Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Avici Hell
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Kim Joo screamed in terror and bolted upright.
The area around her was shrouded in darkness, and a cold wind whistled sharply as it brushed past.
“Gasp, gasp.”
Cold water dripped onto her head, one drop at a time.
When she looked up, she saw droplets falling from long stalactites.
It was the inside of that very cave where she had lost consciousness.
She had no idea why she was back inside the cave, but it didn’t matter.
After sitting there dazed for a while, staring around blankly, her lips finally parted.
“……Did I survive again this time?”
From what she could guess, it seemed the effects of the grand incantation had lingered.
She felt over her body.
There were no issues anywhere.
Her fingers were all still there, and her heart throbbed, clearly asserting its existence.
Even her face, which had been torn into by that thing at the very last moment, was intact.
She let out a sigh of relief.
But this was no time to relax.
She hurriedly got to her feet and headed out of the cave along its passage.
Stepping outside, she was greeted by brilliant sunlight.
She gazed at the sun for a moment with an expression of deep emotion, then descended through the forest along a narrow path.
A slum came into view, and passing through it led to the back alleys of Luoyang’s commercial district.
She had to escape Luoyang as quickly as possible.
Disguised as an ordinary housewife, she blended into a merchant caravan and slipped out of Luoyang without incident.
Once outside Luoyang and into the sparsely populated mountains, she slaughtered the entire caravan.
She took only the valuables from their possessions.
It seemed there would be no problem starting anew.
Leaving Henan Province behind, she headed as far away as possible.
Whenever her travel funds ran low, she ambushed merchant caravans or passing travelers to refill her pockets.
Time passed like this, and she eventually reached Yunnan Province.
There, she raided a mountain stronghold and became its leader.
It wasn’t a fiercely competitive area, the government’s gaze was distant, but plenty of tea merchants passed through, so the earnings were decent.
Soon, she became the female bandit chief commanding the region.
It wasn’t as luxurious as her life in Luoyang, nor as comfortable for her body, but each day was enjoyable in its own way.
“Chief! Chief! The caravan coming this time is a big one!”
“I told you to call me the stronghold lord, not chief!”
She kicked her dim-witted subordinate once, then bellowed energetically.
“You lot! Prepare to welcome our guests!”
“Yes!”
She was watching them all bustle about with satisfaction.
“You look like you’re having quite a good time.”
She nodded unconsciously.
“Well, in a way…….”
Her body froze.
A thick sulfurous stench filled her nose, and a bone-chilling cold utterly out of place in Yunnan washed over her.
“You, you……?!”
Turning her head, she saw the figure in the white mask.
The blinding sun and the eerie white mask formed a jarringly alien sight.
“One.”
She screamed.
* * *
“Gasp! Gasp!”
This time, she awoke inside that cave again.
She fled Luoyang at the fastest speed possible.
This time, she killed no one.
That monster must have tracked her trail.
If so, she just needed to leave no traces.
Hunting beasts for food and quenching her thirst with stream water, she kept heading east.
She encountered a nomadic tribe, toppled their chieftains, and took over their small tribe.
Taking advantage of the momentum, she attacked the surrounding tribes and unified them.
She didn’t get too greedy.
If it came again, it would be disastrous.
But in the end, it found her.
“One.”
* * *
This time, she resolved not to commit any killing.
She believed that if she changed her mindset, it wouldn’t come.
She entered a temple and became a nun.
Nothing really pleased her, but it was true that a corner of her mind felt unburdened.
And on a night when the moon shone full and bright, she met it.
“One.”
* * *
She felt wronged.
This time, the moment she emerged from the cave, she vented her rage wildly in Luoyang’s streets.
“One.”
* * *
She tried living this way, and that way too.
No matter how she lived, it always found her.
Living virtuously didn’t make it come late, nor did committing atrocities freely make it arrive sooner.
It truly came to her at any time.
She begged, demanded reasons, even let go of everything.
But the response was always the same.
“One.”
* * *
She realized it.
She was forever trapped in a nightmare from which she could never awaken.
Endless days would repeat, cycling through her being devoured over and over in horror.
She didn’t know when it would end.
Perhaps,
it might be eternal.
* * *
What she could never know was that she wasn’t the only one caught in that horrific cycle.
Everyone devoured by Yeon So-hyeon was trapped in the same loop.
Through countless methods that existed only in imagination, enduring unspeakably gruesome punishments.
All evildoers would feel pain that shattered their souls, equal to the evil karma they had accumulated.
And it wasn’t just them there.
Countless evildoers devoured by all Yeon clan members throughout history were there too.
They screamed, shouted, wailed.
But they could not escape.
They could not go mad.
Escaping into mental collapse in the real world was absolutely forbidden.
* * *
In ancient times, so distant as to be unfathomable.
Perhaps in some era of antiquity.
Perhaps in some place from mythology.
Perhaps in some other world.
There were those who, through endurance and perseverance, attained high spirituality and immortality.
They resented the world’s injustices, absurdities, and wrongs always being ignored.
They cursed heaven and earth. Using themselves as sacrifices, they birthed a demonic entity that had never existed through the ages.
And the thing born that way grew itself endlessly without anyone’s help.
It developed.
It improved.
It advanced.
Eons upon eons passed like this.
No one could now discern the true form of that immensely colossal entity.
Not even the Yeon clan members.
The Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture did not exist for the Yeon clan members.
It merely manifested in the present world through them.
Once their usefulness was spent, the Yeon clan members were devoured by the Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture, just like the other evildoers.
Trapped in that microcosm.
A place from which no one could escape.
A place where no being could break free from the cycle of torment.
A place where all evil karma must be purged, awaiting only annihilation.
Some called that place
hell.
* * *
“How is it? To your liking? Personally, I call that enclosed world the Hell Furnace.”
The fallen immortal spread his hands toward Yeon So-hyeon.
His face bore both fear and madness toward the wondrous existence known as the Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture.
“They suffer endlessly within it, providing nourishment to the Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture. And the Scripture continues to grow even now, based on that sustenance.”
“I see.”
Yeon So-hyeon’s expression remained calm.
The old man, his excitement subsided, gave Yeon So-hyeon a wry smile.
“You. You’re thinking something else entirely.”
“It’s nothing much.”
The old man looked at him with an expression of understanding.
“Yes. It must weigh on you, those you couldn’t save?”
“……”
Yeon So-hyeon gave no reply.
In his mind rose the family of the Mask Craftsman.
The countless people hung in the human meat factory.
The innocents who died while he eradicated the Black Bone Gang.
The enormous piles of corpses he had seen in the underground caverns.
“If Dark Heaven Venerable had pressed on just a bit longer, you might have saved them, right?”
Yeon So-hyeon gave a silent bitter smile.
“But your judgment was correct. If you had pushed further and used more of the Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture’s power……”
“I would have been eroded by its madness and demonic qi.”
It was, in a way, inevitable.
The Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture and the Yeon clan member were not inseparably bound.
To the Scripture, the clan member was merely expendable.
Wasn’t it absurd to expect a mere human recipient of power from an outer cosmic entity to suffer no issues?
“You……”
The old man’s unfathomable eyes fixed steadily on Yeon So-hyeon.
“So the Scripture is showing you their forms.”
Yeon So-hyeon sensed something off in the old man’s words.
“……Wasn’t the Scripture originally supposed to show the lingering spirits of the victims?”
The old man let out a hollow laugh.
“No, it’s not.”
He waved his hand in denial.
“What you see are not the lingering spirits of sacrifices or anything like that.”
“……What do you mean?”
Yeon So-hyeon’s voice grew heavy; he had already guessed something from the old man’s prior words.
“They are merely the memories of the worlds the Scripture shows. Human souls do not cling to the material world easily.”
It was all just the Scripture’s trickery.
To make the Yeon clan member devour evildoers more, faster, and in greater numbers.
“……In my case, it was my family.”
The old man’s gaze turned to his surroundings.
Yeon So-hyeon didn’t dare ask what he was seeing or hearing.
It was undoubtedly tied to the old man’s deepest pain.
The old man shrugged and deliberately grinned playfully.
“You truly are a compassionate soul, just as I saw. To be shown lingering spirits with no direct connection to you.”
The old man cackled.
Yeon So-hyeon gave a wry smile too.
“……From the moment I became a Yeon clan member, I thought I had lost all my humanity.”
The old man shook his head.
“You haven’t lost your humanity. It’s merely been twisted by the Earth Immortal Heavenly Scripture.”
He added,
“Beware the depletion of your humanity. And beware its excess as well.”
Yeon So-hyeon nodded.
“If humanity is fully depleted, only the Scripture’s madness remains, and if it’s in excess, you’ll go mad even faster.”
The old man clapped his hands.
“Indeed, brilliant!”
The old man asked Yeon So-hyeon,
“Your method of controlling the demonic qi was also fascinating. I never imagined you’d devise a way to distinguish yourself from Dark Heaven Venerable!”
The old man seemed delighted.
What did he expect from Yeon So-hyeon?
“The name of that heart technique you referenced at first……?”
“It’s the Dual Principles Heart Technique.”
The old man exclaimed in admiration.
“Yes! A splendid application. In martial arts, you may even surpass me by several moves.”
To be compared to a once-immortal being.
“It’s merely a trifling skill.”
“No false humility!”
The old man scooted right up to Yeon So-hyeon.
“Now then, doesn’t that mean you can use both demonic qi and internal energy?!”
To his words, Yeon So-hyeon merely smiled.