Chapter 77 – Avici Hell

Chapter 77 – Avici Hell

Not even the sound of grass insects reached the silent annex.

San-ho took out the book with a very tense expression.

The book, smelling of ink mixed with soil, gave off a musty odor.

“·········.”

Finally, the third secret manual, and the last piece of memory, was held in his hand.

When he turned the first page, the same handwriting as the previous manual was clearly visible. Gulping, San-ho calmly read the poem-like sentences.

– How many times born, how many times died

– How many times have I been born, and how many times have I died.

– Life and death are boundless, with no fixed end

– Life and death were remote, without ever stopping.

‘The repetition of life and death. I think it means reincarnation.’

Tracing and reading word by word with his fingertips, San-ho muttered to himself.

Reincarnation. The eternal wheel of fate, in which living beings, even in death, repeat life and death in the worlds of the Three Realms and Six Paths according to their karma.

Reincarnation. Chewing over those two characters, San-ho suddenly raised his head.

A question arose in his mind.

It was a small, weak question that he had pushed to a corner.

“Could it be······?”

Did Tang San-ho know everything?

It was an assumption he had put off but had not forgotten.

In his faintly recalled memories, he had written three secret manuals. Though he did not know how two of them ended up in the hands of Murong and Tae Ju-ha, in the end, all of this was within his plan.

‘If so, did he also know that I would wake up in this body?’

San-ho's eyes narrowed.

Along with his fast-spinning mind, his hand steadily moved toward the next page.

– The Butterfly Dream, oneness of matter and mind

– Dreaming of becoming a butterfly, I realized we are one.

– When afflictions are exhausted, life and death are immediately severed

– When afflictions are exhausted, life and death are immediately severed,

– Once arising and ceasing are extinguished, silent illumination appears before one

– Once arising and ceasing are extinguished, that which quietly shines appears.

The more he took in the succeeding letters, the more that question turned into conviction.

The Butterfly Dream. A story originating from a dream dreamed from the perspective of a butterfly. Forgetting even the distinction between self and other without distinguishing whether I am the butterfly or the butterfly is me.

Making a rational inference based on what he had experienced and the memories that came to mind, he could reach a single conclusion.

Tang San-ho knew.

The fact that he would die, yet would not die.

If so, there was one more question that followed.

‘Why on earth?’

A person born with a fate to die soon.

Why would such a person prepare for the future?

The mind to plant an apple tree even if the earth were to perish tomorrow? No, presumably that could not be it. There was no way it was such a complacent and vague purpose. Then why on earth?

San-ho's touch toward the last page grew faster and faster.

– The power put forth in response will be infinite.

– The power generated in response shall be infinite.

– The mind is the source of all things, the mind is supreme and the mind rules.

– The mind becomes the foundation and the master, ruling over all things.

‘What does it mean that the power is infinite?’

A faint curiosity appeared on San-ho's face, which had been serious all along.

In the first secret manual, he had mastered the cultivation method to draw the qi of nature into the dantian, and in the second secret manual, he had realized the method to transmit the exhaled and inhaled internal energy to others.

If so, what kind of true meaning and function did the most important third secret manual possess?

And for what did that function exist?

There must surely be a reason for going through such a troublesome process.

“The mind is the master······.”

San-ho muttered in a low voice.

The contents of the last secret manual ended here.

Where he had learned this secret manual, why he had hidden it, what the purpose was… such things were not written any further. San-ho leafed through the book with unresolved doubts.

At last, the paper of the book was exhausted, and the final page was revealed.

On the cover, which should have been blank, a short text was added.

Treading on a snowy field,

Do not walk in disorder.

My footsteps today,

Will become a guide for those who follow.

When walking on a snow-covered path,

Do not make your footsteps disorderly.

The footsteps I walked today,

Shall finally become a guidepost for those who follow.

“·········.”

For what did Tang San-ho do such a thing?

What on earth was the Heaven's Mandate that child spoke of?

Finding the answer did not require a long time.

When San-ho closed the book after reading to the last phrase of the secret manual, a remote darkness rushed in.

It was a pitch-black darkness where he could not see an inch ahead, but neither the fear nor the bewilderment from before arose.

Because it was something he had already experienced twice.

***

He helplessly sank into the memories that rushed in like an ebbing tide.

How much time had passed like that?

When the darkness surrounding his entire surroundings suddenly brightened, San-ho realized that he was floating in midair. His floating gaze directed downward like an instinct.

After blinking his eyes a few times at the unaccustomed light, what he saw was······.

“Aaaagh!!”

“We must never let them break through! Do not retreat!”

“No····!!”

“Uaaaargh!!”

“Keu···keuh! Ggeuuuk!!”

“Block the path to the Inner Castle!”

It was a battlefield filled with desperate screams.

No, it was the Sichuan Tang Clan···· that had become a battlefield.

He simply had not recognized it at a glance because it was not the appearance of the Tang Clan he knew, which had been peaceful along with the majestic, elegant, and lush bamboo forest. It was clearly his familiar home and sanctuary.

‘What··· is this? What on earth is······.’

Before the eyes of the bewildered San-ho, a crimson fire demon was swallowing the Tang Clan, flicking its tongue like a snake.

The walls, which were like an impregnable fortress, collapsed into ashes.

The pillars of fire, soaring without knowing how high the sky was, gradually expanded their area.

Screams of lives being cut short continued here and there, and the cold sound of sharp swords clashing and the sound of pavilions collapsing due to the hot flames tangled together.

“··········.”

San-ho could not make any reaction to the unfolding devastation.

No expression was appropriate to describe what he felt. It was just infinitely red, and so red······. With his gaze shaking as if suffocating, only then did San-ho realize that he could not even breathe.

His heart thumped wildly, enough to make him feel nauseous.

He could not know what this horrible scene meant.

Such rational thought was impossible.

For the people he knew were melting into a handful of blood before his eyes.

“······!!!”

The faces of the corpses forming a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood were familiar.

That fact was the most horrifying.

San-ho, floating in the air, could do nothing.

Nothing but just watch.

He could not scream, offer help, or draw attention.

He was powerless.

Tang Yi-seon, the Leader of the Ten Thousand Poisons Hall, who used to visit the annex and enjoy refreshments, lay fallen, his entire body dyed purple.

Tang Jin-oh, the Leader of the Red Shadow Squad, who had gone on the search together, was in a pool of his own blood; Tang Mu-seon, the Leader of the Craftsmanship Hall, was beneath a collapsed pavilion; and Tang Jae-shin, with whom he had dueled, was near the main gate······ all of them had lost their lives.

The physicians, who had been busy running around to save even one more of the injured, had their necks slashed and their bodies pierced by the flying attacks. Flesh was torn and blood splattered, and bones broke, dropping fragments.

Avici Hell.

Could that Avici Hell, said to be the most terrible, look like this?

Barely holding back the rising nausea, San-ho ground his teeth.

Why on earth, who dared!

Timber flickering with flames poured down on top of the people.

Desperate wails and cries filled the surroundings.

Under the rushing weapons and the claws of the fire demon, the warriors of the Tang Clan collapsed helplessly.

When their bodies rolled on the ground as if they had never been alive, San-ho shook his head violently.

Was it a dream? Please, it had to be.

Deep in his heart, he heard a sound of something snapping.

It was then.

San-ho, who had been swallowing a scream that reached no one all by himself, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“······!!!”

His brain, struck by the shock, stopped thinking for a moment.

Because he saw something that, though he saw it, he could not believe.

Beep— a sharp tinnitus struck his ears.

The place where San-ho's gaze landed. There·····.

The Young Clan Leader Tang Hae-soo was staring with wide eyes, his face completely bloodless.

It was only natural that he was pale.

For his head was floating in the air, separated from his neck.

Clear blood was dripping down beneath the white-pale face.

San-ho's trembling gaze directed upward.

He could not even blink at the horrific scene that he had never even imagined. Despite it being such a desperate battlefield, no sound reached his ears.

There was someone holding Tang Hae-soo's hair, completely severed from his body, as if exposing it to the public. A highly indifferent expression and gaze were intensely engraved in San-ho's mind.

“How·········.”

It was the Master of the Yangtze River, Tae Ju-ha.

***

The highest floor of Manyeong Tower.

Before Tae Ju-ha, who had moved to the VIP room, fine-looking dishes were served in a row. Not to mention the ordered Jingjiang shredded pork, fish-flavored shredded pork, and Dongpo pork, but also duck soup and a seasoned dish made of sea cucumber.

Not only that, but expensive famous liquors like Hundred Flowers Dew, Xifeng liquor, and Geumjoncheong filled the table.

Inside the gorgeously decorated VIP room, lanterns hung, and beyond the doorway, the gentle play of the guqin, leaving a long-lingering sound, was faintly heard.

It was a hospitality of the Hao Sect serving the Master of the Yangtze River.

“Humm······.”

Seated on the center cushion, Tae Ju-ha reached out over the arranged plates.

Glistening pieces of meat, warm stir-fried vegetables, and spicy noodle dishes entered his mouth one by one.

When he lifted the entire liquor bottle of Geumjoncheong placed on one side to his mouth, a refreshing glug-glug-glug sound came from the neck of the bottle.

Emptying Geumjoncheong, one of the most expensive liquors in the tavern, in one gulp, Tae Ju-ha wiped the corner of his mouth and muttered.

“Tsk, it is not as good as the Blue Moon Liquor.”

How much time had passed like that?

It was around the time he was gradually getting bored of the prolonged wait.

A presence was felt outside the door of the VIP room.

“May we enter?”

“Yes.”

Upon Tae Ju-ha's permission, the door to the inner room opened.

There were two people who opened the door and entered.

The leading man spoke, politely paying his respects.

“I greet the Master of the Yangtze River. I heard you were looking for me.”

When the middle-aged man greeted in a monotonous voice, Tae Ju-ha narrowed his eyes and asked.

“Are you the Sect Leader of the Hao Sect?”

“Yes.”

“Humm······.”

At that moment, the woman who entered with the middle-aged man sat demurely beside Tae Ju-ha. Every single one of her gentle movements was as soft as a willow tree swaying in the wind.

“It is an honor to serve the Master of the Yangtze River. My name is Gong-ri.”

“······.”

The courtesan who introduced herself as Gong-ri placed her hand on her chest and bowed her waist slightly. Even at that small movement, a sweet fragrance rushed into the surroundings.

Staring at Gong-ri quietly, Tae Ju-ha let out a small chuckle.

The Sect Leader of the Hao Sect sat opposite Tae Ju-ha and asked.

“For what reason did the Master of the Yangtze River make his way all the way to this place?”

“Why would I have come to the Hao Sect for any other business? I came to buy information.”

“Surely it would not be for that alone.”

“I like that you are quick-witted.”

Gong-ri poured Hundred Flowers Dew into Tae Ju-ha's empty liquor cup. The Hundred Flowers Dew, which was made containing the dew of a hundred kinds of flowers, gave off a fragrant floral scent as sweet as its name.

The transparent liquor filled the white porcelain cup appropriately.

“Yes, you are right. Buying information is not everything.”

Staring intently at the Hundred Flowers Dew in the cup, Tae Ju-ha raised one corner of his mouth. Then, without hesitation, he lifted the cup and emptied it in one gulp.

“Please tell me what you need. If it is something I know, I will do so with all my heart······.”

“Before that.”

Interrupting the Sect Leader of the Hao Sect, Tae Ju-ha slowly tilted his head to the side. A low voice flowed from his mouth as he looked back and forth between the Sect Leader of the Hao Sect and Gong-ri with a contemplative gaze.

“Is this ridiculous stunt meant to mock me, or is it to test me?”

“What do you mean by······.”

“Ah, so you intend to play dumb.”

Tae Ju-ha threw the empty liquor bottle straight to the side.

It was an action without the slightest hesitation.

Clang!

With a sharp shattering sound, a flying piece of porcelain grazed Gong-ri's face.