Ten Days, The First Day (1)
'I want to die.'
These days, that single thought filled my head every waking moment. After my defeat at the hands of the Heavenly Demon, bound by every restraint imaginable, I had been dragged to this place—an underground prison steeped in darkness. A living hell overflowing with screams, shrieks, and every conceivable sound of despair. I had been thrown into its deepest cell.
Soon after, the torturers arrived. Naturally, the torment began for me just as it had for everyone else around me. I managed to endure the first few days fairly well. No matter how brutally they beat my body or forced poison down my throat, far from breaking, I only grew more resolute. I knew they wouldn't kill me right away. I understood that keeping me alive like this was part of some larger scheme.
But it didn't take long for my resolve to crumble.
The pitch-black ropes that constricted my entire body were clearly rare treasures. They rendered even my decades of external cultivation completely useless. Stripped of my breathing techniques, even drawing breath became a struggle. I kept losing consciousness, and exhaustion piled up at an alarming rate. From that point on, the intensity of the torture escalated dramatically.
They shoved branding irons into my mouth to sear my tongue. They drove iron needles into my acupoints, ensuring I couldn't even twitch, let alone scream, through the agony. The moment I seemed to fall asleep or pass out, they would strike my head to wake me. When it looked like I might starve to death, they forced strange drugs down my throat.
That was when the real fear set in. The fear that they truly wouldn't kill me. I was terrified that my utterly shattered mind might break and beg them for mercy. That I would spill everything and plead for death. It was a pathetic thought, one that deserved ridicule, but the pain had reached that level.
After that, I lost all track of time. I could only vaguely sense that a great deal of it had passed.
Then, suddenly, the torturers stopped. They dragged me out and began moving me somewhere. Where are they taking me? The thought flickered through my mind before I lost consciousness again.
When I opened my eyes once more, I found myself in an incredibly dark audience chamber. Twelve figures sat on a raised platform—six on each side. Before them stood their leader. And above even them, seated in the highest position, was one man.
The Twelve Elders of the Demonic Cult. The Vice Leader. And the Heavenly Demon.
Eyes can reveal many things. These people were utterly, horrifyingly insane. Having seen countless demonic practitioners in my time, I could tell at a glance. Especially the Heavenly Demon at the very top—his madness was beyond measure.
"Is there anyone who will volunteer?"
One... seven? One of them was going to take me? There was no way I would survive. The pain would be on an entirely different level from what I'd endured so far. I tried to appear indifferent, but honestly, I had no confidence I could withstand anything more.
"P-please..."
Please kill me... Please just kill me...
I had been ready to beg pathetically. What pride was left to protect? But despite my determination, no words came from my throat. I was crushed beneath the overwhelming pressure radiating from the elders' gazes.
"All elders, lower your hands."
The oppressive killing intent vanished at once. I turned toward the source of the voice and saw a face I had glimpsed once before.
Pae-jon. The young Vice Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult and one of the Ten Venerables, just like me. The matter was settled in an instant—he would take charge of me.
....
Our relationship could hardly be called good, even as a generous understatement. It went far beyond the simple enmity between the righteous and demonic factions. In the past, in Sichuan, I had ambushed him and inflicted considerable damage. At the very least... I had left him with permanent scars.
This was bad. A nightmare lasting ten full days lay ahead. As I desperately searched for any possible way to escape this fate, he spoke.
"Can you walk?"
It was completely different from what I had expected. He didn't drag me roughly or torment me. Instead, he matched his pace to mine, making it easier for me to walk. Before I could even ask why, things continued to unfold rapidly.
He showed me light. It had been so long since I'd seen it. The warmth of the sun itself felt beautiful. I was grateful to see light again before I died.
He untied the ropes that had bound my entire body. My external cultivation returned, the pain subsided, and my exhausted mind improved more than twofold. He even gave me a golden wound salve. There were too many injuries for it to make a significant difference, but applying a thin layer stopped the bleeding and oozing.
Why?
"Thank you."
He said I had saved his hometown and his mother. To me, it had been nothing more than a matter of course, but to him, it had become a debt of gratitude. I felt a strange sense of wonder. I had thought demonic practitioners didn't care about such things, let alone remember them. Yet he had remembered something no one else knew and was now repaying it.
Come to think of it, Pae-jon was different from the elders and the leader I had just seen. His eyes held madness, yet at the same time, they possessed a tranquility that made the madness feel absent. It was like the gaze of an enlightened monk. He even seemed to radiate a profound aura rarely seen even among the elders of the righteous path.
He seemed... rather decent. Maybe?
I wasn't sure. I had traveled the world and met countless people, but he was an entirely new kind. In any case, he didn't seem like the type to speak empty words. At the very least, the remaining time might pass in peace before I died. The thought brought me comfort.
With that relief came a wave of exhaustion. For the first time in what felt like forever, I could surrender to it completely.
. . .
"I wonder when she'll wake up."
A full day had passed. When I called her for a meal, she had simply collapsed backward and fallen asleep. Even then, the faint smile on her lips made me think it might be a good omen. I understood. The Tang Clan's torture methods were considered the best, but in truth, compared to the Demonic Cult's, they were child's play. The special drugs created by the Black Poison King ensured survival even without eating, drinking, or sleeping. All it took was time.
She must have endured for an incredibly long time, given the extent of her wounds. Even the next day, she was still asleep.
".... It's about time she woke up."
As if responding to my words, her arm twitched. Then, slowly, her closed eyes opened, revealing clear blue irises.
"Good morning~ Haha."
Namgung Seha, still half-asleep and not fully awake, simply blinked at me with a dazed expression. Then, suddenly, she snapped back to her senses and shot upright in the bed.
"This place....!!! Ah. Ah..."
She seemed momentarily confused, unsure whether she was still in a dream, a prison, or somewhere else entirely. Judging by how she checked her limbs, it was probably the latter.
"Kek."
She let out a few groans, then kept coughing as if her throat had gone dry from sleeping so long. I carefully handed her a cup of water. She paused for a moment before taking a sip, and she seemed to calm down. When I reached out, she returned the cup and asked.
".... How long was I asleep?"
"Roughly twelve hours? You must have been really exhausted. If you want to sleep more, go ahead."
She looked somewhat startled to learn she had slept far longer than she imagined. But she quickly gathered herself and spoke.
".... I'm sorry for monopolizing the bed like this."
I placed the cup back in its place and answered.
"It's fine. Use it comfortably. After all..."
After all, you'll only be alive to use it for ten days anyway.
I couldn't bring myself to say those words in front of her, so I swallowed them. Instead, I quickly made up something else.
"I prefer sleeping in a lotus position anyway."
It wasn't a lie. In fact, I preferred it. It was a way to shake off fatigue while achieving growth at the same time—killing two birds with one stone. Everyone else said lying down was more comfortable, but in a world where even the weak coughed up blood just to train, who had time to chase comfort?
"Would you like something simple to eat?"
"Yes..."
I lifted the meal tray I had prepared earlier that morning and set it on the bed. It must have been a while since she'd seen food, because the moment she picked up her spoon, I could see a hint of joy in her eyes.
"Then I'll eat well."
"Yeah, go ahead."
Uh... This suddenly feels a bit awkward.
She was eating slowly, bite by bite. I didn't want to interrupt while she was finally filling her stomach after so long, but there was something I really needed to say.
"Namgung Seha. Sorry, but can I say one thing..."
"Of course."
When I asked carefully, she swallowed what was in her mouth and nodded in response. With her positive reply, I made my request as gently as possible.
"Whether you use formal speech or casual, either is fine, but I'd really appreciate it if you could stick to one consistently."
It had been like this since we first met yesterday. She would switch back and forth between polite and casual speech. Since I was stubbornly sticking to casual speech purely for convenience, it felt rather uncomfortable.
"I see."
I sat quietly and waited while she fell into deep thought. The answer would probably come before the day was over. And it came sooner than I expected.
"To me, formal speech means showing the proper respect that the other person deserves."
So she was evaluating whether I was someone worthy of that respect? It was an easy answer to predict. After all, why would a warrior of the righteous path show respect to a demonic practitioner?
"Therefore, I will use formal speech with you."
"..... Huh?"
It was obvious, and yet not all my predictions had been correct. But I never imagined my expectations would be wrong here too.
"What part of me...?"
I pointed at my own face and asked. She thought for a moment again, then shook her head and said.
"I don't know either. But if it's simply a question of whether to show respect or not, then I will show it."
Then how exactly did you come to that conclusion? Unfortunately, our Namgung Seha didn't seem inclined to explain her reasoning.