Chapter 50

“Angelica, Peony, White Poria, Cnidium, Angelica…”

Bang, bang!

Jin Ja-gang muttered ceaselessly while hammering away.

“Hyeongsongeugeen, Euisudanjeon, Naesamhap…”

Whether crawling through the tunnel, eating, or chiseling at the bedrock.

Jin Ja-gang continuously recited the knowledge he had received, except during sleep.

This was the only way to endure being alone in this pitch-black, silent space.

By keeping himself constantly moving, Jin Ja-gang lost track of time. He couldn’t tell whether time was passing slowly or quickly.

At first, he gauged time only by the hunger his body communicated to him, but gradually he forgot even that.

Seeing how the hammering had become second nature to his hands, perhaps considerable time had passed.

Bang, bang.

Jin Ja-gang paused his hammering. After an extremely long time of chiseling, he had finally created a tunnel just large enough for one person to enter.

He felt the top of the tunnel, but it seemed the solid bedrock wouldn’t collapse.

Jin Ja-gang decided to go find something to eat.

He put down the chisel and hammer and stood up to walk.

Suddenly he realized he was no longer crawling. While partly due to having memorized all the pathways and obstacles in the tunnel, that wasn’t the only reason.

The splint was no longer necessary.

Jin Ja-gang removed the splint and carefully took a few steps. His broken bone felt slightly sore, but he could walk.

Due to the manual reduction not being completely successful, he still limped slightly, but if he put strength into his leg and stood straight, he could walk just like a normal person.

But was there any need to do that in this place where no one could see him?

Having grown accustomed to limping for nearly a year, walking properly was actually more difficult for Jin Ja-gang.

***

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Translated by Nine Heavens!

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***

Bang, bang!

Most of Jin Ja-gang’s days were spent chiseling the tunnel.

Since he carefully selected only solid bedrock to prevent collapse, progress was extremely slow.

Even after chiseling for an entire month, he could only advance about one step.

This task was as difficult and required as much persistent effort as mastering the internal energy cultivation methods he had learned from the others.

The rock blocking his path was like his own completely blocked energy channels.

Both required considerable time to show results. Impatience wouldn’t help.

Therefore, Jin Ja-gang neither gave up nor grew anxious.

He simply did what needed to be done each day.

Eventually, when he could recite all the knowledge transmitted to him without missing anything, he began practicing dantian breathing while chiseling.

Except for the fact that it was too dark to see anything, nothing in this tunnel could threaten Jin Ja-gang.

Like someone in closed-door training, Jin Ja-gang could raise his concentration to the maximum whenever necessary.

Sometimes he would become so absorbed in chiseling and dantian breathing that he lost track of time, only realizing how hungry he was when his stomach felt like it was being cut in two.

* * *

The seasons changed, and the green mountains turned into a tapestry of colorful autumn leaves.

Mang-ryo appeared in front of the collapsed mine.

It had been two months since he had last visited.

Mang-ryo still had crutches under both shoulders, with a leather pouch slung over his shoulder, holding the pouch’s opening string in his teeth to prevent it from falling.

But something was strange about Mang-ryo’s body.

He was bleeding from various places. His clothes were all torn, and there were visible sword cuts all over. Even his cheek, already severely burned, had a gash.

With difficulty, Mang-ryo made his way to the front of the mine on his crutches. The tunnel entrance remained collapsed, just as before.

Mang-ryo turned the pouch with his teeth and set it down, then threw aside his crutches. Then he simply sat down.

Thud.

“Whew.”

After catching his breath, Mang-ryo wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand. But his hand was so covered in blood that it only left bloodstains on his forehead.

However, Mang-ryo didn’t seem to care and just sat there, staring at the collapsed mine entrance.

“Nngh.”

Mang-ryo grimaced, perhaps from the pain of wounds all over his body.

Then he opened the pouch beside him and took out a well-roasted pig’s leg. He tore into it ravenously, as if very hungry.

Crunch, crunch.

He also took out a bottle of liquor from the pouch.

After taking a large gulp of the liquor, he poured some onto a wide rock in front of him.

Splish.

The liquor pooled, forming a small puddle.

After some time, Mang-ryo carefully observed the puddle of liquor.

A faint smile appeared on Mang-ryo’s face.

He spent several days there, eating and drinking, before leaving.

* * *

When Mang-ryo returned to the collapsed mine entrance, it was winter.

Mang-ryo still used crutches, and his appearance had deteriorated to nearly that of a beggar.

His beard and hair had grown unkempt for months, and his clothes remained torn as they had been months ago. Blood and stains had darkened to black.

But what had changed from before was the look in Mang-ryo’s single eye.

Mang-ryo’s gaze was extremely sharp and radiated a formidable energy. It seemed as if invisible energy was emanating from it, enough to make one’s knees weak.

The whites of his eyes, which had been yellowed with poison and filled with blood vessels, were now remarkably clear.

Like before, Mang-ryo came with a pouch of food.

He took out a bottle of liquor from the pouch, poured it into a slightly concave rock to form a small puddle, then spent time eating the food from the pouch.

After spending several days like this, Mang-ryo checked the puddle one last time and left the mine without looking back.

* * *

Mang-ryo appeared at the mine again almost ten months later.

The mine entrance he had last visited in winter had changed significantly. Grass had grown between the rocks, and the collapsed soil piles had hardened, gradually turning into rock.

But Mang-ryo’s appearance had also changed dramatically.

Both of his legs had been amputated. His right leg, which had been paralyzed and hanging uselessly like an ornament, was now cut off below the knee.

He had wooden prosthetic legs attached to both limbs.

Still not accustomed to the prosthetics, Mang-ryo was still using two crutches.

Clunk, clunk.

Mang-ryo went to the front of the mine and sat down.

Instead of pouring liquor on the rock, this time he took out cups from the pouch.

He took out two cups, filled them with liquor, and placed one on the rock. Then he drank the other himself.

“Aah.”

After drinking several more cups, he looked at the cup placed on the rock.

Ripple.

The surface of the full cup was trembling.

Mang-ryo looked around the mine.

It was already approaching two years.

During that time, countless things had happened both in the world below and to himself.

But Jin Ja-gang was still just digging away.

While he was enjoying life freely under this bright sunlight, Jin Ja-gang was in that dark tunnel without light, dreaming only of revenge for two years, doing the same thing.

Mang-ryo smiled with satisfaction.

There was no reason to feel impatient or anxious.

The wait wasn’t boring at all, knowing that the longer it took, the deeper Jin Ja-gang’s suffering would be. Jin Ja-gang’s suffering was his happiness.

Mang-ryo stayed at the mine front longer than usual, eating and sleeping there, before leaving after fifteen days.

* * *

The third year.

Mang-ryo visited the mine again.

This time he was using a crutch on only one side.

Clunk. Clunk.

Having saved his right knee but lost his left leg above the knee, he still limped even with the prosthetic leg because of the asymmetry.

However, Mang-ryo’s steps were remarkably light. He handled the crutch as freely as a limb, and walking with the prosthetic leg posed no difficulty at all.

Even the sound of the prosthetic leg hitting the ground was cheerful.

Not only had his gait changed, but his appearance had as well. Mang-ryo wore an elegant black silk robe, and his hair was neatly tied in a topknot with a silk ribbon. His beard was well-groomed, no longer making him look like a beggar.

Though the burns and scars on his face couldn’t be helped, his overall impression was completely different from before.

It was because of his eyes.

Mang-ryo’s gaze was very ordinary.

His eyes were so clear that they looked childlike, which seemed a bit strange, but they no longer emitted a formidable energy or particularly sharp aura.

It was simply a calm gaze, like that of a transcendent high monk.

Clunk, clunk.

Mang-ryo was no longer carrying a food pouch.

He didn’t create puddles with liquor or water either.

He simply closed his eyes, placed his hand on the collapsed entrance, and quietly raised his internal energy.

With his hearing heightened to an extreme degree and his fingertip sensitivity maximized, he could feel a dull resonance.

Thud… thud, thud… thud.

The sound was much closer than last year, but still quite far from reaching the surface.

But something else bothered him. The sound of the chisel being struck with a hammer was not steady but very irregular.

“Hmm.”

After thinking for a moment, Mang-ryo nodded with a strange expression.

“It seems you still need more time. Fine. Time is something I can give you plenty of.”

Mang-ryo immediately stood up, preparing to leave.

Normally, after three years of hammering, even a child should have become accustomed to it. After unconsciously hammering for years, one would eventually hammer at a consistent speed with consistent force.

That would be normal.

But Jin Ja-gang’s sounds were irregular.

Moreover, the occasional sharp quality mixed in the sounds made Mang-ryo’s senses tingle.

Mang-ryo could assert with certainty.

Jin Ja-gang was practicing martial arts inside the tunnel.

* * *

The fifth year.

Mang-ryo still visited the mine.

He closed his eyes calmly and placed his hands on the collapsed rocks.

As he detected the sound and vibration, a slight joy appeared in Mang-ryo’s single eye.

“Now it’s truly not far off.”

With an excited face, Mang-ryo pressed his face against the rock. With both hands on the rock, he spoke as if someone were just on the other side, in a friendly manner.

“Come on, hurry up. And please make me happy. After waiting so long, I hope you’ll satisfy me.”

Crunch.

Mang-ryo’s hands dug into the rock, leaving distinct handprints. It was an incredible power that would have been unimaginable before.

Mang-ryo smiled faintly and went back down the mountain, relying on a single crutch.

Clunk, clunk!

* * *

The eighth year.

Bang!

With a sharp cracking sound, a small hole appeared far to the side of the collapsed mine entrance.

Warm spring sunlight seeped through the small hole.

A barely audible low groan emerged from the small hole.

After a moment, as if nothing had happened, no sound could be heard.

Then, in the deep night.

Suddenly, a hand burst through the small hole, causing it to collapse.

Rumble.

The hole crumbled.

Through that hole, just large enough for one person to squeeze through, Jin Ja-gang, with a pitch-black body, crawled out.

“Huff! Huff!”

Jin Ja-gang frantically inhaled the outside air he was tasting for the first time in eight years.

Under the bright moonlight, Jin Ja-gang’s eyes flashed chillingly.

It was truly the gaze of an Asura who had crawled up from the fiery pits of hell.