pearl over, trying to locate the destination shown on the map. However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t recognize any of the places from Dokgo Jeong’s memories.

He didn’t know the names of every location, but he was certain these were places he had never seen before.

“Could it be… an old map?”

Now that he thought about it, the Azure Dragon Statue had been passed down through the family for generations.

They say even rivers and mountains change in ten years, so it must have changed several times by now.

If it wasn’t pointing to a place in the present, it could be referring to locations whose names have changed over time.

“Nova, can you identify the location on the map?”

[Although the landscape has changed slightly over time, I’ve found an area that matches 98%.]

Fortunately, Nova was able to identify the location by comparing the map with Dokgo Jeong’s memories.

“Great! That’s enough for me to be sure.”

After confirming the location, Hyun Suho hesitated for a moment before carefully breaking off the map portion of the dragon pearl and reinserting it into the Azure Dragon Statue.

The Mount Hua Sect might track this place down eventually.

He was curious to see their faces when they discovered the broken map.

“Let them suffer a bit.”

Hyun Suho quickly set off for the location marked on the Jangbodo.

* * *

Fortunately, there were no pursuers from the Mount Hua Sect.

He traveled a considerable distance but reached his destination without any major incidents.

Except, of course, for the fact that the destination was in the middle of a steep cliff, where neither humans nor animals could reach.

Hyun Suho had to climb the dizzyingly steep cliff with all his strength.

“Huff! Huff! Why did they hide it in a place like this?”

[Perhaps to avoid prying eyes?]

“Do you think I asked because I didn’t know that?”

[Haha! I said it even though I knew.]

“Damn it!”

Fortunately, there was no mishap of falling off the cliff.

What he finally reached was a small cave that could never be found without climbing the cliff.

Next to the entrance was a signboard with elegant calligraphy that looked like it was written by a renowned scholar. In front of it was a thick iron door that had guarded the place for a long time.

After clearing away the long tree roots covering the signboard, the identity of the destination was revealed.

Cheonmadong (Heavenly Demon Cave)

Hyun Suho was momentarily speechless as he realized the meaning of the inscription.

“...Cheonma? Could it be 'that' Cheonma?”

Although the Nine Dragon Sects nearly dominated the martial world, there was one group that even they feared.

The Heavenly Demon Cult.

When discussing the greatest in history, Cheonma was always mentioned alongside Shaolin’s Bodhidharma and Wudang’s Zhang Sanfeng.

When Cheonma was active in the martial world, not only the Nine Dragon Sects but even the Emperor didn’t dare challenge him.

The Heavenly Demon Cult was a religious group formed to venerate such a Cheonma.

It’s a cult that literally worships the Heavenly Demon.

They believed that one day, Cheonma would descend upon this world again and purify it.

In short, it was a gathering of fanatics, but the problem was that these madmen were incredibly powerful.

The Heavenly Demon Cult was a thorn in the side of the imperial court as well. These people worshipped Cheonma, not the Emperor who called himself the Son of Heaven.

So, several punitive expeditions were sent against them, but shockingly, they all failed.

Even when the Martial Alliance attacked simultaneously, they were defeated.

As a result, the Heavenly Demon Cult continued to thrive in the Xinjiang region, where the Ten Thousand Mountains are located.

Occasionally, they would bring great chaos to the martial world.

Creeeak!!!

As he opened the iron door with all his strength, a musty smell, as if it had been sealed for hundreds of years, wafted out from inside.

He immediately recoiled, thinking it might be a poison trap.

“Cough! Cough! What’s with this smell!”

There was definitely something inside that the Mount Hua Sect wanted so desperately that they annihilated the Dokgo family.

But a treasure is only a treasure once it’s in your hands. Places where treasures are hidden often contain deadly traps meant to stop greedy intruders.

As expected, traps were scattered all over the place, wherever he tried to pass.

There were so many traps that he couldn’t even count the ones he could see, but the problem was that all these traps were laid out in plain sight.

“How long has it been since this place was made?”

They were traps that, if functional, could have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of lives and held them captive.

He carefully examined the traps, trying to figure out how he would have navigated through them if he had been caught in one… The result was horrifying.

“The person who created this place had complete insight into human psychology.”

Every space where one might try to avoid a trap had another trap, and even if you were lucky enough to dodge them, there were more deadly traps waiting where you moved next.

The mechanism was so terrifying that even the real Hyun Suho couldn't guarantee survival.

[With your current abilities, there is a 99% chance of death.]

However, the person who created this place likely didn't expect someone to come after such a long time had passed.

The traps that would have been as sharp as needles when first made were all rusted and broken.

“They probably didn’t know how to create alloys that could prevent rust in this era.”

Even though the traps were completely exposed, Hyun Suho cautiously moved inside, just in case.

Before long, he arrived at a massive chamber deep inside.

Contrary to his expectations, what he found was a massive bookshelf crammed with books and the dried remnants of something.

“What is all this?”

Hyun Suho flipped through some of the books, but it was no use.

Too much time had passed, and the books were so decayed that it was impossible to make out the contents.

He could barely read the covers…

“Heavenly Demon Divine Art? Heavenly Demon’s Dominance Steps? Heavenly Demon Swordsmanship?!”

These were names of martial arts that only existed in legends.

He didn’t know why they were in such a place, but here were all the martial arts of the warrior closest to being the greatest in history.

In the martial world, there’s nothing more precious than divine martial arts.

So, as expected, this place was indeed a treasure trove.

“…Though everything has rotted.”

He deeply regretted not having a restoration skill.

If he could have restored these books, he could have gained immense power.

If only he had a summoning-type dimensional gate, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but he couldn’t use his original skills in his possessed state.

“Is this all there is?”

But there was one thing that remained intact. It was a small jade bottle, tightly sealed with a stopper.

“Is it because it’s a jade bottle that it didn’t rot?”

Pop!

When he removed the stopper, a refreshing fragrance quickly filled the chamber. As he turned the bottle, he noticed small writing engraved on it.

Kongcheongseokyu (Empty Clear Stone Milk)

“…Is this really Kongcheongseokyu?”

Kongcheongseokyu is a milky liquid said to form only in caves where the energy of the earth gathers, a legendary elixir that can only be collected drop by drop over a hundred years.

Although the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the “ultimate elixir” is the Great Rejuvenating Pill, in terms of unrefined elixirs, Kongcheongseokyu is considered the best.

“And there’s so much of it?”

Though the jade bottle was only palm-sized and not large by any means, the fact that it contained Kongcheongseokyu made a world of difference.

It was unimaginable how much wealth and time would be needed to gather this much Kongcheongseokyu.

“Amazing.”

Honestly, just this alone was enough to consider this cave a treasure trove.

But it wasn’t enough to justify the annihilation of the Dokgo family.

The Mount Hua Sect must have thought that the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts were still intact here.

“All of this… for just this…”

Hyun Suho’s hands began to tremble with anger.

The fury of Dokgo Jeong, who had lost his parents, siblings, and entire family.

“Is this a quest telling me to drink this and gain power for revenge?”

With the help of Kongcheongseokyu, he could undoubtedly build immense internal energy.

But even that wouldn’t be enough to fight the Mount Hua Sect, a colossal sect.

Just then, Nova spoke.

[I sense a strange energy ahead.]

“A strange energy?”

Following Nova’s words, Hyun Suho moved forward and found a blackened sword.

A jet-black long sword from the hilt to the blade.

Other than its color and extreme heaviness, there was nothing special about its appearance—it looked ordinary.

There was a small engraving on the hilt.

[Heavenly Demon Sword]

“He- Heavenly Demon Sword?! The Heavenly Demon Sword?! The Heavenly Demon Sword is a divine object that the Heavenly Demon Cult has searched for their entire lives!”

As soon as he grasped the sword, a sudden inspiration struck Hyun Suho.

A brilliant idea flashed through his mind in an instant.

Hyun Suho instinctively realized that this wasn’t a thought he had come up with on his own but something prompted by the system.

“Now I get it. This was the key. Or more precisely, the qualification.”

Raising the Heavenly Demon Sword, Hyun Suho spoke.

“If I take this, I can join the Heavenly Demon Cult.”

Most of the quests given by the system offer a lot of freedom.

As long as the objective is achieved, the process doesn’t matter.

Of course, the rewards may change depending on the process, and sometimes taking an unconventional path could lead to better rewards.

But this time, it was different.

It was as if the system was guiding Hyun Suho in a specific direction.

“I’m going to become a Heavenly Demon Cultist.”