Chapter 665

Tap. Drip-drip.

Water dripped through the silence. I shifted away from the liquid falling through a crack in the underground prison’s ceiling and looked into the air before me.

System

Quest

Escape from Namshank

You have ended up imprisoned in the underground prison of the Nanman Beast Palace after all. Dark, damp, and silent, this place resembles the future that awaits you. But it is still too soon to give up on life.

Time remaining until execution: Two days

You must escape the underground prison within the allotted time.

Whether you survive alone or together is entirely up to you. If you fail, only death awaits.

But remember: with a strong Will and even a single thread of goodwill, a path to life will open.

Grade: Supreme Peak

Restriction: Jin Taekyung

Mission: Escape the underground prison before the execution (Incomplete)

Reward: Linked Quest

???

Failure: Death

System

Quest

Escape from Namshank¹

You have ended up imprisoned in the underground prison of the Nanman Beast Palace after all. Dark, damp, and silent, this place resembles the future that awaits you. But it is still too soon to give up on life.

Time remaining until execution: Two days

You must escape the underground prison within the allotted time.

Whether you survive alone or together is entirely up to you. If you fail, only death awaits.

But remember: with a strong Will and even a single thread of goodwill, a path to life will open.

Grade: Supreme Peak

Restriction: Jin Taekyung

Mission: Escape the underground prison before the execution (Incomplete)

Reward: Linked Quest

???

Failure: Death

I had already checked the Quest window countless times.

I stared at the translucent holographic window as if I could bore a hole through it, but no miracle occurred that changed the words written on the final line.

Failure: Death.

It wasn’t the first time.

From the moment I first set foot in the Murim until now, I had received this kind of goddamn Quest several times. Of course, in the beginning, I had been utterly dumbfounded.

Back then, I really thought I was going to die a dog’s death.

I’d fought countless battles as a Hunter, but death had always frightened me. Or rather, what frightened me was everything I’d have to leave behind.

At least if I died in a Gate, my family would get a death benefit. If I died in Murim, they’d get nothing.

Still, there was no comparing who I’d been then to who I was now. Every crisis had given my guts a forced Botox injection. They’d grown bigger by the day, and my body and mind had toughened along with them.

But…

I’ve never been in a situation like this.

There was a simple reason I’d survived every brush with death. I’d either had someone beside me to fight with, or, when I had to face an enemy alone, I’d been ready to put my life on the line.

I’d fought and struggled to the bitter end. And I’d survived.

Clatter.

But never with enormous iron balls hanging all over my body and my internal energy sealed.

“…Damn it.”

I muttered under my breath and closed my eyes. The words from the Quest description seemed to appear against the darkness.

With a strong Will and even a single thread of goodwill, a path to life will open.

The System sometimes sent me messages I couldn’t tell apart from hints or complete nonsense. Was this just encouragement? Or was it the clue I needed to escape?

As I sat there thinking with my eyes closed, liquid fell from above, struck the floor, and splashed onto the back of my hand.

Tap. Splatter.

It was too sticky to be groundwater, and its temperature was warm enough to make me feel grimy.

I opened my eyes at once, but without even looking at the ceiling, I spoke.

“…You crazy bastard. I told you to quit drooling.”

I heard a slurp as Taishan swallowed.

“Sorry. Taishan was too hungry.”

“If you’re hungry, why are you putting your mouth against a hole in the floor? Just sit still.”

“But if Taishan keeps licking, it’s surprisingly salty.”

“Licking? What?”

“Rock. This place is a rock restaurant.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

“Crying out loud? Is that some kind of sauce?”

This crazy bastard…

I swallowed the curse rising in my throat. Getting angry at him would only waste what little energy I had. It wouldn’t change anything.

Besides, Taishan wasn’t in much better shape than I was. I had no idea what sort of creature he was made of—his vital points were so thick that the Pressure-Point Strike hadn’t worked—but his internal energy had been sealed, and his whole body was bound. Even Taishan’s natural strength couldn’t get him out of that.

“Pavilion Master. Taishan hungry. Taishan wants to get out soon.”

Listening to his quiet whining, I suddenly felt something that could only be called guilt.

This is all my fault.

“…Hey, Taishan.”

“Pavilion Master. Why did you call Taishan?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry. I mean it.”

I looked up as I spoke. Through a hole the size of a child’s fist, I could see one enormous, clear eye, like a calf’s.

It held a look of complete bewilderment.

I’d always thought Taishan had a heart far more innocent than his age or size suggested. He was like a clean sheet of paper.

I sighed.

“I should’ve made a better call. I didn’t. I made a mistake.”

A painful misjudgment. In baduk² terms, a terrible move.

I had locked myself inside the underground prison to clean up the consequences of that mistake, but… damn it. I still had doubts about whether it had really been the right choice.

Taishan studied me as if I’d said something strange.

“Taishan is okay.”

“You’re okay?”

“Mm-hmm. Taishan is really okay.”

“…”

I lowered my head. He probably didn’t even understand what was happening. Right now, the most important thing to him was that he was hungry. The second most important was that he had no way to do anything about it.

Maybe that’s better for him.

Then he spoke again, and I realized he was far sharper than I’d given him credit for.

“Pavilion Master doesn’t need to feel sorry for Taishan.”

“…?”

I looked up in surprise. Taishan met my eyes and spoke clearly.

“Taishan knows. Taishan is stupid.”

“What?”

“Ever since Taishan was little, people called him stupid and made fun of him. They came and hit him whenever they were bored. If Taishan hadn’t met Lord… maybe someone would still hit Taishan every day, and Taishan would cry. It was hard.”

This wasn’t the Taishan I was used to. His whole manner had changed, and his words flowed without a pause as I stared up at him.

“But Lord was different. Even when Taishan said something wrong, Lord understood. When Taishan ate a lot, Lord patted him on the back and told him to eat slowly. So Taishan decided to give his life to Lord.”

“You…”

“Then, a little while ago, Lord told Taishan we should trust Pavilion Master. He said Pavilion Master seemed different from the other people in the orthodox faction. Thinking about it now, Lord was right. A few days ago, when stupid Taishan couldn’t save Lord, Pavilion Master did.”

“…!”

“Taishan likes the Fire Dragon Pavilion now. Taishan likes little, cute Namho, and Hyuk Mujin, even if he’s annoying sometimes. Taishan likes fierce Song Ilseom and Ju Hwaran, who’s pretty as a flower. And after Lord, Taishan likes Pavilion Master best.”

I was speechless. Beyond the hole, his eye curved gently.

“Taishan trusts Lord, and Lord trusts the Pavilion Master. So Pavilion Master, trust yourself. The Pavilion Master will definitely find a way. Just like always.”

Taishan gave a little giggle. For a while, all I could do was stare.

It felt as if someone had hit me in the back of the head with a club. I’d never expected Taishan, of all people, to say those things.

And I’d never expected his words to give me more strength than anything else could right now.

Yeah. Come to think of it, there’s always been a way.

In the Murim, I seemed to have lived a life rather close to death.

Jopil. The Head Elder. The Roaring Fury Swordsman and the Blood Lord. The Western Heaven Demon Lord…

Danger had waited wherever I went. Each time, I’d taken the word death from where I kept it buried in my heart, turned it over, and made myself a promise.

I would never die. I could never die here.

A strong Will.

Was that what the Quest meant? Or…

Something else connected to a strong Will.

A certain thing the Slaughter Saint had said to me in Hubei just a few months ago flashed through my mind like lightning.

“Huh. You monstrous bastard. You finally opened your Middle Dantian, so now you can handle qi properly.”

I’d asked him, “I already know how to handle it. Don’t you know how much internal energy I have?”

The Slaughter Saint had merely let out a short laugh without answering. Then he had shaken his head and disappeared, saying I wouldn’t understand even if he told me now.

But now I thought I was beginning to understand why he’d said it. How ridiculous I must have looked to him: a young fool boasting that he could handle qi because he had several jiazi³ of internal energy.

The Three Dantians.

The three greatest and most important passages in the human body.

But the Lower Dantian was only a vessel, filled and emptied of internal energy again and again. I hadn’t grasped even a quarter of what the Middle Dantian could do or how it worked.

Now, though, things were different.

No. I understood a little.

It wasn’t internal energy that moved the Middle Dantian.

It was Will.

Strong, unwavering Will.

The Middle Dantian had belonged to the realm of enlightenment from the start, not internal energy.

It lay somewhere in an unknown domain, half a step beyond even those chosen masters whose limits were no longer decided by how much internal energy they possessed. A sacred realm one had to pass through to rise from human birth toward the realm of gods.

Since martial arts had first appeared in this world, countless masters must have met success or failure along this path. Some had crumbled like dry leaves. Others had become giants who left their footprints on the long history of martial arts.

And today, I took half a step closer to those giants.

Whoosh.

As if entranced, I reached out. Hidden among the air around me, the qi of the world rippled toward my fingertips.

Just as Baeksang was about to enter his quarters, he sensed that an uninvited guest had arrived before him.

This is…

The qi was faint but unmistakably familiar. It would have been stranger if Baeksang hadn’t recognized it.

Perhaps the guest waiting inside had wanted him to.

“You may all go.”

The guards who were about to open the door stopped. The graying Captain of the Guards, who had served at Baeksang’s side for more than thirty years, spoke up.

“My lord, even so…”

“That’s enough. Guard the grounds.”

After staring at Baeksang for a moment at his cold words, the captain scattered throughout the manor with his subordinates.

Baeksang glanced at them, then gripped the door handle firmly and pushed.

The door slid open.

Night had fallen outside, but his quarters were brightly lit. The residence was spacious, as befitted a Great Chieftain, yet furnished with almost nothing.

One person waited inside.

“You’re late. Where have you been?”

Baeksang answered calmly.

“You already know, don’t you, Palace Lord?”

A bitter smile touched the lips of his uninvited guest, the Beast Miao King.