First Trial of the Hanchon Secret Cave
The Hanchon Secret Cave of the Bing Palace.
It was a sacred site of the Bing Palace, a place accessible only to those chosen ones who passed its trials.
From ancient times, only Bing Palace members could enter the Hanchon Secret Cave, but after forging ties with Siu's sect, outsiders gained access as well.
Even so, only those connected to Siu's sect were permitted entry.
The qualification to enter the Hanchon Secret Cave wasn't granted solely because it was a holy site.
The cave was filled with countless trials.
Yet overcoming them completely was like plucking stars from the sky.
In truth, some who entered had lost their lives, while others emerged crippled, unable to practice martial arts ever again.
One such person was Han Baek-gwang, Han Si-rang's son and Han Seo-yeon's father.
He had been hailed as a prodigy destined to lead the Bing Palace after Han Si-rang, but he met his end without passing the Hanchon Secret Cave's trials.
That loss plunged Han Si-rang into prolonged grief, leaving him unable to properly manage the Bing Palace for a long time.
The Hanchon Secret Cave that Woo-gang had entered was a place of such peril.
Leaving Yeom Si-woo's welcoming presence behind, Woo-gang stepped into the cave and found himself too awestruck to do anything but gawk.
At the end of the dark, narrow passage lay an immense space.
It felt as if an entirely different world had been transplanted inside the cavern.
Its scale and expanse defied estimation, featuring cliffs, rocks, and hills of transparent ice.
Everything was so crystal clear that it took time to adjust at first.
"It's been a while since a person entered."
Amid Woo-gang's absorption in the cave's interior, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
Woo-gang, who hadn't expected anyone there, startled and stumbled back a few steps.
"You may enter as you wish, but leaving is up to us. Overcome the Hanchon Secret Cave's trials and grow, and you'll walk out on your own two feet unscathed. Though the odds are slim."
Emerging slowly from the shadows, the speaker uttered words that chilled the blood—a certain elderly man.
Or rather, a man whose age was impossible to gauge.
His hair was snow-white, suggesting old age, yet his face was smooth without a single wrinkle.
But his voice carried the weight of profound experience.
Woo-gang's body trembled.
From the cold?
No, one who cultivated the Hyeoncheon Yeolhwa Singong wouldn't shiver from mere chill.
The tremor came from the killing intent radiating from the old man.
Feeling it for the first time, Woo-gang could only shudder at the indescribable sensation.
"Your first trial began the moment you entered the Hanchon Secret Cave."
Shing!
With that, the old man drew his sword from his waist.
"I'll kill you. There's only one way to pass your first trial: kill me."
Woo-gang's eyes wavered.
Kill a person.
He had learned martial arts, but he'd never considered such a thing.
Besides, the old man before him was a stranger, someone with no grudge or reason to die by his hand.
Of course, in the jianghu, one sometimes had no choice but to kill—due to necessity or circumstance.
But that was something to confront gradually, steeling one's resolve over time, not thrust upon one so abruptly.
"Judging by your stance, this won't take long. How dull."
To speak of murder in terms of amusement.
It defied Woo-gang's common sense, but now was no time to dwell on it.
The old man's killing intent was thickening by the moment.
Woo-gang gripped his spear.
The thought of killing the old man was unthinkable.
For now, he had to do everything in his power just to survive.
Entering the Hanchon Secret Cave with tension and anticipation, Woo-gang now faced death head-on.
***
The Hanchon Secret Cave admitted no external light.
Instead, it maintained constant illumination, day or night.
With no day-night cycle, one lost track of time's passage.
Woo-gang could no longer gauge how many days had passed since entering.
Humans and nature alike awoke by day and slept by night—that was the natural order.
Disrupted, his body and mind accumulated profound fatigue.
Yet he couldn't simply sleep when exhaustion hit.
The old man attacked without respite.
The moment Woo-gang tried to catch his breath, the old man's sword would dart out, aiming for his life.
Even in delirious drowsiness, he'd leaped away in terror countless times.
With no way to sate his gnawing hunger, his mind grew ever hazier.
His sense of reality dulled, time losing all meaning.
The old man drove Woo-gang to his physical and mental extremes.
"Urgh!"
Woo-gang groaned, stripping off his upper garments.
Crusted blood flaked away with the cloth, fresh wounds bleeding anew across his body.
His physique was a ruin.
Scars snaked over him like the gnarled roots of an ancient tree clutching the earth.
Blood trickling along those twisted ridges made him look grotesque.
Swish!
Woo-gang flung aside his blood- and sweat-soaked clothes.
Clothing now felt more hindrance than help; bare, he gripped his spear once more.
His eyes had utterly transformed from when he'd first entered.
Deprived of sleep, constantly exposed to killing intent—perhaps that was why.
His gaze brimmed with venom and malice, sharp enough to doubt it was his own.
Clutching his spear to his chest, Woo-gang leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes briefly.
It might have seemed like seeking sleep, but his senses remained razor-alert.
He couldn't predict when or from where the old man might strike.
Less than a shichen after shutting his eyes.
Woo-gang's snapped open.
He launched forward like a bolt, rolling lightly across the floor to rise.
Boom!
The old man's sword embedded in the wall where Woo-gang had sat.
He'd approached silently for the kill, but Woo-gang's honed instincts evaded it.
Thud!
Woo-gang kicked off the ground.
With ferocious momentum, he thrust his spear.
The old man countered, swinging his sword to clash.
Their fierce exchange dragged on; neither yielded an inch.
As if it would end only with one's death.
Shrieeek!
Woo-gang's spear tore through the air, stabbing sharply.
The old man swiftly deflected it and closed in with agile steps.
Woo-gang didn't retreat.
Even though proximity disadvantaged his longer spear, he advanced on the old man.
Gripping the midsection, he whipped it freely, countering the onslaught.
It was a savage, razor-edged assault laced with thick killing intent—unlike anything before.
Woo-gang hadn't started this way.
Upon entering, he'd been desperate just to block and dodge.
Not due to skill gap—no.
He'd never swung a spear to kill.
Those myriad scars on his body stemmed from that very hesitation.
Now, he was the opposite.
What had changed him?
The cave's harsh environment played a part, but above all, a shift in mindset.
Woo-gang, who had once leaped from a cliff to end his life.
He still held no strong aversion to his own death.
But now, things differed: he had people dear to him.
Yeom Si-woo, no different from a blood grandfather.
And the apothecary owner, who in their brief time together had shown genuine care.
For their sake, he couldn't die.
That resolve—to survive, even if it meant killing the old man—sparked the change.
Woo-gang channeled his true qi into his spear.
Seizing the initiative, he unleashed fierce, piercing strikes.
The qi-infused spear packed tremendous power.
The old man, thrilled by the challenge, met it with even greater vigor.
Boom! Boom!
Spear and sword collided repeatedly.
They parted and rejoined several times.
But Woo-gang pressed on relentlessly.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from his spear.
Facing the scorching blaze, the old man grinned with manic glee.
"Raaah!"
The old man roared, swinging his sword.
Boom!
Sparks from the clash scattered, one striking the wall.
Sizzle!
The flame melted the ice before vanishing, leaving a deep gouge.
Shrieeek!
Thwuck!
Each thrust and swing from Woo-gang menaced the old man with searing fire.
Stab, sweep, sometimes a heavy overhead smash.
Beyond blocking the spear, he had to contend with encroaching flames from all sides—chaos.
The old man's movements grew erratic.
He flailed wildly as always, but couldn't pierce Woo-gang's defenses.
"Hah!"
Woo-gang pulled his spear from behind, slamming it down with force.
Kaboom!
The old man raised his sword overhead to block.
But he couldn't fend off the trailing flames.
Fwoosh!
They grazed his head, singeing some hair.
Woo-gang pressed the spear down hard, flicking the old man's sword aside.
As the reeling old man recovered, Woo-gang struck again.
Kaboom!
An even mightier blow.
The old man's body shuddered violently.
"Raaargh!"
Roaring in fury, he shoved Woo-gang's spear wide and rose.
The force launched Woo-gang airborne, spinning backward.
Thud. Whoosh!
Landing, he coiled from his toes and exploded forward.
Shrieeek!
His spear thrust with blinding ferocity.
A single lethal point; the old man countered with his own stab.
Kaboom!
A greater explosion echoed through the cave.
Point met point—the sword shattered, and the old man flew back, unable to withstand the impact.
Thud!
He crashed hard to the ground.
Writhing in agony, he struggled upright, leaning on the sword's hilt-less remains.
Then, cold steel touched his throat.
Woo-gang's spear.
"Kill me. Or I'll use every means to kill you again."
The old man said, staring at Woo-gang.
Woo-gang gazed silently, then withdrew his spear fully.
One thrust now would pierce the old man's throat.
Shrieeek!
Woo-gang thrust.
Boom!
But the spear struck the ground beside the old man's neck.
"Didn't you hear me? Kill me, or you'll die!"
The old man bellowed in rage.
Woo-gang met it calmly.
"If you try to kill me again and again, I'll survive you each time."
The old man smirked bitterly.
"And if I tried to kill your master? As long as I draw breath, using any means. The jianghu demands ruthlessness, cold precision, and resolve."
Woo-gang looked him in the eye.
"If they deserve death, and there's no other way. I'll do it—to protect those under my wing."
He answered with firm conviction.
The old man stared wordlessly, then rose laboriously.
"Resolving to kill and actually doing it are worlds apart. You'll learn in time. Once you learn martial arts and wield a weapon, you can't escape it, no matter how you try."
With that, he stepped back a few paces, parting to the side like clearing a path.
"Go. You've passed the first trial."
Woo-gang faced forward.
Unlike where he stood, a pitch-black passage loomed.
Slowly, he advanced into it.