Chapter 39

Part 14: Avīci Hell

Geumju rose from her place with a horrifying scream.

Her surroundings were filled with darkness, and a cold wind swept past with a sharp howl.

“Huff, huff.”

Cold drops of water were falling onto her head one by one.

When she looked up, she saw droplets falling from long stalactites.

It was the very cave where she had lost consciousness.

She could not understand why she was inside the cave, but none of that mattered.

After sitting there blankly for a while, looking around, her mouth opened.

“…Did I survive again this time?”

If she had to guess, it seemed the effect of the Grand Curse Technique had remained.

She felt over her body.

There was nothing wrong anywhere.

Her fingers were still in place, and her heart was beating, clearly asserting its existence.

And the face that had been bitten off by that thing at the final moment was also intact.

She let out a sigh of relief.

But this was not the time to feel reassured.

She hurriedly raised herself and followed the cave outside.

When she stepped out of the cave, the bright sun greeted her.

After gazing at that sun for a moment with deep emotion, she followed a beast trail down through the forest.

Then the slums came into view, and after passing through the slums, the back alleys of Luoyang’s commercial district appeared.

She had to leave Luoyang as quickly as possible.

Disguised as an ordinary married woman from a common household, she joined a merchant caravan and was able to leave Luoyang safely.

After leaving Luoyang and entering a remote mountain with few people, she killed everyone in the caravan.

Then she took only the valuables among their possessions.

There seemed to be no problem with making a fresh start.

She left Henan Province and headed as far away as possible.

Whenever her travel expenses ran low, she attacked merchant caravans or travelers and filled her pockets.

After time passed like that, she reached Yunnan Province.

There, she attacked a mountain stronghold and was able to become its leader.

It was not a place with fierce competition, and the eyes of the authorities were distant as well. Since many tea merchants passed through, the earnings were quite decent.

Soon, she became a female bandit chief who ruled over the area.

It was neither as luxurious nor as comfortable as Luoyang, but each day was enjoyable in its own way.

“Boss! Boss! The caravan coming this time is quite big!”

“I told you to call me Chief, not Boss!”

She kicked the foolish subordinate once and shouted with vigor.

“Boys! Get ready to welcome our guests!”

“Yes!”

She was pleasantly watching everyone busily move about.

“You look like you are having quite a bit of fun.”

She nodded unconsciously.

“Well, more or less…”

Her body stiffened.

Her nose caught a thick smell of sulfur, and she felt a bitter chill that did not suit Yunnan at all.

“Y-you…?!”

When she turned her head, the white mask entered her vision.

The scorching sun and that chilling white mask were far too out of place together.

“One.”

She screamed.

“Huff! Huff!”

This time as well, the place where she woke up was inside that cave.

She left Luoyang at the fastest speed possible.

This time, she killed no one.

That monster must have followed her traces.

Then all she had to do was leave no traces.

She hunted beasts, quenched her thirst with valley water, and continued heading east.

She encountered a mounted tribe, defeated their warriors, and then was able to lead their small tribe.

While she was at it, she attacked the nearby tribes and united them.

She did not get too greedy.

After all, it would be a big problem if that thing found her again.

But in the end, it found her.

“One.”

***

This time, she decided not to commit any killing.

She judged that if she changed her ways, that thing would not come looking for her.

She entered a temple and became a bhikkhuni.

There was nothing about it she liked, but it was also true that one corner of her heart felt lighter.

Then, on a night when the moon shone brilliantly, she met that thing.

“One.”

She felt wronged.

This time, the moment she left the cave, she vented her anger violently in the streets of Luoyang.

“One.”

***

She tried living this way and that.

But no matter how she lived, that thing came for her.

It was not as though it came later because she lived kindly, nor did it come faster because she committed every atrocity she wished.

That thing truly came for her at any moment.

She had begged. She had asked for a reason. She had even tried letting go of everything.

But the answer that returned was always the same.

“One.”

She realized it.

That she was now eternally trapped in a nightmare from which she could never awaken.

That only horrible days would repeat, cycling endlessly with her being caught and eaten again and again.

She could not know when it would end.

Perhaps,

Perhaps it would be eternal.

She could never know, but she was not the only one who had fallen into that dreadful snare.

All those eaten by Yeon Sang-hyeon were inside the same loop.

Through countless methods that had only appeared in imagination, through punishments so horrific they could not be described.

All evil people would have to feel pain that shattered their souls in proportion to the evil karma they had accumulated.

And they were not the only ones there.

In that place were countless evil people who had been devoured by every successor until now.

They screamed, shouted, and wailed.

But they could not escape.

They could not even go mad.

Having their minds break and fleeing from reality was absolutely not permitted.

***

In the distant past.

Perhaps in some ancient era.

Perhaps somewhere in myth.

Perhaps in some other world.

There were those who had obtained high spirituality and immortality through patience and long suffering.

They were displeased that the world’s irrationality, absurdity, and injustice were always ignored.

They resented Heaven and Earth. Using themselves as the offering, they gave birth to a demonic being that had never existed in all eternity.

And the thing born in that way endlessly grew itself without anyone’s help.

It developed itself.

Improved itself.

Enhanced itself.

Thus, an immeasurable span of time passed.

Now, there were none who could discover the true body of that thing, which had grown so endlessly vast.

The same was true even for the successors.

The Ruler Of Darkness did not exist for the sake of its successors.

It merely existed in the present world through its successors.

Successors who had outlived their usefulness were devoured by The Ruler Of Darkness, just like other evil people.

They were trapped within that microcosm.

A place no one could escape.

A place where no being could escape the cycle of pain.

A place where all evil karma was settled, and one had no choice but to wait for annihilation.

Some called that place—

Hell.

30000

“What do you think? Do you like it? Personally, I call that closed world the Hell Furnace.”

The fallen immortal spread his hand toward Yeon Sang-hyeon.

On his face were both fear and madness toward the wondrous existence known as The Ruler Of Darkness.

“Those people suffer endlessly inside it, providing nourishment to The Ruler Of Darkness. And based on that nourishment, The Ruler Of Darkness is still growing even now.”

“I see.”

Yeon Sang-hyeon’s expression was calm.

The old man, whose excitement had settled, gave Yeon Sang-hyeon a bitter smile.

“You are thinking of something else.”

“It is nothing important.”

The old man looked at him with an understanding expression.

“I see. Are the ones you could not save weighing on your heart?”

Yeon Sang-hyeon did not answer.

The mask artisan’s family surfaced in his mind.

The countless people hanging in the human-meat factory surfaced in his mind.

The innocent people who had died while he was destroying the Black Bone Sect surfaced in his mind.

The enormous piles of corpses he had seen in the underground cavity surfaced in his mind.

“You must be thinking that if Dark Heaven Venerable One had acted just a little more, perhaps you could have saved them.”

Yeon Sang-hyeon gave a bitter smile without speaking.

“But your judgment was correct. If you had pushed yourself further and used the power of The Ruler Of Darkness…”

“I would have been corroded by the madness and demonic energy of The Ruler Of Darkness.”

In a way, it was only natural.

The Ruler Of Darkness and its successor did not share an inseparable relationship.

To The Ruler Of Darkness, a successor was nothing more than a consumable.

Was it not absurd to hope that a successor, who had originally been nothing more than an ordinary human, would receive power from an existence of the outer universe and remain completely unharmed?

“You…”

The old man’s unfathomable eyes stared steadily at Yeon Sang-hyeon.

“The Ruler Of Darkness must be showing you their appearances.”

Yeon Sang-hyeon felt something strange in the old man’s words.

“…Was The Ruler Of Darkness not originally showing me the vengeful spirits?”

The old man gave an empty laugh.

“No. No, it was not.”

He denied it with a wave of his hand.

“What you are seeing are not things like the vengeful spirits of the victims.”

“…What do you mean?”

Having already guessed something from the old man’s earlier words, Yeon Sang-hyeon’s voice was heavy.

“They are all merely memories of the world that The Ruler Of Darkness shows you. Human souls do not ordinarily remain bound to the material world.”

It was all nothing more than one of The Ruler Of Darkness’s arts.

A trick meant to make the successor devour evil people even more, even faster.

“…In my case, it was my family.”

The old man’s gaze turned toward his surroundings.

Yeon Sang-hyeon did not dare ask what he was seeing or hearing.

For it was surely connected to the old man’s heaviest pain.

The old man shrugged and deliberately gave a mischievous laugh.

“As I have seen, you truly must be a compassionate person. To think you see vengeful spirits who have no direct relation to you.”

The old man cackled.

Yeon Sang-hyeon also gave a bitter smile.

“…The moment I became a successor, I thought I had lost all my humanity.”

The old man shook his head.

“You did not lose your humanity. Your humanity was merely twisted by The Ruler Of Darkness.”

Then he added,

“Beware the depletion of humanity. And also beware an excess of humanity.”

Yeon Sang-hyeon nodded.

“If all humanity is depleted, only the madness of The Ruler Of Darkness will remain. And if humanity becomes excessive, I will go mad even faster.”

The old man clapped his hands.

“As expected, how clear-minded!”

The old man asked Yeon Sang-hyeon,

“The way you controlled the demonic energy was also extremely interesting. Even I did not know you would create a method to distinguish yourself from Dark Heaven Venerable One like that!”

The old man looked pleased.

What exactly did he expect from Yeon Sang-hyeon?

“What was the name of that mental cultivation method you first referred to…?”

“It is the Two Principles Mind Art.”

The old man shouted excitedly.

“Yes! That was a truly excellent application. Perhaps in martial studies, you are several moves above me.”

To compare himself to an existence who had once been an immortal—how could he dare?

“It is merely an insignificant skill.”

“Enough of that useless modesty!”

The old man scooted close in front of Yeon Sang-hyeon.

“Then does this not mean you are now able to use both demonic energy and internal energy?!”

At his words, Yeon Sang-hyeon merely smiled.