52. Time for Some Practice.
The Heavenly Prison was the most deserted place in the Namgung Clan.
‘Didn’t they say they usually just kill people on the spot instead of locking them up?’
Sun Wukong recalled what Muhwa had explained before and let out a dry chuckle.
The Heavenly Prison was a maze. Every part of its design—the structure, the height and placement of stairs, the length of the corridors—was meticulously planned. The harmony of it all was meant to disorient even the keenest martial artist.
But despite the architect’s efforts, Sun Wukong’s steps were unhesitating.
Even without a guide, Sun Wukong reached his destination in no time.
Inside the iron bars.
The White-Eyed Demon Lord, his limbs twisted and bound.
“Hello.”
“…That’s a cheerful greeting, isn’t it?”
“Greetings should always be pleasant, you know.”
The White-Eyed Demon Lord curled his lips.
He’d lost both eyes to Sun Wukong’s attack.
In his desperate attempt to block his pressure points, he’d battered himself senseless, leaving his entire network of qi channels in disarray. If he tried to move even a little Internal Qi, it felt like his whole body was being torn apart.
If he could open his eyes, he’d glare with enough killing intent to prove he could kill with a look alone.
“I don’t need to tell you why I’m here, do I?”
“Hmph, you’re here to torment me and squeeze something out, aren’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Fool. I’ve already lost everything as a martial artist. What do I care about pain? Even if I survive, do you think I have any reason to go on living in this wreck of a body?”
“Come on, living is what matters. Martial Art Skill isn’t everything.”
Beyond the Flaming Golden Eyes, a giant centipede writhed, oozing venom from its wounds.
“Even if I die here, I’ll wait for you in the afterlife. We’ll settle things there. Our king will smash your head to pieces.”
“Tsk.”
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
He wasn’t babbling on, trying to win Sun Wukong over like the Demon King of Chaos.
Nor was he struggling desperately to survive like the Shandong Seven Shadows.
He didn’t even think he could be persuaded.
‘Maybe I should’ve caught that old man instead.’
The one they called the Nine-Brain Elder.
The face Namgung Jin-Baek had chased down and cut in a single stroke.
Since he was the Demon King of Chaos’s superior, he might’ve been more useful for digging up information.
‘This guy’s in the same organization, but they all seem to be doing their own thing.’
It was hard to imagine how an organization led by people of this caliber could have spread throughout the Central Plains.
‘It’s bigger than I thought.’
He’d assumed it was a small, secretive cell, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Sun Wukong let out a sigh.
Hearing it, the White-Eyed Demon Lord let out a raspy laugh.
“Even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t. You’ve probably got the Shandong Seven Shadows locked up too, right? You won’t get anything out of them either.”
Sun Wukong laughed in disbelief.
“What’s there to brag about, being under a Sealing Technique?”
He just couldn’t understand these people.
They didn’t feel anger or humiliation at having their lives bound by a Sealing Technique. They even seemed proud of it.
The Sealing Technique was what you used when you couldn’t inspire loyalty.
Anyone subjected to it should naturally hate it.
Just look at the Shandong Seven Shadows and the others.
‘Those guys… If I can just break the Sealing Technique, there’s hope for them.’
But not the White-Eyed Demon Lord.
“Do your worst. My lips will never open!”
His laughter bordered on madness. Sun Wukong replied nonchalantly.
“Yeah, I’m not here to listen.”
Sun Wukong wasn’t foolish. He didn’t waste all his focus and time clinging to slim chances. He looked elsewhere for greater possibilities and charged ahead.
He gave up on the White-Eyed Demon Lord without a second thought.
He didn’t need him.
He wasn’t after information.
Just one thing.
“Let’s see if I can practice breaking a Sealing Technique.”
“What?”
He was nothing more than a test subject.
* * *
“What in the world…?”
Even if there were no criminals locked up in the Heavenly Prison, there were always guards and gatekeepers.
Namgung Jeok, who had once tracked the Blood-Iron Fiend, was a seasoned Martial Master who’d long since reached the threshold of mastery.
He had no complaints about being assigned as a gatekeeper.
After all, the monster that Namgung Jin-Baek and Sun Wukong had personally captured was locked up here. Even Muhwa, one of the Namgung Clan’s top fighters, had been defeated and was bedridden. Guarding a prison with such a dangerous criminal was not something to take lightly.
–Aaaaaaaargh! Aaaaaaaagh!
“What on earth is happening in there…?”
Namgung Jeok’s voice trembled.
How long had it been since Sun Wukong entered the Heavenly Prison? The screams hadn’t stopped. They echoed like the wails of evil spirits from the depths of an abyss. It was relentless and horrifying.
Being among the Namgung Clan’s elite meant more than most realized.
It meant surviving on the front lines of the Great War of Righteousness and Evil.
Even so, Namgung Jeok found himself swallowing dryly at the screams ringing in his ears.
“How can a human scream like that…?”
Calling it gruesome didn’t do it justice. Even someone used to the chaos of battle found it unbearable.
“Is he squeezing out his very soul?”
The screams came from a place of primal terror. Even a man of iron nerves would struggle to endure it. It didn’t sound like a human voice. More like a ghost wailing.
“And this is the deepest part of the prison, yet I can hear it all the way at the entrance.”
What kind of torment was he inflicting in there?
After what felt like an eternity, the screams suddenly stopped.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor. Namgung Jeok turned, tense.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“Ah… Master Sun.”
The guard’s pupils flickered but quickly returned to normal.
Sun Wukong looked exactly the same as when he’d gone in.
Namgung Jeok’s eyes darted over him, but there wasn’t a single drop of blood.
“Did everything go well inside?”
“Oh, I got some results. The guy was tougher than I thought—he held out pretty well.”
“…”
What exactly did he mean by ‘held out’?
Namgung Jeok looked at Sun Wukong with a slightly pale expression.
Sun Wukong grinned.
“I’ll have to come by a few more times, so see you then.”
Namgung Jeok nodded stiffly, his face sour.
‘I need to switch shifts.’
If he had to listen to those screams any longer…
‘If I keep hearing that, I’ll lose my mind.’
Namgung Jeok watched Sun Wukong’s retreating back.
They said he was a recluse, a hidden Martial Master, the last heir of a sect wiped out in an Annihilation of a Sect—there were many rumors, but Namgung Jeok felt only one thing now.
‘He’s the last person I’d want as an enemy.’
* * *
Despite the bloodbath the previous night, the Dragon Phoenix Assembly continued as if nothing had happened.
“Thanks to you, we managed to put the Hwangbo Clan in their place.”
“With seven assassins accused of trying to kill the Law Enforcement Hall Leader, there’s not much they can say.”
“Of course. If they were outsiders, maybe, but these were their own Outer Hall Warriors.”
“How did the Hwangbo Clan react?”
“They looked completely flustered. Claimed they knew nothing about it, but what does that matter?”
“Once word spreads in the Murim, everyone will shun them.”
“If we open our mouths, their reputation will be trashed in an instant.”
They’d gotten their hands on a weakness of the Hwangbo Clan.
More precisely, a weakness of Hwangbo Yong.
“Hwangbo Yong?”
“He’s the future clan head. He’s only the heir for now, but it’s not like he has no rivals. He’s got siblings. If it gets out that the men he brought along were actually assassins, he’ll lose his position in a flash.”
“So you’re saying you’ve got the future head of the Hwangbo Clan by the throat.”
“Makes things easier for us.”
“Well, I’m just doing what I always do.”
Sun Wukong shrugged. Namgung Jin-Baek was genuinely grateful, saying things had gone smoothly thanks to Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong felt a twinge of guilt.
‘I didn’t mention the Hao Sect.’
Secrets are always more powerful when you keep them to yourself.
Sun Wukong shoved his guilty conscience aside.
“What will you do with the Shandong Seven Shadows?”
“I’ll get whatever information I can and keep them under watch.”
“They’re courtesans who use Seduction Art.”
“Still, they’re just courtesans.”
“…”
Namgung Jin-Baek stared at Sun Wukong for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll handle it, Master Sun.”
Sun Wukong grinned.
‘He’s telling me he’ll look the other way.’
Namgung Jin-Baek was sharp when it came to give-and-take.
Seduction Art was frowned upon in the Murim. It was considered a heretical technique rather than a true Martial Art Skill. Yet he didn’t react harshly.
He was openly saying he’d let Sun Wukong handle it however he wanted.
‘Is this his way of repaying the Namgung Clan’s gains from this Dragon Phoenix Assembly?’
Sun Wukong liked this side of Namgung Jin-Baek.
“We don’t really have the resources to deal with them right now anyway.”
Namgung Jin-Baek gave a bitter smile.
Sun Wukong looked at him quietly.
There were dark shadows under his eyes.
“You look tired.”
“I didn’t realize how hard it would be with the Law Enforcement Hall Leader’s seat vacant.”
Namgung Jin-Baek sighed.
“It feels like my workload has doubled. Actually, it’s about to double for real.”
“Why’s that?”
“There’ll be a Martial Arts Tournament for the younger generation soon, and after that, we have to hold the Azure Dragon Rite of Passage.”
At the mention of the Azure Dragon Rite of Passage, Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes.
“This time, Muyeong has to officially become the Young Clan Master, so we have to hold the Namgung Clan’s coming-of-age ceremony—the Azure Dragon Rite of Passage.”
“Azure Dragon Rite of Passage?”
“…I guess it really has been a long time. You don’t know about it? Well, it’s been at least twenty years since the last one.”
Namgung Jin-Baek gave a wry smile and explained simply.
“It’s the Namgung Clan’s coming-of-age ceremony. Even the heir to the clan head has to pass it.”
“Sounds like it’s not just for the Young Clan Master, but for all Namgung Clan members, right?”
“That’s right. It’s an event for all the young blood of the clan, around the same age as the heir.”
“So the future clan head and the next generation of martial artists go through it together…”
Sun Wukong nodded.
“The heir leads the young blood through countless trials to prove they have what it takes to lead the Namgung Clan.”
“That’s a problem. Are there any other candidates for the ceremony?”
“Besides Seo-Wol… no.”
Namgung Jin-Baek let out a heavy sigh.
“Just thinking about preparing for the Martial Arts Tournament and the Azure Dragon Rite of Passage is already giving me a headache.”
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
He thought Jin-Baek was a smart man, but in the end, a person’s just a person.
Without much thought, Sun Wukong downed the drink in front of him.
“Human hands really are small.”
“Hm?”
“No matter how much you want to hold onto, your palm’s too small to carry it all.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If you try to grab more than your hand can hold, everything just slips through your fingers.”
“…”
Namgung Jin-Baek gazed at him quietly.
Then he gave a faint smile.
“I see. Wanting to pull off both the Dragon Phoenix Assembly and the Azure Dragon Rite of Passage was just greed.”
“Knowing when to let go is the only way to hold onto what matters.”
“Master Sun, did you study at Shaolin by any chance?”
“Not a chance.”
Sun Wukong snickered.
“The Martial Duel isn’t that important, is it? Muyeong and Hwangbo Yong already fought at the banquet, and I heard Namgung Seo-wol’s been challenging everyone to duels on the way here.”
“Hmm!”
“And as for the other young martial artists… well, there are the kids from the Five Great Families.”
“You mean to hold it together with the younger generation of the Five Great Families…?”
“If the Namgung Clan’s heir isn’t just leading the clan, but the whole next generation of the Five Great Families, doesn’t that fit even better?”
Namgung Jin-Baek’s eyes widened at Sun Wukong’s words.