Chapter 137: Entering the World of Nothingness-2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137: Entering the World of Nothingness-2
"Sun-wooooo!"
Yorang screamed as she watched Sun-woo disappear beneath the earth.
After five days of waiting, the moment they finally reunited, he had been buried alive. It was only natural for her to shriek in horror.
"How could you bury him like that?!"
Yorang glared at the Yin-Yang Demon and shouted. At this moment, she was beyond reason. She had waited for Sun-woo’s return with all her heart, only for him to be shoved into a hole the second he stepped out. Her blood boiled with indignation.
"How could I?"
The Yin-Yang Demon growled, seizing upon her informal tone.
"...Sir."
Yorang quickly suppressed her anger and switched back to polite speech. No matter how furious she was, survival came first.
"Do not fret. He has merely gone to visit the World of Nothingness."
"What... is the World of Nothingness, sir?" Yorang asked, her politeness sounding awkward and forced.
"It is a realm of biting cold and profound loneliness; a place of solitude, sorrow, and stifling despair."
The Yin-Yang Demon spoke with an incredibly solemn expression.
"Right now, that boy has gone five days without proper food or sleep. His physical strength has been pushed to its absolute limit."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The Yin-Yang Demon continued to speak as he packed down the dirt over the pit with his feet.
"It is the perfect condition to experience the World of Nothingness."
A thick smile spread across the Yin-Yang Demon’s lips.
"As a human approaches death, they gradually lose their senses. Their hearing fades, their sense of taste vanishes, they become dull to pain, and eventually, they lose their sight. After that, they are left with nothing but to lie still and wait for death."
The Yin-Yang Demon looked at Yorang and continued.
"The World of Nothingness is exactly that. The boundary between life and death. A space where all senses are lost, and one’s existence can only be confirmed within the mind."
"Then, the reason you buried Sun-woo is...?"
"Indeed. It is a measure to forcibly thrust him into the World of Nothingness. His body, buried under the weight of the earth, will be subjected to immense pressure. He will see nothing and hear nothing. He will only feel his own existence."
The Yin-Yang Demon spoke calmly.
"To avoid death, he must constantly hold onto his consciousness. He is likely pushing his concentration to its absolute limit right now. Heh heh."
"What if... what if he dies, sir?!" Yorang asked, her face on the verge of tears.
"Then I suppose that was simply the length of his fate, was it not?"
The Yin-Yang Demon replied as if it were of no consequence.
"Ugh..."
Yorang’s face crumpled into a look of utter despair at his words.
*
Sun-woo was thinking about death.
At this moment, he could think of nothing else. For five days, he had neither eaten nor slept properly, focusing entirely on the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.
And on the fifth day...
He had finally grasped a clue to the technique and succeeded in splitting the boulder in two. Sun-woo had wanted to cheer. The joy of finally being able to eat and sleep outweighed the satisfaction of mastering the technique's secret.
But before he could enjoy that joy, he was dragged by the Yin-Yang Demon, dropped into a deep pit, and buried alive.
Sun-woo was in despair. What was the meaning of this sudden cruelty?
Buried deep, Sun-woo tried every means possible to escape the pit, but it was useless. With his internal energy restricted to a mere five years' worth, there was no way he could escape from such a deep grave.
Furthermore, his physical condition was at its worst.
He was starving. He hadn't had a proper meal in five days. An irresistible drowsiness washed over him—the side effect of his prolonged sleep deprivation. It was no exaggeration to say his stamina was in shambles.
To make matters worse, the weight of the earth pressing down on his entire body added to his agony. Physical and mental pain began to entwine around him.
In this place, he could hear nothing, see nothing, and smell nothing. His sight, hearing, and smell had all been severed. The only thing he could feel was the crushing pressure against his body.
But even that began to feel faint, as if his body were growing accustomed to it.
It was cold. The chill of the earth wrapped around him, and soon, that coldness also transformed into pain.
It was stifling. He felt an unbearable frustration at his own helplessness. He realized then just how insignificant a human he was. Without internal energy, he was a man who could do nothing.
He was afraid. There was nothing he could do but wait for death. Terror surged through him—the fear that he would die just like this.
Save me!
Sun-woo screamed. But his mouth, packed with earth, would not open. He could only scream within his mind.
.
.
.
.
.
How much time had passed?
Now, he couldn't even feel the cold or the pressure. It was as if he had reached a state of total sensory void.
Sun-woo gripped his consciousness tightly. In a space where all senses were lost and nothing could be felt, his mind was the only thing that could confirm he was still alive. If he let go of his mind now, death would claim him.
Sun-woo simply repeated the thought over and over to avoid losing himself.
He told himself that he was still alive.
*
Yorang sat there blankly.
She sat right in front of the patch of ground where Sun-woo was buried. A week had already passed, yet there was still no sign of Sun-woo emerging.
Yorang was consumed by worry. Underground, there was no air to breathe and no food to fill one's stomach. Yorang knew that no living creature could survive without breathing or eating.
Her eyes began to well up. The thought that she might never see Sun-woo again made her heart ache with an almost maddening intensity.
"Sniff... hic..."
Whack!
"Ack!"
It happened then. The Yin-Yang Demon, who had approached unnoticed, smacked Yorang on the back of the head.
"What was that for?!" Yorang shouted at him. Why was he hitting her out of nowhere again?
"Who died? Why are you blubbering like that?"
"...But you can't breathe underground." Yorang fidgeted as she spoke.
"Air is dissolved even within the soil. One can breathe as much as they need."
"Really?!"
Yorang’s face brightened at the Yin-Yang Demon’s words. If he could breathe, she felt he might not die. But her expression soon darkened again.
"But it's been over ten days since he's eaten anything."
"Is that not a problem he must overcome himself? If he wants to live, he will crawl out on his own."
"How is he supposed to... lift such heavy earth?" Yorang’s voice trailed off into a whisper.
It was absurd. How could anyone lift such an immense weight of soil with their bare body?
"If he can use the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, it is no difficult task."
The Yin-Yang Demon spoke as if it were trivial. The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth was a martial art that redirected the flow of force. If mastered properly, reversing the pressure of the earth pressing in from all sides to make an escape would be child's play.
"And if he can't use it?"
"Then he dies."
The Yin-Yang Demon spoke to Yorang as if she were asking the obvious. If he couldn't learn it, he would die. Had he not asked from the very beginning? Had he not asked if Sun-woo was prepared to put his life on the line?
"Uuuu..."
Yorang’s face turned pale at the Demon's words. Sun-woo was currently standing on the precipice between life and death.
Yorang glanced toward the spot where Sun-woo was buried. The thought occurred to her that she should dig him out right now.
"If you try to dig him up, I will dig out your brain fluid instead. Keep that in mind."
As if sensing her intent, the Yin-Yang Demon spoke to her pointedly.
"Eek!"
Yorang flinched violently, trembling at his words.
"Heh heh heh."
The Yin-Yang Demon chuckled, finding Yorang’s reaction amusing. She was a beast worth teasing. She didn't die easily even if he thrashed her when he was in a foul mood, and her reactions were entertaining. Moreover, her devotion to her master was almost touching.
Even for a mere creature.
The Yin-Yang Demon then turned his gaze toward the ground where Sun-woo lay buried. Although he had told Yorang the environment was survivable, he knew the boy was currently pushed to his absolute limit. And if he failed to overcome it, he would surely meet his end.
Overcome it, Great Adversary.
After offering his own silent encouragement, the Yin-Yang Demon looked away.
*
How much time had passed?
Sun-woo had lost all sense of time. At first, he had tried to count the seconds, but it was futile. As the count grew longer, only despair greeted him, so he soon gave up.
It was meaningless. No matter how much time he counted, there was no sign of rescue, so why bother?
Sun-woo wanted to live. He didn't want to die a dog's death like this.
Sun-woo slowly began to circulate the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art. To endure in this place where even breathing was difficult, he needed internal energy. His five years of internal energy slowly completed a full circulation through his body, and soon, his senses began to reactivate.
With this amount of energy, he couldn't activate all his senses. Sun-woo focused solely on his respiratory system, making his nose and mouth more sensitive than ever before.
Through his nose, he inhaled the oxygen dissolved in the soil and slowly exhaled through his mouth. Little by little, oxygen began to circulate through his body.
Sun-woo felt a sense of relief. It seemed he had escaped the immediate danger of suffocation. However, he didn't know how long he could hold out. He was breathing the oxygen trapped in the soil, but if that ran out, he would surely suffocate.
He had to find a way to escape. He tried to thrash his body, but it was no use. Thousands upon thousands of pounds of earth were crushing him. There was no way he could move with his internal energy restricted.
Sun-woo fell into deep thought once more. How could he escape this place? Why had the Yin-Yang Demon thrown him in here so suddenly?
He pondered and pondered. If he failed to find the answer this time, it wouldn't end with just a few cuts on his skin. He would truly face death.
Sun-woo began to work his brain desperately. The problem the Yin-Yang Demon had set was incredibly difficult. However, the Demon had never given him an unsolvable problem. For instance, had he not realized the secret of the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth just recently and split a boulder with only five years of internal energy?
There had to be a way.
Once his breathing stabilized, Sun-woo began to move his internal energy according to the mnemonics of the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth. His five years of energy slowly flowed through his body.
Sun-woo began to concentrate his energy into the edge of his hand. He wondered if he should use the secret of the Great Shift he had discovered in the earthen cave. A shape of qi formed at the edge of his palm and began to condense.
Wooooom.
Before long, his internal energy had condensed into the shape of a blade along his palm. As expected, the first time was the hardest; the second was much easier.
Sun-woo tried to strike the earth with his condensed hand-blade. But since his entire body was encased in soil, he couldn't even swing his arm.
Sun-woo eventually let the energy dissipate. It seemed this wasn't the answer.
His head throbbed. How on earth was he supposed to escape?
Sun-woo once again utilized the Yin-Yang Harmony Divine Art to gather his five years of internal energy. Ever since the Yin-Yang Demon had placed the seal on him, five years was his absolute limit no matter how much he tried to gather. In the end, he had to win this with only five years of energy.
Sun-woo agonized over it again and again. And finally, he reached a conclusion.
The key to surviving this place lay within the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.
The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth was a martial art that changed the direction of all forces acting upon the user. In other words, he could also change the direction of the thousands of pounds of pressure crushing his entire body.
To live, he had to execute the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.
Sun-woo began to contemplate the technique deeply. To perform the Great Shift, one must perceive the magnitude and flow of the forces acting upon them. Then, by using internal energy to twist that perceived flow, one changes the direction of the force.
Sun-woo began to concentrate to feel the pressure weighing down on his entire body.
The first thing he perceived was the direction of the pressure. It was acting from all directions. Next, he felt the magnitude of the pressure. The weight of thousands upon thousands of pounds tormented him.
"Urgh..."
The more he focused on the pressure crushing his body, the more the pain seemed to double. But he couldn't stop here. He had to catch the flow. The flow of this acting force.
Sun-woo pushed his concentration to the absolute limit.
Aaaaaaaagh!
The more he concentrated, the more the pain intensified. As much as he focused on the pressure, he became that much more sensitive to the pain. The pressure was enough to bring tears to his eyes, but Sun-woo focused even harder.
To feel the flow.
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.
.
.
.
How much time had passed?
Even amidst the continuation of an eternity of unquantifiable pain, Sun-woo endured and endured again. Driven solely by the single-minded determination to find the flow.
It happened then.
He began to feel an inexplicable sensation. It wasn't one of the five senses like touch, smell, sight, or hearing. It was simply an unidentified sense.
Sun-woo concentrated to fully experience that nagging sensation. And that sense began to perceive something.
The first thing he felt was the flow of his blood. Starting from his heart, he caught the flow of blood moving to every corner of his body.
Next was the flow of oxygen. He caught the flow of oxygen being inhaled from the soil, delivered to his lungs, and then dissolving into his blood.
That wasn't all. He began to catch the flow of everything that composed his body—bones, skin, organs, and nerves.
Sun-woo was swept away by a sense of euphoria. He had finally caught it.
Sun-woo began to expand the range of this sense little by little.
Beyond the heart, to the organs.
Beyond the organs, to the bones.
Beyond the bones, to the blood.
Beyond the blood, to the skin.
And beyond the skin, to the pressure crushing his entire body.
And before long, he could feel it.
The flow of the force acting upon his body.