The Repentance Cave Explodes
I sent a hand gesture to Ok-myeon Eum-ma that meant 'Isn't that enough?'
“All done? Now get out of the way. I still need to say goodbye to the others.”
“Heh… hehehe…”
Ok-myeon Eum-ma suddenly burst into hollow laughter like a man who had lost his mind.
“You ugly bitch! What the hell did you do to your face!”
'What is wrong with this old man now?'
Following Ok-myeon Eum-ma’s hollow laugh, Gapjil Jijon roared in a voice thick with shock.
“In this touching moment of parting—even if it’s only temporary—why are you messing with your face? Wait, is my face your toy now? What’s wrong with you people?”
“I-it’s not a prank… it’s not a joke… the young lady’s face… it isn’t ugly!”
Ok-myeon Eum-ma continued in a trembling voice, clearly shaken to his core.
“This can’t be… How can the greatest ugly woman under heaven be so… cute and charming?”
“…Huh? What are you talking about?”
His trembling tone carried genuine sincerity. When I looked around, Gapjil Jijon, Hyeolbu Mak-ga, the Sichuan Twin Bastards 1 and 2… every one of them stood with mouths agape, staring at me in a daze. Even the most level-headed among the demonic elders, Thousand Poison Elder, pointed a shaking finger in my direction.
'Why are their mouths hanging open like that? A fly’s going to fly right in.'
They looked as if they had witnessed something they should never have seen.
“No, why are you all acting like this over my perfectly still face?”
I irritably grabbed my own face with one hand.
'…Huh?'
Something felt drastically different. My skin… why was it so smooth? The rough, bumpy texture that used to remind me of a topographic map was gone.
Thanks to the sublime experience of protecting humanity from monsters after my Ultra S-Class awakening, I had reached a profound realm where I could discern an object’s shape through fingertip sensation alone. That ultra-sensitive touch was now registering a completely foreign texture.
'…Huh? Even the bone structure feels different…'
Only then did the strangeness hit me. I cautiously traced my eyes, nose, and mouth. First, why was the tip of my nose so elegantly straight? (It used to be upturned so severely it looked inverted.) My eyes seemed larger, and my lips somehow carried a glossy luster.
“…What is this? What the hell is going on!”
When I glared at the demonic elders in suspicion, they were still gaping at me with stunned expressions. Ok-myeon Eum-ma kept muttering to himself.
“No… she’s pretty. Far too pretty… this has to be cheating…”
I had no idea what was happening. Had the appearance of this body changed? My face had been itchy lately—could that have been related? If so, at least I wouldn’t have to hear “ugly bitch” anymore. Should I be happy about that?
'Is this some kind of setting where my looks change under moonlight? Like a werewolf or something?'
It was strange. This was a pseudo-murim world. In a place like this, techniques to freely alter one’s face surely existed. According to the scientific knowledge I had absorbed from all the martial arts novels I read for cultural education, such methods definitely existed.
But… why had the original owner of this body changed her face in the first place?
When I first fell here, got beaten half to death by those murder-crazed lunatics, had my dantian shattered and meridians severed, and was thrown into the Repentance Cave… no one had said my appearance had “changed.” They had simply declared, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “That ugly bitch is the Blood Demon Witch.”
Which meant… this current face was the woman’s true appearance, and the hideous one had been fake?
…That would mean she had deliberately transformed herself into an “ugly woman” and committed every atrocity under the title of the Blood Demon Witch. What on earth had she been trying to achieve?
At that moment Gapjil Jijon bellowed again.
“Ugly… bitch! Did you use sorcery to change your face? Planning to sell your body once you get out?”
He clicked his tongue.
“Don’t live your life like that! Never mind the looks—why did you turn yourself into such a young girl? An old spinster has become a maiden!”
…It was a true talent to make every single word so thoroughly unpleasant.
Just as I was about to snap back at Gapjil Jijon’s abuse—
“This is no time for such nonsense!”
Thousand Poison Elder clicked his tongue at the pathetic spectacle and cut in.
“Get a hold of yourselves! Is this the moment to be leisurely staring at faces? We must leave at once!”
At those words the demonic elders all wore identical ‘Oh, right’ expressions as they remembered they were still in the middle of escaping. Even Gapjil Jijon grumbled, “Ugh… the poison geezer is right,” and pulled his scattered tension back together.
“Then I wish you all martial fortune!”
“Let’s meet again in Cheonju of Fujian Province!”
As the demonic elders finished their farewells and prepared to scatter, and just as I took my first step after Thousand Poison Elder, that was the exact moment.
[VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM---]
The ground trembled. What began as a faint vibration instantly intensified, shaking the entire mountain so violently it became hard to keep my balance.
“What the—?!”
“Is it an earthquake?!”
[KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM---!]
Before the words even left their mouths, the pitch-black night sky blazed bright as noon. A colossal roar erupted, and from the direction of the Repentance Cave we had just escaped, a massive pillar of fire stabbed into the heavens.
“That… that thing…!”
The explosion was so enormous that even from five li away, fragments of rock and debris rained down like hail.
“Take cover!” Thousand Poison Elder screamed.
[BOOM!]
[CRASH!]
The demonic elders who had been exchanging farewells a moment earlier scattered in all directions in panic. I instinctively unfolded the Phantom Butterfly Soul-Bewildering Steps, barely dodging the stone shards that grazed my cheeks.
“This… what is this…”
Flustered, I tried to make sense of what was happening.
'Wait.'
My heart suddenly froze solid. Every thought stopped.
“…No.”
The Repentance Cave. The very center of that explosion.
“Grandpa…!! Guyu Majon!!!”
His final image—staying behind because he “had no reason to leave”—flashed before my eyes. In a panic I spun around, intending to sprint back toward the Repentance Cave like a madwoman.
“Move! I have to go! Grandpa is still in there…!”
“Madwoman!”
[Grab!]
Thousand Poison Elder seized my wrist and shouted desperately.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
“Guyu Majon! Grandpa is still inside! I have to go back!”
“Get a grip! Do you really think the Shaolin bastards won’t notice an explosion like this?”
Thousand Poison Elder shook me by the shoulders.
“Hyeon-jung and every other high-ranking expert in Shaolin will swarm that place immediately! What do you think will happen if you run back now? Do you want to be captured by Shaolin again?”
“But…!”
“I understand you’re worried about Guyu Majon, but going now will make everything we’ve done meaningless!”
I stood frozen, unable to advance or retreat, lost in chaos. I had to go. But… I couldn’t. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
Seeing my state, Thousand Poison Elder forced himself to speak calmly.
“…Guyu Majon was an elder of the Demonic Cult. A veteran who has survived countless battles… he will be fine. Nothing will change even if you go back now, so let’s move!”
…He was right.
I clenched my teeth.
'Fuck…!'
I took one last look at the Repentance Cave’s sky, now dyed crimson by the flames of the explosion, then turned and leaped into the darkness alongside Thousand Poison Elder.
'I have a mission. I must protect my people in my own world. I cannot stop here.'
Even after escaping this place, there was no guarantee I could return to my original world. Still, I could not remain trapped in the Repentance Cave forever. I had to get out, clash with the world, tumble, and try everything. Only then might a path appear.
'Guyu Majon… will be all right.'
Yes. I would believe that. He was a veteran of a hundred battles.
Disgust surged at my own self-rationalization, but I had no choice except to swallow it. Gritting my teeth, I raced deeper into the darkness.
Meanwhile, at Shaolin Temple situated on the mountain peak directly beside the Repentance Cave, there was no way they could have missed a detonation of that scale. On the contrary, because the Lantern Festival was in full swing, the shock was even greater.
The temple grounds were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with murim practitioners and ordinary citizens. Colorful lanterns had been peacefully illuminating the night sky when a world-shattering roar tore through the celebration.
[KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM---!]
“Uwaaaak!”
“What—what is that?!”
The earth heaved. Hanging lanterns cascaded down like falling stars. Screams and bewildered shouts turned the festive grounds into pandemonium in an instant.
The guests who had come to Shaolin that day were illustrious. Taoists from the Nine Great Schools—Wudang, Huashan, Kongtong—and family heads from the Five Great Families—Nangong, Jegal, Moyong. Stellar experts from Hengshan and Songak, along with devout commoners. Every one of them paled and stared toward the source of the blast.
“Look! Flames!”
“Isn’t that the direction of the Repentance Cave?”
Raging fire and towering dust clouds. The guests grabbed Shaolin monks in panic, but the monks were just as clueless.
In the heart of that chaos, only one person reacted immediately.
[Swish!]
The greatest under heaven, Gwangmu Daesa Hyeon-jung. The instant he witnessed the explosion, he kicked off the ground like a thunderbolt and shot toward the Repentance Cave. His figure vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.
“…Everyone, remain calm! Disciples, escort the guests to safety!”
Abbot Hyeon-gak’s deep voice steadied the scene. After entrusting the cleanup to his disciples, he led several high monks of the same generation and urgently deployed his movement arts.
“I will follow!”
The sole young monk among them was Hyeon-jung’s direct disciple—Hye-yul, the one the Blood Demon Witch had mockingly called a “fake monk.”
Shaolin’s greatest experts sliced through the darkness, racing toward the Repentance Cave. The three men’s minds were tangled with completely different thoughts.
Abbot Hyeon-gak operated his lightness skill while cold sweat ran down his back.
'Please… please let it not be what I feared…!'
He knew what the Repentance Cave was suppressing. A sinister premonition that his hopes might be nothing but empty prayer sent chills down his spine.
In the eyes of Hyeon-jung at the forefront, murderous intent burned.
'The Blood Demon Witch… back then… should I have simply killed her?'
And trailing behind them, Hye-yul. His heart held only one desperate prayer.
'Lady… you must be safe.'
He bit his lip, praying for the Blood Demon Witch’s well-being more fervently than anyone else.