Chapter 98: Entering the Hell Hall (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 98: Entering the Hell Hall (1)
I stepped out of the training room. My steps felt light.
I hadn't noticed while inside, but with every stride, the sense of weight seemed to diminish.
I suppose this is why people bother with accumulating internal energy.
There was no strain on my joints; it felt as if I were walking on downy feathers.
I had been walking away from the training room for a while when Deputy Bu came running toward me, panting as if he’d been waiting for the exact moment of my emergence.
“Young Hero Eo!”
Deputy Bu stared at me. Having not washed properly for fifteen days, I looked like a total beggar.
“You must have achieved something great. Your aura is quite different from before.”
As if. I had only gained about half a jiazi’s worth of internal energy and mastered the Whirling Wind Overturning Heaven to a mere thirty percent. There was no way my aura had changed that much.
“Not at all. I just did some meditating.”
“You cannot deceive my eyes.”
Deputy Bu seemed genuinely glad to see me for a moment before returning to his usual gloomy, "Blood Ice Sword" demeanor.
“What happened with Chamber Leader Gu?”
Deputy Bu scanned our surroundings before speaking via sound transmission.
[Chamber Leader Gu has awakened from his Qi Deviation and is currently recuperating in a secure location. However, for the time being, we are publicly maintaining that the treatment failed and that he remains in the closed-door training room. Please understand, even if I speak otherwise in the presence of others.]
That meant there were people watching us.
Deputy Bu replied with a grave expression.
“Young Hero Eo, you put in a great deal of effort, but there has been little progress. The physician is continuing the treatment.”
I simply nodded.
“By the way, I don’t see my brother Jeok Yeong?”
I had expected Jeok Yeong to be the first to greet me upon my exit, so I was surprised by his absence.
“Ah! You wouldn't know. Young Hero Jeok also entered closed-door training, seemingly having gained some martial insight. He went in the same day you entered your training room.”
That was news to me. If that fellow was still in training, it meant he was on the verge of a significant breakthrough.
That was good news for me. It meant I was gaining an even stronger younger brother.
“Is everyone else doing well?”
“Of course.”
I looked at Deputy Bu.
He seemed to be answering my questions half-heartedly, his mind clearly elsewhere.
“Listen, I know you just came out of training and need rest, but would you mind stopping by the Hell Hall on your way?”
“Ah! Is the Blood Wind Squad training well?”
When I asked, Deputy Bu nodded.
“Yes. They are training with such life-or-death determination that there have been almost no dropouts. They have taken elixirs and entered the final stage of their training. I was hoping you could stop by to boost their morale. Your own subordinates are also training hard without a single dropout. I have never seen people cling to martial arts training with such desperation. In fact, the Blood Wind Squad warriors are being motivated just by watching them.”
I suddenly missed the Twin Heroes of Guiyang, the Seven Heroes, So Gu-chi, Sim Geol, Poison Wolf Ibu, and the Smiling Face Sword.
Now that I had barely surpassed one jiazi of internal energy, I felt like I could finally carry the title of a proper warrior. I wondered how they were doing.
Perhaps they had become even stronger than me.
Curious, I spoke to Deputy Bu.
“Do you have the Hell Hall training schedule with you?”
I asked because I had seen him adjusting the schedule with a sheet of paper before.
Deputy Bu handed me a page.
I looked at the first line and let out a hollow, exasperated laugh.
“Wait, you’re saying they undergo Acupoint Striking every single day for seven days after entering the Hell Hall?”
“Yes. It is to maximize the effects of the elixirs and to allow for rapid energy accumulation during meditation. Normally, we only perform Acupoint Striking for two days in the Hell Hall, but this time, we used a shortcut to speed up the accumulation for those who have mastered Orthodox internal energy cultivation methods.”
“Sigh.”
I felt a pang of pity for the Twin Heroes and the Seven Heroes.
I knew all too well how agonizing Acupoint Striking was—I had suffered through it at the hands of Mok Gal-jin.
To endure that pain every day for a week...
If it were me, I probably would have bitten my tongue and ended it all.
Hearing that they had endured all that, taken elixirs, and were now in final training made me feel incredibly sorry, yet proud.
People might wonder how one could become a master in just one month at the Hell Hall, but hearing the details, it seemed entirely possible.
The rest of the schedule was even more brutal.
They learned skills and made up for their lack of experience through nothing but actual combat.
These were things I wouldn't do even if someone offered me a million gold.
But that was that; right now, my growling stomach was the priority.
“I haven't eaten in a long time and I'm starving. Can we eat before we go?”
“Didn't you have Fasting Pills?”
“I did. But those don't exactly count as a meal.”
Deputy Bu tilted his head.
“To be honest, that was my first time eating a Fasting Pill. I forced it down, but I just couldn't get used to it.”
Deputy Bu looked at me strangely as I spoke.
“Usually, people eat Fasting Pills during closed-door training. What do you usually eat, Young Hero Eo?”
“I’ve never done closed-door training before.”
“Truly?”
Deputy Bu stared at me with wide eyes.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“If you built your current strength without ever undergoing closed-door training, you are truly remarkable. I suspected you were extraordinary after seeing you defeat the Black Dragon Exploding Demon Yu Hong, but still...”
Only then did I realize why he was so shocked.
I had answered simply because I didn't know the training habits of high-level masters. I had heard long ago that when masters reach a point of realization, they seek further insight through closed-door training.
However, closed-door training wasn't something an ordinary warrior could do.
First, you needed a supply of expensive Fasting Pills, and you needed a secluded, secure training room. For a warrior without money, such things were a pipe dream.
People think Fasting Pills are easy to find anywhere, but that’s just misinformation spread by martial arts novels.
Think about it logically: how could something that provides full nutrition with just one pill a day be easy to find?
Fasting Pills are made by grinding various high-quality medicinal herbs and nutrient-rich grains. Wealthy sects even mix in elixirs.
It makes me laugh when I read stories saying Fasting Pills are made of nothing but pine needles.
Humans aren't caterpillars; how could we get enough nutrition from just pine needles?
The training room is the same.
A proper training room is a precision-built structure designed to block out noise and vibration. Building one requires throwing a massive amount of money at it.
Since one can fall into Qi Deviation if disturbed while meditating, a very quiet, secret, and enclosed space is essential.
Some warriors try to train in deep mountain caves, but you often hear stories of them being eaten by wild beasts.
It’s a sad but funny reality that happens because low-level martial artists can't easily afford a proper training room.
I was only enjoying this luxury because I was here at the Nine Demons Chamber. For a low-level or penniless warrior, training in a room while eating Fasting Pills was something they could only dream of.
Having lived as a low-level nobody myself, I had never even seen what a closed-door training room looked like, let alone a Fasting Pill, until I saw Ham Bi-hye’s training room. Deputy Bu simply couldn't understand that.
Deputy Bu looked at me as if I were a monster and said, “This won't do. Even if we visit the Hell Hall later, you should go to your quarters first to wash and eat.”
As the stench from my body began to waft, Deputy Bu spoke as if he could no longer bear it.
*
“Eo Ja-seo just emerged from the training room. He is currently at his quarters washing and eating.”
A warrior in black clothes reported to the man in front of him.
“Is that so? Do you know his next move?”
“I heard he’s going to the Hell Hall to inspect the Blood Wind Squad’s training.”
“When?”
“After his meal, so likely in about two hours.”
“The Hell Hall, eh?”
The man’s eyes gleamed with a sinister light as he continued to mutter.
“To enter the Hell Hall, one must pass through a tunnel. It is a place without a single ray of light, where you cannot see an inch in front of you. If you ambush him there with your subordinates, even he won't be able to escape. However, this man defeated the Black Dragon Exploding Demon. If your preparations are half-hearted, you won't even touch a hair on his head.”
At those words, the man in black smirked.
“Do not worry. We have already come prepared to die. We have prepared a suicide attack to avenge our Unit Leader and Tenth Tiger. This time, he will never escape.”
Do Geon grinned, baring his white teeth.
“That is the most refreshing thing I’ve heard. No matter how much he flies or crawls, I refuse to believe he can survive a suicide attack from the Ghost Pursuit Squad.”
Do Geon had heard of the Ghost Pursuit Squad’s suicide tactics.
Their method was to blow themselves up along with Bone-Corrosion Poison.
An explosion coupled with Bone-Corrosion Poison, which was said to be more terrifying than gunpowder itself.
Do Geon smiled brightly, imagining Eo Ja-seo’s face melting away under the poison.
*
I washed the stench off my body with warm water and ate the meal that had been prepared for me.
Then, without even a moment’s rest, I was ushered outside by Deputy Bu’s nagging.
As we left the quarters, we ran into Galwi.
Behind Galwi, the Black Spirit Ten Guards followed at a distance, as always.
Seeing as we crossed paths at this exact moment, it seemed he had come specifically because he heard I was out.
“Oho! Did you perhaps master some ultimate divine art?”
Galwi began to needle me.
You’d think he’d be at least a little glad to see me after a while, but seeing him pick a fight immediately, his personality was clearly as twisted as ever.
“Haha, I just had a long, deep sleep. What divine art are you talking about?”
When I joked back, Galwi smirked.
Wait? Why is this guy acting so smug? Did he eat something wrong?
I found it strange that Galwi kept following us, so I asked.
“Young Lord Gal, why are you following me?”
The thorn in my side continued to follow me with that annoying smirk.
“Ah, I’m just taking a stroll.”
“This way leads to the Hell Hall. The walking path is over there.”
“Ah, don't mind me. You just go on your way, Young Hero Eo.”
What a weirdo. Ignoring Galwi, I continued toward the Hell Hall with Deputy Bu.
However, by the time we reached the Hell Hall, I realized why Galwi had been following me and smirking.
The Iron Blood Demon Group was standing firmly in front of the Hell Hall.
And at the front stood a man, looking quite imposing.
Beside him stood Elder Jang, who gave me a groveling smile.
It looked like that old man had coaxed the leader of the Iron Blood Demon Group into this.
Even Deputy Bu looked flustered, as if he hadn't known about this.
It seemed to be a sudden development.
Seeing as there were no bystanders around, they must have hurriedly dispatched the Iron Blood Demon Group here as soon as they heard I was coming to the Hell Hall.
They were clearly determined to humiliate me somehow.
“I am Wang Baek, the leader of the Iron Blood Demon Group, known as the Iron Blood Dragon. I heard that while I was away, some strange fellow has been acting as the leader of the Blood Wind Squad, so I came to see for myself.”
“Now that you’ve seen me, are we done? Then move aside and let us pass.”
When I spoke, the Iron Blood Dragon Wang Baek’s face contorted.
“What are you talking about! I came here for a life-and-death duel. Let’s settle this here!”
He was a simple, ignorant man.
To just recklessly charge in and demand a fight...
Men like this were actually harder to deal with than someone like Yu Hong.
As I’ve said before, if you try to use reason and logic with people like this, you’ll only lose.
Just as evil must be suppressed with greater evil, ignorance must be met with even greater ignorance.
However, there were other ways to handle men like this besides being ignorant.
Deputy Bu spoke via sound transmission.
[That man is the senior brother of the Ghost Rock Dragon, Do Geon. He is highly favored by the Sixth Chamber Leader. He is simple and crude, but he is a master far stronger than Do Geon.]
I could tell even without being told. Wang Baek’s fighting spirit was palpable even from fifteen feet away.
The relationship between the Blood Wind Squad and the Iron Blood Demon Group was already so bad that they fought even outside the chamber.
Knowing they had once lain in ambush to kill Ham Bi-hye, I didn't look upon them kindly either.
And from their perspective, they couldn't possibly like me, the "Acting Squad Leader" of the Blood Wind Squad.
It was a relationship and a situation where a fight was inevitable.
However, I hadn't memorized the Chamber Rules before leaving the training room for nothing.
I had memorized them specifically to use at a time like this.