Chapter 514
Chapter 514
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 514
Chapter Title: Cruel Selections
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Bu Eun-seol hesitated for a moment.
‘Should I kill him?’
In a cave that had already become a slaughterhouse, secretly killing one Heavenly Fire Human wouldn't change a thing.
However, he couldn't leave any trace of his martial arts, so he wouldn't use his finger wind. He planned to discreetly strike a death point when the man approached.
“Kaaah!”
But just then, a frenzied man launched a surprise attack on the Heavenly Fire Human from behind.
His movements were considerable, and even the Heavenly Fire Human couldn't easily bite him.
Ssshhh.
Just then, the Soul-Severing Demonic Incense that filled the cave dissipated, and a faint, purple smoke began to seep in.
At that, the people stopped fighting and stood there blankly.
As they smelled the fragrance, the tips of their noses grew cold as if touched by ice. Simultaneously, the slaughtering madness induced by the Soul-Severing Demonic Incense was instantly neutralized.
Kuuung.
With a low vibration, light once again streamed from the cave's ceiling.
The faint light revealed a gruesome scene in all its horror.
“Ugh.”
Several martial artists, looking around at the scene in the cave, began to vomit.
Not a single corpse was intact.
Without internal energy, the only ways to kill were by biting or tearing with fingernails.
As a result, viscera and bodily fluids were scattered gruesomely throughout the cave.
“Uuuugh.”
Some who witnessed the sight, unable to bear it, began pounding on the door they had entered through, shouting.
“I forfeit! I said I forfeit this damn trial!”
But the door did not open.
The Eight Rules of the Sword Mound. Once you entered a trial, there was no turning back.
And the first trial was not yet over.
Ssshhh!
After some time, the light vanished again, and smoke began to rise.
This time, it wasn't the Soul-Severing Demonic Incense.
A single whiff of the fragrance felt like it would burn the lungs to a crisp.
“Uuugh.”
People began to writhe in agony.
Even a slight inhalation brought a constricting pain to their lungs, making it difficult to even breathe.
“Aaaaargh!”
Screaming in pain, people rushed to the entrance.
“Open up! Open the door!”
But no matter how hard they pounded, the door remained shut.
‘It’s not a poison meant to kill.’
Bu Eun-seol's eyes, having smelled the fragrance, grew colder.
The fragrance spreading through the cave was not a lethal poison that could kill instantly.
But the people, unable to endure the pain, screamed and fell into chaos.
‘So, is this a test of endurance?’
Bu Eun-seol shook his head.
This was not the Ten Demonic Masters' Tournament.
Most of these people were third-rate martial artists who had reached adulthood. Even if they had talent, in their current state, they couldn't learn advanced martial arts.
“Aaaaargh!”
White foam frothed at the mouths of those writhing in agony.
However, those who understood the poison's characteristics or possessed great patience closed their eyes and endured the pain.
Thud. Thud.
Eventually, several martial artists collapsed like logs and drew their last breaths.
After that, various poisonous fragrances wafted intermittently, such as the Illusory Needle Poison, which induced hallucinations and fear, and the Flesh-Scorching Salt Poison, which burned only the skin.
Among them were skilled martial artists, but the majority were second-rate fighters with shallow internal energy.
They had barely cultivated their minds.
Each time a new poisonous fragrance emerged, the martial artists lost their senses, and some even smashed their heads against the walls to end their own lives.
Finally, after a day had passed, the nearly two hundred martial artists had dwindled to less than a hundred.
“Haaah.”
And the eyes of those who remained still held a murderous glint, even after the poison had left their bodies.
Having endured the agonizing poisonous fragrances for so long, they were filled with malice.
Rumble.
At last, the door opened, and the figure of the Demon-Faced Emissary, wearing a blood-red demon mask, appeared once more.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
A few enraged martial artists rushed toward the masked man and protested furiously.
“Why! Why would you do something so cruel?!”
And a few others prostrated themselves before him.
“Please let us go! I want out!”
The Demon-Faced Emissary looked at the protesters and spoke coldly.
“I told you several times that you cannot leave once the trial has begun.”
He looked around at them with icy eyes and said.
“Return to your places at once.”
At that, both the protesters and the beggars snapped.
“Do you think you can get away with this? If I get out of here…”
Slice.
Suddenly, with a sharp sound, the head of one of the protesters fell to the floor.
He had been decapitated in an instant with a sword strike as fast as lightning.
Swish!
Flicking the blood from his blade, the Demon-Faced Emissary spoke in a voice filled with killing intent.
“Anyone else wish to break the rules, speak now.”
The protesters fell silent and shuffled backward.
Even in perfect condition, they would have stood no chance against the Demon-Faced Emissary’s blindingly fast and merciless swordplay.
And now, with their Dantians sealed?
Any rash defiance would only lead to a dog’s death without so much as a whimper.
“We will proceed to the next trial.”
At the Demon-Faced Emissary's command, the martial artists lowered their heads and moved toward the open door.
An empty clearing came into view.
Two towers, each fifty feet tall, stood side by side, connected by a single-log bridge.
A ladder was propped against the side of each tower for climbing.
“Two people will climb the towers and push each other off the log bridge. The winner proceeds to the next trial.”
The martial artists were left speechless by the Demon-Faced Emissary's words.
With their internal energy intact, they could land safely from a fifty-foot fall.
But what if they fell from a fifty-foot tower with their Dantians sealed?
Nine times out of ten, they would die. If they were lucky enough to survive, they would likely be crippled.
“Why must you make us fight each other to the death?”
A one-eyed man asked, unable to comprehend the situation.
“Are you trying to reduce our numbers? If so, you could have just chosen fewer people from the start, couldn’t you? Or you could have weeded us out in the first trial.”
“Did you think entering the Sword Mound would be easy?”
The one-eyed man pleaded with the Demon-Faced Emissary.
“Even if we enter the Sword Mound, we still have to be chosen by a sword, don't we? Can't you just let us into the Sword Mound? There's no need for us to fight strangers to the death, is there?”
The martial artists murmured their agreement with the one-eyed man.
“You will understand why that is not possible when you reach the Sword Mound.”
“Why isn't it possible?”
“From our cult's perspective, we are allowing complete strangers into the Sword Mound without any conditions.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary, looking annoyed, placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“If you do not follow the cult's policy, I will take immediate action.”
It was an ultimatum from the King of Hell himself.
If the Demon-Faced Emissary decided to slaughter the martial artists, no one could stop him.
The one-eyed man finally lowered his head.
“Begin.”
At the Demon-Faced Emissary's command, people began to climb the towers in order.
Bu Eun-seol, watching silently, felt that something was strange.
The second trial, too.
In the end, it was just an extension of the first trial's slaughter.
As the one-eyed man had said, if they wanted to select skilled individuals, they could have easily done so in the first trial.
If they wanted to reduce the numbers, that too could have been accomplished in the first trial.
So why were they forcing people to fight through such a troublesome and complicated process?
“Aaaargh!”
In the meantime, a man walking from the left tower pushed off the man coming from the right.
With a desperate scream, the man fell from the log.
Splat.
His head shattered with the sound of a watermelon splitting.
A deathly silence instantly fell over the area.
Fear crept onto the faces of the martial artists. If they couldn't push their opponent off, they would be the one to die.
—I will not die a dog’s death here!
The eyes of the martial artists looking up at the towers burned with obsession and madness.
“Argh!”
“Aack!”
The fights continued, and with each victory and defeat, desperate screams echoed.
Sometimes, unable to defeat their opponent, a person would leap off, taking their enemy with them.
Crack!
“Ugh.”
Some were lucky enough to fall from the tower and survive with only a broken leg.
And finally, it was Bu Eun-seol's turn.
As Bu Eun-seol climbed the left tower, an immensely large man stood on the opposite side.
“An easy win.”
The large man grinned menacingly upon seeing Bu Eun-seol's slender frame.
Without internal energy, they had to rely purely on physical strength to push each other off.
The giant was confident that the scrawny Bu Eun-seol couldn't possibly be stronger than him.
Thump. Thump.
The man stepped onto the log bridge with a sinister smile.
“Let's begin.”
He stomped his foot confidently.
“I’ll tell you now, even taking me down with you will be difficult.”
Pop.
As the man flexed his arms, his muscles bulged, and snake-like veins pulsed.
It seemed he had mastered a powerful external art that could augment his physical strength.
External arts were unrelated to internal energy, so they could be used even with a sealed Dantian.
“Come at me!”
With a roar, the man charged toward Bu Eun-seol.
The bridge between the towers was barely wide enough for one person to stand. There was no way to dodge such a powerful charge.
Thrust.
Just then, Bu Eun-seol calmly extended both hands.
It was a provocative gesture, a challenge to a contest of strength.
“You want to test your strength?”
The man laughed heartily and was about to grab Bu Eun-seol's hands when,
Yank.
Bu Eun-seol quickly pulled the man's arms toward himself. The man's body lurched off balance.
“Not a chance!”
The man immediately pulled Bu Eun-seol's arms toward him.
But that was exactly what Bu Eun-seol had intended.
Whoosh!
Using the moment the man pulled, Bu Eun-seol lightly pushed him instead.
“Huh?”
The man had never dreamed he would be pushed off using a simple push-and-pull trick, like children playing.
“Ah!”
With a single cry of bewilderment, the man fell.
Thud!
With a dull thud, the man hit the ground.
As Bu Eun-seol descended with an indifferent expression, the Demon-Faced Emissary suddenly spoke.
“Wait.”
He sent another man up the right tower.
“You will compete one more time.”
Bu Eun-seol said with a somewhat bewildered expression.
“Why must I?”
“You must continue until you survive.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary said coldly.
“However, if you survive this time, I will let you pass the trial immediately.”
“Fine.”
Bu Eun-seol had no choice but to climb the tower again.
The man on the opposite tower was the complete opposite of his previous opponent; he was smaller and even thinner than Bu Eun-seol.
Tap, tap, tap.
The scrawny man immediately ran onto the single-log bridge and began to push Bu Eun-seol.
Screech.
Surprisingly, the scrawny man was much stronger than the giant from before.
Moreover, he was pushing Bu Eun-seol with pure, unadulterated strength, without any tricks.
Eventually, Bu Eun-seol was pushed back to the edge of the tower, where he could barely stand.
If he was pushed back just one more step, he would fall.
‘A disciple of the Primordial Origin Sect.’
The Primordial Origin Sect possessed not only the outstanding internal energy method, the Primordial Unity Qi Art, but also the Jade Steel Secret Art, which was very similar to Bestial Strength and allowed one to use the body's innate power to its peak without internal energy.
The power emanating from this scrawny man's body was precisely the power of the Jade Steel Secret Art.
‘Shallow.’
The first thing Bu Eun-seol had trained when he belatedly learned martial arts was his basic physical strength.
From the moment he began learning martial arts at the Wolf Fang Pavilion, he had never slept, except during his cultivation,
and had devoted all his time to strengthening his body.
Crack.
As a result, his body was like one that had reached the pinnacle of Bestial Strength, at the absolute limit of physical conditioning.
Screeeech.
Using his full strength, Bu Eun-seol instantly pushed the scrawny man back.
The man was greatly surprised.
Shhk. Shhhk.
Then, something strange happened.
A glint appeared in the scrawny man's eyes, and he gradually began to resist Bu Eun-seol's strength.
“I will never die in a place like this!”
With a shout, the scrawny man began to push Bu Eun-seol back again.
It was such a powerful force that even Bu Eun-seol, who had reached the physical limits of training, could not push him back.
Just as Bu Eun-seol was pushed to the very edge and about to fall from the tower,
Swoosh.
With a sound of cutting wind, the Demon-Faced Emissary, who had been watching silently, leaped up and landed on the single-log bridge.
“You. You're using internal energy.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary's gaze was fixed on the scrawny man's feet.
Having drawn on his internal energy, he had unknowingly left deep footprints on the bridge.
“Did you use the Acupoint Shifting Grand Art?”
The Acupoint Shifting Grand Art was a secret technique that allowed one to temporarily shift their acupoints.
However, this technique was tricky to use and required knowing exactly which acupoint the enemy would target.
But the Celestial People Cult had lined up the participants and announced they would be sealing their Dantians.
Using the Acupoint Shifting Grand Art to preserve one's internal energy would have been a piece of cake.
“Did you take our cult's rules for a joke?”
At the Demon-Faced Emissary's words, the scrawny man scoffed.
“I don't know what you heretics are up to. How could I let my internal energy be sealed and just walk in?”
It seemed this scrawny man, like Bu Eun-seol, had infiltrated the Celestial People Cult to investigate.
“Well, since I've been found out, I have no choice but to overpower you.”
Thump.
The scrawny man landed on the ground and immediately opened his mouth.
He began to slowly pull out a thread that had been secretly tied to a tooth.
Sluuuurp.
As he pulled the thread, a sharp, keen dagger emerged from his mouth, sheath and all.
Amazingly, he had swallowed a dagger attached to a string and had been holding it in until now.
“If you're so confident, why don't you fight me one-on-one instead of calling your lackeys?”
At the man's words, the Demon-Faced Emissary landed on the ground and smirked.
“You seem confident.”
“I wouldn't have come here in the first place if I wasn't.”
The man held the dagger and lowered his stance.
The Demon-Faced Emissary stared at the man with still eyes and nodded.
“Someone who has mastered the arts of the Primordial Origin Sect has also learned the Jade Silk Sword Art… I see.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary recognized at a glance that the man's stance was from the Jade Silk Sword Art.
“You're from the Hainan Sect.”
The Hainan Sect, famous for the Thirty-six Swords of the South Sea, had merged with the Primordial Origin Sect and the Jade Silk Sect.
Therefore, the only ones in the martial world who could master both the Jade Silk Sword Art and the Primordial Unity Qi Art were the masters of the Hainan Sect.
“If you know that, then you should kneel.”
“It's useless. Hainan Sect or not, I just have to kill you.”
“...”
“Now that you've signed the waiver, not even the leader of the Martial Alliance can complain.”
“You're overconfident. Just for orchestrating this massacre, your Celestial People Cult will…”
Thwack.
Before the man could finish his shout, a flash of light flickered.
Thud.
Simultaneously, the head of the man holding the dagger dropped to the floor.
The Ultimate Fast Killing Sword.
The Demon-Faced Emissary had unleashed a sword strike as swift as a thunderbolt.
Click.
Sheathing his gleaming divine sword, the Demon-Faced Emissary looked down at the headless corpse and spoke.
“Pathetic. The people of the Hainan Sect as well.”
Murmur, murmur.
The martial artists watching from below couldn't hide their astonishment.
The short man, befitting a master of the Hainan Sect, had an extraordinary aura and possessed outstanding skill.
Yet the Demon-Faced Emissary had taken his head with a single strike.
“Do you all wish to possess such skill?”
The Demon-Faced Emissary, sheathing his sword nonchalantly, addressed the participants.
“If you pass this place, you too can possess the same skill as I do. The swords of the Sword Mound grant such power.”
The breathing of the martial artists watching him grew heavy.
The Demon-Faced Emissary's words had once again ignited a fire in their hearts.
“You, come down.”
At the Demon-Faced Emissary's command, Bu Eun-seol descended.
And once again, the bloody battle on the single-log bridge began.
‘What is the purpose of this trial?’
It wasn't a test to find those who had hidden their internal energy.
Someone skilled enough to infiltrate this place could easily defeat third-rate martial artists without using their full power.
Bu Eun-seol pondered, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn't figure out the reason.
“Aaargh!”
“Ugh!”
The battles on the single-log bridge did not last long.
In less than an hour, all the participants had finished their duels.
The losers invariably fell to the ground, suffering severe injuries or death, while the victors clenched their fists in joy.
Soon, only fifty people remained.
“We will proceed to the third trial.”
It was now the third trial.
In a wide clearing stood twenty-five members of the Celestial People Cult, and next to them were strange metal cylinders packed tightly together.
Opposite them, an equal number of long, flexible swords were displayed.
The number was exactly fifty, the same as the cylinders.
‘So they intentionally culled the numbers to fifty.’
Not only Bu Eun-seol, but the other participants also sensed it.
This third trial was the final one.
In other words, if they survived here, they could finally enter the Sword Mound.
“Everyone, wear those cylinders.”
Hearing the emissary's words, the participants looked at the large cylinders.
The dark cylinders were large enough for anyone to fit into, regardless of their build.
Clank.
The moment they stepped inside, the cylinders clamped shut, fitting their bodies perfectly.
The cylinders were large enough to cover most of their bodies, from neck to below the knees.
“There are fourteen holes in that cylinder. Four of them are real holes. The rest are fake, blocked holes.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary looked at the crowd staring at him and spoke in a low voice.
“And those holes are connected by tubes, so their apparent location is different from their actual location. The positions of the holes will change after each match.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary pointed to the skewer-like flexible swords displayed on one side.
“Three of the four holes will pierce the thigh, arm, and shoulder. The remaining one is the heart.”
The Demon-Faced Emissary's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
“Even if you have mastered external arts like the Iron Shirt Skill or the Thirteen Guardians Horizontal Training, it will be useless. These are no ordinary swords.”
He looked at the martial artists staring back at him and said in a low voice.
“Put these on, choose to attack or defend, and then fight.”
The crowd no longer showed surprise or fear.
The eyes of the participants gathered for the third trial were already stained with killing intent and madness.
They had killed and killed again to get this far. There was nothing left to be surprised or excited about.
‘This is strange in its own way.’
The holes in this cylinder were said to change randomly.
Furthermore, the holes were curved, so no matter how closely one looked, it was impossible to spot any difference.
In other words, this was not a battle of martial arts or senses, but one that had to be decided purely by luck.
‘Moreover.’
Bu Eun-seol's eyes narrowed as he scanned the inside of the cylinder with his Way of the Beast sense.
Attached inside was an empty container of unknown purpose.