The Third Secret Cave
There was no room for hesitation.
No choice to make.
I spoke to my companions.
“Go back to the Escort Commander first.”
They stared at me in surprise at the sudden order.
“I have something more to look into. Don’t ask questions—I have no obligation to answer them. And if you take this as proof, there shouldn’t be any problem with the Escort Commander’s promise about passing the regular trial.”
I divided the scorched tiger fur of the demonic beast among them, a handful each.
“G-Great Hero. Where are you rushing off to so suddenly? We’re deep in the mountains.”
“None of your business.”
There was no longer any leisure left in my eyes.
“Just in case—though it won’t happen—if I’m a little late, explain the situation to the Escort Commander and set out for Cheonsubaekryeonsa first. I’ll return on my own.”
The Escort Commander already knew my skill surpassed his. Even so, he had given me a look of trust just before we parted—toward the man who had preserved his face. Proud as he was, he was not the sort to repay respect with ingratitude. I was certain that even my suggestion, relayed through them, that they depart first would worry him, yet he would ultimately follow my word.
“But,” Han Jung-mae said, “please keep in mind that if you return alone and fail to make it back within three days, things could grow complicated later.”
“I’ll definitely return within three days.”
No one raised further objection to that.
“Before we go… there’s one thing I’m curious about, if I may.”
It was Sa Ha-yun, now speaking with polite formality.
What on earth is with this woman.
Unlike Jegal Sea, that genius of rhetoric, she was so unpredictable I never knew how to treat her.
Sa Ha-yun continued, “This might sound completely out of the blue.”
“…?”
“Is something going on around you?”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
Her long hair fluttered as she spoke. “Somehow… you feel like someone being chased by something every single moment.”
“Must be your imagination.”
“No. I don’t say things like this based on mere feelings.”
Gang Mu-jeong looked back and forth between us. The way he stared at Sa Ha-yun bordered on pure shock.
I frowned. “You don’t even know me.”
“The time I’ve spent seeing you since we exchanged greetings at the training ground until now is short, isn’t it? But that’s exactly what makes it stranger. Even in that brief span, you’ve been losing your composure so rapidly it’s obvious. Is something worrying you? Great… Hero?”
“….”
I said nothing.
That woman—better not keep her close. Her intuition is far too sharp….
I gave a faint nod at Mumyeong’s words and answered, “It’s just your imagination. And you can call me by name comfortably. All of you—separately from the contracts between us—can use my name freely. I don’t think of myself as someone who deserves to be called Great Hero. That includes you, Sa Ha-yun, so call me by name without fuss.”
“…!”
Her face flushed crimson in an instant.
“Ah—you… you remember my name? That beast who tears tigers apart with bare hands and spews dual curses without a second thought?”
“….”
…That’s exactly why I conclude we must not keep her by our side, Host.
Mumyeong muttered once more.
And so I sent them away.
Even after their figures vanished from sight, I remained standing in place for more than a gak, loosening my body. There was always the one-in-a-million chance. Slim as it was, they might turn back claiming they had something more to say. I could not risk discovery. Overlooking even the slightest possibility would lead to ruin.
Alone, my eyes grew sharper with every passing moment, keen as frost.
She might not be wrong.
I recalled Sa Ha-yun’s words again. At the same time I faced the reality I had continually averted yet could no longer deny.
I may have already… come too far to live an ordinary life.
When I had been boldly meeting and crushing the disciplinary trials one after another, I had never realized it. Facing the existences of the Heaven Beyond Heaven in succession, I had always sprinted with everything I had, breath burning in my throat, simply to survive. Then one day I returned to Cheonsubaekryeonsa with a joyful heart, ready to begin the ordinary life I had dreamed of. And there I felt, bone-deep, how utterly different the world I knew was from the world of ordinary people.
It was not merely a difference in martial arts levels. Since stepping into the Jianghu and fighting every duel as a life-or-death match, my entire stance toward everything had diverged from theirs. My way of thinking was different.
Is it such a great crime for madmen to play among themselves? The Jianghu needs a different kind of change! And that change will be born between us—Moyong Bi-gun and me!
Ryu Hwasa’s mad cry rose in my memory. I had let it wash over me then.
Do you really believe someone who has reached the absolute peak in any field still thinks normally? To stand at the summit of anything, one inevitably becomes twisted and fanatical.
Eun Seollyeong’s words from some earlier day returned to me. Suddenly the thought surfaced again.
Cheonsubaekryeonsa… I may have to leave….
I cut the thought short. If I continued, it felt as though it would devour me.
I opened my mouth. “Mumyeong.”
Confirmed. No one is here. Begin.
I kicked off the ground.
-CRACK!!!
Within the limits of my one-gapja internal energy, I launched myself forward with every ounce of strength.
-Pabat! Pababbat!!
Alone, I unfolded my movement technique at full power.
-Flutter!
The hems of my black martial robes whipped as if they would tear free.
Sam-bi-dong… the Third Secret Cave.
The six remaining legacies of the White Lotus Demon Sect. Every time I faced one of those secret caves, my skill underwent tremendous change. If anything had exerted the greatest influence on this life of mine that walked the razor’s edge between life and death, it was the secret caves of the White Lotus Demon Sect.
It had begun with the Yuk-bi-dong—the Sixth Secret Cave—that I discovered by chance while enduring a disciplinary trial. There I met the giant white snake that claimed to be the gatekeeper. Evading it, I entered the cave hidden behind the waterfall and faced murals that seemed to foretell my future, the eerie wooden man hordes, the Amyeondong where time flowed ten times slower, and finally the sword called Patcheon Hyeolmu. When I reached for the Patcheon Hyeolmu it vanished as if rejecting my hand; in its place the wooden men that had stood frozen charged me all at once, and I nearly died.
In the O-bi-dong—the Fifth Secret Cave—I encountered the monster monkey Geummo Sinwon wielding a massive guillotine. Touching the jade stele engraved with the words Patcheon Hyeolma Gunrimbo, I first met Mara Jin and Cheonhyeolma. In the end I failed to receive the transmission of that art, yet the process strengthened my entire body.
In the Sa-bi-dong—the Fourth Secret Cave—that sprawled like a vast cemetery of thousands of tombs across a wasteland, I acquired the footwork Baekryeon-pal-ya-jong, a technique that at close range seemed to transcend spatial limits, shadows dancing in grotesque patterns.
After countless crises since then, the Third Secret Cave now lay before me.
-Thump. Thump.
My heart felt ready to burst. If it had not raced, it would have been a lie. This forest was so remote I would never have considered coming here had I not followed the tiger’s stench. Having arrived by Cheonsubaekryeonsa’s carriage, I did not even know exactly where this place was. From the moment the demonic tiger tainted with demonic energy appeared I had wondered about the source of that energy, yet I never imagined it was a relic of the White Lotus Demon Sect.
Heaven aided us. Judging by how quiet it remained until recently, some earthquake or crustal shift must have cracked the secret cave, allowing demonic energy to leak out and create that demonic beast. Had we been even a little later, a report on this incident would have reached the upper ranks of Cheonsubaekryeonsa. An orthodox investigation would have focused here, and this place would certainly have been discovered.
The moment I resolved myself I had driven myself without rest, challenging the regular trial within sixty days, then pushing even further—knowing it was reckless—to subjugate the tiger. That result had returned to me like this. If even one link had broken, the Third Secret Cave would have been forever lost to me. With no guarantee of when—or even whether—I would ever meet the remaining two caves, the opportunity born from the tiger was unmistakably a chance.
“I’m going in.”
I stepped boldly into the red mist. After the battle with Ryu Hwasa I had methods for dealing with poison. I inhaled extremely finely and swiftly, then immediately retreated.
No physical changes detected. It is simple blood-colored mist. Seems related to a formation. No need for concern.
Mumyeong analyzed.
“At least it’s not something like a love potion, right? You focus only on survival. You mustn’t miss other changes either.”
I added the caution out of needless worry.
A love potion, is it.
Mumyeong’s voice was dry. The most useless thing for the Host?
“…Sometimes I think you have a real talent for pissing people off even with that flat tone.”
It’s your imagination.
“Imagination, huh.”
I walked into the red mist. Beyond it, just as in the previous secret caves, a tunnel stretched endlessly inward. Mindful of possible mechanisms, I advanced carefully, toes alert.
By the way, I am curious about something.
“What.”
-Gurgle.
Since no one was watching, Mumyeong materialized. Rising from the shadows like a living thing, the form of a giant black wild dog took shape and settled beside me. Two pairs of identical crimson eyes floated in the air as he walked calmly through the darkness. With his physical form, Mumyeong’s voice now echoed through the cave.
The Blood Death Sect Leader. Why did you send her off in such a hurry back then—without a proper farewell, as if something were chasing you?
I could not answer at once.
“…You’re only asking that now, after all this time?”
The sense of time the Host feels and the sense of time I experience inside are different. Like the way a young man and an old man perceive the passage of days.
“I’m surprised you were even thinking about it.”
I was simply curious about that one thing.
I walked forward in silence.
-Step. Step.
Footsteps rang through the tunnel. Far ahead a hazy red light glowed. What I had taken for red mist seemed formed when that light met the outside water vapor—so warm and red it felt like the light of a sunset. And beneath that light, the image of someone with flame eyes rose unbidden.
I spoke. “Because I was scared.”
…
“I’m a rag doll. I’m crawling forward all patched together, but I never know when I’ll burst. Even right now, while walking, my side or my leg might go soft and the stuffing spill out as I collapse. Even if I look fine on the outside. I know that better than anyone. I haven’t forgotten. I’m always trying to face that end with detachment. But… but you know.”
I paused a beat, then continued. “If to someone like me a warm connection appeared—one that might make me too happy—”
I parted dry lips. “Never mind. I won’t say it.”
Yes. Good decision. We need to focus on what lies ahead, Host.
“Right. That’s why I told you not to ask.”
My thoughts were short. I simply—
The black dog spoke calmly. I also remembered old times.
I nodded. “You and I are similar. Including the bad parts.”
Is that so? I decline the comparison.
“Do you realize you’re changing little by little? Compared to the beginning you talk more. Walking like this reminds me of the Yuk-bi-dong days—and the difference is clear.”
The black dog turned his head to look at me. The same is true of the Host. You have changed greatly compared to the start.
“Me?”
We both changed. Influencing each other.
The black dog shook his head. Back in my days in the Demon Sect, my dream was to have even one brother I could trust.
“…A brother?”
It was a rare glimpse into Mumyeong’s past.
But if that brother turned out to be a little brother like the Host, I think being an only child would be better.
“…Unbelievable. Just… unbelievable.”
The long tunnel ended. I stepped into the red light of the sunset.
-Paat!
Before my eyes a vast throng of twilight unfolded. The tunnel’s end opened onto a hole punched through the middle of a cliff face. From the cliff top I gazed at the enormous world spread below.
“My god… this is—”
From the cliff onward it felt as though I had stepped into another world entirely. What filled my vision below was a dense, lush forest.
-Flutter-flutter.
Countless birds took flight all at once before my eyes.
How… is this possible.
Even Mumyeong could not finish the sentence.
It was a temple complex so vast it could have been called a small city. A red temple built entirely of red earth from foundation to roof, as though eons had passed over it. Even from this distant cliff a colossal Buddha statue, half-collapsed yet still seated in lotus position, seemed to meet my gaze. Beneath the ruined statue stood countless red-earth pagodas, intricately laid roads, and temples. Above it all burned a sunset that looked ready to set yet never did—casting endless twilight across the land.
-Huuuuum…
Behind me the red mist writhed as if a living creature were contracting. The sensation was unmistakably familiar.
“No way.”
I rummaged in my robes and drew out fire starters. Standing at the boundary where the red mist ended, I dropped one at my feet and tossed the other beyond the line.
-Fwoosh.
I compared the two. The fire starter beyond the boundary burned distinctly more slowly. It was the same phenomenon as in the Yuk-bi-dong.
“I suspected as much—time flows more slowly within a specific zone here as well.”
Mumyeong examined the fire starters. Not as slow as the Yuk-bi-dong. Still… roughly a week’s worth secured. Time should be ample.
“If time is ample—”
I looked back at the vast temple.
“—then it’s only human nature to strip it bare down to the last scrap.”