Chapter 476
Chapter 476
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 476
Chapter Title: Death
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The Phantom Devil, Tak Il-hon.
To think he was such a simple-looking old man.
“The person known as the Phantom Devil no longer exists.”
Tak Il-hon pointed to his leg.
“There is only a crippled old man.”
One of his legs seemed completely ruined, the calf bone and thigh area bulging unnaturally.
“Were you injured when you fell?”
“Well, yes. Losing a leg in exchange for falling while unconscious is a pretty good deal, don't you think? Most people’s bodies are shattered to pieces, and they die.”
Tak Il-hon’s internal energy had been completely destroyed by Shaolin, and his leg had been shattered when he fell into this Cave of Repentance.
For a master of movement arts to have a shattered leg meant that even if his internal energy were to recover…
The man known as the Phantom Devil could no longer exist in the martial world.
“No need to look at me like that.”
Tak Il-hon said calmly.
“At first, I was mad with rage. But now, it doesn’t bother me at all.”
“Is that so?”
Bu Eun-seol replied, looking around.
The old men gathered here showed little interest in his arrival.
Besides Tak Il-hon, only two or three others had approached.
‘Are they not curious at all?’
Even the fiends of the Peach Blossom Spring had been curious about news from the outside world.
But these men had lived in this damp, lightless cave for decades. How could they not ask about the outside world, or even who he was?
“Who are you? What on earth did you do to get locked up in this place?”
“My name is Seol-so.”
Revealing his identity here would do him no good.
Bu Eun-seol gave a vague answer.
“I just came to look at the original martial arts manuals in the scripture pavilion, and I ended up getting my hands on the Blood Shaolin’s scripture pavilion… and so it happened.”
“Hmm.”
Tak Il-hon sighed as if he understood.
“You read it.”
“I did.”
“Then you deserve to be imprisoned.”
He then pointed to his own face with a bitter smile.
“Because so did I.”
It turned out that the Phantom Devil had also been imprisoned here for reading Shaolin’s secret manuals.
“In fact, most of the people in this Cave of Repentance were locked up for reading the manuals in the scripture pavilion.”
The high monks of the Buddhist sect couldn't bring themselves to kill someone just for reading a martial arts manual.
But if they let them go, Shaolin’s secret arts would be leaked to the outside world… so their only option was to imprison them in the Cave of Repentance for life.
“So, another master thief or something.”
“I thought it was someone new for a change.”
The few old men who had been watching with curiosity seemed to think Bu Eun-seol was a thief just like the Phantom Devil.
They shook their heads with waning interest and disappeared.
“But this is strange.”
Bu Eun-seol wore a puzzled expression.
“Unlike the ones near the entrance, why are all the old gentlemen here as serene as immortals?”
“Hoo hoo hoo.”
Tak Il-hon let out a strange laugh.
“There’s a reason the Shaolin monks locked us up in here.”
He pointed to the cave, steeped in darkness.
“The walls throughout this cave are engraved with all sorts of Buddhist scriptures. Besides, the only things to eat are those.”
Where he pointed, a patch of vibrant blue grass was growing.
It was Cold Spirit Grass, said to calm a person’s mind.
These great fiends, their internal energy already shattered, had nothing to look at but the Buddhist scriptures engraved all over the cave.
Moreover, after consuming the Cold Spirit Grass for a long time, the demonic energy in their bodies gradually vanished.
Eventually, their personalities changed, becoming gentle and rarely angered.
“I see.”
Only then did Bu Eun-seol understand why the fiends were divided between the entrance and this deeper area.
There were no Buddhist scriptures inscribed near the entrance.
That was why the ferocious fiends lived in the caves near the entrance.
“But the old men over there wouldn't have just stood by.”
“Of course not. For a while, we fought fiercely with the old men over there. They insisted on eating meat and would raid us at night.”
Tak Il-hon said with a frown.
“Thanks to that, there were casualties, and those bastards survived on that… and whenever the time came, new guys who tried to steal from the scripture pavilion would fall in… well, that’s how it was.”
It seemed the fiends at the entrance would periodically start a war to feed themselves, or they would devour those who fell into the Cave of Repentance after being caught reading the secret manuals in the scripture pavilion.
They seemed to have repeated such cruel acts.
“But aren’t you curious about the outside world?”
Bu Eun-seol looked at the old men turning away with expressions of disinterest.
“Well, if you had come about ten years earlier, they would have been quite curious.”
Tak Il-hon said with a bitter expression.
“But now, they wouldn’t be interested even if you told them you were an immortal.”
Most of the fiends here were over a hundred years old, and their internal energy was broken.
Their past glory had faded, and now they spent their days eating Cold Spirit Grass and sitting in a cave engraved with Buddhist scriptures.
They had abandoned all attachments.
“But this is strange.”
“What is?”
“I don’t feel a distinct demonic energy from your body. In fact, you feel more like someone who has mastered the internal arts of the Orthodox Faction.”
Bu Eun-seol was surprised.
Just from a few words of conversation.
He had sensed that his spirit was of the middle path and that he had learned the martial arts of the Orthodox Faction?
“No need to be so surprised. I, too…”
Tak Il-hon, about to say something, shook his head and chuckled.
“Well, who among those in this place doesn't have a story they can't tell others?”
Bu Eun-seol felt a strange emotion.
The Phantom Devil, Tak Il-hon, was a great thief who had slaughtered hundreds of Orthodox Faction members in the past.
Yet, seeing him now, laughing heartily like a sage… a peculiar feeling arose in Bu Eun-seol’s heart.
‘What is justice, and what is evil?’
A human life is short if you think it’s short, and long if you think it’s long.
And through the various experiences in life, people change.
You might like a certain food and then come to dislike it. You might like a person and then come to dislike them.
Likewise, a master of the Demonic Path who lived by the logic of power could attain enlightenment, enter the path of the Orthodox Faction, and cry out for justice.
Conversely, a member of the Orthodox Faction who lived by strictly adhering to hierarchy and status could feel disillusioned by absurdity and corruption and turn to the Demonic Path.
In the end, the concepts of demonic and orthodox were nothing more than concepts created by humans for convenience, concepts that could change at any time.
Just as his grandfather, Bu Jan-yang, had taught.
“By the way, what is that?”
Scattered throughout the cave, besides the Buddhist scriptures, were bizarre characters that looked as if they had been scratched by human hands.
Looking closely, they were martial arts formulas.
“Ah, those are the martial arts engraved by the old men here.”
Tak Il-hon smiled faintly.
“Since their time to die is not far off, they vented their frustrations by engraving their ultimate techniques.”
Tak Il-hon looked at Bu Eun-seol and chuckled.
“Well, you can read them if you're interested. If you properly master just one, you could become a master who looks down upon the world.”
He then smiled bitterly.
“If you can get out of this place, that is.”
“I see.”
But Bu Eun-seol wasn’t particularly interested in demonic arts.
His martial prowess was steadily approaching the Transcendent Heaven Realm, and he was in the process of creating a new path.
Therefore, most martial arts were not even worth his attention.
“Now, then, tell me.”
“About what?”
“What is the current state of the martial world? And what happened to the Phantom Devil Palace?”
Tak Il-hon said, sniffing slightly.
“Compared to them, I arrived here relatively recently. I’m still very much interested in the secular world.”
It had only been about fifteen years since Tak Il-hon was captured, and he was still only eighty years old.
Thus, he had not yet transcended worldly affairs like the others, and his interest in the martial world remained.
“Even a brief summary will do.”
Feeling Tak Il-hon’s persistent gaze, Bu Eun-seol opened his mouth as if he had no choice.
“Well, as you might have guessed, as soon as you disappeared, the Phantom Devil Palace was immediately disbanded…”
He then calmly explained the current situation of the martial world.
However, he omitted any incidents or situations related to himself and condensed the complex matters of the Three Realms.
Nevertheless, he summarized it quite well, and Tak Il-hon was able to grasp the general chaos of the current martial world.
“I see. It’s a complete mess.”
After hearing the whole story, Tak Il-hon let out a faint sigh.
He once thought he had a great influence on the martial world and that his disappearance would cause a huge stir.
But there was nothing of the sort.
The subordinates who had pledged their lives to him disbanded the Phantom Devil Palace as soon as he disappeared.
And the name Phantom Devil Tak Il-hon was quickly forgotten from people’s minds.
“Thank you for the story.”
“Then, I shall take my leave.”
Bu Eun-seol rose from his seat.
Because he had repeatedly used the True Art of Wishful Thinking without having circulated his energy yet, a sweet taste of blood lingered in his body.
It seemed he needed to quietly circulate his energy and get some rest.
“You’re going to rest? Well, your body can’t be in good shape.”
Tak Il-hon pointed to a random spot in the cave.
“If there’s an empty spot where the old men aren’t, go rest anywhere. They won’t care anyway.”
Then, as if remembering something, he pointed to a deep passage further inside.
“Everything else is fine, but don’t go to the place at the end of that cave.”
Tak Il-hon said with a grim expression.
“The moment you enter, you will die a gruesome death.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just know that you die just by setting foot in there.”
“Die just by setting foot in there? Is the Blood Shadow Demonic Lord in there or something?”
“Hmph, even the Blood Shadow Demonic Lord is no match for the fiends of the Cave of Repentance.”
Tak Il-hon swallowed hard.
“What’s in there is death itself. Something no one can touch.”
“Death.”
“That’s right. You die just by getting near it, so don’t even think about getting curious.”
Tak Il-hon rolled up his left pant leg.
There was a sharp, purple-tinged mark there. If it had been any deeper, even the bone would have been severed.
‘Death.’
A glint appeared in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes.
Death.
Wasn’t that the word that symbolized the Seven-Fingered Demonic Dao?
If his prediction was correct, then inside that cave was the master of the Seven-Fingered Demonic Dao himself.
Or the one who was his perfect shadow was crouched within.
“You mean even you couldn’t avoid it?”
“Even if my internal energy were intact, I couldn’t guarantee I could have avoided it.”
“Who on earth is he?”
At Bu Eun-seol’s question, Tak Il-hon shook his head.
“I came here late, so I don’t know who he is or why he was imprisoned here. And he doesn't answer when asked.”
“…”
“But seeing how the old-timers who’ve been trapped here for a long time fear him, he must not be someone with ordinary power.”
Even as he spoke, Tak Il-hon broke into a cold sweat.
It was because he remembered the ‘death’ he had encountered in the cave at that time.
“You’re afraid.”
“Hoo hoo hoo. Is it strange?”
Tak Il-hon said with an expression full of regret.
“There was a time when I feared neither heaven nor earth. But after being here for a long time, I came to understand.”
Tak Il-hon looked straight at Bu Eun-seol and said.
“Death is the end of everything, and humans are beings who are bound to fear it.”
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
For humans who live a finite life, death will always be a source of fear.
Those who can contemplate the meaning of death or be detached from it are extremely rare.
“If anything, I’m more intrigued.”
“Well, I won’t stop you if you want to die. But you never know.”
Tak Il-hon said with a lonely expression.
“You’re still young. Maybe you’ll be able to leave this Cave of Repentance.”
“Hmm.”
Letting out a hum, Bu Eun-seol looked around.
At the far end of the cave, the sound of flowing water could be heard, but a musty smell wafted from somewhere.
Another reason the ferocious fiends hadn't settled here…
…seemed to be because a particularly strange and damp smell emanated from the caves in this area.
“Thank you. I’ve learned a lot thanks to you, elder.”
After a light bow, Bu Eun-seol turned around.
He then entered the dirtiest cave, whose interior was clearly visible from this passage, and lay down.
“You’re going to stay there?”
“Does it matter where I stay?”
Bu Eun-seol surveyed his surroundings and smiled faintly.
“There are plenty of bugs too, so it’s perfect for when I get hungry.”
“Hoo hoo hoo.”
Tak Il-hon laughed knowingly.
“So you were a beggar too. Then again, most thieves come from a beggar background.”
“Well, something like that. I’ll be resting, then.”
As Bu Eun-seol plopped down, Tak Il-hon smacked his lips as if he had lost interest.
“I thought it would be fun with a young one here for a change…”
In truth, Tak Il-hon was pleased that a new person had entered the Cave of Repentance after so long.
Because he would despair and suffer, just like him. He had wanted to watch.
But wasn't this young man adapting to this place even better than he, who had been trapped here for fifteen years?
“A world-weary old man of a brat has arrived.”
Smacking his lips, Tak Il-hon turned and walked away, his interest having waned.
*Woowoong.*
Meanwhile, Bu Eun-seol began to circulate his energy while lying down.
Having mastered the life-nurturing secret art from the first volume of the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Scripture, he could circulate his energy in any posture.
After slowly restoring his depleted internal energy, Bu Eun-seol closed his eyes for a moment.
Then, a wave of fatigue washed over him, like falling into deep water.
Though he had intentionally taken the palm strikes of Abbot Gonggong and the monks of Blood Shaolin, it was his mind that was more exhausted than his body.
His journey in the martial world had never been easy.
He always had to consider tens of thousands of things and constantly predict what would happen next.
And now, an opportunity had come to solve one of the questions he had held for so long.
What if the person in that cave was the master of the Seven-Fingered Demonic Dao or his shadow?
He would know for certain whether his grandfather, Bu Jan-yang, was the master of the Seven-Fingered Demonic Dao or not.
*Kurururu.*
How much time had passed?
Bu Eun-seol, who had fallen asleep in the darkness, faintly opened his eyes to a sound coming from somewhere.
*Huuuugh.*
It was like the wail of a ghost. A groan filled with deep resentment.
The sound echoed faintly through the cave, but the great fiends of the Cave of Repentance pretended not to hear it.
Because it was the sound of that ‘death’ weeping.
‘Their demonic energy has truly vanished.’
In the past, these great fiends would not have feared anything, not death or any other existence.
But now, like Tak Il-hon, the fiends here feared the fiend called Death.
Because death is the end of everything.
But Bu Eun-seol was not afraid of death.
—*Life and death can be said to be the front and back of a coin.*
A coin has a front and a back.
But the front and back are merely distinctions made by people for convenience. Whether you look at the front or the back, it is still a ‘coin.’
Bu Eun-seol had been raised with such teachings from Bu Jan-yang and believed that death was not the end.
*Step, step.*
Bu Eun-seol slowly walked toward the source of the sound.
His internal energy was fully recovered, and the senses of the Way of the Beast had completely returned.
But even so, he could not sense the presence within the cave from which the sound originated.
It was as if a formless ghost was sobbing.
*Step, step.*
As Bu Eun-seol’s footsteps grew louder, the wailing subsided.
A deathly silence descended, and the surrounding air felt as heavy as lead.
It felt as if taking another step would cause a demon to leap out of the darkness and devour him whole.
But Bu Eun-seol moved forward without hesitation.
*Step, step.*
Then, a blatant, thick, and sinister killing intent began to flow from the cave entrance.
When he finally reached the end of the passage, he was surprised to see a firmly shut iron door.
Unlike the other fiends, the great fiend inside was imprisoned in a cell set deep within the Cave of Repentance.
The thickness of the iron door was unimaginably great, but the lock was already undone.
And on the floor and the door around it, blood had dried.
It seemed that fiends who couldn't contain their curiosity had entered and met a grim fate.
“Hmph.”
When Bu Eun-seol exerted his strength, the massive iron door began to open slowly with a creaking sound.
As he entered the prison, a sour smell accompanied the pitch-black darkness.
It wasn't the smell of the cave, but a foul odor emanating from a human body.
“…”
The interior of the prison was quite large, a stone chamber over a hundred feet wide and long.
In front of him, a gaunt figure was crouched, both legs bound by iron chains.
The chains were very long, allowing for at least twenty to thirty feet of movement.
Judging by their length and shape, it seemed he had chained his own legs rather than being forcibly bound by someone else.
The strange luster of the chains suggested they were not ordinary iron, but made with a mixture of black gold or dark iron.
‘They don’t intend to starve him to death.’
Even within the prison cave, there was a place where Cold Spirit Grass grew and underground water flowed.
That was how he had been able to survive without starving to death while imprisoned inside.
*Flash.*
The gaunt figure, crouched with his legs in chains, pierced the darkness with sharp eyes.
As his gaze met the figure’s, Bu Eun-seol understood why the fiends of the Cave of Repentance called him Death.
‘To exude such an aura without any internal energy.’
What if Bu Eun-seol’s internal energy had been lost?
He would have been crushed by the pressure pouring out of the crouched figure before him, writhing in agony.
But thankfully, his internal energy was intact, and Bu Eun-seol was able to calmly withstand the pressure.
“This junior martial artist, Bu Eun-seol, pays his respects to the elder.”
Then, a gleam in the gaunt figure’s eyes sharply scanned Bu Eun-seol’s body.
[Ughh.]
But when his gaze met Bu Eun-seol’s clear eyes, he suddenly clutched his head.
*Swish!*
It happened in an instant.
Just when he thought the figure had clutched his head…
A sharp glint of light shot out from the figure’s hand, aiming for Bu Eun-seol’s throat.
It was a finger sword, formed by extending the middle and index fingers.
“Kuh!”
Bu Eun-seol let out a cry of alarm and twisted his body away.
The gaunt figure’s dantian was clearly destroyed, making him unable to use any internal energy.
And yet, the finger sword grazed past Bu Eun-seol’s brow and scraped against the stone wall.
‘How can this be?’
If his own internal energy hadn't been intact, and if the Way of the Beast hadn't reacted instantly…
Bu Eun-seol’s throat would have been pierced by that single move.
‘Is this even possible?’
He had not only achieved spiritual awakening but his internal energy had reached a level of five hundred years… and he was on the verge of a new realm beyond the Transcendent Heaven Realm.
And yet, he had almost had his throat pierced by the finger sword of an old man with no internal energy?